The Patriot Post Digest 4-2-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-2-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest
Apr. 2, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/55092-mid-day-digest

IN TODAY’S EDITION

The media’s deliberate mischaracterization of Christianity is appalling.
One 17-year-old should not wield so much media influence.
“Chappaquiddick” the movie tells the story Kennedy never wanted known.
It’s time to break the monopoly on public education, and it can be done.
Plus our Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists and Short Cuts.

THE FOUNDATION

“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God?” —Thomas Jefferson (1781)

IN BRIEF

Leftmedia’s Deliberate Mischaracterization of Christianity1

By Thomas Gallatin

From National Public Radio to NBC News to CNN, the mainstream media’s ignorant misrepresentation of basic and central Christian beliefs and doctrines would be understandable if it wasn’t for the fact that Christianity is the religion practiced by some 70% of Americans. On Good Friday2, NPR published an article3 that addressed a report that Pope Francis had denied the existence of hell. NPR originally described Easter as “the day celebrating the idea that Jesus did not die and go to hell or purgatory or anywhere at all, but rather arose into heaven.” After receiving much deserved blowback, NPR corrected the piece to read, “Easter — the day Christians celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection.” How could NPR get one of the most foundational beliefs of Christianity so terribly wrong?

Far worse, NBC News marked the sacred occasion with a piece4 entitled, “On Easter Sunday, Christians must remember how easily and often our faith is used to defend white supremacy.” The article relays a story of a bunch of white southern racists who murdered several blacks and other defenders of Reconstruction one Easter Sunday in 1873 in Colfax County, Louisiana. It is indeed a horrific story, but it is far from emblematic of Christian beliefs or practices. And it was 145 years ago. Ironically, the article does exactly what it condemns — it seeks to co-opt the Christian message, ignoring its central teachings, so as to promote an anti-Donald Trump pro-leftist political cause. The question once again is how did the MSM get the Christian doctrine of Easter this wrong?

But then there was what may have been the worst understanding of Easter — this one from CNN. In an article5 titled, “How Easter became a #MeToo moment,” which was not listed as an opinion piece, author John Blake asserted that Jesus was a victim of sexual humiliation as a result of being hung naked on the cross, and therefore “if linking the Easter story with the #MeToo movement is offensive and bewildering to some, perhaps that is fitting.” Additionally, Mary Magdalene was a #MeToo victim of male authority. Blake continued, “The Easter stories in the Gospels have a jarring, unexpected quality about them as well. … The stories are enigmatic and elusive. They continue to yield surprises even 2,000 years later. They are, in some ways, much like the figure of Jesus himself.” While attempting to sound profound, Blake reveals once again a shocking amount of ignorance of what Easter is actually all about.

A journalist should be primarily concerned with accurately reporting the news, not promoting an agenda. However, the vast majority of MSM reporters have committed themselves to the promotion of the “progressive” cause. And in so doing, they have created simplistic and flawed caricatures of those they revile, like Christians. Then speaking as if they fully grasp the true motives and beliefs of those they oppose, they label them foolish and backwards. As the Apostle Paul astutely predicted, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18.).

Christianity is not about promoting white supremacy, a political agenda or as a means of awakening Americans to some “social justice” cause. The message of Easter is that Christ accomplished what He came into the world to do — defeat sin and death and rescue sinners from hell. All who believe in Jesus can rest in certain hope that they like Him will one day rise from the grave and live with Him in Heaven forever, having been fully forgiven and cleansed from all their sins. This is what Christians celebrate at Easter.

One Parkland Teen’s Outsized Influence6

By Nate Jackson

It is now evident that a 17-year-old Parkland student wields far more power than he should. The Leftmedia has made David Hogg the obnoxious voice of the anti-gun high-schooler crowd, and he’s busied himself viciously attacking Second Amendment supporters. He recently accused7 the NRA of being made up of “pathetic f—ers that want to keep killing our children.” He added, “It just makes me think what sick f—ers out there want to continue to sell more guns, murder more children, and honestly just get re-elected. What type of s—ty person does that?” No NRA member has ever perpetrated a mass shooting, and the NRA doesn’t sell guns. Candidates who are supported by the NRA receive money because they already support the Second Amendment, not as payment for their mercenary services. So aside from Hogg’s savage and vulgar attacks, he’s just plain wrong on the facts.

Last week, Fox News host Laura Ingraham, who had previously hosted Hogg on her show, tweeted a link to a Daily Wire story8, saying, “David Hogg Rejected By Four Colleges To Which He Applied and whines about it. (Dinged by UCLA with a 4.1 GPA…totally predictable given acceptance rates.)” It was a pretty innocuous tweet, even if it did hit him personally.

Hogg quickly responded, “Soooo @IngrahamAngle what are your biggest advertisers … Asking for a friend. #BoycottIngramAdverts” Naturally, he soon thereafter produced a list, and at least 14 folded almost immediately, pulling ads from her show — even after she apologized. Ingraham promptly went on vacation.

For his part, Hogg very ungraciously rejected Ingraham’s apology and called for her total and unconditional surrender instead: “An apology in an effort just to save your advertisers is not enough. I will only accept your apology only if you denounce the way your network has treated my friends and I [sic] in this fight. It’s time to love thy neighbor, not mudsling at children.” If this 17-year-old “child” can get on national TV to lie and besmirch the character of millions of Americans, he should expect a little bit of pushback.

As The Washington Post marveled9, “The swift results showcase the power that the Parkland survivors have, not just in organizing rallies but in spurring corporate America to act.” (For more on the term “survivors,” see Mark Alexander’s thoughts to correct that record10.) But more to the point, it is astounding how these kids have been given a supposedly unassailable moral authority from which to push the agenda of their anti-Second Amendment backers. They are pawns11 in a much bigger game.

In related news, CNN’s Joan Walsh berated12 Parkland student Kyle Kashuv, who supports the Second Amendment. No word on boycotting CNN advertisers.

On a final note, this is a great example of why The Patriot Post does not accept advertising. We don’t wish to be at the mercy of corporations that are afraid of their own shadows and susceptible to these rabble-rousing boycotts.

Top Headlines13

Next Art of the Deal chapter: Trump declares “NO MORE” DACA deal after report of caravan with Central Americans heading to U.S. (Fox News14)

380 sheriffs warn Congress that failure to secure border “will cost more innocent lives” (CNS News15)

Texas county hit with lawsuit for concealing records of noncitizens registered to vote (The Washington Free Beacon16)

China hits back on trade dispute, slapping tariffs on 128 U.S. products (NPR17)

No, five million Americans don’t really live in Third World poverty (National Review18.)

Knife Problem? London murder rate beats New York for month as stabbings surge (Fox News19)

Students stage walkout in support of Second Amendment (PJ Media20)

Judge tosses PragerU lawsuit accusing Google, YouTube of censoring conservative content (The Daily Signal21)

Academic idiots file: Women might get raped if they debate men, so this college debate tournament banned men (The College Fix22)

If a balanced budget amendment could pass, we wouldn’t need one (National Review23)

Policy: The stunning statistical fraud behind the global warming scare (Investor’s Business Daily24)

Policy: A brief guide to strategy and sanctions (Hoover Institution25)

For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report26.

FEATURED ANALYSIS
Ted Kennedy’s ‘Darkest Hour’ Hits the Big Screen27

By Michael Swartz

If it weren’t for a missed turn on a dark night, Ted Kennedy may well have been president during the 1970s. Instead, the nation was rocked in the summer of 1969 by yet another tragedy involving the Kennedy family, and that accident has become the subject of a new movie28 to be released Friday simply called “Chappaquiddick.”

A few years back, Mark Alexander summed up the accident29 on that fateful summer night in 1969:

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The Patriot Post Digest 4-2-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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On the night of 18 July, Kennedy left a party [on Massachusetts’ Chappaquiddick Island] with an attractive young intern en route to a private secluded beach on the far side of Dike Bridge. Kennedy lost control on the single-lane bridge and his vehicle overturned in the shallow tidal water.

Kennedy freed himself from the vehicle, leaving his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, to suffocate in an air pocket inside the overturned car. Nine hours later, after sobering up and conferring with political advisors and lawyers, Kennedy called authorities to report the incident. Kopechne’s body had already been discovered.

To produce the new film about that fateful night, the creative team of writers Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan, director John Curran, and Kennedy portrayer Jason Clarke leaned heavily on a 763-page inquest released the year following Kopechne’s death. This decision confines the narrative to the short time period between the night of the accident and Kennedy’s nationally televised mea culpa a few days later after he received nothing more than a suspended sentence from a local judge for leaving the scene of an accident.

So while critic Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter laments30 that Allen and Logan “have done their homework in organizing the material but haven’t brought an argument to the table that might have zapped the film to life,” others31 analyzing32 the film are relieved that the treatment of Kennedy wasn’t overly dramatic.

Director Curran contends that the perspective on the film will vary with one’s politics. “I realize that in this climate a viewer’s reaction to the film will be largely based on the political prism they watch it through. In that sense I endeavored to strike a very non-partisan, factual tone.” But that’s a bit of a cop-out, because the major facts of the story aren’t in dispute. As we have often said over the years, Kopechne’s life was snuffed out and Ted Kennedy spent the rest of his life trying to live down his decision to flee the scene. (As CNN put it to the derision33 of many Twitter followers, Chappaquiddick was “one of” Kennedy’s darkest hours.) We learned that the “Lion of the Senate” was cowardly when it most counted.

Because this incident was nearly a half-century ago and practically all of the major characters have passed away, it’s a wonder Chappaquiddick the movie was ever made at all. It did bring out the excuse to retell the Kopechne side by replaying a 1991 interview34 with a family member, but this morality tale reminds us of a bygone era where secrets could be kept secret.

As the reviewer McCarthy notes, “It’s impossible to watch this film without imagining how such an incident would be covered today; very likely, the young woman would not have died had there been cellphones, as she was apparently still alive in the submerged car for at least two hours, maybe three or four. But even more astounding was Ted Kennedy’s not reporting the incident for 10 hours, then the fact that a story that otherwise would have provided endless headlines became an afterthought when the first moon landing took place two days later.”

No one is expecting great things from this movie; in fact, it was bumped back from an original plan for a limited release late last year at a time when award-seeking movies are put out. But it is a reminder about how bad decisions can last a lifetime, even when you’re in a position where they can be covered up. While Ted Kennedy died in 2009 still in office as the senior senator from Massachusetts — having been re-elected seven times after the accident — the 1980 Democrat primary season was the closest he ever came to the presidential brass ring. Despite winning 12 states in the process, Kennedy was soundly beaten by Jimmy Carter at the Democrat convention, finally conceding the nomination there.

If Ted Kennedy were made of sterner stuff, maybe he would have freed Mary Jo Kopechne and the incident would have been soon forgotten, or even spun into an act of heroism guaranteeing a return to Camelot in the 1972 or 1976 presidential election. Whatever the results would have been for the nation, that’s surely a version of life’s movie Mary Jo’s grieving family would have preferred.

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Breaking Up the Public School Monopoly37 — We all know the education system’s failings. The time for complaining is over. It’s time to do something about it.
VA’s Shulkin Wasn’t Up to the Task of Pivotal Reform38 — Our veterans are getting the short end of the stick, and the VA needs a colossal overhaul.
Ballooning Costs May Force USAF to Cut F-35 Orders39 — The estimated cost of maintaining the top-of-the-line fighter jet may preclude its usefulness.
Video: Second Amendment Repealed?40 — Former Justice John Paul Stevens says it’s time. But what does that mean for our supposedly free Republic?
Video: How to Tell if You’re Woke41 — The ever-desired state of Wokeness is only found by those willing to venture beyond their comfort zone.

BEST OF RIGHT OPINION

Hans von Spakovsky: Another Reason to Remember the Easter and Passover Weekend42
Tony Perkins: The Controversy of the Cross43
Kathryn Jean Lopez: Inspiration and Invitation in New Film44
Ken Blackwell: The Democrats’ Plan to Transform America45
Burt Prelutsky: Marxism: The Cancer That Never Quits46
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion47.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Burt Prelutsky: “The oddest thing of all is that people who have seen Marxism destroy entire populations continue to embrace it. When the results of the contagion are pointed out to them, and they are shown the harm it has done to people in such police states as the Soviet Union, China, Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Vietnam, Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea, saddling them with famines, disease, starvation, government-sanctioned brutality and the loss of free speech and their religious rights, the true believers scoff and either deny the facts or declare: ‘Marxism is perfect. The fault merely lies in the way that it’s been practiced.’ The appeal of the evil doctrine is that it promises that the riches of the society will be equally divided amongst the population. As someone once observed, when you rob Peter to pay Paul, don’t expect Paul to object. Of course, as history keeps showing, once the revolutionaries take power, it’s not Paul who profits, it’s a bunch of stiffs named Josef, Mao, Adolf, Pol Pot, Fidel, Che and Kim, along with their cronies. Today, the latest nation to be hit with tyranny posing as agrarian reform is South Africa. It’s not getting a lot of attention, but the blacks are driving the white farmers off their land. Those who aren’t fleeing to Australia are being murdered. But, as with black violence in America and Muslim violence in Britain and Europe, political correctness by the Marxist media is keeping a lid on it.”

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: “We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.”

For the record: “As a factual matter, a shoddy cover-up of an extramarital tryst with a porn star a decade before Donald Trump became president would be a trifle compared to the oft-repeated but never established claim of Trump collusion with Russia. As a legal matter, though, when highly aggressive prosecutors are circling, any kind of something is always more perilous than nothing.” —Andrew McCarthy

The BIG Lie: “I favor changing the Second Amendment. Yeah, repeal it. … You know who started the Second Amendment? It was southern senators so they could ward off slave uprisings.” —Larry King

Non Compos Mentis: “My armed guards aren’t killing children and don’t have semi automatic weapons.” —"comedian" Chelsea Handler

Victimitis: “I was really struck by how people said that to me — you know, mostly people in the press, for whatever reason — like, ‘Oh, you know, go away, go away.’ … They never said that to any man who was not elected. I was kind of struck by that.” —Hillary Clinton

Braying Jenny: “As I watched the first two episodes of the ‘Roseanne’ reboot48, I thought again about accountability. I laughed, yes, and enjoyed seeing the Conner family back on my screen. My first reaction was that the show was excellent. But I could not set aside what I know of Roseanne Barr and how toxic and dangerous her current public persona is. … This fictional family, and the show’s very real creator, are further normalizing Trump and his warped, harmful political ideologies.” —New York Times’ Roxane Gay

And last… “[Laura] Ingraham’s original tweet was so incredibly innocuous6 that I don’t believe any single human in the country was actually hurt or offended by it. This is all a charade. A game. We shouldn’t play it. I disagree with Ingraham’s comments, I think they were dumb and unnecessary, but if you claim the response is AT ALL proportional to the offense, that only shows you are a disingenuous opportunist.” —Matt Walsh

Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of Liberty, and for their families. We also humbly ask prayer for your Patriot team, that our mission would seed and encourage the spirit of Liberty in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis

Nate Jackson, Managing Editor
Mark Alexander, Publisher