The Patriot Post Digest 8-29-2018

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-29-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Aug. 29, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/57934-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” —John Adams (1770)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/57930-founders-quote-daily

IN TODAY’S EDITION

No, there weren’t 240 school-shooting incidents in one year.
The charity-to-abortion funding pipeline goes through United Way.
Trump isn’t “presidential,” but that’s not what his voters want.
Army: Chaplain didn’t discriminate against homosexuals.
Bruce Ohr appears to confirm that the FBI abused FISA.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists, and Short Cuts.

IN BRIEF
Gov’t Grossly Inflates Stats on School Shootings1

Nate Jackson

We’re shocked — shocked — to note that the Leftmedia hyperventilation about the epidemic of school shootings is based on false information. Some might call it “fake news.”

Don’t take our word for it. After the U.S. Education Department released figures this spring indicating that “nearly 240 schools … reported at least 1 incident involving a school-related shooting” in the 2015-2016 school year, National Public Radio spent three months painstakingly trying to corroborate that report2. NPR “reached out to every one of those schools repeatedly over the course of three months and found that more than two-thirds of these reported incidents never happened.” In fact, NPR confirmed just 11 incidents, while 161 schools reported no such incident. Many school leaders “had little idea of how shootings got recorded for their schools.”

Granted, 240 schools represent just 0.2% of the nation’s 96,000 schools, and the incorrect data was due to simple human error in self-reporting by those schools, but such reporting is consequential when it comes to public policy. NRP explains:

This confusion comes at a time when the need for clear data on school violence has never been more pressing. Students around the country are heading back to school this month under a cloud of fear stemming from the most recent mass shootings in Parkland, [Florida], and Santa Fe, Texas.

At least 53 new school safety laws were passed in states in 2018. Districts are spending millions of dollars to “harden” schools with new security measures and equipment. A blue-ribbon federal school safety commission led by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is holding public events around the country, including one in Alabama Tuesday. Children are spending class time on active-shooter drills and their parents are buying bulletproof backpacks.

Back in February, we noted3 another study debunking the idea of an epidemic of school shootings. In fact, there are one-quarter as many school-shooting deaths now as in the early 1990s.

None of this is to minimize a single death at the hands of either a willful murderer or an accidental trigger-puller. Nor is it a reason to ignore behavioral red flags (as officials did4 in Parkland) or to ease up on school security. But when students are being used as pawns5 in a larger and strategic push for gun control, these numbers matter. And the Education Department’s numbers were roughly triple the already wildly exaggerated statistics of the anti-Second Amendment group Everytown for Gun Safety. Kudos to NPR for doing real journalism to correct the record.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57926-govt-grossly-inflates-stats-on-school-shootings

The Charity-to-Abortion Funding Pipeline6

Jordan Candler

Most people define charity as helping to buoy someone’s livelihood, not end it. Unfortunately, that’s not how all “charities” operate. United Way is one such philanthropic organization whose functions are sometimes profoundly antithetical to the moral convictions of those who offer financial assistance. Abortion, for example, is loosely but undeniably embedded in United Way’s mission.

The watchdog 2ndVote, which has chronicled United Way’s association with Planned Parenthood for several years now, recently presented new research. The group reports7, “Analysis of the most recent IRS Form 990 filings and other documentation found 62 United Way affiliates sent $2,756,799 to Planned Parenthood organizations in tax year 2016. 2ndVote’s latest findings indicate an increase of $168,806 from the $2,590,994 United Way funneled to Planned Parenthood in 2015.”

Executive Director Robert Kuykendall extrapolates the cruel implications: “According to Planned Parenthood, an abortion can cost up to $950. This means United Way dollars essentially paid for the equivalent of at least 2,901 Planned Parenthood abortions over the course of a single year.”

The 62 affiliates that help fill Planned Parenthood’s coffers are spread across 29 states. In a statement8, United Way exonerates itself by citing this “small number” along with their autonomy: “United Way Worldwide does not control funding decisions by local United Ways. … Out of 1,129 local United Ways in the United States, only a small number (less than 3 percent) provide direct support to Planned Parenthood. The amount of financial support represents less than one tenth of one percent of total United Way revenue.”

Regardless, the only acceptable amount of money United Way should be sending to Planned Parenthood is zero. This is a policy that corporate headquarters could easily implement but won’t. Furthermore, as 2ndVote responded, “Planned Parenthood donations are used to fund abortions, and each United Way dollar which goes to Planned Parenthood is responsible for the murder of an unborn child. Money is fungible, and any argument to the contrary is simply dishonest.”

Years ago, the Komen Foundation was similarly outed9 for its multimillion-dollar cash flow to Planned Parenthood. This not only is ironic, but there is absolutely no moral reason that charities should be bankrolling death. It’s also important that the moral-minded know exactly what their benevolence is funding and respond accordingly.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57908-the-charity-to-abortion-funding-pipeline

Top Headlines10

Arizona, Florida primary winners and losers (CBS News11)
Senate confirms seven more of Trump’s judges (The Washington Times12)
Boom! U.S. economy logs best performance in nearly four years (Reuters13)
Consumer confidence reaches 18-year high (National Review14)
Trump at 36% approval among blacks (USA Today15)
After Mexico deal16, Canada rejoins NAFTA talks (Reuters17)
Trump readies $6 billion bailout for farmers harmed by Trump tariffs (Reason18)
Chicago Cardinal Cupich: The pope has more important stuff to talk about than sex abuse19, like climate change and immigration (Hot Air20)
Humor: Trump secures unlimited chips and salsa in Mexican trade deal (The Babylon Bee21)
Good News: 600 homes repaired, 26 million meals served and thousands helped through NFL star JJ Watt’s relief fund (WTMJ Milwaukee22)
Policy: Hurrah for Trump’s new friendship with Mexico (Washington Examiner23)
Policy: The public-pension party must end (National Review24)
For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report25.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57933-wednesday-top-headlines

FEATURED ANALYSIS
Trump Will Change for No One29

Louis DeBroux

The recent furor over President Donald Trump’s muted response to the death of John McCain30 last weekend offers renewed insight into the mind of Trump, as well as evidence as to why, despite nearly universally negative coverage by the press, Trump remains as popular as ever with his base. Moreover, he’s gaining support among independents31 and even blacks15.

Donald Trump was not elected to be presidential. America elected the real-estate tycoon/reality-TV star not because they expected the niceties, decorum, and political correctness that are the stock-in-trade of the DC establishment. He was elected to be a political neutron bomb detonated in the heart of the Swamp.

Rhetorically and stylistically, Trump is the anti-Reagan. Whereas Ronald Reagan was gracious even to his harshest critics, using a folksy humor to counter their attacks, Trump is a street-brawler with a sledge hammer who leaves no attack unanswered.

This blue-collar-billionaire style infuriates the political and Hollywood elites, but endears him to the millions of Americans in “flyover country” who are routinely mocked and dismissed by elites — which is why no scandal, real or imagined, has been able to dent his core support.

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The Patriot Post Digest 8-29-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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With McCain’s passing, Trump did the bare minimum32 to recognize the event. That’s because McCain, the epitome of the Washington establishment, loathed Trump, and the feeling was mutual.

Trump received enormous criticism for his initial response33 to the senator’s passing. Instead of an official statement, he merely tweeted, “My deepest sympathies and respect go out to the family of Senator John McCain. Our hearts and prayers are with you!” Respectful, not effusive, but with the history of feuding between the two, everyone read between the lines. Trump reportedly told advisers he did not want to lavish praise on McCain because everyone would recognize it was not genuine.

After all, it was McCain who infamously and spitefully to Trump cast the deciding (and promise-breaking) vote against34 the Republican effort to repeal ObamaCare — an effort McCain himself campaigned on. It was also McCain who said of a 2016 Trump rally in Phoenix that Trump had “fired up the crazies.” It was in response to that jab that Trump commented about liking people who “weren’t captured.”

The fires were stoked when the White House returned its flag to full staff after only a day and a half at half-mast (as per official protocol35). Enormous pressure to re-lower the flag came from Republicans, veterans groups, and even Democrats like Rep. John Lewis (who now says McCain was a “warrior for peace,” a stark reversal of his 2008 comments36 about then-Republican presidential nominee McCain, who Lewis claimed was fostering an “atmosphere of hate” and “hostility” like the one that led to a 1963 black church bombing by white supremacists). Soon, Trump issued a proclamation33 re-lowering the flag to half-staff, stating, “Despite our differences on policy and politics, I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country and, in his honor, have signed a proclamation to fly the flag of the United States at half-staff until the day of his interment.”

This is the essence of Trump: He heaps superlatives on his friends (or those he is trying to win over), while firing rhetorically brutal and often just plain nasty rebukes to his opponents.

This shunning of cultural norms and presidential courtesies has made him an easy target for his critics37. Trump often creates public relations problems38 for himself with his relentless attacks when a kind word or an ignored slight would win points.

But Trump revels in the role of outcast and pariah. His supporters see every attack on him by the elites as evidence that he is their champion. And if they have to choose between a nice guy who gets steamrolled by the Left and a bare-knuckles brawler who conquers the deep state, well, that’s not even a close call.

After all, the media and Democrats have, since the nomination of Trump, lamented the “good old days” when Republicans nominated nice, respectable men like Bob Dole, John McCain, and Mitt Romney (who couldn’t be more bland and inoffensive if he was a vanilla bean). Yet when these men ran for president, Democrats still accused them of being racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, rich (and for the rich) white guys.

At 72 years old, it is highly unlikely Trump will change. His relentless, bombastic, hard-charging personality made him one of the world’s richest and most famous men. It helped him dispatch 16 highly qualified candidates in the 2016 Republican presidential field. And it helped him achieve one of the most shocking upsets in American political history when he destroyed the Clinton political machine and won an election that, even on Election Day, many pundits and pollsters gave him less than a 10% chance of winning.

In the end, despite his abrasive style and often uncouth rhetoric, Trump has had a remarkable record of success39 in his first year and a half as president. So we can be appalled at his demeanor or we can accept him for what he is — a street fighter doing whatever it takes to restore American greatness.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57925-trump-will-change-for-no-one

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Ohr Appears to Confirm That FBI Abused FISA40 — His testimony further clarifies what the DOJ knew about the Steele dossier and when they knew it.
Army: Chaplain Didn’t Discriminate Against Homosexuals41 — He faced “dereliction of duty” charges over his refusal to facilitate a homosexual marriage retreat.
Video: These Students Know More Than Politicians42 — Politicians condemn price gougers, but students explain why “gouging” is good.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Walter Williams: “Aside from diseases, there is the greater threat of welcoming to our shores people who have utter contempt for Western values and want to import anti-Western values to our country, such as genital mutilation, honor killings and the oppression of women. Many libertarian types make the argument that we would benefit from open borders when it comes to both people and goods. That vision ignores the important fact that when we import, say, tomatoes from Mexico, as opposed to people, to the U.S., they are not going to demand that we supply them with welfare benefits. The bottom line is that we Americans have a right to decide who enters our country and under what conditions. If we forgo that right, we cease to be a sovereign nation. But that may not be important to some Americans.”

SHORT CUTS

Insight: “A democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.” —Thomas Sowell

Upright: “The ballot box is one of the mightiest platforms we have. Use it or lose it.” —Michelle Malkin

Lamentations of a squish: “Not a chance today. … This is the president’s party much to my consternation.” —Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) asked if he could win reelection

Non Compos Mentis: “Let’s be clear also about what’s going on here. The theme here is ‘I’m Donald Trump and I’ll protect you from the scary black people.’ Antifa is widely perceived as an African-American organization and this is just part of the same story of LeBron James and Don Lemon and Maxine Waters and the NFL players and the UCLA basketball players.” —CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin, who apparently thinks that because antifa members dress in black that they are black

Alpha Jackass: “The pope has a bigger agenda. He’s got to get on with other things, of talking about the environment and protecting migrants and carrying on the work of the church. We’re not going to go down a rabbit hole on [sexual abuse].” —Cardinal Blaise Cupich

Wrong: “At the very least, just common sense would tell you we ought a have a law that is a comprehensive universal background check in the acquisition or purchase of a gun. That would have caught [the Pulse Nightclub assailant]. A comprehensive background check may have caught some of the mental health problems of the killer in the high school in Parkland because he had not been adjudicated mentally incompetent.” —Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) (Both perpetrators passed background checks43.)

And last… “Lanny Davis says he was a source in an unsourced CNN story which lied by saying Lanny refused to comment for the story, but which Lanny later apologized for lying about on TV, but trust us with all the facts with Dan Rather up next on CNN’s ‘Reliable Sources.’” —Twitter satirist @hale_razor

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57928-wednesday-short-cuts

Join our editors and staff 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