The Patriot Post Digest 9-3-2018

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 9-3-2018
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Sep. 3, 2018 · https://patriotpost.us/digests/58018-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people, under the pretence of taking care of them, they must become happy.” —Thomas Jefferson (1802)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/58016-founders-quote-daily

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Observing Labor Day with a survey of good economic news.
McCain’s memorial service was cynically and grossly politicized.
Corporate gun control presents a clear and present danger.
The Rainbow Mafia claims another scalp — a spiked transgender study.
Daily Features: Top Headlines, Memes, Cartoons, Columnists, and Short Cuts.

IN BRIEF
Labor Day and the American Worker1

Nate Jackson

Today is Labor Day, and that means the “unofficial” end of summer on a day of celebration of the American worker. The holiday originated in the late 19th century and was born of the labor movement, though many Americans, led by President Grover Cleveland, pushed for and secured a September date to distinguish it from the socialist/communist “International Workers Day,” or “May Day,” on May 1. Labor Day was made an official federal holiday in 1894.

In any event, let’s take the opportunity to survey some good things happening in the American economy and for the workers we celebrate.

Last year, Republicans in Congress passed — without a single Democrat vote — major tax reform, allowing Americans of all stripes to keep more of their own money. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s administration has enacted an aggressive agenda of deregulation. In part as a result of these moves, the economy is now growing at better than 4%, the headline unemployment rate is now below 4% (including record-low unemployment for minorities), and median household income is up more than 4%. It’s no wonder consumer confidence is the highest in two decades and optimism among blue-collar laborers is soaring2.

Yes, we repeatedly highlight those numbers because the mainstream media would rather focus on Trump’s latest tweet or tiff. Why? Because a good economy is bad for Democrats3.

In fact, Trump’s very election is a response to bad Democrat policy that created the financial crisis of 2008. After eight long years of economic stagnation under Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton really didn’t even bother campaigning in the “Rust Belt” and called an awful lot of Americans — the ones most hurt by the Obama economy — backwards, pessimistic, and downright “deplorable.” On the other hand, Trump was telling American workers that he remembered them and wanted to help them. That has become a mutually beneficial relationship.

So keep in mind that things are looking up, and with that, a happy Labor Day to those Americans taking a break from laboring today!

https://patriotpost.us/articles/57999-labor-day-and-the-american-worker

Political Grandstanding at McCain’s Memorial Service4
Thomas Gallatin

On Saturday, the life of John McCain5 was memorialized. Personally chosen by the senator himself before he died, eulogies were given by the past two presidents, Barack Obama and George W. Bush. Both men were political opponents who defeated McCain in his two bids for the White House, so the fact that Obama and Bush were chosen could have provided a magnanimous moment where petty political grievances were subordinated to the greater importance of paying tribute to an individual who, for better or worse, lived a life of service to the nation he loved.

But sadly, there was no transcending the immediate political climate. This included the public slights via non-invitations of both President Donald Trump (granted, who wouldn’t have attended anyway) and, more surprisingly, McCain’s 2008 running mate, Sarah Palin. These were sad expressions of personal bitterness, either by McCain himself or his family, but worse, the needlessly contentious and self-righteous words spoken in McCain’s honor served only to taint the event with the spirit of political animosity.

It was clear that even though Trump was absent and his name never mentioned, his presence was heavy in the mind of several speakers. Obama obviously alluded to Trump when he said, “So much of our politics, our public life, our public discourse can seem small and mean and petty. Trafficking in bombast and insult and phony controversies and manufactured outrage. It’s a politics that pretends to be brave and tough, but in fact is born of fear. John called on us to be bigger than that — he called on us to be better than that.”

Bush also took the opportunity to offer not-so-veiled criticisms of Trump, stating, “[John McCain] respected the dignity inherent in every life — a dignity that does not stop at borders and cannot be erased by dictators. Perhaps above all, John detested the abuse of power. He could not abide bigots and swaggering despots. There was something deep inside him that made him stand up for the little guy — to speak for forgotten people in forgotten places. … If we are ever tempted to forget who we are, to grow weary of our cause, John’s voice will always come as a whisper over our shoulder: We are better than this. America is better than this.”

It is profoundly sad for our culture that this funeral remembrance of a public servant’s life boiled down to a myopic focus on grievances with another individual. That such cynical political grandstanding was approved by so many may signify that our society has lost something far more important than one senator. Who really “wins” in that scenario?

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58014-political-grandstanding-at-mccains-memorial-service

Top Headlines6

American Bar Association gives Kavanaugh unanimous “Well-Qualified” rating (National Review7)
With Kavanaugh on track for confirmation, Democrats regret triggering “nuclear option” (The Washington Times8)
Companies ramp up worker-retraining efforts as labor market tightens (The Wall Street Journal9)
Leftists circle the wagons, say Harvard never considered Elizabeth Warren as Native American in hiring process (Fox News10)
FBI arrests five New Mexico compound11 suspects days after multiple charges were dropped (Fox News12)
Warrant to spy on Carter Page obtained without FISA court hearings, DOJ filing reveals (CNS News13)
Police were told not to engage protesters who pulled down North Carolina Confederate statue (The Daily Wire14)
California abandons effort to forbid minors from receiving sexuality, gender counseling (Washington Examiner15)
Bill Clinton on stage with Louis Farrakhan for Aretha Franklin (Townhall16)
Humor: Ocasio-Cortez praises Venezuela for making everyone a millionaire through hyperinflation (The Babylon Bee17)
Policy: How our education system fails most students (Institute for Family Studies18)
Policy: School discipline policy belongs at the local level, not Washington (The Daily Signal19)
For more of today’s news, visit Patriot Headline Report20.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58017-monday-top-headlines

FEATURED ANALYSIS
Corporate Gun-Grabbers24

Arnold Ahlert

Last week during a town hall meeting in Texas, Ted Cruz elicited25 an exchange between one of his supporters and a backer of Democrat challenger Beto O'Rourke. Cruz began by saying, “On the Second Amendment—” only to be interrupted by a gun-rights supporter yelling, “Come and take it!” The apparent O'Rourke acolyte responded, “Oh, we will!” Ordinarily, an anecdotal exchange with a wannabe gun-grabber would be cause for amusement. But these are not ordinary times. Corporate fascism — as in gun-grabbing promoted as virtue-signaling — is on the rise.

Last March, Citigroup rolled out26 its “U.S. Commercial Firearms Policy.” It prohibits firearms sales to customers who haven’t passed a background check and are younger than 21. It also bars the sale of bump stocks and high-capacity magazines. These measures are applied to clients who offer Citigroup-backed credit cards, borrow money, use Citigroup’s banking services, or raise capital through the company.

A month later, Bank of America followed suit. “Bank of America will stop lending money to gun manufacturers that make military-inspired firearms for civilian use, such as the AR-15-style rifles that have been used in multiple mass shootings,” The New York Times reported27.

Really? From 1982 through June 2018, the number of mass shootings committed28 with handguns is more than the number committed by rifles and shotguns combined. Moreover, the term “military-inspired” is as meaningless29 as the Leftmedia-anointed misnomer “assault weapon30.” As always, leftists embrace propagandist vocabulary to advance their agenda.

[nChrist]

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The Patriot Post Digest 9-3-2018
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And who advanced the continuing existence of Citigroup and Bank of America? Following the financial meltdown in 2008, both banks received31 billions in taxpayer-funded bailouts, including money from staunch Second Amendment supporters. Perhaps that support should have been conditioned on a particular policy as well — like requiring resignations from the self-anointed “best and brightest” who brought the world’s entire financial system to its knees, for example.

By contrast, Wells Fargo has stood against the gun-grabbing tide. For that it was “rewarded” by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) cutting ties32 with the bank last April. AFT President Randi Weingarten insisted that “if Wells Fargo won’t value children and teachers above guns, we won’t do business with Wells Fargo.” The bank countered with a statement declaring it also wants communities and schools to be safe, “but changes to laws and regulations should be determined through a legislative process that gives the American public an opportunity to participate. We remain firm in our belief that the American public does not want banks to decide which legal products consumers can and cannot buy.”

Which mindset do Americans want the educational system to embrace: the one that capriciously determines which constitutionally guaranteed freedoms should be supported or despised, or the one that supports the right of American to make their own choices, absent corporate strong-arming?

Tragically, the former mindset prevails among the rank indoctrinators who masquerade as America’s educators.

Columnist Charles Cooke sees33 the bigger picture. “Once banks get accustomed to imposing political preconditions upon the disbursement of loans, there presumably will be no stopping them. What, I wonder, is to stop a newspaper editor from being told that his loan is contingent upon his board dropping certain positions?” he asks.

Nothing.

Cooke envisions three possible solutions, two of which require heavy lifting. First, deregulating the banking industry to make entities like Citigroup and Bank of America no different “than any other company competing in the marketplace,” he explains. Second, undertaking an effort to convince Congress that strong “political neutrality” rules must be added to existing bank regulations.

Third and likely most effective, filing lawsuits. While federal law and the Constitution have no prohibitions on age discrimination, nine states — Delaware, Louisiana, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Tennessee — along with the District of Columbia prohibit34 retailers from doing so. Three other states — Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia — do not allow individuals to file such suits, but allow the state’s attorney general or a parallel commission to do so.

Thus, companies like Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and others that raised35 the minimum gun-buying age to 21 will likely be ongoing targets. In March, 20-year-old Oregonian Tyler Watson filed suit36 against Walmart and Dick’s. An 18-year-old Michigan man has sued37 Dick’s as well. UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh characterized Dick’s failure to take anti-discrimination laws into account before announcing its policy as “an odd business decision.”

It may prove costly as well. Despite a strong economy, Dick’s sales were weaker due in part to its decision to “tighten its policy on gun sales after 17 people were killed in a February shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school,” The Wall Street Journal reported38 last Wednesday.

Hopefully, it’s the beginning of a trend, because this contemptible combination of political prostitution and corporate fascism is what “oh, we will!” is really all about.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58000-corporate-gun-grabbers

MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST

Brown University Caves to Rainbow Mafia39 — The Ivy League school pulls a study after receiving backlash from transgender activists.
Video: Why the Skills Gap and Job Shortage Persists40 — Mike Rowe discusses why the U.S. has so many job openings in fields like construction and manufacturing.
Video: Should We Ban ‘Hate Speech’?41 — Will Witt visits Playa Vista, home of YouTube Space, to find out whether it should be censored.
Video: The Importance of Uncomfortable Conversations42 — Uncensored author Zachary R. Wood explains why his generation is so scared of viewpoint diversity.

OPINION IN BRIEF

Gary Bauer43: “Given the left-wing mindset of Hollywood, I am always dubious about what it will do to the great moments of American history. So when I heard about the film ‘First Man,’ which is about Neil Armstrong’s historic moon landing, I grew concerned. And apparently with good reasons. Thursday we learned that producers left out of the film Armstrong’s planting of the American flag on the moon. Actor Ryan Gosling, who portrays Armstrong, was asked about the omission, and said, ‘I think this was widely regarded in the end as a human achievement [and] that’s how we chose to view it.’ Once again, we see that these left-wing elites view themselves as citizens of the world, and they are perfectly happy to rewrite history. Granted, Gosling and the film’s director are Canadians. It’s also true that Armstrong famously referred to his landing as ‘one giant leap for mankind.’ That was a symbol of America’s largess and intention to share the benefits of our research. But you have to ignore history to not know that the moon landing was a tremendously patriotic endeavor. The Soviet Union stunned the world when it put Sputnik into space 12 years earlier. America was in shock. A young president went on national television and declared that we would beat the Soviets to the moon. That is what a great country does. And every communist nation in the world got the message when they had to watch Neil Armstrong unfurl the American flag on the moon.”

SHORT CUTS

The Gipper: “I have a special reason for wanting to solve this [economic] problem in a lasting way. I was 21 and looking for work in 1932, one of the worst years of the Great Depression. And I can remember one bleak night in the thirties when my father learned on Christmas Eve that he’d lost his job. To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that’s a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again.”

Non Compos Mentis: “I pray a lot. I believe in the power of prayer and I think it is urgent. … [Kavanaugh] is a danger to affordable health care, women’s right to choose, any stare decisis — Brown v. the Board of Education, civil rights, voting rights, environmental protection and the rest. So, this is as serious as it gets.” —House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

Race bait: “Does anybody else hear that dog whistle? It’s kind of a bullhorn. [Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee Ron Desantis] actually said ‘monkey this up44.’ Sadly, it’s not even surprising anymore when one of President Trump’s supporters says something racially insensitive.” —CNN’s Don Lemon

Misgivings: “I put several ideas on the table. The president [Barack Obama] was not persuaded by my argument. I believed that we had several options we could have done at very low risk to be able to make it clear to [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad that when we had a cease fire and when he said he was going to live by it he had to live by it. And I thought we should have done that. … We paid a price for the way it played out without the red line being enforced by the bombing.” —John Kerry

Broken clock: “We’re the bottom of the barrel. We’re court jesters. Nothing we’re doing is noble. … You should never look at a comedian to be your philosopher.” —"comedian" Michelle Wolf

And last… “The contrast between the outpouring of love for McCain in his last days and the astonishing vitriol directed at him in 2000 and 2008 demonstrates once again how disingenuous, low, and cheap American politics were well before Trump came on the scene.” —David French

https://patriotpost.us/articles/58012-monday-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