The Worrisome Decline of Patriotism in America

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. . .With nothing but bad news filling our screens in recent months, love of country has become anything but an article of faith. When Gallup first started asking Americans how proud they were of their country months before the 9/11 attacks, 87 percent claimed to be “extremely” or “very” proud and only 2 percent said they were only “a little proud” or “not at all” proud. Gallup recently released this year’s American-pride poll, and the results are concerning to say the least: The extremely/very proud cohort has fallen to an all-time low of 63 percent, while the only a little proud/not all proud group has swelled from 12 percent to 21 percent in the last year.

The media seized on the poll to — you guessed it — blame President Trump. The Washington Post ran an opinion piece with the headline, “Trump Promised National Pride. A New Poll Proves He’s Delivered National Shame.” CNN ran an analysis piece under the headline, “Proud to be an American? Not so much anymore.” The common thread in these and other pieces was that they sounded more triumphal than sad, as though the decline in patriotic sentiment was good because it reflected poorly on Trump. President Trump has undoubtedly caused many Americans to feel less patriotic, but the truth is that patriotism has been waning for years.

Love of country shouldn’t be a partisan issue, but the Gallup poll revealed that 88 percent of Republicans said they were very or extremely proud to be American, compared to just 42 percent of Democrats. College graduates, people of color, and young people were the least proud to be American, according to the survey. In March 2017, 43 percent of respondents in their twenties said they were extremely proud to be American. Today, that figure stands at just 20 percent.

We tend to take our beautiful country for granted, focusing on its problems rather than its blessings, but millions of aspiring migrants around the world understand what a comparatively excellent place to live America is. In 2018, more than 23 million foreign nationals applied to take part in our green-card lottery. Every country has its problems, and we certainly have our fair share. Freedom of speech is under attack here like never before. Discrimination is still a problem. But these are issues that are by no means unique to us. (Read more from “The Worrisome Decline of Patriotism in America” HERE)

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Senator Duckworth and Most of the Press Are Lying About Trump’s Speech

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Senator Tammy Duckworth says that, during his address at Mount Rushmore on Friday, President Trump “spent all his time talking about dead traitors.”

This is a flat-out lie. It is entirely untrue. It is invented from whole cloth. You can read the speech here and see for yourself.

. . .Trump’s two references to the Civil War came in passages praising Lincoln and condemning slavery.

Here is the first:

Abraham Lincoln, the savior of our union, was a self-taught country lawyer who grew up in a log cabin on the American frontier. The first Republican president, he rose to high office from obscurity based on a force and clarity of his anti-slavery convictions. Very, very strong convictions. He signed the law that built the Trans-Continental Railroad. He signed the Homestead Act given to some incredible scholars as simply defined ordinary citizens free land to settle anywhere in the American West, and he led the country through the darkest hours of American history, giving every ounce of strength that he had to ensure that government of the people, by the people and for the people did not perish from this earth. He served as commander in chief of the U.S. Armed Forces during our bloodiest war, the struggle that saved our union and extinguished the evil of slavery. Over 600,000 died in that war, more than 20, 000 were killed or wounded in a single day in Antietam. At Gettysburg 157 years ago, the Union bravely withstood an assault of nearly 15,000 men and threw back Pickett’s Charge. Lincoln won the Civil War. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation. He led the passage of the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery for all-time and ultimately his determination to preserve our nation and our union cost him his life. For as long as we live, Americans will uphold and revere the immortal memory of President Abraham Lincoln.

(Read more from “Senator Duckworth and Most of the Press Are Lying About Trump’s Speech” HERE)

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WATCH: Former NFL Player Gives Answer on ‘Black Lives Matter’ Hardly Anyone Saw Coming

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Retired NFL defensive end Marcellus Wiley may soon get a first-hand taste of just how intolerant the left is today, after the host of FOX Sports 1’s “Speak For Yourself” opted to explain why it’s a bad idea for the NBA to paint “Black Lives Matter” on the floor of basketball courts.

In an indication of just how much control prima donna millionaire players have in a league where better than 80% of the players are people of color — the demographics of season ticket holders is the flip side of that, with 85% being white — the NBA said this week social justice messages will be allowed on the backs of jerseys instead of the last names of players during the upcoming restart of the NBA season.

In addition, the NBA reportedly plans to paint “Black Lives Matter” on courts when the season resumes, and Wiley brilliantly articulated why that’s not a good idea.

“It’s not a good idea,” the former NFL player said. “I do want to give players credit for their flex to even get this to be more than an idea, but something that is going to be in reality. I give the players that.” . . .

“But there’s a problem when you start to go down this road of freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and how much social space is allowed for those who don’t support in that same space,” he said. “And that’s where I wonder where this is going to go in terms of identity politics.” (Read more from “WATCH: Former NFL Player Gives Answer on ‘Black Lives Matter’ Hardly Anyone Saw Coming” HERE)

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With Murders up 80 Percent Last Month, Chicago Braces for Violent Weekend

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In Chicago, there won’t be any fireworks at Navy Pier this year. The Lake Michigan beaches are closed, there are no ballgames, and “social distancing ambassadors” will be out to enforce the mayor’s edicts at any gathering anywhere.

What won’t be affected by the pandemic rules will be street violence. Chicago residents are bracing for the most violent weekend yet and city officials — including the police — are clueless about what to do to improve the situation. . .

Chicago Tribune:

Boosting the number of officers on the street is a tactic that was also a staple of warm-weather holiday crime-fighting efforts under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Asked about the lower number of cops on the street this year, Lightfoot said, “I think we’ve got the right number of people coupled with all the resources of our community partners, our other city agencies that are going to be out there and visible.”

(Read more from “With Murders up 80 Percent Last Month, Chicago Braces for Violent Weekend” HERE)

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Most States See Coronavirus Spikes as Holiday Approaches, Do You Live in the Hardest Hit Areas?

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Coronavirus infections rose in 40 out of 50 states heading into what will be a very different July Fourth weekend, as the virus continues to make a resurgence following weeks of nationwide containment measures that have been re-imposed in many areas amid the upswing.

In four states where outbreaks are the most severe — Arizona, California, Florida and Texas — more than 25,000 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed Thursday. Texas Gov, Greg Abbott, a Republican, ordered the wearing of masks in counties with 20 or more positive coronavirus cases.

He began one of the most aggressive reopening campaigns in May and COVID-19 hospitalizations have quadrupled in the Lone Star State since. . .

Nebraska and South Dakota are the only two states outside the Northeast to see a downward trend. Several Northeastern states have seen new infections decline, including New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Jersey. Officials in Colorado are watching nearby states where infections have increased.

Over the past two weeks, positive test results have doubled in Georgia, Kansas, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, South Carolina and Ohio, while tripling in Nevada. In Texas, the positivity rate soared from 8 percent to 14.5 percent in the same time period. (Read more from “Most States See Coronavirus Spikes as Holiday Approaches, Do You Live in the Hardest Hit Areas?” HERE)

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New Study Shows Drug Mocked by Trump’s Critics Helped COVID Patients

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Researchers at the Henry Ford Health System in Southeast Michigan have found that early administration of the drug hydroxychloroquine makes hospitalized patients substantially less likely to die.

The study, published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, determined that hydroxychloroquine provided a “66% hazard ratio reduction,” and hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin a 71 percent reduction, compared to neither treatment.

In-hospital mortality was 18.1 percent overall; 13.5 percent with just hydroxychloroquine, 22.4 percent with azithromycin alone, and 26.4 percent with neither drug. “Prospective trials are needed” for further review, the researchers note, even as they concluded: “In this multi-hospital assessment, when controlling for COVID-19 risk factors, treatment with hydroxychloroquine alone and in combination with azithromycin was associated with reduction in COVID-19 associated mortality.”

“Our results do differ from some other studies,” Dr. Marcus Zervos, who heads the hospital’s infectious diseases unit, said at a news conference. “What we think was important in ours … is that patients were treated early. For hydroxychloroquine to have a benefit, it needs to begin before the patients begin to suffer some of the severe immune reactions that patients can have with COVID.” (Read more from “New Study Shows Drug Mocked by Trump’s Critics Helped COVID Patients” HERE)

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Infectious Disease Specialist Issues Dire Warning About Florida

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An infectious disease specialist is warning that Florida is “heading a million miles an hours in the wrong direction” on its handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Right now, we are heading a million miles an hour in the wrong direction,” Dr. Aileen Marty, an expert who helped write Miami-Dade’s reopening rules, told “CBS This Morning.”

She added, however, that people are not properly following the rules and it’s playing a role in rising cases of COVID-19 in the area.

“It’s absolutely the saddest thing, the most unnecessary situation that we’re finding ourselves in,” Marty said. “And it’s behaviorally driven.”

Her warning comes as Florida recorded 10,109 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest single-day increase for the state. There are now more than 175,000 confirmed cases in Florida. (Read more from “Infectious Disease Specialist Issues Dire Warning About Florida” HERE)

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Epstein’s Ghislaine Maxwell’s Troubling Connections to Murkowski REVEALED; All the Places Maxwell Was Rumored to Be Laying Low

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Curiously, Jeffrey Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, is connected to Alaska and its troubled Senator, Lisa Murkowski. Alice Rogoff, perhaps Murkowski’s biggest political supporter second only to VECO’s convicted felon, CEO Bill Allen, was a close friend of Maxwell’s. The former publisher of the Anchorage Dispatch News and ex-wife of the Carlyle Group’s billionaire David Rubenstein attended many Alaskan events with Maxwell including the Iditarod. They were involved with Artic Circle events, and Maxwell was reportedly hiding out with one of Murkowski’s close associates just a few months ago.

Why Maxwell was so involved with Alaska and close associates of Alaska’s senior senator is anyone’s guess. And isn’t it strange that the former VECO CEO, Lisa Murkowski’s biggest donor source for years, was also apparently involved in child sex trafficking in Alaska? Many suspect that federal-informant Allen was using the underage girls to compromise Alaska legislators. Multiple state legislators, most (if not all) colleagues and friends of Lisa Murkowski, were ultimately convicted of bribery connected with the Bill Allen corruption scandal.

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Maxwell Arrested in New Hampshire Estate

By Fox Business. Ghislaine Maxwell was hiding out in a $1 million New Hampshire estate before authorities arrested her Thursday on charges of trafficking minors for sex and perjury, DailyMail.com reported.

Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein who’s accused of recruiting and grooming underage girls for abuse, was living in a luxurious home called Tuckedaway she bought last year near Bradford, New Hampshire, according to the report. The gated property sits on a hilltop up a steep dirt road.

The home and its secluded 156-acre property sold for $1.07 million in December, according to Zillow. The 4,635-square-foot timber frame home includes four bedrooms, four bathrooms and “is an amazing retreat for the nature lover who also wants total privacy,” according to former listing details.

The 2002-built home includes a large fireplace, cathedral ceiling and an open concept floorplan, according to the defunct listing. It’s got a ground floor master suite. There’s also a separate two-bedroom guest house “with a fabulous barn for hoedowns, square dances and hay rides.”

(Read more from “Jeffrey Epstein ‘Madam’ Ghislaine Maxwell Arrested” HERE)

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All the Places Ghislaine Maxwell Was Rumored to Be Laying Low

By New York Post. The reports of Ghislaine Maxwell’s whereabouts have been greatly exaggerated. . .

She was rumored to be shacking up with modeling mogul Jean-Luc Brunel in Brazil, as far off as New Zealand and Israel, and in March filed a legal claim in the US Virgin Islands for a piece of Epstein’s estate.

Rumors swirled that she popped up in Paris last month, and a photo emerged in August of her reportedly at a Los Angeles fast-food joint following Epstein’s arrest in July on federal sex trafficking charges in New York. . .

Britain’s Mirror said in February that a wild new theory suggested that Maxwell was hiding out in a submarine, reporting that she has a license to pilot “submersible vehicles.”

A friend of the socialite’s told Fox News in January that another rumored hideout — a safe house somewhere in the Midwest, guarded by US Special Forces operatives — was bogus. (Read more from “All the Places Ghislaine Maxwell Was Rumored to Be Laying Low” HERE)

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Activists Prepare to Storm DC in Independence Day Weekend Protests

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Protesters plan to storm Washington, D.C., over Independence Day weekend with protests and demonstrations.

Activists in the most high profile of these events plan to protest the Emancipation Memorial in Lincoln Park. The memorial, which leaders of the local collective the Freedom Neighborhood claimed they would topple last week, has become a subject of national interest, with many people making a case both for and against the statue.

Glenn Foster, the leader of the Freedom Neighborhood, has promoted multiple protests against the memorial set for the days surrounding the July 4 weekend. In some of his material, he celebrated the fact that on Tuesday the Boston Arts Commission voted to remove an identical copy of the statue, which depicts President Abraham Lincoln freeing the slave Archer Alexander, from public display.

“The job is almost finished! Let’s get it D.C.!” Foster wrote in reference to his efforts to remove the memorial.

The movement has received support from D.C. public officials. Shadow Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton on Thursday introduced legislation to have the statue removed from the park and placed in a museum. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said last week that she would be open to having a “reasonable conversation” about the statue’s future. (Read more from “Activists Prepare to Storm DC in Independence Day Weekend Protests” HERE)

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Asian Scholar Forced to Resign Over Study That Found Police Shootings Not Biased Against Blacks

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Michigan State University leaders have successfully pressured Stephen Hsu to resign from his position as vice president of research and innovation after the Graduate Employees Union launched a campaign to oust him from his role.

This came after the union, which represents teaching and research assistants, crawled through years of blog posts and interviews Hsu had conducted and criticized him for sharing content on genetic differences among different races.

But the main thrust to oust Hsu came because the professor touted Michigan State research that found police are not more likely to shoot African-Americans.

“The victory of the Twitter mob will likely have a chilling effect on academic freedom on campus,” Hsu told The College Fix via email.

The union had taken advantage of a Black Lives Matter-linked #ShutDownStem day on June 10 to help oust him. Hsu stepped down from his vice president role on June 19 after pressure from the union and the president of the university, Samuel Stanley. Hsu will stay on as a physics professor at Michigan State, however.

(Read more from “Asian Scholar Forced to Resign Over Study That Found Police Shootings Not Biased Against Blacks” HERE)

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