The Patriot Post® · Monday Top News Executive Summary

Above the Fold

SAUDIS ATTACKED: “U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday the United States was ‘locked and loaded’ for a potential response to the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, after a senior U.S. administration official said Iran was to blame. Trump also authorized the use of the U.S. emergency oil stockpile to ensure stable supplies after the attack, which shut 5% of world production and sent crude prices soaring more than 19% in early trade on Monday, before moderating to show a 10% gain.” (Reuters)

FAKE NEWS: “The New York Times suddenly made a major revision to a supposed bombshell piece late Sunday concerning a resurfaced allegation of sexual assault by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh — hours after virtually all 2020 Democratic presidential candidates had cited the original article as a reason to impeach Kavanaugh. The update included the significant detail that several friends of the alleged victim said she did not recall the purported sexual assault in question at all. The Times also stated for the first time that the alleged victim refused to be interviewed, and has made no comment about the episode.” (Fox News)

Business & Economy

AUW STRIKE: “More than 49,000 members of the United Auto Workers walked off General Motors factory floors or set up picket lines early Monday as contract talks with the company deteriorated into a strike. Workers shut down 33 manufacturing plants in nine states across the U.S., as well as 22 parts distribution warehouses. It wasn’t clear how long the walkout would last, with the union saying GM has budged little in months of talks while GM said it made substantial offers including higher wages and factory investments.” (Associated Press)

PURDUE PHARMA BANKRUPTCY: “Purdue Pharma, the drug manufacturer accused of triggering the nation’s epidemic of opioid addiction through its sale of the profitable but highly addictive painkiller OxyContin, filed for bankruptcy Sunday. The Chapter 11 filing is expected to lead to the ultimate demise of a company that sold a fraction of the opioid prescriptions in the United States but nonetheless is most closely identified with the epidemic because of its pioneering role in the sale of narcotic pain pills.” (The Washington Post)

Government & Politics

GUN-CONTROL TALKS: “President Donald Trump talked on the phone with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Sunday morning as pressure mounted for Congress to act on gun control. In a statement released Sunday afternoon, Schumer and Pelosi said they told Trump that any gun control package that did not include the background check legislation passed earlier this year by the House would ‘not get the job done.’ … They promised Trump a ‘historic signing ceremony at the Rose Garden’ if he endorsed the legislation and had Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell act on the legislation.” (USA Today)

EMOLUMENTS-CLAUSE LAWSUIT REVIVED: “A federal appeals court on Friday breathed new life into a lawsuit that claims the financial relationship between President Trump’s properties and foreign officials violates the Constitution, ruling that a lower court had erred in dismissing the suit. By a two-to-one vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected the lower court’s 2017 ruling, which had dismissed the case brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). CREW’s suit alleges that foreign governments’ patronage of Trump’s businesses violates the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which prohibits federal officials from receiving benefits from foreign governments without Congress’s consent.” (National Review)

Culture & Heartland

ANOTHER JUSSIE SMOLLETT: “Former NFL star Edawn Coughman was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of vandalizing his own restaurants. … Police alleged that Coughman scrawled ‘MAGA’ and racial epithets on the walls of his businesses, alleging that he was trying to collect on an insurance scam by staging a hate crime.” (Washington Examiner)

STOMACH-CHURNING “Family members discovered 2,246 medically preserved fetal remains on the property of an abortion doctor who passed away on Sept. 3, authorities said Friday. … Klopfer, who died at 75, reportedly performed 30,000 abortions since 1974, according to Heavy. The Indiana Medical Licensing Board indefinitely suspended Klopfer’s medical license in August 2016, NBC affiliate WNDU reported.” (The Daily Caller)

Closing Arguments

POLICY: Trillion-dollar deficits don’t make America great (The Daily Signal)

POLICY: The myth that the polar bear population is declining (Foundation for Economic Education)

SATIRE: In surprise 5-4 ruling, Supreme Court holds that Second Amendment requires mandatory gun ownership (IMAO)

For more of today’s editors’ choice headlines, visit In Our Sights.

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