The Patriot Post® · Another School Shooting
I was at the White House Friday morning for a meeting on prison reform when news broke about another school shooting.
According to the latest reports, at least eight people were killed at Santa Fe High School, in Santa Fe, Texas, a small town located between Houston and Galveston. Law enforcement officials report that the suspect is in custody and a second person is also being detained. Explosive devices have reportedly been found at the school and at another location.
Without knowing additional details, I hope conservatives and liberals can at least agree that we need armed guards at our schools. We guard banks. We guard museums. We guard government buildings, and public schools are government buildings.
An armed guard made a big difference earlier this week, and I do not understand why anyone would oppose having trained security guards at schools.
Please join Carol and me in praying for the families of the victims, the students of Santa Fe High School and the first responders. Our nation is in desperate need of prayer, a restoration of faith and respect for the sanctity of life.
Prison Reform Summit
Yesterday’s White House summit on prison reform was an amazing event. There are many individuals there representing faith-based organizations because we believe one of the best ways to help prisoners avoid recidivism is to help them find God. This, of course, was the great passion of my late friend Chuck Colson.
There were liberals there, like Van Jones who moderated a panel discussion at the event, along with conservatives like Secretary Rick Perry, Kellyanne Conway and myself. Vice President Mike Pence and President Trump addressed the summit.
There are many competing ideas when it comes to prison reform, and this is only the beginning. We will have to see what policies come out of yesterday’s summit. But this is an important issue. As the president noted in his remarks:
“More than one-third of former federal prison inmates and more than three-quarters of state prisoners will be rearrested again within five years. Nobody wins when former prisoners fail to adjust to life outside, or worse, end up back behind bars. We want former inmates to find a path to success so they can support their families and support their communities."
Gang Lives Matter?
Just when you think you’ve seen everything, along comes Nancy Pelosi.
As I noted in yesterday’s report, President Trump held a White House summit with California officials who are bravely fighting the state’s sanctuary law, which protects criminal illegal immigrants.
During his remarks, the president referred to MS-13 gang members as "animals.” Immediately, the media pounced. They said the president was referring to all illegal immigrants, but that was a deliberate lie. And it was so bad that some outlets grudgingly issued corrections.
But that didn’t stop Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi from piling on.
Schumer tweeted: “When all of our great-great-grandparents came to America they weren’t ‘animals,’ and these people aren’t either."
During a press conference Thursday, Nancy Pelosi said this:
"When the president of the United States says about undocumented immigrants, ‘These aren’t people, these are animals,’ you have to wonder: Does he not believe in the spark of divinity, the dignity and worth of every person?"
If Nancy is so concerned about the "spark of divinity” and the “dignity and worth of every person,” I suggest she look in the mirror and prayerfully reconsider her support for abortion on demand!
That these leaders are so eager to defend MS-13 gang members shows you how much the left-wing open-borders worldview dominates today’s Democrat Party.
“Gang Lives Matter” may as well be the Left’s slogan for the 2018 elections!
It wasn’t that long ago when the Democrat Party was the party of the working man. When it claimed to be the party of civil rights. When it was the party of JFK that would “bear any burden” to promote freedom and resist communism.
Good people can disagree about how to reach these goals, but at least they were noble causes.
Today, the party of Truman and JFK is moving further and further left. Avowed socialists are winning more and more Democrat primaries. But there’s more…
In recent days, left-wing leaders have sided with Iran over the president.
They have sided with Hamas over Israel.
They have sided with terrorists over the first woman nominated to lead the CIA.
Now they are siding with MS-13 gang members over the American people.
My friends, the stakes this November could not be greater.
Fighting for Life
Donald Trump ran for president as a pro-life candidate, and he is keeping a promise to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not funding abortion providers.
The White House announced Friday that it is issuing new regulations, modeled after a Reagan-era policy, that require “a bright line of physical as well as financial separation” in programs and facilities that receive Title X federal funding for family planning services.
If family planning clinics accepts taxpayer dollars, they cannot perform abortions or refer clients for abortions. Abortion is not family planning, and Donald Trump is ensuring that your tax dollars are not paying for the destruction of innocent lives.
The policy does not by itself defund Planned Parenthood. It could still receive public funding if its clinics do not perform or promote abortions. If Planned Parenthood clinics are not willing to meet that standard, they won’t qualify for Title X funding.
There will be legal challenges, but the Supreme Court has already ruled on this issue and found the regulation constitutional.
This is great news, my friends. But, here’s the real news: This president and vice president don’t give up.
They tried to defund Planned Parenthood through legislation, but it failed in the Senate because Republicans have such a slim majority. That didn’t stop them. They went back to the drawing board. Now they are putting forward an executive order that keeps us moving the ball down the field toward our goal.
Tax Cuts Work
Here’s more evidence that the Trump tax cuts are working to grow the economy. The National Association of Manufacturers released a survey this week. It found that:
72% of manufacturers were boosting workers’ pay and benefits as a result of the tax cuts.
77% were hiring more workers.
86% were investing in new equipment and facilities.
93% expressed optimism in the economy.