Day: March 25, 2017

Commentary: The Gorsuch Confirmation ‘Nuclear Option’ Deal Not Even the ‘Stupid Party’ is Dumb Enough to Take

Tennessee Star Staff

by Jeffrey A. Rendall March 25, 2017 Now that the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch are mercifully in the past attention turns to the inevitable upcoming votes on his nomination (Judiciary committee vote set for Monday, April 3 and full Senate on Friday, April 7). Naturally there’s a lot of speculation on which Democrats, if any, will reject a filibuster of Gorsuch and which might be convinced to support him in a final up or down vote. Whatever strategy the Democrats ultimately Trump Gorsuchadopt will determine the Republicans’ countermoves, since they’ll know if the so-called “nuclear option” needs to be used to eliminate a potential filibuster for current and future Court nominations. Or, as some suggested, there could be some sort of backroom “deal” in the works. Burgess Everett of Politico reports, “The deal Democrats would be most likely to pursue, the sources said, would be to allow confirmation of Gorsuch in exchange for a commitment from Republicans not to kill the filibuster for a subsequent vacancy during President Donald Trump’s term. The next high court opening could alter the balance of the court, and some Democrats privately argue that fight will be far more consequential than…

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Radical Progressive LGBT Activist Speaks at Middle Tennessee State University

Wendy Wilson
Tennessee Star

LGBT activist and attorney Urvashi Vaid railed against President Trump on Thursday while delivering a keynote address at a conference at Middle Tennessee State University. The “Creating Global Change” conference continues through Saturday and is hosted by MTSU’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program. The conference in Murfreesboro shows how even in red states like Tennessee, radical progressives have become mainstream in the halls of academia. Vaid criticized Trump for what she perceives to be his views on race, gender and LGBT issues. She said Trump “makes it acceptable to be racially divisive” and described the Trump administration and Republican Party as enemies in “an ideological battle that is going on in this country,” according to an article in MTSU Sidelines, the student newspaper. “The political agenda is very, very much about mass discrimination,” Vaid said. “State legislatures in this country are governed by people who are against liberty and justice for all.” Vaid spoke of the growth of the LGBT movement in recent decades, citing an increase in LGBT nonprofits from about 50 in 1969 to nearly 600 today. A native of India, Vaid is founder and president of The Vaid Group LLC. According to its website, the firm “advises socially engaged innovators…

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