n a sit-down Saturday with Xi Jinping, President Trump backed off his tough talk against China for not doing enough to rein in North Korea. He even heaped praise on the Chinese president. “I appreciate the things that you have done relative to the very substantial problem that we all face in North Korea, a problem…
Read the full story
The mainstream media and liberal politicians sought to reignite Russian collusion hysteria over the weekend after news surfaced President Donald Trump’s son and son-in-law met with a Russian lawyer shortly after Trump clinched the Republican presidential nomination in the summer of 2016. On June 6, 2016, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner — the president’s son-in-law…test
Read the full story
Pope Francis warned against “dangerous alliances” among world leaders that threaten migrants and the world’s poor — an extremely odd and unfortunate statement for the pontiff to make given the gay orgy scandal and other sexual abuse issues that have hit the Vatican. “This is why the G-20 worries me,” said the pope. “It mainly hits…
Read the full story
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus denied Sunday that President Trump accepted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s claim at the G20 summit that the Kremlin did not meddle in last year’s U.S. election. “The president absolutely did not believe the denial of President Putin,” Mr. Priebus told “Fox News Sunday.” However, Mr. Priebus reissued the White…
Read the full story
Sen. Ted Cruz said Sunday that Senate Republicans face a “rocky path” toward replacing Obamacare but can navigate through it if they focus on regulating insurance and driving down premiums. “I think we’re making real progress. In my view, failure is not an option,” Mr. Cruz, Texas Republican, told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” Mr. Cruz is…
Read the full story
This is the eleventh of twenty-five weekly articles in The Tennessee Star’s Constitution Series. Students in grades 8 through 12 can sign up here to participate in The Tennessee Star’s Constitution Bee, which will be held on September 23. A remarkable aspect of the Constitution of the United States is that since its ratification in 1789 the American people have, for the most part, viewed it as a covenant agreement between themselves and the national government. It is a powerful document not simply because of the words it contains, but because the people have freely chosen to be governed by those words. Words written a parchment or typed into an I-phone have no impact unless they are accepted within a common belief system. This why “the rule of law,” particularly as it has developed here in the United States, is so central to the development and growth of a vibrant and dynamic society where individual freedom flourishes. In America, we call this freedom “constitutional liberty.” But, as Ronald Reagan famously said, “freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” The Founders knew this, and recently a Chinese-born English scholar who resides in America expressed in very…
Read the full story
Despite trying to use hands-contorted-into-hearts to try and soften the radical opposition of the progressive left’s “Indivisible” campaign, Conexion Americas’ “Indivisible” organizing is no different than any of the other self-identified “Indivisible” groups that have formed to resist President Trump’s agenda for America. A number of left wing Nashville political figures, including Mayor Megan Barry, have posed for photos with Renata Soto, co-founder and director of Conexion Americas, displaying the “hands-contorted-into-hearts” sign. Last week, Conexion’s Gini Pupo-Walker, senior director of education policy and strategic growth, told The Tennessee Star that “[w]e didn’t know there would be other groups using the same word.” However, looking at Conexion’s twitter promotion of other “Indivisible”groups, the Indivisible Guide itself, and alignment by Conexion on key issues included in The Guide, strongly suggest otherwise. Conexion Americas director Soto has stated publicly that “[w]e at Conexion Americas have launched a campaign called #Indivisible” using a hashtag of a Twitter site which promotes the original Indivisible Guide and Indivisible groups scattered across the country. On December 10, 2016, Soto, issued a public invitation to join her Indivisible campaign. Four days later, a link to the Indivisible Guide, written by former Congressional staffers, was tweeted out. Angel Padilla an Indivisible Guide author, was an immigration policy consultant at National Council of La Raza (La Raza) in 2014. After leaving…
Read the full story
VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing July 10, Monday Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
Read the full story
OMAHA – Sen. Joni Ernst led a charity motorcycle ride Saturday in Iowa, one day after a Nebraska man was arrested for threatening to kill her at the fundraiser. Robert William Simet, 64, of Omaha was taken into custody Friday after telling employees at Loess Hills Harley-Davidson in Pacific Junction, Iowa, that “everybody in the government…
Read the full story
The U.S. and Russia struck a deal for a cease-fire in southwest Syria, according to reports, marking a major breakthrough in the six-year civil war as President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their first face-to-face meeting. Details were sketchy but the cease-fire was scheduled to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, The Associated…
Read the full story
U.S. bombers, jointly with South Korean forces, have conducted rare, live-fire drills near the border with North Korea, according to the South Korean military. The South Korean military said in a statement that the drill was designed to “sternly respond to the series of North Korea’s ballistic missile launches.” The military said two U.S. B-1B Lancers,…
Read the full story
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Friday hit back at Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer for labeling his latest health proposal a “hoax,” saying Democrats made a series of promises about their signature health program that have fallen flat. “Chuck Schumer knows a lot about healthcare hoaxes – because the real hoax is the one…
Read the full story
Two days into his second trip abroad, President Donald Trump has proven that the United States is back to lead the world, Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday night in an interview on Fox News. “I think what the world saw [in Warsaw] today is what we see everyday in this President, and that is unapologetic…
Read the full story
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Cory Booker asked state officials to reject any request from President Donald Trump’s voter fraud commission for information about New Jersey voter rolls. He said comments by Robert Giles, director of New Jersey’s division of elections, didn’t go far enough. “I am alarmed by the purpose of this commission: to look into…
Read the full story
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that he thinks he convinced President Trump that Russia did not interfere in the U.S. presidential election. Russian meddling in the election was the first thing Mr. Trump bought up when he two leaders had their first face-to-face meeting Friday, and Mr. Putin repeated his denials that Moscow was involved.…
Read the full story
by Jeffrey A. Rendall If you polled a hundred Americans at random and asked what they considered to be President Donald Trump’s greatest accomplishment during his first half-year in office, the responses might look a little like this: “He appointed a great cabinet;” “He reduced illegal immigration by over half;” “He battled the media and won;” “He fired James Comey;” “He met the Pope;” “He got us out of the Paris accord;” “He signed a ton of executive orders that help American businesses,” and, “Not a darn thing, he’s been awful.” The last response would originate from the roughly half of the electorate who can’t stand Trump and aren’t paying attention to anything he does but are still all too willing to believe the Democrats’ gripes on how the country is going straight down the tubes because he’s now the president. But where conservatives are concerned, likely the most numerous response would be, “He appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.” Many a post-election survey listed Supreme Court appointments as a crucial factor in the decision to vote for Trump or Hillary Clinton, so it would hardly be surprising if folks assigned an oversized importance to Gorsuch’s presence now.…
Read the full story
If Rep. John J. “Jimmy” Duncan (R-TN-02) is looking over his shoulder, he may see Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett gaining ground. A recent report by The Nashville Post that “Over the past decade Rep. Duncan has doled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to his two sons, his niece, his son-in-law, his daughter-in-law and his sister for campaign work,” is fueling talks of a primary challenge to the 15 term Republican Congressman by Burchett, who is term limited at his current job as Knox County Mayor. Over $300,000 of those funds have been paid to a firm called “American Public Strategies.” “If you look at the FEC filings, you won’t see any salary payments made out to John Duncan III after 2013. That’s because since November 2013, the younger Duncan has been getting paid under the aegis of ‘American Public Strategies.’ However, no business entity named American Public Strategies is registered with the state. The address for payments to the entity has been consistent with Rep. Duncan’s two campaign offices during the past four years, and currently payments are addressed to a house on Nubbin Ridge Road in Knoxville — the only house owned by the younger Duncan,”…
Read the full story
VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing July 9, Sunday Isaiah 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Jeremiah 29:11-13 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Read the full story
A pro-abortion group has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Louisiana laws that require abortion centers to obtain a state license and meet health and safety regulations, reports WORLD magazine. The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights filed a lawsuit June 27 in federal court in Baton Rouge on behalf of Hope Medical Group for Women in Shreveport and three anonymous abortionists who say the Louisiana laws violate last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. The ruling determined that an undue burden on abortion access was created by a Texas law that required abortion centers to meet ambulatory surgical center standards and mandated that abortionists have hospital admitting privileges The state suspended Hope Medical Group’s license for numerous health and safety violations in 2010. Benjamin Clapper, executive director of the Louisiana Right to Life Federation, told WORLD the Louisiana law is “common sense” and that if the lawsuit is successful, it would create an “abortion-on-demand policy in our pro-life state.” “If the abortion facility succeeds in this suit, the consequences would be disastrous,” Clapper said. “Abortion facilities would have no guidelines in Louisiana, giving them license to maximize both their profit margin and do whatever necessary to increase the number of abortions they…
Read the full story
President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin sat down for their first face-to-face meeting Friday for highly anticipated talks that Mr. Trump said were “going well,” even as both leaders looked to project power and cooperation to audiences at home and around the globe. “President Putin and I have been discussing various things, and I think…
Read the full story
ConservativeHQ.com Staff President Trump’s tweets seem to have the same effect on the political dead and the dead legacy media that errant comets have on the movie dead – awakening them to assume a zombie state in which they are compelled to stalk the earth to feast on brains and destroy civilization. The President’s recent twitter fusillade against CNN has been hashed over so many times that its entertainment and educational value have been so diminished that it is hardly worth mentioning. But the reaction of the political dead – especially virtue-signaling alleged Republicans is worth reviewing. Politically dead Ohio Gov. John Kasich criticized President Trump’s use of Twitter last Saturday, saying Trump’s tweets are “unacceptable.” “You know it’s unfortunate, and people are now begging the president not to do this, and, you know, he ought to stop doing it, and we’ll have to see what happens. It’s one of the few things that I think brought Republicans and Democrats together. They spend so much time fighting and then they’re all aghast, you know, and so it’s just not the way we ought to be. The coarseness is not acceptable,” Kasich told ABC’s Martha Raddatz. That Kasich, who was…
Read the full story
Emails purporting to show former Attorney General Loretta Lynch assuring Democratic operatives that the FBI would limit its investigation into the 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton are not authentic, a spokesman for Ms. Lynch told Congress late Thursday. “Those communications did not take place,” Robert Raben said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which…
Read the full story
Undercover federal agents successfully snuck drugs and explosives past security screeners at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport last week, according to the local Fox affiliate. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) conducted the test last Thursday by sending agents disguised as ordinary passengers into the airport in order to see if screeners were up to snuff, KMSP reported.…
Read the full story
President Trump has confronted “an unprecedented wave of potentially damaging leaks of information that threaten national security” since taking office, at the pace of a damaging leak a day, a congressional survey has found. Shining a spotlight on an aspect of the Russian hacking probe that Mr. Trump’s defenders say has received far too little attention,…
Read the full story
The news media continues to snipe at the White House. But there’s some Trump triumph as well. First lady Melania Trump is earning accolades for her grace on the global stage this week. Yes, an admiring press chronicles every fabulous ensemble she wears down to the last fashion detail. But they also are applauding Mrs. Trump’s…
Read the full story
The White House will collect and store the mass of voter data President Trump’s new integrity commission is seeking, the panel’s vice chairman said Thursday in a court filing meant to try to defuse a lawsuit seeking to derail the commission’s work. Kris W. Kobach, the vice chairman and also secretary of state in Kansas, also…
Read the full story
Opposition is growing against Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s plans to open Fort Negley Park to private development. Part of Fort Negley Park was home to Greer Stadium from the late 1970s until 2015, when the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team moved to a new stadium just north of downtown. Barry has accepted a proposal from a development team called Cloud Hill Partnership, but Metro has not yet formally entered into an agreement. Plans for the Metro-owned property call for including affordable housing for workers, shops and restaurants, green space and creative spaces for artists. Under the proposed deal, Metro would retain ownership, with the development team investing private funds and sharing revenue. Critics include African-American groups, Councilman John Cooper, a national nonprofit devoted to protecting cultural landscapes and many native Nashvillians. “They shouldn’t even be considering this,” Nashville native Doug Jones told The Tennessee Star Friday. “That is sacred ground out there.” Jones, a local attorney, is a past president of the Battle of Nashville Preservation Society. He told The Star that Ft. Negley Park is a site of national importance and that “this is not just some local thing that the mayor can do in a back room…
Read the full story
VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing July 8, Saturday Jeremiah 23:1-4 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.”
Read the full story
President Trump’s nominee for FBI director led the Justice Department’s criminal division when 9/11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui pleaded guilty, and served as a personal attorney for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie during the “Bridgegate” scandal. But when asked to name the 10 most significant cases he’s litigated, Christopher Wray put the prosecution of former Atlanta Braves…
Read the full story
A Huntsville, Alabama man arrested on a terrorism charge last month told people he wanted to practice beheadings and was learning how to make an explosive device to bomb public buildings, a prosecutor said in court this week. Aziz Sayyed, 22, downloaded ISIS beheading videos in February and in April obtained plywood that he allegedly used to practice knife skills for beheadings, said Madison County Assistant District Attorney Jay Town at a bond hearing Wednesday. According to WHNT News 19, Town also said Sayyed made statements he watched videos to learn how to make an explosive similar to the one used in the May 22 attack at the Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in England, which killed 22 people and injured more than 200. The prosecution alleges in court filings that Sayyed admitted he wanted to plant explosives in Madison County public buildings and had specific plans to bomb a law enforcement center in Huntsville. Authorities said materials to make bombs were found in his apartment after his arrest. Investigators said after his arrest that Sayyed is a U.S. citizen born in North Carolina. His arrest came after a tip from a citizen. A Madison County judge is still considering whether…
Read the full story
Dear Tennessee Star, Memorial Day picnics and Independence Day fireworks are behind us. Veterans Day looms. Summer is a season where we celebrate our heritage and reflect on the human cost of American freedom. But no thanks to unscrupulous politicians, a citizenry anesthetized with amusements, and perilous memes like “Diversity Is Our Strength,” Americans seem confused on the difference between patriotism and its mischievous twin, nationalism. Elbowing to the forefront and shrieking ever louder is the red-headed stepchild, Insurrection.The nationalist admires America for being “the most powerful nation on earth,” where national pride is contingent on military might and economic supremacy. Patriots love their country for its historical virtues, not for its prowess in drone-bombing Yemen or manipulation of global markets. Patriots are willing, within reason, to tolerate China in the South China Sea and Russia in Syria, respecting the fact that rival civilizations have intrinsic spheres of influence. Patriots observe Syria’s location on the map (i.e. in Russia’s backyard,) ponder the region’s ancient Sunni-Shiite animosities, and wonder how an Arab civil war is relevant to American security. Nationalists figure Syria is just one in a series of sovereign nations where we can waltz in, unprovoked, regardless of historic animosities,…
Read the full story
President Trump tweeted Friday that many at the G-20 summit in Germany were talking about the hacking at the Democratic National Committee. “Everyone here is talking about why John Podesta refused to give the DNC server to the FBI and the CIA. Disgraceful!” Mr. Trump tweeted. Mr. Podesta was Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager for…
Read the full story
One week after he formally announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Congress in the Sixth Congressional District, State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) is already running at full speed. The August 2018 Republican primary is still more than a year off, but Matheny is not wasting a minute of his time. On Friday, his campaign announced that in the first seven days since his announcement he has traveled more than 500 miles throughout the Sixth Congressional District. The district is currently represented by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06), who is considered to be a likely candidate for the Republican nomination for governor. When he announced on June 30, Matheny made it clear that he was running for the Sixth Congressional District seat whether or not Black chooses to run for governor. “During my 8 terms as a TN Representative, I have learned the value and necessity of planning ahead for important decisions and missions. As a candidate for the next District 6 Congressional Leader, I will continue to work hard and communicate with the voters, for their interests,” Matheny said in a statement released by his campaign on Friday. His statement included his very busy schedule of campaign appearances throughout…
Read the full story
President Trump’s recent tweet containing an altered video of himself assaulting CNN personified is officially his most retweeted post since joining Twitter in 2009, a company spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. The controversial clip was retweeted more than 340,000 times since being shared by the president’s personal Twitter account Sunday morning, a Twitter spokesperson told The Associated Press…
Read the full story
After helping to launch The Tennessee Star as an investigative reporter on the Legislative Plaza beat, Kevin Baigert is moving on to use his political connections, activist skills, and business acumen as the Executive Director of the new Roving Patriots PAC. “For years, Tennesseans have saved, worked, and sacrificed in hopes of securing a bright future for their children and grand children. Tennesseans, have long awaited the day that we would become the shining city on the hill that President Reagan spoke of ,” Kevin Baigert said in a Facebook video announcing the new group, in which he appeared with his wife, Laura. He added: Today, marks the beginning of the end for the elitist rule in Tennessee. We will fight to ensure that the voices of everyday Tennesseans are heard. Roving Patriots will be watching our elected officials, we will be in their districts informing their constituents and we will be holding them accountable. Roving Patriots PAC seems to have struck a quick chord with Middle Tennesseans. Although it was formally announced on Independence Day, already, their Facebook page has garnered over 300 likes, and the announcement video has been viewed nearly 4,000 times. Learn more about the Roving Patriots…
Read the full story
There were some tense moments toward the end of the Independence Day fireworks display at Nissan Stadium Tuesday, as at least one shell fell, landing in the upper decks before exploding, TitansInsider.com reports. “It took place toward the end of the show,” Lansden Hill told TitansInsider.com. “The shells are supposed to go off in the air, but this one came back down and didn’t go off until it landed in the upper deck. Hill is the owner of Pyro Shows, which has been doing the fireworks show in Nashville for thirty years. “It was just one of those things that will occasionally happen,” Hill said. “That’s why the fire code requires that we keep the crowd a certain area away from it. We know out of every 1,000 shells not all of them are going to work right.” TitansInsider.com reported: The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp confirmed that the damage had taken place to the stadium and that the extent of that damage was still be assessed. Personnel from the NCVC was on hand at the site around 3 p.m. Wednesday to begin assessing the damage. The firework shell hit on the west side of the upper deck of…
Read the full story
A Pakistani family under criminal investigation by the U.S. Capitol Police for abusing their access to the House of Representatives information technology system may have engaged in myriad other questionable schemes besides allegedly placing “ghost employees” on the congressional payroll. Imran Awan, his wife Hina, and brothers Abid and Jamal collectively netted more than $4 million…
Read the full story
President Trump voiced a clear commitment Thursday to NATO’s “Article 5” principle of common defense, reassuring nervous Europeans who had worried about his support for the alliance. Speaking to a huge crowd in Poland, Mr. Trump said Europeans should never question the U.S. commitment to NATO. “The United States has demonstrated not merely with words but…
Read the full story
The Tenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” Can you list an irrefutable positive consequence on the academic performance of school children in the United States as a direct result of the involvement of the federal government since the creation of the United States Department of Education?
Read the full story
It is perhaps the key piece of forensic evidence in Russia’s suspected efforts to sway the November presidential election, but federal investigators have yet to get their hands on the hacked computer server that handled email from the Democratic National Committee. Indeed, the only cybersecurity specialists who have taken a look at the server are from…
Read the full story
Young men are working less and playing video games more, according to a National Bureau of Economic Research study published Monday. Men ages 21 to 30 years old worked 12 percent fewer hours in 2015 than they did in 2000, the economists found. Around 15 percent of young men worked zero weeks in 2015, a rate…
Read the full story
Professor John Banzhaf of George Washington University Law School says there is an “urgent” need to launch “White Middle Class Studies” to understand President Donald Trump’s supporters. Thursday’s International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities in London will feature Mr. Banzhaf’s plan for figuring out why many reporters and academics failed to understand Mr. Trump’s…
Read the full story
Metro Nashville Public Schools recently held its annual Social Emotional Learning Conference to promote practices that well-known education scholar Chester Finn has called “faux psychology.” The seventh annual conference, co-sponsored by the behavioral health team at Alignment Nashville, was held June 29 and 30 at Cane Ridge High School. More than 800 educators, experts and community members were expected to attend. According to the Alignment Nashville website, social-emotional learning (or SEL) has “core competencies” which “include self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making and relationship skills.” In a May press release, the school district said it is gaining a national reputation for its commitment to social-emotional learning. The district has a partnership with CASEL, a Chicago-based nonprofit devoted to helping schools implement social-emotional learning. Writing in Education Week on June 19, Finn equated social-emotional learning with the self-esteem fad that originated in California in the 1980s. Finn is president emeritus of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and a former assistant U.S. secretary of education. In his piece, he wrote: Today, few people talk explicitly about self-esteem or other kooky curricular enthusiasms of the past, but the worldview and faux psychology that impelled them have never gone away. Of late, they’ve reappeared—and gained remarkable traction—under the banner of…
Read the full story
VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing July 7, Friday Acts 18:9-10 And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.”
Read the full story
For God did not make Death. He takes no pleasure in destroying the living. —The Book of Wisdom 1:13 I have a good friend who often tells people he is going to live forever. I think he believes it. Stranger, I think I believe it. Not just that he could possibly live forever, but that any human being can potentially live forever, or at the least, significantly longer than the average person is living today. According to the Bible, God created Adam and Eve without sin and therefore with the ability to live forever. God gave them all they needed for eternal life in the Garden; but He warned them not to eat fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or they would die, as would all their descendants. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. –Genesis 2:17 KJV The serpent convinced Eve that not only would they not die if they ate the fruit, but to the contrary… …your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil….…
Read the full story
President Donald Trump told Poland that its people and country are the heart and soul of Europe in an address rich with history that celebrated the heritage of western civilization Thursday. “Poland is the geographic heart of Europe, but more importantly, in the Polish people, we see the soul of Europe,” said Trump, speaking to thousands…
Read the full story
Sixty-four Republican lawmakers sent a letter Friday asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions to reaffirm the constitutional prohibition against religious tests for public office. Led by Rep. Mark Walker of North Carolina and Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma, the memo is a response to questions raised by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Vermont Independent, at a hearing last month…
Read the full story
Fifteen years ago, I would have suggested a tinfoil hat for anyone who believed in the deep state. But recent events have made me rethink my diagnosis. The term “deep state” intimates a conspiracy somewhere in the woodshed. But it’s basically two or more people who get together and agree on something bad. In the case…
Read the full story
The new mayor of Jackson, Mississippi who has promised to make Jackson “the most radical city on the planet” was sworn into office on Monday. Chokwe Antar Lumumba’s victory is being lauded by progressives who are trying to remake the South in their image. While President Trump won big in the South, progressives are posing challenges to conservatives, especially in urban areas. Lumumba has described a radical as someone who works to change troubling circumstances and has cited Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus Christ as examples. One of the places where he made his vow was at the left-wing People’s Summit in Chicago last month, according to The Clarion-Ledger. The summit promoted “social, racial and economic justice” and was sponsored by National Nurses United and other progressive groups. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders was the keynote speaker. The causes addressed included voting rights, free higher education, “climate justice,” and ending deportations of illegal immigrants. Lumumba, who says he is sometimes mistaken for a Muslim but is a Christian, received 55 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, trouncing the incumbent mayor. He won 93 percent of the vote in the general election. Lumumba’s Detroit-born father was elected mayor of Jackson in 2013 but died after less…
Read the full story
A 2017 analysis of labor force participation rates using the government’s Current Population Survey (CPS) data for Tennessee, shows that: immigrants (legal and illegal) accounted for all of the net increase in the number of working-age (16-65) people holding a job in Tennessee between the first quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2017 – even though the native-born accounted for 77 percent of growth among the total working-age population. Prior analysis indicates that 30 percent to 40 percent of immigrants in Tennessee are in the country illegally. Of the 229,000 immigrants in the state working, 70,000 to 90,000 are likely to be illegal immigrants. Not much has changed from when the article Who Got the Jobs in Tennessee?, was published by the Center for Immigration Studies in 2014: All of Tennessee’s employment growth since 2000 has gone to immigrants, yet natives accounted for two-thirds of population growth. Reference to “immigrants” in both the 2014 and updated 2017 analyses include both legal and illegal entrants. Both reviews used CPS survey data which is collected by the federal government and is considered “the nation’s primary source of information on the labor market.” This data measures the percentage of the population that is…
Read the full story