Conservative leaders on Monday blasted a request by a pair of former top IRS officials for a court order to keep sealed their testimony related to the agency’s targeting scandal. Lois Lerner and her deputy Holly Paz cited fears for their personal safety in asking a federal judge last week to keep tapes and transcripts of…
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President Donald Trump’s administration will end a temporary quasi-amnesty program for almost 60,000 Haitians, but only after a long delay, senior officials said Monday. Officials speaking on condition of anonymity told reporters that Acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke had decided to end the program for victims of the 2010 Haitian earthquake but delay its implementation…
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Screenshot – Dale Jr It’s the end of an era. Dale Earnhardt Jr. handed his racing helmet over to team owner Rick Hendrick following his final lap at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 20, and thus ended his career behind the wheel. Watch the video Although Junior is part of a racing legacy with his dad, NASCAR…
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Supporters of allowing DACA recipients to remain permanently in the U.S. will hold a vigil this evening outside the Nashville offices of Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Bob Corker (R-TN) on West End Avenue. The vigil at 6:30 p.m. is organized by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) and JUMP (Jóvenes Unidos por un Mejor Presente, or Youth United for a Better Present). A similar vigil sponsored by TIRRC and the Memphis Youth Association will be held at City Hall in Memphis at 6 p.m. The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program was started by former President Obama with an executive order and granted illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children temporary permission to live and work in the U.S. if they met certain criteria. In September, President Trump rescinded DACA and turned the issue over to Congress to consider a legislative solution. Nearly 800,000 young people nationally have been granted DACA status and there currently are around 690,000 recipients, including more than 8,300 in Tennessee. Activists want Congress to pass a “clean” DACA bill granting residency without approval for the legislation being contingent on funding for a border wall and strengthened interior immigration enforcement, as President…
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Lift the Vote, a non-profit project that focuses on Christian voter engagement, is encouraging Christians throughout the Volunteer State and the country to support the “#RedWednesday” effort organized by two Christian organizations based in Great Britain that calls attention to persecuted Christians around the world by using the color red on Wednesday “as a symbol of Christian martyrdom.” As Breitbart News reported, “On 22 November, churches and public buildings around the world, including the houses of the British Parliament, will be lit up in red as a sign of solidarity with persecuted Christians across the globe,” adding: Numerous studies have shown that Christians are by far the most persecuted religious group in the world, with some 90,000 Christians killed for their faith in 2016 alone, while as many as 600 million were prevented from practicing their faith. The event known as #RedWednesday calls attention to the plight of Christians in hostile situations around the globe by using the color red to evoke the notion of Christian martyrdom. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a Catholic organization that assists persecuted Christians, has organized the event in conjunction with Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). “We are supporting this movement and encourage churches…
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Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall is seeking a fifth term as sheriff. A Democrat, Hall announced last week that he is preparing to run in the May 1 primary. The general election is Aug. 2. First elected sheriff in 2002, the Nashville native is currently serving his fourth consecutive four-year term. Before becoming sheriff, Hall was chief deputy for the sheriff’s department. Earlier this year, Hall opposed efforts by Metro Council to pass sanctuary city bills. Proponents of the legislation wanted the sheriff’s department to get court-approved warrants to detain illegal immigrants who come into contact with law enforcement instead of simply following procedures set forth by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The proposed legislation was withdrawn because of public protest and the opinion of Metro’s law director, who said that under state law, the council can’t stop the sheriff from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Hall has also drawn attention for his efforts to decriminalize mental illness. He oversaw the design of a behavioral care center that will sit next to the new downtown detention center. The center will be for people for whom it is deemed more beneficial to receive therapy than serve time in jail for misdemeanors. Both facilities are set…
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When it comes to the steps he takes to safeguard his marriage, Vice President Mike Pence can’t get a break. Not even after the recent flood of revelations about indecent behavior on the part of power players in Hollywood and Washington, D.C. In March, the Washington Post ran a profile of Pence’s wife, Karen, which recalled how Pence in 2002 told The Hill that he never eats alone with a woman other than his wife and won’t attend events with alcohol if she’s not with him. Both Pence and his wife are evangelical Christians. The Washington Post piece prompted a backlash, even among some evangelicals, who said Pence’s approach goes too far and insults women. Many conservatives are saying news stories this fall about entertainment figures and politicians behaving badly proves the wisdom of Pence’s rule. But not Katelyn Beaty, a Christianity Today editor who took Pence to task in an op-ed for the New York Times last week titled “A Christian Case Against the Pence Rule.” Beaty wrote: I know many Christians who keep some version of the rule. These men have good motives. Their stated intent – marital fidelity – is noble, and one that I respect. But the Pence rule is inadequate to…
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Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Little Rock audience over the weekend that her husband’s first White House bid was successful in large part because Fox News Channel did not exist. Bill Clinton, his wife, and long-time ally James Carville convened at the Clinton Foundation on Saturday night to celebrate the 25th anniversary of…
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Former President Bill Clinton continues to remain silent about the 26 flights he took aboard convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet, dubbed the “Lolita Express,” which reportedly offered underage girls to passengers to rape. Fox News wrote in 2016 that the Lolita Express, a Boeing 727 jet, was “reportedly outfitted with a bed where passengers…
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Democratic Minnesota Sen. Al Franken is not planning to resign amid allegations he groped and made unwanted sexual advances towards news anchor Leeann Tweeden. A spokesman for Franken told The Minneapolis Star-Tribune on Saturday that the senator was not going to resign, but the sexual assault claims have made him do “a lot of reflecting” on…
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If Congress moves forward with repealing Obamacare’s individual mandate through tax reform, it would likely not lead to the coverage losses that some of the program’s supporters tout. The Senate is currently proposing repealing the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that all Americans purchase health insurance or pay a penalty through its tax reform proposal, a proposal…
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by Jeffrey A. Rendall It may be a little hard to remember now, nearly ten months later, but the newly sworn in President Donald Trump created waves throughout the country when he introduced a little known federal judge from Colorado as the prospective replacement for the late legendary Justice Antonin Scalia at the end of January. Neil Gorsuch and his wife Marie Louise stood patiently behind President Trump as the announcement was made to the country. The Justice-to-be then delivered a brief but stirring tribute to the man whom he would succeed and promised, if confirmed, to do everything in his power to maintain Scalia’s tradition of upholding the original meaning of the Constitution. Because of his conservative textualist philosophy Gorsuch endured a grueling senate confirmation battle at the hands of the desperate Democrat opposition which ultimately ended in the slim Republican majority’s “nuking” of the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees, which then paved the way for the appeals court judge to elevate to the high court with 54 votes. It’s safe to say Gorsuch has not disappointed conservatives ever since, and many see the newest Supreme Court Justice as the most successful fulfillment of any of Donald Trump’s…
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CMA Country Christmas airs Monday, November 27th on ABC.
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Curtis Acosta, an activist and former high school teacher involved in promoting a controversial Mexican-American studies program in Tuscon, Arizona schools, will speak at Vanderbilt University Dec. 7. In 2010, in response to criticism of the instructional program, Arizona passed a law banning materials that promote overthrowing the U.S. government and inculcate racial resentment and ethnic solidarity. Most of the law was upheld by a federal judge when challenged. The case was appealed and went back to trial and in August the same judge ruled that the ban is racially discriminatory and violates students’ constitutional rights. “Acosta’s presentation will focus on that victory by examining the connection between the racist and dehumanizing policies in Arizona with the current national political climate that is affecting youth, people of color and other marginalized communities,” says a Vanderbilt University news release. The Tuscon Unified School District in 2012 dropped the Mexican-American studies program so as not to lose state funding. But controversy continued over instructional materials as educators pressed to teach the same themes as part of a “culturally relevant” curriculum. The Daily Caller reported that teachers received approval to use texts including “Occupied America,” “Message to Aztlan” and “Chicano!” There also was controversy over Rage Against the Machine’s “Take…
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