A federal judge Tuesday sided with the Trump administration in a dispute over control of a federal consumer agency, denying a temporary restraining order to halt President Trump’s pick for acting director. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly rejected a request by Leandra English, an employee who claimed to be acting director at the Consumer Financial Protection…
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A group of progressive Christian theologians last week released a document called the Boston Declaration that calls on followers of Jesus to fight “poverty, economic exploitation, racism, sexism, and all forms of oppression.” Initial signatories included a handful of faculty members from the Vanderbilt Divinity School. While most of the signers were from liberal institutions, there also were several representing evangelical ones, including Wheaton College, Baylor University, Azusa Pacific University and Seattle Pacific University. The declaration was issued Nov. 20 at a meeting in Boston of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. The document took aim at evangelical Christians and political conservatives. “Many Evangelical Christians have embraced the politics of exclusion and hatred, such that the Good News of Jesus has become cover for a social and economic order that can only be understood as bad news for many,” said the Rev. Dr. Peter Goodwin Heltzel of the New York Theological Seminary in a news release. “Responding to Jesus’ courageous call to love ‘the least of these,’ we pray for the conversion of the converted.” The declaration denounced “white privilege,” lamented “national boundaries that make our worries about security a pretext for destroying the lives of others,” and…
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Sen. Richard Durbin said Sunday that fellow Democratic Sen. Al Franken has acted responsibly in his reaction to allegations of sexual assault by several women. “Al Franken has acknowledged what he has done is wrong,” Mr. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, told CNN, noting that Mr. Franken has submitted his case to the ethics committee. “Let’s have a…
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On Sunday, four Tennessee state representatives took to Twitter to criticize Greg Schiano and call for the University of Tennessee to not hire the former Rutgers coach. Our Tennessee standards mean something, and a Greg Schiano hire would be anathema to all that our University and our community stand for. I sincerely hope that these rumors…
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UPDATE 7:40 pm central Monday “The memorandum of understanding signed between Greg Schiano and University of Tennessee athletic director John Currie for Schiano to be Tennessee’s next head football coach was not signed by the university chancellor, chancellor’s office spokesperson Ryan Robinson told ESPN,” ESPN reported late Monday, adding: Lawyers on both sides are expected to argue whether it’s still a binding legal document and whether Schiano is owed any compensation without the signature of Tennessee chancellor Beverly Davenport, who released a statement about the hiring fiasco Monday, saying, “I deeply regret the events of yesterday for everyone involved.” Currie, in his first year as Tennessee’s athletic director, signed Schiano to a memorandum of understanding on Sunday. A plane was waiting in Columbus, Ohio, to bring Schiano to Tennessee that night and introduce him as the Volunteers’ coach. But Tennessee backed out of the memorandum of understanding following outrage by fans and state politicians when news broke that the Vols were finalizing a deal with Schiano, who’s in his second year as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator. Memorandums of understanding are formal records of the understanding between the coach and the school as to the terms and conditions under which the…
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Sen. Al Franken said he’s open to making the findings of his ethics committee investigation public on Monday, addressing reporters on Capitol Hill for the first time since facing a number of sexual harassment allegations. “I have not worked with the ethics committee before, so I don’t know how that works, but I am certainly open…
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President Donald Trump has faced tough sledding in persuading uncooperative countries to take their citizens back after they’ve been ordered to be deported from the U.S. The Trump administration announced in September that it would on four small countries that have thwarted U.S. efforts to deport citizens from their nations. Representatives from the State Department and…
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On Thanksgiving Day, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention tweeted its support for a new evangelical group calling for Christians to embrace young illegal immigrants. Voices of Christian Dreamers claims to be grassroots, but in reality is the creation of powerful immigration activists. “As we celebrate Thanksgiving, this group of Christian Dreamers shares why they’re thankful,” said the ERLC tweet, which included a link to a video produced by the group. As we celebrate Thanksgiving, this group of Christian Dreamers shares why they’re thankful. Watch here: https://t.co/RnUqmaNF47 https://t.co/4sqOPIIDv4 — ERLC (@ERLC) November 23, 2017 ERLC President Russell Moore has frequently been criticized by conservatives for his support of progressive immigration policies. The ERLC is the Southern Baptists’ public policy arm and has offices in Washington, D.C., and Nashville. Voices of Christian Dreamers describes itself on its website as “a grassroots, Dreamers-led movement committed to changing the conversation about undocumented immigrants in the Church and beyond, through highlighting biblical teaching, personal stories and other helpful resources.” Its website explains: Dreamers—a term derived from the DREAM Act, a bill that has been repeatedly introduced but never yet passed into law—are individuals brought into the U.S. as children…
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W hence goeth that Yellow Dog? Once upon a time, even a Yellow Dog could get elected in places like Alabama – so long as he was a Democrat. That dog done run off and nowadays a Democrat can’t hardly win, even when running against an accused pedophile. The accusations leveled against Alabama Judge Roy Moore…
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Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and liberal mega-donor, told CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday that President Donald Trump should be impeached as soon as possible. The San Francisco-based mega donor financed a nationwide ad campaign urging Trump’s removal from office by Congress for a variety of alleged offenses, including collusion with Russia during the…
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Pilot Flying J held training sessions to instruct employees on defrauding trucking companies of promised diesel fuel rebates, according to a secret recording played for jurors last week and covered by the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Four former employees of the truck stop chain are on trial in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga in connection with the scheme. A total of 18 former employees were charged in the scheme and 14 pleaded guilty. CEO Jimmy Haslam, brother of Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and owner of the Cleveland Browns football team, has denied knowledge of the fraud and has not been charged, although a recording played for jurors earlier this month indicated he did know about it and endorsed it. Former sales director Vincent Greco was wired by investigators to make secret recordings, including of training sessions. The recording played in court last week featured a conversation between former vice president of sales Scott Wombold, one of the four currently on trial, and Jason Holland, an employee who was being introduced to the fraud scheme and expressing discomfort with it. The Knoxville News-Sentinel reports: Wombold suggested that if Holland wasn’t comfortable lying, he could instead be vague with his trucking firm customers. He used an…
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Robert Mueller, special counsel overseeing the investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election, is a “gruff guy” who routinely undermined his subordinates and evaded responsibility as head of the FBI, according to several former aides and investigators who worked with Mueller interviewed by the Los Angeles Times. In a lengthy profile published on…
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