Day: June 14, 2018

Is Your Representative Playing In The Congressional Baseball Game?

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Congressional baseball game group photo

by Evie Fordham   Sixty members of Congress will take the field for the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity on Thursday night in Washington, D.C. Click here to find the complete roster. Twenty-four Democrats and 36 Republicans will face each other at Nationals Park. Notable politicians playing include Republicans Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rep. Mia Love of Utah and, of course, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Scalise was shot when a gunman opened fire at a Republican congressional baseball practice in 2017. Five people were wounded, and Scalise was hospitalized for months, undergoing multiple surgeries after being shot in the hip. He will be the starting second baseman for a team hoping to earn victory over the Democrats, who beat the Republicans 11-2 in 2017. The game is available to watch on Facebook Live; the first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Eastern time. The congressional baseball game offers Republicans and Democrats a chance to cross party lines for a good cause. The event will support charities like The Washington Literacy Center, The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington and the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation. – – – Evie Fordham is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Evie on Twitter @eviefordham.            …

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Tennessee Department of Education Announces Testing Changes

Tennessee Star Staff
McQueen

The Tennessee Department of Education announced at a noon press conference on Thursday several changes to the state TNReady test that teachers, administrators and superintendents have been asking the state to make, the Professional Educators said in a statement released on Thursday. “Among the changes include rebidding the testing contract, refining the current Questar contract, revising timeline for online testing, and engaging more teachers. These steps complement additional actions already in the works, including eliminating two TNReady end-of-course exams, eliminating the March stand-alone field test for the next two years, simplifying and streamlining test administration, bringing in a third party to perform an independent review of Questar’s technological capabilities, improving customer service, and engaging dozens of additional Tennessee teachers, content experts, and testing coordinators to look at every part of our state testing program,” the statement said. You can read the rest of the statement here: Dale Lynch from the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents and JC Bowman from Professional Educators of Tennessee were in attendance at the announcement. Both praised the Tennessee Department of Education for taking proactive steps to address the issue. Bowman added: “Leadership collects input from those on the ground, makes the process better for all, and then…

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Corker Throws Hissy Fit Over Trump On Senate Floor

John Bryant
Bob Corker

One might like to say outgoing Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was in rare, or unusual form in the Senate today; unfortunately, his anti-Trump’s tirades are increasingly the norm for the diminutive senator, as opposed to the exception, as CNN reports. Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker accused his party of cowering before President Donald Trump in an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. In an animated exchange, Corker — who was trying to get a vote on an amendment as part of an ongoing debate over the Senate’s defense bill — argued that Republicans were blocking his trade proposal because they were afraid of Trump and what he might do to the party if they upset him in an election year. “We might poke the bear!” said Corker, who is retiring at the end of his term. “My gosh, if the President gets upset with us we might not be in the majority,” he said referring to sentiments he often hears from colleagues. Corker has worked for the last week to try to get a vote on his amendment that would roll back Trump’s trade authority and give Congress the power to check the President’s ability to impose tariffs on…

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Carol Swain Commentary: Facts, Myths, and the Rewritten History of the Left, as Tweeted By Princeton’s Kevin Kruse

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Carol Swain

by Dr. Carol Swain   Princeton Professor Kevin Kruse’s May 7, Twitter streamed attack on one of my Prager University videos (“Why did the Democratic South become Republican?”) comes at a time when some blacks in America are beginning to question the Democratic Party’s history and intentions. The attack also comes at a time when Prager University has a pending appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court challenging Google for selectively demonetizing about 50 of its conservative YouTube videos. So much is at stake for the Democratic Party, that the Prager videos have caused the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center to cite the Twitter stream in a fresh attack on Prager University for its ability to reach millions with its five-minute videos. The Left often coordinates its attacks in a manner meant to discredit and discourage inquiry. Professor Kruse’s criticism deserves a response and so do Prager University subscribers.  After carefully reviewing his data and its claims, I stand behind the substantive message of my Prager University video. I will, however, concede the need to make a small correction about the date of President Eisenhower’s deployment of the 101st Airborne to Little Rock Arkansas to enforce desegregation, the deployment of troops…

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Reps. Jordan and Meadows Rebuke DOJ DAG Rosentein’s Threats of Investigation, Call for Resolution by Full House to Demand ‘Russia Probe’ Documents

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Jeff Sessions, Jim Jordan

The House of Representatives and the Department of Justice are locked in a high-stakes game of demands, threats, and the exercise of power as the DOJ continues to buck the House’s constitutional right of oversight over its operations put in place by the Framers 242 years ago. At issue are DOJ records demanded by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes in connection with the FBI informant that was used to spy on several Trump campaign advisers. The Committee Chairman and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein have argued over the production of DOJ documents related to the so-called “Steele dossier” as well as the FBI and Justice Department’s applications for secret surveillance warrants (FISA warrants) against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. In the latest explosive exchange by the Justice Department, Rosenstein threatened to use the powers of the Department of Justice (the FBI) to investigate the individual lawmakers and their staff who he feels have cast aspersions on him and his character in response to his steadfast refusal to comply with document requests, demands, and subpoenas. Fox News’ Catherine Herrige broke the story Tuesday: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to “subpoena” emails, phone records and other documents from lawmakers and staff on a Republican-led…

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The Meaning of the Stars and Stripes

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House with flag

by Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02)   “What are you doing to celebrate Flag Day?” It’s a question you probably won’t hear in the checkout line at the grocery store or around the dinner table with friends this week. That’s because, unlike other hallmark holidays of summertime—Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day—Flag Day isn’t always celebrated with grand gestures, gatherings, or parades. More often it passes by with perfunctory commemorations at best. At worst, it is all but forgotten. Yet it wasn’t meant to be that way. When Congress approved and President Harry Truman signed the national observance of Flag Day into law on June 14, 1949, it was for an important reason: “It is our custom to observe June 14 each year with ceremonies designed not only to commemorate the birth of our flag,” Truman said, “but also to rededicate ourselves to the ideals for which it stands. This beloved emblem, which flies above all our people of whatever creed or race, signalizes our respect for human rights and the protection such rights are afforded under our form of government.” [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a…

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White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow Home After ‘Very Mild’ Heart Attack

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Larry Kudlow

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday that President Trump’s Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow was released from the hospital after suffering a heart attack. Voice of America reported Sanders said that, according to doctors, Kudlow’s recovery was “going very well” and that Trump and his aides “look forward to seeing him back to work soon.” As reported by several media outlets Monday, including The Tennessee Star, the world learned of Larry Kudlow’s medial emergency from President Trump himself, literally minutes before his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Our Great Larry Kudlow, who has been working so hard on trade and the economy, has just suffered a heart attack. He is now in Walter Reed Medical Center. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2018 The White House released a brief statement Tuesday updating Americans on the popular advisor’s condition: National Economic Council Director and Assistant to the President Larry Kudlow is expected to remain at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as a standard precaution after experiencing what his doctors say was a very mild heart attack yesterday. His doctors expect Larry will make a full and speedy recovery. We look forward to seeing him back at work…

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Tennessee’s Zealous Barber Licensing Board Sued for ‘Irrelevant Requirements’

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Elias Zarate

Those looking for a swifter path to becoming a barber in Tennessee just might find relief. The Tennessee Board of Cosmetology and Barbers Examiners is under fire for what twenty-five year-old Elias Zarate is calling “irrelevant requirements” associated with obtaining a Barber license – namely, a high school diploma. Born and raised in Texas, as a young boy Elias Zarate lost both parents as a result of a car accident. His mother died in the crash, and his father – in the US illegally – was deported after recovering from his substantial injuries. Elias went to school and worked to support his two younger siblings, but ultimately quit in the 11th grade to work full time. “After so many years of hard, grueling work to provide for others, Elias thought he had made it,” the Beacon Center of Tennessee wrote in an article about the would-be barber, adding: He was finally able to work in a field that he cared about and had a talent for, and he was able to earn good money doing it Life, it seemed, was coming together. State officials quickly tore his dream apart. Elias was shut down shortly after he got started. He was subjected…

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Corker: GOP Becoming Cult-Like Hints Trump’s Not a Republican; Rep Gaetz Responds: Get Over It, Bob

John Bryant
Bob Corker, Matt Gaetz

Not content with his recent meltdown on the Senate floor, outgoing Tennessee Senator Bob Corker unleashed on President Trump and the GOP again to reporters on Wednesday. GOP Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) warned on Wednesday that members of his party are becoming “cult-like” in their support of President Trump, pointing to leadership’s unwillingness to challenge the White House on tariffs. “We are in a strange place. I mean, it’s almost, it’s becoming a cultish thing, isn’t it? And it’s not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation as it relates to a president that happens to be of — purportedly, of the same party,” Corker told reporters. Pressed on whether he feels Republicans are currently in a “cult-like situation,” Corker acknowledged that there are some GOP lawmakers who stand up to Trump and it would be “unfair to try to say” that “about every member.” “[But] is leadership in general not wishing to poke the bear? Absolutely, because it’s all about the next election, right?” said Corker, who is retiring after 2018. Watch Corker’s remarks: The increasingly unpopular Corker, who likely had no chance of winning the GOP nomination to run for Senate again…

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Tennessee Jobs Now Demands Diane Black Repay Taxpayers for Missed Votes

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Diane Black

TN Jobs Now  is calling on Congresswoman Diane Black (R-6) to reimburse taxpayers $31,320.00 for her failure to show up for work and has submitted an invoice on behalf of taxpayers to her office requesting payment to the Bureau of Fiscal Service. That amount represents 36% of Black’s $87,000 congressional salary for the first half of the year. The Tennessean reported Wednesday that Black had missed 36% of the votes in the House during the time period from January 1 – June 8 this year, although the story also acknowledged that the votes missed passed by wide margins and that Black’s vote would not have affected any of the outcomes. TN Jobs Now spokesman David Carney said: “Black likes to say she ‘fights for what’s right,’ but she can’t fight for us when she doesn’t even bother to get in the ring. Regular, hardworking Tennesseans who skipped work 36% of the time would get fired and not expect a promotion like Diane Black is seeking.” TN Jobs Now has submitted an invoice to Diane Black, payable to U.S. taxpayers, for $31,320, representing 36% of her $87,000 congressional salary for the first half of the year. “An honest caretaker of our tax…

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Trump Assails OPEC for High Oil Prices

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oil fields

U.S. President Donald Trump says oil prices are too high and blames the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The 14 oil-producing nations in OPEC — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Venezuela among them — produce about 40 percent of the world’s oil, but about 60 percent of the oil traded on international markets. OPEC’s actions, whether to cut or increase production, often heavily influence the price of oil, and by extension the prices consumers and businesses pay for fuel. OPEC’s oil chiefs struck a deal in 2016 to cut production by 1.8 million barrels a day to reduce the global glut of oil and shore up prices. Since then, oil prices have risen from below $30 a barrel to more than $70. But that rollback in production is set to expire at the end of the year. OPEC has yet to set new production levels beyond that, but the cartel’s oil ministers are meeting again next week in Vienna. Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh said in April that the global market can absorb higher oil prices, a remark that drew a swift rebuke from Trump. “With record amounts of oil all over the place, including the fully loaded…

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Commentary: The Looming Amnesty Disaster For Republicans

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Trump, Ryan

by CHQ Staff   Our friend Rachel Bovard, writing for American Greatness, has updated us on the progress of the Republican establishment’s pre-election amnesty plans and for conservatives whose baseline is “no amnesty” it looks like a very intense battle is brewing. Ms. Bovard reports that after last Thursday’s two-hour House Republican Conference meeting: Proponents of the discharge petition—nearly all House Democrats and more than 20 House Republicans—remain confident they will have the requisite number of signers to force the votes they want. Speaker Ryan, however, is still scrambling to come up with a compromise legislative solution that avoids losing control of the floor to the discharge process. Setting the complicated procedural matters aside, either outcome is bad news for those who prioritize national sovereignty and border security. Members either will have to vote on the discharge petition’s series of amnesty bills or, absent that, Ryan’s consensus proposal, which is likely to be amnesty-lite with negligible border security. As we, and Ms. Bovard, have reported in the past, since taking down the farm bill over the immigration issue last month, members of the House Freedom Caucus and other border-security conscious Republicans have been negotiating for legislation that includes work permits for the 700,000 recipients of…

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Memphis, Knoxville Among Worst Cities, USA TODAY Says of Towns It Calls Home

Jason M. Reynolds
Memphis

Media giant Gannett has compiled a list of what it says are the 50 worst cities to live in, and some of the top locations are towns where it operates newspapers, including two in Tennessee. USA TODAY compiled the list using data from 24/7 Wall Street, a website that publishes financial news and opinion. 24/7 Wall Street created an index of eight categories: crime, economy, education, environment, health, housing, infrastructure and leisure, to identify the 50 cities. Memphis comes in as the 4th worst city in which to live, just ahead of Cleveland, Ohio, at 5th worst. The 36th worst is Knoxville. Gannett owns The Knoxville News-Sentinel and The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. Nashville, home of The Tennessean, did not make the list. USA TODAY admits that quality of life is a subjective measure. “Quality of life is subjective, and difficult to measure,” Gannett’s story says. “Still, there is a wide range of quantifiable factors that can impact quality of life in a given area. Affordability, safety, job market strength, quality of education, infrastructure, average commute times, air quality, and the presence of cultural attractions are just a few examples of factors that can influence overall quality of life. “Cities…

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