Day: July 18, 2018

SEIU Endorses La Raza Affiliate Conexion Americas’ Education Policy Director For Nashville School Board

Chris Alto
Gini Pupo-Walker

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 205 has endorsed Gini Pupo-Walker for the Metro Nashville School Board: ‘Gini has extensive experience in the school system and outside of it and will bring great leadership and professionalism to the board,’ said SEIU member Lilldeus Russell, a paraprofessional in MNPS. ‘She has consistently been an advocate for equity in our schools and we need more voices like that on the board.’ Pupo-Walker serves as the Education Policy Director for Nashville-based Conexion Americas, an affiliate of UnidosUS (formerly known as the National Council of La Raza). Conexion’s founder and co-director, Renata Soto, has had a long-standing leadership role with UnidosUS serving first as vice-chair of the board in 2012, until she was elected as chairman in 2015 when the organization was still named La Raza. She remains listed as Chairman for the 2017-2018 slate. In 2016, Conexion Americas launched the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition (TEEC) which Pupo-Walker leads, tying GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd even closer to Soto and her Nashville organization. Boyd’s own education non-profit Complete Tennessee is listed as a State Partner on the TEEC website and Conexion’s Renata Soto serves on the Complete Tennessee Board. Mauricio Calvo, executive director of Latino Memphis serves on Boyd’s Complete Tennessee…

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Congressional Candidate Dr. Mark Green Announces 2nd Quarter Fundraising Totals Over $400,000

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Mark Green

Republican State Senator and congressional hopeful Dr. Mark Green announced Monday that his campaign raised $420,000 in the second quarter, and his cash-on-hand totals $909,908. “We’re honored that more than 1,000 donors have invested in our mission to bring battle-tested leadership to Washington. These funds will allow us to continue to run a strong grassroots campaign to talk to voters in every corner of the district,” Dr. Green said in a statement. The Green campaign notes that, “With broad grassroots infrastructure built in each county throughout the sprawling 7th congressional district, Green’s campaign continues to receive support from Tennessee voters.” Over the course of the primary election season, Dr. Green has garnered several top-tier endorsements from local and national groups including, the campaign lists: 100 conservative leaders 20 mayors over 60 legislators Senator Ted Cruz Senator Rick Santorum Dr. Art Laffer Club for Growth FRC Action Combat Veterans for Congress GOPAC House Freedom Fund FreedomWorks Tennessee Right to Life Tennessee Firefighters Association Dr. Mark Green is seeking to replace Representative Marsha Blackburn, who is running for the hotly contested open seat in the US Senate left by retiring junior Senator Bob Corker. On the other side of the aisle, Justin…

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Steve Gill: GOP Gubernatorial Primary Debate Cancellation May Be Due To Perceived Lack of Effectiveness

Jason M. Reynolds
Steve Gill

A top political analyst says he is not surprised that three of the candidates running in the Tennessee Republican gubernatorial primary dropped out of the last statewide televised debate scheduled for this weekend in Knoxville. The cancellation comes after Randy Boyd, Beth Harwell and Diane Black dropped out, WKRN said. “My assessment is that I would guess is the debate was not going to move as many votes as [the campaigns] targeting where they need to move them,” Steve Gill, political editor of The Tennessee Star, told WKRN. An advisor to the Bill Lee campaign said he would be there regardless and if his opponents did not show, he would hold a rally at the debate site, WVLT said. Campaigns may not have believed a debate so close to Election Day on Aug. 2 and well into early voting would be effective, Gill said. The possibility of candidates attacking one another in a debate, like some have in recent advertising, may have been another factor, Gill said. “Who gets the benefit of that?” Gill told WKRN. “Because the attacker is going to lose a few points and the person you are attacking is going to lose a few points — where…

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The Janus Decision Scored a Major Win for Workers’ Rights – Here’s What Should Come Next

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United States Supreme Court

by David Kreutzer and Rachel Greszler   Last month’s Supreme Court decision in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees hit public-sector unions like a bombshell. Now that public-sector unions can no longer extract union fees from workers who want nothing to do with them, public unions will have to work harder to provide services that will prompt workers to join their ranks. The question explored in the Janus case was whether or not forcing non-members to pay union dues violates their First Amendment rights. That issue was addressed narrowly as a matter of free speech, but more broadly it had much to do with wrongful coercion. Both members and non-members of public-sector unions can opt out of paying the portion of dues that explicitly goes to the union’s political activities. But, until recently, non-members could still be forced by law to pay what was called a “fair share” fee, because even non-members could receive the benefits of union representation (since unions have a monopoly on worker-employer negotiations). [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Those forced fees would not explicitly go toward…

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Trump Asks the Right Question: Where’s the DNC Server?

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Donald Trump

By Robert Romano In federal court, the DNC said it decommissioned 140 servers, erased 180 computers and rebuilt 11 servers after the Russia hack.   “Where is the server? I want to know where is the server and what is the server saying?” That was President Donald Trump at the Helsinki, Finland summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 16, responding to a question of whether he believed U.S. intelligence agencies, which have stated Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and John Podesta emails in the 2016 election campaign, or Putin, who has denied any role by his government. For his part, the President is not convinced. He wants to see the evidence. Which seems to be a rational thing to do, when claims or allegations are made. You ask to see the evidence. In this case, the President is asking why the FBI never took possession of the DNC servers when it conducted its investigation of the hack. Because according to the DNC lawsuit against the Trump campaign, Wikileaks and Russia that was filed in April, the committee may have destroyed all the evidence of the alleged hack by Russia of the DNC emails. The lawsuit stated, “As a result of…

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Bill Gates Backs $30 Million Push for Early Alzheimer’s Diagnostics

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Bill Gates

Reuters   Billionaire Bill Gates and Estée Lauder Cos chairman emeritus Leonard Lauder on Tuesday said they will award $30 million over three years to encourage development of new tests for early detection of Alzheimer’s disease. For Microsoft co-founder Gates, launch of the Diagnostics Accelerator program follows an announcement in November of a personal investment of $50 million in the Dementia Discovery Fund, a venture capital fund aimed at bringing together industry and government to seek treatments for the brain-wasting disease. The effort, Gates said, was fueled in part by his personal experience with family members struggling with Alzheimer’s. The most common form of dementia, Alzheimer’s affects nearly 50 million people worldwide and is expected to rise to more than 131 million by 2050, according to Alzheimer’s Disease International. Gates and Lauder provided seed money for the diagnostics collaboration through the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), which was founded by Lauder. They will be joined by other philanthropists, including the Dolby family and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. Funding provided through the initiative will be open to scientists and clinicians globally working in academic settings, charities and biotechnology companies. As a philanthropy vehicle, the ADDF Diagnostics Accelerator venture will invest in riskier…

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Commentary: Trump – Putin Summit Craziness

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Trump and Putin

by George Rasley   Monday’s Trump – Putin Summit news conference brought out a new level of craziness in the anti-Trump Democrats, self-appointed foreign policy experts in the media and their fellow travelers among #NeverTrump Republicans. What seems to have enraged President Trump’s opponents the most is that their attempt to hijack the summit to focus on the phony charges that President Trump colluded with the Russians to win the 2016 election failed, and that Trump and Putin focused on important bilateral issues, such as nuclear weapons, the denuclearization of North Korea, the war in Syria, and energy trade between Russia and Western Europe. What’s more, the establishment media’s self-appointed foreign policy experts completely ignored one of the most important points in the joint news conference; Putin’s announcement that the Russian government submitted to the United States a note with a number of specific suggestions on fine-tuning “the dialogue on strategic stability and global security and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.” Even more interesting was Putin’s comment that, “It’s a dangerous situation with a global American anti-missile defense system, it’s the implementation issues with the INF treaty. And, of course, the agenda of non-placement of weapons in space.” Translation: Putin…

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Music Spotlight: Kalie Shorr

Bethany Bowman
Kalie Shorr

When I first heard Kalie Shorr, it was on Sirius XM’s The Highway in 2016.  Fight Like a Girl was a gutsy song by a cute girl who was trying to navigate the murky waters of country music in Nashville.  But when I sat down to speak to her, as is so often the case, I found out there was so much more to Kalie Shorr, a lot more. Kalie Shorr literally wrote her first song when she was just seven years old.  By thirteen, she was highly influenced by pop, rock and country and begin posting cover songs on the popular app, YouTube.  Since Kalie lived in Maine at the time, it was the only way she could get her music out there.  “I always wanted to be in Nashville and it gave me an opportunity to reach Nashville without actually being there.”  She received validation from viewers that this was something she should be doing.  The door opened in 2010 when Kalie was 16. Blogger Perez Hilton, noticed her on YouTube.  He paid for her first official recordings and her initial trip to Nashville.  “[Perez Hilton] introduced me to a lot of people that I needed to know and…

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US Lawmakers Warn Trump Tariffs Threaten Local Newspapers

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newspapers

About a dozen members of Congress warned Tuesday that newspapers in their home states are in danger of reducing news coverage, laying off workers or going out of business if the United States maintains recently imposed tariffs on Canadian newsprint. The Trump administration ordered the tariffs in response to a complaint from a paper producer in Washington state. It argues that Canadian competitors take advantage of government subsidies to sell their product at unfairly low prices. About a dozen lawmakers testified against making the tariffs permanent during a United States International Trade Commission hearing. The commission is reviewing whether U.S. producers of certain groundwood paper products, including newsprint, have been materially injured because of the imports from Canada. The commission’s findings help determine whether the Department of Commerce makes the tariffs permanent. Newsprint is generally the second-largest expense for local papers. The tariffs have generally increased newsprint prices by 25 to 30 percent. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King of Maine both argued that the tariffs will hurt the industry they’re designed to help because it will diminish the market for newsprint in America as newspapers shrink or close. “If you end up with a smaller market, you haven’t helped…

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California Congresswoman Says There’s No Bias Against Conservatives In Tech – Here’s Why She’s Wrong

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Zoe Lofgren

by Kyle Perisic   A Democratic congresswoman said on Tuesday that conservatives and Republicans’ concerns over bias on the Facebook, Google, and Twitter platforms are unjustified. Here’s proof she’s wrong. Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California said at a hearing addressing political discrimination against conservatives and Republicans on Facebook, Google, and Twitter, which dominant Internet traffic, is “motivated by a sense of persecution, on the part of Republicans and conservatives that somehow they’re being unfairly treated when they have a majority in House, the Senate, the White House.” Despite the hearing specifically addressing discrimination against conservatives on the Facebook, Google, and Twitter platforms — not on their conservative news sites — Lofgren brought up “conservative news sites have three times more user engagement that liberals do.” “There’s been no evidence whatsoever that I have seen and that the majority has been able to provide that there’s any bias whatsoever,” she added. YouTube, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, admitted in March it “may misapply some of our policies resulting in mistaken removals,” which in this case involved a number of conservative channels being removed from the platform, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported. Additionally, Google, utilizing Wikipedia, mislabeled a Republican candidate…

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Tickets for Multiple Nashville Symphony Concerts Go on Sale Friday, July 20

Bethany Bowman
Nashville Symphony

Single tickets for the Nashville Symphony’s 2018/19 season — including 100+ classical, pops, jazz and family concerts, as well as a host of special events — will go on sale to the public at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 20. Featuring four classic works by one of America’s greatest composers, the Bernstein Centennial Opening Night will kick off the season on September 8, 2018. A special, multimedia presentation of Carmina Burana in collaboration with Nashville Ballet and British filmmaker Duncan Copp will close the season on May 31-June 3, 2019. In between, the Symphony’s concert calendar features diverse programming across a variety of genres, all in the intimate setting and superior acoustics of one of the world’s finest concert halls, Schermerhorn Symphony Center.  Highlights of the 2018/19 concert schedule include:       ·         Symphony Under the Stars at Ascend Amphitheater (Sept. 9, 2018) ·         Ax Plays Brahms (Sept. 13-15, 2018) ·         Kristin Chenoweth with the Nashville Symphony (Sept. 27-29, 2018) ·         Beethoven’s Violin Concerto featuring James Ehnes (Oct. 4-7, 2018) ·         Jon Batiste: Solo (Oct. 19, 2018) ·         Russian Masters, featuring Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky & more (Nov. 2-3, 2018) ·         The Mavericks with the Nashville Symphony (Nov. 8-10, 2018) ·         The…

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Hardly ‘Crumbs’: Cookie Maker Hires Five Workers, Raises Pay, Expands Production Under Tax Cuts

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Joseph Semprevivo

by Rachel del Guidice   The overhaul of the tax code by congressional Republicans didn’t produce just crumbs for the business of a popular cookie maker based in Florida. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act has meant hiring, raises, investment in new equipment, and expanded operations, he says. “It has had a direct impact on us,” Joseph Semprevivo, founder, CEO, and president of Joseph’s Lite Cookies, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. (pictured, above) “We have added five more positions, we’ve expanded our factory, exclusively for … the sugar-free pancake syrup [and] we are launching into another business, a honey business,” Semprevivo said. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] He said the new syrup, branded Joseph’s Sugarfree Pancake Syrup, also is gluten free and approved by weight-loss businesses and groups such as Weight Watchers. “Since the tax cut, though, we were able to invest more money into promoting the [syrup] brand, expanding the brand, and so we decided to increase productivity and move it closer to our corporate offices in … Sebastian, Florida,” Semprevivo said. Republicans’ tax reform package, which passed the…

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Rick Santorum Endorses Diane Black for Governor

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Rick Santorum, Diane Black

Former Senator and 2012 presidential contender Rick Santorum announced his strong endorsement of Diane Black for Governor Tuesday. “I’ve always known Diane to be a strong conservative leader, a passionate advocate for the unborn and a champion for religious liberty and traditional values,” Santorum said in a statement. “With Diane Black in the Governor’s office, I am confident that the conservative values that make Tennessee great will be protected and preserved.” Diane Black responded, “Rick Santorum is a champion for conservative principles,” Black said. “He’s a leader who is not afraid to fight for conservative values. Tennessee stood behind Rick in his 2012 race for President, and I’m proud to have him behind me in my race for Governor.” Throughout Rick Santorum’s career he has enjoyed a high level of popularity in the Volunteer State. During the nine-way Tennessee presidential primary election of 2012, Santorum received an extraordinary 40 percent of the vote. The Black campaign points out that in addition to Santorum’s endorsement, Representative Black has received endorsements from: – NRA – Susan B. Anthony List – National Right to Life – Tennessee Right to Life – Family Research Council – American Conservative Union – Nearly 3,000 elected officials and community leaders across…

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