Day: September 22, 2018

Republicans Tell Bredesen Get Off the Fence on Kavanaugh Nomination

Jason M. Reynolds
Phil Bredesen

President Donald Trump won the election in 2016 due in part to his promise to put mainstream conservative judges on the federal bench. Trump also won Tennessee by more than 26 points. It’s fairly obvious that Tennesseans want the President’s nominees to be confirmed, Garren Shipley, Republican National Committee spokesman, said in a statement Friday. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen has said he is “embarrassed” by Democrats’ treatment of Judge Brett Kavanaugh in his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, the Tennessee Star reported last week. He has also been dragging his feet for more than two months in saying whether he would support Kavanaugh. Shipley accused Bredesen of hedging his bets, hoping he can avoid having to take a stand on Kavanaugh’s nomination — following Democrat Senate leader Chuck Schumer’s advice of staying neutral for as long as possible. Shipley pointed to a story by The Star showing Schumer’s Senate Majority PAC has booked more than $2 million in ads in Tennessee, perhaps giving Bredesen a reason to stay quiet. Schumer’s PAC donated $10,000 to Bredesen’s campaign earlier this year. As next week’s vote approaches, that time has run out, Shipley said. “Phil Bredesen has had more than enough time to consider Judge Kavanaugh. He needs to tell Tennesseans…

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Nashville Metro Council Member Steve Glover Complains of Threats . . . From the Mayor

Chris Butler
Steve Glover

A Nashville Metro Council member is tasked with challenging the mayor and holding him or her accountable, when needed, but current council members evidently don’t hold that kind of sway. At least not now. That’s because current Mayor David Briley makes threats, said Metro Council Member Steve Glover. “In this city, we get threatened all the time by the administration. If you don’t vote this way then we (the mayor’s office) will not do something for you,” Glover told The Tennessee Star. “I got $500,000 to start doing improvements on Central Pike under the Karl Dean Administration. You tell me. Do you see anything starting out there yet? You will not. I’m not going to throw other council members under the bus. I know they get threatened all of the time. We hear ‘If you don’t support me then I’m not going to make this project happen for you in this district. I’m good at withholding the money on this or that. I have the money to do these projects.’” Glover said he will not work that way. As reported, Glover has spoken out against Briley, including, most recently, the way he planned for a Major League Soccer stadium. No…

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Commentary: How George Washington Warned Us About Tribalism and Disunity

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by Richard Lim   Sept. 19 was the 222nd anniversary of the publication of President George Washington’s Farewell Address. Appearing in newspapers nationwide, it announced Washington’s intention to retire from public life after his second term. For most of American history, the Farewell Address was required reading in grade schools across the nation and was continually invoked in the public discourse. Yet in recent decades, the address has faded into obscurity. That’s a shame, as it is a treasure trove of wisdom from the man who did the most to create our country—who knew, as well as anyone else, what it took to create a modern, large-scale republic. After all, it was Washington who led the nation through the War of Independence, oversaw the drafting of the Constitution, and served as its first president. Washington addressed the document specifically to the American people—not just to policymakers—and recommended that they give his advice their “frequent review.” The Farewell Address is mostly known for its warnings against political parties and entangling alliances during the nation’s youth. Certainly, Washington made those points, and offered practical advice on a wide array of other subjects. They include making permanent the powers of the federal government,…

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Researcher Uncovers Christine Blasey Ford’s ‘Hidden’ 80’s-Era High School Social Life

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by CHQ Staff   One of the enduring mysteries of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s decision to level last minute allegations of sexual misconduct against Judge Brett Kavanaugh is why her social media and online presence were so thoroughly scrubbed prior to her charges against Kavanaugh becoming public. Although internet sleuths have tracked down a few photos and articles from Dr. Blasey Ford’s professional output, she effectively ghosted herself prior to going public – a very unusual move for someone who requested and anticipated anonymity from the Democrats through whom she leveled the charges against Judge Kavanaugh. The ghosting of Christine Blasey Ford was so thorough that her high school alma mater, the prestigious all-girl Holton Arms School, even pulled the yearbooks for the years during which she was a student, when a teenage Brett Kavanaugh allegedly attacked her. However, one prescient, and as yet anonymous, blogger downloaded copies of the yearbooks and posted key pages that describe the social life of “Chrissy” Blasey and her social set. The yearbook title is SCRIBE. The relevant issues are SCRIBE 82, SCRIBE 83 and SCRIBE 84, corresponding to Blasey’s sophomore, junior and senior years, when she and her classmates (and Kavanaugh) were 15-17 year old…

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Expert: Failure By the Republicans to Confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh Could Mean Annihilation in November

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Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump

By Robert Romano     The GOP Senate has one very important job, and that is to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, maintaining the balance of power on the nation’s highest court. When Justice Anthony Kennedy retired, it was a gift to Republicans, giving them an opportunity to confirm a replacement that would be nominated by a Republican president and confirmed by a Republican Senate. To highlight the importance of Kavanaugh’s confirmation, one need only look through the prism of time to see what lies ahead should he be delayed or defeated. If Kavanaugh is held up or voted down, it will be because a few — and that’s all it will take — Senate Republicans who sabotaged their own party by scuttling the confirmation. If Senate Republicans fail here and now, there likely won’t be enough time to confirm an alternate to Kavanaugh before 2019. It would be a betrayal of Republicans voters who wanted a constitutionalist majority on the court to interpret the law as written, and could risk suppressing conservative turnout in the 2018 midterm elections in November. Put simply, the GOP simply cannot afford to lose the Kavanaugh confirmation. Senate Democrats, should they wrest…

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PROOF: Trio of Project Veritas Videos Expose Unaccountable Federal Government Employees Pushing a Soclialist Agenda From Within the Administrative State

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By Natalia Castro   When federal bureaucrats are unaccountable to even their own managers, it can be hard to identify and correct abuse within the system. In his most recent undercover expose, James O’Keefe sought to uncover the stories of the federal government’s worst employees directly from the source. This week, Project Veritas released three videos highlighting rampant misuse of federal resources by employees for political gain. All stories have a similar thread: the employees believe they can never be fired. And they are not completely wrong, current law makes their removal extremely different despite clear evidence of abuse. O’Keefe’s team of investigative journalists went undercover speaking with federal government employees who are also active members of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), an organization dedicated to ridding the country of capitalism — the economic system responsible for freeing and uplifting millions around the world from poverty — and replacing it with socialism (also known as the economic system responsible for killing millions of people in the last century and continuing to leave Venezuelans starving and penniless). In the first Project Veritas video, Stuart Karaffa, a Department of State employee explained how he spends his day working, “I have nothing to lose. It’s impossible to fire federal employees… I’m…

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MIT Study: The Number Of Illegal Immigrants Could Be Double Previous Estimates

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by Will Racke   The true number of illegal immigrants living in the U.S. — long a subject of intense debate — could be twice as high as commonly accepted figures, according to a study by a Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher. The study published Friday by Mohammad Fazel-Zarandi, a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, estimates there are about 22.1 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. today. Most frequently cited estimates put the number between 11 and 12 million. Such a wide discrepancy is explained by deficiencies in the methods researchers have used to arrive at previous estimates, according to Fazel-Zarandi. In the past, researchers typically extrapolated the total number of illegal immigrants from population surveys and legal immigration records. Fazel-Zarandi and his colleagues used mathematical modeling based on “operational data” — border apprehensions, deportations, visa overstays and demographic data — to arrive at their estimate. The approach eliminated the uncertainty found in methods that rely on surveys, which are a less reliable gauge of the illegal immigrant population, according to Fazel-Zarandi. “It’s very likely that undocumented immigrants are more difficult to locate and survey than other foreign-born residents, and if contacted, they might be inclined to misreport their country of origin, citizenship,…

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Texas Sheriff Says Democratic Senate Candidate Beto O’Rourke Needs A ‘History Lesson’ About His Party’s Jim Crow Laws

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Beto O'Rourke

by Nick Givas   A Texas sheriff said Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke needs a history lesson, after his comments about law enforcement being the new Jim Crow. “First of all, it doesn’t surprise me, you know. Anybody who’s been arrested as many times as Robert O’Rourke’s been arrested may have some ill will towards the police,” Denton County Sheriff Tracy Murphree said on “Fox & Friends” Friday. “His rhetoric is divisive. It’s insulting and most of all it’s dangerous,” he added. O’Rourke is running for Senate against GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in the upcoming November midterms and made racial accusations about law enforcement, in a Wednesday speech at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. “That system of suspending somebody solely based on the color of their skin, searching that person solely based on the color of their skin, stopping that person solely based on the color of their skin, shooting that person solely based on the color of their skin, throwing the book at that person and letting them rot behind bars solely based on the color of their skin is why some have called this — I think it is an apt description — the new Jim Crow,” O’Rourke said. Murphree said: “There’s been a…

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China Demands US Cancel Military Sanctions Or ‘Bear The Consequences’

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by Will Racke   China responded Friday to new U.S. sanctions against its military, demanding Washington withdraw the penalties or face retaliatory measures. Beijing’s response came a day after the Trump administration imposed sanctions on China’s arms procurement agency for buying Russian-made fighter jets and missile systems, in violation of a 2017 U.S. sanctions law aimed at Russia. “China expresses strong indignation at these unreasonable actions by the U.S. side and has already lodged stern representations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing, according to Reuters. “We strongly urge the U.S. side to immediately correct the mistake and rescind the so-called sanctions, otherwise the U.S. side will necessarily bear responsibility for the consequences,” he added, without elaborating on a potential response. The secondary sanctions against Beijing were imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which was enacted to punish Russia for meddling in the 2016 presidential election. It also targets Russia for its military interventions in Ukraine and Syria. Thursday’s round of sanctions hit China’s Equipment Development Department and its director, Li Shangfu, over purchases of Russian Su-35 fighter jets and an S-400 surface-to-air missile system. The Trump administration called the measures “a significant step” because they marked the…

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Deputy Atty Gen Rod Rosenstein Denies Anonymous Claims He Discussed Wearing A Wire In Meetings With Trump

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by Chuck Ross   Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein discussed wearing a wire to record President Donald Trump and volunteered to recruit cabinet officials to potentially remove the Republican from office, according to a bombshell report from The New York Times. Rosenstein made the remarks in meetings with Department of Justice and FBI officials shortly after the May 9, 2017 firing of James Comey as FBI director, The Times reported Friday. Rosenstein took part in Comey’s ouster, writing a letter recommending that he be fired because of his handling of the Hillary Clinton email investigation. According to The Times: “Mr. Rosenstein made the remarks about secretly recording Mr. Trump and about the 25th Amendment in meetings and conversations with other Justice Department and F.B.I. officials. Several people described the episodes, insisting on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The people were briefed either on the events themselves or on memos written by F.B.I. officials, including Andrew G. McCabe, then the acting bureau director, that documented Mr. Rosenstein’s actions and comments.” Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, also reportedly told McCabe that he could potentially persuade Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly to…

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EU Shreds Theresa May’s Brexit Plan, Leaving Negotiations At Square-One Just A Month Before ‘Moment Of Truth’

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Theresa May

by Will Racke   Negotiations over Britain’s exit from the European Union broke down into bitter recriminations Friday, with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May accusing EU leaders of making a “mockery” of the process after they shredded her Brexit plan. In a combative speech at 10 Downing Street, May said the two sides “remain a long way apart” on two major sticking points — the Irish border and the integrity of the common market. “The EU has proposed the U.K. stays in the [European Economic Area] and customs union,” May said, according to the BBC. “In plain English this would mean we would still have to abide by all EU rules … that would make a mockery of the referendum we had two years ago.” Brussels’ demand to revive customs barriers between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland is also a nonstarter, May asserted. “It is something I will never agree to — indeed, in my judgement it is something no British Prime Minister would ever agree to,” she said. May’s remarks came the morning after EU leaders gathered at a summit in Vienna largely rejected May’s so-called Chequers plan, named after the country retreat where she hashed it…

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NRA Tells Bredesen to Take His ‘Misleading’ Gun Rights Ad Off the Air

Jason M. Reynolds

The National Rifle Association is demanding Phil Bredesen retract a misleading ad from his U.S. Senate campaign in which he uses an old rating to make it appear the organization supports him. The Washington Free Beacon on Friday reported on the gun rights organization’s demand. Watch Bredesen’s ad: The Democratic former governor of Tennessee had received an “A” rating from the NRA – in 2002. His current grade is far different. “Phil Bredesen is a ‘D’ rated candidate, and he will not protect our constitutional rights in Washington, D.C.,” Chris W. Cox, chairman of the NRA’s Political Victory Fund, said in a statement. “Tennesseans should not be fooled by his false and misleading campaign ads.” “It’s not 2002, you’re not governor and you’re not A-rated by the NRA,” Cox tweeted at Bredesen in response to the ad. “It’s 2018, you have earned a D rating for turning your back on self-defense and supporting the Hillary/Schumer/Bloomberg gun control agenda. @VoteMarsha is a 2A champion. You’re not.” @PhilBredesen It’s not 2002, you’re not governor and you’re not A-rated by the NRA. Its 2018, you have earned a D rating for turning your back on self-defense and supporting the Hillary/Schumer/Bloomberg gun control agenda. @VoteMarsha…

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