Day: October 21, 2018

National Federation of Independent Business Endorses Marsha Blackburn for Senate

Jason M. Reynolds

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) on Thursday endorsed U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) for the Senate, the latest of many notable endorsements she has received leading up to the Nov. 6 election. “Congressman Blackburn has been a dedicated supporter of Tennessee small businesses throughout her time in the United States House of Representatives,” said NFIB’s Tennessee State Director Jim Brown. “She has a true understanding of the issues that matter to our members, and we are confident that she will continue to support efforts to roll back onerous regulations and protect small business tax cuts. On behalf of small businesses in Tennessee, we are proud to endorse Congressman Marsha Blackburn for election to the U.S. Senate.” NFIB’s Political Director Sharon Sussin said, “Congressman Blackburn’s voting record speaks volumes of her support of small businesses in Tennessee and across the country. We are glad to endorse her today and we know that she will be a staunch supporter of small business issues in the U.S. Senate.” Speaking about the endorsement, Blackburn said, “National Federation of Independent Business is a strong voice for small businesses nationwide, committed to advocating for the best interests of business owners. Small business owners deserve…

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Victor David Hanson Commentary: Who and What Threaten the Constitution?

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by Victor Davis Hanson   Donald Trump on occasion can talk recklessly. He is certainly trying to “fundamentally transform” the United States in exactly the opposite direction from which Barack Obama promised to do the same sort of massive recalibration. According to polls (such as they are), half the country fears Trump. The media despises him. Yet Trump poses no threat to the U.S. Constitution. Those who since 2016 have tried to destroy his candidacy and then his presidency most certainly do. When, and if, we ever lose our freedoms, it will not likely be due to a boisterous Donald Trump, damning “fake news” at popular rallies, or even by being greeted with jarring “lock her up” chants—Trump, whom the popular culture loves to hate and whose every gesture and, indeed, every inch of his body, is now analyzed, critiqued, caricatured, and damned on the national news. In general, free societies more often become unfree with a whimper, not a bang—and usually due to self-righteous pious movements that always claim the higher moral ground, and justify their extreme means by their self-sacrificing struggle for supposedly noble ends of social justice, equality, and fairness. Media darlings, not media ogres, receive a…

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Homeschool Group Endorses Mark Green

Chris Butler

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association Action PAC has endorsed Mark Green for Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District. PAC Director Jeremiah Lorrig told The Tennessee Star Thursday that members of the group this year are only making endorsements in a few select races across the country. “Most of the races that we are endorsing in are very close races, but there are a few like Green who stand out, even in safe districts,” Lorrig said. “We wanted to recognize his support for homeschooling.” In the endorsement letter, Lorrig cites what he said were Green’s “pro-family positions,” and his “commitment to the rights of homeschoolers.” The HSLDA PAC represents more than two million homeschool students and their families, according to a press release. HSLDA Action PAC is the latest national grassroots group to back Green for Congress. The campaign recently announced endorsements from the National Federation for Independent Business, the National Rifle Association, and the National Right to Life. “I am honored to receive the HSLDA’s endorsement,” Green said in a statement. “I’m a firm believer in the rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children. I have consistently fought for 18 students and families in Tennessee, and it’s…

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Commentary: Our Modern World’s Inability to Understand Fairy Tales

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by Katrina Trinko   It’s not fair. This refrain—so quick to be invoked by young children, who seem to develop a thirst for justice very young indeed—may seem like a curious place to begin in defense of fairy tales. But let me explain. But to backtrack a little further first—well, the latest salvo against fairy tales comes from two Hollywood actresses, Kristen Bell (“Frozen,” “The Good Place”) and Keira Knightley (“Pirates of the Caribbean,” roughly 10,000 period dramas). "Don't you think that it's weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission?" – @IMKristenBell https://t.co/PaJySEzPry — Parents (@parents) October 15, 2018 Bell told Parents magazine that when she watches fairy tale movies with her young daughters, she make remarks such as, “Don’t you think that it’s weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because you cannot kiss someone if they’re sleeping!” Knightley takes it one step further, telling talk show host Ellen DeGeneres she has banned her toddler daughter from watching films like “Little Mermaid” and “Cinderella.” Why? Well, on “Cinderella”: “Because, you know, she waits around for a rich guy to rescue her. Don’t! Rescue yourself, obviously.” And on “Little Mermaid”: “The songs are great,…

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Beto Campaign Sued for Allegedly Sending Unsolicited Text Messages

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By Molly Prince   A lawsuit was filed against Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s campaign Friday alleging the Texas senatorial hopeful sent constituents text messages despite not receiving permission to do so. Sameer Syeed, a resident of Collins County, filed the class action lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas Court, arguing the Beto for Texas campaign violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, reported The Star-Telegram. The lawsuit alleges that Syeed received numerous unsolicited text messages from Beto for Texas and was unable to stop the automated messages despite both replying to the messages and reaching out to the listed phone number, only to get an error message or dial tone, according to The Star-Telegram. The suit further insists the campaign pay at last $500 per text message to the lawsuit’s plaintiffs. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act bans the use of “automated telephone equipment to send texts or calls to a person’s cellphone without their permission except for emergency purposes,” according to The Star-Telegram. This is not the first time O’Rourke’s campaign has faced backlash for claims of inappropriate use of text messages. The campaign came under fire in September for allegedly sending a text message to voters asking for “volunteers to help transport…

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SCOTUS Puts the Brakes on Kids’ Climate Lawsuit Against the Government

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by Chris White   Supreme Court Justice John Roberts granted the Trump administration a stay Friday night in a climate lawsuit several young people leveled against the government. The Trump administration repeatedly asked both the SCOTUS and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the trial through a writ of mandamus, a rarely used judicial tool allowing a higher court to overrule a lower court before a verdict is made. Roberts granted mandamus after the 9th Circuit twice turned down the writ. The 21 plaintiffs, all between the ages of 11 and 22, are arguing that federal officials violated their due process rights by allowing the fossil fuel industry to release greenhouse gas emissions, despite knowing for years that such emissions can cause climate change. The plaintiffs are seeking a court order requiring the federal government to implement an “enforceable national remedial plan” phasing out carbon emissions in an effort to stabilize the climate and protect the environment. Their case — Juliana v. United States — has survived several attempts by the government to torpedo the case after it was originally filed in 2015. Attorneys for the defendants said they believe the case will eventually move forward. “We are confident once Chief Justice Roberts and the full…

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Trump Says US Will Pull Out of Intermediate Range Nuke Pact with Russia

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Donald Trump

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would pull the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because Russia had violated the agreement, but he provided no details of the violations. The 1987 pact, which helps protect the security of the U.S. and its allies in Europe and the Far East, prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing, producing ortest-flying a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. “Russia has violated the agreement.They have been violating it for many years,”Trump said after a rally in Elko, Nevada. “And we’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we’re not allowed to.” The agreement has constrained theU.S. from developing new weapons, but America will begin developing them unless Russia and China agree not to possess or develop the weapons, Trump said. China is not currently party to the pact. “We’ll have to develop those weapons, unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to usand say let’s really get smart and let’s none of us develop those weapons, but if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it, and we’re adhering…

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Fire Chief Who Was Fired for Marriage Views Wins Major First Amendment Victory

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by Monica Burke   In a major victory for free speech, the city of Atlanta has awarded former Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran with $1.2 million after violating his First Amendment rights.Cochran was a highly decorated firefighter who served as the U.S. fire administrator after President Barack Obama hand-picked him for the job. In 2010, he agreed to return to his former position as fire chief of Atlanta at the invitation of Mayor Kasim Reed.In 2012, he received the “Fire Chief of the Year” award for “pioneering efforts to improve performance and service within the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.” But his career came to an abrupt halt in 2015 when Reed suspended him without pay for 30 days and ultimately fired him. The reason? Cochran’s beliefs about marriage. Cochran had written and self-published a 162-page Christian devotional—on his own time—that included a few paragraphs on the biblical view on sex and marriage. He shared the book with a few colleagues, which was when activists complained. The mayor then construed Cochran’s belief that marriage is between one man and one woman as discriminatory and ordered him to attend “sensitivity training.” The mayor also launched an investigation into whether Cochran had ever discriminated…

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How a Professor Who Lost His Job for Being Conservative Fought Back and Won

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by Troy Worden   A longtime conservative professor on a liberal college campus didn’t expect to face harassment claims, lose his job over his political beliefs, and then win a $120,000 settlement. Mark McIntire, 74, taught philosophy as an adjunct professor at Santa Barbara City College in California for 23 years. An old friend of Charlton Heston, the late actor and National Rifle Association president, McIntire is no stranger to controversy. In an email to The Daily Signal, he recalled being elected to the national Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors in 1983 and leading a “successful … coup d’etat against [then-Guild] President Ed Asner to the outrage of Hollywood liberal-progressives.” But until the election of President Donald Trump, McIntire, a faculty member in Santa Barbara City College ’s philosophy department since 1996, says he was just the school’s “token” conservative. “For 22 years … it was a standing joke that we had one person on campus willing to speak his mind and contradict the reigning campus orthodoxy,” McIntire told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “In 2016, in the run-up to the election, every single campus lecture I attended … turned into a Hillary Clinton pep rally and a…

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MTSU to Host Speaker Who Will Blast ‘The Radical Right’

Chris Butler

On Monday, Middle Tennessee State University will host an author who will warn faculty and students alike about what she calls “the radical right.” Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America is scheduled to speak. MacLean’s book concerns the work and legacy of MTSU graduate and Nobel laureate in economics James M. Buchanan. Her book also explores the network of Koch Brothers’ centers and institutes. As reported, members of the Charles Koch Foundation recently gave $3.5 million to establish the Political Economy Research Institute to honor Buchanan. When asked about MacLean’s book, PERI Director Dan Smith said nothing in his personal experience “supports the veracity of her narrative.” “Many other scholars familiar with public choice and James M. Buchanan were similarly surprised. This spurned further investigation into her allegations and her narrative,” Smith told The Tennessee Star. “It didn’t take long for scholars to find that her narrative is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of public choice economics as well as Buchanan’s research. Reviewers have already found several inconsistencies and errors.” Smith also said the book doesn’t meet the standards of academic scholarship as it didn’t go through a formal peer review…

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