Day: November 13, 2018

Scott County Official Denies Stealing From Taxpayers, Despite Report

Chris Butler

The manager for the Scott County Airport doesn’t work all the hours he’s supposed to, and county taxpayers get shortchanged as a result, according to a new audit from the Tennessee Comptrollers’ Office. Scott County Airport Director Hank Duvall, however, told The Tennessee Star the report about him is false. “It is kind of a scary situation for me. It is also kind of embarrassing, because I hate to bring this sort of spotlight on the airport,” Duvall said, adding Comptrollers wouldn’t have gotten involved without someone complaining to them. “I think someone might have a vendetta against me, but I don’t know who.” The Scott County Airport is in Oneida, in northeast Tennessee. The Scott County Commission oversees an airport authority.  Duvall answers to that authority, according to the audit. In their report, auditors questioned whether Duvall works at the airport full time. They said he did not consistently clock in between October 26, 2016 through December 19 of last year. County officials later made Duvall’s position a salaried one. After that, Comptrollers said he did not record his hours worked. “A review of airport operational hours, employee work schedules, and interviews with airport staff and the board chairman…

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Commentary: Progressive Politics Are Not Really Progressive

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by Victor Davis Hanson   Some progressives lamented the apparent defeat of radical progressive African-American candidates such as gubernatorial nominees Stacey Abrams of Georgia and Florida’s Andrew Gillum by blaming allegedly treasonous white women. Apparently white women did not vote sufficiently en bloc in accordance with approved notions of identity politics tribalism. According to this progressive orthodoxy, being female, gay, or minority trumps everything else. But, of course, no one believes in such mythical notions of solidarity, least of all progressives themselves. White women were expected in Michigan, for example, to vote against a sterling African-American senatorial candidate John James, whose résumé was far more impressive than his victorious opponent, incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow. There was no such thing as minorities on the collective barricades when it was a matter of defeating California congressional candidate Elizabeth Heng, first-generation child of refugees, Asian, female, former Stanford student body president, and Yale MBA in her singular bid to unseat a seven-term white male Democratic incumbent. The outraged identity politics industry has entered the realm of insanity when it screams at the “treason” of white women while bragging that 95 percent of black women voted for a white male Robert O’Rourke against Latino…

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Commentary: What The U.S. Constitution Really Says On The Subject Of Impeachment And Trial Removal Of The President

Gregory Watson

Before then-President-elect Donald Trump could even take the official oath of office on January 20, 2017, his critics were already chattering about the possibility of Trump’s tenure in the White House being truncated by means of involuntary removal. Throughout 2017 and 2018, there has been, and continues to be, spirited discussion by the President’s detractors of the possibility of expelling him from office by means of the impeachment-and-trial process that is found in separate parts of the U.S. Constitution. One of the most ardent advocates of ousting President Trump has been U.S. Representative Maxine Waters (D-California). Another has been her colleague, U.S. Representative Al Green (D-Texas) who actually went so far as to offer articles of impeachment against the President only to be soundly rebuffed, as recently as January 19, 2018, by a procedural motion-to-table Green’s House Resolution No. 705 with 355 yeas, 66 nays, 3 “present”, and 6 “not voting”. Prior to the recent November 6, 2018, general election, some members of the U.S. House of Representatives vowed that, if the partisan composition of that body would flip from majority Republican to majority Democrat — which it certainly did on November 6th — efforts to impeach the President would…

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Jerry Brown Blames Those Who Deny Global Warming for Deadly Wildfires

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by Michael Bastasch   California Gov. Jerry Brown said “those who deny” man-made global warming are “definitely contributing” to the deadly, devastating wildfires forcing thousands of residents out of their homes. Brown made the comments during a Sunday press conference where he warned that global warming created a “new abnormal” for the state, including fueling deadly wildfires. The Democrat said better forest management was only a partial solution to the problem. “Managing the forests in every way we can does not stop climate change, and those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we’re now witnessing, and will continue to witness in the coming years,” Brown said. “The chickens are coming home to roost. This is real here,” Brown said before saying he wanted people to “pull together” to tackle the problem. Three major fires scorched more than 200,000 acres, mostly in Northern California, since Thursday, according to Cal Fire. Firefighters only contained about one-quarter of raging infernos, which left at least 31 dead. The 111,000-acre Camp Fire became the most destructive in state history, destroying more than 6,800 structures and displacing tens of thousands of people. The fire spread quickly due to bone-dry conditions and fast-moving…

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CNN and Jim Acosta File Lawsuit Against Trump Administration

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by Joe Simonson   CNN and Jim Acosta are allegedly suing the Trump administration for removing the press credentials of the controversial reporter following a tense incident Wednesday during a news conference at the White House. According to ABC’s former White House correspondent Sam Donaldson, Acosta and his employer filed a lawsuit and are expecting a court hearing in the upcoming week. The news came during an episode of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” when Donaldson told host Brian Stelter that he had been asked by the network to give an affidavit in support of Acosta. Yet a CNN spokesperson would not say that it was going ahead with any legal action against the Trump administration, telling The Hill that “no decisions have been made.” The White House decided to revoke Acosta’s credentials after a back-and-forth between Acosta and President Donald Trump erupted when the reporter refused to hand a microphone back to a staffer when the president told Acosta he would no longer be answering questions from him. [ RELATED: Trump Addresses Revocation Of Jim Acosta’s Press Pass: ‘Acosta’s A Very Unprofessional Man’ ] Trump then referred to Acosta as a “rude” and “horrible” individual in the latest episode of a growing feud between the White House and CNN.…

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Democrat Stacey Abrams Files Lawsuit in Georgia Governor Race as Runoff Looks Out of Reach

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by Evie Fordham   Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams’s campaign filed a lawsuit pertaining to the state’s gubernatorial race Sunday, still hoping to force a runoff election against Republican Brian Kemp. The latest suit could extend Georgia counties’ vote certification deadline from Tuesday to Wednesday, reported The Washington Post. Abrams’s team also seeks to compel two counties to take a second look at absentee ballots that were rejected for minor mistakes, like writing the date a ballot was filled out in the date of birth slot, according to WaPo. Kemp has a lead over Abrams, taking 50.3 percent of the vote with all precincts reporting, according to The Associated Press Monday. Abrams received 48.8 percent of the vote. Kemp needs to maintain more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff before results are certified Nov. 13, reported CNN. Kemp declared victory Nov. 7 even though the race has not been called. Abrams has not conceded and gained a few thousand votes this weekend, according to WaPo. The two counties at the center of the suit Abrams filed Sunday are Gwinnett and DeKalb, which are “large Democratic-leaning jurisdictions” according to WaPo. “Stacey Abrams and her radical backers have moved…

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Fed Board Run by Obama Holdovers is Hemorrhaging Taxpayer Money on Legal Fees

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by Tim Pearce   A federal board tasked with investigating chemical accidents is “hemorrhaging” taxpayer money on a years-long personnel case that has not yet gone to trial, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER attorneys are representing Daniel Horowitz, former managing director of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), in a legal challenge against the agency for firing Horowitz. Members of the CSB are scheduled to attend a closed-door meeting Tuesday to discuss a “legal services support contract” worth $300,000. The new contract would be with the law firm Shaw, Bransford & Roth and be worth nearly double a 2015 retainer with the law firm worth $157,000, according to PEER. “This law firm has found a cash cow in this tiny troubled agency,” PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said in a statement. “For an agency charged with responding to chemical disasters to divert its limited resources for legal expenses in a needless personnel dispute shows how badly misplaced its current priorities are.” Former CSB Chair Vanessa Sutherland placed Horowitz on paid administrative leave in June 2015. Horowitz continued to receive his full salary of $161,000 a year while his case remained in limbo for three…

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Majority of Likely US Voters Are Against Impeaching Kavanaugh

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by Neetu Chandak   A majority of likely U.S. voters are against impeachment attempts against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, according to a survey released Monday. Rasmussen Reports conducted the poll on Nov. 7 and found 56 percent of the 1,000 likely U.S. voters surveyed were against attempts to press formal charges against Kavanaugh. Thirty percent supported the move while 14 percent were unsure, according to the poll. Respondents were asked whether House Democrats should try to impeach Kavanaugh. The poll comes as Democrats regained the House majority in the 2018 midterm elections and New York Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler suggested opening an investigation into Kavanaugh. Nadler is in line to becoming the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. President Donald Trump gave a warning to House Democrats who may try to use their power to investigate his administration a day after the election. If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified Information, and much else, at the Senate level. Two can play that game! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018 “If the Democrats think…

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Commentary: The Myth of Trump and the Women’s Vote

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Tennessee Star - Pres Trump visits Nashville

by Christopher Roach   It’s a good thing President Trump is not an expert. During the midterms, big-brained Republican strategists, such as Bill Kristol, Paul Ryan, and Jeff Flake, advised him with their censorious disapproval to tone it down and stick to economic issues. But Trump just kept on keeping on . . . and winning. In my home state of Florida—with Trump’s help and presuming Democrat shenanigans in the coming recount are foiled—Republicans won every statewide race. This includes Rick Scott’s election to the U.S. Senate (unseating long-time incumbent Bill Nelson) and Trump acolyte Ron DeSantis’ victory in the governor’s race, where he faced the well-funded and charismatic progressive, Andrew Gillum. While these presumed victories were accomplished with only razor-thin margins, they were minor miracles in light of the full court press of the media and big donor money deployed against Trump and Republicans more generally. The usual line of criticism against Trump is familiar: he is destroying the Republican Party’s core support by by alienating women, particularly educated “suburban” women. Suburban is code here for married middle and upper-middle-class white women. They are supposed to be bolting from the party, offended by Trump’s crude remarks, his divisive rhetoric…

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Steve Cohen to Take Senior Position on House Judiciary Committee In Quest to Impeach Donald Trump

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, will assume a senior position on the House Judiciary Committee after Democrats officially retake that branch of Congress early next year. Cohen, in a newsletter to constituents late last week, said he can’t wait. That’s because Cohen gets to go after U.S. Republican President Donald Trump. Don’t expect Cohen to show fairness and objectivity — given his past vitriolic remarks about Trump and Republicans in general. “It will once again be what the Founders intended it to be, ‘the People’s House,’ and no longer ‘the House of Trump,’” Cohen said in the email newsletter to constituents. One of Cohen’s top priorities, he said, is “oversight of suspicious patterns of corruption we’ve seen but were powerless to investigate in Congress,” referring, presumably, to Trump. “I look forward to playing an active role in that oversight as a senior member of the House Judiciary Committee,” Cohen wrote. In the same newsletter, Cohen castigated Trump for firing former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and making Matthew Whitaker the acting replacement. “The only reason he (Whitaker) was selected is that he will be a hatchet man, employing an open, notorious and blatant effort to stifle and control the (Robert) Mueller investigation and…

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