Day: November 18, 2018

Cities Reveal Insane Offers They Made in Bid for Amazon HQ

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by Evie Fordham   Amazon announced its decision Tuesday to split its second headquarters between Long Island City, New York, and Arlington, Virginia, but by picking those locations the corporation gave up some pretty sweet deals — and unusual offers — from other cities and states. Amazon will get incentives packages of more than $1.5 billion for bringing jobs to New York and more than $570 million for bringing jobs to Virginia, according to a Tuesday press release. Amazon bypassed big offers from Maryland and New Jersey, which put together incentives packages of $6.5 billion and $7 billion, respectively, according to The Baltimore Sun. But other states came up with offers that included deal-sweeteners other than infrastructure investments and tax credits proportional to jobs created. Here are a few of them: Georgia The Peach State had a long list it was willing to do to convince Amazon to build HQ2 in Atlanta. Georgia’s full package, which totaled more than $2 billion, was released for the first time Tuesday evening, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That package included “Amazon Academy of Georgia,” a state-provided space near or on Amazon’s campus to trains its employees, according to a March 5 document. The state was willing to pay…

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Commentary: Double Standards Galore in the Attorney General Fracas

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by John C. Eastman   So let me get this straight. In his November 8 New York Times op-ed (“Trump’s Appointment of the Acting Attorney General Is Unconstitutional,” co-authored be George Conway), Neal Katyal writes that President Trump’s designation of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general is unconstitutional because the office of attorney general is a “principal office,” which can only be filled by someone who has been confirmed by the Senate. That would be the same Neal Katyal who served as acting solicitor general, also a Senate-confirmed position. And the same Neal Katyal whose boss, Attorney General Eric Holder, had served as acting attorney general at the end of the Clinton Administration and in the early days of the George W. Bush Administration. And the same Neal Katyal who served in an administration that closed out with another acting attorney general, Sally Yates, who acted like an embedded enemy within the Trump Administration until she was finally fired by the president for refusing to defend the president’s travel ban executive order—she claimed that there was no plausible defense for it, even though the policy was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court. The double standard is so palpable as to…

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Commentary: She Opposes Israel at Every Turn And Now She’s Going to Congress

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by David Harsanyi   Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress, is a new kind of politician. She’s telegenic, ideologically progressive, widely celebrated by a media that’s obsessed with identity politics. She’s the kind of politician who can openly side with Hamas against Israel or spread “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”-style conspiracies on Twitter, claiming that Jews possess the supernatural ability to hypnotize the world as they unfurl their “evil.” It’s not surprising, then, that Omar also supports the “boycott, divestment, and sanctions” movement. In a statement to the website Muslim Girl, someone on Omar’s staff explained that yes, “Ilhan believes in and supports the BDS movement, and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized. She does, however, have reservations on the effectiveness of the movement in accomplishing a lasting solution.” So although Omar contends that BDS will be ineffective in getting the sides to “a lasting solution,” she still “believes in and supports” a movement that smears the Jewish state as a racist endeavor and aims to destroy it economically. Is it a mystery why some Jews might find that positioning offensive? Omar has supported BDS…

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Trump Visits Fire-Ravaged California Community

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  Forensic recovery teams searched for more victims in the charred wreckage of the northern California town of Paradise on Saturday as the number of people listed as missing in the state’s deadliest wildfire topped 1,000. President Donald Trump visited the devastated small community in the Sierra foothills, 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco, where authorities say the remains of at least 71people have been recovered. Paradise was home to nearly 27,000 residents before it was largely incinerated by the blaze on the night of Nov. 8. President Trump in Paradise, California. https://t.co/LLNPBBf8T1 — Dan Scavino Jr. Archived (@Scavino45) November 17, 2018 “Nobody could have thought this would ever happen,” Trump told reporters amid the charred wreckage of the town’s Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park. “This is very sad to see. As far as the lives are concerned, nobody knows quite yet,” Trump said. “Right now we want to take care of the people who have been so badly hurt.” He was flanked by California Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom. Brown said the federal government was doing what it needed to do, including supporting first responders and helping with clean-up and search for victims.…

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Abrams Admits She Can’t Win Georgia Governor’s Race

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  Democrat Stacey Abrams ended her challenge to Republican Brian Kemp in the Georgia governor’s race on Friday but pledged to fight the former secretary of state’s “gross mismanagement” of the elections with a federal lawsuit. Speaking defiantly to a news conference, Abrams said her actions did not constitute a concession, but she acknowledged that she had no further recourse under the law and that Kemp would be certified the winner. “Let’s be clear: This is not a speech of concession,” she said. “Because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith I cannot concede that.” Officials from Abrams’ campaign had told The Associated Press on Thursday that the candidate was considering the unprecedented move of invoking a state law that would let her challenge the results based on “misconduct, fraud or irregularities …sufficient to change or place in doubt the results.” But ultimately she declined to do so. Praise for her passion In accepting Abrams’ decision to end her campaign, Kemp said he appreciated “her passion, hard work and commitment to public service.” “The election is over and hardworking Georgians are ready to move forward,” he said. “We can…

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Melania Trump’s Moment: First Lady Flexes Muscles

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  It turns out there is more than one Trump who can employ a few well-chosen words as a poison dart. With a bombshell public statement this week, it was first lady Melania Trump who revealed her ability to carry out a political hit. Her extraordinary call for the removal of a top administration official forced the president to banish a top aide, exacerbated tensions within the White House and provided fresh insight into the first marriage. Above all, the moment showed that the enigmatic first lady is increasingly prepared to flex her muscles. While it was President Donald Trump who repeatedly promised to shake up his Cabinet and staff, it was his wife who forced one of the first moves after the midterm elections. And while first ladies have long held unique positions of influence in the White House, Mrs. Trump’s very public power play was an unusual move befitting an unconventional White House. “There have been similar activities on a less publicized scale, but it came out after the fact. We’ve never seen a first lady have her office make a public statement like that,” said Katherine Jellison, chair of the history department at Ohio University and an…

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As CNN’s Acosta Returns, White House Seeks Decorum for Press

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by Fred Lucas   CNN reporter Jim Acosta is back in the White House, and the Trump administration is working on rules for “decorum” during press conferences. “People have to behave. We’re writing up rules and regulations,” President Donald Trump told reporters Friday afternoon, when asked about the court ruling. He said other reporters were treated unfairly, “because you had somebody interrupting you. With the rules and regulations, we will end up back in court and we will win.” U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, of the District of Columbia, granted CNN a temporary restraining to halt the Trump administration from blocking Acosta’s access to the White House, and ordered his press pass to be returned. Asked what he meant about rules, Trump said, “decorum.” “You can’t take three questions and four questions. You can’t stand up and not sit down,” Trump said. “We want total freedom of the press. It’s more important to me than anybody would believe. But you have to act with respect when you’re at the White House, and when I see the way some of my people get treated at news conferences, it’s terrible. So we’re setting up a certain standard, which is what the court…

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ACLU Criticized For Suggesting Title IX Proposal Inappropriately Favors The Accused

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by Neetu Chandak   The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is receiving push back after suggesting a U.S. Department of Education proposal for Title IX reform “inappropriately” favored the accused, on Twitter Friday. The DOE released a proposal Friday with sweeping changes to Title IX, a federal civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs receiving government financial assistance. Changes ranged from narrowing the definition of “sexual harassment” to stronger protections for the accused. It promotes an unfair process, inappropriately favoring the accused and letting schools ignore their responsibility under Title IX to respond promptly and fairly to complaints of sexual violence. — ACLU (@ACLU) November 16, 2018 “It promotes an unfair process, inappropriately favoring the accused and letting schools ignore their responsibility under Title IX to respond promptly and fairly to complaints of sexual violence,” the ACLU tweeted Friday. Title IX is a federal statute passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972. “Far too many students have been forced to go to court to ensure their rights are protected because the Department has not set out legally binding rules that hold schools accountable for responding to allegations of sexual harassment in a supportive, fair manner,” Secretary of…

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Bedford County Rodeo Under Suspicion Cancels Event

Chris Butler

Officials with a Bedford County arena for Mexican rodeos said they have cancelled a horse racing event this weekend because of a recent Tennessee Star article about them. The article ran Thursday. As reported, a few county commissioners suspect the Rancho La Herradura in Bell Buckle of allowing drug deals, prostitution, gambling, and human trafficking, among other things. Rancho La Herradura made the announcement, in Spanish, on one of the group’s two Facebook pages. Facebook, however, translated the announcement into English. “They are informed that the event of this Sunday November 18 is cancelled until further notice. for causes of a note published in the tn star newspaper of Bedford County. Who is accused of rancho la herradura lane. that we mexican sell drugs, consume drugs. Weapons and prostitution with minors. And to finish putting more on the subject that makes fights of roosters.. and human trafficking,” the English translation read. “That well everyone knows that the lane rancho la herradura only makes horse racing. That’s why it took the decision to cancel the event for the good and safety of all our race.” Organizers then said they “are working to put a stop to all these people! Well if…

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