Day: November 25, 2018

Incoming Mexico Government Says No Deal to Hosting Asylum-Seekers

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  Mexico’s incoming government denied a report Saturday that it planned to allow asylum seekers to wait in the country while their claims move through U.S. immigration courts, one of several options the Trump administration has been pursuing in negotiations for months. “There is no agreement of any sort between the incoming Mexican government and the U.S. government,” future Interior Minister Olga Sanchez said in a statement. Hours earlier, The Washington Post quoted her as saying that the incoming administration of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had agreed to allow migrants to stay in Mexico as a “short-term solution” while the U.S. considered their applications for asylum. Lopez Obrador will take office Dec. 1. The statement shared with The Associated Press said the future government’s principal concern related to the migrants was their well-being while in Mexico. Sanchez said the government did not plan for Mexico to become a “third safe country.” The Post reported Saturday that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had won support from the Mexican president-elect’s team for a plan dubbed “Remain in Mexico.” The newspaper also quoted Sanchez as saying: “For now, we have agreed to this policy of Remain in Mexico.” Sanchez did not…

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MyPillow’s Mike Lindell Helping Fund Conservative Movies in Hollywood

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota businessman and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell is trying his hand at Hollywood after investing $1 million in a new movie that offers a critical look at Planned Parenthood. The movie, titled Unplanned, had to be filmed in secret due to the sensitive nature of its subject, The Hollywood Reporter reveals, but that hasn’t stopped Lindell from speaking about his role in the film. “I don’t get into things for the money; I get into them if the message is right,” Lindell told The Hollywood Reporter, which notes that Lindell previously backed a Christian movie called Church People. Lindell’s investment in Unplanned amounts to one-sixth of the film’s whole production budget, and was made by the creators of such films as God’s Not Dead and I Can Only Imagine, which both grossed more than $60 million at the box office. The film is based on a book of the same title, and tells the true story of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director and spokesperson who went on to become one of the nation’s most outspoken critics of abortion. “I’m pro-life and I’m happy to do it,” said Lindell, who makes a cameo in the movie set to…

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Commentary: If Democrats Never Move to the Center, Why Should Republicans?

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by Jeffrey A. Rendall   No retreat, no quarter granted, no mercy. Such is the political – and life — philosophy of President Donald Trump, a citizen politician who’s lived as though everything he’s ever touched is gold plated and blemishless, a magical journey through earthly existence without fault. Realistic people – Trump’s enemies and friends alike – realize otherwise. There’s only been one perfect human being to walk the planet and the real estate developer/celebrity from New York City ain’t him. Jesus and Trump have little in common (turn the other cheek?) though Trump swears he’s a religious and observant person. As Trump’s skeptics repeatedly pointed out during the 2016 GOP primaries, the man has plenty of imperfections, both currently and in the past. But when it comes to self-examination and reflection, Trump always awards himself the highest marks. Avery Anapol reported at The Hill, President Trump on Sunday gave himself an ‘A plus’ on his presidency, but questioned whether he could get an even higher rating. “Look, I hate to do it, but I will do it, I would give myself an A plus, he told Fox News’s Chris Wallace. Is that enough? Can I go higher than…

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Senators Rally Support for Small Business Saturday

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by Molly Prince   Senators from both sides of the aisle urged constituents on Saturday to shop at small businesses in support of their local communities in what has become the annual shopping holiday known as Small Business Saturday. “Happy Small Business Saturday! Take some time today to shop small in your community,” tweeted Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi. “Whether it be the mom and pop store in town or the local grocery store, we should support our small businesses that depend on us for their livelihood.” Republican Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Mike Rounds of South Dakota and David Perdue of Georgia noted that small businesses are making communities stronger. Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Kansas Republican Sens. Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts referred to small businesses as the “backbone” of their states’ economies, and West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin called them the “heart of our economy.” Some Senators even provided fun facts to express the importance of buying local. Democratic Sens. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Cory Booker of New Jersey noted that small businesses create two out of every three net new jobs, and Republican Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota added that 10 percent of all U.S. businesses are owned by veterans. Republican Sen.…

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Idea of Building Dorms for Members of Congress Returns

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by Evie Fordham   The difficulties some members of Congress have affording housing are again front and center because of Nov. 8 comments from Democratic New York Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez about making rent. Her comments about “squirreling away” money until she starts receiving her congressional salary of $174,000 in January re-ignited debate on the issue that has included proposals to allocate living expenses for members of Congress or even build a dormitory for them. “I have three months without a salary before I’m a member of Congress, so how do I get an apartment?” Ocasio-Cortez said to The New York Times earlier in November. “Those little things are very real. … I’ve really been just kind of squirreling away and then hoping that gets me to January.” Ocasio-Cortez’s comments received mixed reactions amid reports that she had more in savings than her average fellow millennial, reported MarketWatch. But the young incoming congresswoman brought up the quandaries that members of Congress, especially those who have families to support, can find themselves in. A Tuesday Politico Magazine column titled “Want to drain the swamp? Build Congress a dorm” argued that when politicians must find ways to afford housing in Washington, D.C., and their home district, it…

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While Media Focuses on Khashoggi, Hundreds of Journalists Believed to Have Been Killed in Syria

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by Joe Simonson   The disturbing slaying of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian agents has rightfully garnered the attention of the national press. Yet the hours of coverage surrounding The Washington Post contributing columnist’s grim fate raises the question of why the hundreds of other journalists who have perished at the hands of dictators, such as Bashar al-Assad’s Syria — have not received similar concerns from America’s chattering class. Depending on the organization, the number of journalists or members of the media killed in Syria range from 123 to nearly 700. According to the American-based Committee To Protect Journalists, 18 of its estimated 123 reporters killed were murdered at the hands of the Syrian government or various rebel groups. Other groups, such as the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), believe the number killed from March 2011 to May 2018 is as high as 682. In addition, the SNHR believes as many as 1,116 journalists have been detained. A boy stands near a wall of his school riddled with holes, due to what activists said was an air strike carried out yesterday by the Russian air force in Injara town, Aleppo countryside, Syria. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi. The SNHR also claims 556 of those murdered…

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Commentary: The Fight Being Waged on the Academic Battlefield

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By Garland Tucker   The violent events in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017 have fueled a deep-seated leftist desire to re-write American history. Demands to topple statues, remove portraits, rename buildings, and repudiate founders—all in an effort to cleanse any objectionable reality from our history—have reached a fever pitch. The parallel to George Orwell’s 1984 is unmistakable. Orwell wrote: “Who controls the past controls the future, and who controls the present controls the past.” College campuses, including Yale, Brown, Harvard, Williams, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke, etc., have become battlefields. Consider recent events at my college alma mater, Washington & Lee University. Founded in 1749, W&L has a history that is longer than most American colleges and as rich as any. Established as Augusta Academy on what was then the western frontier of colonial America, the school was elevated from obscurity in 1796 by a gift from General George Washington. The name was promptly changed to Washington College and it survived as a provincial, liberal arts college until the outbreak of the Civil War. With the war-torn devastation of the Shenandoah Valley, Washington College was threatened with imminent extinction in 1865. Shortly after Appomattox, in an inspired…

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Senate Dems Cite Problems at HUD, but Block Trump’s Nominees for Key Posts

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by Fred Lucas   Senate Democrats have stalled nominees to fill key posts in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, even while complaining about the agency’s performance. An NBC News report last week alleged that HUD’s staffing problems were the fault of President Donald Trump and HUD Secretary Ben Carson. HUD’s enforcement office is at its lowest level since 1999 of moving against bad landlords who get federal subsidies, according to NBC. But the network’s story didn’t address the the high-level nominees that Senate Democrats have stalled from taking office through procedural tactics. Four top-level HUD nominees await Senate action more than 22 months into Trump’s four-year term. Chief among these is Robert Hunter Kurtz, who Trump initially nominated to be HUD’s assistant secretary for public and Indian housing on Sept. 15, 2017. As has been the case with many other stalled nominations throughout the federal government, Kurtz isn’t particularly political, but rather has a career with HUD and public housing. Kurtz served at HUD under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He was deputy director of Detroit’s Department of Housing and Revitalization under Mayor Mike Duggan, a Democrat. The Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee sent…

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Metro Nashville to Force Sexual Harassment Training on Contractors

Chris Butler

The Metro Nashville Government will now reportedly require private companies who contract with the city to have sexual harassment training for its employees. This, according to a new story on Nashville Public Radio. “While city employees and elected officials already go through harassment training, some on the Metro Council were bothered to learn that contractors — some whom represent the city or work closely alongside Metro employees — weren’t being held to the same standard,” according to the station. “The final straw for Councilwoman Angie Henderson was a case in which the city investigated behavior by a man employed by a prominent contractor.” Henderson was unavailable to talk Monday to The Tennessee Star. She told Nashville Public Radio, however, she was frustrated that the incident in question happened in the first place. “What was recommended for this person, who was alleged to have harassed a Metro employee, was that he go through sexual harassment training,” Henderson told the news agency. “That frustrated me. … It seemed like at a minimum, that was something we could require so hopefully something like this would not happen again in the future.” Henderson, the station went on to say, helped pass the new requirement…

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