Day: December 11, 2018

Left-Wing Activist Justin Jones Court Date Set for January

Chris Butler

Justin Jones, the Nashville activist who disrupted a rally for then-U.S. Senate Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn, is scheduled to have his day in court next month. Jones, a Vanderbilt Divinity School student, will have a hearing January 11 at 8:30 a.m. That hearing is scheduled to take place at the Davidson County Criminal Court, said Stephen Hayslip, spokesman for Davidson County District Attorney General Glenn Funk. Jones’ hearing was originally scheduled for last Friday before it was reset, Hayslip said. As reported, Jones said he only attended the Blackburn rally, in late October, to hear what Blackburn, now the U.S. Sen.-elect, had to say. Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was the event’s keynote speaker. Blackburn held the event at the Ray Stevens’ CabaRay Showroom in Nashville. As The Star reported, however, organizers recognized Jones as someone with a history of causing trouble at other political events and gave him a direct order to leave. Jones refused and later claimed the police officers who showed up to force him out wanted to beat him. He also denied Tennessee Republican Party officials’ claim he intentionally went to the rally to cause a scene. Jones, who identifies as African-American, said GOP officials…

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Victor Davis Hanson Commentary: Defeat and the Dossier Explain Everything

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by Victor Davis Hanson   Donald Trump’s former consiglieri Michael Cohen, along with being charged with tax avoidance and improper business deals, allegedly is guilty also of trying to leverage money and attention by exaggerating his influence with candidate and later President Trump. In other words, Cohen to spec followed the standard creepy daily fare for Washington and New York wannabe fixers. But did we need Robert Mueller’s 18 months and $40 million to uncover and redirect to federal attorneys what was largely self-evident? Could not the U.S. government long ago, without the prompt of a special counsel, have uncovered that Michael Cohen did not fully pay his taxes—in the manner of an Al Sharpton, Timothy Geithner, and Tom Daschle? The diabolical Cohen also tried to enforce, extend, or create non-disclosure agreements (Swampese for hush money) with two women from Trump’s past. The two reappeared out of nowhere in 2016, apparently to translate their alleged Trump hookups of a few hours in years past to notoriety and additional profit in the new age of “President Trump.” Swamp Crimes In other words, Michael Cohen was a sort of rough-hewn version of former Bill Clinton crony Vernon Jordan. The latter, remember, was…

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School Choice Provides Flexible Options That Fit Students’ Unique Needs, Beacon Center Says at Jackson Event

Jason M. Reynolds

The Beacon Center on Monday hosted a meeting on school choice issues in the upcoming legislative session for 2019. Taylor Dawson, outreach coordinator for the Beacon Center, spoke about the organization’s legislative goals regarding school choice and the ways in which volunteers can help. The meeting was held at Brooks Shaw’s Old Country Store in Jackson. Beacon’s Justin Owen, president and CEO, also wrote in the Jackson Sun, “Parents should decide the best educational environment for their child. This National School Choice Week, we should remember how educational choice works to empower parents to customize their child’s education that fits his or her unique needs.” In the op-ed, Owens touts the benefits of Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs), which the General Assembly authorized in 2015 for parents of children with special needs. According to a Beacon special report, summarized here, ESAs “provide families a more flexible option than traditional voucher programs. ESA funds can be used to create a truly customized education experience including tutoring, speech and other education therapy, private school tuition, homeschool curriculum and supplies, education technology, and even help save for college.” Beacon’s two-part series is titled, “Counting Dollars and Cents: The Economic Impact of a Statewide Education Savings…

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OFF THE RECORD: Lee’s RINO Stampede Continues

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“Conservative” Governor-Elect Bill Lee continues to to fill his Administration with Democrats and Republicans in Name Only (RINO’s). For those keeping count, the number of Democrat Governor Phil Bredesen’s political appointees who have since been elevated and now retained at the Cabinet level (2) outnumbers the dependable conservatives who have found a spot on Team Lee — approximately ZERO. The latest Cabinet and senior staff announcements haven’t changed that. Nor has he provided his conservative base any assurance that there is ANY room in his Administration for those with whom he claimed to be in ideological alignment during his campaign. Last week, Lee announced his legislative affairs team. Chris Devaney, a former senior staffer and closely aligned with outgoing Never Trumper Senator Bob Corker (who worked against Marsha Blackburn in her race to fill Corker’s seat), will serve as Special Assistant to Lee. Legislative affairs will be part of his portfolio. Brent Easley will head Lee’s Legislative Affairs office. Easley previously served as Tennessee Director for Michelle Rhee’s (ex-wife of former Haslam Education Commissioner and Obama voter Kevin Huffman) StudentsFirst Common Core and voucher advocacy group. He also served as a senior policy advisor for former State Representative Debra Maggart,…

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Attorney General Nominee is an Advocate of Investigating Hillary

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by Fred Lucas   William Barr is a former U.S. attorney general, an advocate of investigating Hillary Clinton, and a bagpipe player for 60 years. President Donald Trump announced Friday that he would nominate Barr, 68, to serve again as attorney general. He previously served in the position from November 1991 to January 1993 under President George H.W. Bush, who died Nov. 30 and was laid to rest Thursday. In confirming to reporters outside the White House that he would nominate Barr, Trump called the lawyer and former business leader “one of the most respected jurists in the country,” a “highly respected lawyer,” and “a terrific man, a terrific person, a brilliant man.” Already, some Democrats are criticizing Barr for comments he has made in media interviews and op-eds. If confirmed by the Senate, Barr would succeed acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker, who took over after Trump fired Attorney General Jeff Sessions. “I did not know him until recently when I went through the process of looking at people, and he was my first choice from Day One,” Trump said of Barr. “Respected by Republicans and respected by Democrats, he will be nominated for the United States attorney general.” Here…

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Kavanaugh Joins Liberals to Protect Pro-Planned Parenthood Ruling

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by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court declined to review three cases relating to Republican efforts to defund Planned Parenthood at the state level Monday, over a vigorous dissent from Justice Clarence Thomas. The dissent was significant because it indicates that Justice Brett Kavanaugh sided with the high court’s liberal wing to deny review of a lower court decision that favored the nation’s largest abortion provider. “So what explains the Court’s refusal to do its job here?,” Thomas wrote. “I suspect it has something to do with the fact that some respondents in these cases are named ‘Planned Parenthood.’” “Some tenuous connection to a politically fraught issue does not justify abdicating our judicial duty,” Thomas added. “If anything, neutrally applying the law is all the more important when political issues are in the background.” [Read Justice Thomas’ dissent] Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch joined the Thomas dissent, meaning there were three votes in favor of taking the case. Since four votes are needed for the Supreme Court to take up a case, the opinion indicates that Chief Justice John Roberts and Kavanaugh joined with the four liberals to deny review. This move could indicate that Roberts and Kavanaugh are…

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Audit: TennCare Gave Out Money to Dead People and People in Prison

Chris Butler

TennCare gave out more than $700,000 to duplicate members and also to people who were already dead or incarcerated, according to a new state audit. All of those recipients were ineligible to receive TennCare money. The findings, released late last week, cover July 2016 through December 2017. Generally, TennCare must refund the federal share of Medicaid overpayments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, auditors wrote. “TennCare should investigate providers who billed for services that took place after a member’s date of death or during a member’s incarceration to determine if fraud occurred,” auditors wrote. As for people in prison, auditors said “TennCare should work with the Tennessee Department of Correction and its incarceration data contractor to establish a more effective process for identifying and verifying TennCare members who are incarcerated and suspending those members immediately.” TennCare, auditors went on to say, should also retroactively recoup any payments made on behalf of incarcerated TennCare members. TennCare officials should weed out payments made to members with multiple TennCare identification numbers, auditors wrote. In a written response to auditors, TennCare officials said they concur with some of the findings. TennCare officials, though, said they disagreed with Comptrollers’ findings on payments to…

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The Paris Climate Agreement is ‘Dead,’ Declares Former Top UN Delegate

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by Michael Bastasch   Saudi Arabia’s former lead delegate to United Nations climate talks said the Paris agreement to fight global warming is “dead,” ending what he called a “big conspiracy the world created.” Mohammed Salim Al Sabban, also a former adviser to Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, celebrated what he called the unofficial “death” of the Paris accord. “Are you still following the dead Paris Agreement?” Al Sabban tweeted in response to former New York Times write Andrew Revkin. “They will go from one meeting to another forever till it’s officially announced its death. Don’t be selective when you attack the Saudi UNFCCC position. It is unfair,” Al Sabban wrote. Revkin was commenting on news that the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Russia and Kuwait refused to “welcome” the findings of a U.N. climate report released in October. The report said carbon dioxide emissions would need to decline 45 percent by 2030 to avoid warming greater than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Nice hearing from you Mr.Revkin. It has been long time.Are you still following the dead Paris Agreement?They will go from one meeting to another forever till it’s officially announced its death. Don’t be selective when you attack the…

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Commentary: Why the Left Hates the Holidays

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by Robert Miller   As immediate memories of the midterm elections fade in the face of the holiday season, the country’s cultural cold war will inevitably encompass battles over “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays,” the appropriate “inclusiveness” of workplace parties, and absurd debates over Starbucks coffee cups and the potential racism of “Jingle Bells.” As December unfolds and guides us towards a 2019 guaranteed to be plagued with political polarization, it is worth examining the deeper civilizational zeitgeist beneath the annual seasonal festivities. Underpinning our annual holiday dilemmas is an elemental divide in Western civilization, and one that juxtaposes Judeo-Christian meaning against materialism and nihilism. Christmas and Hanukkah, the two premier holidays of December in America, both celebrate concepts that are an anathema to the Left. Hanukkah, with its celebration of religious liberty and military victory carries with it a commemoration of national sovereignty in the face of a godless and power-hungry government. The religious meaning of Christmas and its focus upon the advent of a historical incarnation of the Divine within a human being places inherent worth within the individual. In the case of the Christian tradition, a human incarnation of the Divine is predicated upon the notion that…

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Britain’s May Postpones Crucial Brexit Vote

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Britain’s already disorderly departure from the European Union turned even more chaotic Monday when Prime Minister Theresa May postponed a House of Commons vote on her Brexit withdrawal deal, an agreement that took months of tortuous negotiations with Brussels to conclude. After four days of debate in the House of Commons and a panicky effort by the prime minister to sell the deal to an increasingly disapproving British public, lawmakers were set to rebuff May’s withdrawal agreement. Defeat would force May out of Downing Street and possibly trigger the fall of the Conservative government. While May Monday insisted publicly the vote on the withdrawal agreement, which she has staked her credibility on, would go ahead, aides said that behind-the-scenes, Cabinet ministers implored her not to move ahead. They urged her to return to Brussels instead to try to secure more concessions before the House of Commons has the final say. They argued May was facing a parliamentary defeat of historic proportions and needed to roll the dice. But Plan B— returning to Brussels to reopen negotiations on the 585-page deal— looks doomed. On news of the postponement, the already anemic pound crashed to its lowest level against the dollar in…

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Independent Women’s Forum Celebrates Reversal of Michelle Obama’s School Lunch Rules

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by Nick Givas   Julie Gunlock of The Independent Women’s Forum celebrated the reversal of former first lady Michelle Obama’s school lunch rules on “Fox & Friends” Monday, saying children will get more nourishment from the new menus. “These reforms that went through in 2010 pushed by Michelle Obama, were well-intentioned, but in reality kids were not eating the food,” Gunlock said. “And we saw that there was a major food waste problem developing in some of these schools.” Gunlock claimed students were so unhappy with the quality of the food they began throwing the meals into the trash. “Kids were taking entire trays and throwing them in the garbage,” she said. “One study said 60 percent of vegetables, 40 percent of fruit was just being tossed. In one L.A. County, the school made an arrangement with a homeless shelter to give the food because they had so much left because, again, kids were not eating the food. So these reforms are just to give school cafeteria workers essentially more flexibility to make the food tasty as well as nutritious.” Co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked if it was wise to return to the old lunch menus simply because children didn’t enjoy the healthier options. Gunlock said detractors were…

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Gov.-Elect Bill Lee Appoints Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Long as Commissioner of Department of Safety and Homeland Security

Jason M. Reynolds

Gov.-elect Bill Lee has named Williamson County Sheriff Jeff Long as commissioner of the state Department of Safety and Homeland Security. The Tennessee Journal’s On the Hill reported the appointment Monday. The department oversees the Tennessee Highway Patrol, Office of Homeland Security and drivers’ license centers, among other functions. Long, the Tennessee Sheriff Association’s sheriff of the year of 2013, will take over the post from David Purkey, who was named safety commissioner in 2016. Purkey, a former state trooper and mayor of Hamblen County, had served as assistant commissioner since 2011. Long succeeded former Williamson County Sheriff Ricky Headley, who resigned in 2008 as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors in Davidson and Williamson counties over fraudulently obtaining prescription pain pills, the Journal reported. Long previously said he first met and was impressed by Lt. Gov./Senate Speaker Rand McNally (R-TN-05) during Operation Rocky Top, a law enforcement sting of political corruption in the late 1980s when McNally helped prosecutors. Long is a graduate of the University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science, according to his biography on the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office website. He received a Doctorate of Jurisprudence Degree from Nashville School of…

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