Day: December 15, 2018

Atheists Say They Are Advancing Thanks to Liberals and Claim Tennessee Proves It

Chris Butler

Atheism is not a political liability among liberal voters, and one example of that played out in Tennessee, according to a new article on the website Friendly Atheist. “Nontheistic, progressive Democrats in non-swing districts should no longer feel hesitant to be public about their religious identity,” the website reported. “And while it still could be a challenging factor in swing districts, it’s no longer the taboo it once was.” Friendly Atheist cited Gayle Jordan, who sought the District 14 Tennessee State Senate seat in 2016 — and lost. “Even though she never brought up her atheism, she only received 26 percent of the vote. It’s not all that surprising; having ‘Democrat’ next to her name was likely enough to sink her candidacy,” the website said. “That seat opened up last year and she ran in the special election. So you might think she’d want to be even more careful about offending potential voters. Instead, she made it clear she was an atheist, and her opponents attacked her for it. She lost again… however this time, she earned 28 percent of the votes. Her open atheism didn’t even seem to affect her, and that’s the point.” The attacks, the website went on to…

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Commentary: The Breakdown of Family and Religion Explains France’s Social Unrest

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by Star Parker   As France is gripped by civil disorder, many commentators identify, quite correctly, as the culprit the outsized burden that France’s bloated welfare state places on its citizens. According a recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the highest tax burden in the industrialized world is in France—46.1 percent of gross domestic product. In the United States, it is 27 percent, which includes taxes paid at all levels of government—federal, state, and local. Welfare state spending in France is 32 percent of GDP, almost double that of the U.S., meaning that $1 out of $3 generated by the French economy is captured by the government and redistributed into social/welfare spending. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] But let’s recall that all this government was put in place in the name of making life better for France’s citizens. There’s plenty of analysis regarding the French situation, as there is in our own country, about how to streamline and reform government programs and deliver the same quality of services at a reduced spending and tax burden on citizens. But…

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Commentary: James (Comey) and the Giant Impeachment

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by Julie Kelly   For those concerned that former FBI Director James Comey is suffering from early dementia, have no fear: His memory returned with a vengeance during a Sunday night interview with MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace. On Friday, under questioning by House Judiciary Committee members, Comey answered, “I don’t know,” “I don’t recall,” or “I don’t remember” nearly 250 times during a six-hour closed-door hearing. His memory lapse included critical details like how the infamous Steele dossier reached his agency; who at the FBI drafted the initiation document to investigate the Trump campaign; who at the FBI had authority to open a counterintelligence probe into a presidential campaign; and his own comments about the tarmac meeting between his boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and former president Bill Clinton. He said he didn’t know what the word “insidious” meant and couldn’t explain the difference between collusion and conspiracy. But perhaps Comey loaded up on ginseng over the weekend because his vague and convenient memory miraculously returned when he was questioned by a fawning Wallace at a 92nd Street Y event just two days later. Tiny details about dates, locations, meeting participants and a funny moment during a briefing with President…

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Battleground State Report: Judge Says Maine’s ‘Rank Voting’ System Constitutional, But Originalists Disagree

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On Friday’s Battleground State Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – a one hour radio show from Star News Digital Media in the early stages of a national weekend syndication rollout – the two hosts discussed the concept in Maine’s new “rank voting” system, who’s behind it, why it’s being implemented and how, and what it stands to gain for the Democrats. Gill and Leahy go into mind bending depth on the complexity of this concept and how it stands to challenge the interpretation of the Constitution. Gill: I know this whole Maine thing is a bit confusing but so we’re trying to walk through it because this may be what the Democrats try to impose in other states to give themselves an edge.  They’re trying to automatically put felons back in the ability to vote because overwhelmingly about sixty to seventy percent of felons will vote for the Democrats. They’re trying to bring in more illegal aliens to vote in this country because that helps the Democrats. And this rank voting system, which rank means stink, as well as ranking the votes it applies in both standards is another way that Democrats may be able to set up a system where they…

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Elizabethton, Tenn. Golf Course a Money-Loser for Taxpayers, Audit Says

Chris Butler

A taxpayer-funded golf course in Tennessee has lost more money than it takes in, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week. This was only one of many findings auditors had for the Elizabethon Municipal Golf Course in East Tennessee. This is important because a privately-run golf course likely couldn’t operate like this and still stay open. While the exact amount of the golf course deficit is less than six figures— $56,321 — it’s still a loss for taxpayers. “State statutes require enterprise funds to be self‐supporting,” Comptrollers wrote in their audit. “The effect of this deficiency results in an overall violation of sound business practices.” In a written response to auditors, members of golf course management said they will work to increase revenues. Auditors also called out golf course management for not always keeping its financial records, including daily sales reports, cash register receipt tapes, and other deposit records. Comptrollers also blasted golf course management for letting only one person handle most of the accounting work, instead of having someone else check his or her work. That, auditors went on to say, puts the golf course’s finances at risk for waste, fraud, or abuse. Members of management said a…

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Commentary: Bernie Sanders Should Be Thrown Out of Politics for Supporting Venezuela’s Oppressors

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by Barry Brownstein   Would you use a doctor or dentist who didn’t believe in germ theory and used the same instruments all day without sterilizing them? What would you say if, when their patients developed infections, the doctor or dentist insisted he meant well and argued that capitalism, not germs, causes infections? Allowing such a practitioner to keep their license would be madness. Yet we elect and support politicians who believe something other than socialism causes the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. In his Wall Street Journal report Venezuela is Starving, Juan Forero reports on the worsening tragedy: Jean Pierre Planchart, a year old, has the drawn face of an old man and a cry that is little more than a whimper. His ribs show through his skin. He weighs just 11 pounds. His mother, Maria Planchart, tried to feed him what she could find combing through the trash—scraps of chicken or potato. She finally took him to a hospital in Caracas, where she prays a rice-milk concoction keeps her son alive. “I watched him sleep and sleep, getting weaker, all the time losing weight,” said Ms. Planchart, 34 years old. “I never thought I’d see Venezuela like this.”…

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Document Details the Eye-Popping Amount Attorneys Stand to Make From Climate Crusades

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by Chris White   One of the law firms involved in a trove of California lawsuits targeting ExxonMobil and other energy companies is poised to rake in millions of dollars from their climate crusades, according to Climate Litigation Watch. Sher Edling LLP could capitalize on a big pay-day if San Francisco’s lawsuit against the oil company settles, according to documents obtained Wednesday by the watchdog. The contract between the firm, San Francisco and the county is complex and lays out a multi-tiered payment method for Sher Edling. Altshuler Berzon LLP also represents the city. The California-based firm’s pay is dependent on the amount of the settlement. If the city secures a $100 million settlement, then lawyers could take home roughly $25 million; if the settlement exceeds $100 million, then they get $32.5 million; and roughly $36.5 million for any settlement hitting $200 million, according to the document obtained by CLW. Sher Edling and Altshuler will have to come to an agreement about how the fees are split up. Oakland is also working with Sher Edling on a lawsuit against the Texas-based company, but refused to provide copies of its settlement, CLW noted in a press statement Wednesday. San Francisco and…

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Chinese Pastor Could Reportedly Face 15 Years in Prison for ‘Inciting Subversion of State Power’

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by Joshua Gill   Chinese authorities reportedly charged an evangelical pastor and his wife with “inciting subversion of state power” Wednesday, for which they face potentially 15 years in prison. Chinese police in the town of Chengdu arrested Wang Yi of Early Rain Covenant Church, his wife Jiang Rong and more than 100 members of his congregation Sunday after Wang published a manifesto accusing President Xi Jinping of instituting “Caesar worship” and calling Christians to civil disobedience. The independent church’s leaders face charges of illegally operating a business and illegally publishing religious material, and Wang and his wife face the harsher charge of subverting the state’s authority, reported The New York Times. Escalated. At least ten are confirmed for criminal detention including pastor Wang Yi and his wife Jiang Rong both of whom are charged for “inciting subversion Of State power.”2 of the criminal detention notice including pastor Wang Yi’s wife Jiang Rong and Deacon Tan Defu. pic.twitter.com/ieNm4a773e — Bob Fu 傅希秋 (@BobFu4China) December 13, 2018 Photos of Jiang’s detention notice surfaced on social media Thursday. The charge against her and Wang carries a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment and is often used against political dissidents and those criticize…

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Trump Administration Seeks to Enforce Trans Soldier Ban in Supreme Court

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by Kevin Daley   In an unusual move, the Department of Justice asked the Supreme Court to let President Donald Trump’s administration enforce its ban on transgender military personnel while it litigates legal challenges to the policy in lower courts. Thursday’s application is the latest in a series of aggressive measures the Trump administration has taken at the Supreme Court. “It is with great reluctance that we seek such emergency relief in this Court,” the government’s filing reads. “Unfortunately this case is part of a growing trend in which federal district courts, at the behest of particular plaintiffs, have issued nationwide injunctions, typically on a preliminary basis, against major policy initiatives.” “Such injunctions previously were rare, but in recent years they have become routine,” the filing adds. “In less than two years, federal courts have issued 25 of them, blocking a wide range of significant policies involving national security, national defense, immigration, and domestic issues.” Two federal appeals courts are currently considering three separate challenges to Trump’s order. The Justice Department broke with normal judicial procedure and asked the Supreme Court to decide on the legality of the trans ban on Nov. 23. A decision on that petition has not…

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Parents Sue Over De Blasio’s Plan to Diversify NYC’s Elite Schools

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by Neetu Chandak   Asian-American parents and civil rights groups filed a lawsuit against New York City officials Thursday over a plan that would increase admissions for black and Hispanic students to elite schools in the city. Black and Hispanic students make up 68 percent of the city’s population with 9 percent receiving offers to attend specialized high schools. Asian-American students, however, make up 62 percent of the population at the city’s elite high schools, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The plan promoted by Mayor Bill de Blasio would set aside 20 percent of seats at each of the elite high schools for students coming from low socioeconomic backgrounds, according to WaPo. Gaining admission into the specialized high schools is determined by a single test known as the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT), a Department of Education (DOE) spokesperson told The Daily Caller News Foundation. De Blasio announced the Discovery Program’s expansion in June, which offers free tutoring to those who missed the cutoff for admissions and a second chance at being accepted, The Wall Street Journal reported. “It unlawfully restricts equal access of tens of thousands of poor Asian-American children living outside high-poverty school districts to Specialized High…

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Homeland Security ‘Begging Parents’ Not to ‘Put Their Children at Risk’ After Guatemalan Girl Dies

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Kirstjen Nielsen

by Hanna Bogorowski   The Department of Homeland Security is “begging” parents to not put themselves or their children at risk following the death of a 7-year-old Guatemalan girl in the hospital hours after her father turned himself and his daughter in to Border Patrol officers in New Mexico. The father and daughter illegally crossed the Mexican border into the U.S., Customs and Border Protection said Thursday. They were part of a larger group of 163 migrants who turned themselves in Dec. 6, according to CBP records seen by The Washington Post. The young girl, whose name has not been released, began experiencing seizures around 6:25 a.m. after being taken to the facility. After local EMS arrived, she was determined to have a 105.7 degree fever. She was then transferred via air ambulance to El Paso, a DHS spokesperson told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “At the hospital, the child was revived after going into cardiac arrest. However, the child did not recover and died at the hospital less than 24 hours after being transported,” the DHS spokesperson said. She was in CBP custody for a total of eight hours, and had reportedly not eaten or drank anything for several…

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Federal Judge Ends Obamacare!

Jason M. Reynolds
Obamacare

A federal court has ruled that all of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, is unconstitutional based on the individual mandate that requires people to have insurance and how that affects a new tax law. The ruling came just before Saturday, which is the deadline to enroll for Obamacare for the year. Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court Northern District of Texas found the ACA unconstitutional in a ruling in Texas v. United States, which he issued Friday night, The Washington Post said. Congress in August set the individual mandate penalty to $0 in new tax legislation, The Washington Times said. The $0 penalty could affect a 2012 Supreme Court decision finding Obamacare constitutional because Congress has the power to tax, according to CBS News. But if there is no penalty, the tax does not exist, the plaintiffs said. California’s Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, has fought against the plaintiffs in Texas v. United States. He said in a statement, “Today’s ruling is an assault on 133 million Americans with preexisting conditions, on the 20 million Americans who rely on the ACA for healthcare, and on America’s faithful progress toward affordable healthcare for all Americans. The ACA has already…

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