Day: December 18, 2018

Legislature May Oversee Nashville Police Oversight Board, Citing Constitutional Concerns

Jason M. Reynolds

Nashville’s police oversight board may receive its own oversight – before it even launches. Ever since Nashville-Davidson County voters approved the $10 million-plus oversight board in a Nov. 6 referendum titled Amendment 1, prompting concerns from police officers, leading Tennessee Republican legislators have set their sights on the initiative. The board has broad powers to investigate officers and call for punishments by the District Attorney, grand jury, or U.S. Attorney, and can even compel witnesses, according to its Metro Nashville webpage. Nominations to the board are due today. Speaker-elect Rep. Glen Casada (R-TN-63), plans to study the oversight board when the Legislature convenes in January, NewsChannel 5 said. “This is an issue we will investigate further when session begins in January with all interested parties and stakeholders that have concerns about Amendment 1 and its impact on law enforcement,” Casada said. “The safety of our citizens is paramount and we must ensure our counties and municipalities do not violate the state’s constitutional duty to protect all Tennesseans.” State Rep. William Lamberth (R-TN-44), the incoming House majority leader, told Nashville Public Radio the board is redundant since there are other methods to oversee police. “To spend an enormous amount of money…

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Commentary: The Crime of Being Trump

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by George Rasley   Melania Trump failed to earn the media’s sympathy for her declaration that she is the world’s most bullied person, wrote Nationally Certified School Psychologist Izzy Kalman in an article for Psychology Today. And rightfully so, said Kalman. That dubious distinction goes to her husband. Kalman is right, but the bullying of Donald Trump, his family and supporters has gone well beyond the political attacks that are the lot of any president and his party and moved into an irrational hatred that has spawned a host of illegal acts by the President’s opponents. Everyone knows about the assaults, beatdowns and vandalism perpetrated by anti-Trump factions and individuals, such as those associated with the Communist-inspired Antifa. Now NBC News reports a new avenue of attack against Donald Trump, his family and supporters. New York Attorney Gen.-elect Letitia James says she plans to launch sweeping investigations into President Donald Trump, his family and “anyone” in his circle who may have violated the law once she settles into her new job next month. “We will use every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business transactions and that of his family as well,” James, a Democrat, told…

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Tennessee Vehicle Owners Reportedly May Have to Wait for Vehicle Emissions Tests to Go Away

Chris Butler

Vehicle owners in Tennessee may have to wait three additional years before they find out whether government officials will continue to force them to go through yearly vehicle emissions tests. This according to The Chattanooga Times Free Press, which reported last week that everything depends on approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In August 2017, the paper said, the EPA announced all of Tennessee’s 95 counties had complied with National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone and particulate matter. “That prompted legislation by Sen. Bo Watson, R-Hixson, and Rep. Mike Carter, R-Ooltewah, to do away with the annual mandatory inspections. Passed by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Bill Haslam in May, the law requires Tennessee to abolish the inspections emissions but makes it conditional on EPA approval,” according to The Times Free Press. Vehicle owners in Hamilton, Davidson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson have used the annual emissions testing for years to comply with the federal Clean Air Act, the paper reported. “But armies of vehicle owners detest the program, citing costs, inconvenience and major expenditures to fix problems when their vehicles fail the test. Carter and Watson have pointed to the unfair impact it has on lower-income vehicle…

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CNN Contributer Ezekiel Emanuel says Obamacare Ruling ‘Defies Constitutional Logic’

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by Nick Givas   CNN contributor Ezekiel Emanuel said on “New Day” Monday that a recent court ruling declaring Obamacare unconstitutional “defies constitutional logic.” “That is a ridiculous ruling and you don’t have to rely on a doctor like me,” Dr. Emanuel said. “Lots of conservative legal scholars think it’s a silly ruling. The main logic there is the mandate is so essential to the law that nothing in the law can stand without the mandate.” A federal judge in Texas ruled Obamacare’s individual mandate to be unconstitutional Friday and said it can no longer be viewed as a congressional tax. “The Individual Mandate can no longer be fairly read as an exercise of Congress’s Tax Power and is still impermissible under the Interstate Commerce Clause — meaning the Individual Mandate is unconstitutional,” District Judge Reed O’Connor wrote in his decision. “And the reason you know it’s a silly ruling is we haven’t had a mandate with any enforceability since we passed the tax law because there’s no penalty anymore and much of the law is going forward. Laws like changing how doctors are being paid, improving the quality in hospitals, investing in better workforce for the health care system,”…

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James Comey ‘Thinks the Rules Don’t Apply to Him’, says Jim Jordan

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by Nick Givas   GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio said former FBI Director James Comey “thinks the rules don’t apply to him,” on “Fox & Friends” Monday. Comey will reappear before Congress Monday to face questions about his handling of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s email scandal and his involvement in the Russia investigation. “We hope he actually answers some questions today. Last time, 245 times he said he didn’t know, couldn’t remember. So we hope he answers more questions,” Jordan said. “I think I’m going to ask him about the Comey memos,” he added. “He did seven different memos back when he was meeting with the president, meeting with the chief of staff. So I’m going to ask him about questions about those things he wrote in there. I think this is important to understand. For him it’s all about Jim Comey. And he thinks the rules don’t apply to him.” Jordan said he believes Comey botched both investigations into President Donald Trump and Clinton and claimed the former FBI director only cares about himself. “We’re more focused on the Russia investigation. You have to look at the contrast, how he handled one versus the other,” he…

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Chinese Police Raid Children’s Bible Study, Shut Down Third Prominent Underground Church This Winter

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by Joshua Gill   Chinese police shut down a third prominent underground church this winter Saturday after raiding a children’s bible study and confiscating over 4,000 Christian books. Authorities in Guangzhou raided the Rongguili Church at 10 a.m., announcing to parents and children at the Bible study that all activities at the church were suspended and declaring that the unregistered church had violated China’s Religious Affairs Regulation. Police recorded the identities of all attendees, children included, and dismissed them from the church, warning them not to return. “Halfway through the children’s Bible class, we heard the footsteps of dozens of police and officials stomping up the stairs,” an attendee of the Bible Study said, according to South China Morning Post. “They read out law enforcement notices declaring our venue was an illegal gathering that had engaged in illegal publishing and illegal fundraising and confiscated all Bibles.” “They then verified our identities again and warned us not to return to the church before letting us go,” the church member added. Authorities also arrested one parent who reportedly tried to photograph the incident. La #Chine ferme Rongguili, alias le phare de la foi dans le sud de la Chine, fondé par le…

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Indiana AG Says Obamacare Ruling Gives Congress Another Shot at Fixing Healthcare

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by Nick Givas   Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill said Friday’s Obamacare ruling from a federal judge in Texas gives Congress another shot at fixing America’s healthcare system. “The Individual Mandate can no longer be fairly read as an exercise of Congress’s Tax Power and is still impermissible under the Interstate Commerce Clause — meaning the Individual Mandate is unconstitutional,” District Judge Reed O’Connor wrote in his decision. “Obamacare was predicated on the ability to tax — Congress’ authority to tax. And that’s what the Supreme Court decided in 2012,” Hill said on “Fox & Friends” Monday. “This is an opportunity for Congress to act. This — our decision — the attorney generals in the state and the United States made a decision based on the law and the constitutionality of this process. Now Congress has to go to work and make sure that we do find ways to constitutionally provide healthcare for all-American citizens,” he continued. Hill said there is no longer a constitutional justification for Obamacare after the tax elements were removed and therefore the law should be struck down. “It’s really a matter of Congress’ authority to tax and once the tax was removed, there’s no longer…

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Book Review: The Mental State of the Ruling Class

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by Christopher Roach   In some ways, Todd Henderson is living the dream. He has worked as an engineer, a management consultant, a practicing lawyer, and ended up as a professor at his alma mater, the University of Chicago Law School, focusing on business regulation and securities law. Now he can add mystery novelist to his curriculum vitae with his debut thriller, Mental State. The story, as well as the publication’s reception, sheds light on the sometimes toxic culture of our elite and their institutions. For all the talk of “engagement with ideas” and “encouraging critical thinking,” elite universities are more rigid and conformist today than perhaps any previous time in our history—yes, including the dreaded 1950s. Henderson’s thoughts echo those of another University of Chicago professor who some 30 years ago noted we were experiencing the Closing of the American Mind. By Chicago’s standards, Henderson is a man of the Right. In reality, he is more in keeping with the law school’s traditions of law and economics and libertarianism, made famous by two prolific and influential emeritus professors, Richard Posner and Richard Epstein. Unfortunately, Chicago is now becoming less distinguishable from peer institutions, not least in its demand for…

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New Poll Shows Good News for Trump in Iowa

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by Molly Prince   President Donald Trump currently has the support of an overwhelming majority of Iowa’s Republicans, according to a Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa poll released on Sunday. The poll shows that two-thirds of Republicans in Iowa say they would “definitely vote to re-elect Trump” if the general election for president were held today. Trump also has a positive approval rating, with 81 percent of respondents approving of his job as president thus far — alternatively, only 14 percent disapprove. Furthermore, over three-quarters of Iowa’s Republicans view him favorably. Interestingly, the poll shows that despite the support that Trump is receiving in Iowa, the state’s Republicans would also welcome a challenge to the presidency in 2020. Sixty-three percent of respondents backed a Republican challenger, while 26 percent thought a challenger should be discouraged. With all of the issues facing Trump, the only issue that polled underwater was his use of Twitter. When asked if it has been a good move to post “potentially inflammatory messages on Twitter on a regular basis,” only 19 percent of Republican voters agreed. More than 70 percent of respondents referred to the move as a “mistake.” The issue most commended by respondents was sending…

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Trump to Review Murder Charge Against Former Green Beret

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U.S. President Donald Trump says he will review the case of a decorated Special Forces veteran accused of murder in the 2010 killing of a suspected Taliban bombmaker in Afghanistan. The U.S. leader said that “at the request of many,” he would weigh the murder charge against Major Matthew Golsteyn, a former U.S. Army Green Beret. In Trump’s word’s, Golsteyn “could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted to killing a Terrorist bombmaker while overseas.” Trump called Golsteyn a “U.S. military hero.” The military has been investigating the circumstances of the death of the suspected bombmaker for several years, dropping its investigation in 2014, then reopening it in 2016 after Golsteyn said in a Fox News interview that he killed the bombmaker, who had been detained, in combat operations in Marjah, Afghanistan. Golsteyn said he killed the man out of fear that if he were let go he would target Afghans assisting U.S. troops. The suspected Taliban bombmaker was accused of killing two U.S. Marines. Trump’s statement could complicate prosecution of the criminal charges against Golsteyn, since Trump is the commander in chief of U.S. forces and anything he says related to the case could influence…

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Democrat Adam Schiff is Writing a Spy Movie Script

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by Evie Fordham   Democratic California Rep. Adam Schiff is working on a “spy drama” screenplay, although it’s unclear how much time he’ll have to devote to the project as the next chair of the House Intelligence Committee. “It’s a spy drama,” he told Jeffrey Toobin for The New Yorker in a story that appeared in the magazine’s Dec. 24 and 31 issue. “That one is a work in progress.” The screenplay will be Schiff’s third. His previous scripts, one about the aftermath of the Holocaust and another about a mysterious murder, have not been picked up. Toobin wrote: It’s less known that, like many lawyers in Los Angeles, Schiff has been writing screenplays on the side for years, which together amount to a kind of autobiography. “The first was a post-Holocaust story called ‘Remnant.” As Schiff recalled, “I had an agent at William Morris tell me it was good but no one would want to see it—too depressing. Then Schindler’s List came out, and I was, like, Come on!” His next, written when he was a prosecutor, was a murder mystery called “Minotaur.” “I had a friend who was a producer, and he said there were two answers in…

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Study Finds Chronic Fatigue Clues in Overactive Immune Response

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Scientists exploring what may trigger a complex disorder known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have found clues in the way some people’s immune systems respond more actively to a health attack. A severe illness characterized by long-term physical and mental fatigue, CFS is thought to affect up to 17 million people worldwide and around 250,000 people in Britain. Sufferers are often bed-bound and unable to carry out basic daily activities like washing and feeding themselves. The researchers used a drug known as interferon alpha to create a model of the syndrome and found that patients whose immune response to treatment was hyperactive or exaggerated were more likely to then develop severe fatigue. “For the first time, we have shown that people who are prone to develop a CFS-like illness have an overactive immune system, both before and during a challenge to the immune system,” said Alice Russell of King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN), who led the work. The condition, as well as research into it, is highly contentious, in part because its possible causes and range of debilitating symptoms are poorly understood. Interferon alpha is used as a treatment for hepatitis C infection, and activates…

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Megan Barry Earns Beacon Center of Tennessee Pork of the Year Prize

Chris Butler

Former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s choice to spend nearly $175,000 in taxpayer money on an extra-marital tryst just earned her top billing in the Beacon Center of Tennessee’s 2018 Pork Report. Beacon, a Nashville-based free market think tank, releases a report detailing government waste, fraud, and abuse in Tennessee once a year. Beacon released this year’s report Monday. The disgraced former mayor won Pork of the Year thanks to an online poll on Beacon’s website, according to a press release. “We won’t get into the personal aspect of the affair,” said Beacon President Justin Owen, in a series of online videos that accompanied the think tank’s press release. “What matters to us is that Mayor Barry did this on the taxpayers’ dime. She used taxpayers’ money to pay overtime pay to her bodyguard so she could be with him more often. The mayor of Nashville doesn’t need security in Paris, France or in Greece, but, ultimately she used taxpayer money to further her affair and that is why she pled guilty to felony theft as a result.” As for other government excess, Beacon cited a company in Memphis, ServiceMaster, that received $5 million just to move to another part of…

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