Day: January 17, 2019

Memphis Man, Ramiro Junior, Pleads Guilty to Fatal Crash While Driving Drunk

Chris Butler

A 29-year-old Memphis man pled guilty Wednesday to a drunk-driving crash that killed a motorist in Memphis. Members of the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office refused to say if that man, Ramiro Junior, is an illegal immigrant. The crash happened in 2015, south of Poplar Avenue, said Shelby County District Attorney General Amy Weirich, in a press release. According to Memphis TV station WREG, at the time of the crash police found several bottles of Corona beer — open and unopened — inside Junior’s car. The car also had 18 bottles in the back seat. No one at the district attorney’s office returned The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment Wednesday on Junior’s immigration status. Criminal Court Judge John Campbell sentenced Junior to eight years in prison for vehicular homicide involving alcohol. Junior’s blood-alcohol content was .111, according to a press release. Jose R. Jaimes, 24, died in that crash. “Investigators said Junior was driving an SUV at (a) high rate of speed westbound on I-240 when he lost control, spun into another lane and struck a sedan, injuring two occupants and killing Jaimes,” the press release said. Sam Winnig of the district attorney’s DUI Prosecution Unit handled the case,…

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Governor-Elect Bill Lee Appoints Long Time Deputy to Liberal Pro-LGBTQ Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero to His Cabinet

Steve Gill

Governor-elect Bill Lee has continued his preference for appointing those closely affiliated to either liberals or Bill Haslam to top positions in his Administration. His latest selection, Christi Branscom of Knoxville, whom he named to his cabinet on Thursday as head of the Department of General Services, fills both boxes. Branscom spent five and a half years as the Deputy Mayor and Chief Operating Officer for extreme liberal Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, during which time Rogero opposed 2d Amendment rights, advocated strongly for LGBTQ issues (including vocal opposition to legislation designed to protect women and girls from men entering their bathrooms and locker rooms), and actively supported the anti-Trump “Women’s March” protests, including speaking at the January 2018 event in Knoxville. Rogero is not new to liberal activism. During the mid-1970s, Rogero worked as an organizer for César Chávez’s United Farm Workers, a labor union that advocated for migrant farm workers. More recently, the pro-abortion community organizer was a Hillary Clinton delegate to the 2016 Democratic Party Convention and has embraced sanctuary city “lite” policies.  Her chief Deputy for five years is now the choice of “conservative Christian” Bill Lee as Commissioner of General Services. One conservative noted that if…

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Former Sen. Bob Corker Says Trump Responsible for ‘Juvenile’ Government Shutdown

Jason M. Reynolds

Former U.S. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) cannot get off the Never-Trump bandwagon, this time blaming the Commander-in-Chief for the government shutdown. Corker has long gone cuckoo over President Donald Trump and used his platform as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to criticize Trump. Twice last year he compared the president to a banana republic for removing former CIA Director John Brennan’s security clearance and other former officials’ clearances. Now, the retired senator conducted a phone interview with Sergio Martínez-Beltrán OF WPLN (Nashville Public Radio) and blamed the president for the shutdown. A story and the audio clip are available here. Corker said of the shutdown, “This is one where at the last minute the president changed his mind and so now we are sitting here shut down because – just because. This whole thing, as I’ve mentioned before, is pretty juvenile, and at some point government will open back up.” WPLN asked Corker about his potential designs on running for president in 2020 against Trump in the Republican primary. Corker said he would be good as president but it is “not necessarily even on the front burner; it’s a possibility.” As The Tennessee Star reported in the past, Corker…

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EXCLUSIVE Charlie Kirk Commentary: Five Crazy Things the Government Pays for Other Than Border Security

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by Charlie Kirk   Democrats want you to think they’ve finally discovered a sense of fiscal responsibility in response to President Trump’s request for $5.7 billion to fund construction of the border wall. That’s preposterous. The same party that is even now pursuing multi-trillion boondoggles such as “Medicare for All” and the “Green New Deal” somehow believes it can convince the American people that its opposition to the wall is based primarily on a desire to be responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, but Democrats’ newfound austerity is unconvincing in light of their consistent, long-standing obsession with wasteful spending projects.. In fact, the federal government spends hundreds of billions of tax dollars every year on all sorts of questionable programs, and eliminating even a handful of the most egregious examples would easily suffice to pay for the pittance that President Trump is seeking for border security. Here are just a few examples: #1 Yoga Classes for Federal Bureaucrats -In 2015, Senator Rand Paul’s office reported that $150,000 in taxpayer dollars were spent on yoga classes for federal employees. While most agencies require participants to pay for their own therapeutic exercises, others, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the State Department, and the…

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Parents Group Calls for Resignation or Termination of Sumner County School Director Del Phillips Over School Rezoning

Laura Baigert

GALLATIN, Tennessee – Dozens of parents attended Tuesday evening’s Sumner County Board of Education meeting in opposition to the rezoning plan of Sumner County Schools (SCS) Director of Schools Del Phillips and called for his resignation or termination by the board. The major point of contention for the parents, several of whom wore shirts displaying a Stop Stage 1 logo, is that some elementary and middle school students will be temporarily re-zoned from their current schools for the 2019-2020 school year before being permanently rezoned to newly constructed schools for the 2021-2022 school year. The temporary and permanent series of zone changes have been named by Director Phillips as Stage 1 and Stage 2, respectively. The group of parents organized on October 23, 2018, the same day the rezoning plan was introduced by Director Phillips in a non-voting “retreat” of the school board. The goal of the group, named “Stop Stage 1 – Better Solutions for SCSC Temporary Rezoning,” is to stop the temporary or transitional rezoning of students. Stop Stage 1 is not against the permanent rezoning to the new three-school campus, and in fact, has specifically stated their support for the building of it. Per the school system’s…

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North Carolina’s Superintendent Lays Out Steps to Reduce K-12 Testing

A.P. Dillon

North Carolina’s Superintendent Mark Johnson has announced a set of steps he plans to take over the next two years to reduce the number of tests K-12 students have to take. “We are just getting started reforming testing in North Carolina’s public schools,” Superintendent Johnson said in a press release. “The changes I am announcing today will be a major step in reducing outdated testing methods to measure students’ progress, and the future is bright for North Carolina’s public schools.” “We will be working with local superintendents and state leaders to reform the system of over-testing,” he added. “That way, we can give the teachers the time to do what they entered the profession to do: teach.” The announcement comes after a series of listening tour events to garner public feedback as well as a survey launched by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (DPI). The survey created by DPI last year saw incredible participation with over 42,000 parents and teachers responding. An overwhelming 78 percent of parent respondents said their child takes too many tests. 76 percent of teachers agreed that students were being tested too much. Steps Johnson intends to take include: Reducing the number of questions…

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Nashville’s Debt Reportedly On the Rise

Chris Butler

To borrow an old campaign slogan from former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, Nashville is rising. And by that, we specifically mean its debt. Nashville’s debt continues to climb, so much so it’s at its highest point in 10 years, according to The Tennessean. The paper cited a new report that shows city officials spent one out of every $10 of taxpayer money to pay off debt the last fiscal year. The current path, the paper went on to say, quoting experts, is unsustainable. As Metro Council member Steve Glover told The Tennessee Star last month, Nashville is broke and can’t afford to hand out more incentives for corporations, like the one proposed for Amazon.com But incentives aren’t the only thing plaguing the city’s finances, according to The Tennessean. “As debt payments climb they can crowd out salaries for teachers, police and other government workers — particularly when the mayor and council decline to raise property taxes, as they did last spring,” The Tennessean said. “Some of the rising burden can be traced to a decision by city officials during the Great Recession to delay debt payments. Since then, the borrowing has continued.” Chris Coviello, lead Nashville analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, told…

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Members Named to North Carolina’s Influential Senate Education Committee

A.P. Dillon

North Carolina Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-D30) has announced the members of the influential Senate Education Committee. Co-Chairs this session are Sen. Deanna Ballard (R-D45), Sen. Rick Horner (R-D11), and Senate Majority Whip Jerry Tillman (R-D11). Tillman and Ballard have also been named as Education/Higher Education Appropriations co-chairs. Sen. Tillman has been a long-time leading Republican on education policy in the Senate and is entering his ninth term as a legislator. Prior to becoming a lawmaker, Tillman was a teacher. Tillman was a leading voice in the fight to repeal Common Core in the state. After a commission tasked with reviewing the controversial standards failed its assigned task in 2015, Tillman said the legislature would take action. That action never came and Common Core remains as the state’s academic standards. Ballard is working on her second term and serves as director of the office of the president/CEO for Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian relief organization headquartered in Boone. She also works with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association based in Charlotte. Berger also named Horner to the Appropriations/Base Budget, Health Care, Judiciary and Pensions, and Retirement and Aging committees. The Senate Education Committee is made up of five Democrats…

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Planned Parenthood Says it is Ready to Bring Abortions Back to Nashville Starting in February

Jason M. Reynolds

Nashville’s Planned Parenthood clinic plans to start killing babies again in February, Nashville Public Radio (WPLN) says. The Nashville clinic, which was possibly the last abortion facility in Nashville, stopped offering abortions in December, pro-life website Live Action said last month. But now, WPLN says, the clinic will start aborting babies in February. Chief Medical Officer Sarah Wallett of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee told WPLN the suspension was due to a merger between the Nashville/East Tennessee and Memphis offices. The merger was meant to save money but led to “hiccups” such as staffing issues – about 40 percent of the workers are new needed training to help carry out abortions. When the Nashville Planned Parenthood clinic’s abortions stopped in December, Brian Harris, president of Tennessee Right to Life, said, “With the suspension of abortion services in our state’s largest city, Tennessee Right to Life is grateful for a Christmas miracle.” Harris said his organization was receiving a spike ion calls from women seeking abortion appointments, and he cited efforts to provide referrals to agencies and resources to help abortion-vulnerable women and girls. When Planned Parenthood closed in December, that brought the number of known abortion sites in Tennessee down to…

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NC Governor Cooper Allegedly Delayed Signing Pipeline Fund Doc to Leverage a Solar Deal With the State

A.P. Dillon

Did North Carolina’s Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) delay signing a controversial fund document tied to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to force Duke Energy to cut a deal with the state’s solar industry? A report by WBTV’s investigative reporter Nick Ochsner says that’s what it looks like. Buried in the 19,000+ pages of documents dumped by @NC_Governor's office days before Christmas about the Atlantic Coast Pipeline or records that show Cooper held off signing the pipeline MOU until Duke Energy reached a deal to buy more solar power #ncpol https://t.co/wQ5lD4uH4Z — Nick Ochsner (@NickOchsnerWBTV) January 14, 2019 This latest bombshell adds to the mounting questions from North Carolina lawmakers previously reported by Battleground State News. Ochsner’s report points to text messages found in a massive public records dump by Cooper’s office: “The decision by Cooper and senior staff to use the pipeline permit as leverage to force Duke into cutting a deal with the state’s solar industry is documented in text messages, emails and memos included in a 19,216-page document dump released by the administration days before Christmas.” The WBTV report highlights that at the same time Cooper was working on the pipeline funding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that included Duke…

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Top Takeaways From William Barr’s AG Confirmation Hearing

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by Fred Lucas   William Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee he wouldn’t be intimidated by anyone, including President Donald Trump, who nominated him to serve as attorney general. “I am not going to do anything that I think is wrong, and I will not be bullied into doing anything I think is wrong. By anybody. Whether it be editorial boards, or Congress, or the president,” Barr said Tuesday in response to questions by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. “I’m going to do what I think is right,” he said. Barr testified all day before the Senate committee, talking about issues ranging from abortion and the First Amendment to Hillary Clinton and the controversial Uranium One deal. Here are seven big takeaways from the first of two days of confirmation hearings for Barr. 1. ‘You’re Crazy’: On Independence Much of the questioning from senators revolved around special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and Moscow’s potential ties to the Trump campaign. Barr’s general assertion of independence, however, could affect more issues if he is confirmed, as expected. Having served already as attorney general under President George H.W. Bush from November 1991 through January 1993 allows him…

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Black Radio Host David Webb Speaks Out After Being Accused of Benefiting From White Privilege

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by Nick Givas   Black radio host David Webb spoke out on “Fox & Friends” Wednesday after he was accused of benefiting from white privilege by CNN analyst Areva Martin. Webb was interviewing Martin on his show Tuesday about diversity in media when she mistook him for a white male and said he had “the privilege of doing what people of color don’t have the privilege of.” When Webb asked for an explanation she said, “David, by virtue of being a white male, you have white privilege.” “Areva, I hate to break it to you, but you should’ve been better prepped. I am black,” Webb replied. “You’re talking to a black man who started out in rock radio in Boston.” Webb accused Martin of launching into a false attack against him and said she failed to gather the facts before speaking out. He also said there is no such thing as white privilege. “We were on the radio. Which is what makes this really interesting to me. Forget tone, voice, being prepped as I said to her. She immediately defaulted to an attack, which is a false narrative,” he told “Fox & Friends.” “There is no such thing as white…

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North Carolina College Fires Employee Early After She Removed Silent Sam Statue

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by Neetu Chandak   The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s chancellor was asked to step down in her role earlier than expected after making the swift decision to remove leftovers of the school’s Silent Sam statue. Carol Folt planned to resign as the school’s chancellor after commencement in May, according to the letter Monday. But the Board of Governors wanted Folt to resign earlier after she ordered for the removal of the Confederate statue’s plaque and base without consulting others, Inside Higher Ed reported Wednesday. The board held a private meeting with Folt Tuesday afternoon and accepted her resignation date starting Jan. 31. “While I’m disappointed by the Board of Governors’ timeline, I have truly loved my almost six years at Carolina,” Folt said in a statement posted on Twitter Tuesday. Folt had cranes and crews remove the leftovers of the statue at night, hours after her resignation announcement. Gone, baby gone. Silent Sam’s pedestal is nowhere to be seen on @UNC campus. #silentsam reporting for @CarolinaJournal pic.twitter.com/Ta5bz5v9vz — Kari Travis (@KariLynnTravis) January 15, 2019 “You know, it’s a bit stunning based on how this has gone, that UNC Chapel Hill felt they needed to take this kind…

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Sears Staves Off Liquidation, Stores to Remain Open

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Sears will live on— at least for now. The company’s chairman and largest shareholder, Eddie Lampert, won a bankruptcy auction for Sears in New York, averting liquidation of the iconic chain, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The person agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiation publicly. Lampert was the only one to put forth a proposal to rescue the floundering company in its entirety. He had sweetened his bid multiple times to more than $5 billion over the last few days through an affiliate of his hedge fund ESL. Details of the final terms couldn’t be learned. Lampert, who steered the company into bankruptcy protection, may be able to keep the roughly 400 remaining Sears stores open, which would mean tens of thousands of jobs are saved, at least for now. Whether Sears, founded 132 years ago as a mail order watch business, can survive in the era of Amazon remains questionable. Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. At that time, it had 687 stores and 68,000 workers. At its peak in 2012, its stores numbered 4,000. Lampert says there’s still potential for the company…

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Florida Commissioner Under Fire for Calling Michigan Congresswoman a ‘Hamas Loving Anti-Semite’ Who Might ‘Blow Up Capitol Hill’

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by Joshua Gill   Florida officials and Muslim advocacy groups have lambasted a city commissioner for calling Rep. Rashida Tlaib a “Hamas-loving anti-Semite” who might “blow up Capitol Hill.” Hallandale Beach Commissioner Annabelle Lima-Taub made the comments in a Jan. 8 Facebook post, announcing that she had signed an online petition demanding that Tlaib be removed from office. Lima-Taub, originally from Israel, argued that Tlaib should not be a part of the U.S. government given her allegiance to Palestine. The post came five days after Tlaib urged Democrats to “impeach the motherf—,” referring to President Donald Trump. “Proudly signed. A Hamas-loving anti-Semite has NO place in government! She is a danger and [I] would not put it past her to become a martyr and blow up Capitol Hill,” Lima-Taub wrote, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Lima-Taub reportedly removed her post shortly after the Sun-Sentinel reached out to her for comment, and has since faced harsh criticism from fellow Hallandale Beach commissioners and demands for an apology from Muslim advocacy groups. This sort of hateful anti-Muslim rhetoric doesn’t happen in a vacuum – this President embraced it and Republicans have happily gone along with it.https://t.co/3THoHQmRVy — Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January…

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Drug Pricing War That Led CVS and Walmart to Part Ways Will Disproportionately Impact Rural Communities

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by Evie Fordham   Walmart and CVS Health’s pharmacy benefit management (PBM) division announced they’re parting ways Tuesday, and it’s a split that could disproportionately impact rural patients, health care entrepreneur Dave Chase told The Daily Caller News Foundation. The split was brought on by a pricing dispute and means that many people who have CVS Health drug plans will no longer be able to pick up their prescriptions at Walmart locations. “Walmart is in a lot of rural areas where there aren’t a lot of choices … I think it’s definitely troublesome for patients,” Chase, a health care author and co-founder of Health Rosetta, told TheDCNF in a telephone interview Tuesday. But Chase also emphasized Walmart’s “unassailable” reputation for making drugs affordable, including its $4 generic prescription drug program. Walmart maintained that CVS was trying to control where customers filled their prescriptions, according to Bloomberg. “We are committed to providing value to our customers across our business, including our pharmacy, but we don’t want to give that value to the middle man,” Walmart said in a statement to The Daily Caller News Foundation Tuesday. “This issue underscores the problems that can arise when a PBM can exert their unregulated…

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Majority of Americans Say Abortions Should Be Restricted, New Poll Finds

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by Courtney Joyner   A poll released Tuesday just ahead of the 46th March for Life demonstration in Washington, D.C, shows the majority of Americans support tighter restrictions on abortion, and would even like to see the landmark Roe v. Wade decision “reinterpreted” to allow more restrictions. The annual survey conducted by Marist in partnership with the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization, reveals that three-quarters of Americans oppose taxpayer funding for abortion abroad, even though 55 percent of Americans polled identify as pro-choice. Additionally, 75 percent of Americans—including those who identify as Republican (92 percent), Democrat (60 percent), and independent (78 percent)—said abortion should be limited to the first three months of pregnancy. “As in past years, this poll shows that the pro-choice label on the abortion issue is simply insufficient,” said Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson in a statement. “The majority of Americans—in both parties—support legal restrictions on abortion,” Anderson added. “Two-thirds of Americans want Roe revisited to allow for state regulation of abortion or to ban it altogether. The majority of the American people deserve to have their opinions heard.” Now in its 11th year, the poll, which randomly selected and surveyed 1,066 American adults…

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Commentary: Walls are Closing in on the FBI and its Media Accomplices

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by Julie Kelly   Those of us who have closely followed the unfolding scandal at the Justice Department— particularly how the FBI abused its power not only to spy on the Trump presidential campaign but also on the president himself—have been frustrated with the inaction both of the White House and Congress. Documents have not been declassified as promised; letters by top lawmakers have gone unanswered with no consequence; and not one perpetrator in the biggest political scandal in history has been held accountable. The New York Times over the weekend confirmed the worst suspicions: Andrew McCabe, a disgraced FBI official caught lying to federal investigators and fired by Trump, and his corrupt lackeys opened up a criminal and counterintelligence probe into President Trump on the flimsiest of evidence in May 2017. Further, statements from William Barr, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, seem to indicate he would be deferential to Special Counsel Robert Mueller rather than focus on the real scandal. It was unclear whether a change in leadership at the Justice Department and on the Senate Judiciary Committee (Lindsey Graham took the reins from Charles Grassley this year) would restart stalled congressional inquiries. A Clean-Up Pledge But Barr’s confirmation…

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Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown Makes Early Moves for 2020 Presidential Bid

Andrew Shirley

The only Ohio Democrat to hold or win office in the 2018 midterm elections appears to have his sights set on the White House. Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown announced that he will tour four early, and key, presidential primary states. His team refers to the trip as the “Dignity of Work” tour and will travel to Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. Concurrent with this announcement was the launch of his new website, “DignityOfWork.com.” The website is funded by America Works PAC, the senator’s personal political action committee. As of now the site only lists some of his key issues, an email registration link, and a donation page. The crux of this early campaign appears to be an appeal to the blue-collar working class that largely abandoned the Democratic party in the 2016 election in favor of President Donald Trump. He emphasizes that “dignity of work means hard work should pay off for everyone, no matter who you are or what kind of work you do.” The campaign revolves around the point that it’s not enough to have a job, but rather a well-paying job. This is a clever messaging manipulation that both emphasizes the bipartisan call for a strong…

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Hezbollah Sympathizer Attended a Private Dinner for Michigan’s Rashida Tlaib

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) hosted a private dinner in Detroit after being sworn into Congress last week, and among her guests was a man who has expressed praise for the leaders and members of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization. “I was honored to be at Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib swearing in ceremony in Detroit and private dinner afterward with the entire family, friends, and activists across the country,” Abbas Hamideh wrote on Twitter Saturday. https://twitter.com/Resistance48/status/1084233942591520770 Of note is the scarf draped around Tlaib’s neck in the painting Hamideh seemingly presented to her. The black and white checkered scarf is called a keffiyeh, and has become a symbol of Palestinian solidarity. In the painting, Tlaib’s keffiyeh is seen wrapped around the U.S. Capitol. Jewish News Syndicate and Clarion Project later unearthed several of Hamideh’s past controversial comments. In one case, he mourned the passing of “legendary Hezbollah martyr” Samir Kuntar, who led an attack that resulted in the deaths of four Israelis. During that attack, Kuntar personally murdered a four-year-old child by smashing her head in with the butt of his rifle. In other social media posts, Hamideh has praised Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah as a “heroic resistance leader.” “Israel does not have a right to…

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Ilhan Omar Calls Anti-BDS Bill ‘Unconstitutional,’ Defends Past Anti-Semitic Comments

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) said during a recent appearance on MSNBC that Senate efforts to combat the “discriminatory economic warfare against the Jewish state” are “unconstitutional.” Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-FL) “Combating BDS Act” was included in a package of bills introduced in early January under a title of “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act.” Rubio’s bill in particular received significant media attention for its targeting of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. The BDS movement is widely criticized by Republicans such as Rubio as an “anti-Israel” campaign that “pressures companies to stop doing business in Israel, and banks and funds to divest of investments in Israel,” as Rubio explained in a recent tweet. His bill would allow local and state governments to end contracts with companies that practice BDS tactics. But the package of bills was stalled in a recent Senate vote of 56-44, and Democrats attributed their opposition to the bills to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) hard-line stance against passing any bills that don’t include government funding. Rubio, however, said the “shutdown is not the reason Senate Democrats don’t want to move to Middle East security bill.” “A huge argument broke out at Senate…

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Freedom From Religion Foundation Objects to Worship Service as Part of Governor-Elect Bill Lee’s Inauguration

Jason M. Reynolds

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is objecting to Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Lee reportedly selling tickets to a worship service as part of his inauguration. The 2019 Inaugural Worship Service Saturday will feature Michael W. Smith, CeCe Winans, Steven Curtis Chapman, Nicole C. Mullen, Matthew West and others, The Tennessee Star reported Tuesday. The service at 8:30 a.m. CST Saturday was scheduled for the Ryman Auditorium, but due to overwhelming demand, it has been moved to the Grand Ole Opry House, the governor-elect said on Facebook. The worship service made the atheist organization upset. According to a press release, FFRF sent the governor-elect a letter asking him to “honor the U.S. Constitution, and all the Tennessee citizens he is soon to represent in office, by refraining from including religion in his swearing-in event. Additionally, FFRF has submitted a public records request for information pertaining to the worship service.” A copy of the letter is available here. FFRF Staff Attorney Ryan Jayne said in the letter addressed to Lee, “This defiance of the U.S. Constitution is a disappointing way to start your time as governor of Tennessee. As you take your oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution, FFRF urges you to reflect…

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