Day: January 22, 2019

Notre Dame Covers Columbus Murals ‘Originally Intended to Celebrate Immigrant Catholics’

Anthony Gockowski

The president of Indiana’s prestigious University of Notre Dame announced over the weekend that several historical murals depicting Christopher Columbus will soon be covered up. The 12 murals were painted by Luigi Gregori in the 1880s and were intended to combat the anti-Catholic sentiment of the time. “In recent years, however, many have come to see the murals as at best blind to the consequences of Columbus’ voyage for the indigenous peoples who inhabited this ‘new’ world and at worst demeaning toward them,” President Fr. John Jenkins wrote in a Sunday letter. The murals are located in Notre Dame’s Main Building and were painted directly on to the plaster of the walls, making them difficult to move. For now, Jenkins said they will “be covered by woven material consistent with the décor of the space.” “Because the second-floor hall of the Main Building is a busy throughway for visitors and members of the university community, it is not well suited for a thoughtful consideration of these paintings and the context of their composition. We will, therefore, create a permanent display for high-quality, high-resolution images of the murals in a campus setting to be determined that will be conducive to such…

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Nashville Journalist Phil Williams Displeased with The Tennessean

Chris Butler

Things are so out-of-kilter at The Tennessean that even investigative reporter Phil Williams of News Channel 5 said he dropped his subscription. That’s because, going by Williams’ Twitter feed, the newspaper’s staff gypped him out of a lot of money. Williams, in his tweets, said nothing about the content of the paper — only the staff’s billing practices. “As much as I want to support my fellow journalists, today I became a FORMER @Tennessean subscriber b/c of the company’s billing practices. If you are a longtime EZ Pay subscriber, you should check your bank account,” Williams wrote, before posting several follow-up tweets. “My automatic drafts from my checking account had sneaked up on me, from $35/month in 2017 to an average $81/month now. For the record, my @Tennessean account lists me at $81/month, but I’ve been charged more in some months.” The problem, Williams went on to say is The Tennessean staff advertising $16 a month for seven-day home delivery that is 50 percent off. “That would make the regular price $32, right?” Williams wrote. “Apparently, NOT! The customer service representative told me that, because of where I live, the actually price is $81. BTW, I live in Davidson County.…

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Tennessee Media Neglects to Report Federal Workers Make More Money Than Those in Private Sector

Chris Butler

To hear the Tennessee mainstream media tell it, federal workers can’t maintain their usual standard of living and are reduced to accepting charity whenever and wherever offered. But, according to new research, civilian federal employees enjoy a better standard of living than people who work and toil in the private sector. Specifically, federal employees make nearly 20 percent more money per year than folks in the private sector. This includes wages and benefits. This, according to a new article on the website of the Atlanta-based Foundation for Economic Education. The author of the piece, Ryan McMaken, backed his piece up using recent data from the Congressional Budget Office. “Considering that a year is 52 weeks long, an average federal worker would need to be completely without any income for nearly nine weeks in order to just be reduced to equal standing with a similar private sector worker (17 percent of 52 weeks is 8.84 weeks),” McMaken wrote. “As of this writing, the current shutdown has only lasted three weeks, which means all those furloughed workers profiled in national news stories are likely still coming out ahead of their private sector colleagues. Moreover, given that both Trump and Congress have committed…

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Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Trump’s Heroic Efforts to Fulfill His ‘Make America Great Again’ Promises

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by Dr. Carol M. Swain   With President Donald Trump about to begin his third year in office, it’s fitting to discuss what he has accomplished since his election. Although the news is currently dominated by the federal government shutdown and the conflict between Trump and Democratic leaders over the funding of a wall on the Mexican border, it’s worthwhile to look beyond the headlines. What you will find will be shocking for any person unfortunate enough to get their news exclusively from America’s mainstream media. Despite unprecedented levels of opposition from national and international sources, Trump has been enormously successful at accomplishing his goals. He has been quietly checking items off a list of promises he made as candidate Trump, all part of his overriding goal to “Make America Great Again.” Note that wearing anything bearing that phrase is considered hate speech by the political left and an act of great bravery by the rest of America. Frustrated with media bias, the president’s supporters have kept their own running list of accomplishments. In October 2018, Washington Examiner reporter Paul Bedard reported 289 presidential accomplishments over the 20 months Trump had served in office. There is a website called MAGAPILL that has a running list of the…

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Hamilton County Commission Reportedly Treating Constituents to Meals with Taxpayer Money

Chris Butler

Members of the Hamilton County commission reportedly spend a hefty chunk of taxpayer money treating their constituents to meals, according to the Chattanooga-based News Channel 9. District 4 Commissioner Warren Mackey, for instance, said he spent nearly $2,000 taking constituents out to meals, according to the station. “All of the commissioners have spent money taking people to coffee, lunch and dinner to get information,” Mackey reportedly told the station. Commissioners reportedly said this “has been a standard practice for nearly 40 years.” News Channel 9 asked if that is a gray area. To that, Commission Chairwoman Sabrena Smedley says there’s no need to investigate. “Commissioner Mackey has not done anything wrong,” Smedley reportedly told the station, adding Mackey met all the guidelines needed to get reimbursed for all his expenditures. According to the station, commissioners have a limit of $12,500 to spend on travel, office needs and even meals. “They must turn in detailed reports of the expenses,” News Channel 9 said. Last week, Chattanooga resident Darrell Adams reportedly asked at a county commission meeting “Are they using our money to enjoy themselves, or are they using our money to just take care of us?” Smedly told the station if there…

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Judiciary Committee Freshman Democrat Rep. Joe Neguse Floats Perjury Probe of Justice Brett Kavanaugh

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by Kevin Daley   Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado, a freshman member of the House Judiciary Committee, told constituents the panel will likely investigate Justice Brett Kavanaugh for perjury. “There’s no question [Kavanaugh] committed perjury during the confirmation hearings and so forth,” Neguse said when asked if the justice might be impeached. “I think the Judiciary Committee is likely to take that up.” A conservative opposition research group obtained and disseminated video of Neguse’s comments. The congressman was not specific as to which of Kavanaugh’s statements might rise to the level of perjury. Democrats have put forward various theories as to how Kavanaugh misled the Senate Judiciary Committee during his confirmation hearings: One theory, which NBC News advanced, held that he lied concerning when he first learned about the allegations of Deborah Ramirez, a Yale classmate who accused Kavanaugh of drunkenly exposing himself to her at a party. In response to questions from lawmakers during his second confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh said he first learned of Ramirez’s claims from The New Yorker, the venue in which her story appeared. NBC subsequently recovered text messages revealing the justice and his allies were discussing Ramirez’s allegations before the story’s publication, prompting charges…

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Few Signs of Breakthrough as U.K.’s Prime Minister May Set to Unveil ‘Brexit Plan B’

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Theresa May

Prime Minister Theresa May was set to unveil her new plan to break Britain’s Brexit deadlock on Monday — one expected to look a lot like the old plan that was decisively rejected by Parliament last week. May was scheduled to brief the House of Commons on how she intends to proceed. There were few signs she planned to make radical changes to her deal, though she may seek alterations to its most contentious section, an insurance policy known as the “backstop” that is intended to guarantee there are no customs checks along the border between EU member Ireland and the U.K.’s Northern Ireland after Brexit. The EU insists it will not renegotiate the withdrawal agreement, and says the backstop is an integral part of the deal. “This is the text we all invested ourselves in,” Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl said as she arrived for a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels. British lawmakers are due to vote on May’s “Plan B,” and possible amendments, on Jan. 29, two months before Britain is due to leave the EU. Britain and the EU sealed a divorce deal in November after months of tense negotiations. But the agreement has been rejected…

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Commentary: President Trump’s Immigration Proposal Puts Democrats in a Tight Box

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by CHQ Staff   On Saturday afternoon President Trump delivered a brilliant speech on border security offering Democrats a path forward to end the standoff over the border wall and the partial government shutdown. And, striking a conciliatory tone, Trump spread the blame to both political parties: …our immigration system has been badly broken for a very long time.  Over the decades, many Presidents and many lawmakers have come and gone, and no real progress has been made on immigration. We are now living with the consequences – and they are tragic – brought about by decades of political stalemate, partisan gridlock, and national neglect. And he was right about that, as anyone who has followed the immigration and border security debate over the past half-century will confirm. Many conservatives were aghast at some of the details of the President’s proposal – an extension of Obama’s unconstitutional Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and an extension of temporary protected status for 300,000 Central Americans who are slated for deportation. Our friends at NumbersUSA quickly issued a statement saying: The offer the President announced today is a loser for the forgotten American workers who were central to his campaign promises.…

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Retired Detectives Say Gang Of Serial Killers Is Responsible For At Least 70 ‘Accidental’ Drownings

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by Joshua Gill   A team of retired detectives believes a series of deaths that authorities ruled accidental are actually the work of a sophisticated gang of serial killers. The retired detectives, a group called Global Death Investigations, have given the alleged group of killers a name, the smiley face killers, and say that they may be responsible for about 100 deaths since 1997 across the U.S. that authorities officially labeled accidental drownings. The deceased all bear similar profiles: College aged white males, athletic and intelligent, who never returned from a night out drinking and whose bodies were later found either in a body of water or washed up on shore. The retired detectives assert that the alleged gang of killers operate in cells across the country that communicate via the dark web to recruit, choose victims and organize the killings. Of those cases the detectives believe are connected to the group, 70 of the alleged victims were found near the graffiti of particular symbols, including a smiley face, that are specific to the alleged serial killer gang. “To me, this is one of the most dangerous domestic terrorist groups in the United States and somebody needs to pay attention to them,” Kevin…

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Freshman Senator Kamala Harris Is Running For President In 2020

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by Molly Prince   Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris announced on Monday that she is officially throwing her hat into the ring and seeking the Democratic nomination for the presidency in 2020. Amid speculation of Harris’s presidential aspirations, the California senator revealed in December she would make a decision on whether or not to launch a 2020 presidential run over the holiday season. She also acknowledged the challenges she would face while running in such a heated election and how cutthroat the presidential race might be. “Let’s be honest, it’s going to be ugly,” Harris said at the time. “When you break things, it is painful and you get cut. And you bleed.” Leading up to her presidential announcement, the first-term senator had been actively elevating her national profile. Harris spent more money on Facebook ads during the summer than any other senator despite not being up for re-election in November 2018, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. Harris, a high-profile member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, faced both massive backlash and praise for her combative line of questioning of Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his Supreme Court hearings. She later used her role in the tumultuous confirmation process to fundraise for vulnerable Democrats during the midterms. If elected,…

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Commentary: City Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub Discovers Telling the Truth about Muslim Politicians Is Now a Crime

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by George Rasley   Florida’s Hallandale Beach City Commissioner Anabelle Lima-Taub recently called for the removal of U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, with a petition on Facebook saying, “a Hamas-loving anti-Semite has no place in government!” and calling her a “danger.” Commissioner Lima-Taub is right about Rep. Tlaib, she is a danger, and she is a Hamas-loving anti-Semite. Tlaib supports anti-Israel boycotts. She also defended former CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill after he was fired for calling for the elimination of Israel and endorsing violence against Jews. What’s more, Tlaib recently trotted out the old trope about American Jews having “dual loyalty,” a particularly ironic charge for Tlaib to make, given that she once wrapped herself in a Palestinian flag, and has vowed to “be a voice” for her relatives in the West Bank and declared that her “passion for justice is rooted in my beautiful Palestine.” Tlaib openly associates with anti-Israel extremists, such as Abbas Hamideh, who heads a “right of return” advocacy group — and has equated Zionism to Nazism and called Israel a “terrorist entity.” Abbas Hamideh was invited to and attended a Detroit swearing-in reception and dinner party for Rep. Tlaib, where he posed…

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Activist Group Blames Chattanooga Downtown Revitalization for Pushing More than 2,500 Blacks Out of Neighborhoods, Calls for Community Contracts With Developers

Jason M. Reynolds

Activist group Chattanooga Organized for Action released the Jan. 12 report, titled, “Negro Removal in Chattanooga.” The report is available here. Dr. Ken Chilton, an associate professor in the College of Public Service and Urban Affairs at Tennessee State University, is the author. (Chilton has been involved in the Williamson Strong group.) COA’s website says it is a “community organizing non-profit that works to initiate, support, and connect popular grassroots organizations for the purposes of advancing the local social justice movement. We’re a multi-issue organization, and we seek to eliminate the oppressive conditions that cause suffering so many of our city’s poor and marginalized people.” According to the report, Chattanooga’s gentrification has not been an accident, blaming the city’s downtown renovations, yet not blaming any one person or group. Michael Gilliland, COA’s board chair, wrote, “Our development model has been structured on inequality. Housing, amenities, and public support have centered on attracting a higher socioeconomic class of people-wealthy, professional, overwhelmingly white-regardless of the effect on working class and historically marginalized communities that have called Chattanooga home.” The report says the much-lauded public-private partnership that revitalized the downtown failed to benefit blacks. Between 2000 to 2017, the market-based renewal resulted in the…

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FAKE NEWS: Headline-Grabbing Ocean Warming Study is Full of ‘Factual Errors and Misleading Statements,’ Scientist Says

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by Michael Bastach   Another major headline-grabbing climate study suggesting oceans have warmed faster than previously thought is full of “factual errors and misleading statements,” according to independent scientist Nic Lewis. Lewis challenged the climate paper’s central arguments that more recent estimates of ocean heat content (OHC) are higher than those cited in the United Nations’ 2014 climate report which vindicated climate models thought to be showing too much warming. “It is therefore misleading to claim that the warming is larger over the 1971–2010 period than reported in [the U.N.’s 2014 climate report],” Lewis wrote in an article published Monday on climate scientist Judith Curry’s blog. Lewis claims the ocean warming paper gets its alarming results from an improper treatment of the U.N.’s 2014 report, and that ocean heat content trends were “significantly smaller” than climate model estimates from 2005 to 2017. Lewis’ post challenging the study also included a response from lead author Lijing Cheng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Cheng argued the conclusions he and his co-authors came to were “sound.” “If the alternative analysis method proposed by Nic Lewis is used, the change is not quite as dramatic as implied in some of the associated press releases,” Cheng…

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Minnesota Dems Want Teachers to Complete Mandatory Training on ‘Gender Identity’ and ‘Sexual Orientation’

Anthony Gockowski

A group of state Democratic senators want to amend the Minnesota education statutes to mandate a “cultural competency training” on topics such as “gender identity” and “implicit bias” for all public school teachers. According to Senate File (SF) 289, the training program would promote “self-reflection, effective interaction with people of different cultures, and discussion on all of the following topics: racial, cultural, and socioeconomic groups; American Indian students; implicit bias; systemic racism; gender identity, including transgender students; sexual orientation; language diversity; and individuals with disabilities.” “Training programs must be designed to increase teachers’ understanding of these topics and teachers ability to implement this knowledge with students, families, and the school community,” the bill adds. SF 289 would amend various sections of Minnesota Statutes 2018 to require that public school teachers “participated in cultural competency training” before obtaining licensure or renewal. Additionally, the bill would require teachers to present “to their local continuing education and relicensure committee” evidence of “work that demonstrates professional reflection and growth in best teaching practices, including among other things, cultural competence.” The bill was introduced by five DFL state senators and referred to the E-12 Finance and Policy Committee for a hearing. A second bill pertaining…

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Minnesota High School Basketball Team Can’t Play in Tournament After Fans Hoisted Trump Flag at Game

Anthony Gockowski

The superintendent of a rural Minnesota school district cancelled a high school basketball team’s scheduled participation in a Monday tournament because a few student fans recently brought a Trump flag to a game. Last week, students at Jordan High School showed up to a game with a flag that said: “Trump 2020: Keep America Great.” A coach for the opposing team, Minneapolis Roosevelt, took a picture of the students holding the flag and wrote about it on Facebook. “I coach a predominantly black inner city high school team. We go out to a rural area in Jordan, MN and this is there. Please explain how and why this is appropriate at a high school basketball game?” Michael Walker wrote. One person commented on his post to explain that she lent the flag to students to be used as part of a planned USA-themed night. But on Sunday, Jordan School District Superintendent Matthew Helgerson announced that he wouldn’t be allowing the Jordan High School basketball team to participate in an MLK-day tournament. “Given recent events, we believe the participation of our team in the event will detract from the hard work of the athletes and the upbeat focus of the MLK…

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Former Congressman Jim Renacci Set to Launch ‘Ohio’s Future Foundation,’ a Non-Profit Focused on ‘Ohio First’ Policies

Andrew Shirley

Former Congressman Jim Renacci, of Ohio’s 16th district, has announced that he will chair a new organization aimed at advancing Ohio forward. The group is called Ohio’s Future Foundation. Their goal, according to their announcement package is to launch “large scale and highly targeted voter education and advocacy campaign(s)” that are intended to marshall public support for their key goals; “vocational education, energy growth advocacy, municipal income tax reform, healthcare reform, and infrastructure funding.” These issues, though diverse, are all key areas that are desperately underserved in Ohio. Skilled labor represents some of the most well paying and secure jobs in America that don’t require a college education. However, after years of diminishing vocational training in k-12 education (in favor of focusing on college attendance), there is a well documented “Skilled Labor Gap” in America. In states like Ohio, that skilled labor gap hits the hardest. Many state industry leaders feel note that a lack of skilled labor os one of the leading causes of Ohio’s failure to keep up with the economic growth of the country. Ohio’s Future Foundation aims to counter this with a twofold approach. Their first aim is to remove the stigma often associated with vocational training, presumably through a…

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U.S. Supreme Court Case out of Tennessee Could Spark Changes in Alcohol Sales Industry

Chris Butler

Members of the U.S. Supreme Court are hearing a case that originates out of Tennessee involving the alcohol sales industry, and the outcome could have implications nationwide, according to Forbes. Specifically, the court could rule on whether states can pass laws that protect in-state businesses in the alcohol industry from outside competitors. Oral arguments in Tennessee Wine & Spirits Retailers Association v. Blair were to begin last week, Forbes reported. “The court will consider a Tennessee law that limits liquor licenses to residents who’ve lived in the state for at least two years,” Forbes reported. “Renewing the license, which expires after just one year, requires residing in Tennessee for no less than 10 consecutive years. As a result, both those living outside Tennessee and those newly arrived in the Volunteer State are completely barred from obtaining a liquor license, which limits competition for long-established incumbent businesses.” The story profiled Doug and Mary Ketchum, who run a small liquor store in Memphis. They moved to Tennessee from Utah. Total Wine & More, a larges independent wine retailer, was interested in the Tennessee market at the same time the Ketchums were seeking their license, Forbes said. “With nearly 200 stores nationwide and…

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