Day: January 26, 2019

Rep. Mark Green Questions Democrats’ Trustworthiness Over Government Shutdown, Border Wall Fight

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) questions Democrats’ trustworthiness in a new op-ed. The op-ed ran on Fox News’ website Friday. It is available here. Green writes: Top Democrats are using this line as their new drumbeat, “Open the government and then we will secure the border.” But how can we trust them to keep their word? Here are four instances in the past 12 months where President Trump and Republicans have reached across the aisle looking for a deal. At every opportunity, Democrats have refused to work with Republicans to secure our border or fix our broken immigration system. Green goes on to list the examples, including a fight last year over Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals on the brink of a potential government shutdown. He also makes reference to this shutdown’s damage to the economy and making the country look weak, and asks if Democrats are afraid Trump will win in 2020 over the border wall. Trump on Friday laid out a plan to end the government shutdown, Breitbart reported: Trump agreed to reopen the government for three weeks while negotiations continued — with no apparent wall funding concessions from Democrats. The president warned that if Congress could not successfully…

Read the full story

Congress’ Nonpartisan Research Arm Says Trump Could Have DOD Build a Wall Without State of Emergency or Congressional Approval

Admin

by Luke Rosiak   The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a paper internally that suggests President Donald Trump may have the authority to use Department of Defense resources to build a wall without obtaining congressional approval or declaring a state of emergency. CRS, Congress’s in-house research arm, internally published a paper Jan. 10 titled “Can the Department of Defense Build the Border Wall?,” which The Daily Caller News Foundation has obtained. It says (emphasis added): Another statute that authorizes the Secretary of Defense to assist civilian law enforcement with counterdrug activities may provide some authority for the construction of barriers along the border. 10 U.S.C. § 284 (Section 284) provides that the Secretary of Defense “may provide support for the counterdrug activities or activities to counter transnational organized crime” of any law enforcement agency, including through the “[c]onstruction of roads and fences and installation of lighting to block drug smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States.” … Use of Section 284 would not require a declaration of a national emergency under the NEA. However, the DOD’s Section 284 authority to construct fences appears to extend only to “drug smuggling corridors,” a condition that may limit where DOD…

Read the full story

Commentary: Trump and Conservatives Know Without the Wall, America Soon May Fall

Admin

by Jeffrey A. Randall   We all know, a catchy rhyming slogan can be really effective in selling an idea, no matter how simple or otherwise comprehensible to the layperson. Take for example notorious O.J. Simpson lawyer Johnny Cochran’s uttering perhaps the most well-remembered line of the disgraced celebrity’s year-long 1995 murder trial by synopsizing his case for the entire nation, “If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit!” From that point on, even if the jury recalled nothing else from the hundreds of hours of mundane testimony and evidence presented, Cochran provided them something easily digestible to chew on at the end. Now President Donald Trump’s done something similar for his wall concept. Brett Samuels reported at The Hill, “President Trump on Wednesday issued a new rallying cry to gin up support for building a wall along the southern border. “’BUILD A WALL & CRIME WILL FALL! This is the new theme, for two years until the Wall is finished (under construction now), of the Republican Party,’ Trump tweeted, urging supporters to ‘Use it and pray!’ “While the president said his desired border wall is ‘under construction now,’ multiple fact-checks have noted that Congress has not approved funding to construct…

Read the full story

Exclusive Harlan Hill Commentary: Trump Just Turned the Tide in Washington with Three Simple Statements

Admin

by Harlan Hill   The only adult in Washington just stood up and put an end to the nonsense. In President Trump’s Friday afternoon address from the White House garden, he put an end to the government shutdown and laid out the terms for the border negotiations going forward. #1 Put and end to the government shutdown In one quick declaration, President Trump put an end to the suffering so many Americans who were facing during the longest government shutdown in history. “I am very proud to announce we have reached a deal to end the shutdown and reopen the federal government,” he said. He thanked the incredible men and women who faced hardship over the past few weeks. “You are fantastic people,” he added. President Trump showed the compassion so many Democrats were lacking in the heated immigration debate. #2 Reminded Americans of the desperate need for border security While American federal workers were hurting, so were the families harmed by illegal immigration. They still are. President Trump reminded Americans that while the government shutdown may be over, the threat of illegal immigration is not. “Walls should not be controversial,” he said. “No matter where you go, walls work.”…

Read the full story

Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Voter Deception and the Compromised Alabama Senate Race

Admin

by Dr. Carol M. Swain   If the left is accusing the right of something, you can be sure those charges are things the left themselves are either doing now or have done in the past. We see this in elections, where Democrats accuse Republicans of voter suppression, collusion with Russians, and efforts to disenfranchise U.S. voters. It’s all a sinister game. Again and again, the evidence suggests that Democrats are using rhetoric and accusations to distract from the shenanigans they are pulling. In 2017, voters in the deep red state of Alabama elected Democrat Doug Jones to the U.S. Senate over Republican Roy Moore by a margin of 1.5 percentage points, in a surprising upset. We now know of a massive deception perpetrated against Alabama voters. False Flags Dubbed Project Birmingham, the deception took the form of an elaborate “false flag” operation. Project Birmingham was one of two separate false-flag operations. The second was a Facebook operation dubbed “Dry Alabama.” It sought to give the impression that Southern Baptist teetotalers supported Moore. A false flag typically refers to a covert military-like action designed to deceive an enemy by attacking under the flag of a rival nation. The purpose of…

Read the full story

Spotify Removes All PragerU Content as Conservatives Claim Censorship

Admin

by Chris White   Music-streaming platform Spotify removed PragerU’s advertisements from its platform, noting that the content does not comply with the company’s editorial policies, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. “Our policy team has re-reviewed the ads that you have submitted through Ad Studio and determined that the content of the ads do not comply with our editorial policies,” Spotify noted in an email to PragerU. TheDCNF has seen a copy of the email, which also alludes to other noncompliance issues. “Our policy team has made the decision to stop all existing ads and not approve new ads coming through in the future. Please let us know if you have any questions or require further clarification,” the email adds. Most of the ads are tame and direct listeners to click on the conservative group’s website to learn more about “intersectionality” and other social issues. PragerU frequently complains about censorship on YouTube and other social media platforms. The group filed a lawsuit in 2017 against Google and Google-owned YouTube, alleging unlawful censorship. “Every day, PragerU is changing culture with online content that teaches the values that make America the freest and most prosperous nation on earth. Millions of Americans…

Read the full story

Commentary: We Must Depose the Deep State or a Wall is Meaningless

Admin

by Thomas Farnan   Last week in the Russian collusion saga, we learned that the FBI opened an investigation into the president because it disagreed with him on a matter of foreign policy. Yes, the agency first formed to catch people who crossed state lines with white women to have sex—and that now keeps secret files on UFOs—surmised in the aftermath of the 2016 election that Donald Trump might be an agent of the Kremlin because he favored diplomatic rapprochement. Much can be inferred from this, not the least of which is that our chief law enforcement officers are idiots. Maybe not the gumshoe “just the facts ma’am” guys you know from the church picnic, but certainly the ones who ran the place who are now getting big-money book deals as they fend off indictment. Beyond Andrew McCabe’s monumental stupidity (pictured above), though, investigating the president for treason confirms that there is a deep state with an agenda separate from the will of the electorate. It means, at some level, that America is governed by unelected bureaucracies that were originally created to assist the various branches in carrying out their ministerial functions. These have grown, by mission creep, into a…

Read the full story

Agency: Deadly Tubbs Fire in California Caused by Homeowner Equipment

Admin

In a long-awaited report, state investigators said Thursday that a 2017 wildfire that killed 22 people in Northern California wine country was caused by a private electrical system, not equipment belonging to embattled Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. The state firefighting agency concluded that the blaze started next to a residence. It did not find any violations of state law. “I eliminated all other causes for the Tubbs Fire, with the exception of an electrical caused fire originating from an unknown event affecting privately owned conductor or equipment,” CalFire Battalion Chief John Martinez wrote in his report. Some details about the property, including its owner and address, were blacked out of the report. It said the Napa County property about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of Calistoga was built in 1946 on about 10.5 acres (4.2 hectares) with a wine cellar, pool and several outbuildings. PG&E said in a Jan. 2 court filing that it believed a handyman performing unlicensed electrical work started the wine country fire. In that filing, it identified the owner of the Napa County compound as Ann Zink. The utility said it provided electricity to Zink’s property by a line that connected to a service riser…

Read the full story

Under Trump, US Economic Freedom Rises Significantly

Admin

by Anthony B. Kim   The U.S. economy is roaring like no other time in recent memory. The job market is hot, unemployment is down to record lows, and small business optimism is soaring. But this newfound dynamism didn’t come from nowhere. It required a package of market and consumer-friendly reforms passed by Congress and adopted by the Trump administration. These reforms have boosted economic freedom. According to The Heritage Foundation’s 2019 Index of Economic Freedom, America’s economic freedom has seen a dramatic boost—from 18th place in the world to 12th place in the span of just one year. America’s score ticked up by more than a full point from last year, reaching the highest level in eight years. The annual index—now celebrating its 25th year—provides an overall snapshot of almost every country’s level of economic freedom. It takes into account a variety of factors, like taxation, regulation, and trade. It is relevant to our job prospects and the prices we pay for goods and services, not to mention what kind of appliances and cars we can choose and buy. Higher economic freedom scores tend to correlate with faster growth and broader economic expansion, as well as higher incomes and…

Read the full story

Audit: Tennessee Volunteer Fire Chief Stole $20,000

Chris Butler

The former fire chief for the Keith Springs Volunteer Fire Department stole more than $20,000 from the fire department and used it on himself, according to a state audit released this week. Court officials indicted that man, Jamie Stephens, the audit went on to say. “Stephens withdrew thousands of dollars in cash from the fire department checking and savings accounts. He also used the department’s debit card to purchase items such as televisions, food, gasoline, groceries, tires for his personal van, and a vacation rental in Panama City Beach,” auditors said in a press release. “The theft also included $853 in fuel that was purchased on the fire department’s fuel account. Investigators reviewed the purchase dates and determined Stephens was not performing fire department duties, and he did not provide proper documentation to support the purchases.” In December 2017, the fire department’s board of commissioners met with Stephens about his use of the bank funds and fuel and placed him on probation. However, while on probation, Stephens continued to use the bank and fuel accounts for personal use, auditors said. The board of commissioners elected a new fire chief in March of last year. A Franklin County grand jury indicted Stephens this month on one count of theft over $10,000, the press release…

Read the full story

Lawmakers Claim Their Carbon Tax Proposal is ‘Revenue-Neutral’ When It’s Actually a $1 Trillion Tax Hike

Admin

by Tim Pearce   The bipartisan House Climate Solutions Caucus claims it is pushing a “revenue-neutral” carbon tax, but legislation proposed Thursday would hike taxes by at least $1 trillion over the next decade, according to Paul Blair, director of strategic initiatives for the right-leaning policy institute Americans for Tax Reform. Reps. Ted Deutch, a Democrat, and Francis Rooney, a Republican, reintroduced a bill Thursday that would place a $15-per-ton tax on carbon emissions in 2019. The tax would rise by $10-a-year increments until it hits nearly $100 per ton. “To let the free market price out coal we should consider value pricing carbon,” Rooney said in a statement. “A revenue-neutral carbon fee is an efficient, market-driven incentive to move toward natural gas and away from coal, and to support emerging alternate sources of energy.” Though Rooney claims the tax is “revenue-neutral,” the plain text of the bill does not include any reciprocal tax cuts to balance out the burden of the added tax on emissions, Blair told The Daily Caller News Foundation. The Climate Solutions Caucus, co-led by Deutch and Rooney, claims the bill is “revenue-neutral” through carbon dividends. The IRS will pay out the funds raised by the…

Read the full story

New Report Calls Ilhan Omar’s Security Clearance Into Question

Anthony Gockowski

A new report published Thursday suggests that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) would not be granted security clearance if she weren’t an elected official because of her ties to those in the highest echelons of Somalia’s government. According to an investigative report from PJ Media, Omar visited with former Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud in Mogadishu prior to her 2016 election to the Minnesota House. It’s likely she also met with Somalia’s new president, Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, whose election was called “one of the most fraudulent political events in Somalia’s history.” Omar’s brother-in-law, Mohamed Keynan, later worked under his administration as a permanent secretary to the prime minister, a position he occupied for 14 months. PJ Media’s David Steinberg uncovered the close familial relationship Omar and Keynan share, reporting: A long-time resident of Minneapolis, MN, and Columbus, OH, Mohamed Keynan is married to Ilhan Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor. Sahra, who arrived in the United States with Ilhan in 1995, bears the distinction of being the only one of Ilhan Omar’s seven siblings whom Ilhan has ever identified or openly appeared with in public. Sahra and Ilhan have been frequently photographed together over the years, and have often appeared together with their…

Read the full story

North Carolina’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Resigns For Law School Dean Job

A.P. Dillon

North Carolina’s Supreme Court Chief Justice announced his resignation to become dean of Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Chief Justice Mark Martin’s resignation is effective February 28th and will begin his new role March 1, 2019. It has been the highest of honors to serve the people of North Carolina as their Chief Justice,” Martin stated in a press release. “I will forever cherish the memories of serving with so many amazing and capable people. It is now time to direct my focus to helping prepare the next generation of leaders.” “On behalf of the Regent University Board of Trustees, I welcome Chief Justice Martin to the Regent University School of Law,” said Phil Walker, Regent University Chairman of the Board in a press release by Regent University.  “His career and legal abilities are extraordinary.  I have known Chief Justice Martin for many years and know the Regent community will greatly benefit from this outstanding leader.” Chief Justice Martin is the 28th Chief Justice and has served as a judge in North Carolina for 26 years, over twenty of which were on the state’s supreme court. Martin, a Republican, has been a judicial ground breaker during that…

Read the full story

Republicans Call on Minnesota DHS to Hand Over Information About Child Care Fraud

Anthony Gockowski

Newly-appointed Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) Commissioner Tony Lourey is facing pressure from Republican legislators over the department’s failure to respond to several data requests seeking information on the state’s alleged child care fraud. The fraud was first exposed in a May 2018 Fox 9 report, and has been a subject of concern for Minnesota Republicans ever since. Investigative reporters found that up to $100 million in suitcases had left MSP bound for the Middle East. Experts suspected that some of the money was being transferred through Hawalas, the unofficial banking systems of some third-world countries, which are generally compelled to hand over a share of the profits to Al-Shabab. The story resulted in a shock allegation from Republicans: Minnesota taxpayers, through widespread fraud in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, are funding foreign terrorists. The fraud scheme, according to Fox 9, generally included daycare centers across the state registering low-income families for their services so they could bill the state for a full day of care. In many cases, however, the children would never show up, while families in on the scam would receive shares of the profit. Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) and former Rep. Matt Dean (R-Ely)…

Read the full story

North Carolina House Elections Committee Chairs Announced

A.P. Dillon

North Carolina’s Speaker of the House Tim Moore has announced the appointment of State Representatives Holly Grange (R-D20) and Destin Hall (R-D87l) as co-chairs of the North Carolina House Committee on Elections and Ethics Law. “These two House members have a strong legal background and will be an integral part of how we restore confidence in our elections systems in North Carolina,” state House Speaker Tim Moore said in a statement. The new co-chairs replace former long-time chair David Lewis (R- D53). Representative Lewis, having been reappointed, will continue as chairman of the House Committee on Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House. In the statement put out by the Speaker’s office, Grange said the committee will be holding oversight hearings which will look into absentee ballot laws and practices. “We saw this election cycle and in previous years that there are unacceptable gaps in the integrity and reliability of our elections systems,” Representative Grange said. “It is our duty as state lawmakers to identify those concerns and address them through oversight and legislation on behalf of our constituents and their confidence in North Carolina’s democratic process,” Grange said. Representative Hall, who is a practicing attorney from Lenoir, North Carolina,…

Read the full story

As Many as 34 Deaths in Ohio Now Attributed to Doctor Husel’s Lethal Opioid Dosing

Andrew Shirley

Thursday, the Mount Carmel Hospital released a shocking report that revealed the crimes of Doctor William Husel were far more extensive and well known than previously noted. As first reported on January 18th, the Mount Carmel Hospital confirmed that Dr. Husel was being investigated for malpractice. The young doctor had allegedly prescribed dangerous – and in some cases fatal – doses of fentanyl to at least 27 patients. All the victims were in a “near death” state when the doses were administered. In some cases, the doctor was prescribing 50 times the recommended dose. No motive had yet been established and the doctor was suspended from service until the investigation is complete. Thursday’s report revealed that a “formal report” about the questionable methods of Dr. Husel was first filed on October 25th, 2018. However, he was not removed from providing patient care until November 21st, almost a month later. During this time, three of his victims were administered the lethal doses and all three died shortly after. The hospital conceded that “we should have begun a more expedited process to investigate and consider immediate removal of Dr. Husel from patient care.” There is no clear answer as to why the waited so long to remove the doctor…

Read the full story

Lawmakers Blast North Carolina Governor’s Office For Blocking Pipeline Investigation

A.P. Dillon

North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Roy Cooper is under fire for blocking attempts by independent investigators to question employees regarding a multi-million dollar fund tied to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. According to a report by the Associated Press published in the Miami Herald: “Cooper’s administration told panel leaders last week it won’t let career environmental regulators contacted by the firm this month speak with the investigators.” The workers have no legal protections from inappropriate questions that are extensions of an “extraordinarily open-ended political fishing expedition,” wrote Kristi Jones, Cooper’s chief of staff. The committee’s co-chairmen fired off a letter to Cooper, blasting the governor for blocking the investigation. “For nearly a year, you complained that this oversight investigation was too political,” wrote Senator Harry Brown (R-D6) and Representative Dean Arp (R-D69). “To remove any appearance of political motivations, we hired independent investigators to get to the truth,” the co-chairs wrote. “Senator Floyd McKissick even participated in the interview and he agreed that Eagle Intel Services LLC was the best options.” “But now you are complaining that the oversight investigation is too independent,” Senator Brown and Representative Arp wrote. The letter also blasted Cooper for ‘impugning’ the character of the investigators. “We…

Read the full story

Congress’ Work on Border Wall ‘Far from Over,’ Marsha Blackburn Affirms

Chris Butler

Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee reasserted her commitment to a wall along the U.S./Mexican border Friday. Blackburn did so immediately after U.S. President Donald Trump reached a compromise agreement with Democrats to re-open closed portions of the federal government in a dispute that centered primarily on border wall funding. My statement on the President’s decision to re-open the government: pic.twitter.com/2kxqmFyGRD — Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) January 25, 2019 “President Trump has reached a compromise with Democratic and Republican leaders to reopen the federal government with a short term continuing resolution. While this action solves the immediate problem of funding the back pay of 800,000 federal workers, it does not address the urgent need to end the humanitarian crisis on our southern border. It does not end the illegal flow of drugs, gangs and human traffickers. Congress’ work on this issue is far from over,” Blackburn said in a press release. “I will continue to support our border patrol and their three essential needs: a border barrier, additional technology and more officers and agents on the border. I also support ending the DACA program, chain migration and the visa lottery system.” As The Wall Street Journal reported Friday, Trump…

Read the full story