Day: February 3, 2019

Yet Another Tennessee Law Enforcement Agency, Sullivan County, Blasted for Misusing Seized Property

Chris Butler

Tennessee Comptrollers have called out officials in yet another county for doing a lousy job keeping tabs on evidence they seize from other people — this time in Sullivan County. According to Comptrollers, deputies with the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office kept this property a lot longer than they should have. “When reviewing the evidence logs, auditors were assured that all seized cash had been deposited into the official bank account used for evidence. However, during a review of the evidence room with the officers on duty, we observed that cash totaling $42,141 was being maintained in a safe. This cash related to approximately 66 cases dating as far back as 2005,” auditors wrote. “Evidence logs for many of these cases indicated that these seized funds had been deposited in a prior year. Since evidence logs were not adequately updated and maintained, we were unable to determine if the office properly accounted for all evidence and seized property. All seized cash in the safe was deposited subsequent to June 30, 2018.” Auditors also called out the county’s evidence custodian for not always issuing property receipts. “From our review, only two property receipts were issued by the evidence custodian for the entire…

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Sebastian Gorka Commentary: Who Do Our Intelligence Agencies Think They Work For?

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by Sebastian Gorka   It was a mistake to disband the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in 1945, just months after we had won World War II. Within just two years, President Truman realized he had to have a permanent intelligence capability and so in 1947 he signed the National Security Act, which, in addition to creating the National Security Council as the highest national security policymaking body in the U.S. government, created the Central Intelligence Agency out of the ashes of the OSS. Since 1947, the U.S. Intelligence Community has grown and grown. Originally it was given the task of collecting intelligence on our Cold War adversaries. After the September 11 attacks, it was expanded and reorganized to include today’s 17 agencies. But whether it was just the OSS during the war, or the 17 federal agencies we have today, the mission of the American intelligence was always the same: to provide its sole client with raw intelligence and analysis so that he can make his decisions on how best to secure America and her citizens. That end-user, of course, is the incumbent president. This week’s “Fake News” swirling around the Director of National Intelligence’s (DNI) testimony before Congress…

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Trump Unloads on Pelosi: ‘Very Bad for Our Country’

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The president of the United States has lambasted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling her “very bad for our country” and saying that “she doesn’t mind human trafficking” because she opposes designating money for a wall at the U.S. border with Mexico. In an interview Friday with CBS News, Donald Trump said Pelosi is “very rigid” and that she is attempting “to win a political point” by refusing to give him money for the wall that was a major component of his successful presidential campaign. During the campaign, however, Trump promised that Mexico would pay for the wall. Mexico has refused. Now Trump wants Congress to give him money for the border wall, and the Democrats who are in control of the House of Representatives have refused. “Democrats have put forward strong, smart and effective border security solutions in the bipartisan conference committee,” said Drew Hammill, a Pelosi spokesman, adding that the president “still refuses to take a second shutdown off the table.” Trump recently ended a 35-day partial government shutdown without getting the $5.7 billion he wanted for the wall. National emergency option The president said Friday he will consider calling for a “national emergency” as the path forward to…

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Students Sue Pennsylvania School District Over ‘Unconstitutional’ Bible Ban

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by Joshua Gill   Cumberland County High School students filed a lawsuit against their Pennsylvania school district over what they call an unconstitutional ban on distributing the Bible on campus. The students, leaders of the Christians in Action Student Club, filed their lawsuit against Mechanicsburg Area School District (MASD) Wednesday with the help of Independence Law Center after the district refused to rescind its policies preventing the students from handing out Bibles on campus during non-instructional hours. The law firm, a local pro-bono legal organization, initially sent a letter to school district administrators challenging them to rescind their “Bible ban.” The school district responded to the challenge, claiming the law firm’s allegations were “misleading” and that the students never formally requested to hand out Bibles and were therefore never officially prohibited from distributing scripture. The law firm disputed the district’s claim, saying that email records proved otherwise. “Despite what the school district has later said, the students requested permission to share Bibles at lunch and were explicitly denied the ability to do so by the principal,” Randall Wenger, chief counsel for the law center, said in a press statement. “The principal by email told the students they are ‘not permitted…

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Tennessee Investments in Electric Cars Don’t Seem to Have the Best Track Record

Chris Butler

Some research shows manufacturers of electric cars wouldn’t make a tidy profit in a pure free market system because, at least right now, there isn’t enough demand for that product. So that’s why government gets involved. Tennessee officials have done a lot this decade to help subsidize and promote electric cars, and they’ve reportedly done so again. As The Tennessee Star reported, state officials have given Volkswagen some type of concessions to compel the company to build electric cars in Chattanooga. As Nashville Public Radio reported, state officials spent years pitching the state as Volkswagen’s best choice for an electric car manufacturing facility. “Drew Frye, Technology Innovation Engineer at TVA, confirms the utility and other transportation stakeholders have met for several years to build out the state’s electric vehicle network,” according to Nashville Public Radio. The state’s Department of Environment and Conservation, the radio network went on report, helped make the pitch to Volkswagen. As The Tennessee Star reported last fall, former Tennessee Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen said in 2010 that during the coming decade we’d see a surge of electric vehicles on the state’s roads and highways. So certain of it, he handed out $2.5 million in government money…

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Pressure Mounts Against Northam to Resign After Racist Photo Revealed

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Calls are mounting for Virginia’s governor to step down from office after the emergence of a racist photo in which he appeared in his medical school yearbook more than 30 years ago. Ralph Northam apologized Friday for the “racist and offensive” costume seen on his 1984 medical school yearbook page. In a video statement, Northam said the photo does not reflect the person he is today. “I cannot change the decisions I made, nor can I undo the harm my behavior caused then and today,” he added. “But I accept responsibility for my past actions, and I am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust.” The page features a photograph of a person in blackface and another in full Ku Klux Klan garb. The governor has indicated he is one of the people in the photograph but has not said which one. The Congressional Black Caucus and the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus have urged him to step down. “Ralph Northam has had three decades to know better but only now does he acknowledge this racist act,” the Congressional Black Caucus posted on Twitter. “An apology now isn’t enough. He must resign.” The Virginia Legislative Black Caucus posted…

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Joe Biden Once Endorsed Segregation, Calling it ‘Black Pride’

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by Grace Carr   Former Vice President Joe Biden and a possible candidate in the next presidential election formerly argued that integration would keep black people from fully embracing their identities and rejected busing as an attempt to desegregate schools. “I think the concept of busing … that we are going to integrate people so that they all have the same access and they learn to grow up with one another and all the rest, is a rejection of the whole movement of black pride,” then-senator Biden said in 1975 after facing criticism from white voters, The Washington Examiner reported Friday. Desegregation is “a rejection of the entire black awareness concept,” Biden said, according to the Examiner. Biden was a Delaware Senator from 1973 to 2009. His statements follow those he made during his 1972 run for Senate when he supported the federally-mandated practice of busing. Biden previously claimed he knew segregation and busing were terrible things, but flipped-flopped on the issue following voter backlash, according to the Examiner. He described busing in his 2007 biography as a “liberal train wreck” that tore people apart in the 1970s. “People have to be held accountable,” said University of Cleveland urban studies…

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Mark West Commentary: Her Name Was Annie

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by Mark West   It was the period before Time… better known as Eternity Past. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit opened the Book of Life. In it they wrote down her name. Annie. Her beauty was angelic. Her features were flawless. Her heart was tender. Her birth was predestined. Her parents were chosen. And Annie’s life to come was joyfully celebrated. The triune God along with the angels of heaven were eager for the day when little Annie would be conceived. Annie’s future was to be a bright one. Not only would she bring extreme joy to her parents, she would also be the one to reconcile them to God, through the miracle of her birth. Annie would bring hope and relief to millions. As she grew she would become a medical doctor, and God would use Annie to discover the cure to a cursed disease that had taken the lives of so many in the world. But wait. Eternity Past would first need to intersect with Time — for a few short millenniums. As Time briefly took center stage, the day of Annie’s conception approached. And then it arrived. Annie’s first moment of…

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Commentary: School Choice Also Gives Teachers Like Me More Choice

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by Daniel Buck   During a moment of small group discussion in a professional development session, a teacher near me gave his opinion: Look, I’ve learned a few things in my time here, and that’s to only do these sorts of things on the days the administration comes in to watch. In most school buildings, there smolders an animosity of which most people aren’t aware between teachers and administrators. It shows up in staff meetings. It’s heard in teachers’ lounge gossip. “If only they trusted us and gave us the freedom to do our jobs as we saw fit,” goes the refrain of frustrated teachers. This tension, while a problem in itself, is indicative of a larger issue. There is a handful of different ways to teach that are based on different educational theories; public schools, not committed to any particular theory, mandate a poor mixture of them all onto their teachers. Private schools, a different option where the curriculum may be more aligned to individual beliefs, contain only 10 percent of school enrollment, leaving most teachers to teach a hodgepodge curriculum with which they don’t agree. It’s a matter, then, of hampered choice. The Problem A quick overview of…

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Schumer Aide Sexual Misconduct Revealed During Late-Friday News Cycle

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by Chuck Ross   A top aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was reportedly quietly forced to resign in November 2018 over improper sexual relationships with junior staffers that made some of his colleagues uncomfortable. Matt House announced in November 2018 he was leaving Schumer’s office, where he had served as communications director for the past six years. Prior to that, he worked for Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign. Speculation swirled about why House left his prestigious role, especially given that he did not transfer into another high-profile gig. But according to The Huffington Post, House was forced out because of inappropriate sexual relationships with Schumer staffers. HuffPo reported the story Friday night, while all eyes were on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat who admitted to wearing blackface or a KKK robe in a 1984 yearbook photo. “Upon learning that he had inappropriate encounters within the office and that it was making some staff uncomfortable, he was asked to leave,” a spokesperson for Schumer told HuffPo. House also acknowledged he behaved inappropriately, attributing his problems to excessive drinking. “I deeply regret the mistakes I made on the number of occasions when I had too much to drink, and…

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Sherrod Brown Calls Howard Schultz a ‘Total Idiot’ After Announcing Independent Run

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is not mincing words when it comes to former Starbucks CEO, and 2020 independent candidate hopeful, Howard Schultz. Within 24 hours of launching his “Dignity of Work” tour, Brown told a group of voters that Schultz was a “total idiot.” Strangely, the Senator was not prompted, in any way, as to what his opinion on Schultz was. The broadside came on Friday during a farmers roundtable in Perry, Iowa. When a voter expressed his concern with dark money and PACs during the 2020 cycle, Brown interjected: “Yeah, I mean you got this idiot Schultz running, maybe. He’s an idiot, I mean, he’s a total idiot.” Schultz has neither formally launched his candidacy, nor has established a disproportionate amount of PACs supporting him at this point. It can be inferred that Senator Brown was referencing the fact that Schultz is the first billionaire to enter the race. When the voter continued his question, directly asking the Ohio senator  if he would accept PAC money, he replied: “Well, I have not decided yet.” He then intimated that it doesn’t matter where the money comes from as his record speaks for itself. The issue of PAC money is already proving to…

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Zero Democrats Co-Sponsor Bill That Would Tackle Female Genital Mutilation in Minnesota

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) recently introduced a bill that would expand the criminal definition of female genital mutilation (FGM), but zero Democratic House colleagues have signed on as co-sponsors. Under current Minnesota law, it is illegal for doctors to perform FGM, but there are no penalties in place for parents who subject their children to the gruesome procedure, a press release from Franson’s office explains. “The threat of female genital mutilation remains a very serious issue facing our state,” Franson said. “We need to send a clear message to parents that there are consequences for this practice. I will always stand up for the safety of little girls, and will keep working to put an end to this abusive practice and punish parents who subject their daughters to these often life-threatening horrors.” This is Franson’s second go at passing an FGM-related bill. During the 2017 session, her bill passed the House in a 124-4 vote, but never even received a hearing in the Senate, which Republicans have yet to explain. Franson’s new bill, House File (HF) 373, would expand the criminal definition of FGM in Minnesota to make any “parent, guardian, or other person legally responsible or charged with…

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Awaiting Trial, Justin Jones Protests Nathan Bedford Forrest

Chris Butler

Justin Jones, who allegedly broke the law and caused the biggest disruption at a Marsha Blackburn rally in Nashville last fall is in the news again. This time, Jones and Jeneisha Harris made the news for reportedly protesting a bust of Confederate Army General Nathan Bedford Forrest at the state capitol, according to the Knoxville-based WATE. “We are angry,” said Harris, identified as a Tennessee State University student. “We are tired of being tired of asking for the same thing.” Harris, Jones, and others delivered a signed letter to Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee. In the letter, they asked Lee to take down the bust of Forrest and move it to the state museum, according to the station. Jones, a Vanderbilt divinity student, told members of the media that Lee and members of his office had ignored his repeated emails requesting an appointment. As The Tennessee Star reported last month, members of the Davidson County District Attorney General’s office are scheduled to prosecute Jones in March on charges of criminal trespass and resisting arrest. In a story that made national headlines, Jones caused a scene at a campaign rally for then-U.S. Senate Republican candidate Marsha Blackburn in late October. Blackburn won the…

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