Day: February 4, 2019

Jefferson County Woman Charged with TennCare Fraud

Chris Butler

Law enforcement officials have charged a Jefferson County woman with TennCare fraud. That woman, Consuelo Morales, 44, allegedly falsified her income to obtain healthcare insurance through the state program, according to a state press release. The Office of Inspector General with the assistance of the Jefferson City Police Department arrested Morales. A Jefferson County grand jury charged her with TennCare fraud theft of property over $10,000, the press release said. “The indictment says Morales knowingly obtained TennCare benefits with the intent to avoid payment for services by failing to properly report to the state her spouse’s income, real estate assets and the fact that her family was eligible for private insurance through her spouse’s employer,” according to the press release. “Providing false information in order to receive TennCare benefits is a crime Tennesseans will not tolerate,” said Inspector General Kim Harmon. District Attorney General James B. Dunn is prosecuting. TennCare fraud is a class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison. Theft of property over $10,000 is a Class C felony punishable by up to six years in prison, according to state officials. As The Tennessee Star reported in December, authorities arrested and charged a Florida woman with TennCare fraud…

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Trump Nominations Begin to Remake the Liberal 9th Circuit

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by Fred Lucas   President Donald Trump is moving to make over the liberal 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has delivered some of the most stinging judicial setbacks to his agenda. Trump announced three nominations this week to the San Francisco-based appeals court, which covers California, Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and the eastern part of Washington state. Earlier this month, the president renominated two other judges for the 9th Circuit. “We’re very happy to have these extraordinary nominees,” Carrie Severino, chief counsel for the Judicial Crisis Network, told The Daily Signal. “It doesn’t change the [9th Circuit] majority to Republican nominees. But when we are talking about future three-judge panels, the odds are a lot better.” Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., will oversee the confirmation process for the nominees and said he hopes for bipartisanship. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] “I’m very supportive of the nominees submitted by President Trump to serve on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Graham said in a prepared statement. “These are highly qualified nominees and I am hopeful they will receive wide bipartisan…

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Embezzlement, Theft Charges Against Pennsylvania Labor Kingpin May Cripple Dems’ 2020 Machine

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by Tim Pearce   Pennsylvania Democrats are worried about the short-term future of their political machine after authorities charged a Philadelphia labor leader with numerous counts of embezzlement, bribery and theft, Politico reports. John Dougherty, the business manager of Philadelphia’s branch of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and six other labor officials were indicted on 116 charges related to lavish misuse if union funds and buying influence with corrupt politicians, Philadelphia’s The Inquirer and CBS Philly report. The 159-page indictment was released by the federal court in Pennsylvania Friday. It details more than two years of FBI and IRS operations and raids launched against IBEW Local 98 offices, union officials and their homes. Dougherty used union funds as his “personal bank account and as a means to obtain employment for himself, his family, and his friends,” the indictment says, according to The Inquirer. “I got a different world than most people ever exist in,” Dougherty says according to the transcript of a 2015 FBI wiretap put in the indictment. Dougherty has wielded significant influence across the battleground state, throwing the union’s power and purse behind politicians, largely democrats, running for local, state and national offices. “I would argue they’re the single-most effective political organization in the…

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Commentary: The Real Reason Democrats Have Postponed Barr’s Confirmation Is All About ‘Russia’ and 2020

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by Julie Kelly   After what seemed to be a done deal following a relatively smooth public hearing last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee now has delayed until February 7 the vote to confirm William Barr, President Trump’s nominee for attorney general. The reason, according to news reports, is lingering concerns about how Trump’s incoming attorney general would manage the investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, which is soon expected to conclude. Despite Barr’s repeated assurances that he will follow Justice Department rules in his handling of Mueller’s final report, as well as a pledge to resist any attempted interference by the White House, Democrats on the committee remain unconvinced. “[Barr’s] answer was not particularly reassuring or clear as to the public disclosure of the Mueller report,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell earlier this week. Democrats also have accused Barr of bias against the Mueller investigation based on a detailed memo he authored last year that objected to the special counsel’s reported interest in whether President Trump obstructed justice. Some have suggested Barr should recuse himself from the investigation, which would be a repeat of a terrible mistake made by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2017. The committee’s vote is scheduled to take…

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Eight Things to Know About Stacey Abrams

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Stacey Abrams

by Rachel del Guidice   Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives who lost a race for governor in November, will deliver the Democrats’ rebuttal Tuesday night to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. Here are eight things you should know about Abrams: 1. She ‘Wouldn’t Oppose’ Noncitizen Voting Abrams, 45, said on the PBS show “Firing Line” that she isn’t opposed to people who aren’t U.S. citizens voting in local elections. The show’s host, Margaret Hoover, had asked Abrams about jurisdictions such as San Francisco that allow noncitizens to vote in some local elections, Fox News reported. “I think there’s a difference between municipal and state and federal,” Abrams responded. “The granularity of what cities decide is so specific, as to, I think, allow for people to be participants in the process without it somehow undermining our larger democratic ethic that says that you should be a citizen to be a part of the conversation.” “So, in some cases, you would be supportive of noncitizens voting?” Hoover asked. “I wouldn’t be—I wouldn’t oppose it,” Abrams said. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there…

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President Trump Sits Down with ‘Face the Nation’ to Discuss The Wall, Afghanistan, Russia, and More

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President Donald Trump is refusing to rule out the possibility of another partial government shutdown to win congressional approval of funding for a wall along the southern border with Mexico. But he also signaled strongly he plans to declare a national emergency to build the barrier without assent from lawmakers. “I don’t take anything off the table,” Trump told the CBS News show “Face the Nation” in an interview broadcast Sunday, a week after a record 35-day shutdown of a quarter of government operations was ended. “I don’t like to take things off the table. It’s that alternative.” But the U.S. leader said, “It’s national emergency, it’s other things and you know there have been plenty national emergencies called. And this really is an invasion of our country by human traffickers.” “These are people that are horrible people bringing in women mostly, but bringing in women and children into our country,” he said. “Human trafficking. And we’re going to have a strong border. And the only way you have a strong border is you need a physical barrier. You need a wall. And anybody that says you don’t, they’re just playing games.” Watch the full interview: He assailed House Speaker…

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A Little-Noticed Opinion Portends Big Changes for Religious Liberty at the Supreme Court

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by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court’s conservative bloc released a short, little-noticed statement on Jan. 22 that portends far-reaching changes for religious liberty. The statement — which Justice Samuel Alito authored and Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh joined — criticized the 1990 Employment Division v. Smith decision, a landmark ruling that held laws interfering with religious exercise are constitutional provided that they apply to everyone and are neutrally enforced. “In Employment Division v. Smith the Court drastically cut back on the protection provided by the free exercise clause,” Alito wrote. “In this case, however, we have not been asked to revisit that decision.” In the understated parlance of the Supreme Court, it was a clarion call for litigants to bring cases challenging Smith. It was all the more remarkable in that four justices signed onto the statement, an uncommon occurrence for opinions of this nature. The late Justice Antonin Scalia authored the 5-4 Smith ruling. Outrage at the decision prompted passage of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which requires courts to subject federal action that infringes on religious practice to the highest degree of scrutiny. More recently, something approaching an anti-Smith consensus has developed on the right. Most…

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Colorado State Senate Votes to Strip the People’s Voice in Presidential Elections

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voters polling place

by Jay Whig   Colorado, having cast its electoral votes for a loser in the 2016 presidential election, may not be content merely to be a one-time loser. The Colorado State Senate voted Tuesday – along party lines – to adopt Senate Bill 19-042, a bill to require that Colorado’s electors vote in presidential elections according to the national popular vote. The remarkable lesson Colorado Democrats have taken from their 2016 loss: best to forego a say in presidential elections altogether. It is hard to keep up with this sort of political genius. Had a law like SB 19-042 been in effect in 2016, it would have made not an iota of difference. Colorado’s electors cast their ballots for the candidate who won the national popular vote, because that is how the people of Colorado chose to vote. But if the bill clears the Colorado State House – sources say it is assured to win the governor’s signature – that exercise of political choice will be a thing of the past. Coloradans’ votes in the only national elections in America will be like – well, you know – to a gelding, just a memory. It can’t be lost on Colorado Democrats that there is no…

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Minnesota’s Premier Think Tank Ramps Up Efforts to Expose ‘Bad Ideas’ at Minnesota Capitol

Anthony Gockowski

The Center of the American Experiment, Minnesota’s leading think tank, has launched a new Capitol Watch project to monitor the radical bills and the people behind them at the Minnesota State Capitol. Since the start of the 2019 session, the Minnesota House and Senate have already introduced a combined 1,482 pieces of legislation. As The Minnesota Sun has reported, among these bills are proposals to make Minnesota a sanctuary state, ban plastic straws across Minnesota, legalize marijuana, and the like. “The idea of Capitol Watch is to shine a light on what’s happening over at the Capitol. There are a lot of very silly legislative proposals, there are a lot of very bad ideas, some of which are probably going to pass, that really need to be exposed as they get introduced and as they work their way through the system,” Center of the American Experiment President John Hinderaker told The Minnesota Sun. As an example of the sort of thing Capitol Watch will seek to expose, Hinderaker pointed to a DFL legislative priority to introduce a 50 percent renewable energy mandate in Minnesota. One bill, Senate File (SF) 425, wants to make Minnesota the first state in the nation…

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There’s a New Tea Party Brewing… in Moscow

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by Vera Kichanova   As Moscow celebrated its 870th anniversary, a futuristic $245 million Zaryadye Park was inaugurated in the heart of the capital — a generous present from Mayor Sergei Sobyanin to his citizens. The 32-acre park includes a ‘floating bridge,’ a piece of tundra, and even an ice cave. The miracle was designed by architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, creators of the iconic High Line in New York, who describe Zaryadye as a piece of “wild urbanism.” Moscovian Politics Is Still Outdated “Wild urbanism” sounds like an ideal description of Sobyanin’s policy. Since he was appointed by Vladimir Putin in 2010, the Moscow mayor was trying to make the Russian capital look like any other modern capital — by flagrantly unmodern, Soviet/USSR-like means. To bring “order to city planning,” he bulldozed hundreds of kiosks overnight, leaving some one thousand citizens unemployed. More recently, he ordered to tear down 10 percent of Moscow’s housing stock and, in a Stalin-like manner, relocate 1.6 million inhabitants against their will. Last weekend, while Sobyanin was cutting the ribbon of Zaryadye Park, his administration was preparing another “present” for the citizens. Bloggers published a video where the deputy head of a local council in Moscow teaches her colleagues the…

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Commentary: The Trump Effect

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by Robert Curry   I have a friend who tells me that attempts to understand Donald Trump in the ordinary ways we understand politicians, even truly remarkable politicians, are doomed to failure. My friend is pointing to the astonishing revelations Trump has precipitated. One such effect is that people in public life are ripping off their masks – and what is being revealed is shocking. Bill Kristol has told us he is all for the deep state. George Will came out in support of the co-head of the Clinton crime family. James Comey stood before the whole world to explain why Hillary should be indicted – and then said she would not be indicted. And just look at what the Democrats are doing. They now openly advocate that America open its borders to all comers. They have abandoned “safe, legal, and rare” and are now in a hurry to legalize infanticide. The Democrats are done with hiding their real intentions from voters. That’s amazing, when you think about it. Until now, hiding their real intentions has been the secret of their electoral success. The important point is that we now know who these people have been all along. They are simply making known…

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Report: Vaccination Company’s Poor Safety Protocols Cause Infections Across Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana

Andrew Shirley

The Kentucky Department for Public Health has announced that Location Vaccination, a company that provides vaccinations for businesses, is currently being investigated for causing an untold number of infections across Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. According to the Department of Public Health (DPH) Report, there is no issue with the actual vaccination, nor are there any issues with vaccination supply. Instead, the report says it appears that “improper storage and handling of the vaccine” led to contamination which is responsible for the infections. The provider has suspended shipping vaccinations indefinitely. Some patients have reported signs of infection as soon as a few days, while others have had symptoms appear more than twelve weeks after immunization. As a precaution, the DPH is advising anyone that has been vaccinated by this organization to immediately seek medical evaluation. In addition, there is a concern that the infection has hindered the effectiveness of the vaccinations and individuals should be revaccinated to ensure the integrity of the process. No numbers have been provided as to how many people were immunized with contaminated vaccinations, though we know the provider was primarily operating in Kentucky will smaller operations in Indiana and Ohio. While contaminated vaccinations are deeply concerning, the potential…

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DFL State Reps Want Task Force to Consider Redesigning Minnesota Flag

Anthony Gockowski

A group of DFL state representatives has introduced a bill in the Minnesota House that would establish a task force to “study the design of the state flag” and consider potential alternatives. House File (HF) 505 was introduced Thursday and referred to the Government Operations Committee. It was authored by four DFL House members, including Reps. Peter Fischer (D-Maplewood), Jamie Becker-Finn (D-Roseville), Dave Pinto (D-St. Paul), and Jim Davnie (D-Minneapolis). The bill would create a “legislative task force” consisting of three House members and three state senators who would study the design of the Minnesota flag. “The task force shall study the form, style, and design of the state flag and suggest any desired changes, while preserving its basic symbolism. The task force may solicit and secure the voluntary service and aid of vexillologists and other persons who have either technical or artistic skill in flag construction and design,” the bill states. It’s unclear exactly what the issue with the current flag design is, but this isn’t the first time Minnesota has considered redesigning its flag. In 2017, a group of Minnesotans launched a petition to urge former Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN) to change the state’s “shameful” flag design. “Our…

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Paying More Than Asking Price, Sumner County Executive Anthony Holt Spends $654,500 with Campaign Donor to Expand Parking for Communications Center

Laura Baigert

Sumner County’s Executive Anthony Holt executed a deal in which he spent $654,500 to purchase – from a campaign contributor – additional parking for the County’s Emergency Communications Center, which has been in the news over the past several months for ongoing operational problems. Sumner’s Emergency Communications Center (ECC) is a consolidation of the 9-1-1 dispatch services for police, fire and medical services that were previously handled separately by the County as well the cities of Gallatin, Hendersonville, Millersville, Portland and Westmoreland, which opened in July 2017. The ECC project has been beset with problems from its outset, including cost overruns and delays in the construction phase of the project. The problems – most recently reported on in The Portland Sun – are related to the daily operations of the center including high turnover of dispatchers and the resignation of the director and deputy director. The functional result of these issues is that the various emergency service agencies, fire, law enforcement and ambulance, are not getting the information they need to respond appropriately to Sumner County residents’ calls. According to the meeting minutes of December 2018 and January 2019 ECC Executive Committee, comprised of all of the city mayors, the county…

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