by Rachel Greszler Just months after announcing it would locate one of its headquarters in New York City, Amazon has announced that it’s pulling the plug on the Big Apple. Based on Amazon’s public statement, it seems the company couldn’t rely on the deals it had cut or the political support it had received to last beyond the next election. And businesses can’t base long-term decisions like this on shifting political sand. That’s part of the problem with crony capitalism. It may procure short-term wins for a select few politicians and for businesses that can afford to pay to play, but it’s not a strategy for long-term success. Employers want to set up shop in places where they can grow and succeed. The best environment for that is a level playing field with minimal government interference and low, broad-based taxes—not picking winners and losers through special-interest subsidies. A favorable business environment is one where local leaders work to help all businesses equally, not a select few. Employers want leaders who can listen to their needs without telling them how to run their business, and they want communities and leaders that welcome the jobs and economic growth that employers bring,…
Read the full storyDay: February 15, 2019
Amazon Pulls Plug on New York Headquarters, Promises to Continue With Nashville, Virginia Sites
The Big Apple has taken a big bite out of big tech, with the world’s largest e-commerce site announcing Thursday it would not build its second headquarters in New York City. The massive retailer/cloud computing firm faced a battle from some politicians and others in New York over nearly $3 billion in tax incentives, Breitbart said. Amazon was poised to bring 25,000 jobs to New York with a $2.5 billion investment in offices. The decision will not affect the planned office space for Arlington, Virginia, and the center in Nashville, Breitbart said. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted, “You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity.” You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity. — Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) February 14, 2019 Amazon said in a statement it would…
Read the full storyCommentary: Amazon’s New York Reversal Shows Exactly Why Crony Capitalism Fails
by Rachel Greszler Just months after announcing it would locate one of its headquarters in New York City, Amazon has announced that it’s pulling the plug on the Big Apple. Based on Amazon’s public statement, it seems the company couldn’t rely on the deals it had cut or the political support it had received to last beyond the next election. And businesses can’t base long-term decisions like this on shifting political sand. That’s part of the problem with crony capitalism. It may procure short-term wins for a select few politicians and for businesses that can afford to pay to play, but it’s not a strategy for long-term success. Employers want to set up shop in places where they can grow and succeed. The best environment for that is a level playing field with minimal government interference and low, broad-based taxes—not picking winners and losers through special-interest subsidies. A favorable business environment is one where local leaders work to help all businesses equally, not a select few. Employers want leaders who can listen to their needs without telling them how to run their business, and they want communities and leaders that welcome the jobs and economic growth that employers bring,…
Read the full storyState Rep. William Lamberth Seeks to Limit Public Records Access to as Little as Three Requests a Year
If government officials accuse you of filing one too many public records requests, then they could use the courts to penalize you under a proposed bill at this year’s Tennessee General Assembly. State Rep. William Lamberth (R-Cottontown) introduced the bill this session. As written, a government official could seek an injunction to keep people “from making records requests that constitute harassment.” If an injunction goes through, then the person requesting government records could make no further requests for one year, according to the bill. That person, though, could ask a court to reverse the decision – but only if he or she shows “the public records request does not constitute harassment.” “Harassment” means three or more public records requests within a period of one year that are made in a manner that would cause a reasonable person, including a records custodian or any staff of the public entity in control of the public records, to be seriously abused, intimidated, threatened, or harassed,” according to the bill, as currently written. “For which the conduct in fact seriously abuses, intimidates, threatens, or harasses the person; and that are not made in good faith or for any legitimate purpose, or are made maliciously.”…
Read the full storyFormer West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Gets Two Years in Prison for Fraud and Lying
by Kevin Daley Allen Loughry, a former justice of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, was sentenced to a two-year prison term Wednesday, following his conviction for fraud and lying to federal investigators. U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver assessed penalties in excess of the federal sentencing guidelines, finding an enhancement appropriate because of the gravity of the offenses. The guidelines called for a 10 to 16 month sentence. The sentence … “His damage can’t be measured in dollars and cents but the damage to the Supreme Court and the state is perhaps immeasurable,” assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Wright said during Wednesday’s proceedings, according to local press. Loughry was suspended from the state Supreme Court in June 2018 after West Virginia’s Judicial Investigation Commission cited him for 32 alleged violations of the state judicial ethics code. During Loughry’s tenure, the justices undertook a lavish renovation of their chambers, spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on opulent furnishings for their exclusive use. Among the most notorious purchases was a $32,000 suede sectional sofa for Loughry’s office. An ensuing criminal inquiry found that Loughry used state transportation resources for personal travel, fraudulently procured reimbursement for travel, removed a $50,000 antique…
Read the full storyCommentary: Is Diversity an Enemy of Excellence?
by John Staddon The National Science Foundation (NSF) was created by Congress in 1950 “to promote the progress of science….” Following a 2012 recommendation, NSF now has an Office of Diversity and Inclusion (D&I). NSF was just following the crowd, for almost every academic and research institution now has a D&I program. No one wants to exclude people or not be diverse. So, what’s wrong with D&I? Could D&I perhaps interfere with “the progress of science”? John Rosenberg, in a much-commented Martin Center piece, describes a number of problems, such as the injection of “diversity” into curricula and the creation of “professors of diversity.” Two recent Chronicle of Higher Education articles illustrate another serious problem: corruption of the educational process itself. The first piece, Against Diversity Statements, by Jeffrey Flier, former dean of Harvard Medical School, is a gentle critique. The second article, In Defense of Diversity Statements, by Professor Charlotte Canning and Associate Professor Richard Reddick, is a reaction to Flier’s mild objection (which Canning and Reddick stigmatize as “scaremongering”). Diversity statements are an accelerating trend, urging not just sympathy with diversity and inclusion, but active involvement. College faculty are asked or required to include in their hiring, promotion,…
Read the full storyArmed Combat Veterans to Patrol Florida School After Mass Shootings in the State
by Grace Carr Another Florida school is actively taking precautions against shooters by hiring armed combat veterans to patrol its campus, a year after the tragic Parkland shooting. The Manatee School for the Arts, a charter school, will employ two combat veterans to protect the school and prevent any persons attempting to shoot up the school, according to HuffPost. The guards will both carry a handgun and military-style long gun, WWSB TV reported. “If someone walks onto this campus, they’re going to be shot and killed,” said school principal Bill Jones, according to the Bradenton Herald. “We’re not going to talk with them. We’re not going to negotiate. We are going to put them down, as quickly as possible.” One guard with 15 years of infantry experience has patrolled the campus for a number of months, HuffPost reported. A second guard will patrol the campus starting at the end of February. The hires coincide with the one year anniversary of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland. Former student Nikolas Cruz entered the high school on Feb. 14, 2018, and methodically walked through the school and opened fire on students in hallways and hiding in classrooms. Cruz…
Read the full story2020 US Presidential Race Will Be Costliest in History
by Rob Garver In 1895, Mark Hanna, a U.S. senator from Ohio, explained how politics worked in his times: “There are two things that are important in politics,” he said. “The first is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is.” Nearly 125 years later, things haven’t changed much. In every two-year federal election cycle in the U.S., candidates and their supporters spend billions of dollars to raise their public profiles, get their messages out, and discredit their opponents. By the best available estimates, the 2016 presidential elections cost $2.4 billion when spending by candidates and various interest groups are combined. And, by all accounts, it would have been much more except for Donald Trump’s unique campaign strategy, which relied in large part on “earned” (read: free) media coverage rather than paid advertisements. That’s an astounding amount of money — larger than the economies of dozens of countries around the world in that same year, including Lesotho, Bhutan and Belize. If you add in spending by candidates for other federal offices — members of the House of Representatives and the Senate — the total figure skyrockets to about $6.5 billion. Surge in campaign spending Historically, this is…
Read the full storyFormer FBI Chief McCabe Says Law Enforcement Officials Mulled Ousting Trump
Andrew McCabe, a former FBI acting director, says two years ago, top U.S. law enforcement officials considered invoking a constitutional amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office after he fired then-FBI director James Comey. At the time, Comey was heading the agency’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election. McCabe, who himself was later fired from the FBI, told CBS News in an interview that aired Thursday morning that the officials in May 2017 discussed whether to invoke provisions of the 25th Amendment, which allows a vice president and a majority of the 15 Cabinet members to declare a president incapable of handling the duties of the presidency, making the vice president the acting president. The officials ultimately did not move to oust Trump. But McCabe, then the No. 2 official in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said soon after he discussed Comey’s firing with Trump, he ordered the bureau to begin an obstruction of justice investigation of Trump and a counterintelligence probe involving the president and his ties to Russia. A short time after the McCabe interview, Trump called him “a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country.” Trump also recalled his 2016 election…
Read the full storyTennessee Star Report EXCLUSIVE: Congressman Mark Green Discusses the ‘Constricted and Restricted’ Bill on the Table Facing President Trump
In an interview on The Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast Wednesday on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy spoke with Congressman, Mark Green about the current bill on the table regarding border security and how it can only be done in the Rio Grande border of Texas. The men further discussed the details of the deal and how it is fundamentally constricted by both Rhino’s and Democrats however may offer the President a substantial reason to declare a national emergency. Gill: Congressman Mark, good to have you back with us. Green: Hey, it’s great to be on the show Steve, Michael. How are ya’ll today? Gill: Doing good. It’s a decent deal maybe? Not a great deal, not what we would want but it’s a step in the right direction. Would that sum it up? Green: Oh gosh, I hate to even say that. You know, there are some things in it that are better than what the offers were on the table before. for example, the fifty five miles, are, that’s actually new mileage of wall. But…
Read the full storyConfirmed: William Barr Is Now the Attorney General of the United States
by Kevin Daley The Senate confirmed William Barr as the new attorney general Thursday afternoon, returning Barr for a second tour atop the Department of Justice. The confirmation vote largely followed party lines — GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against confirmation given Barr’s views on domestic surveillance and the Fourth Amendment. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Doug Jones of Alabama, and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona broke with their party and supported Barr. Barr previously served as attorney general in the George H. W. Bush administration from 1991 to 1993. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Barr’s confirmation “a major victory for justice and the rule of law in America” in a Thursday afternoon tweet. Conservative groups were equally enthusiastic. The Judicial Crisis Network’s Carrie Severino predicted Barr would serve “with integrity and independence, bringing a wealth of experience to this position.” Democratic opposition to Barr was largely a function of his refusal to commit to releasing the special counsel’s comprehensive report of his two-year probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 election. Democrats fear Barr could redact significant portions of the report, or support White House efforts to invoke executive privilege over other…
Read the full storyTrump Speech to Warn of ‘Dangers of Socialism’
by Katherine Gypson, Margaret Besheer, and Steve Herman White House officials say U.S. President Donald Trump will warn of “the dangers of socialism” in a speech Monday in support of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is recognized by the United States as the South American nation’s interim president. Trump will make remarks at Florida International University, as his administration continues to speak out against Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro.The school is in a Miami neighborhood that has the largest concentration of Venezuelans in the U.S. While Trump has refused to rule out a U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, Congressman Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a congressional hearing Wednesday that lawmakers would not support such a move. “I do worry about the president’s saber-rattling, his hints that U.S. military intervention remains an option,” Engel said. “I want to make it clear to our witnesses and to anyone else watching: U.S. military intervention is not an option.” Trump was among the first of 51 world leaders to recognize the head of the nation’s national assembly, Guaido, as the interim president. Guaido declared himself the country’s leader following mass protests against Maduro. Venezuela suffers…
Read the full storyDr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Democratic Party Leaders’ Flagrant Disregard for Human Life
by Dr. Carol M. Swain Many U.S. Democratic politicians present themselves to the world as Christians. But their Christianity is completely devoid of a biblical worldview. The most shocking statements come out of their mouths disguised as genuine concern for the suffering of the less fortunate. Consider the “gospel” of pro-abortion Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. It contains her favorite scripture, which isn’t found in any known translation of the Holy Book. According to armchair theologian Pelosi: “The Bible tells us that to minister to the needs of God’s creation is an act of worship. To ignore those needs is to dishonor the God who made us.” This, from someone who hasn’t been shy about dishonoring the God who made us in His image. Offering her expert opinion about abortion, Pelosi has described herself as “an ardent, practicing Catholic” who considers herself knowledgeable about the issue because she has studied it. Based on her studies of conception and when life actually begins, which apparently equals her biblical knowledge, she argues, “Doctors of the church have not been able to make that definition. … St. Augustine said at three months. We don’t know. The point is, is that it…
Read the full storyDNC Fundraises Off Of Parkland Shooting on One Year Anniversary
by Peter Hasson The Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Thursday used the one year anniversary of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting that left 17 people dead to push for campaign donations. The DNC sent out an email from Manuel Oliver, whose son died in the Parkland shooting, asking recipients to “stand with Democrats who will work to solve our nation’s gun violence epidemic” by giving the DNC their name, email address and zip code. “No other country has to live through mass shooting after mass shooting like the United States. It’s not just a coincidence. It’s what happens when [National Rifle Association]-backed politicians refuse to act while the gun lobby fills their pockets. It’s why we have to be doing everything in our power to elect Democrats who will finally act to make a change,” read the email from Oliver. Those who “stand with Democrats” by giving the DNC their personal information are immediately redirected to a page asking for money “to stand up against the GOP and the gun lobby.” Thursday wasn’t the first time that the DNC fundraised off of the Parkland shooting. The day after the shooting, the DNC sent out an emotional email, signed by…
Read the full storyYouth Activists Call for ‘Minnesota Green New Deal,’ Pressure Walz to Petition Line 3
Several youth activism organizations gathered at the Minnesota Capitol Monday to protest the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline and call for a “Minnesota Green New Deal.” “We are changing the political landscape in Minnesota and although there is much more work to be done, we are so proud of what we have done. Youth voices matter, and we will continue to make that very clear to our state leaders this session,” a group called “Minnesota Can’t Wait” said in a statement. Video from Monday’s demonstration shows dozens of youth activists gathered in the State Capitol, holding signs that say, “We elected you, meet with us,” and “Minnesota Green New Deal.” “Even though they are not here right now, we’re going to make sure that they hear our message and that they hear our words, because they have to listen to us as public servants serving the state of Minnesota,” one speaker said during the event, referring to Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) and Lt. Gov Peggy Flanagan (D-MN). The following morning, Walz announced that he would refile an appeal against the Enbridge Line 3 replacement project, as The Minnesota Sun reported. “We are extremely glad that the governor has acknowledged the importance…
Read the full storyOmar Uses Backlash Over Anti-Semitic Comments to Ask for Donations
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is running an advertisement on Facebook asking for donations in response to the criticism she received for making anti-Semitic comments. “Stand with Ilhan. We will not be silenced,” the advertisement states and quotes President Donald Trump calling for Omar’s resignation. https://twitter.com/RubensteinAdam/status/1095880581848666113 As The Minnesota Sun reported, Trump said Omar should resign from Congress during a Tuesday cabinet meeting. “One other thing I want to say is that anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress, and Congresswoman Omar is—terrible what she said. And I think she should either resign from Congress, or she should certainly resign from the House Foreign Affairs Committee,” Trump said. “What she said is do deep-seated in her heart that her lame apology—that’s what it was, it was lame, and she didn’t mean a word of it.” His comments came in response to widespread backlash Omar received after she suggested that Jewish money is influencing bipartisan support of Israel. “The notion that wealthy Jews are controlling the government is a longstanding anti-Semitic trope and one of the pillars of modern anti-Semitism, a retread of ideas spread by bigots from David Duke to Louis Farrakhan,” the Anti-Defamation League said in a statement.…
Read the full storyDemocrat Governor Roy Cooper On $15 Minimum Wage: ‘Admirable Goal’
North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Roy Cooper recently said that a $15 minimum wage is an ‘admirable goal’, however, wants to see “how high we can get it.” WRAL reported: Gov. Roy Cooper called Wednesday for an increase in North Carolina’s minimum wage and said it need not be the $15-an-hour phase-in many Democrats have called for. “We need to work with the General Assembly to see how high we can get it,” Cooper told WRAL News. “$15 is an admirable goal.” According to the WRAL report, Governor Cooper made these remarks “in a morning speech to the AFL-CIO and from a brief conversation with WRAL News afterward.” The report by WRAL also states that Cooper “endorsed, in broad strokes,” the AFL-CIO’s legislative priorities and that he said that the AFL-CIO’s priorities list “align with the mission” he has established. It’s unclear exactly what “mission” Cooper is referring to, however, a set of incremental wage hikes he appears to endorse combined with the tax hikes he has called for would likely torpedo the promises made in his “jobs plan.” “What we need is a leader with a laser focus on creating good paying jobs and lifting wages,” Cooper’s campaign website reads.…
Read the full storyMinnesota Bills Would Create Grant Program to Make ‘School Climate and Curriculum More Inclusive’
A set of companion bills were introduced in the Minnesota House and Senate last week that would establish “Inclusive School Enhancement Grants” to make “schools’ curriculum and learning and work environments more inclusive.” House File (HF) 824 and Senate File (SF) 1012 were introduced Feb. 7, and referred to their respective education policy committees. Of the four sponsors of the Senate version of the bill, just one is a Republican, while three of the 20 sponsors of the House bill are Republicans. Under the bills, the commissioner for the Minnesota Department of Education would be required to “establish a grant program” to support “collaborative efforts to make school climate and curriculum more inclusive and respectful toward all students, families, and employees, especially those of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.” “The grant program must provide funding that supports collaborative efforts to make schools’ curriculum, and learning and work environments more inclusive and respectful of students’ racial and ethnic diversity and to address issues of structural inequities in schools that create opportunity and achievement gaps for students, families, and staff who are of color or who are American Indian,” the bills state. Grant recipients would be required to submit an annual report…
Read the full storyGovernor DeWine Creates Task Force to Tackle the Over 300,000 Open-Warrants Issued in Ohio
Thursday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed Executive Order 2019-10D and officially established the Governor’s Warrant Task Force. The special committee has a wide mandate to investigate, analyze, and suggest solutions to Ohio’s deeply burdened and onerous open-warrant backlog. The move is the first step to fulfilling one of DeWine’s campaign promises. According to a recent study by the Columbus Dispatch, Ohio has more than 300,000 open arrest warrants. of these, 23,000 involve some form of violent act or weapons abuse. These numbers are so overwhelming that there is no effective way to analyze or, more importantly, prioritize which warrants should take the highest priority. This means that the most dangerous repeat violent offenders are buried beneath more ubiquitous and benign repeat parking offenders. The governor noted in his statement: New warrants are issued every day in this state, piling on top of a growing backlog of old unserved warrants. It is simply impossible for law enforcement to keep up, which threatens the safety of our residents and communities. I’m asking members of this task force to take a good look at this problem and identify options for improving this overwhelmed system. The task force is comprised of more than twenty members from a wide array of disciplines,…
Read the full storyTennessee Star EXCLUSIVE: State Rep. Micah Van Huss Introduces Bill to Protect the Unborn through a ‘Heartbeat’ Abortion Ban
NASHVILLE, Tennessee – State Representative Micah Van Huss (R-Jonesborough) is bringing forward a bill that will protect the unborn by banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Van Huss told The Tennessee Star that his bill, HB 0077 – carried by Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) in the Senate as SB 1236 – defines a viable pregnancy as opposed to a viable fetus. According to Van Huss’s amendment that makes the bill, the terms “viable” and “viability” mean the presence of an intrauterine fetus with a heartbeat. Van Huss explained to The Star, “After a viable pregnancy, there cannot be an abortion, and a viable pregnancy is after the heartbeat is detected.” As the sponsor of the bill, Van Huss said he believes the bill to be constitutional and added that the Supreme Court has only ever heard and argued a viable fetus – being able to live outside the womb – not a viable pregnancy. Should it be challenged after the bill passes, Van Huss said he is hopeful that the court “will err on the side of life, that they will see the rights that our unborn have.” Van Huss brought a Heartbeat Bill during the 110th Tennessee General Assembly…
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