Day: February 24, 2019

Scott DesJarlais Comes Out in Support of Donald Trump Actions on U.S.-Mexico Border

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee’s Fourth Congressional District issued a statement this week in support of President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. There, DesJarlais said in a press release, international cartels smuggle drugs and human beings into the United States, and large numbers foreign nationals are illegally crossing into the country.  “Sophisticated international cartels, some of the most dangerous criminal and terrorist organizations in the world, are operating just across the border from the United States in Mexico. They partner with foreign adversaries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and China, and smuggle drugs as well as human beings into our neighborhoods, including in my home state of Tennessee,” DesJarlais said. “Constituents in my district are suffering from the opioid epidemic. Mexican cartels produce or distribute most heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine here, killing tens of thousands of Americans every year, not including victims of MS-13 and other violent gangs, which have infiltrated recent migrant caravans. However, the equivalent of a migrant caravan enters our country almost weekly. These forces are destabilizing and deadly to people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, but particularly for the less fortunate among us. While wealthy elites erect walls for…

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Commentary: Sen. Alexander’s Solution to the Student-Loan Crisis Misses the Point

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by Chloe Anagnos   The debate surrounding the student-debt crisis in America continues to prompt both lawmakers and political commentators to discuss the matter as they search for a way to address the issue. But as expected, whenever policy solutions are debated, the fact that the crisis was manufactured by government intervention itself seldom gets discussed. The latest solution to get some media attention comes from Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who wants to fix the student-debt problem by taking loan payments straight from debtors’ paychecks. Much like the idea behind the withholding tax, the automatic-repayment plan would work by requiring employers to deduct federal student-loan payments directly from employees’ paychecks. To Alexander, the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the idea is worth exploring because it would keep borrowers from defaulting or falling behind. With 40 percent of student-loan borrowers expected to default by 2023, this proposal may appeal to many in the federal government. But when a crisis such as this is born out of artificial demand for college education, which inflates the cost of pursuing a degree, wouldn’t this purported solution add more fuel to the fire? The Solution Is Less Government While most critics…

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US Can’t Afford Public Lands Congress Wants to Bring Under Federal Government Control

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by Tim Pearce   A lengthy public lands package sitting in Congress adds hundreds of thousands of acres of federally protected wilderness without securing funding to manage it. The House is preparing to vote on a bipartisan land package next week that is roughly 660 pages and composed of 118 different bills. The Senate version passed its version, the most comprehensive land package in a decade, on Feb. 12 in a 92 to 8 vote. “It touches every state, features the input of a wide coalition of our colleagues, and has earned the support of a broad, diverse coalition of many advocates for public lands, economic development and conservation,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, according to The Washington Post. The Senate package designates 1.3 million acres in California, New Mexico, Oregon and Utah as wilderness, the strictest form of federal protection that bans development of almost any kind as well as roads and most forms of motorized travel. It prohibits mineral development on 370,000 acres of land near two national parks in Montana and Washington state. The lands package designates three new national monuments – two in Kentucky and one in Mississippi – to be managed by the…

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Commentary: The Myth of Millennial Socialism

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by Christopher Gage   My old man tells me he left college in the 1970s and walked into a job for life. He tells me his first home cost twice the average salary. Then he tells me, without a soupçon of jest, “things were still pretty tough back then.” His brow—unapologetically smooth for its 65 years, cheeks plumped fat and youthfully blooded from unbroken stretches of Boomer ease—fails to crumple with measured faux sympathy. “They have it too easy,” he says, thumbing the newsprint importantly. “We didn’t have iPhones when I was 30.” Tough crowd. What kills me about my reluctant status of being a Millennial nestles between the thickets of Boomer philosophy. My old man, a cosmic improvement on the genetic one, tells me how easy everything was back in his day, and how, conversely, such ease built indomitable “character.” My old man is Schrödinger’s Boomer. Of course, there’s always a medicine cabinet teeming with nerve-smoothing cures for Millennial woes. We need to save more. We should stop buying avocado toast. We just need to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. We need to carve our own slice of the world that Boomers built and broke and bestowed upon…

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Pence Promises Governors a ‘Historic’ Infrastructure Plan

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by Fred Lucas   Vice President Mike Pence on Friday told a gathering of state governors that the Trump administration is working with Congress on what he called a “historic” infrastructure program that would both reduce red tape and provide more federal funding. Addressing the governors at the vice presidential residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, Pence did not specify a price tag for the infrastructure plan. “I’ll make you a promise, and we’ll ask for your help, that in this Congress, we’re going to pass historic infrastructure legislation,” he said. During the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump called for an infrastructure plan of about $1 trillion that would include public and private funding. Such a project should not be a heavy burden on taxpayers, said Paul Winfree, director of economic policy at The Heritage Foundation. “If the Trump administration wants a legacy moment on infrastructure, it must include regulatory improvements that have long-lasting impacts on the way we build everything, from roads and bridges to pipelines and ports,” Winfree told The Daily Signal. The Heritage Foundation earlier this month issued a report calling regulatory reform a key element of future infrastructure projects. “Unleashing the private sector and…

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Lawyer for US-Born Islamic State Woman: She Should Return to US

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A lawyer for an American-born woman who defected to the Islamic State says his client should be allowed to return the United States because she was born here, and he also argued that her child should be considered an American citizen. The citizenship of Hoda Muthana has come into question after she requested to return to the United States from Syria. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo contended Thursday that Muthana is not a U.S. citizen because her father was a Yemeni diplomat. “She may have been born here,” Pompeo told NBC’s “Today” show. “She is not a U.S. citizen, nor is she entitled to U.S. citizenship.” President Donald Trump said he ordered Pompeo to not allow Muthana return to the United States. Attorney: Banishment not constitutional Muthana’s lawyer, Charles Swift, the director of the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America, told VOA’s Urdu Service Friday that Muthana was born in New Jersey nearly two months after her father left his position as a diplomat in 1994, thus making her a U.S. citizen. Swift says Muthana, now 24 and with a child, is willing to face U.S. prosecution that she willingly went to Syria and used social media to…

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Judson Phillips Commentary: The Tea Party Ten Years Later

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by Judson Phillips   On February 27, 2009, something happened that confused Washington, the media and the political establishment. All across America, rallies broke out. They were called Tea Party rallies. The beginning The spark that launched the rallies was Rick Santelli’s rant from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile on February 19, 2009.  Santelli was ranting about a government bailout of bad mortgages and said, they might have a “Chicago tea party.” Within hours, rumor began spreading about “tea party” rallies to be held.  I emailed Michelle Malkin, the great conservative writer, and asked her if she knew of one being organized in Nashville.  She said no, then said, “why don’t you organize it?” Within a day, I was participating in a nightly conference call, organized by Chicago activist Eric Odom and now Tennessee Star Editor, Michael Leahy.  On these calls, the planning of the first rallies happened. The left has pushed a lot of myths, about the origin of the Tea Party movement.  It was just a group of activists, no more than twenty initially, who responded to the spark that Rick Santelli had inadvertently given.  There were no Koch representatives involved, nor were there any people from…

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Virginia Residents Plan Demonstration to Stop Arlington’s Planned $23M Tax Break for Amazon Headquarters

Jason M. Reynolds

The backlash that prompted Amazon to discard its New York HQ2 headquarters plans like a rotten apple has emboldened critics of the tax deals being offered for the Virginia headquarters site. Amazon’s New York announcement, ironically made on Valentine’s Day, showed there was no love lost between the e-retailer and politicians and activists who bemoaned nearly $3 billion in tax incentives for the firm, The Tennessee Star reported. Amazon promised 25,000 jobs and $2.5 billion investment in offices. Amazon said it still planned to build an operations center in Nashville. The company was promised $15 million from the City of Nashville and up to $102 million from the state for 5,000 jobs. Now some in Virginia are setting their sights on what they say is not a Prime deal. Roshan Abraham, with Our Revolution Arlington, one of several anti-tax-incentive groups in Virginia, said the Arlington County government should vote down the $23 million tax deal being offered to the world’s largest e-retailer, according to a story by Washington Business Journal. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed a deal to give Amazon up to $550 million to create 25,000 jobs or $750 million for 37,850 jobs, the Journal said. Virginia critics also…

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Aid Shipments Cross Venezuelan Border as Maduro’s Soldiers Abandon Their Posts

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by Evie Fordham   The first shipment of humanitarian aid crossed the border from Brazil to Venezuela Saturday, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido declared, but getting aid to the people of Venezuela continues to be beyond difficult. “This is a great accomplishment, Venezuela!” Guaido wrote on Twitter Saturday. Guaido, a 35-year-old lawmaker and president of Venezuela’s National Assembly, declared himself the country’s interim leader in January as conditions deteriorated under socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro. Guaido’s supporters are trying to bring aid shipments from Colombia and Brazil into Venezuela, but Maduro’s troops are blocking trucks both coming and going along parts of the border. Video footage from Friday showed Venezuelan soldiers erecting barricades and brawling with Guaido’s supporters to keep trucks from exiting the country to collect aid. Meanwhile, some soldiers posted on the Venezuelan border have defected from Maduro’s control. A social media video appears to show four soldiers denouncing Maduro and supporting Guaido, who has promised them “amnesty,” reported BBC. Guaido was in Colombia Saturday seeing off shipments of aid to Venezuela with Colombian president Ivan Duque, reported CBS News. Thousands of volunteers will help get the aid into Venezuela, he said according to BBC. U.S. President Donald Trump…

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Disgraced FBI Officials Claimed ‘Insurance Policy’ Text Was About Whether to ‘Burn Longstanding Sources’

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by Chuck Ross   Former FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page claimed in congressional testimony last year that their infamous “insurance policy” text message was a reference to an internal FBI discussion about whether to potentially expose a longtime bureau source by mounting an aggressive investigation against the Trump campaign. “As I sort of explained, if he is not going to be President, then we don’t need to burn longstanding sources and risk sort of the loss of future investigative outlets, not in this case, but in other Russia-related matters,” Lisa Page told lawmakers on July 13, 2018, according to portions of a transcript confirmed by The Daily Caller News Foundation. In testimony on June 27, 2018, Strzok claimed that his text message discussion with Page concerned whether to open up a “very sensitive source” to exposure in the investigation. The text message that Strzok and Page sought to explain was sent on Aug. 15, 2016, around two weeks after the FBI opened “Crossfire Hurricane,” the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign. “I want to believe the path you threw out for consideration in Andy’s office — that there’s no way [Trump] gets elected — but I’m afraid we…

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Commentary: If Congressional GOP Votes Against the National Emergency, President Trump Will Be Proven Right About the Swamp

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by Robert Romano   By declaring a national emergency on the southern border and at least attempting to repurpose military construction funds to the wall — whether for steel or concrete barriers or both — President Donald Trump has politically inoculated himself against Congress’ failure to deliver on his signature campaign promise to protect America. Trump has done everything in his power to get it done. He managed to get Congress to approve $1.6 billion in 2018 for replacing existing fencing with new steel barriers and he got another $1.375 billion in 2019 for some new steel barriers. The first leg of that was like pulling teeth, as Trump dealt with a reluctant Republican leadership in Congress that repeatedly delayed the issue in order to avert a government shutdown. And then the second leg of that came after Republicans lost control of the House, and only because Trump opted to reject a funding bill without border barriers, prompting the longest partial government shutdown in history. Finally, to end the shutdown, Democrats relented and allowed some new border barrier money to flow. With the emergency declaration, the White House estimates that at least another $8.1 billion will be unlocked, well within…

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Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus Rallies at the Capitol Amid Renewed Gun Control Efforts

Anthony Gockowski

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus hosted a rally at the State Capitol Saturday to “defend the Second Amendment” and take a stand against gun-control legislation making its way through the House. “Michael Bloomberg’s out-of-state gun control agenda is already out in full force during the 2019 legislative session after spending more than $1 million electing an anti-gun majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives,” the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said in a press release. “We need to keep up the pressure all throughout session to stop gun control in its tracks.” Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) spoke to the crowd gathered in the Capitol rotunda and pledged to fight gun-control legislation in the Senate. “I can tell you with confidence that even though the governor and the Democratic House wants universal background checks, it ain’t gonna happen. And I can tell you that the crazy red flag laws that they have that will pass out of the House and the governor would sign, the Senate Republicans and a handful of Democrats in the Senate will stop it,” he said. “On my watch, the Minnesota Senate will protect the 2nd Amendment. We will not allow red flag or universal background…

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Harold Love Jr. Reportedly Used Campaign Money Illegally

Chris Butler

Tennessee State Rep. Harold Love Jr., D-Nashville, used campaign money for illegal purposes, according to an audit the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance recently released. Love failed to report thousands of dollars in campaign contributions. He also spent more than $13,000 on food and beverage expenses, and otherwise did a shoddy job maintaining his financial records, auditors said. It is illegal to use campaign funds for personal purposes. “Rep. Love incurred and reported numerous food and beverage expenses during the two-year audit period (approximately 300 transactions totaling over $13,400),” auditors wrote. “The disbursements range from $2.50 to $1,223.94, with 8 of the transactions over $100 and 109 of the transactions being $20 or less. The volume of transactions and small dollar amounts of individual transactions appear to indicate individual meal purchases or snack type purchases instead of catering or food purchases for campaign events.” Based on the frequency and location of the transactions the expenditures were apparently not campaign related. Those expenditures occurred on 191 days throughout the election and non-election year, auditors said. Also in violation of Tennessee law, Love did not report $5,580 in campaign contributions during his 2016 election campaign, according to the audit. Auditors also said Love…

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More Than 100 Girls Become Boy Scouts in Ohio

Anthony Gockowski

More than 100 girls were sworn in as scouts Saturday under the newly re-branded Scouts BSA organization at Cuyahoga Community College. Saturday’s event was hosted by the organization’s Lake Erie Council in northeast Ohio, and celebrated the “extraordinary moment” as girls were welcomed into the group for the first time in its 109-year history. “Help us celebrate this extraordinary moment and capture the excitement for generations to come by joining the ‘Scout Me In’ launch. They will hear from notable women in Cleveland cheering their achievement, receive exclusive gear, meet their fellow trailblazers and join them for the largest swearing-in of girls pledging the Scout Oath and Law in northeast Ohio,” an event description states. In a video posted to the Lake Erie Council’s Facebook page, the presumed scout master can be seen leading the group of girls in the scout oath. “Let’s say the scout oath together and let’s celebrate history,” he says. “I am so excited and we are so thrilled for the great future of this movement.” Cleveland 19 News was on the ground for the event, and celebrated the occasion in a tweet. YOU GO, GIRLS: More than 100 local girls sworn in as Scouts BSA,…

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Angie Craig Refuses to Condemn New York Abortion Law at Town Hall

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02) hosted her second town hall Saturday in Red Wing, Minnesota, where she was asked about a number of issues, including universal health care and abortion. “The other thing that I wanted to ask you about is we’ve seen states recently that passed laws that legalized abortions up to and including the time of birth. And whether that’s right or wrong or moral or immoral—that’s not the question I have. But do you feel that’s something that should be paid for as a part of health care?” one constituent asked Craig towards the end of the event. But Craig’s response was: “What I want to tell you is that I appreciate the values that your comment is coming from. I don’t believe it is any politician’s role to get in the middle of a discussion of reproductive rights between a woman and her physician. I don’t believe there is a role for the federal government with respect to that question. Craig then proceeded to close out the event and thank her supporters for attending. Earlier in the town hall, the Minnesota congresswoman was asked about universal health, which she said she “absolutely” supports, but clarified that she…

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Mainstream Media Turns on Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Senator and potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sherrod Brown is in trouble. In these early moves before formally announcing his candidacy, Brown has been focusing on courting both sides of the political spectrum. On the right, he has attempted to present himself as a populist candidate whose blue-collar priorities would have wide appeal with the working class candidates that propelled President Trump to victory. On the left, he has focused on aggressive anti-Wall Street and anti-corporate rhetoric while emphasizing greater government regulation. While the strategy has shown potential, the first cracks are starting to form. The Ohio senator is now facing scrutiny from both sides aisle. On the right side, he has received significant criticism for his refusal to support Trump’s revised U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). One of the key issues in 2016 that galvanized many working-class voters to support Trump was opposition to NAFTA and a desire to see it replaced. While he claims that he still wishes to replace the agreement, it strikes many as hollow and having more to do with a blanket opposition to Trump. Should he prove unable to shake this perception, it is likely he…

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Tennessee Media Continues Drumbeat for Medicaid Expansion, Despite Dire Warnings from Elsewhere

Chris Butler

Several of Tennessee’s mainstream media outlets seem to continue a drumbeat for Medicaid expansion in the state, even though some groups have long said it’s a bad idea. In the past several weeks Nashville Public Radio and The Daily Memphian, among others, have promoted the idea of expanding Medicaid in the state. Nashville Public Radio, for instance, reported that Democrats in the Tennessee General Assembly want to move forward with expanded Medicaid this year. They think they can do it with new Republican Gov. Bill Lee during his first year in office. Writers for The Daily Memphian, meanwhile, profiled how House Minority Leader Karen Camper, D-Memphis, urged Lee to widen Medicaid coverage and take back the authority to negotiate a federal plan without state legislators’ approval. Last October, The Tennessee Star quoted the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee on the matter. Beacon is a free market think tank. In an op-ed, Beacon warned all Tennessee officials to resist temptations to expand Medicaid. Beacon Executive Vice President Stephanie Whitt, writing for KnoxNews.com, said there are several important matters to consider, not the least of which is the notion Tennessee gets free money. “This is not free money,” Whitt said. “Expansion would be paid for…

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