Day: February 25, 2019

‘Unplanned’ Abortion Movie Has Zero Nudity or Sex, Gets ‘R’ Rating for Violent and ‘Disturbing’ Images Of Aborted Babies

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by Grace Carr   The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) officially gave the upcoming abortion film Unplanned an “R” rating Friday for “some disturbing/bloody images” of aborted babies. Movies are rated R for profanity, nudity, sex or violence. Unplanned contains no profanity, nudity or sex. “Ironically, the MPAA seems to be indirectly endorsing the pro-life position: namely that abortion is an act of violence,” writers and directors Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman told Movieguide. The film tells the true story of former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson who worked at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Bryan, Texas, until 2009 when she left the organization after assisting in an ultrasound-guided abortion of a 13-week-old unborn baby. Johnson was Planned Parenthood’s youngest director of a clinic in the nation. She helped over 22,000 women have abortions during her time at the clinic. Planned Parenthood named Johnson as the employee of the year in 2008. She worked at the abortion provider for eight years before leaving the group. Johnson also had a medication abortion before she became pro-life. The R rating will mean that “many teenage women in this country who can legally obtain an actual abortion without parental permission will be prohibited from going to see our film…

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Commentary: Congress Shirks Its Powers and Then Cries ‘Thief!’

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by Rachael Bovard   A bipartisan howling is coming from Congress about President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency to build the border wall. And while hypocrisy in Washington is always in the water, on the question of immigration, there is enough of it to make your hair curl. Both Republicans and Democrats alike have rushed to condemn Trump for taking unilateral action. House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) called Trump’s actions an “abuse of his constitutional oath and an affront to the separation of powers.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called it “a gross abuse of the power of the presidency.” Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said he did not “believe declaring a national emergency is the right approach.” Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) called the move “unnecessary and unwise.” Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said the declaration was “not the preferred way to go.” It’s natural for the legislature to raise its hackles when the president subsumes some of its authority for himself. But what all of these statements fail to acknowledge is that the president is invoking authority that Congress slowly has been shirking and giving to the executive for years. Although they…

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘I’m The Boss Now. How ‘Bout That?’

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by Jason Hopkins   Speaking at a “Girls Who Code” event in New York City, self-identified democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back against critics of her Green New Deal resolution. Ocasio-Cortez declares "I'm the Boss… How 'bout that!" while claiming that no one else has tried to come up with climate change policy before the Green New Deal. Apparently she's never seen @TheDemocrats policy platform… ever. This infighting is going to be fun to watch. pic.twitter.com/AV1TgRa5kU — Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) February 24, 2019 Ocasio-Cortez claimed that — regardless of success — the “power” goes to the individual who tries. “So people are like, ‘Oh it’s unrealistic. Oh it’s vague. Oh it doesn’t address this little minute thing,’ And I’m like, ‘You try. You do it. Cuz you’re not. Cuz you’re not. So, until you do it, I’m the boss.’ How ’bout that?’” Ocasio-Cortez introduced her Green New Deal resolution earlier in February alongside Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey. The bill not only calls for the U.S. to dramatically transition 100 percent transition in just a few years, but also demands “upgrading” every single building in the country, addressing the emissions released from cow farts, and touches a number of other progressive…

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California Sanctuary Laws Allowed Illegal Immigrant Who Tried to Kill a Cop Remain in the US, ICE Claims

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by Jason Hopkins   Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials claim a deadly shootout between an illegal immigrant and a sheriff’s deputy could have been prevented if California sanctuary laws allowed them to do their job. A deadly shootout on Sunday took place between a cop and a Mexican national. During a routine traffic stop in Napa County, California, Javier Hernandez Morales, 48, attempted to shoot Napa County Sheriff’s Deputy Riley Jarecki. Jarecki was able to maneuver away and return fire, killing Hernandez Morales at the scene. Footage of the shootout was captured on the deputy sheriff’s body camera. Hernandez Morales, who had been living in the U.S. illegally, was no stranger to law enforcement. He had been deported back to his home country of Mexico twice in 2007 and once more in 2010. However, since that time, local law enforcement officials refused to work with ICE on deporting him again, despite various crimes. ICE lodged four different detainers for Hernandez Morales relating to battery of a peace officer, suspicion of driving while intoxicated, selling liquor to a minor and probation violations. The detainers, according to ICE, were sent to Napa County Jail in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and anther was issued to Sonoma County Jail in…

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District 10AA Girls’ Teams Take Different Roads to Region Semi-Finals

Scott Wallace

East Nashville makes fourth consecutive trip while Maplewood has first team in regionals The Tennessee Region 5AA girls’ semi-finals is just like a wedding. The East Nashville Lady Eagles and Cheatham County Lady Cubs, they would be considered something old. Both teams advanced to Murfreesboro for the state finals last year. For the Lady Eagles, this is their fourth consecutive trip and all four years they advanced to play in Murfreesboro. “Last week was an up and down week for us so I was glad to see our kids get together and decide to play with an overall effort,” said East Nashville head coach Missy Donaldson. We are a player led team more than a coach led team. As a coach that is good to see. The kids in the past did all that they could. This team right here we stress for them to relish every moment. They truly play with 100% effort. I am honored that I get to coach them.” The Lady Cubs defeated East Nashville last year to win the region. Both teams then won sub-state games but lost in the quarterfinals of the state finals. Head coach Jim Gibbs has a veteran team at his…

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Your Flight’s Seat-Back Screen May Be Watching You

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Now there is one more place where cameras could be watching you — from 30,000 feet. Newer seat-back entertainment systems on some airplanes operated by American Airlines and Singapore Airlines have cameras, and it’s likely they are also on planes used by other carriers. American and Singapore both said Friday that they have never activated the cameras and have no plans to use them. However, companies that make the entertainment systems are installing cameras to offer future options such as seat-to-seat video conferencing, according to an American Airlines spokesman. A passenger on a Singapore flight posted a photo of the seat-back display last week, and the tweet was shared several hundred times and drew media notice. Buzzfeed first reported that the cameras are also on some American planes. Cameras standard features The airlines stressed that they didn’t add the cameras — manufacturers embedded them in the entertainment systems. American’s systems are made by Panasonic, while Singapore uses Panasonic and Thales, according to airline representatives. Neither Panasonic nor Thales responded immediately for comment. As they shrink, cameras are being built into more devices, including laptops and smartphones. The presence of cameras in aircraft entertainment systems was known in aviation circles at…

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President Trump Optimistic About Summit with North Korea’s Kim

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Trump - Kim Summit

President Donald Trump says he is optimistic about his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, over U.S. efforts to end the threat of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons arsenal. “We both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore. Denuclearization?” Trump said in a Twitter message Sunday. Very productive talks yesterday with China on Trade. Will continue today! I will be leaving for Hanoi, Vietnam, early tomorrow for a Summit with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, where we both expect a continuation of the progress made at first Summit in Singapore. Denuclearization? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 24, 2019 After their first meeting last June, Trump boasted as he returned to Washington, “Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office. There is no longer a Nuclear Threat from North Korea.” But as he meets Wednesday and Thursday with Kim in Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, there is little concrete evidence that progress has been made to set the specific terms of North Korea’s promised denuclearization. ‘No change’  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN on Sunday “there is no change” in U.S. economic sanctions targeting North Korea until it agrees to…

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Adam Schiff ‘Absolutely’ Willing to Go to Court to Obtain Mueller Report

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by Chuck Ross   House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said Sunday that House Democrats will issue subpoenas and go to court, if necessary, to obtain special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation. “We will obviously subpoena the report. We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress. We will take it to court if necessary,” Schiff said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” Mueller is expected to submit a final report to the Department of Justice within weeks. From there, the Justice Department is required to provide a summary of the findings to Congress, which could then choose to make unclassified portions of the report public. Rep. Adam Schiff tells me he is “absolutely” prepared to sue Trump administration if Mueller report is not made public: “We will obviously subpoena the report. We will bring Bob Mueller in to testify before Congress. We will take it to court if necessary” https://t.co/lSX5poLKT9 pic.twitter.com/kKtMjf1Wo3 — George Stephanopoulos (@GStephanopoulos) February 24, 2019 But Democrats have said they are concerned Attorney General William Barr will withhold key portions of the report. Barr, who was confirmed to office Feb. 14, has said he plans to provide as much transparency as possible, though he has stopped…

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Commentary: Finally Some Schools Are Freeing Students from the Bonds of Mediocrity

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by Annie Holmquist   By now, many parents know there is something seriously wrong with the average American school. Time and again, children go into the school system as bright bundles of energy, curious about the surrounding world, and time and again, they stagger through the system frustrated and losing their interest in learning. Unfortunately, parents have firsthand knowledge of what former New York teacher John Taylor Gatto explained in his book, Weapons of Mass Instruction: “After a long life, and thirty years in the public school trenches, I’ve concluded that genius is as common as dirt. We suppress genius because we haven’t yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.” That’s easy enough to say, but is it actually possible to do? A video from Reason suggests that it is possible, and in fact, is actually being done quite effectively. Host John Stossel travels to the Academy of Thought and Industry (ATI) to explore a school filled with kids who would likely be considered dysfunctional and troublemakers in the normal education system. Instead, Stossel finds a group of thriving young adults, thinking intelligently and actively entering the real…

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Nearly 700 Bills Are Under the Control of One DFL Rep in the Minnesota House

Anthony Gockowski

There are currently 690 bills in the Minnesota House that have been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, whose Democratic chairman can move bills between subcommittees with just his signature. As The Minnesota Sun previously reported, the Democratic-controlled House kicked off the 2019 session by passing a set of temporary rules. Under these rules, Rep. Lyndon Carlson (D-Crystal), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, can move bills between subcommittees with just a memo instead of sending them back to the House floor. During the 2019 session, Carlson will have 21 subcommittees, called “divisions” in Minnesota, under the control of his Ways and Means Committee. His signature, rather than a vote, will be the deciding factor in moving bills between divisions. As of February 21, 1595 bills were introduced in the House, and 690 were referred to the powerful Ways and Means Committee. That means 43 percent of all bills are moved between subcommittees at the discretion of Carlson. In a February 21 memo, for instance, Carlson referred 84 different bills to 16 different divisions in one memo alone. He has issued 14 similar memos so far this session. “If we adopt these temporary rules without this…

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Threat: New Jersey Lawmakers Aim to Keep Trump Off 2020 State Ballot Unless Tax Returns Revealed

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by Connor Moldo   New Jersey state legislators are threatening to withhold President Donald Trump and other politicians’ names from the 2020 state ballot if they refuse to release tax returns to the public. The state Senate approved a bill Thursday that would leave off the names of candidates for president who are unwilling to make their tax returns public, according to NorthJersey.com. A similar effort was devised in 2017, but then-Republican Gov. Chris Christie vetoed the bill, calling it a “transparent political stunt,” squashing Democrats’ hopes. New Jersey would become the first state to enact such a measure should the Assembly and Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy approve the bill, as at least 30 other states have launched efforts to pass similar legislation, but none have become law, according to the Courier Post. These actions, primarily under the direction of Democratic lawmakers, were sparked after then-candidate Trump turned down requests to publish his tax returns, hindering the public’s ability to glimpse his personal finances. “It is so obvious with this president that had voters known some of what seem to be his business interests, he may not have been elected president,” Democratic state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a sponsor of the legislation, told the Courier Post. The law raises questions about whether it…

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DFL Bill Would Require Minnesota Public Schools to Teach About ‘Relationships Involving Diverse Sexual Orientations and Gender Identities’

Anthony Gockowski

A DFL-backed bill on “sexual health education” in the Minnesota House would require public-school teachers to discuss “healthy relationships, including relationships involving diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.” House File (HF) 1414 was introduced February 21 and referred to the Education Policy Committee. It would mandate that the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Education, in “consultation with the commissioner of health and other qualified experts,” identify “one or more model comprehensive sexual education programs for elementary and secondary school students.” This “model program” must “include medically accurate instruction that is age and developmentally appropriate” on a number of topics, including “consent, bodily autonomy, and healthy relationships, including relationships involving diverse sexual orientations and gender identities.” The bill defines “consent” as the “affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in interpersonal, physical, or sexual activity.” It would also require teachers to touch on topics such as “abstinence and other methods for preventing unintended pregnancy,” as well as “the relationship between substance use and sexual behavior and health.” Under HF 1414, school districts and charter schools would be required to implement a “comprehensive sexual health education program” based on the “model program” outlined above by the 2020-2021 school year. Implementation of…

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Study: After a Generation Lost to the Opioid Epidemic, Ohio is Among the Few Hardest Hit to See Signs of Recovery

Andrew Shirley

According to a study released Friday, Ohio is among the 8 states with the highest overall rates of opioid-related deaths in the 18-year span from 1998-2016. However the study also suggests that among those states hardest hit, Ohio is seeing a drop in opioid-related deaths in 2018. Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, and New Hampshire all joined the Buckeye State in having opioid rates that doubled every three years from 1998-2016. Only two states, Florida and Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia had a higher increase in death rates, doubling every two years, yet still were surpassed in total deaths. Overall, in the United States opioid overdose deaths have quadrupled in that time period. The study found that by far, one of the greatest contributors to the startling rise was the proliferation of synthetic opioids. These are most forms of opioids produced commercially, specifically for pain relief. Fentaynl and Methadone were among the most common to be responsible for overdose-related deaths. In 12 states, more than 10 out of every 100,000 people died from synthetic opioid-related deaths. The study also called the opioid epidemic “one of the largest health crises facing the United States,” adding: Opioid-related deaths in the United States have increased more than…

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Tennessee Star EXCLUSIVE: Country Music’s Stokes Nielson Launches a New Initiative ‘Stokes for Tennessee Freedom’

Laura Baigert

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Stokes Nielson granted The Tennessee Star an exclusive sit-down in the shadow of the State Capitol to talk about the new venture he is initiating called Stokes For Tennessee Freedom. Stokes will be recognized for his country music career as an award-winning songwriter with the band The Lost Trailers, originally named Stokes Nielson and The Lost Trailers. The twice-nominated band for the Academy of Country Music’s Top New Vocal Group is probably best known for their “Holler Back” single that reached #9 on the country music charts. Stokes, energized and passionate about his new mission, didn’t dwell on his country music career other than to say that he has a background in the business and that he is involved with that community or how it relates to his new initiative. The meeting with The Star, arranged confidentially by a third party without revealing the name of the interviewee, eliminated any potential distracting interview questions about Stokes’ country music life, and allowed the focus to be on his Stokes For Tennessee Freedom effort and what lead him to it. Almost immediately after the introductions, Stokes presented a photocopy of a hand-written letter, currently housed in the National Archives,…

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