Month: February 2019

North Carolina State House Democrats File Progressive Agenda ‘Wish List’ Bill

A.P. Dillon

North Carolina State House Representatives Pricey Harrison (D-D61) and Susan Fisher (D-D114) filed a bill on Monday that contains a progressive agenda wish list of tax reform rollbacks and social justice inspired mandates. House Bill 46, is titled the “Economic Security Act of 2019,” and includes items such as barring public employers from looking into the criminal history of an applicant and increasing the minimum wage. Here is what the bill seeks to do: Increase the minimum wage to $15 over 5 years statewide; no distinction is made for public or private and the raises would happen on Labor Day each year. “Mandate” equal pay for equal work regardless of experience or education. Require mandatory paid sick leave and family medical leave Increase the ‘tipped’ minimum wage. End “wage theft.” “Ban The Box” or which is removing the checkbox indicating a criminal record on employment applications. Bar public employers from looking into the criminal history of an applicant until a ‘conditional’ offer is made. Remove the ban on unions for public employees in the state Reinstate the earned tax credit. Reinstate the old child care tax credit and old employment expense tax credits. The majority of the bill appears to…

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Walz Joins ‘Extreme Environmentalists’ in Petitioning Line 3 Project

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) announced Tuesday morning that he would refile an appeal against the controversial Enbridge Line 3 replacement project. Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) unanimously approved of granting Enbridge a certificate of need to move forward with the project last summer. But former Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN) made a last-minute appeal of the project through his Department of Commerce before leaving office. Dayton’s appeal was dismissed by the Minnesota Court of Appeals on February 5 because the court found that his petition was made “prematurely.” That decision granted Walz 20 days to decide between refiling the appeal or allowing the project to move forward. On Tuesday, Walz announced that he would follow his predecessor in petitioning the project. “Today, [Department of Commerce] will petition the PUC to reconsider its decision on the Enbridge Line 3 Pipeline Replacement Project, continuing a process begun by the Dayton administration,” Walz said in a statement. “Projects that impact our environment and economy must follow the process, the law, and the science.” Walz went on to say that projects “like these don’t just need a building permit to go forward, they also need a social permit.” “Over the past month, my administration has…

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn Says She Will Not Support Deal That Cuts Number of ICE Beds Or Opens The Border

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) outlined conditions for her support of a border security deal to avert the second government shutdown in less than two months. The comments came on Fox Business News’s “Mornings With Maria.” The tentative deal in Congress provides $1.38 billion for border security funding, Fox Business News said Tuesday. The video is available online here. President Donald Trump held a “Finish the Wall” rally Monday in El Paso to kick off his 2020 presidential campaign and to continue the push for the $5.7 billion border wall, The Tennessee Star reported Tuesday. Blackburn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the pending deal would add 55 miles of wall to the border. She said she did not know if Trump would sign the deal. Americans want to end “the influx of drugs and sex traffickers, human traffickers, gangs, that really make our communities unsafe,” Blackburn said. Although some reports indicate the number of beds in ICE detention facilities for “violent criminal illegal aliens” is reduced in the tentative deal, the numbers don’t bare that out. The “deal” limits the number of average daily beds to a number below what Trump requested, but it is still an…

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New Tennessee Bill Goes After Civil Forfeiture Laws

Chris Butler

State Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville has proposed a new law that, if enacted, would change Tennessee’s civil forfeiture laws. Specifically, the proposed law would require that local district attorneys general review the underlying circumstances of a seizure to determine if probable cause exists to justify forfeiture. When appropriate, the law requires that he or she “file a motion to dismiss the application for forfeiture warrant, upon which the court shall dismiss the application and return the seized property.” As The Tennessee Star reported last year, a State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights said Tennessee’s civil forfeiture laws remain among the least protective of property owners in the nation.” Daniel told The Star that civil asset forfeiture in Tennessee “has gotten out of hand.” “We need to impose safeguards to ensure innocent persons are not swept up in this effort. We can do that by making sure law enforcement is subject to Tennessee law and limit their ability to hand the matter off, via the equitable sharing process the federal government allows,” Daniel said. According to Recuro.org, a federal program known as “Equitable Sharing” “allows prosecutors to bypass more stringent state asset forfeiture laws by passing cases…

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Commentary: Progressing America Into the Abyss

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by Thaddeus G. McCotter   Leftists self-identify as “progressives.” Yet anyone with a scrap of sanity and a rudimentary understanding of their philosophical antecedents, as well as their injurious policy prescriptions, objectively identifies the Left not as “progressive” but as “regressive.” Their incessant, implacable lust to destroy the American Revolution’s novel birth of individual freedom and replace it with an antiquated, governmentally coerced collectivism cannot be classified as anything ordinarily understood to be “progress.” Today’s “progressives” stand in opposition to the autonomy of the empowering times in which we find ourselves, namely the communications revolution. Their deluded aim seeks a societal regression back through serfdom to “noble savagery” all in the name of an “equality” that ultimately reveals itself to be one of penury, misery, and servitude (unless one is a member of the Leftist governing elite). Yet, is this view fair to the Left? After all, isn’t regression simply the march of progress in reverse? Is it not, then, possible the regressive Left is, in point of fact, also progressive? Is it not, then, only fair to credit the Left for its “progressive” deeds; and, further, donning radically chic Leftist berets is it possible to reimagine ourselves as good…

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US Steel Cites Trump in Resuming Construction Project

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U.S. Steel Corp. will restart construction on an idled manufacturing facility in Alabama, and it gave some of the credit to President Donald Trump’s trade policies in an announcement Monday. Trump’s “strong trade actions” are partly responsible for the resumption of work on an advanced plant near Birmingham, the Pittsburgh-based company said in a statement. The administration’s tariffs have raised prices on imported steel and aluminum. The manufacturer also cited improving market conditions, union support and government incentives for the decision. Work will resume immediately, the company said, and the facility will have an annual capacity of 1.6 million tons (1.5 million metric tons). U.S. Steel said it also will update other equipment and plans to spend about $215 million, adding about 150 full-time workers. The furnace is expected to begin producing steel in late 2020. The 16,000-member United Steelworkers praised the decision to resume work, which followed an agreement with the union reached last fall. “This decision paves the way for a solid future in continuing to make steel in Alabama and the Birmingham region,” Leo W. Gerard, the president of the international union, said in a statement. U.S. Steel shut down its decades-old blast furnace at Fairfield Works…

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Huawei Global Business Model Relied on Bribes, Corruption

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by Masood Farivar   In Algeria, it was banned from bidding for public contracts after one of its executives was convicted of bribery. In Zambia, it was probed over allegations of bribery involving a multi-million-dollar contract to build cell towers in rural areas. In the Solomon Islands, it was accused of offering millions of dollars to the ruling party in exchange for an undersea fiber optic cable contract. In all three cases – and half a dozen others in recent years – the alleged perpetrator was Huawei Technologies, the Chinese telecom behemoth facing scrutiny from Western nations over allegations of intellectual property theft and espionage. Saying it poses a national security threat, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand have banned the company from building new, state of the art 5G telecom networks. Other Western countries are debating over a similar ban. Security concerns about Huawei and other Chinese telecom equipment providers are mounting after U.S. prosecutors last month charged the company founded by a former People’s Liberation Army officer with violating U.S. sanctions on Iran, purloining trade secrets from T-Mobile and encouraging its employees to steal intellectual property. The focus on national security concerns about Huawei has eclipsed a little reported…

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Angel Dad: Border Wall Funding ‘Would Have Been There Months Ago’ if Pelosi or Schumer’s Child Was ‘Hit and Killed’

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by Tim Pearce   If congressional Democrats suffered the way the family of Dan Ferguson, an angel dad, has, funding for a border wall would have been approved months ago, Ferguson told “Fox & Friends” hosts Monday. Ferguson’s daughter Amanda was killed in a hit-and-run accident in November 2018. Joel Velazquez, 24, is in the U.S. illegally and had been drinking the night he allegedly ran several red lights and hit and killed Amanda, Ferguson said. Ferguson appeared on Fox News hours before President Donald Trump is expected to hold a rally in El Paso, Texas, where Ferguson lives. He supports Trump’s plan for border security and said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would too if they lost someone because of an illegal alien. “I’m 100 percent behind him on his deal on the wall and securing the border,” Ferguson said. “You know, he also needs to look at cutting off all the money for sanctuary cities, because all that does is let these illegal aliens back into our society to commit more crimes.” “I know President Trump has looked into the eyes of angel dads and angel moms like me. He knows the pain,” he added. Velazquez was arrested in…

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Commentary: The Indecent Inquisitors of the Democrats

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by Julie Kelly   The first contest of the 2020 primary season is one year away and the Democratic Party’s agenda now is coming into sharp focus: An income tax rate upwards of 70 percent, a Green New Deal that would send America back to the Stone Age, postpartum baby-killing, and the elimination of federal control over our southern border are just a few of the lowlights. Sprinkle that message with a heavy dose of anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-white, anti-male rhetoric and voila! – Democratic presidential contenders are ready to swarm Iowa and New Hampshire. But another destructive sideshow now animates the Democrats ahead of next year’s elections: The multi-pronged, unprecedented and possibly unconstitutional investigation into President Trump. To satisfy the bloodlust of the party’s rank-and-file, still bitter about losing the 2016 presidential election and gobsmacked that Trump somehow remains in office, congressional leaders are seeking vengeance in the hearing rooms of Capitol Hill. Since taking the helm of powerful House committees last month, Democratic chairmen are wasting no time in probing every crevice of Trump World; no one, including the president’s family members, will be spared. Hundreds of New Investigations The government’s formal investigation into Donald Trump began in July 2016, when Barack Obama’s FBI launched a counterintelligence probe…

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Constitutionalist, Pro-Life, and Pro-Military: North Carolina Congressman Walter Jones Passes Away at 76

A.P. Dillon

On Sunday, February 10th, Congressman Walter B. Jones (Republican, NC-3) passed away. He leaves behind his wife, JoAnn, and his daughter Ashley. Jones was 76 years old. “Congressman Jones was a man of the people,” said the statement released by his office. With a kind heart and the courage of his convictions, he dedicated his life to serving his Savior and to standing up for Americans who needed a voice. https://t.co/JqP0wk3ECi — Rep. Walter Jones (@RepWalterJones) February 10, 2019 The statement continued: “He was a champion for our men and women in uniform and their families, always mindful of their service and sacrifice. “Congressman Jones will long be remembered for his honesty, faith and integrity. He was never afraid to take a principled stand. He was known for his independence, and widely admired across the political spectrum. Some may not have agreed with him, but all recognized that he did what he thought was right. He will be sorely missed.” On January 2nd, Jones had stated that he would not be running again in 2020 and later that month it was announced he had entered into Hospice care. Jones has apparently been battling with an undisclosed illness. Walter Jones attended…

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Steve Cortes Commentary: The U.S. Economy Is Proving Critics Wrong Yet Again

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by Steve Cortes   The booming U.S. economy is proving the Democrats wrong yet again — liberals keep predicting a recession, but businesses just keep on hiring. According to the recently published data from the Department of Labor, nonfarm payrolls surged by 304,000 jobs in January, nearly doubling the 165,000 jobs that so-called experts predicted in light of the government shutdown. “The job market weathered the government shutdown well. Despite the severe disruptions, businesses continued to add aggressively to their payrolls,” Moody Analytics chief economist Mark Zandisaid Wednesday in anticipation of the report. “As long as businesses hire strongly the economic expansion will continue on.” Although the unemployment rate rose slightly — from 3.9 percent to 4.0 percent — that was partly because the labor force participation rate also increased to 63.2 percent, its highest level since President Trump took office. The strong private sector growth in January directly contradicted the doomsday forecasts of Democrats and the mainstream media, who spent weeks arguing that the government shutdown would negatively impact the economy. “It’s Christmas Eve and President Trump is plunging the country into chaos,” then-House Speaker nominee Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement last December. Their deliberate fear mongering…

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib Wrote Column For Nation Of Islam Publication

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by Peter Hasson   Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib in 2006 wrote an op-ed column for Final Call, a Nation of Islam publication founded by Louis Farrakhan, in the latest tie to emerge between the congresswoman and anti-Semitic figures. Tlaib authored the column in 2006, while working as the advocacy coordinator for the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), two years before she first won election to the state legislature. Tlaib was described as a “guest columnist” in the article, which argued against deporting immigrants found guilty of “minor offenses.” Final Call describes itself as “the official communications organ of the Nation of Islam” and was founded by the group’s leader, Farrakhan, according to Final Call’s website. Farrakhan’s history of unapologetic anti-Semitism including describing Jews as “satanic” and praising Hitler as a “very great man,” was well established by 2006. Final Call has published a steady stream of articles defending Farrakhan from charges of anti-Semitism. An October 2018 Final Call article quoted Farrakhan’s social media director, Jesse Muhammad, saying the backlash was proof that Farrakhan “must have sprayed some form of termite repellent that stirred up those that have practiced and continue to practice Talmudic ways by eating at the foundation and the carcass of a dead people chosen by God.”…

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Denver Teachers Strike Over Pay

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Denver teachers went on strike Monday after failing to reach a deal with administrators on pay. The school district said schools will remain open during the strike and will be staffed by administrators and substitute teachers. However, the district has canceled classes for 5,000 preschool children because it doesn’t have the staff to take care of them. Teachers started picketing before the start of the school day and students crossed through the picket lines on their way to class in some locations. At a press conference Monday morning, union leaders expressed frustration at failed talks to reach a deal over the weekend. Union president Henry Roman said teachers were committed to reaching a deal but said that both sides needed a cooling off period. Another negotiation session is expected Tuesday. “They need us. They need our labor, they need our minds, they need our talents to really make it happen,” lead union negotiator Rob Gould said. The main sticking points in the talks over a contract governing Denver’s incentive pay system, which started over a year ago, are lowering bonuses to put more money in teachers’ base pay and how to allow teachers to advance in pay based on education…

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Sandusky, Ohio Will No Longer Observe Columbus Day, Election Day To Become State Holiday Instead

Andrew Shirley

For the first time since 1934, government workers in Sandusky, Ohio will be working on October 12th. The city commissioners approved a measure that would officially eliminate Columbus Day as a federal holiday. In lieu of the lost holiday, Election Day would officially replace it. In a statement to the Sandusky Register, city manager Eric Wobster explicitly stated that the reason for the shift was twofold; We are swapping them to prioritize Voting Day as a day off so that our employees can vote…It’s also because Columbus Day has become controversial, and many cities have eliminated it as a holiday. The city appears to consider this “killing two birds with one stone.” However, each decision is sure to face its own set of controversy. The overall legality of this decision is a matter of some question. According to Ohio Revised Code Chapter 124.18(B)(1)  public employees cannot be required to work on federal holidays unless their job is ruled essential (firefighters, police officers, etc…). Should they be forced to work On Columbus Day, they might be entitled to some form of overtime pay. It is unlikely that employees will press the issue, but certain advocacy groups might. In recent years the Columbus Day holiday has the been the subject of…

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The Department of Transportation Poised to Loan $3.7 Billion for Japan-Mexico High-Speed Rail Project in Florida

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by Robert Romano   The Department of Transportation could be on the verge of approving a $3.7 billion Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) low-cost loan to Virgin Trains USA, owned by the $100 billion market cap SoftBank Group based in Tokyo, to build a higher-speed train project on a freight rail line in eastern Florida owned by Grupo Mexico. The project would expand Virgin Trains USA from southeast Florida, currently operating between West Palm Beach and Miami, all the way to Orlando.  Future phases include Orlando to Tampa and up the eastern coast to Jacksonville. The RRIF Loan would be more money than the Trump administration has received from Congress to date to build the southern border wall and that was only $1.6 billion to repair existing fencing. It would also be the largest RRIF loan in Department of Transportation history, beating out Amtrak’s $2.45 billion loan in 2016. Virgin Trains USA has already raised $1.2 billion in private equity from Fortress Investment Group, which Japan-based SoftBank Group bought in 2017. The Virgin Trains USA (formerly Brightline) project has been approved by the Build America Bureau (also run by the Department of Transportation) for $1.75 billion of tax-exempt private activity bonds, $600 million for phase one and…

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Minnesota Democrats Introduce Bill to Create ‘Minnesota Health Plan’

Anthony Gockowski

A bill was introduced Monday in the Minnesota Senate to establish the “Minnesota Health Plan,” which would “ensure all Minnesota residents are covered.” Senate File (SF) 1125 was referred to the Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, and is co-sponsored by five DFL lawmakers, including Sens. John Marty (D-Roseville) (pictured above), Thomas Bakk (D-Cook), Chris Eaton (D-Brooklyn Center), Susan Kent (D-Woodbury), and Ann Rest (D-New Hope). The bill states that “in order to keep Minnesota residents healthy and provide the best quality of health care, the Minnesota Health Plan must:” ensure all Minnesota residents are covered; cover all necessary care, including dental, vision and hearing, mental health, chemical dependency treatment, prescription drugs, medical equipment and supplies, long-term care, and home care; allow patients to choose their providers; reduce costs by negotiating fair prices and by cutting administrative bureaucracy, not by restricting or denying care; be affordable to all through premiums based on ability to pay and elimination of co-pays; focus on preventive care and early intervention to improve health; ensure that there are enough health care providers to guarantee timely access to care; continue Minnesota’s leadership in medical education, research, and technology; provide adequate and timely payments to…

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President Trump Holds Massive Border Wall Rally in El Paso, Texas

Jason M. Reynolds

“Finish the Wall” is President Donald Trump’s slogan, which he brought Monday to El Paso, Texas in a rally to continue his push for the $5.7 billion border wall. Fox News said the president kicked off his 2020 re-election campaign with the El Paso rally. Banners with his slogan adorned the El Paso County Coliseum, where the rally took place at 9 p.m. ET, The Hill said: Trump last week in his State of the Union address used the border city of El Paso as an example of border walls working. He said during the speech that El Paso “used to have extremely high rates of violent crime, one of the highest in the country, and considered one of our nation’s most dangerous cities.”Now, with a powerful barrier in place, El Paso is one of our safest cities,” he said. The re-election campaign on Monday released a video with the voices of El Paso residents who have lived in their border community before – and after – the construction of a wall. According to a campaign statement on the video: As one resident in the video recounted, “They put the fence up and ever since then, the crime rate has gone down dramatically.” Another…

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State Representative Bruce Griffey Appears Fox News’ ‘Ingraham Angle’ to Discuss Border Wall Funding

Laura Baigert

Friday night’s episode of Laura Ingraham’s The Ingraham Angle on Fox News Channel featured a segment with Tennessee Representative Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) regarding his bill to fund President Trump’s southern border wall. Laura Ingraham’s television interview with the freshman legislator came two days after she tweeted about the bill, as reported by The Tennessee Star. Griffey’s bill HB 0562 is being sponsored in the Tennessee Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald) as SB 1504. In her introduction prior to the break, Ingraham said, “We have highlighted a number of inventive funding ideas to help build that wall over the last several months. Well, up next is a Tennessee lawmaker who says that he’s figured it out.” Ingraham continued after the break, “Tennessee Representative Bruce Griffey filed legislation earlier this week that would establish a fee imposed on customers for transmitting money through certain entities. Well, that’s a mouthful.” Explaining further, Ingraham said “Basically, what this does is require a levy on money transfers from Tennessee to Mexico and then set aside those fees collected for the border wall.” Ingraham noted that Arizona, Montana and West Virginia are currently or have previously considered similar proposals. Ingraham asked Griffey if his proposal could…

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Ilhan Omar Faces Widespread Condemnation for Using Anti-Semitic Tropes

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) is once again facing backlash for multiple anti-Semitic tweets in which she suggested that Jewish money is responsible for bipartisan support of Israel. In response to journalist Glenn Greenwald’s claim that “it’s stunning how much time U.S. political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans,” Omar suggested that it’s “all about the Benjamins baby.” https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1094747501578633216 Then, when another journalist said she would “love to know who [Omar] thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel,” Omar responded by exclaiming, “AIPAC,” which stands for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1094761790595088384 Her tweets were later condemned by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as several Jewish organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). “As Americans and Jews, we expect our politicians to condemn bigotry, not to fuel it. Words matter. At a time when anti-Semitism is on the rise in the U.S. and abroad, Rep. Omar is promoting the ugly, anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that Jews have an outsized influence over politics,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of ADL. “The notion that wealthy Jews are controlling the government is a longstanding anti-Semitic trope and one…

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Commentary: The Truth About Border Walls’ Effectiveness

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by Peter Parisi   “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion but not to his own facts.” That pithy observation is attributed to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who served in the Senate from 1977 to 2001. The final two years of Moynihan’s stint in the Senate overlapped the first two years of that of his fellow New York Democrat, Sen. Charles Schumer. President Donald Trump, at a rally set for Monday night on the border in El Paso, Texas, should remind Schumer of Moynihan’s maxim in their fight over the need for more walls and fencing along the U.S.-Mexican border to help stem the flood tide of illegal immigration. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Schumer and his House counterpart, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., are entitled to their opinions about Trump’s proposed border wall, but they aren’t entitled to their own facts. In their rebuttal to the president’s Jan. 9 nationally televised address outlining the need for a border barrier and his request for $5.7 billion in funding for them, both described the proposed wall as “ineffective” – Pelosi once and Schumer twice. In her…

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Anthony Kennedy Says Loss Of Decency Is a Threat to Democracy

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by Kevin Daley   Retired Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy warned university students that democracy is endangered by the decline of free and open civic debate. “We have a social framework of decency that we’re very quickly losing,” Kennedy said, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which was on hand during the recent event at the UC Hastings College of Law. Without that framework, he explained, free societies cannot endure. Elsewhere in his remarks, the justice bemoaned the “egocentrism that the cyber age has brought us.” “Our young people in the cyber age don’t think the past is important,” Kennedy said. “If it’s not on your screen, it’s not important.” The importance of civil, wide-ranging discourse was a major touchstones of Kennedy’s jurisprudence during his tenure on the Supreme Court. Even in closely-divided cases touching hot social controversies, the justice emphasized the respect due to all parties and extolled the virtue of free expression. Perhaps the most significant of Kennedy’s opinions was the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges ruling, which established the constitutional right to same-sex marriage. There he repeatedly argued that the decision’s detractors had good faith objections to same-sex unions which should be aired in a respectful exchange of views. “Many…

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Dr. Carol M. Swain Commentary: Shouting your Abortion is a Desperate Cry for Help

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by Dr. Carol M. Swain   Last month marked the 46th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, two landmark Supreme Court decisions that legalized abortion in all 50 states. Since the legalization of abortion, more than 60 million unborn babies have been aborted. One of those babies was mine. More than 40 years ago, I made the decision to terminate a pregnancy without understanding the long-term consequences, both physical and emotional, that would ensue. Now, there’s a new grassroots movement to Shout Your Abortion. There is nothing wrong with publicly sharing one’s abortion in appropriate forums; however, celebration is inappropriate for an action with long-term health consequences and no lack of lasting relief from the guilt many men and women suffer. As someone who cares about other women, I cannot shout my abortion in a celebratory manner. What I can do is share with readers a bit about my own experiences. I also can discuss what I have learned through research and listening to the stories of women who regret taking the lives of their unborn children, but have found healing and meaning by sharing their unique experiences. Shout Your Abortion Shout Your Abortion is an imitation of healing work that some Christian churches and ministries have been doing…

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US Facing Friday Deadline to Avert New Government Shutdown

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The federal government is facing a Friday deadline for funding about a quarter of its operations, struggling to avert another shutdown after a record 35-day closure was ended last month. Construction money for a barrier at the U.S. southern border with Mexico remains at the center of the dispute, with President Donald Trump asking for $5.7 billion in funding and opposition Democrats apparently ready to offer some money, but much less than the president wants. Several lawmakers said late last week they were close to reaching a deal, even as it remained unclear what Trump would agree to. But on Sunday, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the lead Republican on a 17-member congressional panel trying to reach agreement on border security funding, told Fox News, “I think the talks are stalled right now. I’m not confident we’re going to get there.” Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told NBC News another shutdown “absolutely cannot” be ruled out. He said whether lawmakers are close to reaching a deal on border security funding “depends on who you listen to.” Mulvaney added, “The president really does believe that there is a national security crisis and a humanitarian crisis at the border…

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Shelby County Taxpayers Lose Out Again, This Time with Unlicensed Psychologist

Chris Butler

Hundreds of Shelby County sheriff’s deputies must be retested after it was discovered an unlicensed psychologist administered mental evaluations to them, according to localmemphis.com “The Local I-Team uncovered state law changed several years ago, and it appears no one in Shelby County or at the state noticed until now,” the station reported. “Shelby County taxpayers have already paid once for these employees to get mental evaluations, and now you are paying again. Dr. Charles Kenny’s psychologist license lapsed in 2001.Since 2013, he worked under the supervision of licensed psychologist Dr.  John Johnson. The Tennessee state board that oversees law enforcement told Shelby County that was improper,” localmemphis.com reported. “The Local I -Team uncovered when Kenny first began doing the psych evaluations for Shelby County, the Tennessee state law only required the person signing off on the officer’s mental evaluation was ‘a qualified professional in the psychiatric or psychological field,’” the station reported. The law changed in 2015. It now says the officer has to be certified by “a Tennessee licensed health care provider qualified in the psychiatric or psychological field.” The station said “either no one at Shelby County knew the law had changed or the folks in Nashville had a change of…

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Commentary: Mass Immigration and Climate Change Doublethink

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by Quentin Borges-Silva   Doublethink, as articulated by George Orwell in 1984, “means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.” Unfortunately, the modern left takes Orwell’s book not as the warning it was intended to be, but as an instruction manual. Perhaps nowhere else is doublethink more readily apparent than in the absurdly conflicted intersection of leftist environmentalism – think of it as ecological conservation with a pagan streak – and support for mass immigration. Climate change true believers have perfect faith in the notion that the human contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere is the primary driver of global warming, and that only by drastically reducing that contribution can we avoid apocalyptic climate tragedy on a global scale. But when a grand imam of the Climate Change faith, Michael Mann, is called “A Disgrace to the Profession” and many other unflattering things by dozens of his equally credentialed peers, perhaps they are onto something. When recipients of tens of millions of dollars in federal climate research grants ask the Department of Justice to arrest, prosecute, and imprison those who question their data quality, analysis, and conclusions, it’s a fair bet they’re up to something,…

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Audit: Claiborne County Officials Sold Scrap Metal Illegally

Chris Butler

Claiborne County sheriff’s officers and county inmates sold scrap metal to a private vendor for personal gain while on litter patrol and got more than $20,000 for it, according to an audit Comptrollers released Friday. That’s against Tennessee law. Investigators reviewed records from July 1, 2016 through June 30 of last year, the audit said. “Sheriff’s litter patrol officers and inmates told investigators it was a long-established practice for the litter patrol to gather scrap metal from county convenience centers, road rights-of-way, and residents’ property, and sell the scrap metal to buy inmates on litter patrol lunches, snacks, drinks, and tobacco products,” auditors wrote. “We could not locate and interview all prior inmates who worked on litter patrol about this practice; therefore, we could not verify the exact amount of cash that was received and how it was always used. The scrap metal vendor kept records of most litter patrol transactions, listing the names of the inmates and sheriff’s litter patrol officers that received cash from the sales.” Comptrollers said they determined cash transactions often occurred several times a week and ranged in amounts from $2.10 to $385.70. “According to inmates and sheriff’s officers interviewed, usually one inmate would collect…

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Spring Hill Might Ban Vaping in Parks

Chris Butler

Spring Hill officials will consider a new proposed ordinance to ban the use of vape pens and similar alternative-smoking devices in Spring Hill public parks, according to The Columbia Daily Herald. “The ordinance will take two readings before it can be passed, meaning March would be the earliest it could take effect. There is no current state law prohibiting the use of vaping pens, although some cities like Franklin are looking into pursuing similar measures. Smoking cigarettes in public parks was officially banned statewide in 2007 under former Gov. Phil Bredesen,” according to the paper. “The aldermen seemed split Monday on their opinions regarding vaping in public parks. Some saw the potential dangers of second hand smoke, while others believe it is a healthy alternative to quitting smoking and doesn’t carry the same cancer-causing carcinogens as cigarette smoke.” The city’s Parks and Recreation Department submitted the ordinance, according to The Daily Herald. Alderman Amy Wurth said problems with smoking in public parks causes cigarette butts and other harm, including trash. She asked what is behind the proposed ban on vaping. Alderman Jeff Graves, who chairs parks and rec, said some residents had complained about vaping. “Vice Mayor Bruce Hull said…

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Berkeley University Suspends New Research Projects with Chinese Telecom Giant Huawei

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One of the world’s top research universities, the University of California, Berkeley, has stopped new research projects with Huawei Technologies, the embattled Chinese telecommunications giant. The university’s suspension, which took effect on January 30, came after the U.S. Department of Justice filed criminal charges against the corporation and some of its affiliates two days earlier. The department announced a 13-count indictment against Huawei, accusing it of stealing trade secrets, obstruction of justice, violations of economic sanctions and wire fraud. Vice Chancellor for Research Randy Katz said in a letter addressed to the Chancellor’s cabinet members the campus would continue to honor existing commitments with Huawei that provide funding for current research projects. Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has been under house arrest in Canada since December 1 for allegedly deceiving U.S. banks into clearing funds for a subsidiary that interacted with Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. Her extradition to the U.S. is pending. Meng’s arrest has prompted some observers to question whether her detention was an attempt to pressure China in its ongoing trade war with the U.S. She is the daughter of the corporation’s founder, a relationship that places her among the most influential corporate executives in…

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2020 Presidential Hopeful John Kasich Posts Video Announcing First Yoga Class; Draws Mixed Response

Andrew Shirley

Every politician attempts to be relatable; very few succeed. Erstwhile governor and 2020 presidential hopeful John Kasich posted a video on Saturday, announcing that he had just completed his first day of yoga lessons with his wife, Karen Kasich. He summarized the exercises briefly then discussed the importance of remaining young-minded and looking towards the future. The 66-year-old former Governor of Ohio has never been known for these types of videos or topics and, as such, it drew a significant response. While many of the posts were supportive of his efforts, the consensus seems to be that it has an unflattering resemblance to another 2020 candidates attempt at relatability. On New Year’s Eve, Democratic presidential primary candidate, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren posted a brief video to Instagram in which she said “I’m gonna get myself a beer,” with her husband and promptly had one. The moment felt so disingenuous, awkward, and contrived that even progressive outlets, that have a history of defending her, lampooned the obvious stunt. The most popular comment in response to Kasich’s video made a direct reference to it. Not exactly Elizabeth Warren's drink a beer moment but just as obviously shallow…. — brockasso (@itsmebrock) February 10, 2019 Kasich may also…

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Booker Focuses on Race Relations in Initial 2020 White House Swing

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Reuters   U.S. Senator Cory Booker made the nation’s complicated history with race relations and racial disparities a focal point at events in the key state of Iowa during his first 2020 presidential campaign swing over the weekend. Booker, 49, a former Democratic mayor of Newark, New Jersey, frequently discussed incarceration and employment disparities, while also telling his parents’ story of trying to buy a house in an unintegrated New Jersey suburb in the late 1960s with the help of a volunteer civil rights lawyer. Booker’s focus was an overture to the coalition of young, diverse voters that twice elected former Democratic President Barack Obama, while also differentiating his style from that of the first black U.S. president, who rarely discussed race during his campaign. Booker’s emphasis on his personal and mayoral past, as well as his work as a senator on criminal justice issues, may also set him apart in a crowded field of Democratic candidates aiming to take on Republican President Donald Trump in what could be an historic election. There are already four Democratic candidates vying to be the country’s first woman president, including U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, a former top prosecutor in the city of San…

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Emails: Jake Tapper Tore Into ‘Irresponsible’ BuzzFeed Editor for Publishing the ‘Steele Dossier’

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by Chuck Ross   After BuzzFeed published the infamous Steele dossier, CNN anchor Jake Tapper lit into BuzzFeed editor Ben Smith for the decision, calling it “irresponsible” and “uncollegial,” according to emails released Friday. “I think your move makes the story less serious and credible[.] I think you damaged its impact,” Tapper wrote to Smith on Jan. 10, 2017, just after BuzzFeed published the dossier in full on its website. The emails were released in response to a federal judge’s order to unseal documents from a lawsuit against BuzzFeed, which was sued in February 2017 by a Russian businessman who was accused in the dossier of being a Russian agent. Lawyers for the Russian, Aleksej Gubarev, picked out the Tapper-Smith exchange in hopes of showing BuzzFeed failed to do its due diligence before publishing the dossier, which was funded by Democrats and compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele. BuzzFeed noted in its initial report that the dossier remained unverified. Smith defended the decision to publish the document on the grounds that numerous policymakers, government officials and journalists were aware of its salacious rumors, which included that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to win the 2016 election. Tapper was seemingly upset…

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Harvard Moves To Dismiss Legal Challenges To Single-Gender Social Group Restrictions

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by Neetu Chandak   Harvard University announced Friday that it would move to dismiss complaints about a rule that punishes students in single-gender clubs from holding leadership positions on sports teams and campus groups. The single-gender policy, announced May 6, 2016, would give a certain set of extracurricular opportunities “to students whose decisions reflect the University’s aspirations for inclusivity,” Harvard said in its dismissal filings, obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation over email. The rule went into effect for students entering the school in the Fall 2017 semester. Delta Gamma Fraternity Management Corporation, Alpha Phi, and Cambridge’s Alpha Phi chapter sued Harvard at the state level while Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, Sigma Chi fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter in Cambridge and three Harvard male students were plaintiffs in the federal suit. The lawsuits were filed on Dec. 3, 2018, according to a press statement from the North American Interfraternity Conference (NAIC). The state level lawsuit focused on “right to free association and equal treatment based on sex” and the federal suit questioned the policy’s commitment to “freedom from sex discrimination,” The Boston Globe reported. Harvard said in its federal filing on Friday that the rule…

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Klobuchar Lays Out Vision for the White House: ‘It’s Time, America’

Anthony Gockowski

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota–Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) officially declared her candidacy for President of the United States Sunday during a snowy rally on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Several of her Minnesotan colleagues spoke before her, including Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (D-MN) and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN). Klobuchar’s Senate counterpart, Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN), touted Klobuchar’s record of supporting Planned Parenthood, and criticized Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh for his alleged failure to adequately address Klobuchar’s line of questioning during his confirmation process. Prince, naturally, was invoked several times throughout the event and one of his former collaborators, DJ Dudley D, emceed the occasion. https://twitter.com/AGockowski/status/1094671348801175552 “Hey, if Prince could do that halftime show in all that rain, I can do this in this snow,” Klobuchar joked. Despite the blizzard-like conditions, Klobuchar managed to attract a massive crowd that was estimated at around 9,000 people. She began her address by thanking her “amazing and incredible team and staff for putting this together.” Leading up to her announcement, Buzzfeed News and Huffington Post released separate reports detailing Klobuchar’s abusive behavior toward her staff, which included claims that she “yelled, threw papers, and sometimes even hurled objects.” Klobuchar’s speech “We are gathered…

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Virginia Governor Holds Firm, Will Not Quit Over Blackface Scandal

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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said Sunday he has no intention of resigning, despite widespread calls for him to quit because of a racist picture on his personal page in a 1984 medical school yearbook and his use of black face to depict a pop music star. “I have thought about resigning, but I’ve also thought about what Virginia needs right now,” Northam told CBS News. “And I really think that I’m in a position where I can take Virginia to the next level. Virginia also needs someone who is strong, who has empathy, who has courage and who has a moral compass. And that’s why I’m not going anywhere.” Northam, a trained physician, added, “I’ve been in some very difficult situations. Life and death situations taking care of sick children. And right now Virginia needs someone that can heal. There’s no better person to do that than a doctor.” Northam is one of three officials, all Democrats, at the top of the government in Virginia, an Atlantic coastal state, currently engulfed in controversy. Two women have accused the state’s No. 2 official, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, of sexually assaulting them more than a decade ago, allegations he rejects, while the…

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Google Parent Company to Open Treatment Center in Dayton, Ohio

Andrew Shirley

Alphabet Inc., the multinational conglomerate that both was established by and currently owns Google.com, has announced that they will be establishing an opioid treatment center in Dayton, Ohio. While this could be good news for a community that is still deeply in the midst of an opioid epidemic, the recent revelations about data collection by Google and other digital tech companies raise questions about the new treatment center. The effort, dubbed OneFifteen, will be headed by Andy Conrad, Ph.D. (pictured above) and housed in a new “tech enabled campus.” It will be an initiative of Verily, the development wing of Alphabet that deals with life sciences. The new facility was announced Wednesday in a blog post on the company website. The post points out the alarming statistics regarding opioid abuse and the intent of this new campus to treat these problems. It also explicitly notes that one of the biggest challenges to healthcare is a severe lack of data, most notably the data gaps. While this is undoubtedly accurate, there are many concerns with greater data aggregation. In recent years, data companies have proven themselves to be at best wildly irresponsible and at worst explicitly malicious in aggregating and then selling the personal data of individuals. The notion of this…

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ICE To NC Sheriff’s Refusing Illegal Alien Detainers: Raids Will Be The ‘New Normal’

A.P. Dillon

The Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) announced they will be stepping up raids on illegal aliens in North Carolina. According to WBTV, ICE Atlanta field office Director Sean Gallagher said that sheriff’s in the areas with policies allowing illegal aliens to go free without notifying ICE should consider these raids to be the ‘new normal’. Recent raids by ICE in the Raleigh-Durham area has netted close to 200 arrests. WBTV reported that the recent raids include 50 suspects with criminal convictions, 40 suspects with pending criminal charges, and 50 who were previously deported but had re-entered the U.S. illegally. The increased activity by ICE in the Tarheel state is a direct response to response to sheriff’s from Durham, Orange, Wake, and Mecklenburg counties refusing to comply with the 287g Program which requires placing detainers on illegal aliens who are arrested. “Residents should expect a more visible ICE presence in the Raleigh-Durham area,” said ICE’s Gallagher. “ICE will now have no choice but to conduct more at large arrests in local neighborhoods and at work sites, which will inevitably result in additional collateral arrests instead of arrests at the jail where enforcement is safer for…

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Bill Lee Joins ‘Career Technical Education Day’ Celebration in Sumner County

Laura Baigert

GALLATIN, Tennessee – Governor Bill Lee came to Sumner County to celebrate Career Technical Education Day, part of the larger recognition of the national CTE month of February. The event was held at the Bagsby Ranch, where Lee held a town hall on July 25, 2018, when there were still three days of early voting in the Republican primary before the August 2 election day. Reflecting on that day with its big crowd, the Governor said, “As we pulled in here today, I said it sure does feel different. A whole level of peace and calm,” adding, with a bit of levity, “I don’t gotta talk y’all into anything.” Attendees of the CTE Day event included Director of Sumner County Schools Del Phillips, several school board members, State Representatives William Lamberth (R-Cottontown) and Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville), Compass (Community Outreach Making Partnerships At Sumner Schools) members, several elected officials as well as Sumner County Schools CTE educators and students. As Governor Lee was introduced, he was presented with two gifts made by students of local CTE programs. While the Governor said he talks a lot about CTE, he painted a broader picture when he said he also talks about vocational technical…

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Tennessee Comptrollers Blast Decatur County for Mismanaging Taxpayer Money

Chris Butler

The Decatur County government has just received less than admirable state audit findings. With 11 findings as opposed to the previous year’s eight, that’s putting it mildly. In a press release, for instance, Comptrollers say this year’s results “leave much room for improvement.” “The audit findings reveal many problems including expenditures exceeding appropriations authorized by the County Commission, failure to reconcile accounts, and poor record keeping. Findings were written for the offices of County Mayor (pictured above), Road Supervisor, Director of Schools, and Assessor of Property,” Comptrollers said in the emailed press release. “Auditors also had to make material adjustments to the county’s financial statements to ensure accuracy. This is a strong indicator that the county has ineffective controls over the maintenance of its accounting records.” The audit also includes an adverse opinion on the county’s component units. That is because the financial statements do not include the Decatur County General Hospital. These financial statements were not available from other auditors at the date of Comptroller’s report. Decatur County is in west Tennessee. Among only a few of the audit’s findings: • Expenditures exceeded total appropriations approved by the County Commission in the General and Special Purpose funds by $516,433 and…

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Commentary: We Should Not Emulate Liberalism’s Unforgivable Morality

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by Paul Ingrassia   There is no question that Virginia Democratic Governor Ralph Northam’s abortion comments warrant—demand, actually—political excommunication. They were completely unpardonable. Devilish in their blithe disregard for human life, Northam’s comments encapsulate the clinical utilitarianism by which liberalism invariably reduces inconvenient people to a disposable commodity, like an old car or television. That the mainstream media did not burn Northam in effigy for his endorsement of infanticide (no, that term is not hyperbole) should be a clear sign of where they stand. Judgments should be made accordingly. At the same time, no one should mistake the many and recent calls for Northam’s political head for a rare display of sanity on the part of Democrats. The cold, hard, reality remains that were it not for the emergence of the racially charged medical school yearbook photo of Northam, Democrats either would have kept mum or would have defended Northam’s insidious comments on abortion. The political calculus they performed in the hours after the yearbook photo was revealed resulted in them deeming Northam a liability to their brand. The final straw was Northam’s fatal performance in last Saturday’s press conference, where the disgraced Virginia governor made a fool of himself,…

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Likely Deal Would Give Trump Fraction of Desired Wall Money

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Congressional bargainers are working toward a border security deal amid indications that the White House is preparing to accept a bipartisan agreement that would give President Donald Trump a fraction of the money he’s demanded for his proposed southern border wall. Participants said they expect money for physical barriers to end up well below the $5.7 billion that Trump has sought to begin construction of the wall, which has attained iconic significance for him and his conservative supporters. Underscoring the clout he’s lost during a battle that’s dominated the opening weeks of divided government, the amount seems sure to fall much closer to $1.6 billion, the participants said, a figure that was in a bipartisan Senate bill last year. “That’s what we’re working toward,” said Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., one bargainer. An agreement would also avert a new partial federal shutdown next weekend. Trump has warned he might trigger a new closure of agencies if he doesn’t get his way, but that threat has become toothless because of solid opposition from GOP lawmakers burned by the record 35-day closure that he initiated in December. One White House aide said Trump was expected to back whatever compromise emerges and acknowledged there…

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Amazon May Bail on New York Headquarters After Locals Rail Against It

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by Tim Pearce   Amazon is reportedly rethinking its promise to build a headquarters in New York City after receiving pushback from local officials and residents, sources told The Washington Post. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, are pushing for the Amazon deal after being instrumental in securing it. Many locals, however, have protested at stores and hearings, and the city’s council has badgered Amazon executives about the company’s position on unions. “The question is whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project, especially with how people in Virginia and Nashville have been so welcoming,” one person familiar with the company’s plans told WaPo. Amazon is moving forward with plans to construct another headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, near the nation’s capital. Each project in New York and Virginia is expected to create 25,000 jobs. A smaller project in Nashville, Tennessee, is expected to create 5,000 new jobs. The company is considering other options for the New York location, including relocating thousands of jobs to other areas and withdrawing altogether. Amazon has not yet leased or bought any space in the area, so changing plans now would…

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Joy Behar Silent on Resurfaced ‘Beautiful African Woman’ Costume as Politicians Face Heat

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by Neetu Chandak   “The View” host Joy Behar has been quiet about her “beautiful African woman” costume since a 2016 clip resurfaced Wednesday as politicians and organizations are in hot water over blackface controversies. Behar went as a “beautiful African woman” for a Halloween party when she was 29-years-old. Behar also admitted to wearing makeup that was darker than her skin. The clip originally aired on May 13, 2016, according to Jezebel, which made comments about Behar’s costume choice that year. Critics pointed out that Megyn Kelly was ousted for questioning blackface as offensive behavior while Behar remains on the show. Megyn Kelly was fired from her show for asking a hypothetical question about blackface. Joy Behar actually wore blackface, and admitted it, and showed a picture of it on TV, yet she still has her job. https://t.co/dIJdoMmhmz — Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) February 7, 2019 “What is racist?” Kelly asked on her then NBC show Megyn Kelly Today. “You get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween, or a black person that puts on white face for Halloween. That was okay when I was a kid as long as you were dressing…

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Trump Campaign Blasts Warren as ‘Fraud’ and ‘Dishonest’ After Presidential Announcement

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by Chris White   President Donald Trump’s campaign dinged Sen. Elizabeth Warren Saturday afternoon for being a “fraud” after the Massachusetts Democrat announced her intention to run for president. “Elizabeth Warren has already been exposed as a fraud by the Native Americans she impersonated and disrespected to advance her professional career, and the people of Massachusetts she deceived to get elected,” campaign manager Brad Parscale wrote in a statement. Warren announced her candidacy in a tweet on Saturday. He added: “The American people will reject her dishonest campaign and socialist ideas like the Green New Deal, that will raise taxes, kill jobs and crush America’s middle-class.” The statement appears designed to tie Warren in with lawmakers who pushed the so-called Green New Deal, a lofty proposal intended to reset a moribund climate change fight. INBOX: Trump campaign issues statement on Elizabeth Warren's announcement pic.twitter.com/lfIiMywemp — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) February 9, 2019 The resolution, which is being pushed by Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calls for “10-year national mobilizations” toward a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming, NPR reported. A separate fact sheet claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen…

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Commentary: The Fauxcahontas Apology Tour

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by CHQ Staff   Sen. Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA), who announced her campaign for President this weekend on Wednesday found herself apologizing – again – for identifying herself as an “American Indian,” and more broadly for not being “mindful of the distinction with tribal citizenship and tribal sovereignty.” The latest document to surface showing that Warren tried to advantage herself through phony claims of Native American ancestry came on a 1986 registration card for the State Bar of Texas, and after the revelation of that document she would not or could not clarify whether there were additional documents where she declared Native American status, NBC News reported. The Washington Post on February 5, 2019 reported on Warren’s registration card disclosure for the State Bar of Texas. The Texas bar registration card is significant, says Solange Reyner of NewsMax, because it removes any doubt Warren directly claimed Native American identity. And let’s be clear about Senator Warren’s long-claimed Native American ancestry and how she clearly benefited professionally and politically from that claim: She listed herself in professional directories as a Native American and was touted as Harvard Law School’s first “woman of color” professor. However, when Warren entered politics her story gained deeper…

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Republican Who Survived Shooting Says Democrats Wouldn’t Let Him Testify at Gun Control Hearing

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by Joshua Nelson   House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee blocked him from appearing at a hearing Wednesday on gun control to testify as the victim of the shooting during a congressional baseball practice two years ago. Historically, Scalise said, members of Congress normally are given the opportunity to testify before a committee and he was shocked that his request was denied. Since Democrats set the hearing on how to reduce gun violence, he said, he saw an opportunity to share his near-death experience of being targeted by a shooter and saved by police officers’ guns in what could have turned out to be a massacre on June 14, 2017. “I saw how guns were used to save people’s lives, and it should’ve been able to be part of the testimony,” Scalise, a Second Amendment defender, told Fox News Channel host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night. “They wanted to focus on taking away the rights of law-abiding citizens, which their bill ultimately does.” Scalise said he found out the previous weekend about the Democrats’ decision to exclude him from the hearing. The hearing, called “Preventing Gun Violence: A Call to Action,” focused on…

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Audit: Lawrenceburg Police Officer Gambled While on Duty

Chris Butler

A former Lawrenceburg police officer used a taxpayer-funded cell phone to gamble, and he did so while on duty, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week. That man, Patrick Daniels, worked for the Lawrenceburg Police Department for more than 22 years, the audit said. Comptrollers said they reviewed Daniels’ cell phone logs from October 2016 through November 2017. “Our investigation revealed Daniels regularly used his city provided cellular telephone to place bets on sporting events with a booking agent while both on and off duty,” auditors wrote. The City of Lawrenceburg’s Personnel Rules and Regulations Manual expressly prohibits gambling among officers while they are on duty or wearing a city uniform. By doing this, Comptrollers said, Daniels abused his work time responsibilities. “Our investigation revealed Daniels used his city owned telephone while on duty to text gambling bets to a booking agent,” according to the audit. “We were unable to determine the exact amount of time Daniels spent gambling while on the clock since we could not determine the length of time it took Daniels to research information for his bet and complete a text message and/or reply.” City officials learned about Daniels’ activities, but they also considered…

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Cory Booker Compares Green New Deal to Fighting Nazi Germany

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by Chris White   Democratic Sen. Cory Booker appeared to compare adopting the so-called Green New Deal with fighting the Nazi regime. “Our planet is in peril, and we need to be bold,” Booker said at a Friday campaign event in Iowa. There are a lot of people who are critical of the deal. Critics claim “it’s too impractical, and it’s too expensive.” “And when the planet has been in peril in the past, who came forward to save Earth … from the scourge of Nazis and totalitarian regimes?” Booker asked rhetorically. “We came forward.” “We came forward with the Marshal Plan,” he added, referring to a U.S. program concocted during the 1940s to rebuild parts of German and other European countries bombed out during World War II. The GND, which was introduced Thursday by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calls for a “10-year national mobilizations” toward a series of goals aimed at fighting global warming. A separate fact sheet published online claims the plan would “mobilize every aspect of American society on a scale not seen since World War 2.” Ocasio-Cortez’s original concept received support from Booker and other potential presidential candidates. The updated version, however, which was rolled out Thursday…

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Sherrod Brown Takes Shots at President Trump in New Hampshire Visit

Zachery Schmidt

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) took shots at President Donald Trump this weekend in New Hampshire by calling his populism “phony” and saying he’s a “bully.” Brown’s “Dignity of Work” tour made two stops in New Hampshire over the weekend in a visit to the state with the second earliest primary. At a Friday round-table event about jobs and the economy, the Ohio senator commented on Trump’s populism when talking to reporters. “His phony populism is you divide people and you push people down to lift some others up. Real populism is not racist. It’s not anti-Semitic. It doesn’t divide people. It doesn’t do hate speech and real populism is fighting for workers,” Brown told Fox News  Friday in Hampton, New Hampshire. 2020 Watch-NOW: Asked if there are already too many progressive populists in the Democratic nomination race, @SherrodBrown -in NH- tells @seacoastonline @foxnewspolitics "I put my record up against anybody for fighting for workers" #NHPolitics #FITN #2020Election pic.twitter.com/rbx5nvnbkB — Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) February 8, 2019 The next day at a bookstore event in Concord, New Hampshire, he called Trump a “bully,” according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.  “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I don’t know if we…

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