Day: March 25, 2019

Metro Nashville Public School Board Member Will Pinkston Resigns as Vote on Terminating Director Shawn Joseph Appears Imminent

Laura Baigert

Sharing his letter of resignation with the public via Twitter, Metro Nashville Public School Board member Will Pinkston called out the body on which he serves “impossibly inept,” just as another school board member has announced plans to make a motion to terminate School Director Dr. Shawn Joseph. Elected to Metro Nashville Board of Public Education in 2012 representing the 7th District of South and Southeast Nashville, Pinkston graduated from Metro Nashville Public Schools and, as a senior advisor, “helped Gov. Phil Bredesen shape the education agenda that made Tennessee the fastest-improving state in the history of the Nation’s Report Card,” according to his campaign website. Pinkston’s letter addressed to Dr. Sharon Gentry, Chair of the Metropolitan Nashville Board of Public Education dated March 25, whom Pinkston praised, was not voted into the position as Chair without dissension, The Tennessee Star reported. Pinkston told Gentry in his letter that while his resignation from the Board is effective April 12, his resignation as Chair of the Budget & Finance Committee chair is effective immediately. Pinkston’s Twitter release of his letter of resignation included the comment, “Talk amongst yourselves. I decided this about a month ago, but Friday’s insane board retreat expedited…

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WCS ‘White Privilege’ Training Also Violated State Board of Education Guidelines That Professional Learning Should ‘Align with Student Curriculum Standards’

Chris Butler

The Williamson County Schools Cultural Competency video series that focused on “white privilege” and that teachers had to watch this school year through a required “In-service training” violated more than just Section 49-6-3004 paragraph (c) of the Tennessee Code Annotated. As The Tennessee Star reported earlier this month, that section of Tennessee law, “makes it clear that every superintendent of a public school district in Tennessee must submit an in-service training plan that has been approved by the local school board to the TDOE by June 1 of the preceding academic year, and that the Commissioner of Education must approve that plan: (emphasis added): “In-service days shall be used according to a plan recommended by the local superintendent of schools in accordance with the provisions of this section and other applicable statutes, and adopted by the local board of education. A copy of this plan shall be filed with the State Commissioner of Education on or before June 1 the preceding school year and approved by him.” (emphasis added) But WCS Superintendent Mike Looney, who was responsible for the development and delivery of The Williamson County Schools Cultural Competency video series, has produced no evidence that he (1) prepared an in-service plan for academic year 2018-2019, (2) received approval…

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Anti-Immigration Group Claims Lee ‘Voucher’ Plan Will Fund Education for Illegals

Steve Gill

A writer for a Washington, D.C.-based anti-immigration group has weighed in on Governor Bill Lee’s Education Savings Account (ESA) plan that is slated for a House Education Committee vote next Wednesday. The Federation for American Immigration Reform has posted a piece by Jennifer G. Hickey, one of their web content writers, claiming that the Tennessee school “voucher” plan will provide taxpayer funded K-12 education access to illegal immigrants. It will. It’s the law; and has been since a 1981 U.S. Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe,  determined that illegal alien children are entitled to a free public education as a matter of equal protection under the 14th Amendment. Thus, illegal alien children in Tennessee WILL have the same access to public school funding regardless of whether they are provided that access through traditional public schools, charter schools, education savings accounts or vouchers. Nevertheless, neither Ohio nor Florida, which have instituted more generous voucher programs than the Lee ESA choice program, have had ever had a problem with a high proportion of illegals participating. Hickey expressed specific concern that illegal aliens will get an added financial benefit from “vouchers” that are not available to legal citizens: Most school systems fund their operations…

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VP of TSBA’s Premier Business Affiliate: We Paid a Flat Fee of $15k Annually to Get Special Access

Tennessee Star Staff

The vice president of Public Risk Insurors told The Tennessee Star the company paid the Tennessee School Board Association (TSBA) a flat $15,000 annual fee to be a premier business affiliate and receive the benefits of that program. That confirmation came in a phone interview earlier this month, which was prompted by a letter from Public Risk Insurors Chief Financial Officer Dave Williams to The Star in response to our story, published March 4, titled “Taxpayer-Funded TSBA Has $5.3 Million in Assets, Paid Top Two Execs $499k Annually, Offers Special Access to Business Affiliates.” During that phone interview, Williams told The Star everything in our original story was factually correct. Williams was quick to point out that Public Risk Insurors paid a flat $15,000 annual fee to TSBA, and did not pay a percentage of receipts from contracts stemming from introductions to schools made by TSBA to Public Risk Insurors as part of the premier business affiliate relationship. “We consider it an honor to be a Business Affiliate of the TSBA and as an independent insurance agency, we do not pay the TSBA or any other educational organization with whom we participate as a vendor or convention sponsor a percentage…

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Steve Gill Commentary: ‘Pay-to-Play’ Schemes Not Limited to College Admissions When Vendors Can Pay School Board Association for ‘Leads’

Steve Gill

The past several weeks have seen collective outrage at the revelation that some wealthy celebrity parents had paid bribes to gain unmerited admission for their children to elite colleges and universities. Criminal charges, lawsuits, and resignations have already resulted from the scandal.  Few expect that the list of those involved in these sorts of efforts to get unqualified students accepted into the nation’s top schools with bribery and fraud to be limited to those identified so far. Investigations will certainly continue. It is also abundantly clear that “pay to play” schemes are not limited to those photoshopping their unaccomplished child onto the faces of actual athletes in order to gain access to opportunities that might otherwise not be available. Here in Tennessee we see something remarkably similar. But instead of photoshopping the Tennessee School Boards Association actually publishes a price list to sell access to vendors seeking contracts with local school districts. The TSBA “Business Affiliates” program encourages those seeking contracts for the sale of products or services to Tennessee school systems to pay the TSBA in order to gain “credibility with boards or school system personnel who make decisions regarding products.” To make it even more clear, TSBA points…

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Watchdog: US Agency Error Exposes 2.3 Million Disaster Survivors to Fraud

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Reuters   The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) exposed 2.3 million disaster survivors to possible identity theft and fraud by sharing sensitive personal information with an outside company, according to an internal government watchdog. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) said FEMA had shared financial records and other sensitive information of people who had participated in an emergency shelter program after being displaced by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and the California wildfires in 2017. The Inspector General’s office said FEMA had shared participants’ home addresses and bank account information with the contractor, along with necessary information like their names and birthdates. That “has placed approximately 2.3 million disaster survivors at increased risk of identity theft and fraud,” the Inspector General’s office said in a report. The name of the contactor was redacted. In a statement released on Friday, FEMA spokeswoman Lizzie Litzow said the agency had found no indication to suggest survivor data had been “compromised.” She said the agency has removed unnecessary information from the contractor’s computer systems. But FEMA’s review only found that the contractor’s computer systems had not been breached within the past 30 days because it did not keep…

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Tennessee Resolution Calls on TVA to Have Open Meetings

Chris Butler

Members of the Tennessee General Assembly will consider a resolution to express support for a bill in Congress that would require the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Board of Directors to hold open meetings. This, according to the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government. According to the TCOG website, State Sen. Ken Yager, R-Kingston, explained Senate Joint Resolution 192 in a Senate committee meeting this month. The resolution won unanimous approval. “We all know, Mr. Chairman, that the TVA is the steward of billions of dollars of ratepayers money,” Yager reportedly told members of the Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee this week. “But they also make rules that govern the lives and affect the lives of everybody else in Tennessee. Not the least of which is the property owners of this state. I just think in the spirit of transparency and open government, that all of their meetings should be open. The Tennessee Valley Authority Transparency Act is sponsored by U.S. Rep Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville and co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, according to the TCOG. “Burchett’s bill would require the board and subcommittees of the board to hold their meetings in public, provide public notice of its meetings no fewer than six days before the…

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Marc Gomez Charged in Vicious New York City Subway Attack on 78-Year-Old Woman Caught on Camera

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by Neetu Chandak   A man was charged with assault Saturday after allegedly kicking a 78-year-old woman in the face on a New York City subway as others watched on in early March. Marc Gomez, 36, was arrested Saturday, the New York Police Department (NYPD) said to The Daily Caller News Foundation over email. He was charged with multiple counts of assault and harassment. NYPD: detectives walk out Marc Gomez, 36, after he’s charged with assaulted for attacking an elderly woman on a #2 train in the Bronx two weeks ago, A community tip led to his arrest this morning @ABC7NY The story at 6 PM pic.twitter.com/547G29lCdO — Naveen Dhaliwal (@naveencbs2ny) March 23, 2019 A community tip reportedly led to the arrest, according to a tweet from ABC 7 reporter Naveen Dhaliwal Saturday. The elderly woman, who has not been identified, was treated for swelling, cuts to the face and bleeding after getting assaulted on the subway March 10 around 3 a.m. Video footage shows onlookers watching and yelling as she got hit. https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1109166322250850307 “It’s terrible,” an MTA worker said, the New York Post reported. “I can’t believe something like that could happen.” It is unclear why Gomez allegedly kicked the woman. NYPD Chief of…

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New York Man Gets State Stun Gun Ban Overturned Based on His Second Amendment Rights

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by Evie Fordham   Banning the personal ownership of stun guns in New York state is unconstitutional because it violates individuals’ Second Amendment right to bear arms, a federal judge ruled Friday. “New York’s sweeping prohibition on the possession and use of tasers and stun guns by all citizens for all purposes, even for self-defense in one’s own home, must be declared unconstitutional,” U.S. District Judge David Hurd wrote in his decision according to The Associated Press. Hurd also wrote that people trading firearms for stun guns could result in less weapons deaths. Matthew Avitabile of Schoharie County, New York, had brought the suit against the state police superintendent, since that agency enforces the state’s weapons laws. Avitabile wanted to buy a stun gun to defend himself in his home in rural upstate New York, reported The AP. Avitabile is also the mayor of Middleburgh, New York, and said that although his town is as safe “as Mayberry,” he wants New Yorkers to be able to protect themselves, reported The New York Post. Forty-seven states allow tasers and stun guns with varying levels of regulation, according to The New York Post. Now the stricter states are starting to reverse course. For instance,…

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Donald Trump Wants to Cut Taxpayer-Funded Program That Gave Money to Tennessee Nissan Electric Car Plant

Chris Butler

U.S. Republican President Donald Trump has reportedly proposed a budget that would eliminate a loan program deemed wasteful. Some of the money from that program has gone to the Nissan plant in Smyrna, Tenn. according to The Detroit News. Specifically, Trump’s budget would eliminate what is known as the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing loan program. This, the paper went on to say, is a Department of Energy program Trump deems “costly, wasteful or duplicative.” “Nissan used a $1.45 billion loan in September 2010 to build plants for advanced battery manufacturing and environmentally friendly paint and to retool its Smyrna, Tennessee, plant for assembly of the all-electric Leaf,” according to The Detroit News. “Tesla used a $465 million loan in January 2010 to develop its manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, to produce battery packs, electric motors and other powertrain components for powering all-electric vehicles.” The paper quoted Trump as saying “the private sector is better positioned to provide financing for the deployment of commercially viable projects.” Ford has also used the program to upgrade facilities in six states, including Kentucky and Missouri, the paper said. Trump also wants to do away with a federal tax credit that provides up to $7,500…

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Commentary: Democrats Must Apologize to America for the Russia Collusion Hoax

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by CHQ Staff   It’s probably too much to expect that Democrats will apologize to America for the destruction, discord and division they have sown through the hoax that President Trump, his campaign, his family and friends treasonously colluded with Russia to defeat Hillary Clinton. But in the interest of laying down a marker as to who among the Democrats and their Far-Left allies in the media and culture who owe the country an apology, we offer this list as a starting point. Not in order of egregiousness or evil intent, but perhaps in order of stupidity: Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke for saying, at a town hall event at Burke High School in Charleston, South Carolina on Saturday morning after the release of the Special Counsel’s Report and the announcement there would be no further indictments. ‘You have a president who in my opinion, beyond a shadow of a doubt, sought to, however ham-handedly, collude with the Russian government, a foreign power, to undermine and influence our elections,’ O’Rourke said. ‘It is beyond the shadow of a doubt that the president once in office sought to obstruct justice,’ he continued according to reporting by the UK’s Daily Mail. Democrat Rep. John…

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Commentary: Senator John McCain’s Key Role in Fueling the Post-Election Trump-Russia Hysteria

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by Julie Kelly   In his 2018 book, The Restless Wave, the late Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) wondered aloud why he was sought out and given the infamous Steele dossier shortly after the 2016 presidential election. After suggesting that anyone who questioned his role in handling the political document was indulging in “conspiracy theories,” McCain offered his explanation: “The answer is too obvious for the paranoid to credit. I am known internationally to be a persistent critic of Vladimir Putin’s regime and I have been a long while.” It is true that McCain was an outspoken critic of Putin. But the big problem with McCain’s defense is that by the time he wrote those words—presumably the end of 2017, since the book was published in late May 2018—it already was public knowledge that the dossier had been authored and distributed by political pimps funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. When McCain was writing his book, many of the culprits were in serious legal jeopardy. Christopher Steele, the dossier’s author, was being sued for defamation and was under congressional scrutiny in 2017. (McCain had sent his close associate, David Kramer, to meet Steele in London shortly after the 2016 election to…

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Commentary: Making Constitutional Law Great Again

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by Mark Pulliam   Claremont-trained political philosophers represent some of the strongest voices in conservative intellectual circles, but many of them share a flawed view of the Constitution, expressed vigorously – and sometimes splenetically – by the late Harry V. Jaffa. Edward Erler’s recent essay, “Don’t Read the Constitution the Way Robert Bork Did,” channels both Jaffa’s truculent spirit and the doctrinaire position of West Coast Straussians, complete with familiar – albeit irrelevant – references to Abraham Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence. Unfortunately, Erler’s essay illustrates why the Left’s conception of constitutional law is ascendant while conservatives continue to dither: Unlike progressives, discordant conservatives have been largely ineffective in articulating – let alone advancing – a coherent vision of constitutional law. As I explained at greater length elsewhere, conservatives are all over the map when it comes to constitutional interpretation, and spend as much time in internecine feuds as they do in battle with liberal activists. Jaffa notoriously picked fights with respected conservative legal figures such as Robert Bork and Antonin Scalia, and espoused fanciful theories that have never been embraced by mainstream originalists (and almost certainly will never be adopted by a majority of Supreme Court justices). Not surprisingly, therefore, the Left has…

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Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant Signs ‘Heartbeat Bill’

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by Henry Rogers   Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a “heartbeat bill” Thursday that will make abortion illegal in the state after a fetal heartbeat is detected. “I am very pro-life, always have been,” Bryant, a Republican, said after signing the legislation. “I think obviously we’ll have some legal challenges on it. We have legal challenges with every pro-life bill that we have ever passed. We anticipate that. We hope that it will get to the Supreme Court and they will uphold it.” Women in Mississippi will no longer be able to have an abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy once the law takes effect July 1. Pro-choice group Center for Reproductive Rights called it “blatantly unconstitutional” and threatened to sue the state, Fox News reported. “We will all answer to the good Lord one day. I will say in this instance, ‘I fought for the lives of innocent babies, even under threat of legal action,’” Bryant tweeted Wednesday in response to the group. We will all answer to the good Lord one day. I will say in this instance, “I fought for the lives of innocent babies, even under threat of legal action.” https://t.co/4bHEmCqN74 — Phil Bryant (@PhilBryantMS) March 20, 2019 Several other state legislatures, such as in…

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Audit: Haywood County Courthouse Needs Better Security

Chris Butler

It’s too easy to get inside certain parts of the Haywood County Courthouse, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week. While the audit itself doesn’t explicitly say so, this could pose security concerns. “Our examination disclosed that county officials did not adequately control access to the courthouse offices. One key will open multiple doors in the courthouse: at least one exterior door to the courthouse, a conference room, and the Offices of the Trustee, County Mayor, and Budget Director,” Comptrollers wrote. “Individuals who are not office employees could potentially enter one of the offices unsupervised. Sound business practices dictate that unsupervised access to offices weakens internal controls over assets. This deficiency is the result of management’s decision, management’s failure to correct the finding noted in the prior-year audit report, and management’s failure to implement their corrective action plan.” Comptrollers recommended county officials control access to the courthouse offices. Former County Mayor Franklin Smith told Comptrollers he concurred with the finding. According to The National Center for State Courts’ website, “because courthouses must be accessible and in centralized locations, they are vulnerable to acts of random violence.” “Courts must have proper security procedures, technology, personnel, and architectural features, to…

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Jim Jordan Reminds Nation That Democrats Used to Talk About Mueller Like He’s ‘Next to Jesus’

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) sat down for an interview with George Stephanopoulos Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” where he said his Democratic colleagues viewed Robert Mueller as “next to Jesus” heading into the Russia investigation. Prior to his interview, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA-28) was on the show and suggested that a lack of indictments in the Mueller report doesn’t necessarily vindicate President Donald Trump. “Well we’ve got to read the report, but what I do know is to date not one bit of evidence to show any type of coordination, collusion, conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia to influence the election. And that was the charge, George, when this thing started almost two years ago,” Jordan said in response. “The Democrats were all saying that the president of the United States worked with a hostile foreign country to steal the election, and again, there has not been one bit of evidence to suggest that any of that happened.” Jordan repeatedly emphasized that the focus of the special counsel investigation was to determine whether or not there was “collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to impact the election.” “And again, remember, this is Bob Mueller, this was the guy…

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Minnesota’s Rep. Ilhan Omar Blames Trump for New Zealand Massacre During CAIR Fundraiser While Hundreds Protest Outside

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) spoke Saturday at a fundraiser for the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) while hundreds of protesters gathered outside the event. Omar was the keynote speaker for CAIR’s Fourth Annual Valley Banquet in Los Angeles focused on “advancing justice” and “empowering Valley Muslims,” according to an event invitation. As The Daily Caller explains, the U.S. Department of Justice found CAIR to be a co-conspirator in funneling millions of dollars to Hamas. Its leaders have a history of making sympathetic comments about terrorist organizations, such as one comment from Hassan Shibly, chief executive director of CAIR-Florida, who suggested that Hezbollah and Hamas aren’t terrorist organizations. Shibly spoke alongside Omar during Saturday’s fundraiser. During her remarks, Omar blamed President Donald Trump for the recent massacre at Christchurch mosque in New Zealand, according to audio obtained by Gateway Pundit. “We all kind of knew this was happening, but the reason I think that many of us knew that this was going to get worse is that we finally have a leader, a world leader in the White House, who publicly says Islam hates us—who fuels hate against Muslims, who thinks it is OK to speak about a faith and…

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