Month: March 2019

Portman and Brown Join Forces to Solve Pension Crisis

Anthony Gockowski

Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) have introduced a bipartisan bill aimed at giving Ohio workers and retirees a seat at the table when it comes to solving the nation’s looming pension crisis. As The Ohio Star previously reported, an estimated six million retirees and four million workers in the United States rely on multi-employer pension plans, called “MEPPs” for short, which are collectively bargained plans maintained by more than one employer to limit risk. A report conduct by Matrix Global Advisors CEO Alex Brill and sponsored by Protect Our Workers’ Earned Retirement (POWER) predicts that the Pension Benefit Guarantee Program—the federal backstop for MEPPs—is itself expected to “be insolvent in less than a decade.” The Central States Pension Fund, one of the largest MEPPs in the country, will also be insolvent by 2025, according to the report. “Even after legislative fixes to improve plans’ financial status in 2006 and 2014, one-third of the 10 million participants are in plans that are headed toward either a funding deficiency or insolvency. More than 1 million people are in plans expected to be insolvent within 20 years,” Brill states in his report. This could have a devastating effect on the…

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Walz Administration Recommends ‘Sensitivity Training’ in Response to Child Care Fraud

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Tim Walz wants staffers involved in Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) to undergo “cultural sensitivity and implicit bias” training after a recent report confirmed widespread fraud in the program. As The Minnesota Sun has reported, the Office of the Legislative Auditor’s long-awaited report confirmed that millions of dollars in government payments have gone to fraudulent child care centers, and described a “serious rift” among CCAP officials. The report suggested that some “child care center owners have recruited CCAP eligible mothers by offering to pay kickbacks to entice the mothers to advise county CCAP staff that their children are attending a particular center.” Walz decided to intervene this week, and had Deputy Department of Human Services Commissioner Chuck Johnson deliver a set of recommendations to the Minnesota House Early Childhood Committee. Among them was a proposal to require staffers to “undergo training on cultural sensitivity and implicit bias,” Fox 9 reports. The recommendations are now included in a bill introduced by House Democrats this week. “The commissioner of human services shall develop equity and implicit bias training for state and county licensors and require all licensors to receive this training within 30 days of initial hiring and once every…

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Ohio Senate Breaks Even Further from Governor DeWine, Lowering Gas Tax to Six Cents

Andrew Shirley

The Republican-held Ohio Senate joined Republicans in the House of Representatives in opposing Gov. Mike DeWine on his proposed gas-tax hike. House Bill 62 (HB 62), the 2020-21 Ohio transportation budget, first proposed by DeWine on Feb. 12, originally called for an 18 cent increase to the current gas tax. This was the first major bill proposal of his term. He called the measure “a minimalist, conservative approach, with this being the absolute bare minimum we need to protect our families and our economy.” In his State of the State address, as well as in other forums, he maintained that this was the absolute lowest the tax could be and would have to go into effect immediately. After being referred to the House, the Republican-held legislature broke significantly from the governor, lowering the rate to 10.7 cents and ordered it to be phased in over three years. “If they pass the House bill, we’re going to end up with the worst of all worlds,” DeWine said in response. He was insistent that the 18 cent number was the only acceptable rate. While DeWine seemed hopeful he could convince the legislature to return to his 18 cent number, the Ohio Senate seems to be making it clear that 18…

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Beto Slams Trump Over Lordstown Comments During Visit to Ohio

Anthony Gockowski

During his recent visit to Ohio, 2020 Democratic hopeful Beto O’Rourke slammed President Donald Trump for his criticisms of Lordstown union leader David Green. Green is president of United Auto Workers Local 1112, which represents the workers at Lordstown’s General Motors plant. After the plant was unallocated earlier this month, Trump said Green “ought to get his act together and produce.” “The president with his actions has added insult to injury,” O’Rourke told NBC in a recent interview after meeting one-on-one with Green. “Not only has he done nothing to prevent this job loss, he actually blames the workers and their leadership in the UAW president here in 1112 for something GM and his administration caused.” O’Rourke went on to suggest that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “financed GM’s ability” to “move jobs elsewhere” and to “choose their shareholders over the community that has created their value.” “Not only has President Trump failed in his commitment and failed this town of Lordstown, he’s also done nothing to reverse the losses that we’ve seen here,” O’Rourke continued. O’Rourke said, as president, he would make sure the country’s “trade policies and our tax code” don’t “incentivize offshoring these jobs.” “GM pays…

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Haslam Talks About Possible 2020 Senate Run with His Friend, Vice President Mike Pence

Jason M. Reynolds

Former Gov. Bill Haslam reportedly met with Vice President Mike Pence to talk about possibly running for the Senate, and Pence encouraged him to make the bid, Politico reported. Haslam has been interested in running for the seat being vacated next year by U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN). Haslam and Pence met Wednesday to talk about the potential run, WREG said. Haslam said he would decide sometime in this spring. U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) and Dr. Manish “Manny” Sethi have also shown interest in running, the station said. Pence and Haslam drum up a friendship when Pence became governor of Indiana in 2013, and the men worked together as governors, WBIR said. The vice president notwithstanding, Tennessee’s former governor may have worn out his welcome among conservatives. The Club for Growth Action, a conservative Super PAC, earlier in March released a video aimed at discouraging Haslam from running for Alexander’s seat, The Tennessee Star reported. The video, titled “Dirty Laundry,” is available to watch here. Club for Growth Action’s video shows what it alleges is a history of Haslam “profiting from his business interest, which had been infected with fraud, racist rants, and practices designed to exploit Hispanic and other…

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Ruth, a Local Teacher, Calls in to The Tennessee Star Report and Explains the Difference Between a Lesson Plan and a Calendar

Julie Carr

On Friday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – the team discussed how Williamson County Schools failed to follow Tennessee State law by submitting a calendar for the academic year instead of the legally required in-service plan to the Tennessee Department of Education for approval of the controversial “white privilege” in-service training delivered to the system’s teachers this year. A local teacher named Ruth called in and explained the difference between a lesson plan and a school calendar and also offered some detailed information on the topic: Gill: Let’s go to Ruth. Ruth wanted to talk a little bit about the distinction between a plan and what the state of Tennessee and Williamson county and others are doing in terms of their in-service training calendar. Ruth welcome to the Tennessee Star Report. Ruth: Good morning. Hi. I am a teacher and anybody in education knows that there is a massive difference between a school calendar and a plan. As teachers, we’re required to have lesson plans. And I can’t just write down I’m going to teach math today. I have to…

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Commentary: Congress Is to Blame for the Trump Administration Reverting Back to ‘Catch and Release’

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by James Carafano   Reports have surfaced, citing government officials, that border officials no longer will refer detained migrant families to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Instead, due to constrained resources, they will “begin releasing hundreds of families caught each day in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.” As a result, tens of thousands will join the ranks of millions of illegal immigrants already in the United States. This practice contradicts the Trump administration’s promise to end “catch and release” and to detain illegal immigrants until they are deported. Technically this does not repudiate current policy, but it offers more proof that there is, in fact, a real crisis at the border. Detention before removal is by far the most effective means to ensure that illegal immigrants comply with lawful deportation. At present, the Immigration Reform Law Institute estimates there are about 1.7 million individuals in the U.S. who are unlawfully present and have been ordered to leave the country. Not surprisingly, none of them were in detention when they were ordered to leave. A common tactic to avoid deportation is just not showing up to deported. That problem is growing as migrants have adopted new tactics at the border to…

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SPLC President Richard Cohen Resigns From Embattled Left-Wing Nonprofit

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by Peter Hasson   Southern Poverty Law Center president Richard Cohen resigned Friday, in the latest blow to the embattled left-wing nonprofit. Cohen’s resignation came nine days after the SPLC fired co-founder Morris Dees on March 13, citing unspecified conduct issues. Cohen announced his resignation in a staff-wide email Friday evening, the Los Angeles Times reported. “Whatever problems exist at the SPLC happened on my watch, so I take responsibility for them,” Cohen’s email read, according to the Times. Current and former SPLC employees have accused the organization of turning a blind eye to sexual harassment and racial discrimination within its own ranks. Cohen took responsibility for unspecified “problems” at the SPLC in a statement released to the Montgomery Advertiser. “Whatever problems exist at the SPLC happened on my watch, so I take responsibility for them,” Cohen said in the statement. Cohen asked the SPLC’s board “to immediately launch a search for an interim president in order to give the organization the best chance to heal,” according to the Advertiser. SPLC employees were long aware of racial issues and sexual harassment within the organization, former SPLC staffer Bob Moser recounted in a scathing essay published in The New Yorker on…

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Commentary: The Real Islamophobia

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by Rabbi Yaakov Menken   While attending a vigil for the shooting victims at two New Zealand mosques last Friday evening, a visibly pregnant Chelsea Clinton was accosted by a pair of left-wing “activists.” The two specifically blamed Clinton for the atrocity. This was a stunning charge. In his 72-page manifesto, the shooter, an Australian national and self-described “eco-fascist” who had previously worked at a gym, never referred to Clinton. Unlike her parents, she has never been much of a polarizing figure. So what was the basis of the accusation that she instigated this evil? The “activists” explained in an opinion column for BuzzFeed: Clinton had “stoked” Islamophobia with her “rhetoric,” having encouraged “a bigoted, anti-Muslim mob coming after Rep. Ilhan Omar for speaking the truth.” According to these activists, Omar did not need to apologize for her vicious and repeated anti-Semitic attacks upon Jews, Israelis, all Americans who support Israel, and her colleagues in the U.S. Congress. On the contrary, they claimed, it was Clinton who needed to apologize—for having condemned anti-Semitic expression with no reference to Omar’s race or religion. But the undeserved tongue-lashing Clinton received does not compare to the fate of Jeanine Pirro. In her opening…

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Illegal Alien Admits to Killing Four People to Score Money for Meth

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by Jason Hopkins   An illegal immigrant confessed during an interrogation that he killed four people because he needed money to purchase meth. Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, a 20-year-old from El Salvador living in the U.S. illegally, broke down into tears as he confessed to being behind four gruesome murders in Nevada, a detective told a grand jury on Thursday. Martinez-Guzman, who initially giggled as he denied any involvement in the murders, eventually confessed to doing something “unforgivable” when presented with numerous contradictions in his story. The young Central American was arrested on Jan. 19 and indicted earlier in March for the murders of four individuals. During a rampage that spanned several days in January, Martinez-Guzman allegedly killed Connie Koontz, who was believed to be murdered on Jan 9 or 10, Sophia Renken, who was killed on Jan. 13, and Gerald and Sharon David, whose bodies were found on Jan. 16. It appears Martinez-Guzman, using a stolen .22 caliber handgun, specifically targeted vulnerable victims. Married couple Gerald and Sharon David were 81 and 80 years old, respectively. Renken was a 74-year-old woman, and Koontz was a 56-year-old woman living with her disabled mother. The murders, which took place in Nevada, gained…

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Ex-FBI Official: Fusion GPS Founder Tried to ‘Elevate’ Dossier by Spreading It all Around Washington

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by Chuck Ross   James Baker, the former general counsel for the FBI, told Congress last October that the bureau was aware that the founder of Fusion GPS was spreading the Steele dossier “to a lot of different” people in government and the media in an effort to “elevate” the document’s profile. Baker also told lawmakers in his Oct. 3, 2018 testimony that his longtime friend, the liberal reporter David Corn, was “anxious” to provide him with the dossier. Baker’s testimony, which was first detailed by The Wall Street Journal and has been confirmed by The Daily Caller News Foundation, sheds new light on what the FBI knew about efforts before the election to spread the dossier, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele and financed by the Clinton campaign and DNC. Republicans have criticized the FBI for failing to disclose those efforts in applications for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser who is a major target of the Steele report. Some GOP lawmakers have asserted that the FBI should have been leery of Steele and Fusion’s opposition research of Trump. Page has vehemently denied Steele’s allegations that he served…

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Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini Calls Tennessee Racist

Chris Butler

Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini got caught this week saying Tennessee is a racist state. On her Twitter account Tuesday, Mancini admitted to all of it. “Tomorrow, a story might be published w/ the probable headline of ‘@TNDP chair calls Tennessee a ‘racist state.’ It’s true,” Mancini wrote. “In the heat and the frustration of seeing and hearing the constant drumbeat of bigotry, misogyny, and homophobia coming from Republican Speaker @GlenCasada.” Mancini later wrote she “used a poor choice of words as I vented my frustration.” On their Twitter page, meanwhile, the Tennessee House Republicans called Mancini’s words “crazy.” “‪@TNDemocrats’s Chairman ‪@marymancini doubles down on calling the entire state racist. Never mind that our GOP leaders just passed a resolution condemning all forms of racism,” the Tennessee House Republicans wrote. Candice Dawkins, a staff member with the Tennessee Republican Party, meanwhile, tweeted the following: “This is the kind of positivity the @tndp rejected when they reelected @marymancini as Chair,” Dawkins wrote. “Instead of accept her part in leading her party into a superminority she’d rather generalize an entire state as racist then point the finger at Republicans.” Mancini is the second high-profile Democrat of late to call Tennessee racist. State…

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No More Indictments Coming From Mueller, Undercutting Trump Critics’ Hopes for Russia Probe

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by Chuck Ross   Special counsel Robert Mueller will not issue any additional indictments in the Russia investigation and has not filed any charges under seal, a senior Justice Department official told news outlets Friday. The revelation would seem to be a positive sign for President Donald Trump and several Trump associates who faced legal jeopardy in the Mueller probe. It also means no Trump associates will face charges related to the main focus of the special counsel’s investigation: whether Trump of members of his campaign conspired with Russians to influence the 2016 election. Mueller was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017. In those 22 months, Mueller has indicted or obtained guilty pleas from six Trump associates, most recently Jan. 24 against longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone. None of the Trump associates faced charges related to contacts with Russia. Mueller provided a report of his investigation Friday to Attorney General William Barr, signaling the end of the probe. Barr notified the leaders of the Senate and House Judiciary Committees that he had received the report and would likely provide more details to Congress over the weekend. Trump critics have long speculated that Mueller would release a slew of indictments…

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Federal Judge Temporarily Halts Ohio Abortion Limit Passed Last Year

Andrew Shirley

A Senior District Judge is placing a two-week hold on a key provision of an Ohio abortion limit passed in December of last year. On December 13, 2018, then-Governor John Kasich signed Senate Bill 145 (SB 145), commonly referred to as a Dismemberment Abortion Ban into law. It is, as reported at the time, “an act that restricts one of the most common methods in which second-trimester abortions are performed.  The Dismemberment Abortion Ban, as the bill is known, restricts doctors from performing procedures in which dismemberment of the fetus occurs.” Mike Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, hailed the decision, stating: “Ohioans can sleep easier tonight, knowing that the horrendous practice of dismemberment abortions is behind us…Pro-Life Ohio will not stop until the Abortion Report reads: Zero. Nothing to report” That same day, Kasich vetoed an abortion bill that would have banned all abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected. Shortly after being signed, Planned Parenthood filed suit against the state on the grounds that the law was unconstitutional. They argued that this law places an “undue burden” on women, one that is explicitly outlawed by Roe v. Wade, stating: Should the Act be allowed to take effect, Plaintiffs’ patients’ health…

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Audit: Maury County School System Fined Nearly $400,000 in IRS Late Fees

Chris Butler

The Internal Revenue Service has assessed nearly $400,000 in penalties and interests against the Maury County School Department, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week. The fines and penalties come from 2016 and 2017, according to the audit. County taxpayers, of course, are the ones who must foot the bill. In the third quarter of 2016, school system officials paid $70,477 in late penalties plus interest. Later that year, in the fourth quarter, IRS officials fined the school system officials a total of $51,498. In the fourth quarter of 2017, the amount the IRS fined the school system was considerably less, only $707. “The School Department paid $79,321 on April 20, 2018, $40,478 on July 5, 2018, and the remaining $2,883 was paid using tax credits applied from other tax periods for a total of $122,682 ($79,321 plus $40,478 plus $2,883),” auditors wrote. “The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assessed additional Federal Tax Deposit Penalties of $99,789 for the 3rd Quarter 2016 and $148,543 for the 1st Quarter 2017 employment tax returns. These penalties were later abated. These penalties resulted from a lack of management oversight.” Therefore, auditors went on to say, the IRS assessed interest and penalties a…

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Steve Cohen of Memphis Says Electoral College Designed to Hurt Black People

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, says our nation’s Electoral College was “conceived in sin” and invented to keep black people down, according to various media outlets. “This is all conceived in sin and perpetuating slavery on the American people and on the African-American people, directly,” Cohen said on “CNN Right Now” Tuesday, according to The Daily Caller. The Trump Administration waived its executive privilege when it cooperated with the investigation. Muller is required to give his report to the AG, but the White House has no right to revise or edit the report before providing it to the @HouseJudiciary. #MuellerReport pic.twitter.com/qPP1dZXyX2 — Steve Cohen (@RepCohen) March 19, 2019 “We need to give the people who understand from town halls, like Elizabeth Warren had in Memphis on Sunday and in Jackson, and I think today in Birmingham, the opportunity to vote. And as Sen. Warren said, this doesn’t give the people in New York and Chicago and Los Angeles the right to decide who wins. It gives everybody that’s not in one of the — the targeted states in the Electoral College the opportunity to have their vote count.” In a separate article, Breitbart quoted Cohen as saying “the country is different than…

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US Hits Iran With New Sanctions While Pompeo Visits Lebanon

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The Trump administration hit Iran with new sanctions on Friday while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was denouncing Iran’s growing influence on a visit to Lebanon. The Treasury Department said the sanctions target 31 Iranian scientists, technicians and companies affiliated with Iran’s Organization for Defense Innovation and Research, which had been at the forefront of the country’s former nuclear weapons program. Officials said those targeted continue to work in Iran’s defense sector and form a core of experts who could reconstitute that program. Fourteen people, including the head of the organization, and 17 subsidiary operations are covered by the sanctions. The sanctions freeze any assets that those targeted may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from any transactions with them. But, officials say the move will also make those targeted “radioactive internationally” by making people of any nationality who do business with them subject to U.S. penalties under so-called secondary sanctions. U.S. secondary sanctions apply to foreign businesses and individuals and can include fines, loss of presence in the American economy, asset freezes and travel bans. Officials said the threat of such sanctions will significantly limit the ability of those designated to travel outside of Iran, participate in research…

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Overwhelmed ICE Facilities Forced to Release 100,000 Illegal Aliens in Past Three Months

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by Jason Hopkins   ICE detainment centers have become so overwhelmed with illegal aliens that the agency has been forced to release over 100,000 migrant family members in the past three months. While speaking to reporters on Thursday, Nathalie Asher, a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, revealed that her agency has had to reallocate resources as it deals with a “crushing” surge of illegal aliens on the country’s southern border. ICE has not only been forced to reduce its activity in the interior of the U.S., but the agency’s overcrowded detainment centers have released 107,000 migrant family members in the past three months, averaging more than 1,000 illegals a day. “What you’re looking at is our interior arrests have been affected,” Asher said, explaining why ICE arrests have dropped in the past few months. She said her agency is redirecting manpower to their first priority: “addressing what has been occurring and continues to occur at an alarming rate at the border.” ICE arrests have dropped 12 percent between Oct. 1 and Dec. 29 of last year, according to the agency’s latest statistics released Thursday. Agents arrested 34,546 during this time period. At the same time, an overburdened ICE…

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Tennessee Tax Revenues Exceed February Budget Estimates

Chris Butler

Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Stuart McWhorter has announced that Tennessee tax revenues exceeded budgeted estimates in February, according to a state press release. Overall February revenues were $953.8 million, which is $68.9 million more than the state received in February 2018 and $39.9 million more than the budgeted estimate. The growth rate for February was 7.79 percent, the press release said. “The state experienced sound growth in its two largest contributors to the state’s tax base, state sales and use tax revenues and franchise and excise tax revenues, compared to last February,” the press release quoted McWhorter as saying. “All other revenues combined also exceeded the state’s budgeted estimate. On a year-to-date basis, state revenue collections are well positioned to finish the fiscal year ahead of our budgeted estimates. Typically, more than one half of our corporate revenues for the year are accounted for in the months of April through June; however, due to the volatile nature of these taxes we will remain cautiously optimistic and continue to manage conservatively.” On an accrual basis, February is the seventh month in the 2018-2019 fiscal year. General fund revenues exceeded the budgeted estimates in the amount of $40.4 million…

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James Comey in Op-Ed Says He Doesn’t Care What Investigation Uncovers

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by Chuck Ross   James Comey claimed in an op-ed Thursday that he does not care one way or the other whether special counsel Robert Mueller finds evidence that President Donald Trump conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election or obstructed the FBI’s collusion probe. But the claim, which Comey made in The New York Times, is at odds with the former FBI director’s testimony about his actions shortly after being fired by Trump in May 2017. Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee in June 2017 that he leaked memos he wrote after conversations with Trump in order to force the appointment of a special counsel. “I asked a friend of mine to share the content of a memo with the reporter, I didn’t do it myself for a variety of reasons, but I asked him to because I thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel,” Comey testified June 8, 2017. Comey instructed his friend, Daniel Richman, to give the Times a memo he wrote about a conversation he had with Trump on Feb. 14, 2017. Comey claimed Trump asked him to shut down an investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Comey’s ploy…

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Hamilton County’s UnifyEd Officially Expands Into Political Arena

Jason M. Reynolds

A Hamilton County education advocacy organization seems to want to have it both ways – as a education reform nonprofit – and as a political action committee. Hamilton County education advocacy group UnifiEd says it wants to make sure every class has a “great teacher,” achieve “universal excellence by guaranteeing equal opportunity to all students,” get the community to support public education by increasing transparency and accountability, and prioritize public school funding, according to its website. Those sound like lofty goals. However, Hamilton County Board of Education members Joe Smith and Rhonda Thurman last May accused UnifiEd of politicizing the district’s desegregation debate, the Chattanooga Times Free Press said. The spat began with the board members speaking out against UnifiEd’s APEX Project.The project suggests the school system increase integration by redrawing attendance zones and providing transportation options to other schools, among other options, Thurman said. UnifiEd fired back at Smith and Thurman, the Times Free Press said: “These school board members’ stance and rhetoric is especially concerning given the long history of segregation in Hamilton County schools,” read a statement from UnifiEd in response. UnifiEd has pushed for cultural competency training, which has already been taking place in Williamson and Knox counties,…

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Unemployment Jumps, Minnesota Loses 8,800 Jobs During Walz’s First Full Month

Anthony Gockowski

Minnesota’s Department of Employment and Economic Development, or DEED, released its monthly jobs report Thursday, and the results weren’t good for Gov. Tim Walz’s first full month in office. According to the report, Minnesota lost 8,800 seasonally adjusted jobs in February, and the unemployment rate climbed from 3 percent to 3.1 percent, compared to a national unemployment rate of 3.8 percent. February 2019 saw 1,364 fewer jobs than February 2018 and was the first month of annual job decline since July 2010. Of the 11 major industries, seven saw job declines, with construction losing the most at 3,800 fewer jobs. “The most significant decline this month was in construction, losing 3,800 jobs—not shocking given the brutal February we had,” DEED Commissioner Steve Grove said in a news release. “Along with that, we know that Minnesota faces dwindling labor force growth—we can’t have job gains without people to fill the positions.” The trade, transportation, and utilities industry dropped 3,000 jobs, while education and health care lost 2,300 jobs, and manufacturing lost 1,600. The largest gain was recorded in the professional and business services industry with 1,300 new jobs, followed by 1,000 new jobs in financial activities, and 400 new jobs in…

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State House Subcommittee Allows Businesses Receiving Taxpayer Funds to Continue to Determine What Becomes Public Information by Claiming ‘Trade Secret’

Laura Baigert

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A bill that would have shed light on taxpayer funded payments by Tennessee state and local governments to private entities was killed at its first stop in the House Public Service & Employees Subcommittee. By an obvious voice vote on HB 0370, Chairman Bob Ramsey (R-Maryville) ruled that the Nays prevailed. In his introduction of the bill, Representative Martin Daniel (R-Knoxville) told the subcommittee members, “The intent of this bill is to require disclosure – to shine a light, if you will – on what our government entities are paying for goods and services.” Representative Daniel told the committee, “I would submit that transparency and accountability in government instills public trust in government.” “However, vague and broad exceptions to the (Tennessee) Public Records Act concerning what a private entity might deem to be trade secrets or confidential information can obscure information concerning benefits that are conveyed by government entities to these privately-owned recipients,” continued Daniel. To clarify, Daniel emphatically stated, “This bill would not act on or touch such information” that may actually be confidential and disclosed by the private entity in connection with receiving government payments, benefits or properties. “It is we,” Daniel fervently stated, emphasizing…

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Ilhan Omar Played on Her Phone, Laughed as House Voted on Resolution Sparked by Her Anti-Semitic Comments: Report

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by Molly Prince   Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar played on her phone in the back of the chamber as the House of Representatives voted on the resolution that was intended as a reprimand for the congresswoman’s anti-Semitic comments, according to a report published Friday. The House passed a resolution March 7 that initially served to condemn a series of anti-Semitic statements Omar made, but was subsequently “watered down” to condemn hatred in all forms. The resolution was in response to the age-old canards about Jews that Omar had asserted over Twitter, including a claim that Republicans’ support for Israel is bought by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Many also interpreted her comments as Jews having a “dual loyalty” to the U.S. and Israel. The text of the resolution, which passed 407-23, did not mention Omar by name. During the vote, Omar was reportedly playing on her phone and was “seemingly oblivious to the remarkable rebuke being leveled at her,” according to Politico. She was reportedly standing alone in the back of the room until fellow Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington entered the chamber, where they “embraced and soon doubled over in laughter.” “She came up to…

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Sherrod Brown Lashes Out at Trump, Calls Wall ‘Vanity Project’

Anthony Gockowski

National Senate Democrats released a report Monday showing that President Donald Trump’s national emergency declaration could divert $112 million in funding away from military projects in Ohio. According to The Columbus Dispatch, the cuts could impact a $61 million plan for a new building for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Other cuts could include $8.8 million in funding just to relocate the main gate at Youngstown Air Reserve Station. Projects like a $7.4 million machine gun range at Camp James A. Garfield, and a $15 million hangar at Toledo Express Airport were also on the list. Morgan Rako, spokeswoman for Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH-10), noted that the “list does not indicate which projects specifically will have delayed funding, if any.” She also pointed out that Trump’s fiscal year 2020 budget proposal actually includes $121 million in funding for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base intelligence center. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), however, claimed that Trump is “hurting military missions by taking money away from Ohio military installations to pay for his vanity project.” “President Trump claims he wants to help workers and support our military, yet his actions tell a different story,” Brown said in…

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GM Announces Jobs, Electric Vehicle After Trump Criticism

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Less than a week after a series of critical tweets from the president over an Ohio plant closure, General Motors is announcing plans to add 400 jobs and build a new electric vehicle at a factory north of Detroit. The company says it will spend $300 million at its plant in Orion Township, Michigan, to manufacture a Chevrolet vehicle based on the battery-powered Bolt. GM wouldn’t say when the new workers will start or when the new vehicle will go on sale, nor would it say if the workers will be new hires or come from a pool of laid-off workers from the planned closings of four U.S. factories by January. The company also announced plans Friday to spend about another $1.4 billion at U.S. factories with 300 more jobs but did not release a time frame or details. The moves come after last weekend’s string of venomous tweets by President Donald Trump condemning GM for shutting its small-car factory in Lordstown, Ohio, east of Cleveland. During the weekend, Trump demanded that GM reopen the plant or sell it, criticized the local union leader and expressed frustration with CEO Mary Barra. GM spokesman Dan Flores would not answer questions about…

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WCS Board Member on White Privilege Training: ‘Everyone, Including Dr. Looney, Are Not Happy with the Training and It Will Not Be Used Anymore’

Chris Butler

Williamson County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney and other school system officials are none too pleased with the “Cultural Competency” training videos he and district officials have imposed on teachers that preach “white privilege.” This, according to a statement School Board member Jay Galbreath made on Facebook Friday. On top of that, school system officials have also cancelled the Southern Poverty Law Center workshop that teachers were scheduled to attend in May. This statement was only one part of a public dialogue Galbreath had with Williamson County Commissioner Barbara Sturgeon on her professional Facebook page Friday about this “white privilege” training. Galbreath is apparently telling more to Sturgeon than he and other school board members would tell The Tennessee Star each time we’ve asked. Sturgeon began the conversation Wednesday by posting a Star article. That article said Looney failed to show he got the Tennessee Department of Education’s legal approval to carry out this “Cultural Competency” training. In her post, Sturgeon asked her constituents to call their school board members and Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s office to discuss the matter. On Friday, the third day of the public dialogue conducted on social media, Galbreath said the following: “Barb Sturgeon Everyone, including Dr. Looney, are not happy…

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WCS Superintendent Mike Looney Refuses to Answer The Tennessee Star’s Questions About Violations of State Law

Chris Butler

Williamson County School Superintendent Mike Looney has long evaded The Tennessee Star’s questions about the “white privilege” in-service training he imposed on teachers during the current academic year, but Thursday he made clear he refuses to talk to us. “You have mislead [sic], editorializied [sic] and been less than honest in your ‘reporting’ [sic] until this changes I will not recognize your online publication as legitimate and will not respond to requests for comment,” Looney wrote in an emailed statement. In his email to us, Looney failed to identify a single factual error in any of the stories The Star has published regarding the “white privilege” “Cultural Competency” series. This was the first time Looney responded directly to The Star, even though for weeks we have sent several emails with several questions to him and his public information officer Carol Birdsong. As reported, the “white privilege” training is part of a “Cultural Competency series of videos that preach left-leaning social justice themes and America’s supposed dysfunctional history. On Thursday, The Star tried to ask Looney about an email he sent a parent about the fourth video in that “Cultural Competency” series. We also wanted to ask him about his claim to that…

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Speaker Glen Casada: ‘There Will Be Some Oversight and a Push for Further Deep Oversight’ of Williamson County Schools ‘White Privilege’ In-Service Training

Julie Carr

Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada said on Thursday he favors legislative oversight into how and why Williamson County Schools are conducting “white privilege” in-service training for teachers this academic year, in apparent violation of state law. Appearing on The Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am –  Casada did not mince words when asked by Gill his position on such legislative oversight. Gill posed the question about legislative oversight to Casada about five minutes into the interview. “To me, Glen, the fact that the legislature passes a law that says you have to submit a plan [for in-service training] , and then they [Williamson County Schools] just blatantly ignore it, it seems like the oversight that you guys have talked about doing more of in the past, I know you’re in the middle of a legislative session and it’s like drinking water from a fire hose, but as soon as the session is over, that might be the time to do some oversight of how come we’re not requiring the submission of an actual plan [for in-service training of…

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Commentary: Students Love the ‘Green New Deal’ Until They Hear What’s In It

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by CHQ Staff   We’ve told CHQ readers about the deleterious effects of the “Green New Deal,” a Socialist plan aimed at taking hold of American economic life under the guise of drastically reducing carbon emissions in the next ten years. One of the principle reasons Democrats have launched the “Green New Deal” is because they think climate change hysteria among young people has reached critical mass politically and it is time to capture those votes. “Climate change is the biggest threat to my future. And just because I can’t vote right now, that doesn’t mean I don’t have a voice. I’m speaking from the perspective of someone who is scared and afraid for their future,” Lily Gardner, a 15-year-old student from Eastern Kentucky, told Refinery29 of why she joined a protest outside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office. “It’s not a question of who knows more or who has been in the business for longer, it’s the question of who is going to be disproportionately impacted by climate change. When people don’t take me seriously, they are not taking my future seriously.” The “Green New Deal” has already received the endorsements of Democrat presidential candidates, like Senators Cory Booker…

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Maury County School System Test Scores Are Below State Average

Chris Butler

The Maury County School System has performed below the state average on state assessments in math, English, science, and social studies, according to the Tennessee Department of Education’s website. This, according to an academic achievement indicator that measures the percentage of students who perform on grade level on state assessments as well as the improvement in this percentage from one year to the next “A student is considered on grade level if he or she scores on track or mastered on state exams, known as TNReady or TCAP,” according to the TDOE’s website. “Schools, districts, and the state can perform well on this indicator by having an overall high percentage of students on grade level or a significant increase in this percentage.” The data below is from the 2017-18 school year for Maury County: • Overall, 27.5 percent of Maury County students scored on track or mastered on annual state tests compared to the state average of 39.1 percent. • The mathematics achievement rate for Maury County was 20 percent compared to the state rate of 33 percent. • The English Language Arts Achievement rate was 23.8 percent compared to 32.8 percent for the state. • The science achievement rate…

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Mueller Madness: Here’s What to Know About the Special Counsel’s Report

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by Chuck Ross   With the Mueller report expected to drop any day, here is a guide to what the special counsel investigated and how this heavily anticipated document will be released. Spoiler alert: A lot of questions about the report’s release and its contents have no clear answer. That’s largely a function of the lack of leaks from the special counsel’s office and the stoic approach Mueller has taken during the 22-month investigation. When will the report be finished? All signs point to Mueller nearing the very end of the investigation. Several top prosecutors working on the investigation are leaving the special counsel’s office, including Andrew Weissmann and Zainab Ahmad. Weissmann was the lead prosecutor on Mueller’s case against Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman who was sentenced to prison on charges related to his work for the Ukrainian government. Reporters have also seen Mueller team members removing boxes of files from their offices in Washington, D.C. The grand jury Mueller used in the investigation has also reportedly not heard from witnesses since Jan. 24, the same day Trump confidant Roger Stone was indicted. What happens when Mueller finishes the report? Once Mueller finalizes his report, he is…

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Bernie Sanders Promises To Offset CO2 From His Private Jet Flights

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by Tim Pearce   Sen. Bernie Sanders pledged to offset carbon emissions from his 2020 presidential campaign travel by donating contributions to renewable energy projects. “Bernie Sanders is a champion in the fight for climate justice and, like him, we know we need to address our emissions through action, not just rhetoric,” Sanders’s campaign manager Faiz Shakir told HuffPost in a statement Thursday. “We are proud to lead the way in the fight against climate change by acting boldly to move our energy system away from fossil fuels and towards sustainable energy sources.” The pledge follows a March 15 announcement that Sanders’s campaign would be the first presidential campaign to unionize under organized labor. I’m proud that our campaign is the first presidential campaign to unionize. We cannot just support unions with words, we must back it up with actions. On this campaign and when we are in the White House, we are going make it easier for people to join unions, not harder. https://t.co/JNv3dpss6D — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 15, 2019 Sanders has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to travel across the country on private jets during past campaigns. During his 2018 Senate re-election campaign, the Vermont senator…

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Media Outlets Keep Citing a Harvard Law Professor Who Spreads Conspiracy Theories

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by Peter Hasson   Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe has habitually spread conspiracy theories, but that hasn’t prevented him from maintaining a presence in the national media. Tribe was among several high-profile figures to amplify a false conspiracy theory in February that President Donald Trump had teamed up with Saudi Arabian Prince Mohammed bin Salman to leak Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’s affair to the National Enquirer. “Are Donald Trump and the murderous Saudi Prince bin Salman co-conspirators with David Pecker and AMI in a failed criminal plot to blackmail and extort Jeff Bezos as owner of the Washington Post? Asking for a friend in the Southern District of New York,” Tribe wrote on Twitter, where he has more than 492,000 followers. His conspiratorial post was shared thousands of times across Twitter. Are Donald Trump and the murderous Saudi Prince bin Salman co-conspirators with David Pecker and AMI in a failed criminal plot to blackmail and extort Jeff Bezos as owner of the Washington Post? Asking for a friend in the Southern District of New York. — Laurence Tribe 🇺🇦 ⚖️ (@tribelaw) February 8, 2019 The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the Enquirer had paid the brother of Bezos’s mistress…

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Green Energy Companies Aren’t Backing the Green New Deal

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by Jason Hopkins   A number of renewable energy executives and leaders have not completely embraced the Green New Deal, fearing the divisive proposal would cause more harm than good. Despite a seemingly huge benefit to their bottom line if the resolution were to be implemented, numerous executives working in the renewable energy sector expressed reservations when speaking to Reuters about the Green New Deal. The proposal, they argued, lacks feasibility and openly supporting it would likely upset half of the country. “If you just broadly endorse the Green New Deal, you are liable to upset one side of the aisle or the other. And that’s not constructive,” stated Tom Werner, the CEO of one of the country’s largest solar power companies, SunPower Corp. “The idea that you could go 100 percent (clean energy) in 10 years would require a lot of things happening perfectly, simultaneously.” Werner was far from the only renewable energy executive to draw distance from New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s signature proposal. “We love the enthusiasm the Green New Deal has brought to the climate issue … but we need to operate in political reality,” stated Dan Whitten, the Solar Energy Industries Association’s vice president…

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Commentary: How Do You Solve a Problem like AOC?

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by Michael Walsh   I first noticed something was up in the New York City backwater called the 14th Congressional District when a friend across the aisle, a well-respected political columnist, tweeted out the news of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “upset” victory against the incumbent Democrat, Joe Crowley, just minutes after it happened. Who cares? thought I. Crowley, one of the last of the Irish machine politicians, had safely sailed to reelection to the House for a decade, often without even a primary challenger. But the 29-year-old AOC, as she is colloquially known, beat him in the primary with 57 percent of the vote—a number that sounds impressive until you realize that it was a mere 15,897 votes to Crowley’s 11,761, a difference of 4,136 votes. In the foregone-conclusion general election, she beat the Republican tomato can, Anthony Pappas, 110,000 to 18,000. Pappas was so indifferent to the outcome that he brushed aside offers to help and did not actively campaign. Naturally, the media went wild immediately. Literally overnight, this former intern for Ted Kennedy, an ethnic Puerto Rican, became a national celebrity; you can tell the stories were prepped and in the can once her victory was assured. Crowley’s name stayed…

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Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Wyoming Oil Lease Sale Over ‘Climate Change’

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by Tim Pearce   A federal judge temporarily blocked new oil lease auctions in Wyoming on Tuesday after finding the Department of the Interior “did not sufficiently consider climate change” when proposing the lease sales, The Washington Post reports. Washington D.C. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled the government violated federal law and did not fully study the environmental impact of oil development on 300,000 acres of federal land. Contreras did not void leases already sold, but he ordered the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to redo the environmental reviews used to approve the leases. The BLM must include in the redone reviews the effects of each new oil well on overall emissions in the U.S., including the pumped oil’s downstream effects, Contreras’s ruling said. “Given the national, cumulative nature of climate change, considering each individual drilling project in a vacuum deprives the agency and the public of the context necessary to evaluate oil and gas drilling on federal land before irretrievably committing to that drilling,” he wrote, according to WaPo. Former President Barack Obama appointed Contreras to the federal bench in March 2012. Contreras’s ruling came after the activist groups WildEarth Guardians and Physicians for Social Responsibility sued the…

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Trump Says Islamic State Territory in Syria Nearly Eliminated

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President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the last pocket of the Islamic State’s land in Syria would be liberated by U.S.-backed forces “by tonight.” Trump previously announced the defeat of the group, but sleeper cells of fighters re-emerged. With no signs of fighting on Wednesday, however, the long-running battle to retake the militants’ last outpost in eastern Syria appeared to have reached its conclusion. “The caliphate is gone as of tonight,” Trump said in a speech at a factory in Lima, Ohio, where military tanks are assembled. End of caliphate The complete fall ofBaghuzwould mark the end of IS’s self-declared caliphate, which at its height stretched across large parts of Syria and Iraq. During his speech, Trump held up two maps of Syria — one covered in red representing territory held by the militant group when he was elected president in November 2016 and the other that had only a speck of red. “When I took over, it was a mess. They were all over the place — all over Syria and Iraq,” said Trump, who has said the U.S. will keep 400 troops in Syria indefinitely. For the past four years, U.S.-led forces have waged a destructive campaign against…

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Biden May Choose Stacey Abrams as His 2020 Running Mate so He Doesn’t Appear as ‘Another Old White Guy’

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by Molly Prince   Former Vice President Joe Biden is considering naming Stacey Abrams as his running mate for a potential 2020 presidential bid, according to a report published Thursday. Biden’s top advisers have discussed adding Abrams to the top of the ticket in an attempt to show Americans that the former vice president “isn’t just another old white guy,” reported Axios. After her unsuccessful run for governor in 2018, Abrams has openly mulled a second run for the position when Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s term expires in 2022. However, she is also considering a run for Senate against Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue in 2020. Abrams is well-known for her consistent accusations of widespread voter suppression during the 2018 election cycle, which she further claims is racially motivated. Following Abrams’s loss, she appeared regularly on cable news shows and at private events repeating those assertions. There has been no evidence to corroborate Abrams’s claims. Abrams sued the state of Georgia in November over allegations of voter suppression. Interestingly, the lawsuit condemned legislation that Abrams herself helped pass. While Biden has not formally revealed if he will run for president, he has been polling as the top contender for…

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The Real ‘Big Money’ in Liberal News Outlets

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by James Agresti   Left-leaning media outlets and politicians often condemn “big money” in politics. They argue that wealthy citizens have an “unfair advantage” in free speech because they can generously finance candidates and purchase ads to voice their views. However, the biggest money in politics, by far, is wielded by media corporations and lawmakers. One Media Corporation Versus All Republican Donors According to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, federal Republican presidential candidates, congressional candidates, and special interest groups spent a combined total of $5.5 billion in the latest presidential and congressional election cycles (2015–2018). Over this period, the New York Times corporation had revenues of $6.6 billion—or 20% more than the entire Republican political machinery. The Ochs–Sulzberger family has owned a controlling share of the New York Times for more than a century. Hence, measured by money, this one extended family has more power to speak than the combined donations of all U.S. citizens to federal Republican campaigns and causes. The New York Times Co. is one of many corporations that own media outlets like the Washington Post, ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, NBC News, Time, and CNN. These corporations are sometimes…

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Bookstore Removes Jordan Peterson Book Over Mosque Shooting, Continues Selling ‘Mein Kampf’

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by Joshua Gill   A New Zealand bookstore stopped selling Dr. Jordan Peterson’s book in light of the Christchurch mosque shootings, but continues offering “Mein Kampf.” Management at Whitcoulls, one of the largest bookstores in New Zealand, said it would be wrong to support Peterson by selling “12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos” in light of “some extremely disturbing material being circulated prior, during and after the Christchurch attack,” according to an apparent customer service email, likely referencing a photograph in which Peterson embraced a fan wearing an “I’m A Proud Islamaphobe” T-shirt. The store, however, continues to offer Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and Albert Cooper’s “Why Islamic Society Is Not Compatible With American Society,” according to its website. So they banned Jordan Peterson's book… but… uh… pic.twitter.com/V9tfxpRrog — Tim Pool (@Timcast) March 21, 2019 Peterson, a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, advocates for self-improvement and has not promoted bigotry in his writings or lectures. The book in question only makes one reference to Muslims, which is not derogatory. ACT Party leader David Seymour criticized Whitcoull’s decision to remove Peterson’s book, saying that restricting books was an ineffective way to combat neo-Nazism.…

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Trump: US Recognizes Israeli Sovereignty Over Golan Heights

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President Donald Trump said Thursday the United States is recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, the Syrian territory it captured in 1967’s Six-Day War and has controlled since then. Trump, in a Twitter comment, said the Golan Heights “is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!” Trump’s statement came while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Jerusalem, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official ever to visit the contested Western Wall in the holy city of Jerusalem accompanied by an Israeli leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The visit possibly signaled tacit U.S. recognition of Israeli control of the Jewish holy site, but it was quickly followed by Trump’s specific announcement on the Golan Heights. Netanyahu has accused Iran of attempting to launch attacks on Israel from the Golan Heights, saying, “I think for this reason and many more, it is time that the international community recognizes Israel’s stay on the Golan, and the fact that the Golan will always remain part of the State of Israel.” The Israeli leader praised Trump’s decision shortly after the president’s announcement. “President Trump has just made history,” Netanyahu said after calling the U.S. leader. “The message President…

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Trump’s Executive Order to Colleges: Protect Free Speech or Risk Billions in Federal Grants

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by Fred Lucas   Polly Olson, a student at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, last year handed out homemade Valentine cards on her campus with Christian messages until college officials told her she was restricted to a “free speech zone.” On Thursday, Olson told her story at the White House before President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at protecting free speech on college campuses. “My mother told me when she was homeschooling me that I would need to know what my First Amendment rights were, because someday they would be violated, and I would have to stand up for them,” Olson said, speaking at the East Room event. “I was told I was soliciting and disrupting the learning environment, and that it would not be tolerated, and that I would have to stop handing out valentines.” Trump’s executive order, “Improving Free Inquiry, Transparency, and Accountability at Colleges and Universities,” directs federal agencies, including the departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Defense, to withhold money from colleges that censor student speech. The executive order would affect at least $35.8 billion in research grant money doled out to universities and colleges each year, a senior administration official said. It…

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Ohio Lawmakers Propose Protecting Elections with Civilian Cyber Militia

Andrew Shirley

The Ohio State Senate’s Committee on Government Oversight and Reform took up a bill Wednesday with a unique solution to protect the ballot box in the next election. Senate Bill 52 (SB 52) will authorize the creation of the “Ohio Cyber Reserve,” a new division of the Ohio National Guard that will focus on cybersecurity. Uniquely the division will be largely comprised of an all-volunteer force of various cybersecurity and technology experts.  Though they will serve with the Guard, the bill, under sections; 5922.04. 5922.02 to 5922.08 of the Revised Code, explicitly does “not authorize the Ohio cyber reserve, or any part thereof, to be called or ordered into the military service of the United States. The reserve may become a civilian component of the Ohio National Guard.” According to Republican State Senator Theresa Gavarone of District 2, the bills Primary Sponsor: The new force which Senate Bill 52 creates within the Ohio National Guard, consists of qualified civilians who are cyber security experts. The Ohio Cyber Reserve will maintain regional Cyber Response Teams (CRT) capable of deterring, mitigating, and remedying cyber-attacks against our local governments, local agencies, election systems and community partners. The clear utility of this approach is to…

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Jeff Webb Commentary: A Republican Controlled Congress Failed to Fix the Southern Border Crisis for Two Years

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by Jeff Webb   Last week, 12 Republican senators – including Tennessee’s own Lamar Alexander – voted for a resolution to terminate President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency at the Southern border and his attempt to fund the construction of new sections of the wall. These senators based their votes on the grounds that it sets a potentially dangerous precedent for the president to act unilaterally in this way. I understand their arguments. After all, who wants to open the door for future President Liz Warren to declare a national emergency so she can unilaterally ban firearms or fossil fuels? They say that passing immigration reform ought to be done by Congress. On this, they’re 99 percent right – because it ought to have been done by Congress a long time ago. It would be easier to take these senators’ objections more seriously if they had done more than sit on their hands for the past several years. There is simply no denying that the situation on the border is untenable. The New York Times, hardly the biggest fans of the President’s agenda, reported that unauthorized migrants are entering the country at double the rate from just one year…

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Republican Bill on Female Genital Mutilation Has Yet to Receive a Hearing in Minnesota House

Anthony Gockowski

A Republican-backed bill in the Minnesota House that would expand criminal penalties for female genital mutilation has yet to receive so much as a committee hearing. The bill was introduced January 24 by Rep. Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) and has 17 Republican cosponsors, but not a single Democratic cosponsor. As The Minnesota Sun reported when the bill was first introduced, Franson’s legislation would expand the criminal definition of female genital mutilation to include punishments for parents who subject their children to the practice. Under current Minnesota law, it is illegal for doctors to perform female genital mutilation, but there are no penalties in place for the parents. Franson’s bill would make it a felony for any “parent, guardian, or other person legally responsible or charged with the care or custody of a minor who knowingly allows the circumcision, excision, or infibulation, in whole or in part, of the labia majora, labia minora, or clitoris of the minor.” The bill, however, has struggled to get a committee hearing in the Democratic-controlled House. It was first referred to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee upon introduction, but was then recalled and re-referred to the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance…

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Lordstown Union Leader: ‘President Trump Didn’t Unallocate Our Location Here, General Motors Did’

Anthony Gockowski

The union leader for Lordstown, Ohio’s General Motors plant is speaking out after being called out by name by President Donald Trump over the weekend. The General Motors plant was officially “unallocated” earlier this month, meaning it’s not yet closed, but isn’t producing any cars. In a Sunday tweet, Trump called out United Auto Workers Local 1112 President David Green, saying he “ought to get his act together and produce.” But Green said in a recent Fox News interview that he’s “really trying to stay out of the feud,” and just wants to “see better policies.” “President Trump didn’t unallocate our location here, General Motors did. We think General Motors has an obligation. We want to be part of their family for 53 more years. We build great quality products here. We just want to keep doing that,” he said. Host Dana Perino pointed out that Green and Trump should actually be allies in the matter, since General Motors is to blame for putting Ohioans out of work. “Yeah, it could very well be. That’s why, you know, I haven’t taken any of this personal. He obviously doesn’t know me personally. I’ve been working really hard here in the valley.…

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Former Ohio State Senator Randy Gardner Now Highest Paid Member of DeWine Administration at $190,000 Salary

Anthony Gockowski

Former State Sen. Randy Gardner, who was picked by Gov. Mike DeWine to lead the Department of Education, is currently the highest paid member of the new administration. Gardner will receive a base salary of $190,008, which is more than $100,000 higher than the average $87,600 salary he made as a state senator, and nearly $15,000 more than the $176,115 salary his predecessor made. State pensions are factored on the highest three years of pay, meaning if Gardner can hold down his current position for three years, his pension will be based solely on his time running the Department of Education. Gardner has been in Ohio politics since 1985 as either a state representative or senator, but was apparently a high-school teacher before entering the political scene. The numbers were obtained by Cleveland.com, and show that Gardner will make more than both DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, who are paid $154,248 and $176,676 respectively. Husted’s salary is higher because he was tapped to lead InnovateOhio, a new state agency housed in the Governor’s Office. As such, he can receive the salary for that position in lieu of the lieutenant governor’s salary. The only other cabinet-level officials who will make…

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Former North Carolina Statehouse Democrat Indicted in Campaign Finance Investigation

A.P. Dillon

On Monday, March 18th, former Democratic state house Representative Rodney Moore was indicted by a Mecklenburg County Grand Jury on nine felony charges involving false campaign finance disclosure reports. Moore had turned himself in to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department sometime on Wednesday. According to a press release from the State Board of Elections, “Moore knowingly certified under oath that false campaign finance reports were true, a violation of N.C.G.S. § 163A-1449. Each count is a Class I felony.” Also charged is Tammy Neal, Moore’s campaign treasurer. Neal is charged with one felony count of common law obstruction of justice. “We are grateful to the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office for its work on this case, as we are to all prosecutors who take election matters seriously,” State Board executive director Kim Westbrook Strach said in a statement. Strach said that audits like these help “detect those who try to use their campaign accounts as personal piggy banks.” “We hope these prosecutions highlight the importance of accurate campaign finance disclosure. Voters have a right to know how candidates are raising and spending campaign cash,” said Strach. The State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement voted unanimously in October of 2018 to…

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Pushed by UnifiEd, Hamilton County School Board Uses Consultants, Committees to Tell Community Its Schools Are Unequal in Diversity

Jason M. Reynolds

Williamson County and Knox County Schools have been making headlines with their white privilege and “cultural competency” training for teachers, but so far there is no sign that trend has spread to Hamilton County Schools – yet. Williamson County has forced teachers to learn about “white privilege” in required in-service training days, The Tennessee Star has reported in a series of stories. Knox County Schools are spending $170,000 out of their $928,677 in-service budget on cultural competency training for teachers. Hamilton County Board of Education has been working with diversity consultants for the past couple of years to desegregate schools through means that would include busing. They formed committees and workshops to label the district as inequitable for minority students. One diversity group attacked two school board members last year for opposing their plans. Dr. Marsha Drake, the district’s chief equity officer, launched an Equity Task Force in 2018. The Hamilton County Board of Education in May 2018 voted to begin seeking funding to pay for the Howard Group, a consultant agency, to identify “the larger factors that put some students on unequal footing,” the Chattanooga Times Free Press said. The board asked the Howard Group to work with the…

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