Day: April 1, 2019

Tennessee Set to Stop Cities from Banning Plastic Bags

Chris Butler

Tennessee will likely ban local municipalities from regulating certain plastic bags and utensils, after a bill calling for that passed both the Tennessee House and Senate, according to the Memphis-based WMC Action News 5. All that’s left now is for Republican Gov. Bill Lee to sign the bill into law, which spokesperson Laine Arnold told reporters Friday he would do within the next 10 days. According to the Associated Press, the measure – nicknamed the “plastic bag bill” – makes it illegal for local governments to impose bag bans, restrictions on Styrofoam containers and other disposable products. On Monday, before passage, the AP reported: The bill is being debated in the GOP-dominant Statehouse as Memphis and Nashville — the state’s most populous cities that also lean more liberal — have recently considered levying taxes against single-use plastic bags. The plastic bags industry has opposed such taxes, but state lawmakers have been more willing to pre-empt the local governments. A Memphis City Council Chairman’s Recap email discussed the matter in January, when council members discussed a plastic bag fee. At that time council members heard arguments from the American Progressive Bag Alliance, which is against the proposed fee, and the Sierra Club and…

Read the full story

Tipton County Woman Charged with TennCare Drug Fraud

Chris Butler

.A Tipton County woman is charged with TennCare fraud in connection with the sale of prescription drugs paid for by the state’s health care insurance program, according to a press release from the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration. The Office of Inspector General (OIG), with the assistance of the Tipton County Sheriff’s Office, this week announced the arrest of Ursula Patrice Adams also known as Ursula Patrice Ponder, 51, of Covington, Tenn. She is accused of obtaining the dangerous opiate Fentanyl, and on two separate occasions, she allegedly sold a portion of the drugs during an undercover investigation. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, fentanyl is 80 to 100 times more potent than morphine. Adams is charged with two counts of TennCare fraud, one count of delivery of a Schedule II controlled substance and one count of casual exchange of a Scheduled II controlled substance. The prescriptions were obtained through Medicare Part B which is paid for in part by TennCare, the press release said. “Tennessee has an opioid problem and we are working with local law enforcement to combat it,” Inspector General Kim Harmon said. “These drugs are deadline, as families across our state are aware. Using…

Read the full story

Commentary: Hubris, Betrayal, Technology, and the Fall of the Elites

Admin

by Robin Burk   In ancient Greek tragedy, the hero rises to fame only to be undone by hubris, the fatal flaw of overweening arrogance. But to understand the events that continue to unfold around the 2016 presidential election, it’s helpful to look farther east. A generation before Sophocles chronicled the rise and fall of Oedipus, Confucius looked at a fractured Chinese world and argued that, above all, China needed social cohesion. Such cohesion could only come, he said, from protecting the “Five Relationships,” including that of ruler and subject. The subject must obey, for those who ruled had the “Mandate of Heaven” behind them. To defy the ruler would be to erode society. In turn, the ruler must ensure the basic well-being of those he ruled, lest he lose the Mandate of Heaven. When that happens, order unravels. And thus was born the powerful administrative elite in China, the shi. Refined in behavior and dress, the shi made Chinese empires possible. In theory, anyone could join this class by passing formal examinations. In practice, few who were not born into the class could acquire the necessary education, accent, and polished manner. Fast forward to the mid-20th century and Vannevar Bush. Head of the Carnegie…

Read the full story

Trump Administration Uses Obscure Treasury Department Agency to Tighten Foreign Investments in U.S. Tech and Data by China

Admin

by  Masood Farivar   For decades, it was virtually unknown outside a small circle of investors, corporate lawyers and government officials. But in recent years, the small interagency body known as the Committee for Investment in the United States has grown in prominence, propelled by a U.S. desire to use it as an instrument of national security and foreign policy. This week, the panel made headlines after it reportedly directed Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech to divest itself of Grindr, a popular gay dating app, because of concern the user data it collects could be used to blackmail military and intelligence personnel. Operating out of the Treasury Department, the nine-member CFIUS (pronounced Cy-fius) reviews foreign investments in U.S. businesses to determine whether they pose a national security threat. Notification was voluntary Until last year, notifying the panel about such investments was voluntary, something Kunlun and California-based Grindr took advantage of when they closed a deal in 2016. But given growing U.S. concern about Chinese companies with ties to Beijing buying businesses in sensitive U.S. industries, the committee’s rare intervention to undo the deal was hardly a surprise, said Harry Broadman, a former CFIUS member. “I think anyone who was surprised…

Read the full story

2020 Presidential Hopeful Elizabeth Warren ‘Helped’ Energy Secretary Rick Perry Understand U.S. Nuclear Energy Policy – Incorrectly

Admin

by Jason Hopkins   The Energy Department released a statement in response to Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s claims that Secretary Rick Perry was “confused” about a particular energy law. The Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony from Perry, the secretary of the Energy Department, on Thursday regarding the Trump administration’s approval of seven applications for the U.S. to sell nuclear power assistance and technology to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the hearing, Warren pressed Perry over the legality of the move, saying the Energy Department is required to seek congressional approval. “Do you agree that any agreement to transfer our nuclear materials, facilities or sensitive technology to Saudi Arabia requires congressional review?” the Democratic senator asked Perry. “The law is it requires congressional review. Are we clear on that?” Warren later published a video of the exchange on Twitter, saying Perry seemed “confused” and that she “helped him understand” what the law is. The last thing we should be doing is giving Saudi Arabia the tools to make a nuclear bomb. That’s why we have a law that requires Congress to review the sale of nuclear technology to foreign govts. But @SecretaryPerry seemed confused by that law – so I…

Read the full story

Commentary: Do Left-Wing Billionaires ‘Own’ House Democrats?

Admin

by Nicholas Waddy   As the Democratic presidential field begins to take shape, liberal and left-wing billionaires are shopping around for the best candidate to support. Some, as we shall see, are also seeking to torpedo President Trump’s presidency through impeachment long before the 2020 election takes place. But we shouldn’t lose sight of what these billionaires have already accomplished: they helped elect a Democratic House of Representatives in 2018 that largely can be relied upon to do their bidding. In other words, the Democrats have become what they always professed to loath: a party propped up by big-money interests and beholden to a small clique of ambitious billionaires. In 2010, the Supreme Court decided in Citizens United v. FEC that independent groups (and thus corporations and the super-rich) could spend unlimited amounts of money on political advocacy. Democrats cried foul. Capitalist and conservative interests would use this constitutional “loophole,” claimed the Left, to flood the airwaves with regressive propaganda, nullifying democracy and trampling the rights of the American people. Just a few years later, the Democrats are singing a different tune. In 2018, the Democrats took over the House of Representatives, financed – irony of ironies! – by massive infusions of…

Read the full story

Jake Tapper: CNN Didn’t Get ‘Anything’ Wrong in Russiagate Reporting

Admin

by Chuck Ross   Jake Tapper said Sunday that CNN has not gotten “anything” wrong during the course of reporting on Russiagate, even though his network has bungled numerous stories over the past two years. “I’m not sure what you’re saying the media got wrong. The media reported the investigation was going on. Other than the people in the media on the left, not on this network, I don’t know anybody that got anything wrong,” Tapper said during an exchange with acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. “We didn’t say there was a conspiracy. We said Mueller was investigating a conspiracy.” “That’s fine, if that’s your recollection of history, that’s great,” Mulvaney responded to Tapper’s defense. “Face it, the media got this wrong. It’s okay. People get stuff wrong all the time, just not at this level.” “We need to figure out what went wrong with the Mueller report, why — in all fairness to your network — why the media got it so wrong for so long,” said Mulvaney. .@MickMulvaneyOMB tells @jaketapper that ethics are not the issue when it comes to the Russia probe on #CNNSotu https://t.co/geGGK4lD1N — State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) March 31, 2019…

Read the full story

Analysis: Congress Shapes the Institution to Protect Incumbents through Secrecy and Legally Questionable Bureaucracies

Admin
US Capitol at night

by Luke Rosiak   Members of Congress are old. Really old. The House Democrats’ top three leaders are all 78 or 79. Democrat John Dingell was re-elected to the House every two years from 1955 to 2014, even though he represented Detroit during the period in which the city sank from America’s crown jewel of manufacturing to a symbol of urban blight. In 2014 he was replaced — by his wife. Republican Strom Thurmond was a racial segregationist born in 1902 who served in the upper chamber from 1956 until 2003. The nation changed, but he remained in office. By the end, his aides were dragging him around and propping him up like a marionette. Who did this serve? Congressmen have used their power to design an institution whose first order of business is keeping current members as current members for as long as possible. Protecting Their Own Inside Congress, members have shaped the institution to protect incumbents through secrecy and even creating bureaucratic offices that break the House’s own rules in order to do so. Shielding themselves from facing consequences for malfeasance isn’t about Democrat versus Republican, it’s about insiders versus outsiders. After all, with fewer than 10 percent of congressional districts “toss-ups” according to RealClearPolitics,…

Read the full story

Judge Strikes Down Trump’s Deal with Alaskan Tribal Community to Deny Life-Saving Road

Admin

by Tim Pearce   A federal judge vacated a land swap agreement Friday between an Alaskan village and the Department of the Interior because the federal government violated procedural law when making the deal. U.S. District Court of Alaska Judge Sharon Gleason nullified a January 2018 deal that traded roughly 500 acres of federally protected wilderness to the community of King Cove, Alaska, in exchange for one acre to the Interior Department. At the time, Alaskan lawmakers and King Cove residents celebrated the agreement as the end of a four-decade battle. “This is a disappointing case and a disappointing ruling,” GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said in a statement. Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke signed off on the agreement, trading away some the 315,000-acre Izembek National Wildlife Refuge in order for King Cove to finish construction on a road between the community and Cold Bay, roughly 30 miles away by land. Gleason sided with several environmental groups that sued the federal government over the deal, alleging Zinke “not only failed to provide the required level of detailed justification for reversing decades of prior findings, he provided no justification at all,” according to the judge’s decision, reported by the Anchorage Daily News. Gleason agreed with the environmentalists,…

Read the full story

Commentary: A Great Civic Awakening to America’s ‘Founding Virtues’

Admin

by Annie Holmquist   When it comes to the direction of society Americans (surprisingly) agree: things are not getting better. That’s the conclusion one quickly draws from a recent Pew Research report which asks what America will look like in 2050. As the chart below shows, Americans think the country will be less important on a global level, the gap between socio-economic classes will grow, and the country will be more divided politically. Dig deeper and the reason for such pessimism becomes clear: Americans recognize that major pillars of society are crumbling and will continue to do so in the next several decades. The following stats give a small glimpse of this realization: 37 percent of Americans believe work will decline due to the rise of robots 44 percent of Americans think standard of living will decline 46 percent of Americans think childbearing will diminish 50 percent of Americans think religion will become less important 53 percent of Americans think marriage will become less prevalent 72 percent of Americans are concerned about financial stability in retirement It’s depressing. As I read these pessimistic views, I had a sense I had heard them before. Then I remembered. In his 2012 book, Coming Apart, sociologist Charles Murray…

Read the full story

Minnesota Bishops Double-Down on Supporting Driver’s Licenses for Illegal Immigrants

Anthony Gockowski

Leaders of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis are doubling-down on their support of a bill that would provide driver’s licenses to people in the country illegally. Under House File 1500, a person would not be “required to demonstrate United States citizenship or lawful presence in the United States in order to obtain a noncompliant driver’s license or identification card.” As The Minnesota Sun previously reported, Archbishop Bernard Hebda spoke at a February press conference in favor of the bill alongside several Democratic politicians. “This legislation is an important human rights test. Will we as Minnesotans embrace our brothers and sisters and help them in a way that costs us nothing as a community? Or will we be overcome by what Pope Francis calls a ‘culture of indifference’ that fails in the duty to see the needs of others effectively?” Hebda said at the time. Hebda was recently joined in supporting the bill by Bishop Andrew Cozzens and Minnesota Catholic Conference Executive Director Jason Adkins, both of whom spoke with The Catholic Spirit about the proposal. “We believe it is very clear where Catholic principles take you in this decision,” Cozzens told The Spirit. “It is an intrinsic, moral…

Read the full story

Freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar Tests the Limits of Party Loyalty, Attracts Challengers as 2020 Nears

Admin
Rep Ilhan Omar

by Katherine Gypson   Four months ago, the Minnesota Democrat Ilhan Omar became the first Somali-American and one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress. Her election was heralded by many as a sign of a more diverse generation of politicians coming to power on Capitol Hill. But just weeks into her first congressional term, Omar ignited a controversy with a tweet invoking an offensive trope suggesting U.S. lawmakers’ support for Israel was swayed by money from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful lobbying group. Shortly after her apology for that tweet, Omar suggested in a public statement that lawmakers held a dual loyalty to the U.S. and Israel. Omar’s comments triggered two congressional resolutions condemning hate speech. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, including senior Democratic leadership, strongly criticized Omar for making remarks that many felt crossed the line into anti-Semitism. In a speech on Sunday to the opening session of AIPAC’s annual conference in Washington, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland declared that “what weakens us … is when, instead of engaging in legitimate debate about policies, someone questions the motives of his or her fellow citizens.” The controversy jeopardized…

Read the full story

Jim Jordan Goes on Media Blitz Against ‘Collusion Delusion’

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) blasted his Democratic colleagues for their “collusion delusion” during several cable news appearances this week. Fox and Friends, America’s Newsroom, Hannity, Ingraham Angle—if there was coverage of the Russia investigation, then Jordan was likely there to talk about it, and his message was clear: “no new indictments, no sealed indictments, no collusion, no obstruction.” But he didn’t stop there. Jordan, along with Rep. Mark Meadows (R-SC-11), believes that the other side of the story needs to be investigated. “Let’s do everything we can to work with Chairman Graham to get to the bottom of this and expose how they used one party’s opposition research document to get a secret warrant to spy on the other party’s campaign and launch this whole ridiculous thing that we saw unfold over the last several years,” Jordan said during an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show. During an appearance on Fox New’s Ingraham Angle, Jordan agreed with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich that the Democratic Party is “in denial” after the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. “It was so strong what Bill Barr said about Bob Mueller’s investigation. Remember the numbers – 19, 40, 500, 2,800. 19 lawyers, most…

Read the full story

New Bill Provides Tax Exemption for Ohio’s Disabled Veterans

Andrew Shirley

A bill currently under consideration by the Ohio Legislature would exempt disability service pay, made to honorably discharged veterans, from state income taxes. House Bill 18 (HB 18) was introduced to the Ohio House of Representatives last month. Wednesday, the bill finally came to a vote where it passed by an almost unprecedented  98-0 votes. It has now been introduced tot he Senate where it is expected to pass with similar support. In a statement,  the bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Erica Crawley, (D-Columbus) stated: This is a great example of how the legislature can work together to deliver real results that have a minimal fiscal impact on the state and keep Ohio’s promise to our veterans by eliminating hardships, Rep. Crawley is a Navy veteran. The Department of Veterans Affairs defines disability compensation as: Disability compensation is a monetary benefit paid to Veterans who are determined by VA to be disabled by an injury or illness that was incurred or aggravated during active military service. These disabilities are considered to be service connected. To be eligible for compensation, the Veteran must have been separated or discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. As of 2013, over 800,000 of the more than 21…

Read the full story

DeVos Visits Nashville for Roundtable Discussion, Visit with Charter School Ranked as One of State’s Leaders in Academic Growth

Jason M. Reynolds

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is hosting U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos in Nashville Monday. The visit by DeVos will begin with a roundtable discussion with families, educators, stakeholders and local elected leaders, according to a press release from the Tennessee Department of Education. That roundtable discussion will be closed to the press. DeVos will end her trip with a visit at 11:50 a.m. CDT to LEAD Cameron, a public charter middle school with a proven turnaround success story. According to school leadership, LEAD Cameron has moved from one of the state’s lowest performing “Priority Schools” to currently ranking in the top 5 percent for academic growth, the DOE’s press release said. Unlike the roundtable discussion, the LEAD Cameron visit will be open to the press. Since assuming the post of U.S. secretary of education in February 2017, DeVos has taken on the education bureaucracy and championed local control, as The Tennessee Star has reported. Natalia Castro, multimedia manager at Americans for Limited Government, wrote last year that DeVos is helping parents and schools get around burdensome federal laws like the the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act, The Star reported. The Department of Education provided parents and schools with a…

Read the full story