Day: April 7, 2019

Trump Resister Encouraging Illegal Teacher Strikes in Tennessee Has Links to a Left-Wing Organization That Received Funding from George Soros

Laura Baigert

An activist group, Tennessee Education Report, has ramped up its efforts in encouraging teachers in the state to strike through a series of three posts in as many weeks on its blog, as The Tennessee Star reported. Andy Spears is the head of the Tennessee Education Report. “Teachers in West Virginia, Arizona, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Los Angeles have experienced some level of success in recent strikes. Teachers in Virginia were on strike today. These strikes have earned the support of parents and community members and have yielded tangible results both in terms of new investments in schools and increased political power for teachers,” Spears wrote in a January article titled, “When are teacher strikes coming to Tennessee?” “Here in Tennessee, however, teachers have yet to strike. In fact, it’s difficult to find serious discussion of a strike. Sure, our investment in schools is less now than when Bill Haslam took over ($67 less per student in inflation-adjusted dollars). And yes, our teachers earn among the lowest salaries in the region with no significant improvement in recent years. Oh, and our own Comptroller says we’re at least $500 million short of what we need to adequately fund schools. A closer look…

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State Rep. London Lamar Reportedly Nominated to Chair Shelby County Democratic Party

Chris Butler

State Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, wants to chair the Shelby County Democratic Party, according to The Daily Memphian. Someone recently nominated Lamar for the position, the paper went on to say. “I decided to run because I was asked by several elected officials and Democratic officials to help us to put our party in a position to thrive in 2020,” The Daily Memphian reported. “We had a landslide election in 2018. We wanted to make sure we could provide the county party leadership to continue to build on those victories – not only to maintain our power here in Memphis, but to be in a position to lead the state to a Democratic win in 2020.” Lamar reportedly revived the Shelby County Young Democrats organization and is currently finishing up her term as chair of the Tennessee Young Democrats organization, the website said. Lamar is one of two contenders for the position, The Daily Memphian reported. As The Tennessee Star reported last year, Lamar generated international attention after she declared in November, shortly after her election to the Tennessee House of Representatives that “Tennessee is a racist state,” as The Tennessee Star reported: … Lamar live streamed a 15-minute rant on Facebook…

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Commentary: Chick-fil-A and NRA Prove Democrats Can Never Be Trusted With Power

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by CHQ Editor George Rasley   The recent sagas of the political discrimination against Chick-fil-A and the NRA are just two of the many cases of politically-driven regulatory action by Democrat officeholders and elected officials. What’s been done to Chick-fil-A and the NRA demonstrate just how bad life in America could get if Democrats ever return to complete control of the federal government. In San Antonio, TX and Buffalo, NY Chick-fil-A was prohibited from expanding into those cities’ airports by Democratic lawmakers who claimed, without evidence, that Chick-fil-A discriminated against homosexuals and transgendered individuals. The trampling of the First Amendment rights of the openly Christian business was so outrageous that the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement after the chicken sandwich chain was blocked from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. “Government actors cannot officially silence speech or take punitive actions based on a person’s or private entity’s political viewpoints,” NYCLU Assistant Director for Legislative Affairs Erika Lorshbough said in a statement to The Hill. “The First Amendment does not permit the NFTA to base its contracting decisions on the political views of a vendor.” According to reporting by RedState, the Texas-based First Liberty Institute…

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Joe Biden Jokes About Accusations While Hugging Boy

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by Neetu Chandak   Former Vice President Joe Biden cracked a joke in reference to his inappropriate conduct allegations while hugging a boy at a labor union conference in Washington, D.C., Friday. Biden wrapped his arm around a boy onstage as he was speaking to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). “By the way, he gave me permission to touch him,” Biden said. Biden also hugged the union’s president, Lonnie Stephenson, before the child. “I just want you to know, I had permission to hug Lonnie,” Biden said, The New York Times reported. Former Democratic Nevada Assemblywoman Lucy Flores accused Biden on March 29 of sniffing her hair and kissing her head without her permission in 2014. A second woman, Amy Lappos, claimed Biden inappropriately touched her during a 2009 political fundraiser in Connecticut. “It wasn’t sexual, but he did grab me by the head,” Lappos said Monday to The Hartford Courant. “He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth.” A total of seven women have come forward against Biden’s alleged acts so far,…

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Microsoft Ignored Numerous Cases of Sexual Harassment, Employees Say

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by Tim Pearce   Microsoft leadership is conducting a review of numerous employee sexual harassment claims the company’s HR department did not address, according to a string of employee emails reviewed by Quartz. After one woman employee emailed several of her colleagues looking for advice on how to move up at Microsoft, an email chain began that resulted in more than 90 pages worth of messages detailing harassment and discrimination cases allegedly ignored by HR. “This thread has pulled the scab off a festering wound. The collective anger and frustration is palpable. A wide audience is now listening. And you know what? I’m good with that,” one Microsoft employee said on the email thread. One woman in the thread detailed an event in which a Microsoft employee asked her to sit on someone’s lap during a meeting with other Microsoft employees present. At the time, the woman was serving as a senior level Microsoft employee, known as a “Microsoft partner.” “As a Microsoft Partner, [I] was asked to sit on someone’s lap twice in one meeting in front of HR and other executives,” she wrote on the chain of emails, according to Quartz. “I can assure you that nothing was…

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Commentary: Trump Follows in the Footsteps of King Cyrus

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by Larry Greenfield   Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, found inspiration in the writings of Xenophon, a contemporary of Socrates, who chronicled the life of the great Persian, King Cyrus, whose vast empire was known for toleration of religious minorities and for demanding no single state religion. For his military prowess and political statesmanship, Cyrus is the most admired ancient king, a hero to Alexander the Great, future Greco-Roman leaders, and philosophers of both the European and American Enlightenment. Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, and modern Iran’s last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, also considered Cyrus a model. When U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized Israel’s independence on May 14, 1948, over the objections of his State Department, he entered Jewish history. Soon after he left office, in November 1953, Truman met with leaders at the Jewish Theological Seminary, accompanied by his former Army buddy, business partner, and lifelong good friend Eddie Jacobson. Jacobson introduced Truman: “This is the man who helped create the state of Israel.” Truman asserted, “What do you mean, ‘helped to create’? I am Cyrus. I am Cyrus.” Truman was honest, not immodest. Though he lacked a college education, as a boy…

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Survey Shows Less Than Half of Americans Support NATO

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A new survey shows that less than half of Americans support the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance originally designed to provide collective security against the Soviet Union, but now focused on Russia and non-state actors such as the Taliban and the Islamic State group. The YouGov survey, released to commemorate the 70th anniversary of NATO, found that only 44 percent of Americans support the United States’ place in the agreement. That was down 3 percentage points from when the survey was conducted in 2017. The poll also surveyed other NATO countries and found that support for the alliance had decreased significantly in the past two years among key European allies. Support for NATO dropped in Britain from 73 percent to 59 percent, in Germany from 68 percent to 54 percent, and in France from 54 percent to 39 percent. YouGov said there is a generational divide in the United States over support for NATO, with 56 percent of the Baby Boomer generation, who grew up at the beginning of the Cold War, believing that the treaty continues to serve an important role in defending Western nations. Only 35 percent of Millennials and 33 percent of Generation X members support…

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Massachusetts Allocates Funds Supplementing Planned Parenthood Losses

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by Connor Maldo   The state of Massachusetts has approved funding to compensate abortion providers for the possible loss of federal contributions due to changes in federal policy. This legislation responds to a new rule under the Trump administration that prohibits federally funded family planning offices from sharing space with an abortion provider. The law approves $8 million in funding to prepare for the potential loss of federal support under Title X, the Associated Press reported. Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said the bill “ensures women’s health providers across Massachusetts will continue to have access to these critical funds.” Prior to reaching the governor’s desk, the measure received wide support from the Democratic-led state legislature. In 2017, Maryland passed a similar law, predicting the Trump administration rule, that allocated funding to protect Planned Parenthood, which became law when Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan refused to veto the bill. Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, believes that a loss of federal funding could affect more than 75,000 women. “The Trump/Pence administration is obsessed with Planned Parenthood, and not in a good way,” Childs-Roshak said. “They are obsessed with abortion.” Pro-life advocates supported the new rule…

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Trump, Newsom Clash Over Illegal Immigration as President Visits California Wall Construction

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by Fred Lucas   President Donald Trump was greeted Friday by a friendly crowd of border security officials in California, the state where he has the most political opposition and which has declared itself a “sanctuary state.” He also toured the site of some border wall construction there. Trump was briefed by officials from the U.S. Border Patrol in the Calexico, California, station near the border with Mexico. “We expect to have close to 400 miles [of wall] done within two years from now. That’s a lot,” Trump said. “We love California. But those people wanted us to build a wall, and we got it built, including wall in San Diego, which is pretty much completed. It’s had a tremendous impact. The wall has had a tremendous impact.” Trump said the country is “full” and insisted the immigration asylum laws must be changed. “We have a system that is full. It’s just full. … There’s nothing we can do about it,” the president said. “ … The system is full. When it’s full, there’s nothing you can do. You have to say, ‘I’m sorry. We can’t take you.’” California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized Trump’s call for changing the laws on…

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Pence Announces More Sanctions on Venezuela as Chaos Continues Under Socialist Dictator

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by Evie Fordham   The U.S. will impose even more sanctions on Venezuela after recognizing the rival of socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro as the country’s leader in January, Vice President Mike Pence announced Friday at Rice University in Houston. The U.S. is targeting 34 vessels owned or operated by the nation’s state-run oil firm PDVSA and two companies that transport Venezuelan crude oil to Cuba, Pence said. A word to this rising generation: Those of you who feel drawn to the siren song of socialism, be careful what you wish for. Socialism is not the road to freedom. Socialism is the road to government control. And it grows in the soil of censorship. pic.twitter.com/WZ7uNNMbIg — Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) April 5, 2019 “The struggle in Venezuela is between dictatorship and democracy, but freedom has the momentum … Nicolas Maduro must go,” Pence said. U.S. President Donald Trump shunned Maduro and recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido in January, as did other countries, including Brazil and Canada. “Thousands of Venezuelan children are starving at this very hour,” Pence later added. He also was heavy-handed in his criticism of Cuba. “Cuba’s leaders are the real imperialists in the western hemisphere. The…

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Supreme Court Rebuffs Gun Rights Groups in Fight Against Bump Stock Ban

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by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court rejected another last-ditch bid to stop the Trump administration’s bump stock ban, denying a gun rights coalition a temporary exemption from the new regulation early Friday afternoon. Friday’s order was the third application relating to the bump stock ban that the Supreme Court has rejected in recent weeks. The plaintiffs in Friday’s case were five individuals and three gun rights organizations, including the Firearms Policy Foundation, the Madison Society Foundation, and Florida Carry. They sought a temporary reprieve from the ban for themselves and their members. “Absent a stay, applicants and their members will be required to surrender or destroy their property or face felony charges for possession of devices that were unquestionably legal under ATF’s construction of the statute for the past 85 years and ATF’s prior written rulings stating as much,” their petition reads. Neither the vote count nor the Court’s reasoning was disclosed, as is typical of orders of this nature, though Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch noted their dissent. Bump stocks are an accessory that increases a semiautomatic rifle’s rate of fire. The Department of Justice says the appendage effectively turns a semiautomatic weapon into a machine gun,…

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Radical Abortionist Martin Haskell’s Dayton Clinic One Step Closer to Shutting Down

Anthony Gockowski

An Ohio court of appeals recently ruled in support of a decision to revoke the license of Martin Haskell’s Dayton-area Women’s Med Center abortion clinic, meaning either the clinic will close or the case will head to the Ohio Supreme Court. Haskell owns and operates three abortion facilities across the country, one in the Dayton suburb of Kettering, another in Cincinnati, and a third in Indianapolis. According to the pro-life organization Operation Rescue, the Women’s Med Center is one of six abortion providers that openly performs abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy. In 2016, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) revoked the Kettering clinic’s ambulatory surgical facility license. In order to maintain such a license, abortion clinics are required by state law to have written transfer agreements with a hospital within a 30-minute radius in the event that a patient needs emergency medical care. Abortion clinics can also apply for a “variance” of the written transfer agreement that includes the names of physicians with admitting privileges who have agreed to treat women with abortion complications. Haskell’s Women’s Med Center clinic in Dayton has been unable to ever obtain a written transfer agreement with a local hospital, and its variance…

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Tim Ryan at First Campaign Rally: The Flyover States Are Taking Back the White House

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) hosted his first campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio Saturday after officially declaring candidacy for president earlier this week. Ryan made the announcement during an appearance on The View Thursday, but returned to his home district Saturday for his first official campaign rally “First, thank my family for allowing me to do this. I’m Tim Ryan and I’m running for President of the United States of America,” Ryan said to cheers from the crowd gathered outside. “We stand here today on April 6 2019 a divided country, as you know. And we’ve been divided for a long time, and that division has prevented us from being able to be the best that we can possibly be,” Ryan said, and continued to emphasize throughout his speech that he wants to work on bringing the country back together. “Things go up and things go down, but if we’re not united we are not going to be able to fix these structural problems that we have in the United States, and I’m running for president first and foremost to try to bring this country back together, because a divided country is a weak country. We have politicians and leaders in…

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Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown Joins Bipartisan Group Introducing Bill Sanctioning China for Opioid Trafficking

Andrew Shirley

Democratic Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown joined a bipartisan group of six Senators Thursday to introduce a bill that would sanction any country involved in the trafficking of illegal opioids into the United States. According to the U.S Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration’s 2018 National Drug Assessment, synthetic opioids, specifically fentanyl, secretly created and trafficked into the United States is “responsible for the ongoing fentanyl epidemic.” The majority of these opioids are produced in China and then trafficked into America through Mexico, making these two countries primarily responsible for the current US epidemic. They noted these drugs are “now the most lethal category of opioids used in the United States…Fentanyl suppliers will continue to experiment with new fentanyl-related substances and adjust supplies in attempts to circumvent new regulations imposed by the United States, China, and Mexico.” Because of this, the highest quality of fentanyl carries the street name: “China White.” S.1044. “A bill to impose sanctions with respect to foreign traffickers of illicit opioids, and for other purposes” intent, per the summary message provided by the bill’s sponsors: This targeted sanctions legislation would give U.S. law enforcement and sanctions officials more tools to combat the trafficking of opioids into the…

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Ohio Republican Joins Cannibus Caucus in Pushing for Greater Marijuana Protection from Federal Government

Andrew Shirley

Ohio Republican Rep. Dave Joyce (R-OH-14), along with the entire Congressional Cannabis Caucus, introduced a bill Wednesday that seeks to protect state marijuana policies by strengthening states’ rights. The Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act, the “STATES Act” for short, would function to amend existing laws, specifically the Controlled Substances Act. It would, essentially, give states that have set their own policies on marijuana regulation the right to have those laws take precedence over the existing federal laws. Even as various forms of marijuana use become legal across the country, it remains illegal at the federal level. As previously reported: The 2018 Farm Bill, passed with bipartisan support, legalized the production of industrial hemp. This is the primary source of CBD Oil. Hemp producers immediately jumped into producing the substance. Though products containing THC cannot cross state lines, THC products derived from hemp face no similar restriction. Supporting the bill, the Drug Enforcement Agency DEA removed CBD as a Schedule 1 narcotic. As a result, it is no longer considered among the most dangerous of drug products. While CBD seemed poised for national expansion, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still has the authority to regulate the sale of CBD and have aggressively stepped up efforts…

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Students Critical of University of Minnesota’s Decision to Invite ‘Green Book’ Producer to Commencement

Anthony Gockowski

The University of Minnesota’s College of Liberal Arts invited “Green Book” producer and university alumnus Jim Burke to deliver the keynote address for its commencement ceremony, but some students and faculty aren’t happy with the decision. The movie was widely criticized for its use of racial slurs and for employing a “white savior” trope in which Viggo Mortensen’s character repeatedly gets co-star Mahershala Ali out of jams along their musical journey through the south in 1962. To many’s dismay, the film managed to win best picture at the 2019 Academy Awards. “‘Green Book’ is a white savior film. It allows and encourages a state of cognitive dissonance for white audiences between their perceived sense of self and racism,” Becca Mayo, a fifth-year student studying cinema and media culture, told the Minnesota Daily. Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature instructor Brad Stiffler said the movie’s main problem is “its depiction of interpersonal relationships as antidotes to racism,” saying it simplifies “systemic and institutional racial problems.” “It’s something that this film especially seems to fall in that trap of reducing the complexity and the seriousness of race and race relations in the U.S. to this sort of caricatured idea of ‘Can…

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Creative Math By Knox County Schools and Gannett Reporter Imply State Cut District Spending By $6M When In Fact Contribution Increased By That Amount

Jason M. Reynolds

A Knoxville News-Sentinel reporter last week shared the local school superintendent’s creative math to accuse Gov. Bill Lee of cutting education spending by nearly $6 million, when in fact the state’s BEP contribution had increased by that amount. On April 1, reporter Tyler Whetstone tweeted, “New today – @GovBillLee‘s BEP proposal would cut @KnoxSchools funding by approximately $6 million. That’s a lot of 0s when you’re trying to scrap together a budget.” New today – @GovBillLee's BEP proposal would cut @KnoxSchools funding by approximately $6 million. That's a lot of 0s when you're trying to scrap together a budget. https://t.co/vEMD7mVNqH — Tyler Whetstone (@tyler_whetstone) April 1, 2019 Whetstone’s story quoted Knox County Schools Superintendent Bob Thomas as lamenting a roughly $6 million cut in budgeted funds from the state’s Basic Education Plan going to the district. Thomas cried that the sky would fall in the form of the district not building three planned school buildings and changing a planned pay raise. But guess what, Thomas’ math might as well have been an April Fool’s joke. The state has typically added roughly $180 million new dollars into the BEP statewide in recent years. This, plus other smaller percentages of state funds,…

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