Day: May 14, 2019

New YouTube Video Warns Against ‘Bad Parking Meter Scheme’ in Nashville

Chris Butler

  Nashville residents who oppose a proposed plan to privatize parking have upped their game and have released a new YouTube video to encourage people to protest. Nashville resident David F. Roberts said in an emailed statement that the video is part of a digital ad campaign to get his neighbors active on this issue. In the video, Nashville resident Mike Johnson warns that everyone needs to learn about what Democratic Mayor David Briley and members of the Nashville Metro Council “are trying to rush forward that will cost us a lot of money.”   “In their latest crazy scheme, they want to take away free parking. They want to raise the price to park citywide by 20 percent. They want to double the cost of parking fines, and they want to add up to 5,000 new parking meters to charge more people more money for parking in our own neighborhoods. We were having dinner the other night with some friends, and I saw this parking meter scam come up on the news. When the reporter explained that the city is about to sell a 30-year contract selling our parking assets to an out-of-state company it just got me fuming, and…

Read the full story

Rep. Green Promotes Income Share Agreements Plan to Solve Student Debt Crisis

Jason M. Reynolds
Mark Green

  U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) wrote an op-ed recently explaining how one of his bills would solve the student debt crisis. Green published the op-ed last Friday in The Daily Signal discussing his Kids to College Act, which is cosponsored by U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-15). The op-ed is available in its entirety here. Colleges could begin offering “income share agreements,” where students agree to pay for college with a percentage of their future earnings. This way, colleges and universities would be incentivized to help students secure good paying jobs after they graduate, because tuition payments would depend on it. Responsibility would fall on the student as well. Income share agreements would encourage prospective students to research starting salaries for their major and learn what they can expect in return for their studies. In a desire to see income share agreements more widely offered, my Democratic colleague Vicente Gonzalez of Texas partnered with me to introduce the Kids to College Act, a bipartisan bill that would encourage more schools to utilize these agreements. In his op-ed, without naming names, Green criticized 2020 Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) plan to wipe out up to $50,000 of student loan…

Read the full story

Commentary: Did Christopher Steele, Fusion GPS, the Clinton Campaign, and the DNC Make Up the Russia Collusion Hoax?

Admin

by Robert Romano   “This is probably done in conjunction with Fusion GPS that was making this stuff up, they conveniently were able to get this into the FBI, willing takers at the FBI, and this was all to dirty up the Trump campaign. I mean, I have to say, you can’t make this stuff up, but… that’s exactly what they did.” That was Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Devin Nunes’ (R-Calif.) reaction in an interview with John Batchelor on May 9, who asked him about a report from The Hill’s John Solomon that details a meeting former British spy Christopher Steele — author of the false allegation paid for by the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign that President Donald Trump was a Russian agent — had with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec on Oct. 11, 2016. The meeting was memorialized in a memo Kavalec typed up afterward, and cast serious doubts on some of the allegations Steele was making, as well as his credibility. According to Kavalac, Steele was “keen to see this information come to light prior to November 8” to have an impact on 2016 election. The documents came from a Freedom of Information Act…

Read the full story

China Imposes Tariffs on $60 Billion in U.S. Exports in Response to President Trump’s $500 Billion Tariff Hike

Admin
Xi Jinping

  China said Monday it would impose tariffs on $60 billion worth of imports from the United States, retaliating after President Donald Trump boosted taxes on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods sent to the U.S. and moved to impose duties on another $300 billion of Chinese exports. The Chinese finance ministry said its new 5% to 25% tax would be imposed June 1 and affect 5,140 U.S. products exported to China. Beijing said its response was targeting “U.S. unilateralism and trade protectionism.” “China will never succumb to foreign pressure,” the foreign ministry said. “We are determined and capable of safeguarding our legitimate rights and interests. We still hope that the U.S. will meet us half way.” The new Chinese taxes came hours after Trump, on Twitter, urged China not to strike back, claiming that “China has taken so advantage of the U.S. for so many years, that they are way ahead (Our Presidents did not do the job). Therefore, China should not retaliate-will only get worse!” The escalation of the tit-for-tat tariff increases had an immediate effect on the U.S. stock market, with the key Dow Jones Industrial Average plunging more than 2% in mid-day trading in New York.…

Read the full story

Bernie Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez to Rally for the Green New Deal at Howard University

Admin

by Mary Margaret Olohan   Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders will join Democratic New York Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez at a Green New Deal rally Monday night at Howard University in Washington, D.C. The rally is hosted by the Sunrise Movement, an environmental activism group attempting to build “an army of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process,” and will be the final stop on the Sunrise Movement’s “Road To The Green New Deal” tour. The Sunrise Movement has held protests at the offices of Democratic leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in collaboration with Ocasio-Cortez, according to The Washington Examiner. The group announced Sander’s attendance in a tweet Saturday. “BIG NEWS:@SenSanders is joining us Monday with @AOC, @SenMarkey, and more for the final #Road2GND tour stop in DC where we’ll launch the next phase of the #GreenNewDeal campaign.” BIG NEWS: @SenSanders is joining us Monday with @AOC, @SenMarkey, and more for the final #Road2GND tour stop in DC where we'll launch the next phase of the #GreenNewDeal campaign. https://t.co/SeYQxPolBT — Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) May 11, 2019 The rally comes as Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls bring climate change to the forefront of the political arena. Sanders…

Read the full story

SCOTUS: iPhone Users Can Sue Apple for App Monopoly

Admin

by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court ruled Monday that iPhone users can bring an antitrust lawsuit against Apple alleging the tech giant has monopolized the market for software applications. Justice Brett Kavanaugh delivered the 5-4 decision, joined by the high court’s liberal bloc, which may have far-reaching consequences for Silicon Valley. “The plaintiffs seek to hold retailers to account if the retailers engage in unlawful anticompetitive conduct that harms consumers who purchase from those retailers,” Kavanaugh wrote. “That is why we have antitrust law.” The iPhone app market is a tightly-controlled system. iPhones are programmed so they cannot download apps outside the Apple-administered App Store, and users who modify their devices to download apps from other sources — called jailbreaking — risk adverse consequences like voiding their warranty. What’s more, Apple has broad discretion over products in its store, and may remove apps for any reason whatever. Other requirements include a mandate to price all apps on a .99 scale, like $1.99 and $2.99. When an application is purchased, Apple collects a 30 percent commission and gives the other 70 percent to the developer. For subscriptions, Apple collects a 15 percent share after the first year. Taken together, the plaintiffs say…

Read the full story

Jackson County Man Allegedly Stole Nearly $50,000 in Taxpayer Money, Audit Says

Chris Butler

  Federal authorities have indicted the former executive director of a Jackson County nonprofit for allegedly stealing more than $46,000 and using that money on himself. This, according to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released Monday concerning the Community Prevention Coalition of Jackson County. The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provided most of the nonprofit’s funding, Comptrollers wrote. Nonprofit board members tasked its former executive director, Patrick Martin, with reducing the area’s underage drinking and tobacco use. Martin allegedly stole at least $46,335 from the coalition between January 2014 and December 2015, according to the audit. “Approximately seven days after the Comptroller’s investigation began, certain invoices and other financial records were apparently destroyed in a fire while in Martin’s custody,” according to a Comptroller’s press release. “Because these records were unavailable for examination, there is an extraordinarily high risk that additional coalition funds were misappropriated or misused by Martin.” According to the audit, Martin’s alleged schemes included: • Allegedly using coalition funds to reimburse himself for personal purchases, such as hunting supplies, a crossbow, and payment of his personal electric bill. • Allegedly using coalition funds to reimburse himself…

Read the full story

Transgender Lifter’s Record Ousted from Female Raw Powerlifting Competition

Admin

by Mary Margaret Olohan   The president of 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation removed the record set by a transgender weight lifter for a national women’s championship because the lifter is a biological man. Paul Bossi, the president of the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation, said Wednesday in a statement posted to Twitter that Mary Gregory is a biological man but did not reveal this to the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation League. The group boasts of their authenticity in weight lifting, saying they are “100% raw” and do not allow any wraps, supports or enhancing drugs. “The lifter identifies as female, and so entered the contest (with no consultation with the Meet Director or (100% Raw Officials),” Bossi said in a statement. “Our rules, and the basis of separating genders for competition, are based on physiological classification rather than identification. On the basis of all information presented to the Board of Directors for this particular case, the conclusion made, is that the correct physiological classification is male.” “Since the lifter’s gender classification for the purpose of our rules is not consistent with female, no female records will be broken by these lifts,” the statement continues. Bossi also revealed that the 100% Raw Powerlifting Federation is…

Read the full story

Commentary: A Deep-Dive into the Other Deep State – Public Sector Unions

Admin

by Edward Ring   When government fails, public-sector unions win. When society fragments, public-sector unions consolidate their power. When citizenship itself becomes less meaningful, and the benefits of American citizenship wither, government unions offer an exclusive solidarity. Government unions insulate their members from the challenges facing ordinary private citizens. On every major issue of our time; globalization, immigration, climate change, the integrity of our elections, crime and punishment, regulations, government spending, and fiscal reform, the interests and political bias of public-sector unions is inherently in conflict with the public interest. Today, there may be no greater core threat to the freedom and prosperity of the American people. In the age of talk radio, the Tea Party movement, internet connectivity, and Trump, Americans finally are mobilizing against the uniparty to take back their nation. Yet the threat of public-sector unions typically is a sideshow, when it ought to occupy center stage. They are the greatest menace to American civilization that nobody seems to be talking about. Ask the average American what the difference is between a government union, and a private sector union, and you’re likely to be met with an uncomprehending stare. That’s too bad, because the differences are profound.…

Read the full story

Nearly 100 Indicted, 50 in Custody After ICE Uncovers Large-Scale Marriage Fraud Scheme

Admin

by Jason Hopkins   Fifty people have been arrested and 98 have been indicted after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) busted an enormous marriage fraud operation allegedly taking place in Vietnam and Houston. A months-long Homeland Security Investigations probe uncovered a criminal operation that enabled numerous foreign nationals to fraudulently obtain legal immigration status in the U.S., according to a Monday ICE press release. Under the alleged terms of conspiracy, immigrant beneficiaries would pay around $50,000 to $70,000 to get married and score permanent resident status. However, according to the indictment, the marriages were complete shams. The spouses typically met only briefly before they obtained their marriages licenses and did not live together after becoming a “married” couple. The criminal operation behind the marriages would go so far as to produce fake wedding albums and falsified tax, utility and employment information — all in an effort to convince U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to approve the forms. “These arrests mark the culmination of a comprehensive yearlong multi-agency investigation into one of the largest alleged marriage fraud conspiracies ever documented in the Houston area,” Special HSI Agent in Charge Mark Dawson, said in a Monday statement. “By working together with our partners…

Read the full story

Amazon to Employees: We’ll Pay You to Quit and Haul Packages

Admin

  Amazon, which is racing to deliver packages faster, is turning to its employees with a proposition: Quit your job and we’ll help you start a business delivering Amazon packages. The offer, announced Monday, comes as Amazon seeks to speed up its shipping time from two days to one for its Prime members. The company sees the new incentive as a way to get more packages delivered to shoppers’ doorsteps faster. Amazon says it will cover up to $10,000 in startup costs for employees who are accepted into the program and leave their jobs. The company says it will also pay them three months’ worth of their salary. The offer is open to most part-time and full-time Amazon employees, including warehouse workers who pack and ship orders. Whole Foods employees are not eligible to receive the new incentives. Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. declined to say how many employees it expects to take them up on the offer. The new employee incentive is part of a program Amazon started a year ago that lets anyone apply to launch an independent Amazon delivery business. It is part of the company’s plan to control more of its deliveries on its own, rather than rely…

Read the full story

Steny Hoyer Stands by Rashida Tlaib’s Holocaust Comments After GOP Leadership Calls on Democrats to Condemn Her

Admin

by Molly Prince   House Majority Steny Hoyer defended Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Monday after she received widespread criticism for promulgating historically inaccurate claims about the Holocaust. “If you read Rep. [Tlaib’s] comments, it is clear that President [Donald] Trump and Congressional Republicans are taking them out of context,” Hoyertweeted. “They must stop, and they owe her an apology.” Hoyer’s comments were in response to Tlaib’s appearance on the “Skullduggery” podcast where she revealed that when she envisions the Holocaust she gets a “calming feeling” because her Palestinian ancestors provided a “safe haven” for some Jewish people. “There’s always kind of a calming feeling I tell folks when I think of the Holocaust, and the tragedy of the Holocaust, and the fact that it was my ancestors, Palestinians, who lost their land and some lost their lives, their livelihood, their human dignity, their existence in many ways, have been wiped out, and some people’s passports,” Tlaib said on Saturday “And just all of it was in the name of trying to create a safe haven for Jews, post-the Holocaust, post-the tragedy and the horrific persecution of Jews across the world at that time,” she continued. “I love the fact that it…

Read the full story

Ohio Lawmakers Look into Strengthening State’s Election, Cybersecurity Efforts

Admin

by Steven Bittenbender   With election security frequently in the news, the Ohio House Transportation and Public Safety Committee took the opportunity recently to discuss a cybersecurity bill. The panel convened a hearing on Senate Bill 52, which deals with bolstering the state’s cybersecurity. A major part of the initiative is to protect the state’s elections from outside interference or tampering. Secretary of State Frank LaRose said it’s an important issue, especially given that Ohio’s likely to be a swing state in next year’s presidential election. “The eyes of the world will be on Ohio in 2020, and we will rise to that occasion,” he said. The Secretary of State told the committee that, if passed, the measure gives Ohio a chance to become a national leader in cybersecurity. It received unanimous support in the Senate. Beyond the election provisions, the bill also creates a permanent Chief Information Security Officer for the state that would be based within the Secretary of State’s office. LaRose said that position’s role would be different from the Chief Information Officer, which also reports to him. The CISO would work with the state’s 88 county boards of elections. In addition, the state also would create…

Read the full story

Ohio and Minnesota Join Lawsuit Against ‘Corporate Drug Cartel’

Anthony Gockowski

  Attorneys General from 44 different states announced their participation Monday in a lawsuit against 20 of the nation’s leading generic drug manufactures. Both Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have joined the lawsuit, highlighting the bipartisan nature of the issue. “Ohioans who need medicine might think generic drugs would be their cheapest option, but some manufacturers have rigged the system to avoid competition,” Yost said Monday. “That’s not how a free market works, and the conspiracy to avoid competition makes prices higher – and it’s against the law. This lawsuit is the prescription for lower medicine prices in a free market.” The lawsuit, led by the state of Connecticut, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut and explicitly names 15 defendants who are senior level executives responsible for sales and marketing. The lawsuit alleges that they “engaged in a broad, coordinated and systematic campaign to conspire with each other to fix prices, allocate markets and rig bids for more than 100 different generic drugs.” The complaint also details an “interconnected web” of top executives who frequently met with each other and communicated via text messages to sow “the seeds…

Read the full story

Minnesota Budget Talks Break Down as Shutdown Looms

Anthony Gockowski

  Budget negotiations broke down Monday night as a visibly frustrated Gov. Tim Walz emerged from a third round of meetings and blasted Republicans in the Senate. “I don’t have fair partners to work with right now,” Walz said during a 15-minute conversation with reporters. “They cannot stand in front of you with a straight face, no matter how many emojis are behind them.” Walz was referring to Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka’s (R-Nisswa) use of a chart containing emojis to explain the Republicans’ latest budget offer. “Minnesota is in good shape with enough money in our budget, reserves, and surplus. No need for a $12 billion increase in taxes over the next four years,” the Senate GOP wrote on Twitter. Minnesota is in good shape with enough money in our budget, reserves, and surplus! No need for a $12 billion increase in taxes over the next 4 years. 👍🏻 #mnleg pic.twitter.com/km3h8oUI2a — Minnesota Senate Republicans (@mnsrc) May 14, 2019 The Republican-controlled Senate has been unwilling to budge on the 20-cent gas tax increase or the continuation of the medical provider tax. Instead, Republicans would like to pull $75 million for K-12 education, and $25 million for public safety from…

Read the full story

No Verifiable Evidence So Far Confirms NewsChannel 5 Report ‘FBI Investigates Controversial Voucher Vote’

Laura Baigert

  There is no verifiable evidence so far that will confirm the recent NewsChannel 5 report that claimed the “FBI investigates controversial voucher vote.” The news report last Thursday by Phil Williams at NewsChannel 5 boldly claimed that “FBI agents have begun interviewing Tennessee lawmakers about whether any improper incentives were offered to pass Gov. Bill Lee’s school vouchers bill in the state House, NewsChannel 5 Investigates has learned.” (emphasis added) “NewsChannel 5 has learned that agents are interested in discovering whether anything of value – such as campaign contributions – were offered by anyone in return for votes,” the NewsChannel 5 report continued. (emphasis added) However, the NewsChannel 5 story fails to identify any sources upon which it relied to make these bold assertions about a purported FBI investigation into “whether any improper incentives were offered to pass Gov. Bill Lee’s school vouchers bill.” The story simply states “NewsChannel 5 Investigates has learned,” and “NewsChannel 5 has learned.” The NewsChannel 5 story implies knowledge that could only come from the FBI itself or from Tennessee lawmakers purportedly “interviewed” by “FBI agents . . . about whether whether any improper incentives were offered to pass Gov. Bill Lee’s school vouchers bill.” But, as is…

Read the full story