Vanderbilt Professor’s Book Scolding the South and Midwest for Conservative Politics Gets Protests

  A Vanderbilt professor who recently wrote a book impugning people in the American South and Midwest for supposed racism and for clinging to conservative political values is fending off fierce protesters during his book tour. As The Tennessee Star reported, Jonathan Metzl, professor of sociology and medicine recently wrote a book called Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland. Specifically, the book focused on people in Kansas, Missouri, and Tennessee. Ironically, none of the protestors reportedly harassing Metzl are documented to have come from any of those three states or anywhere else in the South or Midwest. Mainstream media outlets say these protestors instead are white nationalists who have caused trouble in Washington, D.C. and California. According to TheHill.com, “white nationalist groups have targeted bookstores and library events in multiple states.” The co-founder of the American Identity Movement reportedly told The Washington Post he organized a protest at an event Metzl scheduled to promote his book. As The Star reported, according to Metzl, white Tennessee residents endanger their own health by rejecting government health care programs and by embracing pro-gun and anti-tax policies. Metzl said in a press release he set out to “understand…

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Senior Staff for Lt. Governor Randy McNally Paid More Than House Speaker Glen Casada Paid Top Staffers

  Although there has been an abundance of media attention to the annual salary of House Speaker Glen Casada’s now-former Chief of Staff Cade Cothren, there has been little focus on the salaries paid to Lt. Governor Randy McNally’s top staffers.  Scott Gilmer, who was serving as Casada’s Director of Operations and who was promoted to Chief of Staff when Cothren resigned, sent an email to House Members earlier this week detailing the comparative salaries of top staff in each body of the Legislature. Gilmer, who was receiving a $195,000 annual salary as Director of Operations prior to succeeding Cothren, previously served as Chief of Staff for House Speaker Beth Harwell before she chose to seek the Governor’s Office and left the Speakership. He advised the House Members: Members, As part of the efforts of the Speaker’s office to be transparent in our hiring and operational efforts, it is important for you to see the salaries paid to the General Assembly’s executive team, and specifically to that of the former Chief of Staff, in relation to their counterparts in the Senate. For your information, here are the salaries paid to the highest ranking staff in each chamber: Senate Clerk–$204,240 Senate…

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Commentary: The Great Green Media Machine

by Matthew Boose   Remember Michael Cohen’s congressional testimony? By now, it feels like ages ago. At the time, the media hyped what the president’s former attorney had to say into a really big deal. In just a short time, Cohen’s highly dramatized hearing proved to be entirely inconsequential. Everyone forgot about Michael Cohen and his “bombshells.” Congress recently heard from William Barr, the attorney general who has had the role of Trump’s henchman kindly foisted upon him by malicious scriptwriters at MSNBC and the Democratic National Committee (is there a difference, really?). If that isn’t enough political theater to satiate the gossips at the big networks and their delusional followers, they might hear soon from former special counsel Robert Mueller, too. It’s an odd paradox that the media, while so widely distrusted, somehow manages to wield the power to signify what is actually happening. This power to invent and erase events is also a power of legitimation, to determine what is politically and morally acceptable. This really is the media’s first role—not to report facts, but to narrate—to present moral tales, to make up villains, whether the enemy is “whiteness,” Christendom, a bunch of Catholic high school boys, or…

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Former Bob Corker Staffers Reportedly Lobbying for Big Government Advocates

  A group of former staffers for former Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker has reportedly launched a lobbying firm that has already signed clients who advocate for big government and more taxpayer money. This, according to an article in The Nashville Post. Corker’s former chief of staff Todd Womack and Corker’s former communications director Micah Johnson reportedly started the firm, known as Bridge Public Affairs. Former Corker aides Brent Wiles and John Goetz are also reportedly on board. “The young firm — with offices in Nashville, Chattanooga and Washington, D.C. — has already signed on a number of high-profile clients,” The Nashville Post reported. “Womack is registered to represent the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Chattanooga’s River City Company and Memphis’ Riverfront Development Corp. in Nashville, plus EPB, Volkswagen and others in Washington.” As The Tennessee Star reported, Tennessee officials have given Volkswagen hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare. Meanwhile, the public utility EPB — also known as Chattanooga’s Electric Power Board — took $100 million in federal taxpayer money several years ago to offer ultra-high speed Internet — to compete against companies already in the private market. In 2012, the Nashville-based Beacon Center of Tennessee, a right-of-center…

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Critics: Family-Oriented Culture, Not High Taxes, Is Why Minnesota Ranks Among Best Places to Live

by Bethany Blankley   Minnesota ranks among the top places to live in the country according to the most recent U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best States Rankings. Some political leaders are attributing Minnesota’s third-place ranking to its high taxes, but critics argue that couldn’t be further from the truth. The Center of the American Experiment compared U.S. News’ ranking with the Tax Foundation’s state’s business tax climate analysis, which ranked Minnesota eighth-worst. Minnesota’s state and local tax burden was the 11th-highest in the U.S. in fiscal 2016, according to a report produced Key Policy Data (KPD). And according to the financial watchdog Truth In Accounting, Minnesota’s finances are on a “roller coaster ride,” with every taxpayer owing $4,700 to pay off the state’s debt. “We see no strong relationship between a state’s tax burden, as measured by the Tax Foundation, and whether it is a better or worse state, according to U.S. News & World Report,” John Phelan, an economist at the Center of the American Experiment, said in a statement. “Simply put, the causal relationship of ‘high taxes [lead to a] better state,’ just does not exist,” he argues. “Washington and New Hampshire, the two states which…

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Poll: Most Americans Don’t Want Medicare for All Once They Understand Costs

by Bethany Blankley   Most Americans oppose a Medicare for All program once they understand what it means and how much it would cost, a Health Tracking poll conducted by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) reveals. The poll found that a majority of people – 56 percent – favor a Medicare for All (M4A) single-payer healthcare system when no details about how much it would cost are provided. A larger majority, 77 percent, expressed support for incremental changes to the health care system like allowing for the option of a Medicare buy-in program for adults between ages 50 and 64. Slightly less, 75 percent, support Medicaid buy-in plans for individuals who don’t have health coverage through their employer. Both the Medicare and Medicaid buy-in plans received 69 and 64 percent support from Republicans, respectively. These numbers drop dramatically when respondents are given information on what implementing M4A would cost. When asked if support for M4A included the requirement to eliminate all private health insurance and increase taxes, only 37 percent of respondents supported it. When asked if implementing M4A would directly cause some medical treatments and tests to be delayed, only 26 percent approved. The greatest criticism of…

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Ex-CIA Officer Gets 20 Years for Spying for China

  A former CIA officer was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison on charges that he spied for China and allegations he sought to expose human assets who were once his responsibility. The sentence issued by U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in federal court in Alexandria for Kevin Mallory, 62, of Leesburg, Virginia, is less than the life sentence sought by prosecutors but more than the 10-year term requested by the defense. A jury convicted Mallory last year under the Espionage Act for providing classified information to Chinese handlers in exchange for $25,000. Mallory’s scheme began to unravel when he was selected for secondary screening at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in April 2017 on a flight back from Shanghai with his son and customs agents found $16,500 in unreported cash. Later, in voluntary interviews with authorities, Mallory was caught off guard when a Samsung phone given to him by the Chinese displayed text conversations between Mallory and the Chinese recruiter – Mallory had expected the phone’s secure messaging features would keep the conversation hidden. In one text message, Mallory wrote “your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid.” “At its heart, this was…

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Law Would Prohibit Towing Companies from Employing Spotters in Ohio

  Ohio lawmakers are weighing whether to ban towing companies from employing so-called spotters, a measure its sponsor says is necessary to protect Ohioans from excessive towing. A spotter reports illegally parked vehicles that should be towed, removed or impounded. A towing company then impounds the vehicle and charges the owner when he or she comes to retrieve it. If approved, House Bill 113 would impose a third-degree misdemeanor on a towing service that violates this prohibition, and violators could face a fine up to $500 and 60 days in jail. While the bill, if it becomes law, does not require any additional state funding, it could cost local jurisdictions should they incarcerate violators. In testimony filed with the House’s Transportation and Public Safety Committee, the Towing and Recovery Association of Ohio (TRAO) said it believes spotting “is not a common practice in the industry, and that any problem such as the impetus to this bill is extremely rare.” While the TRAO said it did not oppose the bill, the organization said the punishment should be a minor misdemeanor rather than a third-degree misdemeanor. “While we do not see the use of spotters or recognize a widespread problem with the…

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Pro-Life Group Claims Instagram Is Shadow Banning It, Suspects Pro-Choice Activists Played a Role

by Chris White   A pro-life group believes pro-choice activists likely pressured Instagram into suppressing and removing the group’s content and hashtags from the platform’s most popular feature. Let Them Live’s Instagram’s posts stopped appearing on numerous hashtags starting on April 18, the group claimed in a May 15 press statement posted to its Instagram page. The group, which has 15,000 Instagram followers, brought its case directly to the company on April 25 as the group’s engagement rate sagged. Instagram never responded, according to the group’s executive director, Nathan Berning. The group’s content was removed from hashtags and Instagram’s Explore, a feature on the platform displaying the most-liked content at the time of a person’s visit. Content on the feature is different for each Instagram user and comprises posts liked by people, posts from accounts similar to those a person follows,and posts with high engagement. Groups often use Explore to help their content go viral. Berning speculates that pro-choice activists played a role. “We really do believe that that is what is happening,” Berning told The Daily Caller News Foundation, referring to what he believes is an activist-led attempt to suppress Let Them Live’s content. Berning claims his group leveraged…

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US to Fly Migrants From Texas to San Diego

by Reuters   Hundreds of detainees from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in Texas and elsewhere are being flown to San Diego for processing beginning Friday, the agency said. Border officials said they are developing plans to fly potentially thousands of migrant families to other places away from the southern U.S. border with Mexico. The agency said the number of people apprehended at the border since Oct. 1 was nearly 520,000, the highest in a decade. In the past week, there was an average of 4,500 arrests a day. This is making it difficult to process and release family units within 20 days of their arrival at a detention center, as required by law, the CBP said in a statement. Three flights a week U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this year declared the immigration influx a national emergency, which allowed him to circumvent Congress to redirect more than $6 billion in funding to start building the border wall that he campaigned on in the 2016 presidential election. His move has been challenged in courts. Three flights a week will arrive in the San Diego area from the Rio Grande Valley carrying about 130 people per flight, a CBP…

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CBP Chief: Border Patrol Has Made 2,500 Migrant Rescues This Year Alone

by Jason Hopkins   A Border Patrol chief on Friday broke down how many times his agents have put their lives on the line to save illegal migrants attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border, an area laden with deadly deserts and river currents. “We have had 2,500 rescues this year,” Border Patrol Law Enforcement Operations Chief Brian Hastings said Friday on Hill.TV. “About 400 of those are water rescues where agents have put their own lives on the line, jumped into a fast-moving current to save children, or to save adults, or to save those that are in distress, and that’s on a daily basis.” Hastings, who has worked in border security since 2005, noted that this was the “most dangerous” time to be a border agent since he can remember. .@CBP Chief Brian Hastings told me this AM that Border Patrol agents have made 2500 rescues of migrants this year w/ 400 of those being water rescues, putting agents at risk. He says it is most dangerous time in his 3 decade career to be a BP agent today https://t.co/uCvpJkldie pic.twitter.com/MrixFqFvqr — Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) May 17, 2019 Hastings noted that many of the rescues take place in the…

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Commentary: Three Groups of People Disproportionately Harmed by Minimum Wage Laws

by Bill Wirtz   Minimum wage laws are intended to help those who are making very little money, yet they achieve quite the opposite. Can you really say you stand for the disadvantaged if you support minimum wage laws? Moral Superiority Minimum wage laws have been around for a while, so contesting their existence becomes progressively more difficult. For most people, even those who purport to stand on the more “free-market” side of issues, the guarantee of minimum payment to all workers is a no-brainer. For labor unions and politicians, increasing the minimum wage is an easy sell: Once instituted, the hourly minimum rate can be gradually elevated at no expense to the government, eliminating the necessity to answer pesky questions about “who is going to pay for that?” There is also the added bonus of establishing easy rebuttals to any opposition: anyone arguing against minimum wages (or increases thereto), must have vested financial interests in that area or simply lack empathy for low-wage workers. However, the reality is that the very people who need a boost in the labor market are denied it as a direct result of these laws. The minimum wage asks employers to pay workers above…

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Commentary: Forgiving Student Debt Isn’t the Solution to Anything

by Preston Cooper   The time-honored American tradition of outlandish political promises continues apace. Now, the spotlight is on student debt. Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren added to the debate recently when she put forward a proposal to cancel $640 billion worth of federal and private student loans. Warren touts her plan as a way to boost the economy, redistribute wealth, and help struggling borrowers. But as justifications for canceling nearly half the outstanding $1.5 trillion balance of student debt, these arguments are woefully inadequate. To her credit, Warren has recognized and partially addressed one of the major problems with canceling all outstanding student debt. Since student loans finance education, and education is associated with higher earnings, student debt is concentrated among high-income people—meaning that the benefits of loan forgiveness would flow disproportionately to the rich. Warren proposes forgiving smaller amounts of student debt for richer households, partially addressing this issue. Though this feature makes Warren’s plan slightly less problematic than other loan forgiveness proposals, it is still inherently flawed as a policy. That wealthier families benefit more from it only scratches the surface of the problems with student loan forgiveness. Nearly every argument offered in its favor is wrong.…

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Bernie Sanders to be the First 2020 Candidate to Call for Ban on Charter Schools

by Neetu Chandak   Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is set to call for a ban on for-profit charter schools Saturday, which will make him the first 2020 presidential candidate to suggest such a policy. Sanders is slated to argue in an education policy speech in South Carolina Saturday that the increase in charter schools has taken money away from public schools and has disadvantaged the black community. “Charter schools are led by unaccountable, private bodies, and their growth has drained funding from the public school system,” Sanders tweeted Friday. “When we are in the White House we will ban for-profit charter schools.” Charter schools are led by unaccountable, private bodies, and their growth has drained funding from the public school system. When we are in the White House we will ban for-profit charter schools. https://t.co/LGY3ZaWiVm — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 17, 2019 Sanders’s charter school solutions include requiring charters to comply with the same oversight regulations for public schools, supporting unionization for charter school teachers and placing caps on CEO salaries, CNN reported. “As president I will stand with groups like the @NAACP and put a moratorium on federal funding of new charter schools until rules are in…

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Pelosi Delivers Rousing Speech to Ohio Democrats: ‘We Will Turn Ohio Blue’

  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Democrats to “turn Ohio blue” in a passionate speech at the Ohio Democratic Party’s annual Legacy Dinner in Columbus Friday night. Pelosi spent the early portions of her speech touting the new Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and the legislation new members are pushing, including the Equality Act, which passed Friday morning. “Today is not just a victory, though, for the LGBTQ community. That would be important enough to have done that. But it’s also a victory for the right of every American to live and love openly. It was a victory for America,” she said of the bill. On the issue of health care, Pelosi called it the Democratic Party’s “first principle” and said the party’s goal is “health care for all Americans.” “House Democrats are taking bold action honoring this fundamental belief: that health care must be a right, not a privilege, and it is a right for every American,” Pelosi said. The latter half of her speech, however, took on a more ominous tone when she recalled the words of Thomas Paine during the American Revolution and told the crowd that “we are in a battle to save…

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University of Minnesota Has Been Offering Scholarships and Financial Aid to Illegal Immigrants Since 2013

  Minnesota high school graduates who are in the country illegally but meet “certain criteria” are eligible for in-state tuition rates, financial aid, and scholarships at the University of Minnesota. Campus Reform recently exposed the story, though the policy has actually been in place since 2013, when the Minnesota Legislature passed its Minnesota Dream Act. According to Minnesota’s Office of Higher Education, students in the country illegally can qualify for in-state tuition rates, state financial aid, and privately funded scholarships provided by public schools if they meet a list of four criteria, including attendance at a Minnesota high school for at least three years and proof of graduation or a GED. Additionally, the state requires that students “provide documentation to show they have applied for lawful immigration status, but only if a federal process exists for a student to do so.” “There is currently not a federal process in place, so this documentation is not currently required,” the Office of Higher Education notes. The University of Minnesota explains on its website that the school’s Board of Regents adopted the Minnesota Dream Act as official university policy in July 2013, shortly after former Gov. Mark Dayton signed it into law. “At…

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Ohio House Dems Accuse Republicans of ‘Rigged’ Committee Process

  The Ohio House Democrats of the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee have accused their Republican colleagues of rigging the vote on House Bill 6 (HB 6). The Democratic members of the subcommittee released a joint statement on Wednesday claiming the hearing to be a “rigged-process.” Joe Price, senior manager of government affairs and energy commodities at Timken Steel, testified as a proponent of the bill representing his employer on Wednesday. When State Rep. Kristin Boggs (D-Columbus) tried to question Price, she was denied the opportunity to do so after Rep. Nino Vitale (R-Urbana), chair of the subcommittee, claimed that the five minutes for Price was up. “I’m sorry we’re really trying to limit to five minutes as I stated earlier, including questions,” said Vitale in the hearing on Wednesday Following the testimony, Boggs, Rep. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson), and three fellow Democrats on the subcommittee walked out of the hearing without comment and were absent for more than an hour. “If this is just going to be a show trial, then we’ll let them do it by themselves,” said Rep. David Leland (D-Columbus), according to The Cleveland Plain Dealer.  Vitale and the committee had agreed on a limit of five minutes per witness.…

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Amy Klobuchar Refuses to Take a Position on Late-Term Abortion

  Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar refused to take a position on late-term abortions during her appearance on The View. During Friday’s television appearance, View host Meghan McCain asked Klobuchar about her position on the topic. Late-term abortions have been a controversial issue recently after the comments Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam made on this issue. The presidential candidate side-stepped this question by saying she is for “a woman having the right to make a choice about her own body.” As McCain asked another question, Joy Behar, McCain’s View co-host, came to the Klobuchar’s defense by saying “it is so rare” for late-term abortions to occur. “I don’t think it should be that hard to say ‘I’m not for late-term abortion,’” McCain said after not getting a direct response from Klobuchar. However, the Minnesota senator did address her concern for Roe v. Wade being overturned as Alabama and Missouri have recently passed laws tightening their state abortion laws. “They are taking us backward and they are basically criminalizing doctors when they do this,” Klobuchar said. She said there has been an “assault” on women’s health because of efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and take away the Affordable Care Act. “The irony…

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House Speaker Glen Casada on Claims He Attempted to Rig and Predetermine Ethics Opinion: ‘Most Maddening Allegation Made to Date’

  House Speaker Glen Casada (R-Franklin) came out swinging against claims that he tried to “rig and predetermine” the outcome of his request for an advisory opinion by the House Ethics Committee, calling it the “most maddening allegation made to date.” The charge was made by House Ethics Committee member Mike Carter (R-Ooltewah) in a three-page statement dated May 17, addressed to Republican Caucus for the House of Representatives, State of Tennessee. “Based on the facts that I now know,” Carter then called for the resignation of Speaker Casada. According to the news report, Carter first provided his statement to Times Free Press prior to sending it to the GOP Caucus. [pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Carter-Statement-re-Casada_.pdf”]   Carter’s release of his statement was the first step in what has developed into an unusually public back and forth between him and Casada. In Carter’s original statement, he described the events surrounding an advisory opinion presented for his approval and signature, which included being presented with a statement of facts in the 9th floor Legislative Legal Services Offices of the Cordell Hull Building. While Carter didn’t name who was in the room, referring to them only as “those present,” television news reports trying to cover…

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