Day: June 11, 2019

Left-of-Center Companies and Philanthropies Fund Nashville Diversity Effort

Chris Butler

  Citibank, Bank of America, and The Ford Foundation are among some of the non-profit and commercial entities funding an effort to make Nashville more inclusive when handing out city contracts to women-and-minority-owned businesses. Those entities fund a New York City-based philanthropy called Living Cities. Living Cities recently bestowed 10 U.S. cities with grants, including Nashville. With this money, Living Cities have tasked Nashville officials with making extra efforts to hire women and minorities for city contracts, said Ashford Hughes, Metro Nashville’s chief diversity and equity officer. Hughes said his job is to make sure the city’s policies and practices don’t exclude women and members of all races and religions. He also told The Tennessee Star that Metro officials will not use this money to hire women and minorities just for the sake of hiring them — at the expense of hiring the most qualified person or people for the job. “You have to look at it in a more nuanced manner. Nothing is guaranteeing anyone a contract,” Hughes said. “What this is guaranteeing is that there will be a level playing field and that now these vendors will have a fair opportunity to at least get their foot in…

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Commentary: Attorney General Barr’s Intelligence Review Should Include the DNC Servers

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by Robert Romano   The Hill’s John Solomon made big news on June 6 when he reported that Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, said in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report to be a Russian agent, was an intelligence source for the U.S. State Department. “In a key finding of the Mueller report, Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, is tied to Russian intelligence… What it doesn’t state is that Kilimnik was a ‘sensitive’ intelligence source for State going back to at least 2013 while he was still working for Manafort, according to FBI and State Department memos I reviewed.” This is as startling revelation as any that has been discovered, since it calls into question whether somebody purported to be a Russian intelligence officer by the Justice Department really was. It also calls into question other contacts Trump campaign officials were said to have had with supposed Russian agents, and other actions said to have been perpetrated by supposed Russian agents. Kilimnik was practically the entre basis for saying that Paul Manafort had at least been in touch with somebody connected with Russian intelligence. The Mueller report stated, “[O]n August 2, 2016, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort met…

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We Build the Wall Founder Brian Kolfage Posts Plethora of Tweets Showing Immigrants Crossing Border, Including Armed Men He Says Are Cartel Members

Jason M. Reynolds

  We Build the Wall founder Brian Kolfage is pulling out all the stops in reporting on the flood of illegal aliens pouring through the southern border, including providing shocking video and photos of armed alleged cartel members. Kolfage on Sunday tweeted a link to a story by KTSM showing an alleged armed cartel member leading immigrants across the border two miles from the wall he built. He said, “Hats off to our videographer our Phil, he sits out in the desert in a ghillie suit all day getting our incredible video! We’ll keep exposing the crisis until it’s resolved. We have many more breaking videos to release and won’t stop!” https://twitter.com/BrianKolfage/status/1138136267496054784 The KTSM story is available here. We Build the Wall finished the first half-mile section of the border wall in Sunland Park, New Mexico on June 2, Battleground State News reported. The organization has published a map showing where its wall closes off an easy route in Sunland Park. The video was reportedly captured to the west of the mountains (see the red arrow).   Kolfage on Sunday tweeted another video of a man he claims was a cartel member crossing a border barrier. He said, “Another video…

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Blackburn, Other Senators Introduce Bill to Crack Down on Fentanyl Drug Traffickers, Dealers

Jason M. Reynolds

  U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is tackling the fentanyl crisis. Last week, Blackburn and Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR), John Kennedy (R-LA) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) introduced he Ending the Fentanyl Crisis Act of 2019, the Tennessee senator said in a press release. The bill aims to ensure that sentencing penalties for trafficking fentanyl reflect the deadliness of the drug. This legislation marks a major step toward addressing the nation’s opioid epidemic, Blackburn said. “Fentanyl is deadly, and it is killing Americans every single day,” Blackburn said. “It’s time the punishment fit the crime for these drug traffickers.” The bill reduces the amount of fentanyl that drug traffickers and dealers must be caught with in order for mandatory sentencing minimums to apply. Under current sentencing guidelines, a trafficker with 2 grams of fentanyl is treated the same as a trafficker with 5 grams of heroin even though fentanyl is 50 times deadlier than heroin. Cotton and the other senators joined Blackburn in discussing their reasoning for introducing the bill. “Fentanyl is one of the most dangerous drugs there is,” Cotton said. “It killed nearly 30,000 Americans last year and has been a driving force behind the opioid crisis in the…

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Trump Officially Taps Immigration Reformer Ken Cuccinelli to Lead Citizenship and Immigration Services

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by Jason Hopkins   Former GOP Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli officially began leading the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Monday, making him a key player in the Trump administration’s immigration agenda. “I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services at this critical time and serve alongside this agency’s dedicated workforce,” Cuccinelli said in a Monday statement distributed by the agency. “USCIS has the extraordinary responsibility to administer and protect the integrity of our nation’s lawful immigration system. Our nation has the most generous legal immigration system in the world and we must zealously safeguard its promise for those who lawfully come here.” USCIS, an agency with in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is tasked with managing the country’s legal immigration system. Cuccinelli is expected to hit the ground running on a number of policies backed by the White House – such as finalizing the public charge rule, which blocks visa applicants who are determined to be likely dependent on public safety net programs, and implementing reforms to the country’s guest-worker program. The now-acting director of the agency has long been known as an immigration hardliner. He has publicly opposed birthright citizenship and unemployment benefits…

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Commentary: The Rise of Administrative Law Over Legislative Law

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by William Haupt III   “We the people are the rightful masters of both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” – Abraham Lincoln Administrative law is the procedure of creating laws by bureaucratic bodies in our municipal, state and federal governments. It is “mandated law,” made by appointed officials who have been given authority to make decisions for us without our consent. It is illegitimate law being forced upon us with no regard for constitutional protocol. This capricious practice dilutes the fundamental concept of U.S. republicanism. James Madison, a supporter of a powerful federal government, reminded us, “Federal power left unchecked would silently abridge our freedom more than violent usurpations.” Our Constitution clearly defines who is responsible for making laws. “All laws are to be written and passed by representatives approved by the people in federal and local government.” It is difficult to fathom Congress freely delegates powers to administrative agencies that grant them adroitness to rule our lives. How can our Constitution delegate us with an autocratic right, yet allow men we elect and agencies the government invents claim authority over us under the penalty of law? How…

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Warren Challenges Sanders’ For Progressives’ Support

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  As a Michigan field organizer for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, Mike McDermott trained volunteers to knock on doors and call voters, helping the Vermont senator upset Hillary Clinton in a crucial Midwestern state. But as the 2020 campaign heats up, McDermott is all-in for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, creating a Michigan for Warren PAC to raise early money for her efforts and promoting her campaign through a website and Facebook page. While he’s still a Sanders fan, McDermott sees Warren as a fresher face who’s more electable and doesn’t have the baggage of a 2016 loss. “It’s really 1a and 1b for me,” McDermott said. “With Warren, I think there’s more crossover appeal. She doesn’t have 2016 branded on her.” That sentiment represents the new challenge facing Sanders, who is in second place in most national polls behind Joe Biden. The former vice president has eaten into Sanders’ base with appeals to blue-collar union voters. But Warren is emerging as another threat, winning over voters such as McDermott with a raft of proposals that sometimes go further left than those backed by Sanders. Warren and Sanders are vying to become the progressive alternative to Biden, a competition that’s…

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California Set To Give Full Health Care Benefits To Low Income Illegal Immigrants

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by Molly Prince   California lawmakers released a final draft of the state’s 2020 budget late Sunday evening that would expand health care to illegal immigrants and cost taxpayers nearly $100 million per year. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom reached an agreement with Democrats in the state legislature to become the first state in the nation to provide full health care benefits to tens of thousands of illegal immigrants. As part of a larger $213 billion budget, low-income illegal immigrants under the age of 26 will be eligible for California’s Medicaid program, Medi-Cal, reported The Sacramento Bee. Under the agreement, approximately 90,000 new individuals would qualify with an estimate price tag of $98 million annually. California will begin taxing residents who don’t have health insurance in order to help ease the program’s financial burden, creating an individual-mandate penalty. Initially implemented under the Obama administration to help pay for the federal Affordable Care Act, more commonly referred to as Obamacare, Republicans rolled back the federal individual-mandate penalty in 2017. California Democrats contend that an individual mandate fine will prevent premiums from skyrocketing. “The budget agreement we’re finalizing tonight builds on the strong budget proposal of the governor, while adding significant legislative priorities,” said Democratic state…

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Mexico Claims Funding for Migrant Caravans Came from Some Accounts in U.S.

Anthony Gockowski

  The Mexican government recently claimed that some funding for the “illicit support of migrant caravans” came from individuals within the United States. In a June 6 press release, Mexico’s Finance and Tax Secretariat announced that it has “blocked the bank accounts of various individuals and corporations that allegedly participated in the trafficking of migrants and the illegal organization of migrant caravans.” As Breitbart first reported, the Mexican government identified 26 individuals who made “several questionable financial transactions from the cities of Chiapas and Queretaro during the times that the migrant caravans were moving through those places.” The press release states that “illegal payment for migrant smuggling” came from individuals in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Cameroon, the United States, and England. Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit froze the accounts of 26 unnamed people for their “probable link with migrant smuggling and illicit support of migrant caravans.” The press release states that complaints have been presented to Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office for prosecution. Breitbart points out that the action came at “a time when Mexican officials are meeting with their U.S. counterparts in an attempt to keep the Trump administration from levying tariffs on international commerce as a punitive measure over the…

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Vietnam Says Some Chinese Exporters Are Using Fake ‘Made-In-Vietnam’ Labels To Avoid US Tariffs

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by Shelby Talcott   Some Chinese exporters are putting fake “Made in Vietnam” stickers to try to avoid U.S. tariffs, Vietnam alleged Sunday. Vietnam said in a government statement that it found dozens of cases where Chinese exports, including textiles, iron, steel, and aluminum, are being illegally transferred to Vietnam where fake stickers are then placed on them so China can skirt the recent tariffs imposed by the U.S. The Vietnamese government also stated it is planning to increase the penalties on trade fraud and is developing an inspection process for goods that are particularly at risk. U.S. customs officials have uncovered Chinese plywood shipped to America through a Vietnamese company with “Made in Vietnam” stickers, according to the statement. These shipments are “relatively small” when compared to China’s overall exports, Bloomberg reported. “A cottage industry for circumventing U.S. tariffs will likely bloom, given the high tariff rates and huge potential profit,” said Chua Hak Bin, a senior economist at Maybank Kim Eng Research Pte. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg. Goods on China now have a 25% tariff. The U.S. raised the tariffs from 10% to 25% in May, increasing tariffs on about $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. Beijing then increased tariffs on…

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Wisconsin Panel Recommends Historic Funding Increases for Health Services, Nixing Medicaid Expansion

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by Bethany Blankley   The Republican-led Joint Finance Committee (JFC) is recommending a record $1.63 billion two-year budget for the state’s Department of Health Services – an increase of $588 million in state General Purpose Revenue (GPR) than under former Gov. Scott Walker. The cornerstone of Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal, Medicaid expansion, was squashed. Medicaid expansion was one of the first non-fiscal policy items the JFC nixed, at the bewilderment of Democrats. State Rep. Evan Goyke, D-Milwaukee, said Republicans were “screwing over” his city. “The Medicaid expansion is intimately tied to the Democrat’s proposal and how it plays with federal funding,” he said. Republicans disagreed. “We have said all along expanding Medicaid wasn’t necessary based on where we were,” JFC co-chair Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette, said. “The Republican legislative leadership acted in the best interest of the state of Wisconsin when it rejected, once again, the effort to expand Medicaid,” CJ Szafir, executive vice president at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), told The Center Square. A WILL study concluded that Medicaid expansion would result in increased costs to Wisconsin families with private insurance by $177 per year, up to $700 for a family of four, and cost…

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A Michigan Hotel Wants to Help Out-of-State Women Get Abortions

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by Shelby Talcott   The manager of a small-town Michigan hotel is offering a free room for women looking to get abortions, particularly from states that have recently restricted or banned access. Shelley O’Brien, the manager of the Yale Hotel in Yale, Michigan, posted the offer on Facebook in May. The post offers several free nights at the hotel plus a transportation service to and from the abortion for women in states that have recently made measures to ban abortion. The offer also “extends to anybody” trying to get an abortion who may need help, which includes people from Michigan, O’Brien told the Detroit Free Press. There are not abortion services in the town of Yale, but there are some about an hour away. “This is important,” O’Brien said according to the Free Press. “This is my line. There’s no coming back from this. You start taking away the right for women to control their own bodies, and we’re done for as a civilization. I can’t stop what’s happening, but I have the resources to maybe help someone in that position, and especially knowing that women are coming from other states already.” O’Brien, 55, is a grandmother of seven and a mom of three.…

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Michigan House GOP Pushes Own Infrastructure Plan, Rejecting Whitmer’s 45 Cent Gas Tax Hike

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by Tyler Arnold   Michigan House Republicans unveiled an infrastructure funding plan that would divert all revenue generated from sales taxes paid on gasoline purchases to fund road improvements, rejecting Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s plan to increase road funding through a 45-cent gas tax hike. The Republican plan would provide about $800 million annually in additional funds for roads once fully phased in, which is far less than Whitmer’s plan crafted to generate about $2.5 billion. “It’s our duty to do the best job we can to provide an effective, efficient and accountable state government with the money taxpayers already provide,” Rep. Shane Hernandez, R-Port Huron (pictured above), said in a news release. “We have gone through the budget line-by-line to find savings and set priorities that reflect what matters most to Michigan taxpayers and families,” Hernandez said. “That’s the approach we should take – rather than asking taxpayers for more money.” Currently, the sales tax paid at the pump is used mostly to fund schools and local governments, rather than roads. Hernandez’s plan would divert all of this money to infrastructure, but would do so without sacrificing money for schools and local governments. Money will be diverted back into schools and…

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Ohio House Bill Would Kill American Government and History Testing

Anthony Gockowski

  The Ohio House is currently considering a bill that would reduce the number of state-mandated standardized tests students are required to take by eliminating four end-of-course exams, including the American history and American government exams. House Bill 239, referred to as the Testing Reduction Act, was introduced by Reps. Gayle Manning (R-North Ridgeville) and Erica Crawley (D-Columbus), and is scheduled to receive its third hearing Tuesday in the House Primary and Secondary Education Committee. “During my 37 years in an elementary school classroom, I experienced first-hand how stressful standardized testing can be for students. In order to prepare students for the standardized test, teachers often give local diagnostic assessments. I believe so much weight is placed on a score of a standardized test, and creativity in the classroom is dwindling. Every student is different and not every student will excel on a standardized test,” Manning said when testifying on the bill. In 2012, the Ohio Legislature passed into law Senate Bill 165, which required schools to teach America’s founding documents, like the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights. In her testimony, Manning maintained that these documents will still be taught even if the American…

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Metro Nashville Candidates Say ‘Yes’ to Sanctuary Cities and ‘No’ to ICE

Chris Butler

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Metro Nashville Council At-Large candidate Gicola Lane told a crowd of more than 1,000 people Monday she wants city officials to stop working with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Members of the crowd gave thunderous applause. Later in the evening, Nashville mayoral candidate Julia Clark-Johnson said she wants to turn Nashville into a sanctuary city. “The state of California has been successful into changing a lot of their cities into sanctuary cities,” Clark-Johnson said, suggesting Nashville follow that state’s example. Gicola and Clark-Johnson made these comments at Nashville’s Plaza Mariachi along Nolensville Pike this week for a forum devoted to immigrant rights Several other At-Large and mayoral candidates joined them on stage. The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition sponsored the event, as did the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, the American Muslim Advisory Council, and Conexion Americas. The forum was in question-and-answer format, with members of those groups asking, among other things, what the Metro Nashville government can do to disentangle itself from ICE and stop future deportations. At-Large candidate Bob Mendes, already on the Metro Council, said he will continue to do his part, especially with U.S. Republican President Donald Trump in office.…

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