Day: June 15, 2019

Lamar Alexander Talks Health Care Reform on Twitter

Chris Butler

  Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate have proposed nearly three dozen specific bipartisan provisions that will reduce the cost of what Americans pay for health care, according to U.S. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. Alexander made this announcement Thursday on his Twitter page and posted a video to go along with it. The video touted “Better Outcomes, Better Experiences” and “Lower Cost.” Specifically, Alexander said the bill will do the following: • Stop Surprise Medical Bills – so Americans don’t get an unexpected $3,000 bill from an out-of-network doctor after a hospital visit. • Lower the cost of prescription drugs – for example, by bringing low-cost drugs to market faster for patients by increasing competition. • Restore discipline to the health care market– for example, by banning gag clauses that prevent employers from letting their employees know that a knee replacement might cost $15,000 in one hospital and $35,000 at another hospital. • Help Americans lead healthier lives – for example, by making it easier to access specialty care, especially for those living in rural areas. • Make it as easy to get your personal medical records as it is to book an airplane flight – Improving…

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Commentary: A Conservative Resistance?

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by Angelo Codevilla   Leftists in America treat conservative voters, elected officials, and policies as illegitimate. Should conservative Americans return the favor? Could they? Few outside the corporate leftist media took seriously Hillary Clinton’s accusation that Donald Trump might refuse to accept defeat in the 2016 election. Though Americans’ sociopolitical divisions had already become irreconcilable, no one really believed that a major party would rebel against the voters, and hence against our constitutional republic—yet. And yet the Democratic Party and the ruling class that it represents did just that, and decided never again to concede legitimacy to any serious opponents’ victory. #TheResistance began as an attempt by Clinton and her staffers to explain why their unexpected electoral defeat had to be illegitimate. It burgeoned quickly into rejection of rule by voters because so many on the Left and in the ruling class rallied to it, having already decided that ordinary Americans have no right to stand in their way. Clinton’s characterization of Trump voters as “deplorables” and “irredeemables” and Barack Obama’s description of rural Republican voters as “clingers” to Bibles, guns, and racism, has long been ruling-class conventional wisdom. This attitude is what crossed the threshold of revolution. Because the Resistance…

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Male Women’s Track Champion Says Female Competitors Actually Have Advantage

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by Peter Hasson   The male track athlete who won an NCAA women’s national championship denies having an unfair advantage over female runners. “If anything, me competing against cisgender females is a disadvantage because my body is going through so many medical implications, like it’s going through biochemistry changes,” Franklin Pierce University runner CeCe Telfer told ESPN’s “Outside The Lines” in a feature that aired Thursday. "If anything, me competing against cisgender females is a disadvantage.."@FPUathletics track star CeCe Telfer talks about the physical challenges she faces while competing as a transgender woman. pic.twitter.com/9VhlOVA70V — Outside the Lines (@OTLonESPN) June 13, 2019 “So being on hormone replacement therapy, your muscle depletion, your muscle is deteriorating, you lose a lot of strength because testosterone is where you get your strength and agility and all that athletic stuff, so I have to work twice as hard to keep that strength,” Telfer said in the interview. “And if I slack a day that’s like three days set behind.” Telfer, a biological male who identifies as a transgender woman, won the NCAA DII women’s 400-meter hurdles championship last month, besting the second place finisher by more than a second. Telfer previously ran a variety…

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Audit: Tennessee Government Employee Pampers Herself with $150,000 of Taxpayer Money

Chris Butler

  A Tennessee government employee who spent almost $150,000 of taxpayer money on luxuries for herself will face sentencing next month, said her former boss. According to an audit Tennessee Comptrollers released this week, a former Oliver Springs Housing Authority employee spent, among other things, more than $16,000 on herself at Amazon.com and nearly $3,500 on her personal property taxes. “This employee admitted to investigators that she used her OSHA credit card and the executive director’s OSHA credit card to make the purchases,” auditors wrote. Auditors said they reviewed OSHA accounting records, bank statements, credit card statements, and supporting documentation to make their findings. Comptrollers did not identify the woman. Oliver Springs Housing Authority Executive Director Karen Leffew told The Tennessee Star Friday the former employee is Melissa Eula May. May, the audit went on to say, gave more than $26,000 of that money to her boyfriend. She also paid nearly $8,000 for two jet skis and nearly $10,000 for a 2001 Tahoe Boat and a trailer. Other expense included the following: • More than $42,000 on Carnival Cruise and plane tickets, jewelry, and sporting goods. • Nearly $4,500 in vehicle repairs. • Exactly $15,000 for a 2015 Sportsman Travel…

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Bernie Will Take on Biden During the First Round of Democratic Debates

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by Molly Prince   Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is slated to go up in a debate against the only Democratic opponent who has consistently been polling ahead of him, former Vice President Joe Biden. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced Thursday the 20 presidential candidates invited to participate in the first round of primary debates, and a day later the DNC revealed the break out of who is scheduled to appear on which of the two debate stages. The two frontrunners, Biden and Sanders, will noticeably appear on the same stage during the June 27 debate. The other candidates who will be at a podium include Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, California Sen. Kamala Harris, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and author Marianne Williamson In order to score one of the debate podiums, candidates must have either received donations from at least 65,000 unique donors (with a minimum of 200 donors in more than 19 states) or received at least 1 percent support in three DNC-approved polls. Who gets a spot at which debate was reportedly determined by a random draw of the qualifying…

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Signs Anti-Sanctuary Bill Into Law

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by Jason Hopkins   Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation into law Friday that bans “sanctuary cities” in the state, fulfilling a pledge he made while on the campaign trail. DeSantis — at a ceremony in the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners alongside Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz — added his signature to SB 168. The bill requires state and local governments to honor retainers made by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and to cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Furthermore, the bill prohibits local governments from adopting “sanctuary” policies that protect illegal immigrants, requiring them to notify ICE when an individual subject to a detainer is released from their custody. “Earlier this year, Governor DeSantis asked the Florida Legislature to present him with meaningful legislation to uphold the rule of law and ensure that no city or county jurisdiction can get in the way of Florida’s cooperation with our federal partners to enforce immigration law,” Helen Ferre, a DeSantis spokeswoman, wrote in a Thursday email, according to Wesh 2. “Public safety is paramount and local law enforcement agencies can and should work with the federal government to ensure that accountability and justice are one in our state,” Ferre continued.…

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US Blames Iran for Attacks on Two Tankers in Gulf of Oman

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  The U.S. Navy has released video it says shows an Iranian patrol boat removing an unexploded limpet mine from the hull of one of two tankers carrying petroleum products that were attacked in the Gulf of Oman Thursday. One of the tankers is Norwegian-owned and the other is owned by Japanese Kokuka Sangyo shipping company. Photographs also released by the U.S. military show the removed mine had been attached to the Japanese tanker, slightly forward of a mine that had already exploded. Bellingcat's @Timmi_Allen made the following video that enhances the original video, and makes it somewhat easier to see what is going on. It does look like an object is removed. But we still have to confirm this is the Kokuka Courageous. https://t.co/TIJvfegVWl pic.twitter.com/DpdPS927kg — Bellingcat (@bellingcat) June 14, 2019 The Norwegian tanker was set on fire and sent up smoke thick and black enough to be seen by satellites in space. The head of the Kokuka Sangyo shipping company which operates the tanker Kokuka Courageous said their ship had been attacked twice, with one explosion near the engine room and another on the right-hand side, near the back. Speaking to reporters Friday, Yutaka Katada, said the crew…

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Democrat’s Debate Lineups for June 26-27 Are Set: Four Highest Polling Dems In Second Night Faceoff

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  With 20 candidates qualifying for the first debates over two consecutive nights in Miami later this month, the Democratic National Committee decided to use a “lottery” process to divide the qualifiers into two ten candidate groups. The idea was to avoid a “varsity and junior varsity” division where the top candidates debate each other and the lesser-known candidates are relegated to the “kids table.” But despite the DNC’s hopes to sprinkle the top polling candidates into both pools, the process has four of the top five in the second-night event while only one will be appearing on the first night. Former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA), and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg are four of the highest polling candidates at this point…and all will face off with six other contenders on the second night of the debates. The fifth, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), will appear on the first night. The second night of debates will also include Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO), former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), entrepreneur Andrew Yang, and spiritualist Marianne Williamson. Joining Warren in the first round will be Sen. Cory…

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Human Trafficking Investigation Leads to Four Businesses Being Raided

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by Shelby Talcott   Four Virginia Beach business were raided in connection with possible human trafficking Thursday, according to authorities. One of the locations was a massage parlor that has been open for about seven or eight years, local outlet Wavy reported. People in the area were not surprised to hear of alleged human trafficking at this location, with one woman saying most business owners in the area had an idea something was up. “Yeah, well I think most of the business owners they had a feeling that something was going on,” said Tiffany, who works near the parlor, according to Wavy. “It was pretty noticeable that there was just gentlemen going in and out. No women of any kind.” “I mean it’s very apparent, you know, the girls will sometimes walk the gentlemen out as they leave the parking lot, you see only gentlemen going in and out,” Tiffany said. “You never see female. I know across, the business across the sidewalk here, one of her girls tried to go get a massage and they turned her down and told her they don’t. You know ‘we don’t service females.’” Human trafficking is a worldwide, multi-billion dollar illegal industry and…

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China Holding Over 1 Million Uighurs in Internment Camps

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by Carmel Kookogey   If you’re Muslim living in China today, turning down alcohol, refusing to smoke, or wearing a beard could be treated as a crime. To date, China’s internment camps, which they call “re-education camps,” contain over 1 million Uighurs, who are a minority group made up of mostly Muslims living in the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Tibet. They have long been in conflict with the Chinese Communist Party, whose camps are operated with the end goal of Sinicizing religious beliefs, or making them conform to the party’s ideology. The Heritage Foundation held an event last week titled “The Crisis in Xinjiang” to discuss the injustice being perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party and why those who treasure religious freedom should care. Olivia Enos, a foreign policy analyst for the Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at The Heritage Foundation, said that Uighurs who visibly live out their religious life are the very reason the Chinese government deems them suspicious. Their religious expressions act as cultural red flags to government authorities, Enos said, and for this reason, the current Uighur crisis in Xinjiang is a repetition of the Chinese Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and ’70s.…

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Ocasio-Cortez Has Ties to a Dark Money Group

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by Andrew Kerr   Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has ties with a dark money group that trains progressive organizers on how to lead grassroots political campaigns across the country. The group, Organize for Justice, is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization, meaning it can raise unlimited sums of money without having to disclose the identity of its donors to the public. Organize for Justice’s website states that it is the “sister organization” of Justice Democrats, the PAC that, according to corporate filings, Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff have held control over since December 2017. Ocasio-Cortez has frequently decried the use of dark money in politics. During her primary campaign, she said dark money was an “enemy to democracy” and that it poses a “very real danger” of silencing grassroots candidates. Dark money is used to manipulate electorates. It is the enemy to democracy. Period. When politicians and corporations weaved their dark web of campaign finance, they created a ticking time bomb for foreign adversaries. To make our democracy safer, we need to get big money OUT. https://t.co/OYX62jboZH — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 17, 2018 Organize for Justice was founded by former Ocasio-Cortez campaign volunteers in November, according to corporate documents obtained by…

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Commentary: The Seven Worst Ideas for Regulation This Century

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by David R. Henderson   Many good things have happened both in the United States and worldwide this century. In the U.S., we have the lowest unemployment rate in half a century. Worldwide prosperity is growing so fast that the rate of extreme poverty fell by half between 1990 and 2015, five years ahead of the World Bank’s optimistic goal. The bad news is that along with great economic performance has come a good bit of silly, one might even call it stupid, regulation and proposals for regulation. Here are my top seven for the United States, although I’m open to hearing about other, even stupider ones. 1. Interest rate cap on credit cards. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want the federal government to cap interest rates charged by credit card companies at 15 percent. The likely results will be that people with no credit history or poor credit will have more difficulty getting credit cards and will, instead, resort to layaway plans, pawn shops, payday loans, and even loan sharks. 2. Rent control. Oregon’s government recently passed a statewide rent-control law. It is hard to find an economist not currently living in a rent-controlled apartment who will…

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More Than 200 Attend ‘Squash Amash’ Rally Outside Congressman’s Grand Rapids Office

Abigail Nobel

  GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — Flag-waving patriots flocked to the “Squash Amash” rally Friday outside the Grand Rapids office of Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI-03). The congressman has faced backlash from his Trump-supporting constituents after announcing on Twitter that he thinks President Donald Trump committed impeachable offenses. One Amash voter told The Ohio Star Friday that he had difficulty understanding Amash’s position. “The Mueller Report was a set-up, the majority of them are Hillary-supporters and Democrats,” he said of the Mueller investigation. The rally drew participants from West Michigan and beyond. Hosted by the Michigan Trump Republicans, event organizers hailed from nearby Muskegon County and Oakland County in southeast Michigan. Leading the crowd in chants of “Lock her up!” and “Squash Amash!” organizers kicked off the presidential campaign season in Michigan with a rendition of “Happy Birthday” in celebration of President Trump’s 73rd birthday, which was Friday. Event supporter Jeff Webb, founder of The New American Populist PAC, addressed the crowd briefly on supporting the president and America’s middle-class. The short podium presentation concluded with requests to visit the “No Justin Amash” website. Estimates of crowd size Friday were 200-300. A wide variety of residents from Michigan’s Third Congressional District were represented, from lifelong GOP…

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Experts Say UAW Treats Volkswagen Chattanooga as Adversary

Chris Butler

  Southern Momentum, a grassroots group of Volkswagen Chattanooga workers who oppose the United Auto Workers, this week responded after Automotive News reported the UAW is “disputing whether the automaker is maintaining its neutrality.” This, according to a press release the group put out this week. “Here we go again,” said Maury Nicely, a Chattanooga-based lawyer for Evans Harrison Hackett PLC, who has worked with anti-UAW team members since 2014. “While the UAW has tried to distance itself from attacks on the company by the Center for VW Facts, the union itself is treating Volkswagen as an adversary. The UAW has been provided with an unprecedented hands-off approach from Volkswagen, yet they are still attacking the company. We are glad voting is underway and are hopeful workers have seen that the UAW is not here to be a partner to the company and our community. They are simply here to knock Volkswagen down and collect membership dues to send back to Detroit.” As of 8 p.m. Central Friday night, a final vote tally was not officially announced. As The Tennessee Star reported, one of the primary people fighting for the United Auto Workers to set up shop at Volkswagen Chattanooga reportedly had to…

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