Day: June 18, 2019

From Watch Parties to Street Fairs, Tuesday’s Official Launch of President Trump’s 2020 Re-Election Campaign Promises to Have Something for Everyone

Zachery Schmidt

  The long-awaited kickoff to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign for 2020 has finally arrived and much like the president himself, it is turning out to be the first of its kind, anywhere. The event – an all day affair Tuesday dubbed “45 Fest” – is already setting records as organizers prepare for President Trump’s arrival at Orlando’s Amway Center tonight at 8pm, and will be carried live online and on air. Like most campaign-style rallies, the Trump campaign is making accommodations for supporters unable to get into the 20,000-seat arena. “We are building large movie screens outside to take care of everybody. Over 100,000 requests. Our Country is doing great, far beyond what the haters & losers thought possible – and it will only get better!” the president tweeted Monday. Big Rally tomorrow night in Orlando, Florida, looks to be setting records. We are building large movie screens outside to take care of everybody. Over 100,000 requests. Our Country is doing great, far beyond what the haters & losers thought possible – and it will only get better! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2019 In anticipation of what President Trump promises to be “a very exciting evening,” supporters began…

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President Donald Trump’s Mexico Deal Has ‘Teeth’ to Fix Border Crisis, Rep. Green Tells Fox News

Jason M. Reynolds

  U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) spoke about the U.S.-Mexico border deal and the border crisis Sunday with Eric Shawn of Fox News. Video from the interview is available here. Green said that while immigrants are suffering, the border crisis is affecting Americans in terms of money and that 300 Americans die every week from overdose of drugs like heroin. Almost all fentanyl comes from across the southern border, and he cited data from Doctors Without Borders that many of these women immigrants are being sexually assaulted. Democrats are more interested in creating talking points for the 2020 presidential race than they are in helping people, Green said. Green also talked about the $4.5 billion appropriations request made by HHS and DHS as well as the U.S.-Mexico border deal President Donald Trump’s been touting backed up by threats of tariffs. Trump “added teeth” to the deal, which makes it more likely to work, Green said. The policy also would end the “Flores Agreement.” Under that agreement, if an asylum-seeker “grabs a child, they’ve got a visa to get into the United States,” Green said. More of his interview can be found at the link above. President Trump last week…

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We Build the Wall Approaches Record of Top GoFundMe Page, Founder Brian Kolfage Says

Jason M. Reynolds

  We Build the Wall is on the verge of becoming GoFundMe’s largest ever fundraising campaign, founder Brian Kolfage says. Kolfage made the announcement Monday in a press release. He said the record belongs to TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund which is a major force in the “MeToo” movement. TIME’S UP’s GoFundMe page, which is closed to donations, says it raised $24,206,200 of its $24.5 million goal. That page was created on Dec. 20, 2017. The last update was in December 2018. As of Monday evening, We Build the Wall’s GoFundMe page had raised $24,066,879. Kolfage posted on We Build the Wall’s GoFundMe page update section, “JOB WELL DONE! Watch our new video you will LOVE IT! We are about to surpass the liberal #MeToo movement for the largest Gofundme ever. Theirs was funded by hollywood celebs, ours American patriots. Lets get it done!” The post links to this YouTube video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWdOmVzBWLI Regarding TIME’S UP, Kolfage said in his press release, “I’m not going to say anything about them because I’m busy building BIG BEAUTIFUL BORDER WALLS like the one we just finished in Sunland Park, NM! “I may be a tad biased, but I believe that all of…

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‘Penny Plan’ Falls as National Debt Exceeds $21.5 Trillion

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Rand Paul

by Bethany Blankley   The U.S. national debt exceeds $21.5 trillion. That’s almost quadruple the national debt when President George W. Bush first took office in 2001. Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate held a vote on Sen. Rand Paul’s Penny Plan, which would reduce federal government spending and implement fiscal restraint reforms. Only 22 U.S. Senators voted for the Penny Plan, with 25 Republican senators and all Democrats voting against it. The Senate vote came months after about 130 U.S. leaders called on President Donald Trump to lead a “transparency revolution,” and reign in out-of-control federal government spending. “With the economy booming, wages rising, competitive tax rates, domestic energy production flourishing, and unemployment at a near 50-year low across every demographic – the federal debt continues to skyrocket. This is unsustainable,” they wrote in an open letter to the president. Trump responded by directing his federal agency heads to cut five percent of their budgets. Former Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, and honorary chair of OpenTheBooks.com, and Adam Andrzejewski, CEO and founder of the watchdog advocacy group, said Trump’s “war on federal government waste” was “a great first step and an achievable goal.” However, his “willingness to lead by example” was…

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Trump’s Immigration Czar Pick Tom Homan Rips Into Sanctuary Cities, Calls Them ‘Un-American’

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by Jason Hopkins   President Donald Trump’s pick for “immigration czar” wrote an op-ed that rips apart the arguments immigrant-rights groups use to defend sanctuary city policies. Tom Homan – a former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the Trump administration, and the president’s pick to for immigration czar – published an op-ed Monday that shoots down many of the justifications for sanctuary laws. Homan criticized the idea that sanctuary cities protect the immigrant community, and illegal aliens who are witnesses to heinous crimes. “[T]hese jurisdictions are un-American, undermine public safety, put the public in harm’s way and make life harder and more dangerous for law enforcement,” the former ICE chief wrote. Pro-sanctuary advocates argue that it is detrimental to the legal process to allow ICE agents to apprehend suspected illegal migrants in court buildings, claiming that such a tactic makes victims or witnesses to a crime scared to come forward. Homan counters that ICE is “not interested” in identifying such people. He pointed out that if an illegal migrant does become a witness or victim of a crime, U.S. law allows them to apply for a special visa to stay in the country, known as a U-Visa. Homan also shot down the claim…

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Commentary: Why Is the University of North Carolina Funding a ‘Hub for Social Justice?’

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by Magdalene Horzempa   Campus protests started in the 1960s, but protests on today’s college campuses have a different vibe. While protests in the past pitted students against university leadership, protests in the present are supported and accommodated by presidents and administrators. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, for example, college officials waste resources on political activism and social justice projects housed within the Campus Y, Chapel Hill’s “hub for social justice.” Although a substantial portion of its revenues come from gifts and the University Foundation, the Campus Y benefits from its status as an official part of the university as well as generous university funding. Its primary purpose is to push progressive politics to all students on campus, from freshman orientation through graduation. If UNC-Chapel Hill bankrolled a right-wing campus organization that encouraged students to hold pro-life protests, take gap years to work for conservative politicians, and otherwise shaped students to teach them about “conservative philosophy and activism,” the outrage would be constant. Yet, when all the above is done for “social justice” and left-wing causes, nothing seems amiss. Founded in 1860, the Campus Y “is the longest standing Y in the nation” and has housed intramural sports, the…

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Commentary: The One-Two Punch to Knock Out Electoral Democracy

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by Michael S. Kochin   If you thought, or hoped, that the brave (or nobly self-interested) Democratic Governor of Nevada, Steve Sisolak had thwarted the push for a National Popular Vote by vetoing the bill, think again. On June 12, 2019, Oregon Democratic Governor Kate Brown signed it into law for her state. As of this writing 15 states and the District of Columbia, each with 196 electoral votes, purport to have ratified it. According to its terms as few as three more states (say Texas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania) with 74 electoral votes need to enact the bill for it to go into effect. Should it go into effect, the compacting states, together accumulating a majority of the Electoral College, will cast their electoral votes for whomever is the plurality winner of what the scheme’s backers call “the national popular vote:” whichever presidential and vice-presidential slate gets a plurality of votes when the total votes of all the states (compacting and non-compacting) are aggregated. The scheme, of course, is an effort to change the Constitution without the bother of securing the consent of three-fourths of the states that the Article V Amendment procedure requires. It is also of questionable validity without the consent of Congress.…

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Nineteen Arrests Later, a Texas Town Is Torn Apart Over Voter Fraud

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by Fred Lucas   The story that thrust a Rio Grande Valley city into the national spotlight is hardly a new anomaly, say residents such as Richard Monte. “Down here, voter fraud is not all that unusual,” says Monte, a city planning consultant in a brown suit jacket, sitting with other activists at a table in Coffee Zone on McColl Road. “It’s unusual when they get prosecuted.” Now, for this south Texas town, that unusual moment has arrived. A November 2017 mayoral election has been under scrutiny from local and state officials, and 19 arrests have been made over alleged voter fraud. The mayor – and winner of the 2017 election – was indicted earlier this month, along with his wife. Only 8,400 votes were cast in the mayoral election, and Mayor Richard Molina’s final vote count (pictured, left) was more than 1,200 votes ahead of the No. 2 candidate, 14-year incumbent Richard Garcia. From what’s known now, the election result couldn’t have been changed by the number of suspicious votes identified. But Molina reportedly is the first elected official in Texas to face a felony charge under a 2017 statute against vote harvesting, casting the midsize city into the national debate…

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Five Alabama Residents Arrested for Allegedly Getting TennCare Benefits

Chris Butler

  Tennessee officials announced Monday they indicted five Alabama residents on charges of passing themselves off as Tennessee residents so they could qualify for TennCare. No one who lives out-of-state may legally qualify for these benefits. All five people fraudulently reported to Tennessee officials that they and their minor children were state residents so they could qualify for TennCare, according to a press release from the Tennessee Office of Inspector General. Authorities charged the five people, all from Bridgeport, Ala., with TennCare fraud and theft of services: • Bradley Parker, 45 • Amber Parrish,  23 • Robin Miller, 31 • Cassandra Henry, 29 • Jacqueline Shrum, 32 District Attorney General J. Michael Taylor is prosecuting, according to an OIG press release. These five arrests bring the total number of people arrested for TennCare fraud to 3,100 since the OIG began investigating and pursuing this type criminal activity, according to a press release. Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration spokeswoman Lola Potter told The Tennessee Star Monday the number of TennCare fraud arrests is on the decline. According to Potter’s information, Tennessee had the following number of TennCare fraud arrests the previous four years: • 249 arrests in 2015. • 286 arrests in…

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Netanyahu Unveils ‘Trump Heights’ In Israel’s Golan Heights

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by Molly Prince   Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of his administration gathered in the Golan Heights on Sunday to unveil a sign for the community, newly named “Ramat Trump,” which translates into “Trump Heights.” “We are proud to have the opportunity to establish a new community,” Netanyahu said during the unveiling. “And also to honor a big friend.” The prime minster pushed to rename the existing community of Bruchim in commemoration of President Donald Trump’s recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The area is home to only a few hundred residents, however, Israeli leadership is anticipating the rebranding will encourage migration, reported The Associated Press. Thank you Mr. Prime Minister, a great honor! https://t.co/ozLz84g3i0 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2019 “It’s a great recognition of the president’s courageous decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” said David Friedman, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, during the ceremony. “It’s absolutely beautiful.” Friedman also nodded at Trump’s 73rd birthday on Friday, referring to the renaming “a beautiful birthday present.” Netanyahu revealed in April he would be introducing a resolution to name a town in the Golan Heights after Trump. The Trump administration officially recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in March,…

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Supreme Court Dodges Same-Sex Wedding Dispute Over Christian Baker, ‘Sweet Cakes by Melissa’

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Aaron and Melissa Klein

by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court lifted an order Monday punishing a Christian baker in Oregon who refused to produce a wedding cake for a same sex couple, telling a lower court to reconsider the dispute in light of the 2018 Masterpiece Cakeshop decision. The decision keeps a contentious social dispute over the rights of religious dissenters and LGBT patrons off the high court’s docket in the near term. The Oregon case is in many respects a redux of the 2018 Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, which pertained to an Evangelical baker in Colorado. Though the justices found for the baker because a state panel displayed animus towards his beliefs, the Court did not say whether conservative religious believers can cite the First Amendment in refusing to accommodate a same-sex wedding. Monday’s dispute arose in Oregon in 2013 when Aaron and Melissa Klein, who created custom baked goods through their business “Sweet Cakes by Melissa,” declined to produce a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, Rachel Cryer and Laurel Bowman. The Kleins are Christians who believe marriage was instituted as a union of men and women. Cryer and Bowman filed a complaint with a state anti-discrimination panel. In turn, the Kleins argued…

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Huawei Founder Says Revenue Will Be Billions Below Forecast

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  Huawei’s founder said Monday that the Chinese telecom giant’s revenue will be $30 billion less than forecast over the next two years, as he compared the company to a “badly damaged plane” in the face of U.S. government actions against it. “We never thought that the U.S.’s determination to attack Huawei would be so strong, so firm,” Ren Zhengfei (pictured above), who is also the CEO, said during a panel discussion at company headquarters in Shenzhen. Ren said Huawei will reduce capacity and expects revenues of about $100 billion annually for the next two years, compared to $105 billion in 2018. In February, he said the company was targeting $125 billion in 2019. Huawei’s overseas cellphone sales will drop by 40%, Ren said, confirming a Bloomberg report published Sunday. But the Chinese market is growing rapidly, and Huawei will not allow restrictive measures to curb its research and development, he added. Huawei is embroiled in an ongoing trade dispute between China and the U.S., which has accused Chinese companies such as Huawei of committing forced technology transfers and stealing trade secrets. Last month, the U.S. placed Huawei on its “Entity List,” which effectively bars American companies from selling components…

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Early Ohio Endorsements for Donald J. Trump for President in 2020

Beth Lear

  Just ahead of President Trump’s official campaign kickoff Tuesday, the conservative group Ohio Value Voters (OVV) announced their full-throated endorsement of the unconventional incumbent.   “President Trump’s social conservative agenda has galvanized the support of faith-based and conservative Ohioans,” OVV President John Stover said in a statement; adding that the reasons for the early endorsement was based on a list accomplishments that support the conservatives’ agenda including: 2 Constitutional Supreme Court Justices: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh 188 nominees to the federal court who support the rights of the unborn and the first amendment moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem defending the unborn reinstating and expanding the “Mexico City Policy” which prohibits US foreign aid to be used for abortion overturning the Obama regulation that prohibited States from defunding abortion service providers signing the bill to allow States to restrict funds to Planned Parenthood eliminating the US Department of Education’s transgender policy, which allowed students to play on sports teams and use the locker rooms and bathrooms of the sex they chose rather than the sex they were born President Trump is set to announce the official start of his 2020 campaign at an evening rally in Orlando, Florida Tuesday –…

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TIRRC Manifesto Calls on Nashville to Spend Taxpayer Money on Illegal Aliens

Chris Butler

  The Tennessee Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) put out a new manifesto last month describing how they want Metro Nashville officials to treat illegal immigrants, and it demands taxpayers subsidize new programs to protect them from deportation. This document, titled, Beyond Welcoming: A Platform for Immigrant Inclusion for the Next Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County, also disparages ICE agents as persecutors who set out to destroy immigrant families. You can download the full document here. The TIRRC document focused on community organizing activities to put political pressure on state and local officials. “Each week in Nashville, ICE is terrorizing immigrant neighborhoods and ripping residents away from their families and communities,” according to the document. (Page 3) “As the federal government ramps up immigration enforcement, the state legislature has continued their efforts to make life harder for immigrant and refugee communities.” (Page 3) The document calls on Nashville officials to embrace pro-immigrant policies and “help turn the tide in this country.” (Page 3) Among only some of the document’s policy suggestions for Nashville leaders: • Nashville should not help ICE deport illegal immigrants. (Page 4) • The Davidson County jail must stop renting bed space to ICE. (Page 7)  •…

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