Hidden Clue On Website Belonging To Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Sister Adds To Evidence About Marriage History

by Luke Rosiak   Rep. Ilhan Omar swore under oath in a 2017 divorce filing that she hadn’t seen her husband Ahmed N. Elmi in six years and didn’t know anyone who might be able to locate him — yet he appears to have designed a website for Omar’s sister this year, according to data hidden in the source code of that website. The Democratic Minnesota congresswoman swore that she had not been able to locate the man she married — who the Minneapolis Star Tribune says may or may not be her brother — since 2011. She swore she didn’t know the names of anyone in her husband’s family and that the two had no mutual acquaintances who might know how to contact him. According to Elmi’s Facebook profile, after attending college in North Dakota he moved to England and then to Nairobi, Kenya — the same city where Omar’s sister, Sahra Noor, lives and works as CEO of Grit Partners. Grit Partners’ website code contains data that indicates Elmi was involved in the creation of either the company’s website or its Instagram account. The ties between Omar’s supposedly long-lost ex-husband and Omar’s sister appear to contradict Omar’s sworn…

Read the full story

Opioid Prescriptions Drop 15 Percent in Michigan

by Tyler Arnold   Opioid prescriptions dropped 15 percent in 2018 from the previous year in Michigan, according to numbers released by the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA). The number of opioid prescriptions dropped from 9.7 million to 8.2 million in that timespan. “The decrease in dispensions could be attributed to a number of things such as prescribers weaning patients off of opioids or perhaps using treatment alternatives, to not prescribing the opioids due to the patient risk based on what the patient had been prescribed previously,” Matthew Erickson, public information officer for LARA, told The Center Square in an email. The increased awareness among doctors through the participation in the government-sponsored Michigan Automated Prescription System (MAPS) has significantly contributed to the decline of prescribing these drugs, according to Erickson. MAPS is a monitoring program that tracks controlled substances and helps prescribers and dispensers see potential risks in patients to prevent drug abuse. “MAPS has played a critical role in both combating the opioid epidemic here in Michigan and in ensuring patients who need prescription drugs have access to them,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a news release. “As leaders, we have a responsibility to help patients…

Read the full story

Incoming Texas Freshmen Threatened with Doxxing if They Join Conservative Campus Groups

by Jon Street   The Autonomous Student Network in Austin, Texas, a group that was previously suspended from Twitter after posting private information belonging to supporters of then-Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh, is now threatening to do the same to incoming University of Texas-Austin freshmen who join conservative student organizations. “Hey #UT23! Do you wanna be famous? If you join YCT [Young Conservatives of Texas] or Turning Point USA, you just might be. Your name and more could end up on an article like one of these,” the group tweeted earlier in June, linking to a page on its website, on which it previously posted the private information, including emails and phone numbers, of Kavanaugh supporters. Hey #UT23! Do you wanna be famous? If you join YCT or Turning Point USA, you just might be. Your name and more could end up on an article like one of these 👇https://t.co/kJq6zJHwEGhttps://t.co/AGa4n2tHfC So be sure to make smart choices at #UTOrientation — Bevo MCCCXII (@Bevo1312) June 6, 2019 “So be sure to make smart choices at #UTOrientation,” the group added. A separate tweet read, “the best #LonghornStateOfMind is an antifascist one. If you begin to spot the young racists trying to join YCT or TPUSA,…

Read the full story

Sumner County School Director Ridicules Citizens and County Commissioners Opposing Eminent Domain Land Grab for New School Campus

  At a Sumner County School Board meeting on June 18, one day after Sumner County citizens overflowed the County Commission chambers of the legislative body to criticize a plan for a new Sumner County school campus that requires a paved greenway and sewer line cutting through landowners’ properties by an act of eminent domain condemnation, Sumner County School Director Dr. Del Phillips ridiculed those citizens and County Commissioners supporting them. Phillips, who has held his Sumner County position since 2011, complained to the School Board members in attendance about the length of the June 17 County Commission meeting and the objections to his plan that may cause a delay in the new school campus opening. Dr. Phillips minimized the number and called attendees “really, really, really mad folks,” made reference to a County Commissioner being an  “armchair civil engineer” and “untrained,” said it was a “glorious discussion” and “it was a fun, fun, fun, fun time.” The property to be taken by eminent domain, if an easement agreement can’t otherwise be reached with the 19 landowners by the public utility, White House Utility District, will be for a sewer line to serve Sumner County Schools new 265-acre elementary-middle-high school campus…

Read the full story

Officials Accuse DHS Chief Kevin McAleenan of Personally Sabotaging President Trump’s Planned ICE Raids

by Jason Hopkins   Administration officials are accusing Homeland Security Acting Director Kevin McAleenan of sabotaging Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) deportation raids by leaking key details of the plan. President Donald Trump abruptly announced Saturday that he would delay plans for Sunday raids targeting around 2,000 illegal immigrants across the country. The president claimed the two-week hiatus would give the White House time to reach a consensus with Democrats on “asylum and loophole” issues at the southern border. However, senior administration officials say there is much more to the story. Current and former officials within the administration who spoke to the Washington Examiner and BuzzFeed are accusing McAleenan of ruining the Sunday operation by either personally releasing details of the plan or by having people in his staff do it for him. “I know he has not approved of this operation for months,” one source familiar with the matter said to the Washington Examiner. “The president wouldn’t leak that. ICE wouldn’t leak that. There’s only a few people involved in these discussions. … The only one who could have shared the details of those operations were [McAleenan]. Revealing details of the deportation raids, such as dates and locations, put ICE…

Read the full story

Bob Mendes Warns Nashville Will Eventually Pay Higher Taxes

  Metro Nashville Council Member Bob Mendes implied on his website Saturday that Nashvillians will eventually have to pay higher property taxes. In a 730 word post, Mendes told constituents about Mayor David Briley and the events leading up to this year’s final Metro budget. “Multiple district council members told me that in the days and hours before the vote the Mayor and his office told them that he would raise the tax rate next year,” Mendes wrote. “He’s denied that to the press. I guess you all can draw your own conclusions about what to make of that.” Mendes said this year’s budget disappointed him and that “there now is a broad consensus that we will be right back in this same situation a year from now.” He also said Metro officials are choosing not to fix known budget problems at the expense of making things difficult on Metro employees and on Metro services. “If you follow my posts, you know that I predicted the size of this year’s budget to within a few million dollars. I predicted $2.335 billion, and it came in at $2.332 billion. That wasn’t luck. The size of a budget is pretty predictable when…

Read the full story

Public Policy Experts Engage in Panel Discussion on Threat Posed by China to American, Indian Economies

  A who’s who list of public policy experts on Saturday expounded upon the “unrestricted warfare” that has been waged for decades by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against American electronics and other manufacturers and the importance of India’s help in fighting this threat. The National Indian American Public Policy Institute and the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) hosted the public event, forum and panel discussion Saturday afternoon at The Rana-Reagan Community Center in Carol Stream, Illinois, according to a press release. One of the panelists, Steve Bannon, former strategic advisor to President Donald Trump, provided The Tennessee Star an exclusive quote Saturday concerning the panel discussion. “It’s a great honor to address the Republican Hindu Coalition on the most vital issue facing America — the economic war China is engaged in against the industrial democratic West,” he said. “Few have felt the brunt of this more than the entrepreneurs of the Hindu American community as the manufacturing base was shipped to China. Today marks the beginning of an effort to reverse this.” Video coverage of the event is available here. Shalabh “Shalli” Kumar, founding chairman of the AVG Group of Companies of Chicago, an electronics inventor and…

Read the full story

Commentary: Leading Progressives Blame the Wrong Culprit for Rising College Costs

by James D. Agresti   Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and certain media outlets are blaming steep rises in college costs on reduced government funding for higher education. The reality is that inflation-adjusted government spending per college student has risen by about three times since the 1960s and is now at an all-time high. In spite of this, college graduation rates, academic time investment, and the learning of practical skills are all suffering. The True Costs of College Over the past several decades, college tuitions have ballooned, negatively impacting parents, students, and recent grads who are struggling to pay back student loans. The inflation-adjusted average sticker price for public college has doubled since 1980. For private colleges, it has nearly tripled: Many students pay less for college than published sticker prices because of discounts, scholarships, and financial aid. Thus, David Leonhardt of the New York Times argues that sticker prices exaggerate the cost of college. However, the truth is that society pays for all of these costs and more. Whatever students and parents don’t pay, taxpayers and donors do. In fact, the full costs of colleges far exceed their sticker prices. The average annual sticker price at 4-year public colleges is…

Read the full story

Michigan Gov. Whitmer Requests Farm Bailout from Federal Government Because of Weather

by Tyler Arnold   Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is seeking federal funding for farms in her state because of the struggles farmers are facing from an unusual wet period and other issues with the weather. “Michigan farmers are in a state of crisis right now because of extraordinary weather conditions, from historic rainfall, extreme cold, excessive snow, flash flooding, and tornadoes,” Whitmer said in a news release. “Michigan has a rich history in agriculture, and on behalf of our farmers, our families, and our economy, we need to take action now. I’m ready and eager to partner with the federal government to make sure Michigan farmers have the support they need during this difficult time.” In a letter to U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Whitmer requested that the department give Michigan a USDA Secretarial Disaster Designation and more flexibility – and the ability to apply for aid – under the Federal Crop Insurance Program and Congress’s disaster legislation. Michigan received 37.9 inches of rain between May 1, 2018 and April 30, 2019, which is the third wettest year recorded in state history. Whitmer said that this has led to oversaturated topsoil, which prevented farmers from planting their fields and harvesting…

Read the full story

Commentary: Don’t Believe Presidential Polls This Far From 2020

by Robert Romano   Don’t count your chickens before your eggs have hatched. To read some of the alarmist headlines pointing to the latest polls, you might conclude that the 2020 election is already over and President Donald Trump has been ousted. After all, the latest Fox News poll shows former Vice President Joe Biden ahead of Trump, 49 percent to 39 percent, and Sen. Bernie Sanders similarly leads Trump, 49 percent to 40 percent. When you take out supposed undecideds or non-responses, that takes Biden up to 56 percent of the vote and Sanders to 55 percent, with Trump at 44 percent and 45 percent, respectively, a modern-day rout. But does anyone really expect such a lop-sided outcome come Nov. 2020? The largest landslide in recent history was 2008, but even with the economy completely collapsed and Democrats on their way to winning a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the worst possible conditions for Republicans on the ballot, Barack Obama only garnered 52.9 percent of the popular vote. That is not to say that Biden or Sanders could not defeat Trump, but by 10 points or 9 points? It seems not only unlikely, but exceedingly improbable. The news came…

Read the full story

Trump Postponing for Now Planned Immigration Raids

  In a surprise move, President Donald Trump said he would push back by a couple of weeks the raids planned for Sunday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border,” President Trump wrote in a tweet Saturday afternoon from the presidential retreat in Camp David in Maryland. The reports that ICE planned to conduct large-scale enforcement actions sparked an outcry from Democratic leaders in many major cities, who condemned the plan and initiated efforts to help affected residents. Just hours earlier Saturday, as he departed the White House, Trump said migrants who were to be targeted in a nationwide roundup should return to their native countries. ICE Acting Director Mark Morgan told reporters days earlier the agency would round up and deport families who have received a removal order from a U.S. immigration court. The operation, first reported by The Washington Post, had been expected to begin on Sunday, targeting up to 2,000 families in large cities that…

Read the full story

Judge Rules to Keep Last Abortion Clinic in Missouri Temporarily Open

by Mary Margaret Olohan   A judge ruled Friday to keep the last abortion clinic in Missouri open temporarily despite the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services’ refusal to renew the clinic’s license earlier in the day. Hours before State Circuit Judge Michael Stelzer extended his preliminary injunction to keep the clinic open temporarily, DHSS refused to renew the St. Louis abortion clinic’s license, according to NBC News. “Today is a victory for women to be able to access the kind of medical care that they and their health professionals need and deserve,” said M’Evie Mead, who heads policy and organizing at Planned Parenthood Advocates in Missouri, according to NBC. “It is still very, very difficult to access abortion in Missouri because of medically unnecessary hoops and regulations, but you can still come to Planned Parenthood today for all of your reproductive health care,” Mead added. “And that is a good day for women.” Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen has said if the Missouri clinic closes down, Missouri could be the only state in the United States since 1974 without an abortion clinic. “BREAKING: Today, Missouri’s health department weaponized a regulatory process to deny an abortion license to the…

Read the full story

Democrats Hid Gifts from a Notorious Foreign Meddler

by Luke Rosiak   Six Democrats took an all-expenses-paid trip paid for by the government of Qatar in December, but two of them did not disclose it, annual ethics forms reveal. Democratic Reps. Donald Norcross of New Jersey and Jim Himes of Connecticut did not report taking the trip to Doha, Qatar, on their mandatory disclosure forms, but Buzzfeed said they were there at the elaborate Doha Forum gathering in December. The congressmen hold sensitive positions that make them targets of influence for Qatar, a wealthy Arab nation. Himes is on the House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence, and is chair of its Strategic Technologies and Advanced Research subcommittee. Norcross is on the House Armed Services Committee and chairs its Tactical Air and Land Forces subcommittee. The U.S. has a military base in Qatar and the country also purchases military equipment from the U.S. Despite Democrats’ rhetoric on the dangers of “foreign meddling,” Hines did not respond to questions from the Daily Caller News Foundation about the hidden gift. Norcross’ spokeswoman Ally Kehoe merely stated, “my office is aware of this oversight and we will be filing an amendment.” Most of the other politicians who Buzzfeed said were there did…

Read the full story

Commentary: This New York Man Got Arrested After Defending His Own Home

by Amy Swearer   All too often, advocates of strict gun control promise that more complex and convoluted laws will save lives without imposing a serious burden on the right of law-abiding citizens to exercise their constitutional rights. Their argument simply doesn’t hold up. Their gun control laws fail not only to address how actual criminals get their firearms, but they also impose a real burden on ordinary citizens’ Second Amendment rights. They even risk making felons out of otherwise law-abiding citizens. If that sounds like an exaggeration, just look to the case of Ronald Stolarczyk of Oneida County, New York. He’s now facing felony charges for lawfully protecting himself against criminals without first getting the county’s permission to possess a handgun in his home—something that would cost him hundreds of dollars and months of paperwork. The 64-year-old Stolarczyk was “minding his own business in his kitchen” one day when he heard voices coming from his garage. Stolarczyk tried simply waiting for the intruders to leave, but the two assailants soon ascended the stairs and attempted to enter his central living space. Stolarczyk then yelled at the burglars to leave, hoping that knowledge of his presence would scare them away.…

Read the full story

Trump Warns Iran US ‘Cocked & Loaded’ but ‘In No Hurry’

  The United States was “cocked & loaded,” ready to strike three sites in Iran in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. drone over the Strait of Hormuz but called off the attacks at the last possible moment to spare Iranian lives. The revelation by U.S. President Donald Trump on social media Friday followed news reports that the president initially authorized strikes on a handful of Iranian targets, such as radar installations and missile batteries, before pulling back. “We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it,” Trump tweeted, saying the action would have been disproportionate. “I am in no hurry,” Trump added. The president also said that he authorized additional “biting” sanctions against Iran late Thursday night as part of his administration’s maximum pressure campaign to force Iran to restart negotiations over its nuclear program. “Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!” Trump tweeted. The move appears to pull Washington and Tehran back from the brink of armed conflict that could engulf…

Read the full story

Ilhan Omar Defends AOC’s Comments Comparing Border Crisis to ‘Concentration Camps’

  Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) recently defended fellow freshman Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14), who’s facing ongoing criticism for calling immigrant detention centers “concentration camps.” Ocasio-Cortez made the comment during a Tuesday night live stream on Instagram, and has continued to stand by her remarks. “This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying,” she wrote on Twitter. “This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis.” This administration has established concentration camps on the southern border of the United States for immigrants, where they are being brutalized with dehumanizing conditions and dying. This is not hyperbole. It is the conclusion of expert analysis ⬇️https://t.co/2dWHxb7UuL — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 18, 2019 She later accused the GOP of supporting the building of “mass concentration camps on the southern border.” “Kids and families are dying. Now they want money for more—with zero negotiation on how money is spent,” she added. The GOP has supported building mass concentration camps on the southern border. Kids & families are dying. Now they want money for more – w/ ZERO negotiation on how $ is spent.…

Read the full story

Ten Months Into the Fiscal Year, Tennessee’s Revenues Exceed Estimates by $556.7 Million

  A press release issued Friday by Department of Finance and Administration Commissioner Stuart McWhorter announced that Tennessee’s May revenues were $46.3 million more than the state budgeted for the month. Also reported was that total tax collections by the state so far this year exceeded the estimates by more than a half billion dollars. On an accrual basis, May is the tenth month of the 2018-2019 fiscal year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. McWhorter said that the more-than-estimated May revenues demonstrated sound growth over the same period last year. “Both sales tax and corporate tax revenues were the largest contributors to the month’s growth and taken together continued to outperform expectations, as they have for most of the year. All other tax revenues, taken as a group, were also more than the May estimates” reported McWhorter. Despite cuts made in the IMPROVE Act, or 2017 Tax Cut Act, to the Franchise & Excise Tax and Hall Income Tax – which will be fully repealed beginning January 1, 2021 – as well as Sales & Use Tax on food, the highest revenue increases this year come from these taxes. Sales & Use – $257 million or 3.41%…

Read the full story

Elvis Presley’s Graceland Must Wait to Find Out if it’s Getting Corporate Welfare

  Officials at Elvis Presley’s Graceland attraction must wait a little while longer before they know whether they will receive corporate welfare to expand. This, according to several media outlets, who said Memphis City Council members have postponed a vote on the expansion project. Graceland’s Public Relations Office did not return The Tennessee Star’s request for comment Friday. According to The Associated Press, council members this week agreed for the fifth time to delay a vote related to a plan to provide tax incentives for a $100 million expansion of the Presley-themed tourist attraction. Graceland seeks government incentives to help build retail space and a recreational vehicle park, and to expand Graceland’s hotel. Graceland also had been seeking to add soundstages that could act as concert venues. “Council members have been concerned that the sound stages would put Graceland in competition with Memphis’ main concert venue, the FedExForum,” The AP reported. “Graceland this week offered a new plan without the soundstages but adding a new ‘auxiliary building.’ Most council members wanted more time to review the new plan.” As The Star reported in April, the people who oversee Graceland threatened to disassemble the mansion and relocate it to Nashville or…

Read the full story

Commentary: Demographics Is Not Destiny

by Edward Ring   A special election is scheduled for September 10 in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District to replace former incumbent Walter Jones, the long-serving Republican who died earlier this year. The district is solidly Republican. Jones earned twice as many votes as his Democratic challenger in nearly every election since he first took office in 1995. But the district is interesting for another reason, one that every Republican strategist in America should study. It is one of 47 congressional districts in the United States where, in the 2018 midterm elections, a majority of nonwhite voters were projected to vote Republican. The following map, prepared by elections analyst Geoffrey Skelly at FiveThirtyEight, shows the congressional districts (red) where, if no one but nonwhite people voted, Republican candidates would still be likely to win. It’s hard to overstate the significance of these 47 congressional districts. They belie the smug certainty on the part of Democratic politicians and strategists across the United States who equate the demographic transformation of America with an inevitable and unbreakable Democratic majority. Take mass nonwhite immigration, higher birth rates for nonwhites, mix in identity politics and leftist, race-centric indoctrination against “white privilege,” and voila, America becomes…

Read the full story

State Senator Looks to Change SNAP Requirements After Minnesota Millionaire Collected Food Stamps

  A Minnesota state senator wants to tighten the rules on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) after a local millionaire, in full compliance with the law, collected food stamps for more than a year. Rob Undersander was on Fox Business Thursday to explain how he pulled it off, noting that eligibility for SNAP is based on income only in Minnesota. “I was doing some volunteer work for the Central Minnesota Council on Aging where we helped seniors sign up for Medicare plans, navigate numerous resources and other social programs. I received formal training for this from the state of Minnesota. During one of the classes, they handed out a food stamp application in the event that we needed to help seniors fill it out, explaining that eligibility is based on income only. In comparison, for many other programs eligibility was ascending income limits and assets for descending benefits,” Undersander said. “In other words, if a person has money in the bank or in their retirement account, they don’t necessarily need government assistance. At the time, my wife and I were recently retired, drawing very little income, living off our savings—living very well. And I thought to myself: would I…

Read the full story

ECD Hands Out Corporate Welfare to Company Moving to Cleveland, Tennessee

  The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development will reportedly bestow corporate welfare upon a new business in Cleveland, near Chattanooga. This, according to this week’s Cleveland Daily Banner. The reported recipient of this money is called Triumph Sheets LLC, an affiliate of Schwarz Partners. An unnamed representative of Schwarz Partners told The Tennessee Star Friday that no one at the company usually talks to the media. No one at the Tennessee ECD returned The Star’s repeated requests for comment Friday. “The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development will be providing grant funding through its FastTrack Infrastructure Development Program to assist the Industrial Development Board and the city of Cleveland with the costs of railroad infrastructure rehabilitation, Berry said,” according to The Cleveland Daily Banner. “As a result, the Cleveland/Bradley County Industrial Development Board, along with Bradley County and the City of Cleveland, will apply for a FastTrack grant for $500,000 from the state’s TDECD to assist with the infrastructure needs of the project.” In addition, according to the newspaper, “the state will provide $50,000 to offset training expenses, as well as some $2.5 million in job creation, enhanced jobs, industrial machinery and sales and use tax exemption…

Read the full story

Michigan Senators File Bill to Ban Sanctuary Cities

by Tyler Arnold   Two Michigan Republican senators filed legislation that would prohibit a locality from establishing policies that provide a sanctuary for immigrants who entered the United States illegally. Senate Bill 382, sponsored by Sen. Aric Nesbitt, R-Lawton, would make it illegal for counties to establish policies that put restrictions on officers, local officials or employees preventing them from communicating or cooperating with federal officials about a person’s immigration status. Senate Bill 383, sponsored by Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, would make it illegal for cities, townships or villages to establish such policies. “Many people, including myself, have a difficult time understanding how local units of government can get away with deliberately hindering the enforcement of federal immigration law,” Nesbitt said in a news release. “Local governments with sanctuary policies protect criminal illegal aliens instead of their own residents. This dangerous lawlessness must be stopped.” If a locality already has a policy on the books that violates this law, it would have up to 60 days after the legislation is signed to update their ordinance to comply with the statewide mandate. Failure to do so could result in litigation against the locality by the state. “This is not only a…

Read the full story

House Democrats Are Planning to Sue Former White House Counsel Don McGahn, Force Him to Testify

by Shelby Talcott   House Democrats say Hope Hicks’ testimony Wednesday will help them win a lawsuit they plan to bring against former White House counsel Don McGahn to force him to testify. Hicks, a former White House communications director, refused to answer questions such as where she sat in the West Wing or if she lied to special counsel Robert Mueller. Hicks’ testimony is an example that shows how much the White House has begun to block witnesses from testifying and is exactly what Democrats need to win the lawsuit, according to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, Politico reported. White House lawyers blocked Hicks from answering hundreds of questions during her testimony Wednesday, according to transcripts. Many House Democrats expressed frustration after the private meeting, but Nadler said he knew it would happen and that it played into Democrats’ hands, Politico reported. “It very much played into our hands,” Nadler, a New York Democrat, said in an interview with Politico. “It’s one thing to tell a judge blanket immunity is not a right thing. It’s another thing when a judge can see what that means in actuality, and how absurd it is.” The White House has said Hicks…

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Farmer Wins Supreme Court Case That Finds Federal Property Rights are Equal to Other Constitutional Rights

  The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of a Pennsylvania farm owner who said the government effectively took her property without paying for it. Rose Knick won the victory in the case of Knick v. Township of Scott. In making its ruling, SCOTUS overturned a 1985 precedent, Williamson County Regional Planning Commission v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City. The Supreme Court’s opinion is here. Knick was represented by Pacific Legal Foundation, which argued for SCOTUS to overturn the 1985 ruling that allowed federal courts to refuse to hear her challenge to a local ordinance that forced her to allow public access to her private farmland, according to a press release by PLF. PLF said in a story that Knick’s ordeal began in 2013, when government agents forced her to allow public access to a suspected gravesite on her farmland. She sued over the unconstitutional taking. A federal court refused to hear her federal claim, citing the 1985 decision. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, Tennessee owned of a tract of land in Williamson County and intended to develop it into a residential subdivision, according to a case summary by Oyez. The Williamson County Regional Planning Commission denied the…

Read the full story

Commentary: Ahead of G-20, Currency Dominates Global Economic Landscape as Trump Blasts Chinese, European Devaluations

by Robert Romano   President Donald Trump is broadening his trade message to foreign economies to include currency ahead of the G-20 meetings in Japan next week, blasting both China and Europe for competitive devaluations of the yuan and euro, respectively. On June 18, Trump tweeted, “Mario Draghi just announced more stimulus could come, which immediately dropped the Euro against the Dollar, making it unfairly easier for them to compete against the USA. They have been getting away with this for years, along with China and others.” Here, Trump is referring to European Central Bank Chairman (ECB) Mario Draghi’s statement at the ECB Forum in Sintra, Portugal on June 18 where he announced potential interest rate cuts could be on the horizon if the economy deteriorates. Besides tariffs and subsidies, the greatest weapons that economies wield against each other on the trade front are competitive devaluations, which make exports cheaper and imports more expensive. It is simultaneously a move to increase domestic consumption and boost profits from overseas. Draghi has responded that “we don’t target the exchange rate” in ECB operations, but it is worth noting that since its 2011 highs, the euro has depreciated almost 25 percent against the…

Read the full story

White House Asserts Executive Privilege in Census Fight

  President Donald Trump has asserted executive privilege over documents that were subpoenaed by Congress related to the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, the Justice Department said Wednesday. The claim comes as the House Oversight Committee considers whether to hold Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt for failing to turn over the subpoenaed documents. A contempt vote by the committee would be an escalation of Democratic efforts to use their House majority to aggressively investigate the inner workings of the Trump administration. In a letter to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the Justice Department asserted that the administration has “engaged in good-faith efforts” to satisfy the committee’s oversight needs and said the planned contempt vote was premature. Democrats fear the question will reduce census participation in immigrant-heavy communities. They say they want specific documents to determine why Ross added the citizenship question to the 2020 census and contend the Trump administration has declined to provide them despite repeated requests. The administration has turned over more than 17,000 of pages of documents and Ross testified for nearly seven hours. The Justice Department has said two senior…

Read the full story

More Than 100,000 Illegal Migrants Have Escaped Border Patrol Agents in 2019, Provost Says

by Jason Hopkins   Border Patrol Chief Carla Provost spoke to Congress on Thursday about the immigration crisis, and how it’s keeping agents from apprehending migrants who cross the border illegally. “I have been forced to divert 40% to 60% of Border Patrol’s manpower away from the border as we process and care for nearly 435,000 family and children that have flooded across our southern border so far this year,” Provost said Thursday before the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation and Operations. Border Patrol and other agencies within the Department of Homeland Security have long complained the immigration crisis has forced them away from their enforcement duties, as they must handle the large influx of illegal migrants needing to be processed within the U.S. Provost said 1,036 illegal migrants were caught in a single group in May — the largest single apprehension in the 95-year history of the Border Patrol. Such overwhelming numbers, she said, have forced her agents to abandon their posts, leaving other illegal migrants able to evade arrests. “So far this year, we have observed 100,00 people who have successfully evaded arrest, a five-year high in what we call ‘got-aways,’” the Border Patrol chief…

Read the full story

Supreme Court Throws Out Case Where Prosecutors Illegally Excluded African American Jurors

by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court tossed out capital defendant Curtis Flowers’s death sentence Friday, finding that prosecutors unlawfully rigged his jury by excluding African Americans. Justice Brett Kavanaugh delivered the opinion for a seven-justice majority, which said the prosecution violated the 1986 Batson v. Kentucky decision. Batson provides that peremptory strikes — which allow lawyers to boot prospective jurors for any reason at all — cannot be used to exclude people based on race. “The state’s relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals strongly suggests that the state wanted to try Flowers before a jury with as few black jurors as possible, and ideally before an all-white jury,” Kavanaugh wrote. “The trial judge was aware of the history. But the judge did not sufficiently account for the history when considering Flowers’ Batson claim.” “In the Dark,” an American Public Media podcast, produced an award-winning series on the Flowers case. A white prosecutor, Doug Evans, has tried Flowers six times in the Mississippi courts for a 1996 quadruple homicide. Two of those cases resulted in a mistrial due to deadlocked juries. Flowers was found guilty in the other three, but appeals courts lifted those convictions because…

Read the full story

Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks ICE From Arresting Illegal Immigrants at Courthouses

by Jason Hopkins   A Massachusetts federal judge appointed by former President Barack Obama ruled that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents cannot make arrests at courthouses in the state, dealing a major blow to the agency. Judge Indira Talwani of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled Thursday that ICE agents are barred from “civilly arresting parties, witnesses and others attending Massachusetts courthouses on official business while they are going to, attending or leaving the courthouse,” per Talwani’s Memorandum and Order. ICE agents are not only prohibited from apprehending illegal aliens inside courthouses, but they also cannot make arrests on courthouse steps and parking lots. The ruling is the first in the country to prohibit these type of immigration arrests across a whole state, according to the Associated Press. Talwani was nominated to serve on the court by then-President Barack Obama in 2013, and she began serving the following year. The preliminary injunction came in a case filed by a coalition of prosecutors, public defenders and other immigration activists in April. The plaintiffs argue that ICE arrests in courthouses make illegal immigrants fearful to step into a courtroom at all, making it harder to bring forward…

Read the full story

Report: Deportation Rates Were Actually Higher During Obama Years

by Ben Whedon   Deportations under President Donald Trump have not reached the highs seen during the Obama administration, despite immigration enforcement being one of his signature campaign issues. During former President Barack Obama’s early years in the White House, the deportation of illegal immigrants reached record highs, according to Homeland Security documents obtained by Axios. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent back more than 385,000 illegals each fiscal year from 2009 to 2011 — and reached a record high of 409,849 in fiscal year 2012. These numbers tapered off in Obama’s later years, dropping under 250,000 in fiscal year 2015 and 2016. While deportations have steadily risen during Trump’s presidency, the have notably not reached the highs of his predecessor. In fiscal 2017, federal immigration authorities conducted 226,119 deportations. These numbers climbed to more than 250,000 in fiscal 2018, and reached a Trump high this fiscal year with 282,242 deportations as of June. There are still roughly three more months left in the current fiscal year, giving Trump more time to tick the numbers up. While Obama launched major initiatives aimed at protecting illegal immigrants, such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, he was also criticized…

Read the full story

Movies to Watch This Weekend

  In this week’s edition of movies to watch, a popular kids movie hits the big screen and America’s favorite doll comes back to life. Toy Story 4: Your favorite characters, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, are back on the big screen this weekend with the premiere of Toy Story 4 Friday. In the fourth installment of Toy Story, Buzz, Woody, Bonnie and new character Frankie goes on a new adventure where Woody meets an old friend. The movie, starring Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, received positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes has given the adventure film a 98 percent rating. Even the audience agrees with the critics, as it has given the film a 96 percent rating. Child’s Play: A common theme of summer movies is happiness, but this horror movie is anything but that. Child’s Play, which debuted Friday, focuses on a young boy named Andy Barclay who gets a doll from his mom. Andy becomes attached to the doll, which has named itself Chucky, and becomes his best friend. However, as soon as Andy grows attached, the doll literally takes on a life of its own and starts terrorizing his family. The 1988 rebooted movie has received mixed…

Read the full story

Super Bowl Champion Burgess Owens Blasts Rep. Steve Cohen’s Slavery Reparation Hearings: The Democrat Party Should Pay Restitution

  At the hearings held by U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis (D-TN-09), one of the testifying witnesses took a different tack from all the others when he suggested that it is the Democrat Party that should pay restitution for the misery it has brought to his race. The hearing held by Cohen, as reported by The Tennessee Star, was of the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee of the House Committee on the Judiciary regarding H.R. 40 and the Path to Restorative Justice. The hearing, scheduled for June 19 at 10 a.m., included nine witnesses on two panels, with Panel 1 being reserved exclusively for U.S. Senator Cory Booker. The list of Panel 2’s eight witnesses included Mr. Ta-Neheisi Coates, Distinguished Writer in Residence, Arthur J. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University; Mr. Danny Glover, actor and activist; Mr. Katrina Browne, documentarian, “Traces of the Trade;” Mr. Coleman Hughes, writer, Quilette online magazine; Mr. Burgess Owens, speaker and writer; Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, Episcopal Church of Maryland; Dr. Julianne Malveaux, economist and political commentator; and Mr. Eric Miller, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Loyola Marymount University. Predictably, given the topic of the hearing, Cohen being the…

Read the full story

Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office Responds to Tennessean Article About State Rep. Matthew Hill’s Business

  A spokesman for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett said whether State Rep. Matthew Hill, R- Jonesborough, should have registered or disclosed his business with the state depends upon what kind of business it is. This, on the same day The Tennessean published an article saying Hill has not registered or disclosed his international Christian magic supply company with state officials. “Corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), limited partnerships (LPs), and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are required to register and submit reporting documents to our office under various corporate laws,” Dodd told The Tennessee Star in an emailed statement late Thursday afternoon, right before the office closed for the day. “If a business is a sole proprietorship or a general partnership, it is not required to register with our office. Many small businesses operate under one of these models.” Dodd did not elaborate further as to whether Hill was still supposed to register his particular business with the state. According to the website for Hill’s business, the Dock Haley Gospel Magic Company, the business sells Christian merchandise “to help win the souls of the lost!” The website does not appear to specify whether the business is a sole proprietorship, a general…

Read the full story

‘Make Nashville’ Warehouse Gives You a Space to Build Anything You Want

  NASHVILLE — In a corner of Nashville zoned for mostly industrial purposes, you’ll find a woodshop, a metal shop, a fabric lab, a ceramics studio, and one of those nifty new 3D printers, among many other things. All in the same warehouse. The best part — if you want to use these facilities then you can. The man who oversees this operation, called Make Nashville, would not give The Tennessee Star his actual name. This mystery man said he only goes by Maverick. He said that’s because he grew up in a small town in East Tennessee with “an unfortunately common name.” Several of his classmates had the same “unfortunately common name” he did. So…Maverick was born. Maverick said his workshop is one small part of a global movement. “It works a bit like a gym membership, but instead of exercise equipment it’s power tools. What we have is a collection of shops and the tools that go in them. 3-D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, a textile studio with sewing machines and patterns and those types of tools. There’s woodshops, metal shops with welders, and plasma cutters and grinders,” Maverick said. “We provide those facilities and those tools…

Read the full story

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Follows Taylor Swift in Pushing for Equality Act

  U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) signed and promoted Taylor Swift’s Change.org petition asking the U.S. Senate to support the Equality Act. The presidential candidate’s statement is available here. Warren’s support follows the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), which was published on Change.org last week. Swift is the creator of the petition in question. It is available here. Warren shared this statement with Change.org users: It’s 2019 and our LGBTQ+ friends continue to face discrimination at work, school, and in their communities. Trans people in America are getting murdered – most of them women of color. In the name of protecting religious liberty, civil rights are being trampled on. It’s hard to find an affordable place to live that doesn’t discriminate based on your gender identity or expression, race, or who you love. Enough is enough. I’m proud to represent Massachusetts in the Senate, a state that has led the nation in protecting and promoting equality. But there’s so much more work to be done. We can start by passing the Equality Act – a bill that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their places of work, homes, schools, and other public accommodations. I’m glad to see the…

Read the full story

Commentary: Be Skeptical About War with Iran

by Christopher Roach   Americans are weary of Middle Eastern wars and skeptical of claims from our intelligence agencies supporting such conflict. While the attack on Iraq in 2003 depended on intelligence suggesting an ongoing nuclear weapons program and attacks on Syria occurred after Bashar al-Assad’s supposed use of illegal chemical weapons against civilians, both of these assumptions either were refuted or at least face serious, evidence-based criticism. In comparison, the most recent charge against Iran—a mine attack on a Japanese cargo vessel that caused no casualties—is pretty weak sauce. As far as its magnitude, this is hardly Pearl Harbor. At the same time, the grainy video of an Iranian patrol boat parked alongside the vessel does not prove to the satisfaction of reasonable American skeptics that Iran was responsible for the explosion. War Drums In the Distance The recent incident occurred in a climate of sharpening anti-Iranian rhetoric from the United States, in particular, National Security Advisor John Bolton, as well as our country’s regional allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. The three nations have aligned against Iran in recent years. This focus on Shiite Iran has occurred, even as the most dramatic and deadly terror attacks in Europe, the…

Read the full story

Peace Cross Honoring War Dead Can Stay, High Court Rules

by Fred Lucas   The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Thursday that a cross-shaped war memorial on public land in Maryland doesn’t violate the Constitution. In the case of American Legion v. the American Humanist Association, the atheist group had sued seeking removal of the 40-foot Peace Cross in Prince George’s County–just outside Washington, D.C.–contending that the World War I memorial was contrary to the separation of church and state. However, a supermajority on a court that is often closely divided on hot button issues determined the history of the Peace Cross erected in Bladensburg, Maryland, doesn’t indicate it promoted a religion, Christianity, in honoring 49 local men who died in the war. “For nearly a century, the Bladensburg Cross has expressed the community’s grief at the loss of the young men who perished, its thanks for their sacrifice, and its dedication to the ideals for which they fought,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion for the court. Alito went on to quote Justice Stephen Breyer’s words from a previous case also hinging on the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. “It has become a prominent community landmark, and its removal or radical alteration at this date would be seen by many…

Read the full story

Rhode Island Legalizes Abortion Up Until Birth

by Mary Margaret Olohan   The governor of Rhode Island signed a bill Wednesday protecting abortion access within the state and repealing pro-life laws. Rhode Island Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo signed the bill, HB 5125, after it passed through the House and Senate, calling it an “important, consequential bill,” according to The Associated Press. The bill passed the Senate 21 to 17 and passed the House 45 to 29. “Fundamentally this bill is about health care,” Raimondo said, according to the publication. “It’s about protecting and providing access to health care for all the women of Rhode Island.” The Reproductive Privacy Act says that Rhode Island will not restrict a mother’s right to obtain an abortion before the baby is able to survive outside of the womb. The bill also says Rhode Island will allow abortions after fetal viability if the mother’s health is at risk, effectively allowing abortion up until birth. The bill also repeals several chapters of Rhode Island General Laws on abortion that charge doctors with murder and jail time for inducing miscarriages and declare dying admissions of women who die during abortion procedures to be used as evidence in homicides. Lawmakers intend for the bill to…

Read the full story

Iran Shoots Down US Drone

  Iran shot down a U.S. drone in an incident Iranian officials said happened over the country’s territory but U.S. officials say took place in international airspace. U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said Thursday an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down a U.S. Navy maritime surveillance aircraft in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz. He called it an “unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset,” and said the unmanned aircraft is used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over the ocean and coastal regions. In the Iranian account, the drone was shot down by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the airspace of the country’s southern Hormozgan province, near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military said Iran tried to shoot down a U.S. drone last week, and tensions between the two countries have increased with attacks against oil tankers in the region that the U.S. blames on Iran, but which Iran says it did not carry out. Relations have deteriorated since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew last year from the international agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. New U.S. sanctions have hurt Iran’s economy, and Iran has announced increased production of low-enriched uranium…

Read the full story

Commentary: Dangerous Derangement

by Karin McQuillan   America cannot continue as a republic without the acceptance that one party routinely will be turned out of office. Democrats no longer accept that bedrock principle of American liberty. They see themselves as the only party entitled to govern. “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and the Russian collusion frame-up are two faces of the same coin: Democrats now reject the orderly succession of power through duly constituted elections. Democrats have whipped the nation into mass hysteria for three years. It’s a destructive game, manipulating people into a rage until Americans see each other as enemies. Most dangerous of all, driven by the social justice agenda of Obama progressives, Democrats are purposely delegitimizing our democratic institutions. The attempted frame-up of President Trump as a traitor through the Russia collusion hoax was the hidden face of their drive for power. Trump Derangement is the public face. Trump Derangement is part of the Russian collusion hoax, now being recognized as an attempted coup. To pull off the coup, Democrats need their voters behind them, no matter what. They need a Ministry of Truth, not a free press. They need hyper-partisanship. They need a crisis atmosphere that justifies anything they did to…

Read the full story

It’s Not Just Central America: Where Illegal Immigrants on the Border Come From

by Fred Lucas   The recent spike in illegal immigration from African countries underscores the increase in migrants coming from around the globe to sneak across the southern border—including more than 10,000 from Asia and almost 900 from Europe last year. In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 500 illegal immigrants from African countries that include Angola, Cameroon, and both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Associated Press reported. That’s more than twice the 211 total apprehensions during fiscal year 2018 of illegal border crossers from the continent. Customs and Border Protection numbers from fiscal 2018 show significant numbers from other continents as well. The recent spike in illegal immigration from African countries underscores the increase in migrants coming from around the globe to sneak across the southern border—including more than 10,000 from Asia and almost 900 from Europe last year. In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 500 illegal immigrants from African countries that include Angola, Cameroon, and both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Associated Press reported. That’s more than twice the 211 total apprehensions during…

Read the full story

Court Rules In Favor of Title X And Abortion Restrictions in Major Win for Trump Admin

by Mary Margaret Olohan   An appeals court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can ban taxpayer-funded abortion clinics from performing abortions or making abortion referrals. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump administration can bar clinics from performing abortions or making abortion referrals, according to Politico. For the first time in history, the new Title X regulations will allow federal funding to go to faith-based clinics that promote natural family planning or abstinence-only methods. The rule will allow the Trump administration to strip federal funding of any clinic that fails to comply with the new Title X regulations. The move will potentially cost Planned Parenthood “tens of millions of federal family planning dollars,” according to the publication. “Absent a stay, HHS will be forced to allow taxpayer dollars to be spent in a manner that it has concluded violates the law, as well as the Government’s important policy interest in ensuring that taxpayer dollars do not go to fund or subsidize abortions,” the panel of three Republican-appointed judges wrote in a 3-0 opinion. Politico reports that this is a “major blow” for the abortion industry, and Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen called the ruling “unethical,…

Read the full story

Hundreds Of Illegal Migrants Carry Criminal Histories, DHS Investigation Finds

by Jason Hopkins   Hundreds of migrants who were part of U.S.-bound caravans carried serious criminal convictions, an internal investigation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reveals. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), two agencies under DHS, conducted an investigation into two different caravans from Central America that were bound for the U.S. Their findings revealed hundreds of those individuals carried criminal histories, including murder, aggravated assault and sexual offenses. The figures specifically refer to criminal acts already committed in the U.S. The discoveries were detailed in a letter from members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Out of the nearly 8,000 members within a caravan that reached south of California in October 2018, ICE Homeland Security Investigations found that 660 already had run-ins with the law in the U.S. Of those, nearly 40 were convicted of assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Three of them were convicted for murder. ICE Homeland Security Investigations also tracked a migrant caravan from Honduras in January 2019. Of the more than 3,300 individuals in the caravan, 860 were found to have criminal histories in the…

Read the full story

Sureños 13 Gang Member in Country Illegally Charged with Attempted Murder And Kidnapping of Minnesota Woman

  Luis Alfredo Cortez Mendoza, a 23-year-old member of the Sureños 13 gang suspected of being in the country illegally, was charged Monday in Washington County District Court with attempted murder and kidnapping. His victim, a woman, was found in a pool of blood at 2:30 in the morning on June 9 in Stillwater. An Uber driver, who first thought the woman was “a dead animal in the street,” found her and led officers to the scene. Angel Ignacio Sardina-Padilla was arrested on Tuesday and charged with aiding and abetting attempted murder and kidnapping. According to the criminal complaint, Sardina-Padilla was “in charge” and Cortez Mendoza would reportedly “do anything Padilla asked him to.” Nicole Alberico, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told The Star Tribune that Cortez Mendoza is suspected of being in the country illegally. He has been deported to his native Mexico four times, Alberico added. Alberico wasn’t able to offer any information on Sardina-Padilla’s immigration status, telling The Star Tribune that “to determine their immigration status, ICE officers must first interview the individual who still has outstanding warrants for this state investigation.” The woman was transported to Regions Hospital in critical condition but has…

Read the full story

Michigan Governor Signs Executive Order Creating ‘Task Force on Women in Sports’

  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order Monday establishing a new Task Force on Women in Sports. “Multiple studies have documented that women who play sports are more likely to seek and fill leadership roles in other sectors. Yet even with the enactment of Title IX nearly fifty years ago, opportunities for girls and women in sports, while improved, remain severely limited,” the executive order states. In the executive order, Whitmer suggests that “limitations” on female athletes “intersect with what is now a pivotal moment for gender equality and opportunity in Michigan.” “Female athletes defy gender stereotypes, serve as role models, and widen perspectives,” the executive order continues. “This inequity in access and opportunity prevents girls and women in this state from fully accessing the benefits in leadership development that sports can provide—to the detriment of not only these girls and women, but also this state, which stands to gain from their leadership.” The executive order establishes the “creation of the Task Force on Women in Sports,” which will be overseen by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The task force is charged with assessing “the history of and current landscape for girls and women in sports in…

Read the full story

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee Actively Targeting the LGBTQ Community to Recruit Mentors

  A new marketing campaign by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee (BBBSMT) is actively targeting members of the LGBTQ community for its recruiting efforts of mentors for young people. The Facebook page of BBBSMT got a new look on June 7, when the organization updated their profile picture and cover photo to the one shown above. The new look includes a prominent display of the LGBTQ symbolic rainbow in their logo and with apparent representative members of the community literally wrapped in rainbow flags in their cover photo. Later that week, The Tennessee Star received a series of four audio scripts for a radio-type advertisement, titled “Words can hurt,” “School is hard,” “I feel both,” and “When I grow up.” All four scripts follow the same format of an introduction offering an adult narrator’s brief explanation of a scenario faced by a young person. A back and forth dialogue ensues between the adult and a young person, and the script closes with a statement that this is a dramatization of the stories they hear at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. The closing wraps up with a direct appeal to members of the LGBTQ community, “Your life…

Read the full story

Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis Holds Formal Hearing on Slavery Reparations

  U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) is pressing forward with his platform demanding the federal government use taxpayer money to give reparations to African-Americans because of slavery, which ended more than 150 years ago. Cohen this week chaired a hearing on H.R. 40, the Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act. Cohen said he chose Wednesday, June 19, to hold the hearing because it is Emancipation Day — or the date in history that Union troops freed the last enslaved Americans. “H.R. 40 isn’t about advancing any one agenda on if and how reparations should be provided; it’s about suspending our personal policy preferences and making way for a commission that can seriously consider the issue and draft appropriate proposals,” Cohen said in an article on CNN.com According to The Associated Press, witnesses at the hearing included actor and activist Danny Glover, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey, a Democratic presidential candidate. Booker, who testified first, said the U.S has “yet to truly acknowledge and grapple with the racism and white supremacy that tainted this country’s founding and continues to cause persistent and deep racial disparities and inequality.” Rep. Mike Johnson of…

Read the full story

Commentary: Trump Announces Reelection

by George Rasley, CHQ Editor   One of the greatest and most enduring mysteries of the Trump movement was on full display during the President’s huge reelection kick-off rally in Orlando, Florida last night: Donald Trump gave a great conservative speech, without once ever uttering the word conservative or talking about conservatism as an alternative to the socialism of the Democrats. Instead, the President spoke of his presidency and the themes of his reelection campaign in terms of conservative ideas, conservative values and conservative policies as simply being American. Trump’s conscious or unconscious decision to equate conservative ideas, policies and values with Americanism, in contrast to the Democrats’ radical socialism, may be his most enduring contribution to American political discourse. It is certain that the core ideas that the Democratic Party has now embraced have no precedent in American constitutional liberty and only Donald Trump would be unafraid to call them un-American. Trump mocked and disparaged Democrats, calling them the leaders of an “angry, left-wing mob” and declaring that the 2020 election will be a “verdict on the un-American conduct of those who tried to undermine our great democracy, undermine you.”* “Our political opponents look down with hatred on our…

Read the full story

Trump Raises ‘Record Breaking’ Amount Only 24 Hours After His Campaign Kickoff, GOP Chairwoman Says

by Molly Prince   President Donald Trump raised nearly $25 million in less than one day after he officially launched his 2020 campaign, according to Republican National Committee officials Wednesday. “[Trump] has raised a record breaking $24.8M in less than 24 hours for his re-election,” said Ronna McDaniel, RNC chairwoman. “The enthusiasm across the country for this President is unmatched and unlike anything we’ve ever seen!” @realDonaldTrump has raised a record breaking $24.8M in less than 24 hours for his re-election. The enthusiasm across the country for this President is unmatched and unlike anything we’ve ever seen! #trump2020 #KeepAmericaGreat — Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) June 19, 2019 The president brought in more money in one day than any of the Democratic presidential hopefuls raised during the entire first quarter, according to officials. Former Vice President Joe Biden led the other 2020 Democrats in first-day contributions with $6.3 million, followed by former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who came in second place with $6.1 million. “This shatters every fundraising record! By comparison, Biden raised $6 million… the top 5 Democrats COMBINED only raised $14 million,” tweeted Eric Trump. “The excitement for [Trump] last night was off the charts! #Winning“ Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders…

Read the full story