Day: July 1, 2019

Steve Glover Seeking Tennessee Attorney General Opinion Regarding Apparently Illegal Davidson County Budget

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  Despite the fact that both Tennessee State law and the Metro Davidson County Charter require a balanced budget, current Metro Council district member and At-Large candidate Steve Glover believes that the budget submitted by Mayor David Briley and recently passed by the Metro Council violates those provisions. As a result, Glover has asked State Senator Farrell Haile (R-Gallatin) to request an opinion from Tennessee State Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery concerning the legality of that budget. The 2019 – 2020 Davidson County budget was presented by Mayor Briley to the Metro Nashville City Council and was adopted on 19 June, 2019. Glover points out that the budget relies upon revenue sources that have not yet been approved by the Metro Council. “It is pretty obvious that you can’t ‘balance’ a budget with a revenue stream that doesn’t currently exist,” Councilman Glover said. “It’s like telling your bank they shouldn’t bounce your checks this week because you plan to deposit money into the account next week. That’s nonsense.” Councilman Glover notes, “Mayor Briley’s budget included the sale of public assets including, but not limited too, the management of city-owned parking meters. It is my opinion these funds are in question…

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Commentary: What Is Radical and What is Not – On Confidence and Common Sense

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by Mark Bauerlein   I just heard a fellow on CNN say that Donald Trump has radicalized the Republicans. Let’s be clear on what is and isn’t radical. A well-patrolled border is not a radical policy. An open border is a radical policy. To believe in two genders is not radical. To insert gender identity into Title IX is. To praise Western Civilization as a legacy of political freedom and artistic genius is not a radical opinion.To regard it as promotion of white supremacy is a radical opinion. To love America as an exceptional creation is not radical. To see America as founded on slavery and imperialism is radical. For a president to express support for the outcome of a vote in a foreign country is not radical. For a president to threaten a unique ally with economic hardship if a popular vote goes in a certain way, as Barack Obama did before Brexit – that’s radical. To cancel student debt is radical. To make college free is radical. To demand reparations 150 years after the end of slavery and 60 years after the end of Jim Crow is radical. To demand more public attention to the tiny population that fits the label “transgender”…

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China Discontinues American and European History AP Tests for Chinese Students Seeking U.S. College Credits

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by Ethan Cai   The Chinese government will completely suspend certain Advanced Placement (AP) history tests by 2020 in an attempt to hide “unfriendly” material. Chinese students seeking college credit for U.S. colleges will no longer be able to take the U.S. history, European history, world history, and human geography AP examinations, reported Reuters. These exams are provided by College Board, an American educational nonprofit that manages the SAT, as well as the AP curriculum. AP courses and exams in the fields of STEM and various other subjects are still permitted. “This is a bit sudden, we don’t know the reason,” SAT Test Web, a Nanjing-based center said on Chinese social media site WeChat. “If you apply for any of these four subjects, it means you need to go to other exams outside the mainland.” A total of five Chinese test centers from the cities of Nanjing, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai confirmed that China’s education ministry mandated that the history tests be ceased by 2020. The suspended history content adds to Beijing’s attempt to censor information that is not approved by the Communist Party in China. Negative viewpoints, for example, regarding the Tiananmen Square incident and the Sino-Japanese War are censored…

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Journalist Andy Ngo Attacked at Portland Antifa Rally Admitted to Local Hospital, Reportedly Diagnosed with Brain Bleed

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by Shelby Talcott   Journalist Andy Ngo, who covers Antifa activity, was attacked at a Portland rally Saturday and has reportedly been admitted to the hospital. Masked individuals attacked Ngo at a rally in Oregon, throwing what appeared to be milkshakes at him and punching him, according to footage of the attack. Ngo is an editor for Quillette who describes himself as “hated by [A]ntifa” on his Twitter profile. He recorded the aftermath of the day’s events on social media. The video showed Ngo with scars on his face in addition to what appeared to be swelling. https://t.co/B8Gh4KQxFS — Andy Ngô 🏳️‍🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) June 29, 2019 Ngo is being “admitted to the hospital overnight as a result of a brain bleed,” Harmeet Dhillon, a legal representative, tweeted hours after the protest. Thank you @michellemalkin for supporting our client @MrAndyNgo after organized felony assault on him while the impotent @PortlandPolice stood by & let it happen. Andy is a gay journalist with tremendous integrity and courage, in the ER right now. This is un-American — must stop. https://t.co/W9QAPmq0Av — Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) June 29, 2019 Suspects in the case have not publicly been identified, and the Portland Police Department did not immediately respond…

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College Majors Americans Regret the Most

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by Dora Mekouar   Two-thirds of Americans have a major regret relating to their college experience, according to a survey of 250,000 Americans who hold at least a bachelor’s degree. The biggest regrets for college graduates are the huge debts they’ve racked up. Student loan debt rose from $600 billion a decade ago to more than $1.4 trillion by the end of 2018. The second most regretted part of the respondents’ college experience is what they majored in. More than one in 10 people say their chosen area of study is their biggest educational regret. The most regretted majors are in the humanities field. More than one in five people with humanities majors — which includes English and history — say they wish they hadn’t chosen that area of study. Other fields that college grads regret choosing include physical and life sciences, social sciences, education, communications, and art. College graduates who focused on technical or high-earnings fields have the fewest regrets, including those who majored in engineering, computer science, and business. Overall, the study finds that older generations, people with higher education levels, and those who majored in fields with higher earning jobs have the fewest regrets about their college experience.…

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Trump Deregulation Will Boost Household Income by $3,100, Report Finds

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by Fred Lucas   The Trump administration deregulation efforts will raise incomes by about $3,100 per household over the next five to 10 years, and sharply reduce prices for consumers, according to a report released Friday by the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “The deregulatory efforts of the Trump administration have also removed mandates from employers, especially smaller businesses, and have removed burdens that would have eliminated many small bank lenders from the marketplace,” Casey Mulligan, the chief economist for the Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters Friday. “These deregulatory actions are raising real incomes by increasing competition, productivity, and wages.” The Council of Economic Advisers report is titled “The Economic Effects of Federal Deregulation Since January 2017: An Interim Report.” The report takes a sampling of 20 major deregulatory efforts, which it projects alone will save consumers and businesses about $220 billion annually, and increase after-inflation incomes by 1.3%. “Many of the most notable deregulatory efforts in American history, such as the deregulation of airlines and trucking that began during the Carter administration, did not have such large aggregate effects,” the Council of Economic Advisers report says. The aggressive deregulation also cuts consumer prices for prescription drugs, health…

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Woman Reportedly Alleges Lebanon City Council Violated Tennessee Open Meetings Act

Chris Butler

  A Lebanon woman says Lebanon’s City Council violated the Tennessee Open Meetings Act several times. This same woman, Lorrie Hicks, reportedly said the Lebanon City Council has barred her from entering a city council meeting. According to the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government’s website, Hicks wants city officials to get training on the law and reconsider their actions on a recent rezoning decision. “Lorrie Hicks, through her attorney Paul McAdoo, has sent a letter to the Mayor Bernie Ash of the Lebanon City Council, explaining the alleged violations. She told TCOG she has not yet heard back from the city, although the mayor was quoted in the local newspaper as saying he had turned over her letter to the city attorney,” according to the TCOG’s website. Reportedly, this is the result of emails Ward 3 Councilor Camille Burdine sent pertaining to rezoning requests in a residential neighborhood. “Hicks says the emails constituted deliberation with other council members about an issue to be voted upon, which would be prohibited under the open meetings law. Emails between members of governing body cannot be used to deliberate outside open meeting,” according to the TCOG. “The open meetings statute prohibits using electronic communication to ‘decide or deliberate…

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Trump Appeals Federal Judge’s Border Wall Funding Ruling

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Reuters   President Donald Trump on Saturday appealed a U.S. judge’s ruling that blocked his administration from using $2.5 billion in funds intended for anti-drug activities to construct a wall along the southern border with Mexico. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers said in a court filing that they were formally appealing Friday’s ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “We’re immediately appealing it, and we think we’ll win the appeal,” Trump said during a press conference Saturday at a summit of leaders of the Group of 20 major economies in Japan. “There was no reason that that should’ve happened,” Trump said. Trump says construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border is needed to keep out illegal immigrants and drugs, but he has so far been unable to get congressional approval for such a project. In February, the Trump administration declared a national emergency to reprogram $6.7 billion in funds that Congress had allocated for other purposes to build the wall, which groups and states including California had challenged. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland, Calif., said in a pair of court decisions that the Trump administration’s proposal to transfer Defense Department funds intended for anti-drug activities was unlawful. One of Gilliam’s rulings was in a lawsuit filed by California on behalf of 20 states, while…

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Blackburn on Senate Passage of NDAA:  This Bill Secures Big Wins for Tennessee Military Community

Chris Butler

  This week Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee voted to fund the United States Military in Fiscal Year 2020, via the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA funds crucial projects that will directly impact military communities in Tennessee. Blackburn is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Tennessee is honored to be home to multiple military bases,” Blackburn said in a press release. “The sacrifice our members of the military make in service to our country can never be repaid. It is essential that we provide our men and women in uniform with the support they need to protect the United States and to provide for their families. This bill, which I worked on alongside my colleagues in the Senate Armed Services Committee, seeks to meet that goal.” The FY 2020 NDAA meets President Trump’s requested budget of $750 billion to fully fund the military. It also provides men and women in uniform with a 3.1 percent pay increase – the first since 2010, according to Blackburn’s press release. Blackburn secured funding for projects that will have a direct effect on military communities in Tennessee and on the mission of the Armed Forces to protect and defend…

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White House: Trade Agreement with China Not Close

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by Ken Bredemeier   White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday resumption of trade talks between the U.S. and China “is a very big deal,” but acknowledged there is no immediate prospect for an agreement between the world’s two largest economies. “The talks will go on for quite some time,” Kudlow told the Fox News Sunday interview show. He said the countries had reached agreement on 90 percent of a new deal by early May, before talks broke down in what has turned out to be a seven-week stalemate. U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed Saturday on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit in Japan to restart negotiations. Watch the latest video at foxnews.com But Kudlow assessed that “the last 10 percent could be the toughest,” with such unresolved issues as cyberattacks, Chinese demands that U.S. companies turn over proprietary technology they use, Chinese government support for its companies and the sale of U.S. technology components to the giant Chinese multinational technology giant Huawei. Trump agreed in his meeting with Xi to ease sales of some U.S.-made components to Huawei, a policy change that some of Trump’s Republican colleagues in the U.S. disagree with because…

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Commentary: Christianity and the Big Bang

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by Grayson Quay   I once saw a bumper sticker that said, “The Big Bang Theory: God spoke, and ‘Bang!’ it happened.” The implication was clear: in addition to being the least funny sitcom ever made, the Big Bang Theory is an attack on religion, an attempt by scientists to step outside their proper sphere and disprove once and for all the existence of a Creator God. Many Christians share this view. Young-earth creationist Ken Ham’s website Answers in Genesis defines the Big Bang Theory as “a naturalistic story about the origin and development of the universe” that “contradicts the biblical teaching of creation.” I myself am no astrophysicist, but for anyone unfamiliar with the Big Bang theory, here’s my best attempt at a layman’s explanation. We can observe that the universe is both expanding and cooling at a constant rate. So, if we turn back the clock far enough (around 14 billion years to be exact), we eventually arrive at a time when all of the matter and energy in the universe was concentrated in one infinitely small point, or singularity. Then, the singularity exploded. Particles shot out in every direction and, as they cooled, came together to form molecules, planets,…

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Stephanopoulos Challenges Julian Castro Over Immigration Proposals, Asks ‘Isn’t That Effectively Open Borders?’

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by Chuck Ross   George Stephanopoulos on Sunday challenged Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro over whether his proposals to provide health care to illegal immigrants and to decriminalize illegal border crossings amount to open border policies. In an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” Stephanopoulos asked Castro, who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration, whether he gave an opening to Republicans who have accused Democrats of supporting open border policies. “Not at all,” said Castro, who later in the interview derided claims that Democrats support open border policies as “just a right-wing talking point.” “It always has been.” Castro gained traction during a Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday when he said that his proposed health care plan would allow illegal immigrants to purchase health insurance. Castro also said that he wants to decriminalize crossing the border. In a Democratic debate on Thursday, all 10 candidates raised their hands to say they would support government-funded health care for illegal immigrants. Castro mounted a case to include illegal immigrants in his health insurance plan, saying that “undocumented immigrants already pay a lot of taxes.” “Secondly, we already pay for the health care of undocumented immigrants,” he added. “It’s called the…

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New Trump Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham Bruised After Brawl with North Korean Guards to Ensure Press Access to Kim Jong Un Meeting

Jason M. Reynolds

  President Donald Trump’s historic meeting with dictator Kim Jong Un, while reportedly cordial, did have some tension: North Korean guards tried to bar U.S. reporters’ way, but new press secretary Stephanie Grisham saved the day. The Guardian reported that Grisham ended up bruised in a scuffle with the guards. The jostling seen outside when Kim and Trump met worsened when North Korean guards tried to physically prevent reporters with the US press pool from entering a room inside the Freedom House on the southern side of the DMZ where the two leaders were about to start their meeting. Reports said the Secret Service had to intervene. Political commentator Edward Hardy tweeted a video of the confrontation: “This is the moment White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham got into a scuffle with North Korean security guards who were blocking US journalists”. This is the moment White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham got into a scuffle with North Korean security guards who were blocking US journalists pic.twitter.com/WSBkdDw17g — Edward Hardy (@EdwardTHardy) June 30, 2019 Sky News tweeted, “President Trump’s press secretary Stephanie Grisham ended up with bruises after being shoved by Kim Jong Un’s security guards. Donald Trump has become the first…

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Todd Starnes Commentary: Antifa Beats Elderly Man with Bats in Portland As Police Stand Down

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by Todd Starnes   An elderly man was brutally beaten by Antifa terrorists wielding baseball bats in downtown Portland. Another man who came to his defense was cracked in the skull and suffered serious injuries. https://twitter.com/Lucet_Veritas/status/1145348576710709249 This happened during the same protest that left journalist Andy Ngo with serious head injuries after he was set upon by the leftist savages. Serious questions need to be asked about the Portland Police Department. Why were there no officers on the scene? Were the police ordered to stand down? And if so, by whom? John was sprayed with mace and blinded. He was led away as blood dripped down his face, then dragged to a sidewalk. Another observer notes that one of Adam's attackers appears to wield something like a sock and padlock. See https://t.co/UuzciPLbkL /d pic.twitter.com/J1bPELs5Fy — Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) July 1, 2019 The Justice Department should launch an immediate investigation. Right now, law-abiding Oregonians should be warned that there is anarchy in the streets of Portland. It is not safe for you or your families to visit that city. Tourists should consider changing their vacation destinations. If the Antifa terrorists attack you and your family — the Portland Police Department may…

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Public Policy Group Calls for Ban on Sale of All U.S. Equipment to Huawei, Which is Accused of Having Ties to People’s Liberation Army, Chinese Communist Party

Jason M. Reynolds

  In the wake of President Donald Trump’s meeting with China’s Xi Jinping in Osaka, Japan Saturday, the Committee on the Present Danger: China (CPDC) called for a halt to the sale of all U.S. equipment to the Huawei communications company. Trump announced that “U.S. companies can sell their equipment to Huawei. I’m talking about equipment where there is no great national emergency problem with it,” CPDC said in a press release. The Committee on the Present Danger: China said it believes that all provision of products and services and licensing of technology to Huawei undermine the security of the United States, its allies, and partners. CPDC said it agrees with the findings of Trump’s executive order of May 15, 2019 titled “Securing the Information and Communications Technology and Services Supply Chain.” This order addressed the threat posed by “foreign adversaries.” Huawei, a state-owned enterprise with known ties to the People’s Liberation Army, is such an adversary, the committee said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in May accused the head of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies of lying about his company’s relationship with the government in Beijing, Battleground State News said. Huawei, the world’s largest maker of telecommunications network equipment, is…

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‘Hands-Free’ Driving, Gas Tax Increase and Other Tennessee Laws That Go Into Effect Today

Laura Baigert

  The state legislature passed 513 Public Acts in the first half of the 111th General Assembly, many of which go into effect on July 1, 2019, and impact the general public like the “hands-free” driving law. The new “hands-free” law, as previously reported by The Tennessee Star, defines what it means to be “hands-free” and extends the requirement to be “hands-free” from just schools zones to all Tennessee roads and highways. In addition, a law that passed in 2017 will also be hitting Tennesseans again on July 1. Namely, the Improving Manufacturing, Public Roads and Opportunities for a Vibrant Economy – IMPROVE Act, also referred to as the 2017 Tax Cut Act, will increase the tax on gasoline by another $0.01 and the diesel tax by another $0.03 effective July 1. These are the final increases to the two fuel taxes, which went up $0.06 on gas and $0.10 which went up three times starting on July 1, 2017. The tax on Compressed Natural Gas and Liquified Gas will also go up by $0.03 each on July 1, completing the $0.08 total increase over the same three years. Meanwhile, the Hall Income Tax phase out, which was one of…

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