U.S. Should Continue Pressuring Iran Over Nuclear Program, Sen. Blackburn Tells Fox News

  The United States needs to keep the pressure on Iran over its nuclear enrichment program, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn told anchor Charles Payne on Fox News. The interview video feed from “Sunday Morning Futures,” which aired Saturday, is available here. The transcript is available here. Blackburn is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Iran is desperate, the senator said, and, “Bear in mind, their economy is shrinking six to ten percent this year. Inflation is at forty percent.” President Donald Trump is doing the right thing with sanctions to stop them from enriching uranium and supporting terrorism, she said. This problem dates to the 1970s with the Iranian revolution. “The pressure is having an effect,” she said. The U.S. learned during President Barack Obama’s years that “leading from behind does not work,” she said in response to a question about getting European allies on board. Blackburn said she is holding out hope that diplomacy can work. Blackburn has been a consistent ally on President Trump’s efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. On June 27, the Johnson City Press quoted her as saying she supports the president’s new sanctions, which are in response to Iran shooting down an…

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Commentary: The Calamity at the Southern Border Belongs to the ‘Woke’ Democrat Congress

by Rachael Bovard   The woke social media over the Fourth of July was something to behold. On America’s birthday, posts were full Trump-baby angst, references to illegal militias, treasonous criminality, and concentration camps, and carefully styled photos of summer desserts that spelled out “close the camps” on top of seasonal fruit. Because you know what you do if you think child migrants are actually being tortured by your government and dying in concentration camps? You channel all your first-world, virtue signaling rage into the creation of artsy and seasonally appropriate desserts that are just perfect for that People photoshoot. But the misplaced rage was not limited to social media. In the annals of Wokes versus People Living in Reality, this week was one for the books. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the avatar of lefty rage-emotes everywhere, visited the border and had a complete meltdown. Ocasio-Cortez told reporters she “was not safe from the officers,” and that migrants were forced to drink out of toilets while being subject to “psychological warfare.” “This has been horrifying so far,” she tweeted. “It is hard to understate the enormity of the problem. We’re talking systemic cruelty w/ a dehumanizing culture that treats them like animals.” If what she’s saying is true – members of Congress…

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Democratic Presidential Candidate Beto O’Rourke Visits Nashville

  Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke was welcomed by a large, raucous crowd during his Nashville campaign stop Sunday afternoon. Former U.S. Rep. O’Rourke (R-TN-16) tweeted a video from the rally. Nashville! pic.twitter.com/Gx6aGYvvPY — Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) July 7, 2019 In promoting the event, the Tennessee Democratic Party tweeted, “2020 Democratic presidential candidate @BetoORourke will hold a campaign rally at @MMusicWorks in Nashville tomorrow, July 7th at 3 p.m. CT! The event will feature live music from @Elizabeth_Cook and @RaelynNelson Band.” 2020 Democratic presidential candidate @BetoORourke will hold a campaign rally at @MMusicWorks in Nashville tomorrow, July 7th at 3 p.m. CT! The event will feature live music from @Elizabeth_Cook and @RaelynNelson Band. RSVP: https://t.co/WfP0aAVus7 — TN Democratic Party (@tndp) July 6, 2019 The venue was Marathon Music Works on Clinton Street. Music was provided by Elizabeth Cook and the Raelyn Nelson Band. O’Rourke’s campaign billed the visit as his first stop in the Volunteer State. O’Rourke retweeted this tweet: “HAPPENING NOW! @BetoORourke in Nashville, Tennessee! He believes background checks on every gun sale can save lives and recognized @MomsDemand as making a difference across America! #gunsense #tnleg”. HAPPENING NOW! @BetoORourke in Nashville, Tennessee! He believes background checks on every gun…

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Democrat Judge Slashes Damages Oberlin College Must Pay to Gibson’s Bakery for ‘Racist’ Defamation

by Ethan Cai   A Democrat judge nearly halved the damages awarded to a bakery that previously won a lawsuit against Oberlin College for defamation. After Oberlin College filed a motion on June 21 to cap damages given to the bakery, Judge John Miraldi, who ran as a Democrat in 2018, ruled on Thursday that the bakery will only receive $25 million from the school in punitive and compensatory damages, as opposed to the original $44 million, according to The Toledo Blade. The judge made the decision on the grounds that punitive damages must not exceed twice the sum of compensatory damages, according to Ohio law. Compensatory damages were determined to be around $11 million by the jury in this specific case. Attorneys for Gibson’s Bakery argued that there were multiple claims in the case, including intentional infliction of emotional distress and libel, so the damages should have been applicable to each claim separately. Lee Plakas, the attorney for Gibson’s bakery, had previously stated in an exclusive interview with Campus Reform that Oberlin was pushing “alternative facts” and that the college believed itself to be “above the law.” This new decision by the judge comes after a jury previously sided…

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Rep Justin Amash, Who Recently Left GOP, Says He’s Not Ruling Out a Presidential Bid

by Chuck Ross   Michigan Rep. Justin Amash, who announced July 4 that he is leaving the Republican party, said Sunday that he is not ruling out a run for president. “I still wouldn’t rule anything like that out,” Amash told CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked if he is considering a presidential bid. Amash did not give a timeline for when he will decide whether to run, saying that “it’s not something that’s right on my radar right now.” Amash, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, announced in a July 4 op-ed in The Washington Post that he was “declaring my independence” from the GOP. “I’m asking you to join me in rejecting the partisan loyalties and rhetoric that divide and dehumanize us. I’m asking you to believe that we can do better than this two-party system — and to work toward it. If we continue to take America for granted, we will lose it,” he wrote.  On May 18, Amash became the first Republican in Congress to call for Trump to be impeached in the wake of the special counsel’s investigation. Amash said that Trump engaged in “impeachable conduct,” and that Attorney General William Barr had “deliberately” misrepresented special counsel…

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Rep. Rashida Tlaib Defends Vote Against $4.6 Billion for Border Crisis

by Jason Hopkins   Michigan congresswoman Rashida Tlaib defended her vote against an emergency spending bill that provided billions in funds to help manage the U.S. immigration crisis, and compared CBP’s work to Nazism. “Absolutely,” Tlaib said Sunday when asked on ABC’s This Week if she agreed with comparisons of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) detention centers to Nazi concentration camps. “I mean there’s an number of experts that say this is — because it’s traumatic. I mean I don’t know how to explain to people what we saw when we’re explaining to people and they’re kind of looking back and saying, ‘well that can’t be true.’” “And you know, this is a choice by the current administration, they are choosing to not allow asylum seekers to go through the legal process,” she continued. Tlaib’s comments come after she and several other Democratic lawmakers toured CBP facilities that hold aliens who entered the country illegally. The Democratic representatives –  which included Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Joaquin Castro, and others –  claimed the migrants were subjected to horrific living conditions. However, when host Martha Raddatz asked why she would then vote against a $4.6 billion emergency spending bill that would help CBP provide better care…

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Amazon Is Turning 25 – Here’s a Look Back at How It Changed the World

Amazon Fulfillment

by Venkatesh Shankar   A quarter of a century ago, on July 5, 1994, a company, which shared a name with the world’s largest river, was incorporated. It sold books to customers who got to its website through a dial-up modem. It wasn’t the first bookstore to sell online. (Books.com launched in 1992.) But it behaved like a local store, whose shopkeeper knew customers by name – a bell even rang in the company’s Seattle headquarters every time an order was placed. Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, set his sights on making it an “everything store.” The company would go on to become not just an everything store, but an “everything company.” Today, 25 years later, Amazon has reshaped retailing permanently. It is one of the top three most valuable companies in the world, with a market capitalization hovering around US$1 trillion, greater than the GDP of nearly 200 countries. If you had bought $100 worth of its IPO shares in 1997, it would be worth about $120,000 today. Redefining retail Amazon continually took shopping convenience to newer levels. Before 1994, shoppers had to travel to stores to discover and buy things. Shopping used to be hard work – wandering down…

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Commentary: Magical Thinking Meets the Inconvenient Realities of the ‘New Energy Economy’

by Mark P. Mills   A week doesn’t pass without a mayor, governor, policymaker or pundit joining the rush to demand, or predict, an energy future that is entirely based on wind/solar and batteries, freed from the “burden” of the hydrocarbons that have fueled societies for centuries. Regardless of one’s opinion about whether, or why, an energy “transformation” is called for, the physics and economics of energy combined with scale realities make it clear that there is no possibility of anything resembling a radically “new energy economy” in the foreseeable future. Bill Gates has said that when it comes to understanding energy realities “we need to bring math to the problem.” He’s right. So, in my recent Manhattan Institute report, “The New Energy Economy: An Exercise in Magical Thinking,” I did just that. Herein, then, is a summary of some of the bottom-line realities from the underlying math. (See the full report for explanations, documentation, and citations.) Realities About the Scale of Energy Demand 1. Hydrocarbons supply over 80 percent of world energy: If all that were in the form of oil, the barrels would line up from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, and that entire line would grow by the…

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OpentheBooks Oversight Finds the Top 82 U.S. ‘Non-Profit’ CEOs Rake In Nearly $300 Million, Net Assets Reach $200 Billion

by Adam Andrzejewski   The rising cost of healthcare is undermining the American Dream. Families who are working hard to get ahead now pay nearly $20,000 per year in insurance premiums, deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs for healthcare. Our OpenTheBooks Oversight Report – Top 82 U.S. Non-Profit Hospitals, Quantifying Government Payments & Financial Assets – studied the largest charitable healthcare providers. Last year, patients spent roughly one out of every seven U.S. healthcare dollars within these healthcare networks. These powerful institutions are organized as public charities – not as for-profit corporations. Any profits must be re-invested into their charitable mission, yet last year, their combined net assets increased from $164.2 billion to $203.1 billion – that’s 23.6 percent growth.* Meanwhile, their executives are highly compensated. Collectively, $297.5 million in cash compensation flowed to the top paid executive at each of the 82 hospitals. Here’s how executive compensation breaks down at the 82 largest non-profit hospitals using the IRS 990 informational returns and auditing the latest year available: 13 organizations paid their top earner between $5 million and $21.6 million; 61 organizations paid their top executive between $1 million and $5 million; Only eight organizations paid their top earner less than $1 million (which…

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University of Michigan and Harvard Professor Says #MeToo Wouldn’t Have Happened if Hillary Won

by John Hasson   A University of Michigan professor and Harvard University visiting professor recently claimed that the #MeToo movement would not have occurred if Hillary Clinton were president. Catharine MacKinnon, a UMich law professor and Harvard visiting professor, made the remark at the University of California, Berkeley’s annual #MeToo conference during the spring semester. In her keynote speech, MacKinnon compared accusations of sexual abuse made against President Bill Clinton with those made against President Donald Trump, calling claims made against Clinton “a morality crusade” and suggesting that many people were only concerned with the “right use of it [the allegations] for political gain.” But MacKinnon asserted that the election of Trump fundamentally changed the way that reports of sexual assault were viewed. In her speech, she also contrasted Clinton with Trump by referring to the former president as someone Americans “actually elected.” “Instead of interfering with a respected president…somebody…the American people actually elected, exposing these violations in one’s own life became a means of resisting the forces of darkness,” MacKinnon stated. “Misogyny, racism, fascism, lies, stupidity, you name it.” The professor also stated that “indifference to reports of sexual abuse, that was part of what got [Trump] elected right?…

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Jeffrey Epstein Arrested and Charged with Sex Trafficking

by Audrey Conklin   Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and charged with sex trafficking by federal prosecutors Saturday after his private jet landed at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. Epstein is expected to appear in court Monday after being charged with one count of sex trafficking and one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, which could put him in prison for a maximum of 45 years, The Daily Beast reported. The arrest comes more than a decade after Epstein accepted a plea deal to avoid federal charges. It also comes just three days after a federal appeals court ruled in favor of unsealing documents in a lawsuit against Epstein, The Daily Caller News Foundation reported June 3. The suit, filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a one-time masseuse for Epstein, accuses Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate, for allegedly hiring then-15-year-old Giuffre to give Epstein sexual massages at his Palm Beach property. “It’s been a long time coming — it’s been too long coming,” attorney David Boies, who represents Giuffre and another accuser, told The Daily Beast. “It is an important step towards getting justice for the many victims of Mr. Epstein’s sex trafficking enterprise. … We hope that prosecutors will not stop with Mr. Epstein because there were…

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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison Meets with British Anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn

  Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison recently met in London with Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s Labour Party. “Awesome day in London, especially meeting with Rt. Hon. Jeremy Corbyn—a true grassroots organizer,” Ellison wrote on Twitter July 2 along with a picture of him posing with Corbyn. Awesome day in London, especially meeting with Rt. Hon. Jeremy Corbyn – a true grassroots organizer. pic.twitter.com/Jl6HhyVNxY — Keith Ellison (@keithellison) July 2, 2019 Ellison evidently met with some of Corbyn’s political allies, too. “Insightful discussion with Keith Ellison, Attorney General of Minnesota, on fighting inequality and taking on Trump’s politics of scapegoating and prejudice,” Richard Burgon, a member of Parliament and self-described “socialist,” wrote on Twitter. “Movements backing Bernie Sanders in the USA and Jeremy Corbyn here are part of the same struggle for the many not the few.” Insightful discussion with @keithellison, Attorney General of Minnesota, on fighting inequality & taking on Trump’s politics of scapegoating and prejudice. Movements backing @BernieSanders in the USA and @jeremycorbyn here are part of the same struggle for the many not the few! pic.twitter.com/hzR3l7tPtD — Richard Burgon MP (@RichardBurgon) July 4, 2019 Corbyn was mostly a fringe figure in British politics until his ascension to…

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Ohio Considering Plan to Eliminate Concealed Weapons Licenses

by Todd DeFeo   State lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow Ohioans to carry firearms without the need to obtain a concealed weapons license. House Bill 178 would extend to Ohio residents who are at least 21 years old and federal law does not prohibit them from having a firearm. It does not apply to any so-called “restricted deadly weapon,” which includes various military-style arms. The House Federalism Committee voted 7-4 in favor of the bill following a debate that was “very contentious” at times, state Rep. John Becker, the committee’s chairman, acknowledged before the vote. However, he noted, there was some consensus from the two sides. “One of which is the second amendment. … I didn’t hear anybody come in here and say nobody has the right to carry a gun,” Becker, R-Union Township, said. “The other point that I think everybody is in agreement on is gun safety. “Everybody wants to be safe. Nobody wants bad guys to have guns. That’s something we all agree on,” he added. “Obviously we have some very stark disagreements on how to achieve public safety.” The bill pits two vocal opponents against one another. While gun proponents applauded the plan,…

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Nashville La Raza Affiliate Conexión Américas Hires Juliana Ospina Cano as Director, Who Vows to Continue Social Justice Work

  Juliana Ospina Cano will lead Conexión Américas, a Nashville Latino advocacy group, as its new executive director beginning today. Ospina Cano succeeds Renata Soto, who co-founded Conexión Américas 17 years ago. “Juliana is the ideal leader for Conexión Américas’ next chapter,” said Board President Terry Maroney. “She brings with her a sharp mind honed by her doctoral studies, an empathetic heart grounded in her own immigrant experience, and deep knowledge of Nashville, the state and Conexión Américas. Her combination of vision, skill, work ethic and history with this organization will be invaluable resources for our community.” Ospina Cano said, “It is with great excitement that I come home to Nashville. I look forward to re-joining an organization that views economic, civic and social integration as the vehicle to equip, inspire and mobilize immigrant families to fulfill their potential while celebrating their roots. My commitment to these values has been the compass guiding my professional and personal journey. I look forward to honoring Renata’s unparalleled legacy and serving the Tennessee community alongside Conexión Américas’ team, Board of Directors and partners.” Conexión Américas is an affiliate of The National Council of La Raza. The National Council of La Raza, the largest Latino…

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