Day: July 20, 2019

Williamson County School Board Member Wants Glen Casada’s Seat

Chris Butler

  Williamson County School Board member Brad Fiscus reportedly wants to run for Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada’s seat. This, according to his professional Facebook page. The Nashville Post, meanwhile, reported Fiscus will run as an independent. Fiscus told The Tennessee Star in an email Friday he is out town until next week and unavailable to answer questions. The Post reported that Fisk opposes school vouchers. “Fiscus is also an advocate for public schools, and he sees the latest school voucher and the Education Savings Account programs supported by Casada and signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee as a threat to schools across the state,” The Post reported. “Though the programs are currently only for failing schools in Davidson and Shelby counties, Fiscus has said before that the doors are now open for them to be in other school systems across the state.” Fiscus said on his Facebook page this week that, if elected to the Tennessee General Assembly, he will still keep his job as a Williamson County School Board member out of District 4. “I am dedicated to serving this district throughout my term to 2022. One of the first things I did while discerning if this was the…

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Commentary: Fifty Years Ago, the Eagle Landed

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by Lee Edwards   Let us pause to celebrate the 50th-anniversary today of a mission once thought impossible: the landing of a man on the moon. Let us proclaim, without embarrassment, that America, and only America, had the requisite leadership, scientific community, and resources to make it possible for Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong to take that giant leap for mankind. Let us freely admit we needed a kick to get started. That happened when the Soviet Union put the first satellite known as Sputnik in orbit and pushed ahead of the United States in the space race. The Cold War was red hot, and everything was measured on how it affected that global conflict. As one commentator wrote, “the United States could not afford [a] slight to its technical expertise and economic strength.” In a dramatic address in May 1961, President John F. Kennedy tasked NASA with the goal of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth,” and to do so before the end of the decade. The following year, Kennedy raised the stakes of the Apollo program by calling space “a new frontier” and declaring: “We choose to go to the moon, not…

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Trump Is Nominating Justice Scalia’s Son for Labor Secretary

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by Kevin Daley   President Donald Trump will nominate the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s son Eugene Scalia as labor secretary. The New York Times was first to report that Trump is considering Scalia for the position. The pair reportedly met at the White House on Thursday afternoon. The president confirmed the news in a late Thursday tweet. “I am pleased to announce that it is my intention to nominate Gene Scalia as the new Secretary of Labor,” Trump said. “Gene has led a life of great success in the legal and labor field and is highly respected not only as a lawyer, but as a lawyer with great experience working with labor and everyone else. He will be a great member of an administration that has done more in the first two and a half years than perhaps any administration in history!” Eugene Scalia is a partner in the Washington offices of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. A 1990 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School, Scalia’s practice touches labor, employment, regulatory, and appellate issues. He is connected to the Federalist Society, the conservative lawyers group. His confirmation would be Scalia’s second stint at the Department of Labor. He served…

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Movies to Watch This Weekend

Zachery Schmidt

  The Lion King: The long-awaited “live-action” re-imagining of The Lion King is here. Simba (JD McCrary) and King Mufasa (James Earl Jones) are returning to the big screen after a 25-year hiatus. In this Disney version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Simba questions what his royal destiny will be on the wide-open plains of Africa.  Mufasa’s brother, Scar (Chiwetel Ejiofor) has his own plan to take the throne. Eventually, Simba and Scar battle it out, and Simba is exiled after the Battle of Scar. He must figure out how to grow up and get back what is rightfully his. Unlike it’s animated predecessor, 2019’s The Lion King has not been received well at the box office by movie critics. Rotten Tomatoes scored it a 55 percent. However, fans scored it a 90 percent. Into the Ashes: An ex-con name Nick (Luke Grimes) is adjusting to life in rural Alabama with his new wife and job. However, Nick was not able to escape his past violent life for long. His past crew has not forgotten about the money he stole, so they take his wife. Nick must decide if he wants to go the lawful route or the outlaw route. Critics have given…

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McGavock High School Aviation Teacher and His Program Compete for Share of $1M Award from Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Program

Jason M. Reynolds

  Derek Rowe, a Nashville high school aviation maintenance teacher, is one of 50 educators and teacher-teams who were named semifinalists of the 2019 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence, according to a press release. Rowe, a teacher at McGavock High School in Nashville, and his skilled trades program are in the running for a share of $1 million in total cash awards, Harbor Freight Tools for Schools said in a statement. More information about the program is available here. Rowe, who teaches aviation maintenance, was chosen by an independent panel of judges from among a field of 749 skilled trades teachers who applied for the prize. The semifinalists—some competing as individuals and some as teacher teams—hail from 26 states and specialize in trades including manufacturing, welding, construction, automotive and agriculture mechanics. Rowe moved to the United States six years ago from Great Britain to work as a training director with a helicopter company, according to a Metro Nashville Schools blog. That did not work, and he began teaching at the teach high school level. Rowe has been an aviation instructor for more than 30 years, serving 17 of those years in the British Army as a…

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Commentary: To End Border Crisis, Trump Administration Restricts Central American Asylum Claims

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by Robert Romano   Under current immigration and asylum regulations, it was impossible to enforce the law on the southern border. The hundreds of thousands of Central Americans flooding the border the past several months gamed the system, betting that a compassionate America would let them in. Afterward, the families were released into the U.S. pending hearings, but those that showed up did so only to the extent they might be granted asylum, and upon rejection were never heard from again. It’s mandatory catch-and-release. Because of the way the regulations were written. As a result, the number of family units showing up on the border has been skyrocketing. In all of FY 2018, 161,113 family units were apprehended, and 58,660 unaccompanied children. Now family units are up to 427,881 in FY 2019, an increase of 165 percent and unaccompanied children is up 14 percent to 67,116, with three more months remaining in the fiscal year. Now, to get a handle on the problem and to deter future migrant waves, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice are using their powers under the law to provide for additional restrictions and have issued a new rule telling asylum seekers…

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US Shot Down Iranian Drone, Trump Says

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  President Donald Trump said a U.S. warship shot down an Iranian drone Thursday that was threatening the ship and its crew in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump told reporters at a White House event that the drone came within 900 meters of the USS Boxer and ignored “multiple calls to stand down.” “The drone was immediately destroyed,” he said. “This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters. The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, our facilities and interests.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in New York that he had “no information on losing a drone today.” All of the country’s drones returned to base, Iran’s top military spokesman said, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. “All drones belonging to Iran in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz … returned safely to their bases after their mission of identification and control, and there is no report of any operational response by USS Boxer,” Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior armed forces spokesman, was quoted as saying by Tasnim. “We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else,” tweeted Deputy Foreign…

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Michigan Beauty Pageant Winner Stripped of Title Over Past ‘Insensitive’ Tweets

Zachery Schmidt

  A model who supports President Donald Trump had her beauty queen crown removed after “inappropriate” past social media posts were discovered. Kathy Zhu, a Chinese immigrant, believes her Miss Michigan World America title was stripped because of her conservative beliefs. The former beauty pageant winner has a large social media following with almost 90,000 followers on Twitter (76,100) and Instagram (13,300) combined. Miss World America (MWA) sent an email to Zhu on Thursday explaining that her past social media posts violated its rules and conditions of “being a good character and whose background is not likely to bring into disrepute Miss World America or any person associated with the organization.” Zhu posted the email and her reaction to it on Twitter. “Miss World America’s State/National/Chief Director accused me of being racist, Islamaphobic, and insensitive. They stripped me of my Miss Michigan title due to my refusal to try on a hijab in 2018, my tweet about black on black gun violence, and ‘insensitive’ statistical tweets,” she said. https://twitter.com/PoliticalKathy/status/1152044590645616640 The former pageant winner had two 2018 social media posts come under question. In 2018, when she was a Central Florida University freshman, Zhu approached the Muslim Student Association booth celebrating…

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Kyrsten Sinema, Eight Other Senators Sign Letter to Speed Up Removal of Certain Migrants

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by Shelby Talcott   Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is aiming to implement a program at the U.S.-Mexico border that would speed up the removal of migrants without valid asylum claims. The Arizona Democrat joined eight other senators in signing a letter Wednesday to acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan, The Arizona Republic reported. The letter detailed how the pilot program, which is called “Operation Safe Return,” would allow for some migrants to be deported within 15 days, according to the letter. “This pilot program would apply to families who aren’t claiming ‘credible fear,’ which of course is the first threshold in seeking asylum,” Sinema told The Arizona Republic. “If someone says, ‘I left my country because I can’t make a living,’ [or] ‘It’s hard to take care of my family’ — that’s what we call an economic migrant.” Border Patrol would be given one to three days for “detailed, fair and accurate interviews” with migrant families. If the families are fearful of returning to their home countries, they would be deported, the newspaper reported. If a family is fearful, the next step would be for asylum officers to conduct a credible-fear interview. The officers would have nine days after the family…

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ICE Is Considering Opening a Detention Center in Maryland

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by Matt M. Miller   U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is considering opening a detention facility capable of containing hundreds of illegal migrants in Maryland. ICE posted an advertisement on a federal contracts forum in April that it was surveying potential locations for the facility near Baltimore, the Baltimore Sun reported. The facility reportedly would have the capacity to hold 600-800 detainees, according to the Baltimore Sun. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking for more detention facility space within 50-miles of its Baltimore field office.https://t.co/xsxxrVO88g — The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) July 18, 2019 The new facility would become the fourth detention facility in the state of Maryland, including centers in Frederick, Howard and Worcester counties. ICE is “continually reviewing its detention requirements and exploring acquisition options that will afford ICE the operational flexibility needed to house the full range of detainees in the agency’s custody,” ICE spokeswoman Justine Whelan said in a statement. The agency will consider the response to the detention facility advertisement to gage whether it would like to move forward with the project, Whelan explained. ICE officials posted the advertisement a few months after the end of a contract with Anne Arundel County to detain…

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New Private School in Nashville to Stress Critical Thinking and Character Education

Chris Butler

  NASHVILLE — A new private school set to open in the Nashville area one year from now will stress, among other things, character education and innovative thinking. That school, Thales Academy, will cost less than other private schools in the Nashville area, said Director of Operations and Academics Timothy Hall. School officials will open at a temporary incubator location in July 2020 in the area, Hall said. About 50 parents came out to hear Hall and other school officials discuss their plans at an information session at Nashville’s West End Community Church Friday. “This is a private school that will cost about $6,000 a year. In the Nashville market other private schools probably cost about $12,000 – $22,000,” Hall told The Tennessee Star. “For the beginning, it’ll be K-5, maybe K-8, depending on the enrollment and how that matches out. If we have the right enrollment then we’ll create a high school and junior high school as well.” School officials are looking concurrently for both an incubator location and a location for the permanent building afterwards, Hall said. According to slides Hall and others showed parents, Thales Academy teaches critical thinking and leadership skills, and it also teaches students…

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