RHEA COUNTY REPUBLICAN
ADVANCING THE CONSERVATIVE CAUSE
Vol. 3 – No. 10 December 2019
Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah!
RHEA COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Bitsy Gryder – Chairman Gary Drinkard – Vice Chairman
Laura Travis – Secretary Larry Pendergrass – Treasurer
Linda Pendergrass – Vice Treasurer
NEXT MEETING OF THE RHEA COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY
The December meeting has been cancelled. The next meeting of the Rhea County Republican Party will be held on Thursday, 9 January 2020, at 7:00 PM, at the Rhea County Sheriff’s Training Center, 711 Eagle Drive, Evensville, TN. (Bring a friend!)
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Work saves us from three great evils: boredom, vice, and need. – Voltaire
EDITORIAL
The summary of what has happened in the coup attempt since 2016 is as follows:
- Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in an electoral landslide. As soon as the Democrats stopped screaming at the sky, they started plotting against President Trump. https://www.foxnews.com/us/anti-trump-protesters-scream-helplessly-at-the-sky-to-demonstrate-on-election-anniversary
- President Trump entered the Oval Office with an agenda that could have and should have easily been passed by the Republican majorities in the House and https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2016/jul/15/donald-trumps-top-10-campaign-promises/
- On the day of his inauguration, the Democrats and their willing accomplices in the media formally announced their intentions to impeach President Trump. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/20/the-campaign-to-impeach-president-trump-has-begun/
- In spite of the Democrats’ vitriol – to disagree for the sake of disagreeing – President Trump has improved the lives of every American and has regained the respect of other countries around the world. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/trump-economy-smashes-expectations-2/
- The RINOs in the House and Senate blew it bigtime – they failed to pass legislation that would have repealed 0bamacare, secured the border, and repealed NAFTA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQ6g_EH6Yxs
- The understandably disenchanted crossover voters who had supported Donald Trump in 2016 either stayed home in 2018 or capitulated, and Democrats regained control over the House of Representatives in the midterms.
- On regaining control in the Lower Chamber, the Democrats, aided by their co-conspirators in the media launched a coup to impeach President Trump.
- Thus far, the Democrats have deployed the Steele Dossier (bought and paid for by Hillary Clinton and the DNC), which led to the FISA abuse that enabled the Mueller “Investigation,” and the recent “Impeachment Inquiry.”
On 26 November, U.S. District Court Judge Ketanji Brown (appointed by Barack 0bama), upheld the Democrats’ subpoena to call former White House Counsel Don McGahn. The White House claims that such subpoenas would destroy the historical President/Advisor confidentiality arrangement. If Brown’s decision stands, her ruling would set legal precedent that would enable Congress to successfully subpoena John Bolton, Mick Mulvaney, and other members and former members of the Trump administration. Adam Schiff is already calling the decision a “significant victory.”
On 4 December, the Impeachment Inquiry will transfer from Adam Schiff’s Intelligence Committee to Jerry Nadler’s Judiciary Committee, who has been tasked with recommending Articles of Impeachment to Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Currently, there is some question as to whether Nancy Pelosi can compel, coerce, and browbeat all 233 Democrats into voting to impeach President Trump. Unless 217 Democrats vote to send Articles of Impeachment to the Senate, the Democrats coup will have failed. This would be a crushing blow for the Democrat Party!
At this time, several Democrats who represent Districts that President Trump won have expressed a strong reluctance to commit their vote to impeach the President. They have each been summoned to the Speaker’s throne to be “re-educated.”
[ACTION ITEM: If you happen to reside in one of the Districts that President Trump won in 2016, and your Representative is also a Democrat, please ask your friends to join you in a call-in campaign to inform your Representative that you will campaign and vote against them if they vote to impeach President Trump! – Editor]
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has warned if Articles of Impeachment are forwarded to the Republican-held Senate, the Republicans will be able to call all the witnesses of their choosing while denying the same accommodation to the Democrats.
Currently at risk for the Democrats is the potential of Joe Biden’s prosecution under the “Emoluments Clause” (Article I, Section 9, Paragraph 8), over the use of his office to extort millions of dollars from the governments of Ukraine and China. If Joe Biden is prosecuted under the Emoluments Clause, might he also be prosecuted for withholding a billion dollar aid package to Ukraine until its former government relented on its investigation of Burisma? Then, there is the question of whether Hunter Biden might be convicted of being a party to extortion, or at least using political advantage to receive money from, a foreign government.
The Democrats know – just as do the Republicans – Joe Biden is way past his “expiration date.” Furthermore, it seems more obvious each day that Biden is too much of a centrist to adequately represent the new Democrat Party. However, if the Republicans can convince the Democrats that “others” in their Party might also be subjected to an inquisition in the Senate, there exists a glimmer of hope that the Democrats will come to their senses and vote against Articles of Impeachment.
IF the Republicans had anything resembling an “advantage,” other than the culpability of “Sleepy Joe Biden,” it might be their threat to pursue the rumblings, rumors, and innuendos that suggest Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Diane Feinstein, and others have used their office to enrich themselves in the way of dipping into the treasuries of foreign governments.
Finally, if the Republicans had anything resembling an “Ace in the hole,” it would be to try to use Joe Biden to bring down both Hillary Clinton and Barack 0bama by giving Joe Biden a chance to “cop a plea” in order to keep himself and his son out of prison. But, how might that happen?
Well, that Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in aid to Ukraine is a matter not questioned. What might be questioned is whether Hillary Clinton and Barack 0bama knew about it at the time! The thoughts of Lindsey Graham staring into the eyes of Clinton and 0bama and asking “What did you know and when did you know it?” is a scene that would bring chills down the spine of any Democrat.
Ultimately, one thing at this time is certain: Donald Trump is a truly great President – perhaps the best in our lifetime – but an impeachment trial would forever blemish Donald Trump’s presidency; his name would be filed with those of Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton as U.S. Presidents who were impeached. Donald Trump does NOT deserve that, and both we and those who represent us in government must do all we can to prevent it!
ON THE HOME FRONT
School Funding Updates
According to a recent issue of Tennessee’s “Capitol Hill Report,” funding for Tennessee schools has increased by more than $1.5 billion over the past eight years. This has improved the salaries and retirement benefits for teachers, broadened vocational and technical curricula, and improved school safety.
The Fiscal Year 2019-2020 budget supports these goals by making an $11.3 billion total investment in education. This investment includes:
- $6.6 billion in K-12 funding;
- $186 million in new education dollars;
- Approximately $71 million will fund teacher salaries;
- $39.4 million to fully fund the state’s Basic Education Program to cover growth and inflation in the funding formula;
- An additional $40 million to secure our schools, and;
- $25 million to expand vocational and technical training opportunities for our future leaders.
According to the report, Tennessee students are the fastest improving in the entire nation across math, reading, and science.
[Given that Tennessee students have been among the lowest performing in the United States in recent years, I would hate to think their performance had declined. – Editor]
Bledsoe County Reagan Day Dinner was a Success!
A contingent of Rhea County Republican Party Members crossed the mountain on November 2nd to join many others in attending the Bledsoe County Reagan Day Dinner. Those who attended the event were not disappointed!
Chairperson Suzanne Sapp and the BCRP Officers greeted us warmly.
Ms. Lola Sells prepared a delicious meal and the Bledsoe County Republican Britt, and Tanya Roberson did the planning, set up, and decorating.
The events of the evening were carried out smoothly by the Honorable Justin Angel, who served as Master of Ceremonies.
Notable moments during the evening included: US Army Capt. Will Sarrell’s (Ret) presentation of the colors; a brief update on the Young Republicans Federation, from Ethan White, and; the presentation of the Sue Robnett Republican of the Year Award to Emma Boynton (who has served as the Bledsoe County Register of Deeds since 1998).
Dr. Scott DesJarlais (TN-R, 4th District) was the Keynote Speaker and, as always, he provided an informative, uplifting, and inspiring address. We are indeed fortunate to have him as our Representative!
All those in attendance were in a celebratory mood, the smiles on our host’s faces let us know that we were welcomed and that we were among friends. The smiles on our faces let them know how much we appreciated their hospitality.
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Who do you think will win the Democrat nomination to run against President Trump?
Readers are encouraged to share their responses to the Question of the Month. Please send your thoughts to: pyrope84045@mypacks.net – Editor
RANDOM THOUGHTS
If our public schools do not teach our Constitution, the next generations will not know: Article 1 Section 1 – That all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness; for the advancement of those ends they have at all times, an unalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform, or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper. We do not have to put up with the mess our government has made and it is our job to change it!
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Charles Payne, a regular on Fox News Channel and Fox Business Channel is an inspiration to Americans; he grew up in Harlem, worked hard at many various jobs, earned an education, and became a self-made multimillionaire. It is the story of his life that piqued my interest in a book he wrote Unstoppable Prosperity, in which he lays out the stock investment strategy he has used to outperform the markets year after year. His book is replete with definitions, strategies, and graphs, and is punctuated with personal anecdotes that are designed to help the novice investor to do well. While I am still in the experimental and hypothetical stages of developing better investment strategies, I have read enough to become convinced that this book serves both as a primer to the new investor and a tool for sharpening the skills of the seasoned investor.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
We’ve all heard about the uncontrollable wildfires – accompanied by days long power outages because of an electric grid that has not been brought up to minimum standards – that have plagued our friends in California. It should serve as a reminder – a warning if you will – that the United States is becoming more each day like one of those “third world countries” that we so often pity . . . and admonish! This is what one must expect when we, as citizens, fail to live up to our responsibilities in making our government serve us instead of being slaves to our government!
RANDOM THOUGHTS
According to the Washington Post, the United States ranks 7th in the world in literacy. Only 38% of high school seniors can read on grade level. (Keep in mind that the national achievement standards were lowered in 2013!) That same report revealed that 14% of adults in the U.S. are illiterate, 28% of adults did not read a book last year, and 50% of adults cannot read a book written at the 8th grade level. Way back in 1761, John Adams offered some thoughts on the necessity of literacy and those thoughts still hold true today:
“The very Ground of our Liberties, is the freedom of Elections. Every Man has in Politicks as well as Religion, a Right to think and speak and Act for himself. No man either King or Subject, Clergyman or Layman has any Right to dictate to me the Person I shall choose for my Legislator and Ruler. I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any Man judge, unless his Mind has been opened and enlarged by Reading. A Man who can read, will find in his Bible, in the common sermon Books that common People have by them and even in the Almanack and News Papers, Rules and observations, that will enlarge his Range of Thought, and enable him the better to judge who has and who has not that Integrity of Heart, and that Compass of Knowledge and Understanding, which form the Statesman.”
Considering the state of the modern election circus, would you say it’s high time for Americans to step up their literacy game?
[Thanks to Annie Holmquist, Editor of Intellectual Takeout, for this Random Thought. – Editor]
RANDOM THOUGHTS
A king can stand people’s fighting, but he can’t last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist (4 Nov 1879-1935)
COMMENTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES
Representative Randy Weber (R-TX-14th District) offered the following comments on the measures brought to the floor on 31 November, concerning the Democrats’ efforts to launch a coup (impeach) President Trump.
Today’s strictly partisan vote does not change a thing.
This resolution is deeply flawed and gives Democrats on the Intelligence Committee – led by Adam Schiff – unprecedented power. Schiff, the “Witch Hunt King” has lied to the American people.
Before their resolution, 110 Members were allowed to participate in the investigation. After the resolution, only 22 Members may participate. This excludes hundreds of millions of Americans’ Representatives from this already partisan process. The resolution also gives Democrats full control of witnesses and subpoenas, and Schiff can now authorize or decline witnesses subpoenaed by the Minority Ranking Member.
Even worse, the resolution restricts the ability of the White House to defend itself or present its case to the House Intelligence Committee, denying the President basic due process rights.
Even during the Clinton impeachment inquiry, lawyers for President Clinton were granted 30 hours over two days to defend the President before the committee.
How many times do we have to go over the same thing?
- The President did nothing wrong.
- The president released the call transcript to the public.
- There was no quid pro quo.
- No Ukrainian has said they felt pressured, including Ukraine’s President himself.
- Aid flowed to Ukraine without any investigation occurring.
- President Trump is the only President who has given lethal aid to Ukraine – not once, not twice, but three times.
Democrats have not gotten over the results of the 2016 election and know they cannot beat President Trump at the ballot box, so they continue to push this impeachment charade.
Earlier this year Speaker Pelosi said that she would only support impeachment if it were “overwhelming and bipartisan.” Clearly, that is not the case! Not one Republican voted YES. Better yet, two Democrats, realizing this resolution is a sham, voted NO!
We all know this impeachment inquiry is purely political! Dems have had one goal since the day President Trump was elected – Resist, Obstruct, Impeach!
It’s time to focus on passing real legislation and end the witch hunt!
Representative Mark Green (R-TN, 7th District) 31 October 2019 offered the following communication regarding H. Res. 660:
The vote is rigged. The deck is stacked. That’s why I am voting NO on today’s resolution to formalize the impeachment inquiry against President Trump.
This resolution is supposed to ensure fairness and transparency. It does no such thing, because House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Congressman Adam Schiff have tucked in provisions allowing them to strip away the President’s rights if things aren’t going their way.
Due process if Democrats feel like it isn’t due process at all. This resolution consolidates Adam Schiff’s power, despite his track record of lying to the American people, and cuts out the small number of Members who have been able to take part in hearings so far.
The resolution before us today does absolutely nothing to guarantee the people of Tennessee will have a say.
Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced that she has joined with U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Jerry Moran (R-KA.), who are Members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, which has jurisdiction over the internet and consumer protection, to introduce the Filter Bubble Transparency Act. The bill would require large-scale internet platforms that collect data from more than 1 million users and gross more than $50 million per year to provide greater transparency to consumers and allow users to view content that has not been curated as a result of a secret algorithm. The Filter Bubble Transparency Act would make it easier for internet platform users to understand the potential manipulation that exists with secret algorithms and require large-scale platforms to allow those users to consume information outside of that potential manipulation zone or “filter bubble.”
[The text of the still un-numbered bill may be viewed at the following link: https://www.thune.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/c3a43550-7c36-4f77-b05c-d2275c0d568c/CE3DDB84DDB9284CC6D372833D039A20.filter-bubble-final.pdf -Editor]
Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Speaker of the Senate
Democrats have wanted to impeach President Trump since day one. So when you watch their impeachment hearings, remember that they’ve already made up their minds.
Just as they made up their minds against Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Before his nomination was even announced, left-wing activists carried blank signs around the Supreme Court saying “STOP ____________”.
When Kavanaugh was announced, they wrote in his name and the liberal smear campaign began.
COMMENTS FROM READERS
Readers are encouraged to submit their thoughts, opinions, ideas, and announcements from their city, county, state, and country. Please share your ideas, thoughts, opinions, and announcements by emailing them to pyrope84045@mypacks.net . Your fellow Conservatives want to hear from you! – Editor
Dr. Merrily Salyer, a reader from Sterling, VA shared the following:
Loudoun County has been declared a sanctuary county!!! Also, in Virginia, if someone is robbed of $1500 or less it can no longer be filed in court as a felony.
Harrison Lapahie, a reader from Shiprock, NM offers the following comment:
Trump does not stand for those who commit murder, who want to destroy America, to those who discriminate against Christians and Jews. Trump did not divide America, Obama did. Trump is trying his best to MAGA! The Dems are resisting 100% to MAGA since Trump was elected. The Dems are dividing America! It seems the stupid people, Communist, Socialists, and Liberals stand for the Dems. The Dems stand for killing new born babies, for abortion, for open borders, to giving illegal aliens citizenship over those who are following the law in trying to be Americans. The Dems stand against the Heavenly Father. That’s the way it is!
Demetri Antonis, a reader from Newport, Kentucky offered the following comment:
There’s a lot of nasal mucus and malice in “woke” America about white Rednecks. Most of it coming from such cornflowers and honeysuckles as college professors, witless suburban nonentities, assorted twits in big cities and zombie college students. By “Redneck,” these bundles of intellectual lingerie seem to mean anyone without a college degree who can hang a door or lube his car. Recently, one such professor, some sort of biochemical cur, figured that Rednecks were examples of poor evolutionary fitness… Compared to him, I guess.
Let me enlighten you about Rednecks. They’re probably the only people in the whole country that ain’t unfit. What used to be Davy Crockett’s country today is full mostly of people who can’t do anything for themselves. They call someone else to fix the plumbing, shoot the burglar, gap their plugs, build their houses, and get their kids off drugs. If the cat dies they need a pet-loss grief-management counselor. From a Redneck’s point of view, the United States is turning fast into people like those nasty white grubs that nekkid savages in New Guinea eat, only with legs. Rednecks are resourceful. They change their own transmissions, replaced clutch plates, wire the barns they build. They run a farm, keep old tractors going, blast a stump, raise hogs and slaughter them. They know guns. They can hunt, shoot, and fish. Kill a man who needs killin’, cut cordwood, split logs, dig foundations. If they want a wall, they lay the brick. If something breaks, they fixed it. A man like that has some depth to him. He knows what life is. He has lived it. This professor is like one of those polished jewels of the British upper classes, except bright, and pig-ignorant of the world. If you spend ten years in labs to get your meal ticket, you don’t have time to amount to much. Besides, when the shite hits the fan the cornflowers and honeysuckles will just be fodder. You need a man like Davy in your foxhole:
“I would rather be beaten and be a man than to be elected and be a little puppy dog. I have always supported measures and principles and not men. I have acted fearless[ly] and independent and I never will regret my course. I would rather be politically buried than to be hypocritically immortalized.” ~ Davy Crockett, 1830
Rocky Silverman, a reader from Seattle, WA share his reflections on Veterans Day:
On this Veterans Day the following words need to be repeated.
It is the Soldier, not the minister, who has given us freedom of religion.
It is the Soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the Soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to protest.
It is the Soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the Soldier, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote.
It is the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protester to burn the flag.
– Army Veteran Charles M. Province
At one point in their lives, every veteran wrote a blank check made payable to “The People of the United States of America” for an amount up to and including their life.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” —John 15:12-14
Pam Whitson, a reader from Chicagoland recommended and article revealing that, according to a study conducted by the University of Illinois at Chicago, Illinois is the second-most corrupt state in the nation. According to the study, corruption costs the state economy at least $550 million per year, but revealed that government corruption is nothing new. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/2019-illinois-corruption-tracker/?fbclid=IwAR3a5yiE97k_lK9CCZssdn-w7t8hweu2vCrtxcDFB3p0etx3DWKA2Nv5-k4
[While government corruption in Illinois has gotten a lot of attention over the years, it certainly isn’t unique. You might be surprised by what you’ll learn at the following link!
http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/most-corrupt-states/ – Editor]
Harold Bessemer, a reader from Champion Forest, TX offered the following:
Your Question of the Month (November), on whether the United States should withdraw from the UN is one I think most Americans ask on a regular basis – every time we read or hear something about the UN in the news. I’ve been saying we should for many years and have written to my congressmen about it but every last one of them are too dumb to understand the dangers the UN poses to our country.
Steve Cooper, a reader from Chestnut Grove, VA offered the following comment:
I never thought I’d have to admit it, but my home state has gone “Blue.” Unfortunately, during the process, the Democrat Party has also filed for moral bankruptcy.
One of the many Democrats elected to the Virginia Senate on Tuesday is Joe Morrissey, a convicted sex offender, child molester, and disbarred lawyer.
Morrissey was jailed and lost his license to practice law after being convicted of having sex with his 17-year-old secretary. Thanks to a liberal prosecutor, he was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, and ended up serving only three months in a “work-release term.”
Morrissey was also forced to resign from his seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, but he ran again in the special election and was re-elected.
Morrissey then went on to marry the girl in 2016, and she gave birth to their first child at 19. They now have three children together. Morrissey is 62.
Looking around me, it seems that Democrats are pretty much the same all over this country and if I was a Democrat, I would be ashamed of it.
Rocky Silverman, a reader from Seattle, WA offers the following:
Mollie Hemingway wrote an interesting article in The Federalist entitled “How Republicans Won Phase One of Impeachment.” She covers the topic pretty well:
She writes on how the Democrats are determined to impeach the president regardless of not quite being able to focus on a single reason to impeach him. The Republicans did quite well; presently a focused defense. She covers the polling which showed increasing support for the president and decreasing interest in impeachment. And to be sure she wrote about the media’s attempt to hype the impeachment cause. It’s much we already know but it’s a well written detailed explanation of how the Democrats failed to make their case.
My own perspective is I now doubt the Democrats will advance an impeachment vote to the senate. They will choose instead to vote some form of condemnation of the president in the house. We learned a lot about the deep state. This impeachment effort revealed an anti-American and globalist nature of our state department which the president is working around and battling.
LEGISLATIVE REPORT
The Legislative Report provides some of the more remarkable bills that have been introduced in Congress. Its purpose is to provide the reader with information about pending legislation that may prompt the reader to contact their representatives to express their views. The reader is encouraged to keep informed about all legislation so they may be aware of bills that effect our lives. Decide today that you will make your voice heard. If you remain silent, your representatives will never know your thoughts! – Editor
Tennessee –
HB 1553
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 10; Title 33; Title 38; Title 39; Title 40; Title 50 and Title 70, relative to the carrying of firearms. (Bruce Griffey, R-District 75). http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/111/Bill/HB1553.pdf
This bill would create a law similar to that of Constitutional Carry states.
The bill would amend 39-17-1307 of the Tennessee Code by allowing firearm owners without a carry permit to be “entitled to the same defenses and exceptions as a person who has been issued a handgun carry permit.” The firearm owner would have to be legally in possession of the firearm and not be prohibited from purchasing a firearm in their state of residence to qualify.
Other states recognizing “Constitutional Carry” include Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Washington DC –
HR 2514 COUNTER Act of 2019 (Cleaver, D-MO, 68 pages). “Coordinating Oversight, Upgrading and Innovating Technology and Examiner Reform Act of 2019” This bill makes reforms to the Federal Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering laws, and for other purposes. The bill passed in the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support and has been forwarded to the Senate for consideration. For more information, see https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/31/5312#a
S Amdt. 1019 to HR 3055 to reduce the amounts appropriated to be 2% less than the amount appropriated for fiscal year 2019 (Paul R-KY). Senator Rand Paul’s amendment would have reduced allocations to all government budgets by two cents on every dollar. The Amendment was rejected by a vote of 67 to 24, with 9 Senators not voting. Those Senators who voted in favor of the Amendment were: Sullivan (R-AK), Rubio (R-FL), Perdue (R-GA), Crapo and Risch (R-ID), Braun (R-IN), Ernst and Grassley (R-IA), Paul (R-KY), Kennedy (R-LA), Daines (R-MT), Fischer and Sasse (R-NE), Inhofe and Lankford (R-OK), Scott (R-SC), Blackburn (R-TN), Cornyn and Cruz (R-TX), Lee and Romney (R-UT), Johnson (R-WI), and Barasso and Enzi (R-WY).
[I am certain those Senators who voted to reduce spending would appreciate your thanks. – Editor]
H Res. 660 Directing certain committees to continue their ongoing investigations as part of the existing House of Representatives inquiry into whether sufficient grounds exist for the House of Representatives to exercise its Constitutional power to impeach Donald John Trump, President of the United States, and for other purposes (McGovern, D-MA, 7 pages). This Resolution was approved by mainly a partisan vote with 2 Democrats – Peterson of MN and Van Drew of NJ – voting against it.
[And the coup continues. – Editor]
S 2755 A bill to require a report on the plan to secure the enduring defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Schumer, D-NY, 8 pages). This bill is problematic on numerous levels. The first aspect one notes is the list of co-sponsors; among them are the most prominent “Trump haters” in Washington, DC: Menendez, Leahy, Durbin, Peters, Feinstein, Murray, Reed, Stabenow, and Warner. What motive do the sponsors have other than to advance their coup against President Trump? Second on the list of concerns might be the demands on report deliverables, and the fact that the report is required to contain significant amounts of classified data. Although there might be a provision to redact classified data, the proclivity of Democrats to leak such data to their operatives and foreign agents, which in turn would weaken – if not totally compromise – any strategies our President might have to defeat Islam before they inflict further harm on American citizens? Finally, in examining the deliverables for their report it becomes apparent that President Trump is being set up to fail – if, at any time in the future – Islam calculates the means to harm our country or any of its foreign assets, Mr. Schumer and his pals can point to the items in their report and celebrate that our President failed. A copy of the bill may be found at the following link; I would encourage the reader to read Section 1, Paragraphs (a) through (c). https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/116/s2755/text
HR 4674 College Affordability Act (Scott, D-VA, 1165 pages). To amend and strengthen the Higher Education Act of 1965 to lower the cost of college for students and families, to hold colleges accountable for students’ success, and to give a new generation of students the opportunity to graduate on-time and transition to a successful career.
When one sees the introduction of a bill that is thicker than the phone book for all the boroughs of New York City, there is an immediate cause for alarm. When one sees the introduction of such a bill and knows beyond doubt that the individual credited as being its author could not have possibly written such a bill in his or her lifetime, there is cause for outright panic! However, in examining the stated purpose of this bill, there is enough transparency to allow the construction of scenarios that would lead to its purposes being accomplished: To lower the costs for college students and families, and; to hold colleges accountable for the students’ success.
There are two possible ways that costs for attending college might be reduced: the government can force colleges to lower tuition, professors’ salaries, housing, food, transportation, and books, or; the taxpayer can be forced to subsidize colleges and universities through the confiscation of increased taxes. What does the rational human being think Representative Scott’s bill would demand?
The second of the stated goals in this bill – “to hold colleges accountable for the students’ success” – could only have been conjured up by someone who is totally detached from reality (and in desperate need of psychiatric intervention to treat their delusions). If the demands of Mr. Scott’s bill had ended with the students’ graduating on time, all the colleges would have to do is to (further) lower their grading standards so that even the dimmest individual in the student body could earn “passing” grades, but NO!, Mr. Scott’s bill would put the colleges on the hook to enable the student to “transition to a successful career.” Does Mr. Scott have a bill that officially redefines “success?”
HR 4863 United States Export Finance Agency Act of 2019 (Waters, D-CA, 36 pages). The stated purpose of this bill is: “To promote the competitiveness of the United States, to reform and reauthorize the United States Export Finance Agency, and for other purposes.” The actual purpose of this bill is to establish a quota-hiring scheme that is locked into place for ten years.
Closer examination of Section 6 of this bill requires that hiring and placement within the “United States Export Finance Agency” which was formerly known as “The Export-Import Bank of the United States,” shall be accomplished in a manner that reflects all demographics within the United States at all levels of responsibility within the organization.
By way of example, in order for the United States Export Finance Agency to meet the requirements of Ms. Waters’ bill, its Executive Staff (as well as all other levels of employment) would have to be comprised of 49% men and 51% women of whom 62% are Caucasian, 13% are black, 5% are Asian, 0.5% Native American, 0.5%Pacific Islanders, and 17% Hispanic. Among those percentages, 3.8% would have to identify as LGBTQ. Finally, a “representative sample” of personnel would have to be graduates of black and Tribal colleges and universities.
There is NO requirement that placement at any level within the organization shall be based on an employee’s skills, education, abilities, work ethic, or any other trait that addresses merit.
This bill passed in the House by a vote of 235/184. Thirteen Republicans voted to pass the bill – Roby (AL), Hunter (CA), Kinzinger (IL), Upton (MI), Wagner (MO), Leutkemeyer (MO), Graves (MO), Long (MO), Stefanik (NY), Reed (NY), Katko (NY), Fitzpatrick (PA), Newhouse (WA).
Dear Senator Blackburn:
I just read that H.R. 4863 – United States Export Finance Act of 2019 – passed in the House. Having read the text of this bill, I find it disturbing that this bill should have passed and I am writing to ask that you lead in its defeat in the Senate. This is what I’m most concerned about in H.R. 4863.
The stated purpose of this bill is: “To promote the competitiveness of the United States, to reform and reauthorize the United States Export Finance Agency, and for other purposes.” The actual purpose of this bill is to establish a quota-hiring scheme that is locked into place for ten years.
Closer examination of Section 6 of this bill requires that hiring and placement within the “United States Export Finance Agency” which was formerly known as “The Export-Import Bank of the United States,” shall be accomplished in a manner that reflects all demographics within the United States at all levels of responsibility within the organization.
By way of example, in order for the United States Export Finance Agency to meet the requirements of Ms. Waters’ bill, its Executive Staff (as well as all other levels of employment) would have to be comprised of 49% men and 51% women of whom 62% are Caucasian, 13% are black, 5% are Asian, 0.5% Native American, 0.5%Pacific Islanders, and 17% Hispanic. Among those percentages, 3.8% would have to identify as LGBTQ. Finally, a “representative sample” of personnel would have to be graduates of black and Tribal colleges and universities.
There is NO requirement that placement at any level within the organization shall be based on an employee’s skills, education, abilities, work ethic, or any other trait that addresses MERIT!!!
I hope you will share my letter with your colleagues and urge them to DEFEAT this ridiculous legislation.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Kris Bancroft, Editor
The Rhea County Republican
S 565 Billion Dollar Boondoggle Act of 2019 (Ernst, R-IA, 4 pages). A bill to require the Director of the Office of Management and Budget to submit to Congress an annual report on projects that are over budget and behind schedule, and for other purposes.
S 2560 Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2019 (Peters, D-MI, 7 pages). A bill to amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, to require the budget justifications and appropriation requests of agencies be made publicly available.
S 2765 A bill to improve Federal fiscal controls and the congressional budgeting process (Enzi, R-WY, 95 pages). This bill is one of several of late that have been introduced subsequent to a Resolution offered by Rand Paul, R-KY, that called for a 2% reduction in the budgets of all Federal entities.
HR 5084 Improving Corporate Governance through Diversity Act of 2019 (Meeks, D-NY, 6 pages). This bill requires the Securities and Exchange Commission to establish an Office of Minority and Women Inclusion and forces private corporations to submit detailed reports which prove to the Securities and Exchange Commission that they meet the preset standards established by the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion. Should the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion find itself unable, in the context of this ruling, to establish criteria for what may be defined as “Inclusion,” it is instructed to solicit public comments, pursuant to Title 5, US Code, Chapter 5, subchapter II (A). This bill was passed in the House of Representatives by a party line vote of 281/135.
HR 4300 Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act of 2019 (Dean, D-PA, 12 pages). This bill provides funds to house young adults who have left foster care. They are given an opportunity to continue evading responsibility for their own independence. This bill passed by voice vote.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
March for Our Lives, the gun-control group . . . has issued what it has termed a “peace plan.” A better description might be: “A Comprehensive Plan to Abolish the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.” At its core the program seeks to transmute gun ownership from a liberty that can be asserted against the government into a privilege that Americans can enjoy only with the permission of the state. Or, to put it another way, the program aims to repeal the Second Amendment without going through all that unpleasant “written amendment” stuff. – Charles C. W. Cooke, in “America’s 1st Freedom.
LAGNIAPPE
[What is possibly one of the most under-reported stories in November was a meeting hosted by President Trump for him to hear the stories of five individuals who escaped communist countries and, on becoming proud Naturalized American Citizens, have committed their time and resources toward repaying our wonderful country for allowing them to become Americans by sharing with others the dangers of communism and socialism. Fortunately, Fred Lucas, the White House correspondent for The Daily Signal, wrote an excellent article that I trust you will find insightful. – Editor]
Before immigrating to the United States, Grace Jo and her mother tried to escape from North Korea to another communist country, China, but Chinese authorities sent them back to the nation where Jo’s brothers had been starved to death and her father had been killed by the regime in Pyongyang.
“When I witnessed that, I felt and I believed that my country is not giving us any freedom, and there is no human rights at all,” Jo, now vice president of North Korean Refugees in the USA, said Thursday at the White House after a meeting with President Donald Trump.
Trump spoke with five survivors of communist regimes in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, two years after he became the first president to recognize Nov. 7 as National Day for the Victims of Communism.
Communism is an ideology responsible for the deaths of an estimated 100 million in the 20th century at the hands of about 40 governments across Europe, Asia, and Latin America.
Thursday marked the 102nd anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the first country where communists seized control.
“After I came to America, I learned how we can live as a human being, and I learned—Wow!—this freedom is amazing,” Jo told reporters, adding: “We all are equal, and we are God’s creation. We deserve to be treated as human beings, and I would like to ask the United States to enforce the sanctions against the North Korean regime, because that is the only way North Korea and their regime will change their policy.”
Others at the gathering included Aldona Wos, who lived in Poland when it was under Communist rule and who now serves as vice chairman of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. Wos previously served as U.S. ambassador to Estonia under President George W. Bush.
“I want to express our ‘thank you’ to President Trump for honoring the memory of 100 million people who died and were persecuted under the communist regimes, under the failed ideology of communism,” Wos said.
“My entire family, as well as millions of other people of Poland, suffered tremendously under communism,” she added. “I am extremely grateful and blessed to be an American and live in the United States, in a country that offers us the opportunity to live in dignity, in freedom, and to fulfill our full potential.”
Sirley Avila Leon of Cuba told reporters that she once strongly supported the communism of that nation’s Castro regime, worked in municipal government, and even had a son serving in the military. But, she said, the Cuban government targeted her when she began to question the regime’s bureaucracy, corruption, and brutality.
Also in attendance was Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, known as the blogger and writer “Mother Mushroom,” a human rights activist for the people of Vietnam. She was a political prisoner in Vietnam for two years before being sent into exile in the U.S. in October 2018 after then-Defense Secretary James Mattis visited Vietnam.
Daniel Di Martino came to the United States from Venezuela in 2016 to attend Purdue University in Indianapolis. He said his was a middle-class family before Venezuela’s socialist government seized their gas station.
“When I left, we were making $2 per day because of hyperinflation and price controls and nationalization,” Di Martino told reporters. “So, it is very important that Americans know that socialism doesn’t work. It doesn’t work because it goes against human nature, and against our incentives to work for our own benefits, for our families benefit.”
“I want to keep America a country that is free and a country where everybody is able to prosper,” he said.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
You say “the country is messed up.” That’s like cursing the soil and the seed and the sunshine and the rain, which is all you’ve got. When you get your own planet, you can rearrange the whole deal. This one, you’ve got to take it like it comes.
CONTACT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES
| President Donald Trump
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington D.C. 20500 Phone: (202) 456-1414 Fax: (202) 456-2461 |
U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander
455 Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 40 – Suite 2 Washington D.C. 20510 Phone: (202) 244-4944 Fax: (202) 228-3398 |
| U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn
B40B Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone: (202) 224-3344 Fax: (202) 228-0566 To contact visit website: |
U.S Representative Dr. Scott DesJarlais
2301 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Phone: (202) 225-6831 Fax: (202) 226-5172 |
| Governor Bill Lee
Tennessee State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Phone: (615) 741-2001 Fax: (615) 532-9711 |
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
https://www.speaker.gov/contact Link above provides all methods of contact.
Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=contact
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| State Representative Ron Travis
301 Sixth Avenue North Suite G-3 War Memorial Building Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Phone: (615) 741-1450
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State Senator Ken Yager
301 Sixth Avenue North Suite G-19 War Memorial Building Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Phone: (615) 741-1449 Fax: (615) 253-0237 |
