Tag: President Donald Trump

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

GOP Senate Candidate George Flinn Bashes Trump

George Flinn

Critics of Donald Trump express reactions ranging from mystification to outrage that the controversial president seems to escape adverse judgment from fellow Republicans. And indeed, there aren’t many who, like Utah Senator Mitt Romney, have been willing to take Trump to task.

For what it’s worth, Tennessee has a GOP candidate, one running for the U.S. Senate, who has looked at Trump’s record and is willing to call it blameworthy.

This would be George Flinn, the wealthy physician and broadcast magnate who has gained a reputation as something of a perennial candidate, pouring millions of dollars every two years into unsuccessful campaigns for this or that political office. Flinn served one term and part of another as a Shelby County commissioner, and he came close to winning the Republican primary for the 8th District congressional seat in 2016.

With only days to go before the state’s August 6th Republican primary, voters are asked to levy judgment on him as a candidate one more time. Flinn is attempting to distinguish himself from presumed GOP senatorial frontrunners Bill Hagerty and Manny Sethi by going where other Republicans — here and elsewhere — have feared to tread.

Flinn is blasting away at Trump, on two main grounds: 1) what he sees as the president’s slavish attitude toward Russian leader Vladimir Putin; and 2) Trump’s mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“He won’t hold Putin to account for all the aggressive actions he’s taking against us in America,” saId Flinn, who expressed particular outrage at Trump’s inability or unwillingness to confront Putin over alleged bounties offered by the Russians to the Taliban in return for assassinations of American personnel in Afghanistan.

“They [Hagerty and Sethi] won’t say anything critical of Trump for this, but I’m denouncing it,” Flinn said.

The other issue Flinn raises is what he, as a doctor, sees as the president’s confused and belated responses to the Covid-19 crisis. “He’s finally been willing to set an example by putting on a mask. That’s 108 days and 138,000 deaths too late. And he’s wasted so much time taking nonsense about relying on hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, as a cure for the coronavirus.

“And, instead of relying on Dr. [Anthony] Fauci and others, he’s recently been trying to give credibility to that woman who believes that people get the virus by having sex with demons in their sleep” This last was a reference to eccentric theories recently pushed by Stella Emmanuel, a Houston doctor.

Flinn pointedly recalled that the 2018 GOP Senate primary had been regarded most of the way as a duel between Republican rivals Randy Boyd and Diane Black, who fought each other to a standstill while a third candidate, current Governor Bill Lee, slipped by them both to win the primary.

Clearly, he is suggesting a similar outcome for his candidacy this year as Hagerty, a former ambassador to Japan who has been endorsed by Trump, and Sethi, a Nashville-area doctor, compete with each other, both keeping to laudatory or uncritical remarks about the president.

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Opinion The Last Word

Suffering From Trump-itis?

This president makes me sick. Literally. After enduring relentless night sweats during restless sleep, I felt light-headed and dizzy. Any exertion left me exhausted. I thought a nice shower might help, but I ended up having to lie down while attempting to zen away my rapid, palpitating heartbeat. Walking from bedroom to den was encumbered with an equilibrium imbalance that left me clutching the wall. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I tried to act calmly so as not to frighten my wife, but Melody could see through my charade and suggested we go to the emergency room.

Rather than go to the ER on a Saturday night, we instead called the doctor’s service, which asked if we had a blood pressure monitor in the house. When Melody hooked me up and the cuff finally loosened from my bicep, my blood pressure was off the charts. A Xanax eased the situation until I could call my doctor on Monday. By miraculous luck, someone had canceled their three o’clock appointment and I was able to grab it. When my blood work was suspect, I was sent to a nephrologist, then a urologist, before returning to my primary doctor. The prognosis? Hypertension combined with acid reflux was disturbing my stability.

So, now I’m on daily blood pressure and digestive medications. When I asked the doctor if he had any further instructions, he said, “Turn off the news and play more guitar.”

But it’s hard to ignore or escape the American Horror Story sitting in the White House. After the thoroughly co-opted and corrupted Republican Senate aquitted the president from two articles of impeachment, the gaseous windbag felt emboldened enough to take a couple of victory laps. After President Clinton’s impeachment, Wild Bill appeared in the Rose Garden alone, showed contrition, and apologized to the country for his indiscretions that prompted the R-rated ordeal that followed.

Trump chose to show up at the annual prayer breakfast, ordinarily a non-political event that focuses on faith, and launch a diatribe against his perceived enemies, calling the top FBI officials “scum” and questioning Nancy Pelosi’s faith while she sat just feet away. Trump addressed the gathering declaring: “As everybody knows, my family, our great country, and your president have been put through a terrible ordeal by some very dishonest and corrupt people.” He could just as well have been referring to his rotten cabinet that cheered him on.

Appearing in the East Room of the White House after the breakfast, Trump instigated a vendetta against impeachment witnesses that would have made Richard Nixon blanch. Referring to fired FBI Director James Comey as “that sleazebag” and Nancy Pelosi as “a horrible person,” Trump gathered his minions, sent them out on cable TV, and prepared to get some payback.

Gordon Sondland, the million-dollar Republican donor recalled from his post as ambassador to the European Union, was the first victim of Trump’s retribution. Then, “simmering with rage,” as his aides attested, Trump had impeachment witness Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman fired from his position on the National Security Council and escorted by security guards from the White House grounds — along with his twin brother, who had nothing to do with the impeachment, just in case Trump couldn’t tell them apart.

Only a month ago, Trump pardoned an Army soldier convicted of war crimes. Now he’s dismissed a decorated veteran who had earned a Purple Heart in combat. Trump then asked the Pentagon to investigate Vindman for any potential wrongdoing. The Pentagon declined.

The idiot man-child then demanded that the House “expunge” his impeachment, calling the whole thing a “hoax.” Like the Bizarro Superman of comic book fame, Trump protects the guilty while punishing the innocent.

Emboldened by his acquittal, Trump began to purge the unfaithful from his administration, enlisting the Justice Department and Trump’s slavish attorney general, William Barr, to exact revenge on his critics. Trump’s obedient protector immediately appointed an outside prosecutor to examine the origins of the investigation into the former National Security Advisor and disgraced convicted liar Michael Flynn. After that, Barr interfered with the sentencing recommendations of convicted comic villain Roger Stone. All four government prosecutors resigned from the case, prompting more than 1,100 former prosecutors and Justice Department officials to call for Barr’s resignation.

I say impeach his ass again. Seriously. This bloated megalomaniac thinks because he was acquitted by a fearful Republican Senate that he’s home free to continue his work as capo of the Trump crime family. There were at least 10 more charges of obstruction of justice outlined in the Mueller report. They weren’t included in this impeachment go-round because Robert Mueller wasn’t very telegenic and failed to move public opinion. Mueller clearly stated that the outlaw president could not be charged only because of a legal “opinion” that prevents a sitting president from indictment. Mueller told congress, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so.” He never said so. In fact, Mueller reported to the shyster Attorney General that his probe found “multiple acts by the president that were capable of exerting undue influence over law enforcement investigations,” which translates into a profusion of abuse of power.

Mueller’s 448-page report was dismissed after most Americans didn’t bother reading it. I ordered the report in book form, but the print was small enough to require a magnifying glass, and was so dense, it was like trying to read War and Peace in Sanskrit.

It didn’t matter. All of Mueller’s evidence of criminality was ignored. No president in history has been more deserving of removal from office than this counterfeit con man. Until this cruel fool is displaced from our collective reality, I’ll be here at home — playing the guitar.

Randy Haspel writes the “Recycled Hippies” blog.

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News News Blog

State Lawmakers Want to Halt Refugee Resettlement in Tennessee

CREDIT: World Relief

World Relief

Refugee family reunites at airport

A Tennessee bill introduced this week would require the state and local governments to refuse to consent to refugee resettlement.

This comes after Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee approved the refugee resettlement agreement with the Trump Administration last month.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in September, giving states until December 25th to opt in or out of the program. Lee opted Tennessee into the program in a letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in late December.

“The United States and Tennessee have always been, since the very founding of our nation, a shining beacon of freedom and opportunity for the persecuted and oppressed, particularly those suffering religious persecution,” Lee said at the time. “My administration has worked extensively to determine the best outcome for Tennessee, and I will consent to working with President Trump and his administration to responsibly resettle refugees.”

Now, Rep. Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) is sponsoring a bill (HB 1578) which would essentially reverse this move by the governor.

Griffey

“This state and each local government within this state shall refuse to consent to receive any refugees for the purpose of resettlement within this state,” the draft of the bill reads in part.

Griffey said he wanted to “get out in front of the issue,” saying that state legislators and local governments did not have a chance to fully weigh in before the governor consented to refugee resettlement in the state.

“I understood the need for the governor to act on the President’s executive order, but to me, as an attorney, that kind of decision belongs to the state legislators and the General Assembly,” Griffey said.

Griffey said he filed the bill primarily focused on the economic impact refugee resettlement has on Tennessee communities, especially the state’s rural communities. Griffey’s goal is to “keep the labor pool tight.”

“If you bring in additional labor to the labor pool, you dilute the pressure for wages to increase,” Griffey said. “We need to continue to push the wage pressure for those at the bottom.”

Griffey believes until the lowest wages of Tennesseeans increase, the government should “put a pause on all refugee resettlement and immigration.”

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“I’m more concerned about Tennessee residents than I am about refugees from other countries,” Griffey said. “I don’t have anything against them. I just want to make sure what Tennessee residents are getting paid to do their work is enough for them to survive and take care of their families and not have to work three jobs just to make ends meet.

“My intentions are to put Tenneeseans first and I don’t believe that’s too unreasonable.”


Under the bill, local governments would still have the option to consent to refugee resettlement by adopting a resolution or ordinance by a two-thirds vote. Local governments would also be required to specify how many refugees and locations for resettlement.

The corresponding bill in the Senate, SB1567, is sponsored by Sen. Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald). Hensley said, if passed, the bill will give local governments the ability to determine whether or not they want to accept refugees.

“I just want to give the local people and the local government a say in it,” Hensley said. “These are the people who will be living alongside the refugees in their communities.”

Hensley said he and others will likely introduce similar legislation over the next three weeks.

PJ Moore, office director for World Relief Memphis, said the organization is opposed to such legislation. Legislation such as HB 1578/SB 1567 would be “inconsistent with the welcoming culture of hospitality of our state.”

“Amid the highest recorded number of human displacement in the history of the world, it is important that this community remain consistent with the values of freedom, safety, security, liberty, and opportunity,” Moore said. “We also know that there is strength in diversity. The more diverse we are, the better we are for it. It’s the right thing to do.”

World Relief is a global humanitarian and development organization that works with local churches and other organizations to serve vulnerable communities in 20 countries and 16 U.S. cities.

Here in Memphis, Moore said World Relief assists refugees and other newcomers in the immigrant community with finding housing, employment, learning English, and other basic services that “help them find their way in the U.S.”

“For those resettling in Memphis, they face challenges like anyone moving to a new place would,” Moore said. “Just learning the city and the structures in place can be hard. When I moved to Memphis, my most vital resource was a friend from college who helped me get a job, find housing, and where to go grocery shopping.”

Moore said World Relief also helps newcomers navigate the systems that “even those who were born in America have trouble navigating,” such as healthcare and education.

Moore worries that if Tennessee halted refugee resettlement, the state and agencies here would lose federal dollars to assist refugees that are already here or move here from other states: “It would also affect ministries and local churches and their ability to support refugees in this community.”

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Finally, Moore said the bill would “perpetuate the existence” of separated families in Tennessee. In the past three years, Moore said 90 percent of all the refugees that resettled in Memphis were reuniting with friends or family who they had been separated from “due to horrific circumstances” in their home countries.

Moore also makes the case for the positive economic impact of refugees on the community, citing a 2013 study done by the Tennessee Joint Fiscal Review committee that showed refugees in the state generated $1.3 billion over a 22-year period. During the same time period, the study showed refugees cost the state about $700 million in tax dollars.

“I don’t like to put a dollar value on people,” Moore said. “It’s not the right thing to do, especially when we are talking about some of those most vulnerable people in the world. But if we’re going to look at the cost to our state, we also have to look at the economic benefits refugees bring to our state. When we do that, we see they have an overwhelmingly positive economic influence on our state.”

TIRRC

Mayor Harris signs letter consenting to refugee resettlement earlier this month

Last month, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris also sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, consenting to refugee resettlement in the county.

Harris said the county has a “moral obligation to help those in need.”

“If we are able to help those in the direst of circumstances and still choose not to help, then we abdicate the requirements of principled leadership,” Harris’ letter read in part. “We have a moral duty to act.”

Moore called this a “huge win” and a “huge step.”

Mayors of Knoxville, Nashville, and Chattanooga also sent consent letters to the State Department.

The number of refugees resettled in Tennessee dropped from 2,049 in 2016 to 692, according to the Tennessee Office for Refugees.

In Shelby County, 279 refugees resettled in 2016 Moore said, but under the Trump administration, “we’ve seen those numbers continue to decline.” In 2017, there were 121, 84 in 2018, and 56 last year.

This year, the federal government set the cap for resettlement in the country at 18,000 refugees. Moore anticipates 40 refugees will resettle in the county in 2020, which is “very low,” he said.

“I don’t think we will see that trend be reversed until the number set by the President goes back up,” Moore said. “Those numbers are really suffocating our infrastructure to be able to help the existing families that are already here, as funding is tied to the number of people that are coming here.”

Tennessee is currently involved in a lawsuit against the federal government over refugee resettlement here. The lawsuit was filed in March 2017 against the United States Department of State on the grounds that refugee settlement in Tennessee violates the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit was dismissed in March 2018 by a federal judge who ruled there was a lack of standing by the legislature to sue on its own behalf and that the state failed to show that refugee resettlement in Tennessee violates the Constitution.

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision in August, also stating that the General Assembly had not established its standing.

In September, attorneys with the Thomas Moore Law Center (TMLC), who are representing the state in the suit, filed a petition asking the appellate court to rehear the case, on the grounds that the court’s decision was “painfully at odds” with Supreme Court precedent. The court denied that request.

Now, attorneys with the TMLC are petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.

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News News Blog

Local Leader Questions Legitimacy of Trump’s Mass Deportation Threat

CREDIT: Latino Memphis

Latino Memphis

Latino Memphis members distribute immigration information

The leader of a local organization that advocates for the Latino community here called President Donald Trump’s recent threats to remove “millions of illegal aliens” an “explosive” and “divisive” comment, and questioned the verity of the claims. 

On Monday, the president tweeted that Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents would begin removing undocumented immigrants from the country next week.

“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” Trump tweeted. “They will be removed as fast as they come in. Mexico, using their strong immigration laws, is doing a very good job of stopping people long before they get to our Southern Border. Guatemala is getting ready to sign a Safe-Third Agreement.

“The only ones who won’t do anything are the Democrats in Congress. They must vote to get rid of loopholes, and fix asylum. If so, the Border Crisis will end quickly.”

Local Leader Questions Legitimacy of Trump’s Mass Deportation Threat

Executive director of Latino Memphis, Mauricio Calvo said Trump’s statement is “another explosive, non-deliverable, and divisive comment from the president.”

“It doesn’t make any sense logistically, economically, politically, and most importantly, it doesn’t recognize that we are talking about people,” Calvo said. “However, deportations and separation of families are very real and a daily tragedy in our city.

“Thousands of Memphians who are among our neighbors, employees, and friends of our children are vulnerable to this reality.”

Calvo said one way to prepare for this reality is to become informed, citing the national immigration defense campaign, We Have Rights. The campaign’s website gives undocumented immigrants instructions on how to protect themselves when encountering ICE officers or when detained.

For example, the website explains that ICE agents are not allowed to enter or search a home without a warrant signed by a judge. Undocumented immigrants have the right to ask the agents to leave if they do not have a signed warrant.

We Have Rights advises those who have been arrested not to sign any paperwork, to remain silent, and to ask to speak to a lawyer even if they don’t have one. See the video at the bottom for more detail. Anyone who is arrested can be located via this site.

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Calvo also encourages people to get involved in the issue by voting for legislators who support immigration reform.

When asked about the president’s tweet and whether or not ICE would execute raids in Shelby County, ICE’s office of public affairs shed little light on next week’s plans.


ICE officials offered this response in an email to the Flyer:

“The border crisis doesn’t start and stop at the border, which is why ICE will continue to conduct interior enforcement without exemption for those who are in violation of federal immigration law,” the statement reads. “This includes routine targeted enforcement operations, criminals, individuals subject to removal orders, and worksite enforcement.

“This is about addressing the Border crisis by upholding the rule of law and maintaining the integrity of the immigration system, as created by Congress.”

Local Leader Questions Legitimacy of Trump’s Mass Deportation Threat (2)

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Politics Politics Beat Blog

Cohen Tells It!

In which Memphis’ Democratic congressman Steve Cohen, addressing an apparent GOP effort to muddy the waters on the Russian inquiry not only takes no crap but gives it back where it came from. This is worth watching from beginning to end — even for those who might disagree on the politics of the matter.

Cohen Tells It!

The specific context here is not as important as the general one, which seems to have been an attempt by Republicans on the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday to shift that committee’s inquiry from a matter of Russia’s interference in an American election to some putative policy misdeeds by Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State or to President Obama’s involvement in her presidential campaign. The congressman takes no quarter but gives a solid gold lecture.