Forbes examines the Gibson Guitar raid

If you live in Nashville and pay attention to public events at all, you probably recall the Federal

governmen'ts raid on Gibson guitar.  Gibson was accused of used illegally imported wood in making of some of their guitars. Instead of bureaucrats in suits showing up to ask to see records and discuss the matter, a thirty-man swat team in full battle gear descended on the plant, cleared out the plant, questioned employees without reading them their rights, refused to state the reason for the raid, closed the plant for days, and confiscated wood. 

I have no way of knowing, of course, if some of the imported wood was imported with phony papers and, if it was, I have no way of knowing if Gibson Guitar knowingly or unknowingly purchased the illegal wood. The case was settled without charges ever being brought against Gibson.  In my view, the guilt or innocence of Gibson makes no difference. In America, we do not expect to be raided by a force of heavily armed men in battle gear for a minor non-violent infraction of some law. One does not have to be a tin-foil-hat-wearing worrier about FEMA concentration camps to be concerned about the militarization of the American government.

There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of agencies of the government with their own little armies. The Fish and Wildlife Agency, Social Security, EPA, Bureau of Land Management and most agencies do not need to have their own swat teams under their command.  If an agency has SWAT teams they will find occasion to sue them.

 Forbes magazine examines the SWAT team raid on Gibson Guitar and the issue surrounding that raid in this article: 

Lumber Union Protectionists Incited SWAT Raid On My Factory, Says Gibson Guitar CEO 

“Henry. A SWAT team from Homeland Security just raided our factory!”

“What? This must be a joke.”

“No this is really serious. We got guys with guns, they put all our people out in the parking lot and won’t let us go into the plant.”

“Whoa.”

“What is happening?” asks Gibson Guitar CEO Henry Juszkiewicz when he arrives at his Nashville factory to question the officers.

“We can’t tell you.”

“What are you talking about, you can’t tell me, you can’t just come in and …”

“We have a warrant!”  

Well, lemme see the warrant.”

“We can’t show that to you because it’s sealed.”

While 30 men in SWAT attire dispatched from Homeland Security and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service cart away about half a million dollars of wood and guitars, seven armed agents interrogate an employee without benefit of a lawyer. (link)

Top Stories

Few Americans Say Healthcare Law Has Helped Them. More say it has hurt them.

According to the Gallup Poll, about one month after the new healthcare exchanges closed with over 8 million new enrollees, there has been little substantial change in Americans' perception that the healthcare law has helped them. Most Americans say the law has had no impact on their healthcare situation, while those who do perceive an effect are more likely to say it has hurt them rather than helped them.

When asked what the long-term impact of the Affordable Care Act would be, an increasing number of Americans think it will make things worse. Thirty-nine percent think it will not have much impact, 36% think it will make things worse and only 22% think it will make things betters. (link)

Top Stories

Ashley Judd makes pitch for Jeff Yarbro at fundraiser

Ashley Judd

by Michael Cass, The Tennessean, May 28, 2014 - Williamson County's most famous Democrat ventured up Interstate 65 on Wednesday to help a Nashville candidate who's looking to hold on to one of the party's few seats in the state Senate.

Calling herself a "district interloper," actress-activist Ashley Judd spoke at a fundraiser for Jeff Yarbro, who's running against Mary Mancini for the Democratic nomination in Senate District 21. Sen. Douglas Henry, a Democrat who is retiring, has represented the district since 1971.

Judd said she first met Yarbro, an attorney who nearly defeated Henry in the 2010 primary, on the way home from the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., where she was a Tennessee delegate. (link)

Top Stories

School board meeting of 5/27/2014: The wasting money on a charter study school board meeting.

The school Board produces great agendas which include all of the attachments that the school board members have. To get your own copy of the 59-page agenda, follow this link.

I have not watched this meeting yet myself and don't know if I will have the opportunity. If someone else would like to watch it, summarize it and provide time stamp notations, I will update and post your summary and give you credit.

Here is the Tennessean's report on the meeting:

Metro Nashville approves charter schools study

 A third-party vendor has been tapped to tell Metro Nashville Public Schools how much charter schools cost the district, but the move isn't sitting well with everyone.

 Following one of its most animated discussions on charters to date, the Metro school board voted 6-2 Tuesday to hire Olympia, Wash.-based MGT of America to conduct a study on the financial impact of charter schools in Nashville.

The district will pay $43,000 for a study that should conclude this summer..... (link)

Will Pinkston posted on Facebook: At the 4:58 time mark, I gave a big "shout out" to the Glencliff High School Class of 2014. In just one year, Glencliff doubled its number of college-going seniors. Great work by Principal Clint Wilson and the entire Glencliff team!

Top Stories

Sugar Dive Meet and Greet for Sabrina Orr, candidate for Chancellor

Monday, June 2, at 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Sugar Dive, 4100 Hillsboro Circle, Nashville, Tennessee 37215

Bring the kids! Come meet and greet and have a sweet treat. The Sugar Dive will be hosting a meet and greet for Sabrina Orr, Candidate For Davidson County Chancellor Part IV, and Marian Cheadle Fordyce, Candidate for Davidson County General Session Judge. What a great opportunity to meet these two great candidates in a fun, kid friendly location.

Top Stories

Bottom line, TEA does not want real accountability for student outcomes.

From TN Edu-Independent:

[surprise] Observations the most inconsistent...

I have a little value-add, pun intended, to this piece, but it is good on its own:

Teacher Dismissals Under New Evaluation Systems by Russ Whitehurst and Katharine Lindquist at Brookings (Brown Center).

Referring to new teacher evaluation systems in states:
"...these evaluation systems are strikingly better than what they replaced: slapdash approaches involving a couple of classroom visits by a building principal for some teachers in some years that resulted in virtually all teachers being classified as high performing."

I agree. The new teacher eval systems in place in many states, including TN with TEAM, are a big improvement over what we had previously.

Regarding the effectiveness of these new eval systems:
"Our report concluded that, in general, the evaluation systems we examined do a decent job of distinguishing teachers based on characteristics of classroom performance that predict how teachers will perform in subsequent years"

I really think TEA's actions represent a deeper values fight as I've written in a previous post.

What I think TEA is really after is getting rid of any sort of professional performance management system of teachers. Value add is the angle by which they're trying to bring down the entire credibility of the TEAM teacher evaluation system (this playbook is playing out in other states as well).

If they're able to throw out the value add component, it's easy to throw out the rest of the teacher eval model or render it useless.  It'd be back to the days of old: "slapdash approaches involving a couple of classroom visits by a building principal"...

Read: no real accountability for student outcomes.

Whitehurst and his team are actually finding the value added component of the new eval systems is not the most problematic. It's the more subjective, qualitative teacher observation component:

"At the same time, we identified flaws in the evaluation systems that need correction.  The most troublesome of these is a strong bias in classroom observations that leads to teachers who are assigned more able students receiving better observation scores.  The classroom observation systems capture not only what the teacher is doing, but also how students are responding.  This makes the teacher’s classroom performance look better to an observer when the teacher has academically well-prepared students than when she doesn’t."

I think there are legitimate concerns about school wide value added components being derived for non-tested subjects (subjects like PE, music, art). Yet TN's TEAM system has worked to develop alternate value added models for some of these subjects. So far they've developed one for Fine Arts and World Languages, with PE in the works.

My point is the state seems to be proactive in working on this concern. Contrast that with the lawsuit happy TEA, who hasn't mentioned a single thing about fidelity of classroom observations (being completed by teachers and principals themselves, often TEA members) or proposed alternate solutions to value added measures in non-tested subjects.

"The bias in classroom observation systems that derives from some teachers being assigned much more able students than other teachers is very important to the overall performance of the teacher evaluation system.  One of the consequences of it not being addressed is that teachers who understand how the system works and value high evaluation scores will do their best to be assigned to schools with high ability students, and within schools will do their best to get assigned the best students."

My point is this: I don't see a "solutions oriented" approach from TEA in their public actions. If they don't like the current eval model with value added (which they helped construct and signed on to) - then what's a legitimate proposed alternative?

I would say it needs to have student test data in there, to act as a check and balance against the qualitative observation side - so that there are independent measures of student growth and achievement in the model to either confirm or deny what the teacher's observation scores are saying.

If I saw any action from TEA around fidelity for the qualitative observation component, I'd have more confidence that they really believe in the value of a teacher performance management system and accountability for student learning outcomes.

It's troubling that the observation component of teachers for an evaluation system is resulting in some of the greatest disconnects of teacher scores vs. the actual skill of that teacher.

From where I'm sitting, I don't believe TEA leadership a value of accountability - they would rather not have a performance management system for teachers.  With no accountability for the adults in education, that's not going to fare well for students and their learning.

Top Stories

Great opportunity for young conservative activist

Rod,

Do you know someone who is interested in saving America's universities?

You or someone you know can become one of the nation’s best-trained, most effective, conservative leaders through the Leadership Institute’s 2014 Fall Field Representative Program.

Each year LI’s National Field Program sends out across the country a team of motivated, highly trained field representatives.  LI field reps help students promote and defend their conservative principles on campus.

Currently, LI’s Campus Leadership Program includes 1,553 active campus groups.

Now, you or some other dedicated conservative you know can join LI as a full-time fall field representative.

The pay is generous.  The experience is priceless.

Opportunities for full-time, paid jobs fighting for your beliefs do not come along very often.

Your employment with LI as a field rep is résumé gold.  Field reps use the experience and connections gained from LI’s National Field Representative Program to launch rewarding careers in:

• Grassroots activism
• Political campaigns
• Public policy
• Congressional offices
• Lobbying
• Conservative non-profit organizations

To take advantage of this unique opportunity, apply online at www.ConservativeJobs.com/FieldRep.

As a field rep, you will travel to the campuses in your assigned region to identify, recruit, organize, and train conservative students to win battles against the radical left on their campuses.

LI will fly you to the Institute’s Arlington, VA, headquarters for a week of intensive training in August and provide you with the tools and techniques necessary for success.

If you know of others who might like to join LI as a field rep, please pass this email along.

Be aware that these positions fill up fast, so time is of the essence.

Cordially,
Morton Blackwell
President

Top Stories

1ST TUESDAY: See Governor Haslam on Tuesday June 3rd!

1ST TUESDAY members and friends....  NO DOUBT...      This event will SELL OUT !  Get your seats secured while they are still available !!  www.1sttuesdaynashville.com  Even more  good news.... Waller's new and expanded underground parking garage is now OPEN... so there will be ample parking available...even for an event this size.  Enter on 6th Ave...about 100 yard past the building and the Hermitage Hotel As usual, doors at WALLER Law [ 511 Union Street -27th floor] will open at 11AM for Coffee and Social Time.  Lunch becomes available at 11:30AM and the program will start at NOON Lunch is still $20 for Members and $25 for Guests..... and I cannot encourage you enough to secure your seat(s) while they are still available ! Expect a room full of notable guests ... Important new faces....  plenty of vibrant discussions ... AND.... a day to remember for multiple reasons !  While you have your calendars out... plan on July 1st when Congressman Marsha Blackburn is confirmed to return and the 1ST TUESDAY of September brings us one of the most powerful and well known Lobbyist in Washington DC - Grover Norquist from Americans for Tax Reform WE expect a Summertime of Sell Outs at `1ST TUESDAY... so don't delay in getting your seats !!!  And pass the word to those you know. See you on Tuesday, June 3rd at 1ST TUESDAY !! Tim Skow Host of 1ST TUESDAY ps - please REGISTER or update your best contact info if you've got new -- or a preferred -- address.

Top Stories

Alexander, Fincher, Black Introduces Bill to Evaluate Impact of Obamacare on Small Businesses

Legislation introduced in House and Senate requires one-year delay of employer mandate if CMS or GAO study finds negative impact on jobs or premiums

WASHINGTON, May 22 –Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Representatives Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) and Diane Black (R-Tenn.) today introduced legislation to protect small businesses from Obamacare’s job-killing mandate to provide employees government-approved health insurance or pay a fine.

Alexander said: “Republicans want to repair the damage Obamacare has done and prevent future damage. I’ve heard from many small business owners with more than 50 employees who say Obamacare is making it hard to offer workers health insurance and, for some, hard to stay in business. This bill says, ‘Let the facts speak for themselves—if premiums are going up and jobs are being cut—then delay the mandate.’”

Fincher said: "Across the 8th District, I've heard from working class men and women who are struggling to make ends meet as their health care premiums have sky-rocketed under Obamacare. This study will prove how Obamacare is impacting American’s health care costs and stifling small business job creation."

Black said: “When I travel throughout my district, the number one concern for my constituents continues to be jobs and the economy. That is why it is such a top priority for us in Congress to work where we can to reduce the burdens government is placing on employers so that they can put Americans back to work. This is especially problematic with the costly mandates and fines contained in Obamacare. The President and Congressional Democrats should welcome any effort to help Americans get back to work, which is just what the Certify It Act aims to do.”

The Certify It Act, introduced in both the House and Senate, requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Actuary to work with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on annual studies to assess the impact Obamacare will have on small business health insurance premiums and jobs. If their studies find that the healthcare law is having a negative impact on either, the Certify It Act delays the employer mandate for the following year.

My Comment:  This bill is the smart way to fight Obamacare until Republicans can gain control of the machinery of government and repeal and replace it. President Obama himself, with no authority to do so, delayed the employer mandate by a year, to 2015, and gave companies with between 50 and 99 employees another year’s grace period after that. Does anyone besides me think that was a calculated move on the part of Obama to delay the ill effects of Obamacare and anticipated voter revenge until after the mid-term election? This proposal by Alexander, Fincher and Black seems like a reasonable proposal that Democrats, not blinded by Obama loyalty and ideology, could support.  If Democrats really believe Obamacare will not have a negative impact on insurance premiums or jobs, then why would that not support it? It will probably pass the House and die in Harry Reid's Senate, however.

Top Stories

The Nashville Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society presents.......

A Brave New (First Amendment) World:

How the Roberts Court Found Religion

with

Scott Gaylord

on May 27, 2014 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

at

The Law Offices of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP

Nashville City Center. 511 Union Street, Suite 2700 Nashville, Tennessee 37219

Lunch Will Be Served. If you’d like to join us, please pay $15 by noon on May 26 via this link.

SCOTT GAYLORD is an associate professor of constitutional law at Elon University School of Law, where his scholarship examines the scope of First Amendment speech and religion under the Roberts Court. Based on this research, he was asked to write amicus briefs for cases in the Third, Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Circuits of the United States Court of Appeals challenging the requirement under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that most employers must provide employees with health insurance that covers all Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures..  In his current research, which is the basis for an amicus brief to the United States Supreme Court in City of Greece v. Galloway on behalf of several cities across the country, Gaylord contends that certain prayer policies are constitutional under the Court’s prior holdings in Marsh v. Chambers and Pleasant Grove City v. Summum even when particular prayers contain sectarian references. Before joining Elon, Gaylord practiced with the Charlotte, N.C. firm of Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson. During seven years with the firm, Gaylord handled complex civil and commercial litigation involving breach of contract, unfair trade practice, bankruptcy and appellate work in both state and federal courts. He served as a law clerk to Judge Edith Jones on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in Houston from 1999 to 2000. Gaylord began his teaching career in 1990 as a teaching fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received the Students’ Undergraduate Teaching Award. Gaylord received a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Colgate University, and master’s and doctoral degrees in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Notre Dame Law School, where he was a member of the law review and received the Dean Joseph O’Meara Award as salutatorian

Top Stories

Ronald Reagan memorial tribute

Memorial Day is more than the start of summer. We need to pause and remember and honor those who gave all. This is a moving tribute. God Bless America

Top Stories

Dr. Ben Carson book signing June 3, Cool Springs

Neurosurgeon and political pundit and potential Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson will be signing copies of his new book, One Nation: What We Can All Do to Save America's Future, at the Brentwood Barnes & Noble, 1701 Mallory Ln., Brentwood, June 4rd at 4PM.

Top Stories