Bredesen Campaign Workers Admit on Video: ‘Fibber Phil’ Lied about Kavanaugh Vote in ‘Political Move’ to ‘Make Up Those Points’

Campaign workers at Democrat Phil Bredesen’s campaign offices in Nashville say he was lying when he said on Friday that he would vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court if he were a member of the U.S. Senate, as revealed in an undercover video on Wednesday. “It’s a political move,” Bredesen campaign field organizer Maria Amalla said of Bredesen’s Friday announcement in the video released late Wednesday by Project Veritas Action. “So he’s trying to make up those points,” she added. “Seventy-four percent of Tennesseans wanted to see Kavanaugh confirmed. So, I, like, this isn’t like, what is it ? … messaging or anything. But like, logically, based on those numbers and what I’ve seen is that he had already known that that gap between him and her has grown more. And so, he thought that, like by coming out in support [of confirming Kavanaugh] that it would get more Republicans on his side. He wasn’t doing as well in the rural parts. And so, what he’s banking on is for people who are, like, Democrats and stuff, to, like, still come out and vote,” Amalla continued. Project Veritas Action sent a female undercover reporter into the…

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New York Times Poll: Marsha Blackburn Leads Phil Bredesen by 18 Points, 57 Percent to 39 Percent

A new poll on The New York Times’ website shows Republican U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn is ahead of her Democratic opponent Phil Bredesen by a comfortable margin of  18 points, 57 percent to 39 percent. This poll is a result of The Times calling 17,170 phones across all areas of Tennessee — Democrat, Republican, and undecided alike. Though The Times does not specify when the poll was conducted–an unusual omission among polling firms–it appears to be an ongoing poll with results of 17,170 calls made on Tuesday, October 9. Exactly 366 people have thus far answered, according to The Times’ website. The poll has a margin of error of 6 points. The Cook Political Report calls this race a tossup between Blackburn and Bredesen. FiveThirtyEight, The Center for Politics, and Inside Elections, however, say it leans Republican, according to The Times’ website. To add context, The Times cited polls that nine other organizations recently did on the race. Those pollsters talked to people at different times, ranging between Aug. 9 of this year through the end of last week. Five of those nine organizations, including those who did the two most recent polls, have Blackburn ahead of Bredesen. An…

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New Senate Leadership Fund Ad Exposes Phil Bredesen’s Self-Dealing Solar Investments as Governor

Senate Leadership Fund on Tuesday launched a new advertising campaign slamming Phil Bredesen for his conflicts of interest as governor, costing Tennessee taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars while Bredesen made a fortune, the group says. The $1.6 million buy will run statewide on a combination of broadcast and cable television, radio and digital. The ad is available here. Bredesen is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) is his opponent. Senate Leadership Fund Spokesman Chris Pack said, “Call it what you want, but look at what Phil Bredesen made Tennessee do: pour hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into solar investments that went belly-up while he made a fortune. We knew he was trouble, but Phil Bredesen’s cashing in on the very subsidies he got passed goes beyond our wildest dreams.” Solar power companies, including Bredesen’s Silicon Ranch, wouldn’t make much of a mark without officials giving them taxpayer money, government incentives and other generous benefits, Nick Loris of the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, told The Tennessee Star in August. That’s because less than 2 percent of America’s electricity comes from solar power, Loris said.…

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Commentary: War on Men Is a Long-Term Plan for Democrat Victory

by Karin McQuillan   Encouraging women to hate and fear men as rapists is not a cultural development. It is a political weapon. Democrats are trying to replicate their electoral success among blacks, which they cheaply achieve by convincing them Republicans are racists. Smears such as “racism” and “rape culture” are effective substitutes for policy achievements or a platform, and so much easier to deliver. Democrats cynically ignore the unhappiness wrought by this ugly emotional manipulation of women and blacks. With these two monolithic voting blocs in the bag, Democrats figure they may happily predict a “blue wave.” Encouraging a war between women and men is not an improvised reaction to Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is a calculated initiative of the hard Left, put on steroids under President Obama. It is working exactly according to plan. Obama’s burning dream was to solidify voters into identity voting blocs that can deliver a permanent Democratic majority, and end this pesky American tradition of a two-party system. Black voters were already sewed tight, by virtue of the president’s skin color. Turning single women into a Democratic monolith became the party’s critical priority in achieving success. The Obama Administration targeted the vulnerable Millennial…

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Fraternal Order of Police Endorses Blackburn

The Fraternal Order of Police on Tuesday announced its endorsement of Marsha Blackburn for U.S. Senate. Speaking about the endorsement, Scottie DeLashmit, Fraternal Order of Police State President, said, “Marsha Blackburn has consistently been a friend to law enforcement in Tennessee. Her commitment to providing the resources we need to maintain law and order in our communities is paramount to our ability to care for the safety and security of the residents of our state. The Tennessee Fraternal Order of Police is proud to endorse and support Marsha in her race for U.S. Senate.” U.S. Representative Blackburn (R-TN-07) said, “The Fraternal Order of Police is a dedicated community of law enforcement officials committed to fostering a community of law and order. I am honored to receive the FOP’s endorsement in my race for United States Senate. As Tennessee’s next senator, I will always work to support the law enforcement community and ensure they have the resources they need to protect us.” Blackburn is running against Democratic former Governor Phil Bredesen for the seat of Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who is retiring. Blackburn leads Bredesen in the race by eight points, 50 percent to 42 percent, in a new CBS News Battleground Tracker poll,…

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New Studies Explore Good, Bad, and Ugly on Tennessee’s Fiscal Health

Tennessee Capital building

Two different organizations released good and bad news Tuesday about Tennessee’s fiscal health. The Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute called out Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Haslam for “substantial spending increases in recent years.” The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, meanwhile, ranked Tennessee in the top five of the 50 states for good fiscal health. Cato’s Fiscal Policy Report Card on America’s Governor’s 2018 graded state executives on fiscal policies from a limited government point-of-view. Haslam scored a B on the 2016 report. This year, though, he earned a D, according to the report. “The state general fund budget rose 4.7 percent in 2017 and 9.8 percent in 2018. State government employment has been trending upwards since 2013,” the report said. The report mentioned how Haslam signed a bill increasing the state’s gas tax by 6 cents per gallon. He increased the diesel tax by 10 cents per gallon, all while increasing vehicle fees. The study, however, gave Haslam credit elsewhere. “In 2016, his big reform was repealing the ‘Hall tax,’ which was a 6 percent tax on dividends and interest,” according to the report. “Tennessee has no broad-based income tax, but it had this anti-savings levy. The reform reduces the…

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Bredesen Claims ‘Not With Dems’ on Gun Control Before Bloomberg Fundraiser

On issues Tennesseans care about, Phil Bredesen likes to have it both ways, The Tennessee Republican Party said. The organization pointed to the National Rifle Association’s criticism of the U.S. Senate candidate for claiming he has an “A” rating, when that endorsement comes from 2002. His current score is a “D,” as The Tennessee Star has reported. Gun-control advocate Mike Bloomberg hosted a Manhattan fundraiser for Bredesen Tuesday. Bloomberg said in 2014, “And if you want to have a gun in your house, I think you’re pretty stupid – particularly if you have kids – but I guess you have a right to do that. Someday, there is going to be a suit against parents who smoke in their houses or have guns in their houses by a kid. It’s not that far-fetched,” The Tennessee Star reported. The Leader (of Covington) said Tuesday that “Bredesen called himself ‘conservative’ with second amendment issues and said he is a life-long gun owner. …’I’m not with the Dems on that stuff.” Bredesen did not say that the Manhattan fundraiser comes as Bloomberg announced he would contribute $20 million to the Senate Majority PAC, which aims to help Democrats capture a majority. That would put…

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Mark Green Commentary: To Solve the American Healthcare Crisis We Must Correctly Incentivise Care

by State Senator Dr. Mark Green (R-Clarksville)   There has a been a lot of discussion lately about the healthcare crisis in America. Unfortunately, largely missing in that discussion is a real diagnosis of the problem–and thus, also missing is a real solution. If the diagnosis is cardiac disease, and you treat the person for cancer, you’re probably doing more harm than good. Having been an emergency medicine physician, CEO of a large ER staffing company, and cancer survivor, I’ve been on both sides of the stethoscope and have seen the problems firsthand. Most Americans want to help the poor and the elderly to have access to quality healthcare. No one argues that the current system is working. Yet, Obamacare and the prevailing attempts to fix it all fall prey to the same underlying principles, which led to our current healthcare crisis. There are three major issues with the current healthcare system in America: The first is inherent in the basic human response to incentives. The second is the impact of government price fixing and its impact on health insurance. And, lastly, defensive medicine is adding costs to those who ultimately pay the price for everyone’s health program. I’ll address…

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DHS to Waive Environmental Laws for Border Wall Construction

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that it would waive environmental laws so it could build gates between sections of border barriers in South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. The waiver posted online lists 11 locations where the government plans to install gates in existing fencing. DHS has in recent months issued similar waivers of environmental laws for projects elsewhere on the southwest border. The U.S. government already has around 700 miles (1,126 kilometers) of fencing on the southwest border. In far South Texas, segments of fencing stop and start along the levee built next to the Rio Grande, the river separating the U.S. and Mexico. Many parts of the fencing are built a significant distance from the river, in some cases bisecting private property. The proposed gates would seal some of those gaps in Cameron County. U.S. Customs and Border Protection typically grants affected residents access to the gates so they can get to the other side of their land. The government also separately plans to begin building new barriers to fulfill President Donald Trump’s signature campaign pledge to build a border wall. Congress earlier this year approved $1.6 billion for new border wall spending, which included funding…

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Google+ to Shut Down After Data Breach Cover-Up Exposed

by Gavin Hanson   Google announced the end of its social platform Google Plus after a Monday Wall Street Journal report detailed the cover-up of a breach that exposed users’ data. In a breach described as “Cambridge Analytica-style” by Financial Times social media and cyber security reporter Hannah Kuchler, Google Plus user data was exposed for hundreds of thousands of users. The WSJ report indicated that for a period of three years, personal data was accessible by hackers without a single indication from Google Plus or Google’s holding company, Alphabet, that anything was amiss. Google published a blog post Monday to explain the breach and the “sunsetting” of Google Plus. Google Plus has been partitioned into different functions since it became clear in 2015 that the app would not be able to compete with Facebook. Though some smaller portions of Google Plus will continue on, its consumer aimed, main portion is due to shut down over the course of the coming months. “To give people a full opportunity to transition, we will implement this wind-down over a 10-month period, slated for completion by the end of next August. Over the coming months, we will provide consumers with additional information, including ways they can download and migrate their data,” Ben Smith, a Google fellow…

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SCOTUS Clears the Way For Voter ID Requirement In Key Senate Race

by Kevin Daley   The U.S. Supreme Court will allow a North Dakota law requiring voters to produce government ID with a current residential street address when casting ballots to take effect. The decision, which came Tuesday and drew a brief dissent, will effect one November’s most critical Senate races. A group of American Indians challenged the residential street address requirement, arguing that it imposes “impossible and severe burdens on the franchise for Native American voters,” as many live on reservations or otherwise lack ordinary street addresses. A federal judge agreed and prohibited the law. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lifted that order, so the plaintiffs appealed to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to restore the injunction. North Dakota argues that the law protects the integrity of the ballot box and improves the administration of elections — the state’s filing at the high court notes there were over 800 different ballots used in the state during the 2016 election cycle, which are assigned on the basis of address. The Supreme Court’s Tuesday order allowed the law to take effect for the general election. As is typical of orders of this nature, neither the vote count nor the reasoning was disclosed. Justice…

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Possible Replacements For Nikki Haley Already Being Floated As Trump Says Announcement Coming Soon

by Evie Fordham   Pundits are already throwing out the names of individuals who could replace outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley after her Tuesday announcement that she intends to step down at the end of 2018. Current U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell is already getting a large share of the attention after President Donald Trump said at a Tuesday Oval Office press conference that the new U.N. ambassador will be announced within two to three weeks. Other possible candidates include former deputy national security adviser for strategy Dina Powell and even Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, who is one of his advisers. Richard Grenell Grenell is a Harvard-educated diplomat who was confirmed to his current post as U.S. ambassador to Germany in April. He is the longest-serving appointee at the U.N. in history, having served “as a U.S. spokesman and political appointee to the U.N.” for eight years, according to the Washington Examiner. He is also on good terms with national security adviser John Bolton after the two worked together in former President George W. Bush’s administration, according to the Washington Examiner. Grenell was on Donald Trump’s short list for U.N. ambassador during the 2016 presidential election, reported The New York Post. He…

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California Admits a DMV ‘Processing Error’ Added Non-Citizens To Voter Rolls

by Will Racke   An error at California’s Department of Motor Vehicles caused more than a thousand people, including some who were not U.S. citizens, to be incorrectly registered to vote, state officials said Monday. The DMV admitted that a “processing error” at agency field offices resulted in as many as 1,500 people being added to voter rolls between April 23 and Sept. 25. The widespread glitch was discovered after Randall Marquis, a Canadian citizen and legal U.S. resident living in California, notified the DMV he had received a piece of mail from the agency saying he was registered to vote. In response to Marquis’ alert, the agency ordered an internal audit and discovered hundreds of similar cases. “This error occurred when DMV technicians processed customer requests at field offices to change voter eligibility responses on driver license applications,” the DMV wrote in a letter to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. “Due to the order in which the change was processed, the customer’s initial responses were retained instead of the correct and revised responses.” The DMV said the improper registrations were made “through no fault of the customer.” None of the people who were registered…

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Cyber Infrastructure Gets a Boost by Congress

by Natalia Castro   In the last year, both chambers of Congress have been working hard to improve our nation’s cyber security and cyber infrastructure. Last week, the Senate passed landmark legislation that will modernize U.S. cyber technology to combat growing threats around the world. On Oct. 4, 2018, the Senate passed the Cyber security and Infrastructure Security Agency Act of 2018 which passed the House in December 2017 when it was introduced by Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul. In the Senate it passed by unanimous consent and in the House by voice vote due to its widespread support. The Act reorganizes the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) main cyber security unit, the National Protection and Programs Directorate, to the Cyber security and Infrastructure Protection Agency. Under the law, this group will now function more like FEMA or the Secret Service instead of a small internal DHS office. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen noted in an interview with the Washington Post, “We are responsible for federal efforts when it comes to both protecting critical infrastructure, working with the owner-operators in private sector, and protecting all those civilian dot govs. To do that, we have to have both a name that indicates…

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‘Gosnell’ Movie Producers Never Trusted Pro-Lifers, but ‘Brutal’ Murder Evidence Changed That

by Grace Carr   Film producers of “Gosnell,” a movie detailing the crimes of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, never trusted pro-lifers until they pulled together “brutal” murder evidence for the movie that changed their perspectives on abortion. “I never trusted or liked pro-life activists,” film producer Ann McElhinney told Lifesite. “I thought the shocking images they showed were manipulative. I was sure they had been photoshopped,” McElhinney said, recounting how she’d thought prior to producing, “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer.” “The universities of the world are teeming with young people just like that young person I once was,” McElhinney continued. “This story was not orchestrated by the pro-life movement. This was a trial: a murder trial.” The film tells the story of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was sentenced to life in prison after authorities discovered he’d been killing live babies after birth. Gosnell aborted babies after the legal limit of 24 weeks gestation in what became known as the “House of Horrors.” He was also responsible for the death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar who died of a drug overdose during her abortion. Gosnell operated the Women’s Medical Society in West Philadelphia starting in 1979, but wasn’t investigated until February 2010 when the FBI and the…

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Legal Experts Weigh in on Future With Kavanaugh on the Bench

by Hanna Bogorowski   Shortly after the Senate voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, legal experts John Yoo and Jonathan Turley weighed in on what the future with another conservative judge on the bench potentially looks like, specifically in terms of key progressive focal points. Opposition to Kavanaugh’s nomination came from Democrats’ fears that he could jeopardize women’s access to abortion, and one Democratic senator said Kavanaugh would even criminalize it. Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said Saturday he believes Kavanaugh has other plans for the courts, at least in the beginning. “I don’t think Justice Kavanaugh is going to be some great opponent of abortion rights or affirmative action or gay marriage at first,” Yoo said. What he said will upset Democrats initially based on what he’s done as lower court judge in the past is going after the independence of federal bureaucracies that he says have been “spreading their power without political accountability for 20, 30, 40 years, maybe going all the way back to the New Deal.” “I think that’s the progressive machine that’s producing law all the time that I think Justice Kavanaugh is going to be an enemy. Progressives are…

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A Senate Democrat Reportedly Outsourced Parts of the Trump-Russia Probe to Operative Linked to Soros, Fusion GPS

by Chuck Ross   A Democratic senator outsourced parts of the investigation into possible Trump-Russia collusion to a former Senate staffer with links to George Soros and Fusion GPS, according to a New Yorker report. The New Yorker reports the unidentified senator contacted Daniel Jones, a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer, around March 2017 to review data regarding a possible link between the computer servers of the Trump Organization and a Russian bank called Alfa Bank. Jones, who worked under California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein when she chaired the intelligence panel, had just formed a non-profit group called the Democracy Integrity Project. The organization worked closely with Fusion GPS and former British spy Christopher Steele, the tag-team duo that produced the Democrat-funded dossier accusing the Trump campaign of colluding with the Kremlin. Jones’s operation was also funded by a small group of billionaires, including left-wing philanthropist George Soros. Jones told the FBI in March 2017 that between 7 and 10 billionaires had put up $50 million to continue an investigation into Russian meddling in elections. Jones also told the FBI that he had secured the services of Steele and Fusion GPS “to continue exposing Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.” The goal…

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Democratic Leader Says ‘There Are No Moderate Democrats Left,’ Begging the Question of Whether That Applies to ‘Fibber Phil’ Bredesen

Call it a Freudian slip at best, an unfortunate encounter with the truth at worst, with a top Democrat saying all the moderates have fled the party. That likely applies to Phil Bredesen as well. Speaking on MSNBC, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez said “There are no moderate Democrats left…” DNC Chair: "There are no moderate Democrats basically left…" Freudian slip? pic.twitter.com/TH2yzOUMpw — Michael Ahrens (@michael_ahrens) October 9, 2018 Whoops. Garren Shipley, Republican National Committee spokesman, said, “Tom Perez had it right the first time. Moderate Democrats are a thing of the past. Phil Bredesen, who has based his entire campaign on the false promise of independence, is raising money today with billionaire Mike Bloomberg – an anti-gun zealot who has spent millions of dollars in an effort to abridge our Second Amendment rights. He is bought and paid for by Chuck Schumer, Michael Bloomberg, and national Democrats. Today’s Democrat party isn’t just Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi at the top, it’s like-minded people all the way down.” Bredesen is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) is his opponent. Shipley referred to a Tuesday fundraiser that billionaire Bloomberg hosted for Bredesen at his Manhattan home.…

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