Day: February 21, 2017

Protesters Storm State Senator’s Office, Intimidate Staff, State Troopers Ordered to Stand Down

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State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) knew Tuesday morning could turn out to be an unpredictable one. She was told to expect an “in-office protest” this morning. Then she was told it was cancelled. Sen. Beavers and her staff – that day, a single young woman – arrived in her offices at the regular time to conduct the people’s business: meeting with constituents and fellow elected officials, answering questions about her pending legislation, and returning calls and letters from the people she represents in and around Mt. Juliet. “It was shortly after 11 a.m. when about a half-dozen people filed into my office and started demanding to see me,” Beavers said. According to Sen. Beavers, she was in a meeting with an Administration official, when the protesters’ incessant knocking on her inner office door and loud speechifying became a distraction. “When I opened my door a couple of times to ask them to quiet down, they tried to force their way into my office,”  she said. They were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, out in the reception room, Beavers’ young staffer was surrounded by the protesters. One protester, a woman, stood behind her and took several photos of the receptionist’s computer screen and work. The Administrator departed, and for the…

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Letter to the Editor: What We’re Really Up Against

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Dear Tennessee Star, I Googled the definition of “liberal”. You know what it says? 1. Open to new behavior or opinions and willing to discard traditional values. “they have more liberal views toward marriage and divorce than some people” 2. (of education) concerned mainly with broadening a person’s general knowledge and experience, rather than with technical or professional training So when you see these leftists at Berkeley burning and destroying property and inflicting injury on innocent people just to prevent the free exchange of ideas, or leftists calling for a ban on groups who have a different point of view than them, that’s actually the exact opposite of true liberalism. It’s Groupthink, a mandatory and absolute conformity to the collective. Anyone who dares have an independent thought or belief that runs contrary to the collective must not only be silenced and expelled, but utterly destroyed. That’s what we’re up against. Not liberals, but mindless zombies who are incapable of critical or independent thought, who will lash out with a mob mentality at anyone or anything that the collective deems outside their norm. This is a cultural war like nothing we’ve ever faced. I have no doubt that reason and virtue…

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State Rep. David Alexander Changes Mind on Gas Tax Increase After Dinner With the Governor

Tennessee Star Staff

A key member of the House Subcommittee on Transportation who has previously stated his opposition to Gov. Haslam’s gas tax increase proposal has changed his mind. In an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star, State Rep. David Alexander (R-Winchester), who many thought would vote to kill the governor’s gas tax increase proposal in the Subcommittee on Transportation when it comes to a vote this week, now says that after having dinner with Gov. Haslam in Winchster Monday night he wants to see the bill brought to the full House for a vote by all 99 members. The Star’s Laura Baigert first asked Alexander how he thought Monday evening’s gas tax town hall in Franklin County went. You can watch the full interview below:   Alexander acknowledged that many of the questioners at the town hall opposed the gas tax increase, as The Star reported earlier on Tuesday. Alexander praised the governor’s answering of questions at the event. “For the last 15 or 18 months he’s been talking about the issue across the state of Tennessee so he’s got it well learned,” Alexander said. “It went on for about an hour,” Alexander said of the town hall meeting. “After it was…

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Gov. Haslam Gets Tough Questions From Informed Crowd at Franklin County Gas Tax Town Hall

Laura Baigert

Governor Haslam appeared nervous and off his game Monday night, as he was peppered with questions he could not answer at a “gas tax town hall” tour stop at the Franklin County Annex Building in Winchester. After giving 30 minutes of opening comments to the standing-room-only crowd of about 150 people, the governor opened the meeting up to questions and was challenged for the next 45 minutes with more than two dozen questions critical of his proposal to raise fuel taxes. The first questioner contrasted the 7 cents per gallon gas tax and 12 cents per gallon diesel tax increase with the half-percent reduction in the grocery sales tax contained in the governor’s plan. The questioner pointed out that the two things that have strapped everyone are groceries and fuel. The fuel tax increases will offset any grocery tax savings, the questioner stated. The governor then went through his math to assert that his proposal represents a 4 cent increase per $100 purchased in diesel fuel,  but the man who posed the question found that arithmetic unsatisfying. He sat down,  shaking his head. County Commissioner Dave Van Buskirk asked if the money will only go to roads. Gov. Haslam said…

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Commentary by Richard Viguerie: America’s Biggest Lawbreaker Versus Donald Trump

Tennessee Star Staff

Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com by Richard A Viguerie, CHQ Chairman and Mark Fitzgibbons February 21, 2017 Donald Trump was elected to make America great again. To do this, he knew he would need to take on America’s biggest lawbreaker. America’s biggest lawbreaker is fighting back against President Trump by doing what it knows best — violating the Constitution and other laws governing it. This lawbreaker is trying to subvert his presidency and undermine the Constitution. It is ruthless in its lawbreaking and lawlessness. RAV Nigel FarageAmerica’s biggest lawbreaker is not the collection of illegal aliens in our country. It’s not even radical Islam. As dangerous as those threats are to our safety and sovereignty, they are being aided and abetted by the actual biggest lawbreaker in America. As we wrote in 2011 in The Law That Governs Government, “Government is the oldest, largest and most pervasive lawbreaker in America.” Yes, government is America’s biggest lawbreaker — with no close second. Before Donald Trump ran for president on his campaign to make America great again we wrote, “Government lawbreaking is bringing down the greatest and fairest engine of prosperity in history — the American economy. Political establishment lawbreaking is economically…

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Commentary: Rand Paul Was Right About McCain

Tennessee Star Staff

Republished with permission from ConservativeHQ.com. By CHQ.com Staff February 20, 2017 Yesterday, our friend U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky sure got it right during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” Paul said Senator John McCain’s comments criticizing President Trump’s comments about the press may be fueled more by personal animosity to the president than a legitimate concern about freedom of the press. McCain in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” warned that the suppression of a free press can lead to a dictatorial regime. He made the comments after Trump tweeted on Friday that the media is “the enemy of the American people.” “This is colored by John McCain’s disagreement with President Trump,” Paul said. “Everything that he says about the president is colored by his own personal dispute he has got running with President Trump — and it should be taken with a grain of salt because John McCain is the guy that has advocated for war everywhere.” “Actually, we’re very lucky John McCain is not in charge because I think we would be in perpetual war,” Senator Paul continued. “If you look at the map, there’s probably at least six different countries where John McCain has…

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EXCLUSIVE:  Rep. Sheila Butt:  Bill Focuses On The Success of Our Students

Laura Baigert

Rep. Sheila Butt (R-Columbia) told The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview on Capitol Hill that HB 617, a bill she has sponsored in the current session of the Tennessee General Assembly, will improve options for high school testing in math and English language arts. “HB 617 is a bill which would allow local school districts to have the option of using the ACT or the SAT suite of testing in lieu of the end of course test, the TNReady test and the TCAP test, in the State of Tennessee,” Butt told The Star’s Laura Baigert. “This is a bill that focuses on the success of our students and this is a tried and true measurement of college readiness and college success.  And all of our districts should have the option of being able to use these tests for their students,” she added. “Local Education Agencies – As introduced, authorizes LEAs to use the ACT, ACT Aspire, or SAT suites of standardized assessments instead of the TCAP, TNReady, and end-of-course exams to test the subjects of math and English language arts for grades nine through 12,” the Tennessee General Assembly website says of HB 617 (introduced in the Senate as SB…

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State Rep. Courtney Rogers Proposes Bill to Let Citizens Request Public Records Via Email

Laura Baigert

State Rep. Courtney Rogers (R-Goodlettsville) has introduced a bill, HB 58, which allows requests for public information to be submitted by all official modes of communication, including in person, via telephone, fax, email or other electronic means. “Public Records – As introduced, requires a records custodian, if that records custodian requires a request for copies of public records to be in writing, to accept a handwritten request submitted in person or by mail, an email request, or a request on an electronic form submitted online; requires a request for a records request form to be provided by the most expeditious means possible,” the Tennessee General Assembly website says of the bill. Rep. Rogers told the House State Government Subcommittee during hearings last week that her revisions seek to make it easier for the general public to make their information requests. In addition, she said, her bill will eliminate current ambiguities in the law to help prevent lawsuits in the future. The bill passed in that subcommittee on Tuesday,  but not without some controversy that could impact its passage at the full State Government Committee meeting next week. The Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA) is a compilation of Tennessee Code Annotated…

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Ralph Bristol on March 4 Pro-Trump Rally: ‘There is No Hate in Our Position. The Media Have Manufactured the Charge of Hate Without Evidence’

Tennessee Star Staff

Nashville’s Morning News host Ralph Bristol told his listening audience on 99.7 FM WWTN Monday that his speech to the March 4 Spirit of America rally at Nashville’s Legislative Plaza will focus on an honest portrayal of American citizens who support President Donald Trump. “I’m going to use this occasion to speak to Trump’s detractors, in the media, and on the opposite side of the issues that have people so upset, about the people who are attending the rally,” Bristol said. “I’m not going to speak to the people at the rally, I’m going to speak about them,” Bristol said. “I’m going to correct the fabricated record about their hearts,” he added. Rally organizer Mark Skoda of America First Tennessee praised Bristol and his speech topic. “Ralph understands the heart of America, the people of Tennessee and the reason for our frustration with the media. He’s been the top Nashville radio talk show host for ten years, and he knows about the people of Tennessee. We are honored to have his perspective shared at our rally,” Skoda told The Tennessee Star. In his Monday morning on air monologue, Bristol pulled no punches. “Maybe to some on the Left, respect for…

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