Day: May 9, 2017

BREAKING: President Trump Fires FBI Director James Comey

Tennessee Star Staff

The Associated Press is reporting that President Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey. President Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey. In a statement, Trump says Comey’s firing “will mark a new beginning” for the FBI. The White House says the search for a new FBI director will begin immediately. Earlier on Tuesday, CNN reported that Comey “made a big mistake” in his testimony before Congress concerning Huma Abedin’s emails: FBI Director James Comey told a Senate committee last week that “hundreds and thousands” of emails containing classified information had been forwarded from top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin to the home computer she shared with her husband — and one-time New York congressman — Anthony Weiner. Turns out that’s not true, according to CNN’s Evan Perez, who reported Tuesday that Comey had drastically overstated the number of emails Abedin had forwarded to Weiner and that the FBI was in the midst of trying to find a way to correct the record.

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Texas Files Lawsuit Against Potential Opponents of New Anti-Sanctuary Law

Tennessee Star Staff

Texas lodged a preemptive lawsuit Monday against local officials considered hostile to the state’s new anti-sanctuary cities law, the first salvo in an expected legal fight over the controversial measure. State Attorney General Ken Paxton said the federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, is necessary to protect the…

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Tennessee Muslim Group Cheers Ruling In Sports World Allowing Hijabs

Wendy Wilson

The American Muslim Advisory Council is cheering a change made by the International Basketball Federation last week that will allow female players to wear hijabs during games. A Tennessee group based in Nashville, the AMAC praised the change in a Facebook post.   Allure magazine is also enthusiastic about the change, writing in a story last week, “The world of basketball just got a little more inclusive. The International Basketball Federation, FIBA, has just made it so that players can finally rock their hijabs without risking being excluded from participating in games.” FIBA began considering a change after Qatar’s women’s basketball team decided not to participate in the 2014 Asian Games because players were not allowed to wear hijabs. Governing members of FIBA “praised a historical moment that occurred in Iran on April 13, when a FIBA test game featuring women wearing hijabs marked the first time men witnessed a women’s sporting event in person,” according to a FIBA press release. The new rule, which goes into effect in October, says that headwear must be black or white or have the same dominant color as the uniform and must be the same for all players on the team. It also can’t…

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Multi-Million Dollar Education Bill Still in Play, Critics Claim in Return for Democrat Support of IMPROVE Act

Laura Baigert

While last week’s two-day House floor showdown over Governor Haslam’s 2017-18 budget never did take up an amendment for a $55 million education appropriation, HB 841, known as the K-12 Block Grant Act, was approved in a new form in the House Finance, Ways & Means Subcommittee and Committee on Monday.  That approval advances the bill to the Calendar & Rules Committee meeting, which was later scheduled to Tuesday. In full Committee, House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) before moving for adoption spoke very briefly on his new and only amendment to the bill, which, he stated, “takes out the funding for the bill in the way it was originally funded.” The bill in its original form called for a one-time transfer of $250 million from a variety of revenue sources within the General Fund to the Education Fund, as The Tennessee Star reported previously. Fitzhugh referred to the arrangement as an Education Investment Endowment Act for which a Fund (EIEF) would be created, and said “It’s much on the same premise as the Tennessee Promise,” where the reserves from the lottery have been set up as an endowment for the Tennessee Promise.  Fitzhugh continued, We are attempting to do the same thing…

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Nashville Symphony and Chorus To Perform Piece Memorializing 9/11

Wendy Wilson

The Nashville Symphony and Chorus will perform a piece this weekend that was completed in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. American composer John Harbison began writing Requiem in 1985, but it was the events of 9/11 that compelled him to finish the project 16 years later, according to a press release from the Nashville Symphony. Harbison is known for his many symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music, art songs and sacred choral music. He has served on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since 1969. While some of his work is marked by innovation, Requiem honors tradition. A critique in The New York Times in 2003 said, “No radical deconstruction for this composer. The placement of Latin syllables honors the literal meaning of words; they want to be understood.” The work has rarely been performed since its 2003 debut. The performance at the Schermerhorn in Nashville will be recorded for future worldwide release on Naxos. Tucker Biddlecome, who will officially become director of the chorus in August, has spent the past year working with the all-volunteer ensemble to get ready for this weekend. “This is an important work, reflective of a critical time in our history, and we are honored to…

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State Rep. Byrd’s ‘Celebrate Freedom Week’ Bill Signed Into Law; Tennessee Schoolchildren to Learn More About America’s Founding

Wendy Wilson

  Tennessee students will get more lessons on the history of American’s founding, thanks to a bill passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Haslam last week. The week of Sept. 17 will be designated as Celebrate Freedom Week in K-12 public schools. The law goes into effect in 2018. Sept. 17 is already known nationally as Constitution Day, and Sept. 17-23 is Constitution Week, in recognition of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on Sept. 17, 1787. State Rep. David Byrd (R-Waynesboro), who sponsored the legislation in the House, told The Tennessee Star he’s not sure schools statewide are uniformly emphasizing Constitution Week and that’s one reason he wanted to introduce Celebrate Freedom Week, which already is recognized in several other states. It also will give educators already familiar with Constitution Week some extra resources, Byrd said. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald). Celebrate Freedom Week is primarily designed to give attention to the purpose and meaning of the original texts of our founding documents, including the Declaration of Independence. But other events in American history that relate to founding principles may also be discussed. It gives Byrd the chills to…

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PTO Treasurer in Giles County Indicted on Charges of Stealing Funds

Tennessee Star Staff

An investigation by the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office has led to the indictment of Amanda McMilin, the former treasurer of the Richland Elementary School Parent Teachers Organization (PTO) in Giles County. Investigators determined that McMilin stole at least $5,649 from the PTO by keeping cash that was collected during fundraisers. These activities included a fall festival, t-shirt, sweatshirt, and candy-gram sales; a bake sale; and concession operations. McMilin failed to deposit the cash collected for many of these fundraisers into the PTO bank account. In fact, investigators discovered that McMilin did not deposit any cash into the PTO account from July 2015 through November 2015. McMilin admitted to investigators that she took money from the PTO and used it to pay her personal expenses. She resigned her position as treasurer in January 2016 after she was confronted about the missing funds by PTO and school officials. In April 2017, Amanda McMilin was indicted by the Giles County Grand Jury on one count of theft over $2,500. “While it may be tempting to let a PTO treasurer handle all money matters, it greatly enhances the possibility of theft,” said Comptroller Justin P. Wilson. “PTO’s must ensure there is oversight. The simple act…

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Christian Governor of Jakarta, Indonesia Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison ‘For Blaspheming the Quran’

Tennessee Star Staff

“An Indonesian court sentenced the minority Christian governor of Jakarta to two years in prison on Tuesday for blaspheming the Quran, a jarring ruling that undermines the reputation of the world’s largest Muslim nation for practicing a moderate form of Islam,” the Washington Post reported on Tuesday. In announcing its decision, the five-judge panel said Gov. Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama was “convincingly proven guilty of blasphemy” and ordered his arrest. He was taken to Cipinang Prison in east Jakarta. At the court, supporters of the governor wept and hugged each other amid shouts of jubilation from members of conservative Islamic groups. Photos quickly appeared online of Ahok, who still commands immense popularity in Jakarta, the capital, being warmly greeted by prison staff. Ahok said he would appeal, but it was unclear if he would be released once that process is underway. By early evening, hundreds of angry supporters had gathered at the high-security prison, some pushing hard against a tall metal gate and others setting a tire alight. “Brothers and sisters, justice has died in this country,” said a man addressing the crowd with a megaphone.   The stunning sentence flies in the face of recent claims by some Indonesian…

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Department of Veterans Affairs Asks For Meeting With Whistleblowers To Find Out How They Face Retaliation

Tennessee Star Staff

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is reaching out to whistleblowers for a meeting on the challenges they’ve faced when exposing wrongdoing at their facilities, following the establishment of an office to protect whistleblowers. Whistleblowers Kuauhtemoc Rodriguez from the Phoenix VA and Sean Higgins from the Memphis VA have been contacted by the Central Whistleblower Office…

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Oil and Gas Industry Pushes Back: Google Asked to Label Anti-Fracking Websites as ‘Fake News’

Tennessee Star Staff

An oil and gas drilling advocacy group published an open letter to Google asking the search engine giant to consider “purging or demoting” websites spreading misinformation about hydraulic fracturing. Google rewrote its search engine algorithm to bury “fake news” websites in the wake of the 2016 presidential election. The industry-funded Texans for Natural Gas wants Google…

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The French Vote Is The End Of Christian Europe

Tennessee Star Staff

  by George Rasley ConservativeHQ.com Editor In 732 a relatively small army of French Christians led by Charles Martel defeated an invading Muslim army in the Battle of Tours, near Poitier, France. Abd-ar-Rahman, the Muslim governor of Cordoba, Spain was killed in the fighting, and the Moors retreated from what is now France, never to establish themselves north of the Pyrenees. Yesterday, the French had a similar opportunity to repulse the Muslim invasion that is destroying the 2000-year old Gaulish Christian culture that arose from the ashes of the Roman Empire, but no Frankish army showed up Emmanuel Macronat the French polling stations to repulse the invasion. Instead, Emmanuel Macron, a “Useful Infidel,” was swept into power as President of France. Unlike in the United States, Hungary and Poland, and to a lesser extent in Great Britain, where the ascendant political leaders of those countries at least recognize the threat of Islam to their cultures, Macron is a globalist and an “open promoter of multiculturalism”. As such, he does not consider Islamism a national threat because the French nation, or, as he has said, French culture, does not really exist. And so, the culture that gave us Chartres Cathedral, Mont…

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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry Praises Muslims and Globalism at Saturday Luncheon at Mosque

Wendy Wilson

Mayor Megan Barry praised Nashville’s Muslim community and spoke about the “gift of globalism” in her speech Saturday at the Islamic Center of Tennessee in Antioch. Barry made her comments at a luncheon to celebrate the third annual Standing up for Justice and Muslim Community Day. The event was sponsored by the American Muslim Advisory Council. A progressive Democrat, Barry has faced criticism from conservatives who portray her embrace of immigration as a heedless one that doesn’t seriously examine the challenges posed by linguistic, cultural and religious diversity. Barry issued a proclamation Saturday honoring Muslims in which she calls them “an increasingly important thread in the tapestry of America” and calls their presence in Middle Tennessee “historic” even though their presence did not become notable until recent years. In her speech, Barry said promoting diversity has been a critical issue for her since taking office. Nashville is home today for many newcomers from all over the world. Barry noted the 120 languages spoken by families whose children attend Metro Nashville Public Schools. “What a gift to have a multilingual community,” she said. “We need to make sure that the folks who are speaking their first language continue to speak that…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Tuesday, May 09

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing May 9, Tuesday Matthew 9:35-38 35 Then Jesus went to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. 36 When He saw the crowds, He felt compassion for them, because they were weary and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to His disciples,“The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. 38 Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

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