Day: June 30, 2017

It’s Time to Take Care of Our Own Health

Patrick Rooney
Tennessee Star

   Health care “reform” is once again in the news. And while I am happy to see any increase in our choices as citizens and consumers, the conversation is still about other people – politicians – deciding the future of our health care. This is the wrong emphasis. Most Americans want to see those who have special situations get the care they need. And I think that most want as much personal freedom as possible, allowing them to make their own health care choices. Accomplishing both these goals should not be a difficult chore. Meanwhile, I’ve been thinking about what I’d personally like to see more of in health care plans: An increased emphasis on help to get or remain healthy. For instance, gym membership and fitness class discounts (such as done by the SilverSneakers program for senior citizens), and affordable access to blood work, nutritionists, personal trainers and other specialists. Trainers can guide clients through targeted 12-week sessions covering weight and fat loss, lean muscle mass retention and gain, strength and mobility training, etc. Plans such as these will be more popular as the public demands them. I also want to see more freedom to choose in the marketplace, just as…

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Jeff Sessions Confirms Federal Government Sending Investigators to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Chicago

Tennessee Star Staff

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday that the federal government is stepping in to help lower the dangerous murder rate in Chicago. “This is good. We’ve been supporting that. We’re sending in additional gun investigators. We’ve directed our U.S. attorneys to prosecute these gun cases aggressively. The police have been demoralized in many ways. They’re not…

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Iran, the World’s Top Terror Sponsor, Is Upset With Trump’s Travel Ban

Tennessee Star Staff

Iran, the world’s top terror sponsor, denounced President Donald Trump’s travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries Friday, calling it a “shameful exhibition.” “US now bans Iranian grandmothers from seeing their grandchildren, in a truly shameful exhibition of blind hostility to all Iranians,” said Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in a Twitter post Friday. Trump’s travel ban went…

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Game On: Judd Matheny Announces Candidacy for Congress in Sixth District Whether Diane Black Runs for Governor or Not

Tennessee Star Staff

  State Rep. Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma) made a bold political move on Friday, formally announcing his candidacy for Congress in the Sixth District of Tennessee currently represented by Congressman Diane Black in an interview with WMSR radio in Manchester. Matheny made it clear he’s in it to win it, whether Black runs for governor, as many expect she will, or not. The State Representative from Coffee County’s announcement comes less than three weeks after he told The Tennessee Star “I’m 100 percent in the race for Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District. I’m not making a formal announcement until Diane Black announces for governor.” A veteran of the Tennessee Army National Guard as well as local and state law enforcement who has served in the Tennessee House of Representatives since 2002, Matheny “has been one of Tennessee’s most consistently conservative legislators and activists,” his announcement said: He has a perfect record protecting the unborn and our Second Amendment. Judd opposes illegal immigration and was just recently responsible for leading the successful fight to stop Nashville City Council ‘s attempt to become a sanctuary city. During the forced attempt to implement Common Core by establishment Republicans, Matheny orchestrated a maneuver to stop the initiative…

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Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk To Launch Controversial Restorative Justice Program

Wendy Wilson

  Nashville District Attorney Glenn Funk is planning to start a restorative justice pilot program using practices that are lauded by some but criticized by others who say they downplay wrongdoing. The program would start in juvenile courts but could be expanded to the adult system if it’s successful, reports WKRN News 2. In restorative justice programs, offenders meet with their victims as a way of taking accountability and to show remorse, and to help victims heal. In Davidson County, cases would be sent to a diversion program run by a nonprofit, which has yet to be found. Teens charged with vehicle thefts, home burglaries and nonviolent crime would be eligible to participate if the victim agrees. “What has to happen is the offender has to accept responsibility,” Funk told WKRN. “They have to admit to what they did, they have to meet with the victim, they find out what they need to do to make the victim whole, and then they have to take concrete steps to try to make the victim whole.” Restorative justice programs have been around for decades, but have become more popular in recent years in criminal justice systems and in public schools. Nashville Mayor Megan…

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Commentary: Democrats Cannot Be Trusted With Classified Intelligence

Tennessee Star Staff

George Rasley, ConservativeHQ.com Editor Democrats have a long history of abusing classified intelligence, leaking and in some cases giving it to our enemies. In the modern era, you can start with the fellow travelers like Alger Hiss and draw a straight line to Rep. Ron Dellums giving classified material to the Communist rulers of Grenada, to the intelligence leaks to discredit President Trump coming from former Obama White House and national security officials. In each case Democrats were given access to highly classified intelligence and used it to undermine the legitimate government of the United States. A lot of people call that treason, but to Democrats it is just politics as usual. Our friend Fred Fleitz, Senior Vice President for Policy and Programs at the Center for Security Policy, pointed out how damaging this leaking of classified material is and who is ultimately responsible for it in a recent interview with Liz Wheeler of One America News: Obama’s senior aides are behind these leaks or know who the leakers are. These leakers were brought in and vetted for high level clearances by the Obama administration. Mr. Obama therefore bears responsibility for their leaks against the Trump administration which are becoming…

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Knox County Sheriff’s Office Now Part of 287(g) Program to Strengthen Immigration Enforcement

Wendy Wilson

The Knox County Sheriff’s Office has formally entered into an agreement with federal immigration officials that will allow deputies to perform some of the duties of immigration officers after undergoing training. The agreement is part of the 287(g) program, which is strongly opposed by activist groups such as the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC). Knox County is the only agency in Tennessee currently participating in the program, which was authorized by a 1996 federal statute. President Trump supports the program and has revived it after it was scaled back under former President Obama. The number of participating agencies has been growing. Currently, 45 law enforcement agencies in 18 states are involved. Sheriff Jimmy “J.J.” Jones signed the Knox County agreement June 13 and an official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) signed June 15. The agreement is good through June 2019. Acting on a request from ICE, Jones had asked for, and received, letters of recommendation from Sens. Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. After completing their training, deputies in Knox County chosen for the program will have the delegated authority to interrogate suspected illegal immigrants detained by law enforcement, collect evidence and process paperwork. They…

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Pentagon: ‘Rookie’ ISIS Fighters Are Accidentally Blowing Themselves Up In Mosul

Tennessee Star Staff

Inexperienced Islamic State fighters in the city of Mosul are accidentally blowing themselves up in preparation for combat, an Army spokesman told reporters Thursday. Army Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, said there is serious discord among the terror group’s last “few hundred” fighters left in Mosul. “We have reflections of serious internal…

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Incensed Californians Working to Recall State Assemblyman Who Supported Gas Tax Hike

Admin
Gas up the car

  Earlier this year, the Democrat super-majority in the California legislature passed a substantial gas tax hike. Though wildly unpopular with the relative few who took notice, Governor Jerry Brown signed it quickly, and put into motion an uptick in fuel costs to consumers estimated to raise a staggering $5 billion in new recurring revenues to help underwrite the Golden State’s bloated budget. Republicans, fueled by the outrage of every day Californians at the imminent tax increase, responded by launching a recall effort against newly-elected Assemblyman Josh Newman, whom they say was key to the passage of the tax hike. The Washington Free Beacon reports the effort, led by San Diego radio talker Carl DeMaio, is garnering vast support amongst California voters. The first step to recall a sitting elected official is to gather petitions signed by voters. The Beacon reports, “Republicans opposed to the most recent gas tax hike Newman backed submitted 84,988 signatures for the recall effort on Tuesday, nearly 20,000 more than the 63,592 the law requires.” DeMaio told The Beacon, “The overwhelming number of signatures we collected in just six weeks demonstrates a real rebellion is brewing in California against the out-of-control tax raisers in the state legislature.” He continued, “This recall…

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Congressman Jim Jordan Calls for Investigation of Comey, Lynch

Tennessee Star Staff

Rep. Jim Jordan called Thursday for an investigation into government officials involved in the Russia investigation. Mr. Jordan, Ohio Republican and member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said on CNN that former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch should be looked into for calling the FBI’s probe of Hillary Clinton’s emails…

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Is NASA’s Mars Rover Getting Close To Artificial Intelligence?

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover uses extremely advanced software that allows it to independently locate individual rocks for study without human intervention, scientists working on the project told Space.com Wednesday. A software update called Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) gave the Curiosity rover a degree of artificial intelligence, and is the first time artificial intelligence…

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Mark Green Wins Award From Tax Reform Group

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

  State Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville) has won an award from a tax reform group. “Tennessee Senator Mark Green, MD was honored for his ongoing work devoted to taxpayers via legislative and regulatory reforms by the Tax Foundation, an independent tax policy organization. The award presentation was made at the monthly meeting of the Center Right Coalition of TN meeting by Patrick Gleason of the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR),” Mark Green for Tennessee said in a statement released earlier this week: “My commitment to Tennesseans has not and will not change. A government should always look for ways to allow its citizens to keep more money in their family budget and not the State’s,” noted Green, physician and business owner. “The Hall Income Tax was bad policy that penalized both investors and those who saved.” Annually the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit, independent tax policy organization recognizes state leaders – legislators, governors and other officials – for the effective legislative and regulatory reforms that improve a state’s tax policy. The honoree, according to the group, must be noted as 1) outstanding, 2) achieved during the 2016 legislative calendar and 3) reform taxes to make simpler, more neutral, more transparent, more…

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La Raza Affiliate That Randy Boyd Gave $250,000 Is Holding Another Anti-Trump Event in Nashville

Chris Alto
Tennessee Star

  Renata Soto, is the co-founder and director of Conexion Americas, a named partner affiliate of the National Council of La Raza (La Raza). In 2015, she was made Chairman of La Raza’s board and the following year, gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd donated $250,000 to her Nashville organization. Shortly after Trump was elected President, Soto announced that she would begin organizing against the new administration by starting an “Indivisible” chapter in Nashville. “I invite you to join INDIVISIBLE, a campaign bringing together concerned Americans who commit to protect the promise of an indivisible nation that celebrates the roots and possibilities of all its people,” Soto wrote in a December 2016 op-ed published in The Tennessean. On Friday, Soto will hold another ‘Indivisible’ event at the Conexion Americas building Casa Azafran.  Among the activities promoted at the event, attendees of all ages are invited to “RAISE YOUR VOICE Write postcards to our legislators supporting the principles of an INDIVISIBLE community.” Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s early support for the ‘Indivisible’ campaign is no surprise given her own left-wing open borders, pro-illegal immigrant political philosophy. https://twitter.com/MayorMeganBarry/status/822516452053942274 ‘Indivisible’ organizers are working to obstruct President Trump’s agenda for the nation including the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws. The Indivisible…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Friday, June 30

Admin
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing June 30, Friday Romans 6:20-21 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

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