Day: December 1, 2017

Senator Corker Joins Democrats, Will Vote ‘No’ on Once-in-a-Lifetime Tax Reform

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In a move he telegraphed for weeks, retiring junior Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee announced Friday afternoon he will not vote for the tax reform package heading to the floor of the Senate, citing concerns for the government’s mounting deficits and debt. “This is yet another tough vote. I am disappointed. I wanted to get to yes,” Mr. Corker said in a statement, released on Twitter. “But at the end of the day, I am not able to cast aside my fiscal concerns and vote for legislation that I believe, based on the information I currently have, could deepen the debt burden on future generations,” he said. My statement on the tax reform legislation: pic.twitter.com/LdTQRezdlO — Senator Bob Corker (@SenBobCorker) December 1, 2017 Senator Corker pushed hard for the bill to include a “trigger” that would undo reforms, should the American economy not meet certain benchmarks after the plan was implemented. Republican leaders rejected the idea, instead adopting other Senators’ suggestions on SALT (state and local taxes) and small business tax provisions – along with their votes. “While I support a number of the provisions included in this legislation and continue to believe it would have been fairly easy to…

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Phil Fulmer Named Interim AD at University of Tennessee, Currie Placed on Leave With Pay

Tennessee Star Staff

Phil Fulmer has been named interim Athletic Director at the University of Tennesseem and Athletic Director John Currie “has been placed on leave with pay,” UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport said at a press conference Friday afternoon. “Phillip Fulmer has been a great representative of the university. He has been a student-athlete, a head coach, and a father of UT student-athletes. He understands our history, our rich traditions, and the importance of supporting our student-athletes,” Davenport said in a statement released on Friday. Fulmer played college football at UT and was the head coach when UT won the national championship in the 1990s. “I am confident that Phillip understands our commitment to excellence in all of our athletic programs and I appreciate his willingness to serve during this critical time,” Davenport added.

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Report: Tennessee Has Fired Athletic Director Who Botched Search for Head Football Coach

Tennessee Star Staff

WBIR-TV in Knoxville is reporting that the University of Tennessee has fired athletic director John Currie for his handling of the search for a new head football coach. According to reports, Currie attended a short meeting Friday morning at the chancellor’s office. The meeting reportedly lasted approximately eight to 10 minutes. When asked if he had been fired, Currie refused to comment on what happened during the meeting. The university has not released a statement about the situation. Due to his contract, Currie would likely be owed money from the university. Currie has been under fire after multiple attempts to hire a new head coach have failed. Former head coach Butch Jones was fired in November. The Knoxville News Sentinel is reporting that UT Chancellor Beverly Davenport “has a press conference scheduled for 4 p.m. ET Friday,” at which time it is expected Chancellor Davenport will confirm Currie has been fired. As The Tennessee Star reported, a revolt by Vol fans last Sunday on social media forced Currie to withdraw his offer to former Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano: Harsh social media reaction forced University of Tennessee Athletic Director John Currie to back off from hiring former Rutgers head coach…

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Scientist Claims He Was Forced To Quit His Govt. Job After Becoming A Trump Admin Adviser

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A scientist who’s worked at North Carolina’s environmental agency for more than two decades said he was forced out after being appointed to a Trump administration scientific advisory board. Donald van der Vaart was chosen to serve on the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Science Advisory Board in early November, less than 24 hours later, he was…

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Scott Williams Vying With Rep. Art Swann for Doug Overbey’s Tennessee State Senate Seat

Wendy Wilson

UPDATE: Friday 3:30 pm central The Blount County Commission has voted to appoint state Rep. Art Swann to Doug Overbey’s state Senate seat.    In a statement, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally said:    “Congratulations to my friend Art Swann on his appointment to the Tennessee Senate by the Blount County Commission. Art has been a highly respected member of the House of Representatives who has served his constituents with great distinction. He will be an excellent state Senator for the people of Blount and Sevier counties.”   As a virtual unknown, Scott Williams (pictured, left) got nearly 40 percent of the vote last year when he went up against former state Sen. Doug Overbey (R-Maryville) in the race for the Republican nomination for the District 2 seat. Now he wants to be appointed to the seat. Overbey resigned from the Senate Nov. 21 to be sworn in as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. The Blount County Commission in East Tennessee today will appoint someone to fill his seat. The meeting will be held at 12:15 p.m. in Room 430 at the county courthouse. State Rep. Art Swann (R-Maryville) also wants to be appointed to the seat and has…

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Roy Moore Challenges Late Night Host Jimmy Kimmel to Face Him and Alabamans ‘Man to Man’ After Interrupting Church Services

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Anti-Christian, progressive chauvinist Jimmy Kimmel sunk to a new low Wednesday night as he sent his stringer, toadie ‘comedian’ Rich Barbieri (a/k/a Jake Byrd) into an Alabama church to interrupt a worship service where US Senate candidate Roy Moore was speaking. But Roy Moore and his team won’t be letting Kimmel and company’s insults slide this time. “Jimmy Kimmel and the ‘Hollywood elite’ cross the line when they invade our Churches under a disguise and attempt to make a mockery of our worship services,” Drew Messer, a senior adviser to Moore, told Breitbart News on Thursday morning after the incident at the church on Wednesday night. “If Kimmel wants to mock our Christian values, he should come down here and do it man to man instead of hiding behind a camera in Hollywood,” Messer said. “And yes, Jimmy, we will still rebuild our military, build the wall, protect our gun rights, reform our tax code, and support President Trump whether you like that or not. Hollywood will not bully us around.” Senior Moore adviser Brett Doster agreed, saying in a separate email to Breitbart News: Last night, Jimmy Kimmel sent one of his goons to disrupt an Alabama worship service…

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Council on Islamic Education Worked with Textbook Publishers, Educational Organizations and Teachers to Erase ‘Miconceptions’

Chris Alto

Public school students across the country are receiving instruction about Islam from proselytizing Muslim speakers using the excuse of “correcting misconceptions” even though the Council on Islamic Education (CIE), worked for years with textbook publishers, provided teacher training and supplemental classroom resources for teaching about Islam consistent with state social studies standards. Shabbir Mansuri founded CIE in 1991, to: provide academic support and scholarly resources about Islam and Muslim history to K-12 textbook publishers, educators, and others. We went on to cultivate expertise in world history and teaching about world religions, producing assessments of national and history-social studies state standards, training thousands of teachers, publishing high-quality teaching materials, and reviewing numerous social studies textbooks. To that end, CIE sponsored multiple conferences focusing on textbook content and national standards related to teaching about Islam and Muslims. In 2007, CIE changed its name to the Institute on Religion and Civic Values. An article posted on SoundVision, an organization that promotes proselytizing Islam to students in public school, quoted Abigail Jungreis, Editorial Director for school social studies at Houghton Mifflin regarding CIE: We’ve had a really good relationship with them [the CIE] over the years. Their reviewers are knowledgeable, access to primary source materials. She gives Susan…

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Judson Phillips Commentary: Jimmy Kimmel, Have You No Decency?

Tennessee Star Staff

Hollywood went to Alabama Wednesday night and the result was not pretty. A paid agent of Jimmy Kimmel went to an Alabama church where Judge Roy Moore was speaking and disrupted the church service. “Jake Byrd,” allegedly a comedian who works for Kimmel, began screaming during the service about the women who have made unsubstantiated or even debunked claims against Judge Moore. No one asked Byrd the famous question, “Sir have you no decency?” No one needed to. Just as asking, is ice cream good or is Hillary Clinton evil; some questions have an answer that is self-evident. Hollywood, as evidenced by Jimmy Kimmel, despises real America. Hollywood thinks real America exists merely to be a punchline in their jokes. Their attitude towards Christians in real America is simply one of contempt. They believe the people who support Roy Moore in Alabama have the IQ of a boll weevil and are entitled to as much respect as that beetle. Hollywood and the entertainment industry is totally silent today on the issue of the disruption of a church service by a TV show desperately seeking ratings. The network that ignored Matt Lauer’s sexual antics for years thinks there is absolutely nothing…

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Rep. Luis Gutierrez Mulling 2020 Presidential Bid

Tennessee Star Staff

Retiring Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) is considering launching his own 2020 presidential bid, Politico reported Wednesday. The day after the 63-year-old liberal congressman announced he would not seek reelection to his House seat, Politico spoke with him about his future political ambitions. “I will be reaching out to people across the country,” Gutierrez said. “This is…

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McConnell: ‘Absolutely Outrageous’ for Media to Question Trump’s Mental Health

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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) slammed news outlets that have raised questions about President Donald Trump’s mental fitness, saying Wednesday on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that the accusations “are absolutely outrageous.” It’s no secret that Trump and McConnell don’t always get along — the president often rips McConnell for the Senate’s inaction on his…

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Randy Boyd Fundraiser With Jeb Bush Closed to the Public, $4,000 Bought a Picture With Both

Wendy Wilson

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Jeb Bush on Thursday headlined a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd at the Omni Hotel downtown. Boyd, who is considered an establishment figure by grassroots conservatives, has faced criticism for turning to Bush to boost his campaign. The former Florida governor badly failed in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination last year. Thursday’s event was closed to the media, which a Boyd campaign spokeswoman reiterated in the hotel lobby when approached by a reporter and photographer for The Tennessee Star.  There did not appear to be any other journalists at the Omni. Several Boyd supporters and volunteers approached by The Star declined to be interviewed. Earlier in the day, Bush spoke at a conference on education at the Omni, where U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos also spoke. The conference, which concludes today, was organized by the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), an initiative founded by Bush that promotes school choice and other education reforms. In the evening, Bush fans paid big bucks to mingle with him and Boyd and Boyd’s wife, Jenny, at the fundraiser. A photo reception cost $4,000 per person/couple. A general reception cost $1,000 per person/couple, and the dinner that…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Friday, December 1

Dana Hunsinger Gill
Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing December 1, Friday 1 Peter 5:5 …clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because,“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Revelation 14:7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”    

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