Day: December 28, 2017

Eleven States Launch Legal Fight Against Sanctuary Cities, Tennessee Not Among Them

Tim Dukeman

As the public outcry against sanctuary cities grows louder, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced today that he is leading a coalition of 11 state attorneys general in the fight to finally put an end to sanctuary cities. In contrast, Tennessee’s Attorney General Herbert Slatery III, the state’s chief legal advisor, is not on board, so the Volunteer State is not named among the states in the coalition. Announced in a tweet, the coalition has filed a brief urging a federal appeals court to overturn a lower court ruling and enforce President Trump’s anti-sanctuary cities executive order. These 11 states (West Virginia, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas) insist that sanctuary cities “undermine the President’s immigration enforcement authority, an area where the Constitution gives him and Congress considerable power.” W.Va. AG, Louisiana Lead 11 States in Fight Against Sanctuary Cities https://t.co/oDVO57PTBw — WV Attorney General (@WestVirginiaAG) December 27, 2017 Attorney General Morrisey also issued this statement: “Sanctuary cities are a matter of public safety. Law enforcement officials can better protect citizens if they are capable of complying with federal immigration laws rather than having their authority limited by the establishment of sanctuary cities.” The announcement also…

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State Senator Jack Johnson Endorses Mark Green for Congress

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In the latest of what is shaping up to be an impressive list of endorsements and statements of support, State Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville) announced Wednesday that fellow State Senator Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) has given him the nod to replace Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) in the 2018 primary to be held August 2. “Having worked side by side with Mark Green, I have witnessed his principled and effective conservative leadership firsthand,” Johnson said in a statement. “With all the dysfunction going on in Congress today, we need to send someone to Washington who will represent us as well as Congressman Marsha Blackburn has. Mark is the perfect man for the job.” First elected to the State Senate in 2007, Johnson is the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. “I’ve been proud to serve alongside Jack Johnson in the State Senate,” Green said. “Jack is one of our finest leaders, and both Williamson County and Tennessee have benefited tremendously from his leadership.” The announcement is the latest in a long and growing list of endorsements: Green has coalesced the support of Republicans across the spectrum. Nationally, he has received the endorsements of the Club for Growth, Family Research Council, and House Freedom…

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Rep. Diane Black Will Step Down as House Budget Committee Chair After Trump Tax Cut Victory

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Diane Black

In an op-ed appearing on FoxNews.com, Representative Diane Black (R-TN-06) announced Wednesday she will step down as House Budget Committee Chair in time for the Republican House Leadership to select a new Chair in January.  While she will no longer be in that leadership role, she will continue to serve in Congress as she campaigns to be Tennessee’s next Governor. “What a difference a year makes,” she begins: Twelve months ago, the country was ending one of the most fiscally irresponsible presidencies of the modern age. Now we’re wrapping up a year of bold fiscal leadership from President Trump and conservatives in the U.S. House of Representatives. I became chairman of the House Budget Committee one year ago and have been proud to serve in that role along with our new president. He has pushed an agenda of action – responsible budgeting, repealing ObamaCare’s worst mandates, and aggressive tax-cutting to get our economy going. This has been exactly the kind of work I came to Congress to do and we have done it. But my heart has always been at home. This why today I’m announcing that I will now step down as chairman of the House Budget Committee, while continuing…

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State Senator Todd Gardenhire Considering Renewal of In-State Tuition Push for Illegal Aliens, Despite Poll Showing Widespread Opposition

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State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) is considering another try at getting in-state tuition for illegal aliens, despite a recent Tennessee Star Poll released just before Christmas that shows likely Republican primary voters oppose the proposal by an astounding 88 percent to 6 percent margin. (See question 12 on page 3 below.) [pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/171219-Triton-Dec-2017-TN-Star-GOP-Primary-Survey-Topline-Results.pdf” title=”171219 Triton – Dec 2017 TN Star GOP Primary Survey – Topline Results”] The Tennessee General Assembly is set to reconvene at noon, January 9, and the Chattanooga-area legislator told the Times Free Press he hasn’t yet “tested the waters” to see if there has been any significant movement by the state’s lawmakers toward granting the significant discounts to would-be students whose legal status is dubious, at best. One reason for Gardenhire’s hesitation to push for the measure likely stems from the fact that every gubernatorial candidate has come out against the proposal, which he says “surprised” him. “Mark White and I need to sit down and talk about it,” Gardenhire said to the Times Free Press. “So we’ll have to see what the temperature is before we sit down and try to take that on.” The proposal passed the state Senate on 2015, but failed in the state House by a single vote.…

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Woman Accused of Racism by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in Airline Seat Dispute Is Human-Rights Activist

Tennessee Star Staff

The woman Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee accused of racism is a celebrated photojournalist who helped document human-rights abuses in war-torn Guatemala during the 1980s. Jean-Marie Simon, whose first-class seat on a United Airlines flight was given to Ms. Jackson Lee, Texas Democrat, lived and worked in Guatemala during the turbulent decade that saw the military seize control of the government in a coup. Hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans were killed or “disappeared” during the conflict.

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Joe Carr Commentary: It Is Time To Stand Firm in Support of Our History

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There is an old adage that “what is done in darkness will come to light.” City officials in Memphis who concocted a secret scheme to “sell” a couple of public parks for $1000 each in order to evade state law prohibiting removal of statues and monuments without proper approval may soon learn the truth of that saying. As soon as they “sold” the parks, two monuments to Nathan Bedford Forrest and Jefferson Davis were quickly removed by the “new private owners” in the dark of night. More facts are coming to light, and it is increasingly clear that the scam was carefully orchestrated by the Mayor and local political activists to skirt the clear intent of the law. If it was such a good idea, why was it done secretly and without public input and debate? Sadly, this is not the first (nor likely the last) time that Memphis has sought to avoid the rule of law in order to “do whatever they want to do.” From creating a sanctuary city in violation of state law to removing statues and monuments in violation of state law, Memphis is following a consistent pattern of creating some sort of “laws we don’t…

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Big Labor Wants Tens Of Thousands Of California Pot Workers Paying Union Dues

Tennessee Star Staff

Labor unions are vying for new, dues-paying members from California’s growing cannabis industry as a state law legalizing recreational pot is only days away from taking full effect. After California residents passed Proposition 64 in 2016, the Golden State became the largest market in the U.S. for recreational marijuana and boosted the already growing weed industry. Proposition 64 will be fully implemented in a matter of days at the start of 2018, according to the Los Angeles Times.

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Nearly 450,000 People Fled These Three Deep Blue States In 2017

Tennessee Star Staff

Three Democratic-leaning states hemorrhaged hundreds of thousands of people in 2016 and 2017 as crime, high taxes and, in some cases, crummy weather had residents seeking greener pastures elsewhere. The exodus of residents was most pronounced in New York, which saw about 190,000 people leave the state between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2017, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last week.

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Nashville Mayor Megan Barry Sets Sights on Massive Transit Plan Approval for 2018

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On the heels of a big win with the award to Nashville of the new Major League Soccer franchise, plus several court rulings in her favor to build a stadium on the Fairgrounds to house the professional soccer players, Megan Barry has made her number one priority in 2018 to gain approval to build out her 20th century transit plan for Nashville urbanites. “You know, looking forward, it is all about getting people to be excited about transit and then willing to pay for it,” she told WKRN Wednesday, adding: By 2040, we are on track to have another million people here, so our traffic is probably as good as it is gonna get today. It is just gonna get worse tomorrow and the next day and the next day, and this plan addresses that. The plan – unveiled October 16 – is dubbed “Let’s Move Nashville.” It touted an introductory price tag of $5.4 billion, and was almost immediately revised to $5.6 billion a month later.  The ambitious transit overhaul has had a less-than-warm reception by community groups and professional analysts alike. As The Tennessee Star reported shortly after its introduction, Manhattan Institute scholar Aaron Renn excoriated the proposal as “making no sense.” Renn, who specializes in…

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