Day: January 24, 2018

Former Judge Bob Corlew Announces Candidacy for GOP Nomination in 6th Congressional District

Tennessee Star Staff

Former Chancery Court Judge Bob Corlew announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for Congress in the 6th Congressional District on Wednesday. “I have dedicated my life to public service, not political service, serving my community and my country. I am a veteran, a teacher, a servant leader, but most importantly, I am a grandpa of eight wonderful grandchildren,” Corlew said in a statement released by his campaign. “I am a Christian Conservative who believes Tennessee’s values are worth fighting for. President Trump needs folks who will work with him, not against him, and I will work with President Trump to make our community and our country great again,” Corlew added. “In 2017, Corlew served as Lions Club International President after retiring from thirty years of service as a judge, most recently serving Cannon and Rutherford Counties as Chancery Court Judge,” the statement noted. A video of Corlew’s campaign announcement has been posted on his campaign website, and can be seen here as well: Corlew joins two other Republicans seeking the 6th Congressional District seat Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) has said she will not seek to retain in 2018 since she is a candidate for governor. Former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner…

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Nashville Metro Council Plays Shell Game With Transit Costs

Jason M. Reynolds

The Metro Council voted Tuesday to not disclose the true cost of Mayor Megan Barry’s light rail transit plan to voters on the May 1 referendum. Metro Councilmembers John Cooper and Tanaka Vercher had asked that the May ballot language include the full $9-billion-dollar costs. They proposed the amendment that Metro Council voted on Tuesday night during the plan’s second reading. The amendment is available here. The council voted 21-14 not to accept the amendment, according to a spokesman for NoTax4Tracks, a PAC that opposes the transit plan. There will be one final reading, but it is not immediately clear if amendments will be allowed, the spokesman says. That vote could come in as early as two weeks. Once the amendment failed, the council voted on the Barry administration’s favored language for the referendum, citing a price tag of just over $5.3 billion. The council voted 30-6, with three not voting, to create the ballot language, according to Barry’s Twitter feed. NoTax4Tracks PAC on Tuesday had announced their support for the proposed amendment’s effort to let voters know the full cost of the city’s light rail transit plan. “The city does not want voters to know the full costs of the light rail…

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Commentary: The SEIU Is No One’s Friend

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SEIU

By Richard McCarty   The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is one of the largest, wealthiest, and most powerful unions in the country. Unfortunately, because SEIU is exploitative, fundamentally dishonest, and unethical, it’s also one of the last organizations anyone should ever want on their side. For example, one of the ways that SEIU manages to collect over $300 million a year is by skimming union dues off of the Medicaid checks that are sent to provide care for sick and disabled people. Most of the home health care providers receiving these checks never asked SEIU to “represent” them, but instead had the union imposed on them. In fact, many of these caregivers have tried to leave the union, but SEIU has schemed and fought to keep collecting their dues money. In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that home health care providers cannot be forced to join or pay fees to a union. In the wake of this decision, the right-leaning Freedom Foundation began working to notify Washington State caregivers that they could opt out of paying union dues. Unwilling to let its members leave without a fight, SEIU went to war with the nonprofit foundation. One of the shady…

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Rep. Diane Black Pushes Back on Glamour Magazine’s Lauding of ‘Glorious’ Re-Edit of Word War II Film, ‘Saving Private Ryan’

Christina Botteri

When Glamour Magazine proudly tweeted a link to an article featuring a “feminist” re-edit of the landmark film, ‘Saving Private Ryan,’ Representative Diane Black, whose father fought in World War II, shot back: It's hard to imagine a more out of touch display of identity politics. The real heroes were the brave Americans like my father who risked their lives fighting for our freedoms in WWII. #RealWWIIHeroes https://t.co/BPkTnkx8S3 — Diane Black (@DianeBlackTN) January 23, 2018 Released in 1998, the Steven Spielberg movie, with its harrowing opening scene of the invasion of Normady, is widely considered to be the most realistic depiction of the horror and sacrifice the coalition of soldiers led by Americans suffered through and ultimately surmounted. The hard-won beachhead gained on the beaches of Normandy was arguably the turning point that would eventually lead to the defeat of the Nazis. Twenty years after the film’s release, any modicum of recognizing the immensity of the Normandy invasion has been pushed aside to make room for this latest demonstration of political correctness by Glamour Magazine’s “internet hero,” Logan Smith, who re-edited the film to remove all the men. Glamour wrote of the effort: “In response to the MRA douche who…

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Veterans Group Denied Super Bowl Ad Time Accuses NFL of Censorship

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A decision by the National Football League to deny a veterans group TV ad time during this year’s Super Bowl has the vets group claiming liberal bias on behalf of the league. The ad by AMVETS, “a non-partisan, volunteer-led organization” consisting of mostly World War II veterans according to the group’s website, portrayed images of veterans saluting the American flag alongside the hashtag #PleaseStand.

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Trump: Missing FBI Texts ‘One of the Biggest Stories in a Long Time’

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President Donald Trump called the missing texts between FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page “one of the biggest stories in a long time.” The two FBI officials, who were romantically involved, were part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. Mr. Trump and his supporters have criticized the couple, alleging texts critical of the president is proof of bias in Mr. Mueller’s investigation.

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U.S.-China Trade Deficit Heads for an All-Time High for 2017 as Trump Tells Xi Arrangement ‘Not Sustainable’

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Donald Trump, Xi Jinping

By Robert Romano   Once December’s numbers come in, the U.S.-China trade in goods deficit will likely hit an all-time high in 2017 at more than $370 billion, according to U.S. Census data, as President Donald Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping in a recent phone call that the arrangement is “not sustainable.” The number will be set off partially by about a $38 billion trade in services surplus. That would put the overall trade deficit with China very close to the 2015 record of $334 billion. China was granted permanent normal trade relations in 2000 and admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2001. Since that time, U.S. global manufacturing market share has dropped from 13.98 percent in 2000 to 7.91 percent in 2016, while China’s has risen from 4.75 percent to 16.92 percent, according to data compiled by the World Bank. As far as tariffs go, China’s most favored nation tariff is 4.3 percent while the U.S. sits at 2.7 percent. On currency, China has kept its fixed exchange rate with the dollar, which today stands at 6.4 Yuan per 1 U.S. dollar, about where it was at the start of 2016. By keeping the yuan artificially low, it is believed China keeps its exports…

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Gubernatorial Forum on Education a Slow-Moving Draw Punctuated by Partisan Differences Over In-State Tuition for Illegals

Tennessee Star Staff

NASHVILLE, Tennessee–The State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE) Gubernatorial Forum on Education held at Belmont University’s Curb Center on Tuesday turned out to be a slow-moving draw punctuated by partisan differences between the three Republicans and two Democrats in attendance over in-state-tuition for illegals. Each of the five participating candidates made their points and none hurt themselves, for the most part restating positions they had staked out in pre-forum interviews with the Professional Educators of Tennessee. Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd, and Williamson County businessman Bill Lee were the three Republican gubernatorial candidates in attendance. Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and Tennessee House Minority Leader State Rep. Craig Fitzhugh (D-Ripley) were the two Democratic gubernatorial candidates in attendance. Republican candidate Mae Beavers did not attend, due to the passing of her mother. Republican candidate Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) also did not attend, due to scheduling conflicts since Congress is currently in session. NewsChannel5, the media co-sponsor, broadcast the forum live for one hour. NewsChannel5’s Rory Johnson was co-moderator of the event, along with reporter David Plazas from media co-sponsor The USA Today – Tennessee. The moderators posed about a dozen questions to the…

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