Day: February 23, 2018

President Trump Wows a Full House at Raucous CPAC 2018 Appearance

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President Trump spoke at the annual 2018 gathering of the American Conservative Union’s Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) Friday morning to capacity crowd of enthusiastic Republicans, conservatives, pundits, bloggers, and a few perhaps less-than-ebullient, mainstream-media-types. After thanking ACU president Matt Schlapp for his gracious introduction, and then thanking the crowd, President Trump began, “I’m thrilled to be back at CPAC, with so many of my wonderful friends and amazing supporters, and proud conservatives. Remember when I first started running? Because I wasn’t a politician, fortunately. But do you remember I started running and people would say, ‘Are you sure he’s a conservative?’ I think now we’ve proved that I’m a conservative, right?” Mr. Trump outlined the important role the yearly CPAC event – now in it’s 45 year – has played in promoting conservative values and shaping policy for lasting conservative victories. “For the last year, with your help, we have put more great conservative ideas into use than perhaps ever before in American history,” he said. Then in his predictably unpredictable style, the president took a moment to admire the stage and set, noting his own portrait off to the side. “By the way, what a nice picture that is. Look…

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Attorney for Nashville Mayor Megan Barry Asks District Attorney Glenn Funk to Recuse Himself from Investigation of Her Conduct

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In a hand-delivered letter to District Attorney Glenn Funk, Jerry Martin – Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s lawyer – asked late Thursday that Funk “revisit the issue of whether you and your office may have a conflict of interest” in the criminal investigation into possible wrongdoing surrounding the embattled Mayor’s two-year extramarital affair with her former bodyguard, retired Metro Nashville Police Sgt. Rob Forrest. A copy of the letter was obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates, who report: That request came in a letter hand-delivered to Funk on Thursday. Later that night, Barry questioned Funk’s role in the case, including what she called a politically motivated decision to publicly release a damning TBI affidavit that implied investigators may have nude photos of the mayor. Barry’s attorney, Jerry Martin, wrote in the letter that Funk himself had raised the possibility of a conflict of interest back in early February. “I would respectfully ask you to revisit the issue of whether you and your office may have a conflict of interest,” Martin wrote in the letter obtained by NewsChannel 5 Investigates. “Understand that I raise this issue not only to ensure that my client gets a fair process but also to ensure that the…

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Nashville Mayor’s Attorney: TBI Now Has the Passcode for Megan Barry’s Personal Cellphone

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Friday morning via a detailed statement released by her lawyer, Nashville Mayor Megan Barry’s attorney said he shared the passcode to Barry’s personal cell phone – at her direction – with the TBI, fulfilling their request in furtherance of the investigation into possible wrongdoing surrounding the Mayor’s years-long affair with her former security chief, Rob Forrest. “This morning I spoke with TBI Director Mark Gwyn to provide the TBI with the passcode for Mayor Barry’s personal cell phone,” attorney Jerry Martin said in a statement, noting, “This is her personal phone, not her Metro issued phone. I have confidence that Director Gwyn will ensure that the TBI limits its search of her personal phone to only items that are relevant to its investigation.” Martin continued, adding context and narrative to the reportage about the Mayor’s alleged ‘stonewalling’ saying that the “reports that the Mayor has been uncooperative during this process are untrue:” We have provided the TBI with thousands of pages of documents at its request. I would like to set the record straight to clear up any confusion related to the Mayor’s cooperation, especially as it relates to her personal cell phone. On February 15, 2018, I met with District…

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Three Months After Announcing His U.S. Senate Candidacy, Phil Bredesen Holds First Campaign ‘Stop’ in Chattanooga

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Former Nashville Mayor, Tennessee Governor and now current candidate for U.S. Senate, Democrat Phil Bredesen appeared in Chattanooga Tuesday for his first campaign event since announcing his run December 6, 2017. After a tour of the TVA hydroelectric facility in nearby Raccoon Mountain, Bredesen met with members of the media, where he addressed issues on a wide range of topics. In a twelve minute video (embedded below) of an exchange between Bredesen and media obtained by Nooga.com, the former governor spoke on a variety of issues, albeit in a noticeably subdued voice. On gun control and reaction to the horrific Parkland school murders, Bredesen’s response to a News9 reporter’s question about the event seemed to focus narrowly on restrictions on firearm ownership by people who have been diagnosed with a mental or emotional disorder. “I do think it is time to – for everyone including, very strong supporters of the Second Amendment – to get reasonable about this,” Bredesen said, adding: This tragedy in Florida – the latest one – I’m one of those that agree that it’s beyond thoughts and prayers now. We need to do some specific things. I personally feel that there’s a lot of tightening up that could be done…

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Mayor Barry Promised Cooperation with All Investigatons But Now Stonewalls, Says Release of Affidavit by TBI ‘Designed to Humiliate Me and Politically Embarrass Me’

Tennessee Star Staff

The scandal surrounding Nashville Mayor Megan Barry and her admission of a two-year-long extramarital affair with her bodyguard, now-retired Metro Nashville Police Sgt. Rob Forrest, intensified on Thursday when the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) released an affidavit presented to a judge in support of a search warrant for the city-issued cell phone of Forrest and the personal cell phone of Barry. “Authorities believe that Forrest took two photos of a nude woman who is believed to be Barry on his police department-issued cell phone. He allegedly sent the pictures to himself to his MNPD email,” WSMV reported on Thursday. As if those details were not bizarre enough, a defiant Mayor Barry told WSMV later on Thursday in an on-camera interview, “I am furious as you might imagine today when I learned there might be photos of me. If they exist, they were taken without my knowledge and without my consent. It didn’t show that I have done anything wrong or criminal and, in fact, if anything was wrongly done, it was done to me personally.” Barry then attacked the TBI for the manner in which they were conducting their investigation of her, barely three weeks after the January 31 press conference…

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Parkland School Cop ‘Never Went In’ During Florida School Shooting

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MIAMI — Eight days after mass shooter Nikolas Cruz murdered 17 people inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Broward’s top cop on Thursday revealed a stunning series of failures by the sheriff’s department. A school campus cop heard the gunfire, rushed to the building but never went inside — instead waiting outside for another four agonizing minutes as Cruz continued the slaughter. And long before Cruz embarked on the worst school shooting in Florida history, Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies had multiple warnings that the 19-year-old was a violent threat and a potential school shooter, according to records released Thursday.

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Jeff Hartline Commentary on Florida School Shooting: Why Didn’t Law Enforcement Do Its Job?

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by Jeff Hartline   In the aftermath of the Florida School Shooting last week, the handwringing continues. Why didn’t the FBI do their job? Why didn’t the adults in the shooter’s home sense a problem? What drugs was this kid on? Who was monitoring his social media? Why didn’t local Law Enforcement do its job? Law Enforcement has much to answer for, but they almost always come in after the fact and mop up the carnage. These good men and women can’t be everywhere all the time. But responsible adults in the schools can be present and ready to respond. In my last Commentary, I suggested that the simple solution to these type shootings was to immediately arm willing and capable schoolteachers and staff. I suggested rather than blame the NRA, we need to focus the blame on elected officials, school boards and teacher organizations for their refusal to eliminate schools as “soft targets” and remove the stigma of “gun-free zones” from them that make them such enticing targets for people bent on harming our most vulnerable. In Tennessee, there have been some encouraging signs. In 2015, Rep. David Byrd (R – Waynesboro), offered a bill in the Tennessee Legislature to allow…

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NRA’s LaPierre Offers Free Armed Guard Training For All Schools in CPAC Speech

Tennessee Star Staff

Public schools will get free help from the National Rifle Association (NRA), said Wayne LaPierre, the NRA executive vice president, speaking on the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland. “Evil walks among us, and God help us if we don’t harden our schools and protect our kids,” said LaPierre, speaking to thousands of attendees at the annual gathering of thousands of conservative leaders, activists and journalists from across the country.

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Dana Loesch on the CNN Town Hall About the Parkland Shooting: ‘There Were People Rushing the Stage and Screaming, ‘Burn Her”

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A seething Dana Loesch – outspoken NRA spokesperson and longtime conservative activist – took the legacy media head-on in a fiery speech Thursday morning provocatively titled, “Media Love Mass Shootings.” Reflecting on her appearance at Wednesday evening’s town hall about the mass shooting, produced by CNN, Loesch said: I want to make this super obvious point. The government has proven that they cannot keep you safe. And yet, some people want all of us to disarm. You heard that town hall last night. They cheered the confiscation of firearms. And it was over 5,000 people. I had to have a security detail to get out. I wouldn’t be able to exit that if I didn’t have a private security detail. There were people rushing the stage and screaming, ‘burn her.’ And I came there to talk solutions and I still am going to continue that conversation on solutions as the NRA has been doing since before I was alive. But the government can’t keep you safe. And some people want us to give up our firearms and rely soley on the protection of the same government that has already failed us numerous times to keep us safe. And then, they also called Trump…

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‘America First’ Ambassador John Bolton Endorses Dr. Mark Green for Congress

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Ambassador John Bolton, the firebrand Republican whom George W. Bush famously tapped to serve as the United States’ envoy to the United Nations via recess appointment, endorsed Dr. Mark Green’s campaign to represent the people of the 7th Congressional District, replacing Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) on Thursday. “Dr. Mark Green has served on the front lines of the War on Terror as a flight surgeon, most notably on the mission to capture Saddam Hussein,” Bolton said in a statement; adding: His unique experiences as a veteran of the U.S. Army make him well-suited to make sound foreign policy and national security decisions that will keep America and her allies safe amid a multitude of global threats. I have full confidence in Dr. Green’s ability to lead and to be a strong voice in Congress. During the course of the campaign so far, the current state senator and congressional hopeful has garnered the support of Republicans and conservatives across the conservative movement. Ambassador Bolton joins prominent conservatives like Senator Ted Cruz and Reagan economist Dr. Arthur B. Laffer in endorsing Green. Dr. Green said, “Few people understand the global challenges facing our nation better than Ambassador Bolton. I’m honored to receive his endorsement,…

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Williamson County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney: ‘I Apologize to the Community for the Distraction That This Accusation Has Caused. I Completely Deny the Allegations’

Tennessee Star Staff

Williamson County Schools Superintendent Mike Looney, who was arrested on assault charges Wednesday, released a statement on Thursday that, according to WKRN, said, in part “I apologize to the community for the distraction that this accusation has caused. I completely deny the allegations and have faith that the legal process will result in a positive resolution.” “News 2 reached out to all 12 Williamson County School Board Members for comment. Only one got back to us and directed us to the District Communications Director. Several board members have spoken out on social media,” WKRN reported. Looney has not been placed on administrative leave by the Williamson County Schools Board of Education. Three of the board members who have made public comments on Facebook appear to be strongly supportive of Looney. According to WKRN: Anne McGraw, who serves District 4 wrote on her Facebook, “I cannot, and will not, comment on the incident at Franklin High School this week other than to say that knowing what I know, I’m 100 percent in support of Dr. Looney and his leadership in our district. The official statement issued by Williamson County Schools is below for those who have yet to see it. I expect…

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State House Sponsor’s Home County Commission Opposes His “Medical Cannabis Act”

Laura Baigert

The “Medical Cannabis Act” sponsored in the Tennessee House by Rep. Jeremy Faison (R-Cosby), was officially opposed by the Cocke County Legislative Body (CLB), the bill sponsor’s home county, during its monthly meeting Tuesday evening. The CLB added to the agenda that night and later passed a resolution “To Urge The General Assembly To Oppose SB1710/HB1749,” the “Medical Cannabis Act,” by a vote of 8 ayes, 2 passes, 3 nays and 1 absent, the Cocke County Clerk’s office told The Tennessee Star. The Resolution recognizes that marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance according the U.S. Controlled Substance Act and that Faison’s “Medical Cannabis Act” would legalize cannabis products in a multitude of forms in the State of Tennessee. Calling it out as a “violation of the Federal Controlled Substances Act,” the CLB resolution concluded it “is not in favor of the passage of the ‘Medical Cannabis Act’ SB1710/HB1749.” The legalization of cannabis is a controversial one from the perspective of its potential medicinal benefits as well as its recreational uses, and is often defended under the U.S. Constitution’s Amendment X “Powers not delegated, reserved to State and people respectively.” Proponents of legalizing the drug even for medical purposes often…

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Former Metro Lawyers Hired as Outside Counsel Say Metro Board of Ethics Has No Jurisdiction to Address Violations of the Mayor’s Executive Order on Ethics

Chris Alto

On Wednesday, Klein Bussell, the law firm retained by the Metro Legal Department to evaluate an ethics complaint filed against the Mayor one week after she admitted to her extramarital affair, concluded that the Metro Board of Ethical Conduct, “lacks jurisdiction to examine alleged violations of Metropolitan Government executive orders.” The report was crafted by three of the firm’s partners, all of whom worked in the Metro Legal Department under previous Democratic administrations. Saul Solomon was Director of Law for the City of Nashville from 2012 to 2015 under former Mayor Karl Dean. Kevin C. Klein worked as an attorney in the Metro Legal Department from 2003 to 2012, first under former Mayor Bill Purcell, and subsequently under former Mayor Dean, as his bio at the Klein Bussell website explains: In 2003, Kevin came to work for then-Director of Law Karl Dean at the Nashville Department of Law. He spent the next nine years in the trenches, investigating claims, conducting discovery, taking depositions, trying cases, and briefing and arguing appeals. During that time, Kevin got dozens, if not hundreds, of cases dismissed before trial with no payment to the plaintiff, won numerous jury and bench trials, and successfully briefed and…

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