Day: April 25, 2018

Nashville Fraternal Order of Police Deliver Blow to Briley Mayoral Campaign, Vote Not to Endorse Him

Tennessee Star Staff

On Monday, the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police dealt a blow to the campaign of Acting Mayor David Briley, the front runner in the May 24 special mayoral election, when they decided not to endorse him. “The FOP Mayoral endorsement process has concluded. Our endorsement rules require that a candidate receive at least 50 percent of the total ballots returned, plus one, in their favor. Based on that information, none of the candidates running received the total needed to receive our endorsement,” the NFOP said in a statement released to its members. “Thank you for taking the time to participate in the voting process. If there shoud be a runoff vote, we will conduct another ballot at that time,” the statement continued. Briley finished in first place with 41 percent of the vote, well below the required 50 percent needed to obtain the NFOP’s endorsement. The NFOP endorsement vote percentage was virtually the same as the 43 percent support Briley received in a Tennessee Star Poll of the mayoral race released last Monday. As is the case with an NFOP endorsement, Briley will need to receive 50 percent of the vote in the May 24 special election to avoid a runoff…

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Senate Confirms ‘the Neil Gorsuch of Louisiana’ to High-Ranking Federal Bench

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by Tiffany Bates and Elizabeth Slattery   The Senate voted 50-47 on Tuesday to confirm all-star appellate lawyer Kyle Duncan to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Duncan is President Donald Trump’s 15th circuit court nominee to be confirmed since taking office. Dubbed by Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry as “the Neil Gorsuch of Louisiana,” Duncan is currently a lawyer in private practice. He has argued more than 30 cases in federal appellate courts, including two before the Supreme Court. Previously, Duncan served as Louisiana’s first solicitor general (or appellate chief), as general counsel of the Becket Fund (a nationally recognized public interest law firm), and as a law professor at the University of Mississippi Law School. After entering private practice, he continued to advance Louisiana’s interests by defending the state’s laws on marriage, abortion, and religious liberty. At Becket, Duncan served as the lead lawyer in Hobby Lobby’s challenge to the Obamacare contraceptive mandate. He supervised Becket’s representation of an Orthodox Jewish inmate against a prison that violated his rights and a mosque against a discriminatory land-use regulation under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The…

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John Harris Commentary: The Waffle House Shootings Demonstrate There Are More Homicides in a Gun-Free Zone

Tennessee Star Staff

by John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association   On Sunday April 23, 2018, a nude assassin walked into a gun free zone. This one happened to be a Waffle House. Waffle House reportedly has a corporate policy that guns are banned at its properties. Apparently, the nude, potentially mentally ill, either did not see or could not read the sign. He entered the property and now 4 people are dead, 2 more injured and one is acclaimed a hero because he made the life-choice to act rather than being yet another fatality statistic. The common characteristics are recurrent. An assassin. The assassin is frequently mentally ill and/or increasingly aligned with known terrorists organizations. A weapon of some sort (we have seen firearms, but also knives, crock pots, explosives, and motor vehicles). Finally, it’s a gun free zone. In Tennessee, there are some places that are gun free zones because of the legislature. We have had a Republican controlled legislature for 8 years and there should be fewer of these but that does not appear to be an established fact. In addition, this same Republican legislature has protected laws which allow property owners to declare their properties as…

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Combat Veterans for Congress PAC Endorses Mark Green

Tennessee Star Staff

On Tuesday the Combat Veterans for Congress PAC encorsed Iraq war veteran State Senator Mark Green (R-Clarksville) in the race for the 7th Congressional District seat currently held by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07). Blackburn has no opposition for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), and is expected to face former Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, in the November general election. “Founded to elect more combat veterans to Congress, the PAC has endorsed over 100 combat veterans since its founding in 2009,” the Green campaign said in a statement, which continued: In announcing its endorsement, the PAC commented that Dr. Green “will bring to Congress his extensive experience in public policy skills, medical issues, and wisdom to better solve problems in government and represent the 7th Congressional District of Tennessee and the Republic.” A graduate of West Point, Green’s decorated military career began as an infantry officer. As an Army special operations flight surgeon assigned to the 160th Special Ops Aviation Regiment, he planned and flew on some of the War on Terror’s most covert operations. Green’s most memorable mission was the capture of Saddam Hussein. His military awards include the Bronze…

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Commentary: Leading Conservative Organizations Unite Behind Jim Jordan For Speaker

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Jim Jordan

by CHQ staff   The count of conservative organizations urging principled limited government constitutional conservative Representative Jim Jordan (OH-4) to run for Speaker of the House has now passed ten, with FedUp PAC, headed by CHQ Chairman Richard A. Viguerie, coming out in favor of Jordan to replace RINO Speaker Paul Ryan. Our friends at FreedomWorks posted a statement from president and CEO Adam Brandon saying: Jim Jordan is the only name that received unanimous consent from the FreedomWorks Activist Advisory Council. The level of grassroots energy surrounding a Jordan speakership campaign is something we haven’t seen in years. It indicates to us that selecting a truly conservative speaker would change the entire momentum of the 2018 midterm election cycle. Our activists believe this speakership campaign is the battle that will determine the future of the Republican Party. If Republicans in Congress really want to see the swamp drain, Rep. Jordan is the guy that’s going to work with President Trump to get it done. A House with Speaker Jordan at the gavel would actually pass laws, stand on principle, and cut spending. Speaker Jordan would make Congress work again. Mac Stoddard, FreedomWorks Digital Director says, “In less than 24 hours,…

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Republican Wins Special Congressional Election in Arizona, Thwarting ‘Blue Wave’

Tennessee Star Staff

Former State Senator Debbie Lesko (R-Phoenix) defeated Democrat Hiral Tipirneni by five points, 52 percent to 47 percent, in the special election in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District on Tuesday, thwarting the much hyped Democratic “Blue Wave.” While the results were closer than the 21 point victory President Trump secured in this suburban Phoenix Congressional District in November 2016, the loss took the air out of the balloon for many Democrats and many in the media, who have been predicting a “Blue Wave” in the November midterm elections. The vast majority of the votes in the race were cast during early voting. When those votes were counted one hour after the polls closed at 7 p.m. local time, Lesko had a 9,000 vote lead over Tipirneni, with only 19,000 votes left to count. That meant Tipirneni would have to win those votes by nearly a 3-to-1 margin to pull off the victory. In the end, those numbers simply did not materialize for Tipirneni, a former emergency room physician who now works as a cancer researcher. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Lesko had 52.6 percent of the vote to Tipirneni’s 47.4 percent. In terms of raw votes, Lesko had 91,390 votes…

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State Senator Reginald Tate Commentary: Champions for Children

Tennessee Star Staff

By State Senator Reginald Tate   Tennessee Education Commissioner Candice McQueen has accurately called “literacy attainment the equity issue of our time.” I agree. I will take it one step further: Education is the civil-rights issue of our generation. Education is also the key to Tennessee’s future. In Tennessee, public schools must ensure all students are well-prepared for college or the workforce. All students must be ready to participate as responsible and engaged citizens when they graduate. The greatest challenge we have is to make sure our students leave high school as creative and critical thinkers. That begins with the ability to read on grade level. It all begins and ends with reading. There is an undeniable connection between literacy skills and incarceration rates. Children who do not read on grade level are more likely to dropout, use drugs, or end up in prison. Research shows that reading abilities in third grade act as a tell-tale barometer for later school success. Reading to children every day is critical. The Department of Justice states, “The link between academic failure and delinquency, violence, and crime is welded to reading failure. Over 70% of inmates in America’s prisons cannot read above a fourth…

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Kanye West’s Shoutout to Conservative Commentator Underscores Need for Civility, Respect

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by Paris Dennard   Everyone is making a big deal about rapper Kanye West’s admiring tweet about conservative Candace Owens after another one of her provocative comments went viral. “I love the way Candace Owens thinks,” West tweeted Saturday morning in the first of a string about paying attention and thinking for yourself: https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/987696355341553665 [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Maybe it is because the Republican Party is nearly void of mainstream celebrities that we conservatives get overly excited when we hear even the smallest bit of news of a Hollywood endorsement of something conservative. Owens, 28, is director of urban engagement for Turning Point USA, an organization dedicated to teaching conservative principles to young Americans. And of course West, 40, is the hugely successful, Grammy-winning hip-hop star. Owens replied to West on Twitter: I’m freaking out. @kanyewest ….please take a meeting with me. I tell every single person that everything that I have been inspired to do, was written in your music. I am my own biggest fan, because you made it okay. I need you to help wake up the black community.…

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Vocal House Democrats & Certain Republicans Voted to Stop Sanctuary Cities in 2009, But Now They Are For Them

Chris Alto
State Rep Charles Sargent

Some of the most vocal House Democrats and Republicans trying to kill this session’s anti-sanctuary city bill sponsored by State Rep. Jay Reedy (R-Erin) had, in 2009, voted “yes” to pass a bill that prohibited establishing sanctuary cities in Tennessee. The 2009 bill passed the House with a 80 yes votes. Among the most aggressive efforts to sideline Reedy’s bill this year that closes a loophole in the 2009 law, has come from State Rep. Charles Sargent (R-Franklin) who voted yes on the 2009 bill. Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) appointed Sargent to serve as chairman of the powerful House Finance Committee, a position he has held throughout Harwell’s tenure as Speaker. Even though Sargent added his name as a co-sponsor on Reedy’s bill, he used his position as chairman to try and kill Reedy’s bill in the House Finance Committee. Sargent voted yes on a motion to send the bill to a study by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) which he then gaveled through on a voice vote despite loud and overwhelming opposition from the no votes. Sargent again voted against a motion to reconsider the bill which passed the committee followed by a majority vote to…

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