Month: April 2018

Commentary: What White Privilege Lessons Did to My High School

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by Owen Rickert During my last year in high school, all seniors were required to write a speech about the topic of their choice and present this speech to the student body and faculty. My essay, titled “Division,” dealt with how identity politics ruined the last few years at the high school that I attended. It was summarized well here. In the weeks following the presentation of my speech, I remember being asked what led me to choose the topic, a topic of which could very likely lead to ridicule and even hostility from those listening. What defining moments compelled me to challenge the way in which I was being taught? Also, did I receive any backlash from my essay? I had been raised in a conservative household, with a father who was especially staunch in his conservative beliefs. It was often pointed out, while watching the news, and reading articles, the obvious slant towards the Left. Because of this, it was easy to recognize when topics were being presented in school that were favorable towards the beliefs of the Left. A few examples stood out clearly. During my sophomore year of high school, a mandatory lesson for the entire…

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Problems Reported on First Day of TNReady Testing

Bob Goodwin

After months of preparing for the annual year-end assessments, many Tennessee students struggled to log on to the TNReady testing platform Monday morning. The Department of Education says the problem was quickly fixed by the vendor, and over 20,000 students took the test after the problems were resolved. “We share the frustration that some students had challenges logging into Nextera this morning. Questar has fixed this issue, and thousands of students are on the platform now. Over 25,000 students have successfully completed TNReady tests as of this point today,” the Department of Education tweeted. “No server has crashed, and the issue was not statewide. This issue was not related to volume. Testing has resumed.” Some districts saw the early errors as a warning of what was to come and chose to cancel testing for the day. “In Williamson, most of our 5-11 students could not log in,” said Jason Golden, Deputy Superintendent of Williamson County Schools. “Williamson County Schools early reports indicate that those who did get logged in apparently finished the test, but we can’t measure the distractions they were dealing with in each classroom as other students couldn’t get logged in. We shut it down for the day & are…

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Three Cases to Watch as the Supreme Court Begins to Wrap This Term

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by Sarah Williams   This week marks the start of the Supreme Court’s final oral argument sessions of the current term. The justices will hear arguments in several important cases, including challenges to the constitutionality of administrative law judges, state sales taxes for out-of-state online retailers, and the infamous Trump “travel ban,” making this month one to watch. South Dakota v. Wayfair Can states require online retailers to collect sales taxes even if they do not maintain a physical presence in those states? That is the question before the court April 17 (fittingly, Tax Day). The court will consider whether it should overturn Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, a 1992 ruling that forbade states from requiring mail-order retailers to collect a state’s sales tax if they do not have a physical presence within that state, such as a store or employees. Given the rapid growth of online sales, many states complain they are losing out on millions of dollars in lost sales tax revenue. [Americans need an alternative to the mainstream media. But this can’t be done alone. Find out more >>] South Dakota passed a law directly challenging the Quill case by requiring out-of-state retailers to collect sales tax if they…

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Williamson County Election Records Show Democratic Candidates Voted in GOP Primary – An Effort Intended to Stop Republican Julie Hannah?

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Anne McGraw and Bill Peach

Early voting is underway in local elections across the state and runs through April 26, with the Election Day itself occurring May 1. In deep red Republican Williamson County there has been some concern among conservative Republican leaders that local Democrats may cross over to vote in the Republican Primary. Because Tennessee does not have party registration, voters can pick which primary in which they choose to vote each election, although Tennessee state law does require that the “choice” is a legitimate expression of party allegiance. Those concerns have been confirmed as at least two high profile Democrats have already voted “as Republicans” in the Republican Primary during early voting.  One of the two has qualified as a candidate for the State House as a Democrat in the Democratic Party primary slated for August 2; the other is currently running as a Democrat for a county office in the May 1 primary and therefore did not vote for herself in the Democratic Party primary in which she is a candidate. Bill Peach (pictured, right) has run previously for the State House as a Democrat against Jeremy Durham and failed to get 30% of the vote in 2014. He is a candidate again,…

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New Poll on Nashville Mayoral Election Shows David Briley Below 50 Percent, Carol Swain in Second Place

Tennessee Star Staff

A new Tennessee Star Poll first reported by host Brian Wilson on 99.7 FM WTN’s Nashville’s Morning News on Monday morning shows that Acting Mayor David Briley has a large lead over former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain, who is currently a distant second, but that he is substantially below the 50 percent mark he needs to reach in the May 24 election to avoid a runoff election. When asked “If the election was held today, who would be your choice for Mayor of Nashville?” poll respondents answered as follows: 43 percent said Acting Mayor David Briley 9 percent said former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain 7 percent said former radio talk show host Ralph Bristol 5 percent said Metro Council Member At-Large Erica Gilmore 3 percent said State Rep. Harold Love 1 percent said Jeff Obafemi Carr 32 percent said they were undecided The Tennessee Star Poll of 607 likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County was conducted by Triton Research over a two day period between Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13 in an automated telephone (IVR) survey and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. If no candidate has more than 50 percent of the vote on May…

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Diane Black and State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver Urge Appeal of 10th Amendment Lawsuit Against Federal Refugee Resettlement Program

Chris Alto
Diane Black & Terri Lynn Weaver

One year after Tennessee filed suit in federal court challenging the commandeering of state revenue by the federal government to fund its refugee resettlement program, Judge Stanley Thomas Anderson, ignored plaintiffs’ request for a hearing and dismissed the case. The court’s decision did not reach the substantive Tenth Amendment issue ruling instead that the state lacked legal standing to sue. Anderson was appointed to the court by George W. Bush in 2008 and became Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in 2017. GOP Gubernatorial Diane Black and State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, a named plaintiff in the suit have said unequivocally that Tennessee should appeal the court’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a non-profit public interest law firm filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tennessee and the legislature at no  cost to the state or taxpayers.  Mr. Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the TMLC has already indicated that the court’s decision “is filled with appealable issues” and that his firm is prepared to continue its representation pro bono and appeal the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary:…

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Tennessee Star Poll: Nashville/Davidson County Voters Oppose Transit Plan by 2 to 1 Margin

Tennessee Star Staff

A new poll first reported on Monday morning by Brian Wilson, host of 99.7 FM WTN’s Nashville’s Morning News, shows that likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County oppose the proposed $9 billion transit plan on the May 1 ballot by more than a 2 to 1 margin, 62 percent against to 28 percent in favor, with only 10 percent undecided. The Tennessee Star Poll of 607 likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County was conducted by Triton Research over a two day period between Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 13 in an automated telephone (IVR) survey and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. When asked “If the election was held today, would you vote for or against the $9 billion Transit Plan and Tax?” poll respondents answered as follows: 62.4 percent said “Against the Transit Plan” 27.9 percent said “For the Transit Plan” 9.7 percent said “Don’t Know/Not sure” Voter interest in the May 1 Davidson County primary election and the referendum on the transit tax was high among the 607 poll respondents, all of whom were registered voters residing in Davidson County. Sixty-three percent of respondents said they “always vote,” 20 percent said they were “very…

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WTN’s Brian Wilson to Break Story with Results of Poll on Nashville Transit Plan at 7:05 AM This Morning

Tennessee Star Staff

Brian Wilson, host of 99.7 FM WTN’s Nashville’s Morning News, will break a story on the results of a new Tennessee Star Poll on the Nashville Transit Plan that is on the May 1 ballot for approval or rejection by Nashville/Davidson County voters at 7:05 a.m. this morning, Monday April 16. You can listen to today’s broadcast of Nashville’s Morning News here. The Tennessee Star has provided these results to Wilson on an exclusive basis prior to the publication of the full details of the poll in The Star at 7:30 am. The Tennessee Star Poll, conducted over a two day period between April 12 and April 13, will be the first poll to give details of attitudes among likely voters in Nashville/Davidson County about the merits of the $9 billion transit plan whose fate they will determine at the ballot box on May 1. The long, twisting road to the May 1 Nashville/Davidson County voter referendum began in January of 2017, when Gov. Bill Haslam introduced the IMPROVE Act to purportedly fund road construction in the state by increasing the gas tax by 6 cents per gallon and the diesel fuel tax by 10 cents per gallon. Tucked away…

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Family Farm Could Face Prison for Calling Skim Milk by Its Name

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Dairy Cow

by John-Michael Seibler   Forget narcotics. Uncle Sam has a new substance to crack down on: all-natural skim milk. Food and Drug Administration regulations make it a federal crime for dairy farmers to call all-natural skim milk exactly what it is – skim milk. Instead, the FDA demands that farmers label additive-free skim milk as “imitation milk product,” because, in the FDA’s mind, skim milk just isn’t the real thing. The FDA’s finicky rules are not going unchallenged, however. Attorneys with the Institute for Justice are challenging those rules on behalf of a dairy farmer, Randy Sowers, who wants to sell all-natural products and label them honestly, without the threat of fines or imprisonment. Randy and Karen Sowers founded their South Mountain Creamery in Maryland on rented land back in 1981. They took out a loan and bought 100 cows. Today, three generations of Sowers work on their family’s 2,200 acre farm. They have more than 600 cattle, plus 16,000 chickens. Their family employs more than 75 people. The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution.  Find out more >> They also believe in keeping their products additive-free. Naturally, they would like to…

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State Rep. William Lamberth Passes Bill That Prohibits Use of Consular Cards for Identification in Tennessee

Chris Alto
State Rep William Lamberth

Passing his bill with a vote of 72-23 and one abstention, Rep William Lamberth (R-Cottontown) offered a compelling argument that consular cards were not designed nor intended to be used in this country for identification purposes by people legally in this country and his bill would prevent Tennessee from following the example of other states that have chosen to accept consular cards as a valid form of identification: I humbly think our citizens should be safer and in a better position than any other state in the union. Lamberth, a former Sumner County prosecutor, explained that some states have chosen to accept consular cards as a valid form of identification even though the cards were not designed or intended for that purpose. During hearings on Lamberth’s bill in the House State Government Committee, a representative from the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), confirmed that consular cards issued by foreign consulate offices, are used by foreign governments to locate its nationals who are in the U.S. and in some instances, collect taxes from them. In their testimony opposing Lamberth’s bill, the co-Directors of TIRRC admitted that immigrants who primarily rely on consular cards are “people who do not have immigration…

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Three Student Journalists Sue University for Covering Up Teacher’s Role in Anti-Trump Campus Rally

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by Kyle Perisic   Three student journalists have filed a lawsuit against their Illinois university and an instructor, alleging that the teacher grabbed and broke a smartphone as they tried to report on an anti-Trump rally. The three students’ federal suit against the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and instructor Tariq Khan says that the university got a restraining order preventing them from reporting on Khan’s involvement in the November protest against President Donald Trump. Khan, 39, was charged with destruction of property after taking and smashing a student’s smartphone on the pavement, an action caught on video. The suit contends that the instructor and university officials violated the students’ constitutional rights to free press, free speech, and due process, according to the law firm representing the students, Mauck & Baker, LLC. The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution.  Find out more >> “The First Amendment should not be a partisan issue or something only conservatives are willing to defend,” the law firm said in a formal statement. The suit claims that the school punished freshmen Joel Valdez and Blair Nelson and senior Andrew Minik for reporting on the anti-Trump rally, the…

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Tennessee Atty Gen Hebert Slatery Withdraws from District Attorneys’ Case Against Opioid Manufacturers

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Tennessee Star

A conflict brewing between state and local prosecutors over a slew of lawsuits filed against drug manufacturers ended Thursday as Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery abruptly terminated any role his office might play in the legal actions by those jurisdictions seeking to recover costs associated to the opioid crisis. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports Attorney General Herbert Slatery’s move was carried out in Campbell County Circuit Court in front of Judge John McAffey. During proceedings, a representative from the Attorney General’s office read a statement culminating in the handover of a signed order that reflected the understanding that the state would not be involved in the suits, nor would the District Attorneys would not try to legally commit the state to their lawsuit against opiate makers and distributors. “The proposed order results from our joint commitment to the people of Tennessee and recognizes that state and local cooperation is essential to combat the opioid epidemic ravaging our state,” Knoxville News Sentinel reported the statement read. Attorney J. Gerard Stranch IV also submitted to Judge McAfee an order in which the DAs he represents agree they will not try to legally commit the state to their lawsuit against opiate makers and distributors.…

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Commentary: A Half-Century Later, Cities Still Suffer the Economic Effects of the 1968 Riots Sparked by Martin Luther King Jr.’s Assassination

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by Joe Carter   This month marks the 50th anniversary of the riots that began in 1968 after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The riots—sometimes referred to as the Holy Week Uprising or King assassination riots – spread through 110 cities across the United States. As historian Peter B. Levy notes: Fifty-four cities suffered at least $100,000 in property damage, with the nation’s capital and Baltimore topping the list at approximately $15 million and $12 million, respectively. Thousands of small shopkeepers saw their life savings go up in smoke. Combined, 43 men and women were killed, approximately 3,500 were injured, and 27,000 were arrested. Not until over 58,000 National Guardsmen and army troops joined local state and police forces did the uprisings cease. Put somewhat differently, during Holy Week 1968, the United States experienced its greatest wave of social unrest since the Civil War. From 1964 to 1971, as many as 700 riots erupted in cities across America. The large numbers of injuries, deaths, property damage that occurred in predominantly black neighborhoods caused considerable short-term damage on the communities. But the impact over the long run (from 1960 to 1980) was even more severe. In 2004, the National Bureau…

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‘Bratz’ Billionaire Makes Surprise Bid for Toys R Us, Wants to Turn Stores Into Mini-Disneys

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There’s still a chance there may be future generations of Toys R Us kids. Billionaire CEO Isaac Larian announced on Friday that he has put in a formal bid of $675 million to buy a number of the company’s U.S stores, as well as $215 million to buy the locations in Canada. He will use his own money, funds from additional investors and bank financing to make the purchase, according to a news release. Larian, who owns MGA Entertainment which is best known for producing toys such as Bratz dolls, said in the release that the Toys R Us closure “will have a long-term effect on the toy business,” and that it will cause the toy industry to “suffer.” Read more here.

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Bon Jovi, Nina Simone Enter Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

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Bon Jovi, the Moody Blues, Dire Straits, the Cars, Nina Simone and Sister Rosetta Tharpe joined music royalty on Saturday as they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Richie Sambora, the original guitarist for arena-packing rockers Bon Jovi reunited with the band for a rousing set at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland that included hits “You Give Love a Bad Name and “It’s My Life.”

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Eric Metaxas Announces His Support for Carol Swain in Nashville’s Special Mayoral Election

Tennessee Star Staff

Best-selling author and syndicated radio host Eric Metaxas announced his support for former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain in Nashville’s special mayoral election in a Facebook post on Saturday afternoon. “I am deeply honored and moved by Eric Metaxas’s endorsement of my mayoral campaign,” Swain said in a statement released by her campaign on Saturday. “This is a vote of confidence in my ability to assemble a strong integrity-based team that will apply common sense solutions to meet the needs of neglected citizens of Nashville. We look forward to creating a government that works with citizens and not against them,” Swain added. The special election to replace disgraced former Nashville/Davidson County Mayor Megan Barry will be held on May 24, just 39 days from today. In October, Metaxas visited Middle Tennessee for a speaking engagement. “Well-known Christian writer and speaker Eric Metaxas recounted Luther’s life story Saturday at World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro. Around 2,000 people turned out to listen to Metaxas, author of the new book, Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World,” The Star reported at the time. Metaxas, is also the author of the New York Times best-seller Bonhoeffer:Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, among other…

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Commentary: How the Closing of the Campus Mind Threatens Freedom

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by Barry Brownstein   “Our ignorance is sobering and boundless,” philosopher Karl Popper famously observed. Popper continued with what could be a credo for humble individuals willing to admit the limits of individual knowledge: “With each step forward, with each problem which we solve, we not only discover new and unsolved problems, but we also discover that where we believed that we were standing on firm and safe ground, all things are, in truth, insecure and in a state of flux.” If the world is full of challenging problems and individuals with boundless ignorance, it is not surprising Popper believed, “There are no ultimate sources of knowledge.” We can only “hope to detect and eliminate error” by allowing criticism of the theories of others as well as our own. Popper was writing before the era of social media and the contemporary attack on free inquiry on college campuses. Endless opinions, based on nothing but feelings, are shared by those who want to eliminate criticism of their views and stymie debate on the critical issues of our time. Popper would be dismayed. We are Ignorant of Our Ignorance In their book The Knowledge Illusion, cognitive scientists Steven Sloman and Phillip Fernbach report on experiments testing “the…

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Rob Reiner Wants a ‘Principled Republican’ to Stop ‘Sociopath’ Trump

Tennessee Star Staff

Filmmaker Rob Reiner took to Twitter recently to accuse President Donald Trump of being a “childish sociopathic liar.” That’s quite a statement. One might wonder what could have possibly inspired Reiner to push out such extreme rhetoric. “Democracy is being tested. The rule of law and the press are under attack by a childish sociopathic liar.

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Trump Commends Brown For ‘Doing the Right Thing’ on National Guard

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Trump and Jerry Brown

President Donald Trump thanked California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) Thursday on Twitter for “doing the right thing” by agreeing to send 400 National Guard members to bolster the United States’ southern border Thursday. Trump alarmed illegal immigrant activists last week when he proclaimed that he wanted to send between 2,000-4,000 National Guard members to guard the border. A White House statement said the National Guard would be deployed “to give our Border Patrol agents the support they deserve” in their fight against criminal activity and the flow of drugs until Congress “takes the action necessary to close the loopholes undermining our border security efforts.”

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Allied Strikes Hit Three Key Syrian Targets, Pentagon Explains

Tennessee Star Staff

Combined military by America, British and French forces involved more targets and twice as many weapons as a launched almost exactly a year ago, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said late Friday. Mattis told Pentago reporters that the action was necessary because Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had not been deterred from using chemical weapons against rebel military forces seeking to overthrow him and civilian populations in areas controlled by the insurgents.

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Congress’ Facebook Ignorance Triggers Calls to Revive Technology Agency

Tennessee Star Staff

WASHINGTON — Congress had an agency designed to help senators avoid the sort of embarrassment they faced when trying to understand Facebook — but lawmakers stopped funding it 23 years ago and have resisted reviving it Now there’s talk the Office of Technology Assessment could make a comeback. A subcommittee will hear Tuesday from interest groups…

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Some Conservatives Worry Trump’s Tariffs Could Surrender Tax Gains

Tennessee Star Staff

Unemployment is low, and the economy is humming, but concern is growing among some conservatives that President Donald Trump risks giving away gains from his historic tax cuts in a trade war with China. The conservative-leaning Tax Foundation earlier this week projected that the $150 billion in tariffs that Trump has proposed would cut gross domestic product (GDP) and wage growth by a tenth of a percentage point over the long run and reduce full-time jobs by 79,000. Middle and lower-income taxpayers would absorb a disproportionate share of the hit, according to the analysis.

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Study: Holocaust Fading from American Memory

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As people around the world marked Holocaust Remembrance Day, once again promising to “never forget” the genocide that killed 6 million Jews during World War II, a new study shows Americans appear to be doing just that. The study released Thursday by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, found two-thirds of American millennials cannot identify what Auschwitz is. Twenty-two percent of millennials said they haven’t heard of the Holocaust or are not sure whether they’ve heard of it.

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Rutherford County Mayoral Candidates Ketron and Jones Differ on Gas Tax As Early Voting Begins

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Tina Jones v Bill Ketron

State Senator Bill Ketron (R-Murfreesboro), who is running to replace the retiring Rutherford County Mayor Ernest Burgess, exchanged volleys with rival and former County Commissioner Tina Jones over the gas tax and the Nashville transit plan this week, just as early voting in the May 1 primary election began. Ketron has endorsed the idea of a monorail running from Nashville to Murfreesboro.  He has not “publicly endorsed” the Barry transit plan for Nashville, but he has  expressed support for her light rail plans by text as soon as she announced them. Ketron has not denied “privately” endorsing the Barry transit plan, as WKRN reported. Jones has pointed out that Nashville wouldn’t even be having a tax increase referendum had it not been authorized by the Ketron-supported IMPROVE Act, Governor Haslam’s gas tax increase that passed the Tennessee General Assembly and was signed into law last year, which would also enable a similar tax increase referendum in Rutherford County. In her statement voicing strong opposition to the $9 billion transit plan proposal “Let’s Move Nashville,” Jones asserted: When Senator Bill Ketron voted for the gasoline tax increase as part of the IMPROVE Act, he voted to allow local tax increases like…

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Radio Network Legend Dick Bott Endorses Carol Swain for Mayor of Nashville

Tennessee Star Staff

Dick Bott, founder of the Bott Radio Network, and his son Rich Bott, President & CEO of the company his father founded have both endorsed former Vanderbilt professor Carol Swain in her campaign to become Mayor of Nashville. The Swain campaign released a statement on Saturday that included the endorsement: We are honored to endorse Dr. Carol Swain to become Mayor of Nashville. Dr. Carol Swain believes in Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. She is a great American, a true Patriot, and a unifying voice in America for such a time as this. Dr. Swain’s life is a true American success story, the result of hard work, intelligence, great education, compassion for all people, a passion for righteousness and opportunity, and an unshakable trust in God. In short, we believe in Dr. Carol Swain. She has the courage to fight for her convictions when necessary. That’s why we are proud to endorse her candidacy to be the next Mayor of the great City of Nashville. Rich Bott, President/CEO Dick Bott, Founder Bott Radio Network. Swain is one of 14 candidates vying for the Mayor’s office in the special election that will be held in Nashville/Davidson County on May…

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James Comey Kept Donald Trump in the Dark on Dossier’s Democratic Funding

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James Comey

Fired FBI Director James Comey has acknowledged that he never told Donald Trump that the dossier on which his bureau relied to investigate the president was financed by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton campaign. Promoting his book, “A Higher Loyalty,” Mr. Comey talked to ABC News about his seminal moment with President-elect Trump at Trump Tower on Jan. 6, 2017. He informed Mr. Trump about the dossier’s most salacious unproven charge – that in 2013 the future president entertained prostitutes in a Moscow hotel room.

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Reddit CEO Champions Free Speech, Says Racism Allowed, But Not ‘Welcome,’ On the Site

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Reddit has a history of allowing its users to say just about anything. On Wednesday, its CEO said racist language is just fine — officially giving license to the hatred that already lives on the site, which bills itself as the front page of the internet. Now he’s backpedaling a bit. As tech companies face increasing pressure to police content on their platforms, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said something to the equivalent of the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

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Commentary: Jordan On Message As Conservatives Urge Run For Speaker

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by CHQ Staff   Our friend Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, yesterday used his “Secure Freedom Moment” radio program to encourage Rep. Jim Jordan to run for Speaker of the House. Gaffney, the conservative national security expert, echoed CHQ Chairman Richard A. Viguerie’s endorsement of Jordan, putting it this way: House Speaker Paul Ryan’s announcement yesterday that he will not seek reelection offers congressional Republicans an opportunity to pull out of the political death-spiral that imperils their majority and invites the impeachment of President Trump. The question is: Will the House GOP seize the opportunity to excite and engage voters indispensable to such outcomes? Or will it alienate them further, ensuring that the base stays home – with predictably devastating results? That choice will be determined by whether the Republican caucus tries to fob off on its base another establishment politician, presumably drawn from the ranks of Ryan’s lieutenants. If, instead, in the days ahead the House GOP embraces as its next leader an authentic conservative with passion, energy and, most importantly, Make America Great Again principles, they will give the base a reason to turn out – and prevail. Jim Jordan for Speaker. Let’s roll!…

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Trump Pardons Ex-Cheney Aide Scooter Libby Convicted of Lying Over CIA Name Leak

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US President Donald Trump pardoned a former White House aide convicted of lying to the FBI in connection with the leak of a CIA operative’s identity — a move seen as a message to witnesses in the current Russia probe. “I don’t know Mr. Libby,” Trump said of vice president Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff Lewis “Scooter” Libby. “But for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly,” Trump added. “Hopefully, this full pardon will help rectify a very sad portion of his life.”

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Professor Talks of Heckling – at Free Speech Lecture

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A law school professor recounted the heckling Friday he received last month during an appearance at a New York City college campus — ironically as he was lecturing about free speech. Josh Blackman, who teaches at South Texas College of Law, Houston, said on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that his March 29 appearance at City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law was the first time he has been publicly heckled.

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‘Iron Lady’ Mae Beavers Blasts $9 Billion Transit Plan as a ‘Typical Tax and Spend Liberal Scheme’

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Mae Beavers

As early voting is underway, former State Senator and current candidate for Wilson County Mayor Mae Beavers is urging voters in nearby Davidson County to reject the controversial proposal. “The transit plan proposed by Mayor Megan Barry, before scandal forced her to resign, is a typical tax and spend liberal scheme that taxpayers can’t afford and which won’t fix the problems of traffic congestion and needed road repairs,” Beavers said in a statement, adding: This is the same sort of wasteful spending that produces dollars for insiders and brings no benefit to taxpayers that I have spend a career in public service opposing. I hope Wilson County voters will speak up in opposition to this tax increase and call their friends in Nashville to encourage them to vote “NO.” Beavers notes the Nashville Chamber of Commerce estimates that about half (47 percent) of the tax increase will be paid by residents of surrounding counties, which means Wilson County citizens will be paying a heavy price for a plan that won’t work with a tax increase that isn’t needed. “As Wilson County Mayor I will be focused on keeping taxes low and controlling spending in our county, but what happens around us…

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