“Americana at the Ryman” presented by Route 650, will celebrate American roots music with six talent packed shows throughout July and August.
Read the full storyRyman Auditorium Announces Six Week Americana Series
Day: May 21, 2018
Nashville Predators’ Endorsement of Acting Mayor David Briley ‘A Sleazy Quid Pro Quo’
The Nashville Predators’ unprecedented endorsement of Acting Mayor David Briley in this Thursday’s special mayoral election in Nashville/Davidson County is “a sleazy quid pro quo,” one long time Tennessee Republican political operative tells The Tennessee Star. The definition of “quid pro quo” is “something that is given or taken in return for something else.” In this case, the long time Republican operative says the “quid” that is given is the Predators’ endorsement of Acting Mayor David Briley. The “quo” that is provided in return, the operative says, is the financial benefit to the Predators franchise from lower lease terms they anticipate in receiving from Metro Nashville under a potential administration of David Briley should he be elected on Thursday. The Predators, who have been the beneficiaries of millions of dollars in subsidies provided by the state of Tennessee and the Metro Nashville/Davidson County Government, are in the process of renegotiating the team’s lease of the Bridgestone Arena with Metro Nashville. Recently, the Predators hired two high powered lobbying firms, The Ingram Group, and Hall Public Strategies, to lobby Metro Nashville on their behalf. The Tennessee Star reported on Sunday that the recent financial disclosures by Acting Mayor Briley’s campaign show…
Read the full storyHaslam Passes Sanctuary City Bill Without Signing; Boyd, Who Claims He’s Against Sanctuary Cities, Wouldn’t Ask Him to Sign
Governor Haslam announced today that instead of signing or vetoing the anti-sanctuary city bill he will allow it to become law without his signature: I could sign it but that would mean that I agree that we have an issue around sanctuary cities. In that regard, intentionally or not, the Governor has acknowledged last year’s attempt by the Metro Nashville Council to institutionalize its sanctuary city status. An ordinance proposed last year by Metro Councilmen Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge (who is married to TIRRC’s co-director), was headed to a final vote before being withdrawn due to pressure from state legislators and the public. The bill, drafted with TIRRC’s assistance, would have made Nashville the most liberal non-deportation zone in the U.S., magnetizing Davidson County for criminal illegal aliens. Specifically, the Mendes/Sledge proposal would have prohibited Metro Nashville employees from inquiring into anyone’s immigration status. Had it passed, the bill would have effectively enabled illegal aliens to access public benefits they would otherwise be barred from using. Additionally, the ordinance would not have violated the state’s 2009 anti-santuary city law, but would violate the new anti-sanctuary city law which expands the definition of what constitutes a sanctuary city policy: “Sanctuary policy” means…
Read the full storyPresident Trump Says He’ll Order DOJ Probe of Alleged Campaign Surveillance
by Steve Herman U.S. President Donald Trump says he will order an investigation Monday about a secret source of the country’s top law enforcement agency he claims infiltrated his 2016 election campaign – setting up a potential showdown with his Department of Justice, which oversees the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Trump tweeted Sunday from the White House, “I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018 Within minutes, members of the Obama administration and others reacted with alarm, perceiving the Trump threat as potentially the most serious intervention into the American judicial system since the president last year fired FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating Trump’s campaign. Trump’s…
Read the full storyCommentary: Trump Eyes Wide Open On North Korea
by CHQ Staff Fifty percent of voters have either “a lot” or “some” confidence in President Donald Trump to handle North Korea, up from 47 percent who had some measure of confidence in him last month, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll reported yesterday by our friend Brian Freeman of NewsMax. What’s more, according to the same poll, 24 percent of American voters think President Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize. The poll results according to the NewsMax analysis: 24 percent think Trump deserves the Nobel 61 percent think Trump is not deserving of the Nobel 15 percent don’t know/have no opinion Even the New York Times reported Wednesday that President Trump could indeed win the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on the Korean Peninsula: “The idea of his 2019 nomination, formally submitted by a group of 18 House Republicans and heartily endorsed by President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, has started to take root among his supporters over the past few weeks as his own potentially historic summit meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea looms…” But you’d never know that from CNN’s gleeful reporting of every bump and nuance of the pre-summit negotiations. “…the President and supporters…
Read the full storyTom Steyer Spends $2 Million To Force Renewables On Michigan Customers
by Jason Hopkins Michigan residents will likely be paying more for their electricity after a well-funded ballot initiative prompted the state’s largest utilities to adopt higher renewable energy usage. On Friday, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy — Michigan’s two biggest utility companies — announced a compromise with a ballot committee to dramatically increase their renewable portfolio standards. DTE and Consumers have agreed to establish a goal of at least 50 percent clean energy by 2030, which includes a pledge that 25 percent of their electricity sales originate from renewable sources by that same year. In return, Clean Energy, Healthy Michigan will essentially drop its campaign to require at least 30 percent of a provider’s electricity sales come from renewable energy by 2030. The agreement raises the bar for electricity providers in Michigan. Under the state’s current mandate, utilities were expected to reach 15 percent renewable energy by the end of 2021. Environmentalists launched Clean Energy, Healthy Michigan in February to collect enough signatures to bring the ballot initiative to voters. The group was prepared to submit over 350,000 signatures it had collected over the past few months. Assuming enough petitions were valid, the measure would have gone to Michigan Legislature then the November ballot if lawmakers did not act. Under pressure, DTE…
Read the full storyFACT CHECK: Does Planned Parenthood Get Over $500 Million A Year In Government Funding?
by Emily Larsen Many people on Twitter said that Planned Parenthood receives $500 million in government money every year. Planned Parenthood performs 160 abortions for every adoption referral Zero mammograms Spends millions to elect radical Democrats Performs 324,000 abortions a year If they truly did such important work, make them go find the $500 million without taxpayer support or subsidy — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) May 18, 2018 “If they truly did such important work, make them go find the $500 million without taxpayer support or subsidy,” Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, tweeted. Yes, Trump is cutting Planned Parenthood funding, and should be praised for doing so. However, it's only about a tenth of the $500 million in funding he just gave them in the omnibus last month. It's a positive step, yes, but this is not keeping a promise. This is a first step. — Steve Deace (@SteveDeaceShow) May 18, 2018 “Yes, Trump is cutting Planned Parenthood funding, and should be praised for doing so. However, it’s only about a tenth of the $500 million in funding he just gave them in the omnibus last month,” CRTV host Steve Deace said in another tweet. Cutting $55 million…
Read the full storyTrump, Moon Discuss Keeping US-N.Korean Summit on Track
The leaders of the U.S. and South Korea have discussed ways to keep the upcoming U.S.- North Korea summit on track. During a 20-minute telephone conversation, Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump exchanged views about how best to deal with the seeming roadblocks the North has thrown into what would be historic talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore. The June meeting would be a first for the leaders of the two countries. Yoon Young-chan, President Moon’s senior press secretary said in a statement that “The two leaders exchanged opinions of various actions taken by North Korea recently.” A White House statement said the two leaders will “continue their close coordination ahead” of the Trump-Kim summit. Trump and Moon are scheduled to meet Tuesday in Washington. North Korea threatened last week to pull out of the June summit because of South Korea’s ongoing military exercises with the U.S., calling the exercises an invasion rehearsal. In addition, the North’s Red Cross is now demanding the return of 12 North Korean restaurant workers who have been in the South since 2016. The North says the return of the women would demonstrate the South’s willingness to…
Read the full storyEPA Chief Moves to Improve the Agency’s Onerous Permitting Process Through Civil Service Reforms
By Natalia Castro The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been plagued with inefficiency for years. The Partnership for Public Service has ranked the EPA 22 out of 23 ineffective leadership for a mid-sized agency for the last two years in a row. The Resource for the Future, an environmental, energy, and natural resource research institution, found that the average EPA permit process takes 420 days to complete. But now, under Administrator Scott Pruitt, the EPA is committed to fixing itself. Pruitt is taking the necessary steps to increase accountability and set clear guidelines for action. The EPA has already established over 400 metrics across all EPA programs and regional office that track monthly goals, created standardized methods of communicating monthly targets, integrated monthly business reviews for all senior leaders to review their office’s performance, and initiated new employee training. Pruitt is also looking to hold the career employees at the agency accountable. The newly created Office of Continuous Improvement (OCI) will ensure the policies that work in some areas of the department are implemented across the agency, and hopefully, act as a model for other agencies. In a May 14, 2018 press briefing, EPA Chief Operating Officer Henry Darwin explains, the purpose of the…
Read the full storySupreme Silence In Longrunning Immigrant Abortion Controversy May be Coming to an End
by Kevin Daley After six months, the U.S. Supreme Court has not acted on a Justice Department request to vacate a lower court order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to facilitate an abortion for an illegal alien and punish ACLU lawyers for allegedly unethical behavior. The Court’s protracted silence in the matter is somewhat unusual, suggesting the justices are divided as to how the case should proceed. The case, Azar v. Garza, was occasioned in October 2017, when an undocumented teen in federal custody, known in court papers only as Jane Doe, learned she was pregnant and asked authorities to terminate her pregnancy. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services refused, claiming it had no obligation to facilitate abortions for minors in their care. The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit concluded the government’s actions imposed an undue burden on abortion access, in violation to the Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. ACLU lawyers immediately moved to schedule an abortion, which occurred on Oct. 25, before the administration could appeal to the Supreme Court. In a remarkable filing to the justices, the Justice Department claimed ACLU lawyers deliberately misled them as to the timing…
Read the full storyPro-Trump Professor Sues New Mexico State University For Wrongful Termination
by Rob Shimshock A pro-Trump professor sued New Mexico State University Friday after the school fired him when he refused to return to work after the school rescinded his leave of absence. Former NMSU business law professor Gavin Clarkson sued the school for wrongful termination, defamation, denial of due process, breach of contract, production of a hostile work environment and discrimination because of his conservative politics, according to a press release obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Without the basic due process rights that are the cornerstone of western civilization, it’s really just a kangaroo court,” Clarkson said. “While litigation should never be the first option, it’s the only way forward at this point to make sure justice is done in this situation, which is a transparent political hit job.” NMSU granted the former professor a leave of absence in June 2017 when Clarkson told NMSU he had accepted an appointment as deputy assistant secretary for policy and economic affairs at the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. In its letter granting the leave, NMSU does not explicitly state that the leave hinged upon the professor’s employment at the Department of the Interior. Clarkson stepped down from his deputy…
Read the full storyIslamic Extremists Attack Russian Orthodox Church In Chechneya And Pay With Their Lives
by Joshua Gill Police in Chechnya killed four Islamic militants Saturday when the group raided a Russian Orthodox church with guns, axes and Molotov cocktails. Shots rang out during Saturday’s service and cries of “Allahu Akbar” could be heard as congregants scrambled to close and bolt the doors, Father Sergiy, the priest at Archangel Michael Church in Chechnya’s capital of Grozny, said, according to The Associated Press. The terrorists killed one congregant outside the church building, wounded another inside the church as they attempted to gain entry, and killed two officers when police arrived on the scene, according to The New York Times. Policemen gunned down all four attackers. Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechneya’s leader, said the gunmen initially took hostages. He issued a statement condemning their attack and threatening anyone daring to carry out similar acts. “I once again very seriously declare that you can try to commit any actions aimed at undermining the security of the residents of Grozny and other settlements,” Kaydrov said, according to NYT. “But anyone who makes the first step along this path will be immediately destroyed.” Islamic militants, some loyal to ISIS, have carried out sporadic attacks throughout Muslim majority Chechneya in the past, especially in…
Read the full storyUS, China Back Away from Tariff War
The U.S. and China said Sunday they have agreed to back away from imposing tough new tariffs on each other’s exports, a day after reaching an accord calling for Beijing to buy more American goods to “substantially reduce” the huge U.S. trade deficit with China. U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News the world’s two biggest economic powers “have made very meaningful progress and we agreed on a framework” to resolve trade issues. “So right now we have agreed to put the tariffs on hold while we try to execute the framework.” China’s state-run news agency Xinhua quoted Vice-Premier Liu He, who led Chinese negotiators in trade talks in Washington this past week, as saying, “The two sides reached a consensus, will not fight a trade war, and will stop increasing tariffs on each other.” Liu said the agreement was a “necessity.” But he added: “At the same time it must be realized that unfreezing the ice cannot be done in a day, solving the structural problems of the economic and trade relations between the two countries will take time.” U.S. President Donald Trump had threatened to impose new tariffs on $150 billion worth of Chinese imports and Beijing…
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