Day: May 22, 2018

Phil Bredesen Gave Big Bucks to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential Campaign

John Bryant
Phil Bredesen and Hillary Clinton

While Democrat Phil Bredesen wants people to believe he’s not running to oppose President Donald Trump’s reform agenda in Washington, details have emerged indicating he did that very thing by opening his wallet in a big way to Hillary Clinton when she was running against Trump in 2016. As the Nashville Post reports, both Bredesen and his wife Andrea Conte made significant contributions “to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and PACs that supported her race. (Bredesen gave $33,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund PAC, and Conte donated $2,700 To Hillary For America and $10,000 to the pro-Clinton Ready PAC.)” In fact, Bredesen’s contributions to Hillary Clinton and her various entities in 2016–$46,100– all but amounted to the median household income for Tennessee that year, $48,547, according to Google. Asked about the developments, Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill said, “Over the next six months Phil Bredesen will wage a Trojan horse operation to try to slip into a Senate seat from Tennessee by pretending to be something he is not. Unfortunately, for Bredesen, his $68,000 contribution to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign efforts put a giant ‘I’m With Her’ bumper sticker on that Trojan horse that Tennessee voters will not be able to ignore.” Added…

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Chairman and Owner of NHL’s Democrat Predators Contributed $5,400 to Phil Bredesen’s U.S. Senate Campaign

Tennessee Star Staff

Thomas Cigarran, the Chairman and lead owner of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, contributed $5,400 to the U.S. Senate campaign of Democrat Phil Bredesen on March 31, 2018, according to Federal Election Commission records, signifying the beginning of the sudden transformation of the organization he leads from a professional major league sports franchise to a Political Action Committee supporting the far left wing of the Democratic Party. Cigarran’s son, Chris, also an owner of the Predators, donated $250 to Bredesen’s campaign on March 31. While the Cigarrans made their contributions to Bredesen as individuals, the Predators organization has systematically pursued a political agenda of supporting progressive political candidates and policies during the past year. The first sign of the organization’s official transformation from sports team to political action committee came in December when the Predators publicly announced their support for then-Mayor Megan Barry’s $9 billion transit tax plan.  The plan, supported by former Mayors Phil Bredesen and Karl Dean, as well as current Acting Mayor Briley, was resoundingly defeated by Nashville/Davidson County voters in the May 1 transit plan referendum by a 64 percent to 36 percent margin. The Predators next foray into partisan politics came at a home Stanley Cup playoff…

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Nashville Soccer Club Lands Internationally Famous Executive for Taxpayer-Funded Stadium

Jason M. Reynolds
Ian Ayre MLS Soccer

Internationally renowned soccer executive Ian Ayre was announced as the first-ever CEO of Nashville’s Major League Soccer club on Monday, NewsChannel 5 reported. His team will have a nice taxpayer-funded stadium in which to play. Ayre served as CEO of Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League, one of the most respected soccer clubs in the world, the station reported. He has a record of success, having being voted Premier League Chief Executive of the Year in 2017. According to leaders with the MLS expansion team in Nashville, he was the top pick for the job. Ayre’s team will play soccer in a taxpayer-subsidized stadium in a deal helped along by former Mayor Megan Barry, The Tennessee Star reported in December. The Metro Council voted 31 to 6 to “approve $225 million in revenue bonds for a soccer stadium at the Nashville Fairgrounds despite concerns about the fairgrounds’ existing uses as well as the growing list of costly city projects,”over the objections of some Metro Council members. Save Our Fairground then filed a lawsuit to stop the MLS soccer stadium construction, which was ultimately dismissed. The Nashville Sports Authority was a finalist for the Beacon Center’s 2017 “Pork of the…

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Commentary: Most Young People Today Lack the Psychological Resilience to Thrive Professionally – Here’s How They Can Get It

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Tennessee Star

by Ryan Ferguson   In December, I wrote a post about how hard it is to learn how to work. In that post, I talked about how one of the biggest challenges for someone starting their career is getting used to the undefined nature of work. It feels very uncomfortable to go from a protective and easy school environment, where you live without responsibilities, to the professional world, where you are expected to think, prioritize, and deliver. The only way to get better at it is to stick with it, but many people who have done well in school don’t know how to stick with it. They quit when they reach the point of responsibility in their work and start a new job where they can feel comfortable with lower expectations. After a while, if they don’t figure out how to handle expectations, they may retreat back into mindless work that can support them but never truly allow them to thrive. What Makes the Adjustment So Hard? In school, priorities are defined for us. You have projects, papers, and exams that you will complete. You can prioritize in a limited way, but you have very little control over your direction or responsibilities. The teacher…

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Trump Claims New Accord with China on Trade Negotiations

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Donald Trump, Xi Jinping

President Trump says American farmers will be big beneficiaries of more trade with China. “Under our potential deal with China, they will purchase from our Great American Farmers practically as much as our Farmers can produce,” Trump said Monday on Twitter. In another comment, he said China “has agreed to buy massive amounts of ADDITIONAL Farm/Agricultural Products – would be one of the best things to happen to our farmers in many years!” The U.S. leader said one result of talks with China last week in Washington is barriers to U.S.-Chinese trade and tariffs on each country’s exports will “come down for (the) first time.” President Trump’s tweets come a day after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the two nations have agreed to back away from imposing tough new tariffs on each other’s exports, after reaching a deal Saturday for Beijing to buy more American goods to “substantially reduce” the huge trade deficit with the United States. Mnuchin told Fox News the world’s two biggest economic powers “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…

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More Than 100 Conservatives Call For Jordan To Run For Speaker

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Jim Jordan, Paul Ryan

by Robert Donachie   A coalition of more than 100 conservatives sent a letter to House Freedom Caucus (HFC) co-founder Jim Jordan Monday urging him to throw his name in to replace outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. “There must be a real race for Speaker of the House. Now. No backroom deals. A real race, starting this spring, to make every incumbent and candidate commit on the record, as a campaign issue, whether they’ll vote to save the Swamp or drain it,” the letter reads. “America needs you to declare yourself as a candidate for Speaker at once. We write to you on behalf of millions of Americans who want Congress to Drain the Swamp.” Ryan rattled Capitol Hill in April when he announced he will retire from the House after nearly 20 years in Congress, telling reporters he wanted to spend more time with his family and pursue other opportunities. Two of the top House Republicans — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana — are angling for the position, but neither thought to have a guaranteed lock on the speakership. McCarthy failed to garner the 218 required votes to…

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Remembering Richard Pipes, a Cold Warrior Extraordinaire

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by Lee Edwards   Richard Pipes was a distinguished Russian historian, influential public intellectual, and top adviser to President Ronald Reagan who helped end the 44-year-old Cold War. He died on Thursday at the age of 94. Born in Poland in 1923, Pipes and his Jewish parents fled to Italy in 1939 soon after German troops entered Warsaw. They reached the United States one year later, settling in upper New York state. After receiving a B.A. from Cornell University, Pipes earned a doctorate in history from Harvard University in 1950. Soon thereafter, he began teaching at Harvard, where he remained for the rest of his academic career. Pipes was one of America’s leading experts on communism when he took a leave of absence from Harvard in 1982 to join Reagan’s National Security Council staff. He was the principal author of two key national security decision directives: NSDD-32 and NSDD-75. NSDD-32 declared that the United States would seek to “neutralize” Soviet control over Eastern Europe and authorized the use of covert action and other means to support anti-Soviet groups in the region, especially the Solidarity trade union in Poland. NSDD-75 called for the United States to seek not coexistence with the…

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Sports Experts, Commentators Call Penalty on Nashville Predators For Endorsing Briley

Jason M. Reynolds
Sports Experts Decry Preds Briley

Yet another Nashville Predators foray into progressive politics has some saying the team’s president and CEO should spend time in the penalty box. The National Hockey League team’s President/CEO Sean Henry endorsed liberal mayoral candidate David Briley. The former vice mayor assumed office in March when disgraced Mayor Megan Barry resigned. The special election is May 24. The political move made national headlines. “I’ve honestly never seen this before, and I think it’s bad for our country to be politicizing every aspect of our lives, including teams endorsing a political candidate,” Clay Travis of Outkick the Coverage said on his website, as quoted by Brietbart. NewsChannel 5’s Steve Layman said in a broadcast column, “Sports and politics don’t mix.” He cited the fallout over the National Football League players who knelt during the national anthem. That leaves the question: Why would a sports team endorse a candidate? Could money be a factor? The Tennessean reported that the Preds are working with Briley to secure a new lease on Bridgestone Arena. Nashville attorney Daniel Horwitz told the newspaper the team’s endorsement does not violate state law against using public buildings to support a candidate unless giving equal presentation to all sides.…

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Boyd Says He’s Against Sanctuary Cities But Is Still Working With Conexion Americas to Help Illegal Aliens

Chris Alto
Randy Boyd

Mega millionaire Randy Boyd says that how he spends his millions, including the $250,000 donation to Conexion Americas or his interlocking education initiative that demands “education equity” for illegal alien students, “has nothing to do with immigration or in-state tuition,” issues that have fueled frustration with the growing illegal alien population in Tennessee. After Governor Haslam announced that he would allow the new anti-sanctuary bill to become law without his signature, Renata Soto, co-founder and director of Conexion Americas, posted a strongly worded rebuke of the Governor and his decision: Governor, by letting this un-American racial profiling law go into effect, you have put a target on the back of thousands of Tennesseans, rejected the values upon which our nation was founded, and set our state backwards. Soto’s statement also confirmed that there are “thousands” of illegal aliens in Tennessee and the Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE), a globalist big business lobby confirms that they are working in the state. With Soto’s help and Boyd’s money, those numbers are likely to increase. When Governor Haslam campaigned in 2009, he claimed he’d be tough on illegal immigration and yet, over the course of his two terms, estimates from the Federation for American Immigration…

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Here Are The Mugshots Of Mugshots.com Creators

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by Kyle Perisic   Two men who owned the notorious Mugshots.com, a site that proudly displays inmates’ mugshots online and charges people a fee to remove them, were arrested on Wednesday, according to a press release. “The website mines data from police and sheriffs’ department websites to collect individuals’ names, booking photos and charges, then republishes the information online without the individuals’ knowledge or consent,” according to the press release. “Once subjects request that their booking photos be removed, they are routed to a secondary website called Unpublisharrest.com and charged a ‘de-publishing’ fee to have the content removed.” “This pay-for-removal scheme attempts to profit off of someone else’s humiliation,” said California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “Those who can’t afford to pay into this scheme to have their information removed pay the price when they look for a job, housing, or try to build relationships with others. This is exploitation, plain and simple.” The site would not remove criminal record information until a subject pays the fee, even if the information is due to mistaken identity or if charges were dropped, according to the press release. Two of the Mugshots.com creators, Sahar Sarid and Thomas Keesee, were arrested in Florida and charged with extortion, identify theft and money laundering. They’re awaiting extradition to…

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Conservative Terry Roland Decides to Not Launch Write-in Campaign for Shelby County Mayor after GOP Primary Loss to Lenoir

John Bryant

The  Commercial Appeal is reporting that defeated Republican candidate for Shelby  County Mayor Terry Roland has decided to not mount a write-in campaign, opting for party unity, instead. Roland lost the May 1 primary with 29 percent of the vote to David Lenoir’s 62 percent. Lenoir faces Democrat Lee Harris in the August 2 local general election. Asked for a reaction from The Tennessee Star, Shelby County Commissioner Roland said, “if we don’t rid of partisan primaries in local elections, the Republicans aren’t going to have a chance in Shelby County. Democrats make up 70 percent of the county.” Getting rid of partisan primaries in local elections is of greatest concern in Shelby County. In other parts of the state, many conservative Republicans are concerned that the state’s open primary system allows Democrats to vote in Republican primaries, ultimately making it more difficult for strong conservative candidates to break through. A bill to end the open primary system in Tennessee died in committee in the recently completed session of the Tennessee General Assembly.          

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Analysis: Making Tax Cuts Permanent Should Be a Bipartisan No-Brainer

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by Terry Muns   As summer approaches, the already-slow legislative production in Congress is grinding to a halt. Fewer and fewer members are willing to take a potentially controversial vote that could give opponents an opening for attack. But there’s one legislative proposal that should cut through this gridlock and unite Republicans and Democrats: making the recently passed individual and small business tax cuts permanent. As a result of budget gimmicks, these aspects of the tax cuts—which have the most impact on ordinary Americans—are set to expire in 2025 absent congressional action. Leading Republicans have recently proposed “tax cuts 2.0” to make these cuts—and the positive effects that go along with them—permanent. Given their impact on middle-class Americans, this proposal should generate bipartisan support. The tax cuts significantly reduce the individual income tax burden on the middle class. (Contrary to most media reports, the wealthy will actually see their share of the tax burden rise.) [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] The tax cuts doubled the standard deduction and reduced rates across the board. For instance, the 15 percent tax rate, which used to take effect at just $19,050 of household…

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NHL Won’t Say Whether Nashville Predators’ Endorsement of Briley for Mayor Violates League Rules

Tennessee Star Staff
David Briley

The National Hockey League has failed to respond to multiple questions posed by The Tennessee Star Monday morning concerning whether or not the Nashville Predators’ endorsement of Acting Mayor David Briley in Thursday’s special mayoral election in Nashville/Davidson County violates league bylaws. An employee of the NHL acknowledged receipt of the questions  early Monday morning, and promised the league would respond “in due course,” but as of the publication of this story early Tuesday morning, no such response has been forthcoming. Here are the questions posed to the NHL by The Star: 1. Did the Nashville Predators ask the NHL for permission to make this endorsement of Acting Mayor David Briley or notify the NHL the endorsement would be made? 2. If so, what was the NHL’s official response to the Nashville Predators? 3. Does the Predators’ endorsement of Acting Mayor David Briley violate the bylaws of the NHL, specifically as those bylaws relate to promoting good relations within the community a franchise serves? Many residents of the Metro Nashville area–if not the majority–consider this endorsement a highly divisive act within the community by the Predators. 4. Did the NHL grant the Predators permission to use the Predators logo and…

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