Day: May 27, 2018

How You Can Honor the Fallen This Memorial Day

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Tennessee Star

by Tom Callender   This weekend marks the 150th anniversary of that first “Memorial Day” remembrance, when Congressman James Garfield—who would later become president—addressed a crowd of more than 5,000 at Arlington Cemetery. The tradition continues to this day at national cemeteries across the nation, with the president of the United States most often delivering the address and laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. To millions of Americans, Memorial Day symbolizes the unofficial start of summer—the opening of the local community pool, baseball games, concerts, barbecues, and trips to the beach. Regrettably, a Gallup poll in 2000 revealed that only 28 percent of Americans knew the true meaning of Memorial Day, and 40 percent confused it with Veterans Day. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] So, what is the meaning of Memorial Day? Memorial Day is the day to remember those men and women who died while serving in our nation’s armed forces, whereas Veterans Day is a day to celebrate the service of all U.S. military veterans. Why have so many Americans lost sight of the true meaning and…

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The Important Questions About ‘SpyGate’

Tennessee Star Staff

by Chuck Ross   A battle of semantics has dominated the revelation that the FBI used a Cambridge professor named Stefan Halper to keep tabs on three Trump campaign advisers. The argument is over whether Halper was a mere FBI informant or a spy, as President Trump has asserted. But the debate has overshadowed more important questions about Halper’s role in “Crossfire Hurricane,” the code name for the FBI’s investigation of possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. The core questions are: Who tasked Halper, a former University of Cambridge professor, with contacting Trump campaign advisers Carter Page, Sam Clovis, and George Papadopoulos? What did they tell Halper, and what did he in turn tell his FBI/CIA handlers? And how was that information used by government officials in their investigation of possible Russian meddling in the 2016 election? Was Halper a credible source? Carter Page holds the key to many of those questions. An energy consultant and former Naval officer, Page was the first Trump associate known to have made contact with Halper. He also stayed in touch with the 73-year-old the longest of any of the three Trump advisers — from July 2016 to Sept. 2017. The pair met…

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CAIR Official Says American Jews In Israeli Army Are Like ISIS Terrorists

Tennessee Star Staff

  by Peter Hasson The executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Los Angeles branch compared the state of Israel to the terrorist group ISIS in a recent speech, video from the event shows. The CAIR-LA official, Hussam Ayloush, appeared to draw an equivalency between American Jews who fight in the Israeli army and Muslim Americans who join ISIS and other terrorist organizations. Ayloush made the comments during an April 20 speech at an Islamic center in California but they flew under the media radar until highlighted by The Middle East Media Research Institute on Friday. “Do you know how many hundreds of Jewish American kids are recruited to join the Israeli occupation army?” Ayloush asked. “Hundreds. Every year,” he said, accusing them of joining an army that engages in “war crimes.” (RELATED: San Diego Schools Ordered To Reveal Correspondence With Muslim Advocacy Group) “No one has ever established a [countering violent extremism] program to see why normal American kids leave their homes to become part of an army committing war crimes,” he said. “They go to the American Muslim community, although again and again we’ve seen the number of Muslims who join extremist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda is very, very, very tiny. Very…

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Jury: Samsung Owes Apple $539M for Copying iPhone

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Iphone

A jury has decided Samsung must pay Apple $539 million in damages for illegally copying some of the iPhone’s features to lure people into buying its competing products. The verdict reached Thursday is the latest twist in a legal battle that began in 2011. Apple contends Samsung wouldn’t have emerged as the world’s leading seller of smartphones if it hadn’t ripped off the technology powering the pioneering iPhone in developing a line of similar devices running on Google’s Android software. Patents infringed Previous rulings had determined that Samsung infringed on some of Apple’s patents, but the amount of damages owed has been in legal limbo. Another jury convened for a 2012 trial had determined Samsung should pay Apple $1.05 billion, but U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh reduced that amount to $548 million. The issue escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court , which determined in 2016 that a lower court needed to re-examine $399 million of the $548 million. That ruling was based on the concept that the damages shouldn’t be based on all the profits that the South Korean electronics giant rung up from products that copied the iPhone because its infringement may only have violated a few patents. $1…

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US Conservationists Sue Trump Administration Over Migratory Bird Policy

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Reuters   A coalition of conservation groups sued the Trump administration on Thursday, accusing the government of slashing protections for migratory birds. At issue is the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which the National Audubon Society and other plaintiffs say has been undermined. In the past, the act helped hold parties responsible for actions that killed or injured migratory birds. But in December, the Trump administration said energy companies and other businesses that accidentally kill migratory birds will no longer be criminally prosecuted. “As you can imagine, many causes of bird fatalities — including oil spills —could fall into this ‘unintentional’ category, so we’re taking the administration to court,” David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society, a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said in a statement. Plaintiffs also include the American Bird Conservancy, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Defenders of Wildlife. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Defendants are the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Daniel Jorjani, the Interior Department’s principal deputy solicitor. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, representing the government in the lawsuit, declined to…

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Tennessee Firearms Association Says Many Candidates Not Forthcoming in Answers to Second Amendment Survey

John Bryant

The Tennessee Firearms Association (TFA) released its 2018 state legislature and gubernatorial candidate surveys on Friday. TFA executive director John Harris told The Tennessee Star that many candidates provided responses that were less than fully forthcoming. “A lot of candidates tell us, or put in their literature, that they are strong or reliable on the Second Amendment. But they don’t respond when we ask them specific questions about where they stand,” Harris said. “We sent the survey to all state legislative and gubernatorial candidates of all parties that registered with the State Election Commission to run in the August primary elections,” he added. “Just under 400 surveys were sent out. We got back about 70,” Harris noted None of the major gubernatorial candidates from either party responded to the specific questions asked in the survey, Harris said. Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee responded with a two page letter that did not address the questions in the survey, but asserted that he supports the Second Amendment, Harris noted. “That tells us all the major gubernatorial candidates of both parties say they are strong or good on the Second Amendment, but they won’t answer specific questions,” Harris added. As for the 70…

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Mexican National Caught Ferrying Cocaine And Fentanyl On Plane Faces Prison

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

by Steve Birr   A judge sentenced a Mexican national busted for trafficking cocaine and fentanyl on a flight to Connecticut to three years in prison. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer handed down the ruling Friday after Jesus Gomez-Valdivia plead guilty to possession with intent to distribute controlled substances and reentry of a removed alien. Authorities found Gomez-Valdivia was previously deported in 2001 before returning to the U.S. illegally, reports the New Haven Register. Agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration arrested Gomez-Valdivia in October 2017 after receiving a tip he would be smuggling drugs on a flight from Los Angeles bound for Tweed New Haven Airport in Connecticut. Authorities apprehended Gomez-Valdivia in baggage claim after finding two kilos of cocaine and more than a pound of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid roughly 50 to 100 times more powerful than morphine. [ RELATED: Historic Drug Bust Yields Enough Fentanyl To Cause Nearly 30 Million Deaths ] Following his three-year stint in prison authorities say Gomez-Valdivia will be deported back to Mexico. Large quantities of narcotics, particularly synthetic opioids like fentanyl, continue to infiltrate the U.S. due to the relentless efforts of traffickers. However, the Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions is gaining ground against drug movers taking advantage…

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Real Estate Moguls Bill Freeman, Jimmy Webb Buy Nashville Scene and Nashville Post

Jason M. Reynolds
Jimmy Webb, Bill Freeman

Multifamily real estate firm Freeman Webb Co. has entered the publishing business by buying the Nashville Post, the Nashville Scene and Nfocus. The Nashville Post made the announcement Friday after the deal with previous owner SouthComm, a holding company, closed. The sales price was not disclosed. SouthComm put the publications up for sale after a period of layoffs and other cutbacks, The Tennessean said. A month ago New York-based This purchase, first reported by the Nashville Post, comes a month CapStack Partners was negotiating to buy the publications. Former mayoral candidate Bill Freeman and business partner Jimmy Webb own the real estate company that has more than 450 workers. The media acquisition will add 35 more. The publications’ leadership team, with Publisher Amy Mularski and CFO Todd Patton, will stay, as will the editors of the Post, Scene and Nfocus. Freeman finished third in the 2015 election for Mayor of Nashville behind David Fox and eventual winner Megan Barry but decided not to run in May’s special election. “Jimmy Webb and I are thrilled to purchase the Post, the Nashville Scene and Nfocus, which are all publications that we’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading over the years,” said Freeman. “It is important to…

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