Month: June 2018

Advocates in Pennsylvania Want More Taxpayer Money to Educate Illegal Immigrant & Refugee Students

Chris Alto
Education Law Center sues Phila

Philadelphia-based Education Law Center told the city’s School Reform Commission that immigrant students and English Language Learner students (EL), need expanded programming, “improved cultural competency” for teachers, more support for the parents of these students and greater access to vocational training programs.  According to the Law Center, test results show that this group of students are failing to progress in their education: Test results indicate that immigrant students and ELs are among the most educationally at-risk of all student groups. For instance, 44 percent of EL students scored below basic in 2015-16 in standardized math and reading tests, while only 19 percent of non-EL students were in that category. The Law Center advocates statewide “fighting for fair school funding” and “equal access” to education services and programs. In 2016, the ELC with help from the ACLU of Pennsylvania and lawyers from a high-priced private law firm, sued the Lancaster School District on behalf of six high school- age refugee students, objecting to their placement at the privately run Phoenix School. Officials with the school district cited Phoenix School’s “special acceleration program”as the reason the refugee students were placed there instead of the district’s regular high school: A special ‘acceleration program’ at…

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State Rep. Gerald McCormick Is Out of the Race to Succeed Harwell as Speaker of the Tennessee House, Will Not Seek Re-Election

John Bryant
Gerald McCormick

  State Rep. Gerald McCormick, (R-Chattanooga) announced “he won’t seek re-election to the House District 26 seat he’s held for nearly 14 years and he will officially withdraw from the contest Monday. He also will resign from the House on Oct. 1 as he takes a full-time job working for a local firm expanding its presence in Nashville.” The surprise announcement removes McCormick from consideration in the race to succeed Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), who is running for the Republican nomination for governor and is not seeking re-election to her seat in the Tennessee House. His departure leaves State Rep. Glenn Casada (R-Franklin) as the clear front runner to succeed Harwell, but also clears the way for a more conservative challenger to enter the Speaker’s race. McCormick made the announcement in remarks to the Times Free Press. “A professional position with Asa Engineering and Consulting, a Chattanooga-based company, requires me to relocate to Nashville to grow the firm’s new office,” the former House majority leader and current Finance Subcommittee chairman stated to the Times Free Press. “My plan was to run for re-election and I believe the voters of the 26th District would return me to Nashville to…

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$40 Million in Charity Care Plus $29 Million in Writeoffs at Nashville General Hospital Last Year

Tennessee Star Staff
Metro General Hospital

Nashville General Hospital recorded an operating loss of $41.1 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2017, and required $50.2 million from the Metro Nashville/Davidson County Government to stay afloat, according to its audited financial statements. A review of the income statement summary suggests that $29.8 million of that loss was due to “allowances and discounts,” or writeoffs of bad debts. Here’s a summary of what that income statement looks like: Year ended June 30, 2017 Total Patient Revenue: $ 72,250,432 Allowance & discounts (writeoffs): 29,859,449 Net Patient Revenue: 42,390,983 Operating Loss: 41,187,886 Amount Received from Metro Government: 50, 296,226 A more thorough examination of the financial statements reveals another stunning fact. Nashville General Hospital provides care without charge to those who meet certain requirements. These amounts are not reported as revenue. For the year ended June 30, 2017 the amount of “charity care” revenue not reported in revenue was $40,318,922. “The Hospital provides care to patients who meet certain criteria under its charity care policy without charges or at amounts less than its established customary rates,” page 16 of Nashville General Hospital’s FY 2017 Financial Statements says. “Since the Hospital does not pursue collection of accounts determined…

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President Trump on Illegal Immigration: ‘The United States Will Not Be a Migrant Camp’

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Donald Trump, Mike Pence

During the announcement of the new Pentagon ‘Space Force’ directive, President Trump took a moment at the beginning of his remarks to address the media’s outrage at his administration’s enforcement of laws regarding the arrest and prosecution of illegal aliens and the disposition of any minor children that may accompany them. After a brief recap of the recent economic numbers that show the lowest unemployment rates in recent memory – with historic lows in the minority sectors of Black, Hispanic, and women – Mr. Trump said, “If I might, I just wanted to make a brief statement on immigration and what’s happening.  And I’ll say it very honestly and I’ll say it very straight: Immigration is the fault, and all of the problems that we’re having — because we cannot get them to sign legislation; we cannot get them even to the negotiating table.  And I say it’s, very strongly, the Democrats’ fault.  They’re obstructing.  They’re really obstructionists.  And they are obstructing.” Democrats have, in fact, steadfastly refused to support any legislation that fully implements his four-part immigration and border security agenda of a physical barrier to entry to the United States (The Wall), and end to the practice of…

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Complaint Targets Bill Lee’s Business, Campaign Advertising

Jason M. Reynolds
Bill Lee

The Tennessean reported Friday that a complaint alleges that gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee is using a tax-sheltered trust to illegally donate money to his own campaign. The complaint, filed by Joe Darke of Dover, Tennessee, also alleges that the Republican candidate has accepted illegal contributions from some individuals and businesses while raising questions about Lee’s frequent use of television ads for his company. The complaint was filed with Tennessee’s Registry of Election Finance, WKRN said, and claims Lee uses his businesses to supplement his campaign without disclosure and beyond limits. More specifically, the complaint says Lee Company commercials featured Lee, while campaign ads have touted Lee’s company experience. It speculates Lee is running company ads for a business expense deduction to avoid more income taxes. Campaign spokesman Chris Walker called the complaint “nonsense,” WKRN said. The complaint contains at least two errors, which could lead campaign finance officials to dismiss it, The Tennessean said. A campaign spokesman said the complaint was evidence he was gaining momentum.        

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State Rep. Jay Reedy Endorses Bill Lee for Governor

Tennessee Star Staff
Reedy Bill Lee

State Rep. Jay Reedy (R-Erin) endorsed Williamson County businessman Bill Lee for governor at a joint town hall appearance on Thursday. Reedy released a statement that same day announcing his endorsement: In 2014, I was running for State Representative of District 74, Houston, Humphreys, and part of Montgomery Counties. I was called an outsider in politics because I never held and elected office. People of district 74 was looking for change! They asked if I was a Christian, Conservative, and where I stood on the 2nd Amendment. Yes, to the first two questions and my reply for the 2nd Amendment is that I am an NRA Life Member since 1986. I passed some common-sense legislation in my first term and just completed some worthwhile legislation in my second term, with Anti-Sanctuary Cities 2018 legislation. This will protect Tennesseans and Tennessee borders from criminal illegal aliens. With my time as a non-politician outsider, I have proven that an outsider can go to Capitol Hill and make a difference for Tennessee. With my passed experience as a state representative, I believe there is more work that can been accomplished by “outsiders” and with this being said, I publicly announce my endorsement of…

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Once Again, Obamacare’s Constitutionality Comes Into Question

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Obamacare

by Paul Larkin   Readers might recall that, in 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as Obamacare, by a 5-4 vote in a case captioned NFIB v. Sebelius. Last year, Congress revised Obamacare. In the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Congress eliminated the penalty imposed on people who do not purchase health insurance by reducing the penalty to $0 effective January 2019. What makes that 2017 law interesting for present purposes is this: Chief Justice Roberts wrote the controlling opinion in NFIB v. Sebelius; he concluded that the Obamacare penalty can be characterized as a “tax”; and he decided that, so viewed, Obamacare was a constitutional exercise of Congress’s power to raise taxes. Enter Texas. In February of this year, Texas and several other states filed a lawsuit alleging that, by reducing the Obamacare tax to zero, Congress eliminated the only basis on which the Supreme Court had upheld the constitutionality of Obamacare. A sine qua non of a tax is that it generates revenue, Texas argued, and beginning in January 2019 Obamacare will no longer do so. Accordingly, concluded Texas, starting next…

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DOJ IG: McCabe Used Strzok’s Mistress To Bypass Chain Of Command To Monitor Clinton Probe

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McCabe Page and Strzock

by Luke Rosiak    – Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe used Peter Strzok’s mistress, Lisa Page, to get information on the FBI probe into investigation of Clinton’s private servery  – McCabe used Page to “circumvented the official chain of command”  – Other bureau officials took issue with the decision Then-Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe tasked the mistress of lead agent Peter Strzok to stay appraised of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s private server — a decision that other bureau officials took issue with at the time, according to the Department of Justice Inspector General’s bombshell report. McCabe was supposed to be insulated from the probe by two levels of management: Strzok worked for counterintelligence head Bill Priestap, who worked for national security head Michael Steinbach, who reported up to McCabe. However, Strzok communicated about the probe with his mistress, Lisa Page, who worked directly for McCabe and acted as a liaison for the Clinton investigation for the deputy director. The report says: Lisa Page, who was Special Counsel to McCabe, became involved in the Midyear investigation after McCabe became the Deputy Director in February 2016. Page told the OIG that part of her function was to serve as a liaison between the Midyear team and…

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‘We’re Getting Close:’ Nunes Says Impeachment Is On The Table For Rod Rosenstein

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Devin Nunes, Rod Rosenstein

by Chuck Ross   House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said Sunday that “there will be hell to pay” — including impeachment for top Justice Department officials — if the agency fails this week to give Congress documents about an FBI informant used to spy on the Trump campaign. “We can’t force the resignation, but we can hold in contempt, we can pass resolutions, we can impeach. I think we’re getting close to there,” Nunes said of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” Nunes has battled Rosenstein for months over other documents related to the Russia investigation. The Justice Department and FBI stalled for months to provide information about the Steele dossier as well as about a secret surveillance warrant taken out against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. The most recent standoff concerns Nunes’ request for documents related to a longtime FBI and CIA source who the bureau tasked to meet with three Trump campaign advisers, including Page. Nunes and other members of the so-called Gang of Eight met with Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday to discuss Intelligence Committee’s requests for documents about the informant,…

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Trump Rips Schumer, ‘Fake News’ Over Criticism Of North Korea Meeting

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President Trump and Chuck Schumer

by Will Racke   President Donald Trump on Sunday lambasted two of his favorite targets — Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the media — for their critical assessment of his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Trump led off a series of tweets by taking a swipe at the New York senator, who had previously criticized the president’s meeting with him as “all cattle, no hat” — a botched version of the Texas colloquialism “all hat and no cattle.” “Chuck Schumer said ‘the Summit was what the Texans call all cattle and no hat,’” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Thank you Chuck, but are you sure you got that right? No more nuclear testing or rockets flying all over the place, blew up launch sites. Hostages already back, hero remains coming home & much more!” Chuck Schumer said “the Summit was what the Texans call all cattle and no hat.” Thank you Chuck, but are you sure you got that right? No more nuclear testing or rockets flying all over the place, blew up launch sites. Hostages already back, hero remains coming home & much more! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2018 Trump met with Kim in Singapore on…

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Commentary: Liberal Doctors Claim Gun Ownership Is A Disease

Tennessee Star Staff
gun ownership a disease

by George Rasley, CHQ Editor   Last week, the American Medical Association passed a series of gun-related resolutions, including calling for a ban on “assault weapons” and came out against arming teachers to fight what it claims is a public health crisis. The Associated Press reports Dr. Megan Ranney, an emergency-medicine specialist at Brown University, said Gun violence a diseaseat the meeting, “We as physicians are the witnesses to the human toll of this disease.” What exactly is the “disease” that stirred Dr. Ranney’s emotional outburst? Apparently, it is gun ownership. AMA delegates voted to adopt several of nearly a dozen gun-related proposals presented by doctor groups that are part of the AMA’s membership. AP reports they agreed to: Support any bans on the purchase or possession of guns and ammunition by people under 21. Back laws that would require licensing and safety courses for gun owners and registration of all firearms. Press for legislation that would allow relatives of suicidal people or those who have threatened imminent violence to seek court-ordered removal of guns from the home. Encourage better training for physicians in how to recognize patients at risk for suicide. Push to eliminate loopholes in laws preventing the…

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Bill Lee Wins GOP Gubernatorial Straw Poll in Robertson County

Tennessee Star Staff
Bill Lee

Williamson County businessman Bill Lee won the gubernatorial straw poll at the Robertson County Republican Party’s annual Reagan Ranch dinner on Friday. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) finished in second place, followed by Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd in third place and Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) in fourth place. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill served as master of ceremonies for the evening, which had about 200 people in attendance. Though straw polls at official Republican Party functions are not necessarily a predictor of voting behavior in primaries, they are a good indication of the local organizational skills of the contending candidates. The Lee campaign considered the straw poll win significant, coming as it does less than two months before the August 2 Republican primary in a county that Black represents in Congress. Robertson County Republican Party officials announced only the order of finish of the candidates in the straw poll, not their actual vote totals. One source who attended the event who was not affiliated with the Robertson County Republican Party or on the official program provided The Tennessee Star with they claimed was the unofficial but accurate vote tally from the gubernatorial straw poll. Those results…

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Daniel Hannan Explains Why the EU is a Hive of Corruption

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Daniel Hannan

by Rev. Ben Johnson   Two paths confront someone faced with an unwanted reality: reform or denial. With a report set to expose persistently high levels of corruption among its member states, the EU chose the latter option, its critics say. EU member states, programs, practices, institutions, and leaders stand accused of everything from bribery to larceny, from rigging the bidding process to influence peddling. Years ago, the EU committed to report on, and reform, such practices. Instead, the EU chose to scupper the report. “In 2014 the European Commission committed itself to take action against corruption by publishing the first EU Anti-Corruption report. However, only two years later the Commission scrapped the report,” the anti-corruption NGO Transparency International has noted. The Commission began issuing its own recommendations member states; however, Transparency International warns their focus is “narrow” and their reforms “do not show any additional ambition on anti-corruption.” “As the current draft recommendations for 2018 show, the European Commission has again not live up to its promises on making anti-corruption a high priority issue,” the group stated. The hypocrisy was not lost on some within the supranational structure itself. “The fact that the Commission discontinued its own anti-corruption report on itself shows how seriously they take…

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The Shrinking of the Administrative State

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Washington DC

by Joseph Sunde   In just the last year, the regulatory apparatus of the federal government has endured a range of healthy threats and corrections. Approximately 1,579 regulatory actions have been withdrawn or delayed, according to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, and that wave is set to continue. “Agencies plan to finalize three deregulatory actions for every new regulatory action” this fiscal year, a recent report noted. “We’re here today for one single reason,” said President Trump said last December, holding a pair of scissors aside a symbolic mountain of papers: “to cut the red tape of regulation.” It’s a welcome development for many businesses, who have struggled amid a growing string of onerous and arbitrary rules and measures. But it’s also a movement that could help restore a bit of hope for republican democracy—taking power away from an unelected, unaccountable regulatory regime and shifting it back to Congress and its constitutions. As the Hoover Institution’s Adam J. White explains in a recent PolicyEd video, the administrative state has, up until now, largely shielded itself from the eyes and ears of the people it’s supposed to serve: As we regulate more economic activity, these federal agencies take an ever larger role in day-to-day governance. The…

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Tennessee GOP Slams ‘Duplicitous Doug’ Jones of Alabama, Who Raised Money for Phil Bredesen in Lebanon Yesterday

Tennessee Star Staff
Duplicitous Doug

The Tennessee Republican Party slammed Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), who was in Lebanon, Tennessee yesterday raising money for Phil Bredesen’s Senate campaign at the Tennessee Democratic Party’s annual Three Star Dinner. In a statement released on Saturday, the Tennessee GOP said Jones’ fundraising activities for Bredesen should not “be surprising to anyone.” “Doug Jones has been trying to hide his true liberal colors for months now. But actions speak louder than words. And Jones’ actions in Washington should be a warning to Tennesseeans listening to Bredesen’s phony bipartisan campaign pitch,” the statement continued, adding: While Tennesseans are enjoying an economic boom, Doug Jones stood with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi in criticizing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Just like Jones, Bredesen has also criticized the middle-class tax cuts that have delivered the following benefits to Tennesseans calling its benefits “crumbs” – • $3.2 billion in wage increases at FedEx in Memphis • a $15 minimum wage at Unum in Chattanooga • $1,000 bonuses for employees at McKee foods “Under Republican leadership, Tennessee’s economy is roaring — thanks in large part to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” Tennessee Republican Party chairman Scott Golden said. “Phil Bredesen, just like Doug…

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The Head Of The United States Digital Service Isn’t A Fan Of Trump, According To His Tweets

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Matt Cutts

by Eric Daley   The head of a subdivision within the Executive Office of the President used social media to criticize and deride President Donald Trump, according to posts recently unearthed by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Matt Cutts worked at Google for 17 years as a distinguished engineer and now leads the United States Digital Service (USDS), which among many other goals tries to help federal agencies improve their information technology infrastructure. He referred to Trump when he was a Republican candidate for president as a “troll” in one tweet. Much like the department he leads, Cutts had been very quiet since taking his position in the government during the Obama administration until recent weeks where he’s been championing the work of his team — many of which come from Google like himself. He and his efforts have been featured in prominent tech publications like Ars Technica and Wired, which discusses the differences of working within the Obama administration and the current one. The work of USDS for the most part appears to be non-partisan — although as Wired noted, Cutts worked on the Department of Homeland Security systems under former President Barack Obama to assist in bringing in more displaced refugees — meaning past criticisms and attempts at…

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Trump Taps Kraninger for Consumer Protection Post

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Kathy Kraninger

President Donald Trump plans to nominate Kathy Kraninger, associate director of the Office of Management and Budget, to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which seeks to prevent financial abuses to consumers. In a statement Saturday, the White House said Kraninger would continue the efforts of the current CFPB chief, Mick Mulvaney, to scale back the agency’s regulatory ambitions while continuing efforts to keep financial fraud in check. Mulvaney, who is the president’s budget director, had filled the role in an actingcapacity, replacing Richard Cordray, an appointee of former President Barack Obama who had led the agency from 2012 until his retirement last year. The CFPB was formed in the wake of the U.S. financial crisis of 2007-08, authorized by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Its duties are to protect consumers from fraud by banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, foreclosure relief servicesand other financial companies. Kraninger is currently associate director for general government programs with the Office of Management and Budget, which oversees government spending.           VOA News

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DOJ Inspector General: Strzok and Page Texts Implied Willingness To Influence Presidential Election

Tennessee Star Staff
Page Comey

by Andrew Follett   Text messages sent by FBI agent Peter Strzok prior to the 2016 election implied a willingness to take official actions to impact the presidential election, according to a report by Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz. “We were deeply troubled by text messages sent by Strzok and Page that potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations,” states Horowitz’s in his highly anticipated report on the FBI’s handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server while she was secretary of state. “It is not only indicative of a bias state of mind but, even more seriously, it implies a willingness to take official action to impact the presidential candidate’s electoral prospects. This is antithetical to the core values of the FBI and the Department of Justice,” the report continues. The report details exchanges between Strzok and his mistress and FBI colleague Lisa Page that they would “stop” Donald Trump from becoming president. “(Trump’s) not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” Page wrote in a text message to Strzok. “No. No he’s not. We’ll stop it,” Strzok replied, according to the report. “Several…

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Phil Bredesen Used Accounting Sleight of Hand to Lure NFL’s Houston Oilers at the Expense of Nashville’s Middle Class

John Bryant
Phil Bredesen

Former Gov. Phil Bredesen, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee, wants voters to believe that he is a pragmatic problem-solver with a track record of getting things done. But a closer look at that track record reveals that Bredesen “gets things done” through the use of accounting sleight of hand that shifts taxes paid by one group to benefits received by another. A case in point is the accounting sleight of hand Bredesen used to lure the NFL’s Houston Oilers to Nashville in the 1990s. A white paper entitled ““Horse Trading” and Consensus Building: Nashville, Tennessee and the Relocation of the Houston Oilers” lays out the case that then Nashville Mayor Bredesen basically misled voters and used an exorbitant tax increase to put a notch on his belt for luring the NFL’s Oilers to Nashville back in 1996. That may be all well and good for some, but a deep dive raises serious questions as  to whether or not it was a prudent investment of taxpayer dollars received by what some might call misleading tactics. In a special referendum on May 7, 1996, voters in Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County voted to approve partial funding of the proposed stadium. The vote, which…

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Metro Nashville Faces Reality of Heavy Borrowing in $34 Million Revenue Shortfall

Jason M. Reynolds
John Cooper

Surprise! Nashville is growing skyscrapers and other developments at an ever-increasing rate yet faces a $34 million revenue shortfall. Councilman-at-large John Cooper, who is on Metro’s Budget and Finance Committee says Nashville’s revenue continues to grow faster than most cities, to the tune of a couple billion dollars, NewsChannel 5 reports. At the same time, Metro can’t fully fund schools or provide promised pay raises to employees, and some are calling for a property tax hike. Nashville has been glutted with massive capital projects despite some narrow misses. Most of the new money has gone to debt service to pay for pretty and shiny projects like the Sounds baseball stadium and the convention center, plus more conventional needs like school improvements. Borrowing costs have increased about $100 million in the last five years. Former Mayor Megan Barry’s resignation earlier this year following a sex and ethics scandal was followed by the failure of the $9 billion transit plan, the Nashville Scene reports. Then there was Barry’s quickly abandoned plan to end inpatient care at Metro General Hospital, the same week that the Metro Council approved a $275 million soccer stadium plan; the proposed Cloud Hill development, a sweetheart deal for…

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Steve Gill Commentary: Are Summer Legislative Study Sessions and Meetings Worth the Cost to Taxpayers?

Steve Gill
Steve Gill

Conservatives disagree on many policies among ourselves, but in general we do agree in strengthening the free enterprise system, championing families and pro-moting limited and efficient government. Conservatives detest waste, fraud, and abuse—especially in government. In January Tennessee will have a new Governor, due to Governor Haslam being term-limited, and a new Speaker of the House, because Speaker Beth Harwell is running for Governor rather than for re-election to her House seat. A large number of new legislators will be sworn in as well, due to an extremely high turnover this cycle resulting from retirements, those seeking higher office and others who have taken government jobs. Those new leaders will have a unique opportunity to make a compelling case for more efficient and effective government operations while exercising spending restraint to keep the state’s budget under control. One area that candidates who are looking to fill those slots should focus on is the unnecessary cost of travel for meetings and attendance at legislative conferences and summer study meetings. Do we really care what the California or New York legislative delegations think about most issues facing Tennessee? Our House members are elected every two years, so why during election years would…

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Tennessee Democrats Hold Their Annual Fundraiser Tonight with Alabama Senator Doug Jones as Featured Speaker

Tennessee Star Staff
Doug Jones

The Tennessee Democratic Party is holding their annual Three Star Dinner Saturday evening in Lebanon at the Wilson County Expo Center. The event was formerly the Jackson Day Dinner until political correctness forced them to drop the reference to Andrew Jackson, the founder of the national party and one of three former Presidents from Tennessee. Alabama Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) is the keynote speaker for the event, which is intended in part to boost the prospects for former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen in his own campaign for the U.S. Senate. In his race against conservative Republican Roy Moore in Alabama, Jones portrayed himself as a centrist/moderate in order to distance himself from the baggage of being a liberal Democrat in a dark red state. Bredesen is following the same strategy, as he faces conservative Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) in a state that President Donald Trump carried handily in 2016. Once elected, Jones quickly revealed himself to be to the left of voters in Alabama. He immediately backed Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Washington liberals to oppose President Trump’s legislative initiatives. Jones has voted against funding the border wall, opposed CIA Director Gina Haspel’s nomination and voted against banning…

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Commentary: The Inspector General’s Whitewash Of FBI Crimes

Tennessee Star Staff
Hillary Clinton

CHQ Staff    For the past several months those wishing to stall action on the obvious misdeeds of the Obama-era Department of Justice and FBI have been saying “wait for the Inspector General’s report,” however, the much-anticipated Department of Justice Inspector General’s report on the FBI’s conduct during the 2016 election appears to be a dud. You can read the report here courtesy of FOX News. Trump Tweet IG ReportNot that it isn’t full of bombshells – it just doesn’t get to the real core issues of what went on. Indeed, as our friend Alex Pappas of FOX News reported, one of the most stunning findings concerns texts between agent Peter Strzok and his mistress and fellow FBI employee Lisa Page. According to the report, Page texted Strzok in August 2016 and said: “[Trump’s] not ever going to become president, right? Right?!” “No. No he won’t. We’ll stop it,” Strzok responded. “In particular, we were concerned about text messages exchanged by FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, Special Counsel to the Deputy Director, that potentially indicated or created the appearance that investigative decisions were impacted by bias or improper considerations,” the IG report said according to Pappas.…

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Rep. DesJarlais Focuses in on Support for Law Enforcement and Addiction Treatment

John Bryant
Scott DesJarlais

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) released a statement this week geared to focusing attention on his work in support of both law enforcement and addiction treatment. “During a week in which the House of Representatives focused solely on solutions to the country’s opioid crisis, Congressman Scott DesJarlais, M.D., voted to improve veterans’ addiction treatment, prevent childhood trauma and illness as a result of parental drug abuse, and to stop shipments of narcotic chemicals across U.S. borders, among other votes to help his home state of Tennessee conquer its drug epidemic,” it reads in part. Said DesJarlais, “Drug overdoses as well as suicides have increased, and the rising figures are tied to declining economic fortunes in depressed rural areas. In addition to strengthening addiction treatment and law enforcement, growing job opportunities is very important. Reversing the decline of American manufacturing and encouraging small businesses will provide hope to people who in despair have turned to drugs.” “Tennessee’s opioid-related mortality rate is higher than average. The rate in Grundy County in the Fourth Congressional District is particularly high”, he continued. DesJarlais represents parts of Appalachia, a region experiencing the worst of the crisis, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission. “Nearly every demographic is…

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Politically Motivated Complaint Against Mae Beavers Unanimously Dismissed by Tennessee Registry of Election Finance

Tennessee Star Staff
Mae Beavers

A complaint filed with the Tennessee Registry of Election Finance by a supporter of former Republican State Senator Mae Beavers’ opponent in the upcoming Wilson County Mayor election has been dismissed by the Registry. The dismissal, by unanimous vote of the members of the Registry, came after a “light audit,” which consisted of a simple review of financial records relative to donations and ex-penditures related to Beavers’ disposition of campaign funds from her gubernatorial campaign. The complaint against Beavers was filed by Ann Calabria, a member of the Wilson County Election Commission who is publicly support-ing incumbent County Mayor Randall Hutto — whom Beavers is seeking to replace in the August 2 general election. Calabria was accompanied at the hearing on June 13, 2018 by Delores Mackey, who is a long-time political adversary of Beavers. Calabria and Mackey arrived together for the hearing in a vehicle sporting large “Hutto for Mayor” signs. “This complaint was politically motivated to generate headlines, which some media like, the Lebanon Democrat, were only happy to provide, despite the complete lack of any evidence of any wrongdo-ing on my part,” Beavers noted after the dismissal of the complaint. The political nature of the Complaint itself…

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Off the Record: Randy Boyd’s Globalist Jobs Philosophy: Export Manufacturing – Import Refugees and Cheap Labor

Chris Alto
Randy Boyd

One of Randy Boyd’s latest radio ads has him recounting all the lessons he learned about hard work when he started working at a very young age in his father’s factory for $1.00 per hour and then how he later paid his way through college working tirelessly at an injection molding machine. The details of him operating the heavy factory machinery while studying his college textbooks and completing homework was recounted in the same article in which Boyd declared himself to be a political MODERATE. Child labor laws? OSHA? No matter, it made Randy Boyd the worker he is today and if it was good enough for him, it should be good enough for anyone working in a factory setting. You know, like the assembly-line workers in those Chinese factories where some of Boyd’s products are being manufactured. Wonder if he ever peeks under the covers there? One would hope so especially after the not-so-good exposure by the New York-based China Labor Watch just a few years ago about the “deplorable working conditions” in ten Chinese factories where Apple high tech products were being made. But Boyd the mega-millionaire knows that the bottom line comes first. Unlike his father’s Tennessee factory whose products were…

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Obama Executive Order Forced the Government to Hire Unqualified Applicants in Favor of Arbitrary Quotas

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President Barack Obama

by Natalia Castro   Employees should be hired based on their ability to complete the tasks they have been assigned and nothing else. Yet under the Obama administration, hiring practices for the federal government were moved away from merit to fulfill goals irrelevant to the positions. Policies intended to simplify the federal government application process had the consequence of increasing politicization in the federal workforce and overburdening human resource offices. In May 2010, former President Barack Obama issued a memorandum on Improving the Federal Recruitment and Hiring Process. This memorandum directed agencies to simplify their application process to “eliminate any requirement that applicants respond to essay-style questions” and allowed individuals to submit resumes and cover letters or complete “simple, plain language” instead. The result was a flood of new applications. According to Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning, the goal was not just to increase hiring in the federal government but to increase political hiring. Manning notes, “The 2010 memorandum was always intended to give Obama supporters an easier path to enter the civil service. By overwhelming human resource departments with applications, it accomplished just that.” This was the first of several presidential orders to reshape the federal workforce. In August…

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Justice Department Initiative Aims to Protect Houses of Worship

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Jeff Sessions

by Arya Hodjat   The U.S. Justice Department will intensify its efforts to bring up lawsuits against municipalities that discriminate against religious establishments, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Wednesday. The initiative, called the “Place to Worship Initiative,” is centered on bringing cases against towns and cities that use zoning laws to prevent houses of worship — churches and mosques, for example — from building. “In recent years, the cultural climate has become less hospitable to people of faith and to religious belief,” Sessions said. “Many Americans have felt that their freedom to practice their faith has been under attack.” The announcement came during an event for the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center — an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group — in Washington, D.C. Sessions also announced the Justice Department would be filing a lawsuit against a New Jersey town for denying the building of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue. “Religious Americans have heard themselves called deplorables,” Sessions said. “They’ve heard themselves called bitter clingers.” Sessions referred to comments made by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during their presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2008, respectively. Clinton made no reference to religion in her 2016 speech. Heather Weaver, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU, told…

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Census Bureau Has Been Co-Opted by Leftist Ideologues

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U.S. Census Bldg

by Mike Gonzales   “Are you an American or not?” It’s a simple question, one that every U.S. census should include, especially when the survey already contains nonsensical and intrusive inquiries into one’s ethnic DNA composition and whether one co-habits with someone of the opposite sex or one’s own. Whether you are a citizen or not is a valid question in a civic-minded constitutional democracy. Whether your parents are ethnic Chinese born in Peru or you are a nonpracticing heterosexual, not so much. And yet, the inclusion of a citizenship question and other changes rightly being made by the Trump administration to the 2020 census caused a lamentably predictable furor on Thursday, at the first day of the spring 2018 meeting of the Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic, and Other Populations. The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more >> If anything, it was a case study in how the relationship between the bureau and its outside advisers has become dysfunctional. From the start, nearly all the advisory committee’s members bitterly protested the changes, while bureaucrats implored them not to let their frustration prevent them…

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Lamar Alexander Sides With Corker Over Trump on Tariffs

John Bryant
Lamar Alexander

SuperTalk 99.7 WTN veteran broadcaster Brian Wilson, host of Nashville’s Morning News, interviewed Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander today, who made it very clear he sides with outgoing Senator Bob Corker over President Trump on the tariff issue. The two men also discussed the recent Inspector General’s report, which was highly critical for the FBI and former Director James Comey. Alexander praised Trump and stressed the need for the GOP to retain their majorities in Congress, As for the tariff issue, host Wilson asked him about his “fellow Senator Bob Corker who has been drawing a lot of fire lately in the state of Tennessee for his criticism of this president.” Responded Alexander, “What’s bother Senator Corker is he thinks we should have a vote on whether tariffs are a good idea. But I don’t think they’re a good idea either. I think we ought to have a vote on it. That’s the basis of his criticism. Tariffs on Aluminum and Steel are more likely to hurt Tennessee than any other state because we’ve got nearly a thousand auto parts suppliers and they nearly all use aluminum and Steel when they make their parts. If you add 25% to the cost of…

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Blackburn Likens Bredesen to Obama, Suggests He’ll ‘Vote With Crying Chuck Schumer’ in Washington

John Bryant
ChuckBredesen

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) is starting to take the gloves off in her attacks on liberal Democrat opponent Phil Bredesen, comparing him to Obama as far as policy, and suggesting he’d “vote with crying Chuck Schumer” in opposition to President Trump if he gets to Washington as a US Senator from Tennessee. Blackburn used the recent Tennessee Republican Party’s annual fundraiser held in Nashville last Friday to go after former Gov. Phil Bredesen as the  two compete to replace outgoing Senator Bob Corker. Blackburn elaborated on a theme first introduced by President Trump at a rally held in Nashville on May 29 to support Blackburn’s Senate campaign, at which the president memorably called Bredesen “an absolute total tool . . . of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi.” “She does Tennessee proud, but she does our party proud,” Keynote speaker Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), said of Blackburn at last Friday’s fundraising event. “We need more great spokespeople for the conservative values of this country. We need Marsha Blackburn on TV, talking as a United States Senator about how conservative principles are so much better than liberal principles,” Scalise added. You can see him make these remarks at the 52 second mark of…

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Sloppy Bookkeeping, Significant Financial Abuse in Philadelphia, Key City in Battleground State of Pennsylvania?

John Bryant
Rebecca Rhynhart

With  Pennsylvania shaping up as a key battleground state in 2018 and 2020, as well, financial disarray and the significant potential for fraud and abuse in one of it’s major cities could give Republicans something to target in the Fall. Philadelphia’s government has the worst accounting practices among the nation’s 10 largest cities, with $924 million in bookkeeping errors alone last year, according to an audit released Tuesday by City Controller Rebecca Rhynhart. That’s on top of the now-infamous missing $33 million, the discrepancy between what the city’s records say it has and what is in the bank — the result of a failure to reconcile the city’s cash account over several years, Rhynhart said at a news conference. In total, the controller’s auditors found two “material weaknesses” and eight “significant deficiencies” in the fiscal 2017 books. The accounting terms refer to serious issues with the city’s internal financial controls. “This is a major problem and needs to be treated that way by the mayor and the finance director on down,” Rhynhart told the Inquirer and Daily News. “If the City of Philadelphia is talking about tax increases, let’s get our house in order.” By comparison, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago,…

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DOJ Report Says Journalists Gave FBI Agents Freebies For Leaks in Clinton Email Case

Jason M. Reynolds
Hillary Clinton

The Department of Justice inspector general identified a number of times where FBI employees allegedly spoke with members of the media and received freebies, The Daily Caller and Breitbart say. On page XII in the report, the IG says the department “identified numerous FBI employees, at all levels of the organization and with no official reason to be in contact with the media, who were nevertheless in frequent contact with reporters,” The Daily Caller writes. The Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General made the discovery as it tried to identify “possible FBI agents improperly transmitting to reporters, according to its report released Thursday on the agency’s handling of the 2016 probe into Hillary Clinton’s unsecured, private email server,” Breitbart writes. The IG expressed “profound concerns about the volume and extent of unauthorized media contacts by FBI personnel that we have uncovered our review.” The IG report says, “In addition to the significant number of communications between FBI employees and journalists, we identified social interactions between FBI employees and journalists that were, at a minimum, inconsistent with FBI policy and Department ethics rules. For example, we identified instances where FBI employees received tickets to sporting events from journalists, went on golfing outings…

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AT&T to Close Time Warner Deal, But Government May Appeal

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TimeWarner-ATT

Reuters   AT&T Inc may close its $85 billion deal to buy Time Warner Inc under an agreement reached on Thursday with the U.S. government, which might still appeal a case seen as a turning point for the media industry. AT&T said it could close the deal by Friday. The government has not ruled out an appeal and has 60 days to file. AT&T agreed to temporarily manage Time Warner’s Turner networks separately from DirecTV, including setting prices and managing personnel, as part of the deal approved by Judge Richard Leon late Thursday. The conditions agreed to by AT&T would remain in effect until Feb. 28, 2019, the conclusion of the case or an appeal. Leon of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled on Tuesday that the deal to marry AT&T’s wireless and satellite businesses with Time Warner’s movies and television shows was legal under antitrust law. The Justice Department had argued the deal would harm consumers. U.S. President Donald Trump, a frequent critic of Time Warner’s CNN coverage, denounced the deal when it was announced in October 2016. The fact that Turner, which includes CNN, will be run separately from DirecTV makes a stay unnecessary,…

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Tennessee Pastors Network Issues Pro-Life Pledge for Candidates to Show Commitment to Defund Planned Parenthood

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Dale Walker Pro-Life Pledge

The Tennessee Pastors Network issued a pro-life pledge on Thursday for candidates for all levels of offices in Tennessee designed to show their commitment to defund Planned Parenthood “Pastor Dale Walker, President of the Tennessee Pastors Network, is calling on Tennessee candidates for Governor, Congress, State House and State Senate to put their “pro-life” words into action. The Tennessee Pastors Network Pro-Life Pledge can be printed out by candidates from the Tennessee Pastors Network website and returned with their signatures and those of two witnesses. Tennessee Pastors Network will list those who have signed the Pro-Life Pledge on the website,” the Tennessee Pastors Network (TPN) said in a statement. “We’re in the midst of all this election season heading into the August 2 primaries on the Democrat and Republican sides. A lot of candidates, particularly on the Republican side, are talking about how pro life they are,” Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill said on Thursday’s edition of the Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville. “Some of these folks who are talking about being so pro-life are the same ones that have voted to fund Planned Parenthood.It’s important to look at what they do, not what they…

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Commentary: Should Congress Break Social Media’s Stranglehold on Free Speech?

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US Capitol at night

by Jeffery Rendall   Strolling towards the capitol on one of our recent trips to Williamsburg, Virginia, a thought struck me as we neared the reconstructed building; so much went on inside those walls but the people in the street had nary a clue about what was happening at the time. Sure, there were three newspapers in town (in the late 18th century), but they were somewhat crude enterprises by today’s standards, receiving and reprinting tidbits of intelligence from townspeople, passers through, other newspapers and let’s face it – plain gossip and hearsay. Just steps away great men were debating and deciding everyone’s future yet few common folk understood what was taking place except for what the men – or the royal governor and his council – chose to divulge. Not even the town crier was much help in this regard. Fast forward to today when practically everything that’s “official” is a matter of public record. Granted the government and its agents still keep plenty of secrets – the fallout from the Mueller investigation certainly revealed it – but we know a lot more than the Virginians of the 1760’s and 70’s did. Heck, they were about to sever ties with the…

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GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Randy Boyd’s Company Chose China Instead of Tennessee as Location for Manufacturing

Chris Alto
Randy Boyd

One aspect of his business career that GOP gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd has not highlighted in his campaign commercials is this: Products that have helped make Boyd’s company Radio Systems Corporation highly profitable are manufactured in China. Boyd still runs the company as CEO. The company, “the world’s leading dog and cat products supplier” including such brands as PetSafe and Invisible Fence, began manufacturing its products in China in 1993, two years after he launched his business, claiming that it was “a move that improved our product quality, prices, and reliability.” Three years later his company reported $24 million in sales. According to the offering memorandum associated with the company’s planned 2001 initial public offering, an offering that was subsequently withdrawn, “the  Company currently outsources virtually all of its manufacturing and assembly activities.” For the year ended December 31, 1997, approximately 80% of the Company’s products, including its standard Radio Fence pet containment products, were manufactured or assembled in China by two manufacturers. Other of the Company’s products are manufactured in Israel and France, and certain of the components of the Company’s Radio Fence products are manufactured in Taiwan. The microchips used in the Company’s products are manufactured by a supplier in…

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Is Your Representative Playing In The Congressional Baseball Game?

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Congressional baseball game group photo

by Evie Fordham   Sixty members of Congress will take the field for the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity on Thursday night in Washington, D.C. Click here to find the complete roster. Twenty-four Democrats and 36 Republicans will face each other at Nationals Park. Notable politicians playing include Republicans Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Rep. Mia Love of Utah and, of course, Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana. Scalise was shot when a gunman opened fire at a Republican congressional baseball practice in 2017. Five people were wounded, and Scalise was hospitalized for months, undergoing multiple surgeries after being shot in the hip. He will be the starting second baseman for a team hoping to earn victory over the Democrats, who beat the Republicans 11-2 in 2017. The game is available to watch on Facebook Live; the first pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Eastern time. The congressional baseball game offers Republicans and Democrats a chance to cross party lines for a good cause. The event will support charities like The Washington Literacy Center, The Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington and the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation. – – – Evie Fordham is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Evie on Twitter @eviefordham.            …

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Tennessee Department of Education Announces Testing Changes

Tennessee Star Staff
McQueen

The Tennessee Department of Education announced at a noon press conference on Thursday several changes to the state TNReady test that teachers, administrators and superintendents have been asking the state to make, the Professional Educators said in a statement released on Thursday. “Among the changes include rebidding the testing contract, refining the current Questar contract, revising timeline for online testing, and engaging more teachers. These steps complement additional actions already in the works, including eliminating two TNReady end-of-course exams, eliminating the March stand-alone field test for the next two years, simplifying and streamlining test administration, bringing in a third party to perform an independent review of Questar’s technological capabilities, improving customer service, and engaging dozens of additional Tennessee teachers, content experts, and testing coordinators to look at every part of our state testing program,” the statement said. You can read the rest of the statement here: Dale Lynch from the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents and JC Bowman from Professional Educators of Tennessee were in attendance at the announcement. Both praised the Tennessee Department of Education for taking proactive steps to address the issue. Bowman added: “Leadership collects input from those on the ground, makes the process better for all, and then…

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Corker Throws Hissy Fit Over Trump On Senate Floor

John Bryant
Bob Corker

One might like to say outgoing Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was in rare, or unusual form in the Senate today; unfortunately, his anti-Trump’s tirades are increasingly the norm for the diminutive senator, as opposed to the exception, as CNN reports. Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker accused his party of cowering before President Donald Trump in an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Tuesday. In an animated exchange, Corker — who was trying to get a vote on an amendment as part of an ongoing debate over the Senate’s defense bill — argued that Republicans were blocking his trade proposal because they were afraid of Trump and what he might do to the party if they upset him in an election year. “We might poke the bear!” said Corker, who is retiring at the end of his term. “My gosh, if the President gets upset with us we might not be in the majority,” he said referring to sentiments he often hears from colleagues. Corker has worked for the last week to try to get a vote on his amendment that would roll back Trump’s trade authority and give Congress the power to check the President’s ability to impose tariffs on…

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Carol Swain Commentary: Facts, Myths, and the Rewritten History of the Left, as Tweeted By Princeton’s Kevin Kruse

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Carol Swain

by Dr. Carol Swain   Princeton Professor Kevin Kruse’s May 7, Twitter streamed attack on one of my Prager University videos (“Why did the Democratic South become Republican?”) comes at a time when some blacks in America are beginning to question the Democratic Party’s history and intentions. The attack also comes at a time when Prager University has a pending appeal with the Ninth Circuit Court challenging Google for selectively demonetizing about 50 of its conservative YouTube videos. So much is at stake for the Democratic Party, that the Prager videos have caused the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center to cite the Twitter stream in a fresh attack on Prager University for its ability to reach millions with its five-minute videos. The Left often coordinates its attacks in a manner meant to discredit and discourage inquiry. Professor Kruse’s criticism deserves a response and so do Prager University subscribers.  After carefully reviewing his data and its claims, I stand behind the substantive message of my Prager University video. I will, however, concede the need to make a small correction about the date of President Eisenhower’s deployment of the 101st Airborne to Little Rock Arkansas to enforce desegregation, the deployment of troops…

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Reps. Jordan and Meadows Rebuke DOJ DAG Rosentein’s Threats of Investigation, Call for Resolution by Full House to Demand ‘Russia Probe’ Documents

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Jeff Sessions, Jim Jordan

The House of Representatives and the Department of Justice are locked in a high-stakes game of demands, threats, and the exercise of power as the DOJ continues to buck the House’s constitutional right of oversight over its operations put in place by the Framers 242 years ago. At issue are DOJ records demanded by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes in connection with the FBI informant that was used to spy on several Trump campaign advisers. The Committee Chairman and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein have argued over the production of DOJ documents related to the so-called “Steele dossier” as well as the FBI and Justice Department’s applications for secret surveillance warrants (FISA warrants) against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. In the latest explosive exchange by the Justice Department, Rosenstein threatened to use the powers of the Department of Justice (the FBI) to investigate the individual lawmakers and their staff who he feels have cast aspersions on him and his character in response to his steadfast refusal to comply with document requests, demands, and subpoenas. Fox News’ Catherine Herrige broke the story Tuesday: Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein threatened to “subpoena” emails, phone records and other documents from lawmakers and staff on a Republican-led…

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The Meaning of the Stars and Stripes

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House with flag

by Representative Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02)   “What are you doing to celebrate Flag Day?” It’s a question you probably won’t hear in the checkout line at the grocery store or around the dinner table with friends this week. That’s because, unlike other hallmark holidays of summertime—Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day—Flag Day isn’t always celebrated with grand gestures, gatherings, or parades. More often it passes by with perfunctory commemorations at best. At worst, it is all but forgotten. Yet it wasn’t meant to be that way. When Congress approved and President Harry Truman signed the national observance of Flag Day into law on June 14, 1949, it was for an important reason: “It is our custom to observe June 14 each year with ceremonies designed not only to commemorate the birth of our flag,” Truman said, “but also to rededicate ourselves to the ideals for which it stands. This beloved emblem, which flies above all our people of whatever creed or race, signalizes our respect for human rights and the protection such rights are afforded under our form of government.” [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a…

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White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow Home After ‘Very Mild’ Heart Attack

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Larry Kudlow

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday that President Trump’s Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow was released from the hospital after suffering a heart attack. Voice of America reported Sanders said that, according to doctors, Kudlow’s recovery was “going very well” and that Trump and his aides “look forward to seeing him back to work soon.” As reported by several media outlets Monday, including The Tennessee Star, the world learned of Larry Kudlow’s medial emergency from President Trump himself, literally minutes before his historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Our Great Larry Kudlow, who has been working so hard on trade and the economy, has just suffered a heart attack. He is now in Walter Reed Medical Center. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 12, 2018 The White House released a brief statement Tuesday updating Americans on the popular advisor’s condition: National Economic Council Director and Assistant to the President Larry Kudlow is expected to remain at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center as a standard precaution after experiencing what his doctors say was a very mild heart attack yesterday. His doctors expect Larry will make a full and speedy recovery. We look forward to seeing him back at work…

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Tennessee’s Zealous Barber Licensing Board Sued for ‘Irrelevant Requirements’

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Elias Zarate

Those looking for a swifter path to becoming a barber in Tennessee just might find relief. The Tennessee Board of Cosmetology and Barbers Examiners is under fire for what twenty-five year-old Elias Zarate is calling “irrelevant requirements” associated with obtaining a Barber license – namely, a high school diploma. Born and raised in Texas, as a young boy Elias Zarate lost both parents as a result of a car accident. His mother died in the crash, and his father – in the US illegally – was deported after recovering from his substantial injuries. Elias went to school and worked to support his two younger siblings, but ultimately quit in the 11th grade to work full time. “After so many years of hard, grueling work to provide for others, Elias thought he had made it,” the Beacon Center of Tennessee wrote in an article about the would-be barber, adding: He was finally able to work in a field that he cared about and had a talent for, and he was able to earn good money doing it Life, it seemed, was coming together. State officials quickly tore his dream apart. Elias was shut down shortly after he got started. He was subjected…

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Corker: GOP Becoming Cult-Like Hints Trump’s Not a Republican; Rep Gaetz Responds: Get Over It, Bob

John Bryant
Bob Corker, Matt Gaetz

Not content with his recent meltdown on the Senate floor, outgoing Tennessee Senator Bob Corker unleashed on President Trump and the GOP again to reporters on Wednesday. GOP Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.) warned on Wednesday that members of his party are becoming “cult-like” in their support of President Trump, pointing to leadership’s unwillingness to challenge the White House on tariffs. “We are in a strange place. I mean, it’s almost, it’s becoming a cultish thing, isn’t it? And it’s not a good place for any party to end up with a cult-like situation as it relates to a president that happens to be of — purportedly, of the same party,” Corker told reporters. Pressed on whether he feels Republicans are currently in a “cult-like situation,” Corker acknowledged that there are some GOP lawmakers who stand up to Trump and it would be “unfair to try to say” that “about every member.” “[But] is leadership in general not wishing to poke the bear? Absolutely, because it’s all about the next election, right?” said Corker, who is retiring after 2018. Watch Corker’s remarks: The increasingly unpopular Corker, who likely had no chance of winning the GOP nomination to run for Senate again…

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Tennessee Jobs Now Demands Diane Black Repay Taxpayers for Missed Votes

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Diane Black

TN Jobs Now  is calling on Congresswoman Diane Black (R-6) to reimburse taxpayers $31,320.00 for her failure to show up for work and has submitted an invoice on behalf of taxpayers to her office requesting payment to the Bureau of Fiscal Service. That amount represents 36% of Black’s $87,000 congressional salary for the first half of the year. The Tennessean reported Wednesday that Black had missed 36% of the votes in the House during the time period from January 1 – June 8 this year, although the story also acknowledged that the votes missed passed by wide margins and that Black’s vote would not have affected any of the outcomes. TN Jobs Now spokesman David Carney said: “Black likes to say she ‘fights for what’s right,’ but she can’t fight for us when she doesn’t even bother to get in the ring. Regular, hardworking Tennesseans who skipped work 36% of the time would get fired and not expect a promotion like Diane Black is seeking.” TN Jobs Now has submitted an invoice to Diane Black, payable to U.S. taxpayers, for $31,320, representing 36% of her $87,000 congressional salary for the first half of the year. “An honest caretaker of our tax…

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Trump Assails OPEC for High Oil Prices

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oil fields

U.S. President Donald Trump says oil prices are too high and blames the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The 14 oil-producing nations in OPEC — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Venezuela among them — produce about 40 percent of the world’s oil, but about 60 percent of the oil traded on international markets. OPEC’s actions, whether to cut or increase production, often heavily influence the price of oil, and by extension the prices consumers and businesses pay for fuel. OPEC’s oil chiefs struck a deal in 2016 to cut production by 1.8 million barrels a day to reduce the global glut of oil and shore up prices. Since then, oil prices have risen from below $30 a barrel to more than $70. But that rollback in production is set to expire at the end of the year. OPEC has yet to set new production levels beyond that, but the cartel’s oil ministers are meeting again next week in Vienna. Saudi Energy Minister Khaled al-Faleh said in April that the global market can absorb higher oil prices, a remark that drew a swift rebuke from Trump. “With record amounts of oil all over the place, including the fully loaded…

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Commentary: The Looming Amnesty Disaster For Republicans

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Trump, Ryan

by CHQ Staff   Our friend Rachel Bovard, writing for American Greatness, has updated us on the progress of the Republican establishment’s pre-election amnesty plans and for conservatives whose baseline is “no amnesty” it looks like a very intense battle is brewing. Ms. Bovard reports that after last Thursday’s two-hour House Republican Conference meeting: Proponents of the discharge petition—nearly all House Democrats and more than 20 House Republicans—remain confident they will have the requisite number of signers to force the votes they want. Speaker Ryan, however, is still scrambling to come up with a compromise legislative solution that avoids losing control of the floor to the discharge process. Setting the complicated procedural matters aside, either outcome is bad news for those who prioritize national sovereignty and border security. Members either will have to vote on the discharge petition’s series of amnesty bills or, absent that, Ryan’s consensus proposal, which is likely to be amnesty-lite with negligible border security. As we, and Ms. Bovard, have reported in the past, since taking down the farm bill over the immigration issue last month, members of the House Freedom Caucus and other border-security conscious Republicans have been negotiating for legislation that includes work permits for the 700,000 recipients of…

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