Day: July 26, 2018

Man Arrested and Indicted for Allegedly Threatening to Assault and Murder Diane Black

Tennessee Star Staff

A man was arrested and indicted for allegedly threatening to murder Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06). “According to an indictment, Clifton Ward threatened to assault and murder Congressman Black, who is also a candidate for governor,” WKRN reported: Officials said the threats were left in a voicemail at one of the congressman’s district offices. Congressman Black wouldn’t provide details on the threats but said they were serious enough that a grand jury indicted Ward The threats came shortly after Congressman Black introduced the Border Wall Trust Fund Act to provide funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall. NewsChannel 5 reported that “Black told Fox News Wednesday night about the incident on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” She said the threats were made over voicemails. “I can tell you they were very serious and they were threatening enough that they concerned police,” said Black. Black went on to explain that she accepts the risks that come with being a public servant but has more peace of mind, knowing the man was arrested. “You never know when it is going to be serious as it was for Gabby Giffords and Steve Scalise and it’s very scary for our families.” MacCallum read a statistic that…

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Beacon Center Calls ‘Cut’ on Wasteful Tennessee Film, TV Subsidies Such as ‘Nashville’

Jason M. Reynolds
film crew

The TV show “Nashville” may finally be ending, but taxpayers have been stuck with the tab for this and other “flops,” conservative think tank says in a new report. The Beacon Center of Tennessee released the “Calling Cut on Film Incentives” report Wednesday to decry the bad “investments” the state had made in spending tax dollars on shows, movies and commercials. “Nashville” is only one example highlighted in the report. The show, on the eve of its series finale, has been canceled twice in three years and cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, the Beacon Center said. The current home is CMT, which picked it up after ABC dropped it. Beacon Center CEO Justin Owen said, “While we are against all forms of corporate welfare, film incentives have unquestionably proven to have the worst return on investment of any type of handout. Studies show that film incentives have a return on investment of anywhere from just seven cents per dollar to 28 cents per dollar, an investment that only the government would make. “It seems like Tennessee government officials were throwing darts blindly when they picked what productions to subsidize,” Owens said. “In fact, over 40% of the films that received…

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Can’t We All Just Get Along? Republican Candidates Sling Mud Before Election

Julie Carr
Randy Boyd, Diane Black, Beth Harwell, Bill Lee

On Monday’s edition on The Gill Report – broadcast on Knoxville’s 92.3 FM WETR – Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill discussed the unscrupulous battle between Republican nominees for Governor elections August 2nd in Tennessee and the support that the winning candidate may or may not receive from members of their party once elected. Steve Gill observed, “The Republican primary for governor is getting brutal and bitter. You’re seeing attack ads flying back and forth. Beth Harwell’s attacking her opponents with one ad that features them as little children dressed up as you know, a working construction guy, she’s got Diane Black with a blonde wig and her glasses, and then Randy Boyd with his suit. But these are all young kids.” He continued: You’ve got Diane Black and Randy Boyd both viciously attacking each other and Bill Lee. And Bill Lee is kind of using the attack, “I’m the only nice guy vote for me!” The bottom line is there is a lot of vitriol and bitterness that has been built in, baked in to this primary process. And on August 2nd the votes will be counted. Someone, one of these four, will win the Republican primary for Governor. And…

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House Republicans Move to Impeach Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein

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Rod Rosenstein

Eleven House Republicans have introduced articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The Republicans who introduced the resolution have criticized Rosenstein for not being responsive enough to their requests for documents related to the Russia investigation and a closed investigation into Democrat Hillary Clinton’s emails. It is unclear whether there will be enough support in the party to pass it, as Republican leaders have not signed on to the effort. The articles were introduced by North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, frequent critics of the Justice Department. The introduction does not trigger an immediate vote, but Meadows and Jordan could make procedural moves on the House floor that could force a vote late this week or when the House returns from its upcoming five-week recess in September. The House is scheduled to leave for that recess Thursday. The move came about two hours after GOP lawmakers met with Justice Department officials who have been working to provide documents to several congressional committees about decisions made during the 2016 presidential campaign. The department has provided lawmakers with more…

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Flinn Hits Kustoff for His Attack on Pregnant Women

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George Flinn ad

George Flinn aired a campaign ad several weeks ago that featured three visibly pregnant women who said they were voting for Finn for Congress in West Tennessee’s 8th Congressional District. Flinn is challenging incumbent Congressman David Kustoff in the Republican Primary. The women pointed out that Kustoff had voted for the $1.3 Trillion Omnibus Spending Bill that included about $500 million in funding for Planned Parenthood. They noted that Flinn is pro-life, like them, and that his support for unborn life was the reason they and their families were voting for Flinn. Kustoff responded last week with his own television ad and mail piece featuring a photo of the three women declaring them to be “fake news.” Now, Flinn has counterpunched back with a television commercial featuring one of the three women criticizing Kustoff for attacking “pregnant women.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD59jWVlDuM&feature=youtu.be FLINN AD “Fake News” transcript: Clip from Flinn ad: “…and that’s a vote for George Flinn, a true conservative.” Cecilia M.: “David Kustoff is calling us ‘fake news.’ We aren’t fake. We are real. He’s the one lying about his voting record and about us. I looked at his vote, and I told the truth. Kustoff is so desperate that he…

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Mattis Backs Up Trump’s Strong Words On Iran

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by Evie Fordham   Secretary of Defense James Mattis backed up President Donald Trump’s fiery message about Iran at the Hoover Institution in Stanford, California, on Tuesday. “[Iran] cannot continue to show irresponsibility as some revolutionary organization that is intent on exporting terrorism, exporting disruption across the region,” Mattis said, reported The Hill. Trump tweeted an all-caps message to Iran on Sunday night. “NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS!” he wrote. To Iranian President Rouhani: NEVER, EVER THREATEN THE UNITED STATES AGAIN OR YOU WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE. WE ARE NO LONGER A COUNTRY THAT WILL STAND FOR YOUR DEMENTED WORDS OF VIOLENCE & DEATH. BE CAUTIOUS! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 23, 2018 “The president was making very clear that they’re on the wrong track,” Mattis said at the Hoover Institution. Mattis was in California with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for a  meeting with Australian officials, reported The Hill. The defense secretary discussed Iran’s role…

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Senate GOP Draws Line On Kavanaugh Vetting Ahead Of Confirmation Hearings

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Brett Kavanaugh

by Kevin Daley   Senate Republicans are increasingly of the mind that documents Judge Brett Kavanaugh produced as White House staff secretary should not be reviewed in connection with his nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Instead, GOP lawmakers believe the Senate is best served by confining its review of Kavanaugh’s writings to his judicial opinions and memos he generated as a lawyer for former President George W. Bush. Kavanaugh produced or processed approximately 1 million pages of records as an aide to Bush. Senate Democrats have asked to review that entire body of work, in hopes of slowing the confirmation process, or finding information damaging to his confirmation prospects. The Washington Post reported Tuesday that White House counsel Don McGahn met privately with Senate Republicans to discuss which of Kavanaugh’s Bush administration records should be released from their current sequestration in the National Archives. According to the Post, the developing consensus among Trump aides and GOP lawmakers is that work product the judge generated as a White House lawyer should be released, while any records relating to his service as staff secretary should remain private. GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, took this position…

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Things That Make You Go Hmm: Independent Polling Firm Puts Lee in the Lead While Tied to Campaign Consultants

Julie Carr
Steve Gill

On Tuesday’s Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, conservative pundit and Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill baffled at a recent independent poll that stated Bill Lee was leading Tennessee’s GOP primary race. The question remains to be answered of whether or not Lee knew the polling company was tied to one of his campaign consultants. He’s yet to answer the question. Gill contemplated, “We and a lot of other media outlets across the state were talking about a new poll that was released on Monday that showed Williamson County businessman Bill Lee leading the republican gubernatorial primary for the first time. It was branded and put out by the lead campaign and others as an independent poll.” He continued: And yet as we now discover, and you can see the whole story with the details and the links at Tennesseestar.com, that the general consultants for the Bill Lee campaign are actually connected to the company that did the polling.  Again, the polling firm that claims Bill Lee is leading in the governor’s race is actually connected to the consultants on the Lee campaign. Now the Lee campaign didn’t disclose their connection to the polling firm…

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Trump, EU Leader Agree to Work Toward ‘Zero Tariffs’

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Donald Trump

by Fred Lucas   In what President Donald Trump called “a very big day for free and fair trade,” he and the leader of the European Union agreed Wednesday to work to end tariffs on nonautomotive products. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Trump met at the White House, then went to the Rose Garden to announce not only a cease-fire but disarmament in what was turning into a trade war. “Together, we are more than 50 percent of trade. If we team up, we can make our planet a better, more secure, and more prosperous place,” Trump said, later adding: “This is why we agreed today to, first of all, to work together toward zero tariffs, zero nontariff barriers, and zero subsidies on nonauto industrial goods.” The two leaders’ agreement included resolving the tariffs on steel and aluminum imposed by the Trump administration, which the EU has retaliated against. “I had the intention to make a deal today, and we made a deal today,” Juncker said. “We have identified a number of areas on which to work together. Work towards zero tariffs on industrial goods, that was my main intention, to propose to come down to zero tariffs on…

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Commentary: Trump Asks ‘Why Can’t We Be Friends?’ and Critics Won’t Stop Ripping Him

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Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin

by Jeffery Rendall   Why can’t we be friends, Why can’t we be friends, Why can’t we be friends, Why can’t we be friends?… I’d kinda’ like to be the president So I could show you how your money’s spent… ~ War, 1975 This classic War (the musical group) song came to mind after enduring the barrage of establishment media (and #NeverTrump’s) insults after last week’s summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. It’s evident from the over-the-top reactions of some in the political chattering class that being “friends” with Russia is not possible – or even desirable. The whiners and complainers acted as though Trump gave away the keys to the American military’s lockbox and set the tone for a surrender to the diminutive Putin and his pseudo-commie lackeys. Hardly; Trump was merely advancing the widely held and accepted notion that peace is a good thing. It’s hard to fathom how advocating for perpetuating and furthering tensions with a major nuclear power would be beneficial to the average American, yet if some of these media people had their way U.S. forces would be on the doorstep of the Kremlin hoping to get a clean shot at the Russian brain trust.…

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ICE Arrests Illegal Immigrant Sex Offender After NC Local Custody Released Him While On A Detainer Order

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ICE Arrest

by Neetu Chandak   Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested an illegal immigrant and sex offender Monday who was released by North Carolina jail even though he was on an immigrant detainer. Mexican national Udiel Aguilar-Castellanos, 44, pleaded guilty for two counts of sexual battery on June 27, ICE reported Wednesday. ICE filed an immigration detainer on Aguilar-Castellanos in Sept. 17 when he was first charged for the sex crimes. Local officials, however, released Aguilar-Castellanos from Orange County custody on June 27 without informing ICE officials. “When law enforcement agencies fail to honor immigration detainers and release serious criminal offenders onto the streets it undermines ICE’s ability to protect public safety,” ERO Atlanta Field Office Director Sean Gallagher said according to the ICE press report. The victim was an 11-year old girl, according to the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry reported by CBS 17. ICE found out about Aguilar-Castellano’s release after he registered as a sex offender, as part of his plea agreement, on July 11. “Nearly 90 percent of all foreign nationals taken into ICE custody this year were targeted following their criminal arrest,” Gallagher said. “Despite efforts by certain groups to misrepresent this reality, the fact is ICE continues to focus its enforcement…

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The $36 Billion Multi-Employer Pension Time Bomb Is Almost Ready to Go Off

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retired people

By Robert Romano   114 out of the nation’s 1,400 multi-employer pension plans covering 1.3 million workers are underfunded to the tune of $36.4 billion, with plans expected to start going insolvent in the next 5 years or so, an Aug. 2017 analysis by Cheiron has found. This is the end result of unsustainable collective bargaining arrangements between unions and employer, creating defined benefit pension plans that promise retirements far in excess of what could be justified by monthly contributions and market returns. If these had been investment products, surely the Securities and Exchange Commission might have investigated for fraud. But because they were collectively bargained pensions, a different set of fiduciary rules apply. Other factors leading to the shortfall include unfavorable demographics with fewer new workers joining the plan as the ratio of workers to retirees continues to drop. Unfortunately for pensioners, that will mean a huge cut in retirement benefits should the plans go belly up. Even with federally backed Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), in the event of failure, only a fraction of benefits will be paid out. According to the PBGC, the payouts under existing law can be “summarized as a maximum guarantee amount of $12,870 per year (payments…

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DesJarlais Touts Passage of Bill to Delay ObamaCare Tax For Two Years

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Scott DesJarlais

The House on Wednesday passed a measure to delay ObamaCare’s health insurance tax for two years and expand Health Savings Accounts, The Hill reported. The bill, which passed 242-176, is part of a Republican effort to blunt Democratic attacks on the GOP for rising premiums – a key argument in the midterm elections this year. U.S. Congressman Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) issued a press release voicing his support of the measure. DesJarlais said ObamaCare’s medical device tax threatens to increase patients’ health care costs and prevent life-saving innovations. The tax also threatens jobs. The congressman said he supports expanding tax-exempt Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). “Democrats promised ObamaCare would reduce costs and improve health care access for Tennesseans,” said DesJarlais, a doctor. “Just the opposite happened. Millions lost the insurance and doctors they liked. The law forced them into unaffordable government plans with high premiums and deductibles. Unable to afford higher prices, many chose to pay a penalty rather than participate. “Especially in rural areas, ObamaCare resulted in hospital closures, because of consolidation. Only the largest medical providers are able to cope with complex regulations. Small businesses unable to cope shed employees and benefits, contributing to a part-time, low wage economy,” he…

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Bill Lee Agrees With Gov. Haslam That Transgender Bathroom Issue Does Not Need Leadership From the State

Chris Alto
Bill Lee

Governor Haslam and Bill Lee propose the same approach to the use of school bathrooms and locker rooms by students whose choice of gender and anatomy may not match. Both Haslam and Lee have said that this issue does not require leadership from the state but instead, should be problem-solved at the local level. Shortly after a May 2016, “dear colleague” letter was issued by the Obama Department of Education advising school districts to protect access by students to bathrooms and locker rooms “consistent with their gender identity” or risk violating federal law and jeopardizing federal funds, Haslam issued the following statement: The White House itself has said what they issued last week is not an enforcement action and does not make any additional requirements under the law. Congress has the authority to write the law, not the executive branch, and we disagree with the heavy-handed approach the Obama administration is taking. Decisions on sensitive issues such as these should continue to be made at the local level based on the unique needs of students, families, schools and districts while working closely with the local school board counsel, understanding that this is an emerging area of law that will ultimately…

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House Votes Overwhelmingly To Kill Obamacare’s Tax On Medical Devices

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Obamacare

by Julia Cohen   A bipartisan majority in the House voted to repeal President Barack Obama’s 2.3 percent medical device tax Tuesday. The repeal passed 283-132, with 57 Democrats and all but one Republican voting in favor. North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones was the sole Republican against the bill. “Minnesota’s innovators can breathe easier since we’re one step closer to ending the medical device tax for good,” Minnesota Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen, the bill’s sponsor, said in a Tuesday press release. “Today’s vote shows strong bipartisan support for lifting this burden on innovators in an industry so important to Minnesota. I’m more optimistic than ever we’ll be successful in giving these job creators the certainty and predictability they need to thrive.” The repeal will reduce federal tax revenue by about $22 million over the next 10 years, according to a Wall Street Journal article. The tax was temporarily rolled back in 2016, and Congress extended the rollback to 2020. Paulsen’s bill makes the repeal permanent. “This bipartisan legislation will make healthcare more affordable and ensure Americans have access to the most innovative life-saving and life-improving medical technology,” Speaker Paul Ryan tweeted Tuesday. Good news→ The House just voted to repeal Obamacare’s Medical Device Tax. This bipartisan legislation will make…

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