An old and wise saying challenges us to: “Believe nothing you hear, half of what you read, and some of what you see.” It is critical to examine issues from all angles, rejecting gossip, mistruths, bias or information not supported or misinterpreted. Put what you see or read into proper context to make sure what you think you are seeing is factual.
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by Dr. Carol M. Swain Christian conservatives dividing their votes between Diane Black and Bill Lee will play a decisive role in electing the next governor of Tennessee. With four candidates in the Republican race (Randy Boyd and Beth Harwell are the others) for a primary that does not include a runoff, the winner will be the person who gets the most votes, period. That person could well be Randy Boyd. Boyd is poised to benefit from the perennial divisions among conservatives and from crossover votes from Democrats voting in the open primary. It behooves us to take a closer look at the man who might be the state’s next chief executive. Without question, Boyd is the most fascinating candidate in Tennessee’s 2018 GOP gubernatorial race. He is a youngish, fiftyish man of the world with a big vision for change. Boyd wants to use government to eradicate poverty and open up opportunities for all Tennesseans, using education and jobs as the great equalizers they can and should be. Boyd’s vision is utopian, and his heart seems compassionate and optimistic about the possibilities of what government can and should do. Who in their right mind would be against new…
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by Chuck Ross Twelve audio files recorded by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen were handed over to federal prosecutors on Friday, according to a document filed Monday in federal court. Barbara S. Jones, who is serving as special master in a review of documents seized from Cohen in an April 9 FBI raid, said in the court filing that the 12 recordings were provided to the government as part of its investigation into Cohen’s financial dealings. “On July 20, 2018, the parties withdrew their designations of ‘privileged’ as to 12 audio items that were under consideration by the Special Master. Based upon those de-designations, the Special Master released the 12 items to the Government that day,” Jones wrote. Jones, a former federal judge, is reviewing the hundreds of thousands of documents seized in the raids to see what can be released to the government and what is protected by attorney-client privilege. Cohen recorded a conversation he had with President Donald Trump in 2016 about possible payments to a media company for a story about Karen McDougal, the Playboy playmate who claims to have had an affair with Trump in 2006, The New York Times reported Friday. It is unclear whether the…
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Dear Tennessee Star, We all witnessed an historic change in American politics with the election of Donald Trump as President in November of 2016. A man who never held a political office of any kind defeated all the primary candidates of the Republican A-Team. A group so strong that the late Charles Krauthammer stated there was never a better group of candidates assembled in any prior election. The Republican Party was certainly confident that one of their establishment candidates would rise to the top with ease. Their first but not last choice of course was Jeb Bush. They backed Jeb with all the considerable money and connections they possessed. In any prior election cycle it would have been all over but the music for the remainder of the Republican candidates. What we all learned however is that 2016 was no normal election cycle. The movers and shakers of the political world had somehow lost both their bark and their bite. Even the media elites could not resurrect the campaign of “low energy Jeb,” as one of the candidates called him. Of course today you know I refer to Donald Trump who won the primary and went on to win…
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The blockbuster poll released on Monday that shows Williamson County businessman Bill Lee leading the Republican gubernatorial primary for the first time was conducted by a firm that has ties to consultants to the Lee campaign, new documents reveal. When Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee announced his candidacy in April, 2017 he indicated that Blake Harris and Jordan Gehrke would be serving as general consultants for his campaign. The Tennessee Star has learned that Lee’s campaign team, and vendors, have direct ties to JMC Analytics and Polling, the polling firm that claims Bill Lee is leading in the Governor’s race. The Lee campaign did not disclose their connections to the polling firm as they have promoted the results of the supposedly independent poll, which calls into question the accuracy of the polling data. “JMC Analytics and Polling independently conducted this poll for the Tennessee Republican primary for Governor,” the polling firm asserted in a statement on Monday when it released the poll showing Bill Lee leading the Tennessee Republican gubernatorial primary, just one week and three days before the August 2 primary election. Lee faces Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd, Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06), and Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) in…
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee held a town hall in Knoxville on Sunday night, the city and date on which a debate between all four GOP gubernatorial candidates was scheduled to be held.
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A new poll released by JMC Analytics and Polling on Monday morning shows that Bill Lee now leads the Republican gubernatorial primary. The poll of 500 registered Republican voters conducted between July 18 and July 21 puts Lee in first place with 26 percent, followed by Randy Boyd in second with 20 percent. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) in third with 19 percent, and Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) in fourth place with 16 percent. Seventeen percent are undecided. “The main takeaways are as follows: (1) Donald Trump remains popular among Tennessee Republicans, and (2) with the primary less than two weeks away (and as of this past Friday, 179,504 have early voted in the Republican primary), Bill Lee leads in the race, and the other three major contenders are not far behind, although his “lead” is at the periphery of the margin of error, depending on whether undecided “leaners” are included,” JMC noted in its statement accompanying the release of the poll Monday. The poll has a margin of error of 4.4 percent and has plenty of caveats. First, the poll was of registered voters only, not likely Republican primary voters. Just 71 percent of the poll respondents…
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Charlotte, North Carolina has been selected as the location for the 2020 Republican National Convention. Nashville was under consideration as a potential location, but local government entities apparently did not pursue the bid with much interest. Charlotte, in contrast, let the Republican National Committee know it wanted the financial benefits such a convention will bring. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill discussed on Friday’s edition of The Gill Report – broadcast on Knoxville’s 92.3 FM WETR – the Republican National Committee’s pick of Charlotte, North Carolina as the site for the 2020 Republican Convention. “The Republican Party has picked their location for their 2020 convention. Which presumably will be where Donald Trump gets nominated for a second term as President of the United States. While Charlotte, North Carolina is going to be the site. The Charlotte City Council voted six-to-five to accept the bid to embrace the Republicans coming to Charlotte for the convention in 2020,” Gill said, adding: Four Democrats and two Republicans voted yes, Five Democrats voted no because apparently the five Democrats don’t want the crowds, the money and the national and international attention that comes. They didn’t have any problem by the way when the Democrats wanted to bring…
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President Donald Trump claimed Sunday that newly released documents about the origins of an investigation of a former adviser’s links to Russia help vindicate his claim that U.S. government investigators were spying on his 2016 election campaign. He contended in Twitter remarks that “as usual,” the documents “are ridiculously heavily redacted but confirm with little doubt that the Department of ‘Justice’ and FBI misled the courts. Witch Hunt Rigged, a Scam!” Congratulations to @JudicialWatch and @TomFitton on being successful in getting the Carter Page FISA documents. As usual they are ridiculously heavily redacted but confirm with little doubt that the Department of “Justice” and FBI misled the courts. Witch Hunt Rigged, a Scam! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 22, 2018 It was not immediately clear how Trump felt the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court was misled in the government’s four applications in 2016, and last year after Trump took office, to wiretap Carter Page, his one-time aide. Republican Senator Marco Rubio, a 2016 opponent of Trump’s, told CNN that he did not think the Federal Bureau of Investigation “did anything wrong” in surveilling Page. The FBI said in the first application in October 2016 that it “believes Page has been…
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Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill discussed on Friday’s edition of The Gill Report – broadcast on Knoxville’s 92.3 FM WETR – the departure of Kimberly Guilfoyle at Fox News. Gill stated, “Fox News star Kimberly Guilfoyle is leaving the cable network to join America First Action Super PAC. It’s a super PAC that supports president Donald Trump for President. She has been working for FOX News for twelve years as the co-host of The Five right now.” He continued: But she’s been dating Donald Trump, Jr. after he and his wife Vanessa filed for divorce in March. I don’t think their divorce is over. But they’re dating. In a recent interview Guilfoyle said to Breitbart News Daily that, ‘Donald Trump, Jr is the number one up and coming political figure on the right.’ So, she is hooking up with a rising star and we’ll see how that works out and how that works out for the PAC. The 49-year-old Guilfoyle is no stranger to personal controversy. A former prosecuting attorney in San Francisco, she was married to then-mayor, now California Lt. Governor and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom from 2001 to 2006. As their marriage was breaking up, Newsom admitted he had…
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By Printus LeBlanc The mainstream media and the left seem to have forgotten about the border, probably because they read the polls on illegal immigration, the problem still persists. Not only does it persist, it is getting worse. Children have become the accessory of choice for human smugglers, and the left and mainstream media don’t seem to have a problem with it. Their latest tirades against the President show they will stop at nothing to import votes — even putting children in danger. Border Patrol agents on the Mexican border are reporting on a disturbing trend. Children have become a commodity to be traded like baseball cards. Human smugglers know the loopholes in the U.S. immigration system better than Congress. The principal loophole used by the smugglers is the 1997 “Flores Agreement.” The agreement is at the center of the current debacle on the southern border. The most glaring fallacy pushed by the left and mainstream media is that every child in federal custody was ripped from their arms of their parents. This is patently false. The vast majority of children the federal government is housing are what is known as unaccompanied minors (UAC). When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)…
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by Tom DeWeese There’s lots of talk about where Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh stands on the Roe v Wade abortion decision and if he would vote to rescind it. There is another very controversial Supreme Court decision made just a few years ago, supported by Anthony Kennedy, the justice he seeks to replace. That is the Kelo decision that basically obliterated private property rights in America. So, where does Brett Kavanaugh stand on protection of private property rights? With Kennedy or the Constitution? In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down an opinion that shocked the nation. It was the case of Susette Kelo, et al. v City of New London, Connecticut, et al. The issue: “Does the government taking of property from one private owner to give to another private entity for economic development constitute a permissible ‘public use’ under the Fifth Amendment?” In 2000, the city of New London saw a chance to rake in big bucks through tax revenues for a new downtown development project that was to be anchored by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The company announced a plan to build a $270 million dollar global research facility in the city. The local government jumped at the chance…
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by Hans von Spakovsky Peter Strzok’s testimony about the email server scandal involving former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton raised headlines because of his defiant, disrespectful, and unapologetic attitude about the bias revealed in his text messages that permeated his work at the FBI. Then, there was the verbal combat between him, Republican members of the two committees holding the joint hearing, and Democratic members who were running interference for Strzok and acting as his defense counsel. The news media jumped on an exchange in which Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, asked Strzok if he lied to his wife about his affair with former FBI lawyer Lisa Page in the same way as he was in testifying to Congress. That was too much for the Democrats and the media, who leaped to Strzok’s defense. The media, however, virtually ignored another exchange between Gohmert and Strzok that revealed a potential bombshell. Gohmert asked Strzok about his meeting in 2016 with Frank Rucker and Janette McMillan, an investigator and lawyer, respectively, for then-Intelligence Community Inspector General Chuck McCullough (an Obama appointee). McCullough sent them to see Strzok, who was the FBI’s deputy assistant director for the Counterintelligence Division, to brief him and three…
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Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, seeking to initiate “a new stage in the relationship” of the two countries and to make progress in the areas of “trade, migration, development and security.” Lopez Obrador handed the seven-page letter to a U.S. delegation that visited the country on July 13. Marcelo Ebrard, foreign minister-designate, read the letter to reporters on Sunday, and said Trump had received the letter. In the letter, Lopez Obrador said Mexico is home to the largest number of Americans living outside the U.S. and “the United States is the largest home for Mexicans outside of our borders.” “I believe that the understanding that I propose in this letter should lead us to a worthy and respectful treatment of these communities,” he said. Lopez Obrador suggested creating a development plan that included other Central American countries, where migrants also live in poverty and lack job opportunities. He suggested that if the U.S., Mexico and other Central American countries, “each one contributing according to the size of its economy. … We could gather a considerable amount of resources for the development of the region.” The plan, according to the president-elect, would spend…
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By Natalia Castro The MERIT Act is finally moving forward. After a passing vote in the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the MERIT Act will be moving onto the House floor in the coming weeks for a vote. Congress can take a major step in answering the people’s calls to “drain the swamp” by moving forward with this legislation. The only way to drain the swamp is to fire the swamp, and the MERIT Act will empower managers to remove poor performing employees that are preventing our bureaucracy from working for the people. When Georgia Republican Representative Barry Loudermilk introduced the Modern Employment Reform, Improvement, and Transformation Act of 2017 (MERIT Act) it was attacked by unions who maintain an unabridged desire to protect employees from any form of repercussions for their actions. It makes sense unions are scared. Thanks to union litigation, the federal government termination rate, including layoffs and firings, is a mere 3.37 percent, compared to a private-sector termination rate of over 17 percent. Unions have made the firing process for poor performing employees timely and complex, causing managers to prefer transferring poor performing employees rather than going through the process to dismiss them. But moving an employee does not remove the problem.…
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Vice President Mike Pence praised Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) and Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) during a speech he delivered at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee on Saturday. “The former Indiana governor called the 2017 tax cuts the biggest in a generation and a generator of American jobs in front of a raucous crowd,” the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported: His wide-ranging 33-minute speech at Lee University addressed immigration, tax cuts, Supreme Court nominations, environmental rollbacks and chastised the “liberal left” before narrowing his message to tax cuts. “We cut taxes for working families” Pence said. “We think the average working family in Tennessee will save about $2,000. We cut taxes for businesses large and small so businesses here in Tennessee can compete and win against businesses anywhere in the world.” U.S. Reps. Diane Black and Marsha Blackburn, who are both in tight statewide races, joined the vice president on stage to compliment the administration’s work. The vice president spoke highly of both candidates before turning his attention to Trump’s recent European trip. Pence called the trip a “success” despite the president being criticized by members of his own party for backing Russian leader Vladimir Putin over the U.S. intelligence community.…
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Gubernatorial candidates Bill Lee and Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06), along with Congressional candidate Mark Green (R-Clarksville), were the featured speakers at the annual Williamson County GOP Barbecue on Saturday.
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by Kevin Daley Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told senior Republicans that he will schedule Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation vote on a date just before the November elections if Democrats demand access to the full scope of records the judge produced in the George W. Bush administration. Democrats are leveraging the access dispute to slow Kavanaugh’s nomination, as it is one of the few mechanisms they have to delay progress on the appointment. Politico reports that McConnell believes scheduling a confirmation vote in immediate proximity to the midterm elections will exacerbate political pressure on embattled Democrats from red states to support Kavanaugh. “To me, it’s in their best interest to have that vote done for a lot of their red-state senators who are facing their voters,” GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota. Democrats want access to a massive body of work Kavanaugh generated during his time in the Bush White House. The judge entered the administration as associate White House counsel, then became staff secretary in 2006. In these capacities he advised senior officials on a range of legal issues and managed the president’s paper flow. He left the executive branch following his confirmation to the U.S. Court of…
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The American Future Fund, a 501(c)4 group that funded several attack ads against Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, has filed information with the Federal Election Commission indicating that they have just spent another $17,500 for a second round of negative mail against Republican conservative businessman and former Judge Bob Corlew.
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by Ryan Pickrell A senior CIA official warned of the dangers of China’s rise Friday, stressing that Beijing is determined to see China replace the U.S. as the world superpower. Arguing that China is fundamentally waging a “cold war” against the U.S., Deputy Assistant Director for the CIA’s East Asia Mission Center Michael Collins indirectly described China as a “country that exploits all avenues of power — licit and illicit, public and private, economic and military — to undermine the standing of [its] rival relative to [its] own standing without resorting to conflict.” “At the end of the day, they want every country around the world, when it’s deciding its interests on policy issues, to first and foremost side with China and not the United States, because the Chinese are increasingly defining a conflict with the United States and what we stand behind as a systems conflict,” he argued at the Aspen Security Forum. Emphasizing that China represents the greatest challenge to American interests, he stressed that Chinese ambitions set “up a competition with us and what we stand behind far more significantly by any extreme than what the Russians could put forward.” His statements echo those of FBI Director Christopher Wray, who spoke at…
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Carol M. Swain, Ph.D. has launched a new podcast, “Common Sense Conversations with Dr. Carol Swain.” Each episode features discussions with thought leaders from around the country about the issues facing our country and how we can use common sense to solve them.
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by Katherine Rohloff All but a relative few farmers and other rural residents have had electricity and telephone service for a generation, but the U.S. government devoted $10 million in the current budget to a duplicative Rural Utilities Service program designed to help pay for energy costs. Taxpayers continue to finance the program even though then-President Barack Obama tried to eliminate the High Energy Costs Program in 2013 because it duplicated the U.S. Electric Loan Program. The program buried in the Agriculture Department budget is brought to the surface in the “2018 Congressional Pig Book” compiled by Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog that has put together the catalog of pork, earmarks, and other questionable federal spending since 1991. “Earmark spending, deficits, and debt all grow when the lights are turned off—all grow when attention is focused somewhere else,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Wednesday at the organization’s press conference announcing the new edition. “What earmark spending, deficits, and debt loathe more than anything is sunshine, is being revealed,” Cruz said. “Because that sunshine has a disinfectant effect.” The 2018 #PigBook has been released! Find out why this little pink book makes Washington squirm… https://t.co/Fiwzzvv0w6 — Citizens Against Government Waste (@GovWaste) July 18, 2018 The 2018…
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JC Bowman writes: “Teacher turnover will eventually lead to a teacher shortage, if the supply of new teachers via traditional or alternative routes cannot keep up with the demand. Research indicates that high rates of turnover harm student achievement in schools and districts.”
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Reuters Fiat Chrysler named on Saturday its Jeep division boss, Mike Manley, to take over immediately for Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who is seriously ill after suffering major complications following surgery. The carmaker said British-born Manley, who also takes responsibility for the North America region, will push ahead with the midterm strategy outlined last month by Marchionne, who had been due to step down next April. Marchionne, 66, was credited with rescuing Fiat and Chrysler from bankruptcy after taking the Italian carmaker’s wheel in 2004. On Saturday, he was also replaced as chairman and CEO of Ferrari and chairman of tractor maker CNH Industrial — both spun off from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in recent years. “FCA communicates with profound sorrow that during the course of this week unexpected complications arose while Mr. Marchionne was recovering from surgery and that these have worsened significantly in recent hours,” the statement said. FCA disclosed earlier this month that Marchionne, a renowned dealmaker and workaholic, was recovering from a shoulder operation. But his condition deteriorated sharply in recent days when he suffered massive complications that were not divulged. Ferrari named FCA Chairman and Agnelli family scion John Elkann as new chairman, while board…
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Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) launched a new television ad in connection with her “major announcement” on Friday that she was backing efforts to legalize medical marijuana in Tennessee.
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Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser has come out strong for Rep. Marsha Blackburn in her U.S. Senate race against liberal Democrat Phil Bredesen, writing, “as Marsha runs to represent Tennessee in the United States Senate, we are reminded of the critical importance of electing pro-life leaders who will never back down from doing the right thing. We have seen exactly what she will do in tough situations, and we know she’s the right woman for the job. Her opponent, Phil Bredesen, will not protect the right to life. While running for Congress, he said he supported federal funding for abortion if the baby had Down’s syndrome. In fact, as governor, he refused to sign legislation that would prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion. Fortunately, the Tennessee state legislature passed that bill into law without his signature, but in the Senate, there will be no such check.” There’s more available here in her whole-hearted endorsement of Blackburn. Tennesseans have a clear choice in November. They can elect a liberal, who supported Hillary Clinton and her extreme pro-abortion policies, or they can elect Marsha, who has a rock solid record of fighting for life. There is just one candidate who Tennesseans…
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Conservative political commentator and Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill of The Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, stated in disbelief the left’s infiltration into Lee University, one of Tennessee’s top Christian schools – and in particular one Lee University student’s petition to cancel a Vice President Pence visit to one of the most conservative cities in the country. “If you need any further evidence – which you shouldn’t need much – that the left is truly deranged and hurting themselves in their interest to overcome any question about how anti-Trump and anti-Pence they may be,” Gill said; adding, “We just need to look down at the Chattanooga area as students at supposedly conservative Lee University are running a petition to block Vice President Mike Pence from visiting the university in Cleveland on Saturday.” He continued: I don’t know how many presidents or vice presidents that have actually visited little Lee University down in Cleveland, I don’t think it’s many you would think that having a president and vice president visit your campus might be a big deal that would be celebrated by virtually everybody, but no, the left-wing loonies are off to the races. They…
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A new Tennessee Tribune/Tennessee Star poll indicates that the race to fill the Nashville State Senate seat (District 19) being vacated by State Senator Thelma Harper remains wide open. The Triton Polling survey was conducted over four days (July 13-16) and polled 419 likely Democratic Party primary voters. It has a margin of error of 4.7%. According to the survey, State Representative Brenda Gilmore leads Howard Jones 37.5-12.5% with a whopping 46% still undecided at this point. Two other candidates, Sandra Moore and George Thomas are supported by 1.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill noted that while the poll is certainly good news for Gilmore from the standpoint of being in the lead. “However, the fact that only 37.5% of voters support her despite having better name recognition edge and the advantage of currently representing a significant part of the district in the State House indicates that there is a big opportunity for Jones to close the gap by improving his name recognition and informing voters about his credentials.” With early voting already underway, Jones needs to move quickly to capitalize on the overall lack of support that Gilmore has in this poll, Gill added. The…
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The New York Times confirmed on Friday a story first reported in The Tennessee Star that officials with the Republican Governors Association (RGA) are lobbying President Trump not to endorse Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) in the August 2 Republican primary for governor of Tennessee.
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Common sense State Sen. Reginald Tate is questioning what it means to be censured by the Shelby County Democratic Party Executive Committee, since they never gave him the courtesy of informing him. The New Tri-State Defender reported the action taken against the Democratic senator from District 33 in Shelby County. The organization contacted him for comment, but that was the first he had heard about it. “I’m censured? What does that mean? Do you know what that means? Have I lost my right to speak? Do I have to stay in my room? I can’t come out without permission? I’m censured. This is the first I have heard of it, and I don’t know what it could possibly mean,” Tate told the TSD. The Executive Committee censured Tate during its July 17 meeting, according to a press release the organization sent to the TSD. The action was in response to remarks he made prior to the start of a committee meeting on May 30. The senator’s remarks were called “vulgar,” “detrimental to the Party” and “unbecoming of a Democrat.” Tate said, “I entered the room where the Fiscal Review Committee was meeting. It’s a joint committee, and on this particular…
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The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) has updated information for Tennessee businesses to help owners and managers keep up with what Tennessee state law requires when it comes to the E-Verify system. As of Jan. 1, 2017 – due to an update to the Tennessee Lawful Employment Act (TLEA) passed in 2011 – all Tennessee employers with 50 or more employees must use the E-Verify system to verify that their workers are eligible for U.S. employment. Previously, employers had a choice of compliance options; now employers of this size must use E-Verify. If a staff member was hired on or after Jan. 1, 2017, E-Verify must be used for them. This applies to employees working in or outside the state of Tennessee, and if the employer fails to use E-Verify, they could receive a $500 civil penalty per day of noncompliance (or more for repeat offenses). Employers with between six and 49 employees are required to either use E-Verify for workers hired on or after Jan. 1, 2017, or request and retain I-9 documentation from each employee. I-9 documentation includes: Tennessee driver’s license or photo id license issued by the Tennessee Department of Safety Valid driver’s license or photo id…
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by Robin Koerner Many people regard Magna Carta as the first constitutional guarantee of the basic liberties of the English-speaking world. Fewer people know that Magna Carta wasn’t imposed on King John just because he abused his power (which, after all, has been true of most kings and governments throughout history) but because he had handed away the sovereignty of England to a foreign governing institution in Europe. That institution was the Holy Roman Empire. John had unilaterally handed England to Pope Innocent because earlier arguments with Rome had left England under an interdict (a kind of nationwide ex-communication). John was facing the possibility of an invasion from a strong, Catholic France with a papal blessing that would have made finding allies impossible and inevitably led to John’s defeat. To split his enemies and peel away the Church from France, John gifted the pope sovereignty over his entire country and leased it back as the pope’s vassal. For a time, Britain was ruled from Europe. For the barons at Runnymede, that was the last straw: they responded to the fundamental transfer of power out of their country and forced Magna Carta on John. History Repeats Itself More than 500 years later,…
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by Jeffery Rendall Our plane’s tires screeched noticeably when we touched down in California last week, the conclusion of a journey that took us across the length of the country in a little more than five hours. Along the way I gazed out the window and tried to guess where we were at the moment, noting that from over 35,000 feet everything in the fruited plain looks surprisingly similar. But not in California. My birthplace and home for the first twenty-seven years of life has changed markedly since I left for good in the mid 90’s. Back then I felt I needed to leave – the political home of Ronald Reagan was tilting decidedly left in political and cultural orientation and California’s government was only in its beginning stages of a transformation that would choke off conservative ideas and constitutional liberty in favor of pandering to the rapidly expanding illegal alien population and know-it-all establishment elites. California was no longer California, it seemed. Sure, it still had all of the places and attractions I’d grown to love in my formative years (Disneyland!), but times were a-changing. Today, thanks to the presence of the tech industry (which largely sprouted after I exited the Golden State)…
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By Robert Romano The House of Representatives voted 226 to 189 to prohibit the use of funds for District of Columbia’s Health Insurance Requirement Amendment Act of 2018 in an amendment to H.R. 6147 by U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ga.). The D.C. law would require, beginning in 2019, that D.C. residents maintain individual health insurance coverage or else face a local tax penalty. The law was passed in response to Congress repealing the Obamacare individual mandate in the tax cut law that President Donald Trump signed into law. The amendment was supported by Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning in a statement prior to the vote. Manning said, “Considering Congress explicitly ended this practice already, D.C. has absolutely no authority to compel individuals to purchase insurance, something the House can clarify today by passing U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer’s amendment. The D.C. government operates under Article I of the Constitution, and it is up to Congress to ensure that it is carrying out the laws of the United States.” Manning’s statement earned the ire of D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who tweeted at Americans for Limited Government, “Anyone else find it ironic that a conservative group named ‘Americans for Limited Government’ is calling on Members of Congress to…
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by John-Michael Seibler “You’re fired.” President Donald Trump will soon be able to use his famous catch phrase against the head of a troubled federal agency, the Fair Housing Finance Agency, which is led by a single Obama appointee with no meaningful oversight from the president. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this week that the agency’s structure is unconstitutional. In Collins v. Mnuchin, a three-judge panel of the 5th Circuit issued a per curiam opinion holding that Congress unconstitutionally “insulated the [Fair Housing Finance Agency] to the point where the executive branch cannot control the [agency] or hold it accountable.” The judges sent the case back to the district court, ordering it to strike down a statutory limit (in 12 U.S.C. § 4512(b)(2)) on the president’s power to remove the agency’s director. This is an important decision for our government’s separation of powers and for keeping the executive branch agencies accountable to the president. An Unaccountable Agency In the wake of the housing market collapse, Congress created the Fair Housing Finance Agency as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, hoping it would rehabilitate two government-sponsored entities that had become insolvent: the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal…
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by Gabrielle Okun A 10-year-old girl in Somalia died on July 14 after complications from female genital mutilation. Deeqa Dahir Nuur, the young girl from the village of Olol, bled to death after a traditional cutter in her town severed a vein causing hemorrhaging, according to The Guardian Friday. She was then taken to a hospital, where she died of blood loss. While FGM is constitutionally illegal, pressure from religious groups have prevented political figures from enacting any legislation to punish cutters, The Guardian added. Somalia has 99.8 percent Muslim population as of 2010, according to Pew Research Center. “The woman who performed the operation has not been arrested, but even if she was, there is no law that would ensure she is punished for the act,” said Hawa Aden Mohammed, the founder of an NGO that raises awareness against the dangers of FGM. “It is difficult to estimate the number of girls who die due to FGM per month or per day because they are [sworn] to secrecy, particularly in rural areas. We only get to hear of the few cases of those bold enough to seek medical treatment in towns. But from the stories we do hear, they could be in their dozens,” Mohammed added.…
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by Eric Leiberman Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Facebook are teaming up to provide users with the capability of transferring data across platforms and services, the latter two social media giants announced Friday morning. After heightened concerns over data utilization (even exploitation and manipulation), companies appear to be trying to give users at least a little more say over how their personal information is managed. The four U.S. tech giants want users to be empowered with the ability to seamlessly access their data across their multiple, respective platforms in an initiative known as the Data Transfer Project. “For example, you might use an app where you share photos publicly, a social networking app where you share updates with friends, and a fitness app for tracking your workouts,” Steve Satterfield, privacy and public policy director for Facebook, wrote Friday in a blog post. “People increasingly want to be able to move their data among different kinds of services like these, but they expect that the companies that help them do that will also protect their data.” Due to the inherent and proprietary differences of the companies’ technology, this wasn’t always an option. “Information that is housed on one platform can not be easily and securely…
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Whiskey Myers has tapped an enthusiastic audience on the Kevin Costner Paramount Network drama “Yellowstone.” With an on-camera appearance and three songs featured on the hit series so far, Whiskey Myers’ music is reaching a new, fervent audience that has propelled three of the band’s albums to the Top 10 of the iTunes Country Album Chart. Mud topped the chart while Firewater followed at No. 2 and Early Morning Shakes reached No. 9. All three albums peaked in the Top 50 All-Genre with over 250,000 sales. “Getting asked to be on ‘Yellowstone’ was a cool opportunity and we are very honored to be a part of it since we are all big fans of Kevin (Costner) and Taylor (Sheridan),” said lead vocalist and guitarist Cody Cannon. “It’s really awesome to see people reacting to our music, taking a two-year-old album to the No. 1 spot on iTunes and five of our songs to the Top 200, with “Stone” even hitting the Top 10 for Country Songs. We are very thankful that people are digging it.” “I’m very humbled by how positive the reaction has been with all the fan interaction digging the music,” added guitarist John Jeffers. “We knew that you just have to hang in there and put out…
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A new billboard appearing at several strategic locations in Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee claims that Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee is “afraid to take a stand” on the issue of transgender bathrooms.
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GOP gubernatorial candidate Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) held a press conference this morning, which she had promised would be a “major announcement,” in which she restated her support for legalizing medical marijuana in Tennessee. “Alongside two doctors at a news conference Friday, Harwell said she supports use of oils and additives, not smoking marijuana. She said she isn’t supporting recreational marijuana,” the Associated Press reported shortly after noon on Friday: State House Speaker Beth Harwell is running a TV ad about supporting medical marijuana as she tries to separate herself from the Republican field for Tennessee governor before the Aug. 2 primary. In the ad, Harwell says she’s the only Republican gubernatorial candidate who supports doctor-prescribed medical cannabis. The ad includes a 2015 clip of President Donald Trump saying he thinks “medical should happen.” Harwell first indicated she was inclined to support the legalization of medical marijuana in Tennessee back in August 2017, a position she restated in January. In February, Harwell cast the tie breaking vote to move “The Medical Cannabis Act” out of a committee of the Tennessee House of Representatives, despite opposition from the law enforcement community, as The Tennessee Star reported. That bill…
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If people thought the recent NFL rule change meant to stop player protests during the National Anthem, they were wrong, according to a new report which focuses on Tennessee Titans star defensive end Jurrell Casey.
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Jeff Hartline explains why he has eliminated three politicians and chosen to support Bill Lee for Governor of Tennessee.
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by Jeffery Rendall If we’ve learned anything about Donald Trump in the three years he’s been a full-time politician it’s he’s concerned with restoring and bolstering the American “brand.” It goes without saying that the reputation of the red, white and blue took a beating during Barack Obama’s eight years behind the president’s desk. Obama famously ordered the White House lit up with rainbow-colored lights but refused to wear an American flag pin. What a disgrace. Not so with Trump. Whether it’s a state visit to Europe to persuade Europeans to pay their committed share of GDP for their own defense or simply insisting that the United States government bring back the words “Merry Christmas” every December, Trump exudes the implication that under his stewardship American exceptionalism is back and we’re no longer afraid to show it. Now comes word Trump would like Air Force One to be repainted to show a little more outwardly American distinctiveness. Katelyn Caralle of the Washington Examiner reported, “President Trump is looking to give Air Force One a new paint job to give it a ‘more American’ look. “Instead of keeping up with the 55-year-old tradition of white and robin’s-egg blue, the president wants it to be…
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On Wednesday’s Gill Report – broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville – Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill discussed the early voting trends and the possibility of a new early voting record that could be set across the state of Tennessee. Gill said, “As voters have headed to the poll over the last about a half week, early voting started on Friday across the state. It continued for a half-day on Saturday in most locations, a lot of counties across the state are still limiting the early voting to having to go to one location in the county – and it’s not really that convenient in a lot of counties.” He continued: And yet we’re seeing very heavy turnout with early voting already to date. As we look again with the numbers through the 17th which would be yesterday. Basically, the secretary of state’s office puts the numbers out each date to kind of give us guidance into what the numbers are and where they are headed. Well as of through yesterday, there were 93,961 republicans who had voted early. 41,182 Democrats across the state. So, you are still seeing about a 35% Democrat, 60%-65% Republican vote across the…
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by Steve Herman U.S. President Donald Trump, amid the uproar over his initial summit this week with Russia’s president, is indicating there could be a second such meeting with Vladimir Putin. Trump, writing on Twitter, called Monday’s summit in Helsinki “a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media.” The Summit with Russia was a great success, except with the real enemy of the people, the Fake News Media. I look forward to our second meeting so that we can start implementing some of the many things discussed, including stopping terrorism, security for Israel, nuclear…….. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2018 In another Thursday morning tweet, the U.S. president accused mainstream media in the country of desiring “so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war.” The Fake News Media wants so badly to see a major confrontation with Russia, even a confrontation that could lead to war. They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I’ll probably have a good relationship with Putin. We are doing MUCH better than any other country! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19,…
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by Thomas Phippen Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker, a frequent critic of President Donald Trump, said his disapproval of the president’s actions and comments would not stop him from supporting Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Corker said he received calls from Democratic colleagues after Trump’s controversial summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki Monday, urging the departing Tennessee senator to block Kavanaugh’s nomination. After the Helsinki press conference, which was “one of the worst” Corker said he’s seen, a leading Democrat called the Republican with a request to block Kavanaugh. “He said, ‘Corker, you need to block the Supreme Court nominee,’” Corker recalled. “Well, I could hit myself in the knee with a sledge hammer too. But why would I block someone that I generally like over what the president has done?” Because Corker is departing the chamber when his term ends in 2019, and because of his frequent criticisms of Trump, he is among a group of GOP politicians activists hope will cross the aisle to block a conservative justice from ascending to the Supreme Court. Along with Corker, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Ben Sasse of Nebraska and Jeff Flake of Arizona, all frequent…
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by Will Racke Two illegal aliens have been indicted on multiple counts of conspiracy and drug distribution for allegedly running a drug trafficking operation that led to the overdose deaths of at least two people in Tennessee, federal prosecutors announced Thursday. Juan Manuel Morales-Rodriguez, 39, and Juan Samudio-Castro — both Mexican nationals — directed a heroin and fentanyl delivery service in Williamson County, Tenn., according to the nine-count indictment returned Wednesday. Along with two U.S. citizen partners, the men allegedly delivered the potent opioids up and down the I-65 corridor, just south of Nashville. In March, at least two people in nearby Maury County, Tenn. died as a result of overdosing on the heroin and fentanyl they purchased from the operation, according to the indictment. Samudio-Castro and Morales-Rodriguez are both in the U.S. unlawfully. Morales-Rodriguez was previously deported and has also been charged with with aggravated illegal reentry. Don Cochran, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, described the case as a result of “unchecked” illegal immigration and drug trafficking across the southwest border. “This is yet another tragic example of the consequences of a long unchecked immigration system and the ease in which these illegal drugs enter our country,”…
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The Republican-led Senate on Thursday rejected two symbolic measures to support U.S. intelligence agencies in the face of President Donald Trump’s clarifying statements on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential contest and the Kremlin’s continuing threats to U.S. elections. The chamber’s No. 2 Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, objected to a bipartisan non-binding resolution backing intelligence reports on Russian election meddling and last week’s indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers. The resolution also urged full congressional examination of Trump’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki and called for full implementation of U.S. sanctions against Moscow. Moments earlier, Kentucky’s Rand Paul objected to a similar Democratic resolution that added support for the special counsel in the Justice Department’s Russia probe, Robert Mueller. Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, who co-authored the bipartisan resolution, said congressional action is needed after Trump “let down the free world [in Helsinki] by giving aid and comfort to an enemy of democracy” and “dimmed the light of freedom ever so slightly in our own country.” “We should stand and be counted in defense of our democracy,” said Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, who crafted the resolution with Flake. Speaking in support of the Democratic measure,…
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GOP gubernatorial candidate and Tennessee Speaker of the House Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) promised yesterday that she will have a “major announcement” about her campaign at the Capitol in Nashville today.
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What do you get when horse-race gambling meets legal weed? Beth Harwell for governor! There was an “interesting” welcome line-up for Harwell’s June meet and greet in Jefferson City putting Harwell and company only about 20 miles northeast of GOP challenger mega-millionaire Randy Boyd’s home of Knoxville. Four state legislators from the counties surrounding Jefferson City showed up to show their support for Harwell’s campaign – House members Dale Carr and Andrew Farmer from Sevier County, Jeremy Faison from Cocke County and Sen. Frank Nicely who represents Jefferson and Grainger Counties. Carr and Farmer are supporters of in-state tuition for illegal alien students and voted to pass that bill in 2015 – except it failed by a single vote in the House. When that bill came up, Beth walked out of the House chamber so she wouldn’t have to vote on it and could wait to take a position once she knew whether her colleagues had managed to give a state benefit to illegal aliens. Faison owes his rise in committee leadership to Beth although his “skunks for sale” bill and let’s-make-marijuana-legal bill-because-God-gave-us-this-plant-for-a-reason, really should be enough to distinguish him from his peers all on his own. And then there’s Frank Nicely…
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