August 10, 2018 - Tennessee Star

Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library Site of Drag Queen Reading Event Sunday Afternoon

August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 Admin

Drag Queen Reading Hour

As The Tennessee Star reported earlier this week, K-12 public schools around the country are hosting reading events featuring drag queens to promote “gender ideology.” Maurice Sendak Community School, a public school located in Brooklyn, New York, hosted a drag queen “reader” and first grade teacher Alexis Hernandez marveled at the event in a testimonial published on Drag Queen Story Hour’s website. “Drag Queen Story Hour gave my first graders a fun and interactive platform to talk and think about social and emotional issues like acceptance, being yourself, and loving who you are,” Hernandez said. “During our debrief … [students] were preaching the incredible lessons they had learned, like ‘it’s OK to be different,’ and ‘there’s no such thing as “boy” and “girl” things.’” Drag Queen Story Hour markets itself to children between 3 and 8 years old. The program’s reading list includes books like “Jacob’s New Dress” by Sarah and Ian Hoffman and “Red: A Crayon’s Story” by Michael Hall. While the former book’s plot revolves around a boy convincing his parents to let him wear a dress to school, the latter chronicles the journey of a crayon “mistakenly labeled” red to identify successfully as blue. Reaction to The Tennessee Star story was…

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Commentary: Exposing Antifa, the Shock Troops of the Democrats’ Civil War

August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 Admin

by George Rasley Police in the Far-Left enclaves of Berkeley, California and Portland, Oregon had to deal with riots created by violent Far Left so-called Anti-Fascist (Antifa) thugs over the weekend. Now, according to our friends at chicksonright.com the Berkeley police department posted the arresting information via Twitter, with Department’s tweets including arrested individuals’ names, ages, city of residence, as well as the charge on which they were arrested. According to the UK’s Guardian, the Berkeley PD said it had arrested 20 people on Sunday at an “alt-right” rally, citing many of them for “possession of a banned weapon” or “working with others to commit a crime.” Most, if not all, of the people arrested were counter protesters, according to lawyers and activists working with the “demonstrators.” Fox News reported that Berkeley police characterized the riot as being caused by “an extremist element among a large group” that damaged 21 city vehicles, setting one on fire, and slashed their tires. The group also set fires in trash bins. Keep in mind that in addition to sundry assaults and acts of vandalism, these thugs also trashed the local Marine Corps recruiting office (naturally no Marines were present). Videos taken during the “protest”…

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Rep. Steve Cohen Wants President Trump to Tell Rep. Marsha Blackburn to Jump Off a Memphis Bridge

August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 Jason M. Reynolds

Donald Trump, Steve Cohen

Just as you can count on the sun to rise tomorrow, you can expect U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen to make an inappropriate statement. Now, he has ratcheted it up by saying he wants President Donald Trump to tell U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn to jump off a bridge, The Huffington Post reported. Cohen (D-TN-09) made the remark last month to a group of pastors at a prayer breakfast meant to increase Democratic turnout for the Aug. 2 elections. The breakfast was held at Broadway Baptist Church in Memphis and was hosted by Democrat Phil Bredesen’s campaign for the U.S. Senate. One political analyst recalled how this mirrored an infamous moment in Democratic Party history. Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill said,“The Democrats actually voted against and booed God at their Convention in 2012, so it isn’t really surprising that we would get these comments from Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen at Democrat Phil Bredesen’s so-called prayer breakfast. Bredesen’s silence about Cohen’s words speaks volumes about Bredesen’s character—or lack thereof.” Blackburn (R-TN-07) is running as the GOP’s U.S. Senate candidate against former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen. “The big orange president …. He’s going to come down here and he is going to endorse…

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Staten Island Artist Available to Bring ‘Huuuge’ Muscular President Trump Yard Art to Tennessee If Hired

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Jason M. Reynolds

Trump 2020 sign

A Staten Island artist is making national headlines for his “huuuge” commissioned work honoring a muscular President Donald Trump. Scott Lobaido installed a 20-foot tall installation in a client’s yard showing a beefy, muscular bust of Trump atop a red-white-and-blue “2020” that lights up at night, ABC 7 NY reported. The president, as envisioned by Lobaido, has “huuuge” arms like a bodybuilder and wears a T-shirt proclaiming “POTUS 45” and is surrounded by American flags. The client installed security cameras around his house to protect the work. “I’m an artist … and this is my work,” Lobaido told ABC 7 NY. A previous pro-Trump creation of his was burned by a vandal or vandals. It was a 12-foot-high “T” with a flag motif. The new client will have his neighbors’ help in protecting the installation. The Harris Avenue home in Staten Island is a pro-Trump enclave of the bright blue New York City. ABC 7 NY interviewed some of the client’s neighbors who voiced their support for the artwork. One said the installation should be even larger. You can see the ABC 7 NY report here: Lobaido’s website describes himself as a patriotic artist. “Throughout my 50 years, people have…

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Bredesen ‘Masquerading as a Moderate’ and Used ‘Deceptive Advertising’ in New Commercial

August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 Chris Butler

Tennessee Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen is apparently resorting to less than honorable tactics to win Sen. Bob Corker’s (R-TN) U.S. Senate Seat. Bredesen will face off against Republican Marsha Blackburn on Nov. 6. Corker is retiring from the U.S. Senate. In an emailed statement to The Tennessee Star, Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Scott Golden said Bredesen is masquerading as a moderate. “Phony Phil Bredesen can pretend to be Republican-lite all he wants, but he can’t escape his liberal record. Phil donated $33,400 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign,” Golden wrote. “Phil admitted he’s Chuck Schumer’s handpicked candidate. Phil’s campaign called Trump voters ‘idiots.’ And now he’s relying on Bernie Sanders supporters to raise him money. Tennesseans aren’t fooled by Phil’s attempts to manipulate Republicans’ words to serve his own political purposes.” In a new Chattanooga Times Free Press column, Clint Cooper called out Bredesen for using what he described as “deceptive advertising” in a new commercial. “On Monday, the campaign, which had previously employed well-done ads in which the former Tennessee governor talked moderately and said earnestly he was ‘applying for the job,’ released a commercial in which some Republicans who don’t support him are shown saying kind things about him,” Cooper wrote. Among them — Corker, U.S.…

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FAKE NEWS: Washington Post Publishes ‘Historian’ Max Boot’s False Racism Accusation Against Trump

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Admin

Max Boot

by James D. Agresti Max Boot, a foreign policy expert and historian, recently wrote in the Washington Post that President Trump “praised white supremacists who gathered nearly a year ago in Charlottesville as ‘very fine people’.” This is an abject falsehood. At the press conference where Trump allegedly said that, he explicitly “condemned” the white supremacists two times, said they were “very bad people,” and emphasized that he was not calling them “very fine people.” Still, a reporter at the conference tried to put this spin on his words, and Trump responded, “No, no.” Nonetheless, a wide range of media outlets, politicians, and activists falsely portrayed Trump as lauding the white supremacists. The full transcript and video of the press conference show that when Trump used the phrase “very fine people,” he was referring to “people protesting very quietly the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee.” Trump also accurately pointed out that the event’s organizers “didn’t put themselves down as neo-Nazis.” In fact, on the day beforehand, the local NBC news station reported that the event was a “protest of the City Council’s decision to remove the statue of confederate General Robert E. Lee from Emancipation Park.” The report contained no mention of white supremacy or anything similar. Hence, some…

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Tennessee Kids Awarded Federal Money for Hunger and Obesity

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Chris Butler

Steve Cohen

Up until at least 2014, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, complained too many of Tennessee’s kids were malnourished and starving and only government could step in to fix the problem. And, yes, Cohen got grant money for that. Now we have the reverse. This year, according to Cohen’s office, too many Volunteer State children are pudgy and, as you may have surmised, taxpayers have to get involved to amend that too. And, yes, Cohen wants grant money. Did the government programs meant to purge kids’ hunger work a little too well, making all the kids flabby? Do standardized test scores have something to do with this? Why the sudden U-turn? The Tennessee Star got no answers Thursday, as no one from Cohen’s office returned a request for comment. But Cohen explained some of his reasoning in a new press release. “We have a real problem with childhood obesity in this country and I am disheartened to note that Tennessee has the highest rate of any state at 38 percent,” Cohen announced. The national childhood obesity rate, however, is 31 percent, Cohen said. Cohen’s new Reducing Obesity in Youth Act will create grant programs to encourage kids to exercise and eat…

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First Harvard Sorority Shuts Its Doors Because Of Single-Gender Penalties

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Admin

by Rob Shimshock Delta Gamma became the first single-gender Harvard University group to shut its doors, citing penalties the school has introduced for groups that only admit members belonging to one gender. The national Delta Gamma chapter announced the Harvard chapter’s decision to disband in a Thursday press release published Sunday in The Harvard Crimson. “We respect the chapter’s decision and understand that the University’s sanctions resulted in an environment in which Delta Gamma could not thrive,” Delta Gamma national President Wilma Johnson Wilbanks said in the release. “We sincerely hope this changes in the future.” Harvard students belonging to classes beginning with the class of 2021 cannot hold office in recognized student organizations, captain Harvard varsity athletic teams, or receive school endorsement for scholarships like the Rhodes Scholarship. Delta Gamma is the first single-gender group at Harvard to close because of the new policy, but other groups have modified their membership to conform to the administration’s will. The school’s Kappa Alpha Theta sorority announced in July that it would cut ties from its national chapter and rebrand as a gender-neutral Theta Zeta Xi chapter. Former fraternities Alpha Epsilon Phi and Kappa Sigma became co-ed in fall 2017. The number of Harvard students…

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Vice President Pence Outlines The Pentagon’s Four Steps For Making The Space Force Happen

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Admin

Mike Pence, James Mattis

Vice President Mike Pence asked Congress to appropriate $8 billion over the next five years for President Donald Trump’s proposed Space Force, during a speech at the Pentagon Thursday morning. “As President Trump has said in his own words, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space,” Pence said Thursday. “We must have American dominance in space, and so we will.” The Space Force is a potential sixth branch of the military that Trump proposed in March. Pence outlined four steps to “evolve our space capabilities” that will be echoed in a Pentagon report set to be released Thursday. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wiy5aqF6hwo The report calls for the creation of the U.S. Space Command as a first step. It will be a “new command structure for the physical domain of space led by a four-star flag officer … to ensure integration across the military,” Pence said. The second step is creating an “elite group of warfighters” drawn from men and women in all branches of the military who will specialize in space operations, Pence said. The third step is creating a joint organization called the Space Development Agency that will focus on giving members of the U.S. Space Force the most cutting-edge…

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Nashville Metro Council Member Glover: Voters Don’t Want More Taxes for More ‘Stupid Stuff’

August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 Chris Butler

Steve Glover

Nashville Mayor David Briley and many members of the Metro Council, as a collective, act as though the 2011 referendum on the Nashville Fairgrounds never happened, said Metro Council member Steve Glover. As reported, if all the shiny details get finalized, a Major League Soccer stadium will likely go up on that property. But there’s that one little problem — dating back to 2011. There was a referendum that year where voters, by a margin of 73 percent, said to just leave the fairgrounds alone, as is. But Metro officials act as though it’s OK to ignore the voters’ wishes and do their own thing, Glover said. “This is something people need to understand. The MLS didn’t come to us and say ‘We need to be at the fairgrounds.’ This was Megan Barry’s administration who said ‘We want this, and this is where you will go. You will go here,’” Glover said. “The administration basically told the people of Nashville ‘We don’t care what you voted for. This is what we’re going to do.’” None of Glover’s 39 colleagues returned messages seeing comment Thursday, and neither did anyone from current Mayor David Briley’s office. For their part, Metro officials think…

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Commentary: Tennessee’s ObamaCare Fiasco Shows the Perils of Short Term Plans

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Admin

Obamacare

By Peter Moorman On August 1, the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury released a final ruling on the expanded use of STLDI plans (Short Term, Limited Duration Insurance). Prior to this ruling, short-term insurance plans lasted a maximum of three months before individuals had to sign up for longer-term plans through the ACA “ObamaCare” exchanges. The new ruling issued last Wednesday allows short-term plans to last for up to 364 days, and, with any potential extensions, up to 36 months in total. The rule change is a step in the right direction since it creates more options for health insurance, but it doesn’t go far enough. The Trump solution is a win for more state control of healthcare. It will be important, however, to empower consumers rather than putting too much power in government bureaucracies. According to the new ruling, state insurance commissioners are free to restrict the duration of the short-term plans as they see fit. Last Wednesday’s ruling – set to go into effect on September 30 – sets up the short-term health insurance policies to be sold differently state-by-state. This will most likely create more health insurance options for those living in…

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Former Ohio State Wrestler Recants Claim That Jim Jordan Knew Of Sexual Abuse

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Admin

Jim Jordan

by Chuck Ross A former Ohio State University wrestler is recanting his claims that Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan knew of sexual abuse allegations against a university physician when he coached wrestling at the school over 20 years ago. “At no time did I ever say or have any direct knowledge that Jim Jordan knew of Dr. Richard Strauss’s inappropriate behavior,” Mark Coleman, a former MMA fighter who wrestled at Ohio State when Jordan coached there, said in a statement. “I have nothing but respect for Jim Jordan as I have known him for more than 30 years and know him to be of impeccable character.” Coleman is the first former OSU wrestler to recant his claims that Jordan knew about sexual abuse at the hands of Dr. Richard Strauss, an OSU physician accused of molesting dozens of student-athletes. Jordan, who was an assistant coach at OSU from 1986 to 1994, was first linked to the allegations against Strauss in an NBC News article published July 3. A former wrestler named Mike DiSabato led the push to accuse Jordan of turning a blind eye to Strauss’s behavior. Jordan, who is mounting a bid for Speaker of the House, has vehemently denied…

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Grand Ole Opry and Luke Combs Make Songwriters’ Dreams Come True

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Bethany Bowman

Luke Combs and friends

Multi-platinum singer/songwriter Luke Combs teamed with the Grand Ole Opry to create a rare & matchless moment on the Opry stage last night. Combs, who debuted on the Opry stage in 2016, chose to honor the collaborating songwriters from his Platinum-selling debut album This One’s For You and deluxe album This One’s For You Too to step into the circle and perform with him – turning the legendary stage into an unrivaled songwriting round reminiscent of where it all began for these songwriting friends. Several of the writers — Wyatt B. Durrette, Rob Synder, and Channing Wilson—appeared on the Opry for the first time with Combs, while Randy Montana, Jonathan Singleton, and Rob Williford were welcomed back to the stage to perform with Combs on hits they’d co-written. “We all grew up listening to and loving the Opry,” said Luke. “When I called each writer and told them what was going to happen, it was what the Opry was all about. We have always been the underdogs, and tonight the Opry fans, the diehard fans of country music, got to see a show that you couldn’t see anywhere else in the world. To see my buddies sing their songs has made tonight one of…

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Wilbur Ross Orders NOAA To Give Firefighters All The Water They Need To Fight WildFires

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Admin

wildfire

by Tim Pearce Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is using resources in his department to ensure that California firefighters are armed with enough water to fight wildfires scorching the state. Ross ordered the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other federal agencies to prioritize water use for fighting fires over previously arranged agreements. Ross also ensured that, consistent with the Endangered Species Act (ESA), marine habitats housing vulnerable plants and animals would not be unduly drained. “The California wildfires are a direct threat to life and property and all measures available must be taken to protect both,” Ross said in a statement. “Public safety is the first priority. Consistent with the emergency consultation provisions under the ESA, Federal agencies may use any water as necessary to protect life and property in the affected areas.” The Mendocino Complex Fire burning in Northern California has devoured more than 300,000 acres and is significantly larger than any other fire ever recorded to burn in California, USA Today reported. President Donald Trump blamed bad environmental laws for diverting water from fighting fires to other, less pressing needs on Aug. 5. California disputed the claim, saying the state and its emergency personnel have “no shortage of water supplies” to fight fires without depleting…

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David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney Celebrate Hit Song, ‘Everything’s Gonna Be Alright’

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 Bethany Bowman

Kevin Chesney, David Lee Murphy

When CMT’s Katie Cook talked of friendship, dreams and hard work, the entire third floor of ACME Feed & Seed burst into cheers. As waiters passed trays of hot chicken’n’waffles and fried green tomatoes, David Lee Murphy and Kenny Chesney were being feted for the feel-good summer anthem “Everything’s Gonna Be Alright,” written by Murphy, Chris Stevens and Jimmy Yeary. “First, I wanna thank Chris and Jimmy. We knew the day we wrote it, this was a hit even if nobody played it,” said Murphy, the man known for “Party Crowd” and “Dust on the Bottle,” to several hundred in attendance. He continued, singling out Reviver Records’ tenacity. “They were tough as can be, and we had a long haul. They’ve worked really hard on this record. We knew it was going to be a fight, but every regional got in there and gave it their all. We said you can run, but you can’t outrun us.” Later Chesney beamed as he took the mic. “This all started three, four years ago, because David Lee would send me all these songs–demos that sounded like records–and he was singing so great. I remember thinking, ‘I’d love to hear that on the…

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Phil Bredesen Goes All-In with Trump-Hating Bernie Sanders Socialists

August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 Tennessee Star Staff

Phil Bredesen

Phil Bredesen made it clear that he is going all-in with the President Trump-hating far left socialist wing of the Democrat Party when his campaign announced Thursday that two prominent entertainers who supported Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign will be hosting a fundraiser for Bredesen in Nashville later this month. “Singer-songwriters Jason Isbell and Ben Folds are set to headline a special event in support of former Gov. Phil Bredesen’s bid for the U.S. Senate. The event, scheduled for Aug. 20, will take place at Marathon Music Works in Nashville,” The Tennessean reported. “It’s a bold strategy for someone masquerading as a moderate. Case in point: Folds is a strong supporter of socialist Bernie Sanders. And Isbell has said that President Trump is “not a good guy” whose supporters are racist,” the Senate Leadership Fund said in a statement released on Thursday. You can watch Folds’ endorsement of Sanders for President here: “The Alabama native, who now calls Nashville home, has also spoken out against President Donald Trump on more than one occasion,” the Huffington Post reported about Isbel last year: “The president is ruled by fear of alienating his base. He’s ‘sticking to the music’ to try and keep racists on his side. It’s horrifying,” he…

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