Day: August 23, 2018

Phil Bredesen Making Millions Offering ‘Low-Cost’ Solar Deals, But Is He Being Totally Honest?

Anthony Accardi
Bredesen Solar Ranch

Democrat former Tennessee Gov. and current U.S. Senate candidate Phil Bredesen is raking in millions of dollars off of deals involving his Silicon Ranch Corp. by pitching solar projects that appear on paper to offer a cheaper alternative to coal. But under closer examination, the Silicon Ranch numbers are skewed by federal tax credits that subsidize its solar-energy industry. Take, for example, the 194-kilowatt per hour deal Silicon Ranch recently signed with the Georgia-based non-profit Green Power EMC. Under the terms, Silicon Ranch will build, own and operate a huge solar farm in Georgia and sell the power, enough to serve 35,000 households, starting in 2021, to Georgia EMCs over a 30-year period. The “low cost” deal was announced at “less than 3 cents” per kilowatt hour. This is a very cheap rate, and there’s no denying that the cost of large-scale solar power has been coming down. But a significant chunk of the savings is coming compliments of the U.S. taxpayer, who is subsidizing solar projects and giving them a competitive edge over coal. However, even with massive tax breaks available to solar producers, the rate offered by Bredesen’s company will still barely beat the price Georgia EMCs are…

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Here’s How An Illegal Alien Immigrant Could Slip Through E-Verify Screening

Tennessee Star Staff
Border Patrol arrest illegal aliens

by Will Racke   Christian Bahena Rivera, the illegal immigrant suspected of killing Mollie Tibbetts, was never checked through E-Verify, but he might not have been flagged even if he had. E-Verify is effective in some ways, but it has flaws that can be exploited, according to Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies. Many states including Iowa, where Rivera worked, do not require employers to use E-Verify. Christian Bahena Rivera, the illegal immigrant who allegedly murdered Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts, was never checked through the federal work authorization system E-Verify, but it is not clear he would have been flagged even if he had. Rivera’s employer, Yarrabee Farms, initially said Tuesday he was cleared to work by E-Verify, which is a government-run program that companies can use to check the work eligibility of potential new hires. The company later walked back that claim, saying that Rivera’s information was instead run through a different system maintained by Social Security Administration and that it checked out. E-Verify is an electronic system that has been updated several times in its 21-year existence. The current version cross checks an applicant’s identification documents against records from the Social Security Administration and Department…

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Judge Gives No Jail Time to Imran Awan, IT Aide Employed by House Democrats Who Obtained ‘Unauthorized Access’ to Their Computers

Tennessee Star Staff
Imran Awan

by Luke Rosiak   Former IT aide Imran Awan received no jail time Tuesday after a federal judge said he had “suffered enough.” His lawyer said his “destitute” client was building a charity hospital, but reports show that the land was also used for a real estate development and was allegedly stolen from farmers. Former Democratic chiefs of staff wrote letters of support for Imran, despite IT-violation findings by the House inspector general and Capitol Police. A federal judge declined to give jail time to former Democratic IT aide Imran Awan Tuesday, saying he has “suffered enough” at the hands of politicians “at the highest levels of government.” In addition, the Department of Justice said it did not find any evidence that supported criminal charges. Imran choked back tears, saying, “We want to thank the prosecution, the FBI and the Capitol Police,” while his lawyer submitted a letter referring to President Donald Trump, Sen. Chuck Grassley and other Republications as “deranged,” “pathetic” and “without a shred of decency.” Judge Tanya Chutkin gave Imran three months of supervised release. Imran’s attorney had hoped to avoid the supervision, indicating Imran wanted to go back to Pakistan: “By ending this today, you will…

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Phil Bredesen-Supporting Elizabeth Warren Shows No Compassion for Iowa Girl Murdered by Illegal Alien

Anthony Gockowski

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is supporting former Gov. Phil Bredesen’s campaign for the U.S. Senate, used her airtime Wednesday morning to stump for immigration reform rather than addressing the tragic death of Mollie Tibbetts. Tibbetts, who had been missing for 34 days, was found dead in an Iowa cornfield after her murderer, an illegal alien, led police officers to the scene of the crime. On Wednesday morning, Warren appeared on CNN to discuss the issue, calling the Tibbets tragedy “hard, not only for the family, but for the people in her community and people throughout Iowa.” The Democrat then immediately turned her attention to family separations at the border, lamenting over the personal encounters she had with mothers who had been separated from their children. “But one of the things we have to remember is we need an immigration system that is effective, that focuses on where real problems are. Last month, I went down to the border and I saw where children have been taken away from their mothers,” she said, saying she had personally visited with some of the parents. “There was no plan for how they would be reunified with their children. I think we need immigration…

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Metro Council Moves Forward With Subsidized $275 Million Soccer Stadium

Jason M. Reynolds

A Major League Soccer stadium planned for the fairgrounds in Nashville is closer to happening. The Metro Council voted 24-7 Tuesday on the second of three readings to move forward on the $275 million deal, The Tennessean said. The third reading is scheduled for Sept. 4. The vote was to demolish buildings at the fairgrounds to allow a 30,500-seat stadium for an MLS expansion club. Eight council members abstained. The council also voted 24-9, with six abstentions, to declare 10 acres of fairgrounds land as surplus. The bill would lease that land to a team ownership group led by billionaire businessman John Ingram for 99 years for a private mixed-use development next to the stadium. People both for and against the plan packed the council chambers, NewsChannel 5 said. A public hearing on the mixed use project will be held Monday at 6 p.m. In a lavish ceremony last December at Nashville’s Country Music Hall of Fame, Gov. Bill Haslam, Mayor Megan Barry, and a slew of dignitaries gathered to hear Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Gaber announce that Nashville was awarded an MLS expansion club, The Tennessee Star previously reported. The Sept. 4 vote to demolish the fairground buildings will need 27 of 40 votes…

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Oak Ridge Police Chief A Menace, Officers Say

Chris Butler
Oak Ridge police chief

Former Oak Ridge police detective John Criswell suspected his former police chief, James Akagi, was about to retaliate against him. He didn’t know just how bad things were about to get. Akagi, according to several news reports dating back to 2015, was a vindictive person. He reportedly was even known to throw random objects at work when he had a short fuse. Oak Ridge City Council members had already hired consultants to review whether morale among police officers was low under his leadership. But in Criswell’s case, he said he didn’t know Akagi would cross a line he said decent men don’t cross. In interviews with The Tennessee Star, Oak Ridge City Council member Chuck Hope and former City Council member Trina Baughn said they personally vouch for Criswell’s integrity. When asked, Criswell said there’s no nice way to describe Akagi. “Honestly, with his up and down behavior, he exhibited some signs of being a sociopath. No one knew what to expect. Even my supervisors would lay low,” Criswell said. “But when Akagi started messing with my family that’s when he crossed a serious line with me. That’s not something that you do.” Attempts to reach Akagi at his personal…

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Democrat Congressional Candidate Dean Phillips Supports Making Minnesota A Sanctuary State

Anthony Gockowski
Dean Phillips

In a heated first debate, incumbent Rep. Erik Paulsen squared off against his Democratic challenger Dean Phillips in their battle for Minnesota’s Third Congressional District. Although Paulsen has safely held the seat since 2009, Minnesota’s Democractic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party is hopeful that their candidate can pull off an upset, since the district went to Hillary Clinton during the 2016 Election. At one particular tense moment of Tuesday’s debate, Phillips was cornered into revealing that he would support gubernatorial candidate Rep. Tim Walz’s plan to declare Minnesota a sanctuary state, but only after insisting that he’s “in favor of law enforcement.” “I believe we need comprehensive immigration reform because we need more thoughtful laws and regulations that are decent, that take into account all the dynamics and the context in which they exist. And we need to hold people accountable in all of our laws and regulations,” Phillips responded to the question, saying he believes “laws in this country should be followed.” Phillips’ answer prompted the moderator to repeat his question, to which the DFL-backed candidate admitted that he would offer “short term” support of a sanctuary state option. “I believe humanity transcends nations,” he continued. “Yes, humans come first in my…

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Controversies Surround Thompson’s Station Development As November Election Approaches

Anthony Gockowski

Thompson’s Station is one of the fastest growing towns in the counties surrounding Nashville, but it is also home to many backdoor deals and shady developments committed at the hands of its Mayor and Aldermen. Mayor Corey Napier, who took office on the Board of Mayor and Alderman in 2008 and later became Mayor in 2014, is now at the center of a lawsuit filed by Whistle Stop Farms, a developer that had acquired 142 acres of land in the town to build housing developments. The lawsuit accuses Napier of pulling out of the deal after over $120,000 in development fees, grading permits and other fees had already been paid based on the approvals granted by the city. None of those fees have been returned to the developers despite the city refusing to allow the development to proceed as approved. In reliance on those approvals and the fees paid to the city and permits obtained from the city by the developer, it is estimated that several million dollars in development costs have already been spent in site preparation, planning and other expenses. Additionally, the lawsuit accuses Napier of personally plotting against Jay Franks, who’s heading the project, to ensure that…

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Megan Barry May Still Have More Music to Face Over Affair

Chris Butler

In downtown Nashville two investigations are underway to learn more about former Mayor Megan Barry and how she used taxpayer money to carry on an affair with her security guard. Nashville Public Radio reports that members of the Metro Auditor’s Office plan to make their findings on the matter public soon. Meanwhile, members of the Metro Board of Ethical Conduct are doing a separate probe, the station reported. Members of that board are about to call upon people to testify. Board of Ethical Conduct spokeswoman Elizabeth Waites told The Tennessee Star that the two boards have different objectives. “The Ethics Board is investigating specific allegations contained in a complaint that was filed by a private citizen on record here with this office,” Waites said. “The scope of those two things is not entirely the same.” Waites said she will eventually distribute an internal auditors’ report to the board. “Fourteen days from my distribution of that report, the complainant has to provide a summary of who she would like to see subpoenaed,” Waites said. According to Nashville Public Radio, the private citizen in question is Theeda Murphy, something Waites confirmed to The Star. Murphy told the station that “there are unanswered…

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Commentary: The Politicians Who Killed Mollie Tibbetts

Tennessee Star Staff
Mollie Tibbitts

by George Rasley, CHQ Editor   There’s a saying among gun owners that guns don’t kill people, people kill people. The same thing might be said about illegal aliens – illegal aliens don’t kill Americans, the politicians who let them in and let them stay here kill Americans, like Mollie Tibbetts. They, and we’re talking about you Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Marco Rubio, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, Deputy Mollie TibbettsHouse Majority Whip Patrick McHenry, and yes Democrats like you Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schumer and California Governor Jerry Brown are the ones who killed Mollie Tibbetts, Kate Steinle, Jamiel Shaw Jr, Josh Wilkerson, Christy Sue Piña, Grant Ronnebeck, Sarah Root, Drew Rosenberg, Sergeant Brandon Mendoza and thousands of other innocent Americans. The brutal murder of Brooklyn, Iowa college student Mollie Tibbetts casts a harsh and inescapable light on exactly who is responsible for this senseless killing, and from our perspective Cristhian Bahena Rivera, whom the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has named as her alleged murderer was only the means of her death, the real killers are the politicians who keep our borders open and who continue…

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Memphis Official Brags of Spending ‘A Lot’ of Taxpayer Money

Chris Butler
Memphis Airport

State and federal taxpayers are about to shell out $123 million to spruce up the Memphis International Airport. The people who decided that are reportedly proud of the hefty price tag. As The Tennessee Star previously reported, traffic at the airport has fallen dramatically in recent years. According to The Memphis Business Journal, “smiles were shared all around” among members of the Airport Authority who made this decision. An additional $32 million will go to replace the airport’s 25 passenger boarding bridges. The paper then quoted MSCAA CEO Scott Brockman of saying the following: “We spent a lot of money today.” According to the paper, Brockman said this “with a wide smile.” Airport spokesman Glen Thomas didn’t dispute the accuracy of the quote in an emailed statement to The Tennessee Star. “I think the point about spending money is that we are making a significant investment to improve the travel experience for Memphis travelers,” Thomas said. The airport authority, he added, receives no local tax revenue for any of its projects and is “a self-financing entity.” “Project funding for both of these projects will come from general airport revenue bonds, state and federal grants, passenger facility charges and other capital…

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Nashville Predator Crony Capitalist Backs Bredesen As Payback For Democrats’ Help

Jason M. Reynolds

Phil Bredesen hopes Tennessee voters forget about his ties to liberal national Democrats as he runs for the U.S. Senate, POLITICO reported. Meanwhile, Nashville Predators Chairman Tom Cigarran, a Republican in name only, is backing the former governor as thanks for his help. Phil Bredesen is trying to tell Tennesseans he will not help flip the Senate for the Democratic Party. “It’s not pessimism but self-preservation that tinges Bredesen’s assessment of the Senate landscape,” POLITICO said. “An upset win in Tennessee could, in fact, put Bredesen’s party in the majority if Democrats were to run the table elsewhere, and the former governor’s path to victory depends on convincing voters that they wouldn’t be handing power to national Democrats and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.” Trump won the state by 26 points in the 2016 election, and Democrats haven’t won a Senate race there since 1990. Early polls show Bredesen running close against U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), but he needs independent and Republican support. “If the question on the ballot were, ‘Do you want to send a Democrat or Republican to Washington?’ I would lose. If it’s, ‘Do you want to send Phil Bredesen or Marsha Blackburn to Washington?’ I think…

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