September 11, 2018 - Tennessee Star

Ryman CEO Says $9 Billion Nashville Transit Plan ‘Scared the Living Daylights Out of Me’

September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 Jason M. Reynolds

Colin Reed

The CEO of Ryman Hospitality Properties now says he was never on board for Nashville’s $9 billion light-rail plan, which went off the tracks at a May 1 referendum, the Nashville Business Journal said. The transit proposal came to a crashing halt after voters defeated it by 64-34 percent on May 1, The Tennessee Star reported at the time. Business supporters included McNeely Piggot & Fox, which handled the failed plan’s PR, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Nashville Predators. Now, the Nashville Business Journal says Colin Reed, CEO of Ryman Hospitality Properties, had some misgivings. “I had some of the same concerns that the ‘antis’ had,” the Nashville Business Journal quotes him as saying. “The notion of tearing up the middle of Broadway for an extended period of time, building a tunnel underneath and bringing it up somewhere on Broadway, concerned the living daylights out of me. Building rail lines in the middle of highways concerns the life out of me. This was a huge amount of money. What we have to fix is morning-time rush hour and evening-time rush hour. That’s where our problems reside here. I felt like this whole evolution we’re seeing with self-driving…

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Africa-Based Cybercrime Conspiracy Busted For Stealing $15 Million From Memphis Businesses

September 11, 2018September 10, 2018 Chris Alto

hacker

Eight cyber-criminals have been arrested in an Africa-based “cybercrime and business email compromise (BEC) conspiracy” for stealing $15 million dollars related to real estate transactions from businesses and individuals in Memphis. Of the five cyber-criminals arrested in the U.S. three were citizens from Mexico, Ghana and Nigeria, and two were Americans. U.S. officials are seeking extradition for three others who have been arrested in Ghana. It is not known at this time whether the three foreign nationals were living in the U.S. legally. Benard Okorhi, a Nigerian national who arrived in Canada in February 2018, claiming refugee status, is also in extradition proceedings for his alleged role in the cyber-conspiracy. Four others believed to be part of the fraud ring, including Okorhi’s brother, remain at large. Working with international law enforcement, the Department of Justice launched “Operation Keyboard Warrior” in an effort to thwart “business email compromise (BEC) schemes.” By hacking computer servers and using phony email messages, the cyber-criminals diverted funds from businesses and individuals to Africa: Using sophisticated anonymization techniques, including the use of spoofed email addresses and Virtual Private Networks, the co-conspirators identified large financial transactions, initiated fraudulent email correspondence with relevant business parties, and then redirected closing funds through a network…

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Commentary: Leftist Christians Target Florida Governor’s Race

September 11, 2018September 10, 2018 Admin

by CHQ Staff The Far-Left Democratic Party – you know the party that removed any mention of God from its platform and booed and jeered when a pro-forma mention of the Creator was added – has found a new cloak for its anti-religious liberty policies; newly re-energized Leftist Christians. Vietnam-era Leftist Christian leaders, such as Yale University chaplain, William Sloane Coffin Jr., Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Father Daniel Joseph Berrigan SJ, Philip Berrigan, a former Josephite priest, Br. David Darst, a De La Salle Christian Brother, Thomas Melville, a former Maryknoll priest, Tom Cornell, a leader among the Catholic Worker movement, Reverend Richard Neuhaus, John B. Sheerin, the editor of Catholic World and prominent Catholic layman Michael Novak inspired a generation of Leftist Christian seminarians and activists. This Soviet-funded Christian Left, that led the nuclear disarmament movement and the opposition to the Vietnam War and Ronald Reagan’s defense build-up, never really went away, they simply faded from the front page when their ties to Moscow were revealed and their ideology was discredited by Reagan’s victory over the Soviet Union. Now they are back, leading the sanctuary city and open borders movements with funding from anti-Christian billionaire and Nazi…

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Memorials to Honor Victims of 9/11 Across America

September 11, 2018September 10, 2018 Admin

by Max Jungreis Americans on Tuesday will mark the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that claimed almost 3,000 lives. President Donald Trump will attend a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, near where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after passengers retook control from the al-Qaida affiliated terrorists who had hijacked the plane. In a statement Saturday, the White House declared September 7 to 9 as National Days of Prayer and Remembrance for the victim of the attacks. “The faith of our Nation may have been tested in the avenues of New York City, on the shores of the Potomac, and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, but our strength never faltered and our resilience never wavered,” the statement said. In the capital, the Pentagon will hold special services for families of those killed when a plane crashed into the building. And in New York, hundreds of survivors and family members of those killed will gathered at Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center stood before two hijacked commercial flights brought them down. Twin beams of light will be projected into the sky to memorialize those lost in the attacks. The…

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EXCLUSIVE: MyPillow’s Mike Lindell Opens Up About Trump, Crack, ‘Evil’ Ellison, and More

September 11, 2018September 17, 2018 Admin

Mike Lindell

Mike Lindell, founder and CEO of MyPillow, first met President Donald Trump the summer before the 2016 election. “When I met him, I go: ‘Wow, there’s nobody on this planet I’d rather have be my president than Donald Trump,’” he told The Minnesota Sun, a state-focused news site that, like The Tennessee Star, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Star News Digital Media. Lindell was launched into the political scene after that summer meeting when he came out in support of then-candidate Trump. “First of all, let me get it straight. I was never a politician. I didn’t know a conservative from a liberal before I met Donald Trump,” he said in an interview. “I went all-in to back him and to get behind him to be our president. That’s when I actually had to learn what liberal is and what conservatism was. I had to learn all this.” Since then, Lindell has doubled-down on his support for the president, and has done so proudly. The MyPillow founder was recently chastised on social media for refusing to pull his advertisements from Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show. “I didn’t back down. I advertise across the board,” Lindell said, noting that he’s…

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Chinese Officials Are Reportedly Burning Bibles And Crosses, Forcing Christians To Renounce Their Faith

September 11, 2018September 10, 2018 Admin

by Anders Hagstrom Chinese pastors claim officials are closing churches, burning bibles and crosses, and forcing pastors and congregations to sign papers claiming they’ve renounced their faith, The Associated Press reported Monday. Chinese pastors and the U.S.-based group China Aid report that Chinese Communist Party officials forcibly shut several churches in central Henan province and Beijing in recent weeks, according to The AP. The escalation is part of the officially atheist Communist Party’s efforts to “sinicize” Christianity, or make it more culturally Chinese. “The international community should be alarmed and outraged for this blatant violation of freedom of religion and belief,” Bob Fu of China Aid told The AP. Fu also cited video footage showing what seemed to be bibles aflame with forms allowing believers to renounce their faith nearby, The AP reported. Fu said the forms marked the first time since freedom of religion was written into the Chinese Constitution in 1982 and since Mao’s Cultural Revolution of 1976 that Christians had been compelled to renounce their faith. One Chinese pastor who asked not to be identified told The AP that officials entered his church at 5 a.m. and began removing items and burning bibles, crosses and furniture. China has…

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Tennessee Universities Desire More International Students

September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 Chris Butler

More and more international students attend universities in Tennessee. They take the knowledge and the skills they acquire here and apply them back on their home turf. Could that eventually put the United States at a competitive disadvantage? Bill Persinger, spokesman for Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, said he could not answer. “I won’t comment on the political aspects of it, but it’s important for our students to understand global competitiveness,” Persinger told The Tennessee Star Monday. “If we have someone who is a first-time college student who is on a Pell grant or otherwise then the only way they are able to learn other cultures is by bringing international students here. I think that is important for all our students and getting them the best education possible.” Nashville Public Radio reports Vanderbilt and Belmont have more than doubled their international freshman enrollment since 2009. Meanwhile, public universities like Austin Peay and Middle Tennessee State University also have more international students. This, the website, reported is deliberate. Persinger told The Star that Austin Peay has too few international students and it’s important to get more. “The university is a place to challenge your thought process and expose you to…

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Trump To Shut Down Palestinian Liberation Organization’s Washington Office

September 11, 2018September 10, 2018 Admin

The Trump administration will order the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to shutter its Washington, D.C., office in a bid to increase pressure on Palestinian leadership amid stalled peace talks. “We have been notified by a US official of their decision to close the Palestinian mission to the US,” PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat said in a statement Monday, according to Al-Jazeera. National Security Advisor John Bolton is expected to announce the closure in a speech to the conservative Federalist Society on Monday. “The Trump administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel,” Bolton is expected to say, according to a draft copy of his prepared remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. “The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel,” Bolton will add. The closure of the PLO’s Washington office would be the latest in a series of punitive measures the Trump administration has taken against Palestinian leadership while the White House develops its yet-to-be-revealed peace plan. Under President Donald Trump, Washington has sought to slash financial support for the Palestinian organization, arguing that U.S. aid rewards corrupt and intransigent behavior on the part…

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New Text Messages Show FBI Officials Discussed ‘Media Leak Strategy’ Ahead Of Major Trump-Russia Revelation

September 11, 2018September 10, 2018 Admin

McCabe Page and Strzock

by Chuck Ross Newly released text messages show that disgraced FBI official Peter Strzok asked to speak to former FBI lawyer Lisa Page about a “media leak strategy” during a crucial period of the Trump-Russia investigation last year. The text messages were revealed on Monday by North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a member of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee. “Our review of these new documents raises grave concerns regarding an apparent systemic culture of media leaking by high-ranking officials at the FBI and DOJ related to ongoing investigations,” Meadows wrote to Rosenstein in the letter, which was obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation and first reported by Sara Carter. Meadows pointed to text messages that Strzok sent to Page on April 10, 2017 and April 12, 2017. In the first message, Strzok, who then served as deputy chief of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, wrote to Page that: “I had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go.” Strzok was at that time the lead investigator on the FBI’s probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. He joined…

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Ron DeSantis Resigns From Congress To Focus On Gubernatorial Bid

September 11, 2018September 10, 2018 Admin

by Molly Prince Republican Rep. Ron DeSantis of Florida announced his resignation from Congress on Monday to focus on his Florida gubernatorial race. “As the Republican nominee for Governor of Florida, it is clear to me that I will likely miss the vast majority of our remaining session days for this Congress,” DeSantis wrote in his resignation letter to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan. “Under these circumstances, it would be inappropriate for me to accept a salary. In order to honor my principles and protect the taxpayer, I officially resign from the House of Representatives effective immediately.” DeSantis also requested that his resignation be retroactive so that he would not receive pay for the month of September. “It has been an honor to serve the people of Florida’s Sixth Congressional District,” tweeted DeSantis. It has been an honor to serve the people of Florida's Sixth Congressional District. pic.twitter.com/j0SgILImyP — Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 10, 2018 The Florida gubernatorial race has been contentious since DeSantis faced backlash mere hours after winning his state’s Republican nomination following a comment that was misconstrued to seemingly refer to the race of his opponent, Andrew Gillum. Despite vehemently denouncing racism, the media has continued to portray DeSantis as a racist. DeSantis…

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Website Helps You Track Phil Bredesen’s Level of ‘Sophistication’

September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 Jason M. Reynolds

Phil Bredesen

“Welcome to SophisticatedPhil.com, where you’ll see exactly what Phil thinks of himself!” proclaims a new website launched by the Tennessee Republican Party. “Phil Bredesen has been desperately trying to convince Tennesseans that he’s one of them, but he keeps getting in his own way,” the organization’s press secretary, Gillum Ferguson, said in a press release. Bredesen, a former Democratic governor, is running for the seat being vacated by U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who is retiring. The website mentions his statements like being more “sophisticated” than rural voters. He made the remarks in an interview with the Times Free Press. Around the same time, Bredesen also released a campaign ad that was filmed outside his grandmother’s American flag-clad house touting his humble roots growing up among “secretaries, nurses, factory workers, and small business owners,” The Tennessee Star reported. Bredesen has reported assets between $88.9 million and $358 million, The Washington Free Beacon said. Bredesen would also become one of the richest members of Congress, The Star said. Public records show he is the owner of five homes—two homes in Nashville, two lakefront properties in upstate New York, and a five-bedroom home in Jackson, Wyoming. And, he is one of the…

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Commentary: Will the Democrats’ Sad Shaming of Kavanaugh Ignite a Fury in the GOP Grassroots?

September 11, 2018September 11, 2018 Admin

by Jeffery Rendall With the confirmation hearings for Trump Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh now concluded talk slowly returns to the hot topic of the hour, the 2018 midterm elections. But first let’s digest the big glob of goopy phlegm America was forced to swallow last week, served up by shameless Democrats on a mission. In the course of shredding a good man’s reputation the ravenous pack of minority party wolves revealed they weren’t the least bit interested in learning about Kavanaugh’s judicial philosophies, logical reasoning, legal opinions or thought processes. Democrats spared nothing in savaging the Supreme Court as an institution while verbally disrobing and flogging the nominee before a horrified audience – which included his wife and young daughters. It was a sickening spectacle worthy of bad cinema fiction. If Hollywood produced a film with actors impersonating senators doing the dirty work it wouldn’t have been any more insulting and melodramatic for Kavanaugh himself. One wonders what motivates a respectable person like the judge (or Neil Gorsuch last year) to agree to a guaranteed scourging at the hands of swine in business dress who see it as their sole mission to create histrionics and assault a man’s character. The…

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TennCare Releases Abortion Statistics

September 11, 2018 Chris Butler

Over the past five years TennCare has paid for, on average, three abortions per year. TennCare spokeswoman Sarah Tanksley told The Tennessee Star that TennCare only covers abortions in “extremely limited circumstances” required by federal law — rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is endangered. These were among some of the statistics the Tennessee Department of Health released this week at The Star’s request. According to TennCare statistics, in 2017 TennCare covered six abortions, all falling within federal requirements. The state spent $2,026.54. The year before, TennCare covered three abortions, and the state dollar spend for that was $765.55. Meanwhile, in 2015 TennCare covered one abortion with the state spending $519.27. The Star also requested stats on how much money the state gave Planned Parenthood during the past three fiscal years. The organization received $14,787.92 in 2015. That amount more than doubled to $31,855.97 the following year. In 2017 the amount decreased slightly to $27,679. “Please note that these (Planned Parenthood) expenditures were for family planning services,” Tanksley said in an emailed statement regarding the organization. Planned Parenthood offers family planning services as well as abortions. “No Medicaid dollars were used to pay for abortions performed at Planned Parenthood…

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Attorney General Jeff Sessions Welcomes 44 New US Immigration Judges

September 11, 2018September 12, 2018 Admin

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions welcomed 44 new immigration judges, the largest class of immigration judges in U.S. history according to the Justice Department. The event took place as the Trump administration struggles to reunite families separated at the border after its “zero tolerance policy” resulted in unprecedented numbers of immigration cases waiting to be heard. The decision to detain children separately as their parents await trial has left about 400 children still separated from their families, according to a court filing — 45 days after a court-mandated deadline for the government to reunite them. There are more than 700,000 immigration cases in the backlog, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a data gathering research organization at Syracuse University. During a welcoming ceremony Monday in Virginia, Sessions said, “Counting you, along with our existing judges, we currently have the most active immigration judges in history.” “But we will not stop there,” he continued. “We will add even more by the end of this calendar year, with a goal of seeing a 50 percent increase in the number of judges since the beginning of the Trump administration.” Though Sessions lauded the large number of incoming immigration judges, he warned them…

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New Text Messages Show FBI Officials Discussed ‘Media Leak Strategy’ Ahead Of Major Trump-Russia Revelation

September 11, 2018September 12, 2018 Admin

McCabe Page and Strzock

by Chuck Ross Newly released text messages show that disgraced FBI official Peter Strzok asked to speak to former FBI lawyer Lisa Page about a “media leak strategy” during a crucial period of the Trump-Russia investigation last year. The text messages were revealed on Monday by North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, a member of the House Oversight & Government Reform Committee. “Our review of these new documents raises grave concerns regarding an apparent systemic culture of media leaking by high-ranking officials at the FBI and DOJ related to ongoing investigations,” Meadows wrote to Rosenstein in the letter, which was obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation and first reported by Sara Carter. Meadows pointed to text messages that Strzok sent to Page on April 10, 2017 and April 12, 2017. In the first message, Strzok, who then served as deputy chief of the FBI’s counterintelligence division, wrote to Page that: “I had literally just gone to find this phone to tell you I want to talk to you about media leak strategy with DOJ before you go.” Strzok was at that time the lead investigator on the FBI’s probe into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian government. He joined…

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Memorials to Honor Victims of 9/11 Across America

September 11, 2018September 12, 2018 Admin

by Max Jungreis Americans on Tuesday will mark the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that claimed almost 3,000 lives. President Donald Trump will attend a ceremony at the 9/11 memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, near where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed after passengers retook control from the al-Qaida affiliated terrorists who had hijacked the plane. In a statement Saturday, the White House declared September7 to 9 as National Days of Prayer and Remembrance for the victim of the attacks. “The faith of our Nation may have been tested in the avenues of New York City, on the shores of the Potomac, and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, but our strength never faltered and our resilience never wavered,” the statement said. In the capital, the Pentagon will hold special services for families of those killed when a plane crashed into the building. And in New York, hundreds of survivors and family members of those killed will gathered at Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center stood before two hijacked commercial flights brought them down. Twin beams of light will be projected into the sky to memorialize those lost in the attacks. The hijackings…

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