Day: September 20, 2018

Former Gubernatorial Candidate Randy Boyd Likely to Serve as Interim University of Tennessee President

Jason M. Reynolds
Randy Boyd

University of Tennessee’s Board of Trustees says they will consider appointing Knoxville businessman and failed gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd to serve as interim president, WJHL reports. The job could last up to 24 months or until the appointment of a new president at UT. If he’s appointed as interim president, Boyd has told the board that he will decline to be paid a salary. Boyd lost in a blowout primary election Aug. 2 in the Republican governor’s race to political newcomer Bill Lee. UT President Joe DiPietro said Monday that he planned to retire from active service Nov. 21, the university announced. Members of the public can preregister to address the board regarding the proposed appointment during a 30-minute comment period at the Sept. 25 meeting at the Visitors Center on the UT Knoxville campus. UT Board Chair John Compton said appointing an interim president gives the trustees time to plan for the university’s future. He and the other trustees, since beginning their work Aug. 1, have individually been meeting with and listening to key stakeholders, including legislators, faculty, campus leadership and alumni. Boyd is the founder and chairman of Radio Systems Corp., with more than 700 employees, offices in six countries and the…

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Bredesen Supports Socialized Healthcare, Ad Says

Jason M. Reynolds
Phil Bredesen

The Senate Leadership Fund has targeted Phil Bredesen’s support of socialized healthcare. The organization launched a new advertising campaign Tuesday criticizing Bredesen for his support of single payer health care. The $1.2 million ad buy will run statewide on a combination of broadcast and cable television, radio and digital. The video is available to watch here. Bredesen is a former Democratic governor of Tennessee. He is running for the seat being vacated by U.S. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who is retiring. His opponent is U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07). The Senate Leadership Fund ad targets a 2011 book, “Fresh Medicine,” Bredesen wrote advocating for an insurance system similar to Social Security. A Los Angeles Times book review by David Lazarus says the former governor wants a 20 percent payroll tax for every worker to create a trust fund. “If the trust fund starts running dry, of course, a bigger bite out of people’s paychecks would be required. Or smaller vouchers. Either way, you would be looking at a benefit cut,” Lazarus writes. “Another potential problem: Bredesen’s vouchers would be adjusted to accommodate different health circumstances. Someone with diabetes, say, would receive a larger voucher than someone without any illness. An older…

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Tennessee Star Poll: Tennessee Voters are Overwhelmingly More Likely to Support Candidates Who Favor Legalization of Medical Marijuana

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Several recent political polls have surveyed support and opposition to legalization of medical marijuana and indicated that Tennessee voters support some form of legalization.  Now, a new Tennessee Star poll questioned how the issue may move votes. Likely Tennessee November general election voters were asked: “Would you be more or less likely to vote for a candidate who supports legalizing the distribution and sale of marijuana in Tennessee if limited to prescribed medical use only?” More than half – 55.4% – responded that they would be MORE likely to vote for a candidate who supports legalization of medical marijuana while only 19.5% were LESS likely to support a candidate favoring legalization of medical marijuana. Only 17.2% said it would make no difference and 7.8% indicated that they were “not sure or didn’t know.” Tennessee Star political editor Steve Gill points out that while the legalization of medical marijuana may not be a top issue to most voters, the intensity of the issue to those to whom it is important should cause political leaders to pay attention. “Voters are rightly concerned that “medical marijuana” is merely a Trojan Horse means of moving towards legalization of “recreational” drug use, which Tennessee voters…

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Bredsen Still Equivocating on How He Would Vote on Kavanaugh SCOTUS Nomination, Says Accuser ‘Has a Very Credible Story’ Despite Lack of Corroboration

Tennessee Star Staff

Phil Bredesen, the Democrat candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee being vacated by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), is still equivocating on how he would vote if he were in the U.S. Senate now and required to vote on the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh, nominated by President Trump to serve on the Supreme Court. In contrast to Bredesen, his Republican opponent, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) remains fully in support of confirming Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Late Wednesday, Bredesen told the Associated Press that Professor Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who has accused Kavanaugh of attempting to sexually assault her more than 35 years ago but has provided no corroborating evidence or witnesses, “has a very credible story .” “But he said the Judiciary Committee should consider proceeding with a vote if she does not testify under oath,” the Associated Press reported, adding: “She has put herself out there,” Bredesen said of Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her while they were both in high school. “If she decided at this point to not do something, I guess the committee has to go ahead and say, ‘Well, we were willing to listen, but if she’s not…

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James O’Keefe’s Undercover ‘Deep State’ #Resistance Video Reveals the Only Way to Drain the Swamp is to Fire the Swamp

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by Rick Manning   Project Veritas’ latest video exposé reveals that the #Resistance movement runs deeply within the federal government. However, due to the civil service laws, those who refuse to do their jobs are nearly impossible to root out and fire. The only way to fix this broken federal civil service system is for Congress to pass the MERIT Act. Federal civilian workers know that they cannot be fired even under the most egregious circumstances, and under current civil service law they are correct. The sad truth is that it takes between six months and a year to fire the 0.53 percent of federal workers who are terminated with cause. When you include layoffs and terminations for cause, the Office of Personnel Management reports that the percentage of federal career civil servants asked to leave against their will swells to 2.68 percent in 2017. Unfortunately, the federal government does not track the private sector termination rate for cause, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics does show that a federal civil servant is 6.4 times less likely to be fired or laid off than those in the private sector who pay their salaries. What few people realize is that President Obama signed an Presidential…

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New York City Just Sent Its Transportation Industry Back to the 1930s

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by Jason Snead   At 5 o’clock on Aug. 14, New York City turned its clocks back to the 1930s. The Taxi and Limousine Commission officially stopped issuing licenses to most for-hire vehicles, effectively declaring war on Uber and Lyft in an effort to protect taxis from competition. This is the first of many steps that aim to constrain popular app-based ride-sharing platforms within the antiquated regulatory structure that city officials first imposed on taxis when Franklin D. Roosevelt was president. The package of new laws signed recently by Mayor Bill de Blasio imposes a one-year moratorium on new for-hire vehicle licenses for any non-wheelchair accessible vehicles; requires the commission to set minimum pay; and mandates a 12-month study of traffic congestion and other issues. Once the study is completed, the commission will be able to artificially raise fares and restrict the number of ride-sharing vehicles. The upshot for New Yorkers: Getting around town will get harder and more expensive—mainly because lawmakers have been co-opted by a powerful special interest. The mayor has wanted to crack down on ride-sharing for years. He and others baselessly blame these services for everything from congestion to declining subway ridership. They even claim competition has encouraged taxi-driver suicides. De Blasio touted his victory…

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Small Business Owners: Trump’s Tax Cuts Miraculous for Tennessee

Chris Butler
Marsha Blackburn

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — The national economy is on fire right now, thanks to Republican President Donald Trump’s tax cuts. Yet this story isn’t getting the media coverage it deserves. Tennessee’s small business owners, meanwhile, are thriving. They’re expanding their businesses. They’re hiring more employees. As if it wasn’t already obvious, that’s because they suddenly have more cash at their disposal. These were among the key messages conveyed at an event at The Factory at Franklin Wednesday. The Atlanta-based Job Creators Network, a small business advocacy group, organized it. U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), one of the speakers and the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), told The Tennessee Star the tax cuts have made Tennessee’s median income rate grow faster than any state in the American Southeast. Tennessee’s median income rate, meanwhile, is one of the five fastest growing nationwide. “The state is at 2.7 percent unemployment, and that is why you are seeing the aggressive wage growth,” said Blackburn, currently running to replace Bob Corker in the U.S. Senate. “Business owners can pay their employees more and not have people leave, so there is no constant retraining for them to have…

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Todd Starnes Commentary: Biden Calls Trump Supporters Virulent ‘Dregs of Society’

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by Todd Starnes   Former Vice President Joe Biden unleashed a vicious attack on supporters of President Trump during a Washington, D.C. dinner for the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBT civil rights organization. “These forces of intolerance remain determined to undermine and roll back the progress you all have made,” the vice president snarled. “This time they – not you – have an ally in the White House. This time they have an ally.” And then the vice president unloaded on the “Make America Great Again” crowd. “They are a small percentage of the American people – virulent people – some of them the dregs of society,” he declared to applause from his adoring fans. How ironic that an organization that opposes bullying and intolerance cheered for a man who was advocating bullying and intolerance. “Instead of using the full might of the Executive Branch to secure justice, dignity, safety for all, the president uses the White House as a literal, literal bully pulpit – callously exerting his power over those who have little or none,” Biden said. I’ve said many times on my radio program that Democrats and their minions hate President Trump’s supporters more than they hate the…

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Commentary: A Nod Is as Good as a Wink to a Blind Horse as GOP Establishment Throws the Midterms to Democrats

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US Senate

by Bill Wilson   The old saying that “a nod is as good as a wink in a blind horse” came rushing to mind as I read an article at TheHill.com by Morgan Gstalter about an RNC internal poll.  It seems the Republican National Committee (RNC) spent money to find out that “Trump voters” are not really into the midterm elections and that a number of GOPers could well lose because the Trump voters stay home or are “complacent.” This self-evident truth is followed by what may be the most self-serving, liberal-Republican nonsense that has been published in a very long time.  According to the article, the RNC study “states that the Republican Party should focus its messaging around Social Security and Medicare.  ‘The challenge for GOP candidates is that most voters believe that the GOP wants to cut back on these programs in order to provide tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy’ the study states.” Now if you are a liberal or a closet Democrat that may make sense.  But for anyone actually talking to voters and looking at real data, it is about as far off as you can get.  Nobody believes the GOP is going to cut Social…

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Mattis Dismisses Reports He May Be Leaving Trump Administration

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Tennessee Star

Reuters   U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday flatly dismissed reports suggesting he may be leaving President Donald Trump’s administration in the coming months, saying flatly: “I wouldn’t take it seriously at all.” “How many times have we been through this, now, just since I’ve been here? It will die down soon, and the people who started the rumor will be allowed to write the next rumor, too,” Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon. “Just the way the town is,” he added. “Keep a sense of humor about it.” The remarks were the most direct by Mattis to date about intensifying rumors about his future as Trump approaches the half-way mark of his four-year term amid speculation about changes to his cabinet after upcoming November mid-term elections. Mattis has become a focus in media stories in recent weeks about the Trump administration, particularly after the release of a book this month by Watergate reporter Bob Woodward that portrayed Mattis privately disparaging Trump to associates. Mattis strongly denied making any such remarks. Trump on Sept. 5 said he defense chief would remain in his job, adding: “He’ll stay right there. We’re very happy with him. We’re having a lot of…

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Tennessee to Give Out Money to Help Homebuyers

Chris Butler

The state of Tennessee has $80 million in taxpayer money to give out so people can buy new homes. Congress allocated this money to Tennessee two years ago, said Ralph Perry, executive director of the Tennessee Housing Development Agency. THDA eligible borrowers who want to buy an existing home in areas of Tennessee where people suffer the most from bankruptcies, foreclosures, and unemployment will get $15,000 for a down payment closing cost. Exactly 62 Tennessee zip codes qualify, Perry said. This, Perry said, is the second phase of the Hardest Hit program, started in 2012, to give to people affected by the 2008 recession. “It really came as a surprise to us because while Tennessee used all its money I believe there was well over $1 billion left unspent in other states,” Perry told The Tennessee Star. “So it was a surprise when some senators added some additional money to it. And our share was relatively a small part of the pot but we have some $60 million we were able to put to use in this way.” THDA officials have until the end of 2020 to give all the money out, Perry said. By the terms of the program,…

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What a Turn Off: NFL Fans, MSM, and Hollywood Viewers Tune Out Politically Biased Programming

Julie Carr

On Monday’s Gill Report – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 1510 WLAC weekdays at 7:30 am – Star News Digital Media National Political Editor Steve Gill talked about the recent decline in ratings due to the political agenda of the NFL, MSM outlets, and Hollywood award shows. He was saddened that it hits the small businesses in the pocket book, however gleeful that this will hopefully be a lesson to the big corporations’ continuous mistake at making almost everything political.  Gill observed, “But viewers are paying attention, and tuning them out!” He continued: Does it make me a bad person that I like seeing the ratings absolutely crater for CNN when they engage in their left-wing propaganda on a constant basis and their ratings are slipping behind the cooking channel on cable? Of course, having their host out standing in ditches trying to make the flood waters look worse show that they’ll even lie about weather so why should we be surprised when they lie about politics or business or anything else that comes along. And then you’ve had the NFL with their Monday night football ratings reaching a new low. The second week of Monday night football, some of…

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Calls for New FBI Probe of Kavanaugh Have No Precedent

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by Fred Lucas   An FBI inquiry into a California woman’s allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh would be highly unusual, but wouldn’t necessarily delay a Senate vote on confirmation, legal experts said. Christine Blasey Ford, a professor of clinical psychology at Palo Alto University in California, alleges that Kavanaugh attempted to sexually assault her when the two were teenagers in suburban Maryland in the early 1980s. The Senate Judiciary Committee was scheduled to reconvene Monday to hear from both Ford, 51, and Kavanaugh, 53, a judge on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia since 2006. But Tuesday night, Ford’s lawyer asked for an FBI investigation into the matter before Ford would talk to the committee. “Dr. Ford’s request is in reverse order,” Michael J. Clark, a former 22-year FBI agent, told The Daily Signal. “If she does not come forward for a Senate hearing, the Senate is chasing its tail.” Clark, who lectures in the criminal justice department of the University of New Haven, said the Senate then could decide to ask the FBI to look at the matter further. “She should testify so senators can determine if she is credible,” Clark said.…

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Men of Valor Give Tennessee’s Christ-Redeemed Prisoners a Second Chance

Chris Butler

ANTIOCH — At the once-thriving Hickory Hollow Mall in Antioch, Darnell Ford, by his own admission, shoplifted, and he also passed along stolen checks and credit cards. When Ford wasn’t at the mall he was out and about dealing drugs at Antioch’s surrounding businesses and restaurants, he said. On Tuesday, Ford, a redeemed man, stood in front of a crowd of about 200 people, including Tennessee Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Lee, and said he was “truly ashamed.” The thing that forever altered him — the Men of Valor program. The folks behind Men of Valor unveiled two new housing duplexes this week for 60 released prisoners now committed to Christ. “God taught me how to work on my heart and how to love. It also gave me the structure I needed to live. I learned what it meant to be a giver instead of a taker,” Ford said of the influence Men of Valor had on him and the work responsibilities that came with it. “The first couple of months of working I ran across a lot of old friends that I sold and used drugs with. But I had the chance to help them too. They got a chance…

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Bredesen Says on Video He is ‘Fine’ With Planned Parenthood Receiving Federal Funds, Has ‘No Problem’ With Abortions

Jason M. Reynolds

Phil Bredesen said he had no interest in halting federal funds for Planned Parenthood in a video captured by the Tennessee Republican Party, Politico says. The publication says the topic could become a campaign factor. Watch the video: The Democratic former governor, who is running for the U.S. Senate, told a GOP tracker that he’s “fine” with federal funds going to Planned Parenthood for non-abortion services. A tracker works for a party or other entity to capture candidates’ gaffes on video. About abortion services, Bredesen said: “I don’t have a problem with them doing it.” He called himself “‘pro-choice,’ but emphasized again that federal funds aren’t used for that purpose. “I’m not the least bit interested in defunding Planned Parenthood,” Bredesen said. When Bredesen was governor, Planned Parenthood received state funds that were prohibited from being used for abortion services, Politico said. In a press release, the Tennessee Republican Party pointed out a majority of Tennesseans hold pro-life views. The Daily Caller has called out Bredesen’s waffling on abortion, saying he has “some skeletons in his closet concerning ties to Planned Parenthood and advocating for the public to fund Down syndrome abortions.” The Daily Caller quotes Bredesen as telling The…

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