Day: September 30, 2018

New Nashville Metro Arts Director to Make Six-Figure Salary

Chris Butler

The Nashville Metro Arts Commission has a new executive director, and she’ll make twice Nashville’s median household income. New Executive Director Caroline Vincent has worked for Metro Arts since 2011. She will make $118,000 per year, according to The Tennessean. That’s nearly twice Nashville’s median household income — $61,577 — according to Forbes. As Tennessee Watchdog has reported, this government entity has given out millions of taxpayer dollars for abstract art for display in and around the city, sometimes to out-of-state artists. Among them: • In 2016 members of the department paid 20 times the regular market value for new bike racks downtown. • They paid an out-of-state artist $300,000 to create an exhibit commemorating the Civil Rights Movement, even though the artist lived 2,000 miles away in California….and that money did not recirculate in Tennessee. Artist Walter Hood created “Witness Walls” on the west side of the Metro Nashville Courthouse. The project portrays sculptural images of Civil Rights activists from the 1960s, according to the Metro Arts Commission’s website. • “Stix,” erected outside the Music City Convention Center, cost the city $750,000. That project is nothing more than a bunch of sticks with bright, shiny colors. The artist, Christian…

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Jeff Webb on The Tennessee Star Report: Bredesen’s Claim He Won’t Vote for Schumer as Leader of Democrats in Senate ‘Almost a Laughable Political Stunt”

Julie Carr

On Wednesdays’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy chatted with Varsity Brands President and CEO Jeff Webb about the current Senate race in Tennessee and what it means for the recent tax cuts and regulation rollback.  They went on to discuss how, if Phil Bredesen was elected that would effect Tennessee and the country at large. During the interview, Webb said that Bredesen’s claim that, if elected to the U.S. Senate, he won’t vote for Sen. Chuck Schumer as the leader of the Democrats in the Senate is “almost a laughable political stunt.” Steve Gill: Jeff good to have you with us. Jeff Webb: Thanks Steve good to talk to you. Michael Patrick Leahy: Good morning Jeff, Mike Leahy here. Gill: In honor of Varsity Brands I told Michael earlier that’s why I’m wearing the cheerleader outfit, the UT cheerleader outfit. Just in honor of you. Leahy: Orange and white pom poms it’s a site that can’t be unseen. (Laughter) Leahy: So, Jeff we talked to you last night,…

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Commentary: The Bizarre World Of Christine Blasey Ford

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by CHQ Staff   The past ten days of ritual defamation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh revealed the depth and sophistication of the Far-Left Democrats’ smear machine, but yesterday’s hearing revealed the truly bizarre world of Christine Blasey Ford, the high priestess of the ritual. In this bizarre world, Christine Blasey Ford cannot fly, due to the posttraumatic stress syndrome caused by the manhandling she allegedly received at the hands of Brett Kavanaugh and Mark Judge. Unless of course, the flight is to Tahiti, Hawaii, or the East Coast of the United States just a few weeks before her attorneys cited that alleged PTSD as the reason to delay her testimony for another week. In this bizarre world, Christine Blasey Ford, a university professor, educated at an elite high school and some of America’s top universities – who holds two masters degrees and a doctorate – cannot compose a letter that would garner better than a C at any public high school in America, and doesn’t know how to contact her Representative in Congress. In this bizarre world, the university professor speaks in a little girl’s voice, cannot remember or does not know elementary things about how she came to sit before…

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Trump Dossier Research Chief Glenn Simpson Declines US Congress Interview Request

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Reuters   The Republican chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee on Friday subpoenaed a U.S. research firm founder to give a deposition on his hiring of a former British spy to compile a dossier on alleged links between U.S. President Donald Trump’s associates and Russia. Representative Bob Goodlatte, a Republican from Virginia, announced the move on Twitter a day after receiving a letter in which lawyers for Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS, said that their client “will not agree to an interview” requested earlier this week. “As part of our joint investigation into decisions made by DOJ in 2016, today I subpoenaed Glenn Simpson to appear for a deposition,” Goodlatte posted on Twitter. Goodlatte said in a separate Twitter post that former FBI Director James Comey, former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other former Justice Department officials have been invited “as witnesses. Will subpoena them if necessary.” Simpson’s lawyers also sent their letter to House Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy, who is conducting with Goodlatte a probe into the Justice Department’s decision to investigate possible collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. The top Democrats on the committees, Elijah Cummings and Jerrold Nadler, in a statement…

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Commentary: Revenge of the Nerds – Swamp Edition

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by Julie Kelly   In one scene in “When Harry Met Sally,” Meg Ryan’s character insists she had great sex in college with a guy named Shel. Billy Crystal’s character doesn’t buy it. “Sheldon? No, no, you did not have great sex with Sheldon. A Sheldon can do your income taxes, if you need a root canal, Sheldon’s your man . . . but humpin’ and pumpin’ is not Sheldon’s strong suit. It’s the name. ‘Do it to me Sheldon, you’re an animal Sheldon, ride me big Shel-don.’ Doesn’t work.” Since we all reliving the 1980s, that clip came to mind as I watched Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) grill Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Thursday about his high school hijinx and in-crowd jargon from Georgetown Prep’s 1983 yearbook. The former prosecutor applied his keen interrogation skills against the Supreme Court nominee as Whitehouse delved into an unfamiliar world of teenaged popularity and partying, a place where guys like Kavanaugh strode past the likes of Whitehouse in the high school hallway with nary a glance, and Kavanaugh’s gal pals never gave poor Shel a chance to score. Whitehouse revealed depravity of the highest order as he exposed the elite prep-school caste system. He finally…

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Rand Paul Calls For Investigation Into Who Doxxed Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans

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Rand Paul

by Molly Prince   Sen. Rand Paul called for an investigation Friday to determine and punish who published the personal information of three Republican senators during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who accused him of sexual assault. “Yesterday there was an attempt to incite people by publishing the personal information of Senators – including home addresses – endangering them & their families,” the Kentucky Republican tweeted. “This should be  investigated & the perpetrators punished. There is too much hatred and violence in politics these days.” Yesterday there was an attempt to incite people by publishing the personal information of Senators – including home addresses- endangering them & their families. This should be investigated & the perpetrators punished. There is too much hatred and violence in politics these days. — Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 28, 2018 Three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee — Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch, both of Utah — had their personal information, including their phone numbers and home addresses, posted on their respective Wikipedia pages shortly after each questioned Kavanaugh at Thursday’s hearing. The unknown person who published the information…

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While Washington Erupts Over the Kavanaugh Confirmation, the House Pushes Through GOP’s Tax Reform 2.0

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by Evie Fordham   The House of Representatives pushed through a legislation package nicknamed Tax Reform 2.0 that would make individual tax cuts permanent among other proposals Friday. The legislation is expected to stall in the Senate, although its Republican supporters could bring it back at some point after the midterm elections, reported CNBC. The package consists of three bills, which are: The Protecting Family and Small Business Tax Cuts Act of 2018, which would “lock in” the individual tax cuts that Republicans touted when they first passed in December 2017 The Family Savings Act of 2018, which purports to help Americans save for retirement as well as make funds in education accounts more accessible The American Innovation Act of 2018, which lets fledgling businesses “deduct up to $20,000 in start-up expenses” under certain rules, according to CNBC “Tax reform is working,” House Speaker Paul Ryan wrote on Twitter Friday. “The American economy and our workforce are thriving. These Tax Reform 2.0 bills make lower rates for individuals and small business permanent, and help families further plan for the future.” The tax cuts bill would also make certain provisions to save taxpayers money permanent. The bill would make a new child tax credit, a higher…

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Elon Musk Takes the Deal – Agrees To Step Down From Tesla As Chairman In SEC Settlement

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Elon Musk

by Chris White   Billionaire tech guru Elon Musk agreed to step down as the chairman of Tesla after the Securities and Exchange Commission sued the electric vehicle company for fraud, according to court documents published Saturday. Musk, who owns roughly 20 percent of the company, also agreed to pay a $20 million fine in connection with a tweet he wrote in August telling followers that he had enough funding to take Tesla private, the documents note. He neither admitted nor denied the allegations the SEC leveled against him. The SEC has spent months probing whether Musk’s promise was designed to hurt short-sellers at the expense of new investors. Musk gets to retain his position as CEO, but the move could drastically affect the company’s structure. He told his Twitter followers in an Aug. 7 post that he had sufficient funding to take the company out of the public domain. Reports about Musk’s tweet came shortly after a source told The Financial Times that the Saudi’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) bought share of Tesla. The PIF’s position is worth between $1.7 billion and $2.9 billion at Tesla’s current share price. The stake makes the fund one of Tesla’s eight biggest shareholders. Musk used recent discussions with…

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Steve Cohen Lectures Republicans on Brett Kavanaugh

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Memphis, who recently suggested Marsha Blackburn jump off a bridge, said this week Republicans treat women poorly. Just as you knew he would, Cohen opined on the Brett Kavanaugh U.S. Supreme Court nomination hearings. How members of the GOP-led U.S. Senate have handled matters was foremost on his mind. Saying the “soul of the country is in jeopardy,” because of the hearings, Cohen took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to scold his opposition. “The two most pressing issues that will be heard are the #MeToo Movement and respect for women and their safety from sexual assault and the truth and whether or not the truth is something that matters to people anymore or whether it is just spin and lies to get ratings,” Cohen said in his address. Cohen, who told now disgraced former FBI agent Peter Strzok he deserved a Purple Heart, also lectured the GOP about integrity. Specifically, Cohen spoke of how he thought Republican members of the U.S. Senate’s Judiciary Committee treated Christine Ford. Ford accuses Kavanaugh of an alleged sexual assault in 1982. “She should be given respect, and there should be an attempt to find the truth.…

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