Day: October 12, 2018

President Trump Signs the Music Modernization Act into Law

Bethany Bowman

Surrounded by musicians from nearly every genre, President Trump signed into law the Music Modernization Act – a measure that will overhaul how music is licensed and songwriters are compensated in the United States. As previously reported by The Tennessee Star, the bill, sponsored by retiring Utah Sentor Orrin Hatch, was designed to update the outdated copyright laws governing songwriting to reflect the realities of the 21st century. Kid Rock, Mercy Me, the Beach Boys, Sam Moore, Craig Morgan and John Rich – along with music industry bigwigs such as Neil Portnow and the infamous Busbee were among those joining the president at the White House. The president explained: The Music Modernization Act closes loopholes in our digital royalty laws to ensure that songwriters, artists, producers, and providers receive fair payment for the licensing of music.  I’ve been reading about this for many years. [I] never thought I’d be involved in it, but I got involved in it.  They were treated very unfairly.  They’re not going to be treated unfairly anymore.  Streaming has made music more accessible than ever, yet our laws have not kept up with the pace of technology.  As such, artists of all varieties and all career…

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State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris Confirmed As Federal Judge in West Tennessee

Jason M. Reynolds
Tennessee Star

State Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris (R-TN-32) has been named as a new federal judge in the Western District of Tennessee, leaving his position open in the state senate, The Tennessean said. The U.S. Senate voted Thursday evening to confirm Norris in a close vote. The tally was 51-44. “I recommended Senator Norris to the president, and I strongly supported Mark’s nomination,” U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said. “He is respected by his peers around the country, having been elected chairman of the Council of State Governments, and has been an advocate and a champion for federalism and for the separation of powers.” Lt. Governor Randy McNally (R-TN-05) made a statement following the confirmation of Norris. McNally said, “Congratulations to my friend Mark Norris on his confirmation as U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Tennessee. Mark has been a smart and thoughtful legislator. He will be a smart and thoughtful judge. I have proudly served with Mark for many years. I have always admired the care and thoroughness he brings to public service. As our Senate Majority Leader, Mark has been an indispensable asset not just to the Senate but to state government as a whole. While we will…

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Century-Old American Art Form Alive and Tapping

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Tap dance, a young student says with a giggle, is “a bit louder than ballet.” Wearing leotards and pale pink tights, she and three other girls skip across the floor at a community center in Albany, California. Their shiny black tap shoes make them sound like a small herd of ponies clattering across cobblestones. The sound comes from metal “taps” on their heels and toes, taps that are attached to a small sounding board that makes the sounds crisp and bright. Uniquely American After just a few beginner lessons, these girls can make an explosion of merry syncopated noise doing classic tap moves such as the step-ball-change. By learning these steps, they’re part of a uniquely American art form that dates back to the 1800s, when a melting pot of ethnic percussive dances blended African tribal dances with English clog dancing, with a bit of Scottish hornpipes and jigs. Tap’s improvised inventions fit especially well with the growing popularity of American jazz. African-American dancers such as Bill “Bojangles” Robinson used their skills at tap as a stairway to stardom in the 1930s. High-stepping tap was the hallmark of dozens of movies, from “Singin’ in the Rain” to the animated “Happy…

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China’s Economy Isn’t What It’s Cracked Up to Be

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by Gabriella Beaumont-Smith   China is a rising economic power that will threaten the United States’ place as the world’s biggest economy. At least, that’s the narrative we’ve become familiar with. But does it really hold up? Economists use gross domestic product to measure the size and growth of national economies. GDP is based on the real value of what is produced. It’s usually measured by calculating how much money was spent in one country during a single year. In terms of GDP growth, no country has been hyped up more than China. The World Bank reported that in 2017, China had become the world’s largest economy with a GDP topping $23 trillion. By comparison, United States GDP in 2017 was just over $19 trillion. Indeed, China’s growth has been impressive. Over the last 25 years, its economy has grown at an average rate of 9.6 percent a year. But China’s economy still isn’t as big as it’s often advertised, and that’s because a misleading measure is used. The measure is called the purchasing power parity exchange rate. This exchange rate tells us how much money you would need in China to be as wealthy as you are in the…

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Phil Bredesen Admired Ted Kennedy, Called Barack Obama ‘A Rock Star’

Chris Butler

Singing the praises of Barack Obama. Drowning himself in affection for the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. Pining away for the good old days of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. A sampling of some of Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate Phil Bredesen’s past speeches and media interviews indicate he is a loyal and faithful servant to the Democratic Party. At a 2009 Tennessee Democratic Party Jackson Day event, Bredesen spoke of Kennedy, who died four days prior. “Everyone’s hearts are a little heavier when we think about the loss of Senator Ted Kennedy, who cared so much about so many issues, including those of health care,” Bredesen said to audience members, adding Kennedy pushed for health care reform in a civil manner. “I had the honor of meeting him 40 years ago when I made my very first run for public office. I was naïve about politics, but he made a deep impression on me.” Bredesen praised former President Bill Clinton at the event and said good things about Clinton’s tenure in office. At the same event, Bredesen referred to Obama, in only his first year as U.S. president, as “a transformational political figure.” After a 2008 U.S.…

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Facebook Engineer Quits Over Company’s Mob-Like Attacks on Anyone Opposed to ‘Left-Leaning Ideology’

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by Grace Carr   A Facebook engineer announced his resignation Wednesday, decrying the company culture as one that operates on groupthink, uses appeasement as a strategy, and attacks conservative views. “I’m leaving because I’m burnt out on Facebook, our strategy, our culture, and our product,” Brian Amerige wrote in an internal message to company employees, adding that Facebook’s PR strategy is “appeasement — not morally earned pride and self-defense,” according to Business Insider. “I care too deeply about our role in supporting free expression and intellectual diversity to even whole-heartedly attempt the product stuff anymore, and that’s how I know it’s time to go,” Amerige also wrote. Amerige will officially leave the company Friday. His resignation comes after he wrote another internal memo in August calling the company out for mob-like attacks on anyone who doesn’t ascribe to the political left’s agenda. “We are a political monoculture … quick to attack — often in mobs — anyone who presents a view that appears to be in opposition to left-leaning ideology,” he wrote. The memo inspired the creation of an internal group, “FB’ers for Political Diversity,” where conservative employees discussed the companies political practices. Some Facebook employees have allegedly refused to work with others…

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President Trump Tells China ‘No Deal’ on Trade

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by Robert Romano   “Now look, China wants to make a deal, and I say they’re not ready yet. I just say they’re not ready yet. And we’ve canceled a couple of meetings because I say they’re not ready to make a deal. We can’t have a one-way street. It’s got to be a two-way street. It’s been a one-way street for 25 years. We gotta make it a two-way street. We’ve got to benefit also.” That was President Donald Trump’s declaration to China on Oct. 9 that there won’t be a deal on trade anytime soon. Not while the U.S. is running a $375 billion trade in goods deficit every year. So far, Trump is levying 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods shipped to the U.S., rising to 25 percent in Jan. 2019. That came atop a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods from China. And Trump did warn that if China retaliates, another $267 billion of tariffs would follow. Well, so far, China has retaliated with tariffs on $60 billion of goods including agricultural products soybeans and pork. In one gambit, China tried to exact a political toll by taking out a 4-page…

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Waters’ Spotty Ethical Record and Extreme Policy Positions Leave Many Questioning Her Fitness to Serve as Banking Chair

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by Richard McCarty   Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA-43) represents all that is wrong with Washington, D.C., yet she is next in line to chair the House Financial Services Committee should Democrats seize control of the House. It should be noted that the Financial Services Committee has broad authority with jurisdiction over the banking, housing, insurance, and securities industries and oversight over the Federal Reserve, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Waters, an 80-year-old California Democrat, was first elected to Congress in 1990. Although she currently represents a working class district, she chooses to live outside of her district in a $4.8 million mansion (which means that the value of her home is more than eight times the median value of homes in her district). Prior to Congress, she spent 14 years in the California State Assembly. She has been a member of the Democratic National Committee for nearly 40 years. Recently, Waters has seen a surge in her popularity among Democrats due to her hatred and contempt for President Trump; but before reinventing herself as a Resistance leader, she was widely viewed as corrupt. In fact, she has repeatedly been labelled one of the most…

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Missouri Appeals Ruling That Blocked Part of Voter Photo ID

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Missouri’s top election official on Thursday said the state was appealing a judge’s ruling that blocked enforcement of parts of a voter photo identification law, adding that the ruling was causing “mass confusion” ahead of a key election for a U.S. Senate seat. Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft (pictured) in a statement said the state attorney general had appealed the ruling and asked it to be put on hold as that process plays out. At issue is Senior Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan’s recent ruling striking down a requirement that a voter lacking a valid photo ID must sign a sworn statement and present some other form of identification in order to cast a regular ballot. Callahan also blocked the state from advertising that a photo ID is required to vote. Ashcroft said there’s confusion because Callahan’s ruling “directs the STATE not to use the statement.” But Ashcroft said it’s local election authorities who would have been responsible for requesting that voters without proper photo identification sign an affidavit, “so it is not clear if they are bound by the judge’s decision.” “The judge’s decision has injected mass confusion into the voting process just weeks before an important…

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RealClearPolitics is Predicting a Red Wave in the Senate

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early voting

by Evie Fordham   RealClearPolitics data is pointing to a red wave in the Senate this November, with recent polls showing key seats like North Dakota and Arizona going or staying red. RealClear currently predicts that at least 49 Senate seats will be Republican and at least 44 will be Democrats, with seven toss-up races. In three of those toss-ups, recent polls contain good news for Republican candidates. If Republicans do win in the four toss-up races where they have the best chances — Arizona, Tennessee, Nevada and Missouri — the Senate could see a net gain of up to two senators, from 51 to 53. In Arizona’s so-called “toss-up” race, Republican candidate Martha McSally has a 6-point lead on Democrat Kyrsten Sinema in the most recent poll from early October. Two of the most recent Tennessee Senate race polls cited by RealClear show Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn up by five and eight points compared to Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen. Other toss-up races in Nevada and Missouri show slimmer margins for Republicans. Republican incumbent Sen. Dean Heller is up by two points, which is within the margin of error, on Democratic challenger Jacky Rosen, according to numbers from late September…

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Commentary: Democrats About to Discover Conservatives’ Angst That Lies Beneath

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by Jeffrey A. Rendall   There’s mystery in what lies beneath. Or at least it’s true in conservative Republican circles, since the average citizen doesn’t go around shrieking, clutching offensive and abusive signs, disrupting formal government functions or carrying on like a spoiled five-year-old kindergartner who won’t lay down at nap time. Conservatives generally don’t confront senators in elevators or claw at Supreme Court chamber doors when a new justice is being sworn in either. For better or worse conservatives and Republicans’ behavior is dignified – almost to a fault. Preferring peaceful protest and speaking through the ballot box to violence in the streets, America’s silent majority simply permits events to swirl around with simmering anger contained and impulses suppressed. Even 2010’s mass tea party rallies were relatively tame compared with the left’s unglued and hateful mob mentality; there were no swear words from the conservative speakers, no threats to burn down government buildings, no anarchists with sledgehammers and bricks running about Helter Skelter shattering store windows — and the liberty-loving participants even cleaned up after themselves when they left. Boring, right? Perhaps not anymore. After the contentious confirmation process for Justice Brett Kavanaugh conservatives are surging with excitement and…

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Will Stewart, Tennessee Democratic Party Employee Who Said Phil Bredesen Lied About Kavanaugh Vote on Project Veritas Video, Still Working at Bredesen Senate Campaign Office

Chris Butler

NASHVILLE, Tennessee —Will Stewart, the Tennessee Democratic Party employee who was captured on an undercover Project Veritas video shot at the Bredesen for Senate campaign offices in Nashville’s West End saying that Democrat Senate nominee Phil Bredesen lied when he said he would have voted “yes” to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, is still working in a position of authority at that Bredesen for Senate campaign office. Stewart was identified by Project Veritas in the undercover video as a “field organizer, Phil Bredesen campaign.” The Tennessee Star spoke in person with Stewart inside Bredesen’s West End campaign offices at 117 28th Avenue North in Nashville early Thursday afternoon. Stewart admitted he was one of the people who appeared on the Project Veritas video. He, however, had nothing else to say. “I’ve been instructed to give a ‘No comment’ to any and all questions,” Stewart told The Star. The Star did not see the other campaign staff members featured in the video, identified as field organizer Maria Amalla, and James Miller, whose role was listed as “voter protection.” Publicly available records from the Federal Election Commission indicate that all three Bredesen campaign workers featured on the Project Veritas video–Stewart,…

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