Month: October 2018

Tennessee Republican Party Mailer Hammers Bredesen Over His ‘Golden Tickets’ for Illegals

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As nearly ten thousand illegal aliens march through Mexico towards the U.S. border the issue of illegal immigration has resurfaced as a major campaign issue in the 2018 midterm elections. In Tennessee, that means former Governor Phil Bredesen’s issuance of drivers licenses/certificates to illegals is being used by the Marsha Blackburn campaign and her allies to remind voters of Bredesen’s misstep on the issue.  A new “Golden Ticket” mail piece hitting mailboxes this week underscores Bredesen’s weakness on the issue of illegal immigration. In May, 2001 the Tennessee legislature approved issuing drivers licenses to illegal aliens at the behest of Republican Governor Don Sundquist, despite strong opposition from many conservatives, including then State Senator Marsha Blackburn.   After 9-11 later that year, the fact that several of the hijackers used similarly issued licenses to board airplanes raised additional concerns.  So in 2002 the Tennessee legislature passed legislation requiring licenses issued to illegals to carry bold print stating “For Driving Purposes Only.” By 2004 Bredesen was Governor and he successfully pushed legislation to issue “certificates” rather than “licenses” to illegals and restrictions were supposedly put in place to limit the use of the certificates for “identification purposes.” Nevertheless, it soon became apparent…

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Congress Members Call for Investigation Into Pentagon’s Handling of Controversial $10 Billion Cloud Contract

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by Andrew Kerr   Two members of the House Appropriations Committee requested an investigation Monday into the Pentagon’s handling of its $10 billion winner-take-all cloud computing contract following widespread criticism that the deal has been rigged from the start to favor Amazon. Amazon Web Services is the only cloud computing platform that meets all the specifications of the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) program, which stands to be one of the largest stand-alone technology contracts the federal government’s ever awarded at up to $10 billion over 10 years. The Department of Defense is expected to select a winner for the contract in April. The Daily Caller News Foundation reported in August that a former senior adviser to Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Sally Donnelly, had once consulted for Amazon Web Services through a firm she owned. Donnelly did not recuse herself from involvement in crafting the contract, despite receiving payments from the sale of her Amazon-linked firm, which she sold just prior to entering the Pentagon. “It has come to our attention through media reports that individuals who held, or hold, high ranking positions in the Department have access to the specific contractor,” Reps. Steve Womack of Arkansas and Tom…

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Phil Bredesen Ally ‘La Raza Renata’ Would Welcome Members of Migrant Army, Which DHS Says Includes Criminals, Marching Through Mexico from Honduras Who Come to Nashville

Jason M. Reynolds

Phil Bredesen ally Renata Soto is issuing a clarion call to the criminal migrant army marching toward America’s southern border. Soto on Monday tweeted in Spanish that Bredesen’s Senate race opponent, U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) gave her heartburn. https://twitter.com/RenataSotoTN/status/1052045499870732293 Soto is the immediate past chairman of the George Soros-supported national group formerly known as La Raza and founder of Nashville’s Conexion Americas. The Tennessean quoted her Tuesday as encouraging the criminal migrant army: The Honduran migrants highlight the United State’s need for sound refugee and asylum policies, she told the newspaper. “‘We must continue to be a beacon of hope for families and children who, due to violence and dire circumstances, are forced to flee their homes,’ Soto said in an email,” the newspaper said. The Washington Examiner reported Tuesday that the group is composed of multi-national criminals, quoting the Department of Homeland Security. “@DHSgov can confirm that there are individuals within the caravan who are gang members or have significant criminal histories,” DHS spokesman Tyler Houlton wrote in a series of tweets Tuesday evening. “Citizens of countries outside Central America, including countries in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, and elsewhere are currently traveling through Mexico toward the…

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Bredesen Opposes Border Wall and His Allies Support Abolishing ICE Even as Army of 7,000 Plus Hondurans Heads for Southern U.S. Border

Jason M. Reynolds

While Democrat Phil Bredesen was on stage at a concert Monday evening, an army of thousands of migrants are slowly working their way toward the southern border. President Donald Trump alerted the military on Monday, as the army of migrants from Honduras crossed into Mexico, Breitbart said. “I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy [sic],” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Must change laws!”, Breitbart reported. And while President Trump has promised to maintain the rule of law and ensure that U.S. immigration policies are being followed, some of Bredesen’s key supporters want the opposite – to end the Immigration and Customs Enforcement service, the Republican National Committee said in a press release. Bredesen is running for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Bob Corker (R-TN). U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY), the first senator to call for abolishing ICE, stumped for Phil Bredesen’s campaign in the “I Will Vote Rally” at Third Man Records in Nashville, The Tennessee Star reported earlier this month. She has donated $5,000 to Bredesen, the RNC said. The Hill quoted Gillibrand as saying, “[T]hat’s why I believe you should get rid of it, start over, reimagine it and…

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Clinton, Tennessee Engulfed in Rumors About Mayor Scott Burton and Mystery Building Permits

Chris Butler

Rumors are swirling around the city of Clinton about supposedly missing building permits that could, if anyone unearths them, prove problematic for current Mayor Scott Burton. Clinton is in Anderson County, near Oak Ridge. An internal memorandum created by a city official reportedly claims Burton skipped out on paying various building permit fees, which could be a violation of the law. Burton is currently running for reelection. His opponent is Stephen McNally. Various sources have told The Tennessee Star about the internal memorandum, but they also said they have not seen it with their own eyes. Two weeks ago, rumors of missing building permits made their way into a mayoral debate on radio station WYSH, according to on-air personality Jim Harris. According to an article Harris posted today on the station’s website, WYSH asked listeners to submit questions for both candidates in advance of the debate. “During the debate we asked the question, not quite like the way it was phrased to us, because the way it was phrased made it sound like he (Burton) had been doing something illegal, sketchy, and shady,” Harris told The Star Tuesday. “We neatened it up a little so it was more of a…

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Tennessee Star Report Caller Rita: ‘I’m a Black Female and Trump Was the First Republican I Ever Voted For’

Julie Carr

On Monday’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 – the team discussed how all politics is local and all politics is visual and in regards to the migrant invasion, they asked listeners to call in and give their take on how they saw it. The duo took a call from an African-American woman named Rita who expressed some interesting views on the topic: Gill: Let’s go to Rita in Nashville next – 737-9522, 737-WLAC – Rita, good morning. Rita: Good morning.  I was calling to say I think it’s going to help the Republicans.  I’m a black female and Trump was the first Republican I ever voted for and I just voted last week for Marsha Blackburn and Bill Lee – but my husband didn’t vote for Trump.  But after he saw this caravan coming through, he all of a sudden switched from being a Democrat as well and he also voted for Marsha and Bill.  So I think it’s going to help the Republicans. Gill:  What was the turning point for you Rita?  Why, again President Trump was saying to…

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NASCAR Legend Darrell Waltrip Races Into Marsha Blackburn’s Corner

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn has received a high-octane endorsement. Blackburn’s Senate campaign launched a new television ad Monday featuring NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip. The ad will air in media markets across the state and on digital platforms statewide. The video is available to watch here. Speaking about the ad, U.S. Representative Blackburn (R-TN-07) said, “Darrell and Stevie Waltrip and their family are treasured friends of our family. D.W. wants his next Senator to represent our shared conservative values in the Senate, and I’m the only one Tennesseans can count on to do that. I’m grateful for his support as we head into the final laps of the campaign.” Here is the transcript: Waltrip: “I’m Darrell Waltrip. I made a career out of going fast and turning left. That works on the track, but not so good in Washington. Phil Bredesen will go along to get along with Washington liberals on taxes, immigration, and Obamacare. That’s why we need Marsha Blackburn at the wheel.” Blackburn: “Are you going to keep talking or are we going to roll?” Waltrip: “Boogity, boogity, boogity – let’s win this race!” Blackburn: “I’m Marsha Blackburn, and I approve this message.” Voiceover: “Marsha Blackburn for Tennessee.” Waltrip is not Blackburn’s only…

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Reagan Biographer Craig Shirley: ‘Soft Resistance’ at Border to Migrant Army Best Strategy for Trump

Julie Carr

On Monday’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 – the team spoke with Craig Shirley this morning about the current caravan of illegals approaching the Arizona and California borders and the pre-scripted narrative the MSM will take on the immigrants arrival at the border which appears, in their opinion to be conveniently timed right before the mid-term elections. Leahy:  Craig you are an expert on public relations from a conservative perspective and we have this situation now with this, how do you describe it, as anything other than an army of seven thousand Hondurans, now they’re adding Mexicans. They’re moving in a caravan up to the border, probably around Arizona and California, they are going to arrive just conveniently like a day before mid term elections.  What in your view should President Trump do to deal with this? Shirley:  First of all stop calling it a caravan.  A caravan connotes something like it’s fun, like a circus and you know petting zoo’s and stuff like this.  This is a mob and he needs to call it a mob of…

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Bredesen Lies About Not Financing Campaign, Dumps $2 Million into Schumer’s Effort to Retake Senate

Jason M. Reynolds

With two weeks until Election Day on Nov. 6, Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen reported giving his own campaign an additional $2 million, bringing his total donations and loans to $7.4 million The news comes from Politico Playbook. Last December, Bredesen was promising something different. The Tennessean reported last December that he promised not to bankroll his campaign: Perhaps surprisingly, Bredesen, a former Nashville mayor who has earned millions privately in the health care industry and helped bankroll some of his past campaigns, said he would not be contributing any personal money into his race. He said he doesn’t think it will be necessary.” “‘I think at this point, I’ve earned the right to go out and raise money,’ he said, adding that people have already stepped up in wide numbers over the last 48 hours.” The Tennessee Republican Party says Bredesen has lied to the tune of more than $7.4 million this year. “Well, now we have another report showing Bredesen pumping millions of dollars into his campaign (he has done the same in every quarter of this financial year),” a GOP press release said, citing a tweet from Gideon Resnick of The Daily Beast. “His total to-date stands at $7,455,000,” according to FEC filings. Tennessee…

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Glockstore.com Will Relocate HQ to Nashville

Chris Butler

Glockstore.com, which sells parts and accessories for Glock handguns will relocate its headquarters from California to Nashville. Glockstore.com founder and CEO Lenny Magill told The Tennessee Star Monday that he and other company officials plan to set up shop in Music City in the fall of 2019, roughly one year from now. The current headquarters is in San Diego. “We have 100 employees here in San Diego, and we will at some point have 100 people in Nashville as well,” Magill said. “Some of our employees will not move from San Diego. We have about 80 positions that we will fill in Nashville.” Magill said he and other company officials are making the move because they had to get away from California’s high-tax rates. “We looked at Texas. We looked at Atlanta in depth. Those were the areas we really looked at. We even thought about Nevada, but we chose Nashville for a couple of reasons. We looked at those areas because of the low taxes in those areas,” Magill said. “These are gun-friendly states, and we wanted to be a little more centrally located for shipping and handling. That is what Nashville really had going for it, as far…

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Commentary: We Must Not Allow the USA to Become a Third World Country

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by Pedro Gonzalez   Less than a year ago I wrote an op-ed about the need for voter identification in California, where legal immigrants and illegal aliens are automatically registered to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles. In 2015, California passed a new Motor Voter Act to automatically register “eligible voters” when they obtain or renew their license at the DMV. The move was celebrated by ACORN’s spiritual successor, the ACCE Institute, and the National Council of La Raza. Most Americans saw the act for what it was, a scheme to snatch up the illicit and predictably Democratic vote of non-citizens, mostly Latinos, among whom Mexicans constitute the single largest group of foreign-born. After all, these non-citizens admit to finding registering to vote and casting ballots a breeze. Take for example “Angelo,” who registered to vote through a Pennsylvania DMV as a Democrat and cast his ballot from 2001 through 2014. But this is old news for some of us. In 2013, the National Hispanic Survey asked a sample of 800 likely Hispanic voters if they were American citizens. Thirteen percent admitted they were not. Still, the response to my column was like the response to every other column…

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The Origins of ‘Hate Speech’

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by Kim Holmes   Intolerance and illiberalism, nakedly defined as abstractions or principles, are seldom if ever outwardly embraced by progressives. None but the most extreme will argue that intolerance and censorship are good things in themselves. Normally the preferred course is more subtle. Instead of openly arresting people who say the wrong things, the new purveyors of intolerance try to sublimate their prohibitions on speech, expression, and thought into more popularly accepted channels. Something must be done to make these prohibitions more palatable, because there is still a great deal of respect in America for freedom of thought, speech, and expression. How to do that? The answer is quite simple: Change the subject. Shift the gaze away from the sanctity of speech to something more wholesome—to the feelings of minorities, for example, or to the supposed desire to live in more diverse communities. One of the most popular strategies is to carve out a special category of speech that, in theory at least, leaves the rest of free speech alone. If this can be done, speech can be regulated and criminalized without involving a direct assault on the First Amendment. A prime example of parsing good speech from bad…

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Facebook is in Talks to Buy a Large Cyber-security Company

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by Gavin Hanson   Sources inside Facebook say that the company is currently in acquisition talks with more than one major — but unnamed — cyber-security company, according to a report from The Information. Reporters spoke with four anonymous sources who refused to name specific companies but claimed that a deal could be struck as early as the end of 2018, The Information reported Sunday. Facebook reportedly has a team tasked with courting “several” major cyber-security firms companies to halt further data breaches and mitigate public scrutiny surrounding the company’s insecurity. Facebook’s security failings have not left the public eye since March 2017 reports broke that a data analysis firm, Cambridge Analytica, had been scraping data from millions of users illicitly. Just days after the scandal broke, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg took out ads in British and American newspapers declaring “We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t, we don’t deserve it.” Zuckerberg was brought before Congress and the nation to answer for the breach in April 2017 but the leaks were not totally plugged. Facebook released information on its largest breach on Oct. 12, 2018, a breach that involved involved spammers using bugs in Facebook’s software…

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Trump Notches a Big Win Against Russia After Merkel Folds on US Gas Imports

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by Chris White   German Chancellor Angela Merkel is offering government support for a for project that would supply Germany with U.S. natural gas — the move comes as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to loosen Russia’s hold on Europe’s energy markets. Merkel told lawmakers in early October that her government will co-finance the construction of a $576 million liquefied natural gas shipping terminal, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The project had failed for years to gain any traction in a country that receives the bulk of its gas from Russia. Trump has lobbied intensely for European countries — Germany in particular — to shift their energy imports from Russia to the U.S., if for no other reason than to diversify their energy markets. He told world leaders at a Group of 20 summit in 2017 that the U.S. wants to make it easier for companies to ship natural gas products to Eastern Europe. German and U.S. officials said Berlin is hoping that forging ahead on the project might help lessen the possibility of Washington leveling sanctions against Nord Stream 2, an unbuilt gas pipeline that would double Russia’s energy exports to Germany. Some U.S. officials believe the White House’s…

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Christian Leaders Release Video on Soros’s ‘Rented Evangelicals’

Jason M. Reynolds

The American Association of Evangelicals (AAE) is warning about progressive wolves in Christians’ clothing. The AAE on Monday released an explosive three-minute video, “Soros’s Rented Evangelicals” exploring the George Soros network’s funding of “evangelical mascots” and a “Rent-an-Evangelical” tactic to confuse and divide the Christian vote for the pro-faith, pro-life Republican party. Democrat ministers the Rev. Jim Wallis and allies are touring many states on “Vote Common Good” buses to “flip Congress” and “reclaiming Jesus” to split the evangelical vote before the mid-term elections. The AAE video features the newly released voice recording of Wallis of Sojourners as he publicly denied that he was a recipient of Soros funding. Soon after, grants disappeared, but journalists found hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from Soros’s Open Society Foundation to Sojourners. Wallis later replied, “I didn’t recall,” as he finally admitted the Soros connection. This is a very complex story, as leaked documents obtained by AAE confirm, with Investor’s Business Daily calling it a media blackout of Soros’ takeover of politics in America and Europe. Kelly Monroe Kullberg, a spokesperson for the AAE, said, “Americans hate manipulation. Most now realize that the demoralization of America is not inevitable, it is being…

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Keith Ellison Again Misleads on Louis Farrakhan Ties

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by Peter Hasson   Democratic Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison misled the public during the Minnesota attorney general debate Sunday about his ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a notorious racist and anti-Semite. Ellison, the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) denounced Farrakhan’s views and portrayed his ties to the minister as a relic of decades past, even though he continued to associate with Farrakhan years after entering Congress in 2006. Ellison explained that he thought Farrakhan had “something to offer” in the “early 1990s” because Farrakhan “was a person speaking to issues of African American civil rights.” (Farrakhan praised Hitler as a “very great man” in 1984.) “He made it very clear in the early 1990s that his views and mine were absolutely incompatible and I’ve been saying that ever since,” Ellison said, in response to an attack from Republican candidate Doug Wardlow. https://twitter.com/michael_ahrens/status/1054209155031072768 Ellison’s answer was misleading on multiple counts. First, depicting his ties to Farrakhan as limited to the “early 1990s” clashes with what his own past statements. Ellison in 2006 admitted to The Washington Post that he worked with the Nation of Islam for approximately 18 months ahead of Farrakhan’s October 1995 Million Man March.…

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Analysis: Trump’s Proposed 5 Percent Spending Cuts Would Pay for the Wall

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by Robert Romano   “I’d like you to come back with a 5 percent cut. Get rid of the fat. Get rid of the waste, and I’m sure you can do it.” That was President Donald Trump on Oct. 17 ordering his Cabinet secretaries to come up with plans to slash the federal budget. After a $779 billion deficit for Fiscal Year 2018 as the national debt has topped $21 trillion, something’s got to give. More than half of the increase in the deficit, $65 billion, came as 10-year treasuries interest rates have jumped from 2.2 percent in Sept. 2017 to about 3.2 percent today. In his prior budgets, Trump has called for $4.5 trillion of spending cuts, including repealing Obamacare. Now that the military and law enforcement were taken care of in the budget, with major spending increases, Trump said it would free up Congress to be more aggressive in cutting spending elsewhere. For this particular proposal, non-defense discretionary spending authority was about $572 billion for Fiscal Year 2018, according to the Office of Management and Budget. So, 5 percent off the top would amount to about $28 billion a year of cuts. Which raises the question, if the…

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Legal Immigrant Explains How to Enter America the Right Way and Says Illegals are a ‘Threat to National Security’

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by Nick Givas   A U.S. immigrant from Nicaragua explained how she legally came to the United States, on “Fox & Friends” Monday, and said those who are coming in illegally are a “threat to national security.” Amapola Hansberger referred to the caravan of migrants headed for the U.S. southern border as an “invasion and act of war” against America and said they constitute an “immediate threat.” Host Brian Kilmeade asked how Hansberger she was able to come to America legally and she said she simply followed the process. “I went to the embassy, filled out forms. [I] submitted myself to the vetting procession and waited patiently for the embassy to approve my coming,” she said. “That’s how people should do it.” Hansberger claimed there’s no way to keep track of those who come over the border illegally and said some of them could be radicalized terrorists who plan to harm American citizens. “They are a threat to our national security because today — war is not only countries that go to war, it is groups such as ISIS, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban,” she added. “And they have declared war openly against the United States. So with the open borders policies we’ve had, how…

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Nashville’s ‘La Raza Renata’ Endorses Phil Bredesen, Tweets in Spanish ‘Blackburn Me Da Heartburn’

Jason M. Reynolds

Renata Soto, the immediate past chairman of the George Soros-supported national group formerly known as La Raza and founder of Nashville’s Conexion Americas, has endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen for Senate, claiming in a Spanish language tweet that Republican nominee U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) gives her heartburn. https://twitter.com/RenataSotoTN/status/1052045499870732293?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Soto is the immediate past chairman of the board of the Trump-bashing group now known as UnidosUS (the new name adopted by the George Soros-funded National Council of LaRaza in July 2017), and founder and head of Conexion Americas, the Nashville affiliate of UnidosUS. She was one of the featured speakers at the February kickoff of the Transit for Nashville campaign to support the passage of the tax increasing transit plan on the May 1 referendum in Nashville, The Tennessee Star reported at the time. Soto is also the leader of the Nashville “Indivisible” anti-Trump campaign, and a close ally of disgraced former Nashville Mayor Megan Barry. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Karl Dean and former gubernatorial candidate Randy Boyd have been huge fans of Soto’s. The same day the U.S. Supreme Court confirmed President Trump’s executive authority to restrict entry into the U.S. from designated countries, “La Raza Randy” Boyd’s collaborator Soto rallied…

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Trump: US Will Now Begin Cutting Aid to Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador

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President Donald Trump says the U.S. “will now begin cutting off or substantially reducing” the amount of foreign aid given to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, saying they were “not able to do the job” of stopping migrants from leaving their countries and “coming illegally” to the U.S. His Twitter comments Monday came as a group of several thousand migrants, mostly from Honduras, spent Sunday night in the southern Mexican city of Tapachula as they continued their trek toward the United States and away from what they say is untenable violence and poverty at home. Trump said, “Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military thaI have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergency (sic). Must change laws! Two weeks ahead of nationwide congressional elections in the U.S., the U.S. leader, a Republican, laid the blame for the latest mass migration toward the southern U.S. border on opposition Democrats. “Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country…

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Commentary: Red State Dems’ ‘Moderate’ Claims Fall Flat Under Glare of Truth

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by Jeffrey A. Rendall   Here’s a bit of wisdom: a liar is a liar is a liar. It isn’t complicated; if there’s a Democrat running for senate from a red state chances are he or she claims they’re “my own person,” intends to “work with President Trump” on the issues of common interest (like what?) will defy the dictates of Senate Minority Leader “Chucky” Schumer and his merry band of socialist henchmen and last but not least plans to be an “independent voice” in the upper chamber representing the citizens of state X [insert any of the ten states that went for Trump in 2016 yet are weighing-in on Democrat senators in this year’s elections]. Pick a contest and the campaign narrative’s always the same regardless. No Democrat would ever hire me as a consultant but they’d save a ton of dough if they did – or maybe they should just read this column. The only problem (for them) is it’s all male bovine poop — all Democrat candidates utter the same things yet when the newly elected lawmakers head to Washington they revert back to the rubber-stamp big government political hacks they’ve always been. Take Alabama’s Doug Jones…

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Heitkamp Now Trails Cramer By 16 Points After Numerous Campaign ‘Missteps’

Anthony Gockowski

A new poll shows that Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) now has a staggering 16-point lead over incumbent Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) in North Dakota’s Senate race. According to a recent poll conducted by KVLY, KFYR, and Strategic Research Associates, Cramer leads Heitkamp 56 percent to 40 percent among likely voters. Of those voters, just 37 percent have a favorable opinion of the incumbent, compared to 53 percent who view the Republican favorably. The number of voters who view Heitkamp unfavorably has increased from 41 percent to 52 percent since September—before she voted against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. “Senator Heitkamp appears to have been hurt by her vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court as well as subsequent campaign missteps widely covered in the media,” Strategic Research Associates Partner James Henson commented. According to the poll, North Dakota voters ranked Kavanaugh’s nomination the fourth most important issue heading into the midterms. Among Heitkamp’s “missteps” was her recent outing of numerous sexual-assault victims without their consent in an open letter to her Republican opponent. Heitkamp published the letter in an effort to paint Cramer as unsympathetic to the concerns of 120 victims who signed the letter, though many…

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With Illegal Alien Army Nearing Border, Blackburn Says Tennesseans Want Border Secured

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) spoke Monday about the thousands of immigrants preparing to enter the country illegally. President Donald Trump alerted the military on Monday, as the army of migrants from Honduras crossed into Mexico, Breitbart said. “I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy [sic],” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Must change laws!”, Breitbart reported. Blackburn is running for the U.S. Senate against Democratic former Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen. Blackburn’s statement said: There is a right way and a wrong way to come into our country, and Tennesseans want to see our immigration laws enforced and our border secured. As our next Senator, that’s exactly what I will do. My opponent doesn’t even think that immigration is a ‘top ten’ issue.” “If Phil Bredesen had his way, he would be at the border, handing them all state-issued, taxpayer-funded drivers’ certificates. He probably thinks they ought to use those certificates to vote too. He opposes President Trump’s travel ban and thinks building the wall is ‘political theater.’ He is too liberal to protect Tennessee families and uphold the rule of law, and if he’s elected to the U.S. Senate, he’ll help bring sanctuary cities to…

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FOX News’ Brian Kilmeade Tells What Makes Tennessee Great During Nashville Stop

Chris Butler

NASHVILLE, Tennessee— The state of Texas, at least Texas we know it today, likely wouldn’t exist were it not for the state of Tennessee and some of the people it produced. The two states are inextricably linked to one another thanks to Tennessee resident Sam Houston, among others, FOX News host Brian Kilmeade told The Tennessee Star in an exclusive interview Sunday. History matters, and Tennessee has had a huge impact. “I don’t know what’s in the water over here, but America doesn’t look the same without Tennessee,” Kilmeade said, referring not just to Houston but also to former U.S. President Andrew Jackson. Kilmeade was at Nashville’s City Winery Sunday for two reasons. The first was to promote the paperback edition of his most recent book, Andrew Jackson & The Miracle of New Orleans, scheduled for release Tuesday. He also spoke to a crowd as part of his America: Great From The Start speaking tour. “I think Tennessee offers everything, and I think one of the most unique, underappreciated things from people on the outside is the great history that is on every block and every corner, not only in structures, but in the people,” Kilmeade said. Kilmeade wrote a…

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Dr. Carol Swain Commentary: The War Against Conservative Supreme Court Justices

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by Dr. Carol M. Swain   Supreme Court justices need secret service protection now more than ever. The Left would like to remove Justices Kavanaugh and Thomas.  Their goal is to gain control of the Court using any means necessary. On October 6, the day of the Senate vote to confirm Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Charlie Savage, writing for The New York Times, discussed liberal strategies for gaining control of the Court. Acknowledging that the Supreme Court would be controlled by a conservative majority for the foreseeable future, Savage reported, “Liberals have already started to attack the legitimacy of the majority bloc and discussed ways to eventually undo its power without waiting for one of its members to retire or die.” One idea is to regain control of the of the government in 2020 and have a liberal president increase the number of Supreme Court justices to create a liberal majority.  Another scheme is to find a means to “impeach, remove and replace Justice Kavanaugh,” as well as Justice Thomas.    Currently, there is a petition with over 47,000 signatures to impeach Thomas.  In the past, opportunities to fill Supreme Court seats depended on the death…

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Trump Is Cutting Regulations Between the West And its Water Supply

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by Tim Pearce   President Donald Trump signed a memorandum Friday ordering Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to cut regulations slowing water supply and hydroelectric projects. The Trump administration’s memo is aimed at speeding up environmental reviews and simplifying the approval process for building permits in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. “This will move things along at a record clip. And you’ll have a lot of water. I hope you’ll enjoy the water you’ll have,” Trump told lawmakers and others assembled at the signing ceremony in Arizona, Politico reports. The timing of Trump’s order might partly be aimed at helping Republicans in California and Washington compete in close races leading up to Nov. 6 midterms. Trump criticized California’s state water policies earlier in 2018 in a broader attack on California environmental laws. Trump and Zinke blamed California environmental policies for exacerbating wildfires that scorched the state at record levels during the 2017 and 2018 wildfire seasons. “For many years, westerners have expressed their need for certainty and access to water and affordable, renewable hydropower,” Utah GOP Rep. Rob Bishop, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, said in a statement. “This action will increase the availability of innovative technology, improve access to…

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Tax Increment Financing for Blighted Areas in Nashville on Temporary Hold

Chris Butler

Metro Nashville officials have imposed a moratorium on its Tax Increment Financing practices, which occur when government officials award special tax incentives to real estate developers to spruce up supposedly blighted parts of town. This practice goes on nationwide, as The Tennessee Star reported. Critics say TIF continues to benefit areas that no longer suffer from blight — with Nashville’s Gulch area as one example. For six months, and while the moratorium is in effect, a seven-member panel will study how Metro officials can use and implement TIF. Specifically, they will evaluate how to use TIF “in a more transparent, equitable, effective and understandable manner,” said Metro Council Member Bob Mendes, in an email to The Star. Two members of Nashville’s Metro Housing and Development Agency will appoint two of the panel’s seven members. Mayor David Briley will appoint two more. Members of the Metro Council, meanwhile, will appoint the remaining three, Mendes said. Members of the MDHA oversee TIF and select who gets it. “My intention was to have a mix of perspectives,” Mendes said. “So, for example, I would expect that the MDHA appointees would be involved in Tax Increment Financing decisions. The goal is to achieve balance…

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Expanding Medicaid Perilous for Tennessee, Think Tank Warns

Chris Butler

In a new op-ed, the Beacon Center of Tennessee, a Nashville-based free-market think tank, warned all Tennessee officials to resist temptations to expand Medicaid. Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, for instance, is one of many politicians who want to make it happen. Beacon Executive Vice President Stephanie Whitt, writing for KnoxNews.com, said there are several important matters to consider, not the least of which is the notion Tennessee gets free money. “This is not free money,” Whitt said. “Expansion would be paid for with new federal taxpayer dollars, borrowed from our children and grandchildren, that are not guaranteed in the future. This could potentially put our state at risk to either shell out additional state taxpayer dollars to cover the expanded population or go through the painful process of kicking hundreds of thousands of people off the program.” Medicaid is expensive, Whitt said. TennCare costs Tennesseans $12 billion, eating up nearly a third of the state’s $37.5 billion total budget, she said. “To put that in perspective, Tennessee is spending approximately $32.8 million per day on TennCare,” Whitt said. “It is simply unrealistic to think we can expand our TennCare population by a minimum of 250,000…

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Tickets Selling ‘Very, Very Quickly’ for $1.6 Billion Mega Millions

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The Mega Millions lottery may see a streak of jackpot rollovers end as it heads toward a record $1.6 billion drawing Tuesday. As more tickets sell, chances grow that at least one buyer will pick all six winning numbers. That would stop the streak of 25 rollovers, the most recent one Friday night. Based on sales projections, 75 percent of the 302 million possible combinations will be chosen for Tuesday’s drawing, up from 59.1 percent in Friday’s, said Carole Gentry, spokeswoman for Maryland Lottery and Gaming. “It’s possible that nobody wins again. But it’s hard to fathom,” Gentry said. No winner Friday About 280 million tickets sold in Friday’s drawing, none matching the winning mix of 7, 15, 23, 53, 65 and 70 to claim an estimated prize of $1 billion. Fifteen tickets matched five numbers for second-tier prizes of at least $1 million. The $1.6 billion estimated jackpot would be the largest prize in U.S. history. The second-largest jackpot was a $1.586 billion Powerball drawing on Jan. 13, 2016. Russ Lopez, a spokesman for the California Lottery, said tickets were going “very, very quickly” Saturday. First-time players Tonya Jimenez, assistant manager at Beavers Market in Fort Collins, Colorado, said…

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Alaska Governor Drops Re-Election Bid, Backs Democrat

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Alaska Governor Bill Walker, a political independent, halted his re-election campaign Friday and endorsed his Democratic challenger, ending a three-way race in which the Republican candidate had appeared to possess an insurmountable lead. With 18 days remaining before the Nov. 6 election, Walker, 67, said he concluded that he could not win a second term in a race against former U.S. Senator Mark Begich, a Democrat, and former state legislator Mike Dunleavy, a Republican. Walker’s withdrawal came three days after his former running mate, Byron Mallott, abruptly resigned as lieutenant governor over admitted but unspecified “inappropriate comments” in a scandal that threw the governor’s campaign into disarray. Republican well ahead in polls But public opinion surveys were already showing Dunleavy well ahead of the two other men and indicated Begich had greater support than the incumbent governor. Consulting for days on whether Walker or Begich had a better shot at running a competitive race against Dunleavy, the “determination was made that, at this point, Begich has the better odds,” the governor said in a statement posted on his campaign’s website. Walker also said Begich’s positions on various key issues “more closely align with my priorities for Alaska,” including their support…

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‘The Man in the High Castle’ and the History That Never Was… Yet

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by Luis Pablo De La Horra   The United States, 1962. It’s been 15 years since the Nazis dropped an atomic bomb on Washington D.C., forcing the US government to surrender to the Axis powers. The United States is now divided into two vast provinces, each of which is controlled by the two world-ruling empires: the Greater Nazi Reich and the Japanese Empire. This is the starting point of The Man in the High Castle, a TV series that just released its new season on Amazon Prime. Based on a novel by Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle places the viewer in a dystopian world where totalitarianism has replaced freedom and democracy all over the world. The story revolves around Juliana Crain, an American living in the Japanese Pacific States. Juliana gets involved with the Resistance (an underground movement that fights the Japanese and the Nazis alike) after the secret police kill Trudy, her only sister. Before dying, Trudy gives Juliana a mysterious film that contains a newsreel of the Allies winning the war, something that never happened in Juliana’s reality. After that, Juliana is dragged into a war that she didn’t want to fight; a war that leads her…

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The Tragic Decline of Music Literacy (and Quality)

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by Jon Henschen   Throughout grade school and high school, I was fortunate to participate in quality music programs. Our high school had a top Illinois state jazz band; I also participated in symphonic band, which gave me a greater appreciation for classical music. It wasn’t enough to just read music. You would need to sight read, meaning you are given a difficult composition to play cold, without any prior practice. Sight reading would quickly reveal how fine-tuned playing “chops” really were. In college, I continued in a jazz band and also took a music theory class. The experience gave me the ability to visualize music (If you play by ear only, you will never have that same depth of understanding music construct.) Both jazz and classical art forms require not only music literacy, but for the musician to be at the top of their game in technical proficiency, tonal quality, and creativity in the case of the jazz idiom. Jazz masters like John Coltrane would practice six to nine hours a day, often cutting his practice only because his inner lower lip would be bleeding from the friction caused by his mouthpiece against his gums and teeth. His ability to compose…

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March for Life Theme in 2019 is ‘Pro-Life is Pro-Science’

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by Troy Worden   The organization which holds “the largest pro-life event in the world” has formally announced the theme for its next march in 2019: “Unique from day one: Pro-life is pro-science.” This Thursday the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, a pro-life organization which aims to “end abortion by uniting, educating, and mobilizing pro-life people in the public square,” unveiled a new pro-science theme for its 46th annual March for Life. Join us at the #MarchforLife on January 18th 2019! The 2019 theme is: #UniqueFromDayOne: pro-life is pro-science. #whywemarch Full video: https://t.co/jdqw3P6Wnv pic.twitter.com/mq214YLDyc — March for Life (@March_for_Life) October 18, 2018 “Science is behind the pro-life movement,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the organization, said at the opening of the event, which was held at the Rayburn House Building on Capitol Hill. One hundred years ago, our understanding of embryonic development and fetal development was very different that what it is now. We owe so many advances to medicine and science and technology, and they all continue to reaffirm the scientific fact and the truth that life begins at fertilization/conception. “‘No good scientist worth their salt says that life doesn’t begin at conception,’ Mancini added, quoting what an…

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Taxpayers Spend $1.2 Million on Nashville Connector

Chris Butler

Metro Nashville officials want fewer automobiles clogging up the roads every morning and every evening, and they especially want fewer people driving to work solo. They will spend at least $1.2 million in taxpayer money to try to make that happen. Members of the Metro Planning Department this month launched what they call the Nashville Connector. They say the program will inform city residents about other transportation options — including carpooling, among other things. “Our initial focus is large employers in downtown Nashville,” said Nashville Connector spokesman Sean Braisted in an email to The Tennessee Star. Braisted did not say how many, if any, employers have already contacted Nashville Connector. He did say the project is in its launch phase and will have a commuter challenge Oct. 22-28. According to a press release, the challenge encourages people who work downtown to try at least one new type of commute option at least once that week. A $1.2 million Tennessee Department of Transportation grant funds the program, with the Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority providing an additional $293,560, according to the resolution calling for this Transportation Demand Management program. One alternative means of getting to work, according to a News Channel 5…

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National Federation of Independent Business Endorses Marsha Blackburn for Senate

Jason M. Reynolds

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) on Thursday endorsed U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) for the Senate, the latest of many notable endorsements she has received leading up to the Nov. 6 election. “Congressman Blackburn has been a dedicated supporter of Tennessee small businesses throughout her time in the United States House of Representatives,” said NFIB’s Tennessee State Director Jim Brown. “She has a true understanding of the issues that matter to our members, and we are confident that she will continue to support efforts to roll back onerous regulations and protect small business tax cuts. On behalf of small businesses in Tennessee, we are proud to endorse Congressman Marsha Blackburn for election to the U.S. Senate.” NFIB’s Political Director Sharon Sussin said, “Congressman Blackburn’s voting record speaks volumes of her support of small businesses in Tennessee and across the country. We are glad to endorse her today and we know that she will be a staunch supporter of small business issues in the U.S. Senate.” Speaking about the endorsement, Blackburn said, “National Federation of Independent Business is a strong voice for small businesses nationwide, committed to advocating for the best interests of business owners. Small business owners deserve…

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Victor David Hanson Commentary: Who and What Threaten the Constitution?

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by Victor Davis Hanson   Donald Trump on occasion can talk recklessly. He is certainly trying to “fundamentally transform” the United States in exactly the opposite direction from which Barack Obama promised to do the same sort of massive recalibration. According to polls (such as they are), half the country fears Trump. The media despises him. Yet Trump poses no threat to the U.S. Constitution. Those who since 2016 have tried to destroy his candidacy and then his presidency most certainly do. When, and if, we ever lose our freedoms, it will not likely be due to a boisterous Donald Trump, damning “fake news” at popular rallies, or even by being greeted with jarring “lock her up” chants—Trump, whom the popular culture loves to hate and whose every gesture and, indeed, every inch of his body, is now analyzed, critiqued, caricatured, and damned on the national news. In general, free societies more often become unfree with a whimper, not a bang—and usually due to self-righteous pious movements that always claim the higher moral ground, and justify their extreme means by their self-sacrificing struggle for supposedly noble ends of social justice, equality, and fairness. Media darlings, not media ogres, receive a…

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Homeschool Group Endorses Mark Green

Chris Butler

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association Action PAC has endorsed Mark Green for Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District. PAC Director Jeremiah Lorrig told The Tennessee Star Thursday that members of the group this year are only making endorsements in a few select races across the country. “Most of the races that we are endorsing in are very close races, but there are a few like Green who stand out, even in safe districts,” Lorrig said. “We wanted to recognize his support for homeschooling.” In the endorsement letter, Lorrig cites what he said were Green’s “pro-family positions,” and his “commitment to the rights of homeschoolers.” The HSLDA PAC represents more than two million homeschool students and their families, according to a press release. HSLDA Action PAC is the latest national grassroots group to back Green for Congress. The campaign recently announced endorsements from the National Federation for Independent Business, the National Rifle Association, and the National Right to Life. “I am honored to receive the HSLDA’s endorsement,” Green said in a statement. “I’m a firm believer in the rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children. I have consistently fought for 18 students and families in Tennessee, and it’s…

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Commentary: Our Modern World’s Inability to Understand Fairy Tales

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by Katrina Trinko   It’s not fair. This refrain—so quick to be invoked by young children, who seem to develop a thirst for justice very young indeed—may seem like a curious place to begin in defense of fairy tales. But let me explain. But to backtrack a little further first—well, the latest salvo against fairy tales comes from two Hollywood actresses, Kristen Bell (“Frozen,” “The Good Place”) and Keira Knightley (“Pirates of the Caribbean,” roughly 10,000 period dramas). "Don't you think that it's weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission?" – @IMKristenBell https://t.co/PaJySEzPry — Parents (@parents) October 15, 2018 Bell told Parents magazine that when she watches fairy tale movies with her young daughters, she make remarks such as, “Don’t you think that it’s weird that the prince kisses Snow White without her permission? Because you cannot kiss someone if they’re sleeping!” Knightley takes it one step further, telling talk show host Ellen DeGeneres she has banned her toddler daughter from watching films like “Little Mermaid” and “Cinderella.” Why? Well, on “Cinderella”: “Because, you know, she waits around for a rich guy to rescue her. Don’t! Rescue yourself, obviously.” And on “Little Mermaid”: “The songs are great,…

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Beto Campaign Sued for Allegedly Sending Unsolicited Text Messages

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By Molly Prince   A lawsuit was filed against Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s campaign Friday alleging the Texas senatorial hopeful sent constituents text messages despite not receiving permission to do so. Sameer Syeed, a resident of Collins County, filed the class action lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas Court, arguing the Beto for Texas campaign violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, reported The Star-Telegram. The lawsuit alleges that Syeed received numerous unsolicited text messages from Beto for Texas and was unable to stop the automated messages despite both replying to the messages and reaching out to the listed phone number, only to get an error message or dial tone, according to The Star-Telegram. The suit further insists the campaign pay at last $500 per text message to the lawsuit’s plaintiffs. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act bans the use of “automated telephone equipment to send texts or calls to a person’s cellphone without their permission except for emergency purposes,” according to The Star-Telegram. This is not the first time O’Rourke’s campaign has faced backlash for claims of inappropriate use of text messages. The campaign came under fire in September for allegedly sending a text message to voters asking for “volunteers to help transport…

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SCOTUS Puts the Brakes on Kids’ Climate Lawsuit Against the Government

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by Chris White   Supreme Court Justice John Roberts granted the Trump administration a stay Friday night in a climate lawsuit several young people leveled against the government. The Trump administration repeatedly asked both the SCOTUS and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to stop the trial through a writ of mandamus, a rarely used judicial tool allowing a higher court to overrule a lower court before a verdict is made. Roberts granted mandamus after the 9th Circuit twice turned down the writ. The 21 plaintiffs, all between the ages of 11 and 22, are arguing that federal officials violated their due process rights by allowing the fossil fuel industry to release greenhouse gas emissions, despite knowing for years that such emissions can cause climate change. The plaintiffs are seeking a court order requiring the federal government to implement an “enforceable national remedial plan” phasing out carbon emissions in an effort to stabilize the climate and protect the environment. Their case — Juliana v. United States — has survived several attempts by the government to torpedo the case after it was originally filed in 2015. Attorneys for the defendants said they believe the case will eventually move forward. “We are confident once Chief Justice Roberts and the full…

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Trump Says US Will Pull Out of Intermediate Range Nuke Pact with Russia

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Donald Trump

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he would pull the United States from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty because Russia had violated the agreement, but he provided no details of the violations. The 1987 pact, which helps protect the security of the U.S. and its allies in Europe and the Far East, prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing, producing ortest-flying a ground-launched cruise missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. “Russia has violated the agreement.They have been violating it for many years,”Trump said after a rally in Elko, Nevada. “And we’re not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we’re not allowed to.” The agreement has constrained theU.S. from developing new weapons, but America will begin developing them unless Russia and China agree not to possess or develop the weapons, Trump said. China is not currently party to the pact. “We’ll have to develop those weapons, unless Russia comes to us and China comes to us and they all come to usand say let’s really get smart and let’s none of us develop those weapons, but if Russia’s doing it and if China’s doing it, and we’re adhering…

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Fire Chief Who Was Fired for Marriage Views Wins Major First Amendment Victory

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by Monica Burke   In a major victory for free speech, the city of Atlanta has awarded former Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran with $1.2 million after violating his First Amendment rights.Cochran was a highly decorated firefighter who served as the U.S. fire administrator after President Barack Obama hand-picked him for the job. In 2010, he agreed to return to his former position as fire chief of Atlanta at the invitation of Mayor Kasim Reed.In 2012, he received the “Fire Chief of the Year” award for “pioneering efforts to improve performance and service within the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.” But his career came to an abrupt halt in 2015 when Reed suspended him without pay for 30 days and ultimately fired him. The reason? Cochran’s beliefs about marriage. Cochran had written and self-published a 162-page Christian devotional—on his own time—that included a few paragraphs on the biblical view on sex and marriage. He shared the book with a few colleagues, which was when activists complained. The mayor then construed Cochran’s belief that marriage is between one man and one woman as discriminatory and ordered him to attend “sensitivity training.” The mayor also launched an investigation into whether Cochran had ever discriminated…

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How a Professor Who Lost His Job for Being Conservative Fought Back and Won

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by Troy Worden   A longtime conservative professor on a liberal college campus didn’t expect to face harassment claims, lose his job over his political beliefs, and then win a $120,000 settlement. Mark McIntire, 74, taught philosophy as an adjunct professor at Santa Barbara City College in California for 23 years. An old friend of Charlton Heston, the late actor and National Rifle Association president, McIntire is no stranger to controversy. In an email to The Daily Signal, he recalled being elected to the national Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors in 1983 and leading a “successful … coup d’etat against [then-Guild] President Ed Asner to the outrage of Hollywood liberal-progressives.” But until the election of President Donald Trump, McIntire, a faculty member in Santa Barbara City College ’s philosophy department since 1996, says he was just the school’s “token” conservative. “For 22 years … it was a standing joke that we had one person on campus willing to speak his mind and contradict the reigning campus orthodoxy,” McIntire told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “In 2016, in the run-up to the election, every single campus lecture I attended … turned into a Hillary Clinton pep rally and a…

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MTSU to Host Speaker Who Will Blast ‘The Radical Right’

Chris Butler

On Monday, Middle Tennessee State University will host an author who will warn faculty and students alike about what she calls “the radical right.” Nancy MacLean, author of Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America is scheduled to speak. MacLean’s book concerns the work and legacy of MTSU graduate and Nobel laureate in economics James M. Buchanan. Her book also explores the network of Koch Brothers’ centers and institutes. As reported, members of the Charles Koch Foundation recently gave $3.5 million to establish the Political Economy Research Institute to honor Buchanan. When asked about MacLean’s book, PERI Director Dan Smith said nothing in his personal experience “supports the veracity of her narrative.” “Many other scholars familiar with public choice and James M. Buchanan were similarly surprised. This spurned further investigation into her allegations and her narrative,” Smith told The Tennessee Star. “It didn’t take long for scholars to find that her narrative is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of public choice economics as well as Buchanan’s research. Reviewers have already found several inconsistencies and errors.” Smith also said the book doesn’t meet the standards of academic scholarship as it didn’t go through a formal peer review…

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Senator Lindsey Graham to Stump for Candidates in 12 States, Including Tennessee

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) will kick off a 12-day campaign tour to support expanding Republican majorities in the 2018 midterm elections. The Republican National Committee made the announcement Thursday. The message Graham will take across the country is clear: Remember Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said, “President Trump has enlisted Senator Graham, a key ally in confirming Justice Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, to go on the road for Republican candidates. Voters are fired up about the disgraceful confirmation process and the Democrats’ disturbing mob attacks. Senator Graham will rally Americans across the country to take that energy to the polls and reject the Schumer Sham and liberal mob.” The left smeared the newest Supreme Court justice in a shameless series of dishonest attacks on his character. Graham stands a good chance of delivering a timely message. The Tennessee Star recently carried a commentary by Julie Kelly, a senior contributor to American Greatness, that Democrats have risked losing suburban women over the opportunistic attacks on Kavanaugh and his family. Graham will campaign to boost Republican candidates in the following states: Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina and Tennessee. Graham’s appearance…

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Senate Candidate Marsha Blackburn Gets ‘True Reformer’ Award From National Immigration Watchdog Group

Anna Marie Bolton

NumbersUSA, an Arlington, Virginia based non-profit group that advocates for lower immigration numbers across the board, including restricting legal immigration, tracks and grades members of Congress and US Senators on their voting record on this issue of great concern to Americans. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), who has served in the House of Representatives since 2013 and is now a candidate for the US Senate, has received a lifetime grade of A+ and has been designated a “True Reformer” by the one-million member organization. Since entering Congress 15 years ago, and even before immigration became a kitchen table issue for most Americans, her votes and public statements were in line with NumbersUSA positions. NumbersUSA describes its “True Reformers” designation this way: A “True Reformer” is a candidate who PROMISES to support all or nearly all of NumbersUSA’s top immigration priorities. In most instances, “True Reformers” have completed our Immigration-Reduction Survey, but there are a few incumbents who have also earned the “True Reformer” label through their actions in Congress, most notably by sponsoring all five of our “5 Great Immigration-Reduction Bills.” She has consistently voted to reduce chain migration and refugee fraud. She has voted to end anchor baby citizenship, a major…

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Tennessee Star Report Exclusive Interview with Legendary Pollster and Political Commentator Pat Cadell

Julie Carr

On Friday’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 – the gentlemen chatted with the King of Polls and Political Commentator, Pat Caddell, about what he thinks of the country at present time, Trump’s strong message regarding mob rule and chaos, and the Democrats handling of the Kavanaugh debacle.  The discussion continued on about how these issues would resonate with voters in the upcoming Midterms. Leahy: Eighteen days till the midterms, Pat, what do you make of what’s going on with the country right now? Caddell: Well I think that the, what’s happening now, I tuned into [MSNBC’s] Morning Joe this morning and they’re in hysterics.  A political piece, apparently, this morning that there is a good chance that the Republicans will not only win the Senate but hold the House.   And I think that may be a little premature, but I think that the numbers are moving in the way of the Republicans and the reason is, is because you have to give it to President Trump – he is laying out a message that is very strong,…

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Commentary: The Most Important Election You Never Heard Of

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by George Rasley   In a year with many important offices on the ballot – including control of the United States Senate and House of Representatives – there is one very important office that is on the ballot that is getting almost no attention: Secretary of State for the State of Ohio. No Republican has ever won the presidency without Ohio, and our old friend conservative Ohio state Senator Frank LaRose is the Republican candidate for this important office, which oversees business registrations, voter registration and election integrity for the Buckeye State. LaRose is a principled conservative, not a hidebound partisan; he has a 100 percent Pro-Life voting record and has always fought to protect the life of the unborn, but he drew heat from the Republican establishment, including then-Speaker of the House John Boehner, for supporting anti-gerrymandering legislation and joining with a bipartisan group of 30-something legislators to form the “Ohio Future Caucus.” At 39, LaRose has an impressive record of public service. An Eagle Scout, he was inspired, he told the Columbus Dispatch, by his childhood Boy Scout leader, a World War II veteran, to enlist in the U.S. Army straight out of Copley High School. He served…

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Commentary: Florida GOP Candidates Surging: Keep the Pedal to the Metal

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Ron Desantis, Andrew Gillum, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders

by CHQ Staff   As we’ve said in the past, the Florida gubernatorial race is the most important campaign for governor in 2018. And we’ve been concerned about the top of the GOP ticket in Florida, as both Republican candidate for governor Congressman Ron DeSantis and Senate candidate Governor Rick Scott were behind in the polls and seemed stuck in small ball campaigns. But things in Florida are turning around and both the DeSantis and Scott campaigns have shown incredible energy in the wake of Hurricane Michael. First, Senate candidate Governor Rick Scott has been extremely effective in marshaling the state’s resources to provide disaster assistance to the hurricane-affected counties. And, while competence by itself rarely wins you many votes, his campaign has also been relentlessly hammering Democrat Bill Nelson for his ineffectiveness in the Senate – the contrast, even if unintended, could not be starker. Nelson, just yesterday said, I “have done everything I can do,” while Governor Scott works day and night to get help the Florida Panhandle back on its feet. Throwing his hands up in the face of disaster tells Florida voters everything they need to know about Senator Bill Nelson. In the governor’s race, Congressman…

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Greta Van Susteren Interviews Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Discuss, China in Panama, Maduro’s Future in Venezuela, and The Caravan

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by Greta Van Susteren   VOA contributor Greta Van Susteren interviewed U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Friday in Mexico City, where Pompeo is traveling. Greta Van Susteren: “Mr. Secretary, nice to see you sir.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: “Greta, it’s great to be with you.” Q: “This is your second trip to Mexico but why are you here now in Mexico?” Pompeo: “So as the new government makes this transition, beginning on December 1st, we’re working diligent to make sure we have a solid foreign policy relationship with them so we’re certainly are working with the existing government, I’ll see President (Enrique) Peña Nieto in just a few minutes — was with Foreign Secretary (Luis) Videgaray (Caso) this morning. But also working with my new counterpart, Marcelo Ebrard, to make sure that the united states and Mexico coordinated across a broader aware of issues, security, trade and of course migration as well.” Q: “The United States just negotiated a new deal with Mexico and Canada. Let me turn to the issue of the migration, that caravan that is coming up from Guatemala heading to Mexico and then presumably, maybe some place else, maybe the United States. What’s Mexico…

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