Day: November 14, 2018

State Rep.- Elect London Lamar Says She Spoke on Behalf of Constituents In Controversial Video Where She Said ‘Tennessee Is Racist. Period’

Chris Butler

Newly-elected Tennessee State Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, said she merely summed up the thoughts and feelings of her constituents when she scolded white Tennessee Republicans as supposedly racist and uneducated. As The Tennessee Star reported, Lamar livestreamed her remarks during a 15-minute Facebook video last week. She removed the video from Facebook a few days later after it got attention she apparently didn’t want. The Star broke this story past weekend. The story has since gone viral worldwide, with Newsweek citing The Star’s work. FOX News, The British Daily Mail, CBS News, and The Washington Post, among many others, also did their own follow-ups. On Tuesday, Lamar took to her personal and professional Facebook pages to address The Star’s articles concerning her. “What was called a rant is actually a statistical analysis of the midterm elections based on my numerous years of political experience. After a review of the numbers after the midterm election, I felt the need to record a Facebook live video to discuss the numbers from both Tennessee and nationwide,” Lamar said. “My comments did not intend to make a generalization about every white person who voted Republican. The truth about a large number of those who…

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Former State Representative Charles Sargent Has Died

Chris Butler

Former Tennessee State Rep. Charles Sargent (R-Franklin) has passed away, according to the office of State Rep. Brandon Ogles, the Republican who replaced him. Diane Giddens, spokeswoman for Williamson County Mayor Rogers Anderson, also confirmed Sargent’s death Tuesday. As The Tennessee Star reported last fall, Sargent announced he would not seek re-election in 2018, after two decades of service. According to The Tennessean, Sargent announced last year he had skin cancer. Tributes begin pouring in as soon as word spread about Sargent’s passing. In an emailed statement, Republican U.S. Senator-elect Marsha Blackburn said Sargent and his wife Nancy were “such faithful public servants, committed to the growth and development of Williamson County and creating a stellar quality of life for those who, like them, chose to make it their home,” Blackburn said. “We worked together for decades through political endeavors to achieve this goal. His positive impact on our county and state will be felt for decades to come. I will miss him. My thoughts and prayers are with Nancy, their family and his friends.” Meanwhile, on his Facebook page, State Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, said Sargent “ had a brilliant mind.” “The state of TN will miss him,” Faison…

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Tennessee Star Report Exclusive: Kevin Sorbo, Actor, Writer, Director and Producer Talks Christian Movies and Today’s Politics

Julie Carr

On Tuesday’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 – Gill and Leahy talked with Actor, Director, Producer, Kevin Sorbo about his new movie, crybaby leftists, and being a Christian in Hollywood. Gill: Kevin Sorbo is a actor, an activist, a father, a husband and is one of those whose helped lead the resurgence of the quality of Christian films in this country that you’re seeing do better at the box office and as everything in Hollywood, if somebody does a movie about a you know, a particular topic and it does well then you’re going to get twenty movies on that same topic.  You’re starting to see more of the Christian movies,  you’re also seeing more of the quote “quasi Christian movies” as Hollywood not wanting to go all in with a true Christian message but wanting to get those Christian dollars at the box office.  And Kevin Sorbo with a whole host of these great movies.  They knocked him off in that first, in the series about the atheist professor challenging the student, “Let There Be Light” his…

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Amazon’s $100 Million-Plus Tennessee Tax Incentives Deal ‘Unfair and Immoral,’ Beacon Center Says

Jason M. Reynolds

The State of Tennessee’s and Metro Nashville’s $102 million taxpayer gift to Amazon is not a Prime deal, a public watchdog organization says. Amazon turned down Nashville for its coveted two new headquarters sites, called HQ2, but Nashville landed a $230 million operations center near downtown in the future Nashville Yards. For more on Amazon’s Nashville announcement, see this story in The Tennessee Star. Mark Cunningham, vice president of communications and outreach at the Beacon Center of Tennessee, criticized the deal. The center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing empirical research and free market solutions for Tennesseans. Cunningham said, “Nashville was passed over for Amazon’s second (and third) headquarters, yet city and state officials still got scammed into giving the company more than $100 million in taxpayer giveaways for a consolation prize, which includes $80 million in cash handouts. Amazon, one of the world’s most valuable companies, and the government played taxpayers with this incentive deal, and it is time for us to speak up against this type of corporate welfare. While we welcome new businesses and the jobs they create to our state, forcing middle-class Tennesseans and small businesses to give their hard-earned dollars to a multi-billion dollar business is both unfair and immoral.” Rick Manning,…

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Audit: Perry County Rescue Squad May Have Misspent $60,000

Chris Butler

The director of the Perry County Rescue Squad may have received more than $60,000 in pay to which he wasn’t entitled, according to a new audit from the Tennessee Comptrollers’ Office. According to the audit, the director, whose named Comptrollers did not mention, got a lot more than his regular 40 hour per week salary. No one at the Perry County Mayor’s Office respond to The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment. Comptrollers, however, had plenty to say in their report. “Although the Perry County Commission authorized the director to collect payment for any hours over 40 that he worked, records were insufficient to determine if he worked all of the hours he reported, and the director’s hours were not reviewed or approved by the county mayor prior to payment,” according to the audit. The director collected this extra money between 2015 and 2017. During this time, he said he worked on average an additional 53.2 hours per week for total payments of $30,475.75, the audit said. The 40-hours per week for his salaried position and the average of 53.2 hours per week of additional time, auditors wrote, equaled more than two full-time jobs — or 93.2 hours. “Investigators were…

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Commentary: The Art of the Veto

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by Robert Romano   By last count, Republicans lost at least 32 seats in the House in the midterm elections, and U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is once again poised to be elected House Speaker. This means all legislation will now have to be worked out between a Democratic House and a Republican Senate led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). To navigate these new waters in 2019, President Donald Trump has signaled a willingness to negotiate but he must remember that his greatest leverage could come in the House minority if he wishes to plot a more conservative path. Certainly there will be last-minute attempts in the lame duck session to get things done with Republican majorities, which may or may not work. Time is not a luxury. Democrats will believe they can get a better deal in January and will block legislation in the Senate. It’s up to Trump to convince them otherwise. Looking forward, then, with at least 199 members in the House, Trump and the GOP should have enough votes to sustain any presidential vetoes if they play their cards right. All Trump needs are 145 members who are willing to stand with the President.…

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Commentary: Antifa Mobs Show How Idealism Can Lead to Evil

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by Barry Brownstein   History is clear: When the ordinary restraints of civil society no longer apply, there is no forecasting who will be caught in the resulting web of hatred. The mob broke Carlson’s front door. A video captured one protester saying she wished she had a pipe bomb. Most consider Carlson a mainstream conservative commentator, but Antifa mobs see no room for any views other than their own. Although police arrived, they made no arrests while promising an investigation. “Tactically unwise” were the words Matthew Yglesias used to describe the protest. Yglesias, the co-founder of Vox, added, “I honestly cannot empathize with Tucker Carlson’s wife at all…I am utterly unable to identify with her plight on any level.” In other words, if you don’t agree with Yglesias, you get what you deserve when a vigilante mob arrives. https://youtu.be/TUCOh6kwAuY CNN Host Justifies Mob Violence This past summer, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo provided a moral justification for mobs like the one outside Carlson’s home. “People who show up to fight against bigots are not to be judged the same as the bigots, even if they do resort to the same petty violence,” Cuomo said. He argued: “When someone comes to…

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Avenatti May Sue Tucker Carlson for Defending His Own Daughter

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by Jessica Kramer   “Creepy Porn Lawyer” Michael Avenatti is representing a person trying to sue Fox News Anchor Tucker Carlson over a restaurant incident a month ago when Carlson’s daughter was allegedly harassed by Aventatti’s client Juan Granados. Carlson claims his daughter was called a “whore” and a “c*nt” by Avenatti’s client, who is a gay Latino and a LGBTQ activist. Avenatti is claiming Carlson attacked the man and told him to “go back where he came from.” The country club has revoked Granados’s membership. DCNF reporters comment on whether or not Carlson’s reaction and defense of his daughter was justified. [ RELATED: MAGA Hats Vs. Swastikas: Which Is Worse? We Asked And They Compared Trump To Hitler ] – – – Jessica Kramer is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. Follow Jessica on Twitter               Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact [email protected].

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Incoming House Members Prep for Dos and Don’ts on The Hill

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  Don’t hire someone you can’t fire, like the son of a campaign donor or the child of the mayor. No matter what you may have said during the campaign about changing Congress, hire enough Hill veterans to make the office run smoothly. And make sure the person answering the phone sounds like folks from back home. That’s only some of the advice headed for the historic class of House freshmen of both major political parties streaming into Washington this week for orientation on the nuts and bolts underpinning a job like none other. Under tight security, new members and their staffs pulled up in front of a hotel near the Capitol on Tuesday. A bank of cameras and a table marked ‘luggage drop-off” awaited their arrivals in the morning chill. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on,” said Rep.-elect Tim Burchett, Republican-Tennessee, a former member of the state legislature. “I figure that we’re the small fish in a very big pond right now.” They are a younger generation of lawmakers — including a record number of women — arriving flush with victory and optimism. The Democrats are ready to take on President Donald Trump in the biggest…

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Another Justice Resigns From Scandal-Plagued West Virginia Supreme Court

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West Virginia Supreme Court

by Kevin Daley   Justice Allen Loughry announced the resignation of his seat on the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals this weekend, after a jury found him guilty of 11 corruption counts on Oct. 12. Loughry is the third justice to leave the high court in disgrace since July. “I hereby resign my position as a Justice on the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia at the close of business on November 12, 2018,” Loughry’s terse letter to GOP Gov. Jim Justice reads. The governor will appoint a new justice to Loughry’s seat, who will serve until May 2020, according to Charleston Gazette-Mail. A grand jury indicted Loughry for mail fraud, wire fraud, lying to investigators and witness tampering on June 18. According to the wide-ranging allegations, the justice used state resources for personal purposes, profiteered off the public purse, removed antique furniture from state offices to his home, lied to federal investigators, and attempted to influence the testimony of other witnesses. He was suspended from the high court shortly thereafter, though he still officially retained his status as a state Supreme Court justice. After Loughry’s indictment, Justice Menis Ketchum resigned on July 27. He has since pleaded guilty in federal…

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Ocasio-Cortez, Activists Occupy Nancy Pelosi’s Office And Demand A Green New Deal

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by Michael Bastash   A group of young environmental activists occupied House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s office with a list of demands, including one that Democrats support what they’re calling a “Green New Deal.” Activists began their “sit in” at Pelosi’s Capitol Hill office on Tuesday morning, wearing matching t-shirts and holding yellow signs with slogans such as, “We have twelve years. What’s your plan?” The sit in is part of the Sunrise Movement’s plan to create an “army of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs,” according to the group’s Twitter bio. The group is demanding Democrats back their petition to rapidly “green” the economy to fight global warming. BREAKING: we’ve begun a sit in inside @NancyPelosi’s office because @HouseDemocrats have failed our generation time and time again. They offer us a death sentence. We demand a #GreenNewDeal. https://t.co/uSgzfQmLQu pic.twitter.com/eVM92i5hub — Sunrise Movement 🌅 (@sunrisemvmt) November 13, 2018 “How is @NancyPelosi going to respond to the young people occupying her office for a #GreenNewDeal right now?” Sunrise Movement tweeted on Tuesday. This summer, a GOP candidate called 18-year-old Rose #youngandnaive for demanding he refuse fossil fuel money. How is @NancyPelosi going to respond to…

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Trump’s Security Chief Bolton Vows to Squeeze Iran

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  President Donald Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton vowed Tuesday to “squeeze” Iran “until the pips squeak,” a week after a tough new round of sanctions came into force. Trump has dramatically increased pressure on Tehran, withdrawing from an international agreement aimed at ending its nuclear program and introducing several rounds of unilateral U.S. sanctions. The latest tranche of measures have been touted as the toughest yet, and aim to significantly reduce Iran’s vital oil exports and cut off its banks from international finance. Speaking in Singapore, Bolton said: “We think the government is under real pressure and it’s our intention to squeeze them very hard.” “As the British say, squeeze them until the pips squeak….We are also going to significantly increase the enforcement of sanctions,” Bolton said. The United States has repeatedly said that humanitarian needs, food and medicine are exempt from the sanctions and the Iranian people are not the targets. But Iran says the sanctions are inhumane and go against international law. The sanctions on banks have meant that few if any international lenders are ready to facilitate transactions for fear of upsetting the United States, even for humanitarian purposes such as medical supplies. Coupled with…

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Governor-Elect Bill Lee Launches New Website To Stay Connected With Tennesseans During Transition

Laura Baigert

The day after he was elected as the 50th Governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee announced the launch of a new transition website. The website, transition.billlee.com, “seeks to engage Tennesseans to help share ideas to help take our state from good to great,” alluding to the 2001 management book. Lee referenced the book as he made his final campaign stops on the Believe in Tennessee Tour. Lee elaborated during his Believe in Tennessee tour that good can be the enemy of great by inhibiting the ability to move to the next level. Lee would say, “Tennessee should not just be better, but should lead the nation and show how to address the serious problems.” Lee encourages sharing of ideas to “unleash the extraordinary problem-solving potential of Tennessee,” on the website’s landing page where Tennesseans have the opportunity to express “Your Ideas for Your Government.”  No doubt, Lee heard lots of ideas as he visited each of the 95 counties on several occasions over the course of the gubernatorial campaign via his and Maria’s used RV, not to mention the tractor tour. Following an introduction to the Governor-Elect, the website features an overview of Lee’s priorities. The list includes topics familiar to…

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Tennessee Lures Amazon to Nashville With $102 Million In Taxpayer-Funded Incentives

Laura Baigert

Nashville won’t be getting Amazon’s new HQ2, but in a surprise announcement Tuesday the city will get Amazon’s new Operations Center of Excellence in exchange for $102 million in taxpayer-funded performance-based incentives. A press conference held at the State Capital with outgoing Governor Bill Haslam, Economic Community Development (ECD) Commissioner Bob Rolfe, and Nashville Mayor David Briley appeared with Amazon’s Holly Sullivan to make the announcement. While Nashville was considered to be in the hunt as one of the top 20 for Amazon’s HQ2, that distinction was awarded to New York and Virginia. Being a finalist “opened the opportunity for Nashville to be chosen for this significant operation,” according to Ralph Schulz, President and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce. The new operation promises 5,000 new jobs with average salaries of $150,000 per year, Haslam said during the press conference. While Amazon’s investment to establish the operation is sited as $230 million, the announcement didn’t address the $102 million in incentives as the trade-off. Incentives from the State include a $65 million grant for capital expenses and allows Amazon seven years to create the 5,000 jobs. A tax credit from the State of Tennessee worth $21.7 million is…

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