Month: November 2018

Commentary: There Was No Suburban Female GOP Problem in the 2018 Midterms

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by Robert Romano   One conventional wisdom headed into the 2018 midterms was that Republicans would have a very poor night and lose races they might otherwise win because females, specifically suburban Republican females, were abandoning President Donald Trump and down ballot candidates. There was only one problem. On election night, it didn’t actually happen. In states that are evenly divided, like Florida or Iowa, Republicans did about as well as Trump did in 2016. According to 2016 CNN exit polls in Florida, Trump garnered 52 percent of men and 46 percent of women. In a Nov. 2 St. Pete Polls survey that correctly predicted the outcome, Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL), running for Senate against Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), did comparably well along gender lines. Scott got 53 percent of men and 46 percent of women. Almost exactly the same. In the same poll, DeSantis — who over performed the poll’s result when voting actually happened — garnered 49 percent of men and 44 percent of women. If there was some exodus of suburban Republican women from the GOP, it should have proven fatal to Scott and DeSantis in Florida, a state that could not be more closely divided politically.…

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Commentary: The Anti-Antifa Way to Win Hearts, Quell Arguments

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by Joe Long   If logical argument is the Right’s “Maginot Line,” a defense against attacks from other directions entirely; if winning rational arguments doesn’t actually help much in our Society of Feelz, then how do we counterattack the Left in ways that matter? What can an individual do to check this so-called progress and even roll it back? The answer does not lie in reflecting the tactics of riot and harassment advocated on the Left, and certainly not in fulfilling Leftist caricatures of our side. You don’t need “The Anarchists’ Cookbook,” and your familiarity with Alinsky—though necessary—is necessary solely for “Defense Against The Dark Arts,” not emulation. We’re not doing open social sabotage, but surreptitious social repairs. Here are some suggestions for effectively winning hearts instead of arguments. Take someone to a gun range. Introduce a person who has never fired a weapon to the pure pleasure of safely poking holes in a paper target. Let him feel the recoil and smell the powder. Odds are, he won’t leave with PTSD. Every gun-range target proudly displayed on a new shooter’s fridge, or his Facebook wall, is worth a thousand well-ordered Second Amendment arguments. Request a book at your library.…

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A Mob Showed Up Outside Tucker Carlson’s House and Ordered Him to Leave Town

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by Peter Hasson   A left-wing mob showed up outside Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s house Wednesday evening, posted pictures of his address online and demanded that he flee the city of Washington, D.C. Carlson, a co-founder of The Daily Caller and host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” was at the Fox News studio when the angry crowd showed up outside of his house. At least one of the protesters went all the way up to Carlson’s front door, where they left a sign with his family’s home address written on it and rang his doorbell. https://twitter.com/ProducerKen/status/1060352617803665409 Video the group, “Smash Racism DC,” posted to Twitter shows one of the mob’s ringleaders leading the crowd in chants of “racist scumbag, leave town!” and “Tucker Carlson, we will fight! We know where you sleep at night!” “No borders! No walls! No USA at all!” the protesters chanted in another video posted to Twitter. The group posted a picture of the sign with the Carlson family’s address on it to Twitter. “Tucker Carlson, you cannot hide from the people you hurt with your rhetoric, your lies, and your hate,” the group wrote on Twitter, adding the hashtag “#KnockKnockTucker.” Twitter removed the videos and…

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Nashville Police Fear Loss of Rights Under New Civilian Oversight Board

Chris Butler

In a referendum Tuesday, Nashville voters approved a civilian oversight board over police. One day after the vote, Nashville Fraternal Order of Police President James Smallwood said in an emailed statement it’s important this coming board not exclude the perspectives of law enforcement officers. “Although the FOP still believes that an expensive oversight board is an unnecessary redundancy that we simply cannot afford – we intend to work with the administration as it seeks to implement the amendment in the coming months,” Smallwood said. “While it is our intention to respect the rule of law and work with the administration as they implement this new legislation, we fully intend to stand alongside our members and ensure that their rights are preserved. They deserve nothing less.” City officials will create the board. As reported, FOP members previously said they have serious constitutional concerns over it. They said the $10 million plan is “constitutionally questionable,” doesn’t address due process, and is not set up for fact finding. They’ve even said the board is “set up for some means of retaliation and retribution for a problem that doesn’t exist.” “We fully intend to stand alongside our members and ensure that their rights are…

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Trump Forces Out Attorney General Jeff Sessions

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Trumo FBI with Docs

by Maswood Farivar   President Donald Trump forced his controversial Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign on Wednesday, setting the stage for a potential showdown with newly energized Congressional Democrats over the investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election. Sessions, in a letter to Trump, wrote that he was resigning at “your request,” accepting a fait accompli he’d long sought to avert despite being repeatedly chastised and publicly belittled by Trump over his recusal from oversight of the Russia probe. In a pair of tweets announcing Sessions’ resignation Wednesday afternoon, Trump thanked the attorney general for his service and said Matt Whitaker, Sessions’ chief of staff and vocal critic of the Russia investigation, would take over as acting attorney general. A permanent replacement would be announced later, Trump said, without indicating whether he’d tap Whitaker for the top job at Justice send his name to the Senate. The forced departure of Sessions, a 71-year-old former Republican Senator and early supporter of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, capped a turbulent tenure that hit a rough patch just weeks after Sessions took office in February 2017 and recused himself because of conflicts of interest. Trump blamed the recusal for the appointment…

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New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu Among Lone Republicans Left Standing

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The blue wave made its way through New Hampshire Tuesday night when both U.S. House seats went to Democrats as well as both houses of the state legislature. Neither of the state’s U.S. senators, both Democrats, were up for reelection this year. The results left incumbent Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH) among the only victorious Republicans of the night in the state, beating his opponent Democrat Molly Kelly 53 percent to 46 percent. “The next two years are going to be a little bit different, but that’s OK. That’s New Hampshire. Anybody who has ideas is invited to the table,” he said in his victory speech. Sununu will also be up for reelection in 2020, since governors are elected every two years in New Hampshire. Local conservatives blamed nobody but the state GOP for the bad results. The local website GraniteGrok wrote: If the NH Republican Party wants to win, and win Consistently, act like you believe in the Platform.  Speak like you do and at each and every turn.  Vote like you do at each and every opportunity.  And Legislate like there’s no tomorrow because two days ago was that “no more tomorrow” – and you blew it. Creating additional trouble for Sununu is the state’s Executive Council, a political body…

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OFF THE RECORD: Post-Election Video Highlights Errors of Pollsters and Media in 2018 Tennessee Senate Coverage

Julie Carr

  How can so many be so consistently wrong? Poll after poll, and pundit after pundit, claimed that the Bredesen-Blackburn Tennessee Senate race was “close.” It was consistently portrayed as one of the best opportunities for the Democrats to flip a Red seat to Blue in the mid-term elections. But when voters actually cast their votes, as opposed to pollsters calling a few hundred people who were often targeted for calls based upon flawed data, Marsha Blackburn earned the title of “Senator” by a 10.8 percent margin, leaving pollsters red-faced and Democrats despondent. An East Tennessee State University poll released just days before the Election claimed the race was a 44-44% dead heat.  Vanderbilt said the battle was a “tossup” and had Bredesen leading by one in mid October. Real Clear Politics moved the race from “lean GOP” to “tossup” on November 5 — the day before the election! They only missed it by double digits. A new video compilation is making the rounds that underscores how so many “experts” couldn’t see what was actually happening in Tennessee. Despite the best efforts of the pollsters, establishment media and some consultants to undercut the Blackburn campaign at every turn, SENATOR Blackburn…

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Newt Gingrich Predicts Pelosi Presiding Over Crazies Will Help Trump Win in 2020

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by Nick Givas   Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said if House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is chosen as speaker for the next two years, it could ultimately benefit President Donald Trump. “I think if the president can set up two years of Nancy Pelosi presiding over crazies, that’ll help him,” Gingrich said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday. “But I think his bigger interest is what does he want to get done for the country? What does the country want Washington to get done?” Gingrich then flashed back to when he was serving as speaker of the house under former President Bill Clinton and said Clinton benefited from the divided government and used it to get re-elected in 1996. “I will give Bill Clinton credit. He brilliantly would come back on Medicare, Medicaid, environment and education. No matter what you asked him, he’d come back and say, ‘I’m really working hard on all these things and I don’t have time for all that stuff,’ and gradually built a contrast that got him reelected in 1996,” he said. Watch the segment: https://youtu.be/U2KCFoxn0ic?t=1926 – – – Nick Givas is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation. You can Follow Nick on Twitter.    …

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Midterms See Big Win for Pro-Life Women Candidates and Ballot Initiatives

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by Grace Carr   Republican pro-life women put on an impressive showing in Tuesday’s midterms, while some of the pro-abortion candidates running for political office had less success. Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn bested former Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen Tuesday in the state’s senatorial election. She is “100 percent pro-life” and has fought battles against Planned Parenthood. Republican pro-life Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds also defeated her Democratic opponent Fred Hubbell on Tuesday. South Dakota pro-life Rep. Kristi Noem beat South Dakota minority leader Billie Sutton Wednesday morning, becoming the state’s first female governor. “I am, and always have been, pro-life. I believe every life, including the unborn, has dignity, and my voting record will always reflect that belief,” Noem’s website reads. Pro-life GOP Rep. Martha McSally was leading pro-choice Democrat Kyrsten Sinema with 49.3 percent to 48.4 percent in the race for Arizona senator as of Wednesday, according to The New York Times. The race is extremely close and might not be called for some time. The contrast between the candidates is stark on nearly every issue. McSally served as a military officer and was deployed six times to the Middle East and Afghanistan before becoming a state representative. Sinema was previously an anti-war activist. “The pro-life movement has some impressive wins in ballot initiatives and in races like…

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McConnell Says Confirming Judges Will Be His ‘Top Priority’

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by Rachel del Guidice   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says his “top priority” for the rest of the year and into the new Congress is filling the judiciary with President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees. “The president, I think, has done an excellent job in picking young men and women who believe the job of the judge is to follow the law and we intend to keep confirming as many as we possibly can as long as we are in a position to do it,” McConnell said Wednesday at a press conference. “It’ll still be my top priority in setting the agenda here in the Senate,” McConnell said. McConnell also said that the Senate has been successful in making two Supreme Court appointments and 29 circuit judges, adding that, “we’re not through doing those this year.”While not all Senate races are settled, Republicans are poised to pick up two seats in the Senate. John G. Malcolm, vice president of the Institute for Constitutional Government and director of the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal in an email that McConnell is correct to set his sights on judicial confirmations.…

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Tennessee House Leadership Selections This Month Will Set the Stage for 2019 Session of the General Assembly

Laura Baigert

Now that the public voting is over and Tennessee state representatives and senators have been elected for the next two or four years, respectively, each legislative body goes about their own nomination process to select their leaders.  The outcome of the selection process will be a strong indication about the direction of the upcoming 111th Tennessee General Assembly. The State House, in particular, will begin its massive changes in leadership in less than two weeks. The two most senior members of the House of Representatives, Beth Harwell (Nashville) and Steve McDaniel (Lobelville), both Republicans who served 15 terms each, are gone. Harwell served as Speaker of the House, the first woman to do so, and McDaniel was the Deputy Speaker, a position appointed by the Speaker. While the “Red Wall” of the House held off a “Blue Wave,” retaining its super majority and losing just one seat holding 73 of the 99 total, there are 25 new members. With one quarter of the body being new, the most since reconstruction, out of sheer necessity there will be changes to the chairmanships and members of the 15 standing committees and 14 non-standing subcommittees of the House. House leadership is more important…

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Phil Bredesen Supporters Threaten on Twitter to Leave Tennessee

Chris Butler

Some of Phil Bredesen’s most ardent supporters are so furious over his election loss Tuesday they’re threatening to pack up and leave Tennessee forever, according to public posts they’ve made on social media. According to those posts, some of them are sounding the alarm to progressive thinkers all around the country and warning them never to move to the Volunteer State. Some of them were quite candid over their disgust with Marsha Blackburn and the people who voted for her. If you voted for Blackburn, more than a few of them said, then your mother most likely works in a profession of ill repute — but that’s just the polite version of what they actually said. Their exact quotes on the matter are unsuitable for print and do not meet The Tennessee Star’s content standards. These angry people also like to use the F-word — a lot. The Star, however, will only embed the family-friendly posts. To politely paraphrase what Twitter user “thedarthsarah,” said in her (very) early morning tweet, she wants to leave the state — now. Facebook user Mia Sagara, meanwhile, said she’s on her way out, because Bredesen lost. “I’ve never had any kind of + expectations…

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Audit Blasts Tennessee State Veterans’ Home As Unsafe

Chris Butler

The folks who run the Tennessee State Veterans’ Home and its four facilities didn’t do enough background checks before hiring staff members, according to a new report from the Tennessee Comptrollers’ office. They also didn’t do enough to address residents’ complaints, and they failed to report illegal conduct at the facility, auditors went on to say. These were among only a few of the findings Comptrollers reported in a lengthy and detailed audit. The TSVH have four locations for veterans in Clarksville, Humboldt, Knoxville, and Murfreesboro. In an email, TSVH Executive Director Ed Harries told The Tennessee Star he and other administrators have an action plan to do better. Regardless, Comptrollers said there is a lot of room for improvement. “Our audit work revealed that during the period January 1, 2015, through June 1, 2018, Tennessee State Veterans’ Homes Board management did not notify our office of at least three instances of possible unlawful conduct regarding administrative matters in a reasonable amount of time,” Comptrollers wrote. Auditors, though, did not specify what types of illegal conduct took place. TSVH officials also did not check all employees for criminal backgrounds. They did not check them for abuse registry or sex offender…

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Despite Opposition From Some Democrats, Pelosi Likely to Be House Speaker Again

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by Fred Lucas   During the 2018 election campaign cycle, nearly 60 Democratic House candidates and incumbents said they would not vote for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California to become speaker again if their party retakes control of the House. Dozens of other Democratic candidates declined to give a definitive answer when asked if they supported making Pelosi speaker again. Nevertheless, most analyst predicted she would take the speaker’s gavel in January if party control flips. “I think there is a 10 percent chance she’s in trouble,” said Tom Del Beccaro, former chairman of the California Republican Party. “She is a prodigious fundraiser and will keep her leadership.” As of 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, with results still being counted, Democrats had gained three more seats than the 23 they needed to regain control of the House for the first time since 2010. (In the Senate, Republicans had picked up four seats–in Florida, Indiana, Missouri, and North Dakota–to increase their majority.) Pelosi served as the first female speaker of the House for four years after Democrats captured the House of Representatives in 2006, until Republicans took it back in the 2010 midterm elections. But she has been an unpopular figure with…

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State Department Cancels Next Round of North Korea Talks Without Explanation

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by Will Racke   An upcoming round of high-level talks between the U.S. and North Korea has been postponed, the Department of State announced early Wednesday morning. “The meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol, which had been scheduled for Thursday in New York, will now take place at a later date,” department spokesperson Heather Nauert said in a statement. “We will reconvene when our respective schedules permit, she added. Ongoing conversations continue to take place.” Nauert did not provide a specific reason for the cancellation of Thursday’s meeting, which had been touted as a warm-up for a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in early 2019. Just days ago, Pompeo said he expected to achieve “some real progress” on nuclear disarmament during the meeting with Kim Yong Chol. “I’m confident that we’ll advance the ball again this week when I’m in New York City,” he said Sunday on CBS’s Face The Nation. Instead, the ongoing nuclear talks appear to have hit another snag over major differences in how to proceed with the denuclearization process. North Korea has demanded that any moves it makes toward dismantling its…

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Commentary: 2018’s Split Decision Goes to Donald Trump and His Senate Republicans

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by Jeffrey A. Rendall   “Donald Trump is the projected winner of the 2020 presidential election.” The call didn’t come from any news desk – or even a professional paid prognosticator like Karl Rove – but you can’t help but predict the president, when faced with the soon to be over-the-top antics of a Democrat House majority, will enjoy making the best case ever for his reelection to the White House in two years. Why? As a minority, House Democrats hid behind the GOP majority’s procedural moves and establishment-controlled direction of legislation. But under the glare of impending Democrat control they can no longer cower in the background lofting rhetorical grenades at Republican members while ducking back into their caves to try and weather the return flak storm. Fox called the House for Democrats around 9:30 p.m. EST on Tuesday, taking much of the drama out of the evening where the lower chamber was concerned. It was a curious forecast considering polls hadn’t even closed on the west coast – but the experts know best, right? Meanwhile, Republicans increased their margins big-time in the senate. Fairly early on Indiana went for GOP challenger Mike Braun over liberal pretender Democrat Senator…

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No ‘Green Wave’ This Election as Voters Reject Climate Change Ballot Measures

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by Michael Bastasch   Not only did a Democratic “blue wave” fail to materialize on Tuesday night, the “green wave” of major global warming and energy-related ballot measures largely failed to get voter approval as well. Voters in Arizona, Colorado and Washington rejected measures aimed at fighting global warming, despite two of those states being in Democratic hands. The “Green New Deal” pundits gushed over in Washington state went down in flames, with voters overwhelmingly rejecting a state ballot measure to tax carbon dioxide emissions, despite its support from Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee. Washingtonians voted against the carbon tax initiative 56 percent to 43 percent, according to state election officials. “The voters have spoken,” Tom Pyle, president of the free market American Energy Alliance, said in an emailed statement. “It’s time to listen to them and focus on policies that expand the availability, affordability, and reliability of energy, rather than on policies that makes energy more scarce, more expensive, and less reliable,” said Pyle, a former Trump transition team leader opposed to carbon taxes. Environmentalists argue the oil industry’s $30 million cash influx into the ballot measure campaign tipped the scales, compared to the more than $15 million spent by…

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Democrats’ Progressive Superstars Lost Most of Their Races

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by Joe Simonson   Despite Democrats winning more than enough seats needed to take back the House of Representatives, nearly every candidate running on the far left of who garnered some of the most media attention lost their races Tuesday night. Starting in Florida, Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum was narrowly defeated by the solid right-winger Ron DeSantis for governor. Gillum, who ran on expanding Medicaid and raising taxes, faced accusations of being a “socialist” whose heated campaign drew comparisons to the likes of former President Barack Obama. [ RELATED: Andrew Gillum Concedes In Florida Gubernatorial Race ] Stacey Abrams, who received help from high-profile celebrities like Oprah, seems like she could fail to wrestle away the Georgia governor’s mansion from Republicans. Similarly to the race in Florida, Georgia Republicans wrestled with accusations of racism in a fight that received an inordinate amount of media attention. President Donald Trump called Abrams “one of the most extreme, far-left politicians in the country.” Yet, perhaps no candidate received more attention than Beto O’Rourke, who once said he had no problem impeaching the president and once called for the legalization of all narcotics. But the high-profile coverage and tens of millions of dollars in out-of-state…

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Facebook, Google Tools Reveal New Political Ad Tactics

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  Public databases that shine a light on online political ads – launched by Facebook and Google before Tuesday’s U.S. elections – offer the public the first broad view of how quickly the companies yank advertisements that break their rules. The databases also provided campaigns unprecedented insight into opponents’ online marketing, enabling them to capitalize on weaknesses, political strategists told Reuters. Facebook and Google, owned by Alphabet, introduced the databases this year to give details on some political ads bought on their services, a response to U.S. prosecutors’ allegations that Russian agents who deceptively interfered in the 2016 election purchased ads from the companies. Russia denies the charges. American security experts said the Russians changed tactics this year. Reuters found that Facebook and Google took down 436 ads from May through October related to 34 U.S. House of Representatives contests declared competitive last month by RealClearPolitics, which tracks political opinion polls. Of the 258 removed ads with start and end dates, ads remained on Google an average of eight days and Facebook 15 days, according to data Reuters collected from the databases. Based on ranges in the databases, the 436 ads were displayed up to 20.5 million times and cost…

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Commentary: No Wall, No House, No Surprise

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by Natalia Castro   Republicans would have loved to win the House last night, but unfortunately, they did not deserve it, as they lost at least 26 seats and more likely 30 or so. After failing to solve our countries immigration problem time and time again, it should not be surprising that voters were not enthused to head to the polls on Tuesday. Now with a Democratic House ready to take power in 2019, the lame duck is now perhaps the last chance to get the wall built and if Republicans want a chance in 2020 this must be their focus. President Donald Trump requested $25 billion to fund a defensive wall along the U.S. Southern border. In his first two years in office, with a Republican majority in Congress, only $1.6 billion has been allocated to fund this wall. While Trump has optimistically called this a “down payment” with full funding coming in the near future, that funding has yet to materialize — and the Republican voters knew it. The truth is, House Republicans had ample opportunity to prove to the American people that building the wall is not just a rallying cry, but an actual policy objective. Republicans…

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Republicans Retain Super Majority In The Tennessee General Assembly

Laura Baigert

While there will be plenty of new faces as the Tennessee legislature enters into its 111th general assembly, the total number of seats held by Republicans is reduced by one, but still carries the super majority status of both chambers through a volatile mid-term election. All 99 seats in the State House of Representatives, consisting of 74 Republicans and 25 Democrats, were up for election during Tuesday’s mid-term elections. There were a total of 24 House seats vacated prior to the primaries, several of whom ran for other elected positions at the local, state or national level. Additionally and quite remarkably, two House Committee Chairmen, Barry Doss (R-Leoma) and Tim Wirgau (R-Buchanan) were defeated in the August Republican primaries by first-time conservative candidates Clay Doggett (R-Pulaski) and Bruce Griffey (R-Paris) in Districts 70 and 75, respectively.  Both Doss and Wirgau voted for the gas tax increasing IMPROVE Act, which was a major factor in both races. It’s not as though Republicans didn’t have a fight on their hands, since just eight House Republican candidates went unchallenged by a Democrat in Tuesday’s elections, while nine had to battle both a Democrat and an Independent opponent. Meanwhile, House Democratic candidates got off…

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Blackburn Handily Defeats Bredesen to Become Tennessee’s First Woman Senator

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) took a commanding lead of 54.73 percent to Democrat Phil Bredesen’s 43.89 percent to win the U.S. Senate race Tuesday. Blackburn received over 1.22 million votes, to Bredesen’s slightly more than 980,000 votes. The results are from unofficial tallies posted late Tuesday by the Tennessee Coordinator of Elections and the Secretary of State. The results, which could change slightly as districts trickle in, are here. Blackburn said, “You have sent a message that it is time to take Tennessee conservative values to Washington and keep our state and our country moving forward. I am so incredibly grateful to each of you for doing your part, standing with me, staying strong and turning out the vote. It is such an honor to be the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Tennessee. I am going to work as hard for you as you have worked for me.” “Just as we said on day one, I will take our shared Tennessee values to work on issues of importance to you in Washington: more constitutional federal judges and Supreme Court Justices, lower taxes, less regulation, protecting the right to life, defending the Second Amendment, providing for our…

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Commentary: The ‘Sacred Walls’ of Donald Trump

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by Pedro Gonzalez   With each step the “caravan of contradictions” takes toward our border, another progressive illusion slips away. Victor Davis Hanson considers this mob, and by extension the events surrounding it, a “paradox, a contradiction, and an irony.” He’s right. The “reasoning” of progressives that leads them to endorse opening our borders to a group of intransigent lawbreakers so that they may escape lawlessness, is logically unacceptable. Progressives recoil in horror at President Trump’s declaration that we must defend ourselves against an invasion of thousands of foreigners who denounce our laws and hold our sovereignty in contempt. And by progressives, I mean to include those “conservatives” of National Review who cry, “it’s hard to think of a response less measured and more effective at undermining moderate support for immigration restrictions than the reaction of the president and key allies.” Consider, 65 percent of voters favor – compared to 35 percent who oppose – increasing merit over connection to relatives for immigration preference, eliminating the visa lottery, and increased funding for border security. That includes 68 percent of Latino voters, 64 percent of black voters, 64 percent of Democratic voters, 67 percent of Independent voters, 63 percent of “liberal” voters, and…

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Bill Lee Discusses Transition Plans at First Press Conference as Governor-Elect

Chris Butler

FRANKLIN — Republican Bill Lee had his first press conference as governor elect Tuesday night, minutes after giving a gracious acceptance speech at The Factory at Franklin. From this point forward, Lee is in transition mode as he prepares to take the reins from outgoing Gov. Bill Haslam, also a Republican. To do that, Lee said he and his team members will build a strategy, execute it, and work with legislators. Lee said he’s open to having a Democrat serve on his team. “I want a team that is the best that can be assembled,” Lee said. Part of that strategy includes working on areas of economic development, particularly in rural communities, and working on criminal justice reforms Lee said will create safer neighborhoods. Another important focus for the incoming governor — improving the state’s education system, particularly with a focus on vocational and technical education. As for his election night win, Lee said running a positive campaign paid off. “We have an environment in the political world that is more divisive than it ought to be. I want to be the person who brings people together and doesn’t divide, and I want to do that starting from day one,”…

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SHOCK: Medical Students’ Surgical Abilities Declining Rapidly in a Growing Digital Age

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by Annie Holmquist   Whether it’s for something as serious as cancer or as routine as a kidney stone, no one likes to hear that they have to go under the surgical knife. But such unhappy news is often lightened once a patient has the chance to talk to the surgeon and realize that he is in good, capable hands. Unfortunately, those good, capable, surgery-performing hands may be an increasing rarity in the years ahead. According to Roger Kneebone, a London professor of surgical education, the last several years have seen a decided change in the abilities of medical students: they are having greater difficulty working with their hands. As Kneebone explains to The Guardian, this decline is directly related to the decline of hobbies and school activities which force children to work with their hands: People are no longer getting the same exposure to making and doing [things] when they are at home, when they are school, as they used to. Kneebone goes on to imply that skills learned in shop class, home economics, or other more extra-curricular courses have been thrown out of school with unforeseen consequences: We are talking about the ability to do things with your hands, with tools, cutting…

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Tennessee Star Report Exclusive: Hogan Gidley, Deputy White House Press Secretary Talks Statistics, Voters, and Trump the Phenomenon

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 – the team spoke with Hogan Gidley, Deputy White House Press Secretary, regarding the Democrats radical agenda and they’re continuous denial that they lost the 2016 elections.  The men went on to question how, with economy so strong ,and the President’s delivery on promises made, that the midterm election race could be so close.  They all agreed that a large component could most certainly be attributed to the media’s ninety percent negative coverage of the President’s accomplishments in the past two years. Gill: And watching from the bunker in the white house Hogan Gidley is the Deputy White House Press Secretary who is on our newsmakers line this morning to give us a little assessment on election day.  Hogan good to have you with us! Gidley:  Thanks so much for the time.  I do appreciate it.  I want to make it clear though, I’m not coming to you in my official capacity today, I’m coming to you on my time off.  I’m taking personal time just because I think this is…

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Amazon Silent on Reports It Will Split New Headquarters

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Amazon isn’t commenting on reports that it plans to split its new headquarters between facilities in two cities rather than choosing just one. The New York Times, citing unnamed people familiar with the decision-making process, said the company is nearing deals to locate in Queens in New York City and in the Crystal City area of Arlington, Va., outside Washington, D.C. The Wall Street Journal, which also reported the plan to split the headquarters between two cities, says Dallas is still a possibility as well. Spokesman Adam Sedo said Amazon, which will also keep its original headquarters in Seattle, would not comment on “rumors and speculation.” Amazon’s decision to set up another headquarters set off an intense competition to win the company and its promise of 50,000 new jobs. Some locations sought to stand out with stunts, but Amazon emphasized it wanted incentives like tax breaks and grants. It also wanted a city with more than 1 million people, an airport within 45 minutes, direct access to mass transit and room to expand. The company received 238 proposals before narrowing the list to 20 in January. The unexpected decision to evenly divide the 50,000 jobs between two cities will allow…

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Supreme Court Weighs Bid to Open Nation’s Largest Uranium Mine

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by Kevin Daley   The U.S. Supreme Court weighed a bid to open the nation’s largest deposit of uranium to mining Monday, which defense hawks say is essential to national security and crucial foreign policy objectives. The deposit, known as Coles Hill, sits in a small Virginia town called Chatham. The commonwealth of Virginia indefinitely banned uranium extraction in 1983. Virginia Uranium Inc., a private company that opposes the ban, sued in federal court to end the ban, arguing it infringes on federal power. Uranium mining occurs in three stages: first, uranium ore is removed from ground deposits. Next, the ore is ground into a fine substance and treated with a chemical solution to separate the pure ore from other elements, called tailings, which are radioactive. This process is referred to as milling. Finally, the radioactive tailings are stored in an environmentally safe facility. The federal Atomic Energy Act (AEA) gives the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) power to regulate steps two and three, but the first step — the actual mining itself — remains under state authority. The legal question is whether Virginia’s ban on uranium mining conflicts with the AEA. Though the commonwealth retains power to regulate mining, Virginia Uranium says the law…

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Trump Administration Returns to Supreme Court, Seeking End to DACA

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by Kevin Daley   The Trump administration returned to the U.S. Supreme Court Monday night seeking to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, an Obama-era amnesty initiative that extends protected status to illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as children. The move is aggressive and unusual, as decisions on Trump’s efforts to rescind DACA are still pending in several federal appeals courts, and the justices seldom take up cases before those judgments issue. But the U.S. Department of Justice told the Supreme Court Monday that action is needed in the near term. The Trump administration previously sought the Supreme Court’s review of its efforts to phase out DACA. After two federal judges issued injunctions requiring the government to continue administering the program, the Justice Department bypassed normal appellate procedure and went directly to the Supreme Court on January 18 to vindicate its right to terminate the program. The justices rejected that request on Feb. 26, but asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to quickly process the case so it could return to the high court in a reasonable timeframe. Other challenges to DACA repeal efforts are currently before appeals courts in New York and Washington, D.C. “It…

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Potential ‘El Chapo’ Jurors Excused for Safety Fears

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Reuters   The pool of potential jurors for the U.S. drug trafficking trial of accused Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman continued to shrink on Tuesday, with two people who expressed fears about their safety and one self-described “fan” of the defendant cut from the running. A total of 10 potential jurors were excused from the case during the second day of jury selection in federal court in Brooklyn, New York. Guzman, 61, watched from a table in the courtroom with his lawyers, wearing a dark suit and tie in place of the open-collared dress shirt he sported Monday. Guzman formerly led the Sinaloa Cartel, based in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, which became one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in the world. He was extradited to the United States from Mexico on Jan. 19, 2017, after escaping twice from Mexican prisons before being captured again. A total of 27 people have so far been dismissed as potential jurors, out of nearly 60 who have been questioned. The 12 jurors and six alternate jurors eventually chosen will remain anonymous and be escorted to and from court by armed federal marshals during the trial, which is expected to…

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Mothers of Deceased Vets Fight to Keep Memorial to Their Sons in Supreme Court

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by Jeremy Dys   They came from many walks of life, the 49 boys of Prince George’s County, Maryland. Several were laborers like George Washington Farmer and William Lee–one white, the other African-American. One, Ernest Pendleton Magruder, was a well-known surgeon. Another, Henry Lewis Hulbert, a Medal of Honor recipient of a previous war, would again display such bravery that he would earn a Distinguished Service Cross. Educated or not, white or black, rich or poor, their diverse backgrounds mattered little as they died on foreign soil in the final months of the “war to end all wars.”  Their bodies were interred under small grave makers, including crosses, in cemeteries far too distant for their families to ever visit. So, in 1925, a local post of The American Legion—now the largest veterans service organization in the country with approximately 2.2 million members—erected the Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial to honor the 49 Bladensburg-area men who gave their lives serving in the U.S. Armed Forces during WWI. But the cross-shape of the monument is too much to bear for some humanists, who have sued to have the memorial deemed unconstitutional. Late last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the…

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Michigan Judge Orders Food Stamp Fraudsters to Write Publicly About Their Crimes

Anna Marie Bolton

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn ordered four Bangladeshi brothers convicted of scamming Michigan and American taxpayers out of millions of dollars in food-stamp benefits to write about it in a local newspaper. Cohn ordered the men to run an ad admitting to their crimes, and pay for it themselves. “To Readers, listen to us. If you cheat on food stamps you are committing a federal crime and will be punished for doing so,” the ad states. “We know: we have been punished for cheating on food stamps.” The fraud was committed in Hamtramck, a city that adjoins Detroit and is heavily populated with immigrants from Bangladesh. It made the news in 2015 for becoming the first U.S. city with an entirely Muslim city council. The four men, brothers Ali, Nazar, Mustak, and Mohammed Ahmed, were arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2014 after an investigation revealed that six small grocery stores in Hamtramck were responsible for scamming the government out of $12.5 million between 2013 and 2014, using the practice of “trafficking” in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. The practice of trafficking is a multi-million dollar scam widespread throughout the country, as the Government Accountability Institute (GA)I) recently found…

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Bill Lee Wins Governor’s Race in a Blowout

Chris Butler

FRANKLIN —Bill Lee is now Tennessee’s governor-elect. Political pundits projected Lee as the winner Tuesday night, about 30 minutes after the last polls closed in Tennessee. And 30 minutes after that Lee took to the stage and spoke to a crowd at The Factory at Franklin. With 57 percent of the votes tallied, Lee had 60 percent of the vote compared to his Democratic opponent, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, who had 38 percent. Lee told supporters Tennessee is already in a good place — but it can always do better. “We ran a positive campaign from the very beginning to the very last day,” Lee said. “We wanted to give a picture of what this state could look like if it lived up to its potential.” Continuing that theme, Lee said he wants to make sure everyone “has a good job and lives in a safe neighborhood.” “We have kids living in very tough neighborhoods, going to failing schools and wondering if the American dream is available to them,” Lee said. “Right now, violent crime is taking up in every major city in our state. I believe every neighborhood and every community can be a safe place to live,…

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Marsha Blackburn and Bill Lee Win Big on Election Night in Tennessee

Tennessee Star Staff

FRANKLIN, Tennessee–Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) and Bill Lee were big winners in their respective statewide races in Tennessee Tuesday night. Blackburn, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), easily defeated the Democratic nominee, former Gov. Phil Bredesen by a double digit margin. With 81 percent of precincts reporting, Blackburn had 55.6 percent of the vote to 43.1 percent for Bredesen. The 12.5 percent margin of victory was higher than all but one poll of the race–The New York Times Upshot/Siena College Poll last month that gave her a 14 point lead. Blackburn’s margin of victory was well over 200,000 votes. She had 1,060,468 votes to Bredesen’s 822,435 with 19 percent of precincts still left to report. In the race for governor, Williamson County businessman Bill Lee’s margin over former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean was larger. With 63 percent of precincts reporting, Lee had 60.6 percent of the vote, compared to Dean’s 37.9 percent. In terms of raw vote margin, Lee had well over 350,000 more votes than Dean–1,006,690 to 629,484. Both Bredesen and Dean did well in the urban areas of Davidson County and Shelby County, but their margins there were…

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LIVE Election Night Coverage by Citizens of the American Republic

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The group Citizens of the American Republic announced it will live stream Election Night Coverage of the 2018 midterms. Dubbed ‘the most important election of our lifetimes’ by both the Left and the Right, voters from across the country will decide whether to keep Republicans the majority in the House and the Senate, or instead opt for a divided government by handing control of one or both chambers of the national legislature to the Democrats. Viewers can watch all the coveral live, starting at 8pm eastern time:          

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Mueller Expected to Renew Pursuit of Trump Associates After Midterms

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by Chuck Ross   Whether intentional or not, Robert Mueller has honored an unofficial Justice Department policy that limits major actions in political investigations 60 days before an election. But as Mueller and his team of prosecutors have worked behind the scenes on investigations of Trump associates, numerous clues about the probe have emerged through witnesses and attorneys who have shared insight from the investigation with reporters. The smoke signals have generated speculation that, if Mueller plans to issue indictments in his investigation, they will be handed down within days or weeks. There have also been reports that Mueller will submit a report on the investigation to the Justice Department by the end of the year. If Mueller makes a major move in the near future, it will likely revolve around these areas of interest. Roger Stone Mueller is focused on what longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone knew about Wikileaks’ plans to release Democrats’ emails before the election, according to numerous witnesses involved in the special counsel’s probe. Mueller has interviewed or subpoenaed at least 11 Stone associates. Some have appeared before a grand jury that Mueller is using for the investigation. Stone suggested at various points in the campaign that he was…

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GOP Shows Off ‘Happy Democrat’ Bredesen’s True Senate Campaign Resume One Final Time

Jason M. Reynolds

It is time for one final review of Phil Bredesen’s Senate campaign resume, the Tennessee Republican Party says in a new video available here. “Now in his final ad of the campaign, Phony Phil Bredesen shows he’s not Tennessee’s guy,” the Tennessee GOP said of the Democratic former governor. Bredesen is running against U.S. Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07) for the Senate. For those keeping track at home, here are Bredesen’s own words: •Bredesen believes he has a foot planted in a “more sophisticated” world than most Tennesseans •Bredesen has been a “happy Democrat” since college •Bredesen supported Barack Obama then, and he supports him now •Bredesen called Obama a “transformational” figure •Bredesen believed Hillary Clinton had “everything going for her” •Bredesen predicted Hillary Clinton would be president, giving $33,400 to her campaign to back it up •Bredesen said “the great thing about being governor is taking taxes away from people” •Bredesen admitted that being a senator was “not [his] future” and he “wouldn’t like being there” anyway And that’s not even mentioning Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, socialized medicine, or the army of illegal criminal migrants. Bredesen told MSNBC it is “beyond belief” that anyone would see the migrant caravan as…

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Tennessee Star Report Exclusive – Marsha Blackburn Says Phil Bredesen’s ‘Very First Vote Would Be for Chuck Schumer’

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 chatted with Tennessee’s own, Congresswoman, Marsha Blackburn about her current campaign, her values as a public servant, and what it’s like to be beside President Trump at these large enthusiastic rallys. Gill: Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn who is running for the US Senate until the final day.  And we were down in, she’s everywhere, we were down in Franklin on Saturday you know, just kind of tooling around their with our granddaughter Remy, and low and behold there’s Marsha Blackburn working the crowd there. Marsha it’s good to have you with us! Blackburn:  It is good to be with you!  And yes it was so wonderful to be in Franklin on Saturday.  It was the Franklin family fun day.  And I’ll tell you what, my grandsons’ had a great time and I know your little granddaughter had a good time also. Gill: It was a big day down there but an even bigger day in Chattanooga.  Now you’ve been to these Trump rally’s two years ago in 2016, you’ve…

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Commentary: Trump Fights the Left and Its ‘Appalling Contempt’ for the American People

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by D. Hawthorne   On February 2017, during the second month of his presidency, I argued Donald Trump was best understood through the lens of a turnaround executive. Through that lens are three focal points: Blowing up political correctness, because an American turnaround cannot happen if we are unable recover the meaning of words and talk forthrightly about what is really going on. Delegitimizing the false narratives of the mainstream media, because a turnaround cannot be sustained if basic communication channels remain corrupted. Taking down the administrative state, because a turnaround will fail if unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats continue to override the sovereignty of the American people by controlling our society. Turnarounds Begin Only When Enough People Accept Something Is Wrong Like many turnaround efforts, the past months confirmed a deep cultural and political crisis, with numerous irreconcilable differences. First, as John Zmirak points out, while the Left and Right in America have had their differences, they also mostly agreed in 1996 on the broad outlines of sovereign borders, constitutional gun rights, fidelity to the Constitution, men and women being equal but different, abortion as rare, marriage between one man and one woman, that religious freedom and rights of conscience are…

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Commentary: Six Understated House Races To Watch Tuesday

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  While the establishment news media does everything it can to depress conservative and Republican turnout, here are six close U.S. House of Representatives races where conservative turnout can make all the difference for President Trump’s conservative agenda. Rep. Dave Brat – Virginia 7 Principled limited government constitutional conservative Congressman Dave Brat (VA-7) is locked in a tight race with liberal Democrat Abigail Spanberger. Spanberger is a former CIA employee who once taught at a Saudi-funded school in Northern Virginia that later had to defend itself after a former valedictorian was charged with joining al-Qaida. To view a powerful independent expenditure ad supporting Dave Brat click the link or cut and paste into an email:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xW-wkhz3cxt3XBOuw_t9UrEisl_uQ4r9/view?ts=5bdb692f. Counterintuitively, Spanberger has been pounding Brat over his vote in favor of the GOP tax-cut bill. Spanberger has raised twice as much money as Brat and her open borders campaign has benefited from millions in out of state liberal PAC money aimed at unseating one of the Freedom Caucus’s most high-profile members. Turnout will be key, with Spanberger counting on liberal federal and state government employees in the I-95 corridor and Richmond suburbs. Rep. Rod Blum – Iowa 1 Self-described “Tea Party Republican” Rep.…

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Car Thefts Rise in Brentwood Due to People Leaving Keys Inside

Chris Butler

Too many people in Brentwood leave their keys in their automobiles unattended and car thieves notice, said that city’s Police Chief Jeff Hughes. As of the middle of October of this year, Brentwood Police tallied 21 vehicles stolen in 2018 compared to 18 stolen all last year, Hughes said. “Hot wiring a car is almost impossible nowadays. This is happening because people are leaving their vehicles with their keys in their cars,” Hughes told The Tennessee Star. “I think people sometimes have a false sense of security in an area that is consistently ranked by certain sources to be one of the safest cities in America, if not Tennessee. They will become complacent and leave valuables in their cars, leave their vehicles unlocked and, if not their primary set of keys, they may leave a spare set of keys in the car.” The thieves are usually juveniles coming in from Davidson County, some as young as 13 and 14-years old, Hughes said. That’s why these crimes are more likely to happen in the northern parts of Brentwood, nearest to Davidson County, Hughes said. This was among many topics Hughes and other area law enforcement officers addressed at a recent roundtable…

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Georgia Gubernatorial Race Heats Up Amid ‘Cyber Crimes’ Allegations Against Democratic Party

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Georgia’s online voter database morphed into a last-minute curveball in one of the nation’s hottest governor’s races, with Republican nominee Brian Kemp making a hacking allegation against Democrats just as reports emerged of a gaping vulnerability in a system that Kemp controls as secretary of state. Kemp’s office did not detail any Democratic acts, offering no evidence for Sunday’s unusual action that effectively means the state’s chief elections officer began a probe of his partisan opposition days before an election. Polls suggest Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams are locked in a tight race that even before Sunday had evolved into a bitter back-and-forth over voting rights and ballot security. The state Democratic Party called Kemp’s accusation “a reckless and unethical ploy” and said he was using the FBI to support false accusations. According to interviews conducted by The Associated Press and records released by the Georgia Democratic Party, the dispute built steam quickly in the days before Kemp’s statement. An attorney who represents election-security advocates already suing Kemp over his job performance said a private citizen alerted him Friday to a suspected major flaw in the voter database that is used to check in voters in Tuesday’s midterm. The lawyer,…

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Letter to the Editor: A Grateful Veteran’s ‘Thank You’ to Lipscomb’s ASCE Chapter

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Dear Tennessee Star, Lipscomb University, how proud Nashville should be of this fine academic institution. Here is my story. On Sunday, the 28th of October, a group of wondrous young students came to my home and proceeded to clean my yard, cut my grass, pressure clean my house and seal my deck. They asked for absolutely nothing in return, and in the process, brought tears to my eyes, joy into my heart, and a profound renewal of my faith in young people of our country. This was a result of contacting a good friend, Ken Nelson, Jr., and requesting his help in finding someone to seal my deck which was getting weather-worn. Previous attempts to find people were fruitless and discouraging. As a wheelchair-bound 100% disabled veteran, I simply must rely upon others for these things. Upon Ken’s recommendation, I contacted David Callahan, a Lipscomb student, and he came out. A fellow Marine veteran, he looked over my deck and he explained that he attended Lipscomb University, a Civil Engineering major, and there was a program of volunteer outreach that the ASCE Chapter supports. After discussing it with his fellow students, they expressed enthusiasm for volunteering to seal my deck.…

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Fed Likely to Keep Rates on Hold and Sketch A Bright Outlook

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With the economy strong, wages rising and unemployment at a near-five-decade low, the Federal Reserve remains on track to keep raising interest rates – just not this week. After the Fed’s latest policy meeting, it’s expected to signal a healthy outlook for the economy but to hold off on any further credit tightening, most likely until December. A rate hike in December would mark the fourth this year. Further rate increases are expected in 2019, though just how many is a subject of speculation. On the eve of Congress’ midterm elections, the U.S. economy remains vigorous even in its 10th year of expansion – the second-longest such stretch on record. In deciding how fast or slowly to keep raising rates, the Fed will be monitoring the pace of growth, the job market’s strength and gauges of inflation for clues to how the economy may evolve in the coming months. The brisk pace of economic growth – a 3.5 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, after a 4.2 percent rate in the previous quarter – has raised the risk that inflation could begin accelerating. In its most recent forecast, the Fed projected that it would raise rates three additional times…

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Dems Worry As ‘Poll Surge’ Echoes 2016’s Support for Hillary Clinton Heading Into Election

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United States Capitol

by Chris White   Democratic candidates are entering a last-minute surge in the polls in the last few hours before Election Day, but a number of Democrats are seeing a lot of comparisons to the 2016 presidential election. Democrats and Republicans are essentially tied in the roughly 30 House districts rated as toss-ups by the Cook Political Report, which relied on 10,000 interviews for its conclusion. Data, which was released Monday, shows Democrats are on the cusp of taking the House despite the narrow margins. But many liberal activists and Democratic strategists remain unconvinced. “We’re kind of just in the bed-wetting phase now,” Democratic pollster John Anzalone told reporters Sunday. He campaigned hard for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before then-presidential candidate Donald Trump pulled the rug out from underneath her campaign. Other activists shared similar concerns, with one even recalling having nightmares about poll numbers. “I’m old enough to remember when The New York Times gave Hillary Clinton an 85 percent chance of winning on election night and to have been traumatized by the New York Times election needle,” Ezra Levin, who co-founded the Resistance organization Indivisible, told Politico. He added that Democrats are unlikely to be reassured until Tuesday…

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Newt Gingrich Says the Booming Economy and Personal Safety Will Keep GOP in Hunt for the House

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Newt Gingrich

by Nick Givas   Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said the booming economy and a strong desire for personal safety will keep the House in play for Republicans come Tuesday. “Well look, I think the number one thing that’s relevant to the vote tomorrow is the economy,” Gingrich said on Fox News’s America’s Newsroom Monday. “And I think in a lot of districts, that’s propping up Republicans who might be in trouble on other issues.” Gingrich said the American people are taking notice of higher wages and more jobs, but said it will still be difficult for Republicans to retain control of both houses. [RELATED: Newt Gingrich Doubles Down On Red Wave Prediction] “The people look at it and they go, ‘there really are more jobs. Wages really are going up. The future really looks dramatically better.’ And so there’s a bias that’s, I think, actually held the Republicans up in both House and Senate races where they might have been in much more trouble,” he continued. “Off years are hard … We got to be a majority for the first time in 40 years in Bill Clinton’s first off-year election. So I understand how tough it is to be the…

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Phil Bredesen: If I Lose, It Will Be Because the ‘National Democratic Brand Is a Problem’

Jason M. Reynolds

Phil Bredesen wants you to know that if he loses the Senate race, it will be the “National Democratic brand’s fault, not his. Former Tennessee Gov. Bredesen made the remark in an interview that aired Sunday with MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt, adding that the national party has hurt the brand. The Washington Free Beacon reported on the interview Monday. The video is available to watch here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSkvYgYEI4w Bredesen said, “we’ve drifted away from that” in response to Democrats’ handling of the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, meaning the Senate’s job is to consider a nominee’s competence and ability. “Not that long ago, Ginsberg could get 95-plus votes, and Scalia could get 95-plus votes. That, to me, is very much the way we ought to be acting.” Hunt did not ask Bredesen about his last-minute wishy-washy endorsement of Kavanaugh when his nomination was guaranteed. Nor did she ask about Project Veritas Action’s undercover video showing Bredesen’s campaign staff admitting he lied about supporting Kavanaugh to gain votes. “It’s a political move,” Bredesen campaign field organizer Maria Amall said in the video to an undercover reporter. Nor did Hunt ask Bredesen about Mark Brown lying to the media about…

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Crowds Line Up Nearly a Mile to See President Trump in Chattanooga

Jason M. Reynolds

President Donald Trump tweeted a photo of “massive” crowds from Chattanooga’s McKenzie Arena where he was to speak tonight to support Senate candidate U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07). Trump visited nearby Macon, North Georgia earlier in the afternoon. The president is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. Eastern/6 p.m. Central from the arena at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Multiple media outlets reported the possibility of Vice President Mike Pence traveling with the president. On my way to Macon, Georgia where the crowds are massive, for a 4pmE #MAGARally. Will be in Chattanooga, Tennessee tonight, seen below, for a 7pmE rally. Something’s happening! Everyone needs to get out and VOTE! pic.twitter.com/xBXepwpug9 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 4, 2018 On my way to Macon, Georgia where the crowds are massive, for a 4pmE #MAGARally. Will be in Chattanooga, Tennessee tonight, seen below, for a 7pmE rally. Something’s happening! Everyone needs to get out and VOTE! The Tennessee Star is on the scene and took this video of the gathering crowds from inside the arena   WTVC reported the line of Trump supporters in Chattanooga stretched nearly a mile. Reporter Taylor Stewart tweeted, “TRUMP IN CHATT: The line of supporters…

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