Most Tennesseans Don’t Have Earthquake Coverage Despite Being Near New Madrid Fault Line

Most Volunteer State residents don’t have earthquake insurance, according to an official with the state’s Department of Commerce and Insurance. That matters because Tennessee lies along two fault lines — the New Madrid Fault Line in West Tennessee and the East Tennessee fault line. “Earthquakes can cause a great deal of damage that won’t be covered under your homeowners, renters or condominium insurance policy,” said Kevin Walters, spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance in an emailed statement to The Tennessee Star. “These policies don’t cover damage due to natural disasters such as earthquake, flood and landslide. Your home is insured for earthquake damage only if you’ve added an endorsement to your policy or bought a separate earthquake policy. A homeowners’ policy and earthquake insurance don’t overlap, but work together to give your home more insurance protection.” A minor earthquake centered in East Tennessee recently reverberated into four surrounding states. Media outlets have already predicted a massive earthquake will strike this area of the country at some point. Nashville insurance agent Scott Koon told The Star Wednesday that some, but not many, customers have called in recent days inquiring about earthquake coverage. “I would say we have gotten…

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President Trump Ousts Mattis Early, Names Patrick Shanahan Acting Secretary of Defense

by Chuck Ross   President Trump announced Sunday that Secretary of Defense James Mattis will leave office on Jan. 1, two months earlier than expected. Trump is appointing Mattis’ deputy, Patrick M. Shanahan, as acting defense secretary until a permanent replacement is found, he announced on Twitter. I am pleased to announce that our very talented Deputy Secretary of Defense, Patrick Shanahan, will assume the title of Acting Secretary of Defense starting January 1, 2019. Patrick has a long list of accomplishments while serving as Deputy, & previously Boeing. He will be great! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 23, 2018 Mattis tendered his resignation on Thursday after Trump decided to pull troops out of Syria. In a letter to Trump, Mattis subtly criticized Trump over the decision, as well as his treatment of U.S. allies. “My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues,” Mattis wrote. “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is right for me…

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Commentary: Trump is Smarter Than the Generals

by Christopher Roach   A bipartisan consensus among the foreign policy elite holds that America needs to maintain its de facto overseas empire. This includes both preserving stability, as well as fomenting deliberate instability, including regime change in places like Syria. This consensus among elected officials, defense contractors, general officers, talking heads, and various experts is not shared by the vast majority of Americans, who elected Barack Obama and Donald Trump on their promises to end “stupid wars” and put America first. The American people have good instincts on these matters. The Confused Syria Campaign Our Syria campaign has been a confused affair from the beginning. In the waning days of the Arab Spring, Obama supported various rebel factions seeking to oust Bashar al-Assad, as he had earlier in Libya and Egypt. Syrians soon found themselves in the midst of a brutal civil war, and in this vacuum—as in Iraq only a decade earlier—jihad tourists from all over the Middle East soon joined the fray. The various enemies of the Syrian regime included the so-called “moderate” rebels, Kurds, and Sunni extremists, the latter of which were divided between al Nusra and ISIS. There are no obvious good guys here, and…

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Darrell Scott Commentary: DNC Chair Reminds America of Dems’ Conflict With Faith

by Darrell Scott   Democrats couldn’t have picked a worse time than the Christmas season to remind Americans how much conflict they have with people of faith. During a recent speech at a far-left conference, Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez suggested that the reason people vote for Republicans is that “their principle sources of information are Fox News, the NRA newsletter, and the pulpit on Sunday.” According to Perez, the only reason Republicans view the courts as an important issue is “because that person on the pulpit is saying ‘ignore everything else that this person has done and is doing, we have to focus on one issue of Roe vs. Wade.’ And people buy it. Because that’s their only source.” In other words, Perez believes that pro-life Christians are only pro-life because they haven’t been exposed to Democrat talking points, and therefore rely solely on religious leaders for moral guidance. This is obviously a matter of grave concern for Democrats, who see organized religion primarily as competition against their own deification of government. In the eyes of liberals like Tom Perez, those who believe the Word are dumb, while those who put their faith in government are smart.…

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Congress Considered to Have Lowest Ethics of All Professions

by Evie Fordham   Members of Congress are considered the least honest and ethical of professions including telemarketers and car salespeople, according to a Gallup survey released Thursday. Fifty-eight percent of people said they had low or very low faith in the honesty and ethics of members of Congress, according to the survey. Only 44 percent of people surveyed said the same about car salespeople, and 56 percent said the same about telemarketers. Nurses came out on top of the survey, with 84 percent of people saying they would rate the honesty and ethical standards of nurses as high or very high. Nurses’ high ratings were followed by physicians, pharmacists and high school teachers. Members’ of Congress poor honesty and ethics ratings have hovered around 60 percent disapproval since 2016. But that’s better than in 2013, when 66 percent of respondents gave them poor ratings. Only 8 percent of people said they would rate members of Congress as having high or very high honesty and ethical standards in 2018. Thirty-three percent of respondents ranked members of Congress as having “average” honesty and ethical standards. Several scandals may have contributed to the poor reputation of members of Congress in 2018. They…

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Trump Admin Works Around Congress to Raise Work Requirements on Food Stamps

Tennessee Star

by Tim Pearce   The Trump administration is proposing to limit states’ ability to exempt welfare recipients of abiding by the work requirements in the U.S. food stamp program, the Department of Agriculture announced Thursday. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue is pushing the reform to cut down on abuse within the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). With the U.S. unemployment rate at a near five-decade low, some exemptions and waivers are not longer needed. “Long-term reliance on government assistance has never been part of the American dream,” Perdue said in a statement. “As we make benefits available to those who truly need them, we must also encourage participants to take proactive steps toward self-sufficiency. Moving people to work is common-sense policy, particularly at a time when the unemployment rate is at a generational low.” SNAP benefits, formerly known as food stamps, are an entitlement distributed by the Department of Agriculture. The program provides financial aid to low- and no-income Americans who meet income, work and other requirements. Perdue’s proposed change would limit states from waiving off some of the entitlement’s requirements for people living in areas of high unemployment, defined as either over 10 percent unemployment or the where there are…

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Commentary: Saying You’re Against Fascists Doesn’t Excuse Acting Like One

by Jon Miltimore and Tyler Brandt   Despite claims that Antifa fights fascism, the group’s tactics actually mirror those of Benito Mussolini’s regime. On March 23, 1919, Benito Mussolini, an Italian veteran of the Great War and a publisher of socialist newspapers, created the Fasci di Combattimento (commonly known as the Fascist Party) with the help of a few syndicalist friends. Nearly one hundred years later, the word fascism remains at the forefront of our political discourse even though fascism is all but dead as a political force, and the word has lost much of its meaning (if not its power). So why are we still talking about fascists? The Rise of Antifa On November 8, the late-night TV host Stephen Colbert took to Twitter to condemn a mob that had attacked the home of Fox News host Tucker Carlson. “Fighting Tucker Carlson’s ideas is an American right,” Colbert wrote. “Targeting his home and terrorizing his family is an act of monstrous cowardice. Obviously, don’t do this, but also, take no pleasure in it happening. Feeding monsters just makes more monsters.’ The attackers consisted of a group who called themselves Antifa. Few Americans had heard the word “Antifa” prior to…

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DOJ Says University of Iowa Violated First Amendment By De-Registering a Christian Group

by Neetu Chandak   The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Friday the University of Iowa violated First Amendment rights after deregistering a student Christian group. Business Leaders in Christ (BLinC) stopped receiving recognition from the public university in November 2017 due to the organization’s statement of faith, which the university found “unwelcoming,” according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen Friday. BLinC was created by the students in the university’s Tippie College of Business. The purpose of the group was to provide a space for Christian students to network, hold group discussions and “keep Christ first in the fast-paced business world,” the DOJ’s statement of interest said. Leaders in the Christian group were required to sign and follow the statement of faith, which included a belief that sexual relations should only occur “between a man and a wife in the lifelong covenant of marriage,” and “every person should embrace, not reject, their God-given sex.” The university deregistered the group over the faith statement and it claimed it made LGBT people unwelcome and therefore was exclusive, a DOJ news release reported. BLinC filed a lawsuit against the university in December 2017. “The University of Iowa in this case de-registered Business Leaders in Christ because university…

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Government Shut Down Won’t Stop NORAD’s Santa Tracker

by Molly Prince   The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will continue its more than 60-year-old tradition of tracking Santa Claus as he leaves the North Pole to deliver presents across the world. The twitter account for NORAD and the U.S. Northern Command announced Friday that Santa will be tracked on Christmas Eve regardless of whether or not a government shutdown has gone into effect. WATCH: We're ready for Dec. 24…are you? pic.twitter.com/OHhCfRgiHu — NORAD Tracks Santa (@NoradSanta) December 19, 2018 “In the event of a government shutdown, NORAD will continue with its 63-year tradition of NORAD Tracks Santa on Dec. 24,” NORAD and USNORTHCOM said. “Military personnel who conduct NORAD Tracks Santa are supported by approximately 1,500 volunteers who make the program possible each and every year.” Accordingly, Congress failed to pass a spending measure before government funding expired Friday at midnight, triggering a government shutdown. The House passed a stopgap funding bill Thursday that included $5.7 billion for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. However, Senate Republicans were not able to get the necessary 60 votes needed to send the bill to the president’s desk. Prior to the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer vowed that any legislation with additional funding…

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Democrats Spent Same Amount of Money Building Fake Russian Bots as Russia Did on Real Russian Bots

by Joe Simonson   While the debate rages on over how much Russia really influenced the results of the 2016 presidential elections, one detail put the entire controversy in perspective: Democratic operatives spent an identical amount of money on their project to create a Russian bot “false flag” campaign during the Alabama 2017 special election. Multiple reports detailed the Russian government-backed Internet Research Agency spent up to $100,000 on Facebook advertisements throughout their entire disinformation operation. As The Daily Caller News Foundation reported Wednesday, billionaire-backed Democrats “created more than a thousand Russian-language accounts that followed [Roy] Moore’s Twitter account overnight.” The group of Democrats behind the “elaborate ‘false flag’ operation,” as described in an internal report obtained by The New York Times, also created fake conservative Facebook accounts for the purpose of convincing voters not to support Republican candidate Roy Moore. The cost of the effort totaled $100,000 — the identical amount Facebook says the Russian IRA spent during the last presidential election. Much of Russia’s activity during the 2016 campaign, however, cost little-to-nothing. According to analyses of the IRA’s activity, many of the Facebook posts created by the organization were seen by millions of Americans without a single dollar spent. The $100,000 spent by the Russian…

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Enbridge Responds to Minnesota Gov’s ‘Erroneous’ Appeal of Pipeline

Mark Dayton

Minnesota’s Public Utilities Commission unanimously approved permits to replace Enbridge’s aging Line 3 Pipeline in November, but departing Gov. Mark Dayton (D-MN) is now appealing the decision. The Public Utilities Commission’s November vote to approve the replacement project was protested and disrupted by environmentalist activists who have opposed the project every step of the way. In one instance, they shut down a performance at Minneapolis’ Theater of Public Policy in protest. Activists say Line 3, which crosses through northern Minnesota, could present the risk of an oil spill in the Mississippi River, and will contribute to climate change by producing carbon dioxide, according to The Associated Press. On Friday, Dayton’s Department of Commerce filed an appeal against a certificate of need and a pipeline routing permit granted to Enbridge. “Enbridge failed to provide a future demand forecast for its product, which is required by state law,” Dayton said in a press release. “Instead, the company presented its analysis of the future oil supply from Canadian tar sands extractions. It failed to demonstrate that Minnesota needs this pipeline to meet our future oil demand. In fact, most of the product would flow through our state to supply other states and countries.”…

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Former Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Uses Christmas to Attack Trump

Failed Minneapolis mayoral candidate Tom Hoch is back in the news for calling President Donald Trump a “traitor” in a Christmas-lights display adorning his ritzy Lake of the Isles home. “Trump is a traitor” spelled out in Christmas lights now radiates from the top of Hoch’s home, which apparently backs up to Minneapolis’ Lake of the Isles, according to The Star Tribune. “I think it’s hard to come to any other conclusion about someone who is willing to turn against this country for his own enrichment,” Hoch explained. “I don’t view this as a big judgment call; this is a true statement.” His holiday message is likely viewed by hundreds of passersby everyday who visit Lake of the Isles for a walk or bike ride, or pass through the downtown Minneapolis destination on their way to work. But Hoch claims that the response has been only positive, and said he’s even been asked to keep the display up year round. “I was walking my dog and some guy pulled over and said, ‘Bravo, Bravo!’” Hoch told The Star Tribune. “A lot of people have stopped. I’ve been quite surprised.” Fr. James Bretzke, Hoch’s cousin and a Catholic priest, celebrated the…

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Ohio Ranks 38th in Economic Freedom, New Report Finds

The Buckeye Institute’s annual Economic Freedom of North America report conducted in partnership with Canada’s Fraser Institute found that Ohio ranks number 38 among the 50 states in economic freedom. The report measured each state’s government spending, taxation, and labor market restrictions as indicators of economic freedom. “The measure of a state’s economic freedom is how well it allows its citizens to reach their fullest economic potential and how well the state creates an environment where families can experience true economic prosperity,” Buckeye Institute economist Dr. Andrew Kidd explains in the report. States that “limit economic freedom,” the report explains, are ones that “spend more taxpayer money than is needed, restrict people from pursuing their careers and dreams, discourage new business start-ups and businesses from coming to their state, and limit the ability of people to provide for their families.” States with “greater economic freedom,” on the other hand, “provide their citizens with the opportunity for greater prosperity.” Ohio was joined by other battleground states such as New Mexico and Minnesota in the “least free” category. States like Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and Virginia were ranked among the most economically free. To improve its ranking, the Buckeye Institute recommends that Ohio…

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Colorado Uses ‘Side-Door’ Tactic to Appoint Unelected Officials to State Legislature

Iman Jodeh is hoping to be selected to fill a Colorado Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Daniel Kagan, who resigned as an investigation was heating up about his repeated use of the women’s rest room in the State Capitol. Jodeh, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants who was born and raised in Colorado, is competing with two others for the seat. The appointee will be chosen in January by a Vacancy Committee, not by the governor. According to a recent analysis by The Colorado Sun, the “side-door entrance” to the Colorado Legislature has been used increasingly of late to choose lawmakers whom the voters themselves might not have wanted. The replacements won’t get picked by voters, but rather by a vacancy committee of activists from the party that holds the seat. Colorado is one of only five states to use this kind of partisan process, which gives appointment panels outsized influence in shaping the legislature and public policy. According to The Sun, one in four sitting legislators were given the seat by the Vacancy Committee. Jodeh, 36, wants the job of representing Senate District 26, which includes Littleton, Englewood, and parts of Aurora. She told Westword that her community includes…

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Tennessee Reportedly Takes in A Lot of Floridians

Tennessee has had a big influx of people coming in from Florida, according to numbers a Florida newspaper editor gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau. According to Bill Thompson, editorial page editor of the Lakeland, Fla.-based The Ledger, Tennessee is one of five states that “welcomed more newcomers than wished farewell to pilgrims.” As for the five other states, Texas took in people mostly from California. Alabama took in people from Georgia. Kentucky took in people from Ohio. And Oklahoma took in people from Texas, Thompson wrote. Thompson said he decided to gather this information after seeing so many out-of-state license plates and moving vans coming into Florida. He said he wondered why, for instance, someone he saw from California, which has great weather and is supposedly “a quasi-socialist paradise,” would want to relocate to his state. “In recent weeks President Trump has focused attention on the risk of the immigrant caravans coming from the south,” Thompson wrote. “But perhaps we in the South need to be mindful of caravans fleeing Bluetopia’s high taxes, excessive government intrusion, rising cost of living and social-justice warrioring. Let’s hope they, like immigrants of yore, seek assimilation rather than proselytization.” In 2017, Thompson said,…

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