Day: January 18, 2019

Tennessee Pastors Network Criticizes Bill Lee for Ignoring His Christian Conservative Base

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In a letter to Governor-Elect Bill Lee delivered on the eve of his inauguration, Dale Walker, President of the conservative Tennessee Pastors Network, has expressed “concerns” about recent appointees to the Lee Administration. The letter notes that Walker “requested a meeting with the Governor-elect weeks ago and was informed he didn’t have time to meet with concerned Pastors. Apparently, Bill Lee has been so busy meeting with these liberals he couldn’t meet with conservative Bible-Believing Pastors that stood for electing what we thought was a conservative Governor.” Walker says that there are many qualified Tennessee conservatives that Bill Lee could have appointed to top positions in his Administration that have been intentionally overlooked in order to promote the liberal Democrats and moderate Republicans he has named instead. “The Tennessee Pastors Network met with Knoxville Mayor Rogero regarding a scripture verse that had been removed at the Knoxville Police Department,” Walker said. “She was completely tone deaf to the importance of Biblical values in our culture. I cannot explain why Bill Lee would approve hiring someone from the top of her ultra-liberal Administration while he purports to be a conservative Christian leader!” Tennessee Pastors Network is again requesting a meeting with…

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North Carolina Speaker Invites President Trump to Deliver State of the Union in Raleigh

A.P. Dillon

Raleigh, North Carolina — Speaker of the North Carolina House Tim Moore has invited President Trump to deliver his State of the Union (SOTU) remarks in Raleigh. Moore’s invitation comes on the heels of the U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi canceling the President’s SOTU speech. “Dear Mr. President,  It is my sincere pleasure as the Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives to invite you to deliver your second State of the Union Address in our chamber of this state’s General Assembly,” wrote Speaker Moore. Today I extended an invitation to President @RealDonaldTrump to deliver his second State of the Union address in the chambers of the North Carolina House of Representatives. https://t.co/e6Ano6ohJ5 #ncga #ncpol — Speaker Tim Moore (@NCHouseSpeaker) January 18, 2019 “The majestic character of our state House chamber and the splendor of North Carolina’s breathtaking landscapes are a fitting venue to deliver your second State of the Union address,” Moore wrote. Speaker Moore wrote to President Trump that he is always welcome in North Carolina and that in the past, President Bill Clinton had given an address at the North Carolina General Assembly. “The President of the United States is always welcome in the Old…

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Jeff Flake Tells Nashville Crowd Donald Trump Won Presidency by Whipping Voters into A Frenzy

Chris Butler

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — If you voted for Donald Trump for president in 2016 then it’s because you are susceptible and Trump whipped you “into a frenzy,” said former Republican Senator Jeff Flake during a visit to Nashville Thursday. Flake made his remarks to perhaps a crowd of 2,000 people at Vanderbilt University as part of the school’s Chancellor’s Lecture Series. The moderators at the event — as well as most of the audience members — seemed hostile to Trump and his voters. Flake, of course, has little love for Trump. Flake told the crowd Trump only won because of “a particularly weak opponent on the Democratic Party side,” referring to Hillary Clinton. “Any of the 17 people he vanquished in the primaries would have won that race. But Trump motivated people to get out and vote,” Flake told the event moderators. Flake compared Trump’s win to what former Republican California Gov. Pete Wilson did in 1994 with Proposition 187. According to The Los Angeles Times, that ballot “sought to stem illegal immigration and address its costs by cutting off state services, including healthcare and public education, to those in the country illegally.” Voters in California passed that referendum, but, as…

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Tennessee Star Report EXCLUSIVE: State Rep. Robin Smith Discusses a Tennessee ‘Consumer Friendly’ Healthcare Standard

Julie Carr

On Thursday’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 chatted with Tennessee State Representative and brand new committee chairman, Robin Smith about how the Democrats continue to obstruct, distract, and delay by challenging her State Rep victory. Further on in the segment, Smith touched upon the issue of redistricting and a solution to Tennessee’s healthcare issues by devising some sort of healthcare standard that will allow a more affordable cost to consumers coupled with choices. Gill: As the Tennessee legislature kicks off, not in earnest, on Monday after the inauguration of Governor Bill Lee on Saturday. One of those who’s going to be participating in the inaugural events and watching with great attention is former state party chair of the state of Tennessee, Robin Smith, now State Representative Robin Smith from down in the Chattanooga area. And she’s also a brand new committee chairman and will focus on how we deal with the issues that effect the health insurance, well healthcare of the people of Tennessee. And Robin good to have you with us. Smith: Good morning…

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Governor-Elect Bill Lee Appoints Commissioners of Health, Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, General Services

Jason M. Reynolds

Tennessee Gov.-elect Bill Lee on Thursday announced appointments to his Cabinet for the Department of Health, the Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, and the Department of General Services. “We have been committed to building a team that represents each Grand Division and I am pleased to add appointees who represent West, Middle and East Tennessee at the table,” Lee said in a press release. “I look forward to working together to implement a conservative vision for Tennessee.” The new appointments are: • Dr. Lisa Piercey – Department of Health • Brad Turner – Department of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities • Christi Branscom – Department of General Services Piercey, of Gibson County, currently serves as the executive vice president of West Tennessee Healthcare. In this role she oversees a roster of hospitals with an emphasis on rural hospitals in Bolivar, Camden, Milan, Dyersburg and Martin. Piercey’s clinical background is in pediatrics with a specialization in child abuse pediatrics. She serves as the Medical Director for the Madison County Child Advocacy Center and is also on faculty at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Longtime Jackson conservative talk radio host Frankie Lax told The Tennessee Star that the appointment of Dr. Piercey gives West…

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Sebastian Gorka Commentary: The FBI Has Become Too Dangerous

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by Sebastian Gorka   If you’re not the first lady, being alone in the Oval Office with the president of the United States is a rare occurrence. Even visiting heads of state will be accompanied by an interpreter, or an official notetaker, when they meet privately with the most powerful man in the world. So I will never forget the day, in June 2017, when I found myself in front of the Resolute Desk, with just President Donald Trump in the room with me. I was there for something that pertained to my job as strategist to the president—if memory serves, it was to discuss our plan to undo the 44th president’s disastrous Iran Deal—when the topic of Russia came up. Suddenly the president stopped, looked at me, and said: “They will find nothing because there is nothing.” Since he shared that declaration with me, good men like General Mike Flynn have been charged with process crimes, shady characters like Paul Manafort have been convicted of wire fraud, and young men such as George Papadopoulos have served time in federal prison as a result of their foolish self-aggrandizing. Yet, none of the charges made or convictions brought by Special Counsel…

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John Bogle, Founder of Vanguard, Dies at 89

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John C. Bogle, who simplified investing for the masses by launching the first index mutual fund and founded Vanguard Group, died Wednesday, the company said. He was 89. Bogle did not invent the index fund, but he expanded access to no-frills, low-cost investing in 1976 when Vanguard introduced the first index fund for individual investors, rather than institutional clients. The emergence of funds that passively tracked market indexes, like the Standard & Poor’s 500, enabled investors to avoid the higher fees charged by professional fund managers who frequently fail to beat the market. More often than not, the higher operating expenses that fund managers pass on to their shareholders cancel out any edge they may achieve through expert stock-picking. Mutual fund industry critic Bogle and Vanguard shook up the industry further in 1977. The company ended its reliance on outside brokers and instead began directly marketing its funds to investors without charging upfront fees known as sales loads. Bogle served as Vanguard’s chairman and CEO from its 1974 founding until 1996. He stepped down as senior chairman in 2000, but remained a critic of the fund industry and Wall Street, writing books, delivering speeches and running the Bogle Financial Markets…

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Google Employees Meltdown Over the Use of the Word ‘Family’

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by Peter Hasson   A Google executive sparked a fierce backlash from employees by using the word “family” in a weekly, company-wide presentation, according to internal documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Many Google employees became angry that the term was used while discussing a product aimed at children, because it implied that families have children, the documents show. The backlash grew large enough that a Google vice president addressed the controversy and solicited feedback on how the company could become more inclusive. TheDCNF received the documents from a source who insisted upon anonymity in order to share them. One employee stormed out of the March 2017 presentation after a presenter “continued to show (awesome) Unicorn product features which continually use the word ‘family’ as a synonym for ‘household with children,’” he explained in an internal thread. That employee posted an extended rant, which was well-received by his colleagues, on why linking families to children is “offensive, inappropriate, homophobic, and wrong.” He wrote: This is a diminishing and disrespectful way to speak. If you mean “children”, say “children”; we have a perfectly good word for it. “Family friendly” used as a synonym for “kid friendly” means, to me,…

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Democrats Attack Trump’s Plan to Bring Back Thousands of Federal Workers

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by Tim Pearce   House Democrats are questioning the legality of a Department of the Interior (DOI) decision to call back thousands of furloughed employees to work on offshore drilling permits. A trio of Democrats sent a letter to the acting Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt Wednesday, alleging that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) broke federal law by allowing some federal employees to begin working again. “This is an outrageous step, and the justifications provided in the BOEM contingency plan … are farcical and make it clear that the administration cares only about the impacts on its favorite industry and not about workers, their families, and ordinary families,” the letter said. Democratic Reps. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, Betty McCollum of Minnesota, and Alan Lowenthal of California joined Grijalva in signing the letter. Grijalva chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources, which oversees the DOI. BOEM changed its shutdown plan Jan. 8 to bring back employees to work on seismic permits and offshore lease sales because leaving the agency understaffed threatened to “negatively impact the Treasury and negatively impact investment in the U.S. Offshore Gulf of Mexico,” BOEM said according to the letter. The Democrats demanded BOEM reverse…

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Trump Cancels Pelosi’s Travel Plans in Response to State of the Union Delay

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U.S. President Donald Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi traded taunts Thursday, but there was no end in sight for a partial federal government shutdown soon to enter its fifth week amid a continuing standoff over wall construction along the U.S.-Mexican border. “While many Democrats in the House and Senate would like to make a deal, Speaker Pelosi won’t let them negotiate,” Trump said in a speech at the Defense Department. “Hopefully Democrat lawmakers will step forward to do what is right for our country, and what’s right for our country is border security at the strongest level.” Democrats insist they will negotiate stronger, more effective border security measures once the government reopens, but that a border wall would wasteful, ineffective, and a blight on America’s image. Pelosi, the top-ranking congressional Democrat, said Trump’s “insistence on the wall is a luxury we can no longer afford.” She called for Trump to delay his scheduled Jan. 29 State of the Union address until government funding is restored and the shutdown ends. “Let’s get a date when the government is open,” the speaker said. Trump, in turn, said he was denying her use of military aircraft for her planned trip to Brussels,…

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Commentary: The Coming Crises for Christian Colleges

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by William Anderson   An African-American pro-life speaker recently spoke at a Midwestern college and several members of the school’s student government declared the speaker “had made many students, staff, and faculty of color feel unheard, underrepresented, and unsafe on our campus.” On America’s politicized campuses, that hardly is news. However, these were not students at some notoriously leftist school like Oberlin; they were students at Wheaton College in Illinois, a well-known Christian college. Wheaton was the alma mater of the late evangelist Billy Graham along with three missionaries famously martyred in Ecuador in 1956. But today, a pro-life viewpoint that supposedly is common at Christian colleges now is considered “controversial.” Wheaton’s turmoil is a microcosm for Christian colleges in the United States, which until recently have enjoyed protected status in higher education. For more than a century, Christian colleges have operated in a parallel universe to their secular counterparts. Some, like Wheaton, are non-denominational while others, such as Covenant College in Northwest Georgia, are tied to a denomination (in Covenant’s case, the theologically-conservative Presbyterian Church in America). Christian colleges in the past have operated with minimal government oversight. Most are accredited by the same regional accreditation associations that also…

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FBI: Hasher Jallal Taheb Wanted to Attack White House with Anti-tank Rocket

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A Georgia man accused of plotting to use an anti-tank rocket to storm into the White House was arrested in a sting Wednesday after he traded his car for guns and explosives, authorities said. Hasher Jallal Taheb, 21, of Cumming was arrested Wednesday and is charged with attempting to damage or destroy a building owned by the United States using fire or an explosive, U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Taheb had an attorney who could comment on the allegations. A local law enforcement agency contacted the FBI in March after getting a tip from someone who said Taheb had become radicalized, changed his name and planned to travel abroad, according to an FBI agent’s affidavit filed in court. No passport The affidavit says Taheb told a confidential FBI source in October that he planned to travel abroad for “hijra,” which the agent wrote refers to traveling to territory controlled by the Islamic State. Because he didn’t have a passport, he couldn’t travel abroad and told the FBI source that he wanted to carry out an attack in the U.S. against the White House and the Statue of Liberty. He met with the undercover…

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Report: House Conservative Rep. Jody Vice Kicked off Committee Allegedly Because He Voted Against McCarthy for Minority Leader

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by Henry Rodgers   Georgia Republican Rep. Jody Hice was reportedly removed from the House Armed Services Committee for voting against Rep. Kevin McCarthy for minority leader, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. Hice, who served on the committee since 2018 and is serving his third term in Congress, was removed from the committee after he decided to back Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan for House minority leader. McCarthy received 159 votes, compared to Jordan’s 43 votes, making him the minority leader of the House in a Dec. 14 vote. “While I am certainly disappointed that I will no longer have the privilege of serving on the House Armed Services Committee, I remain steadfast in my commitment to serving the 10th District of Georgia. My voting card belongs to them – and only them – and the priorities of my constituents will always be my central concern,” Hice told TheDCNF. “I’m deeply honored to be their voice in Washington and will continue to support our men and women in uniform, fight for conservative policies, and help advance the President’s agenda.” A source with knowledge of the situation told TheDCNF, “We should be focused on working together to win the…

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Bruce Ohr Testimony Undercuts Adam Schiff’s Defense of FBI

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by Chuck Ross   Justice Department official Bruce Ohr’s testimony about his meetings with FBI officials regarding dossier author Christopher Steele severely undercuts claims made in 2018 by California Rep. Adam Schiff and his fellow Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. Ohr told lawmakers Aug. 28, 2018, he briefed top FBI officials Andrew McCabe and Lisa Page in early August 2016, just days after he met with Steele, a former British spy who was investigating then-candidate Donald Trump. Ohr testified he told McCabe and Page about his interactions with Steele, who was working at the time for Fusion GPS, a Democrat-funded opposition research firm. The FBI relied heavily on Steele’s unverified dossier to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. Republicans have focused on the Ohrs’ link to the dossier and Steele. In a memo dated Feb. 2, 2018, House Intelligence Republicans, led by then-Chairman Devin Nunes, asserted the FBI filed to disclose in their FISA applications Ohr’s wife, Nellie, worked for Fusion GPS. They also noted in the so-called Nunes memo that the FISA applications do not reveal Steele’s anti-Trump bias. Ohr claimed Steele told him during a meeting Sept. 23, 2016,…

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Father Ryan’s Adriana Batey Signs Letter of Intent to Milligan College

Scott Wallace

SOUTH NASHVILLE– If you see Adriana Batey in the mall or about town, she looks like a normal teenager. Around the Father Ryan campus, she is soft-spoken and studious. When you put a shot put in her hand, she is aggressive and as her coach describes, a self-motivated technician that is intentional on fixing her smallest errors and is critical on herself but gets results. Batey accounts her aggressiveness from playing soccer at a younger age. Today that hard work paid off as she signed a letter of intent to compete in track at Milligan College, a NAIA near Johnson City, Tennessee. “We are so proud of where she is right now,” said mom Veronica Batey. “She struggled with academics when she first came to Father Ryan and now she has excelled as an A-B student. Her coach, Coach (Scott) Shaver is like family to me. We saw her start as a multi-eventer and then she decided to just throw. I am happy she picked Milligan because they cultivate the athletes well. I am so proud of her, I can’t even imagine.” Adriana has been competing in track for seven years. Her personal best is close to 34 feet in…

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North Carolina Wins 5-Year $26.6 Million Federal Charter School Expansion Grant

A.P. Dillon

North Carolina is one of eight states to have won a 5-year federal charter school opportunities expansion grant worth $26.6 million. The other states receiving the grants are Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Michigan, and New York. The Expanding Opportunities through Quality Charter School Program seeks to expand educational opportunities and support for traditionally underserved students who are economically disadvantaged, homeless, students with disabilities, unaccompanied youths, and non-native English speakers. “I am excited that North Carolina was awarded this highly competitive grant from the Department of Education,” said Dave Machado, director of the Office of Charter Schools at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. “This grant will help us promote high-quality schools and open more schools in the underserved rural areas of North Carolina.” “The CSP grant represents an important step forward for the charter school sector in North Carolina,” said Alex Quigley, chairman of the Charter Schools Advisory Board. “This investment will help drive innovation in the important work of ensuring all students in this state have the opportunity to choose an excellent education.” According to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, the grant funds will be used to: Increase the number of educationally disadvantaged students attending high-quality…

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Pro-Legalization Protesters Mock and Shout Down Minnesota Mother Who Lost Son to Impaired Driver

Anthony Gockowski

A Wednesday press conference at the Minnesota State Capitol kicked off what is sure to be an emotional and divisive debate over the legalization of marijuana. The press conference was called by Smart Approaches to Marijuana Minnesota, and both Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom and Dakota County Sheriff Tim Leslie were in attendance. But supporters of legalization repeatedly mocked and interrupted the speakers throughout their remarks, and essentially hijacked the news conference by the end of it. In one case, Sandy Melville, a woman who lost her son to an inebriated driver, was shouted down by protesters when she attempted to discuss how the issue has personally impacted her. “Minnesota road safety will be compromised even further by impaired drivers if this ridiculous initiative passes. Alcohol is legal, easy to get, hence the 24,000 DUI arrests a year. Legalizing recreational marijuana will likely cause a huge increase in DUI arrests,” Melville said, but was interrupted by sarcastic jeers from protesters. “It should be illegal. We should be a dry state,” one protester exclaimed. “If you can’t support cannabis, you can’t support alcohol,” another added. “You can’t support cigarettes either.” Melville went on to reveal that her son was “thrown 51-feet”…

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North Carolina Congressman George Holding Proposes Term Limits Amendment

A.P. Dillon

Republican Congressman George Holding (NC-02) has proposed an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that will create term limits for members of Congress. Holding’s proposed amendment would limit members of the U.S. House of Representatives to six two-year terms or 12 years. U.S. Senators would be limited to two six-year terms or 12 years. Today, I introduced a Constitutional amendment imposing #termlimits on Congress. Term limits will end politics-as-usual in Washington & help fix D.C.'s broken culture. It’s time for elected officials to start making a difference, not a career. >>https://t.co/QdHJ9s07kj pic.twitter.com/s0UWyupIz2 — Former Rep. George Holding (@RepHolding) January 15, 2019 “Since the government shutdown began, we’ve seen plenty of posturing and finger-pointing – but not much common-sense. Sadly, this is the new normal in American politics,” said Congressman Holding in a press release. “Term limits will put an end to politics-as-usual in Washington, help restore a citizen legislature, and encourage elected officials to do what’s best for their constituents, instead of special interests.” Representative Holding’s statement pointed to a recent survey which found that 82% of voters support a Constitutional amendment for congressional term limits like the one he has proposed. “It’s time for elected officials to start making a…

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Minnesota Woman Becomes First in the Nation to Successfully Challenge Union’s ‘Window Period’ Scheme

Anthony Gockowski

A Brainerd public official has become the first in the nation to successfully challenge her union’s “window period” scheme in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Janus v. AFSCME decision. Sandra Anderson, a clerk for the City of Brainerd Police Department, filed suit against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 31 last year after she attempted to resign her membership and stop paying dues, according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Anderson was told she could only opt out of the agreement during a 10-day “window period” prior to either the anniversary of the city’s contract with IBEW or her date of employment. IBEW Local 31, an electrical union, entered into a monopoly bargaining agreement with the City of Brainerd in 2004 that required all city employees to either join the union or pay union fees. 2018’s Janus decision, however, ruled it unconstitutional to require public employees to subsidize labor unions, and further ruled that deducting union fees from an employee’s check without their affirmative consent violates their First Amendment rights. When Anderson asked IBEW Local 31 and the City of Brainerd to cease withholding union fees, she was told she could only…

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Bill Lee Names UC Berkeley Grad Penny Schwinn, Who Began Career at Teach for America, as Education Commissioner

Chris Butler

On Thursday Governor-Elect Bill Lee named 36-year-old Penny Schwinn, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, who began her career in education working as a teacher for Teach for America, as Tennessee’s new Commissioner of Education. Kevin Huffman, who served as Commissioner of Education during the Haslam administration from 2011 to 2014, also began his career at Teach for America, a controversial non-profit organization that pays new college graduates to teach in urban schools as part of its mission to address “educational inequity” and “help children overcome obstacles like systemic racism and poverty.” Huffman’s tenure as Education Commissioner was widely considered to be unsuccessful. “Penny leads with students at the forefront and I believe her experience is exactly what we need to continue improving on the gains we have made in the past few years,” Lee said in the announcement of her appointment. “As a former teacher and seasoned administrator, she will help make Tennessee a leader in the nation on education,” Lee added. The announcement continued: Schwinn currently serves as the chief deputy commissioner of education at the Texas Education Agency. In this role, she pursued a series of reforms including the transformation of a failing state assessment program. She…

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