Day: April 20, 2019

Tennessee Health Department Confirms Measles Case in East Tennessee

Jason M. Reynolds
"Measles" by Dave Haygarth

The Tennessee Department of Health has confirmed the first 2019 case of measles in East Tennessee. The department said is investigating after the State Public Health Laboratory confirmed a positive test for the illness in a resident of East Tennessee. While the investigation is currently centered in East Tennessee, all Tennesseans should be aware of measles and its symptoms, the Health Department said. These symptoms may include fever, runny nose, body aches, watery eyes and white spots in the mouth. The illness is typically accompanied by a red, spotty rash that begins on the face and spreads over the body. Nearly one in three measles patients will develop ear infections, diarrhea or pneumonia. Measles can be fatal in about one to two out of every 1,000 cases. “Our efforts are focused on preventing the spread of illness to others,” said State Epidemiologist Dr. Tim Jones. The measles virus is highly contagious and can stay airborne or live on surfaces for up to two hours. People recently infected with measles may not have any symptoms of illness, but can transmit the virus for about five days before the typical measles rash appears. “Most people in Tennessee are vaccinated against measles and…

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Bradley County Schools Wants $362 for Simple Open Records Request

Chris Butler

Members of the Bradley County School System will not comply with an open records request unless The Tennessee Star pays them $362.54. This week The Star submitted open records requests to officials at several school districts throughout Tennessee. Specifically, we requested copies of any emails any school principals sent since Jan. 1 of this calendar year that mentioned vouchers, Educations Savings Accounts, or Senate Bill 795. Bradley was one of several county school districts The Star contacted. Members of the Tennessee General Assembly are currently debating the bill. As The Star reported, SB795 is Republican Gov. Bill Lee’s Education Savings Account bill. In an emailed statement, Director of Schools Linda Cash said that by Tennessee law a records custodian may require payment for actual costs incurred in making copies of public records. “It has been determined that the cost to produce the records you requested is estimated at $362.54,” Cash wrote. “This letter should also serve as notification that upon receipt of payment, additional time will be necessary to ensure that any confidential information contained within the requested documents has been removed. The review of the records for confidential information may take at least three days.” [pdf-embedder url=”https://tennesseestar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/BUTLER_TNStar-records-request-cost-estimate_4-19-19.pdf”] Cash did…

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Commentary: The Lies, Clichés, and Hypocrisy of Bernie Sanders

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by Conrad Black   There is something seriously disconcerting about the sight of the leading declared Democratic presidential candidate, Bernie Sanders, embracing the most imperishable charlatan in American political history, the supposedly reverend Al Sharpton. This most improbable clergyman, although he is only 64, is so worn down by what Dr. Johnson called the “disingenuousness of years,” he now looks like an ambulatory waxwork dummy. He has been exposed countless times for scams, falsehoods, and incitements to violence. Of all prominent African-Americans, only Louis Farrakhan is more odious. Now that Sanders is the front-runner, with the possible exception of Joe (Hamlet) Biden, it is time to start taking a closer look at him. I’ve always been curious why he would have worked for a time on a Stalinist Kibbutz after the 20th Communist Party Congress where Stalin’s infamies and atrocities were publicly denounced by Nikita Khrushchev. Sanders apparently was a renegade Communist as a youth, regarding Khrushchev as a mealy-mouthed compromiser. It was eccentric that he spent his honeymoon in Moscow, but that, I suppose, is the business of no one but the then-newlyweds. Our country has seemed benignly incurious about a man running officially as a socialist with a…

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Commentary: The Left Wants to Stop Census Citizenship Question to Destroy Representative Government

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by Bill Wilson   The rising chorus of the leftist meme reveals the legitimate fear they have for the move by the Trump Administration to ask one simple question on the upcoming Census; are you a citizen of the United States? To hear the horde of so-called “progressive” mouthpieces you would think the act of asking this question is tantamount to renouncing both the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence. The hyper-ventilating was on full display on April 15 by Catherine Rampell in the Pravda (Washington) Post in her piece, “The Trump administration’s census question degrades our data — and our democracy.” According to Comrade Rampell, asking if a person is a citizen will accomplish two vile goals of the Trump dystopia. It will degrade the data collected by the Census and, of course, it will be a spike into the heart of our cherished mythological democracy. Unfortunately, on both counts the radical anti-American Left are dead wrong. In fact, they are aggressively demonstrating their long-term goals on destroying both honest data analytics and any semblance of representative government. In the 15 Censuses conducted since 1870, the question has been asked in all but three cases. So, far from…

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Facebook ‘Unintentionally’ Uploaded Email Contacts of 1.5 Million Users

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Facebook Inc said on Wednesday it may have “unintentionally uploaded” email contacts of 1.5 million new users since May 2016, in what seems to be the latest privacy-related issue faced by the social media company. In March, Facebook had stopped offering email password verification as an option for people who signed up for the first time, the company said. There were cases in which email contacts of people were uploaded to Facebook when they created their account, the company said. “We estimate that up to 1.5 million people’s email contacts may have been uploaded. These contacts were not shared with anyone and we are deleting them,” Facebook told Reuters, adding that users whose contacts were imported will be notified. The underlying glitch has been fixed, according to the company statement. Business Insider had earlier reported that the social media company harvested email contacts of the users without their knowledge or consent when they opened their accounts. When an email password was entered, a message popped up saying it was “importing” contacts without asking for permission first, the report said. Facebook has been hit by a number of privacy-related issues recently, including a glitch that exposed passwords of millions of users…

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Eight Things You May Not Know About Leonardo da Vinci, On The 500th Anniversary of His Death

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by Richard Gunderson   This year marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci’s death. Widely considered one of the greatest polymaths in human history, Leonardo was an inventor, artist, musician, architect, engineer, anatomist, botanist, geologist, historian and cartographer. Though his artistic output was small, Leonardo’s impact was great, reflecting his deep knowledge of the body, his extensive studies of light and the human face, and his sfumato (Italian for “smoky”) technique, which allowed for incredibly lifelike images. Leonardo regarded artists as divine apprentices, writing “We, by our arts, may be called the grandsons of God.” Twenty-first-century scholars at MIT ranked him the sixth most influential person who ever lived. Like Rembrandt and Michelangelo, he is so renowned that he is known by only his first name. Yet despite his fame, there are things about Leonardo that many people today find surprising. Shady parentage Leonardo was born out of wedlock on April 15, 1452. His father, Piero, was a wealthy notary, and his mother, Caterina, was a local peasant girl. Although the circumstances of his birth would place Leonardo at a disadvantage in terms of education and inheritance, biographer Walter Isaacson regards it as a terrific stroke of luck. Rather…

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Commentary: Arizona Takes Unprecedented Step on the Long Road to Occupational Freedom

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by Nicolas Anthony   In an unprecedented move, Arizona has become the first state to recognize occupational licenses from every state. As ABC 15 first reported, Governor Doug Ducey signed the legislation last Wednesday in an effort to reduce the cost for skilled workers to enter Arizona. Governor Ducey told reporters, You don’t lose your skills simply because you pack up a U-Haul truck and make the decision to move to Arizona. But not everyone has supported Governor Ducey’s decision. Critics have expressed concern that workers from states with lax requirements will flood in. Representative Pamela Powers Hannley went so far as to ask, “[Why] should we dumb down our standards when it’s really not necessary to build up the workforce?” Is it this black and white? Have states become so adept at certification that one license could apply in all states as this legislation suggests? Or are modern industries so fragmented and specialized to specific state needs that a Maryland worker could never perform their job safely in Arizona? If presented with these questions, I would have to say no to all of them, but let’s take these issues one at a time. One License to Rule Them All?…

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Perrysburg High School Student Arrested in Connection With Disparaging Twitter Account

Anthony Gockowski

A Perrysburg High School student was arrested this week in connection to a Twitter account that contained disparaging comments about his female peers. The student, 18-year-old Mehros Nassersharifi, was charged with telecommunications harassment for a Twitter account he started called “Perrysburg Girls Ranked.” All of the tweets have since been deleted, except for one. “We are going to start releasing the first wave. 64 hottest girls at Perrysburg will be ranked from worst to first. Personality, face, and body have all been accounted for and a description for their ranking is also provided. If you didn’t make the list, you’re just fat and fried,” the tweet states. Nassersharifi was charged Wednesday by Perrysburg Police Department, according to a press release from the school. “We are pleased to share that more than 100 students reported this Twitter account to teachers and administrators last week, which enabled us to quickly respond and begin our investigation in partnership with Perrysburg Police Department,” the school said. “Our disciplinary process has been initiated. In a serious situation like this, discipline may include expulsion,” the statement continued. “School districts are very limited with what we may share with the public in these situations.” According to The…

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Man Charged with Attempted Arson After He Walked Into a New York City Cathedral With Gasoline

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A 37-year-old man was charged Thursday with attempted arson, reckless endangerment and trespassing after he walked into St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City on Wednesday with two full gasoline cans, lighter fluid and lighters, police said. The incident occurred two days after a massive fire severely damaged the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, causing global shock and sorrow. That blaze was most likely the result of an accident though a major investigation is underway. A New York City Police Department official said Marc Lamparello was charged with second-degree attempted arson, second-degree reckless endangerment and trespassing on Thursday after he entered the Roman Catholic cathedral in midtown Manhattan just before 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT) on Wednesday and was confronted by a security guard. As the man turned to leave, gasoline spilled onto the floor and the guard alerted police officers stationed outside. Lamparello is a resident of New Jersey and a faculty member in the philosophy department at the City University of New York, according to the university’s website. Local media reported that he has previously been arrested in New Jersey for trespassing. He has no arrest record in New York, a New York Police Department official said. It…

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Some Democrats Are Returning Donations from Ilhan Omar

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN-05) campaign committee raked in an impressive $832,024 during her tumultuous first quarter as a member of Congress. Some of Omar’s donations to fellow Democrats, however, are being returned. Dan McCready, a North Carolina Democrat currently running in a special election, announced on Twitter Wednesday that he had returned Omar’s $2,000 donation. “Some folks are asking why I directed the return of Rep. Omar’s donation. I did this weeks ago because I vigorously disagree with any anti-Semitic comments,” he said. “Since this time, dangerous and hateful attacks have started against her. I condemn in the strongest terms the hateful rhetoric against her, the Muslim community and people of color.” Some folks are asking why I directed the return of Rep. Omar’s donation. I did this weeks ago because I vigorously disagree with any anti-semitic comments. Since this time, dangerous and hateful attacks have started against her… (thread) — Dan McCready (@McCreadyForNC) April 18, 2019 The Washington Free Beacon later reported that Reps. Lucy McBath (D-GA-06) and Jahana Hayes (D-CT-05) failed to disclose large contributions from Omar’s campaign. After The Free Beacon’s report, McBath revealed that the contribution from Omar was not accepted, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.…

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Mueller Report Laid Out a Road Map for Dems’ Midterm Misinformation Campaign

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by Chris White   Special counsel Robert Mueller’s report suggests Russia’s troll job likely paved the way for Democratic officials who would eventually go on to create a similar campaign ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. The size, scope, and tactics the Internet Research Agency (IRA) used to troll social media users in the U.S. leading up to the presidential election are virtually identical to those a slew of Democratic operatives allegedly used before a 2017 midterm election in Alabama. The IRA kicked off its ploy in 2014, when operatives focused on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube users to tilt them toward polar political positions. IRA created Twitter accounts in the names of fictitious U.S. grassroots groups and used them to pose as anti-immigration groups, Tea Party activists, Black Lives Matter protesters, among other conservative advocates, according to the report. The technique, which included creating conservative-sounding accounts like @TEN_ GOP, was designed to get some groups within the U.S. animated as elections neared. IRA ultimately worked to support then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at the expense of the president’s 2016 opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the report notes. The group’s reach was expansive and required a mixture of trolling and…

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Unions Have Lost Hundreds of Thousands of Members Since SCOTUS Decision on Forced Dues

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by Tim Pearce   Three of the largest public sector unions in the United States have lost hundreds of thousands of members and agency fee payers since the Supreme Court banned forced dues last year, according to data reviewed by the Mackinac Center. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 27, 2018, in the case Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ruled that forcing an employee to pay dues to a union in order to hold a government job violates that employee’s First Amendment rights. The court ruling freed millions of public employees from having to pay union dues and fees in order to hold a job working for the government. Federal filings reviewed by the Mackinac Center suggest that public sector unions have taken a significant hit from losing members and fee payers since the decision. Annual federal filings show that the National Education Association (NEA); American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have lost a combined 278,804 members and fee payers from each organization’s last report before the Janus decision to the first report after it. The NEA’s membership and fee-payer count dropped from 2,666,339 on…

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Amy Hardesty on the Common Sense Weight Loss Approach of Hope 80/20

Julie Carr

  On Friday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am- the team spoke to long time friend Mark West about his new business called Hope 80/20 which focuses on health and weight loss, and Amy Hardesty, who has a personal weight loss story and is a coach of the new Hope 80/20 program. Leahy: We are joined now by our good friend Mark West and Amy Hardesty. And they’re with a new company called Hope 80/20. Not actually a new company but they’re doing something of interest to me. It’s a weight loss company and Mark, you and I have known each other for a dozen  years and became very involved in the Tea Party back then. And we had you on the air here when you, after ten years as a leader of the Chattanooga Tea Party, you resigned to go on back to you’re business roots and you’ve been very successful in business. And I just got curious about your new business, Hope 80/20. On the web at Hope 80/20.com. Mark welcome! West: Hi thanks Michael and Steve…

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Minneapolis Bans ‘Fear-Based’ Police Training

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by Whitney Tipton   Minneapolis police officers will no longer be allowed to attend training based on the “warrior style” philosophy, Mayor Jacob Frey announced Thursday. The controversial instruction, available through private seminars, teaches officers to be aware of the threats around them and overcome the fear of taking a life in order to preserve their own, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Moving forward, officers who wish to pursue any training related to use-of-force must first submit the course for approval from Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, KARE11 is reporting. “Fear-based training violates the values at the very heart of community policing,” said Frey. “Our officers have no business at a training that conflicts with those provided by Minneapolis on use of force and deescalation.” Effective today, @MinneapolisPD will become the 1st major department that we know of to prohibit this kind of fear-based training. Attending or instructing an external training that relates to use-of-force will now require approval from our Chief. #mplsSOTC — Jacob Frey (@Jacob_Frey) April 18, 2019 The President of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, Lt. Bob Kroll, disagreed with Frey’s characterization of the training, which he said has existed for while, calling it “excellent.”…

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Migrant Smugglers Used a Drone to Sneak Illegals Through the Border at Night

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by Jason Hopkins   Illegal migrants were spotted using a drone for the first known time to help them cross the U.S. southern border. U.S. Border Patrol agents near El Paso, Texas, monitoring the area with an infrared camera spotted a small airborne object traveling over the U.S.-Mexico border in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The object flew about 100 yards north, entering U.S. soil, then returned back. The object, which was determined to be a drone, repeated this pattern three different times. Ten illegal immigrants were spotted passing the border in the same vicinity the drone had monitored roughly two minutes after the drone retreated back into Mexico territory for the third time. “This is the first known time in recent history that a drone has been utilized as a ‘look-out’ in order to aid in illegal entries in the El Paso Sector,” Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a press release. The Border Patrol agents were able to “quickly” apprehend the migrants and take them into custody. Beyond encountering a drone, agents in the El Paso Sector dealt with an “unprecedented number” of illegal migrants at the border that same day. El Paso Sector officials made…

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Labor Union Representing Lordstown Auto Workers Rocked By Scandal

Andrew Shirley

The labor union solely responsible for the future of Ohio’s Lordstown Auto Complex was blasted Wednesday in Tennessee for the myriad of scandals that have plagued the organization over the past several years. The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, commonly known as the United Automobile Workers, or UAW, is one of the largest international labor unions in the country. For more than five years, the union has been lobbying for the unionization of a Volkswagen plant, based in Chattanooga. The plant currently employs more than 3,500 workers. In 2014, the plant held a vote among eligible workers on the weather on not they should unionize. The vote failed by a total of 712-626. On April 29th and 30th, a new vote will be held and the UAW has been heavily focused on ensuring that the plant votes for unionization this time. In response to this, a nonprofit organization ran a full-page ad in the Detroit Free Press blasting the UAW, citing statements made by the U.S. Department of Justice and a local law professor, noting, among other things, the union had “…a culture of corruption among senior leadership….”. The ad doesn’t directly acknowledge the upcoming…

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Cincinnati Food Truck Association Reportedly Suspends Company for Insensitive T-Shirts

Anthony Gockowski

A northern Kentucky-based barbecue food truck that frequents the Cincinnati area is facing backlash for what some are calling “bigoted” T-shirts. Belle’s Smoking BBQ sells t-shirts that state: “I support LGBTQ: Liberty, guns, bible, Trump, and BBQ.” Owner Jamie Smith said he has been selling the shirts for nearly two years, but wasn’t criticized for them until he posted a picture of one on the company’s Facebook page. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, the Facebook post went viral and the company received several messages calling the T-shirts bigoted and insensitive. “Simple bigotry … sad commentary for business good luck going broke,” one person responded in outrage. “Wearing that shirt is f—ing offensive,” another added. The Cincinnati Food Truck Association said in a Thursday statement that it “has come to our attention that a member has posted some distasteful content on their business page.” “We would like to reiterate to all of our followers that CFTA relies on and appreciates the support of all members of our community. We support positivity and building a united community. We are currently taking internal appropriate action,” the group wrote on Facebook. By Friday morning, Belle’s Smoking BBQ was allegedly “suspended” pending “a full review…

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Legislature Approves Bill to Create Charter School Authorizing Commission

Jason M. Reynolds

The Tennessee Senate on Thursday approved legislation creating an independent state commission to approve public charter schools in Tennessee. Sen. Brian Kelsey (R-TN-31) is the sponsor of SB0796. The tracking information is here. The bill, which also passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday, is a key part of Governor Bill Lee’s education initiatives designed to improve education opportunities for Tennessee students. Lee worked with local school districts to incorporate changes to the legislation. “I am pleased that Governor Lee worked with local schools districts and charter schools to gain unanimous support for the bill,” Kelsey said. “The new commission will ensure that charter school denials will be reviewed by a commission with expertise on quality schools. This law will help ensure that our children will have quality charter schools to attend in Tennessee.” The legislation creates the Tennessee Public Charter School Commission, whose core mission will be authorizing high-quality charter schools, which is currently administered by the State Board of Education, according to a press release from the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus. Commission members will be appointed by the governor and approved by the Legislature, WATE said. At least five members must come from school districts that have charter schools. Sen. Jeff…

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