Day: June 14, 2019

Loudon County Commissioners May Raise Property Taxes at Sheriff’s Request

Chris Butler

  Loudon County commissioners may raise property taxes to pay for Sheriff Tim Guider’s proposed new budget. Members of the Loudon County Commission Budget Committee are scheduled to hold a public hearing on the proposed 2019-2020 proposed budget at 6 p.m. Monday, June 17, at 6:00 pm at the Courthouse Annex, according to news release. Guider was unavailable for comment Thursday. County Commissioner Kelly Littleton Brewster told The Tennessee Star that Guider wants more taxpayer money to hire 42 new employees, some for the new county jail scheduled to open next January. The county needs a new jail because the current facility is overcrowded. The current jail has 80 employees, she added. Guilder also wants that money to hire to new patrol officers, Brewster said. “Right now, we don’t want to raise property taxes, but we’re also looking at other possibilities,” Brewster said. “Right now, county commissioners have offered 15 new employees to the sheriff. Doing that would not consist of a property tax increase.” But 42 new employees would require a property tax hike, Brewster said. County Commissioner Harold Duff, meanwhile, said he is not on board. “I have a problem supporting it like it is written,” Duff said.…

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Commentary: The Trump Tariffs Could Help Prevent Another Great Depression by Talking Currency with China

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Donald Trump, Xi Jinping

by Robert Romano   A long-standing bit of conventional wisdom holds that the Great Depression, which began in 1929, was worsened and made global by tariffs in the Smoot-Hawley tariff act of 1930, and that it was not until the 1934 Reciprocal Trade Act that recovery was possible. But this is a caricature, for it leaves out a critical element of the Great Depression that separates it from normal recessions: Deflation. An example of this myopic caricature can be found at History.com’s article, “The Great Depression Lesson About ‘Trade Wars’,” which follows this narrative but does not mention deflation. It does not even mention unemployment, which should tell you a thing or two. It solely examines the implementation of tariffs, and their impacts, which grossly simplifies the matter and ignores why tariffs were resorted to. Deflation in the U.S. began after the great inflation of World War I and the ensuing credit expansion had a brief respite in the 1920s before beginning again in 1927. It then slowed in 1929, and then went crazy starting in 1930 as banks began failing en masse. Inflation was marked at -2.7 percent in 1930, -8.9 percent in 1931, -10.3 percent in 1932 and…

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Movies to Watch This Weekend

Zachery Schmidt

  The summer is in full swing and that means a variety of movies are rolling out to audiences across the globe. This weekend, a couple of remakes of popular movies are set to be released today nationwide. Men in Black: International This movie is the fourth installation of the Men in Black series, which dates back to 1997. Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson star as two agents who fight aliens on Earth with advanced weaponry. But in the heat of battle, the duo discover they must face a far more dangerous foe – within the ranks if their own MiB. This science fiction movie has not done well with the critics. Rotten Tomatoes’ movie critics scored this a 27 percent rating while the audience gave it a 70 percent rating.   Shaft: Forty-eight years after the original Shaft movie came out, the fifth movie in this series hits theaters today. Shaft takes place in Harlem, New York and is about an FBI cyber security expert (Jessie Usher) who joins forces with his estranged father (Samuel L. Jackson) to investigate a friend’s mysterious death. This action comedy has received mixed reviews so far. Rotten Tomatoes scored this movie a 37…

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Sanders: Socialism Will Spike Taxes, But Americans Will Be ‘Delighted’ to Pay Extra

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by Jake Dima   Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders acknowledged a tax increase from his policies and said Americans would be “delighted” to pay extra, in a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper Wednesday. “I suspect that a lot of people in this country would be delighted to pay more in taxes if they had comprehensive health care as a human right,” Sanders said. The Vermont senator also went on to tell Cooper that he bases his principles on his 50-mile proximity to the Canadian border, where universal health care is law. What Sanders did not include in his statement was the cost of his programs. The Mercatus Center at George Mason University released a study in 2018 saying Americans can estimate to foot a $32.6 trillion bill over a 10-year period for “Medicare for All,” Fox News reported. Sanders has also omitted cost information on his campaign website. The 10-year cost breaks down to $3.26 trillion per year, according to the report. The current U.S. federal budget stands around $4.7 trillion. Sanders also told Cooper Wednesday that housing, retirement, education and a clean environment are among his staples of “human rights.” President Donald Trump was a subject of discussion in…

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Commentary: That Star-Spangled Banner Yet Waves

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Tennessee Star

by Ashley Hamilton   To fly the flag is to honor the mystic chords of memory. It is to hear not a harmonious hymn of battle but the disharmony of peaceful dissent. It is to record the jangling discords of the march of freedom, not a symphony of complacency nor an orchestration of complicity in the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world. To fly the flag—to raise it on this day, Flag Day—is to celebrate the greatness of America. We are a great nation, not because we have always been good, but because we have never failed to try to do good; to right the wrongs of America as God gives us the firmness to see the right; to see to it that we are true to what we said on paper, so every American will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood; to see a sea of flags—from sea to shining sea—where liberty is our birthright and life itself is an unalienable right. To see our flag is to feel what no other flag…

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House Committee Holds Barr, Ross in Contempt of Congress

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  A day after the U.S. House passed a resolution authorizing its committees to take the Trump administration to court and pursue criminal contempt cases to enforce their subpoenas, the House Oversight Committee took the next step. The House Oversight Committee on Wednesday voted in favor of holding Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt of Congress because of the Trump administration’s refusal to comply with the committee’s subpoena for information about why a U.S. citizenship question was added to the 2020 census. Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a vocal supporter of impeaching U.S. President Donald Trump, voted with Democrats. Trump claimed executive privilege Wednesday in refusing to hand over documents to Democratic lawmakers investigating the census question. “I think it’s ridiculous that we would have a census without asking” about citizenship, Trump told reporters at the White House. The House panel’s chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, delayed the contempt vote until later in the day to give the committee’s 42 members time to consider Trump’s executive privilege claim. But he questioned why Trump was asserting executive privilege just before the contempt vote when the subpoenas for information were issued two months ago. ‘Blanket…

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Challengers to Citizenship Question Ask Supreme Court to Delay Census Ruling

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by Kevin Daley   Civil rights groups urged the Supreme Court to postpone its decision on the census citizenship question case late Wednesday, asking the justices to return the dispute to a lower court for review of new evidence. The plaintiffs said in late May that they uncovered evidence showing the Trump administration hopes to use granular citizenship data from the census to help Republicans during the redistricting process. That evidence, as well as claims that senior administration officials made false statements in official proceedings, needs to be reviewed by a trial court, the plaintiffs say. “If ever there were a case that should be decided on the basis of a true and complete record, it is this one,” the plaintiffs wrote in a Wednesday filing with the high court. “The decennial census is one of the U.S. government’s most important constitutional responsibilities, and even an appearance that the government has manipulated the census for partisan and racially discriminatory purposes would undermine public confidence in our representative democracy.” “This Court should not bless the [government’s] decision on this tainted record, under a shadow that the truth will later come to light,” the filing adds. Such suggestions are highly unusual at…

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Trump Eyes More US Troops for Poland, Easing Poles’ Visa Travel to US

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by Fred Lucas   President Donald Trump announced plans Wednesday to possibly station 2,000 more U.S. military troops in Poland and to add the country “fairly soon” to the Visa Waiver Program. “It’s a complex situation, as you know,” Trump said of finalizing a decision on the Visa Waiver Program. “But we are getting very close. We allow very few countries to join, but Poland is one we are thinking about allowing in, probably in about 90 days.” Polish President Andrzej Duda held a joint news conference with Trump on Wednesday in the White House Rose Garden. The Visa Waiver Program allows the citizens of the current 38 member states to travel to other participating countries for up to 90 days without having to obtain a visa. If approved, individuals are authorized to travel within a two-year period for up to 90 days at a time. Duda said he was optimistic this time, inasmuch as previous administrations have considered adding Poland to the list. “This is the first U.S. administration that has treated this in such a serious way and such a comprehensive way,” Duda said. “Covering Poles with the Visa Waiver Program is going to be possible before the…

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Federal Watchdog Recommends Kellyanne Conway Be Fired Over Hatch Act Violations

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by Chuck Ross   A federal watchdog agency has recommended that Kellyanne Conway, a senior counselor to President Trump, be removed from public service for violating the Hatch Act. The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), an independent federal watchdog, said in a letter Thursday to Trump that Conway is a “repeat offender” who has committed “numerous violations” of the Hatch Act by making disparaging remarks about Democrats during media appearances. The Hatch Act bars government employees from making statements for or against political candidates. “OSC respectfully requests that Ms. Conway be held to the same standards as all other federal employees, and, as such, you find removal from federal service to be the appropriate disciplinary action,” wrote special counsel Henry Kerner. “If Ms. Conway were any other federal employee, her multiple violations of the law would almost certainly result in removal from her federal position by the Merit Systems Protection Board,” Kerner continued. The OSC, which is not affiliated with the Justice Department’s special counsel’s office, investigated Conway’s statements and interviews regarding the 2020 election. The letter says that since Feb. 1, Conway has “repeatedly” violated the Hatch Act in media appearances by touting Trump’s reelection campaign while criticizing Democrats…

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US, Guatemala Close to Deal to Block Central American Asylum-Seekers

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  The Trump administration hopes within days to conclude a deal with Guatemala that would block Central Americans from seeking asylum in the U.S. VOA has obtained an unsigned copy of a seven-page draft White House agreement which would establish a “safe third country” protocol between the U.S. and Guatemala. The draft is set to be presented to the government in Guatemala City this week. Under the terms of the agreement, migrants fleeing persecution in El Salvador and Honduras would be required to seek asylum in Guatemala, a gateway to Mexico and the United States. With few exceptions, those who continue north to the U.S. without testing their chances in Guatemala would be sent back to Guatemala by U.S. immigration authorities. Mexico has resisted entering a “safe third country” agreement as part of its recent deal with the Trump administration to avoid punishing tariffs. But talks of a regional pact emerged shortly after President Donald Trump revealed he had agreed to terms with Mexico to curb migration levels through increased Mexican enforcement. In May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) registered the highest monthly total of southwest border apprehensions in 13 years, setting up Trump’s most recent showdown with his…

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New Photos and Videos Show Congressman Mark Green in Normandy

Chris Butler

  U.S. Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District has uploaded several new videos and photos to his Facebook page from his recent trip to Normandy to observe D-Day celebrations. To commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, Green joined some of his colleagues on a bipartisan delegation trip to France last week. U.S. Republican President Donald Trump and a bipartisan Congressional delegation honored the men who served in the largest amphibious invasion ever. In one video, Green captured scenery of Normandy Beach. In another video, Green stood atop a cliff at Normandy Beach. “Today I get to stand here and look at these cliffs and understand more than ever before the incredible bravery it took to come up these cliffs while the enemy fired at almost point blank range,” Green said while speaking directly into the camera. Other photos show Green aboard a military transport while flying over Normandy. Additional photos show other battlefields nearby and French planes overhead offering tribute to D-Day’s heroes. As The Tennessee Star reported last week, during his trip Green mingled with some of the surviving men who participated in that historic event. He also took time to reflect upon why we must never forget…

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Commentary: Bible Verses Now ‘Unsafe’ on Social Media

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by CHQ Staff   Our friend James O’Keefe and his team at Project Veritas have obtained a massive “Sensitive Terms List” from a Pinterest insider, which revealed the social media giant manipulates search results for “Bible verses,” “Christian Easter,” and other Christian terms. The terms on the list are marked as “brand unsafe.” What this means is such terms are removed from auto-complete, trending, recommended, etc. thus depressing the page views and connections of individuals whose posts include those terms. The communications obtained from an industry whistleblower show media giant Pinterest also labeled pro-life activist organization ‘Live Action’ under its “pornography” category; claiming the group was distributing “misinformation related to conspiracies and anti-vaccination advice.” The documents, which include product code, Slack messages, and internal policies, reveal terms and websites that Pinterest apparently censors. In an interview with Project Veritas, the Pinterest insider who leaked the documents explained how the company censors pro-life and Christian content on the website. “I was pretty surprised,” said the Pinterest insider in an interview, when s/he discovered that pro-life group LiveAction.org was added to a “porn domain block list.” The insider explained that the “block list” was intended to be a collection of pornographic websites…

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Oberlin College Hit With Maximum Punitive Damages, Must Pay $33 Million to Gibson’s Bakery

Anthony Gockowski

  A jury ordered Oberlin College to pay $33 million in punitive damages Thursday to Gibson’s Bakery, an on-campus business that the school falsely accused of racial profiling. As The Ohio Star reported last week, the Gibson family was awarded $11 million in compensatory damages. State law caps punitive damages at twice the amount of compensatory damages awarded, meaning the figure will likely be reduced to $22 million, according to Legal Insurrection. At the end of the day, the Gibson family will walk away with at least $33 million in total damages ($11 million in compensatory, and $22 million in punitive after state caps). “Oberlin College tried to sacrifice a beloved fifth-generation bakery, its owners, and its employees at the altar of political correctness to appease the campus ‘social justice warfare’ mob,” said Legal Insurrection CEO and Cornell law professor William Jacobson. “The jury sent a clear message that the truth matters, and so do the reputations and lives of people targeted by false accusations, particularly when those false accusations are spread by powerful institutions.” As of June 30, 2018, Oberlin College reported that it had an endowment of $887.4 million. “Throughout the trial the Oberlin College defense was tone-deaf…

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Emails Show Omar’s Committee Boasting of Being Able to Shut Down Stories in Star Tribune

Anthony Gockowski

  Internal emails released this week show members of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN-05) 2016 Minnesota House campaign committee attempting to “shut down” a story “as we do with the Strib.” “Strib” refers to the nickname used for The Star Tribune, Minnesota’s largest newspaper. The shocking emails were obtained by Powerline from the Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, which discovered the emails during its investigation into Omar’s campaign finance violations. As Powerline notes, the emails were written following the outlet’s publication of an August 12, 2016 story questioning Omar’s marital status—the first story discussing Omar’s alleged marriage to her brother. In response, Omar’s campaign committee temporarily hired Ben Goldfarb as a crisis communications manager. “Does anyone on the team have a relationship with Blois?” Goldfarb wrote in an August 15 email, referring to Blois Olson, best known in media circles for his popular newsletter, Morning Take. That morning, Olson had linked to Powerline’s article in his newsletter. “Someone should probably reach out to talk off the record and shut it down with him as we do with the Strib,” Goldfarb continued. “I don’t know him, but can do it if nobody has a relationship. And we can tighten up the statement today…

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U.S. Marshals Fight to Contain Riot in Memphis After Suspect Fatally Shot

Chris Butler

  Riots erupted in Memphis’ Frayser community Wednesday after U.S. Marshals shot and killed a man wanted on multiple warrants, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. According to a TBI press release, multiple officers with the United States Marshals Service – Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force encountered the man as he got inside a vehicle. “While attempting to stop the individual, he reportedly rammed his vehicle into the officers’ vehicles multiple times before exited with a weapon,” according to the TBI press release. “The officers fired striking and killing the individual. No officers were injured.” According to the Nashville-based WKRN, a crowd formed and people threw rocks and bricks. Twenty-five officers suffered mostly minor injuries. Officers had to use tear gas and cordon off several blocks nearby. Officers reportedly arrested three people. “Officers on horseback patrolled the area, and lines of police cars with flashing blue lights were parked along the street. An ambulance could be seen at the outer edge of the scene,” WKRN reported. “A helicopter flew overhead as police cars trickled away. Residential streets were blocked, and a heavy police presence remained in the area Thursday.” Memphis Police and members of the Shelby County Sheriff’s…

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