Day: June 19, 2019

Political Action Committee That Helped Marsha Blackburn Win Tennessee Wants to Help Donald Trump

Chris Butler

  A Political Action Committee that spent more than $1 million to help elect U.S. Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee now wants to help re-elect U.S. Republican President Donald Trump by working in key battleground states. Members of The Committee to Defend the President told The Tennessee Star Tuesday they plan to spend money in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania next year. They said they hope to replicate what they did for Blackburn last year in Tennessee — only on a larger scale. Committee Chairman Ted Harvey said he and his colleagues can use social media to help achieve their goals. They narrow people down by interests and likes. Then he and his colleagues collect voter registration lists to determine which of the likely Trump supporters is or is not registered. “We are going after people that should be Trump supporters, who identify themselves as Trump supporters, that have benefitted from the Trump economy, the Trump agenda, and his policies, but they are not registered to vote for one reason or another. Maybe they’ve been disheartened by the political process over the course of their lives or they’re veterans coming back from the military and haven’t registered to…

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Commentary: USDA Workers, Kansas City Is Better Than You Think

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by Joshua Sharf   On Thursday, a gaggle of civil servants protested the proposed relocation of a couple of Agriculture Department bureaus from Washington, D.C. to Kansas City, Missouri by boldly turning their backs on a speech delivered by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Perdue announced that the Economic Research Service, which provides research and statistical analysis for lawmakers, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which allocates federal research funding, would be moving most of their personnel and operations by the end of September. These employees have had a year either to make peace or make plans, but instead, they decided to wait until the final announcement to purse their lips, cross their arms, and stare off into space. Clearly, the USDA has been violating child labor laws by hiring toddlers. Watch CNN’s reporting of the incident: The long-haired guy in the middle is holding his breath until he matches his shirt color, and the man in the plaid shirt to his right looks like he’s auditioning for the Actor’s Studio. The bald fellow to the left doesn’t look entirely committed to the cause. You would think Perdue is exiling these people to a remote outpost in Greenland. It…

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Coalition Calls on Congress to Reject Corporate Welfare, End Ex-Im Bank

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by Bethany Blankey   A coalition of groups and organizations representing millions of Americans is urging Congress to oppose the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) that’s slated to expire on Sept. 30. During the past three years, the bank has lacked a president and a board quorum and has been unable to issue taxpayer-funded export loans and credit guarantees to corporations in excess of $10 million. President Donald Trump supports filling the board and returning the bank to full operation. Critics say if reconstituted, it would return the bank to the days of using taxpayer money to fund its largest beneficiaries: multinational billion dollar corporations and foreign governments. The coalition calling on Congress to end the Ex-Im Bank includes Americans for Prosperity (AFP), the Competitive Enterprise Institute, National Taxpayers Union, Heritage Action for America, Club for Growth, Freedom Works, and others. The bank is a conduit for corporate welfare in the billions of dollars at taxpayers’ expense, they argue. In their letter to Congress, they write that the Ex-Im Bank “grants unfair advantages to a few domestic companies at the expense of many others, all the while putting billions of taxpayer dollars at risk and fostering a danger…

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US Army Secretary Now Likely Defense Secretary Nominee

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  U.S. Army Secretary Mark Esper will likely be his nominee as defense secretary, President Donald Trump has told reporters. Trump spoke positively about Esper just hours after he announced Patrick Shanahan had withdrawn from consideration, saying the acting defense secretary wants to spend more time with his family. Trump on Tuesday, speaking to reporters before boarding Marine One, praised Shanahan as “a wonderful person.” “I did not ask him to withdraw,” said Trump of Shanahan, who removed his name from consideration after two newspapers (USA Today and the Washington Post)reported Tuesday the Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking into a nine-year-old domestic dispute between Shanahan and his then-wife, Kimberly, as part of a background check before the confirmation hearing. His wife was arrested after punching him in the face, and his son was arrested after a separate incident in which he hit his mother with a baseball bat. Shanahan, in a statement, said “it is unfortunate that a painful and deeply personal family situation from long ago is being dredged up and painted in an incomplete and therefore misleading way in the course of this process. I believe my continuing in the confirmation process would force my three children…

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ICE Releases List of Murderers And Rapists Protected Under Sanctuary City Policies

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by Jason Hopkins   Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released a list of criminal illegal aliens who were released from jail due to sanctuary city policies, many of whom went on to commit other crimes. Washington and Oregon, two states under Democratic Party control, have enacted some of the strongest sanctuary laws in the country that protect illegal immigrants from federal apprehension. Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee signed legislation in May that prohibits local jails and state prisons from honoring ICE detainers, and bars them notifying ICE when a suspected illegal immigrant is about to be released from their custody. The newly minted law puts Washington on par with Oregon and California in terms of the level of restriction placed against federal immigration authorities. Federal law enforcement officials argue that their job becomes much more difficult with these laws, and communities are put in more danger. “There is an inherent increase in risk to personnel and bystanders when ICE officers and agents must go out into the community to proactively locate these previously detained criminal aliens,” read a press release from the agency. “ICE commends our local law enforcement colleagues who work to minimize that risk by cooperating with ICE…

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Commentary: The Flag Protection Amendment and American Greatness

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by Stephen B. Presser   One of the great characteristics of Americans is their candor. Among the reasons we declared independence from what we believed to be the excesses of a corrupt British monarchy and aristocracy was our contempt for pretense, deference, and pomposity. We believed, instead, in simple virtue and simple values such as truth, decency, honesty, temperance, and humility. Democrats and their increasingly dominant progressive wing fail to understand that Donald Trump has been an extraordinary champion of these traditional virtues, and he proved it again with his warm embrace of the Flag Protection Amendment, which has recently been reintroduced into Congress by Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.). The text of the amendment is simple and succinct: “Congress shall have the power to prevent the physical desecration of the flag of the United States,” but it strikes at the heart of contemporary progressivism, with its belief in what psychologists are wont to call “self-actualization,” but more astute observers have always known to be “unbridled license.” Somehow our culture became so twisted that by 1989, a majority of the Supreme Court in Texas v. Johnson declared that burning the flag (or shredding it, or defecating or…

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Rep. Green Says Secretary of the Army Mark Esper Is a ‘Great’ Nominee for Secretary of Defense

Jason M. Reynolds

  U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) told Fox News that Mark Esper is a “great” nominee for Secretary of Defense and mentioned that he was a fellow classmate at West Point even as details emerge of what happened to the nomination of Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan. Shockwaves were felt when President Donald Trump announced that Shanahan would not seek the job on a permanent basis, leading to Esper being nominated. Shanahan withdrew his name after reports surfaced of an alleged domestic abuse incident with his ex-wife almost a decade ago, Bloomberg reported. “It is unfortunate that a painful and deeply personal family situation from long ago is being dredged up and painted in an incomplete and therefore misleading way in the course of this process.,” Shanahan said in a statement. “I believe my continuing in the confirmation process would force my three children to relive a traumatic chapter in our family’s life and reopen wounds we have worked years to heal.” The Trump Administration never submitted formal paperwork needed to start Shanahan’s confirmation to the Senate, Government Executive reported. There were rumors that the president was backing off or that something was delaying the background check. Now that Esper…

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Facebook Plans Its Own Currency for 2 Billion-Plus Users

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  Facebook already rules daily communication for more than two billion people around the world. Now it wants its own currency, too. The social network unveiled an ambitious plan Tuesday to create a new digital currency similar to Bitcoin for global use, one that could drive more e-commerce on its services and boost ads on its platforms. But the effort, which Facebook is launching with partners including PayPal, Uber, Spotify, Visa and Mastercard, could also complicate matters for the beleaguered social network. Facebook is currently under federal investigation over its privacy practices, and along with other technology giants also faces a new antitrust probe in Congress. Creating its own globe-spanning currency — one that could conceivably threaten banks, national currencies and the privacy of users — isn’t likely to dampen regulators’ interest in Facebook. The digital currency, called Libra, is scheduled to launch sometime in the next six to 12 months. Facebook is taking the lead on building Libra and its underlying technology; its more than two dozen partners will help fund, build and govern the system. Facebook hopes to raise as much as $1 billion from existing and future partners to support the effort. Company officials emphasized Libra as…

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Manafort to Avoid Time at Rikers Following Letter from Top DOJ Official

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by Evie Fordham   Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was reportedly headed for Rikers Island to await trial on the state level in New York, but he will be held in a federal facility following a letter from a Department of Justice higher-up. Federal prison officials said Monday that Manafort, 70, will not be held at notorious Rikers Island after Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen took an interest in where Manafort was held, reported The New York Times. New York prosecutors did not object to Manafort’s attorneys’ proposal that he remain in federal custody and be made available to the state when necessary for health and safety reasons, a senior DOJ official told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Manafort is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan ahead of his arraignment later in June, federal prison officials told Manhattan prosecutors Monday, according to a source cited by The NYT. A senior DOJ official confirmed to TheDCNF that Manafort had been transported to New York since serving his sentence in Pennsylvania. Manafort could stay at the Manhattan facility or go back to the Loretto, Pennsylvania, prison where he is doing a seven-and-a-half-year sentence, people with knowledge of…

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Sen. Hawley Moves to Prevent China from Infiltrating American Universities

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by Chris White   Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley introduced legislation Tuesday morning preventing American research projects from using technologies developed by Chinese big tech companies. Universities are “key targets of espionage and intellectual property theft by not only China, but Russia and Iran,” the Missouri Republican said in a statement announcing the bill. “For too long, these countries have sent students to our universities to collect sensitive research that they can later use to develop capabilities that threaten our national security.” He added: “Our scientific exchange must not be exploited to advance the destructive agendas of Beijing, Moscow, or Tehran.” The bill, called Protect Our Universities Act, is intended to protect national security-related academic research from Chinese, Russian, and Iranian intelligence services. The legislation requires research students from China and elsewhere to undergo screening before they wish to participate in sensitive national security-focused projects. It also prevents project researchers from using technologies from ZTE and Huawei, both of which are suspected of spying on behalf of China. Republican Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana proposed a similar piece of legislation in March. His bill, called Protect Our Universities Act of 2019, would establish an Education Department-led task force keeping a…

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Sumner County Citizens React to ‘Eminent Domain’ Sewer Line and Tax-Increasing Budgets at County Commission Meeting

Laura Baigert

  GALLATIN, Tennessee – More than 200 citizens turned out for the regularly scheduled meeting of the Sumner County Board of Commissioners Monday night to have their say on a planned greenway and sewer line as well as a property tax increase included in the budgets proposed for fiscal year 2019-2020. Two major and contentious issues on the Sumner County Commission’s meeting agenda – a greenway that would sit atop a to-be sewer line that will cut right through the properties of several owners and a tax-increase for the upcoming fiscal year – have driven citizens to action. As reported by The Tennessee Star, in the picturesque and rural Upper Station Camp Creek area north of Long Hollow Pike, County Executive Anthony Holt planned to use eminent domain to install a sewer line to a new 265-acre elementary-middle-high school campus right through the properties of residents in the area. The sewer line would have a sidewalk of sorts on top of it, creating a new section of greenway to connect to the existing Lower Station Camp Greenway. Residents in the area only recently found about the condemnation of their property for the sewer line and attached greenway, even though the…

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Metro Nashville Council’s Planned 16 Percent Property Tax Hike Would Increase Cost of Living for All Residents and Is ‘Unacceptable,’ Carol Swain Says

Jason M. Reynolds

  Nashville Mayoral candidate Dr. Carol Swain is taking aim at Metro Council’s proposed 15.8 percent property tax increase. Two council members — Budget Committee Chairwoman Tanaka Vercher and At-Large Councilman Bob Mendes — combined efforts after having had differing plans, Nashville Public Radio said. Mendes is dropping his plan to support Vercher’s plan of raising property taxes by 15.8 percent, increasing the rate to $3.653 per $100 of assessed value. Mayor David Briley told Nashville Public Radio he opposes a tax increase and that he’s alarmed by the council’s plan. Swain said in a press release she also takes issue with that and that if she were elected, she would balance the budget. With the council’s planned tax hike, a home valued at $250,000 would see an increase of about $300, Swain said. Briley could veto the proposal and it would take a two-thirds majority vote to override. “City Council is proposing a property tax increase that raises the cost of living for all Nashvillians without any intention of giving Metro employees the 6 percent raise they need and deserve. Mayor Briley has stated that Nashville’s forecasted revenues are up by about $100 million without property taxes. If the Mayor…

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Nashville Libertarian Says She Is Likely to Vote for Donald Trump in 2020 as He Announces Re-Election Campaign

Chris Butler

  NASHVILLE — President Donald Trump is winning over at least one local Libertarian as he prepares to seek re-election next year, and he may likely win over several more. This, according to Libertarian Amie Gibbons. Gibbons told The Tennessee Star Tuesday that Libertarian Party presidential nominee Gary Johnson got her vote in 2016. But Gibbons said she’s open to four more years of Trump. Gibbons joined members of the Davidson County Republican Party Tuesday at Nashville’s Crow’s Nest restaurant in the city’s Green Hill’s area to watch Trump announce his re-election campaign during a rally in Orlando, Fla. “There are a few things I disagree with Trump on, but if he can keep all of this up then he gets my vote in 2020. I think there is a very big difference in how independents and Libertarians are treating this,” Gibbons said. “This is the guy who came into office saying I want to scale back big government — and he’s actually been doing it. That’s earning a lot of my people’s votes.” So, what does that mean for the 2020 Libertarian Party presidential candidate, whether it’s Johnson or someone else? “The same thing it meant in 2016,” Gibbons told…

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Mexico Braces for Sudden Influx of Illegal Immigrants Under Trump Deal

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by Jason Hopkins   Mexican government officials are bracing to accept more illegal migrants than they likely can handle in order to meet their end of a deal with the Trump administration. As many as 70,000 illegal immigrants in the U.S. are expected to be sent to Juarez in 2019, according to the chief of the Chihuahua State Population Council who spoke to The Washington Post. More than 200 undocumented migrants were booted to the Mexican border town Thursday, doubling the amount from the day before. The number of illegal immigrants sent to Juarez is only expected to keep climbing, with as many as 500 migrants from El Paso, Texas, to begin arriving daily in the next few weeks. The surge of illegal migrants heading out of the U.S. and back to Mexico is a break from past protocol. Mexico has only accepted about 10,000 migrants border-wide in 2019, according to WaPo. However, per an agreement reached with the White House, its government has agreed to accept a dramatically higher number of U.S. asylum seekers, keeping them within Mexican borders while they wait for their claims to be processed in U.S. immigration courts. Mexico has also significantly stepped up immigration…

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Tennessee Man Arrested After Human Torso Was Discovered in Car

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by Neetu Chandak   A Tennessee man was arrested after a police officer allegedly discovered a human torso in his car Sunday. Police stopped Dorrae Debrice Johnson, 29, around 3:30 a.m. Sunday for not staying in his lane on Interstate 40, WATE reported. Johnson reportedly drove away as the officer approached the car, prompting a chase. “The vehicle continued traveling in eastbound lanes onto a concrete sidewalk and struck and killed a pedestrian near the white fog line near the eastbound lane of travel,” a Tennessee Highway Patrol report given to The Daily Caller News Foundation stated. “The driver continued on until he lost control of the vehicle and hit a utility pole. The driver then fled on foot from the vehicle, the trooper was able to catch up to the subject and took him into custody.” The officer allegedly discovered the torso when he went to turn off Johnson’s car ignition. Police identified the victim as Darryl Eugene Butler, whose other half was found at the scene of impact, WATE reported. Johnson allegedly admitted to police that he was “blitzed,” according to WATE. He was booked with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday and was charged for vehicular…

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Judge Seals File for Former Robertson County Teacher Accused of Recording Girls in Locker Room

Chris Butler

  A Robertson County judge has sealed the entire court file in a case involving a former public high school teacher-volleyball coach accused of video recording girls undressing in a locker room. This, according to The Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, which mentioned the case in their most recent newsletter. The TCOG also said the judge, Bill Goodman, will not allow members of the public to know about new charges in a new indictment against Clifton Horn. “The original indictment involved allegations that the former coach video-recorded girls undressing in the locker room,” according to the TCOG. According to the RobertsonCountyConnection.com, former East Robertson High School volleyball coach Clifton Horn is facing sexual exploitation charges and recently had even more charges added to his long list of accusations. “Jason White, assistant district attorney for the 19th Judicial District and (Horn’s attorney Peter) Strianse requested a gag order in the case, which Judge Goodman approved,” according to the website. The details of the new indictment were not made available to the public. The court records have been sealed, by order of Judge Goodman, allowing access of the court file only to the District Attorney General’s office and members of the defense team. The decision to seal…

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The Tennessee Star Report Talks to OANN’s Neil McCabe About Dirty Border Secrets

Julie Carr

  On Tuesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy talked to One America News Network’s Neil McCabe about the International Boundary and Water Commission’s demeanor towards the We Build the Wall team. McCabe also disclosed how American coyotes help migrants who get immediate legal status go wherever they want to go and receive government subsidies. Near the end of the segment, Gill suggested that it might behoove the team at We Build the Wall to implement a PR strategy preventing opponents from receiving any more ammunition to rail against them. Gill: Neil McCabe from One America News Network is on the line with us as he continues to keep his focus among other things on the build the wall group building that private sector wall on the southern border. And Neil, as the President announces he’s going to start deporting people if the wall’s not up, they’re going to come right back. McCabe:  This revolving door that we set up is absolutely absurd and you know and I think a lot of people don’t appreciate that all of these migrants who are…

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Tim Ryan Wants Social-Emotional Learning in Every Public School Nationwide

Anthony Gockowski

  2020 hopeful Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) wants to introduce social-emotional learning standards to every public school in the country. The Ohio Star’s Beth Lear recently did a deep dive on the Ohio State Board of Education’s efforts to bring social-emotional learning to the state. “This is part of a national movement to psychologize education falsely advertised as improving academic achievement and preventing violence and suicide,” said Dr. Karen Effrem of Eagle Forum. Effrem said she was concerned that social-emotional learning standards would lead to an erosion of parental rights, over-medication of vulnerable students, and inaccurate mental health assessments from personnel not trained as mental health experts. “Many of us on the state board of education are concerned about the state getting involved in social and emotional learning for a variety of reasons,” State School Board Member Kirsten Hill told The Ohio Star. “Measuring children’s feelings, values, attitudes, dispositions and behaviors is difficult to do and then sharing this highly sensitive and personal information with parties beyond the teacher and the school breaches privacy. There are student surveys being conducted that parents aren’t aware of. Is the school role going to expand into mental health treatment?” If it’s up to…

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Putnam County Library Remakes LGBTQ Children’s Display to Highlight ‘Families and Togetherness,’ Tennessee Pastors Network Says

Jason M. Reynolds

  The Tennessee Pastors Network says it won a victory in convincing the Putnam County Library to remake a display promoting LGBTQ children’s books. TNPN President Dale Walker has been petitioning the Putnam County Library to give equal attention to Christian views and traditional marriage that at least match the promotion of the LGBTQ agenda during Pride Month, which is in June, according to a press release from the network. “We feel this is important because Christians feel their biblical worldview is being marginalized in the Putnam County Library, and their children are not seeing a balanced display when they bring them in,” Walker said in a letter to the library. “This is offensive to many Christian families—that their view isn’t also presented equally.” In response to its community, the library removed two displays earlier this month promoting LGBTQ materials to children and families, TNPN said. The library, Walker said, had showcased Pride Month in the children’s reading section. Multiple books, he added, were highlighted as recommended reading to promote the LGBTQ agenda. Few, if any, books, Walker said, promoted Christianity. The library director responded to Walker that a new display “now contains only books celebrating families and togetherness,” along with a…

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