Day: June 21, 2019

Tennessee Secretary of State’s Office Responds to Tennessean Article About State Rep. Matthew Hill’s Business

Chris Butler

  A spokesman for Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett said whether State Rep. Matthew Hill, R- Jonesborough, should have registered or disclosed his business with the state depends upon what kind of business it is. This, on the same day The Tennessean published an article saying Hill has not registered or disclosed his international Christian magic supply company with state officials. “Corporations, limited liability companies (LLCs), limited partnerships (LPs), and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are required to register and submit reporting documents to our office under various corporate laws,” Dodd told The Tennessee Star in an emailed statement late Thursday afternoon, right before the office closed for the day. “If a business is a sole proprietorship or a general partnership, it is not required to register with our office. Many small businesses operate under one of these models.” Dodd did not elaborate further as to whether Hill was still supposed to register his particular business with the state. According to the website for Hill’s business, the Dock Haley Gospel Magic Company, the business sells Christian merchandise “to help win the souls of the lost!” The website does not appear to specify whether the business is a sole proprietorship, a general…

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‘Make Nashville’ Warehouse Gives You a Space to Build Anything You Want

Chris Butler

  NASHVILLE — In a corner of Nashville zoned for mostly industrial purposes, you’ll find a woodshop, a metal shop, a fabric lab, a ceramics studio, and one of those nifty new 3D printers, among many other things. All in the same warehouse. The best part — if you want to use these facilities then you can. The man who oversees this operation, called Make Nashville, would not give The Tennessee Star his actual name. This mystery man said he only goes by Maverick. He said that’s because he grew up in a small town in East Tennessee with “an unfortunately common name.” Several of his classmates had the same “unfortunately common name” he did. So…Maverick was born. Maverick said his workshop is one small part of a global movement. “It works a bit like a gym membership, but instead of exercise equipment it’s power tools. What we have is a collection of shops and the tools that go in them. 3-D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, a textile studio with sewing machines and patterns and those types of tools. There’s woodshops, metal shops with welders, and plasma cutters and grinders,” Maverick said. “We provide those facilities and those tools…

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren Follows Taylor Swift in Pushing for Equality Act

Jason M. Reynolds

  U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) signed and promoted Taylor Swift’s Change.org petition asking the U.S. Senate to support the Equality Act. The presidential candidate’s statement is available here. Warren’s support follows the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), which was published on Change.org last week. Swift is the creator of the petition in question. It is available here. Warren shared this statement with Change.org users: It’s 2019 and our LGBTQ+ friends continue to face discrimination at work, school, and in their communities. Trans people in America are getting murdered – most of them women of color. In the name of protecting religious liberty, civil rights are being trampled on. It’s hard to find an affordable place to live that doesn’t discriminate based on your gender identity or expression, race, or who you love. Enough is enough. I’m proud to represent Massachusetts in the Senate, a state that has led the nation in protecting and promoting equality. But there’s so much more work to be done. We can start by passing the Equality Act – a bill that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their places of work, homes, schools, and other public accommodations. I’m glad to see the…

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Commentary: Be Skeptical About War with Iran

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by Christopher Roach   Americans are weary of Middle Eastern wars and skeptical of claims from our intelligence agencies supporting such conflict. While the attack on Iraq in 2003 depended on intelligence suggesting an ongoing nuclear weapons program and attacks on Syria occurred after Bashar al-Assad’s supposed use of illegal chemical weapons against civilians, both of these assumptions either were refuted or at least face serious, evidence-based criticism. In comparison, the most recent charge against Iran—a mine attack on a Japanese cargo vessel that caused no casualties—is pretty weak sauce. As far as its magnitude, this is hardly Pearl Harbor. At the same time, the grainy video of an Iranian patrol boat parked alongside the vessel does not prove to the satisfaction of reasonable American skeptics that Iran was responsible for the explosion. War Drums In the Distance The recent incident occurred in a climate of sharpening anti-Iranian rhetoric from the United States, in particular, National Security Advisor John Bolton, as well as our country’s regional allies Saudi Arabia and Israel. The three nations have aligned against Iran in recent years. This focus on Shiite Iran has occurred, even as the most dramatic and deadly terror attacks in Europe, the…

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Peace Cross Honoring War Dead Can Stay, High Court Rules

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by Fred Lucas   The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 Thursday that a cross-shaped war memorial on public land in Maryland doesn’t violate the Constitution. In the case of American Legion v. the American Humanist Association, the atheist group had sued seeking removal of the 40-foot Peace Cross in Prince George’s County–just outside Washington, D.C.–contending that the World War I memorial was contrary to the separation of church and state. However, a supermajority on a court that is often closely divided on hot button issues determined the history of the Peace Cross erected in Bladensburg, Maryland, doesn’t indicate it promoted a religion, Christianity, in honoring 49 local men who died in the war. “For nearly a century, the Bladensburg Cross has expressed the community’s grief at the loss of the young men who perished, its thanks for their sacrifice, and its dedication to the ideals for which they fought,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in the majority opinion for the court. Alito went on to quote Justice Stephen Breyer’s words from a previous case also hinging on the Constitution’s Establishment Clause. “It has become a prominent community landmark, and its removal or radical alteration at this date would be seen by many…

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Rhode Island Legalizes Abortion Up Until Birth

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by Mary Margaret Olohan   The governor of Rhode Island signed a bill Wednesday protecting abortion access within the state and repealing pro-life laws. Rhode Island Democratic Gov. Gina Raimondo signed the bill, HB 5125, after it passed through the House and Senate, calling it an “important, consequential bill,” according to The Associated Press. The bill passed the Senate 21 to 17 and passed the House 45 to 29. “Fundamentally this bill is about health care,” Raimondo said, according to the publication. “It’s about protecting and providing access to health care for all the women of Rhode Island.” The Reproductive Privacy Act says that Rhode Island will not restrict a mother’s right to obtain an abortion before the baby is able to survive outside of the womb. The bill also says Rhode Island will allow abortions after fetal viability if the mother’s health is at risk, effectively allowing abortion up until birth. The bill also repeals several chapters of Rhode Island General Laws on abortion that charge doctors with murder and jail time for inducing miscarriages and declare dying admissions of women who die during abortion procedures to be used as evidence in homicides. Lawmakers intend for the bill to…

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Iran Shoots Down US Drone

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  Iran shot down a U.S. drone in an incident Iranian officials said happened over the country’s territory but U.S. officials say took place in international airspace. U.S. Central Command spokesman Capt. Bill Urban said Thursday an Iranian surface-to-air missile shot down a U.S. Navy maritime surveillance aircraft in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz. He called it an “unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset,” and said the unmanned aircraft is used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions over the ocean and coastal regions. In the Iranian account, the drone was shot down by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the airspace of the country’s southern Hormozgan province, near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military said Iran tried to shoot down a U.S. drone last week, and tensions between the two countries have increased with attacks against oil tankers in the region that the U.S. blames on Iran, but which Iran says it did not carry out. Relations have deteriorated since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew last year from the international agreement that limited Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. New U.S. sanctions have hurt Iran’s economy, and Iran has announced increased production of low-enriched uranium…

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Commentary: Dangerous Derangement

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by Karin McQuillan   America cannot continue as a republic without the acceptance that one party routinely will be turned out of office. Democrats no longer accept that bedrock principle of American liberty. They see themselves as the only party entitled to govern. “Trump Derangement Syndrome” and the Russian collusion frame-up are two faces of the same coin: Democrats now reject the orderly succession of power through duly constituted elections. Democrats have whipped the nation into mass hysteria for three years. It’s a destructive game, manipulating people into a rage until Americans see each other as enemies. Most dangerous of all, driven by the social justice agenda of Obama progressives, Democrats are purposely delegitimizing our democratic institutions. The attempted frame-up of President Trump as a traitor through the Russia collusion hoax was the hidden face of their drive for power. Trump Derangement is the public face. Trump Derangement is part of the Russian collusion hoax, now being recognized as an attempted coup. To pull off the coup, Democrats need their voters behind them, no matter what. They need a Ministry of Truth, not a free press. They need hyper-partisanship. They need a crisis atmosphere that justifies anything they did to…

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It’s Not Just Central America: Where Illegal Immigrants on the Border Come From

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by Fred Lucas   The recent spike in illegal immigration from African countries underscores the increase in migrants coming from around the globe to sneak across the southern border—including more than 10,000 from Asia and almost 900 from Europe last year. In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 500 illegal immigrants from African countries that include Angola, Cameroon, and both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Associated Press reported. That’s more than twice the 211 total apprehensions during fiscal year 2018 of illegal border crossers from the continent. Customs and Border Protection numbers from fiscal 2018 show significant numbers from other continents as well. The recent spike in illegal immigration from African countries underscores the increase in migrants coming from around the globe to sneak across the southern border—including more than 10,000 from Asia and almost 900 from Europe last year. In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended more than 500 illegal immigrants from African countries that include Angola, Cameroon, and both the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Associated Press reported. That’s more than twice the 211 total apprehensions during…

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Court Rules In Favor of Title X And Abortion Restrictions in Major Win for Trump Admin

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by Mary Margaret Olohan   An appeals court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration can ban taxpayer-funded abortion clinics from performing abortions or making abortion referrals. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Trump administration can bar clinics from performing abortions or making abortion referrals, according to Politico. For the first time in history, the new Title X regulations will allow federal funding to go to faith-based clinics that promote natural family planning or abstinence-only methods. The rule will allow the Trump administration to strip federal funding of any clinic that fails to comply with the new Title X regulations. The move will potentially cost Planned Parenthood “tens of millions of federal family planning dollars,” according to the publication. “Absent a stay, HHS will be forced to allow taxpayer dollars to be spent in a manner that it has concluded violates the law, as well as the Government’s important policy interest in ensuring that taxpayer dollars do not go to fund or subsidize abortions,” the panel of three Republican-appointed judges wrote in a 3-0 opinion. Politico reports that this is a “major blow” for the abortion industry, and Planned Parenthood President Leana Wen called the ruling “unethical,…

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Hundreds Of Illegal Migrants Carry Criminal Histories, DHS Investigation Finds

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by Jason Hopkins   Hundreds of migrants who were part of U.S.-bound caravans carried serious criminal convictions, an internal investigation from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reveals. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), two agencies under DHS, conducted an investigation into two different caravans from Central America that were bound for the U.S. Their findings revealed hundreds of those individuals carried criminal histories, including murder, aggravated assault and sexual offenses. The figures specifically refer to criminal acts already committed in the U.S. The discoveries were detailed in a letter from members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation. Out of the nearly 8,000 members within a caravan that reached south of California in October 2018, ICE Homeland Security Investigations found that 660 already had run-ins with the law in the U.S. Of those, nearly 40 were convicted of assault or aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Three of them were convicted for murder. ICE Homeland Security Investigations also tracked a migrant caravan from Honduras in January 2019. Of the more than 3,300 individuals in the caravan, 860 were found to have criminal histories in the…

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Sureños 13 Gang Member in Country Illegally Charged with Attempted Murder And Kidnapping of Minnesota Woman

Anthony Gockowski

  Luis Alfredo Cortez Mendoza, a 23-year-old member of the Sureños 13 gang suspected of being in the country illegally, was charged Monday in Washington County District Court with attempted murder and kidnapping. His victim, a woman, was found in a pool of blood at 2:30 in the morning on June 9 in Stillwater. An Uber driver, who first thought the woman was “a dead animal in the street,” found her and led officers to the scene. Angel Ignacio Sardina-Padilla was arrested on Tuesday and charged with aiding and abetting attempted murder and kidnapping. According to the criminal complaint, Sardina-Padilla was “in charge” and Cortez Mendoza would reportedly “do anything Padilla asked him to.” Nicole Alberico, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told The Star Tribune that Cortez Mendoza is suspected of being in the country illegally. He has been deported to his native Mexico four times, Alberico added. Alberico wasn’t able to offer any information on Sardina-Padilla’s immigration status, telling The Star Tribune that “to determine their immigration status, ICE officers must first interview the individual who still has outstanding warrants for this state investigation.” The woman was transported to Regions Hospital in critical condition but has…

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Michigan Governor Signs Executive Order Creating ‘Task Force on Women in Sports’

Anthony Gockowski

  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order Monday establishing a new Task Force on Women in Sports. “Multiple studies have documented that women who play sports are more likely to seek and fill leadership roles in other sectors. Yet even with the enactment of Title IX nearly fifty years ago, opportunities for girls and women in sports, while improved, remain severely limited,” the executive order states. In the executive order, Whitmer suggests that “limitations” on female athletes “intersect with what is now a pivotal moment for gender equality and opportunity in Michigan.” “Female athletes defy gender stereotypes, serve as role models, and widen perspectives,” the executive order continues. “This inequity in access and opportunity prevents girls and women in this state from fully accessing the benefits in leadership development that sports can provide—to the detriment of not only these girls and women, but also this state, which stands to gain from their leadership.” The executive order establishes the “creation of the Task Force on Women in Sports,” which will be overseen by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. The task force is charged with assessing “the history of and current landscape for girls and women in sports in…

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Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee Actively Targeting the LGBTQ Community to Recruit Mentors

Laura Baigert

  A new marketing campaign by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee (BBBSMT) is actively targeting members of the LGBTQ community for its recruiting efforts of mentors for young people. The Facebook page of BBBSMT got a new look on June 7, when the organization updated their profile picture and cover photo to the one shown above. The new look includes a prominent display of the LGBTQ symbolic rainbow in their logo and with apparent representative members of the community literally wrapped in rainbow flags in their cover photo. Later that week, The Tennessee Star received a series of four audio scripts for a radio-type advertisement, titled “Words can hurt,” “School is hard,” “I feel both,” and “When I grow up.” All four scripts follow the same format of an introduction offering an adult narrator’s brief explanation of a scenario faced by a young person. A back and forth dialogue ensues between the adult and a young person, and the script closes with a statement that this is a dramatization of the stories they hear at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. The closing wraps up with a direct appeal to members of the LGBTQ community, “Your life…

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