Day: July 13, 2019

Mark Green of Tennessee Explains to Democrats Why Obamacare Is Doomed to Fail

Chris Butler

  U.S. Republican Congressman Mark Green of Tennessee’s Seventh Congressional District explained during a hearing on Obamacare this week how his experiences in an emergency room turned him against socialized medicine. Green made his remarks during a House Oversight Committee hearing. “My first patient was a gang member. He’d been shot in the lower abdomen. The guy was punching at the staff and yelling at us all. Meanwhile, we’re trying to save his life,” Green said. “After giving this guy world-class care I walked out thinking at least with government payer I’d get paid for the risks taking care of this patient.” Near the end of his shift, however, Green said he had another patient, a 35-year-old woman on chemo with a lowered immunity system. The woman’s infections had threatened her life. “With her were two children and a worried husband. The woman was only 35 years old. She didn’t have insurance. As we stabilized her, I realized that early detection saved this young woman’s life. In Europe, socialized medicine has delayed early detection as care is rationed, and that is why mortality rates for specific illnesses are far better in the United States than they are in Europe and…

Read the full story

Tennessee Police Chief Arrested for Alleged Financial and Sexual Misconduct

Chris Butler

  Agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have obtained an indictment for a former police chief accused of misconduct and sexual impropriety. This week the Monroe County Grand Jury returned an indictment against former Tellico Plains police chief James Russell Parks, Jr., according to a TBI press release. Officials charged Parks with one count of official misconduct and book him into the Monroe County Jail on a $6,000 bond, the press release went on to say. “On February 14th, at the request of 10th District Attorney General Steve Crump, TBI Agents began investigating missing funds from the Tellico Plains Police Department’s drug enforcement fund, which totaled approximately $840. During the course of the investigation, agents developed information that James Russell Parks, Jr., the department’s police chief, was responsible for the missing funds,” the press release said. “The investigation further determined Parks, 44, was involved in a sexual relationship with an informant paid out of the department’s drug enforcement fund. Parks resigned from the department when the allegation surfaced.” TBI spokesman Josh DeVine told The Tennessee Star Friday he could divulge no further information about the case. As The Star has reported, this is not the first time authorities have accused Tennessee law enforcement…

Read the full story

Michigan Breweries Sue Liquor Commission Over ‘Vague’ Laws

Admin

by Scott McClallen   When Michigan government officials raided Greenbush Brewing Co. on June 19, seized wine and cider, and shut down their sales, owner Scott Sullivan was more than 750 miles away. “Someone called me later, and said the liquor commission raided us, then asked to look around,” Sullivan said. “No one knew enough to tell them ‘No way’. People thought, ‘Oh, the liquor commission is here, we have to let them in the back’.” Greenbush Brewing has since filed a lawsuit against the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. The seizure caused about $7,200 in lost revenue from products Greenbush can’t touch until the lawsuit concludes, according to court documents. The Fourth of July is the brewery’s busiest week of the year. Sullivan said he thinks a potential violation that resulted in the raid stemmed from an issue with the bond and transfer process for wine, but the MLCC hasn’t officially ticketed him 22 days after raiding his store. Sullivan said Greenbush had a small winemaker and microbrewery license before the raid. State law changed last year to ease the bond and transfer process, but the MLCC has shut down other breweries over the bond and transfer process since last fall.…

Read the full story

The Tennessee Star Report Speaks to Dr. Tim Hall of Thales Academy and Their Approach to an Affordable Classical Education Coming to Nashville in 2020

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 Report welcomed Thales Academy’s Dr. Tim Hall to the show to talk about the type of education they offer and how they are bringing it to the Nashville, Tennessee area in 2020. As the segment came to a close, Dr. Hall described the curriculum offered at Thales Academy in more detail, noting that it’s a direct instruction and classical education that has proven to show it’s students testing higher than other students from both the private and public sectors. Leahy: We are joined now by Dr. Tim Hall, the Chief Academic Officer of Thales Academy, a high quality affordable private school. Has eight schools and three thousand students. Been in business in North Carolina for eleven years. And they’re coming to Nashville. Dr. Hall, welcome to the Tennessee Star Report. Hall: Well thank you for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Leahy: So you’re coming to Nashville and you will be here in Nashville a week from today from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. for an informational meeting at the West…

Read the full story

‘Helping People Avoid Justice’: Border Patrol Union President Reacts to Clinton’s Advice to Illegal Aliens

Admin

by Jason Hopkins   National Border Patrol Council President Brandon Judd blasted Hillary Clinton for publicly coaching illegal immigrants how to avoid apprehension from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. “I’m amazed that somebody that somebody that ran for president of the United States — that was willing to promise to uphold the laws of the United States, the Constitution of the United States — is now actively helping people avoid justice,” Judd, who leads the Border Patrol’s union of nearly 20,000 members, said Friday on Fox News. Judd’s comments follow a tweet Clinton sent Thursday. The former first lady and Democratic presidential candidate published an image that contained a list, written in Spanish, of recommendations for illegal aliens to follow in order to avoid apprehension and deportation from ICE agents. The instructions advised illegal aliens “not to open the door” for agents and to report their badge number, type of vehicle they are driving, and where they were seen. Clinton’s tweet was in response to President Donald Trump’s planned immigration raids. ICE agents are expected to target roughly 2,000 illegal immigrants across 10 U.S. states Sunday, the first day of an ongoing operation by the agency to apprehend and deport…

Read the full story

Analysis: Contrary to Popular Belief, Schools Are Not Becoming More Segregated

Admin

by James D. Agresti   A new frequent allegation of progressive politicians and media outlets is that America’s schools are becoming more racially segregated. They then argue that government must do something about it, like for example, go back to the forced busing policies of the 1970s. According to Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, ABC News, CBS News, Politico, etc., America’s schools have grown increasingly segregated since the 1990s. They all base this claim on a report from the UCLA Civil Rights Project. However, buried 21 pages deep in that report is the fact that “the share of intensely segregated white schools, that is, schools that enroll 90–100% white students, has declined from 38.9% in 1988 to 16% in 2016.” In plain language, “white” schools have become more integrated. Yet, the report begins by claiming that “intense levels of segregation” are “on the rise once again.” The basis for this is its finding that “the share of intensely segregated minority schools” has increased from 6% in 1988 to 18% in 2016. What explains these divergent trends? As the report states, “the driving force” is “an enormous increase in the Latino…

Read the full story

Trump Did Exactly What Opponents of the Census Citizenship Question Said He Should Do

Admin

by Kevin Daley   President Donald Trump’s executive order on citizenship data collection lays out a plan that hostile judges and opponents of the census citizenship question urged the government to follow from the start of the legal fight. Indeed, the steps outlined in Thursday’s order were previously repudiated by the president’s own senior aides and lawyers. “This is brutal,” an administration official told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Democrats are cheering now and it was a totally winnable issue the timid lawyers fumbled.” Thursday’s executive order directs government entities to assist the Commerce Department in calculating the number of citizens and non-citizens present in the country. For example, the order requires the State Department to make passport application data available to Commerce officials. The Census Bureau urged Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to follow that very plan as he contemplated adding a citizenship question to the census form. Career officials at the Bureau said that approach would yield more precise results than responses to a question on the census form. Ross rejected the idea in a March 2018 decision memo, saying “administrative records alone … would provide an incomplete picture.” After the 2010 census, the Bureau was able to match…

Read the full story

People Can Sue Steve Cohen of Memphis for Blocking Them on Twitter

Chris Butler

  Donald Trump and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are in legal trouble because they’ve reportedly blocked people on Twitter, but some Tennesseans might not realize Tennessee Congressman Steve Cohen has done much the same thing. Cohen, a Democrat, represents Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District. As The Epoch Times reported, some people are suing Cortez for blocking them on Twitter. Members of Cohen’s office did not return The Tennessee Star’s request for comment Friday as whether anyone has sued him for blocking people on Twitter. The Star also wanted to know how many people Cohen has blocked on Twitter and whether he would reconsider his policy of blocking people. According to The Epoch Times, “an appeals court ruling has spurred multiple lawsuits against Cortez from people who say the lawmaker blocked their accounts on Twitter.” “One of the plaintiffs, Republican congressional candidate Joseph Saladino, is seeking ‘injunctive relief from the court’ so that he could be unblocked by the congresswoman’s official account,” the website reported. “I have officially filed my lawsuit against AOC for blocking me on Twitter.” Also, according to the website, The Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled this month that U.S. Republican President Donald Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked users from viewing…

Read the full story

Trump to Lean on Social Media Giants to Curb Censorship

Admin

by Fred Lucas   President Donald Trump, during a free-wheeling speech Thursday, said he would be bringing top social media executives to the White House to push them to stop censoring conservatives and try to ensure free speech for everyone’s opinion. “On behalf of the nation, it’s very important what you’re doing,” Trump said. He praised them for going around the media “gatekeepers” and “getting the honest word out.” Trump spoke in the East Room to digital media journalists, commentators, talk show hosts, and activists. President Donald Trump, during a free-wheeling speech Thursday, said he would be bringing top social media executives to the White House to push them to stop censoring conservatives and try to ensure free speech for everyone’s opinion. “On behalf of the nation, it’s very important what you’re doing,” Trump said. He praised them for going around the media “gatekeepers” and “getting the honest word out.” Trump spoke in the East Room to digital media journalists, commentators, talk show hosts, and activists. 🤳 iPhones fully charged (✅) at the @WhiteHouse #SocialMediaSummit🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/SlJOM1j0aT — Independent Women's Voice (@IWV) July 11, 2019 In calling for the giant social media platforms to be more transparent, Trump talked about how…

Read the full story

Volkswagen of Chattanooga Reportedly Does Not Pay School Property Taxes

Chris Butler

  Government officials have reportedly given Volkswagen of Chattanooga a mind-boggling and generous incentives package, so much so it does not even have to pay school property taxes. This, according to Helen Burns Sharp, founder of the Chattanooga-based Accountability for Taxpayer Money. According to ATM’s website, members of the group want local elected officials to reform the current system for granting property tax breaks. “Did you know that Volkswagen does not pay its school property taxes in full because of a sweetheart arrangement whereby its storm water fee is paid from those school taxes?” Sharp asked in a column published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press. Sharp called the Volkswagen package “overly generous.” “Land, site preparation and cash grants of more than $50 million are part of the deal, in addition to a tax break agreement that lasts a very long time (until 2040.) Last year alone, our local governments abated $17.5 million in property taxes. VW will not pay any taxes to support police, fire, streets, parks, etc. until 2040,” Sharp wrote. “By 2040, the total amount of VW tax incentives the city and county will have granted could approach $500 million in lost property tax revenue. The state…

Read the full story

The Tennessee Star Report: Rep. Mark Green Discusses How Democrats Want a ‘Different Country’

Julie Carr

  During a discussion Friday morning on The 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 spoke to Congressman Mark Green about how he will not be running for the Tennessee Senate seat and how the Democrats are working against the American people and themselves in their hopes of creating a different country. Towards the end of the segment, Congressman Green talked about how the Republicans are ahead of the game with candidates in an effort to take back the House and how they are instituting a similar system to the Democrats to raise funds, called Win Red. Gill: Big news this week as governor Bill Haslam, former governor Bill Haslam announces he will not seek the US Senate seat being vacated by Lamar Alexander which immediately turns speculation to congressman Mark Green. Would he run for the seat? Congressman Mark Green yesterday announcing he will not seek that Senate seat but will instead focus his attention on making sure that President Trump gets re-elected. Making sure that Republicans re-take the house and take that gavel back from Nancy Pelosi and her…

Read the full story

Commentary: How Technicalities Ended the Census Case

Admin

by GianCarlo Canaparo   Speaking from the Rose Garden on Thursday, President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr accepted that they couldn’t put the citizenship question on the 2020 census. Barr said that the administration would have won the lawsuits, but that “logistical impediments” made it impossible to win the cases in time for the census. For two examples of these logistical impediments, have a look at these unusual orders by Judge Jesse Furman and Judge George Hazel, who are overseeing the census lawsuits. In their orders, they ruled that the Department of Justice can’t use the lawyers of its choosing unless they comply with legally dubious requirements. Last month, the Supreme Court blocked, at least temporarily, the Commerce Department from adding the citizenship question to the census because it suspected Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross’ stated reasons for doing so had been “contrived.” It sent the case back to the lower courts to investigate that issue. When the case got back to the lower courts, the Department of Justice attorneys representing the government defendants initially said they were giving up the fight and that the Commerce Department would begin printing the census forms without the citizenship question. But the president…

Read the full story

Ohio AG to Review Federal Access to Driver’s License Photo Database

Admin

by Tyler Arnold   Ohio Attorney General David Yost is directing a systematic review of databases under his office’s control, including the driver’s license database that stores photos and other identifiable information about Ohioans. This announcement came after the Washington Post reported how the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been using facial recognition software to search through state databases that contain photos of residents. The information was obtained through a public records request by the Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology and then provided to The Washington Post. Ohio permits federal law enforcement agencies and law enforcement in other states to access the state’s license database if they demonstrate that they need specific information about a person. According to state regulations, an inquiring agency can gain access to the database for facial recognition searches only if it is being used for an ongoing criminal matter to solve or prevent a crime, to reduce an imminent threat to health, or to identify a person who cannot identify himself or herself. This review will provide a systematic overview of the databases, evaluate the access to outside agencies and evaluate the statutes and memoranda that regulate how…

Read the full story

Commentary: Boycott Culture Is All the Left Has Left

Admin

by Christopher Gage   The boycott was once preserved for the most diabolical of political regimes. In decades of old, activists with an actual enemy to slay used the boycott to hasten the demise of the inhumane apartheid regime of South Africa. Remarkably, those activists made history without Twitter or a single self-titillating hashtag. This week, in clownish post-serious once-Great Britain, a family-owned sausage company flickered under the impotent flame of Twitter’s brightest sparks. Boris Johnson’s folksy campaign visit to Heck Foods involved the likely next prime minister making and packing sausages. The point perhaps being to show that the man charged with finally dragging us from the European Union is listening to the people such a momentous decision most greatly would affect. Of course, the sight of Boris performing probably the most innocuous of exercises shook the patrons of Twitter into a wholly predictable fit of fashionable rage. One devotee of that digital asylum claimed they’d never eat Heck sausages again, and “hoped” (ever the emotion) that all “fair-minded” people would follow suit. Radical conformists parroted the silly sentiment. All, unsurprisingly, having adorned their Twitter bios with demented and bunny-boiled declarations of love for the European Union that Boris…

Read the full story

Meet Alex Acosta’s Replacement, Acting Labor Secretary Patrick Pizzella

Admin

by Shelby Talcott   Patrick Pizzella, formally the United States Deputy Secretary of Labor, will now be the Acting Secretary of Labor as Alex Acosta steps down over his role in the light sentencing of billionaire Jeffrey Epstein in 2008. Pizzella was nominated by President Donald Trump to be the Deputy Secretary of Labor, and was sworn in for the position in April 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The nomination passed narrowly with a vote of 50-48, the Washington Examiner reported. He was previously nominated by former President Barack Obama as a member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) in 2013. He became chairmen of FLRA in 2017 after Trump took office. Pizzella was also an assistant secretary at the Labor Department between 2001 and 2009 when former President George W. Bush was in office, the Washington Examiner reported. Trump announced Friday that Pizzella will be the acting secretary of labor after Acosta steps down next week. Acosta is stepping down after facing fire for giving alleged child sex trafficker Epstein a 13-month sentence in 2008 for two counts of soliciting prostitution, one with a minor. Acosta was the U.S. state attorney in Florida at the…

Read the full story

Climate Experts Admit to Republican Congressman That Humans Aren’t Responsible for Past 20,000 Years of Global Warming

Anthony Gockowski

  During a Thursday hearing before the U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL-05) got a panel of climate science experts to admit that “humans are not responsible for the Earth’s global warming that has occurred over the past 20,000 years.” All four of the experts who testified agreed that humans didn’t cause the global warming that began 20,000 years ago and continues through today. Additionally, Brooks pointed out that sea levels have risen an average of two feet per century over the past 20,000 years, which is “double the global warming enthusiasts’ claimed average sea level rise rate of one foot per century since 1993,” Brooks said. “The gist of the experts’ opinions is that the Earth was too lightly populated by humans to make humanity responsible for the Earth’s global warming that began 20,000 years ago,” Brooks sarcastically touted in a press release. During his line of questioning, Brooks asked the panel of experts if, in their judgment, human beings caused “the global warming that began 20,000 years ago during the last glacial maximum.” “No, no. Absolutely not. It is an example of spontaneous natural variability, one of the many ways that this whole…

Read the full story

‘New and Improved NAFTA’ Known as USMCA Would Prevent Outsourcing of Jobs, Steve Gill Tells Fox News

Jason M. Reynolds

  President Donald Trump’s replacement for NAFTA continues to draw opposition from Democrats, something that Star News Political Editor Steve Gill discussed Friday on Fox News. Video of the interview is available here. Trump headed to Milwaukee to push for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Trump made his appeal for the USMCA to a friendly crowd in at Derco Aerospace, a Lockheed Martin-owned company, in Milwaukee, CBS News reported. The company provides logistics and technical support for fixed-wing aircraft. Gill spoke to Fox News about the president’s Wisconsin visit and the opposition he is facing from Democrats, which includes a claim by the president of the Wisconsin Fair Trade Coalition that Trump’s plan fails to prevent the outsourcing of jobs. However, Gill said, “This was one of President Trump’s key promises on the campaign trail that they would fix NAFTA, and that’s what this NAFTA 2.0, this new and improved NAFTA will do.” The new plan will benefit the agricultural and automotive industries, Gill said. Mexico has approved it and Canada is ready to approve it. “The only thing holding it up right now is the House Democrats, and frankly,…

Read the full story

Democrats Turn National Defense Authorization Act Into Partisan Issue That Barely Passes House, Rep. DesJarlais Says

Jason M. Reynolds

  Democrat infighting nearly prevented passage of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act in the House of Representatives Friday, U.S. Rep. Dr. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) said in a press release. The annual defense policy bill, which for 58 years has passed with bipartisan support, instead passed in the House on a party-line vote. It survived only because of concessions to far-left socialists, insisting on the elimination of programs critical to defending the United States from Russia, China, Iran and other adversaries, the congressman said. The House on Friday approved the bill after adopting a progressive amendment including a prohibition on deploying lower-yield nuclear weapons and a ban on sending new prisoners to the Guantanamo Bay detention center, Roll Call said. The final vote on the fiscal 2020 bill was 220-197. No Republicans supported the typically bipartisan measure that traditionally has earned more than 300 of the 435 available House votes. A video of DesJarlais addressing the House on the matter is available here. “The legislation simply doesn’t provide our military men and women with the resources needed to adequately protect the homeland and could negatively impact facilities in and around the Fourth District of Tennessee, including Arnold Air Force Base,…

Read the full story