Day: July 23, 2019

Sen. Blackburn Joins Bipartisan Effort to Enhance Cybersecurity Training Through JROTC

Jason M. Reynolds

  U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced bipartisan legislation Monday that would enhance the preparation of students in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (JROTC) for careers in computer science and cybersecurity, she said in a press release. The JROTC Cyber Training Act is co-sponsored by U.S. Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Gary Peters (D-MI). Identical bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-TX). Blackburn tweeted, “By providing funding for high school training in computer science and cybersecurity, we can ensure that the next generation in uniform is prepared for the future of combat. Glad to join @SenJackyRosen to invest in this crucial aspect of rebuilding our nation’s military.” By providing funding for high school training in computer science and cybersecurity, we can ensure that the next generation in uniform is prepared for the future of combat. Glad to join @SenJackyRosen to invest in this crucial aspect of rebuilding our nation's military. https://t.co/KYlveHOGQE — Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) July 22, 2019 By 2026, the Department of Labor projects there will be 3.5 million computing-related jobs, yet the current education pipeline will only fill 19 percent of those openings, Blackburn said.…

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U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty Leaves Position, Is Expected to Run for Lamar Alexander’s Senate Seat

Jason M. Reynolds

  U.S. Ambassador to Japan Bill Hagerty has left the Land of the Rising Sun to return to the Volunteer State in a likely run for Lamar Alexander’s Senate seat. Hagerty tweeted, “Farewell Japan, and thank you for the incredible hospitality you have shown me and my family.  These past two years have been the greatest of our lives.” Farewell Japan, and thank you for the incredible hospitality you have shown me and my family. These past two years have been the greatest of our lives. 🇺🇸🤝🇯🇵 またお会いしましょう ! 👋🏼✨ https://t.co/j53xf4zODO — ビル・ハガティ米国大使 (@USAmbJapan) July 22, 2019 Alexander (R-TN) announced in December that he would not run again for the Senate, The Tennessee Star reported. President Donald Trump earlier this month endorsed Hagerty’s potential Senate bid, which likely would be announced after he leaves federal government service, The Star said. Just a week ago, speculation was still running rampant on whether Hagerty actually would run for the Senate, the Nashville Post said, calling him the “hypothetical frontrunner.” Ward Baker, who ran Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s 2018 campaign, is expected to run Hagerty’s campaign, Politico said. Baker is the former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. On a recent Tennessee…

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Commentary: Trump’s Big Win Over Public-Sector Unions

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by John W. York   Public-sector unions and their progressive allies just lost a major battle in their ceaseless legal campaign against this president. Last summer, one district court judge struck down nearly every provision in a package of executive orders meant to curtail the overweening power of federal employee unions. Almost a year later, the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit rightly overturned the decision. In fact, it determined that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, an Obama appointee to the U.S. District Court for D.C., should never have heard the case in the first place. One of the biggest impacts of the executive orders is to sharply curtail a wasteful practice known by the Orwellian moniker “official time.” This practice allows federal employees to do union business instead of their actual job during their regular working hours, while being paid their regular wage. While official time was authorized by statute back in 1978, its use is now out of control. In 2016, the Office of Personnel Management found that federal employees spent a combined 3.6 million hours working on union business during the work day (though this is likely a significant underestimate). Indeed, thousands of federal employees throughout the government do nothing…

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Tennessee Attorney General: Rainy Day Fund Monies Excluded From the Copeland Cap

Laura Baigert

  Tennessee’s Attorney General Herbert Slatery issued an opinion in 2018 in response to a legislator’s inquiry indicating that allocations to the reserve for revenue fluctuation account, otherwise known as the Rainy Day Fund, do not count toward the Copeland Cap. State Senator Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) (pictured left) requested an opinion from the state’s Attorney General (pictured right) to two separate questions on the topic. Specifically, Senator Kelsey’s two questions to the Attorney General were: In determining whether “the rate of growth of appropriations from state tax revenues exceed[s] the estimated rate of growth of the state’s economy” under article II, section 24 of the Tennessee Constitution, are funds that are allocated to the “reserve for revenue fluctuation” included in “appropriations from state tax revenues”? (emphasis added) And In determining whether “the rate of growth of appropriations from state tax revenues exceed[s] the estimated rate of growth of the state’s economy” under article II, section 24 of the Tennessee Constitution, are funds previously allocated to the “reserve for revenue fluctuation” included in “appropriations from state tax revenues” in the year in which the funds are withdrawn? (emphasis added) The Attorney General opined in 18-05 that the answer to both questions…

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Nineteen People Have Died from Drinking Tainted Alcohol in Costa Rica, Officials Say

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by Hanna Panreck   Costa Rica issued a national alert warning citizens about tainted alcohol after officials confirmed 19 people died from methanol poisoning. Fourteen men and five women between the ages of 32 and 72 died from methanol poisoning since June 2, according to the Ministry of Health on July 19. Seven of these deaths were in the San Jose Province, a very populated area in Costa Rica, CBS reported. The government confiscated about 30,000 bottles of liquor suspected of containing methanol under the brands Guaro Montano, Guaro Gran Apache, Aguardiente Estrella, Aguardiente Barón Rojo, Aguardiente Timbuka and Moltov Aguardiente. Aguardiente in English translates to “fire water,” The Associated Press reported. “The Costa Rican government has tested the bottles. These are local bottles of Aguardiente, a popular, neutral spirit made typically from sugar cane, and it had 30-50% methanol in the bottles, which are perfect replicas and counterfeit bottles,” Kemal Canlar, founder of SafeProof.org, said Monday in an interview with “Fox & Friends.” “This is illegal black market, illicit counterfeiters, they are looking to make a profit by infiltrating the supply chain.” “It’s a lot cheaper, so you buy methanol typically in a 55-gallon drum. It costs pennies per gallon and it’s toxic,” Canlar added. Methanol is used…

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Commentary: The Banality of Google’s Wokeness

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by Emina Melonic   Although many people don’t see it or refuse to acknowledge it, we are living in a mangled version of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s 1984. There are technological and morally dubious (at best!) forces that control the flow of information we see and can release into the world. Facebook, Twitter, and Google – our current rendition of “The Big Three” – rightfully have been accused of censorship, as example after example comes to light. Yet, even as more is revealed with each new example, nothing seems to be done to change the situation. The rest of the population – i.e., the users – are powerless to do anything about it because the structure of all social media companies allows rhem to operate under the guise of privatization. If the company is private, then logically it would follow that we have no right to criticize their company policies. Add to that the fact that their services, mainly, are free to users, and complaints are often met with dismissive charges of ingratitude. And yet, users have no genuine choice because these are the platforms that amount to today’s public square. We have no choice because the primary way of…

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Senator Schumer Calls for Federal Probe Into Russia-Based FaceApp

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by Kaylee Greenlee   Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced recently on Twitter the “need” for a federal investigation into the popular Russia-based image-editing technology for smartphones called “FaceApp.” “BIG: Share if you used #FaceApp: The FBI and FTC must look into the national security and privacy risks now because millions of Americans have used it; it’s owned by a Russian company; and users are required to provide full, irrevocable access to their personal photos and data,” Schumer said in his tweet. FaceApp allows users to morph an uploaded photo to make the subject appear older, younger, or even a different gender or ethnicity. View this post on Instagram Best caption wins ovo tickets A post shared by champagnepapi (@champagnepapi) on Jul 16, 2019 at 1:36am PDT FaceApp’s terms and conditions state: You grant FaceApp a perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, fully-paid, transferable sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, publicly perform and display your User Content and any name, username or likeness provided in connection with your User Content in all media formats and channels now known or later developed, without compensation to you. Yaroslav Goncharov, a chief executive at Wireless Lab, started developing FaceApp…

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Leaked Docs Reportedly Show Huawei Secretly Built Up North Korea’s Wireless Phone Network

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by Chris White   A Chinese tech company at the center of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China secretly helped North Korea maintain its commercial wireless network, The Washington Post reported Monday. Huawei partnered with a massive Chinese state-owned company called Panda International on projects in the communist nation over eight year, the report notes, citing documents and contracts, as well as anonymous sources. The memos do not explicitly lay out a connection between Huawei and North Korea, but they do raise questions about the relationship. A former Huawei employee leaked the spreadsheets and documents detailing the nature of the relationship. Other anonymous sources provided separate memos confirming the linkage, according to WaPo’s report, which comes as Trump and Republicans consider the implications of allowing Huawei a foothold in U.S. technology. The Commerce Department has never connected Huawei and North Korea despite undergoing a nearly four-year long investigation into the matter. The department has not replied to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for a comment about the report. All of this comes after the Department of Justice charged Huawei in January with bank fraud and violations of U.S. sanctions on Iran. The president signed an executive order in May that effectively bans technologies from foreign…

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Democrats Join Forces to Urge the Supreme Court to Block the Southern Border Barrier Based on ‘the Environment’

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by Kevin Daley   Environmental groups and House Democrats urged the Supreme Court not to disturb a lower court order blocking the reallocation of military funds for border wall projects. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to put that ruling on hold while litigation continues July 12. Granting that request — called a stay — would give the government an irreversible victory, a coalition of environmentalists led by the Sierra Club warned. “If a stay is granted and wall construction begins, there will be no turning back,” the green groups told the justices in court papers. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam barred the administration from using $2.5 billion in military funds for border wall construction. The trial court’s injunctions stalled border barrier construction projects in Arizona and New Mexico. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s request to stay Gilliam’s ruling while litigation continued by a 2-1 vote July 3. The government filed a stay application with the Supreme Court on July 12. Environmentalists fear ‘irrevocable victory’ Stays are supposed to preserve the status quo among litigants while a lawsuit proceeds through court. If the justices grant the administration’s request, the government can begin construction on several border wall projects the courts…

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The Tennessee Star Report Talks to ‘Point of View’s’ Chris Berg About the Tangled Web of Ilhan Omar’s Background

Julie Carr

  During a specific interview discussion Monday 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 – Leahy talked to good friend and host of Fargo, North Dakota’s Point of View about Ilhan Omar’s alleged illegal immigration into the United States and her questionable political affiliations associated with her background. Towards the end of the segment, the three men dissected whether or not there was enough speculation to pursue a DOJ or US Attorney General investigation into Omar’s past. They also noted that this issue could potentially be investigated at the federal level. Leahy: Our good friend Chris Berg who is the host of Point of View at the top television affiliate in Fargo, North Dakota caught that clip and sent it to us. And Chris, welcome to the Tennessee Star Report. Our story on that has over six thousand Facebook shares. Berg: (Chuckles) Thanks for having me Mike. Great to have you and happy Monday. Leahy: So tell us about Ilhan Omar. Ilhan was from Somalia. Came to the United States when she was twelve. Lived in Virginia for a couple of years.…

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Rep. Steve Cohen Unblocks ‘Terrorists’ from His Twitter Page

Chris Butler
Steve Cohen

  U.S. Congressman Steve Cohen, a Democrat representing Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District, will no longer block people from seeing his Twitter page, because to do otherwise could put him in legal jeopardy. ­ But Cohen still reportedly won’t allow his critics or people he accuses of harassing him — people he described as “Twitter terrorists” — to have full access to his Twitter. “You can mute people, so I’ve been doing a whole lot of muting,” Cohen reportedly said. This, according to The Memphis Commercial Appeal. A federal court ruled that elected officials who block people on Twitter are possibly acting against the First Amendment. The judge in that matter directed that ruling at U.S. Republican President Donald Trump. But Cohen seemed to know the same rules would likely apply to him. “In the past, I have blocked people, not from my district. I’ve tried assiduously to avoid blocking people from my district no matter how rude, crude or socially unacceptable their tweets may have been,” Cohen reportedly told The Memphis Commercial Appeal. “But, when it did get to the Court of Appeals … I decided the best thing to do is go ahead and accept that court’s ruling that it’s…

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Washington Braces for Mueller’s Appearance Wednesday

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  A leading House Democrat says special counsel Robert Mueller will give “very substantial evidence” that will make the case for impeaching U.S. President Donald Trump. “This is a president who has violated the law six ways from Sunday,” House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler told Fox television on the weekend. Legislators from Trump’s Republican Party, however, predict a highly anticipated hearing this week will amount to nothing more than a rehash of previously published information. Also speaking Sunday on Fox television, Congressman Doug Collins, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, accused Democrats of “going after things that we’ve already known.” Mueller is set to testify before two House committees Wednesday about his investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to meddle in the 2016 presidential election and if Trump obstructed justice in trying to derail the probe. “We have to present, or let Mueller present, those facts to the American people…because the administration must be held accountable and no president can be above the law,” Nadler said. Mueller report conclusions  The Mueller report concluded there was not enough evidence to determine that Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia. But Mueller wrote he could not exonerate…

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SOLVED: Vice President Mike Pence’s Cancelled Air Force Two Trip to New Hampshire Was Reportedly Due to a Guest Under Investigation for Drug Trafficking

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by Chris White   The White House abruptly cancelled a trip Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to take because he likely would’ve come face-to-face with an alleged interstate drug dealer, Politico reported Monday, citing law enforcement officials. One of the people Pence was likely to have shaken hands with at a July 3 New Hampshire event on opioid addiction was under federal investigation for moving $100,000 of fentanyl from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, the report notes. The reason for the cancellation was clouded in mystery, with President Donald Trump contributing to some of the drama. Jeff Hatch, who agreed to plead guilty Friday and spend four years in prison, works for an opioid addiction treatment center in southern New Hampshire that the vice president was set to visit. Hatch, a former New York Giants football player, has publicly discussed his own challenges with drug and alcohol addiction. The event was billed as “a roundtable discussion with former patients and alumni at the Granite Recovery Center headquarters,” which would include comments from Pence “on the opioid crisis and illegal drug flow in New Hampshire.” The vice president’s office declined to comment on the controversy, according to Politico. Hatch was caught in…

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Left Primaries Rep. Richard Neal, the Democrat Who Refuses to Turn Over President Trump’s Taxes

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by Whitney Tipton   Alex Morse, the mayor of Holyoke, Massachusetts, announced plans to challenge House Ways & Means Chairman Richard Neal in 2020 Monday. Morse, 30, is being encouraged to run by progressive Democrats who are frustrated by Neal’s delay in obtaining Trump’s state tax returns under the law passed by Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, NBC News reported. “There’s an urgency to this moment in Massachusetts’ 1st District and our country, and that urgency is not matched by our current representative in Congress,” Morse said in a video to announce his challenge. Democrats have been frustrated with Neal, a Massachusetts representative, because he has not pushed for Trump‘s New York state tax returns despite the law. Liberal magazine The American Prospect wrote Neal’s committee “has shown none of the zeal for oversight exhibited by its counterparts.” “We respect his focus on moving rapidly on health care, tax policy, and pensions but at the same time many of us have tried to express the sense of urgency which we and our constituents feel about enforcing the law and obtaining Trump’s tax returns,” an aide to a Democratic member of the Ways & Means told NBC. Cuomo signed a bill into law July 8 giving access…

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COUNTDOWN: Three Weeks Until the Heartbeat Bill Summer Study

Laura Baigert

  In three weeks, the State Senate Judiciary Committee will undertake the much anticipated two-day Summer Study on the legislation known as the Heartbeat Bill. The Heartbeat Bill seeks to protect the life of unborn children from the point that their heartbeat is detected, usually at about six weeks after conception. The legislation was sponsored by Representative Micah Van Huss (R-Jonesborough) and Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) during the first half of the 111th Tennessee General Assembly as HB 0077 and SB 1236, respectively. The House version essentially sailed through the committee process, which passed its first stop at the Public Health Subcommittee on February 20, and was voted on by the entire chamber on March 7. With 65 Ayes, 21 Noes and 7 Present and Not Voting, it was only Democrats who opposed the measure, although two voted in favor of it. Meanwhile, all 7 Present and Not Voting were Republicans. The bill experienced a completely different fate in the State Senate, where it sat on notice for two months before being placed on the Senate Judiciary Committee calendar. As reported by The Tennessee Star, testimony and a question-and-answer period from expert witnesses lasted about one and a half hours,…

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