Day: January 26, 2024

Senator Marsha Blackburn Visits All 95 Counties of Tennessee Each Year: The ‘Full Blackburn’ Takes a Page from Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

Kaitlin Housler
Marsha Blackburn

U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) joined Friday’s edition of The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy to discuss a new bill she and Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) introduced as well as State Representative Gloria Johnson’s (D-Knoxville) recent vote against a bill that would allow prosecutors to pursue a death penalty sentence for convicted child rapists.

Blackburn, who was traveling through Sumner County while on the newsmaker line, first discussed the importance of her annual trips to all 95 Tennessee counties.

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FBI Luminaries Starkly Warn Congress that U.S. Being Invaded at Border: ‘Alarming and Perilous’

Just the News

With a constitutional crisis brewing in Texas and voters nationwide alarmed by the toll of illegal immigration, some of the FBI’s most famous retired executives are issuing a stark warning to Congress that President Joe Biden’s border policies have unleashed an “invasion” of military-aged male foreigners who pose “one of the most pernicious ever” threats to American security.

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Tennessee House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader Call for Constitutional Amendment to Let Judges Deny Bail for Violent Criminals

Tom Pappert
Memphis Press Conference

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) joined Memphis Mayor Paul Young and a number of lawmakers from both major political parties at a Friday press event in Memphis to call for an amendment to the Tennessee Constitution that would empower judges to deny bail more often.

Sexton, Johnson and Young were joined by State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) and State Representative Antonio Parkinson (D-Memphis), and other local leaders, to call for the constitutional amendment.

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Draft Resolution to Declare Trump the Presumptive Nominee Withdrawn

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A draft resolution to declare former President Donald Trump the presumptive GOP nominee was withdrawn just hours after it was proposed on Thursday evening, the Daily Caller News Foundation confirmed.

David Bossie, a committeeman for the Republican National Committee (RNC), proposed that Trump be declared the nominee ahead of the party’s convention in July after his significant wins in the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, according to the draft resolution obtained by The Dispatch. Trump turned down the proposal in a Truth Social post, and the draft resolution was later withdrawn, according to a person familiar.

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Tennessee House Speaker, Senate Majority Leader to Hold Joint Event in Memphis with Paul Young

Tom Pappert

Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) will hold a joint event with Memphis Mayor Paul Young at Memphis City Hall.

In a Thursday media release from Sexton’s office, the leaders revealed they plan to “make a major announcement alongside Mayor Young, law enforcement officials and community leaders” on Friday at 10:30 a.m.

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U.S. Economic Growth Exceeds Expectations with Rate Cuts on the Horizon

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Blue Collar

The U.S. economy grew at a rate of 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023, according to gross domestic product (GDP) statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday.

In the third quarter of 2023, real GDP rose 4.9%, down from the second estimate of 5.2%, but in line with initial estimates. Economists expected that GDP growth would be around 2% for the fourth quarter of 2023, in line with typical U.S. growth rates.

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Leadership of Major U.S. Landowner Chock-Full of Chinese Communist Party Members

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American Farmland

Top executives at Hong Kong-based WH Group Limited, the world’s largest pork producer that controls vast swaths of U.S. farmland through its American subsidiary, are Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of corporate records and state-run media reports.

Records and reports reviewed by the DCNF identify four top executives and the chairman of the pork giant as CCP members with extensive ties to the Chinese government. WH Group controls nearly 150,000 acres of land across 29 U.S. states through its subsidiary Smithfield Foods, a family-run business established in 1936, which it purchased for $7.1 billion in 2013. While a keyword search on Smithfield’s website returned only two articles mentioning the firm’s relationship with WH Group, neither of the two articles mentioned China. An online map of Smithfield’s global business activities does not list any operations in, or connection to, Asia, despite archived reports from their website suggesting otherwise.

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Bridgestone Responds to Criticism from Coffee County Sheriff over Work Absences During Snow Storms

Peter D'Abrosca
Chad Partin

Bridgestone is responding to criticism from the Coffee County Sheriff who accused the company of forcing workers to call the sheriff’s office to get notes for excused absences from work during last week’s severe winter weather. 

Coffee County Sheriff Chad Partin wrote an open letter to the tire giant on his Facebook page on January 19. It said:

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Commentary: Big Labor State Politicians’ ‘Wall of Denial’ Is Starting to Crumble

RealClearWire
California Illinois

For decades, cold, hard data from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) have shown that states like New Jersey, Illinois and California are paying a high price for allowing dues-hungry union bosses to continue getting workers fired for refusal to bankroll their organizations.

Year after year, far more taxpayers have been leaving forced-unionism states than moving into them.  And the average tax filer moving out of a forced-unionism state has reported having an adjusted gross income (AGI) on his or her IRS form that is substantially higher than the average for a tax filer moving into a forced-unionism state.

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Ohio Senator JD Vance Introduces Bill to Codify Border States’ Rights to Defend Own Territory from Illegal Migrants

Kaitlin Housler

Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) introduced a bill on Wednesday that would “codify the right of every state along the U.S.-Mexico border to defend its own territory.”

Vance’s State Border Security Act would prevent federal agents from dismantling barbed wire or other fencing erected by state governments within 25 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Youngkin Declared Biden Can’t ‘Deal with Our Border’ Before Announcing ‘Virginia Stands with Texas’

Tom Pappert
Youngkin Border

Governor Glenn Youngkin responded on Wednesday to President Joe Biden referring to former Governor Terry McAuliffe as the “real governor” of Virginia before he later announced “Virginia stands with Texas” in the standoff between Governor Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over Abbott’s efforts to protect the state’s southern border.

Biden launched a Tuesday campaign event by greeting Virginia and “the real governor, Terry McAuliffe,” which White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insisted was a joke. After Biden’s apparent attempt at comedy, Youngkin told 12 On Your Side on Wednesday that he was not surprised the president “doesn’t know who the Governor of Virginia is.”

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Fani Willis Reportedly Accused Trump’s Lawyer of Racism in Email Chain over Discovery Documents

Tom Pappert
Fanni Willis

A report containing emails from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, sent two days after she was accused in a court filing of engaging in an inappropriate relationship with the special prosecutor she appointed to investigate former President Donald Trump, reveal she made allegations of racism against Trump’s attorney, Steve Sadow.

On January 8, Willis was accused of engaging in a romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, who she appointed to oversee her case against former President Donald Trump, in a court filing by Michael Roman, who is a co-defendant in the Georgia election case against Trump.

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Trump Cancels Arizona Appearance, Arizona Republicans Cancel Freedom Fest in Wake of AZGOP Audio Release

Tom Pappert
Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump canceled his planned travel to Arizona for Freedom Fest, an event held by the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP), which was also canceled despite other speakers planning to attend.

The AZGOP’s decision to cancel the event came just one day after the party’s chairman resigned following the release of audio in which he relayed an offer to U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake that would see her receive a well-paying job in the private sector in exchange for staying out of politics.

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Planned Parenthood Video Calls Virginity ‘Made Up’ and Not Inclusive of ‘Queer People’

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Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood released a video Wednesday arguing that virginity is a “completely made up concept” and complains that the term leaves out queer people.

The video opens with a woman in a classroom, who argues that the word virginity was “created simply to control and shame people” and later claims that the reason “virginity is whack” is because “sex means different things to different people.” The woman says that the traditional definition of virginity, “penetration – penis into vagina,” doesn’t fit queer people or those who choose to have other kinds of sex such as anal.

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Music Spotlight: Krystal King

Bethany Bowman

Krystal King has had country music in her soul practically since birth. Her parents told her that when she was a toddler, they were scanning the radio stations and when it got to an Alan Jackson song, she squealed, “Oh stop, stop.” And she has been listening to country music ever since.

As she got older, the North Carolina native was visiting friends on the coast. A man was DJing at a restaurant. Her parents dared to get up there and sing a song. So, she walked up to him and asked him if I could sing “You’re Still the One” by Shania Twain.

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Commentary: America Can’t Afford Never Trump’s Nihilism

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Ron DeSantis

It was a wise decision for Ron DeSantis to end his presidential campaign when he did. There would have been no point in prolonging a bitter and divisive primary battle when Trump has clearly won already. By endorsing Trump, DeSantis opened the door to repairing some of the damage from what turned out to be a disastrous career move. And he did the right thing for the country by signaling to his supporters that it was time to unite and focus on ending the Biden regime.

Unfortunately, just a day later, DeSantis took a gratuitous swipe at Trump. It was chum for many of DeSantis’ hardcore supporters, who remain full of spite after months of back-and-forth with the MAGA “cult.”

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Major Liberal Charities Funneling Millions into Arms of Chinese Government, Documents Show

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Bill Gates

Three major American charities collectively poured more than $10 million into Chinese government entities, universities and groups controlled by members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) between 2017 and 2022, tax documents show.

The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Ford Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation together donated about $10.2 million directly to the Chinese government and to organizations headed by top-ranking CCP members, according to tax disclosures. Chinese beneficiaries of the American philanthropies include state-run universities that collaborate with the People’s Liberation Army, as well as government ministries.

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Maine’s Highest Court Dismisses Trump Ballot Case Appeal

The Center Square
Trump Maine

Maine’s highest court has declined to take up an appeal of a ruling over a move to take former President Donald Trump’s name off the state’s GOP primary ballot.

In a decision issued Wednesday, the Supreme Judicial Court dismissed an appeal by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, asking justices to overturn a lower court ruling delaying a decision on the ballot challenge. The court said it would be improper to rule on a case that has yet to be decided.

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Illegal Aliens Camping Out in Boston Airport

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Boston Airport

Dozens of illegal alien families have begun camping out in Boston Logan International Airport, as the state of Massachusetts struggles to keep up with the rapidly expanding illegal population.

As the New York Post reports, over 100 illegals have been using cots on the floor in the airport’s international terminal, mirroring similar crises at other major airports such as Chicago O’Hare. Massachusetts State Police are being paid extra to patrol the area.

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Nine Years Later, ‘Build the Wall’ Still Resonates for Voters Going for Trump, Polls Indicate

Just the News
Border Wall

Former President Donald Trump broke onto the political stage in 2015 with a promise to build a wall along the nation’s southern border with Mexico, highlighting the security risks of a porous border and calling to limit entry into the U.S.

Nearly nine years later, his potential return to the White House may hinge on similar issues, with exit polls from early primaries and key political allies suggesting the border remains of paramount importance to the electorate.

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