Author: Chris Butler

Tennessee U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty Says Joe Biden Takes America Away from Its Allies

Chris Butler

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Saturday faulted U.S. President Joe Biden for a lack of accountability on Afghanistan and for hurting America’s relationship with its political allies.
Hagerty made these remarks to anchorman Jon Scott on FOX News. “What we’ve seen in our allies is the Dutch Foreign Minister stepped down this week. The same for the British Foreign Minister, both have stepped down, they’ve stepped down over their role or their lack of accountability for Afghanistan. They’ve stepped up and taken responsibility,” Hagerty said.

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Gov. Bill Lee Not Saying What Options Tennessee Has if Arriving Afghan Refugees Remain Unvetted

Chris Butler

Governor Bill Lee’s staff would not say Saturday what measures he or other state officials could take if Afghan refugees relocate to Tennessee without the feds scrutinizing them first for health or security risks. Members of Lee’s communications team did not return The Tennessee Star’s request for comment before Saturday’s stated deadline.

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Georgia Attorney General Warns Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Mandates Could Unleash ‘Severe Consequences’

Chris Butler

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and 23 other attorneys general said this week that federal agencies shouldn’t force private sector employees to choose between either a COVID-19 shot or a weekly COVID-19 test. Carr and the other attorneys general voiced their concerns in a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden. Biden wants officials with the U.S. Department of Labor and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to force private sector employees to guard themselves against COVID-19 — or else lose they will lose their jobs.

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Angry Tennessee Residents, Burdened by COVID-19 Policies, Rally for Special Legislative Session, Without Delay

Chris Butler

NASHVILLE — Hundreds of Tennesseans said their displeasure with COVID-19 mandates has intensified and it’s time for Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) to relent and allow a special legislative session so the state can fight back. Those angry residents, along with several state legislators, rallied at Beth Harwell Plaza, near the state capitol, on Thursday.

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Mayor Glenn Jacobs on Joe Biden’s COVID-19 Mandate: ‘Knox County Will Not Comply’

Chris Butler

Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs put U.S. President Joe Biden on notice Thursday regarding one of the president’s COVID-19 mandates and said his county will flatly refuse to obey. Specifically, Jacobs said Knox County will not honor Biden’s executive order mandating that all businesses with 100 or more employees require COVID-19 vaccines for workers or implement weekly testing.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen Wants the Federal Government to Fix Childhood Obesity

Chris Butler

U.S. Representative Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) on Tuesday paired up with U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) to file companion bills that would, if enacted into law, create a government program to combat childhood obesity. “The Reducing Obesity in Youth Act would create a grant program to assist in the development of healthier early care and education environments to improve healthy eating and physical activity among children from birth through 5 years of age,” according to a press release that members of Cohen’s staff published on the congressman’s website this week.

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New Documentary Chronicles How Memphis’s Corporate Welfare Scheme with IKEA Backfired

Chris Butler

A new documentary profiles examples of corporate welfare that shortchanged taxpayers and business owners, including in Memphis, where city officials bestowed a generous tax break upon IKEA. This documentary, Corporate Welfare: Where’s the Outrage?, debuted on public television and YouTube late last month. Free To Choose Media Executive Editor and Cato Senior Fellow Johan Norberg hosted the documentary.

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Proposed Buckhead City Would Run a Budget Surplus After Leaving Atlanta, New Feasibility Study Says

Chris Butler

Buckhead residents wants to formally secede from crime-plagued Atlanta, and if those same frustrated residents were to leave then their new city would run a budget surplus, according to a study from Valdosta State University. Officials with Valdosta State University’s Center for South Georgia Regional Impact published the study this week.

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Tennessee U.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty Blasts Joe Biden’s ‘Unlawful, Counterproductive Federal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate’

Chris Butler

U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on Monday criticized U.S. President Joe Biden for his new COVID-19 vaccination mandates. Biden said that, in order to work, all employees of private employers with 100 or more employees must take the COVID-19 vaccination or subject themselves to an at-least-weekly COVID testing.

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Mayors of Tennessee’s Largest Cities Refuse to Say Whether They Support Critical Race Theory in K-12 Public Schools

Chris Butler

The mayors of Nashville, Memphis, Chattanooga, and Knoxville declined to say Monday whether they support public schools teaching Critical Race Theory (CRT). This, even though those four mayors — Jim Cooper, Jim Strickland, Tim Kelly, and Indya Kincannon — belong to the United States Conference of Mayors, which recently adopted a resolution supporting CRT in K-12 public schools.

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Tennessee Congressman Jim Cooper Silent on National Archives Bureaucrats Placing ‘Warning Label’ on Constitution, Claiming ‘Harmful Content’

Chris Butler

Staff for U.S. Representative Jim Cooper (D-TN-05) would not say Friday whether the congressman agrees with National Archives bureaucrats who believe the U.S. Constitution should have a “warning label” due to “harmful content.” Members of Cooper’s staff did not return two requests for comment before Friday’s stated deadline.

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Tennessee U.S. Rep. Mark Green Says Joe Biden Fears Oversight That Trump Appointees Would Give Military Advisory Board

Chris Butler

Three prominent members of Tennessee’s Republican Party on Thursday denounced U.S. President Joe Biden for demanding that appointees of former U.S. President Donald Trump resign from the U.S. Military Academy’s advisory board. U.S. Representative Mark Green (R-TN-07), an alumnus of and a member of the United States Military Academy Board of Visitors, addressed the matter in an emailed press release Wednesday.

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Fulton County Election Officials Did Not Properly Handle Finances, Grant Requirements, New Audit Says

Chris Butler
Fulton County Response

Fulton County election officials mismanaged money, mismanaged documents, and failed to comply with various grant requirements, according to a recent audit. The Georgia Star News requested a copy of the audit straight from county officials. The communications staff for the Fulton County Government, though, did not respond before Wednesday’s stated deadline. Staff at the Atlanta-based WSB-TV posted the audit on their website this week.

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Left-Leaning Group in Nashville Says Anti-Black Policies Drive Poverty, and They Plan to Hand Out Massive Sums of Money to the Poor

Chris Butler

Members of one organization said a shortage of cash and a surplus of anti-black policies generates poverty, and they want to prove that theory true by handing out generous sums of money throughout North Nashville. Members of that group, Moving Nashville Forward, said on their website that Nashville residents must reassess how they treat the destitute. They said they have raised more than $250,000 from Nashville residents and will use that money to create a Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI).

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U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett Files Legislation to Protect Americans’ Genetic Information from Chinese Communist Party

Chris Butler

U.S. Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) this week introduced legislation that aims to protect the genetic information Americans’ share with genetic testing companies from being sold to entities affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Burchett, in an emailed press release, called his legislation the American Genetic Privacy Act of 2021.

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Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr Joins U.S. Supreme Court Brief Supporting Religious Charity’s Right to Hire People Who Share Its Faith

Chris Butler

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr joined 17 states late last week in filing a brief before the U.S. Supreme Court to support the First Amendment rights of Seattle’s Union Gospel Mission. The Mission is seeking Supreme Court review of a recent ruling by the Washington State Supreme Court that denied the faith-based charity’s First Amendment right to hire employees who share its faith.

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Georgia Democrats Warn Raphael Warnock Is Vulnerable

Chris Butler

Members of the Georgia Democratic Party sent out a series of fundraising emails this week warning that U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) could lose reelection next year. “The analysts at CNN have put together a list of which Senate seats they believe are most likely to flip in 2022, and the results are extremely concerning: They’re saying Sen. Reverend Raphael Warnock is the MOST vulnerable Democrat up for re-election,” according to one of the Georgia Democratic Party’s emails.
“Making things even worse, a recent poll shows Herschel Walker, Donald Trump’s hand-picked candidate, is NECK AND NECK with Sen. Rev. Warnock! That means top supporters like YOU are all that will stand in the way of Mitch McConnell becoming Senate Majority Leader once again.”

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Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally Believes Special Legislative Session Is Unnecessary

Chris Butler

A spokesman for Tennessee Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) on Thursday shared McNally’s views on whether state legislators should still convene for a special session. “While Lt. Governor McNally is firmly against government vaccine passports, he is extremely reticent to place restrictions on private business,” said McNally spokesman Adam Kleinheider, via email.

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Georgia Congressman Co-Sponsoring Bill to Mandate Daily Reports About Americans Still Stranded in Afghanistan

Chris Butler

U.S. Representative Rick Allen (R-GA-12) said his Republican colleagues are co-sponsoring legislation that would require the U.S. Secretary of Defense to submit daily reports to Congress about the evacuation of Americans from Afghanistan. Allen announced the news during a Tuesday telephone town hall with his constituents.

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Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger Wants U.S. Justice Department to Release Contacts with Stacey Abrams and Other Left-Wing Activists

Chris Butler

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Wednesday he has filed a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA) with the U.S. Department of Justice to release any records of contact with Stacey Abrams. Raffensperger said in a press release that he also wants records of contact with Abrams’ Fair Fight Action and 60 other liberal activist organizations.

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Tennessee Legislators Must Convene Special Session to Address Urgent Issues, Williamson County-Based Group Says

Chris Butler

Members of the Williamson County-based Tennessee Stands have said members of the Tennessee General Assembly should still hold a special session. Tennessee Stands Executive Director Gary Humble said in an emailed message to his supporters that Tennesseans and a majority of members of the Tennessee House of Representatives want a special session. This, Humble said, “to address a host of issues currently plaguing our state.”

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