This short video was shared this morning via Twitter by White House aide Cliff Sims. It shows President Trump emerging behind a screen to the surprise and delight of White House tourists, many of whom are children. https://twitter.com/CSims45/status/839124695769313280 The White House Visitors’ Center and the Tours themselves were re-opened on February 14th – Valentine’s Day – by First Lady Melania Trump after being closed during the period between the Obama and Trump Administration transition. UPDATE: FOX 10 Phoenix has the “other side” of the video (h/t Twitchy)
Read the full storyAuthor: Christina Botteri
POLL: 95 Per Cent Nashville Taxpayers OPPOSE Subsidizing Opryland Water Park Deal
Last week we told you about the Beacon Center’s online poll asking Tennessee taxpayers if they supported the Metro Nashville City Council’s preliminary vote to grant a tax incentive deal worth $14 million to Opryland. The early results showed that a staggering 92.5% opposed the luxury resort receiving generous tax breaks to build a private water park available to only their hotel guests. The poll is now completed, and the final numbers are in. After a full week of voting, an even larger margin of Tennessee Taxpayers – 95% – now oppose the deal. With such an overwhelming response, the Beacon Center took a look at how else that $14 million could have been used. Based on average salaries in the city of Nashville, this $14 million tax break to the Opryland hotel could have paid for one year’s salary for 276 teachers, 280 police officers, or 335 firefighters. Mark Cunningham of the Beacon Center noted in a statement, “Nashvillians and Tennesseans are almost unanimously opposed to giving taxpayer money to a water park. A whopping 95% of Tennesseans believe that this incentive deal to the Opryland Waterpark is a bad idea, which is truly incredible. Not even 95% of people…
Read the full storyEXCLUSIVE: Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft to Speak at Nashville Spirit of America Rally Saturday, March 4
Nashville’s Spirit of America Rally organizers announced exclusively to The Tennessee Star that grassroots superstar Jim Hoft will appear at the event this Saturday, March 4th. “We are excited to announce that Jim Hoft of The Gateway Pundit will speak at the rally. His organization has recently been granted White House press credentials to the dismay of the liberal main stream media,” Spirit of American organizer and founder of the Memphis Tea Party Mark Skoda said. “Jim has made a difference at his conservative news blog with over one million views per day during the election. And as a new media leader, he is driving the left crazy,” he added. Jim Hoft stated, “I am really looking forward to speaking to the people of the Great State of Tennessee. President Trump is off to a roaring start and I am proud to stand behind him today as he moves to Make America Great Again. I plan on making a special announcement at Saturday’s rally!” Skoda noted that this confirmation of the March 4 event comes on the eighth anniversary of the first Tea Party rallies, which were held in fifty cities across the country on February 27, 2009. Those rallies were followed by…
Read the full storyStanding-Room-Only Crowds Greet the Transportation Subcommittee As They Meet to Vote on Gas Tax Increase
Standing room only crowds gathered to greet the Transportation Subcommittee as they are set to vote on the increasingly unpopular Haslam Gas Tax increase. The Tennessee Star crew arrived early. The room was full by 10:45am for the 12pm meeting… more updates on Facebook…
Read the full storyNashville Talk Radio Led Opposition to Sundquist Income Tax But Is Split on Haslam Gas Tax
When former Gov. Don Sundquist proposed imposing a state income tax on residents of Tennessee in 1999, Nashville talk radio hosts Steve Gill and Phil Valentine led the horn-honking opposition that ultimately killed the unpopular proposal three years later in 2002. It is a different media landscape in 2017, as political controversy surrounds Gov. Haslam’s proposal to increase the gas tax to fund road construction. Like Sundquist, Haslam is a Republican. WLAC, 1510 am, is no longer in the local political talk business. 99.7 FM WWTN owns the local conservative talk market, with all local hosts, beginning at 5 a.m. with Ralph Bristol, 9 a.m. with Michael Del Giorno, noon with Dan Mandis, and 3 to 7 p.m. with Phil Valentine. The day’s talk agenda is set by Nashville’s Morning News host Ralph Bristol, and he testified before the State Senate Transportation Committee in favor of Gov. Haslam’s plan, provided it is truly revenue neutral, which he says it currently is not. Former Nashville talk radio host Steve Gill, in contrast, came out guns a-blazing in opposition to the gas tax increase in a commentary posted today at The Tennessee Star. “17 years ago, talk radio lead the fight to stop…
Read the full storyShowdown in Williamson County: Conservative Grassroots Debbie Deaver Vs. Establishment Tom Miller in Fight for GOP County Chair
For some, Tuesday, Feb 28 might be just another National Chocolate Soufflé Day, but to the Williamson County Republican Party loyalists, it’s time to pick a new GOP Chair. The election in 2015 of outgoing Chairwoman Julie Hannah was a great victory for the conservative grassroots. Of the two candidates running to replace her, many activists believe Debbie Deaver represents a continuation of Hannah’s high-energy, principled leadership. Party insiders agree the choice between the two candidates emerging from the Willamson County GOP Convention earlier this year is stark: Establishment-supporting, Moderate Tom Miller, or conservative crackerjack, Deaver. Miller served as a Franklin alderman-at-large from 1997-2003, then was elected the Mayor of Franklin for a single term in 2003. However, although Miller enjoys a nearly ubiquitous reputation as a “nice guy,” some Republican activists fear the longtime Realtor and Franklin resident will “do nothing” but take orders from the Establishment Party Leaders in Tennessee like Governor Bill Haslam, and Senators Bob Corker and Llamar Alexander. “If Tom Miller is elected to the Williamson County Chair, we will go from being a strong conservative party organization, to simply being a big-government, liberal tax-and-spend organization,” said activist and Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips.…
Read the full storyHaslam Gas Tax Hike Opponents Gather at ‘Tank the Tax’ Rally Set for Wednesday
As the Haslam IMPROVE Act plan to increase fuel taxes returns to the Transportation Subcommittee on Wednesday March 1, Americans for Prosperity and other activists plan to “turn up the heat” by gathering at Legislative Plaza to express opposition to the proposed tax increases. The Transportation Subcommittee, Chaired by Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver (R-Lancaster), is scheduled to meet at noon. Andy Ogles, Tennessee Director of Americans for Prosperity, said that activists will be coming from across the state to express opposition to the proposed tax increases. “Once taxpayers realize that the huge tax increases proposed by the Governor are coming when we have a TWO BILLION DOLLAR SURPLUS their reaction to the plan becomes almost a unanimous ‘NO’ and they can’t understand why their elected officials are even entertaining the idea,” Ogles noted. “The only way the Haslam Plan passes is if their supporters successfully hide the truth about what the plan actually means to the wallets of working men and women in Tennessee. To stop it, we simply need to get the truth out and encourage taxpayers to get engaged in this fight.” Ogles also expressed concern about the glaring absence of conservative leadership in the Legislature on this issue.…
Read the full storyNashville Taxpayers Voice Skepticism of Proposed $14 Million Tax Incentive Deal for Opryland Waterpark Development
Once again, powerful business interests have approached the Metro Nashville Development and Housing Agency for a tax break, and once again, the Metro Nashville Development and Housing Agency appear to be all-too-happy to grant their request. Nashville taxpayers, however, are not so eager. In a statement released by the Beacon Center of Tennessee: According to a new rapid online poll released by the Beacon Center of Tennessee and Nashville-based polling firm icitizen, a full 92% of Tennesseans are opposed to the Metro Council’s proposal to use $14 million in taxpayer money to fund a waterpark at the Opryland Hotel that only hotel guests are allowed to use. Only about 5% of respondents approve of this deal. The incentives for the waterpark are viewed extremely unfavorably by Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike. “With this tax break, [the new Opryland development, Sound Waves] are competing with other, existing water parks, with government help. And on top of that, it is not open to regular Nashville residents,” said Mark Cunningham, Beacon’s marketing and communications director, in an interview with The Tennessee Star this morning. The Beacon Center is a 501 c(3) dedicated to “empowering Tennesseans to reclaim control of their lives.” “So let’s think about this,”…
Read the full storyNorma “Jane Roe” McMorvey Dies at 69
Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff at the center of the controversial “Roe v Wade” decision in 1973 has died. She was 69. McCorvey was only 21, divorced, and homeless in Dallas, Texas when she became pregnant with her third child in 1969. After trying and failing to obtain an illegal abortion, she was referred to two freshly-minted attorneys Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington who were looking for a case to challenge the Texas statue barring the termination of pregnancies. McCorvey agreed, but never attended a single trial in the three years the case wound its way through the Courts. Her child, born healthy in 1970, was adopted. Later in life, McCorvey called her role in the landmark case “the biggest mistake of her life,” and spent the rest of her life as an outspoken, pro-life activist. https://twitter.com/TEN_GOP/status/833035677411459073
Read the full storyCommentary: Another Federal Judge Seizes Presidential Power
by George Rasley, CHQ Editor February 15, 2017 Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com Emboldened by Judge James L. Robart’s anti-constitutional power grab and the refusal of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to vacate his order temporarily restraining President Trump’s Executive Order 13,769 temporarily pausing immigration from seven terrorist hotspots Judge Leonie Brinkema, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has also chosen to seize the president’s Article II constitutional prerogatives. (To oppose this power grab please sign our Impeach Power Grabbing Judges Petition). In a 22-page ruling Monday night, Judge Brinkema, said lawyers for President Trump had provided no evidence supporting the restriction of travel from seven majority-Muslim countries. According to WTOP’s Neal Augenstein, Judge Brinkema said, “…they [the Trump administration] have not offered any evidence to identify the national security concerns that allegedly prompted this EO (executive order), or even described the process by which the president concluded that this action was necessary.” The claim that the government has “not offered any evidence to identify the national security concerns that allegedly prompted this EO” is either incredibly bad pleading by the government’s lawyers, willful blindness on the part of Judge Brinkema – or an anti-constitutional power grab. Last summer, Muna Osman Jama and Hinda Osman Dhirane, two Somali immigrants, were found guilty of conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and providing material support to…
Read the full storyDiane Black (TN-06) Set to Replace Tom Price as Budget Chairman
The Republican Steering Committee recommended interim Budget Chairman Diane Black of Tennessee to officially head the panel in the wake of former House Budget Chairman Tom Price being confirmed as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. The House Republican Conference is slated to confirm the vote Thursday morning, which will officially make…
Read the full storyBREAKING: Protesters Shout Down State Rep. Mark Pody and Sen. Mae Beavers Press Conference
An outbreak of protesters first disrupted, and then caused the cancellation of Mark Pody’s (R-Lebanon) and Sen. Mae Beavers’ (R-Mount Julie) joint press conference address Tennessee’s “Bathroom Bill” and Defense of Natural Marriage Act. Local NewChannel5 reporter Brandon Marshall recorded a portion of the disruption: Seconds after Rep. Pody started speaking about the proposed marriage bill, people in the audience repeated "pull the bill" @NC5 pic.twitter.com/58IdJ8OlGU — Brandon Marshall (@BroMarshall1) February 15, 2017 Via Humphrey of the Hill: A press conference State Rep. Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, and Sen. Mae Beavers, R-Mount Juliet, was first disrupted by protesters, then cancelled on Wednesday afternoon. Some of the protesters then followed the legislators into a Legislative Plaza hallway, confronting them with slogans and critical commentary, until Beavers and Pody were escorted from the Plaza by state troopers. The Wilson County lawmakers had announced in an email to media they would “discuss HB888/SB771 (Bathroom Bill) and HB892/SB752 (Defense of Natural Marriage Act)” at the news conference. The “bathroom bill” would requires transgender persons to use the rest room designated for their birth gender. The “Defense of Natural Marriage Act, according to the summary on the legislative website, “states the policy of Tennessee to defend natural marriage…
Read the full storyPrice Confirmed As HHS Secretary
The Senate confirmed President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Georgia Rep. Tom Price, early Friday morning in a 52-47 vote. A number of Democrats attempted to derail his confirmation, having refused to show up for the committee vote out of protest. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch opted to…
Read the full storyThe Judicial Coup Against President Trump Proceeding As Planned
by CHQ Staff February 10, 2017 Reprinted with permission from ConservativeHQ.com As we predicted in our column “The Judicial Coup Against President Trump [29]” the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has left in place Federal Judge James’ Robart’s anti-constitutional order suspending President Donald Trump’s Executive Order No. 13,769 pausing immigration from seven terrorist hotspots. The Executive Order is now headed to the Supreme Court where a 4 – 4 tie is expected to leave the order in place, much as a tie left in place Judge Andrew S. Hanen’s preliminary injunction shutting down President Obama’s Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents program while the legal case filed by Texas and other states proceeded. The Obama administration appealed, and a divided three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans affirmed the injunction. When the Supreme Court split, Judge Hanen’s order remained in place while the case went forward. The Left was very strategic in filing the challenge to President Trump’s Executive Order and its strategy is unfolding precisely as planned as Far-Left progressive judges in the Ninth Circuit substitute their liberal policies for the plain language of the Constitution and the laws passed by Congress. Legal scholars, including some liberals, have suggested an alternative, however. Harvard Law School professor emeritus…
Read the full storyCommentary: Trump Finally Gets His Attorney General
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions was officially sworn in as the next attorney general of the United States during a ceremony inside the Oval Office Thursday morning. President Donald Trump used the moment to reiterate that Sessions was a man of “integrity and principle,” and someone who has “devoted his life to the cause of justice.” Sessions…
Read the full storyCritics: Whacky 9th District Court of Appeals Ignore Basic Legal Principals, Side with Open Borders Zealots
Thursday evening, America’s dinner hour was interrupted by an unsavory display of jurist malpractice as the 9th District Court of Appeals once again lived up to its reputation as the Most Incompetent Court in the nation. The Court ruled 3-0 to DENY the Trump Administration’s pleading to stay the lower Court’s decision to disallow a pause in the admittance of (un)vetted refugees from 7 countries plagued by out-of-control terrorist activity and utterly failed central governments. Upon a quick review of the rambling, 29-page ruling, Legal Insurrection founder and attorney William Jacobson let loose a withering hot take on Twitter: When do confirmation hearings start to appoint 9th Circuit panel co-Directors of Homeland Security? https://t.co/1opVnWwfCA — Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 9, 2017 1/ Here's how insane 9th Circuit Order on Trump Immigration EO is: Because Court refused to draw distinction among permanent residents, — Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 10, 2017 2/ lawful visa holders in U.S., visa holders traveling abroad temporarily, and people abroad who never even have applied — Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) February 10, 2017 3/ some guy sitting on mountain in Yemen who has no connection to U.S. and hasn't even applied for visa yet has U.S. constitutional —…
Read the full storyThat’s No Moon … Saturn’s Satellite Looks Just Like The Death Star
NASA captured a photo of one of Saturn’s moons in a way that looks exactly like something out of science fiction. In its photo of the moon, Mimas looks a lot like the Death Star from the Star Wars movies, thanks in large part to its 88-mile-diameter crater. Saturn’s icy moon Mimas NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute NASA’s…
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