Tag: Barack Obama

Report: Deportation Rates Were Actually Higher During Obama Years

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by Ben Whedon   Deportations under President Donald Trump have not reached the highs seen during the Obama administration, despite immigration enforcement being one of his signature campaign issues. During former President Barack Obama’s early years in the White House, the deportation of illegal immigrants reached record highs, according to Homeland Security documents obtained by Axios. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent back more than 385,000 illegals each fiscal year from 2009 to 2011 — and reached a record high of 409,849 in fiscal year 2012. These numbers tapered off in Obama’s later years, dropping under 250,000 in fiscal year 2015 and 2016. While deportations have steadily risen during Trump’s presidency, the have notably not reached the highs of his predecessor. In fiscal 2017, federal immigration authorities conducted 226,119 deportations. These numbers climbed to more than 250,000 in fiscal 2018, and reached a Trump high this fiscal year with 282,242 deportations as of June. There are still roughly three more months left in the current fiscal year, giving Trump more time to tick the numbers up. While Obama launched major initiatives aimed at protecting illegal immigrants, such as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, he was also criticized…

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Obama Goes to Brazil And Bashes US Gun Laws

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by Whitney Tipton   Former President Barack Obama told a crowd in Brazil Thursday that U.S. gun laws “don’t make sense” because people can buy “any weapon, any time.” Obama‘s remarks came during an interview at VTEX DAY, a conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil, after he was asked to describe his hardest day as president. “The most difficult day that I’ve had was the day that there was a shooting in a school where 20 small children were shot,” he said. “Some of you may be aware, our gun laws in the United States don’t make much sense. Anybody can buy any weapon, any time without much, if any, regulation. They buy it over the internet. They can buy machine guns.” U.S. Federal firearms laws are stricter than Obama represented. Gun purchasers must be at least 18 for rifles and shotguns, and 21 for handguns, and pass a background check if they buy from a dealer, according to the National Rifle Association. In addition, fully automatic machine guns cannot be sold to private citizens, as written in the National Firearms Act. Obama’s comments about guns are timely for Brazil. In January, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued a temporary decree that…

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Commentary: John Brennan’s Mysterious High-Level Russian Source

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by George Rasley   In a bombshell report, former CIA Director John O. Brennan claims the need for secrecy was so great that he hand-delivered information from a critical informant close to Russian President Vladimir Putin to President Barack Obama and required the envelope to be returned after the President read it. Daniel Chaitin and Jerry Dunleavy of The Washington Examiner report that now, one day after President Trump gave Attorney General William Barr “full and complete authority to declassify information” related to the origins of the federal investigation into possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, the New York Times reports this source is in jeopardy. Specifically, write Chaitin and Dunleavy, this informant was the U.S. intelligence community’s source in determining that Putin personally “ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election” to undermine Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in favor of Trump. Obama made this public before he left office. The informant is described by Chaitin and Dunleavy as being a long-nurtured source who rose up the Russian ranks. Believed to still be alive, the well-being of the informant is one concern as Barr digs into the earliest days of the Russia investigation. Former…

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Obama White House Tracked FOIA Request for Hillary Emails that Was Improperly Denied

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by Chuck Ross   The Obama White House kept tabs on a Freedom of Information Act request for information on former Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s email accounts that the State Department improperly denied, according to newly released emails. The emails, which were provided to Judicial Watch, show for the first time that the Obama White House was aware of the Clinton-related FOIA request, which the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) submitted to the State Department in December 2012. The State Department denied the request in May 2013, claiming that no responsive records existed. That despite officials at the State Department, the White House, and even President Obama himself knowing that Clinton used a personal email account for government business. The State Department’s inspector general determined in a report released on Jan. 7, 2016 that the State Department’s denial of the CREW request was “inaccurate and incomplete.” It is not clear from the emails why the White House was interested in the request. But Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton has a theory. “These documents suggest the Obama White House knew about the Clinton email lies being told to the public at least as early…

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Neil McCabe From OAN Joins the The Tennesse Star Report to Discuss Joe Biden’s 2020 Presidential Run

Julie Carr

  On Tuesday’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 – Gill and Leahy talked to One America News Networks Neil McCabe about Joe Biden’s entry into the Presidential race of 2020 and how he is not receiving support from his former President, Barack Obama. Gill: One America News Network is basically the last bastion for conservative news on television. And Neil McCabe with us to share some of the highlighted stories of the day. Good morning. McCabe: Hey, good to be with you guys. And before we start I want to wish you both a very happy mothers day if I don’t get a chance to talk to you Sunday. Gill: I get called a mother by a lot of people. (Leahy laughs) Gill: Oh, so by Neil by the way, you know Joe Biden is in the race and — McCabe: He is a race. (Laughter) Leahy: I will also tell you, I know I was telling Steve about this I have a set of seven dwarf nicknames for him that your pretty used by the way if…

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Commentary: Former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes Claims Obama Knew Nothing About the FBI Investigation and Spying on Trump in 2016

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by Robert Romano   “We learned about it when it was in the report that was appended to the report to Congress at the end of the administration.” That was former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes speaking to PJ Media’s Nicholas Ballasy on April 25 at Georgetown University promoting his new memoir of his time in the Obama administration, denying that the White House had any knowledge prior to Jan. 5, 2017 of the dossier by former British spy Christopher Steele that was commissioned by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Hillary Clinton campaign that was utilized by the Justice Department to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant in Oct. 2016 to spy on the Trump campaign. It had that alleged President Donald Trump was a Russian agent and that the Trump campaign had coordinated the DNC hacking and putting its emails onto Wikileaks with Russia. Those were crimes, we now know from the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report to Attorney General William Barr, which were never committed. Per Mueller, “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”…

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Pastor Darrell Scott Commentary: The Sri Lankan Victims of ISIS Terror Attacks Were Christians

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by Darrell Scott   Hundreds of Christians were slaughtered by Islamic terrorists in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday – or, as several leading Democrats put it, some people did something to “tourists and Easter worshipers.” In a different time, this characterization by Democrats would read as an obvious political hyperbole designed to spin the truth. In today’s America, however, it hardly does enough to encapsulate the left’s hatred of Christianity. As the death toll from the devastating terrorist attack continued to climb and Sri Lankan authorities worked to identify the perpetrators, Democrats were apparently struggling with a very different question – what to call the victims of this terrible massacre. “Christians” apparently wouldn’t do, presumably for the same reasons that the words “radical Islamic terrorism” have been excised from the liberal vocabulary. In short, they needed a euphemism that would enable them to express concern for the victims without drawing attention to the fact that hundreds of Christians had just been slaughtered by radical Islamic terrorists. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Julian Castro came to the rescue with a simple answer: “Easter worshipers.” “The attacks on tourists and Easter worshipers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity,” Obama wrote.…

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Tim Ryan Announces Support for Requiring 2020 Candidates to Participate in Climate Debate

Anthony Gockowski

  Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) announced Monday that he supports U.S. Youth Climate Strike’s petition to require the Democratic 2020 presidential candidates to have a debate on climate change. “I’m in! Climate change demands unprecedented action that requires our full and complete attention. This is an economic issue, a social justice issue, and a national security issue,” Ryan said on Twitter in response to the U.S. Youth Climate Strike’s request to support the debate. I’m in! Climate change demands unprecedented action that requires our full and complete attention. This is an economic issue, a social justice issue, and a national security issue. @MoveOn https://t.co/CTaJcJ16nY — Tim Ryan (@TimRyan) April 22, 2019 “Tim Ryan is now the fourth presidential candidate to come out in support for our petition and call for a climate debate. Our movement is indefinitely picking up speed, and this is all because of our grassroots. Keep signing and sharing, and we’ll get this victory,” U.S. Youth Climate Strike wrote on Twitter. https://twitter.com/usclimatestrike/status/1120466744500469760 Ryan joins 2020 candidates Jay Inslee, Julian Castro, and Mike Gravel in supporting a debate on climate change, while South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg said he will “try to” support the idea. The petition itself,…

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Tim Ryan Says It Is ‘Intellectually Dishonest’ to Call Obama-Turned-Trump Supporters ‘Racist’

Zachery Schmidt

Ohio’s Rep Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) once again went against traditional Democratic talking points by saying it is “intellectually dishonest” to call 2016 Trump voters “racist.” The Presidential hopeful made these remarks in a recent appeal to people in Iowa who were Obama and Trump supporters, according to the Iowa Gazette. “I think it would be helpful for us to say why did they vote for Trump. They voted for Obama twice. So I think it’s intellectually lazy to say everyone’s a racist,” Ryan said. “There are people who are hurting and hurting economically.” Ohio Representative Tim Ryan (D-OH-13) believes he can win back the Barack Obama voters who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election,  according the Gazette. “Trump did well in my district. I did well in my district. I believe I can communicate to a lot of people who voted for Donald Trump that I have a plan that will actually get us home,” Ryan said. “I think communicating with people in Youngstown, Ohio, is not much different than Davenport or Dubuque or Des Moines or Sioux City. These are working-class towns, working-class people. They want to trust you, and they want to know you have a plan.…

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Commentary: Obama’s Propaganda Machine

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by Karin McQuillan   The enormity of the Obama team’s political crimes—the framing and attempted take-down of a sitting President—required a propaganda machine the likes of which this country has never seen. So we are in America the Unreal. Democrats need extreme partisanship to pull this off, not an excellent party platform. That is why their program is so weird. Crazy, extremist views are strategies for divide and control. Journalists and politicians alike have manipulated rank-and-file Democrats to plunge them into a fake world in which each and every Trump voter is treated, not as political opponents to defeat in the next election, but as avatars of evil. The Democrats’ intolerance for dissent is a tell. The Democrats have rejected the two-party system. They are flooding the country with Marxist agitprop instead of normal political competition. America in 2019 seems unreal because the post-Obama Democrat party is like nothing we’ve ever seen. The inner sanctum of Obama’s team—John Brennan, James Clapper, Susan Rice, et. al.—tried to reverse an election they had already lost. This is unheard of in America. No wonder there has been non-stop propaganda efforts to hide their perfidy. They are not aiming to win voters over. They…

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Commentary: ‘Obama University’ to Build Millions of Barack and Michelle Clones

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Tennessee Star

by Jeffery Rendall   If you want a little fun, set up a game of “Political Family Feud.” One person in your group can serve as host and do his or her best Richard Dawson or Steve Harvey impression while reading the questions. Here’s a sample: “100 people surveyed, top five answers are on the board and here’s the question: Name something the Obama administration will always be known for?” Buzzer sounds. (Player) “Uh, Obamacare….?” (Host) “Be more specific.” (Player) “Um… Obamacare blew up the health insurance market, skyrocketed premium prices and ballooned costs in the states that adopted Medicaid expansion…?” Ca-ching…ding ding ding!!!! “Number one answer!” After deciding to play the successful side reels off a series of winning responses. “Achieved record sustained lethargic economic growth.” Ding! “Encouraged constant racial strife and largescale protests in big cities across the country.” Ding! “Conducted feckless and ineffective foreign policy.” Ding!!!!, and, “Waged a non-stop war against traditional values and culture leading to same-sex marriage, acceptance of unmitigated illegal immigration and a general malaise rivaling that of the Carter administration.” DIINNNGGG!!!! That’s it? There are lots more answers, you say. What about the deep state’s witch hunt of a presidential candidate and sworn-in president? (Host) “Well,…

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Ilhan Omar Trashes Obama on Immigration

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by Henry Rodgers   Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar heavily criticized former President Barrack Obama for his stance on immigration, saying he was responsible for the “caging of kids” at the U.S.-Mexico border. In an interview with Politico magazine released Friday, Omar also said Obama’s “hope and change” slogan turned out to be a delusion. Omar said Obama was also responsible for the “droning of countries around the world,” comparing some of his views to President Donald Trump, who she is a strong opponent against, even defending her colleague Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib for saying she would help Democrats “impeach the motherf****r.” Omar has faced criticism on numerous occasions for her comments in regard to Israel and Jewish people, causing Democratic members of the House to bring a resolution to the floor, after criticism from Jewish lawmakers, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and others. “Israel has hypnotized the world,” she wrote. Omar said in January she was unaware of the anti-Semitic connotations associated with the word “hypnotized” in relation to Jewish people. She was also accused of anti-Semitic behavior by New York GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin after he received numerous voicemails on his office phone calling him offensive names. The…

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Trump’s Labor Department Rewrites Obama Rule on Guaranteed Overtime Pay

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by Tim Pearce   The Department of Labor proposed a rule Thursday that would expand guaranteed overtime pay laws to roughly 1.1 million workers. The rule would raise the threshold of overtime pay protection from workers making under $23,660 a year to workers making $35,308 a year, regardless of whether they are paid a salary or by the hour, Politico reported. Former President Barack Obama’s administration proposed an earlier version of the rule in 2016 that would have covered most employees making under $47,476 a year. A federal judge in Texas suspended the rule before it took effect and later killed it. The judge ruled the president did not have the authority for such a drastic change, according to The New York Times. The Trump administration’s proposal is more moderate and largely in line with suggestions from business leaders and interest groups. Worker advocates pushed for a new rule more similar to the Obama-era proposal, which included a provision that the threshold would automatically rise with inflation. Trump’s Labor Department dropped the inflation attachment of the new proposal, replacing it with a provision that would allow the department to reassess the threshold every four years and adjust the level as…

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Thinking ‘Conservative’ in Tennessee a Major Health Risk, Vanderbilt University Professor Says in New Book

Chris Butler

White Tennessee residents endanger their own health by rejecting government health care programs and by embracing pro-gun and anti-tax policies, according to a new book a Vanderbilt University professor just released. The book, Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America’s Heartland, even says “explicit racism” can motivate certain white people to cling to these conservative points of view. This, according to a press release Vanderbilt officials put out this week. Vanderbilt Professor Jonathan Metzl wrote the book. Metzl, according to Vanderbilt’s press release, is a professor of sociology and medicine and a professor of health and society. Metzl did not return The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment this week. Metzl said in the press release that he set out to “understand how white Americans reconciled support for anti-tax, pro-gun policies in regions struggling with the impact of poor health care and education and high rates of gun death.” He said he focused on three specific areas — Medicaid expansion in Tennessee, school funding in Kansas, and gun laws in Missouri. Metzl said in the press release that he has lived in all three of those states. “In his book, Metzl explains that today’s skepticism…

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Scott DesJarlais Comes Out in Support of Donald Trump Actions on U.S.-Mexico Border

Chris Butler

U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee’s Fourth Congressional District issued a statement this week in support of President Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border. There, DesJarlais said in a press release, international cartels smuggle drugs and human beings into the United States, and large numbers foreign nationals are illegally crossing into the country.  “Sophisticated international cartels, some of the most dangerous criminal and terrorist organizations in the world, are operating just across the border from the United States in Mexico. They partner with foreign adversaries, including Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and China, and smuggle drugs as well as human beings into our neighborhoods, including in my home state of Tennessee,” DesJarlais said. “Constituents in my district are suffering from the opioid epidemic. Mexican cartels produce or distribute most heroin, fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine here, killing tens of thousands of Americans every year, not including victims of MS-13 and other violent gangs, which have infiltrated recent migrant caravans. However, the equivalent of a migrant caravan enters our country almost weekly. These forces are destabilizing and deadly to people on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, but particularly for the less fortunate among us. While wealthy elites erect walls for…

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How Many Times Trump’s Predecessors Declared a National Emergency

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by Fred Lucas   The push for a border barrier marks President Donald Trump’s fourth declaration of a national emergency—about a third as many as his three immediate predecessors in their two terms. The number of declared emergencies puts Trump on a par with Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. President Gerald Ford, who signed the 1976 National Emergencies Act, did not declare an emergency under it. His successor, Jimmy Carter, made two such declarations during his single term—one of which is still in effect. In all, 32 presidential declarations of a national emergency remain in effect, counting Trump’s action Friday, while 21 expired or were canceled. The overwhelming majority of national emergencies involved either blocking access to U.S.-held assets for bad actors on the world stage or preventing financial transactions with those countries or with international entities and individuals. Trump’s three immediate predecessors—Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton—each served two four-year terms. Obama declared a national emergency 13 times and nine of those emergencies are still in effect, according to the Congressional Research Service. The younger Bush declared a national emergency 14 times, and 10 are still in effect. Clinton made 14 declarations, six of which…

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Tennessee Star Report EXCLUSIVE: Virginia State Senator Bryce Reeves Talks Northam Black Face Scandal and Abortion Bill

Julie Carr

On Wednesday’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 duo spoke with Virginia State Senator Bryce Reeves regarding the current state of affairs surrounding Governor Ralph Northam’s “racist” yearbook photos and his most recent “awkward” press conference. As the conversation deepened, the men also touched upon the current abortion bill and how the Republican’s may have a political advantage due to the extreme nature of the bill which is technically pushing infanticide and genocide. Gill: Bryce Reeves is a state Senator from Virginia he was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor. Nearly lost that race in a three person race as Jill Vogel went on to lose to Justin Fairfax who now is apparently under some scrutiny himself as he may poised to take over the governor’s office in Virginia. And Bryce good to have you with us! Reeves: Steve and Michael, great to be with you. And looking forward to another crazy day down here in the General Assembly. Gill: When I first called you it was to talk about this whole infanticide bill…

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Commentary: The Media’s Selective Curiosity

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by Carson Holloway   Members of the mainstream media understandably resent President Trump’s description of them as purveyors of “fake news.” After all, they do the public a service by reporting a great deal of true and relevant information. And when they get the facts wrong, they usually correct the record. Nevertheless, the president’s criticisms of the media resonate with many Americans. For them, the “news” industry is “fake” not in the sense that it tells nothing but falsehoods, but rather in the sense that its self-presentation is fake or phony. The media claim to be disinterested reporters of the facts, but their behavior shows they are far more interested in some facts than in others. This suggests that their main concern is not in uncovering the truth but in telling a certain kind of story. The “fake news” charge sticks not because of the media’s mendacity but because of their selective curiosity. Nowhere has that selective curiosity been more evident than in the coverage of the biggest news story of the last two years: the supposed complicity of Trump and his campaign in Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election. From top to bottom, this story has been shaped…

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U.S. Rep. Mark Green Calls for Border Security in Speech on House Floor, Chastises Democrats for Partisanship

Jason M. Reynolds

U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) on Monday delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor calling for border security and chastising the Democrats for partisanship. The C-SPAN video clip is available here. “We could spend our time debating what a physical barrier should consist of, but let’s make one thing clear, whether it’s in the form of a wall or a fence or some barrier, combined with 21st century surveillance technology and increased border security agents, a barrier is an effective defense against entry by criminals, gang members, drug smugglers, and yes, even terrorists,” Green said. He chastised Democrats for saying physical barriers are ineffective and “immoral.” “Now this is not the position they held in the recent past,” he said, and added Democrats were willing to spend $40 billion under President Barack Obama but not $5.7 billion under President Donald Trump. “What’s changed?” He pointed out that ISIS is encouraging followers to cross over the United States’ “porous” border. “That leads me to direct some questions to my colleagues and friends across the aisle,” Green said. “Is it worth the risk?” “I’d pay 5.7 billion to stop the next 9-11.” In 2017, an estimated 72,000 Americans died of…

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Chicago Mayoral Candidate Wants to Sue Indiana and Wisconsin to Stop Gun Violence

Anthony Gockowski

Chicago mayoral candidate Gery Chico, a Democrat, recently suggested that he would sue the states of Indiana and Wisconsin in an effort to curb gun violence in his city. During a Thursday candidate’s forum, Chico said that “we have to get these illegal guns off our streets.” “The gang-bangers that are committing crimes with guns are out of control, and what we’re finding is that more than 60 percent of the guns used in these crimes are coming from over the border. I’ve said that if we can’t get Indiana and Wisconsin to work with us, we sue them, and that includes the Cabela’s gun shop right in Indiana—right in Hammond, Indiana. We can no longer take this,” Chico elaborated. Those numbers stem from a 2017 Gun Trace Report conducted by the Chicago Police Department in collaboration with Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office and the University of Chicago Crime Lab. The report found that 21 percent of firearms recovered in crimes came from Indiana, while four percent were from Wisconsin. 40 percent, however, came from within Illinois, while another five percent were from Mississippi. Additionally, the report found that two Illinois-based firearms stores produced the most guns recovered in crimes, while the…

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Lamar Alexander: ‘Government Shutdown is Always the Wrong Thing to Do’

Chris Butler

U.S. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee is none too pleased about the federal government shutdown, and he took to Twitter Thursday to tell his constituents all about it. “I think it’s very important for the people of Tennessee to know that I believe that a government shutdown is always the wrong thing to do,” Alexander said, adding he opposed shutdowns under former Democratic President Barack Obama, just as much as he does under Republican President Donald Trump. “A government shutdown should be as off-limits to budget negotiations as chemical weapons are to warfare. I have suggested three ways to solve the problem. All of them involving provisions that Democrats and Republicans have voted for before.” As The Tennessee Star reported this week, Alexander said the best way to resolve the stalemate is for the feds to provide money for border security at ports of entry and to define the legal status for those already here. In his Twitter video, Alexander said a bipartisan appropriations committee recently approved $5.7 billion for border security, including $1.6 billion for the wall. “A year ago, 54 of us in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, voted for $25 billion in appropriated dollars for extensive border…

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Trump’s Cash Advantage for 2020 Has Democrats Worried

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by Jason Hopkins   President Donald Trump’s huge cash reserves for the 2020 election has the Democratic Party concerned, with its leader asking supporters for donations to catch up. The Federal Election Commission revealed in October that Trump has over $100 million in cash on hand for the 2020 presidential race. Trump — who prepared for 2020 almost immediately after the last presidential election — raised more than $18 million in the last quarter via his campaigning committee and through fundraising ventures with the Republican National Committee. The Republican president’s huge war chest is prompting Democrats to solicit for more donations. “Now, we face our greatest challenge yet: Taking back the White,” Democratic Party Chairman Tom Perez wrote in a fundraising email to supporters. “Donald Trump already has years of campaigning under his belt and $100 million in the bank. It’s our job to build a strong, strategic party infrastructure that will give our Democratic nominee the best shot at taking him on and winning back the White House.” The advantage of incumbency goes a long way in U.S. politics. The last president to lose re-election was George H. W. Bush in 1992. As the Democratic Party waits for whomever…

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Obama’s Flirtation with Potential 2020 Challengers Is Upsetting Biden, Report Claims

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by Molly Prince   Former President Barack Obama has been reportedly upsetting his two-time running-mate Joe Biden as he meets with other potential Democratic presidential candidates. Obama has been sitting down with prospective Democrats over the past few months as the party searches for a strong challenger to emerge to face President Donald Trump in 2020. He met with Biden as early on as June to discuss his presidential ambitions, reported Politico. In addition to his former vice president, Obama has had one-on-one meetings with a host of other possible contenders including Democrats Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and defeated Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum. He also notably met with Democratic Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke shortly after his defeat to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz — only a week later, O’Rourke publicly revealed he was considering a presidential run despite consistently claiming he definitely will not be running for president. Biden has not yet officially announced his candidacy, but he reignited speculation in December when he referred to himself as the “most qualified person” to take on Trump. “I’ll be as straight with you as I can. I think I’m the most qualified person in the country to be president,” Biden said. “The issues that…

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Obama Meets with Florida Loser Andrew Gillum Igniting 2020 Speculation

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by Molly Prince   Defeated Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum sat down with former President Barack Obama on Tuesday, launching speculation that he may be another Democrat added to the already long list of those considering a 2020 presidential run. Gillum met with the former president while he was in Washington, D.C., to address the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, according to CNN. While speaking at the event, he dodged answering questions regarding his presidential aspirations. “I’m plan on being married to my wife. That is all I’m planning,” Gillum said. “What I am committed to doing between now and 2020 is doing everything I can to make the state of Florida available and winnable for the Democratic nominee for president.” Prior to his ultimate defeat, Gillum, the former mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, faced backlash on a variety of fronts, including his anti-police stances and ties to anti-Israel and anti-Zionist organizations. Gillum‘s campaign had been fraught with scandals from the onset. Tallahassee City Hall has been under FBI investigation since as early as 2015 as part of an ongoing corruption probe. Records were released in October showing that an undercover FBI agent gave him tickets to a Broadway show, undermining his claims that he received the gift from…

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Obama Touts Climate Legacy, Then Takes Credit for US Oil Boom

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by Michael Bastasch   Former President Barack Obama said he was “extraordinarily proud of the Paris accords” before, rather ironically, taking credit for booming U.S. oil and gas production. “I was extraordinarily proud of the Paris accords because — you know, I know we’re in oil country and we need American energy, and by the way, American energy production,” Obama said at an event hosted by Rice University’s Baker Institute on Tuesday night. “You wouldn’t always know it but it went up every year I was president,” Obama said of U.S. oil and gas production. “That whole, suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas — that was me, people.” Obama: "Suddenly America is the largest oil producer, that was me people … say thank you." pic.twitter.com/VfQfX1SR0x — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) November 28, 2018 U.S. oil production nearly doubled between 2009, when Obama took office, to 2016. Natural gas production shot up around 50 percent in that time. However, the boom in production almost exclusively took place on state and private lands where the Obama administration had little to no control. Republicans criticized Obama for lagging oil and gas production on federally-managed lands, which largely stagnated while…

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Commentary: Far Left Judges Starting a New Civil War

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by George Rasley   The ongoing insurrection against the duly elected government of the United States isn’t being led by the violent Far Left thugs of Antifa, nor is it being led by the political thuggery of power-hungry Democrats on Capitol Hill and in their corrupt urban strongholds – it is being led by black-robed revolutionaries working from federal courthouses, especially in the California-centered Ninth Circuit. The latest raid on the constitutionalist forces was led by U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar who preemptively prohibited the president from declining to process the asylum claims of aliens who enter the United States illegally. The Mexican government says it is aiding more than 5,600 migrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala on the U.S. border — 2,610 in Tijuana and 2,995 in Mexicali. Judge Tigar, appointed by President Barack Obama, issued a 37-page ruling that appears to ignore the Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld President Trump’s Executive Order barring travelers from a list of majority-Muslim nations.  (You can read the ruling issuing a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) through this link courtesy of The Washington Post.) According to The Washington Post, four Far-Left advocacy groups — the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, Al Otro…

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Commentary: The Costs of Presidential Candor

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by Victor Davis Hanson   Predictably, Donald Trump was attacked both by the establishment and the media as “crude,” “in-presidential,” and “gratuitous” for a recent series of blunt and graphic statements on a variety of current policies. Oddly, the implied charge this time around was not that Trump makes up stuff, but that he said things that were factual but should not be spoken. Trump’s tweets and ex tempore editorials may have been indiscreet and politically unwise, but they were also mostly accurate assessments. That paradox revisits the perennial question that is the hallmark of the Trump presidency of what exactly is presidential crudity and what are the liabilities of presidential candor? Concerning the catastrophic California Camp Fire (150,000 acres) and the Woolsey conflagration (100,000 acres), which in turn followed prior devastating California fires in spring and summer of 2018 (perhaps charring 1 million acres in all), Trump tweeted: “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” Certainly, while flames…

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Despite Rebuke From Chief Justice, Trump Says Judges are Harming National Security

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by Kevin Daley   President Donald Trump defended his criticism of a federal judge who barred enforcement of his new asylum rules Wednesday, after Chief Justice John Roberts issued a statement rebuking the president’s broadsides. In a pair of afternoon tweets from his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida, Trump said that a series of rulings that stalled his immigration agenda have jeopardized the security of the nation. Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have “Obama judges,” and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an “independent judiciary,” but if it is why…… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018 …..are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. Please study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security – these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 21, 2018 Trump’s latest censure arose Tuesday when U.S. District Court Judge Jon Tigar stayed the administration’s new asylum rules, which in effect…

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Insiders Say Democrats are Waiting On 2020 Push Till Beto Makes a Decision on Presidential Run

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by Hanna Bogorowski   A major Democratic fundraiser said party donors are waiting to hear if former Democratic Senate hopeful Beto O’Rourke will be on the ballot in 2020 before they put their money toward other presidential potentials. Mikal Watts, a San Antonio-based lawyer and political fundraiser, told Politico that several Democratic donors and political operatives have reached out to ask if O’Rourke is running after several other presidential hopefuls began to make their fundraising calls in recent weeks. Those imploring about O’Rourke’s possible run have majorly stemmed from Iowa, the “first-in-the-nation” presidential caucus state. “They’re not wanting to sign on to other presidential campaigns until they know whether Beto is going,” Watts said. “And if Beto is running, what good progressive Democrat wouldn’t want to work for Beto O’Rourke?” O’Rourke, who rose to national fame in part by the unquestioned and glowing media coverage he received, is a three-term congressman from Texas who raised over $70 million in his failed campaign to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. “I can tell you that there has not been this kind of level of electric excitement about a candidate since” former President Barack Obama ran in 2008, Watts told Politico. O’Rourke said before the midterm elections that he…

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Fed Board Run by Obama Holdovers is Hemorrhaging Taxpayer Money on Legal Fees

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by Tim Pearce   A federal board tasked with investigating chemical accidents is “hemorrhaging” taxpayer money on a years-long personnel case that has not yet gone to trial, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). PEER attorneys are representing Daniel Horowitz, former managing director of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB), in a legal challenge against the agency for firing Horowitz. Members of the CSB are scheduled to attend a closed-door meeting Tuesday to discuss a “legal services support contract” worth $300,000. The new contract would be with the law firm Shaw, Bransford & Roth and be worth nearly double a 2015 retainer with the law firm worth $157,000, according to PEER. “This law firm has found a cash cow in this tiny troubled agency,” PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said in a statement. “For an agency charged with responding to chemical disasters to divert its limited resources for legal expenses in a needless personnel dispute shows how badly misplaced its current priorities are.” Former CSB Chair Vanessa Sutherland placed Horowitz on paid administrative leave in June 2015. Horowitz continued to receive his full salary of $161,000 a year while his case remained in limbo for three…

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Commentary: The Left’s Fatal Attraction to Crazy

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by Bill Thomas   How much crazier can the progressive Left get? The short answer is a lot. After their victory in the midterms, Democrats can assume the two-year psychodrama they inflicted upon the nation actually worked. So why stop. Hillary Clinton’s been saying that “civility can start again” when her party regains both the House and Senate. Since that’s not going to happen for at least another election cycle, it’s a matter of public safety to wonder what the next level of crazy might be. With President Donald Trump still in office it doesn’t take a genius to predict that the other side’s removal effort is about to shift into high gear. Democratic strategy usually calls for mau-mauing political opponents with insults and agitation. But what happens this time around if things get out of hand? Suppose the anti-Trump resistance redoubles its investment in the deranged and turns into something like the Weather Underground. For those who may have missed the late 1960s, that was the group led by Bill Ayers, best remembered for setting off bombs in the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol Building. After finally surrendering to authorities, Ayers later in life was the domestic terrorist said to…

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Obama, Nevada Democrats Silent After Ex-Wife Said Gubernatorial Candidate Bruised Her During Divorce

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by Andrew Kerr   Former President Barack Obama and other Democrats won’t comment on allegations levied against gubernatorial candidate Steve Sisolak by his ex-wife, including one that the Nevada Democrat bruised his former spouse. Lori “Dallas” Garland told The Daily Caller News Foundation that she felt like a total prisoner throughout her 13-year marriage with Sisolak, and said the single-father backstory he has leveraged throughout his gubernatorial campaign is bull. Garland also said Sisolak bruised her neck in an August 2000 incident. The DCNF reviewed pictures of Garland’s bruised neck and a contemporaneous diary entry detailing the incident. The Sisolak campaign provided sworn statements from the candidate’s daughters, who say the saw the event when they were children, denying that he assaulted Garland. Obama appeared alongside Sisolak at a campaign rally in Las Vegas on Monday, along with senatorial candidate Jacky Rosen, congressional candidate Susie Lee, and lieutenant governor candidate Kate Marshall. None of the Democrats returned repeated request for comment regarding the allegations. The DCNF first reported Garland’s allegations against Sisolak the Friday before the rally. Rosen issued a blanket statement on Twitter in September to “Believe women. Believe women. — Jacky Rosen (@RosenforNevada) September 28, 2018 Sisolak stands to be…

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Pro-Trump PAC Releases Another Ad Going After Phil Bredesen

Chris Butler

A pro-Donald Trump Super PAC released another ad this week warning that Democrat Phil Bredesen will help reverse President Donald Trump’s agenda. The PAC, known as the Committee to Defend the President, released an ad a few weeks ago warning Bredesen will help raise federal taxes. The ad also said Bredesen will assist liberal politicians if Tennessee voters make him a U.S. senator. In an emailed statement, PAC Chairman Ted Harvey told The Tennessee Star it’s vital that Tennesseans know about Bredesen, whom he called “Phony Phil.” “While he campaigns as a moderate Democrat, Bredesen will be nothing more than a rubber stamp for the Democratic establishment—anti-Trump Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi,” Harvey said. “As Bredesen’s long history of donations to liberal Democrats shows, not to mention his radical positions on issues like abortion and gun rights, he will toe the party line when it comes to impeaching President Trump. Don’t get it twisted: Impeachment is Phony Phil’s—and the Democrats’—ideal scenario.” The ad warns Tennessee voters to think about the future and to realize that Bredesen, if a U.S. senator, will rubber stamp Chuck Schumer’s agenda. As the PAC already reported, Bredesen gave vast sums of his wealth to…

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DeVos Tackles Top-Down Federal Education Regulations

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by Natalia Castro   Betsy DeVos understands that education is best handled when handled locally. Time after time, we have seen big government policies make it more difficult for teachers to teach their students, including the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act and the 2015 Every Student Succeeds Act. Under the Trump Administration, the tide is turning. DeVos is using legal loopholes to turn the law against itself in order to give schools more latitude to teach their students based on what they know works rather than what the federal government wants to work. On DeVos’ “Rethink Schools” tour, she highlights the need for local, individualized curriculum rather than federal intervention. Now, Congress needs to match her energy and remove federal education regulations. On DeVos’ “Rethink Schools” tour, she highlighted the need for local, individualized curriculum rather than federal intervention. At the beginning of the year, the Department of Education (DoE) provided parents and schools with a guide to help them understand how to navigate a child’s education under ESSA, legislation that like its No Child Left Behind predecessor requires states to develop challenging academic standards. The critical component of DeVos’ 2018 ESSA guide was not teaching parents and students…

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Phil Bredesen Admired Ted Kennedy, Called Barack Obama ‘A Rock Star’

Chris Butler

Singing the praises of Barack Obama. Drowning himself in affection for the late Democratic U.S. Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. Pining away for the good old days of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. A sampling of some of Democratic U.S. senatorial candidate Phil Bredesen’s past speeches and media interviews indicate he is a loyal and faithful servant to the Democratic Party. At a 2009 Tennessee Democratic Party Jackson Day event, Bredesen spoke of Kennedy, who died four days prior. “Everyone’s hearts are a little heavier when we think about the loss of Senator Ted Kennedy, who cared so much about so many issues, including those of health care,” Bredesen said to audience members, adding Kennedy pushed for health care reform in a civil manner. “I had the honor of meeting him 40 years ago when I made my very first run for public office. I was naïve about politics, but he made a deep impression on me.” Bredesen praised former President Bill Clinton at the event and said good things about Clinton’s tenure in office. At the same event, Bredesen referred to Obama, in only his first year as U.S. president, as “a transformational political figure.” After a 2008 U.S.…

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Pro-Trump PAC Releases Ad Blasting Phil Bredesen

Chris Butler

Members of a Pro-Donald Trump Super PAC have released an ad warning that Democrat Phil Bredesen will help raise federal taxes and assist liberal politicians if Tennessee voters make him a U.S. senator. In the ad, The Committee to Defend the President also described Bredesen’s commitments to Democrats, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The PAC previously described how Bredesen donated to U.S. Senator Cory “Spartacus” Booker of New Jersey. As for the ad, it tells the state’s voters that “Tennessee’s future is prosperous and protected” especially with a booming economy and a secure border. “Liberal Phil Bredesen would undo it all, raising taxes and leaving us undefended,” according to the ad. “It’s not surprising. Bredesen has been supporting D.C. liberals for years, giving hundreds of thousands to bankroll their campaigns, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.” The ad concludes by warning voters not to let Bredesen “rewind all of Trump’s accomplishments.” As the PAC already reported, Bredesen gave vast sums of his wealth to the most left-wing Democrats in America, including Obama, Clinton, and U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Memphis. According to the PAC’s research, Bredesen donated exactly $460,691.11 to Democratic Party interests from 1987 through 2014. PAC Committee…

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Phil Bredesen Donated Nearly Half a Million Dollars to Left-Wing Democrats

Chris Butler

U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Phil Bredesen of Tennessee gives vast sums of his wealth to the most left-wing Democrats in America, including Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Steve Cohen. This, according to a super PAC called the ‘Committee to Defend the President.’ According to the PAC’s research, Bredesen donated exactly $460,691.11 to Democratic Party interests from 1987 through 2014. Chairman Ted Harvey asks the following question: “How can a loyal Clinton and Obama donor be trusted to work with President Trump?” In an emailed statement, PAC Committee spokeswoman Amanda Head continued with that theme. “The Committee to Defend the President remains committed to exposing Phil Bredesen for the left-wing Democrat he’s always been,” Head said. “Bredesen may claim to be a ‘moderate,’ but his liberal policy positions and long history of donations to far-left Democrats tell the true story. Tennessee needs a pro-Trump conservative like Marsha Blackburn, not an anti-Trump liberal like Bredesen.” Bredesen donated extensively to Bill Clinton and Al Gore and other Democratic Party interests in Virginia, Florida Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio, records show. Bredesen also donated $63,700 to the Democratic National Committee, according to the Committee to Defend the President. He also made the…

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Dr. Carol Swain Commentary: Barack Obama and the Evil Plan to Destroy President Trump

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by Dr. Carol M. Swain   As we move toward the midterm elections, former President Barack Obama is back in the news, working overtime to make himself relevant by claiming partial credit for the Trump economic growth and prosperity. We should be alarmed because of what we know about the Obama presidency and its disregard for American traditions about elections and how one treats political opponents. There is no sense of protocol or qualms about abusing power or trampling the U.S. Constitution. Presidential protocol once meant former Presidents showed a measure of deference and respect for current officeholders. Former President Jimmy Carter, in 2007, broke this precedent when he called George W. Bush’s presidency, the “worst in history.” Until 2007, Carter was the uncontested winner of the worst modern presidency in history. But then I digress. President Obama is obsessed with President Trump, and Obama is supported by his army of paid and unpaid protesters as seen in Organizing for Action, a pro-Obama group that will not leave the president alone. Given the corruption in the FBI and Department of Justice during the Obama years, the unprecedented use of the institutions of government against political opponents, and the never-ending Mueller investigation,…

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Tennessee Might Bow Out of Nationwide Plan to Arm Teachers

Chris Butler
armed teachers

Public schools nationwide might use federal money to arm teachers in class, but don’t look for  Tennessee to participate. “With very few exceptions, it is unlawful for anyone in Tennessee – educator or otherwise – to possess a firearm on school grounds,” said Sarah Gast, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Education, in an emailed statement to The Tennessee Star. “Two sections of Tennessee law provide a very limited exception.” Officials in what Gast described as distressed rural counties may authorize some school employees to carry concealed weapons, if that district meets certain eligibility requirements. Only two of Tennessee’s 147 school districts meet that criteria — Wayne County Schools and Pickett County Schools, Gast said. “As of last year, neither had chosen to allow employees to carry concealed weapons,” Gast said. “However, they would not be required to notify us if they changed their policy.” Gast did not say how or why those two districts meet the criteria. As part of the second statute, educators would have to meet substantial requirements to carry a firearm and only if district officials allow it, Gast said. “It essentially states that if an educator is also in law enforcement or has prior service…

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Former President Barack Obama Tweets Condolences, Skips Funeral of America’s Pastor, Billy Graham

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Former President Barack Obama tweeted his condolences Wednesday on the loss of Billy Graham, but the Associated Press later confirmed he and his family would not attend the memorial, visitation, or funeral of the late pastor who dedicated his life to Christian ministry. Billy Graham was a humble servant who prayed for so many – and who, with wisdom and grace, gave hope and guidance to generations of Americans. — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 21, 2018 “Former President Barack Obama is not planning to attend memorial services for the late evangelist Rev. Billy Graham this week,” the AP reported simply. Tom Knighton at PJ Media wrote of President Obama’s absence, “None of this is overly surprising, at least for many American Christians. Obama, despite his claims of sharing their faith, routinely acted in a manner that showed disdain for the faithful. He rarely made an effort to reach out to Christians during his presidency, and actively targeted them with his policies and actions: See his stance on Hobby Lobby, and his never-forgotten feelings on rural Americans being simpletons clinging to guns and religion.”  

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Commentary: President Trump’s National Security Strategy Is a Welcome Break from Obama and Bush

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by George Rasley   When General Mike Flynn was ousted as President Trump’s National Security Advisor we observed that the President’s national security establishment had just been stripped of Trumpism, and we wondered if – going forward – it would revert to something like that of President George W. Bush – hire Bush’s people get Bush’s wars we opined. After reviewing the President’s new national security strategy, announced yesterday in a strategy document and speech, perhaps we were too pessimistic in our judgment. The President offered a clean break with the feckless Obama strategy of appeasing America’s enemies and confusing our allies – and he also offered a clean break with George W. Bush’s “Islam is a religion of peace” folly. President Trump identified the greatest transnational threats to the homeland as: Jihadist terrorists, using barbaric cruelty to commit murder, repression, and slavery, and virtual networks to exploit vulnerable populations and inspire and direct plots. Transnational criminal organizations, tearing apart our communities with drugs and violence and weakening our allies and partners by corrupting democratic institutions. Most importantly, the Trump alternative to Obama’s open borders and policy of ignoring Iran’s instigation of international terrorism, was presented with robust clarity: target threats at their…

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Sharyl Attkisson Rips Media for Ignoring Weaponization of Intel Agencies under Obama

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James Brennan

Investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson says media outlets are “diving deeply into minutiae” to avoid a stark development: President Trump’s previously ridiculed “wiretapping” claims appear to be true. Ms. Attkisson has warned of the weaponization of intelligence agencies since her laptop for CBS News stories was hacked on multiple occasions in 2013. An op-ed she wrote for…

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