Tag: Congressman Diane Black

Man Arrested and Indicted for Allegedly Threatening to Assault and Murder Diane Black

Tennessee Star Staff

A man was arrested and indicted for allegedly threatening to murder Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06). “According to an indictment, Clifton Ward threatened to assault and murder Congressman Black, who is also a candidate for governor,” WKRN reported: Officials said the threats were left in a voicemail at one of the congressman’s district offices. Congressman Black wouldn’t provide details on the threats but said they were serious enough that a grand jury indicted Ward The threats came shortly after Congressman Black introduced the Border Wall Trust Fund Act to provide funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall. NewsChannel 5 reported that “Black told Fox News Wednesday night about the incident on “The Story with Martha MacCallum.” She said the threats were made over voicemails. “I can tell you they were very serious and they were threatening enough that they concerned police,” said Black. Black went on to explain that she accepts the risks that come with being a public servant but has more peace of mind, knowing the man was arrested. “You never know when it is going to be serious as it was for Gabby Giffords and Steve Scalise and it’s very scary for our families.” MacCallum read a statistic that…

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Marsha Blackburn Praises President Trump’s Selection of Brett Kavanaugh for SCOTUS, Phil Bredesen Silent on the Pick

John Bryant
Marsha Blackburn, Brett Kavanaugh, Phil Bredesen

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07), the GOP candidate to replace retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) in the November general election, led Tennessee Republicans on Monday evening in praising President Donald Trump and his nominee for justice to the U.S. Supreme Court, federal appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh. “Judge Brett Kavanaugh will make a fine Supreme Court Justice, and I thank President Trump for nominating a strong constitutionalist with a proven track record of upholding the rule of law,” Blackburn said in a statement included in this tweet sent out at 9:27 pm eastern, just 20 minutes after Trump announced his pick: Tennesseans will be well served by Judge Brett Kavanaugh, and I encourage the Senate to consider his nomination expeditiously and to continue to confirm strict constitutionalist judges to our federal courts. pic.twitter.com/CD3NclJiop — Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 10, 2018 In contrast, former Gov. Phil Bredesen, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, offered no comments on the president’s pick of Kavanaugh. Instead, Bredesen’s campaign released this statement during the day on Monday “in advance of President Trump’s nomination of a new justice to the U.S. Supreme Court,” which largely restated the words Bredesen used in a campaign commercial last month: “An important…

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American Conservative Union Endorses Diane Black For Governor

Jason M. Reynolds
Diane Black, Matt Schlapp

The American Conservative Union (ACU) announced their endorsement of Diane Black for governor at a meet and greet Monday before CPAC 365 in Memphis. U.S. Rep. Black, R-Tennessee, is running for governor in the Republican primary. “We are proud to endorse Diane Black for Governor of Tennessee,” Black’s campaign said in a press release, quoting the organization’s chairman, Matt Schlapp. ACU’s press release continued, saying, “As chairman of the House Budget Committee, Diane worked with the president to pass a budget and cut taxes. She knows that a healthy economy is the foundation to the greater success of Tennessee and the country as a whole, and she has a record of spearheading conservative legislation to back it up. If you want a leader who fights for low taxes, is staunchly pro-life, defends the 2nd Amendment and will uphold the rule of law, then vote for Diane in the Republican primary on August 2.” The ACU’s website says, “We believe that the Constitution of the United States is the best political charter yet created by men for governing themselves. It is our belief that the Constitution is designed to guarantee the free exercise of the inherent rights of the individual through strictly limiting the power…

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Boyd and Black Unleash a Flurry of Attack Ads

Admin
Randy Boyd, Diane Black

Diane Black fired the first direct shot, but the Randy Boyd campaign has responded quickly and Black has already followed up with a second attack ad that solely targets Boyd. Bill Lee has not yet aired anything but positive ads at this point in the Tennessee Governor’s GOP primary race that is quickly descending into the bloodbath between Boyd and Black that most expected. Black aired the first “comparison” campaign ad that tagged two of her primary opponents, Bill Lee and Randy Boyd, as being “two moderates.” The ad focused on Boyd, but the inclusion of Lee underlined his recent surge in the polls. But Black has followed up almost immediately with a second ad that only hits Boyd as being “anti-hunter” while touting Black’s endorsement by the NRA.  In fact, the ad is titled “Anti-hunter” to make the point clear. Black “Anti-hunter” campaign ad transcript: Where does Randy Boyd stand on hunting and guns? Randy Boyd hired his lobbyist from an anti hunting organization. Randy Boyd’s firm gave big money to the lobbying group that would make hunting illegal. The NRA called them an anti- hunting, extremist organization. But Randy Boyd called them “partner”. Read about Randy Boyd’s anti-hunting…

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Tennessee Does Have Sanctuary Cities and Needs the New Law to Stop Them, FAIR Says

Chris Alto
Knoxville Memphis Nashville

A new report issued by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), documents that Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville have been able to effectively operate as sanctuary cities by putting in place practices that skirt Tennessee’s 2009 law because it only prohibits written policies or ordinances. Comments made by Shelby County Commissioner Mark Billingsley during the May 7th Commission meeting suggested that Shelby County was operating as a sanctuary city. FAIR’s report identifies 564 jurisdictions that qualify for sanctuary status because in one way or another they have taken steps to “protect illegal aliens or obstruct efforts by the federal government to enforce immigration laws.” Dan Stein, President of FAIR credits “radical groups, posing as ‘immigrants’ rights’ organizations” for pushing policies that put protecting illegal aliens over the safety of American citizens and legal immigrants: ‘There is no rational justification for protecting deportable criminals. Yet, under pressure from radical groups, posing as ‘immigrants’ rights’ organizations, 564 jurisdictions have decided that protecting foreign criminals is more important than the safety of their local communities,’ charged Dan Stein, president of FAIR. ‘Countless Americans have been needlessly victimized, and some have lost their lives, because local sanctuary policies prevented the perpetrators from being identified as deportable aliens, or prevented…

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Diane Black and State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver Urge Appeal of 10th Amendment Lawsuit Against Federal Refugee Resettlement Program

Chris Alto
Diane Black & Terri Lynn Weaver

One year after Tennessee filed suit in federal court challenging the commandeering of state revenue by the federal government to fund its refugee resettlement program, Judge Stanley Thomas Anderson, ignored plaintiffs’ request for a hearing and dismissed the case. The court’s decision did not reach the substantive Tenth Amendment issue ruling instead that the state lacked legal standing to sue. Anderson was appointed to the court by George W. Bush in 2008 and became Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee in 2017. GOP Gubernatorial Diane Black and State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, a named plaintiff in the suit have said unequivocally that Tennessee should appeal the court’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a non-profit public interest law firm filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tennessee and the legislature at no  cost to the state or taxpayers.  Mr. Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the TMLC has already indicated that the court’s decision “is filled with appealable issues” and that his firm is prepared to continue its representation pro bono and appeal the case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary:…

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Diane Black: Even Democrats Are Unhappy with Pelosi’s ‘Venomous’ Talk

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Diane Black appeared on Fox Business’ After the Bell with Melissa Francis Monday to discuss the ongoing immigration reform negotiations. As an introduction to the segment, Francis aired Nancy Pelosi’s recent claim that President Trump’s ‘America First’ immigration framework is a ploy the “make America white again.” Francis asked, “You know, I always wonder: Does it impact the negotiation when politicians go out to the camera and say things like that, or do you understand that she’s sort of talking to her base, and everybody has this rhetoric, and when you come back together, it’s like that didn’t happen. What’s it really like behind closed doors?” Black replied, “I’m just going to tell you my experience with Ms. Pelosi, and that is that she has a pretty good heavy hand with her own conference. But I know behind the scenes, with having dealt with her own members, that they are not all in agreement with her. And I think they are getting worn out with the kind of political partisanship that she just spews all over the place. Most people that are rational people here willing to sit down and talk about this issue of DACA and of securing our borders.” The Republican…

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Randy Boyd Only Gubernatorial Candidate Not Represented at Knox County GOP Forum

Laura Baigert

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee – At the Knox County Republican Party Gubernatorial Candidate Forum held Monday evening at the Knoxville Expo Center, five of the six candidates were represented. Sen. Mae Beavers, Speaker Beth Harwell and Kay White appeared in person, while Congressman Diane Black and Bill Lee had surrogates. Randy Boyd was the only candidate not represented and no public explanation was offered for the absence. Knox County GOP Chair Buddy Burkhardt told The Tennessee Star that Boyd had a “prior commitment” and Lee had a fund raiser. Burkhardt also told The Star that he would only be involved in such an event if it was organized to provide all candidates an equal opportunity. Scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m., the event started with about 30 minutes of the candidates mingling with attendees followed by comments one at a time at the on-stage podium. The remainder of the event was to be another period of one-on-one time with the candidates, but the event quickly broke up after the formal comments segment. Brief stump speeches were made to an audience of approximately 100, the majority of whom were elected officials, candidates or campaign staff and volunteers, including State Representatives Martin Daniel, Roger…

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