Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed NeW Co-President at the University of Florida Ophelie Jacobson to the newsmakers line to discuss her recent op-ed on cancel culture and her experiences on campus as a conservative.
Read the full story
After its endorsements of Democrats in swing congressional seats last fall, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is back at it again with a coordinated campaign to influence the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of one of its biggest sugar daddy corporations, Johnson & Johnson.
Read the full story
According to a new study conducted by the Democratically aligned research firm Equis Labs, former President Donald Trump succeeded in peeling away significant amounts of Latino support, and not just in conservative-leaning geographic areas.
The post-election analysis by Equis found that certain demographics within the Latino electorate had proved increasingly willing to embrace Mr. Trump as the 2020 campaign went on, including conservative Latinas and those with a relatively low level of political engagement.
Read the full story
In a recent column, I argued that libertarians should stop supporting third-party candidates and join our side in an effort to stand up to the Left. In response, writing for the Orange County Register and Reason, libertarian writer Steven Greenhut contended that although conservatives and libertarians have been allies on many issues in the past, “now we’re like residents of different planets.”
Read the full story
Rush Limbaugh. Gone. Seemingly as permanent a feature on our media landscape as the face of Abraham Lincoln was on Mount Rushmore. The dean of conservative radio talk show hosts. Magnetic North Pole for tens of millions of Americans each week. The center of the universe for 15 million each day.
Read the full story
Thursday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed retired attorney and creator of the blog Misrule of Law Mark Pulliam to the newsmakers line to talk about conservative complacency and his latest piece at The Federalist.
Read the full story
Wednesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed conservative comedian Chad Prather to talk about his comedy and upcoming Unapologetic Comedy Tour this Friday at the Franklin Marriot in Tennessee.
Read the full story
Tuesday morning on the Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles to the studio to weigh in on Governor Bill Lee’s State of the State address and the rapid development of Tennessee.
Read the full story
The Michigan Conservative Coalition (MCC) has announced the Michigan Trump 2020 Cannonball Run, a Trump rally taking place on October 11.
The rally’s route will stretch from the Ohio and Indiana borders via Interstate-75 and US 131, respectively, and will end at the Mackinac Bridge. Participants are asked to their cars, trucks, van, motorcycle or other highway-legal vehicle to enter their closest highway entrance to drive on either I-75 or US 131 along the route. The MCC’s suggested drive is for one hour north and then reverse course and drive an hour south.
Read the full story
Monday morning on The Tennessee Star Report, host Michael Patrick Leahy welcomed American novelist and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Roger Simon to the show to discuss his move to Nashville and being a conservative in Hollywood.
Read the full story
A shocking new undercover video from Project Veritas exposes the rampant anti-conservative bias of Facebook’s content moderators, the employees who are responsible for deciding what posts are censored.
Zach McElroy, a former Facebook employee who worked as a content moderator in Tampa, Florida, told Project Veritas that he’s willing to testify before Congress about Facebook’s bias against Trump supporters and conservative causes.
Read the full story
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was recently ranked one of the most liberal members of the U.S. Senate despite the moderate image she projects on the campaign trail.
Read the full story
In an exclusive interview Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – host Michael Patrick Leahy spoke with Dr. Manny Sethi in-studio to discuss why he’s running for Tennessee Senate.
Read the full story
In a special interview, Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy was joined on the newsmakers line by The Epoch Times United States editor Stephen Gregory.
Read the full story
Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – Leahy was joined in studio by all-star panelist Dr. Carol Swain to discuss her history with Professor Pamela Karlan who recently testified in the impeachment judiciary hearing this week.
Read the full story
Last week in a dinner speech at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., Princeton professor Robert George had some advice for social and religious conservatives: “You must fight.”
Read the full story
The Trump versus “the squad” brouhaha merely affirms what pundits have been saying since Trump’s MAGA movement swept up the American Right in 2016: American politics, from here on out, is American nationalism versus multiculturalism. A drift on the American Right towards nationalism, and deeper polarization between multiculturalism and nationalism, seems inexorable.
Read the full story
by Mark Bauerlein I just heard a fellow on CNN say that Donald Trump has radicalized the Republicans. Let’s be clear on what is and isn’t radical. A well-patrolled border is not a radical policy. An open border is a radical policy. To believe in two genders is not radical. To insert gender identity into Title IX is. To praise Western Civilization as a legacy of political freedom and artistic genius is not a radical opinion.To regard it as promotion of white supremacy is a radical opinion. To love America as an exceptional creation is not radical. To see America as founded on slavery and imperialism is radical. For a president to express support for the outcome of a vote in a foreign country is not radical. For a president to threaten a unique ally with economic hardship if a popular vote goes in a certain way, as Barack Obama did before Brexit – that’s radical. To cancel student debt is radical. To make college free is radical. To demand reparations 150 years after the end of slavery and 60 years after the end of Jim Crow is radical. To demand more public attention to the tiny population that fits the label “transgender”…
Read the full story
The University of Northwestern in St. Paul, Minnesota prohibited a conservative club from hosting prominent pro-life speaker Star Parker for an on-campus event. The campus Young America’s Foundation (YAF) chapter invited Parker to speak on campus, but administrators alerted the group in a February 20 email that “there were quite a few concerns about Star.” “Our staff has been very adamant about bringing speakers to campus who educate and expand worldviews, but we really don’t bring speakers who radically hold beliefs that UNW as a whole would not agree with,” an administrator wrote to YAF Chair Haley Tschetter. The school describes itself as a “Christ-centered liberal arts university” that is “grounded first and foremost in the truth of the Bible.” In its email to Tschetter, the university goes on to explain that “in the past” it has generally “stayed away from sensationalized speakers.” “Again, it may be different if we were able to bring a panel and provide a variety of thought, but in the past UNW has stayed away from sensationalized speakers. I foresee us continuing to do this,” the email states. “After reviewing some of Star’s material online we didn’t feel she was a good fit for our…
Read the full story
Governor-elect Bill Lee has continued his preference for appointing those closely affiliated to either liberals or Bill Haslam to top positions in his Administration. His latest selection, Christi Branscom of Knoxville, whom he named to his cabinet on Thursday as head of the Department of General Services, fills both boxes. Branscom spent five and a half years as the Deputy Mayor and Chief Operating Officer for extreme liberal Knoxville Mayor Madeline Rogero, during which time Rogero opposed 2d Amendment rights, advocated strongly for LGBTQ issues (including vocal opposition to legislation designed to protect women and girls from men entering their bathrooms and locker rooms), and actively supported the anti-Trump “Women’s March” protests, including speaking at the January 2018 event in Knoxville. Rogero is not new to liberal activism. During the mid-1970s, Rogero worked as an organizer for César Chávez’s United Farm Workers, a labor union that advocated for migrant farm workers. More recently, the pro-abortion community organizer was a Hillary Clinton delegate to the 2016 Democratic Party Convention and has embraced sanctuary city “lite” policies. Her chief Deputy for five years is now the choice of “conservative Christian” Bill Lee as Commissioner of General Services. One conservative noted that if…
Read the full story
by Richard Pollock The American Civil Liberties Union and other left-wing civil liberties groups defend Chelsea Manning and other whistleblowers, but have remained silent about an FBI raid on a reportedly protected whistleblower. The Daily Caller News Foundation sought comment from a variety of organizations and advocates that defend whistleblowers following the raid. While conservatives and moderates responded, most of the liberal groups, including the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights, did not. Sixteen FBI agents raided Cain’s home for six hours on Nov. 19, despite that Cain, a former employee of an FBI contractor, was a protected whistleblower under the Intelligence Community Whistleblower Protection Act, according to his attorney, Michael Socarras. Cain possessed documents that showed federal officials failed to investigate potential criminal activity regarding the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and Uranium One, according to Socarras. The three liberal organizations have voiced support for whistleblowers, including Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst who was convicted by court martial under the Espionage Act in 2013 after giving 750,000 classified and unclassified government documents to WikiLeaks. Conversely, Cain provided his documents to the Justice Department Inspector General, and they have not…
Read the full story
by Deion Kathawa President Trump once again did something very few thought he would or should do. He hosted a meeting in a camera-filled Oval Office with Vice President Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), during which he brazenly and passionately said: If we don’t get what we want . . . I will shut down the government, absolutely; and I am proud to shut down the government for border security . . . I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. … I will take the mantle of shutting down, and I’m going to shut it down for border security. If the government does partially shut down on Friday, President Trump just handed the Democratic Party a ready-made, 30-second attack ad. Tactically, it seems foolish to have played into their hands the way Trump did. That may be the case. But, as is so often the case with Trump’s tactical “failures,” this one also could end up being a strategic victory. Regardless, as a nation we need to start thinking more rigorously about government shutdowns, events we have been scaremongered into believing are the end of the republic, if…
Read the full story
by Judson Phillips The announcement by Senator Lamar Alexander, that he will not seek reelection in 2020, has thrown open the doors for conservatives to change the face of Tennessee politics. In 2019, the first installment of that change will happen. Marsha Blackburn will replace Bob Corker in the Senate. That can only be described as a tremendous improvement. Bill Lee will replace Bill Haslam as governor. While the jury is still out on Governor-elect Lee, by default he has to be an improvement over Governor Haslam. Rumors have long swept Nashville about Governor Haslam’s interest in a Senate seat. He would be a disaster for conservative and for Tennessee. He must be stopped. But how? The cards are stacked against conservatives. Governor Haslam is a billionaire who can outspend almost any potential opponent. In addition, Tennessee is not a run off state. Whoever wins the most votes, even if it is only a plurality, wins the races. Conservatives well remember the 2006 election where conservatives Van Hillary and Ed Bryant fought it out with Bob Corker. Corker won with the conservative base split. We cannot allow the conservative base to be split again. Conservatives must unite in a…
Read the full story
When the Bill Lee Transition team was announced with Democrat Butch Eley chairing the effort, many conservative Republicans who worked hard to elect Governor Lee raised their eyebrows; particularly in view of his substantial donation to Democrat Senate candidate Phil Bredesen earlier this year, who was defeated handily by Marsha Blackburn on November 6. Now Eley has been named as Lee’s Chief Operating Officer. The fact that Democrat businessman Stuart McWhorter was also named as a key leader in the transition effort (and has now been tapped as Lee’s Commissioner of Finance and Administration) is also sparking concerns. McWhorter has given campaign donations recently to Republicans, including perpetual Trump critic Bob Corker, but has consistently donated to Democrats in the past. He has certainly not been an active proponent of conservative candidates in Tennessee. Two of Haslam’s Commissioners, Mental Health and Human Services, will be retained. Danielle Barnes, who will continue as Commissioner of Human Services joined the department under Democrat Governor Phil Bredesen in 2004. Marie Williams, who is current Commissioner of Mental Health, was elevated to Deputy Commissioner in the Department by Democrat Governor Phil Bredesen in 2011. Other Haslam Commissioners are also expected to keep their jobs…
Read the full story
by Troy Worden A longtime conservative professor on a liberal college campus didn’t expect to face harassment claims, lose his job over his political beliefs, and then win a $120,000 settlement. Mark McIntire, 74, taught philosophy as an adjunct professor at Santa Barbara City College in California for 23 years. An old friend of Charlton Heston, the late actor and National Rifle Association president, McIntire is no stranger to controversy. In an email to The Daily Signal, he recalled being elected to the national Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors in 1983 and leading a “successful … coup d’etat against [then-Guild] President Ed Asner to the outrage of Hollywood liberal-progressives.” But until the election of President Donald Trump, McIntire, a faculty member in Santa Barbara City College ’s philosophy department since 1996, says he was just the school’s “token” conservative. “For 22 years … it was a standing joke that we had one person on campus willing to speak his mind and contradict the reigning campus orthodoxy,” McIntire told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “In 2016, in the run-up to the election, every single campus lecture I attended … turned into a Hillary Clinton pep rally and a…
Read the full story
During Tuesday’s broadcast of The Gill Report – live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville – conservative political commentator and Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill praised Florida Governor Candidate Ron DeSantis for his current ad appealing to the public in a more human than political way. DeSantis’s wife narrates the advertisement accompanied by their children who appear along with their father DeSantis. He continued: I mentioned in the last segment that there is a great new television commercial airing in Florida for Ron DeSantis whose running for Governor. A conservative Republican he’s been endorsed by President Trump. Well they have a spot that is well featuring his wife Casey talking about Ron DeSantis and their kids and that he’s so much more than just a Trump supporter and he shows it in the way he plays with his kids, reads with his kids, and teachers them. CASEY DeSANTIS: Everyone knows my husband Ron DeSantis is endorsed by President Trump but he’s also an amazing dad. Ron loves playing with the kids. Build the wall. He reads stories, then Mr. Trump says your fired! I love that part. He’s teaching Madison to talk. Make America great again. People say Ron’s…
Read the full story
Conservative political commentator and Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill of The Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, stated in disbelief the left’s infiltration into Lee University, one of Tennessee’s top Christian schools – and in particular one Lee University student’s petition to cancel a Vice President Pence visit to one of the most conservative cities in the country. “If you need any further evidence – which you shouldn’t need much – that the left is truly deranged and hurting themselves in their interest to overcome any question about how anti-Trump and anti-Pence they may be,” Gill said; adding, “We just need to look down at the Chattanooga area as students at supposedly conservative Lee University are running a petition to block Vice President Mike Pence from visiting the university in Cleveland on Saturday.” He continued: I don’t know how many presidents or vice presidents that have actually visited little Lee University down in Cleveland, I don’t think it’s many you would think that having a president and vice president visit your campus might be a big deal that would be celebrated by virtually everybody, but no, the left-wing loonies are off to the races. They…
Read the full story
by CHQ Staff Our friends at the Eagle Forum, the principled grassroots constitutional conservative group founded by the late First Lady of the conservative movement Phyllis Schlafly, recently came out strongly in favor of Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio to replace the retiring RINO Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House. One of the key points in the organization’s email to its grassroots membership bears passing on and echoing by every conservative opinion leader: – If the “compromise [amnesty for illegal aliens] bill” passes, this will not fare well for Republicans in the upcoming November elections. If Democrats gain control of the House, a much more liberal bill without any border security will be inevitable. – Republicans would not have been in this situation if we had true Conservative Leadership in the House. Speaker Ryan, Leader McCarthy, and Whip Scalise have all had a hand in allowing this fight to become so moderate. This is the perfect time to encourage support for Rep. Jim Jordan for Speaker. – Our grassroots advocates are very upset by the illegal immigration crisis and are confused by the flip-flop of Congress on this issue. They will be motivated to voice their support for…
Read the full story
by Jeffrey A. Rendall In olden times by far the most tedious part of being a sailor had to be lookout duty. After all, in most cases the lookout’s stationed high up in the crow’s nest gazing out across the vast and empty sea searching for something – anything – that could be interpreted as a hazard to the ship. When sailing in the open ocean the chances of actually encountering a threat is slim indeed, yet the duty was vital nonetheless. A lookout can’t afford to be complacent. The last thing he’d want to do is to miss an iceberg dead ahead or an enemy ship to the port side. Or perhaps even a big wave. Tidal waves certainly didn’t occur very often, but when they arose they were destructive and deadly. The GOP would benefit from stationing a lookout in the proverbial political crow’s nest because Republicans hope to blunt a big blue wave this November. Some in the party are banking on tax reform to be their salvation from the ravages of a storm on the horizon. David M. Drucker of the Washington Examiner wrote, “[S]omething is happening to the dark blue Democratic tsunami that everyone saw coming, and it is happening just…
Read the full story
The Democrats tell me they tend to want to read what I’ve written because it gives them the best idea of where Republicans, particularly conservatives, want to go and what their strategy is. I came to The Times when Anne Crutcher, the first editorial page editor, invited me to be her deputy when the newspaper started.…
Read the full story
A couple of weeks ago, there was a protest in front of Senator Lamar Alexander’s Nashville home. The group that protested is called, “Moral Movement Tennessee.” A number of years ago, the left decided they could make mileage by calling themselves, “moral.” Conservatives have not seriously challenged the left on this. And with the help of the enemy media, the left has wrapped themselves in this cloak of, “morality.” As with all liberals, they have morality in name only. “Moral Movement Tennessee” has an agenda that reads just like the various bat guano crazy Democrat groups. They want single payer healthcare, they want massive tax increases, increase voter fraud and pretty much destroy Tennessee as a favorable business environment. Every Western morality teaches that theft is wrong, yet this is exactly these liberals want to do. Liberals are notoriously cheap. They want everything for free and hate to give to charity. These same liberals who would lecture real Americans about “morality” want to take from others by force. This is called taxation and the Libertarians are on to something when they tell us taxation is theft. Charity is a part of morality. But forced charity is not moral. It…
Read the full story
When the Tennessee House of Representatives passed Governor Haslam’s gas tax increase bill by a 60 to 37 margin on Wednesday, a bare majority of Republicans–37 for and 35 against—voted yes in favor of the unpopular tax increase. The 35 conservative Republicans who stood for the foundational principle of limited government were not sufficient to withstand the huge financial and political pressures mounted by the special interests who wanted the bill to pass. Those forces arrayed against the conservative opposition were significant, beginning with Governor Haslam’s taxpayer funded statewide tour that promoted a 962 road project list in all 95 counties, the support of lobbying groups numbering in the thirties, tax reductions for a select group of businesses, and a reported $250 million taxpayer funded deal for the Democrats. These conservatives lost the battle in 2017, but the war for the Tennessee General Assembly election in 2018 has just begun. The arguments made by these 35 stalwarts on the floor of the House on Wednesday will resonate throughout the state over the next year and a half. The process through the House subcommittees and committees was not without controversy including the make up of the Transportation Committee, procedural issues, breaking…
Read the full story
Dear Tennessee Star, Some of my best memories are from the time I spent with my great-grandparents as a child. Both grew up on farms in East Tennessee, and my papaw served in WWII. I was blessed to have them in my life, and it is my great hope to honor them by carrying on their legacy of self responsibility, hard work, and charity. They taught me much about life. Whether I was helping them string beans or talking to my mamaw as she cooked Sunday’s dinner, there was always something to learn. Really, the way they lived was the biggest lesson of all. They showed me the importance of working hard, pinching pennies, and helping those in need. I was raised by a single mother who did her best, but if it weren’t for them my family would have lacked some of life’s basic necessities. I’ll never forget one time a vacuum salesman showed up, and they would not let him leave until they made him a sandwich and a glass of sweet tea. That is the kind of people they were. They worked for everything they had and never went into debt for anything. Their motto was,…
Read the full story
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 story
What devolution means is that the power to make decisions is returned to those closest to the people. Taxpayer money is spent for the needs at the local level, rather than at the national level.
Read the full story