Almost as soon as Haslam appointed Bill Hagerty to Commissioner of Economic & Community Development (ECD), Hagerty started paying back his political IOUs and gave Lamar’s son Will, a last name (Alexander) promotion to chief of staff. ECD’s organizational structure in August 2012, shows that in that position, Alexander oversaw the TN Film, Entertainment & Music Commission.
Beginning in 2013, the Beacon Center’s Pork Reports have pointed out that taxpayer funded subsidies for the entertainment industry benefit the corporate entity and not the taxpayer.
Hagerty, a committed globalist, also began looking to expand trade markets for Tennessee companies. With this goal in mind, he decided to push Tennessee companies to start exporting their goods to Communist China. So Hagerty had his Alexander sidekick organize a medical trade mission to China and South Korea for medical device manufacturers and other health care companies.
By 2013, Tennessee was ranked number one in the country for Foreign Direct Investment job creation, including investment in the state from China.
Who doesn’t want to own a piece of the South?
Hagerty took the early lead on deepening Tennessee’s ties to the communist state until he left in 2014.By 2017, Tennessee was reported to be “a top China trader” and being “the most dependent state in America for trade with China.”
Now that Hagerty’s running for the U.S. Senate and the anti-China sentiment spinning off of the COVID pandemic, he’s criticizing China for its trade expansionism.
On top of that, Hagerty’s plan to make Tennessee a profitable exporter to China never materialized. Instead, in 2016, two years after Hagerty put his plan in place, Tennessee had imported $23.7 billion of products from China compared with exports to China from Tennessee of $2.2 billion.
Expanding trade markets for Tennessee companies makes sense and was probably the same reason that had Hagerty thinking about the Middle East and why he hired someone with expertise in Shariah-compliant finance transactions. That’s the Samar Ali story which by all accounts of Hagerty’s campaign appearances raises questions that visibly irritate him. Like the fact that he says he’s pro-Israel but hired someone whose father has for over 15 years led a virulent anti-Israel organization.
Hagerty wanted Tennessee to get cozier with China even while Tennessee companies were off-shoring their manufacturing. Now the globalist conveniently turned nationalist, wants us to believe that his outrage for China’s trade practices (“China is acting more like trade enemy than trade ally”), and deception related to the Wuhan virus, is sincere.
As Confucius said, “The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell.”
Dubbed “Z” during her successful campaign for Nashville Metro Council, Zulfat Suara now admits she is a full fledged socialist and wants Bernie Sanders to be President.
From 2012 until right before running for an at-large seat on the Metro Nashville Council, Zocialist Suara led the TN American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC). Under her leadership, AMAC joined forces with Linda Sarsour, one of the most vocal anti-Semites in the U.S., featuring Sarsour at different AMAC events.
This seems to be a pattern for Zocialist Suara who admires vocal Jew-haters U.S. Congressional members Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Zocialist Suara was so inspired by the newly elected Jew-haters, that during her speech at the 2019 Nashville Women’s March, she announced her own candidacy for an at-large seat on the Metro Nashville City Council. Best guess is that she had to run at-large because to was all about “My Muslim Vote.”
By the time Zocialist Suara made that announcement she already knew Sarsour who co-founded The Women’s March with Tamika Mallory. The Nashville Women’s March is a named affiliate of Sarsour’s Women’s March.
Sarsour was the one who instigated injecting the Jew-hating anti-Israel BDS campaign into The Women’s March. Granted, no one should have been surprised given that she and her co-leader Mallory are supporters of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a notorious anti-Semite who has praised Hitler and described Jews as “satanic.”
Hitler was a socialist liberal and led the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, a fact neither Bernie’s girls nor Bernie himself wants to own. What they try to do instead, is deflect by claiming their’s is a “Democratic” form of socialism.
Only in their own minds and only using their own twisted semantics since there is no such thing as “Democratic Socialism.”
Along with Linda Sarsour and Zocialist Suara, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib have endorsed Sanders for President.
Sarsour, Omar and Tlaib have freely and publicly given voice to their anti-Zionism anti-Semitism.
Zionism is the movement that helped to establish the State of Israel. Martin Luther King Jr., often cited by progressives as a symbol for social justice, understood that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism. As he said, “When people criticize Zionist, they mean Jews. You are talking anti-Semitism.”
Sanders’ has made a full display of his own Jewish self-hatred. He has hired two senior advisers with documented anti-Israel backgrounds for which they “were censured in the past for their deeply anti-Semitic, Judeophobic and anti-Israel views.”
“Republican Jewish Coalition spokesperson Neil Strauss said the hires illustrate a bigger issue.
‘We see this time and again with progressive Democrats, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are OK in their ranks.’”
It’s become such a lightening rod in the Sanders campaign that a moderate pro-Israel Democratic Super PAC is running ads against him.
(It almost feels like a throw-back to the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini’s alliance with Hitler).
al-Husseini and Hitler
Regardless of whether they call themselves “progressives” or “socialists” radical candidates like Zocialist Suara, Tlaib and Omar are celebrated and endorsed by “Our Revolution” (OR), which functions as, the 501(c)(4) arm of Bernie Sanders’ campaign.
Not to be left out, TIRRCVotes (TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition) endorsed its former board member and activist Zocialist Suara for the Metro Council.
Coincidentally, Bernie Sanders and Leon Trotsky, a Soviet Marxist, both authored a book titled “Our Revolution.”
“In 1980, Sanders served as an elector for the Socialist Workers Party, which was founded on the principles of Leon Trotsky. According to the New York Times, that party called for abolishing the military budget. It also called for “solidarity” with the revolutionary regimes in Iran, Nicaragua, Grenada, and Cuba; this was in the middle of the Iranian hostage crisis.”
“Our Revolution” wants Bernie Sanders for President and wants to put radicals in every elected office they can steal. James Zogby, another anti-Zionist, is on the board of OR.
Interestingly, Zogby served with Jerusalem Fund founder Hisham Sharabi on the board of the renamed American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ).
Samar Ali’s father Subhi Ali served alongside Sharabi at the (anti-Zionist-pro-BDS) Jerusalem Fund and has led the organization’s board since 2005. Samar served as Zocialist Suara’s treasurer in her Metro Council campaign.
In Senate candidate Bill Hagerty’s recent article in the Times of Israelhe speaks out against anti-Semitism, specifically citing the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions campaign (BDS) against Israel. Hagerty wants the U.S. to be a reliable ally for Israel. No doubt Israelis appreciate that sentiment and most in Tennessee likely share it as well. But Hagerty’s talk is campaign convenient, especially when his past walk seemed oblivious to any such concerns.
Hagerty wants conservative voters to forget that in 2012, he hired Shariah compliant finance (SCF) expert Samar Ali to serve as Asst. Commissioner for International Affairs in the Department of Economic & Community Development. Samar’s appointment set off a firestorm in conservative Republican circles. At a First Tuesday event in Nashville, Hagerty offered his personal and strongly worded defense for hiring Samar which was reported by Rod Williams (who was in attendance) in his blog A Disgruntled Republican – which is excerpted below.
Williams noted that Hagerty “spoke with passion.”
“The lady’s name is Samar Ali. She is a Tennessee native and yes, she is a Muslim. Her father was past President of the Tennessee Medical Association and a Colonel in the Tennessee National Guard. Ms Ali grew up in Waverly Tennessee and attended public schools and is all American girl. She has tremendous credentials, and we are fortunate to have her in our office. She is a former White House fellow and she was an associate with the prestigious law firm Hogan Lovells where she worked on counseling clients on mergers and acquisitions, project finance, and international business matters. During her time with Hogan Lovells, she was a founding member of the firm’s Abu Dhabi office. While in Abu Dhabi, she put together Sharia compliant finance projects. Hagerty continued:
“Big law firms and accounting firms, do that sort of thing all the time. Any firms that do a lot of international transactions has someone who can do Sharia compliant finance (SCF). There is nothing sinister about that. If I was going to do business in Louisiana, I would have to do business according to the Napoleonic code. When I came back to Tennessee, I would not follow that code to do business.When it was known we were looking to fill a position in our office, I got a call from her father* asking me if I would look at her resume. Like any father, he would like for his daughter to move closer to home. I interviewed her for the job, and she was the best qualified.”
“When all of this uproar, started, she came to me in tears and offered to resign. I told her I would not let her resign. We cannot give in to bigotry. (Maybe Mr. Hagerty did not use the word “bigotry” but that was the essence of his comment. He may have said “ignorance” or something else.)Ms Ali was not hired due to her expertise in Sharia compliant finance and I do not anticipate there would be occasions where she would use those skills.”
Amr El Husseini & wife Samar Ali
So Hagerty admitted he was well aware of her background in Sharia finance. Her bio from her position at Hogan Lovells before Hagerty’s hiring her noted that she had interned for the Islamic International Arab Bank (Arab Bank)in Amman Jordan in 2007. This was during the time that a lawsuit had been filed against the bank alleging that the bank was managing the funding of payments to the families of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) martyrs and also providing services to Hamas and others.
From 1995 to 2005 thousands in Israel, including American citizens, were killed by these terrorists! Beginning in 2004 approximately 500 US citizens sued the bank under the US Anti-Terrorism Act. The lawsuit filed by the family of Texan John Linde who was murdered in a 2003 Gaza car bombing, was the first terror financing case to go to trial.
In September 2014, a federal jury found Arab Bank liable for knowingly supporting terrorism efforts connected to two dozen attacks in the Middle East. This was the first time a bank has ever been held liable in a civil suit under a broad anti-terrorism statute.
One year later, the Arab Bank settled the claims of the 500 plaintiffs.
What kind of All American girl interns in a bank with a reputation like that? Anybody believe she was unaware of the bank’s history?
Yet Hagerty defended her and said we were fortunate to have her! He wouldn’t take her resignation and said “we can’t give in!”
If Hagerty wants voters to trust his judgment as a U.S. Senator, how does he explain either his poor vetting of Samar’s connections or his defense of them? How does Hagerty explain ignorance about the abundance of publicly available information about Samar’s connections?
In June of 2010 PJ Media reported extensively about Samar Ali. He had advised a Middle Eastern university about “the potential of establishment of a Foreign Aid Conventional and Shari’ah Compliant Student Loan Program.” An Obama’s White House press release stated that she “is a founding member of the first U.S. Delegation to the World Islamic Economic Forum.”
At the time, the foundation that runs this Forum included Saleh Abdullah Kamel on their International Advisory Panel. This is the same Kamel mentioned on the “Golden Chain” roster as an un-indicted co-conspirator in helping Osama bin Laden funnel money for the 9/11 attacks.
After defending Samar, Hagerty went on to defend Shariah finance, going so far as to trivialize it by comparing it to the Napoleonic code! “Any firms that do a lot of international transactions has someone who can do Sharia compliant finance (SCF). There is nothing sinister about that.”
In the 1940’s prominent Islamic figure, Maulana Abul Ala Mawdudi, saw the cultural and political Westernizations of Islam as a loss of religious and national identity to the Muslim World. To offset this perceived threat Mawdudi, along with others, pushed for a separate ideology, separate politics, and separate economics for Muslims. The result was to create a financial investment transactional status referred as being “authorized” or “pure” (halal) and in accordance to Islamic or Sharia Law. “Impure” transactions were ones which involved money from investments in the pork and alcohol-beverage industries, pornography, gambling, interest-based financing and Western defense.
This concept is explained further in a 2008 McCormick Foundation& the Center for Security Policy report called, “Shariah, Law and ‘Financial Jihad’: How Should America Respond?“
The bottom line is that Shariah authorities decide where the money goes and shariah law requires donations to jihadists!
The well-known suicide-bombing advocate, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, considered the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, said sharia finance was nothing less than “Jihad with money.” As al-Qaradawi explains, “God has ordered us to fight enemies with our lives and with our money.” Qaradawi is banned from entering the US and the UK because of his ties to terrorist organizations.
It is interesting that al-Qaradawi worked at the Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) as the chairman of the Sharia supervisory board while Samar Ali’s husband Amr El-Husseini worked there as well including in senior positions! El-Husseini is also an expert in SCF! For more on El-Husseini, Qaradawi and the shady history of the QIB go here
And here is a new claim against QIB by an American journalist about a terrorist act involving QIB during Amr El-Husseini’s tenure.
So here’s what all this information tells us about U.S. Senate candidate Bill Hagerty:
• He knowingly hired an expert in SCF who worked at an Islamic Bank in the Middle East
• the bank had a reputation for funding Islamic terrorism and was in fact involved in a lawsuit involving the killing of Americans and Israeli’s even before her internship began
• he defended SCF and said there is nothing sinister about it
• Hagerty makes his money in private equity investing
A legitimate question for a financier is whether he thinks it’s okay for the international business community to participate in a practice designed in part to fund Islamic terrorism worldwide?
Bill Hagerty likes to remind everybody that he is the only candidate in this race that is endorsed by President Trump. True, but Hagerty is also the only candidate in this race that has supported sharia compliant finance. That is an endorsement that should be a deal breaker for every Tennessean!
This is more than a bad hire – it shows questionable judgment and forewarns us of questionable actions should Hagerty be elected to the U.S. Senate.
* For more on Samar’s dear old dad and BDS read here
Whoa! Biblical Bill’s lefty admirers have let the cat out of the bag. The refugee resettlement program isn’t about being a humanitarian. It isn’t about saving Christians. It’s about giving Pompeo foreign policy bargaining chips!
It’s also about keeping the gravy train of taxpayer money flowing to “charities” like Catholic Charities. Someone has done a great job of digging into the public money data which federal contractors have become addicted to:
In 2018 alone, over $1.2 billion has been awarded by our federal government to organizations and religious charities for refugee resettlement, unaccompanied alien children, refugee and entrant assistance, etc.
Catholic Charities of Tennessee (CCTN)’s latest available financials show that refugee resettlement money and services have come to dominate their work since they took over Tennessee’s program after Bredesen withdrew the state in late 2007. “Service fees” money is typically what the federal government pays for the privilege of having so-called charities like CCTN disburse taxpayer money.
Don’t be misled by the entry “Basic Needs/Counseling/Job Training/Elder Care” – most likely that is funded through the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services formula grants for refugees and immigrants.
Anyone really believe Bill Lee and Mike Pompeo’s weekend jaunt wasn’t deliberate? Don’t for one minute underestimate Bill Lee’s ego – he’s being touted by his Tennessee admirers as the expert who can help Pompeo fix the U.S. refugee resettlement program. And don’t think any of this is innocent.
Like Biblical Bill, Pompeo has a use for refugees, whether as bargaining chips for foreign allies or to mollify State Department careerists he now oversees. The same leftist New Yorker reporter who understands that the President is trying to dismantle the dysfunctional refugee program, has outed Pompeo as wanting to keep the numbers high.
Fake news? Maybe not.
Refugee Resettlement Watch reported an even more persuasive statement made by refugee contractor HIAS’ Melanie Nezer:
“Pompeo is the critical stakeholder,” one refugee advocate said.
Now that he’s served both as CIA director and secretary of state, activists hope that Pompeo has earned an appreciation for the diplomatic leverage having a robust refugee program can give the U.S. in negotiations with other countries.
“It’s a bargaining tool: We’ll take a certain number of refugees. These are the things you will do for us,” explained Melanie Nezer, a top official with HIAS, one of several organizations that helps refugees.
What Nezer knows that gullible Republicans including Bill Lee don’t, is that from the first minute, refugees are handled by the paid federal contractors who work at the overseas Refugee Service Centers. Once there in the U.S. who do you think handles all the goodies they get from the American taxpayer? The paid federal contractors, that’s who. And whose financial health is dependent on how many refugees they resettle? The paid federal contractors, that’s who. Their messaging is not how good the American taxpayer is, it’s look what we have done for you, if it wasn’t for us fighting for your rights, the Republican meanies wouldn’t even let you come to their country or their state.
Look what President Trump has done – tried to keep you out.
And look who Bill Lee has surrounded himself with – Tennessee Globicans like his Director of External Affairs, Joseph Williams who, like Bill Hagerty,, was a Jeb! delegate, and his chief of staff anti-Trumper Blake Harris.
Then there’s Sen. Marsha Blackburn doing her level best to deceive her way out of a bad bill that we now learn really does go against Trump’s American first immigration efforts.
Blackburn’sbillmandates a fast track for Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds who claim they were in some way connected, however loosely or remotely, to America’s fight against ISIS. The bill’s language in this regard isvery broadly written.
No cap is put on the numbers to be admitted as refugees, nor does this priority group of refugees count towards President Trump’s FY2020 cap of 18,000 refugees. Vetting for this particular pool of potential U.S. entrants, is vague at best.
NICE is the Nashville International Centerfor Empowerment federal refugee resettlement contractor located in Nashville.
The federal contractor met with Lt. Gov. Randy McNally shortly after the President issued his Executive Order on refugee resettlement. NICE is trying to convince Tennessee state leadership to reverse course, say yes to the business of resettling refugees in Tennessee and help federal contractors like NICE heal their sagging budgets.
NICE probably has a much better understanding of the willingness of the Lee administration and weak-kneed Republicans who are willing to sell out trusting Republican voters in the face of $$$$$. Governor Lee recently said he hasn’t made up his mind about whether to consent to resettling refugees in Tennessee.
That’s the same Tyson Foods that’s building the new big shiny chicken processing plant in Gibson County, the kind of rural West Tennessee area which gubernatorial candidate Lee said he was committed to for economic development.
Tennessee state Senator John Stevens whose district includes Gibson County just also happens to be a named plaintiff in the state’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit against the federal refugee resettlement program. Bet he’s getting some pressure.
Remember, the lawsuit is not about refugees. It’s about the federal government forcing Tennessee to spend state revenue for the resettlement program even though the state withdrew from the program over 10 years ago. The lawsuit is about state sovereignty and the Tenth Amendment – it’s about any federal program that the federal government decides it will have states subsidize even if they don’t want to and even if they don’t receive any federal money or benefit in return.
Federal refugee resettlement contractors like NICE get most of their money from the federal government. Resettlement contractors like NICE are paid for each individual refugee they bring to a community. With the Trump administration consistently lowering the number for annual refugee admissions, local resettlement offices have been closing.
In Tennessee, World Relief closed its Nashville office after taking the money but not before it dumped refugees in Murfreesboro without providing the services.
No doubt NICE is doing whatever it can to avoid the same fate.
NICE, started by a former refugee, was founded in 2005 as an ethnic assistance organization originally named the Sudanese Community and Women’s Service Center. NICE matured into a full-fledged refugee resettlement contractor in 2011, and it’s financial profile changed pretty dramatically with the infusion of federal cash:
Before federal money: 2009– $76,645and2010 – $175,233
After federal money begins to flow and dominates the percent of total budget:
2011$400,503(76%)
2012$906,348(88%)
2013$805,031(81%)
2014$1,219,679(77%)
2015 $1,113,582(73.5%)
2016$1,305,399(70.7%)
2017 $1,059,505(61.7%)
2018$781,316(44.8%)
No doubt NICE has pitched the usual leftist propaganda about the economic benefits of cheap refugee labor to Lt. Gov. McNally. Republicans have always understood that helping their big corporate cronies like Tyson get out of the quagmire of cheap illegal alien labor is answered by the cheap legal labor pool of refugees.
Even if it means pushing the cost onto everyday Tennesseans. Oh yeah, and then there’s the displacement of disabled and sick Tennesseans who still are waiting for TennCare help, but which refugees who meet eligibility can get as soon as they arrive.
And then there’s Bill Hagerty…..
Shortly after Haslam appointed Bill Hagerty to be the Commissioner of Economic & Community Development (ECD), Hagerty made Lamar’s son, Will Alexander ECD’s Chief of Staff.
During Will’s tenure with ECD, he served on NICE’s board as Treasurer as a representative of TN ECD while at the same time, NICE’s President & CEO, Gatluak Thach was on the Board of TIRRC alongside the co-chairs of Governor Haslam’s Muslim Advisory Council.
Cozy.
In 2016, ECD had Wolfgang Roeder, an ECD business consultant, serve on the NICE board. Wolfgang’s job was to “help with any expansion projects, access to ECD grants and to Tax credits.
Perhaps Lt. Gov. McNally and Governor Lee need to hear from the everyday Tennessean who isn’t getting propped up by the federal government money?
One other thing – you might want to tell these Republican leaders that these groups they seem to anxious to accommodate didn’t put them into office – Tennessee Republican voters did and it’s been documented over the years that immigrants tend to vote Democratand no amount of Republican appeasement is going to change that.
These Republican leaders need to understand that continuing to sell out Tennessee conservatives based on perceived economic gain, might serve their political ambitions, but in the long-run, will lead to our demise
President Trump has made some good picks and some mis-picks. Hagerty for U.S. Senate is one of the bigger mis-picks.
First and most importantly, (and no disrespect to the President), Tennessee voters will decide whether another elitist globican like Lamar fills that seat.
Second, realize how heavily Hagerty is leaning on Trump’s endorsement hoping that this will distract voters from realizing what kind of elitist globican he really is.
(Globicans are those on the right who cavalierly trade American citizens like widgets for perceived economic outcomes – and/or their own political ambitions).
Third, it really does matter, when you don’t have a voting record, who is on your political resume. On this side of the ledger, Hagerty is in BIG trouble.
During his 35 years in the Senate, McConnell has learned how to manipulate to his desired outcome, the political high waters of obstruction. And given that McConnell at best only tolerates Trump, he has not hesitated to obstruct the President on a key issue – illegal immigration. Remember, McConnell is no supporter of Trump.
On the President’s emergency at the border declaration – McConnell, a tool of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and big globican interests, rushed to announce that the Senate would block it. Then he, “unleashed twelve members of his Decepticon caucus to rebuke the border security efforts of President Donald Trump.”
Whenever it concerns illegal aliens, the “Deception caucus” always includes Lamar Alexander and Mitt Romney, both of whom recently voted against the President – again – to overturn his resolution on the national emergency at the border. Hagerty’s other immigration buddy whom he supported for president, Marco Rubio didn’t show up for this first round of voting.
Trump vetoed the House-Senate resolution; Romney hung in there and voted to overturn Trump’s veto, out-going Lamar didn’t bother to show up this time around but Rubio did and voted to overturn Trump’s veto.
On the recent House-passed resolution condemning the President for withdrawing troops from Syria, McConnell said he wanted “an even stronger” resolution against the President than the one passed in the House. Led by Sen. Rand Paul, Republicans in the Senate defied McConnell’s efforts to undermine Trump.
Predictably, Romney used the Syria withdrawal to again “lambaste” the President in a speech from the Senate floor. And of course Romney is abusing his Senate seat to push Trump impeachment efforts.
Hagerty is now trying to camouflage his real political DNA and past political opportunistic boot-strapping.
Hagerty’s delicate chastising of Romney’s support for Trump impeachment efforts shows how desperate Hagerty really is to try and separate himself from the most vocal pre and post-election anti-Trumper.
What Hagerty can’t erase what his devotion to Romney, when he left Tennessee ECD to serve as Romney’s national finance guy, a move he probably though could get he a spot in a Romney administration.
When that didn’t work out, Hagerty put his support behind Jeb! for president in 2016. When he chose Jeb! over Trump, Hagerty said:
“Jeb has a plan to flatten and simplify the tax code, which will create millions of new jobs,” Hagerty said in the release. “He will unleash American innovation through his regulatory reform agenda. He has the right ideas on embracing an American energy revolution which will benefit every American family and business. We need a president with a proven record of implementing conservative reforms, and Jeb Bush is that candidate.”
And after Jeb! withdrew, Hagerty flipped to Marco Rubio who just happened to show up at state Sen. Jack Johnson’s August event where Hagerty was featured. Hmmm.
Trump was Hagerty’s last choice because he won the primary with no thanks to the likes of Hagerty.
All of Hagerty’s picks before Trump, were known at the time and continue to be, supporters of amnesty for illegal aliens.
If you consider who the extremely wealthy money globicans are in Tennessee, then you realize that none of Hagerty’s moves have been coincidental.
How come no one in the media has asked Hagerty what he thinks about Romney’s incessant attacks and efforts to undermine the President?
Hagerty hasn’t and won’t disavow Romney. Hagerty’s gentle criticism of Romney for not opposing impeachment moves came two weeks after Senate candidate Manny Sethi had denounced Democrat impeachment efforts.
Sethi has been straightforward and clear that he won’t fall in line with the establishment. Hagerty, however, already has political IOUs and he is LOCKED INTO the McConnell globican machine.
Just wait until Tennessee globicans who went all out for East Tennessean’s Haslam and Randy Boyd (Hagerty’s successor at ECD hand-picked by Haslam) get started. The Senate primary election is setting up just like the gubernatorial primary that Boyd lost. The FACTS about Hagerty, simply don’t square up for Tennessee conservatives. Fortunately, there’s a better option.
Did Hagerty know Samar’s husband before or after he hired her and if so, what did Hagerty know or not know about him and his sharia finance experience?
We already know that globican Hagerty (an elitist who acts like he is entitled to Lamar’s U.S. Senate seat), knows Samar Ali and her father.
Shortly after Hagerty as Commissioner of TNECD hired Samar in 2012, it was reported by a long-time Republican blogger, that Hagerty told a First Tuesday gathering that “I got a call from her father asking me if I would look at her resume.”
Samar, however, claims that she met Hagerty through the White House fellows program, not through her father. While Hagerty and Ali were not White House fellows at the same time, Hagerty was a member and chair of the regional selection panel for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships from 1997 – 2009, spanning the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.
Samar served as a White House fellow from 2010 – 2011. Applications for the fellowships are accepted several months before the start of the following calendar year, so it’s certainly possible that Samar met Hagerty through the application process even if it was her father that put her resume in front of Hagerty.
By the time Hagerty hired Samar, she had married Amr El-Husseini on September 3, 2011.
Amr & Samar
Samar and El-Husseini share sharia compliant finance expertise. Samar was hired by Hagerty as the Assistant Commissioner for International Affairs.
The Haslam administration went to great lengths to conceal Samar’s sharia finance credentials from information released to the public even though her sharia finance credentials were plastered on websites of law firms she has worked for and included in her bios attached to different talks she has given.
At the time Samar was hired by Hagerty, other states like Illinois were looking at “growth opportunities” related to the Gulf states, so it stands to reason that Hagerty may have had similar ideas in mind. At the time Hagerty hired Samar, she and her husband El-Husseini, each brought deep contacts in Qatar and the UAE, or at least were connected to the financial centers.
Who is Amr El-Husseini?
In 2014, El-Husseini launched the Nashville-based Lodestone Advisory Group and serves as the Chief Executive Officer overseeing the company’s global operations. Samar serves as a director of the organization.
At the same time that El-Husseini was getting Lodestone off the ground, he started a two-year term as a “Board Member for an international banking subsidiary of the QIB Group.”
QIB stands for the Qatar Islamic Bank which is the largest sharia compliant lender in Qatar. A sharia supervisory board oversees the bank’s financial operations to ensure it is compliant with sharia law.
El-Husseini worked for QIB for over six years from 2008 to 2014, starting as an investment manager and eventually moving up to Senior Executive Manager & Head of International Development.
For at least three years of El-Husseini’s time at QIB, the long-standing spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Youssef al-Qaradawi served as the chairman of the sharia supervisory board. Qaradawi has described sharia compliant finance as “jihad with money.”
Qaradawi, “has held leadership positions in at least two groups that have been internationally sanctioned for their support of terrorist organizations.”
Sharia Finance Watch adds this: “[i]n 2001, Sheikh Qaradawi was the chairman of the Shariah Advisory Board of Bank al-Taqwa, which was shut down by the United Nations and the US Treasury Department for funneling large amounts of money to several Jihadist terrorist organizations, including Ayman al-Zawahiri’s Egyptian forerunner of Al Qaeda. Much of the money came through a Shariah-Compliant real estate firm in New Jersey and the money was funneled to the terrorist groups as zakat payments to charities. Last year, [2009], the US Treasury Department designated the Union of Good, an umbrella group of 57 charities run out of Saudi Arabia, as a terrorist entity. Qaradawi runs the Union of Good.”
Qaradawi is banned from entering the US and the UK because of his ties to terrorist organizations. Among his many fatwas he has condoned HAMAS suicide attacks and using women for suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. Qaradawi says that the “martyr operation” of blowing oneself up is, “the greatest of all sorts of jihad in the cause of Allah.”
Ironically, Qaradawi has predicted that Islam would, “conquer Europe [and] America – not through sword but through Da’wa [proselytizing for Islam].”
The QIB has also been identified by the US State Department as a funder of terrorism. In early 2018, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, led by Saudi Arabia, “accuse[d] Qatar of financing extremist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood” and cut off diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar. Going further, the UAE directed their financial institutions to freeze bank accounts and investments connected to banks and individuals in Qatar.
Hagerty and co-White House fellow clubber Steve Gill, have defended against any legitimate questions being raised about Samar who more recently, helped get elected to Metro Council, the former AMAC chair who admires Jew-haters Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar.
Is Hagerty looking more like a a pro-Islamist globalican as opposed to the picture he is trying to paint of himself growing up shoveling asphalt, baling hay, and raising pigs? Gee, aw shucks Bill, you left those “Tennessee roots” a long time ago to run with the elite money-handlers.
So far, “Hagerty’s Harem” of endorsers include:
Rep. Andy Holt
Sen. Jack Johnson
No matter how many endorsements Hagerty gets, the conservative base has a long memory and Samar’s recent involvement in local politics, the memories are all coming back like the bad dream it was.
The biggest mistake Hagerty and the Haslam administration made with the hiring of Samar, was not being honest with the conservative base. What makes anyone think Hagerty is any different today
Tennessee conservatives are keenly aware of Hagerty’s ties to establishment/globalist Republicans Lamar Alexander, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, McConnell and former governor, Bill Haslam.
Hagerty served as national finance chairman for Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign.
He was a Jeb Bush delegate in 2016 and then flipped to Marco Rubio after Jeb withdrew. He didn’t support Trump until after the primary.
Rubio has been a long-standing proponent of expanding the H1B visa program to bring in foreign workers who end up under-cutting American workers – especially those graduating with tech degrees. Bob Iger, CEO of Disney and co-founder of the Partnership for a New American Economy has invested millions of dollars into Rubio’s campaigns. Disney put 200+ American tech workers out of jobs after they trained their foreign worker replacements.
It is also well known that Hagerty has a close relationship with Samar Ali, whose father is Chairman of a virulently anti-Israel, pro-BDS organization headquartered in D.C.
2011 – Hagerty was appointed by former Gov. Bill Haslam to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Economic & Community Development (ECD). In this position, Hagerty used his position to benefit Lamar Alexander family members.
2012 – shortly after his appointment, Hagerty promoted Lamar Alexander’s son Will (already employed by ECD), to ECD’s Chief of Staff. At the same time, Will served as treasurer for a Nashville based refugee resettlement contractor. Shortly before leaving ECD in 2015, Hagery hired Lamar’s daughter Leslee. At that time he also hired the daughter of TDOT Commissioner Jim Schroer who had previously interned for Bob Corker.
Hagerty filled Will’s position with Alice Rolli, a former Larmar staffer in D.C. One year later, Rolli served as campaign manager for Lamar’s 2014 primary.
At the same time, Hagerty hired Samar Ali as Asst. Commissioner for International Affairs. Publicly available Information about Ali’s strong background in sharia compliant finance (SCF) work, quickly surfaced.
Within a short time of Ali’s hiring, Nashville radio hosts and conservative grassroots groups were publicly questioning the Haslam administration about Ali’s appointment. In response, Hagerty spoke at the July 2012, “First Tuesday” gathering and addressed his hiring of Ali. A long-time blogger in attendance reported Hagerty saying that “I got a call from her father asking me if I would look at her resume.”
Hagerty’s disclosure resulted in attention to Samar’s father, Subhi Ali, M.D.’s leadership of the anti-Israel Jerusalem Fund in D.C.
After President Trump tweeted his support for a Hagerty Senate candidacy, the Samar Ali issue re-emerged. A facebook entry includes a comment by a Samar Ali who claims that she met Hagerty through the White House fellows program, not through her father.
While Hagerty and Ali did not serve as White House fellows at the same time, Hagerty served as a member and chair of the regional selection panel for the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, presumably overlapping with Ali’s appointment as an Obama White House fellow.
Samar served as treasurer for American Muslim Advisory Council former chair, now board member, Zulfat Suara, to the Metro Nashville City Council.
So, who do you think will have access to Hagerty????
The more layers you peel back, the more unbelievable it gets that Bill Hagerty really believes that Tennessee voters aren’t going to notice that his political running buddies are open borders amnesty-granting globican elitists.
Mitch McConnell green-lighted the 2013 “Gang of Eight” (G8) comprehensive immigration reform bill even though Senate conservatives asked to block the bill from reaching the Senate floor.
The G8 bill (S.744) was heralded as the answer to all our immigration problems, especially because it had bipartisan support – four D’s and four R’s. The bill passed in the Senate 68-32, with 14 Republicans joining all Democrats. Predictably, Tennessee’s globicans Corker and Alexander voted for it.
The G8 bill was an amnesty plan, plain and simple. It provided a blanket amnesty called “registered provisional immigrant status” for illegal aliens in the U.S. before 12/31/11. Even the Congressional Budget office agreed that the bill gave amnesty to illegals, and also reported that the G8 plan would barely make a dent in reducing future illegal immigration.
The G8 bill also incorporated the goals of the DREAM Act to amnesty illegal aliens who entered the U.S. before age 16, whether brought by parents at a young age or entering on their own.
Each group of amnestied illegal aliens would ultimately be able to naturalize and become voters.
Little Marco Rubio (so named by Trump during a primary debates), was one of the bipartisan co-sponsors of the bill. Rubio has also been a gigantic proponent of expanding the corrupt H1B visa program which serves to undercut employment of American workers by replacing them with cheaper foreign labor. Disney CEO Bob Iger who has used the H1B visa program to dump 250 American computer programmers and replace them with foreign workers, has dumped several million dollars into Rubio.
Never-Trumper Mittens Romney scaled back tough talk on on illegal immigration after securing the GOP nomination in 2012, and starting soft-walking his own version of an amnesty-type plan.
As a U.S. Senator, his real colors on illegal immigration are showing; he voted against funding the border wall and joined with 11 other Republican defectors (which included Rubio and Lamar), to obstruct the President’s legal executive authority in issuing an emergency declaration about the crisis on the Southern border and the need to fund the wall.
Hagerty has proudly announced McConnell’s endorsement for his Senate run.
Hagerty was Romney’s national finance chairman for the failed 2012 presidential campaign. According to Chris Devaney who is chairing Dr. Manny Sethi’s campaign for Senate, Romney has endorsed Hagerty for the same Senate seat.
Up until Briley lost big in his Nashville mayoral race on Thursday night, he and Hagerty were using the same fundraiser and political consultant, a young woman named Kim Kaegi.
Talk about redefining bipartisanship!!!!!
Kaegi jumped on the Briley team before Hagerty announced – a fact that would likely would have been known to experienced politicos Hagerty and Ward Baker who is running Hagerty’s campaign. And before Briley, Kaegi was on the payroll of the self-disgraced super radical, former mayor Megan Barry.
The optics of this may only bother the little people like the voters, not those who consider themselves above all those little details. After all, isn’t it always about “bipartisanship”?????
More recently team Hagerty announced that the super-establishment swamp leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed Hagerty for the Senate.
That’s an announcement not likely to make Tennessee conservatives feel all warm and fuzzy nor want to support Hagerty for Lamar’s Senate seat.
Talk about tone-deaf when it comes to Tennessee conservatives.
No one should be surprised about McConnell’s endorsement which is just a product of swamp politics. Ward Baker is close to swamp buddy McConnell. Baker has served as a political advisor to McConnell and for a time, was the executive director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Hagerty has WAY more baggage than Baker’s other Senatorial campaign winner, Marsha Blackburn. Piling on endorsements – even from Trump – is not likely to distract Tennessee conservatives from seeing what Hagerty is really about.
Hagerty describes himself as conservative family man in his campaign launch video. If he was telling the truth, he’d admit to being a political opportunist whose allegiances at the end of the day will be to elitist establishment globalists who he’s counting on to get him elected.
After Haslam appointed Hagerty to ECD Commissioner, Hagerty used his position to benefit Lamar Alexander’s son and daughter., He promoted Lamar’s son Will Alexander, to chief of staff at ECD. Before leaving ECD, Hagerty hired Lamar’s daughter Leslee to work for ECD.
On the heels of Will’s promotion, Hagerty hired Alice Rolli a former Lamar staffer in D.C. One year later, Rolli served as campaign manager for Lamar’s 2014 primary.
And being the political opportunist that he is, Hagerty signed on as a Jeb! delegate and only flipped to Trump after he won the primary.
And Hagerty political resume would be complete without again mentioning his role in Mittens Romney’s presidential campaign.
Starting to see a pattern of political allegiance?
The other big “gift” that Hagerty bestowed on Tennessee was hiring sharia finance specialist Samar Ali after her father called and asked Hagerty to take a look at her resume. Did Hagerty even bother to look at other resumes – you know, from just regular Tennesseans who didn’t have Hagerty’s cell phone number?
Samar’s father Subhi Ali has been chairing the board of the D.C. based Israel and Jew hating organization Jerusalem Fund, since 2005. Before becoming the chairman, he served as vice-chair alongside the Fund’s founder Hisham Sharabi, a prolific writer who glorified Arab terrorists.
HAMAS is a U.S. designated terrorist organization.
Samar Ali served as treasurer helping Zulfat Suara, chair fo the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) from 2012 – 2019, get elected to the Metro Nashville Council. Suara is an ardent admirer of anti-Israel Muslims in Congress Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib and under her leadership the AMAC signed onto TIRRC’s illegal immigration agenda for Nashville.
Putting Hagerty in a U.S. Senate seat means everyone from the globalist and big money Tennessee Republicans to his cell phone buddies, will have access. It will be Tennessee’s conservatives left standing outside the door.
