Ken Starr Says Questioning of Jeff Sessions by Democrats Failed Attempt to Embarrass Him, Not Find Answers

Tennessee Star

Kenneth Starr said Thursday that Attorney General Jeff Sessions was within his right to refuse to answer questions over possible claims of executive privilege. “The attorney general was exactly right. He was protecting executive privilege, he wasn’t asserting it,” Mr. Starr said on CNN. Mr. Starr acted as an independent counsel during the investigation into former…

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Atheist Group Objects To Graduation Prayers At Alabama High School

An atheist group has objected to a high school in a small southern Alabama town including prayers and references to God at graduation events, reports AL.com. But a conservative group is coming to the school’s defense. The Freedom From Religious Foundation sent a letter dated June 5 to Opp City Schools finding fault with the May 21 baccalaureate service at the Opp High School auditorium, and also the graduation ceremony held at a later date at the football stadium. The letter noted that the school principal led students in prayer at the baccalaureate service, and that administrators scheduled a student prayer at the graduation ceremony, where the principal’s speech included references to God and prayer. “We ask that you cease sponsorship and hosting of future baccalaureate services occurring in the District, that you ensure that no prayers are scheduled for future high school graduation ceremonies or any other school-sponsored events occurring in the District and that you inform us in writing of the steps the District is taking to respect the right of conscience of each of its students,” said the letter from the atheist group, which is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Opp City Schools Superintendent Michael Smithart told AL.com that…

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State Senate Candidate Mark Pody Calls The IMPROVE Act ‘Washington Politics’

MOUNT JULIET, Tennessee — At his first public speaking engagement since announcing, in an exclusive interview with The Tennessee Star, his candidacy for the State Senate seat Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) will be leaving to run for the Republican nomination for governor in 2018, Rep. Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) called the IMPROVE Act “Washington politics” for the way numerous issues were combined in one bill without an “up or down” vote on each individually. At the Americans For Prosperity Town Hall held in Mt. Juliet on Monday evening with Field Director Shawn Hatmaker and attended by more than 30 people to honor and appreciate Rep. Pody and Sen. Beavers for their vote against the gas tax increasing IMPROVE Act, Rep. Pody’s comments on the recently concluded legislative session focused largely on the IMPROVE Act. Using four different colored packs of sweeteners and sugar, Rep. Pody gave a visual demonstration of the IMPROVE Act when he ripped the packets open and poured them out together, alluding to the separate and unrelated issues in the bill (HB534), saying “They all came out white,” and they then had to “Vote on that, whether there was some good or some bad.  That’s what DC does.” “As…

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NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams To Speak at Brentwood Baptist on Friday

  NASA Astronaut Jeff Williams will speak Friday evening at Brentwood Baptist Church to close a week of Vacation Bible School featuring a galactic theme. The event is open to the public and there is no cost to attend his presentation. Williams, a native of Wisconsin, has spent 534 days in space on four separate missions, including nearly 32 hours in five spacewalks. After returning from the International Space Station in September, Williams briefly held the record for most days in space, a record he also held earlier in his career. But Williams’ most recent record was broken in April by astronaut Peggy Whitson, a biochemist currently on a mission. She is expected to have more than 650 days in space at the end of her mission this fall. Williams is a committed Christian who chronicled his adventures in space and his faith in his 2010 book, The Work of His Hands: A View of God’s Creation from Space. The book features photos he took while on board the International Space Station. Williams said that he came to know God through Scripture, but that being an astronaut helped him reflect on God in a new way. “The experience did have an…

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Left-Wingers Embrace Threats, Violence After Scalise Shooting

A left-wing Twitter user made an implicit threat against Laura Ingraham, editor-in-chief of LifeZette, on Wednesday afternoon in the wake of a shooting attack made in Virginia against GOP members of Congress. The offensive tweet read simply, “Too bad you don’t play baseball.” The remark came after Ingraham noted on Twitter: “A @BernieSanders supporter did shooting…

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Army Forces Troops, Civilians To Attend Transgender Sensitivity Training

The Army is now holding mandatory transgender sensitivity training for officers, non-commissioned officers and civilians. As part of the Pentagon’s attempt to create an accepting environment for transgenders, the Army held a session Tuesday teaching officers and others how to implement existing military policy, particularly how to “assist soldiers who have a medical diagnosis indicating that…

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The Shooter Who Opened Fire on Republicans Has Been Identified And His Facebook Page Is Filled With Anti-Trump Posts

According to the Washington Post, law enforcement officials have confirmed the identity of a man who opened fire on Republican politicians and their staffers at a baseball field near Washington, D.C. Sixty-six-year-old James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois has been identified by the Washington Post as the shooter. Hodgkinson is alleged to have opened fire on…

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Commentary: The Recusal Double Standard

by George Rasley, CHQ Editor Yesterday, during his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Attorney General Jeff Sessions explained in great detail the process we went through to recuse himself from participation in the Department of Justice’s counter-intelligence investigation of whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. One of the more startling revelations in Sessions testimony was that he refused from day one of his tenure at Justice to take any briefing or receive any files on the Russia investigation because he, and DOJ attorneys, were reviewing whether he should recuse himself. What was even more startling was the revelation that he was advised to recuse himself from the investigation because it involved a political campaign to which he had been an unpaid advisor. Our friend former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andy McCarthy, writing for National Review, says judging from the public testimony that former FBI director James Comey has given about the investigation into Russia’s election-meddling, the DOJ regulations did not mandate recusal. McCarthy points out, Sessions says that he recused himself, on the advice of career ethics experts at the Justice Department, because he thought this was required by the federal regulation controlling “Disqualification arising from personal or…

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Conservative Presbyterians Elect Progressive Academic Who Bemoans ‘White Privilege’ As Moderator Of Annual Meeting

A college professor who promotes progressive theories on race and white privilege was elected moderator Tuesday for this week’s annual meeting of leaders in the conservative Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). The PCA is the second largest Presbyterian denomination after the liberal mainline Presbyterian Church (USA). Since forming in the early 1970s, the PCA has been known as a conservative evangelical body standing in sharp contrast to the liberal mainline denomination. But in recent years, the PCA has experienced increasing internal division over race, the role of women in the church, and how to respond to cultural pressure to overturn biblical teachings on marriage and sexuality. The PCA has a strong presence in Middle Tennessee. Its larger churches include Christ Presbyterian in Nashville, Covenant Presbyterian in Green Hills and Christ Community in Franklin. More orthodox believers in the denomination are alarmed by the changes. But they are stymied by a growing progressive influence bringing radical secular ideas into the church, often wrapped in select Bible verses about compassion and generosity that leave conservatives afraid of being called racist and uncaring. Alexander Jun, the moderator chosen for this week’s General Assembly meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina, is co-author of a new…

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‘Terminate The Republican Party’ Followers Celebrate Scalise Shooting; Group Creator Disapproves

Facebook users posting to an anti-Republican group reportedly followed by the suspected Alexandria gunman celebrated his shooting rampage Wednesday that injured House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and three others. According to the Belleville News-Democrat, James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois, belonged to a number of anti-Republican groups, including one called “Terminate the Republican Party,” before he…

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State Senator Todd Gardenhire Complains The Tennessee Star Poll Asked About Illegal Immigrants, Not ‘Children of Undocumented Immigrants’

Tennessee Star

Stung by the results of the recent Tennessee Star Poll  showing 84 percent of likely Republican primary voters oppose providing in-state tuition to illegal immigrant students, State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga), sponsor of two bills that would accomplish precisely that objective, complained on Monday that the poll asked about illegal immigrants rather than “children of undocumented immigrants who are brought to this country when they are very young.” “The question was worded in such a way to get the result they wanted,” Gardenhire complained to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The Tennessee Star Poll question asked likely Republican voters the following: “In 2018, the Tennessee General Assembly is expected to reconsider a bill to provide in-state college tuition to illegal immigrant students. Do you support or oppose providing in-state college tuition to illegal immigrant students?” 84 percent of Tennessee likely Republican primary voters disapproved of in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. A resounding 68.9 percent strongly disapproved, the poll results showed: 68.9% Strongly Disapproved 15.5% Somewhat Disapproved 5.9% Somewhat Approved 5.2% Strongly Approved 4.5% Not Sure/don’t know “Gardenhire said that’s misleading,” the Times Free Press reported: He said “we’re not giving them anything” because the students live in Tennessee and would pay the…

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