Vice President Mike Pence To Speak Aug. 3 at Tennessee GOP Dinner in Nashville

Tennessee Star

  Vice President Mike Pence will be the keynote speaker for this year’s annual Tennessee GOP Statesmen’s Dinner to be held Thursday, Aug. 3. “This is an exciting time for the Tennessee Republican Party as we continue to grow and gear up for 2018’s critical elections,” said party chairman Scott Golden in a news release. “With Vice President Mike Pence as our Keynote Speaker and Governor Bill Haslam as our Dinner Chair, we expect this will be one of the largest and most successful Statesmen’s Dinners to date.” The event will be held at the Music City Center in downtown Nashville, with receptions beginning at 5:30 p.m. and the dinner and program starting at 6:30 p.m. Attire is business professional. Individual tickets are $250 and can be ordered online at secure.anedot.com/tennessee-republican-party/tngop-statesmens-dinner. If you would like to purchase tickets to the Congressional Reception at $5,000, Keynote Photo line at $10,000 or Vice President’s Reception at $25,000, contact Ashley Harbin at [email protected] or 615-269-4260. Past Statesmen’s speakers include former South Carolina Governor and current U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley (2016), former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (2015), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (2014), U.S. Senator Tim Scott (2013), former Vice President Dick Cheney (2002) and former Vice…

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Oscar-winner Martin Landau, Who Starred in ‘Ed Wood,’ ‘North By Northwest’ and ‘Entourage,’ Dies at 89

Tennessee Star

LOS ANGELES — Martin Landau, Oscar-winning actor for “Ed Wood,” has died at 89. He died Saturday at UCLA Medical Center where he experienced “unexpected complications” during a short hospitalization, his publicist confirmed. “We are overcome with sadness to report the death of iconic actor Martin Landau,” a statement said. The Oscar-winning veteran appeared in classic…

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OFF THE RECORD: Did Glen Casada Cast His Vote for Diane Black in Gubernatorial Straw Poll?

Tennessee Star

  One of The Tennessee Star’s cameras captured this interesting photograph at the annual Williamson County Republican Party BBQ in Thompson’s Station on Saturday: As The Star reported earlier, Williamson County businessman Bill Lee won the straw poll at the event with 63 percent of the votes cast. State Senator Mae Beavers (R-Mt. Juliet) finished a surprising second with 26 percent of the vote, followed by Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-06) with 7 percent of the vote, Tennessee House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), with 3 percent, and Knoxville businessman Randy Boyd with 1 percent. House Majority Leader State Rep. Glen Casada (R-Franklin) was there and participated in the straw poll.   Take a close look at the second jar on the table where Majority Leader Casada is dropping in his red gumball. In front of the second jar is the name Congresswoman Diane Black. The name of Speaker Beth Harwell, who announced her candidacy for governor on Sunday, is in front of the fourth jar.      

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Procedural Victory Moves Administration Closer to Green Light on Trump’s Wall

House Democrats failed in a last-minute attempt Friday to prohibit funds allocated to the Defense Department’s $696 billion budget from going toward the construction of the border wall President Donald Trump repeatedly promised to build. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-N.M.), chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, led the Democratic charge to reinstate language that House GOP…

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Constitution Series: The Third Amendment

    This is the twelfth of twenty-five weekly articles in The Tennessee Star’s Constitution Series. Students in grades 8 through 12 can sign up here to participate in The Tennessee Star’s Constitution Bee, which will be held on September 23. To modern eyes, the Third Amendment seems anachronistic. To the Founders, however, it was a critical protection of individual liberty: No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. The unwelcome quartering of troops was fresh in the minds of newly independent Americans, who rankled at the memory of their homes being taken over by British troops, almost always against the wishes of the owners, during the American Revolution. “The Third Amendment seems to have no direct constitutional relevance at present; indeed, not only is it the least litigated amendment in the Bill of Rights, but the Supreme Court has never decided a case on the basis of it,” Professor Gordon Wood of Brown University, a leading expert on the Federal Era of the new American Republic, wrote: The federal government today is not likely to…

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Four of Donald Trump’s Judicial Nominees Clear Senate Committee

The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared four of President Trump’s judicial nominees Thursday, rejecting complaints by Democrats who said that one of them called a Supreme Court justice a “judicial prostitute” and that the other equated the high court’s legal rulings to slavery and abortion. Two of the picks were approved easily, but Democrats said John Kenneth…

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Rand Paul Accuses Big Government Republicans of ‘Going Back on Their Word to Repeal Obamacare’

Sen. Rand Paul accused “big-government Republicans” of going “back on their word to repeal Obamacare” by supporting the revised Senate health care bill. “The real problem we have is, we won four elections on repealing Obamacare, but this bill keeps most of the Obamacare taxes, keeps most of the regulations, keeps most of the subsidies, and…

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‘Free Press Act’ Proposed by Democrat Would Require White House to Hold Regular Televised Press Briefings

Tennessee Star

The White House would be required to hold at least a couple on-camera press briefings each week if a Democratic lawmaker musters support for a House bill being offered. Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut introduced the Free Press Act on Thursday, a legislative proposal that aims to increase transparency within the Trump administration by mandating two…

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Eleven Metro Council Members Who Voted ‘Yes’ on Sanctuary City Ordinance in Re-Election Jeopardy

Tennessee Star

  Eleven members of the Metro Nashville Council who voted “yes” on the second reading of the sanctuary city ordinance on June 20 are in re-election jeopardy for 2019 because they are in favor of a policy that many of their constituents oppose, according to the results of a recent Tennessee Star Poll. Five are at-large members, and six represent districts in which their constituents opposed the now withdrawn sanctuary city ordinance by a significant margin. As The Star reported last week, the poll, conducted between June 28 and June 29,  found that likely voters in Nashville were evenly divided over the proposed sanctuary ordinance, not in “overwhelming support,” as one of the co-sponsors At-Large Council Member Bob Mendes claimed: When asked, “Metro Nashville Council was scheduled to vote on a proposal next week that would, in effect, turn Nashville into a sanctuary city where illegal immigrants are protected from arrest and deportation. Do you support or oppose the proposal for Nashville to become a sanctuary city?,” 49.4 percent supported, while 47.1 percent opposed, a statistical tie since the 2.3 percent differential is within the poll’s 4.2 percent margin of error. Though the poll found that voters were in a…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Monday, July 17

Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing July 17, Monday John 15:5-8 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us

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