Incredibles 2: Making Superheroes Great Again

Incredibles-2

by Jordan J. Ballor   I saw Incredibles 2 over the Father’s Day weekend, and just like its predecessor, there’s a lot to ponder beneath the surface of this animated film. In the real world we’ve had to wait 14 years, but the sequel picks up basically where the original left off. As the Rev. Jerry Zandstra wrote of the original, “litigiousness and mediocrity are some of the biggest obstacles in our culture. The propensity to settle every dispute by legal action undermines values, such as trust and forgiveness, that are essential to the maintenance of genuine community. Fear of rewarding or achieving excellence discourages human persons from fulfilling God-given potential.” In the sequel, superheroes are still illegal, for reasons of both litigiousness and social anxiety over “supers,” that is, those who have super abilities. Incredibles 2 has a lot to do with the virtues of a system that allows individuals to find out what they can do well and how those abilities can serve others for their good. In this, it is true to the stewardship mandate at the heart of all superhero tales: with great power comes great responsibility. Or as Jesus puts it, to those whom much is given, much is expected. But the issues…

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Judd Matheny Gets Endorsement of Michael Reagan for Congressional Bid in Tennessee’s 6th

Judd Matheny, Michael Reagan

Conservative Republican Judd Matheny picked up a big endorsement this week when Michael Reagan, son of former President Ronald Reagan and a former nationally syndicated talk radio host, visited Tennessee to promote his campaign for Congress in Tennessee’s 6th Congressional District. The August 2 Republican Primary will select a nominee to fill the seat being vacated by Congresswoman Diane Black, who is running for Governor. “Judd Matheny has the conservative principles and statesmanship that my father so loved in a candidate,” Reagan said in making his endorsement. “Judd will uphold Ronald Reagan’s legacy in Congress and I urge you to vote for him and I support him fully.” Matheny said that Reagan will be assisting his campaign in a variety of ways leading up to the Republican Primary. “Ronald Reagan was unwavering in his commitment to national security, economic freedom and prosperity, and the conservative principles essential to promoting and protecting liberty,” Matheny noted. “I am proud that Michael Reagan sees the same characteristics in me that were embodied by his father and am excited to have his support and friendship.” Michael Reagan is the son of former President Ronald Reagan and Academy Award winning actress, Jane Wyman. He authored many successful…

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Mike Huckabee Endorses Randy Boyd For Tennessee Governor

Mike Hukabee

Conservative former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has endorsed Republican candidate Randy Boyd for governor of Tennessee. Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas, made the announcement in a television ad Friday, the Boyd campaign announced. “Huckabee, a notable voice for the conservative movement, is throwing his support behind Randy as a conservative businessman who is strong on key issues like illegal immigration and pro-life values,” the announcement says. “Huckabee also supports Randy’s background as a businessman looking to disrupt career politicians. The politician, minister, author and commentator says ‘Tennessee needs a conservative businessman as governor who can get things done.’” Huckabee, a one-time Fox News host, ran unsuccessfully for president twice but carried Tennessee in 2008 by wide margins, the Times Free Press said. Boyd’s campaign CEO is Chip Saltsman, a former Tennessee Republican Party chairman who served as Huckabee’s national campaign manager in the former Arkansas governor’s 2008 presidential effort. Watch the commercial:    

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Steve Gill Remembers John Ward, the ‘Voice of the Vols’

Steve Gill, John Ward

In the final segment of Friday’s Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, Steve Gill reflected on the life and times of legendary Vols sports broadcaster, John Ward. Ward passed away this week at age 88 after a lengthy illness. The segment opened up with a 1995 recording of Ward calling a classic moment in Vols football history: a first-down, first play touchdown by then-quarterback Peyton Manning and his wide receiver, Joey Kent. “What did he do?” Ward said in his trademark galloping cadence – the live Vols fans roaring in the background – “All he did was score!” “The Voice of the Vols has passed,” Steve Gill said, “But his legacy lives on as long as someone shouts ‘BOTTOM’ whenever a Tennessee basketball player scores a basket; or ‘Give him six!’ when they cross the checkerboard; or ‘It’s football time in Tennessee!’ when those crisp, Fall Saturdays begin.” He continued: You know, when I was a kid – eighth or ninth grade – we lived in Colonial Heights Virginia, near Richmond, and late at night I could tune in and just barely catch the Vol basketball games. I would have to actually turn the dial sightly…

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Phil Bredesen’s Close Ties to an Increasingly Unpopular Bob Corker Shine Through in New Profile

Bob Corker, Phil Bredesen

In a new The Times Free Press item entitled, Bredesen goes all out in Senate race with Blackburn, what perhaps stands out most of all is Phil Bredesen’s close ties to the increasingly unpopular outgoing Republican Senator Bob Corker and the distance between Bredesen and President Trump. They  make it very clear that Bredesen wouldn’t even be running if he had to face off with Corker. That in itself makes him something of a mini-Corker, only worse. It’s a race the 74-year-old never envisioned making until last year when his longtime friend, Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker of Chattanooga, announced he wouldn’t seek re-election. Bredesen, known as a moderate, and Corker go back to the mid-1990s, when Bredesen was Nashville’s mayor and Corker the then-state finance commissioner for Republican Gov. Don Sundquist. In various roles over decades, they worked together on projects, including the successful recruitment of the NFL’s then-Houston Oilers to Nashville and, while governor, working with Corker and local officials in 2008 to bring Volkswagen to Chattanooga. “I had no intention of doing anything else when I left the governor’s office,” said Bredesen, who later succeeded Sundquist as governor and served from 2003-2011. “When Corker said he wasn’t going to run…

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Commentary: Amnesty Push Proves We Need Jim Jordan As Speaker

Jim Jordan, Paul Ryan

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…

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Senate Fails to Pass the Rescission Package

Trump-captial-spending-money

By Printus LeBlanc   When President Donald Trump signed the omnibus spending bill back in March, he did so reluctantly. The swamp knew the President’s feelings for the military and hid behind them to fill the omnibus with wasteful spending. The President signed it, hoping some of the spending would be later rescinded. After all, who on Capitol Hill wants to fund programs that do nothing and waste money. The President and the American people got their answer when the Senate continued to do what it does best, disappoint the taxpayers. It is bad enough the House barely passed its modest $15 billion rescission package, but the Senate failing to pass the measure is downright embarrassing. The bill failed 48-50 with two Republicans voting to continue wasting money on government programs that don’t do anything. One has to wonder why Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) crossed the aisle to vote with hardline progressives to fund programs that do nothing? What about Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.)? Doesn’t he claim to be a fiscal conservative? One of the most aggravating examples of government waste is the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program. The program provides taxpayer-funded loans to automobile and automobile part…

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Families of Victims of Illegal Aliens Tell of ‘Permanent Separation’ From Children, Being Ignored by Media

angel parents

by Fred Lucas   With President Donald Trump still facing criticism over separating migrant families who illegally crossed the border, other families met with the president Friday to share their stories of “permanent separation” from children killed by illegal immigrants—and to complain of being ignored by the news media. Among those family members were Laura Wilkerson, who recalled the 2010 slaying of her son Josh. “He was brutally tortured, strangled over and over. He was set on fire after death. His last hours were brutal,” Wilkerson said, standing on a stage at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building with Trump, administration officials, and family members of 13 other victims of crimes by illegal immigrants. They were among the “Angel Families” advocating for strong enforcement of immigration laws. [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] Wilkerson contrasted their situation with those of illegal-immigrant parents who can communicate with the children they’ve been separated from on Skype. “As with everyone standing up here, none of our kids had a minute to say goodbye. We weren’t lucky enough to be separated for five days or 10 days,” she…

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Phil Bredesen Accused President Trump of ‘Child Abuse’ on Border Despite Flawed Media Coverage of True Situation

Phil Bredesen

While the controversy of separating families crossing the U.S. border illegally has been mostly settled, it’s worth noting that Democrat Senate Candidate Phil Bredesen took his criticism of President Trump on the issue as far as any far Left-Wing agitator did, in effect, labeling it child abuse. That despite it becoming increasingly apparent that media coverage of the issue was slanted, at best, as the Knoxville News Sentinel reported: Before he spoke about rising health care costs, before he listened to the stories of gaps in the system and before he visited the wing dedicated to babies born dependent on opiates, Phil Bredesen spoke Wednesday about the “elephant in the room.” Bredesen said it was wrong for the U.S. government to institute a policy that separated children from families at the U.S.-Mexican border and he said the policy was “effectively child abuse.” He said he hoped President Donald Trump would fix the crisis Tuesday, which he did later in the day. It’s also worth noting that it’s now obvious that some of the media’s coverage of the issue varied from somewhere between dishonest and incompetent, as Fox News reported in this story, “Crying migrant girl on TIME magazine cover was…

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