As part of its generally welcome comic strategy, “Thor: Ragnarok” heckles itself for two hours and 10 minutes and lets Jeff Goldblum, skittering around as master of the death-match revels on the planet Sakaar, get away with murder. Nobody else in the known universe works on Goldblum’s wavelength. The deadpan verbal shtick he’s relying on in…
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by Robert Romano Republicans in Congress should be paying very close attention to the results in Virginia, where Ed Gillespie lost the gubernatorial race to Ralph Northam, and learn the right lesson for a change. Political parties serve very much as a function of their standard bearers, which is who voters will rally to. Right now, that standard bearer for Republicans is President Donald Trump, who one year ago was elected. And love it or hate it, the fortunes of Republicans in the House and to a lesser extent the Senate in 2018 will be tied to how successful Trump is at enacting his agenda in Congress. The formula for potential success is quite simple. Want to keep Congress in 2018? Enact the Trump agenda that won the day in 2016. The promises including cutting taxes, repealing and replacing Obamacare and building the southern border wall, among others. If the Republican Congress won’t implement the Trump agenda, how do we justify a Republican majority in Congress? It has been the failure to accomplish any major legislation in the first year that has driven down the approval of the Republican Congress. House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch…
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Rep. Bob Goodlatte announced Thursday that he plans to retire when his term ends next year. “After much contemplation and prayer, we decided it was the right time for me to step aside and let someone else serve the Sixth District. I will not seek re-election. With my time as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee ending…
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US and Chinese companies signed nearly 20 deals worth a total $9 billion on Wednesday at the start of President Donald Trump’s state visit to Beijing. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang oversaw a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People but they did not immediately give details about…
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The 51st Annual CMA Awards – Show If you are a country music fan, you shed tears easily. That’s who we are. We play hard and we love hard. But perhaps we have never cried as much as we have cried in 2017. RELATED: Montgomery Gentry’s Eddie Montgomery returns to the stage in a CMA Awards…
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Garth Brooks Names Entertainer of the Year for the 6th Time; Chris Stapleton, Brothers Osborne Night’s Top Winners at the 51st Annual CMA Awards
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ANALYSIS/OPINION: Donald Trump’s signature promise as he ran for President was he would drain the swamp. There is no greater symbol of the swamp that needs to be drained than the tax code of the United States. Actually, calling it the tax code of the United States is a misnomer. It is a tax code inflicted…
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Stephen King’s epic sci-fi Western novel series about a mysterious structure tied to the fate of the universe finally got some big screen time, but the movie crumbled before critics and now looks for rebuilding with an ultra high-definition release in The Dark Tower (Sony Pictures Entertainment, rated PG-13, 95 minutes, 2.39:1 aspect ratio, $45.99). The…
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The internet is a wonderful, amazing place to learn and grow and communicate. Still, sometimes it’s good to get your kids out from behind the computer and doing something that…
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Sen. Chris Coons said Wednesday that Democrats in red states need to keep their campaign’s local in next year’s midterm races. “The Democratic senators who are incumbents up for election this time in the five the states that you’re referencing – states like Indiana, North Dakota, Montana, Missouri, West Virginia – are terrific, active, engaged, local…
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Matt Kenseth’s exit from NASCAR is nearing, and it hasn’t received the same publicity as Dale Earnhardt Jr. retiring or Danica Patrick’s likely exit. Kenseth probably prefers it that way, but he’s a likely candidate to reach the NASCAR Hall of Fame, and he will likely leave the sport unceremoniously. There are likely only two races…
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NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Conservative radio talk show host Phil Valentine said Wednesday that illegal immigration can easily be stopped if we “demagnetize” the U.S. “The solution is quite simple,” he said at a Nashville Republican Women’s luncheon at the Richland Country Club. In addition to not being able to get a job, people here illegally should not be able to open a bank account, take out a loan or get a credit card, Valentine said. “If you demagnetize America, like I’ve been saying for 20 years, and make it impossible for somebody to be able to function in this society unless they’re legally here, you’ve solved that problem,” he said. In recent years, a growing number of banks and financial institutions have allowed people to open accounts without requiring them to show they are in the U.S. legally. Valentine also said the diversity visa lottery is “insane.” The program allows people to immigrate, often more quickly, to the U.S. to give underrepresented countries a boost. Valentine said he favors a merit-based system, which President Trump and his allies are promoting. “If people want to come, then come to the table and tell us what you can do for us. This…
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Conservative economist Arthur Laffer, who advised the Reagan administration, has endorsed state Sen. Mark Green (R-Clarksville) for Congress. Green is running for the seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-7) to run for Senate. “As a Tennessean, I’ve witnessed firsthand Mark’s leadership for pro-growth policies in the State Senate,” Laffer said in a campaign news release. “With great tenacity and courage, Mark led the fight to repeal the Hall Income Tax, making Tennessee one of only two states that has ever repealed an income tax of any kind. The U.S. Congress needs Mark Green’s leadership.” Laffer is known as the father of supply side economics, which contributed to economic growth in the 1980s. He previously endorsed U.S. Rep. Diane Black (R-TN-6) for Tennessee governor and announced he would assist her campaign as economic policy adviser. In Nashville, he serves as founder and chairman of Laffer Associates, an economic research and consulting firm. Green is an Army veteran, physician and businessman. He also has been endorsed by the Club for Growth, Family Research Council Action PAC and the House Freedom Fund. “I’ve looked up to Art Laffer ever since I was a student of economics at West Point,” Green said.…
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The Tennessee Capitol will continue to prohibit handguns despite a new policy at the new home for state lawmakers that will allow permit holders to have them, Gov. Bill Haslam said this week. Haslam told reporters Monday he has no intention of proposing a change in policy at the Capitol, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. He earlier had released a statement to that effect. Haslam said he doesn’t want guns at the Capitol because of the numerous tour groups and school children it attracts. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge) and House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville) announced recently that permit holders will be allowed to carry firearms into the renovated Cordell Hull Building. Lawmakers are in the process of moving into their new offices and the building will open to the public next week. Lawmakers had tried to get guns allowed at Legislative Plaza, which they are leaving for the Cordell Hull Building. But their attempts failed because of the Haslam administration’s concerns about logistics for security at Legislative Plaza and the desire for it to have the same policy as the Capitol. The legislature last year passed a law giving it oversight of its building, paving the way for a change at…
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Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer predicted Tuesday that Dreamers will get permanent legal status in the end-of-year spending deal Congress is working on, and said President Trump will have to sign it. “We feel very strongly that DACA must pass and must pass by Dec. 31,” Mr. Schumer told reporters at the Capitol. “We think…
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Virginia Rep. Dave Brat said Wednesday on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that Ed Gillespie’s run for governor in Virginia was a “disaster” because Gillespie refused to embrace fully the populist message President Donald Trump campaigned on in 2016. Brat, who pulled off one of the biggest upsets in congressional history when he ousted former House Majority…
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The in Virginia on Tuesday has sparked a great deal of commentary that it presages a progressive wave in next year’s congressional midterms, but the history is decidedly mixed. Sometimes, victories in Virginia have preceded midterm wave elections. Other times they have not. In a dozen Virginia gubernatorial elections dating to 1969, the party that won…
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Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky was stepping off his riding lawn mower outside his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky, last Friday when his neighbor attacked him from behind with enough force and violence that he broke six of the senator’s ribs and bruised his lungs. Paul, according to a friend, had not heard the neighbor…
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Under the introduced last week in the House of Representatives, giant multinational corporations get a fat tax cut — but also the threat of a stinging new levy if they continue commonly used tax-avoidance schemes. The hope of tax writers was that the threat of a 20 percent excise tax on the sale of products from…
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Not far from the First Baptist Church, where a shooting rampage Sunday claimed 26 lives and altered scores of others’ futures, scenes of generosity and compassion unfolded on Tuesday. Jaime RÃos set up a red canopy, under which he offered free tacos, sodas and water he’d brought from his restaurant in San Antonio, about 55 kilometers…
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On Wednesday the Shelby County Commission slapped down an attempt by Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell to stop the opioid abuse lawsuit it filed last week, voting 8 to 0 “to immediately move forward in suing opioid manufacturers and distributors.” “Why Mayor Luttrell would want to drag his feet for two years when Tennessee’s opioid prescription rate is the second highest in the United States is a mystery to me,” Shelby County Commission Chairwoman Heidi Shafer tells The Star in an exclusive interview. “We have more prescriptions for opioids than we have people. Who benefits from that?” Shafer asks, adding: Not the babies born addicted. Not the elderly who are routinely prescribed these addictive drugs and becoming hooked. Not the hospitals, schools, and law enforcment. Not the taxpayers! “It looks like the Swamp does not exist only in Washington, D.C. It looks like we have a Swamp right here in Memphis,” Shafer says. The commission’s vote “comes ahead of a Tuesday, Nov. 14, hearing in Chancery Court on county mayor Mark Luttrell’s lawsuit against Shafer. Luttrell claims Shafer violated the county charter by acting unilaterally to hire a law firm,” the Memphis Daily News reported: Commissioner Terry Roland said the commission’s ratification vote…
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VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing November 9, Thursday John 1:5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. John 3:19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 2 Corinthians 3:16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
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