Free Republic

Thousands of illegal immigrant children who have been arrested for crossing the U.S. border are merely pawns "in a political game" by President Barack Obama, Rep. Marsha Blackburn charged to Newsmax on Saturday. "I find it just horrific that these children would be used for a political point," the Tennessee Republican said after touring a detention center at Fort Sill Army Base in Oklahoma. .... Blackburn spent about two hours at the Fort Sill center with Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine, who appeared on Newsmax TV on July 3 to tell "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner how he was denied access when...

Representative Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) brought a picture of her grandson to Capitol Hill today. No, she didn’t simply show it to her colleagues to beam about her newest family member – she brought the picture straight to the Senate floor to testify against the pro-abortion S. 1696, or “Women’s Health Protection Act.” S. 1696, which has 25 Senate cosponsors (all Democrats), would override nearly all federal and state laws limiting abortion, including third-trimester bans on abortion, limits on abortion after 5 months of pregnancy, and laws against sex-selection abortion, according to the pro-life organization SBA List, which sent out an...

I just returned from another trip to Tennessee where I was able to catch up with a few folks from the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga and see how things were developing. The conversations there had shifted quite a bit from earlier in the year when the vote regarding UAW unionization was raging, and recent reports make it clear that the big auto union isn’t going to be content with licking their wounds from their recent loss. As Ed reported back in April, the UAW had withdrawn their request for a hearing before the National Labor Relations Board, which some...

Primary battles in Tennessee tend to be very heated affairs. This is not entirely due to the fact that Tennessee holds its primaries in the first week of August as the temperature and humidity sail north of 90 degrees in many parts of the state. While Tennessee’s primary is late compared to many others, what is really surprising is that no one is talking about the Senate primary. Lamar Alexander is running for his third term as senator from Tennessee. Alexander is almost a political legend in Tennessee. He was twice elected governor. He ran for president twice. He was...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Gov. Bill Haslam says the state is offering to dedicate Tennessee Highway Patrol troopers to help Memphis deal with a rash of sick calls from police officers upset about cuts to their health care benefits. Memphis police spokeswoman Karen Rudolph said Tuesday the number of officers who are currently out sick has increased to 554. That represents about a quarter of the total force, which stands at about 2,200 officers.

Thom Throp is a Kingsport insurance agent who's sold over sixty Affordable Care Act plans. Like thousands of others, he logged on with great interest to read a story from The Tennessean newspaper about a Maryville couple forced to separate after 33 years of marriage so the wife could keep health insurance. "We are in a situation in trying to get as many people covered as possible. People are falling in the proverbial crack," Throp said. (snip) So if expanding Medicaid isn't the answer, then what is? Throp tells us, even in a tight economy, that couples like the Drains...

New research takes a look at decades of corruption convictions to find the crookedest states in the union. When we think of government corruption (as one tends to do), our biased minds often gravitate to thoughts of military juntas and third world governments. But, of course, corruption is everywhere, in one form or another. And it’s costing U.S. citizens big time. A new study from researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University estimates that corruption on the state level is costing Americans in the 10 most corrupt states an average of $1,308 per year, or 5.2% of...

The news that Howard Baker had passed at the age of 88 set off a kaleidoscopic swirl of memories, impressions, recollections and reflections -- so many it was surprising, for he was not a particularly memorable politician, and certainly not a colorful one. On the contrary, Howard Baker's great strength was an ability to meld into the background, to mediate between the political stars of his time, to serve rather than lead, to be the gray between black and white opposites, always the man in the middle, the one in the background when a president signs a bill into...

The wood frame of the Delta Queen steamboat creaks and groans as the old lady tugs passively against her moorings. Weather and time have taken their toll on the silent relic, which sits lashed to a storm-damaged quay along Chattanooga's Coolidge Park. Workers have long since battened down her hatches and blocked off her decks. The only sign of life is a fairly believable scarecrow, cobbled together using an old hat, a pair of boots and a duct-taped Dickies uniform. It sits in the shade with a fire ax across its lap to dissuade intruders. But the once-stately chunk of...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul made yet another appearance Monday with Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander, who is facing a Tea Party primary challenger. While considered one of the most moderate Republicans in the Senate, Alexander has been working in recent months to look more conservative. Before anyone could ask, Alexander denied that he was trying to get political help from the Tea Party darling. “We’re not here to endorse each other,” he said, without prompting. “Rand hasn’t asked me to endorse me for the President of the United States, and I haven’t asked him to endorse me for the senate. We’re here...

Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden has proposed a three-month transportation bill. Three more months, he says, will give Congress a chance to figure out a long-term solution. The only problem is that Congress had three months three months ago and did nothing. Meanwhile, Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., have proposed to increase gas taxes by 12 cents a gallon. Considering that the gas tax hasn’t been increased in more than 20 inflation-filled years, this would seem to make sense.It doesn’t, however, because a gas tax increase assumes there is a shortage of funds for transportation. Instead, the real...

SEVIERVILLE — Four stalwarts of the nation’s conservative movement exhorted an appreciative Sevier County tea party crowd of several hundred Thursday night to stay true to their principles. The event had the feel of a pep rally at times, as the speakers cheered the U.S. as the greatest nation on earth. Then each laid out a litany of things wrong with the country, from failure to adhere to Christian governance to multiple scandals to the breakdown of the traditional family to excessive political correctness.

Bob Corker wants a problem-solver to run for president in 2016. Not by chance, that's how the Tennessee Republican and ranking member on the Foreign Relations Committee describes his own role in the Senate. "Every senator has probably thought about it," Corker said about running for president. "All I really wish to see happen in 2016 is that we have a good president, great president for our nation. I hope someone steps forward that has the ability to solve problems—not just throw rhetoric out there." And despite serving in one of the least productive Senates in history, solving problems is...

Former Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr., a moderate Republican known as the politician who inquired what President Richard Nixon knew during the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings, has died. He was 88.

In the early 1990s, landscaper Horace Burgess bought some wooded land on the outskirts of Crossville, Tennessee. One of the bigger trees, next to a dirt road, caught his eye. He decided to build the world's largest tree house in its branches. [....] God doesn't make housing offers every day. Horace got himself ordained as a minister and went back to work. God showed Horace what the tree house would look like ("It was like a vision") but didn't tell Horace how big it would be. "If He had," Horace said, "I would've tried to talk Him out of it."...

A rally scheduled for Thursday night has all the makings of a political boon to Tennessee State Sen. Joe Carr, who's challenging Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in the Senate primary. Stars of the Tea Party, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, are headlining the event. It's being organized by the Servier County Tea Party, a group that hails from Rep. Phil Roe's (R-TN) R+25 congressional district. And the rally is scheduled for two days after the Mississippi runoff, which, if state senator Chris McDaniel wins, could give Carr additional political momentum. But Steve Osborn, the Chairman of the Sevier Country...

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) is boldly defending his vote for the Senate "Gang Of Eight" immigration bill as he campaigns for re-election in Tennessee, after his Tea Party-backed primary challenger Joe Carr has made the issue a central point in his campaign. In an emailed statement to Breitbart News, Alexander issued a strong defense of his support for immigration reform – first published in the Knoxville News Sentinel. "We have amnesty today,” Alexander said. "Turning your head while 11 million people are already here illegally is perpetual amnesty. I voted along with 67 other United States senators to end perpetual...

On June 26th, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will headline an "America's Last Stand" Tea Party rally in Eastern Tennessee at the Sevierville Convention Center. The rally was scheduled to be held at Smokies Stadium, but was moved indoors due to weather concerns. The Sevier County Tea Party in association and JL Production will organize the event, and Palin will appear with with Judge Jeanine Pirro, Senator Rick Santorum, and Col. Allen West. Singers Jon Secada and John Michael Montgomery will provide the entertainment. There are only 7,500 seats available for the event. In 2010, Palin keynoted the National Tea...

Remember these sixteen names when they run for office again. The sixteen Republicans who voted to proceed were Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Susan Collins (Maine). Bob Corker (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.). List courtesy The Hill.com. As reported by RedState yesterday, this bill would allow doctors to add a person’s name to the national database currently used for background checks, and list them as...

After Dave Brat's stunning upset over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) last week, Joe Carr, a Tennessee state representative who is challenging moderate Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) in an August 7th primary, is seeing signs of momentum. Seven more Tennessee state representatives endorsed Carr on Monday, a week after Laura Ingraham, who helped propel Brat to his victory, praised Carr on her radio show. Middle Tennessee Representatives Sheila Butt (R-Columbia), Judd Matheny (R-Tullahoma), Mark Pody (R-Lebanon), Courtney Rogers (R-Goodlettsville), Mike Sparks (R-Smyrna), Billy Spivey (R-Lewisburg), and Rick Womick (R-Rockvale) said Carr could repeat the successes of Brat and...