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Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday praised the Republican senators who declined to sign a controversial open letter to Iran. "I'm heartened ... that a few Republicans, seven to be exact, didn't sign the letter. That's nice. Seven out of 54, certainly seven better than nothing," Reid said from the Senate floor. The open letter, signed by 47 Senate Republicans, states that any deal reached on Iran's nuclear program could be overturned “with the stroke of a pen” after President Obama leaves the White House in 2017. Republican Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.),...

White House officials have been holding private meetings this week aimed at soothing lawmakers’ concerns over the U.S. posture in Syria, the future of the American military presence in Afghanistan and defense spending. The meetings come as a frustrated White House seeks to push back at criticism of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. But the White House outreach appeared to be having little effect on some lawmakers’ concerns. Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described Tuesday night’s White House meeting with chief of staff Denis McDonough and national security adviser Susan Rice as...

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and 19 other Republicans are backing legislation to block the Federal Communications Commission’s new rules on net neutrality. Blackburn's two-page bill, introduced Tuesday, would make sure that the FCC's regulations approved last week would have "no force of effect." It would also restrict the commission from approving any new regulations that are substantially similar, unless Congress first authorized it. The bill's 19 co-sponsors include most of the Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology, which has jurisdiction over the agency. That includes Rep. Bob Latta (R-Ohio), vice chairman of the subcommittee. "My...

For days now we’ve watched Democratic Rep. Steve Cohen from Tennessee make the rounds on cable TV and hear how he was planning to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s big speech to Congress…

Currently, 61 members of Congress have confirmed they will not attend the speech. Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ) California Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) — “I am disappointed Speaker Boehner chose to irresponsibly interject politics into what has long been a strong and bipartisan relationship between the United States and Israel. As President Obama has noted, it is inappropriate for a Head of State to address Congress just two weeks ahead of their election. I agree that Congress should not be used as a prop in Israeli election campaigns,...

Leaders of ISIS are now calling on followers to assassinate an American college professor in the group’s propaganda magazine.The professor is Yasir Qadhi, reports Memphis NBC affiliate WMC-TV. Qadhi, born in Houston, Texas, is a professor of religious studies at Rhodes College, a private bastion of the liberal arts in Memphis. He is also a Muslim cleric and the resident scholar at the Memphis Islamic Center.ISIS — also called the Islamic State — and its adherents don’t like Qadhi because he stands athwart the radical Muslim entity, yelling stop.“Contrary to popular opinion, ISIS does not have support in the American Muslim...

The Dem Congressmen Boycotting Netanyahu are the Same Old Hamas SupportersPosted By Daniel Greenfield On February 26, 2015 @ 6:02 pm In The Point | 12 Comments There are a lot of stories about the Dem members of Congress boycotting Netanyahu’s speech. But most of the names on the list are longtime opponents of the Jewish State.The boycott lists consists of two groups. Congressional Black Caucus members who are offended on Obama’s behalf and can smell racism anywhere.The other consists of opponents of Israel.It’s instructive to compare the list of boycotters to the 54 members of Congress who signed...

A full list of the Democrats who have confirmed they're missing the speech follows: SENATE - 4 members Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) Sen. Brian Schatz (Hawaii) HOUSE - 26 members Rep. Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) Rep. G.K. Butterfield (N.C.) Rep. Andre Carson (Ind.) Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) Rep. Steve Cohen (Tenn.) Rep. Peter DeFazio (Ore.) Rep. Diana DeGette (Colo.) Rep. Donna Edwards (Md.) Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.) Rep. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (Ill.) Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.) Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (Texas) Rep. Barbara Lee (Calif.) Rep. John Lewis (Ga.)...

Folks. We have received a very disturbing report from the outlet Bradley County News, based out of Tennessee. I think the people there need our help. They need us to listen, be aware, keep our eyes open, and not be so overly concerned with offending someone, that we take action to stop this. Please read every single word of this report. From Bradley County News, with respect: US and TN Terrorist Camps have launched Jihad, prepare for future attacks 02/20/2015 0936 am They are in your neighborhood. They walk the streets with you. They shop, dine and eat with you....

Governor Palin wowed the crowd as she arrived on the "red carpet" for Saturday Night Live’s 40th Anniversary 3-hour special.She stopped on the "red carpet" to talk with actor Alec Baldwin, quipping that she likes his brother, Stephen –a conservative– better. NBC anchors Savannah Guthrie and Matt Lauer intereviewed the two of them, and it may be me, but it seemed as though Baldwin was doing his best to keep Gov. Palin from talking. After Guthrie asked her a direct question, Baldwin was forced to listen, while chomping on his gum (or could it have been leftover food from dinner?)Twitchy caught some of the...

Using a Loudon County case as a backdrop, the Tennessee Supreme Court on Friday upheld for the first time a parent’s right to choose faith over medicine — even if a child dies as a result. “This is a case of first impression,” Justice Gary R. Wade wrote in the court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of Tennessee’s Spiritual Treatment Exemption Act.

State legislators around the country have introduced more than 200 bills aiming to nullify regulations and laws coming out of Washington, D.C., as they look to rein in the federal government. The legislative onslaught, which includes bills targeting federal restrictions on firearms, experimental treatments and hemp, reflects growing discord between the states and Washington, state officials say. “You have a choice,” said Kentucky state Rep. Diane St. Onge (R). “To sit back and not do anything or say anything and let overregulation continue — or you have the alternative choice to speak up about it and say, ‘We know what...

The Tennessee Republican Executive Committee has, at least for now, closed the door on a resolution supporting statewide closed primaries. The committee met Saturday to consider passage of the proposed closed primary resolution, but the measure failed. Twenty-nine members of the Republican Executive Committee voted in favor of the resolution, while 37 committee members voted against it.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The executive committee of the state Republican Party has turned back an effort to hold closed primaries in Tennessee. The panel voted 37-29 on Saturday against the resolution aimed at requiring party registration to vote in primary contests. Currently, Tennessee voters aren’t registered by party, and people sometimes vote in a particular primary because of campaign developments rather than party affiliation. Supporters of closed primaries say crossover voting can unduly influence the outcome of nomination contests.

In Rebuke of Tennessee Governor, Koch Group Shows Its Power "In December, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, got the deal he wanted from the Obama administration: Tennessee would accept more than $1 billion in federal funding to expand Medicaid, as allowed for in the Affordable Care Act, but Obama aides would allow Haslam to essentially write staunchly conservative ideas into the program's rules for the state. He dubbed the reformed Medicaid program "Insure Tennessee." But the state's chapter of Americans for Prosperity, the national conservative group whose foundation is chaired by controversial billionaire David Koch, argued Haslam was just...

Anti-union forces claim UAW ‘stuffed’ ballot box. Workers in Alabama are staging a fourth attempt to kick the United Auto Workers (UAW) out of their plant following claims that stuffed ballot boxes derailed their last vote. Employees at the NTN-Bower Corporation, a ball bearings manufacturer, have unsuccessfully tried to boot the labor giant out of their factory for two years. Workers voted to decertify the UAW in an earlier election, but an Obama-appointed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) panel threw out the election. Another election was held in January of this year. The UAW prevailed, but it was later revealed...

"Could you be a church in Selma and not march, just handle your own community?" says pastor Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church. "I don’t think I can do that." Three Sundays ago in Franklin, Tenn., twenty minutes south of Nashville and in the heart of the country’s contemporary Christian music industry, pastor Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church preached what was perhaps the most important sermon of his life. You can watch it above–start around 44:40 if you are short on time.

In what has been described as a new front in the battle over same-sex marriage, legislators in several states under judicial orders to confer marital status on same-sex couples have introduced bills to forbid state or local officials from issuing marriage licenses to couples of the same gender. The bills would also strip the salaries of employees who issued the licenses, the New York Times reported Thursday.The bills have been introduced in the legislatures of Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas, with South Carolina also considering a bill that would allow officials to opt out of issuing such licenses if it...

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Monday that both Nevada and Tennessee have joined the Lone Star state's challenge of President Obama's executive amnesty, bringing the total number of states fighting Obama's unilateral immigration policies to 26. “Texas is proud to lead a coalition that now includes a majority of the United States standing up against the President’s rogue actions,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement. “The momentum against the President's lawlessness continues to build with Tennessee and Nevada joining the effort to protect our states from the economic and public safety implications of illegal amnesty. As President...

Starting Saturday at 10 a.m. ET, the Iowa Freedom Summit will be livestreamed in its entirety. Speakers include: Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Steve King (R-IA), real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and many others.