Fred Thompson, a former United States Senator and well known actor died at the age of 73 after a battle with leukemia.
The Thompson family broke the news to the media in a statement.
“It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of grief that we share the passing of our brother, husband, father, and grandfather who died peacefully in Nashville surrounded by his family,” the statement read according to the Tennessean. “Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of Lawrenceburg, his home,” the statement read in part.
From the Tennessean
“As an attorney, he helped lead to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. As a politician, he served the state of Tennessee for eight years as a conservative Republican in the U.S. Senate and briefly as a possible GOP presidential nominee. As an actor, he stared in some of the most prominent films and television series of his time.
At 6’5″ with a booming voice, Mr. Thompson and his larger-than-life persona played a role in several key moments that shaped the U.S. and Tennessee political landscape.”
Thompson was best known for his campaign for president in 2008 and for his role as the Manhattan District Attorney Arthur Branch in Law And Order. Thompson won 11 delegates in his 2008 race for the GOP nomination for the highest office in the land and dropped out after competing in 5 states.
Stay with Rise News as we continue to update this developing story.
Sad news from Tennessee: Fred Thompson died today in Nashville. A recurrence of lymphoma, per a statement. Quite a life.
— Jonathan Martin (@jmartNYT) November 1, 2015
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Glenn Beck Basically Endorsed Hillary Clinton
Glenn Beck is one weird dude.
If you don’t already know that, then you best spend a few minutes Googling before continuing to read this.
Despite his weirdness, which often masquerades as bizarre conspiracy theory worship, Beck has been pretty consistent in his principled opposition to Donald Trump as the Republican nominee for President.
Beck, who had been a strong supporter of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the GOP primary has since turned on Cruz due to the his shocking decision to announce that he would fall in line and vote for Trump.
But it is now in the aftermath of mass GOP defections from the Trump train after the release of a 2005 videotape that shows Trump using sexist language that actively condones sexual assault, that Beck has really started to feel the heat from Conservatives.
Breitbart is roasting him due to a statement he posted on his Facebook page that pretty clearly says that the election of Hillary Clinton would be an acceptable alternative to the ushering in of President Trump.
Yes, this is the same guy that once did this on national tv.
We can’t believe it either.
Anyway, here is Beck’s full post he made to Facebook that has Trumpers up in arms:
“Every person, each of us must decide what is a bridge too far.
Mike Lee has obviously reached that point, where the moral compromise his party is asking him to make is simply beyond what is acceptable.
It is not acceptable to ask a moral, dignified man to cast his vote to help elect an immoral man who is absent decency or dignity.
If the consequence of standing against Trump and for principles is indeed the election of Hillary Clinton, so be it. At least it is a moral, ethical choice.
If she is elected, the world does not end…. Once elected, Hillary can be fought. Her tactics are blatant and juvenile, and battling her by means of political and procedural maneuvering or through the media , through public marches and online articles, all of that will be moral, worthy of man of principal.
Her nominees can be blocked, her proposed laws voted down.
The alternative does not offer a moral person the same opportunity. If one helps to elect an immoral man to the highest office, then one is merely validating his immorality, lewdness, and depravity.
But it’s OK, at least it is not her! Right??
No.
Lee’s call for Trump to step down and withdraw from the race is respectful to him and to the process.
Trump stepping down does not guarantee a Clinton win, but it does guarantee that the Republican party still stands for something, still allows its members to maintain thier own self respect and that it still has a future.”
Somebody give Beck a round of applause.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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It Doesn’t Matter That Ted Cruz Broke The “Pledge”
If you paid attention to the news in any amount whatsoever during the Republican national convention, you are probably aware that on the third night (July 20), Ted Cruz gave a speech where not only did he decline to formally endorse Donald Trump, but implicitly told voters not to vote for him if it violated their conscience.
Not surprisingly, this speech prompted much outrage from the party.
He was booed offstage.
Former allies such as Sarah Palin said that his career was over.
Rick Perry and Dan Patrick (the lieutenant governor of Texas) have been mentioned as possible primary opponents against Cruz when he runs for re-election in the Senate in 2018.
Donald Trump is reportedly so embittered that not only does he not want Cruz’s endorsement should he change his mind, and has talked about funding SuperPACs against him and John Kasich, who also refused to endorse, in future elections they run in.
Ted Cruz himself has since explained his reasoning behind his decision to not endorse Trump, saying that he is “not in the habit of supporting someone who attacks my wife and attacks my father.”
That, in his opinion, invalidated the pledge that all the candidates signed to support the eventual nominee back in September.
Or did it?
I am a Republican who supported Ted Cruz for the nomination prior to him dropping out on May 3.
As I saw many of my fellow Cruz supporters turn into former supporters over his decision not to endorse, I struggled to figure out whether I should do the same.
I sympathized with the content of his speech (so much, that the Trump-sponsored vicious reaction to his statements, which included emphasis on the importance of preserving the Constitution and the idea that voters must vote according to what they believe is best for our freedoms, prompted me to decide to vote third party even though I’m a registered Republican), but I wondered whether he should be judged for apparently failing to keep his word.
I eventually decided that he should not be judged regarding the so-called “pledge.” Why? Because the pledge was invalidated into non-existence in deed. Not by Cruz, but by Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican Party.
As I thought about how to respond, I remembered an event that took place on March 29, 2015, when Donald Trump also renounced the pledge at the CNN Town Hall event that evening.
According to Time, Trump’s decision to renounce the pledge violated the terms that would have made him eligible to be on the ballots in states that required a loyalty pledge.
This could have caused him to forfeit his delegates in such states that had already voted at the time, such as South Carolina.
That didn’t happen, and the question is, why?
Why didn’t Reince Priebus follow through with his own rules, especially considering that as a leader of the GOP establishment, Trump’s downfall perhaps would have benefited him?
I can’t say for sure, but I would not rule out the idea Priebus’ decision not to penalize Trump was related to his belief that Trump can make deals.
After all, he and Trump had no problem making deals (abeit, indirectly via a coalition of Trump supporters and establishment figures in the Republican National Committee) that threw out proposed amendments to the convention rules that would have limited the power of the party chair, and redistributed it in the hands of lower-ranking members who could have affected the outcome of the development of the party platform, if not the convention itself.
Regardless of Priebus’ motivations, his actions do not reflect kindly on the reputation of the party, which, based on them, has been attacking Cruz based on a false premise.
A pledge that is not enforced is not a pledge. It is a joke.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. You can write for us.
Cover Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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