Mark Green Withdraws as Nominee for Army Secretary

  “President Trump’s pick for Army Secretary, Mark Green, has withdrawn his name from consideration,” NBC News reported late Friday afternoon: “Tragically, my life of public service and my Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized and attacked by a few on the other side of the aisle for political gain,” Green said in a statement sent to NBC News. “While these false attacks have no bearing on the needs of the Army or my qualifications to serve, I believe it is critical to give the President the ability to move forward with his vision to restore our military to its rightful place in the world.” Sources familiar with Green’s situation tell The Tennessee Star that the character attacks on him from Islamic activists and LGBT activists did not receive any pushback from the Pentagon or the White House. This left Green hanging out by himself, getting battered unfairly without the ability to respond. “It’s frightening that a White House that has opened its doors to Americans of all backgrounds now allows Mark Green to be denied the opportunity to provide his service to our country because he is ‘too Christian.’ This is a shameful indication that persecution of Christians isn’t limited…

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FACT’S David Fowler: Religious Liberty Executive Order “A Good First Step”

The Family Action Council of Tennessee is calling President Trump’s signing of a religious liberty executive order on Thursday “a good first step.” But more is needed to shore up protections for people of faith, said FACT President David Fowler in a statement. Fowler said the executive order “addresses in a limited way the Johnson Amendment that has been used by the IRS to intimidate conservative ministers, but we call on the president to provide the leadership Congress needs to repeal it.” “We also join others in calling on the president to now take those additional steps necessary to fulfill the promise made during his campaign to fully protect religious liberty, particularly the liberty of those who believe in the sanctity of life and marriage,” Fowler said. Trump received widespread support from evangelicals in the November 2016 election and many have followed this issue closely to make sure he follows through on his campaign promise. In February, FACT joined with the Family Policy Alliance and its network of 40 state-based family policy councils in sending a letter to Trump asking him to reverse the tone set by the Obama administration. “We write to request that you firmly reject the systemic bullying…

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Executive Director Of Latinos For Tennessee Calls Attacks On State Senator Mark Green ‘Character Assassination’

Tennessee Star

The executive director of Latinos For Tennessee is defending state Sen. Mark Green, who has come under attack since being nominated by President Trump to be army secretary. Progressive groups have mercilessly berated Green (R-Clarksville) for his Christian views, especially as they relate to LGBT issues and Islam. In a column for The Tennessean, Raul Lopez called the attacks “character assassination” and said that Green “has dedicated much of his professional life to serving others.” “His appointment should be a proud moment for the Volunteer State that knows firsthand that Senator Green is a selfless patriot who loves our country and has put on the uniform to fight for our precious freedoms,” Lopez wrote. “But because Mark Green is a man of faith, critics are seizing on a handful of statements that are purposefully drawn out of context to paint him as intolerant of others.” Latinos For Tennessee is a conservative political advocacy group headquartered in Nashville that promotes faith, family, freedom and fiscal responsibility. Green is a retired Army officer and physician. He is getting slammed for defending traditional marriage and calling former President Obama’s promotion of transgender bathroom policies “absurd” and also for raising questions about what schoolchildren are taught about…

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Christian Leaders Give Bibles To First Responders In Goodlettsville

Church leaders have been giving Bibles to firefighters and police officers in Goodlettsville this week in a show of support. Some firefighters received their Bibles on Thursday – the National Day of Prayer, reports WKRN News 2. Fire Chief Kenneth Reeves told WKRN that his firefighters appreciate the support. “They get a real boost,” he said. “They get strength from being acknowledged every now and then.” Seven organizations are involved in distributing the pocket-size Bibles, which are imprinted before they are handed out. “We wanted to make sure that every policeman and every fireman gets a Bible with their name on it so it is something they can take with them,” said Pastor Joe Marlar. “We just simply want to say thank you for protecting our community.” Marlar said he also wants first responders to know that Christians are praying for their safety.

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Faculty at Samford University Votes in Favor of LGBT Student Group

Tennessee Star

  The faculty at Samford University in Alabama has voted to give official recognition to a pro-LGBT student organization. The full faculty at the Baptist school voted April 27 to recommend approval of Samford Together, a student group that would offer a forum for discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in “an open-minded and accepting environment,” reports Baptist Press. The recommendation could have “serious implications” for the ties between the university and the Alabama Baptist Convention, according to a joint statement by the convention president and the executive director of its state board of missions. The statement said approval of such a group would go against Scripture. Meanwhile, Samford President Andrew Westmoreland is trying to find middle ground. He told the faculty before the vote that he holds to the biblical view of marriage between a man and a woman and said many of Samford’s constituents believe the same. Yet he did not take a position on Samford Together, according to the Baptist Press. “As you hear me today, some of you may be disappointed by my unwillingness to completely embrace contemporary views of human sexuality and the theology that is used to undergird them,” Westmoreland said in his remarks…

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Mayor of Dunlap, Tennessee In Dispute With Elderly Couple Over Home, Faces Re-Election Vote

  By David Tulis / Noogaradio 1240 AM 92.7 FM The mayor of a small Tennessee town faces a fight for his seat Saturday after having spent nearly two years involved in a dispute with an elderly couple and demanding the right to search their house absent probable cause. The case against Thomas and Carol Gaddy has received virtually no local media coverage and many people do not know about the conflict for what he calls an “inspection.” The civil prosecution of the elderly couple, who are restoring a 19th century house, has cost the city taxpayers at least $20,000. Because the Gaddys would not voluntarily consent to a search, a chancery court jurist without city charter jurisdiction ordered them jailed for contempt. To avoid Judge Thomas Graham’s order, the Gaddys – he 71, she 69 – fled and are in hiding. “There’s a lot of people that are upset about the Gaddys,” says mayoral candidate Jennifer Lockhart Greer, who seeks to unseat Mayor Dwain Land in an election Saturday. “People are concerned that they are an elderly couple. People are concerned that possibly they could be next – it could be their home next.” Critics of the Gaddy case grumble that the…

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House of Representatives In Turmoil Going Into Day Two of Budget Review

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee — After nearly a six and a half hour day, the Tennessee House of Representatives appears to be no closer to having a finalized budget for fiscal year 2017-18 when it goes back into session Friday at 9 a.m., as the first bill to approve the budget appropriations did not make it to a vote on Thursday. As the first legislative year of the 110th General Assembly draws to a close, the last of the bills are being heard and the budget for fiscal year 2017-18 needs to be approved.  The budget passed the House Finance Ways & Means Subcommittee and full Committee on Wednesday and was placed on the calendar for the House floor session to convene at 9 a.m. Thursday. After dozens of resolutions and bills were passed, but prior to the discussion of the four bills that make Governor Haslam’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, at 10:34 a.m., Republican Caucus Chairman Ryan Williams (R-Cookeville) requested a recess until 11:30 for a caucus meeting.  While a handful of members responded with their own comments, the real purpose of the Republican caucus meeting was to allow “leadership” to “encourage” support of the budget.  Leadership was…

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Commentary by Steve Gill: Memes Emerge as a Potent New Weapon in the Tennessee Political Battlefield

  They appear with increasing regularity on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and other social media — some funny, some confusing, some simply annoying. Those pictures of an annoyed baby, Picard with a face palm, the Joker with his creepy grin, Kermit the Frog sipping tea, or an endless array of iconic celebrity-types with inserted text making a point about some current event are becoming a ubiquitous source of cultural, political and social commentary. Anybody with an iPad or mobile phone and an app can get in the game. Add a dose of creativity, a pinch of sarcasm and and a scoop of irony and you have the not-so-secret recipe. The term “meme” was actually coined by author and scientist Richard Dawkins in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene. The current internet-based phenomenon is something more viral, and less genetic, than Dawkins was referencing. And like unexpected genetic aberrations, the impact and future of the “meme” is unpredictable. Memes are perhaps best defined as editorial cartoons on steroids — distributed by people who can’t draw. Memes have been “political” for a while, with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton both becoming targets of internet-based mockery before and after the election. Congress is a…

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David Axelrod Fires Back at Hillary Clinton: ‘Comey Didn’t Tell Her Not to Campaign in Wisconsin’

Tennessee Star

David Axelrod offered a stinging rebuke on Wednesday to Hillary Clinton’s assertion that her presidential campaign failed because of FBI Director James B. Comey and Russian hackers. CNN’s “New Day” called in former President Barack Obama’s adviser to discuss Mrs. Clinton’s news conference on Tuesday, which framed her failed presidential bid as the result of forces…

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David Tulis Commentary: Greer for Dunlap Mayor; Land Spoils Reputation for Integrity by Abusing Gaddys

Tennessee Star

By David Tulis / Noogaradio 1240 AM 92.7 FM The personal liberties secured under constitutional government are the fruit of simple promises. In Dunlap, Tenn., an elderly couple hiding from authorities are simple enough to believe these promises and to stand firmly upon them. The city’s civil prosecution against Thomas and Carol Gaddy in the small Southwest Tennessee town nestled in the glorious Sequatchie Valley is a picture of the disregard officials sometimes have against the liberty of the citizens. Mayor Dwain Land, who seeks re-election Saturday, initiated civil proceedings to inspect the house of the couple which sits nestled along a winding creek a carbine shot away from city hall. Mr. Land is a major landlord in Dunlap, and interviews with a tiny sampling of renters of his ratty-looking mobile homes indicate he is a man of quick service and great integrity. In 2015 he swore an affidavit that began the action to search the house without probable cause, or without a sworn affidavit alleging criminal conduct or connection with criminal conduct. He alleges it is a danger to public safety. Carol Gaddy, 69, would have none of it, and her husband, 71, agrees. The devout Christians with a…

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Chaos at the Capitol: Democrats’ Quid Pro Quo Education Money for Gas Tax Votes Passes, But Budget in Limbo

Tennessee Star

Thursday on the House floor, between recesses where Republicans were presumably working out their differences over parts of the budget, and working their way through a pile of amendments to HB511, Democrat Rep. Craig Fitzhugh, the House Minority Leader, went to bat for a third time to secure a pot of recurring education money to be used at the discretion of local school districts. Fitzhugh opened his remarks by acknowledging a “rumor” that the Democrats had cut a deal with Governor – gas tax votes for the education slush fund, but he denied that there was any quid pro quo agreement. The starting bid for Fitzhugh’s proposed K-12 Block Grant Act was $500 million which he admitted was “ambitious.” It was then reduced to $250 million which he admitted was also “too much.” The new amount introduced in Amendment #7 to the budget, was further reduced to $150 million, money that Fitzhugh said would go to all the state’s public schools, poor and rich alike. Appealing to his House colleagues to pass his amendment, Fitzhugh said that approving the block grant funds that would be held in a trust fund would help get around the Copeland Cap problem. Fitzhugh closed…

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