Donald Trump Calls on Missouri Voters to Oust Sen. McCaskill Unless She Votes for Tax Cuts

President Trump pressured Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in her home state of Missouri Wednesday to support his plan for tax cuts, calling on voters to kick her out of office if she resists. “Your senator, Claire McCaskill, she must do this for you,” Mr. Trump told employees at a factory in Springfield. “If she doesn’t do…

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National Review Writer David French Criticizes Nashville Mayor Megan Barry for Rebuking Evangelical Statement on Traditional Marriage

  National Review senior writer David French has sharply criticized Nashville Mayor Megan Barry for her comments denigrating the Nashville Statement, a declaration by Christian evangelical leaders supporting traditional marriage and calling homosexuality and transgenderism sinful. In a tweet Tuesday, Barry said the statement is “poorly named and does not represent the inclusive values of the city & people of Nashville.” The statement was approved Friday at a meeting of evangelical leaders in Nashville who named the declaration for the city in keeping with a historical Christian practice of naming doctrinal statements for the places where they were written. French, who lives in Columbia, Tennessee, 45 miles south of Nashville, was one of more than 150 conservative evangelicals who signed the Nashville Statement. French wrote in a column Wednesday that it is unreasonable for Barry to claim that orthodox Christian beliefs are “incompatible with the ‘inclusive values’ of a city that’s located in the heart of the Bible Belt.” “The Southern Baptist Convention has a headquarter building right in downtown Nashville,” French said. “You can’t drive five minutes in Nashville without seeing a church that’s teaching exactly the values and beliefs contained in the Nashville Statement. Is Barry’s position that they should change their ways, shut up, or…

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Developer Files Ethics Complaint Against Metro Nashville Officials Regarding Fort Negley Development Plans

  A Nashville developer has filed an ethics complaint against Metro officials for allegedly ignoring his request for more information about the process used to choose a developer for Fort Negley Park. In May, Mayor Megan Barry chose the Cloud Hill Partnership as the developer for the historic site, which includes Greer Stadium, although there is still no formal agreement. Bert Mathews, whose real estate firm created the Cloud Hill team, held a fundraiser for Barry when she was running for mayor. Devinder Singh Sandhu, who lost out to Cloud Hill in the bidding process, previously wrote a letter to city procurement officials protesting the process, saying it “was not equitable to all submitters and information required to make a proper presentation was not complete” and that there was a “lack of transparency.” In his ethics complaint Monday, Sandhu noted that he has “requested answers to questions, documents, requests for meetings and clarification.” The Procurement Appeals Board was set to consider Sandhu’s case Wednesday, but he sent the board a letter late Tuesday saying he had decided to dismiss his appeal. “We are forced to take this action because you, the Metro Procurement Office and Metro Finance Department established the August 30, 2017 hearing date…

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Middle Tennessee Regional Planning Group Holds Ninth Annual Summit

  NASHVILLE, Tennessee – Cumberland Region Tomorrow (CRT), a charitable entity whose mission is “to support our ten-county region’s values, economic vitality, and quality of life by influencing patterns of growth and development through education and advocacy,” held its ninth annual Power of 10 Regional Summit titled “Sustaining The Boom: World Class Strategies,” at the Music City Center. The Summit was attended by more than 200 planners, leaders and elected officials from the 10-county middle Tennessee region that includes Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties to discuss regional issues and opportunities in the key areas of improving transportation infrastructure, assuring sustainable development in a period of unprecedented growth and establishing collaborative goals and plans that benefit the region’s rural and urban communities. The “Early Bird Special” registration fee for the event was $90, with most government entities having a “travel” line item to cover such expenses for employees and elected officials. CRT is one of a number of organizations involved with various aspects of planning in the region, including, but not limited to, the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, Greater Nashville Regional Council, Metropolitan Transit Authority, Regional Transit Authority, Middle Tennessee Mayors Caucus and…

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Bill Hennessy Commentary: In 3 Minutes You’ll Be Able Fend Off Any Verbal Attack About Trump

  You probably don’t believe it. You’re probably reading just to argue. But three minutes from now, you’ll be armed. Armed and ready to do verbal combat. Armed and ready to defend your Trump vote. Armed and read to win any intellectual confrontation. Think it’s impossible? Keep reading. You’ll find out defending your vote for Trump is easier than you could imagine. Your opponent will be standing there, jaw moving, lips quivering, voice lost, brain scrambled. You’ll be giggling. Scott Adams Blows Everybody Out of the Water You know Dilbert. Its creator, Scott Adams, is a persuasion expert. He persuaded millions to read a stupid cartoon every day for decades. He knows what he’s doing. Adams made a periscope today that did the impossible. He explained the entire Tea Party movement. Without mentioning the Tea Party, he told the whole world what we wanted. Adams’ Periscope video has expired, sadly. But here is a summary of Scott’s thoughts: Trump is a builder Building projects begin with demolition Trump is in the demolition phase Trump demolished the GOP, the DNC, the old idea of “presidential” and lots more When Trump’s done demolishing everything that needs to be demolished, he’ll start building beautiful new…

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President Trump Launches Tax Overhaul Initiative, Calls on Congress to Support ‘The American Model’

  President Donald Trump traveled to Springfield, Missouri Wednesday to begin, in earnest, his bid to overhaul the leviathan that is the US Tax Code. “We’re here today to launch our plans to bring back Main Street by reducing the crushing tax burden on our companies and on our workers, ” President Trump began. “Our self-destructive tax code costs Americans millions and millions of jobs, trillions of dollars, and billions of hours spent on compliance and paperwork.” Dubbed ‘The American Model,’ President Trump said his Administration will enact policies to encourage companies to hire and grow in America, to raise wages for American workers, and to help rebuild our American cities and communities. “That is how we will all succeed and grow together, as one team, with one shared sense of purpose, and one glorious American destiny,” he said. Tax reform was a major part of candidate Donald Trump’s bid for the presidency, as a part of an America-first, pro-growth platform to unleash the country’s idle economic engine. “In the last 10 years, our economy has grown at only around two percent a year,” Trump said, “If you look at other countries and you look at what their GDP is,…

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US Navy Shoots Down Another Ballistic Target in ‘Complex Missile Defense Flight Test’

  The United States Navy announced Wednesday that sailors aboard the USS John Paul Jones successfully conducted what they called a ‘complex missile defense flight test.’ “We are working closely with the fleet to develop this important new capability, and this was a key milestone in giving our Aegis BMD ships an enhanced capability to defeat ballistic missiles in their terminal phase,” said Missile Defense Agency Director Lt. Gen. Sam Greaves. The John Paul Jones detected and tracked a target missile launched from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, with its onboard AN/SPY-1 radar and onboard SM-6 missiles executed the intercept. This test, designated Flight Test Standard Missile (FTM) 27 Event 2, marks the second time that an SM-6 missile has successfully intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile target. Tuesday, North Korea once again violated several agreements by firing a ballistic missile over our ally, Japan. President Trump responded immediately, reminding the starving hermit kingdom that, with regards to eliminating the threat of a first strike, ‘all options are on the table.’ Lt. Gen. Concluded, “We will continue developing ballistic missile defense technologies to stay ahead of the threat as it evolves.”

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State Representative Jimmy Matlock Kicks Off Campaign For U.S. Congress With Hundreds of Supporters

Tennessee Star

  State Representative Jimmy Matlock (R-Lenoir City), who announced August 3 his campaign to run for the 2nd District Congressional seat, following Representative John J. “Jimmy” Duncan announcement that he will not seek re-election, held a campaign kick-off Saturday at his family farm, with hundreds of supporters in attendance. Matlock, a small business owner of four-location Matlock Tire Service & Auto repair, has served in the Tennessee House of Representatives since 2007 for District 21, which includes parts of Loudon and Monroe Counties. Prior to the 2017 session of the General Assembly, Matlock made a run against House Speaker Beth Harwell (R-Nashville), losing by just ten votes. At his campaign kick-off, Matlock expressed his gratitude, saying “I see so many friends, colleagues and supporters here tonight, and I can’t thank you all enough.” Matlock spoke of shared values, “This is about what you believe. And it’s what I believe. We believe in America. We believe in the foundations of this country – the Constitution. We believe that the federal government should be very small, and not large. We believe that people should be responsible for themselves, not unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats. We want less government, not more.” Known for his…

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Mae Beavers Submits Letter of Resignation from State Senate to Governor Haslam

Tennessee Star

  On Wednesday, gubernatorial candidate Mae Beavers submitted her letter of resignation from the State Senate to Governor Haslam and Lt. Gov. McNally. Beavers’ resignation becomes effective on Friday. Beavers promised at a press conference held last week in her home cit of Mt. Juliet she would resign before the end of the month to focus on her campaign to win the Republican nomination for governor. “I have always taken my duties in the state legislature extremely seriously, and I have concluded that it is simply not possible for anyone to run a statewide grassroots campaign while effectively serving during legislative session,” Beavers said at the press conference. “It has been a honor to serve in the Tennessee Senate for almost fifteen years,” Beavers said. “It is therefore with a heavy heart, but also with great excitement, that I resign my Senate seat and look forward to a new phase in my campaign to be Tennessee’s next governor.” On Wednesday, Beavers fulfilled that promise. By resigning now, a special election can be held later this year to ensure that Beavers’ 17th District has a “fully focused representative in place the day that session begins,” Beavers said in a press release…

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Tennessee American Muslim Advisory Council Board Member Says Constitution is Document of White Supremacy

Tennessee’s American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) board member Drost Kokoye says the U.S. Constitution “is a document that writes white supremacy into law.” Those were the exact words Kokoye used in a tweet sent from her Twitter account on September 17, 2014–the 227th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution at the close of the Constitutional Convention on September 17, 1787: #ConstitutionDay to celebrate a document that writes white supremacy into law. — Drost Kokoye (@drostk) September 17, 2014 Kokoye is a Kurdish refugee who, as a young child, came to live in Nashville, grew up there and was educated in Nashville’s public schools. While attending college at Middle Tennessee State University, she worked for the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) as a “Multicultural Organizer.” TIRRC offers workshops encouraging immigrants to become citizens and assists them through the naturalization process, after which TIRRC says they can represent “the immigrant vote” in elections. In 2012, Kokoye was featured in TIRRC’s “New American Voter” campaign: Voting gives me the opportunity to voice what not every immigrant or refugee can yet. It’s my chance to choose the people and laws that will allow others to practice this freedom I now have. While…

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Faith: Verse of the Day for Thursday, August 31

Tennessee Star - Verse of the Day

  VERSE OF THE DAY Be blessed and be a blessing August 31, Thursday Matthew 7:5-8 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6 Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces 7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

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