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Tennessee Tag

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) announced today that he will not seek re-election for a fourth term in 2020. From Politico:
"The people of Tennessee have been very generous, electing me to serve more combined years as governor and senator than anyone else from our state. I am deeply grateful, but now it is time for someone else to have that privilege," the 78-year old Alexander said in a closely-held statement on Monday. "I have gotten up every day thinking that I could help make our state and country a little better, and gone to bed most nights thinking that I have. I will continue to serve with that same spirit during the remaining two years of my term.”

A lot of people have been forwarding me articles about Cyntoia Brown, who was convicted of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery when she was a 16-year-old prostitute. Recent news coverage includes this very sympathetic piece from CNN and another from NPR, as well as a deluge of similarly sympathetic coverage from a variety of other sources. Brown unsuccessfully argued self-defense at her trail. The court sentenced her to life in prison. She will first be eligible for parole after serving 51 years of her sentence.

Midterm elections are only a few weeks away so we're watching the polls closer each day. I found that polls for the Senate races in Missouri, Arizona, North Dakota, and Tennessee have the Republican candidates in the lead. Democrat incumbent Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill is only down a point, but Arizona Republican Rep. Martha McSally slightly raised her lead as she tries to take over retiring Sen. Jeff Flake's seat.

Superstar Taylor Swift has always remained silent on politics...until now. On her Instagram account, Swift took the opportunity to slam Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, who is running for the senate, and endorse Tennessee Democrats. She wrote that "several events" in her life "and in the world in the past two years" changed her mind and explains why she can't support Blackburn:
Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.

The latest Fox News polls show that Republicans have an opportunity to flip two Senate seats while holding onto another. However, Democrats have a chance to take over Arizona Republican Jeff Flake's seat and Missouri Democrat incumbent Claire McCaskill captured a lead from her opponent. Tread with caution, though, because all of them have slim leads in these polls.

A lot of eyes are focused on Missouri, West Virginia, etc, but it looks like Tennessee deserves a lot more attention this midterm because it could easily flip to the Democrats. Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) chose not to seek re-election after serving two terms. The latest Mason-Dixon Polling and Strategy poll shows Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) down by three points to former Governor Phil Bredesen, her Democrat opponent.

The Metro Nashville Police Department announced that authorities have Waffle House shooting suspect Travis Reinking in custody. He allegedly killed four people at the restaurant, located southeast of downtown Nashville, on Sunday morning.

A man wearing only a green jacket shot up a Waffle House in Tennessee, killing four people and wounding several others.  The suspect has been identified as 29-year-old Travis Reinking from Illinois.  Police state that they are currently unaware of a motive, but "suspect some mental issues." After being disarmed by a heroic customer, Reinking reportedly fled the scene completely naked and is still at large.  He was last seen wearing black pants and no shirt.  It is possible he still has two guns in his possession.

Heaven forbid we have a factual discussion about a government subsidized entity which was under Congressional investigation for selling baby body parts, that might be offensive! Or at least that was Twitter's take. Marsha Blackburn, Republican running to replace Corker's soon to be vacated Senate seat in Tennessee found her campaign announcement video banned on Twitter.

The Washington Examiner has reported that Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) has begun preparing to run for Sen. Bob Corker's (R-TN) seat next year. Corker announced he would not run for reelection in 2018, making Blackburn the most liekly successor with conservative groups rallying behind her.

The GOP received two shocks on Tuesday when Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) decided not to run for re-election in 2018 and Judge Roy Moore defeated incumbent Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL) in the Republican primary. But how YUGE is Corker's retirement? Probably not much in the long run. Plus, it looks like the GOP could actually pick up more seats in 2018 since 10 Democrats up for reelection come from states that President Donald Trump won in November.

When the statues began being pulled down in the wake of the Charlottesville demonstration, many of us joked that films and songs featuring the Civil War would be next. The jokes have morphed into a chilling reality. The Orpheum Theater in Memphis has pulled the iconic American film Gone with the Wind from summer movie series after receiving complaints it was not racially sensitive.
The Orpheum Theatre Group decided not to include the 1939 movie about a plantation in the Civil War-era South in its 2018 Summer Movie Series after feedback from patrons following the last screening Aug. 11.