TN GOP congressman John Rose for Tennessee says if we make health care a right we’ll turn into Venezuela or Cuba… Doesn’t explain how all other developed nations with universal health care have avoided that fate.
He says universal health coverage would make us “not free” — Sorry Canada, France, England, etc.. y’all aren’t “free” according to Rep. John Rose!
LINK: http://herald-citizen.com/stories/rose-hospital-admins-talk-health-care,36359
In a story that has now made national news – picked up by Time, USA Today, Huffington Post and more – Cracker Barrel has made it clear that All Scripture Baptist Church, run by Pastor/Detective Grayson Fritts, would not be welcome at their establishment.
Fritts has called for the executions of LGBT people, and was forced into retirement from the Knox County Sheriff’s Department as a result.
The Cracker Barrel situation started with a Facebook post by All Scripture Baptist saying they would be heading to Cleveland, TN June 29th. The sharp eye of Blake Kitterman, a local resident, alerted us to the fact that the address on the post was in fact that of the Cracker Barrel in Cleveland.
We reached out to the Cracker Barrel to see if they knew anything about the event, and they told us they had heard of the post but were “blindsided” by it.
“All we do is feed people, we don’t do events,” the manager said. He clearly understood the seriousness of the situation, and gave us the number for Cracker Barrel’s national press relations.
Within hours, Cracker Barrel had issued an official statement saying they had no affiliation with Fritts and his church, and they would not be welcome to have an event at the restaurant.
We work hard every day to foster a culture that is welcoming and inclusive. We strongly disagree with Mr. Fritts’ statements of hate and divisiveness. Please see our full statement below. pic.twitter.com/kYc3fwm5kD
— Cracker Barrel (@CrackerBarrel) June 18, 2019
Cracker Barrel’s support for the LGBT community was immediately clear, which showed how far they have come since the early 1990’s, when their policies were discriminatory.
Many in the LGBT community were appreciative of their quick action, saying they’d be making sure to eat there and would visit the Cracker Barrel booth at the Pride event Nashville this weekend.
All Scripture’s response was to accuse Cracker Barrel of a “double standard”, as U.S. News tells us:
In response to Cracker Barrel’s statement, All Scripture Baptist Church said they were only going to Cracker Barrel for “meeting and eating” and called the restaurant chain hypocrites.
“If the ‘LGBT’ community hosted an event there and Christians complained they wouldn’t ban the ‘LGBT’ group, they would tell us they don’t ‘discriminate’ against anyone,” the church said in an emailed statement. “But hey, it’s their business. They can have a double standard if they want to.”
Having one standard for people who don’t call for the execution of an entire community of Americans, and one standard for those who DO, is a pretty decent way to operate.
Bravo, Cracker Barrel. Bravo.
“Those violent, hate-filled comments are not reflective of our people.”
On Monday, Sheriff Spangler of addressed the sermons of Detective Fritts calling for LGBT people to be executed.
Fritts was relieved of duty, not fired. He still gets monthly retirement pay.
Cherish Hope Newman, niece of Knox County Sheriff’s Detective/Pastor Grayson Fritts – who has called for the mass execution of LGBT people – speaks out.
She says that side of her family is “mostly full of racist bigots”, she won’t stand by silently as her uncle tries to turn Christianity into ISIS, and that God is a “merciful and loving God” who does not “hate” anyone.
Comment on her YouTube video HERE.
First spotted on WVLT.
“I am not an anomaly… If they hate you it means you’re doing the right thing.”
On Wednesday, in his first appearance since becoming national news, Knox Detective/Pastor Fritts said he’s “not calling anyone to violence” – while reiterating his monstrous attacks on LGBT people and calling out fellow preachers as “weak” and “spineless” for not backing him up.
Knox Sheriff’s Detective/Pastor Fritts – who wants to execute LGBT people – says getting drunk & “committing” sodomy can be forgiven… Three’s Company & Bing Crosby were trying to desensitize us to sodomy… and we should tip LGBT people REALLY well.
PART 2:
Knox County Sheriffs Detective Grayson Fritts – also a pastor at All Scripture Baptist Church – calls for the government to arrest and execute LGBTQ People.
He’s now on paid sick leave until July 19, and no longer on active duty.
Here’s the original Knox News ARTICLE.
Watch some of his monstrous speech below… and if you think he should be fired altogether, email the Knox County D.A. HERE: [email protected]
Last week the Jackson Sun reported that Rep. Andy Holt had tweeted a juvenile graphic mocking Republican Madison County Commissioner Jay Bush as being “Someone who would sneak into your house at night, eat all your raw hot dogs, and finger your cat” – echoing an insulting meme that had been posted on the page of Speaker Casada’s PAC (and is still there).
Holt’s post was in response to Bush saying there’s nothing “conservative” about Glen Casada needing another $7 Million to run the Tennessee House and giving his Chief of Staff a $130,000 raise in one year – which is objectively true.
After deleting the post, Holt then mocked anyone who found the whole thing distasteful.
It turns out insulting those who disagree with him was not an isolated incident for Holt.
Holt has once again insulted someone who disagrees with him, this time a constituent who had the nerve to disagree with him on a post on His Facebook page celebrating the passage of the “Heartbeat Bill” – a constitutionally suspect bill which seeks to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected (usually around 6 weeks) and makes no exceptions for rape and incest – meaning a young high school girl raped and impregnated by her coach would be forced to carry the baby to term.
(An Oregon man was just imprisoned for raping and impregnating an 11 year-old girl. Rep. Gloria Johnson had an amendment which would have protected that girl, but she, and her amendment, were ignored)
Holt’s Facebook post celebrated the passage of the bill as “great news”:
Most of the comments underneath the post were in agreement with him, but a few were not.
Caroline Ideus, a constituent of Holt’s, left a comment calling the passage of the bill “terrible”, adding:
“Decisions about a woman and her baby should be between her and her healthcare provider, not the government. The GOP is all about small government, but wants to govern everything about women’s health when most of the GOP lawmakers are men.”
Holt responded:
“Ms. Ideus, thank you for acknowledging that the abortion procedure (for which you are advocating), is actually about a mother and her BABY. You are so entrenched in political ideology that your willing to condone the life of a baby human’s life. Liberalism is truly a mental illness…“
Ideus’ Twitter profile says she’s an English teacher at UT-Martin, which is in Weakley County – one of the counties Holt represents.
Holt’s “your” typo and misuse of the word “condone” aside, it seems fair to say that calling a constituent who disagrees with you “mentally ill” and making light of mental illness in general is beneath the dignity of any office.
But maybe Andy thinks the rules don’t apply to him, as he clearly didn’t when he didn’t get that permit for his hog farm.
If you agree that this is not how state legislators should act, holler at Rep. Andy Holt and let him know HERE.
The full exchange:
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Longtime Tennessee Republican leader Victor Ashe, former Mayor of Knoxville and former Ambassador to Poland under President George W. Bush, praised the work of Knoxville’s police oversight board and took a shot at the GOP-led legislature for attempts to weaken Nashville’s new oversight board.
“By a broad consensus, PARC (Police Advisory Review Council) has worked well in Knoxville and has stood the test of time. It has gone a long way to establish credibility and objectivity in disputes involving the Police Department,” wrote Ashe. “It is unfortunate that legislation to weaken it is pending, when it has been a credit to Knoxville.
Ashe wrote the comments Feb. 18 in a column for the Knoxville Shopper News, which is part of Gannett-owned daily Knoxvil
le News-Sentinel.
Nashville voters overwhelmingly voted to support creation of a Citizens Oversight Board (COB) in the November election, but Rep. Michael Curcio (R-Dickson) has filed a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly to take subpoena power from the COB, legislation Governor Bill Lee has expressed support for. Curcio says his bill, co-sponsored by House heavyweights including Speaker Glen Casada and Majority Leader William Lamberth, has nothing to do with Nashville.
Ashe created PARC by executive order in 1998 and Knoxville City Council later ratified the commission. He pointed out every police chief has supported PARC since it was created.
Knoxville City Council approved a resolution Feb. opposing Curcio’s bill, as it would also strip subpoena power from PARC.
Ashe was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1968 and served through 1974. He was a state senator from Knoxville 1975-1984 and was elected Knoxville mayor in 1987 and served for 16 years.
This column is the opinion of Chris Rowe, 2020 candidate for Congress in Tennessee’s 1st District. Follow Chris on Twitter here.
Friday, we saw our president appear on national television and declare a state of emergency for an artificial border crisis. At the same time, he admitted that not only was it unnecessary, but that he knew it was an abuse of his power.
He asked the supreme court to support his decision anyway.
Many members of congress, regardless of their party affiliation – including our own Republican Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander – saw this for the blatant “unconstitutional” act it was and decided not to back him.
Rep. Phil Roe on the other hand, in a move that added to a string of questionable decisions recently, has come out in support of the president’s illegal power play.
This is not a decision that should be taken lightly by Tennessee’s voters. We need to hold him accountable for his actions, particularly as a member of the party that purports itself to be in favor of the “Rule of Law.”
Therefore, Congressman Roe, I have an important issue to address: If law is to rule, then the onus falls to you to take the president to task for this action, and publicly rebuke it. We cannot simultaneously advocate for “law and order” while condoning the highest office in the land making a mockery of the same.
You’ve already supported multiple unconscionable actions by our president, including holding hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans hostage for an unnecessary wall. But declaring an unconstitutional “state of emergency” that will divert funds from actual emergencies and cost American lives should be a firm red line for anyone.
Many members of your party have already seen this for what it is, so I ask you now: can you somehow not see for yourself how damaging this is to our union? Or are you simply too afraid to stand up and fight for what’s right just because it may cost you a handful of votes?
Whichever it is, you’ve let your constituency down, you’ve let your country down, and it’s time to step up or move aside and let someone else show you how it’s done.
It’s this type of abdication of your responsibility to protect and uphold the Constitution which has directly led to my challenge for your seat, and I intend to be certain that voters remember your failure to serve them come election time.
Chris Rowe is a Democratic Candidate for Congress in Tennessee’s 1st District. Chris is a 6 year veteran of the Air Force, and a current graduate student at East Tennessee State University.
Chris has decided to take money only from real people and small businesses, not from large corporations or super PACs, to ensure he remains free of any obligation to “big” anyone.