MTSU TRUSTEE’S RACISM TRUTH BOMB

WATCH: “RACISM IS PRESENT IN THIS BOARDROOM, AND ON THIS CAMPUS.”

Darrell Freeman, the 1 black MTSU trustees board member, says he “cannot stay silent” — and puts his where his mouth is to fight racial inequities as he unleashes hard truths.

TODAY’S HOLLER: KLAN DOWN

KLAN DOWN🚨 Y’ALL —- the other (HIDEOUS) KKK GRAND WIZARD STATUE on I-65 just south of Nashville (DESIGNED BY A SLAVERY-DEFENDER) has now also COME DOWN… PROGRESS…

Here’s a shot of the hideous I-65 KKK Grand Wizard statue just south of Nashville – built by a slavery defender, defended by Republicans – on its side, removed. 

FLASHBACK: TN Republicans Protected THE UGLIEST KKK GRAND WIZARD STATUE IN 🇺🇸  when Rep. Powell asked to PLANT (DONATED) TREES to obscure it from I-65. It was built by a racist who defended MLK’s assassin, slavery… it would’ve been at no cost- but Republicans refused.

“Somebody needs to say a good word for slavery” 😳 — a direct quote from Jack Kershaw, who built the now-removed hideous I-65 KKK Grand Wizard statue, defended slavery (and the man who killed MLK)… And Tennessee Republicans defended it to the bitter end.

But now, just like that, the I-65 KKK Grand Wizard eyesore is gone. 👋🏽

Symbols matter. If they didn’t, KKK sympathizers wouldn’t have put these things up in the first place. They represent pain and hurt, and removing them is progress. Shout-out to the activists who have fought so hard to make these embarrassing statues go away.

Thank you as always for subscribing, and please consider chipping in monthly if you’re not yet doing so, even if it’s just a few bucks – the monthly support truly keeps us going. 

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TODAY’S HOLLER:
TRUMP’S NEXT COUP: “The prospect of this democratic collapse is not remote. People with the motive to make it happen are manufacturing the means… They are acting already.” — 🚨 Don’t 🚨 wait 🚨 til 🚨 it’s 🚨 too late 🚨 to 🚨 be 🚨 alarmed 🚨 about 🚨 this 🚨

“ABSOLUTE AND UNMITIGATED LIARS” — Ex-D.C. National Guard official accuses 2 senior Army leaders (Flynn’s brother) of lying to Congress in a secret attempt to rewrite the history of the military’s response to the Capitol riot… delaying it for hours.

NOT FRINGE: Say it Loud – Boebert & Greene are not fringe in today’s GOP.

LIES KILL: “Since May 2021, people living in counties that voted heavily for Trump nearly THREE TIMES AS LIKELY TO DIE FROM COVID-19” 😷 

 🔥STOP CHERRY-PICKING WHAT HISTORY WE TEACH OUR CHILDREN.” – REVEREND DR. JUDY CUMMINGS tells MOMS FOR LIBERTY (aka “MOMS FOR LYING TO OUR KIDS”) and politicians enabling their crusade against MLK, Ruby Bridges & The Truth to stop whitewashing history and start fully funding our schools.

The new season of “The Office” is gonna be terrible

KANEW ON FOX: “If it was men that carry babies we wouldn’t even be having this discussion.” – The Holler’s Justin Kanew talks about what overturning (popular) Roe V. Wade means to Tennessee on WZTV FOX 17 News, Nashville — and Jasper Hendricks reminds us “elections have consequences”. 🎯

🤦🏼‍♀️

GOV. LEE’S “FIRESIDE CHAT”: Lee, who wouldn’t meet with protestors or the black caucus for 63 days last summer, held a “fireside chat” with Bob Woodson about “civil rights” — who showed why he was chosen by blaming “a deterioration of the race issue in 🇺🇸” on Barack Obama & Nikole Hannah Jones🧐

DANCING COP IN EAST RIDGE: Police officer Jonah Goddard’s musical Tik Tok videos went viral and landed him on the Kelly Clarkson Show.  Watch a few of his videos here.

WASH POST FRONT PAGE: “He’d never heard of critical race theory until he was accused of teaching it” – On the firing of Coach Hawn of KINGSPORT in the anti-CRT furor, the same day the TN GOP passed their anti-truth law. 

“MOMS FOR LYING TO YOUR KIDS”: The always-great Betsy Phillips re-brands Moms For Liberty, gives context to their anti-MLK anti-truth crusade in WILLIAMSON COUNTY, which epitomizes white flight from desegregation, is STILL just 4% black. TEACH THE TRUTH.

Meanwhile here’s a pic of “Moms For Lying To Your Kids” in the Franklin Christmas Day Parade, being normalized like they’re not out here fighting to keep our kids ignorant. They were also in the Franklin Veterans Day Parade. #TeachTheTruth 

CONFEDERATE COURTROOM: “A Black man whose fate was decided by an all-white jury who deliberated in a room containing Confederate symbols will receive a new trial after a Tennessee’s Criminal Appeals Court ruling.” (In PULASKI, TN — where the KKK began)

REPUBLICAN INDIFFERENCE TO HUMAN LIFE: Conservative Jennifer Rubin tells Dems to “stop shying from a full-throated abortion debate. The more Republicans talk, the more obvious life is not the issue—control of women who do not warrant the right to bodily integrity Republicans claim for themselves.”

Like clockwork ⏰

REMINDER: They don’t actually support “freedom”

“THE PUBLIC GOOD”🇺🇸 🎯 Good oiece on the common thread between so much of the ugliness we’re seeing — “The Public Good” is now a concept lost on most (thanks to a sustained right-wing campaign), and one we need to try to revive if we have any chance of recovering.

CARTOONS OF THE DAY 😳

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FACT-CHECK: MARSHA BLACKBURN

Someone had to fact-check Marsha’s latest senate floor ramblings. We volunteer. 

GOV. LEE’S BOARD OF ED APPOINTEE LINKED TO AMMO SALE TO AURORA KILLER

Governor Bill Lee has just appointed Jordan Mollenhour of Knoxville to the State Board of Education, the governing and policy-making body for Tennessee’s Pre-K-12 public education system – which through partnership with the TN Department of Education maintains oversight in K-12 implementation and academic standards.

According to Knox TN Today:

“Mollenhour is co-CEO of Mollenhour Gross LLC, an investment company based in Knoxville. He will represent the Second Congressional District… Mollenhour’s term of service is for five years….”

What the article does not mention is Mollenhour’s very concerning history as an online ammunition dealer, owning an online company with an obscure ownership trail that according to the St. Louis Dispatch sold thousands of bullets to at least one mass shooter.

In a 2014 article called “HOW THE AURORA SHOOTER GOT HIS AMMO” by Todd Frankel, then of the St. Louis Dispatch, Frankel follows the trail of the sale of the bullets used in the murder of 12 people and the injuring of 58 others in an Aurora, Colorado movie theater all the way to Knoxville, and then on to Atlanta.

The article reads:

“The answer appeared to be an online company in St. Louis… but the trail leads not to St. Louis but to Knoxville, TN, and on to Atlanta, to a secretive company considered to be among the nation’s top online ammunition dealers. It’s founders – a pair of former real estate developers – sell bullets using far-flung P.O. Boxes, different corporate entities, and online marketing tactics that have offended even some firearm enthusiasts. By last summer, these entrepreneurs stood perfectly positioned to close on a quick, legal sale to a deranged killer.”

Those “former real estate developers” were Jordan Mollenhour and his partner Dustin Gross. Both are University of Tennessee graduates. Governor Lee has just appointed Mollenhour to the Board of Education.

According to the article, their company was called www.BulkAmmo.com, and operated under the names www.luckygunner.com, www.ammoforsale.com, and others. In the article Frankel tracks their web of corporations and business names to a distributor in Atlanta, but he’s never able to contact them for comment.

Frankel also summarizes the history of the ammo business in America, pointing out that it wasn’t always possible to order thousands of bullets online and have them show up to your door no questions asked, but that a piece of legislation in 1986 changed it so that they could.

Maybe Chris Rock is right – If gun control is impossible to pass in our messed up, gun-sick nation – maybe restricting the ammo is what we should be focusing on? But in the meantime it seems fair to ask why Governor Lee is appointing someone with a sordid past that includes enabling at least one mass shooting in Colorado to a board of education overseeing what our kids learn.

Selling thousands of bullets online to a mass killer wasn’t illegal, but it probably should be, and at the very least we shouldn’t be putting people who think it’s ok to make a living doing that in charge of our children’s education.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t Lee’s only questionable education appointment – Lee and Speaker Sexton just also recently appointed anti-Muslim 9/11 Truther Laurie Cardoza-Moore to the textbook commission.

Extremism at the highest levels of Tennessee’s government is on full display. And it’s our kids who will suffer.

TSSAA ON REF USING THE “N WORD” AT SMYRNA HIGH: “WE’RE INVESTIGATING.”

Last night we learned the STEM PREP boys & girls basketball teams left their games against Smyrna High after a referee allegedly used the “N Word” towards one of the female players.

The student was not the only one who heard it. Her grandmother did too, and she promptly recorded herself on Facebook reacting emotionally to the racist referee’s actions:

We called TSSAA, the organization responsible for staffing high school games with officials throughout Tennessee. They’re based in Hermitage.

Gene Menees, Assistant Executive Director, called us back. This is how our conversation went.

HOLLER: Can you shine any light on what happened? Will the ref still be reffing games? Does the TSSAA have a statement?

MENEES: We’re investigating.

HOLLER: Ok. And if the ref did use the N word towards a player, what would the outcome potentially be?

MENEES: We’re looking into it and we’re investigating.

HOLLER: Theoretically, would you still allow them to referee games?

MENEES: I can’t answer that question because it’s an allegation. We’re investigating into the allegation.

HOLLER: I understand, but it seems like people would be interested to know what the TSSAA’s policy is towards a ref using that word in general.

MENEES: Well, let’s reverse it. We will deal with an official obviously if the official used a racial slur. Just as an administration of a school, I would assume, would deal with it if a player used a racial slur directed towards an opponent. Or fans used a racial slur directed towards a player. So if an official used a racial slur, we would certainly deal with that official.

HOLLER: In what way would you deal with them?

MENEES: We would deal with them. We’re investigating.

HOLLER: Right, but would you suspend them? Fire them?

MENEES: We would look into it. We would talk. We would meet and make a decision.

HOLLER: So it’s not a zero tolerance policy?

MENEES: I didn’t say that. I said we would look into it, and if it was verified we would deal with the official and take care of the situation.

HOLLER: What does that mean? Is there a world where a ref can use the N Word towards a player and still ref games for TSSAA?

MENEES: I didn’t say that. You said it.

HOLLER: I’m asking.

MENEES: I’m gonna be honest with you – we’ve never dealt with this before. We’ve had allegations before, but the allegations have never been confirmed… we’re not an organization that’s going to tolerate racial slurs. So if it’s confirmed we would deal with it.

HOLLER: And what’s the process for confirming? Are you talking to the refs? Players? Fans? Who are you talking to?

MENEES: We’re an association of schools. I’ve been in touch with STEM Academy, Smyrna, and the officials.

HOLLER: And when you make your decision, do you have a sense of a time frame?

MENEES: We’ll look into it, get the reports in, we’ll talk to STEM. There were other situations that occurred in the game as well. So we’ve gotta work through all that. This is is one of the things involved in that game that we’re working through?

HOLLER: What other things were involved?

MENEES: We had 2 players ejected. We had a fan that came on the floor. We’ve got policies in place for that as well. We’ve gotta deal with the entire situation that occurred at Smyrna. The racial slur is one of the things we’ve got to deal with, obviously. But it’s not the only thing.

HOLLER: Have you had any issues with that referee in the past?

MENEES: What referee?

HOLLER: The one that allegedly used the racial slur?

MENEES: Who allegedly said it? I’ve never been given a name? Which name do you have?

HOLLER: How are you investigating if you don’t even know who we’re talking about.

MENEES: I’ve not been given a name. Nobody has given me a name of the official who allegedly made the racial slur.

HOLLER: Do you know who was assigned to that game?

MENEES: There was a crew of officials.

HOLLER: There were 3. How would you go about figuring out which ref it was?

At this point Menees goes on telling us a story about when he was a high school football player in Kingsport and got ejected for using profanity, but says there was no tape with audio to prove it.

HOLLER: So because there may not be video of this happening, it might end up being just what people heard vs. what the ref says happened, what happens in that scenario?

MENEES: That’s what we’re investigating. We’re looking into it. And once we get the reports in we’ll take a look at it and make a decision.

HOLLER: You said you talked to STEM and Smyrna. Is there a crew chief?

MENEES: There’s always an R on the game.

HOLLER: Well I guess figuring out who the ref is would be the first step, right?

MENEES: We’ll talk to the officials, talk to STEM, talk to Smyrna… let’s be fair. It’s an allegation. Right? Let’s be fair.

HOLLER: It’s allegation, but multiple people have told us they heard it.

MENEES: I understand. But momentarily, let’s be fair. Multiple people didn’t hear it.

HOLLER: They did. I’m happy to send you a video. We have a video of a grandmother who heard it. It was her granddaughter that was called it.

MENEES: We’ll hear the racial slur on the video? That’s what you’re saying?

HOLLER: No. You’ll hear a grandmother saying she was right there and heard it.

MENEES: The video will prove someone said it, correct?

HOLLER: No. The video will prove more than one person heard it. And so I guess at that point what you’re saying is unless a racial slur gets caught on camera…

MENEES: No, I didn’t say that. I didn’t say it didn’t happen…  If we get a video… I’ll go back to the football example…

Here he goes back to the story getting thrown out for profanity and there not being video of it to prove it, and a coach denying it.

We then asked him what a time frame would be for making their decision, and he told us schools and people are busy and wouldn’t commit to anything specific.

The thing to remember here is both teams forfeited, so clearly the teams were convinced that this happened. But Menees certainly gave the impression that without video of the incident this could potentially get treated as nothing more than an allegation.

We’d also add that this tweet by Smyrna basketball mentioning the forfeit without explaining the context seemed highly inappropriate, and appears to have been deleted.

Here’s hoping TSSAA does the right thing. Their contact info, should you feel like hollering at them: 615-889-6740 [email protected]

And as always, film everything.

 

 

TODAY’S HOLLER: CASADA CANCELED

CASADA CANCELED
“If I was raped, I would move.” Our first Holler video ever was back in February of 2019, when Kanew went to a town hall in Franklin and asked then-speaker, now-retiring Glen Casada about his support for Rep. David Byrd, who had apologized ON TAPE for abusing high school girls.

Casada made him chair of an education subcommittee. 😳

It was the first in a long line of Casada transgressions which would emerge over the course of the following months, causing him to lose the support of his own caucus and ultimately resign in shame as the shortest serving speaker in Tennessee history.

Now, with Casada announcing he will not seek re-election in 2022, the fall from grace is complete. We’d like to think we poured some gas on that fire, but much of the credit belongs with reporter Phil Williams, whose dogged pursuit of the story day after day delivered us from the clutches of Casada’s corruption.

Racism. Sexism. Crimes. Bribes. Threats. The Casada story had it all, much of which is featured here in our SUPERCUT  if you have a few minutes to spare.

He was even discussed on John Oliver’s show at one point. when Oliver Gloriously Roasted Casada and & his Racist, Coke-Snorting-at-the-office aide Cade Cothren.
If you’ve ever wanted to hear one of the funniest men in the world say “Cade Cothren’s Rapidly-Expelled Ejaculate”, there’s your chance.

It’s hard not to wonder if Casada deciding not to run again had anything to do with the #TNFBIRaids, the outcome of which is still to be determined. 👀 Seeing Casada answer the door for the raid in his short white hotel robe he probably stole from a hotel he stayed at using taxpayer money is still one of the highlights of our year.

Williamson County went ahead and re-elected Casada this past cycle, but it can do so much better. As Casada fades into oblivion and irrelevance, his brief, embarrassing stint as speaker should always serve as a warning of the perils of believing you’re invincible, ruling with fear, and putting yourself ahead of those you serve.

We must admit, we take some pride in Casada’s demise. It shows that yelling the truth works, and we’ll continue to do it. Thank you as always for subscribing, and please consider chipping in – the monthly support truly keeps us going. 

The Holler

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TODAY’S HOLLER:
TENNESSEE PASTORS TO GOV. LEE: “Allowing (the pro-COVID law your party just passed) to move in to law will undoubtedly result in needless death, suffering, and expense among the people and families of Tennessee.” 😷

CRT AT APSU: “If we can’t have these discussions in a more open, civil, transparent way it’s hard to see how we can move forward as a society.” Prof. Kenney is bravely starting a course on “what CRT is & isn’t”. 👏🏽

TN KIDS GETTING VACCINATED: “The kiddos turn has finally come. Tennessee immunized thousands of younger children this week…” 😷

KRUGMAN ON INFLATION FEARMONGERING: “Pronouncements inflation can’t be transitory because it persisted for months are silly…no reason to cancel long-term investment plans…knee-jerk comparisons with 1970s are looking at the wrong history. The right history tells you not to panic.”

REPUBLICAN INFRASTRUCTURE ANGER: Republican Fred Upton got this message for supporting a bipartisan infrastructure bill. And his House GOP colleagues want to strip his committees. Today’s GOP, folks.

CARTOON OF THE DAY #1

TENNESSEE PASTORS TO HAGERTY & BLACKBURN: “We implore you to vote to pass the Build Back Better Act (Universal Pre-K, paid leave, etc…) as it reflects many of our core Christian values.” #PassThePeoplesBudget

MORE HATE IN OUR STATE: “White nationalist group American Renaissance is hosting its conference here in Tennessee at Montgomery Bell State Park… protests are planned. We have more than our share of these events here. They seem to feel very at home in Tennessee.”

AHMAUD ARBERY DEFENSE LAWYER: “We don’t want any more black pastors coming in here…” – attorney Kevin Gough, who represents William “Roddie” Bryan Jr., one of the white men who killed unarmed #AhmaudArbery in broad daylight. (Crazy that a guy with a confederate license plate who said he trapped Ahmaud “like a rat” would hire an openly racist attorney who woulda thought!)

ICYMI — Yet another judge just ruled against a mask mandate ban like the one Gov. Bill Lee signed here in Tennessee for the way it discriminates against kids with disabilities.

WATCH: “I CAN’T BREATHE.” – New video of 22yo DJ Barrett’s death at Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row in August. Barrett punched a bouncer, then was held down by 5-6 bouncers til he died. ruled a homicide asphyxiation. No charges yet.

LOVE AT THE CMA’S: TJ of Brothers Osborne kissed his boyfriend after winning for Best Duo — earlier this year the TN HOUSE GOP hatefully BLOCKED a resolution honoring him. One of the pettiest and ugliest moments in a petty and ugly session. 🏳️‍🌈

YOUNGKIN’S KID TRIED TO VOTE ILLEGALLY: “I am a little frustrated the media is paying so much attention to it.” — new VA GOV Glenn Youngkin would prefer nobody talk about his 17 year old son trying to vote illegally. 🤷🏻‍♂️

RITTENHOUSE THE NEW GEORGE FLOYD? It was only a matter of time — Fox News host Lawrence Jones compares vigilante killer Kyle Rittenhouse to George Floyd. 😕

JUDGE’S TRUMPY CELL PHONE RING: Judge Schroeder’s phone rings in the middle of the Rittenhouse trial… the ringtone happens to be Trump’s walk-on song “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood 👀 – not hard to see how this trial is probably going.

🎻 Rittenhouse crying, or attempting to cry, left a lot of people feeling cold… and making videos about it. Life comes at you fast.

people are dead. Rittenhouse went looking for trouble. His tears are tough to empathize with, and the judge is very clearly in the tank for him.

THIS WAR VETERAN GETS IT…

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TWO VERY DIFFERENT PUBLIC SCHOOL FIGHTS

Even though the VA governor race has gone opposite the president basically every time historically, everyone seems to have their own hot take about why the Democrats lost in Virginia, a need to treat the race as a bellwether for the impending doom of the Democratic party.

Some are blaming it on progressives, saying Biden is overreaching with his Build Back Better agenda (despite the fact that everything in it is extremely popular).

Others are saying it’s the gridlock that had Biden’s popular budget and the infrastructure package stuck in gear (and gutted) that caused people to sour on the Dems.

And then there’s the schools issue.

Glenn Youngkin seized on a big misstep by Terry Mcauliffe in the closing weeks of the race where he said:

“I’m not going to let parents come into schools, and actually take books out, and make their own decision.”

Republicans seized on the quote as Mcauliffe saying parents should have “no role” in public schools, which is something no candidate is arguing for or running on.

Those who want the truth taught, believe masks keep kids safe, and who insist Critical Race Theory is not being taught are not saying parents have “no place” in schools. School boards were elected by parents to make many of those decisions, and parental involvement is obviously an important key to a child’s education.

Youngkin seizing on that unfortunate Mcauliffe quote was fair play. His closing ads that insisted Mcauliffe was lying about CRT being taught in schools, however, were not. The slides Youngkin featured in those ads were not from a Virginia public schools curriculum, but were instead from a presentation given to adults about student discipline – according to the woman whose presentation it was, and who was horrified by Youngkin’s tactics.

Never one to let facts to get in the way of a good story, that didn’t matter to Youngkin. He featured them anyway, which led to many Virginians pointing to CRT in schools as their main issue in the election even when they couldn’t tell you what CRT actually is.

Whether or not you believe the CRT lie turned the election, one thing is clear: Republicans are going to make public schools an issue throughout the country in future elections.

And they’re finding sympathy for their causes in some unlikely places – the bluest cities in America.

There’s now no shortage of think pieces about how school issues in places like New York City and San Francisco where people believe the push for equity and inclusion have gone too far have laid the groundwork for the conflicts we’re seeing in places like Virginia – as though the discussions surrounding public schools in these very different places are somehow even remotely the same.

But they are not.

In Tennessee for instance, the fights at school board meetings are about refusing to mask children, banning books, and not even letting teachers talk about race, which is essentially the bill Tennessee legislators just proudly passed.

Notably, that anti-CRT bill didn’t even mention CRT, but instead basically banned teachers from putting history in the context of race.

The state legislature is also banning the ability of teachers to even mention LGBT people, and passing bills that threaten heavy fines if teachers teach the truth about our history, instead insisting that they both-sides things like the Civil War (while they fight to keep KKK Grand Wizard statues in our capitol and refuse to acknowledge that the Civil War was fought over slavery).

This is all against a backdrop of having Governor Bill Lee as our governor, who has made “school choice” and private school vouchers his #1 priority, getting them passed through “bribes and threats” according to members of his own party before they were struck down by a federal judge.

Yet he’s still trying.

Lee even had Trump Secretary of Education Betsy Devos come to town to help him push the vouchers through. Devos once revealed on a Christian radio show that her agenda was to steer public funds to private Christian schools to “Advance God’s Kingdom” – a goal Governor Lee very much seems to share.

Steering funds away from our public schools is especially problematic considering we’re already #46 in the nation in per pupil spending. We have BILLIONS in our “rainy day fund”, we just awarded $900 MILLION to Ford for a new plant in West Tennessee… yet when it comes to our kids and paying our teachers properly, it’s pockets empty.

That’s the backdrop for the school board fights in Southern states like ours. It isn’t about renaming a school away from a founding father to be more politically correct here, or about whether or not there’s a more racially equitable way we can teach math.

It’s about DEFUNDING PUBLIC EDUCATION.

It’s worth noting the chair of Moms For Liberty in Williamson County doesn’t even have her kids in public schools (Lee doesn’t either), openly says we shouldn’t teach the truth, and has called public school teachers “brainwashing assholes”. Governor Lee once told a woman at a town hall he agreed people without kids in schools should have the option not to pay for them.

So when Virginia makes headlines, and moderate Democrats who otherwise believe in public schools and want to fix them start to see those Republicans as brothers and sisters-in-arms in a war against progressives, they need to realize the fight they’re fighting is a MUCH DIFFERENT FIGHT than the fight those Republicans they sympathize with are fighting, and that tying the two together ultimately runs cover for people who are hellbent on destroying public education.

As we move towards a more equitable and inclusive country, and public schools more and more become the center of the discussion, there may be things some think go too far – but please think twice before making common cause with those who don’t want to fix public schools, but instead would prefer they, and government-backed anything, go away completely – which would inevitably hurt those with the least, the most.

Public education is a bedrock of our American democracy. It isn’t perfect, but we need it. Let’s fix it and defend it, not attack it and defund it.

Justin Kanew is the founder of the Tennessee Holler. Subscribe & Support HERE.

“EXTREME” REP. MARK GREEN RECKLESSLY EQUATES DEMS HELPING REGULAR TENNESSEANS WITH THE VIETNAM WAR

Tennessee Republican congressman Rep. Mark Green (TN-7) is a radical extremist well known for “leading the fight” against Medicaid expansion in Tennessee, keeping 300,000 uninsured while saying programs like Medicaid “Keep people from a saving knowledge of God”.

He’s also a former U.S. Army flight surgeon who was nominated for army secretary by Trump but couldn’t even get a hearing from a Republican-controlled senate, possibly because of his hateful anti-LGBT views and comments about Muslims, but also possibly because of whatever is at the root of why he won’t make his redacted discharge papers un-redacted and public, which he is clearly very sensitive about.

Green also ran cover for the insurrection, minimizing it, parroting the Big Lie, and voting to throw out the results of a free and fair American election, which one would think would cause Green to take a breath before equating the efforts of Democrats to win elections and pass popular progressive agenda to… Vietnam –A war that left 58,000 Americans dead – 1.4 MILLION casualties total. But since he fancies himself quite the military expert, and has a habit of telling anyone who’ll listen about his night with Saddam Hussein – he even wrote a book about it – it should probably come as no surprise that that’s the prism through which he sees most things.

His article for The Daily Signal, a Conservative news site backed by the Koch-tied Heritage Foundation , takes things to a whole other level though. He titles it: “Ready, Aim, Fire: Left Fired Too Soon and Created Its Own Tet Offensive”

In it, Green compares the efforts of Dems to score political wins to pass a transformative, wildly popular (even in West Virginia!) budget that helps a lot of people an “insurgency” that seeks to “spark an uprising” – ironic considering Green’s lies literally did just that.

He then whines about the left “controlling the propagation of information” (on a site from a right wing think tank, which exists in a nearly impenetrable right-wing media ecosystem), and of course can’t help himself from complaining about “censorship” of those who “counter the progressive narrative” – which a recent report shows is the opposite of the truth:

“Similarly, we have seen censorship rise to new levels on social media, as those who counter the progressive elite’s narrative are silenced. The selective canceling of anyone who doesn’t engage in groupthink undermines the core of what makes this nation great.”

As a reminder, Green’s favorite corrupt president wasn’t kicked off Twitter because he’s not progressive. He was kicked off because he incited an insurrection with his lies and is attacking democracy at every turn.

But Green doesn’t stop there. He then openly accuses “the left” of “conventional warfare”:

“Once enough people have been indoctrinated, the third phase starts: direct conventional warfare. The left has moved quickly into this third phase since President Joe Biden’s victory one year ago—but perhaps too quickly.”

Green is clearly too in love with himself to handle criticism, but any reasonable person would understand using violent, charged rhetoric like this is dangerous and can and has gotten people killed. He’s not even being subtle about it. He literally compares Democrats to the North Vietnamese:

“From taxpayer-funded abortions on demand to defunding the police, from their $3.5 trillion social engineering boondoggle to indoctrinating our children with critical race theory, the Democrats—like the North Vietnamese in 1968—tried to move into phase three too soon. They struck before enough people have been indoctrinated.”

He calls the November 2nd elections “the liberal progressives’ version of this Tet Offensive” (and includes the Virginia governor’s race, which is interesting considering Mcauliffe was not exactly a progressive). Considering January 6th was quite literally an act of war against our capitol by Green’s own people, the gaslighting here is outrageous.

Green then closes by calling the political fight in America a literal “war”:

“Regardless, because of the left’s premature and extreme overreach, the American people were awakened and thus able to end their efforts to create their socialist utopia, for now.

But as in Vietnam, we won a great battle through their premature move to phase three of their insurgency. However, the war is not over—and our fight for this great nation must and will continue.”

Rhetoric like this is dangerous and irresponsible. Our elected leaders should be bringing us together, not dividing us further. People died on January 6th, and more may soon die again if he keeps this up.

Then again, Green showed us he doesn’t actually care about human suffering through his opposition to Medicaid expansion, so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised.

Also, as a reminder, Green’s party lost the White House, the Senate, and the House under Green’s “General” – even Youngkin kept Trump out of Virginia to secure his win – yet “Extreme” Mark Green continues to blindly follow him, and doesn’t seem willing to take any lessons from losing those *battle* in the “war” he thinks he’s fighting, while Tennesseans suffer.

ALLEGED SENATOR KELSEY CO-CONSPIRATOR JOSH SMITH EMAIL TO STANDARD CLUB MEMBERS: “I AM COOPERATING FULLY”

As you may have heard by now, the United States Department of Justice just announced the indictment of Senator Brian Kelsey (R-GERMANTOWN) and club owner Josh Smith, who owns The Standard in downtown Nashville – known for having many prominent right-wing Tennessee politicians as members.

The Standard made waves for hosting events with groups known for their anti-Muslim rhetoric in the past, to give you some idea of what we’re dealing with here. From The Tennesssean:

Some nights, the club brings in boxers for a “gentlemen’s brawl,” accompanied by lobster and cocktails. On one night, a hate group hosted an event about Islam.

At one point formed a Political Action Committee to help get those right-wing politicians elected, which is where the DOJ’s indictment comes in.

The indictment alleges the Standard’s PAC was involved in a scheme to break election finance laws and funnel money into Senator Brian Kelsey’s failed congressional bid. Senator Kelsey has since come out and called it a “political witch hunt” by the Biden administration – which would be odd considering the investigation started 5 years ago, when Kelsey’s hero Trump was president.

The Holler has now obtained a message sent by The Standard’s leadership to “Friends and Members” saying that The Standard WAS involved in the chain of funds, but claiming it had nothing to do with the illegal part and saying club owner Josh Smith is an “open book” who is “cooperating fully” and he “hopes it will not affect friendships”.

THE EMAIL:

We’ve heard from former Standard members & employees who severed ties with the club because of their concerns about the culture with regard to treatment of women and staff. They’ve also told us Smith regularly brags about his influence over local elected officials and his ability to avoid consequences.

Will this be the time it catches up with him, and his pal Senator Kelsey? Time will tell.

TN Senate ethics rules require Kelsey to request an ethics committee hearing within 10 days or relinquish his chairmanship positions as long as the indictment lasts.

The clock is ticking, Brian. Tick-Tock.

Or is it Tik-Tok now? Anyway, you get the idea.

TN ED REPORT: Public Money, Private Schools – Tennessee’s Gov. Bill Lee

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee is an unapologetic champion of school privatization. While the Tennessee Supreme Court has delayed implementation of the voucher scheme Lee succeeded in passing in 2019, Lee has put on a full court press of other measures in order to bring privatization to the Volunteer State.

The latest effort comes by way of Lee attempting to “reform” the state’s school funding formula, known as the BEP. The move includes 18 subcommittees designed to make recommendations for revising the formula – even though Lee has indicated he has no plans to actually increasing funding for schools.

On that note, the Tennessee Education Association suggests Lee’s efforts are missing the mark:

Tennessee ranks 46th in the nation for what we invest per student. It is irresponsible and harmful to Tennessee children to continue the pattern of insufficient state investment in our schools, especially at a time when Tennessee has the largest revenue surpluses in state history. We can and must do better for our students.

Any review of the BEP funding formula must include more than recommendations on how to change the formula. Until the state makes a significant increase in public education funding to address many challenges plaguing our schools, updating a formula will not get us where we need to be to provide the high-quality public education Tennessee children deserve.”

Nashville education blogger TC Weber notes that the BEP is often studied, but never actually improved:

Hamilton County Schools Interim Superintendent Nakia Towns puts it succinctly when pointing out that without a commitment from the governor and the legislature to put more money into funding education, “this whole conversation is without any real teeth.”

There is no need for further study, but Bill Lee insists on acting in a manner not dissimilar to my children’s behavior. If you don’t like what Mom says, go try to engage Dad. If that doesn’t work, try asking the question with different wording. Likely to work out as well for him as it does for them.

J.C. Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee embraces Lee’s promise of including more voices, but with a caveat,

“If we want different outcomes, we need different voices in the room. I hope there is an honest attempt to let people truly express their opinions, and that the outcome is not already decided,” he said. “This cannot be an exercise in futility. We need to address some giant issues.”

 

Lee has tipped his hand a bit by suggesting the new formula will be “student-centered” – that money will follow kids. This is exactly the type of rhetoric used by voucher advocates who suggest we should fund “students not systems.” Student-centered funding is also an approach pushed by privatization advocates over at ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council).

If Lee were serious about improving public schools, his major announcement around the BEP would have included his commitment to a way to make up for the $1.7 billion shortfall in Tennessee’s current school funding.

 

Photo by Celyn Kang on Unsplash

Meanwhile, a Pro-Privatization PAC Ramps Up

Just as Gov. Lee is moving forward with his funding formula privatization scheme, a political action committee allied with Lee’s interests is ramping up activity. Team Kid PAC is now on the scene and sure to be a player in the 2022 elections.

Team Kid PAC is the political arm of Tennesseans for Student Success – a supposedly pro-schools nonprofit that is heavily involved in legislative and political advocacy with an aim toward school privatization. Plus, the group has close ties to the payday lending industry.

Finally, the Teacher Shortage Crisis is Here

I mean, we don’t actually want a teacher shortage crisis. But, for those who have been warning about it for some time, the moment may finally be here. Policy makers are actually making some noise about a crisis years in the making. One that was entirely predictable.

Few are suggesting one key solution: Raise teacher pay substantially. Yes, adjusting responsibilities and providing a more welcoming work environment are also important. But, it is long past time to pay teachers significantly more. Tennessee has a $2 billion surplus from the recently-concluded fiscal year. We could fully close the teacher wage gap (a raise of about 20% for most teachers) and still have plenty of cash left over without raising taxes one dime.

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