MARSHA BLACKBURNED ON SNL

MARSHA BLACKBURNED ON SNL

In case you missed it, our own Senator Marsha Blackburn was BLACKBURNED on SNL by the hilarious Cecily Strong after her gross mistreatment of Ketanji Brown Jackson during the Supreme Court nominee hearings last week. 

“Are you jerkin’ my perm… If you don’t know what a woman is, how are you gonna take their rights away?” 🤣🤣🔥🔥

Give Cecily Strong & SNL all the awards for this Senator Marsha Blackburn impersonation… she really captured her essence. Our hope is that they please make this recurring.

Not only did Marsha get roasted for her line of questioning asking KBJ to define “woman” and asking Jackson if she had a “hidden agenda” to incorporate CRT into our legal system… she also completely blew it by mixing up the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Ok which one of y’all did this? 🤣

It was cathartic to see Marsha’s antics get the national humiliation they deserve. Marsha continues to be an embarrassment to our state as she does all she can to pander to her (easily fooled) base.

As always, we thank you for follering. 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. 

The Holler

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TODAY’S HOLLER:

WATCH: “LET’S JUST MAKE ALL THE MEALS FREE.” An John Ray Clemmons bill to make meals free in Tennessee’s public schools so kids don’t have to try to learn on empty stomachs moves on – despite opposition from John D Ragan (as always🙄)

SPARKS OPEN RACISM😳Republican Rep. Mike Sparks (SMYRNA) baselessly says “RURAL” kids behave better than “INNER CITY” kids – causing Parkinson to react (understandably) — As a Follerer reminds us,  Rep. Sparks should remember his own son b4 baselessly trashing the behavior of “INNER CITY” kids vs. “RURAL” kids. 👇🏽🧐  he fired a gun at beer truck, got his 2nd DUI.

Reminder: Sparks won’t admit the civil war was fought over slavery🧐 
🚨ATTENTION WILLIAMSON COUNTY: Do NOT give disgraced speaker Casada a six-figure county clerk job. Be better than this.
(Also: We fixed his list of “accomplishments” for you👇🏽)

FLASHBACK — CASADA: “IF I WAS RAPED, I WOULD MOVE.” #CancelCasada Confronted by the Holler’s Justin Kanew about supporting a child sex abuser, Disgraced former speaker Glen Casada showed why his caucus made him the shortest serving TN speaker… 😳 Now he wants a $100K+ Williamson County clerk gig?

One other thing to remember as we revisit this conversation — he says Byrd’s victims “CAME INTO MY OFFICE AND SPOKE” — They did not. We’re in touch with them. It’s an outright, stone cold lie.

cc: WILLIAMSON COUNTY #CancelCasada 👇🏽

WILLIAMSON COUNTY — Dems are having an event to introduce local candidates on April 11th at the Admin Complex 👇🏽

TN ED REPORT: “If Governor Lee actually wants to improve student achievement, he’d make a significant investment in teacher salaries… but the real driving force is pro-charter pro-privatization lobbyists….” TLDR: This funding overhaul won’t help our kids. It will only help lobbyists and the companies they represent.


A THREAD on Gov. Lee’s privatization/VOUCHERIZATION of our public education system this week… call your reps…

TN PUBLIC ED: “Perhaps this year’s greatest threat to legislator incumbency is Gov. Lee’s new K-12 funding bill TISA… developed by ALEC, the school privatizing think tank. Do they work for out of state millionaires & billionaires or TN kids?” 🧐 💰

CLEMMONS: “TISA (Gov. Bill Lee’s funding overhaul and privatization) and adding $1 BILLION are TWO SEPARATE ISSUES… we should be putting at least that in anyway.” CLEMMONS on Lee using $1 Billion to hold our kids hostage to push his privatization/charter schools agenda.

👂LISTEN: “(The FBI) wanted to get MLK to Memphis where daddy & them could handle it.” On the anniversary of MLK’s murder, an MLK TAPES clip — The son of the head of the Dixie Mafia says the FBI & Memphis police engaged his family to assassinate MLK.

MLK was assassinated 54 years ago today. At the Lorraine Motel. If you’re not listening to THE MLK TAPES you should be. It makes a compelling case that the FBI & Memphis police engaged the “Dixie Mafia” to do it. (The King family does not believe it was James Earl Ray)

Important MLK 50 piece: “The TN Housing Development Authority steers affordable housing into segregated, poor neighborhoods… Of 20 largest states, only TN & FLA don’t reward building in middle-class areas… board has just 1 Black member…”

🙃 a sure sign of a healthy party is when you won’t tell people why they should vote for you until AFTER the election

ICYMI: “Tennessee (Republicans) trying to find a loophole to ban same-sex marriage even if it legalizes child brides” 🎯 nails the framing of this TN GOP outrageousness (bonus points 🏆 for including our videos)

NO CODE OF ETHICS: Of course Republicans are “skeptical” of a SCOTUS code of ethics — it’s a slippery slope… Next people might expect THEM to start behaving ethically. 😳

MASON UPDATE: Majority Black city MASON, TN is now suing comptroller Jason Mumpower for trying to take over their finances (and erase them from the map) right as a Ford plant moves in 4 miles away, calling it discriminatory and unconstitutional.

WATCH: Does the NCAA not regulate sports? THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF THE STATE REACHING IN.” 🏳️‍⚧️ Senator Akbari opposes Hensley’s anti-trans athlete bill, as they prove yet again that The GOP = The Government Overreach Party.

🏳️‍⚧️ WATCH“WHO ARE YOUR MAJOR FUNDERS?” – On the anti-trans athlete bill REP. ANDREW FARMER shields far-right ALLIANCE DEFENDING FREEDOM from REP.MIKE STEWART’s Q about anti-public school groups funding them (Kochs, etc..) and their history of arguing to criminalize homosexuality😳 (per The Southern Poverty Law Center)

PSA…

“INFLATION” IS PRICE GOUGING: Any articles about “inflation” that fail to mention skyrocketing corporate profits are running cover for corporate greed…. They aren’t raising prices because they have to. They’re doing it because they can.

😳WATCH: “The richest county in TN generates💰off its own employees?” WILLIAMSON COUNTY charges tuition to kids of (underpaid) teachers who live outside the county. Ugly. EMAIL COUNTY COMMISSIONERS: [email protected]

THIS WEEK: House Dems pass a bill legalizing marijuana — all 7 Tennessee Republicans voted NO. GOP = Government Overreach Party

REP. COHEN“The war on drugs failed… marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol.” – Cohen rose to support the #MOREAct which would legalize marijuana at the federal level. It passed the House despite All 7 REPUBLICAN reps opposing it.

HIGH TIMES: “TN Legalization Bill Goes Up In Smoke… bill from TN Dems Rep. Bob Freeman & Senator Campbell always had an uphill climb in Tennessee’s Republican-dominated legislature… Gov. Lee has said he is against legalizing pot.” While other states are moving forward, we’re moving backwards.

Reminder: Republicans hate weed… until they can go make a lot of money off of it.

Not only are state Republicans in Tennessee not letting us move forward on marijuana, this session they killed a bill from Republican Bruce Griffey just to put a question on the ballot to ASK Tennesseans if they support medical marijuana. (SPOILER: BECAUSE OVER 80% DO)

WATCH: “WHO COULD BE AGAINST THAT?!” Republicans kill REPUBLICAN State Senator Niceley’s bill regulating Delta-8/Hemp products as Briggs’ ban passes threatening thousands of jobs MOVING US BACKWARDS. Republicans (Rose, White, Gardenhire, Lundberg, Bell, Stevens, Briggs) advanced a ban on Delta 8 and similar hemp-derived products (SB1904) – threatening a $100 million industry and thousands of TN jobs.(powerful booze & pharma lobby, eh?)

SENATOR AKBARI: “This will give a teacher a LICENSE TO BULLY… it is wrong on so many levels.” 🏳️‍⚧️ Akbari opposed the cruel anti-trans pronouns bill, passed in committee by Republicans.

🔥 WATCH – A BIG WIN FOR AMAZON (AND ALL) WORKERS: “THINGS HAVE CHANGED… this is an example of the power people have… they’re gonna have to negotiate with their workers now.” 💪🏽 #UnionStrong #AmazonUnion A win for ALL workers.

Worth remembering LEAKED NOTES from a Bezos-attended meeting showed they planned to smear Chris Smalls, leader of the unionization movement, as “not smart or articulate” 😲😳 that ain’t a dogwhistle, that’s a bullhorn.  #AmazonUnion #UnionStrong

And as AMAZON UNION gets a huge win in NY, here in Tennessee Republicans are getting ready to enshrine anti-union “Right to Work” (aka Right to Exploit) in our state constitution.

3 CLEAR CHARTS that show unions and the middle class go hand in hand — the win today is a win for ALL workers. #UnionStrong #AmazonUnion

WATCH: “KIDS’ LIVES ARE AT STAKE.” Rep. Farmer and the TN GOP ust killed a Gloria Johnson bill to limit outrageous caseloads at TN Dept of Children’s Services – even as kids are dying. (Meanwhile, $500 million for a stadium? Fascinating what we can and *can’t* afford😳)

WATCH: “TN leads 🇺🇸 in shootings involving unsecured weapons and kids.” Republicans kill Rep Gloria Johnson’s Child Access Prevention bill… but pass Sexton’s bill to let guns in parks and lower the carrying age (OF ALL GUNS) to 18. 😳 (TN has 5 of the 65 deadliest cities)

ICYMI: The House also just passed a bill to cap insulin at $35/month 232-193 (12 Republicans joined the Dems) AGAIN: EVERY Tennessee Republican REP VOTED AGAINST IT. 😳

JUST SAYING…

UPDATE: A Dem enters the TN-5 race for congress to fill Cooper’s seat — State Senator Heidi Campbell —- She’ll face off with whoever emerges from a very crowded GOP primary🎪

SOME GOOD NEWS: THE “SUE THY NEIGHBOR” ABORTION BAN & BOUNTY BILL HAS DIED (for now) Keep hollering, y’all! It works. 🤜🏽 👊🏾

Please consider CHIPPING IN MONTHLY to help us grow… make it $10 and we’ll send you a holler hat! (note your address on PayPal and which color you want when you chip in) 
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INTERVIEW: ARSON AT PLANNED PARENTHOOD KNOXVILLE with ASHLEY COFFIELD

INTERVIEW: ASHLEY PEREIRA (survivor of “Alabama pastor who raped teen gets probation” story)

ASHLEY PEREIRA was raped by ex-Jason Greathouse in Alabama at 14, and her parents pushed her to marry him. They are now divorced. He just was let off with no jail time. They both now live in Tennessee (him in HENDERSONVILLE) and she’s forced to share custody of their child with him, while he doesn’t pay any child support.

PODCAST. FULL EPISODE.

Tennessee Can Do Better for Women

Adrienne Pakis-Gillon knows about women in politics, from the passage of the 19th amendment to her disappointment with the representation of women in our GOP majority legislature. Ladies, can’t we do better for women and children in Tennessee?

FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts here, and wherever else you like to listen here.

“I Thought We Were Opposed to Government Overreach”

“We’re creating a culture war where none existed and we do so at the expense of society’s most vulnerable. I THOUGHT WE WERE OPPOSED TO GOVERNMENT OVERREACH. Creating legislation for a problem that doesn’t even exist sounds like big gov telling us how to live.”

Heidi Campbell speaks out against Senator Hensley’s anti-trans athlete bill.

 

The Intersectionality Between Climate and Reproductive Justice

Hosts Isabella and Hale speak with Osub Ahmed, a senior analyst at the Center for American Progress, on the intersection between the climate crisis and reproductive rights. This is often an overlooked subject both in media and day-to-day conversations. That’s why we decided to dig deep and dissect the important relationship between the two.

Read the Environmental Reproductive Justice research

Check out In Your Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda

Sunrise Tennessee Interest Form

Find out what Native Land you are living on

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.

FULL PODCAST available on Apple Podcasts and wherever else you like to listen.

Raw Grits

Anna and Aftyn take a break from politics this week to reckon with coming of age and finding one’s purpose within the redefinition of Southern institutions. WARNING: lots of tears!

Mark Lee, Alleged Student-Harassing Overton County Teacher, Sues Accusers

If you’ve been follering us for any amount of time you’ve likely seen us talk about OVERTON COUNTY teacher Mark Lee, who taught at Livingston Academy until his recent 90-day suspension without pay and eventual transfer – which was supposedly tied to years worth of sexual harassment allegations by multiple students stretching back to 2003. (He’s tenured, so he’s likely back on payroll now)

Here’s our interview with 2 of the girls and their mothers:

It was also discussed at an Overton County school board meeting, during which multiple parents expressed their disgust that the school board had done little to protect the girls, and in fact had plans to transfer Lee to an elementary school until people hollered about it – yes seriously.

There was also talk of him being placed at an Alternative School, which is almost worse because that’s often where the most vulnerable students end up.

The District Attorney Bryan Dunavant, who we spoke with, says he didn’t bring charges against Lee because he had no proof of physical touching (although one of the girls says he rubbed his head on her stomach). He also told us he “wouldn’t want his daughter in Lee’s class.

A mother of another one of the alleged sexual harassment victims of the LIVINGSTON ACADEMY teacher (Mark Lee) in OVERTON COUNTY Says she spoke up since 2017, nobody listened. Multiple girls signed sworn affidavits on that occasion, including a cop’s daughter.

Lee is now suing the families and those who have stood up for them for “damages arising out of the defendants’ pattern of intentional, malicious, tortious false and defamatory statements impugning the plaintiffs’ character and reputation and published to the world on social media” as well as “invasion of privacy”.

This guy has some nerve.

HERE IS THE LAWSUIT if you’d like to read it. It includes the posts below, which it cites as defamation.

As a reminder, the director of schools suspended him for 90 days related to all of this.

If you or anyone you know has stories about Lee, or witnessed any of his behavior, feel free to holler at us on social media or at [email protected]and follow The Cookeville Holler for developments

INTERVIEW: D.A. BRYANT DUNAWAY (On the Overton County Teacher Sexual Harassment Allegations)

FOR MORE INDEPENDENT, TRUTHFUL REPORTING LIKE THIS FOLLOW THE COOKEVILLE HOLLER HERE.

AND FOLLOW THE TN HOLLER HERE.

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If you follow our Facebook & Twitter pages you’ve probably seen us Hollerin’ about the situation in Overton County, where despite decades of allegations of sexual harassment of students, a teacher named Mark Lee is still allowed to be a teacher – even after a 90-day suspension (which already ended).

The Overton County School Board has been very slow to respond to the situation, and Livingston Academy, where Lee taught, was slow to bring in the authorities.

District Attorney Bryant Dunaway investigated, but wrote a letter to the TBI saying he couldn’t recommend any criminal charges because most of the allegations were about things Lee said, rather than what he did to the girls physically – although one of the brave girls who spoke out says he did rub his head on her stomach in the back of class one day while telling the rest of the class to look forward.

He also says the statute of limitations had run out because of how slow the school itself and the school board were in reporting it.

It’s worth noting that of the 3 girls who came forward, only one reported it during the time that Mark Lee’s cousin has been the principal.

Yes, you heard that right. Oh, and did we mention that director of schools, who has the power to fire him, is married to a former student of his?

Multiple allegations reaching back decades. Yet they let Mark Lee keep teaching, and were planning to send him to an elementary school until y’all hollered loud enough to help stop that.

But, he’s still a teacher. For now.

The case is closed, but the mothers and daughters are speaking up, the community is starting to push back, so we decided to reach out to District Attorney Bryant Dunaway to ask him about the way he handled the situation, and what can be done.

Below is that conversation.

If you agree Lee should be fired at the very least, contact the Overton County School Board HERE: 931-823-1287

—-

HOLLER:  We wanted to ask a few questions about the situation with The teacher Mark Lee. Can you tell us a little bit about what your process was in terms of looking into the allegations?

DUNAWAY:  Well that’s been publicly known already – I had the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation conduct an investigation. That was the process. With that in mind, I only deal with criminal matters… to see if any crime had been committed. So I asked that the investigation be done and it was.

HOLLER:  So did they interview the girls?

DUNAWAY:  They did talk with the girls, yes.

HOLLER:  And what was their finding? Did they make any sort of judgment on the believability of the allegations or accusations? 

DUNAWAY:  I can send you a copy of the letter… (he sent to TBI)

HOLLER:  We saw the letter.

DUNAWAY:  That’s really the conclusion there, the answers to those questions are in there.

HOLLER:  I guess what I’m trying to get at is he’s still teaching and people understandably have concerns.

DUNAWAY:  I tried to articulate in my letter (to the TBI) – see, I’m a criminal prosecutor. I looked at the situation to see if a crime had been committed or if there was a crime that could be prosecuted. It wouldn’t be proper for me to speak whether he’s violated any school policy or should be a teacher. I mean, I wouldn’t want my daughter in his classroom, that’s for sure. But the school board – it’s up to them to take disciplinary action or to decide whether to keep him employed or not. Really, the purpose of the TBI investigation was to determine whether there was a prosecutable crime, and that’s a very different inquiry than other types of things. 

HOLLER:  Is there anything that can be done to open it back up?

DUNAWAY:  Well it’s been investigated, why would it be opened back up? 

HOLLER:  If there were new accusations.

DUNAWAY:  I said that in my letter too, if there is new evidence or new information I always consider that. Of course I look at things through the lens of – is there a crime, or whether there’s a crime that’s been committed and is it able to be prosecuted. Whether or not he is a teacher or should be a teacher, you know there’s a lot of things about that whole situation that I’m disappointed with. It’s disappointing to me that the school administration as well as the local attorneys who brought this to light admitted they knew about these allegations since 2017 and didn’t report it to law enforcement or my office. It would have been nice to have had a timely report.

HOLLER:  So that was the principal or that was the school board?

DUNAWAY:  That was the school administration. I didn’t speak to the school board. But no complaints have been made to the school since 2017. The attorney says that he was receiving complaints as early as 2017, and nothing was reported to law enforcement or to my office.

HOLLER:  Do you think that could have anything to do with the fact that the principal is his cousin?

DUNAWAY:  I can’t speak to that, I can only speculate. He hasn’t always been the principal. He wasn’t the principal in 2017 when the initial reports from the one young lady were made. There was a different principal then.

HOLLER:  Is there any criminal recourse they could take to keep him out of the education system?

DUNAWAY:  Not criminally. I did do an investigation like I already said. I had to evaluate and see if a crime had been committed, and as I said in my letter. Based upon the evidence the primary complaint of all the girls was that he used inappropriate language toward them. There was only one allegation made that there was any physical touching at all, and that was claiming that he rubbed his head on her stomach over a desk and that’s it. There’s no allegation made by anybody of sexual contact or anything like that it’s all. He makes inappropriate comments, so that in and of itself is not a crime. It’s inappropriate, it shouldn’t be done. You see what I’m saying? In my personal opinion he shouldn’t be a teacher. But is that a crime? No. As I said in my letter, that the closest thing you could come to would maybe be harassment, which is a misdemeanor,  misdemeanor assault. Which you know, because of the delayed reporting, the statute of limitations has run on those.

HOLLER:  So the statute of limitations has run out on those crimes? That seems like a short period of time.

DUNAWAY:  It’s a year. One year on a misdemeanor. And so the complaints from 2017 have clearly run, and the 2019 ones were done early in the school year if I remember right.

HOLLER:  Even on a minor?

DUNAWAY:  Yes. There’s not much proof, the only proof you have of the head touching the stomach is the young lady’s statement. Do I believe her? Yes. He denies it, there are no witnesses to it. So the proof is not the strongest in the world, but that’s the best you got. Now everybody is up in arms about it, and I don’t blame them. It is very inappropriate talk with students like that.

HOLLER:  Which was corroborated by a lot of different people.

DUNAWAY:  Which I believe happened too, 100%. But it’s not a crime. It’s terrible, it’s inappropriate, but it’s not a crime that I can prosecute. Just making verbal sexual related jokes and off-color jokes like that. So that’s the situation. And I’m only speaking to the criminal aspect of it. Whether he’s inappropriate or not, the school board has got to make a decision on that.

HOLLER:  Hopefully they’re realizing they have to do more than they’ve done. A few days ago they were going to assign him to an elementary school but they’re reconsidering that from what we understand.

DUNAWAY:  So one of the things that you saw in my letter is that we uncovered and took a statement from a now adult who said she was a student back in 2003. Her complaint was that he made the same type of inappropriate comments. Still no allegation to physical or sexual contact, but just making inappropriate innuendos.

HOLLER:  Well it seems like everybody would feel a little bit better if they knew that he wasn’t going to be in the classroom anymore.

DUNAWAY:  I agree there, I don’t disagree with that at all.

HOLLER:  Appreciate you talking to us.

DUNAWAY:  Anytime, you’re welcome.