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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. 

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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.

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KANEW TO WILLIAMSON COUNTY: CANCEL CASADA

“If values matter, if we’re trying to teach our kids to do the right thing, we need to #CancelCasada like his own Republican caucus did.”

Watch The Holler’s Justin Kanew help WILLIAMSON COUNTY remember why ex-speaker Glen Casada had to resign in shame.

Here’s his op-ed in the Tennessean.

INTERVIEW: HD-63 State House Candidate ELIZABETH MADEIRA

 

 

PODCAST HERE!

CASADA: “I Strongly Oppose A Living Wage”

Disgraced ex-Speaker Glen Casada opposes a Rep. Jason Hodges bill that requires companies getting incentives to come to TN to pay their employees fair wages.

RELATED: TN leads Flag of United States in min. wage jobs, inequality is at record levels.

VIDEO: WILLIAMSON REPS OGLES & CASADA FINALLY SAY “MOVE THE KKK GRAND WIZARD BUST”

Ogles stresses “distraction” & activist “yelling”?says moving it is “respectful”—suggests putting crosses in the capitol.

Newly woke disgraced ex-speaker Casada now says “change is painful but good”.

Senator Jack Johnson: “THE GOVERNOR HAS NOT WEIGHED IN YET” — Johnson reminds us Governor Lee controls 7 of the 12 state Capitol commission votes on MOVING THE KKK GRAND WIZARD BUST out of our Capitol.

You know who also hasn’t weighed in? SENATOR JACK JOHNSON.

INTERVIEW: KEEL HUNT – Tennessean Columnist & Former Special Asst. to Lamar Alexander

Holler co-founder Justin Kanew interviews KEEL HUNT, Tennessean columnist and former Special Assistant to Lamar Alexander who recently spoke out about the need to speak up in the time of Trump in this poignant column: “I’m Done Being Quiet”.
PODCAST on iTunes. (13 mins)
CLIP:  “I think it’s fear that leads to silence.”
Full FACEBOOK LIVE interview.

Commish Rolfe Points Finger At Gov. Lee & Mcwhorter For Vouchers Slush Fund

Recently we learned a $4 MILLION line item found its way into the budget, seemingly intended for grant projects in rural communities to grease the skids for Governor Lee’s public school-harming vouchers, which would steer public money to private schools.

The legislation may have been the brainchild of Speaker Glen Casada, who has since stepped down in disgrace, but it clearly also has the fingerprints of Governor Lee and his Finance Dept. chief Stuart Mcwhorter all over it.

There have been reports that 60 specific projects were promised to rural legislators to get their votes for the bill, which barely passed the house, but Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe says he has seen no such list, and points the finger SQUARELY at Lee and Mcwhorter.

WATCH BELOW as Rolfe says “WE DID NOT PROPOSE THAT”, distancing himself from the money at the budget hearing last week. (Rep. Martin Daniel has said there will be no investigation into this. Shocker!)

Williamson GOP on Climate Change: Never too hot for tin-foil hats!

Finally! The Williamson County Republican Party, party of deposed-House Speaker Glen Casada and Senator Marsha Blackburn , weighed in on climate change yesterday, and on the hottest October day on record to boot.

Nashville Severe Weather noted yesterday was the area’s hottest day on record.

Wait.

Before we get too hopeful for rationality, let’s review what the local GOP said. An email sent to subscribers began with a request for right-wingers to step up and run for Williamson County School Board — a non-partisan race — in 2020.

According to the Grand Ole Party, it’s necessary for good conservatives to come to the aid of their party and their county because all those poor underpaid public school teachers are bent on indoctrinating children with wild theories about climate change and oh, showing respect for people who aren’t white.

“The sad reality is that like Climate Change activist Greta Thunberg, students all over the country have become products of indoctrination and fear in the public school system from a very young age,” said the post. (Psst: Which country? Greta is from Sweden.)

Screen shot of email sent by Williamson County GOP to subscribers.

The post added “certain staff and educators” are forcing white privilege training on teachers in the county school system.

These claims aren’t new. Earlier this year, the Williamson GOP made news when they went bonkers about a training on inclusion in schools. 

Nor is this the party’s first time at interjecting partisan politics into the local school elections. In 2014, GOP donor Kent Davis advised Republican candidates for the — again, for the cheap seats: non-partisan — school board on strategies for ousting then Director of Schools Mike Looney, a frequent target of the right. In an email outlining his strategy, Davis included Casada and Susan Curlee, who was elected to the board that year. (Curlee has since moved to Lawrence County, where she chairs the Lawrence County Republican Party.)

In 2015, the Williamson board made the Atlantic Monthly in a story citing then-board member Dr. Beth Burgos, also on the 2014 Davis email cited above, and her campaign to remove alleged “Islamic indoctrination” from the schools.

So, the fear of indoctrination and a bent for injecting partisan politics into what is — and should be — non-partisan races isn’t surprising.

But, Greta is still right.

Disgraced Former Speaker’s N Word-Using Chief: “Send KKK Bust To Museum”

On August 2nd, speaker Glen Casada became former Speaker Glen Casada. Cameron Sexton will be stepping in to fill his very small shoes during a special session August 23rd.

The disgraced now-former Tennessee speaker’s downfall can be traced back to his refusal to meet with activists who insisted the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest – the KKK’s first Grand Wizard – be removed from the capitol. This week, Casada’s also disgraced former chief of staff Cade Cothren, who was outed for using the N Word and calling black people “idiots”, among other things, joined them in their call to move the bust, saying in a Twitter conversation it should be “sent to a museum”.

The list of Casada’s transgressions is long – we did our best to list them in video form HERE – but the beginning of his downfall can be traced back to one very specific issue: The bust of the KKK’s first Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest, which sits prominently in Tennessee’s state Capitol, and Casada’s refusal to meet with the activists who have long been calling for its removal.

Casada’s predecessor Speaker Beth Harwell Met with the activists, many of which are students. Casada would not. Instead, he gave them the runaround, dodging them in the halls of the Capitol and having his chief of staff Cothren lie directly to their faces about misspelled emails.

Eventually the frustration of activists Justin Jones and Jeneisha Harris boiled over and resulted in Jones throwing a paper cup of iced (not hot) tea (not coffee) at Casada as he fled into a private elevator.

The assault & disorderly conduct charges filed against Justin Jones and Jeneisha Harris respectively in the aftermath are still pending. (The next hearing is August 15th at 9AM in courtroom 4D)

Another issue still outstanding is that of Casada’s former Chief of staff Cade Cothren, who resigned amid numerous scandals of his own, and whether or not he falsified the date on an email date to make it look like Jones contacted Casada in violation of a court order, which would have landed Jones in jail.

Casada and Cothren claim the date discrepancy can be chalked up to an issue with the legislature’s SPAM filters delaying the email, and special prosecutor on the case Craig Northcott – the D.A. in Coffee County, who himself is under fire for open Islamophobia, homophobia, and a refusal to respect the authority of the Supreme Court – appears to be taking their word for it. Despite calls by Jones, and even Cothren himself, for Northcott to bring in the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation for an independent investigation about the possibly fraudulent emails, Northcott has refused.

The possible framing of a civil rights activist aside, Cothren resigned due to numerous other scandals – many of which Casada was complicit in – including lewd, sexist texts and behavior, an admission that he was doing cocaine at his desk during work hours, and racism. Lots of racism. 

Cothren used the “N Word” to describe quarterback Jameis Winston. He said “black people are idiots.” The list goes on.

A lot has happened since the beginning of Casada and Cothren’s downfall, and so many Phil Williams stories later it’s hard to remember how it all started… but it can all be traced back to one thing: That bust of the KKK’s first Grand Wizard in the legislature.

Casada has not expressed a willingness to move the bust, instead saying that adding “historical context” would be more appropriate (without specifying what that means).

Govenor Lee says a “conversation needs to be had” about the bust, again without providing specifics, and just recently agreed to take action to stop celebrating July 13th as “Nathan Bedford Forrest Day” after nationwide backlash – including from Republican Senator Ted Cruz – in the wake of his signing a proclamation to reaffirm it.

While Casada and Lee remain noncommittal, Casada’s “N Word”-using Former Chief of staff Cade Cothren has now changed his tune, conceding in a conversation on Twitter with Nashville native @AliceRolli1 that the bust should indeed be moved:

The comment comes as part of what appears to be an effort by Cothren to repair his image, an effort that has mainly consisted of joining Twitter and sending Taylor Swift memes to his critics while using Taylor Swift lyrics to challenge them to a fight in his Twitter bio.

“Sure, send it to the museum” is clearly a flippant, dismissive way to come around to a position on a serious topic concerning a statue much of Tennessee’s African-American population considers to be a painful reminder of a dark past. That being said, it’s also a clear departure from the official position his disgraced boss Casada’s office held when the then-speaker was dodging Jones & Harris in the halls, turning a deaf ear to protestors who were imploring Tennessee leadership to listen to Tennessee’s black citizens and move the symbol of hate.

Cothren is clearly trying to make himself employable in the state of Tennessee again so his motives can’t be viewed as entirely altruistic, but if a Republican speaker’s chief of staff who once said “black People are idiots” and called Jameis Winston the N Word is now willing to publicly call for the bust to be sent to a museum… well, these days in Tennessee, that certainly counts as progress.

Holler at Governor Lee and soon-to-be Speaker Sexton if you agree it’s time to “send the bust to the museum”.

INTERVIEW: Independent Casada challenger Brad Fiscus!

LIVE Interview with disgraced speaker Casada challenger Brad Fiscus!
 
‪The youth pastor/educator/Williamson County school board member opposes vouchers, vows not to elevate child sex abusers to chair of education subcommittees.‬
 
Support him here: www.fiscusfortn.com