First it was the Black Caucus calling for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to look into the racist texts and possible falsification of evidence coming out of Speaker Casada’s office.
Watch the VIDEO:
Now today, in response to reports of Speaker Casada spying on Democrats in the legislature through a surveillance system, Democrats have called for the U.S. Attorneys office to look into that.
Watch the VIDEO:
Yesterday we posted a video from a Williamson County legislative update Friday in which Senator Jack Johnson aggressively defended Governor Bill Lee’s school vouchers plan which would allow public school money to be used to partially fund private school educations.
Supporters of the vouchers say they will help some kids in failing schools escape to a better education.
Opponents say we shouldn’t be steering public money away from already struggling public schools to do that, that it amounts to the privatization of education, and that the private schools in receipt of the money wouldn’t be subject to the same kind of accountability and would be able to discriminate against certain kids using public funds.
(Watch our highlights of the Education Committee debate HERE. The TEA says Vouchers have been a “disaster” where implemented and remains against them, as are a number of other organizations.)
Senator Johnson seemed particularly upset by a resolution passed by a the Franklin Special School District school board here in Williamson County, which he called the “wealthiest and whitest county” in Tennessee:
“So when I hear a school board in Williamson County passes a resolution opposing this initiative… do you understand the optics of that? We’re the wealthiest, whitest county in the state. And we’re saying we don’t want to do something to help inner-city kids who are poor and predominantly minority. Shame on you. SHAME ON YOU.”
It’s worth pointing out that many school boards across the state have passed resolutions against it, including Shelby, Wilson County and Montgomery County – home of Clarksville, which has a significant minority population relative to other areas of Tennessee.
Shelby is majority African-American.
And while Johnson is right that Williamson County is the wealthiest, it is by no means the whitest – but more importantly, the Franklin Special School District board represents schools where 50% of the students are on reduced lunches, and where the school board itself is half African-American:
This begs the question: Senator Johnson mentioned the “optics” of a Williamson County school board standing against the concept of steering public money to private Schools, but what about the “optics” of the Senate Majority leader in an all-white Republican legislature yelling “SHAME ON YOU” at a half-black school board looking out for a district where 50% of the kids are on reduced lunches?
Seems like looking out for all kids, not just a few, is the job of a school board, so it should come as no surprise that these resolutions are being passed throughout the state.
As for the FSSD Board, it’s highly decorated. From their website:
The Franklin Special School District Board of Education is a six-time Tennessee School Boards Association (TSBA) Board of Distinction and was 2015 Tennessee School Board of the Year. The Board was recognized by TSBA for its development, application and monitoring of policy; involvement in long-range planning; promotion of quality education through involvement with the legislature, city/county commission, State Board of Education, community and staff; participation in board development activities, including boardmanship award levels for each member; and exhibition of a positive relationship with the media.
As a Board of Distinction, a two-year designation, FSSD was honored by TSBA as a Board of Distinction for its work as a whole, meeting specified requirements in four key areas: planning, policy, promotion and board development. The FSSD Board of Education was previously awarded TSBA School Board of the Yearin 1998, and accomplished the requirements necessary to become a Board of Distinction in 1999-2001, 2001-2003, 2007-2009, 2009-2011, 2014-2016, 2016-2018.
If you agree that Senator Jack Johnson was “inappropriate” with his comments, holler at him HERE.
Another one from the You-Couldn’t-Make-This-Up-If-You-Tried file…
HB 0283, a bill being carried by Rep. Littleton (R-Dickson) in the house and Senator Dawn White (R-Murfreesboro) in the senate, will be voted on in the house today.
The summary of the bill states:
“Criminal Offenses – As introduced, increases the punishment for a conviction of aggravated rape of a child from 15 to 60 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 to life in prison without the possibility of parole. – Amends TCA Title 39, Chapter 13 and Title 40, Chapter 35.”
The bill is being co-sponsored by a long list of reps… including the one and only Rep. David Byrd, who as a reminder has apologized on tape to 1 of 3 women who accuse him of molesting them when they were in high school, and who was removed from his education subcommittee chairmanship just last week.
The week prior Byrd’s son was forced out of his coaching spot in Jackson for “inappropriate communication” with a minor.
Let’s just say Rep. Byrd has some nerve coming anywhere near this bill. Feel free to holler at him HERE and let him know.
And feel free to holler at Speaker Casada and Governor Lee and let them know it’s time to call for Byrd’s resignation.
At a Williamson County “Legislative Update” Friday, Senator Jack Johnson took the microphone to offer a full-throated defense of Governor Bill Lee’s school vouchers program (aka “Education Savings Accounts”).
Supporters of the vouchers say they will help some kids in failing schools escape to a better education.
Opponents say we shouldn’t be steering public money away from already struggling public schools to do that, that it amounts to the privatization of education, and that the private schools in receipt of the money wouldn’t be subject to the same kind of accountability and would be able to discriminate against certain kids using public funds.
(Watch our highlights of the Education Committee debate HERE. The TEA says Vouchers have been a “disaster” where implemented and remains against them, as are a number of other organizations.)
Senator Johnson Brought up both pillars of Governor Lee’s education privatization platform – the statewide charter authorization board (which would be able to overrule local boards who decline to approve a charter), and vouchers.
Johnson accused school boards and other organizations of disseminating misinformation about the vouchers, and said while they care about public schools, he cares about the kid, offering harsh words for recent school boards (like his own in Williamson County) who have passed resolutions against charters:
“Do you understand the optics of that? We’re the wealthiest, whitest county in the state, and we’re saying we don’t want to do something to help inner-city kids who are poor and predominantly minorities. Shame on you. SHAME ON YOU.”
Watch the VIDEO:
Johnson, the Senate Majority Leader, also brought up the Governor’s friendship with Jeb Bush and used Florida as evidence of the success of vouchers and charter schools:
“Jeb Bush was elected in 1998 and he ran on a platform of education reform, including education choice (vouchers) and expansion of charter schools. The state of Florida went from 40th in the nation for 4th grade reading among poor and minority students to 1st. 40th to 1st. You cannot argue with the results, they work.”
“Florida has become Exhibit A of both counts: profiteering and interest group politics. Under the uncritical eyes of an indulgent Legislature, for-profit education companies now manage nearly half of the state’s 650 publicly financed charter schools and enroll more than 130,000 students, but with woefully insufficient controls on what they spend and to whom they pay it. Like the private prison industry and other banqueters at the public trough, they’re investing heavily in lobbying — $5.3 million in just over 10 years — and in political expenditures.”
“During a charter school visit last month, Gov. DeSantis said he wanted to do something about “bad actors” in the industry, but he has yet to say what that would be. However “bad actors” might be defined, the root of the problem is larger. It’s the very existence of the for-profit sector. Charter schools should be non-profit in all respects, not just on paper.”
“What the charter/voucher proponents (in Tennessee) may be referring to with their claim of Florida being #1 in reading is the most recent round of NAEP scores that found the state was one of few to make significant gains in reading scores. But that can in no way be attributed to vouchers and charters. The jump likely has multiple causes. Florida 4th graders out-perform the national average on the NAEP reading exam but 8th graders are about average. The boost on the NAEP for 4th graders could be attributed to the state law that requires retaining 3rd graders who flunk state reading tests, which could artificially inflate the 4th grade NAEP reading scores.”
Sometimes, people do the right things for the wrong reasons.
At 10:30 a.m., the Tennessean broke the news Tennessee Speaker of the House Glen Casada had removed Rep. David Byrd as chair of the House Education Subcommittee.
Byrd, of course, is the former girls basketball coach accused by several of his former high school players of sexually assaulting them – some in exchange for court time – in the 1980s. In a taped conversation with Christi Rice, one of the victims, Byrd apologized to her saying he “prays every week” about what he did to her, although he doesn’t give specifics on what he asks forgiveness for.
For months, supporters of Rice and other women involved have been asking Casada to remove Byrd as chair of the committee: It’s a clear slap in the face of education supporters to appoint an accused sexual predator to chair an education committee, but Casada maintained in a taped face-to-face interview with former congressional candidate and Holler editor Justin Kanew: “(Byrd) will do a good job.”
TN State Rep. David Byrd admitted on tape to sexual misconduct with female players he coached. His own party asked him to step down. He refused.
Speaker @GlenCasada promoted him to chair of an education subcommittee. Recently I confronted him about it. Please WATCH & SHARE. pic.twitter.com/G2NrcrhA5W
— Justin Kanew (@Kanew) February 19, 2019
However, today’s removal of Byrd comes one day after the former educator voted against one of Casada and right-wing Governor Bill Lee’s pet projects: Education vouchers.
So, did Casada strip Byrd of his duties because a) the pressure from victim advocates got to him, b) the father of daughters and grandfather of girls finally saw the problem with having a molester as chair of a committee, or c) he wanted retribution for Byrd’s vote?
Casada hasn’t said, but sometimes people do the right thing for the wrong reasons.
Emily Tseffos, leader of Enough is Enough -Tennessee, had this to say:
“This is a good first step but it’s not enough. This campaign will continue until David Byrd is no longer in public office.”
Casada strips Byrd of chairmanship
This is a developing story.
After a handful of incidents, Superintendent Mike Looney and Williamson County Schools formed a Diversity Council and made cultural sensitivity videos for teachers which mentioned “white privilege”, triggering some in the community.
A few fanned the flames of conflict.
Others are using it as a healthy, teachable moment. Dr. Looney still has the board’s support.
Watch HIGHLIGHTS from this week’s school board meeting:
The Tennessee Star, the far-right, Koch Brothers-funded “news outlet” has a problem with women – particularly smart, young women – as evidenced by their recent spree of attacks on Tennessean reporters.
In the last week, the Star, which likes to refer to itself as the alternative to Nashville’s daily paper of record, accused the three reporters of bias in their reporting, posted photos of the women taken from personal social media pages, and used language from far-right movements to characterize them.
Amelia Knisely, Elaina Sauber, whose name the Star misspelled twice as ‘Stauber’, and Emily West all cover Williamson County for the Tennessean’s local Williamson section. Knisely covers education, Sauber covers municipal issues in Brentwood, and West covers Franklin city issues.
Staff at the Star, including writer Chris Butler, whom Knisely says called her and “aggressively” demanded her sources on a story, were apparently triggered by coverage of a recent flap over cultural competency training for teachers in the Williamson County School System. Knisely has been covering the story for the last few weeks.
But, it seems no coincidence all three reporters are women, and women who are 30 or under. Although the Tennessean has male reporters covering similar topics for other municipalities, the Star has remained mum on criticizing men.
Last week wasn’t the first time the Star aggressively trolled one of the Tennessean’s female journalists. In August 2018, writer Chris Butler, the same reporter who harassed Knisely last week, wrote a story accusing reporter Natalie Allison of being “chummy” with “left wing activists.”
Those accusations came following protests of private prison giant Core Civic. The Star’s report said “Allison signaled likely coordination with the protestors” citing her use of the protestors’ hashtag during her live tweets of the protests.
The Star posted a photo of an angry-looking woman, with veins standing out on her neck, at the head of the Knisely story, published March 19. Although the photo is not Knisely, it is meant to imply to readers it is, and abuts a headline accusing Knisely of “rage tweeting.”
Photo intended to represent Tennessean reporter Amelia Knisely, taken from Tennessee Star, March 19.
On March 25th, the Star referred to Sauber and West as “social justice warriors” – a right wing term intended as a pejorative – in a headline and lambasted them for using Twitter to interact with readers about stories. The attack on Sauber resulted from the reporter providing a list of racial incidents that have occurred in Williamson County schools over the last several years as proof the cultural competency training is needed.
Here’s Tennessean reporter Amelia Knisley describing her conversation with Tennessee Star reporter Chris Butler:
After my story published, a TN Star reporter called me and AGGRESSIVELY demanded that I give up my sources. He was rude, and wanted me to give him contact information for people I interviewed. I told him that he could, like me, leave his office and find sources in Williamson.
— Amelia Knisely (@ameliaknisely) March 18, 2019
A source close to the group of reporters say at least one has received death threats since the Star’s harassment began.
A special election is happening in Tennessee right now in state senate district 22, a race to replace Rep. Mark Green in the state senate. The seat encompasses Stewart, Houston, and Montgomery Counties.
Juanita Charles is on the ballot as a Democrat. She’ll face Bill Powers – who won the Republican primary – in the election on April 23rd.
Powers is a self-identified “constitutional conservative” who supports president Trump, as he recently told a Facebook commenter. The commenter then went on to say that she “will not vote for anyone who is willing to make any concessions to the LGBT movement” because “it is Demonic”, and that she opposes the “Muslim agenda” because Muslims want to “change America”.
Powers says he “agrees with everything” she said.
It’s worth noting that Clarksville has a significant LGBT community, particularly at Austin Peay State University.
Clarksville also has a Muslim community.
If you feel a state senator should be someone who wants to represent all the people in their district, holler at the Bill Powers campaign and let him know HERE.
And more on his opponent Juanita Charles can be found HERE.
Again, April 23rd is the election.
We couldn’t make this up even if we tried: JD Byrd, son of Rep. David Byrd – who has apologized on tape to 1 of 3 women who say he sexually molested them in high school – has just resigned as coach of Jackson Christian boys basketball team, and it seems it was for “inappropriate communication with a student”, according to an email that went out from the principal’s office. (SEE BELOW)
Apple, meet tree.
We’ve left word for the athletic director.
The school president is away on a mission trip.
More on this story as it develops….
Justin Kanew ran for Congress against Rep. Mark Green in the 7th District in 2018. He wrote this in response to Green’s op-ed in the Tennessean this week, where Green asked: “Are the Democrats Ok With The Party’s Leftward March?”
—
First of all – Hi, Mark! Been a while. I haven’t seen you since you were refusing to debate me in our congressional race.
Since then we saw each other in Franklin, where you accused me of falsely accusing you of leading the fight against Medicaid expansion (despite your own endorsement saying you did), while also saying it was wrong of me to point out that you did it while declaring government programs like Medicaid “keep people from a saving knowledge of who God is”.
These “Radical” statements are all on video… the tape doesn’t lie…
NEW VIDEO: My opponent Mark Green explains his radical religious views behind his decision to reject billions of our federal Medicaid expansion dollars – which caused many rural hospitals to close and 300,000 Tennesseans to go without health coverage, including 30,000 veterans. pic.twitter.com/Q7bURIFuGc
– Justin Kanew (@Kanew) September 13, 2018
What makes it even more unconscionable is that you yourself were on a state health care plan. But I digress.
I’m writing here to answer the question you just posed in the Tennessean, where you asked: “Are the Democrats Ok With The Party’s Leftward March?”
You must’ve sat down to write that after your grandstanding at the Michael Cohen hearing, where you oddly didn’t seem to care at all about the multiple crimes the president may have committed – which most Americans believe he has.
Sorry, there I go digressing again.
Ok, let’s get down to it. I’m here to address your question. In short, the answer is a resounding YES.
YES, I’m ok with Democrats attempting to address the very serious problems of Gilded Age levels of inequality and climate change, which your party continues to claim is a hoax on behalf of the billionaires who finance your campaigns despite the fact that their own science has been telling them climate change is real for decades.
(Say hi to the Kochs for me, by the way. Maybe you’ll see them at your next ALEC meeting.)
You and I both just ran for congress in TN-7. If you were looking out the window as you went from photo op to photo op you may have noticed the harsh truth that not every county in Tennessee is Williamson County.
Rural Tennessee is hurting. But instead of doing everything within your power to help keep uninsured Tennesseans and rural hospitals afloat through medicaid expansion, or extending a helping hand to regular folks through a living wage, real tax relief, standing with unions, etc. – you mock every effort to help everyday Tennesseans as “socialism”.
Let’s be clear: “Socialism” is literally “a government takeover of the means of production”.
Nobody is advocating for that.
What I and almost every progressive I know actually want is to level the playing field and stop the over-concentration of wealth and power you and your pals facilitate at every turn.
You mock the Green New Deal, but I’ll take an over-ambitious plan to deal with the harsh realities we face over a corrupt deal with the Big Everything devil any day of the week. (Reminder: One of us refused PAC money of any kind during our race, and it wasn’t you.)
One can only imagine what you would have said about FDR’s New Deal, which most of your constituents have greatly benefitted from for generations, which helped bring us OUT of the Great Depression – a depression outrageous levels of inequality and policies like the ones you support helped get us into.
A refresher: The New Deal included the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Farm Security Administration (FSA), the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 (NIRA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA)…
…It provided support for farmers, the unemployed, youth and the elderly…
…It included new constraints and safeguards on the banking industry… and efforts to re-inflate the economy after prices had fallen sharply…
You would’ve HATED it.
As for the specifics of the Green New Deal you mock, let’s talk about what you actually said:
“The visionaries behind this massive bill are hoping to eliminate air travel, gut and rebuild every building in America, eliminate 99% of cars, eliminate nuclear energy and ban affordable energies like natural gas.”
This is obviously a childish over-exaggeration and mischaracterizes it completely. Hard not to wonder if you’ve even actually read it.
The Green New Deal isn’t a bill. It’s a non-binding resolution. A set of goals. A starting point, and a good one.
It’s a broad outline of how to achieve objectively positive, popular outcomes like universal health care, truly full employment, and 100% renewable energy- lifting up people who need lifting up in very real ways.
And you’re against all of it.
Nobody is eliminating planes. Nobody is eliminating cars.
The fact that you have to resort to these untruths about what the Green New Deal actually is just goes to show how little the truth actually means to you.
On Universal Health Care, which every single industrialized nation has except for us, you seem to have no use for it whatsoever. There are a number of different ideas about how to get to Universal Health Care – where people would be able to see a doctor when they get sick rather than a bankruptcy attorney – and you support none of them.
Instead, you talk about Health Savings Accounts, which sound nice but do nothing to cover more vulnerable Tennesseans. Let’s make it clear, an HSA is a great idea, but in order to save money you need to earn money. Many do this through ventures such as buying fisher and paykel healthcare shares or other similar investments. But we’re talking about the vulnerable Tennesseans who are living paycheck to paycheck or on welfare checks and unfortunately can’t afford such opportunities. How are these people meant to establish an HSA Mark?
But what I find just as disturbing is that you support Block Grants, which do nothing to help rural hospitals (and also happen to be illegal and are opposed by Children’s hospitals).
Meanwhile Tennessee loses nearly $4 Million every DAY by not expanding Medicaid, which was in large part your handiwork, keeping hundreds of thousands uninsured and letting rural hospitals close.
Governor Haslam calls it one of his biggest regrets.
Meanwhile, you mock others who try to actually address the problem.
This is what you – a doctor – had to say about Bernie’s “Medicare For All” plan, which is just one of a number of ideas about how to get to universal coverage:
“Cautious estimates of the cost of Sanders’ plan start at $32.6 trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Even if we implement the most aggressive tax plan to seize and redistribute wealth from the top 1 percent we only raise $720 billion over 10 years, or 2 percent of what Medicare for All costs. And, keep in mind our revenue over that same period will only be approximately $40 trillion – unless, of course, this bill is passed and we tailspin towards a second Great Depression.”
Newsflash Doc, much of this country is already hurting. I know you spent much of our race in hiding, but if you had come to Columbia when Remote Area Medical was in town you would’ve seen hundreds of people lined up in a parking lot at 5AM just to see a doctor- because they literally couldn’t afford to get care any other way.
NEW VIDEO: “Richest Country in World”
It’s great @ramusaorg exists, but it’s sad that they’re so sorely needed right here in at home. We need to get everyone in 🇺🇸 covered.
Early Voting: July 13-28
Primary: August 2
General: November 6https://t.co/Sa9hkNoG7E #TN7 pic.twitter.com/ThNliWL3Wt– Justin Kanew (@Kanew) July 16, 2018
Remote Area Medical visited Knoxville recently too:
@mswontheroad Hi Michael, we’d love to talk to you about this photo you took at the Remote Area Medical event in Knoxville, and also get your permission to use it in a story. Feel free to follow back for a DM if you like! pic.twitter.com/Vg1KLKBu3v
– Grit Post (@grit_post) February 11, 2019
Over half this country can’t withstand a $400 emergency without going broke.
This is not how it should be in the richest country in the world. I challenge you to go to one of these RAM sites and tell these families you’re the one who “led the fight” to keep them from having health coverage.
As for the cost of Medicare For All – you convenienently left out that it would mean NO MORE PREMIUMS OR DEDUCTIBLES, and that what we have now is ALREADY too expensive.
We spend 18% of our GDP on Health Care while the next highest country spends 12%, and that $32.6 Trillion number you cited is actually LESS than the estimates of what our current system costs, according to a conservative think tank’s estimate.
Another gross mischaracterization.
Not to mention the savings that would come from suffering Tennesseans being able to see a doctor before their ailments get worse and more expensive.
I happen to believe we need something like our education system, where everyone has access to a baseline of Medicare or something like it (a la public schools), and then those who can afford it can buy private insurance for themselves (a la private schools).
But we need to cover everyone. It’s time.
Which brings us to your first point, which I’m saving for last because I find it the most gruesome. This is what you said about the Democratic position on “late-term abortion”:
“Let’s begin with infanticide. Are Democrats truly accepting killing babies outside the womb now? A Democrat head of a state, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, last month casually defended it.
He explained to radio listeners that an infant already delivered “would be kept comfortable” while a mother and doctor discussed letting the child die. When pressed for clarification, he explained that the scenario he envisioned involved a baby with deformities.
Assuming he meant Down syndrome or something similar – this is an outrageous claim. If you go and ask people with Down syndrome – they think they’re life is worth living.”
I’ll start with a concession: Northam’s words were clumsy.
No, Democrats should not be for “killing babies outside the womb”, as you put it. And they are not. No Democrat I know is for infanticide.
But nonviable births are not “infanticide”.
Do you know a mother who has gone through something like that, Mark? I do. A good friend of mine.
I challenge you to call her a murderer to her face, if that’s what you believe. She’s in Lawrenceburg. She lives with the pain of losing a child every single day. You’ve met her.
You say “assuming he meant Down syndrome or something similar” – that’s one HELL of an assumption, doc. For a doctor, no less.
You know damn well that’s not what a nonviable birth is.
So yes, Democrats are AGAINST “killing babies outside the womb” and “late term abortions”.
We’re also AGAINST forcing women who have been raped to carry their rapist’s baby to term… and FOR expanding medicaid… and FOR common sense gun safety legislation… and FOR making birth control available… and FOR subsidizing day care for low income women… and FOR raising the wage to a living one… and FOR real tax reform that will put more money in the pockets of your constituents rather than corporations and the wealthy.
These are all “pro-life” positions. You’re against ALL of them.
And every last one of them has the support of a vast majority of Americans.
Who’s the “Radical” again?
You mock these ideas as “socialism”, which either means you failed civics, or you’re not quite as committed to the truth as you say you’d like Michael Cohen to be.
You also mock the idea of giving jobs to those willing to work to rebuild our country, which is another popular idea (as is The Green New Deal by the way!) and you do it in the name of *fiscal responsibility* while the president you refuse to criticize has exploded the deficit to hand tax cuts to people who need it the least – like him, and you.
So in summation: If a “leftward march” means supporting health care for the people of our district, dealing with inequality in a real way to help real Tennesseans, and addressing the issue of climate change head-on for the sake of our children rather than burying our heads in the sand at the behest of the Koch brothers… then count me all the way in.
It’s not a “leftward” march. It’s a forward march.
I’ll take progress over greed any day of the week.
As this country gets younger and more inclusive, this is what the people want. Just because you call it “socialism” doesn’t make it so.
In the meantime, enjoy the $8 Billion farmer bailout that you for some reason don’t count as “socialism”, and the constitution-shredding *national emergency* you support. I’m sure the Fort Campbell School and other Clarksville-area projects it would take $132 Million from will be just fine.
So if by “Radical” you mean we support drastic measures to address the significant challenges we face, then yes we’re the radicals. But if by “Radical” you mean extremely out of step with the majority of this country – and yes, Tennessee – on most of these issues, then it’s you who is the “Radical”, sir.
Wanting to help people isn’t “Radical”, Mark. “Radical” is blocking medicaid expansion while saying government programs give suffering Tennesseans the opportunity to know God.
And history will not remember the Radical things you’re doing here kindly.
(P. S. – I enjoy that you cited Obama as a centrist at the end of your op-ed. Nice to see you’ve dropped your birtherism act. You, sir, are no John Mccain – no wonder he helped block your Army Secretary bid. Not even getting to a senate hearing with a Republican-controlled congress? Talk about “Radical”.)
