TWO VERY DIFFERENT PUBLIC SCHOOL FIGHTS

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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

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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”

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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

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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.

Subscribe to the TN Education Report HERE

OPINION: To Calm Things Down In America, Make People’s Lives Better (Pass The People’s Budget)

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“We’re as divided as we’ve been in my lifetime” is something you hear from people on both sides of the political spectrum these days.

We can’t all agree on much, but one thing there seems to be a consensus on is that the level of vitriol in America is as high as it has been in generations. Nearly a third of us expect another Civil War soon.

The Insurrection on January 6th was very clearly a manifestation of the division. We can’t even have school board meetings anymore without being at each other’s throats.

Most of us want the divisiveness to end. So how do we calm things down?

There’s no easy answer to that. There won’t be a silver bullet (especially as long as Fox News is on the air), but what if part of the answer is showing people the government can work FOR THEM again, rather than just for corporations and the wealthy?

It’s hard to ignore that as the animosity in America is as high as it has been in a century, inequality is also at Gilded Age levels. Inequality is tied to so many issues in our country – a lack of health care, poor education, crime, gun violence, even abortion. It stands to reason that when people have less, they have less to lose, they’re more likely to be angry, and they become more likely to express their anger in ways that are detrimental to society.

So here’s a crazy thought: To make people less angry, make their lives better.

Guarantee them time off when they’re sick or have a child, like the rest of the world does.

Cover child care costs earlier and start teaching their kids with Universal Pre-K earlier to lessen the financial burden on their families.

Create good paying jobs by investing in our clean energy future, and infrastructure.

Invest what it takes to make sure everywhere in America is connected to broadband, so young Americans can stay in rural areas when they graduate high school and start businesses there and revitalize those communities rather than leaving the first chance they get.

Expand Medicare to cover Hearing and Vision so people don’t forego the glasses and hearing aids they need, and expand Medicaid to the states that haven’t like here in Tennessee where we’re #1 in Medical bankruptcies and we lose $1.7 Billion every year we don’t, so folks can see a doctor when they get sick rather than a bankruptcy attorney. (Or even better cover everyone through Medicare for All or something like it)

Invest in HBCU’s, and housing to put a roof over people’s heads, and worker’s rights… and do it all without raising taxes on anyone but those who can afford it – the ones making over $400,000 per year.

These aren’t pipe dreams. These are literally the things in the budget that Biden and the Democrats are fighting to pass while Republicans and a few “moderates” like Manchin & Sinema (who sure look like extremists to me) stand in the way.

These are programs that will have tangible impacts on the lives of Americans.

Many of the angriest among us view government as the problem because they’ve been told it is by a steady drumbeat of conservative talking heads, but the truth is government can be a big part of the solution, and can help make their lives better. Making people’s lives better and addressing the gross inequality we have allowed to overtake our society thanks to a government captured by corporate interests may be the only real path to calming things down in this country… assuming there still is one.

Pass the people’s budget.

Justin Kanew is the Founder of the Tennessee Holler

BOWLING & REPUBLICANS PEDDLE VACCINE DISINFO IN COMMITTEE

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 “IT’S IN THE INTEREST OF THIS COMMITTEE TO NOT GIVE DISINFORMATION”

As TN GOP legislators (especially Janice Bowling) peddle blatant vaccine disinfo to resist OSHA rules, saying it doesn’t work/isn’t a vaccine, etc…  Democrats Johnson, Campbell, Stewart push back.
Dangerous nonsense from elected officials.

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

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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.

OP-ED: “To Stop The Violence, Make People In The Community Feel Valued”

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TN Congressional Candidate Nathaniel Doss on How to Help Stop the Violence in Tennessee

Recently the community was challenged to tell our elected officials what assistance we would like from them. This is an intricate question that requires us to also pull back the layers to a historically uncomfortable position. None of the violence we are seeing is new. None of the outrage from the community is new. Most recently we saw a heinous crime committed against seven women at a celebration for our community. This act of violence left me shaken to my core not only because of the personal attachment to one of the victims but because, as a man, I was taught my main responsibility was to protect the matriarch of the family.

I felt that I had personally failed those women; like WE failed them.

Changing a culture is never easy, especially one living with generational PTSD. We have suffered from eras of trauma. Due to the constant trauma that we have begun associating with the “Black experience” we have become desensitized to the social negative reinforcements that control society. These constructs are the checks put in place to discourage crime. When an individual feels as if they have nothing to lose, there are really no limits to their depravity.

When a group of people recognizes that imprisonment is routine and commonplace, it becomes an expected outcome. When, as a people, we have seen horrors firsthand and not just heard about them in stories, those horrors are as easily dealt as they are received.

We must make our people understand that they have value to our community.

We must get our young people to understand that not only is their life important but who they will be in our community in the future is important as well.

We must cultivate and grow empathy again despite the horrors we have seen.

That lack of empathy was what made shooting into a crowd of women and children at a peaceful event, a reasonable action for a traumatized mind. Empathy and love must be taught as early and with as much emphasis as potty training, colors, and shapes.

Conversely, we speak of culture change, and it is admittedly a dire need; however how can we begin to change a culture of a group of people with unmet basic needs? How shall you preach to a man that is hungry? How can you hope to correct a child who does not have a safe place to rest?

Until those basic needs are met, we cannot hope to make any change. We MUST address the needs first.

We have to tap those resources that are available to meet those needs and we must start early. Exposure to a different possible outcome is key. What if instead of watching numerous relatives and friends be incarcerated, it was more common to see numerous friends and family graduate? We must normalize success and growth. We must celebrate and incentivize it, if necessary.

Actions that will begin the change are true community policing, access to nutrition, and home ownership for people employed in our community. We have community policing some may say, and we do to an extent. Let’s intensify our efforts at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and Chattanooga State Community College so we can recruit members of the community. In Chattanooga we had an era that was successful with this, no matter the reason it ceased. It needs to be reinstated with a deliberate and focused effort.

As someone stated at the meeting Dr. Mackey organized, we also need social workers to work directly with our Chattanooga Police department. That means increasing their budget to employ said social workers that would work shoulder to shoulder with our police department protecting our city 24 hours a day. Allowing our police to focus their efforts more on the ilk that plagues our community.

I read today, “Teach a man to fish after you give him a fish. Learning anything on a hungry stomach is less likely to be retained.” I couldn’t agree more, we have children going to school hungry and coming home to hunger. In many areas of Chattanooga where minorities reside there is a lack of suitable access to nutrition. A hungry child will not concentrate in school or behave in the community. Their main concern is rectifying that hunger if only for today. I believe we must partner with businesses, and social development departments at all three municipalities: City, County, and State, in order to ensure that we do not have a health crisis and that grocery stores are accessible in every community.

As I have been walking around this summer introducing myself and listening to the community, I listened as many were fearful of their community losing its identity. Many spoke of not wanting the perceived crime that comes with “affordable housing’’ i.e. apartment complexes. I sympathize with their fears and understand because I live within their community and have seen violence on my own street. We need to partner with developers, the city, the county, and community associations so we can best add homeownership to our underserved communities without changing the dynamics of that community.

We must educate our neighbors; affordable housing no longer looks like their homes. It will not have the same spacing in between homes and may not remotely resemble their homes in appearance. What it will do is bring hard working people that want to break generational cycles; people that want to add value to a community because they have a direct interest in doing so.

We must make home ownership accessible and a reality for those that may not have seen this as a possibility. This may mean creative lending and alternative credit scoring. There may be fear of perceived risk, but the payout is more than worth it. What better way to ensure a thriving community and thus a swift investment return? Ownership in any form creates pride and stewardship.

You take care of what is yours; that goes for houses, communities, and people no matter your socio-economic class.

We must challenge ourselves to partner with unions, business partners, our educational institutions to provide and help prepare workers for more careers and not just dead-end employment. Meaningful employment, safety, ready access to nutrition, flourishing schools, and homeownership will be impactful when adding Pride, thus changing the culture. Our community has worked hard to improve the starting pay with City employment and attract employers such as Volkswagen, Amazon, and many others.

Productivity is directly affected by stable homes and the provision of basic needs. It’s all a cycle of growth. We all have an impact to make, some know right away and others as they grow into their calling. The Black community has managed to struggle through all these years, but it is like a doctor concentrating on the symptoms and not the cause. It is past time to cure the disease that is eating away at our community. 

Nate Doss is running for congress as a Democrat in Tennessee’s 3rd District. LEARN MORE.

TODAY’S HOLLER: LEE & THE TN GOP EMBRACE A GREEN NEW DEAL 🌍 RACISM IN NASHVILLE & KNOXVILLE 😡 & Much More

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THE GREEN NEW DEAL COMES TO TENNESSEE

At a SPECIAL SESSION TODAY “Tennessee lawmakers will gather for a special session focused on $900 MILLION in incentives for a FORD ELECTRIC CAR PLANT”—while they call Biden a “socialist” for investing in clean energy at the federal level? The hypocrisy is astounding welcome to the 21st century, Republicans! 🤔 #LeesGreenNewDeal

Investing in our future and creating jobs is exactly what Biden and the Dems are trying to do with the People’s budget, which Republicans are trying to paint as the end of the world while doing something similar here at home.

Keep in mind 🔥🌍 the IMF recently told us the “Fossil fuel industry gets subsidies of $11 MILLION PER MINUTE, Trillions ‘adding fuel to the fire’ of the climate crisis” We subsidize our own demise, propping up an industry that then pays our politicians to lie to us.

And as it turns out, MANCHIN IS HURTING HIS OWN PEOPLE THE MOST, as we now know 🌍 “WEST VIRGINIA IS MORE EXPOSED TO FLOODS THAN ANYWHERE IN 🇺🇸” as Senator Manchin thwarts Democrats’ push to reduce warming.

Also, TN’s disasters cost the most this year.

All this is why BERNIE Sanders dropped an OP-ED IN MANCHIN’S BACKYARD touting the overwhelming popularity of Biden’s budget… And naturally, Manchin was triggered by it.

Frankly, Biden should be doing this also

It’s time to pass this budget and show the American people it matters who governs. As Lee & The TN GOP are showing here at home, they don’t actually oppose doing these things when it helps them politically.

We’ll continue to highlight the hypocrisy. Thank you as always for subscribing to the holler. If you’re not yet, please consider chipping in – the monthly support truly keeps us going. No monthly amount is too small.

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TODAY’S HOLLER:
“MEDICAL NAZISM”?: As expected, Senator Frank Niceley & pro-COVID TN GOP legislators will try to pass a BIG GOVERNMENT law PROHIBITING PRIVATE employers from requiring vaccines (which Griffey calls “Nazism”, yet the state does it to kids in schools🤔)

VACCINE MANDATES WORKING: “Vaccine mandates stoked fears of labor shortages. But hospitals say they’re working.” 😷

How it started How it’s going – (Not actual Nashville resident) BEN SHAPIRO edition) 😷 🤔

NIGHTMARE — Ex-pastor raped a 14yo, impregnated her… won’t do jail time, she has to share custody. (Both in TN) – Her parents had pushed her to marry him (they divorced). They both live in Tennessee. Jason Greathouse. In HENDERSONVILLE. We’ll talk to her LIVE ON THE HOLLER tomorrow at noon.

UNDERFUNDED SCHOOLS: Kids are leaving public schools at a high rate. That’s a feature not a bug for Republicans. We have billions in surplus, yet we’re 46th in per pupil funding. Fully fund our schools, Governor Lee.

TN ED REPORT: “The teacher shortage crisis is here… it is long past time to pay teachers significantly more. TN has a $2 billion surplus…” (PSA: For Lee & the TN GOP and their attack on public schools, the shortage is a feature not a bug.)

LEE’S COVERT NEW VOUCHER PUSH: 🔥Rep. Gloria Johnson on Lee’s (ALEC-led, low key voucher) approach to *revising* the BEP: “He wants to give the appearance he’s listening to everyone on this… Why do we need 18 committees to tell us we’re 45th in funding in 🇺🇸 for education?”🗣🎯

UPDATE: Rutherford County Judge Donna Davenport is no longer an adjunct professor at MTSU after the NATIONAL report that she oversaw illegal mass jailing of (mostly black) kids in Rutherford County. Good hollerin’, y’all.

COLIN POWELL DIES OF COVID: Ex-Secretary of State and Joint Chiefs Chairman COLIN POWELL has died from COVID complications at 84 😷

IMPORTANT As Republicans inevitably use Powell’s death to denigrate vaccines…

BUTTIGIEG SCHOOLS TUCKER: 🔥🗣🎯 “I won’t apologize to Tucker Carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature infant twins… it’s important work we should all be able to do… we’re the only developed country that still doesn’t guarantee paid family leave…” 🇺🇸

AOC SCHOOLS BURCHETT: 🔥AOC dismantles Rep. Tim Burchett’s ignorant gaslighting talking points… ouch! 👇🏽 Republicans canceled extra unemployment early, it didn’t work, but they just continue to blame it for people not working anyway🤔

TRUMP DOJ OFFICIAL FACING DISBARMENT: “Former assistant attorney general and high-ranking Justice Dept official Jeffrey Clark is facing disbarment and criminal charges for assisting Trump in his attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election.”

GOP FUNDRAISING EMAIL: “YOU’RE A TRAITOR” – Actual pro-Trump NRCC message calls Republicans “traitors” & “deserters” to get them to donate.. the anti-democracy hostility at an 11. Extremely telling about where they’re at as a group right now.  😳

LITTLE OAKS RACISM: After backlash, LITTLE OAKS ACADEMY in Knoxville defends themselves/sort of apologizes after a black teacher was “racially harassed” by a trainee— then left “feeling worthless” after being told to go back to class. The comments are not having it.

NASHVILLE HAS RACISM TOO: NEWSWEEK picks up the story of JOSH BLACK being accused by a woman of breaking into her car in his own NASHVILLE building… she said he “fit the description” — a black dude in a pink anti-racism hoodie. The building said the actual guy was white. 🤨

GRAINGER COUNTY: “MAGA-loving religious sect that worships with AR-15s has purchased a 130-acre property in eastern Tennessee to serve as a “training center” and holy ground for its devoted, gun-toting followers…” 😵‍💫😳

ROME, GEORGIA: “Black students at COOSA HIGH SCHOOL were suspended for planning a protest after another group of students came to school waving a Confederate flag and were filmed hurling racial slurs.” 😳

TERRIFYING SITUATION IN HAITI: “As many as 17 Christian missionaries from the United States and their family members, including women and children, kidnapped in Haiti…”

🔥 FLORIDA MOM to angry parents of kids who break mask rules on purpose😷: “Where were you when we were sending black boys home for their *distracting* hairstyles? — You know what I never caught from a saggy pair of pants or an exposed shoulder? A FUCKING COMMUNICABLE DISEASE.”

SOCIALIZED RISK, PRIVATiZED GAINS: COVID drug developed with $35 MILLION in federal funds at Emory may be able to halve the risk of hospitalization & death… so naturally, MERCK wants to charge a 46x MARKUP… Socialized risk, privatized reward… aka CAPITALISM!

ICYMI — the embarrassing scene at the UT game… Lane Kiffin hit with a golf ball and “brown liquid”, which according to him wasn’t moonshine because “they wouldn’t waste that on me…” – game delayed. Embarrassing for our state.

Ok who made this 😳😩🎯

GLEIB BUSTS CHARLIE KIRK ON ABORTION… Chef’s kiss💋 perfection… watch and share…

AND MARSHA GETS BUSTED TOO…

In Times Square… “paid for by Republicans for Voting Rights”

Today’s CARTOON OF THE DAY is an Evergreen classic… #PassThePeoplesBudget

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JASON ZACHARY VS. JASON ZACHARY

/in , , /by

WATCH: “JASON ZACHARY VS. JASON ZACHARY”

Rep. Jason Zachary of Knoxville stirred up anti-mask outrage that led to threats to blockade schools—then after SCHOOLS CLOSED he tried to strike a more reasonable tone.

TOO LATE, Jason. This isn’t leadership.