Gov. Lee Appoints Retired Rep. Sanderson to Wine Board He Created… After Pro-Vouchers Vote

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You may remember Rep. Bill Sanderson as the guy who stepped down under, ahem… controversial circumstances last year (as an anti-LGBT legislator with a gay son exposed for himself allegedly being a Grindr regular).

Sanderson said it was to go spend more time on his wine business, and had previously pushed through a bill that created a wine board with the goal of boosting the Tennessee wine industry, which he himself had a stake in.

As it turns out, Governor Lee has now just appointed Sanderson as one of the members of the wine board.

Must be nice!

In related news, Sanderson was one of the reps who voted for Lee’s controversial school vouchers legislation, which barely passed the TN house 50-48, needing every last vote after disgraced former speaker Casada held it open for 35 minutes. The vote is rumored to be subject of an FBI investigation.

There has also been controversy swirling around a $4 Million slush fund which may have been used to make promises to get votes for the vouchers, which Commissioner Rolfe moonwalked away from fast during last month’s budget hearings, saying Lee and Stuart McWhorter were responsible.

So Sanderson gets a Wine Board created to boost his own industry… then gets appointed to the board by Governor Lee… after voting for Lee’s public school-harming vouchers.

Were these guys elected to serve the citizens of Tennessee, or themselves?

VIDEO: Nashville Trump 2020 Co-Chair Comes Out AGAINST Private Prisons

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On Fox Nashville’s Politics in Focus Sunday, Republican strategist and Trump 2020 Davidson County Co-Chair Rick Williams came out against private prisons, which flies in the face of Republican policy.

ALSO – Davidson Democrats black caucus chair Jasper Hendricks wondered aloud why private prisons get more per inmate than state-run prisons. A good question.

Tell your local reps it’s time to stop letting people profit off of the incarceration of human beings, especially at the border. President Trump has increased the investment in private prisons tremendously, as has the state of Tennessee under Governor Bill Lee.

VIDEO: “A Historical Day” #MoveTheKKKBust

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“December 18th, 2019 was a historical day.”

Pastor Williamson of Strong Tower Bible Church tells his congregation about delivering 50,000 signatures to get the KKK GRAND WIZARD BUST removed from our Capitol with Pastor Kevin Riggs, and chairman Stuart Mcwhorter committing to discuss it by February. ??????

VIDEO: Reps Mitchell & Stewart Call On Rep. Daniel To Investigate $4 MILLION Slush Fund

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“It’s The Role Of This Committee To Get to the Bottom Of a $4 MILLION SLUSH FUND” Rep. Mike Stewart and Rep. Bo Mitchell call on Rep. Martin Daniel to investigate mysterious MONEY Gov. Lee may have used to get public school-harming vouchers passed. Even speaker Cameron Sexton calls it “troubling”.

VIDEO: Rep. Lynn GAVELS DOWN Rep. Camper, But Lets Rep. Lamberth Talk Politics

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Rep. Susan Lynn GAVELS DOWN TN House Minority leader Rep. Karen Camper for talking politics on committee by responding with facts to GOP Majority Leader Rep. William Lamberth’s opinions — who Rep. Lynn allowed to go on and on UNIMPEDED as he complained about #impeachment. ?

VIDEO: “MOVE THE KKK BUST” – Pastors Deliver 50,000 Signatures

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Watch Pastors Williamson & Riggs deliver 50,000 signatures to  the capitol commission calling for the KKK GRAND WIZARD BUST to be removed from our Capitol. The signatures were added to a petition we started just a week ago.

After hearing about NBF’s horrific slave torture, Commissioner Stuart Mcwhorter commited to a meeting by February. A good next step.

 

PASTORS TO DELIVER THOUSANDS OF SIGNATURES TO CAPITOL COMMISSION RE: KKK BUST

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Pastors Chris Williamson (Strong Tower Bible Church), Kevin Riggs (Franklin Community Church) and supporters will deliver a petition that has garnered over 40,000 signatures in less than 1 week to the State Capitol Commission meeting Wednesday, calling for the Commission to take up a motion to move the bust of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the KKK’s First Grand Wizard, out of the Capitol.

Pastors Williamson &
Riggs

Here are the event details, for those who would like to join.

The Petition was started by the Tennessee Holler, and can be viewed HERE.

40,000 and climbing

Although Forrest was a Democrat, Tennessee Democrats have unanimously called for the bust’s removal, and in recent weeks even Republican leaders have begun to as well – including House Republican caucus leader Jeremy Faison, grandson of a confederate colonel, who says conversation with Rep. GA Hardaway and reading Forrest’s own writings helped convince him.

Governor Lee has said he would ask the Capitol Commission to take up the issue, but has not done so.

WHY PEOPLE SIGNED

He also said he will work to change the law declaring July 13th Nathan Bedford Forrest Day, but has not taken measures to do that yet either.

Pastors Williamson and Riggs have asked to be able to speak briefly at the commission meeting.

MEMBERS OF THE Capitol Commission

 

TN Farm Bureau President: “We’ve Endured About All The Pain We Can Stand”

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The Tennessee Farm Bureau lobbies on behalf of the state’s farmers.  TN’s is the largest Farm Bureau in the nation, with more than 677,000 members. Bureau President Jeff Aiken was re-elected this week, and Aiken had some frank words about Trump’s Trade War and the “pain” it’s causing our farmers at their convention at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Cool Springs Tuesday.

Below are some excerpts from Aiken’s speech, courtesy of the Columbia Daily Herald:

“Trade is vitally important to Tennessee farmers. Many of the commodities we produce are heavily dependent on the export market… Most have endured about all of the pain we can stand. The trade war with China has caused soybean exports to decline by 52%, forest products by 43% and cotton by 36%. The Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation and the American Farm Bureau Federation remain vigilant in sharing that message.”

To put a few more tragic numbers on it – Trump’s ex-senior Econ advisor Gary Cohn recently pointed out USA AG Exports have dropped from $30 Billion to $9 Billion in the wake of Trump’s Trade War, and Tennessee has been the hardest hit state by far.

And no, China is not paying for the tariffs.

Aiken then went on to talk about the need for MORE immigration/immigration reform, to provide farmers with an informed, motivated labor force:

“Farmers across Tennessee have trouble finding workers who understand agriculture and show persistence on the job. The country needs a comprehensive guest worker to allow migrants to enter legally, but reform has been slow with the fight over illegal immigration in Washington…

For those who face the challenge of an available workforce, your patience is probably wearing thin as well. We have not had any meaningful reforms to our guest worker programs for 25 year. There is legislation in the House of Representatives now, the Farm Workforce Modernization Act of 2019, which addresses farm labor. AFBF believe the bill has severe shortcomings and must be substantially modified before we can support it. However, at this time, AFBF has not taken a position of opposition because it is most likely the only chance for needed reforms.”

That’s a starkly different message from the one emanating out of the Oval Office, where Trump has been clamping down on immigration and taking drastic measures at the border, including separating families to send a message of deterrence. (likely the work of Stephen Miller, who was recently revealed to have White Supremacist beliefs, causing 27 senators to send a letter calling for his removal.

Aiken then closed with an inspirational story about Jim Thorpe having his shoes stolen and running in the Olympics with someone else’s shoes.

“These are stressful times in agriculture. I love the Farm Bureau because it allows the voice of farmers to be heard… I want to close with a story about Jim Thorpe. He was from Oklahoma and was representing the U.S. in track in the 1912 Olympics. On the morning Jim was to compete, his shoes were stolen. Luckily, Jim found two shoes but they were not the same size. One of the shoes was too big so he had to wear an extra sock to make it fit. Wearing these shoes, Jim won two gold medals that day. Life is not always fair, but we can’t let obstacles keep us from running our race. We can have reasons or we can have results… but we can’t have both.

Again, Tennessee is being hit the hardest by Trump’s trade war by far.

At a House Budget hearing Dept. of Agriculture commissioner Charlie Hatcher was very frank about the pain being caused to Tennessee farmers by Trump’s tariffs, pointing out that 60% of our exports WERE going to China before the Trade War, but China is now importing from other suppliers (including Russia), and that even if the tariffs were to go away today it would take years to recover, despite repeated claims by Trump that the multi-billion farmer bailout is making them whole.

He also said the farmer bailout funds are not making farmers whole, despite what the president has been saying. Farm bankruptcies, and suicides, are both skyrocketing.

Farmers want trade, not aid. Trump needs to stop stealing our farmers’ shoes and end this disastrous Trade War.

EXPOSED: KINGSPORT Anti-Protest Ordinance Came At Ex-Ballad Board Member’s Request

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After 220+ days of protests against Ballad Health the city of Kingsport recently passed a “no camping” ordinance to make the encampment of protestors a violation of city law. Newly obtained emails reveal the ordinance came at the request of local businessman Bob Feathers – who was previously a Ballad board member.

For those who haven’t been following the Kingsport Ballad saga closely, here’s the back story we posted a while back, but the bottom line is Ballad Health is a state-sanctioned hospital monopoly that resulted from a merger enabled by state legislature cronyism, and the merger resulted in a limiting of vital resources for the Kingsport area. Ballad has also now become known for overcharging for services, and suing thousands of low-income Tennesseans for outstanding hospital bills.

The New York Times just recently covered the obscenity of those lawsuits, and talked about it on their very popular podcast “The Daily”.

It’s also worth noting that Alan Levine, the CEO of Ballad, previously made headlines in a 60 Minutes interview where he came to the defense of HMA, a company that was committing MASSIVE amounts of Medicare Fraud.

Levine denied the allegations despite being presented with irrefutable evidence, and the company ultimately ended up paying out $260 MILLION in penalties – but nobody went to jail, and now Levine is in Tennessee quarterbacking Ballad Health’s doings in Kingsport.

The 220-day+ Ballad protest has been led by Dani Cook. Dani and other citizens recently spoke up at a city meeting about the proposed ordinance, but the “no camping” law passed anyway and just took effect this week, which has led to the police putting a notice on the encampment of the protesters letting them know they’re now in violation.

Emails shared with the Holler reveal the ordinance came at the behest of Bob Feathers, president of Workspace Interior, who was previously a Ballad board member and currently owns a furniture supply store  we’re told supplies Ballad with much of its furniture.

Bob Feathers, former Ballad Board Member

Below are the email exchanges between Feathers and local officials who passed the 0rdinance. The first is from Feathers, who complains condescendingly about the “pathetic mob instincts” of the protestors and requests a “no camping ordinance” from mayor Pat Shull:

Mayor Shull then responds to clarify that what Feathers wants is a “no camping ordinance”:

Feathers agrees: “A no camping ordinance designed to prevent harm against all of us”

At which point Miles Burdine of the Kingsport Chamber chimes in to express his support:

The ordinance passed.

That the city was doing Ballad’s bidding with this ordinance comes as no surprise, but it still always clarifying to see who’s pulling the strings and making the laws right there in black and white – which is probably why the city doesn’t want to talk about it:

Protestor Dani Cook took to Facebook last night to discuss the situation in a post about “The Kingsport Mayor’s email trail, Unconstitutional Ordinance”, and has made a post today showing the protestors are still out there for their 225th day.

Feel free to holler at Dani to express your support, and if you have anything to say to Feathers, Burdine, Mayor Shull, or any of those who voted for the ordinance, their emails are below:

Feathers: [email protected]

Burdine: [email protected]

Mayor Shull: [email protected]

Aldermen: https://www.kingsporttn.gov/government/bma/

VIDEO: Gov. Lee Defends Rejecting $1 BILLION/Year In Medicaid Funds

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“How is rejecting $1 BILLION/year in Medicaid Expansion funds helping TN’s rural communities?”

TN is #1 in MEDICAL BANKRUPTCIES & HOSPITAL CLOSURES. Maternal mortality of a 3rd world country.

Gov. Lee says a BLOCK GRANT means MORE?, but facts disagree.