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Guy Banned From CNN For Racism Took Credit For Replacing 33% of Williamson County’s School Board

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A CNN conversation went off the rails this week when right-wing commentator Ryan Girdusky made a wildly racist comment to Mehdi Hasan, saying “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off” when Hasan said he supports the Palestinian people.

Watch it happen:

The comment was a reference to Israel killing a number of Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon by making their pagers explode, an attack that also took the lives of some innocent people, including children, causing even NPR to wonder if it was a violation of international law.

Others were impressed by it.

Girdusky’s comment was not only incorrect on the facts – the pager attack was in Lebanon, not Gaza – it was also wildly offensive and racist, as he was equating support for “Palestinians” by a Muslim man with support for Hamas, and implying he thought Israel may? should? kill Hasan for it.

Hasan took offense immediately, as did the rest of the panel. After the following commercial break, Girdusky was gone thanks to quick work by host Abby Phillip, and CNN announced he was banned from the network.

Girdusky took to Twitter and whined about it, trying to deflect blame and call it a “joke”, as is the standard Republican way in the Trump era. But the question isn’t why did they kick Girdusky off, it’s why were they platforming him in the first place.

Girdusky previous was a writer for Richard Spencer, a proud white supremacist. He allegedly worked for Milo Yiannopoulos, which would be problematic for a number of other reasons. So for him to say openly racist stuff on CNN should not have come as a surprise to anyone, CNN included.

And here’s why we’re telling about this: the incident also has ties to Tennessee.

Williamson County and Wilson County, specifically.

Girdusky runs a right-wing “1776 Project PAC” out of New York, which claimed credit for the victories of 4 school board members in Williamson (Hibma, Reeves, Bostic, Driggers) and 1 in Wilson (Hohman) this past cycle.

How tight were those school board members with Girdusky? Did they court and approve his PAC’s support? Did they know about his problematic past? And do they support what he said to Hasan?

These all seem like fair questions to ask of them. And if someone capable of such open racism is proud to have backed these candidates for School Board, what does it say about their priorities for the kids in Williamson and Wilson counties?

Here’s Mehdi Hasan’s response to the incident. It’s worth your time:

It’s worth noting that the very first thing these far right school board members did was rescind the previous board’s anti-private school voucher scam resolution, which was likely not a coincidence. Backing Governor Lee’s push to privatize our public schools and steer billions of taxpayer dollars to private religious schools was almost certainly a prerequisite for Girdusky’s PAC’s support.

Girdusky’s 1776 Project PAC is openly hostile to public schools. It stands to reason deep down these school board members are as well. Sadly, this is what low voter turnout gets us.

OPINION: PEOPLE ARE CRAZY AND TIMES ARE STRANGE (AKA PLEASE VOTE!)

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“People are Crazy and Times are Strange” – Bob Dylan

Never did those lyrics strike closer to home than here in Tennessee where recent FBI data now ranks this state as having the 3rd highest rate of violent crime, robbery, aggravated assaults and homicides. Fortunately, the November 8th election provides Tennessee voters an opportunity to change those frightening statistics by electing a new governor together with state and federal legislators.

Around the country other states will be doing the same, the results of which will decide which political party has majority control over the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. This election will be definitive in determining the values, direction, and type of government American voters wish to have and which political party they feel best serves those interests. It’s not mere hyperbole to state that now more than ever, democracy is on the ballot.

However, equally notable is Tennessee’s poor record for voter participation – 46th worst in 2020 – as highlighted by an abysmal 17% voter turnout in the August mid-term elections. Such voter apathy may well come back to haunt Tennesseans since according to analysis by the Brennan Center for Justice, it
can be expected that should MAGA-Republicans maintain legislative control in Southern states, particularly those with diverse racial populations, more restrictive voting laws will be enacted in an effort to decrease voter turnout among those most likely to vote for Democrats.

With that in mind, it’s important to note that despite the fact that 62% of Americans remain in favor of abortion, Republican lawmakers, beholden to their far-right religious base and emboldened by their success in outlawing abortion in half the country, have now set their sights on making criminalization of abortion the law of the land. Therefore, the outcome of November’s election will be critical to protecting the lives and well-being of millions of Americans, men and women alike since passage of the legislation needed to restore reproductive privacy and freedom of choice hinges on the election of a Democratic congressional majority.

So what can we expect should a Republican majority take control of both houses of Congress? Undoubtedly in typical fashion they will continue obstructing whatever bills Democrats might propose, regardless the benefits to the American public. Additionally, we shall see ongoing attempts to “stack” the judicial system and the Supreme Court with unqualified, but like-minded conservative judges.
However, their first order of business will likely be the disbanding of the January 6th Committee and the dismissal of further investigations, accountability and/or prosecution for those responsible in attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

There is also a cockamamie scheme to impeach President Biden for unspecified “high crimes and misdemeanors.” More disturbing are Republican threats to cut the programs at the heart of our social welfare system: Social Security and Medicare. Republicans have also said they would pass a law to make the 2017
Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporate entities permanent, which economists say would further exacerbate inflation.

Then there are ongoing threats to refuse to raise the debt ceiling serving as a cudgel to enable the “reform” of Social Security and Medicare including raising the age of eligibility. And should they achieve a legislative majority, Republicans are also signaling withdrawal of support for Ukraine.

It should also be remembered that this GOP, nationally and locally, aided by Fox News, continues to cast aspersions on the sanctity of our electoral process by clinging to and promulgating the Big Lie that Joe Biden stole the 2020 presidential election, despite widespread and definitive evidence to the contrary.

Reflective of an increasing atmosphere of social and political intolerance are legislative attacks on Tennessee’s LGBQT community by extremist Republican legislators which helps to foment and encourage anger and hate-mongering as seen by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s recent report ranking Tennessee 2nd highest nationally for number of hate groups.

All of which increases the importance of who will be Tennessee’s next governor. Governor Bill Lee is campaigning for reelection on the basis that he has helped Tennessee families. Sadly, that seems remarkably disingenuous when one considers that Tennessee’s lack of gun safety laws have resulted in a firearm mortality rate which is 10th highest nationally. Indeed, Everytown reports that guns and gun violence are the leading cause of death for Tennessee children and teens. Lacking sensible gun control, those numbers continue to climb.

Under this administration, aided by an extreme ultra-conservative legislature, the well-being of Tennessee families has garnered scant attention since NoKidHungryTN reports that more than 19% of children in Tennessee live in “food insecure” homes.

World Population Review figures for 2022 rank Tennessee as having the 10th highest rate of poverty and the 2nd highest number of minimum-wage workers laboring for $7.25 an hour. Certainly not figures to be proud of.

Also alarming is the fact that while Tennessee families struggle to feed, house and educate their children as a means to escape a life of poverty, this governor is committed to creating a religious autocracy which includes siphoning off tax-payer dollars from our public schools to for-profit charter schools which emphasize a conservative “Christian”curriculum.

These are just a few of reasons why it’s critical for Tennesseans to vote in this
election. Early voting runs from October 19 through November 3rd. Election Day is November 8th.

Voter information can be obtained at GoVoteTN.com and at the League of Women Voters’ nonpartisan website VOTE411.org.

Vote as if your life depended on it. It very well may.

Chloe Cerutti lives in Murfreesboro, Tennessee

GOV. LEE TAKES CREDIT FOR 500 TRITIUM JOBS, EVEN AS TRITIUM CREDITS BIDEN’S BILL (ALL TN GOP REPS OPPOSED)

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Yesterday President Biden made an announcement about a new TRITIUM CHARGING factory that will be opening up in LEBANON, TN – bringing 500 jobs to the area and having a “ripple effect” beyond the borders of Lebanon, and even Tennessee.

Tritium itself credits the BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGED passed by Biden and the Democrats, with the help of a few Republicans, none of which were members of the Tennessee delegation – which likely explains why every last member of the delegation has been silent about the development.

You would never know that the president of the United States just announced 500 jobs good paying (hopefully UNION) jobs are coming to Tennessee by looking at the feeds of Senators Marsha Blackburn or Bill Hagerty, or congress members Kustoff, Rose, Green, Fleischmann, Desjarlais, Harshbarger, or Burchett.

They seem to only mention things when their own party is responsible for them – a truly sad testament to how divided we are as a country.

Worse than that, GOVERNOR LEE took things a step further – he issued a press release about the Tritium announcement, but doesn’t even MENTION in it that Tritium itself credits the Biden bipartisan infrastructure bill with the jobs.

Instead, Lee’s highly misleading and disingenuous release makes it look like this happened thanks to his own leadership.

TO RECAP: When the FORD PLANT (to make electric cars) was announced in West Tennessee, Democrats expressed their support for the jobs and economic benefits coming to our state…

…Yet when TRITIUM makes their announcement, most Republicans are silent – while the Governor attempts to take credit, and doesn’t even mention Biden’s leadership and how his efforts are helping to create a market for these products and companies to prosper.

It seems Tennessee Republicans will only root for Tennessee – or America – if it benefits their own party. That, as their corrupt, defeated, one-term insurrectionist leader liked to say, is “Sad”.

VIDEO: “THE PEOPLE’S STATE OF THE STATE”

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VIDEO of the protestors who showed up to make their disapproval of Governor Lee known at the capitol this week.

 

 

Wallen & Combs Should Call for The TN Capitol’s KKK Statue To Be Removed

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OPINION: Country Stars Wallen & Combs Should Call for The TN Capitol’s KKK Statue To Be Removed

By

Justin Kanew

By now most of you have seen the recent video of Morgan Wallen using the “N word” in Nashville, which shook the country music world.

His label dropped him. Radio stations stopped playing his songs. The fallout was significant. 

This opinion piece by Charlane Oliver of the Equity Alliance tackles the racial significance of the incident as it pertains to country music. It’s a worthwhile read.

Now this week we heard from another country star, Luke Combs, who says “there’s no excuse” for his use of Confederate flag imagery in his performances, and acknowledges the hurt and pain it caused.

Both artists are apologetic, and seek forgiveness. But apologies are easy. There’s another step they could take that would help bring about some actual progress – not only in country music, but in Nashville specifically, Tennessee in general, and America as a whole.

They could speak out about the KKK Grand Wizard statue that still sits prominently in our capitol.

Yes, you heard that right – Tennessee still holds a statue of the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest, in a place of prominence in the state capitol building. Forrest was a Confederate General who led the Fort Pillow Massacre, during which many black Union soldiers were slaughtered even after surrender, then went on to become the KKK’s first Grand Wizard.

Defenders of the Forrest bust claim he was eventually reformed. That he changed his tune in his later years. Regardless of the veracity of that claim, they can’t erase the harm he caused, and what he represents to the many black Tennesseans who have been calling for the statue’s removal.

Legislators like Rep. Mike Sparks, who refuses to even admit the Civil War was fought over slavery, say they’re against “whitewashing history” – ignoring the fact that it’s the statues themselves that whitewash history, treating Confederate generals who rose up against our country as heroes.

There’s a reason KKK members posed proudly with the statue when it was erected.

The fight to remove the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue has been going on for years. There have been countless protests. Pastors, students, activists, and legislators have all made their voices heard… but still it remains.

Last year a big hurdle was overcome, as the Tennessee State Capitol Commission finally voted to move it despite “NO” votes from Senator Jack Johnson on behalf of the TN Senate Republican caucus and Rep. Matthew Hill on behalf of the TN House Republican caucus.

The next step was supposed to come this week, when the Tennessee Historical Commission was scheduled to vote on the Capitol Commission’s recommendation, but because of the cold weather it has been delayed until March 9th.

Meanwhile, Lt. Governor Randy Mcnally and Speaker Cameron Sexton have been busy trying to delay it even further, claiming the issue isn’t properly before the Historical Commission and asking the attorney general to weigh in with an opinion.

Delay, delay, delay. It’s obvious Mcnally and Sexton and their caucuses are doing all they can to keep this hurtful statue in place because the cries of black Tennesseans and their allies are not enough.

But what if they were to hear from entirely different voices? What if Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs were to show they truly do understand how much pain their words and actions have caused, and speak out about the bust, encouraging Mcnally and Sexton to drop their challenge to its removal, and asking the Historical commission to vote to remove it once and for all?

It would be a healing moment for country music, our state, and their souls.

“These elected officials aren’t listening to black Tennesseans,” says Pastor Chris Williamson of Strong Tower Bible Church, who has been involved with the statue issue for quite some time, and recently spoke out about it at a hearing. “They aren’t even listening to their black colleagues who have to walk by that statue every day and be reminded of what it represents. Maybe white country music stars are exactly who they need to hear from. Words of encouragement from Morgan Wallen and Luke Combs for them to do the right thing could go a long way.”

A long way indeed.

Taking a position on this controversial topic probably wouldn’t be easy for country music stars like Wallen & Combs. But very often doing the right thing isn’t.

 

Justin Kanew is the founder of the Tennessee Holler. Foller him on Twitter here.

Tennessean Insurrectionists and the Importance of Antifascism

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Journalists Abby Lee Hood and Matt Bastin join to talk about Tennesseans’ involvement in the undemocratic coup attempt by MAGA insurrectionists that took place at our Capitol last week. We explore the moment we are in and where to go from here, including how it is more important now than ever to include antifascism into everything we do. Not only is supporting antifascism the right thing to do, but we will never pass a Green New Deal or any other progressive legislation if we don’t both practice antifascism and push for democratic reforms.

Read Matt and Abby Lee’s piece in Tennessee Lookout that inspired this episode

Support Abby Lee

Support Matt

Read Angela Davis’ Abolition Democracy Beyond Empire Prisons & Torture

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Join DSA

Volunteer for The Equity Alliance

Find out what Native Land you are living on

Follow Sunrise Tennessee on Twitter and Facebook.

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

TN’S MEDICAID BLOCK GRANT: A CAP IS A CUT

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TN’S MEDICAID BLOCK GRANT: A CAP IS A CUT

by Kristen Grimm

In the waning days of the Trump administration they have just now approved Tennessee’s request to turn our Medicaid funding into a Block Grant, putting the health care of our neediest citizens into the hands of Governor Lee and the TN GOP. Lee and the GOP in our state have shown us in recent years they are comfortable with human suffering by refusing to expand Medicaid, rejecting $1 Billion yearly in health care funding, and we’ve seen them sit on over $700 million in TANF funds, so putting this giant sum of money into their hands with fewer strings attached is entirely unjustified and unwise.

A block grant would be a cap in federal funding to Medicaid. And let me be clear: A cap is a cut. The idea that the block grant approval will expand coverage is politically deceitful and sinister.

During the Trump administration’s attempt to cut Medicaid and repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017, they also tried to pass block grants to drastically cut funding to Medicaid.

Healthcare advocacy organizations and people like myself fought hard to protect this nation’s Children’s Hospitals and Medicaid recipients from suffering the potentially catastrophic consequences of capping the federal funding structures to Medicaid.

Block grants were so dangerous to children’s hospitals, the Children’s Hospital Association publicly came out against block granting our federal Medicaid program.

At the time of the cuts, 54% of impatient revenues for all our nation’s children’s hospitals were paid for by Medicaid and 63% of all our nation’s emergency department revenues were paid for by Medicaid.

What we see here was a measure that is so dangerous that the Children’s Hospital Association had to fight against it because every children’s hospital in this nation was at risk of being catastrophically harmed. When there is a capped concrete ceiling for federal Medicaid funding there’s absolutely no way you can expand services in a boxed measure of fiscal containment.

Block grants being proposed by the Trump administration were one of the cruelest measures that they have tried to invoke upon our nation’s federal departments.

This shows us the nature of Governor Lee and the Trump administration’s immorality that they would mess with children’s hospitals. But this is what the Republican leaders are doing. They are not only putting our children’s hospitals at risk, but they are also harming the elderly and vulnerable people all across this state. Thankfully it looks like the Biden administration will be able to reverse this measure before TN has time to do any harm to the most vulnerable in our state.

Kristen M. Grimm
Medicaid and Medicare Advocate
Founder and President
Mothers for Medicare for All

Marquita Bradshaw on Where to Go From Here

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“We can look toward Georgia, but I was taught if you want your grass to be green, you need to fertilize and water your own grass.” – Marquita Bradshaw talking with Wade Munday on #ACaseOfTheMundays about where to go from here in Tennessee.

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

GUEST COLUMN: “BIG DATA ON ELECTION NIGHT”

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Mark D. Harmon is a professor of journalism and electronic media at the University of Tennessee

—

“BIG DATA ON ELECTION NIGHT”

From the Not-So-Farfetched File…

RACHEL MADDOW: Good evening, and welcome to MSNBC’s Election Night 2020 coverage.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: We still have two hours to go before voting locations close on the East Coast, but we do have public opinion polling to give us some fascinating insights into the electorate.

MADDOW: For that we go to Steve Kornacki at the big board.

KORNACKI: That’s right, Rachel and Brian. We’ve been able to use what data experts call common reference points to link standard election polls to all sorts of other Big Data information. Let’s start with comparisons to 2016.

Donald Trump is down ten points among pick-up truck drivers, but up two points among drivers of vehicles with slogans or female images on mud flaps. Joe Biden’s commuting habits seem to be paying off for him. He is winning three-to-one among people who’ve ever traveled by train, two-to-one among those who as a child had model trains. He’s also winning big among those who ever watched Soul Train, or can sing at least some of the words to “Midnight Train to Georgia.”

MADDOW: You have other information about Georgia as well?

KORNACKI: Yes, we discovered that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, known for his botched response to coronavirus, is now less popular than the virus itself.

WILLIAMS: But he’s not on the ballot this time around.

KORNACKI: That’s right, but our numbers indicate he would lose a recall effort by roughly twelve to one.

MADDOW: Any other big surprises?

KORNACKI: Yes, going back to 2016 comparisons, turnout overall could be up by as much as ten percentage points. Those who think it’s okay to cast a third-party protest vote is down 93 percent.

WILLIAMS: I understand you also have social media data.

KORNACKI: Oh, large amounts of social media data. Trump and Biden overall are dead even among Facebook and Twitter users-with Trump holding a strong lead among first-time users from foreign domains.

Looking at just Twitter users, Trump leads among those with spelling and grammatical errors in their posts, and with those who use multiple exclamation points, or who link to conspiracy sites. Biden leads only among those who link to established news and information sites. And to draw users into reading such content, these people may have used growth services like Upleap or buzzoid to ensure that they can boost the number of followers that they have to their account. Trump and Biden may also do this if they get given the chance.

We have even more on tweets. Song birds that tweet daily are breaking big for Biden. Parrots are tilting toward Trump. We’re pretty sure Big Bird, and most of Sesame Street-excepting Oscar the Grouch-will be going for Biden. Trump, by the way, scores well among vultures and all creatures who feed on dead flesh.

MADDOW: Wow, that’s a broad database.

KORNACKI: Yes, it is. We even have foreign data. Biden is doing much better than Trump with Americans living in France, those who ever have visited France, and among French people who wish they could vote in this election. Trump leads only among those who can’t find France on a map.

WILLIAMS: You also have some other data you’ve told us is hard to categorize.

KORNACKI: Correct. Trump is down ten points among those who use “summer” as a verb, but he’s up five points among residents of mobile homes who have thought about bleaching their lungs or admit to snorting Lysol.

We can’t give away too much, but I can say all indications are this election night will please a lot of people who shop on Thursdays, post photos of children, and drive automatic transmissions.

—

Mark D. Harmon, a professor of journalism and electronic media at the University of Tennessee, is an award-winning freelance columnist.

VIDEO: “OUR HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IS BROKEN”

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WATCH a health care pricing expert tell the TN House Insurance Committee health care costs – particularly hospital costs – far outpace inflation, PRICE VARIANCE is a huge problem… but NOT with Medicare & Medicaid. #M4A #ExpandMedicaid

It’s almost like downward pressure on costs is a good thing.

Of course, the legislators only see it as those programs offer lower reimbursement rates – but at least everyone is covered, and as we learn from this expert’s testimony often the hospital prices are skyrocketing to make up for uncompensated care — which means Tennessee not expanding medicaid and rejecting $1 Billion each year IS COMING OUT OF OUR POCKETS ANYWAY.

From the TN HOUSE INSURANCE COMMITTEE yesterday… Hospital service costs are increasing at 5x inflation:

Hospital price variance is wild, depending where you go (less competition = higher cost – hello Ballad Health!) the “equivalent of paying $14 PER GALLON for a tank of gas”