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Let’s talk about how fucked up Tennessee is

Pancho

By Pancho
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Make em eat Taco Bell
Make em eat Taco Bell

Nashville home prices are approaching Austin levels and the entire state is much higher than neighboring states.  For politics, I can't support the 3 yahoos that are fixin to be voted out.  Stop

Pancho
Pancho
DonkeyCigars
DonkeyCigars

Would like to read more detail, background and context about this. If it’s as straightforward and cut-and-dried as the tweet portrays, that’s horrendous. But you have a sensationalist history of

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bolverk

bolverk 29689

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This is a really good essay by Anne Applebaum (you might recognize the name if you follow the DT Ukraine thread) about how politics have changed in Tennessee in recent years and how -- even with a super-majority -- Republicans still aren't satisfied with their control of the state. As I was reading, I couldn't help but draw strong parallels to our own Texas troubles.

No paywall link: https://archive.is/VljDE

Below is one passage, but I do recommend reading it in full.

Quote

 

“All politics is national” is also the explanation that a lot of people gave me when I asked how Tennessee went from having a culture of bipartisanship to de facto one-party rule in a mere two decades. Almost everybody wanted to explain that Tennessee politics used to reflect the state’s particular geography (mountains in the east, Mississippi River Delta in the west, rivers and forest in the middle) and complicated history. Some Tennesseans had declared for the Confederacy; others fought against it. The Ku Klux Klan was founded in Pulaski, Tennessee; Nashville was the site of a series of sit-ins that were important to the civil-rights movement. The disgruntled Republicans in particular mourn the death of what used to be called “Tennessee enlightened mountain Republicanism,” the liberal, business-oriented party that once challenged the pre-civil-rights “Old South” Democratic one-party state, which relied on Jim Crow and voter suppression. For a long time, both parties celebrated the demise of that system, and no one wanted it back. Or so it seemed.

By some accounts, the shift began in the 1990s, during the Clinton administration, when talk radio and a confrontational new style of national media began to weaken the local newspapers that people used to read, and the local culture too. Others think the turning point came in the 2000s, when Barack Obama’s presidency produced a racist backlash. In 2012, one poll showed that nearly half of Tennessee Republicans believed in the birtherism conspiracy theory.

Still others think the harder shift inside the Republican Party began more recently, after it gained full control. John Geer, a Vanderbilt political scientist, told me that whenever a supermajority controls a legislature for a long period of time, “those in the minority have no political ability to effect change, and so they stop acting like politicians and instead become activists,” a thesis that explains the actions of the Tennessee Three, as well as the feeling that politics has become a form of performance art, only distantly related to real life.

But the supermajority is also affected, and its members become activists of a different kind. To stay in office in a state where few people vote and districts are gerrymandered, Tennessee legislators need to appeal to only a tiny number of very dedicated, very partisan people. The competition for those votes can quite quickly turn into a competition for who can sound most radical. Even the minority leader of the Tennessee State Senate, Raumesh Akbari, a Democrat, told me that it’s harder to do deals with people from heavily gerrymandered districts: “You don’t have anybody to check you and your district is extremely partisan.” Her own district skews heavily Democratic and heavily Black. “If I wasn’t someone who was willing to compromise, I wouldn’t have to,” Akbari said.

There is another element: Call it the lesson of Sumner County, the place where Republicans won everything, control everything, and yet still feel aggrieved and victimized. As in Hungary or Poland or as in Venezuela, the experience of radicalism can make people more radical. Total control of a political system can make the victors not more magnanimous, but more frustrated, not least because they learn that total control still doesn’t deliver what they think it should. No county commission or state legislature can possibly meet the demands of a quasi-religious movement that believes it has God on its side and that its opponents herald the apocalypse. But that doesn’t mean they give up. It just means they keep trying, using any tool available. Eventually they arrive at the point described by Tom Lee, the lawyer for the Sumner County Election Commission: “It’s not enough to get your majority and get your way—they have to make the minority lose their voice.”

On the tape leaked to The Tennessee Holler after the expulsion of Pearson and Jones, this dynamic is powerfully revealed. Grim Republican legislators talked about what they think is really at stake, and it isn’t megaphones. “If you don’t believe we are at war for our republic,” one of them says to the group, “with all love and respect to you, you need a different job.” They don’t believe that this is a normal political competition, either, or that their opponents are a normal, legitimate, small-d democratic opposition. Democrats, says another, “are not our friends.” They “destroy our republic and the foundation of who we are.” At one point, an apocalyptic tone creeps into the conversation: “The left wants Tennessee so bad because if they get us, the Southeast falls and it’s ‘game over’ for the republic.” So urgent and so dramatic is this challenge that some of them have come to believe that rules might have to be broken: “You gotta do what’s right, even if you think it might be wrong,” one of them says.

 

 

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Satchel

Satchel 6938

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Why do Republicans spend so much time trying to limit the rights of people?

https://tennesseelookout.com/2023/08/22/tn-house-passes-rules-to-restrict-speech-limit-disruptions-and-public-during-special-session/

Tennessee House Republicans passed a set of rules allowing them to silence lawmakers deemed disruptive, off-topic or who “impugn the reputation” of another member during this week’s special legislative session. 

The new rules are an attempt by Republican lawmakers to find a way to stop Reps. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, and Justin Pearson, D-Memphis, from disrupting proceedings without expelling them or running afoul of the state constitution, which requires the two men to be able to vote in person on the House floor. 

“The rules that are being put forward now are to limit freedom of speech,” Pearson said during the debate over them. “It’s not just limiting the freedom of speech of representatives. You are limiting the freedom of speech of our constituents.”

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Burt

Burt 4085

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Tennessee is trying to push state representative Justin Jones out again.

Tennessee House: Justin Jones, Jeremy Faison clash over pledge (usatoday.com)

Quote

Tennessee House Republican Caucus Chair Jeremy Faison is calling for Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, to resign from office after he declined to lead the House of Representatives in the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag during session on Thursday.

Traditionally, the pledge is recited immediately after the invocation at the beginning of each House session, and is led by the member who hosts the minister of the day.

Jones hosted Sally Wells, president of the Native American Indian Association of Tennessee, who offered a prayer in the Choctaw language. But prior to session, Jones submitted a handwritten note to the House Clerk requesting not to lead the chamber in the pledge.

House Speaker Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, called on House Minority Leader Karen Camper, D-Memphis, to lead the body in the pledge instead.

“The reason why I did not join my colleagues in the pledge is that I can not say the words ‘liberty and justice for all’ with colleagues who have done everything in their power to roll back liberty and justice for women, for minorities, for LGBTQ+ people,” Jones told The Tennessean. 

Jones said the events of the day illustrate "that I am surrounded by hypocrites."

“I hope that we can get to a day that we can live up to the words of the pledge – liberty and justice for all," he said.

Speaking to reporters after session, Faison called Jones’ refusal “shameful,” and “a disgrace,” and “an embarrassment to veterans and to the people who have come before us.”

“That flag represents the Constitution. To me, you can’t break the two apart. You’ve given up your ability to serve here,” Faison said. “That oath is sacred to every one of us. That flag represents the oath. In my opinion, he should resign.”

Jones said Faison’s call for him to resign is “ironic, coming from a chairman of a House Republican Caucus who refused to resign after he tried to pull down the pants of a referee.” He said his action was in no way an attempt to disrespect the military – particularly as he is the son of a U.S. Marine veteran, grandson of a U.S. Navy veteran, and great grandson of a veteran of World War II.

Faison apologized over his role in the attempt to pants the referee in 2022. "I was bad wrong," he said at the time.

 

Here's the story about Faison trying to pull the pants off a referee over what he thought was a bad call. 🤣

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/06/top-tennesse-lawmaker-jeremy-faison-attempted-pants-basketball-referee/9114332002/

 

Quote

A top Tennessee state representative yelled at a game official and attempted to pull his pants down during a high school basketball match Tuesday night, an incident he later called "completely stupid" in a statement. 

Rep. Jeremy Faison acknowledged he was "bad wrong" and hoped to apologize to the official for losing his temper. The game was recorded live on Facebook by Johnson City's Providence Academy, which was hosting Lakeway Christian Academy.

 

And here's the video.

 

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safe sex

safe sex 11735

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19 minutes ago, Burt said:

“That flag represents the Constitution. To me, you can’t break the two apart. You’ve given up your ability to serve here,” Faison said. “That oath is sacred to every one of us. That flag represents the oath. In my opinion, he should resign.”

What a fucking idiot.

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bolverk

bolverk 29689

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2 hours ago, Pancho said:

 

About the bill's author:

  • Fritts attended Liberty University and the University of Tennessee (I guess he didn't actually graduate).
  • On April 5, 2023, just weeks after a deadly school shooting, he voted to move a bill forward to arm teachers.
  • On April 11, 2024, Frits was one of only two house members who voted against bills SB 1917 and HB 2041 that would ban marriage between biological first cousins. 

 

Quote

 

In a joking response, John Ray Clemmons, a Democrat from Nashville, introduced an amendment that would protect fictional beasts.

"This amendment would make sure that we are protecting yetis, or Sasquatch or Bigfoot, from whatever this conspiracy is that we're passing in this legislation," he said during debate.

 

 

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Mrs Whiggins

Mrs Whiggins 13050

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1 hour ago, bolverk said:

About the bill's author:

  • Fritts attended Liberty University and the University of Tennessee (I guess he didn't actually graduate).
  • On April 5, 2023, just weeks after a deadly school shooting, he voted to move a bill forward to arm teachers.
  • On April 11, 2024, Frits was one of only two house members who voted against bills SB 1917 and HB 2041 that would ban marriage between biological first cousins. 

 

 

According to his bio and a couple of candidate forums, he does  have degrees; a multidisciplinary BS in Business/Chemistry from Liberty as well as an MA in Theology, an MBA from Tennessee, and a certificate from a leadership program from MIT. He's also a veteran (Army) and served in Iraq. His service was 1983-93 and then a re-enlistment in 2003. He defeated Dr. Jan Hahn, a family medicine physician, in the general election. (76.7%-23.3%) after roundly beating the other 4 R candidates.

He appears to be a God, Guns, and *Gomorrah type of rep.

 

 

*Everything "I" don't like or understand is wicked/a sin.

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SydneyCarton

SydneyCarton 48110

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30 minutes ago, Pescado_Rojo said:

Man, Eastern Tennessee is beautiful. Too bad their politics are more fucked up than ours. 

1.) You can say __________________________ is beautiful, and sub in Montana, Idaho, North Carolina, Georgia, West Virginia, Wyoming, et all and it's still true.
2.) I don't actually think their politics are any more fucked up than Texas. 

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45691

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14 hours ago, bolverk said:

About the bill's author:

  • Fritts attended Liberty University and the University of Tennessee (I guess he didn't actually graduate).
  • On April 5, 2023, just weeks after a deadly school shooting, he voted to move a bill forward to arm teachers.
  • On April 11, 2024, Frits was one of only two house members who voted against bills SB 1917 and HB 2041 that would ban marriage between biological first cousins. 

 

 

 

12 hours ago, Mrs Whiggins said:

According to his bio and a couple of candidate forums, he does  have degrees; a multidisciplinary BS in Business/Chemistry from Liberty as well as an MA in Theology, an MBA from Tennessee, and a certificate from a leadership program from MIT. He's also a veteran (Army) and served in Iraq. His service was 1983-93 and then a re-enlistment in 2003. He defeated Dr. Jan Hahn, a family medicine physician, in the general election. (76.7%-23.3%) after roundly beating the other 4 R candidates.

He appears to be a God, Guns, and *Gomorrah type of rep.

 

 

*Everything "I" don't like or understand is wicked/a sin.

So he’s a cousin fucking moron. 

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Shut up Lou Holtz

Shut up Lou Holtz 2043

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Arming teachers is the dumbest way to stop school shootings. Teachers who carry will automatically become targets. Police will most likely shoot the teachers who are carrying during a real shooting. A student will steal a gun at some point. A teacher will shoot a student. Who’s liable for this? Do teachers need to carry general liability? I mean what the fuck. Tennessee trying to out stupid Florida and Texas 

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HornOnTheBayou

HornOnTheBayou 8931

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I'm thinking about the teachers in my hallway and which ones I would trust to handle a firearm in a crisis. And the answer is none of them. 

But on the positive side, I bet if I start flashing my piece, more students will turn in their homework. 

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21469

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10 minutes ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

I'm thinking about the teachers in my hallway and which ones I would trust to handle a firearm in a crisis. And the answer is none of them. 

But on the positive side, I bet if I start flashing my piece, more students will turn in their homework. 

I know a lot of teachers.  At my wife’s elementary school the only male teacher is the PE teacher.  A very bright former marine who took a job in the most target-rich environment imaginable.  He literally has the only penis on a campus full of hot teachers  and MILFs having a variety of marriage issues.  He can have a gun.  Maybe the principal, who seems like a no-bullshit bitch who might enjoy filling someone who invaded her school with lead.  The rest of the faculty is a hard no.  I bought a little revolver a few years ago after we had a few breakins in the hood.  Took the wife to the gun range so she could get comfortable with it and that was a no go.  One trip to the range and she wouldn’t go back.  She would probably rather just take a bullet for her kids than engage in combat.

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High Plains Drifter

High Plains Drifter 11050

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11 hours ago, Shut up Lou Holtz said:

Arming teachers is the dumbest way to stop school shootings. Teachers who carry will automatically become targets. Police will most likely shoot the teachers who are carrying during a real shooting. A student will steal a gun at some point. A teacher will shoot a student. Who’s liable for this? Do teachers need to carry general liability? I mean what the fuck. Tennessee trying to out stupid Florida and Texas 

 

o/u on how long a kid gets shot either because 

a) accidental discharge

b) student steals/finds gun

c) teacher loses their shit 

d) draws down on a student when they shouldn't have

 

 

 

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