Monday, August 24, 2015

Taco Bell is Mexican? Who Knew! Crockett Buzz for 8-24-15

Tennessee Republican Wants Taco Bell Shut Down For ‘Being Too Mexican’

A Bullet from a Good Guy's Gun is Just as Deadly

Memphis mayoral candidate charged with vandalizing Forrest statute

Berke downplays notion of running for governor

After 10 Years, Tennessee Says Its Last Super-Sized, Industrial 'Megasite' May Be Too Big To Fill

Ten years after it started construction on a giant industrial site halfway between Memphis and Jackson, the state of Tennessee still hasn't found anyone to move into it.
Now, Gov. Bill Haslam's administration is saying that one of the barriers to development of the Memphis Regional Megasite may be the size of the site itself.
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development is working on a plan to split up the massive industrial park it has assembled alongside Interstate 40 in West Tennessee. At 4,100 acres — nearly six-and-a-half square miles — the industrial park is bigger than the state's two other megasites put together.
"NissanVolkswagenHankook and Boeing could all fit on half that space," says Randy Boyd, the state's commissioner of economic and community development. "There was a time when people thought we could put one factory in 4,100 acres. But as it turns out today, there's nobody that needs 4,100 acres."
Working with the Tennessee Valley Authority, the state put together three megasites a decade ago. They hoped to attract major manufacturers to Tennessee with the promise of top-quality power lines, industrial-capacity sewage, new roads and plenty of room to build and expand.
The megasites outside Clarksville and Chattanooga were snatched up quickly by the solar industry's Hemlock Semiconductor and automaker Volkswagen. But the West Tennessee megasite has foundered: So far, no company has built on the site.
(Hemlock Semiconductor has also struggled. The company announced last year that it had decided to mothball its $1.2 billion polysilicon plant permanently.)
There have been questions about the West Tennessee megasite from the beginning, ranging from where workers would come from to the fact that some of the land was owned by relatives of then Lt. Gov. John Wilder.
Subdividing the megasite could answer more than one objection. Not only would it give the state more flexibility in attracting buyers, officials say; it also means the state won't have to spend as much building water treatment facilities and sewage. LINK


Memphis mayoral candidate charged with vandalizing Forrest statute

Leo Awgowhat, a longshot candidate for Memphis mayor, has been arrested Friday in connection with the vandalism of the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue in a Memphis city park, reports the Commercial Appeal.
Awgowhat, 43, was charged with desecration of a venerated object and trespass or injury to a cemetery property, said Memphis police spokesman Louis Brownlee.
Overnight Thursday, the words “Aw Go What” were painted on both sides of the statue’s base.
An affidavit said Awgowhat told investigators one of his “multiple personalities” named “Awgo” came up with the idea. He denied “direct participation.” He said he believed one of four people was responsible, the affidavit said.
He was booked into Shelby County Jail Friday afternoon and is scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office website. LINK

Tennessee Republican Wants Taco Bell Shut Down For ‘Being Too Mexican’

HAZARD, TENNESSEE - When Clem O'Connor walked into the Taco Bell in his town for the first time, he was greeted with words, smells and tastes that offended him to his core. Though someone's taste buds being offended in Taco Bell is nothing new, what made The Political Garbage Chute reach out to Clem was the reason for his outrage, and the campaign he's started because of that outrage. O'Connor is convinced that Taco Bell is "an agent working for the Mexican government" and they are "infiltrating American culture one Cheesy Gordita Crunch at a time." So Clem wants Taco Bell run out of his small Tennessee town, and he's petitioned everyone from his local city council on up to the governor of the state to have the fast food chain thrown out of Hazard for good.
"You know there isn't a single hamburger to be found on Taco Bell's menu," Clem asked our interviewer rhetorically while adding, "there is nothing more American than a hamburger. So I have to ask, what is about America that Taco Bell hates?"
O'Connor says that he's "not racist at all" but that he "just know[s] that you can't have a huge welfare state and let any Tom, Dick or Jose in the country" even though he also says he "understands that undocumented people can't get Federal and most state benefits." O'Connor says that his fight against Taco Bell is symbolic as a "struggle against the silent invasion from the South." When shown immigration statistics that prove no major influx of Mexican immigrants is coming into the country, O'Connor told us "it's the principle of the thing" and "just because it's one way today don't mean it won't be another way tomorrow." LINK

A Bullet from a Good Guy's Gun is Just as Deadly


Holy cow, state legislators really are looking to codify into law the belief that it's not as bad to get shot by a good guy as it is to get shot by a bad guy. State Sen. Richard Briggs wants to pass a law that would make it so people shot by military personnel during mass shootings can't sue the person who shot them.
From WPLN:

A state lawmaker wants to protect Tennessee National Guard members from lawsuits if they try to use their own handguns to stop a terrorist attack.
Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, plans to introduce the measure by January. He says he's developing it in consultation with Major General Max Haston.
The Tennessee Guard commander has agreed to let Guardsmen carry their own handguns. But Haston adds that, under current state law, they could be legally liable for injuries if they fire them.

I would like to hear from a state legislator just what they think the victims of good guys are supposed to do. It seems to me that what state legislators are saying is that there's something unseemly about people who are injured by good guys not just accepting what happened to them as the cost of freedom. LINK

Lawmakers spent $30K of campaign funds on pro sports tickets

The Tennessean analysis shows five state representatives spent $20,167 in campaign funds on Titans tickets from 2003 to 2015. Four lawmakers spent a combined $10,065 in campaign funds on Grizzlies tickets from 2003 to 2009. Some lawmakers purchased both Titans and Grizzlies tickets.
The Tennessean reviewed all campaign expenditures between 2000 and 2015 that included the Grizzlies or Titans as a vendor. The same type of analysis didn't reveal any ticket purchases for Nashville Predators games.
It's not uncommon for politicians to spend large amounts of money on campaigns, sometimes into the millions of dollars. But it is rarer for those candidates to spend campaign dollars on tickets to pro sports games. LINK

Berke downplays notion of running for governor

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke tells the Times-Free Press he’s really focused on his current job and has no plans to run for governor in 2018, as recently suggested by the state Senate’s top two Democrats.
“It’s always very flattering when someone says a nice thing about you. That being said, I wake up every day to better help the people of Chattanooga,” Berke said.
He said he’s got no exploratory committee or plans for the governor’s seat — and he’s not even preparing yet for a second term as mayor. His term ends in 2017.
“I’m just trying to do the job that I was elected to do for Chattanooga,” he said.
Berke’s local campaign finance records show he hasn’t raised any money from January 2014 to July 15 this year. But he has spent $43,200 with Global Strategy Group, a New York-based polling, marketing and public relations firm with offices in Washington, D.C., Hartford, Conn., Denver and Los Angeles.
Berke said his “campaign conducts various activities” but did not divulge what services the payments bought. LINK





Crockett Policy Institute
http://www.crockettpolicy.org/

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