Buzz for 2-23-16 (It's crazy out there)

Our state GOP continues to take local decisions away from locals and turn them over to people who live other places, specifically our TN legislators who obviously have taken to that notion of "Central Planning" over local control. In this case it is the will of Nashville taxpayers that they be able to spend a portion of their tax dollars to create jobs for Nashvillians. This is obviously not fair to non-Nashvillians who want that Nashville money for themselves. It is interesting to see our GOP controlled legislature skip right over socialism, which they would denounce to a person) and go off the deep end to communism. Yep, central planning is the great fallacy of Communism and yet here we are seeing our legislators embrace the concept. To be fair, this only happens when local governments try to keep tax money in their local communities to boost local economies and provide local jobs.

GOP bill would allow group founded by anti-gay slavery defender to accredit Tennessee schools

Early Vote If You Haven't

Tennessee Senate passes anti-refugee resolution

Senate votes to nullify Nashville local hiring law

The Republican-controlled state Senate has voted to nullify a local hiring requirement approved by Nashville voters last year.
The bill sponsored by Republican Sen. Jack Johnson of neighboring Williamson County (SB2103) was approved on a 27-5 vote on Monday. Johnson said the measure discriminates against workers living in surrounding counties.
The ballot measure that earned 58 percent of the vote in August requires contractors on public construction projects worth more than $100,000 to assign at least 40 percent of work hours to employees who live within the city, and that 10 percent go to low-income residents. Humphrey on the Hill

Donald Trump considered clear front-runner in Tennessee

Pundits and party insiders spent months predicting the demise of Donald Trump and explaining why it would happen.
He would say something offensive to derail his run for president. His past record would prove he’s not a real conservative. The so-called Republican establishment would eventually put its foot down and coalesce around another candidate.
But now as the GOP presidential nomination process turns national and moves into Tennessee — one of 12 states that votes on March 1 — the brash celebrity New York real estate mogul is riding high and considered a clear front-runner here.
Even before his decisive win in South Carolina on Saturday, the straight-talking, polarizing Trump led Ted Cruz in Tennessee by 16 percentage points,according to one of the most recent polls in Tennessee. But South Carolina’s results were the clearest proof yet that Trump’s appeal is resonating in the “Bible Belt” South, where voters who identify as evangelicals are crucial in Republican primaries. Tennessean/Subscription

Tennessee Senate passes anti-refugee resolution

he Tennessee Senate passed a resolution that would allow the state attorney general to file a lawsuit against the federal government, if it didn't consult with the state on refugee resettlement and mandating appropriation of state revenue.
If the state attorney general refuses to file the lawsuit, the resolution allows an outside counsel to do so.
On Monday, the Senate passed the measure 27 to 5. The House will look at it, but it is not on the calendar yet.
Republican Gov. Bill Haslam raised "reservations" last week about the Legislature trying to instruct the attorney general to sue. The governor said he doesn't consider the refugees to be "stressing our system" in Tennessee.
Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris of Collierville, a main sponsor of the resolution, said he was unaware of the governor's comments and that the General Assembly will hire its own lawyer if Attorney General Herbert Slatery declines to get involved.
Stephanie Teatro of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition said the resolution sends the message that Tennessee is an "intolerant and unwelcoming state." WVLT

Senate Slaps Down Socialist Nashville and Votes to Sue Obama—All in One Session!

The state Senate’s mighty Republican supermajority shook its fist at various boogiemen in a cantankerous session this afternoon.

First, senators slapped down the Socialist Republic of Nashville, nullifying that local-hire rule that we already knew was invalid. Then they urged the state attorney general to waste time and money suing the U.S. government to try to stop Syrian refugees from resettling in Tennessee.

Voters overwhelmingly approved the local-hire charter amendment in August for city construction projects. State Attorney General Herb Slatery issued an opinion in October that it violates state law and is therefore invalid. Just to be sure, senators voted 27-5 to nullify the rule.

Sen. Jack Johnson, R-Brentwood, said Nashville was setting a bad precedent by telling businesses who to hire.

“We don’t need to build a wall around Davidson County,” he said. “We cannot let that stand.”

On the lawsuit over refugees, Gov. Bill Haslam indicated to reporters just last week he’s more or less satisfied with the information from the feds on refugee placement, and he doesn’t see any need to sue the Obama administration over that. But we guess the governor isn’t communicating with Senate Republicans because they voted 27-5 to sue and talked like Osama bin Laden was about to rise from the dead and sneak into Tennessee disguised as a refugee. Pith in the Wind

GOP bill would allow group founded by anti-gay slavery defender to accredit Tennessee schools

The Tennessee state Senate on Monday was scheduled to consider a GOP-sponsored bill that would allow church schools to be accredited by a Christian organization founded by Douglas Wilson — an evangelical theologian who has defended the institution of slavery, called for the execution of adulterers and has said LGBT people should be exiled.
The Nashville Scene reported that state Sen. Brian Kelsey (R) had sponsored SB1792 to add Wilson’s Association of Classical and Christian Schools to the list of accreditation organizations for church-related schools.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Wilson is the author of the book Southern Slavery, As It Was.
“Slavery as it existed in the South … was a relationship based upon mutual affection and confidence,” a passage from the book reads. “There has never been a multiracial society which has existed with such mutual intimacy and harmony in the history of the world.”
The SPLC also noted that Wilson has written at length about his extremists beliefs against homosexuality, adultery and feminism. He has said that rapists should be able to pay the father of the victim to make her his bride.
Woman “was created to be dependent and responsive to a man,” Wilson wrote, adding that feminists “rob women of their beauty in submission.” Raw Story

Early Vote If You Haven't

We stood in line for almost an hour. There were about 40 people in line when we got there. One person got tired of waiting and left. After we voted, there were about 60 or 70 people in line. They were bringing out chairs so seniors could sit while they waited.
As previously reported in the media, it is taking FOREVER for Republican voters to complete their ballot. On the section where they pick 14 delegates, they scroll through the 140 or so choices, pick one, then it brings up the page again, they have to scroll through again to pick another, and this repeats. Some people were getting frustrated and asking for help voting and asking if they had to vote for all 14 or any at all. There was a lot of confusion. Needless to say, the Democratic ballot was much simpler and it took less than a minute to vote.
Anyway, tomorrow is the last day of early voting so you might consider getting it over with because election day will be a disaster Knox Views


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