Author: Pat Hamsa

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At Best, Hagerty is a Haslam Type of “Conservative”

Bill Haslam told voters he was a conservative during his campaign for governor in 2010.

Now he’s fundraising for and donating to Bill Hagerty who also calls himself a conservative.

Bill Haslam fundraiser for Hagerty

Haslam claimed in his campaign materials that he was a “lifelong conservative” and Hagerty is using the same pitch.

But during Haslam’s two terms as governor, he showed voters that he was a different kind of conservative. Haslam was the type of conservative who pushed for Medicaid expansion which he called “Insure Tennessee”, begged state legislators to give in-state tuition to illegal alien students, insisted on retaining Common Core, refused to assert Tennessee’s 10th Amendment rights against the federal refugee resettlement program, and refused to put his name on a strong anti-sanctuary city bill which passed with overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate.

(The anti-sanctuary bill subsequently became law without Haslam’s signature and the legislature left Haslam behind when they figured out how to get the 10th Amendment lawsuit filed without him.)

In fact, Haslam was so committed to Common Core, that with support from the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce, he and Lamar brought Jeb! in to lecture Tennesseans about the value of the Obama education curriculum.

Haslam, Lamar & Jeb! push Common Core

Haslam, Lamar and Jeb! – all Establishment buddies of Hagerty – a group of elite country-clubbers who promote themselves as conservatives.

Don’t forget, Jeb! was Hagerty’s first choice for president; Trump was Hagerty’s third choice and only when it was clear he would be the nominee.

Haslam brought Establishment cronies Hagerty and La Raza Randy Boyd into the Tennessee state government as Commissioners of Economic & Community Development (ECD).

Shortly after taking office, Hagerty promoted Lamar’s son Will Alexander to Chief of Staff of ECD; several years later Hagerty and Will Alexander were in business together. Hargerty also brought in Alice Rolli who had worked for Lamar in D.C. It wasn’t long before Alice left ECD to manage Lamar’s re-election campaign.

Shortly before leaving ECD in 2015, Hagerty hired Lamar’s daughter Leslee. At that time he also hired the daughter of TDOT Commissioner Jim Schroer who had previously interned for Bob Corker.

Hagerty’s successor, La Raza Randy, is a named member of the New American Economy group; globalists who want more immigration, legal and illegal. They support giving illegal aliens some type of legal status because they do the jobs Americans won’t do. They also support providing in-state tuition for illegal alien students. Boyd was a supporter on the in-state tuition issue in Tennessee.

Hagerty’s first choice for President, Jeb! showed up in Tennessee to headline a fundraiser for La Raza Randy. See how they all belong to the same group?

Haslam chose Hagerty and La Raza Randy because they are his cronies and his political running buddies. Their political positions are virtually indistinguishable from one another.

The three are cozy kissin’ cousins when it comes to trying to keep Establishment Republicans in control.

While Bill Hagerty was out raising money for Romney in 2012, Bill Haslam served as the State Chairman for Romney’s campaign. The slate of Tennessee delegates for Romney included Hagerty’s mother Ruth, his wife Chrissy, and Randy Boyd.

Bill & Chrissy Haslam with Romney

Hagerty can talk about baling hay and shoveling asphalt in his growing up years. Running for his buddy Lamar’s seat has him shoveling up something else. He wants voters to believe he’s a conservative Republican – same thing Bill Haslam filled the trough with during his campaign.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

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Marsha Blackburn Gets on the Hagpocrisy Team!

Is anyone really surprised that Marsha is supporting Hagerty? Looks she had to make good on her political IOUs to McConnell and Ward Baker who ran her campaign.

Any surprise that she put her Senate political ambition over her promise to voters?

In September 2019, with regard to the race between Hagerty and Dr. Manny, Marsha, using the royal “we”, Marsha said :

“We will stay out of the primary and let the voters have their say and looking forward to supporting the Republican who’s going to be the next U.S. Senator from Tennessee.”

Fast forward to July 22, 2020, and Marsha suddenly recalls that she still hasn’t gotten over some perceived slight from some individuals associated with Dr. Manny which she claimed happened during her 2018 campaign for Senate.

Marsha needs to put on her big girl panties. That’s about as petty and attenuated as Hagerty’s attack on Dr. Manny over a $50 donation.

Marsha a loooooong running politician careerist during which she has practiced calling herself a “conservative,” an umbrella label under which she is trying to give Hagerty shelter. The reality is that no umbrella is big enough to obstruct Hagerty’s Establishment bona fides. (What Tennessee’s Conservative Base Knows About Bill Hagerty).

Don’t be misled by Marsha’s fluid definition of conservativism. In 2007, she joined Mitt Romney’s campaign as a senior advisor. She’s not always been on the right side of things or even on President Trump’s side of things.

Or on the right side of things for conservative Tennesseeans. And her late-in-the-game support for what appears to be an increasingly desperate Hagerty, is not the first time she’s thrown her constituents under the bus.

It wasn’t that long ago that she co-sponsored a bill, S.2641, which as originally written, mandated a fast track for Syrians, Iraqis and Kurds to be brought to the U.S. if they claim they were in some way connected, however loosely or remotely, to America’s fight against ISIS. Even after the bill was amended to cap the annual number to 400 for these groups, this limit didn’t apply to the President’s annual admission cap, running counter to a key Trump administration goal.

In fact, on this issue, she was more in line with Bill Lee than her President.

Once again Marsha turns her back on her constituents and reneges on her promise to let the voters decide who they want for their next U.S. Senator. These are the same voters who Marsha begged and Ward Baker helped strong-arm into letting Marsha fill the vacated Corker seat.

Marsha needs to remember that voters have long memories and if not, she will be reminded of her arrogance and double-dealing in the Hagerty-Sethi race. If she runs again, expect that she will have to answer to her Hagpocrisy and the big gigantic dent it has put in her credibility.

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Hagerty, Hypocrisy and Insider Swamp Politics

Today’s show of Hagpocrisy used to try and smear Dr. Manny and manipulate voters is simply outrageous. But it also shows voters that Hagerty is a hypocrite, willing to say and do anything so he can join his Establishment cronies in the U.S. Senate.

First the Tennessee Establishment empire warned Dr. Manny not to even consider running. We know “they” had already made their pick and “they” wanted another Establishment guy to ascend to Lamar’s seat. Why else would “they” have made multiple calls to Dr. Manny telling him not to run?

Even Mitch McConnell’s National Republican Senatorial Committee called Sethi to try and convince him not to run. No doubt Lamar & Co. promised Mitch Tennessee would him send another Lamar.

Hagerty is one of “them” – rich-rich-rich and very politically connected to the Establishment in Tennessee; just tick off the names – Lamar, Bill Haslam, Jimmy Haslam, TN bankers.

Bill Haslam fundraiser for Hagerty

Hagerty’s $100,000 donation to Romney’s 2008 presidential race filled out his elitist club bona fides. You know, the ones who really run the state and Tennessee’s GOP. No doubt Romney’s “soft” endorsement of Hagerty’s run was phrased so as to do as little damage as possible to Hagerty’s facade of conservatism.

The current attack ads and endorsements accompanied by pathetically petty statements like those made by Marsha Blackburn, are meant to distract and try to confuse voters.

Interestingly, Marsha and Hagerty have more in common than being the follow-orders foot soldiers that they are. Ward Baker ran Marsha’s Senate campaign and is now running Hagerty’s. 

Both campaigns were and are Trump-centric. Every other word out of Hagerty’s mouth is intended to remind you that Trump endorsed him. Every other word out of Marsha’s mouth was about supporting Trump’s agenda.

Ward Baker is cozy with Mitch McConnell, having served as the executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and as a political advisor to McConnell for a time.  

During Ward Baker’s tenure as executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), he issued a memo warning candidates to distance themselves from Donald Trump the candidate, calling Trump a “misguided missile” and “subject to farcical fits.”

The memo was first leaked to the Washington Post which says it authenticated the document.

In his memo Ward Baker advises the NRSC staff to consider that for the benefit of candidates:

“It is certain that all GOP candidates will be tied in some way to our nominee, but we need not be tied to him so closely that we have to engage in permanent cleanup or distancing maneuvers… Don’t get drawn into every Trump statement and every Trump dust-up.”… “We may not like it, but Trump has connected with voters on issues like trade with China and America’s broken borders.

 Read it all and you’ll see the effort to maintain the Establishment status quo despite Trump. The fakery suggested for how candidates should act is stunning and stands in stark contrast to the authenticity of Trump and why he appealed to voters.

Hagerty’s entire campaign is centered on tying himself as closely as possible to the President.

The Hagpocrisy is staggering and especially as it applies to the most recent attempt by a Breitbart writer to smear Dr. Manny (with help from a former Breitbart writer who lives in Tennessee???).

Hagerty, his campaign manager/advisor, and his stable of Establishment cronies are the epitome of insider swamp politics. This is the same swamp that President Trump has been trying to drain.

Tennessee has suffered a string of “conservative”candidates turned Establishment once in office. Ward Baker’s memo reflects the condescension of the “ruling class” and how to manipulate voters.

Don’t let yourselves be manipulated by Hagpocrisy.

 

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Connect the Hagerty Attack Dog Dots…

Former treasurer of Senator Marco Rubio’s failed presidential campaign, Lisa Lisker is also the treasurer of the “Standing With Conservatives” PAC attacking Dr. Manny.

Lisker list of current clients includes Senators Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio.

McConnell was an early endorser of Hagerty.

Hagerty’s connection to Rubio goes back to the 2016 Republican primary for President.

What are the chances that a PAC involves a Rubio supporter, (Lisa Lisker) attacking a candidate (Dr. Manny), who is running against another Rubio supporter?????

Out of the box Hagerty supported ultra-loser Jeb! – the most Establishment candidate in the bunch. Given Hagerty’s choice of Jeb! it’s a safe assumption that it didn’t bother Hagrty that Jeb! was a pro-amnesty candidate who famously said that violating U.S. immigration laws was “an act of love.”

When super loser Jeb! withdrew, Hagerty flipped to supporting the next biggest loser – the super pro-amnesty Marco Rubio.

Rubio was a prime co-sponsor of the Gang of Eight amnesty bill. Rubio has also been a gigantic proponent of expanding the corrupt H1B visa program which serves to undercut employment of American workers by replacing them with cheaper foreign labor. Disney CEO Bob Iger who has used the H1B visa program to dump 250 American computer programmers and replace them with foreign workers, has dumped several million dollars into Rubio.

Hagerty’s choice of Jeb! and then Rubio, strongly suggests that Hagerty himself was for giving amnesty to illegal aliens. That is, he was for it before he had no choice but to support the clear winner and go with an anti-illegal immigration agenda. How else was Hagerty going to make his play to try and move up in political rank?

What’s clear from Hagerty’s actions and choices, is that his political ambition outpaces his allegiance and credibility. With his history, how in the world can you trust anything he says?

If he was telling the truth, he’d admit to being a political opportunist whose allegiances at the end of the day will be to elitist establishment globalists who he’s counting on to get him elected.

By contrast the issue of illegal immigration is personal to Dr. Manny and besides which, he has to answer to his mother on the matter.

Lisker’s firm is located in Washington, D.C., but the Standing with Conservatives PAC has a P.O. Box address in Nashville.

No real surprise there considering how in the past, (think the Advance Tennessee PAC debacle), a certain pseudo conservative like a former Tennessee multi-millionaire governor and his henchman tried to take down certain state legislators who consistently made the conservative vote.

Maybe we don’t yet know the full involvement of certain Tennessee pseudo conservative politicians who gave Hagerty a fancy Commissioner title until Hagerty left to raise money for Establishment Romney.

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Bill Lee Must Step Up and Help President Trump on Illegal Immigration

Last week Breitbart News reported that so far, four states – Iowa, Nebraska, South Carolina, and South Dakota, have agreed to help the President’s effort to figure out the number of illegal aliens versus legal immigrants and American citizens who are living in the U.S.

These states have agreed to share driver license and state identification information with the Department of Commerce which tabulates and anonymizes the data per a directive from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The administration had tried to get the citizenship question on the 2020 Census but was blocked by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“In response, Trump signed an executive order ordering the Department of Commerce to collect state and federal identification data to develop a fair count of the American citizen population.”

Nebraska officials were the first to voluntarily share their state’s information.

So far, it appears that Tennessee has not stepped forward to comply with the President’s executive order.

In light of the recent disclosure by Nashville’s “anti-police” Community Oversight Board, that 31,000 illegal aliens are living and working in Davidson County, it’s in the state’s best interest to provide the information requested by the President’s Executive Order.

It’s certainly possible that Governor Lee hasn’t learned about redistricting yet (remember, after he blind-sided the legislature’s leadership on his refugee resettlement consent he said he was still learning how to do his job?).

In case Governor Lee is in the dark on the subject, the relationship between the Census, illegal aliens, redistricting and electoral votes is pretty straightforward and Breitbart makes it strikingly clear:

“Currently, those lines and votes are apportioned using a population count that includes non-citizens who are not eligible to vote, giving more power in Congress and elections to regions with significant foreign-born populations. The Census estimates that by 2060, about one-in-six residents will have been born outside the U.S.”

Since non-citizens are not eligible to vote, taking their numbers out of the equation helps restore the integrity and benefits of being a legal American citizen.

There’s simply no excuse that Bill Lee can provide to not comply with the President’s Executive Order on this issue. Contact his office and ask him whether Tennessee will comply.

It’s also campaign time and this is one perfect question to ask your current or soon-to-be new state representative and senator. If they value you as a voter, they should be able to commit to seeing to it that Tennessee turn in its data.

 

 

 

 

 

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Carol Swain Can’t Fix Hagerty’s “Samar Problem”

Carol Swain says she supports Hagerty for the U.S. Senate. Meh.

Swain’s endorsement is highly unlikely to convince anyone who hasn’t already decided whether to go with the establishment choice or vote for Dr. Manny.

Actually, Swain hasn’t done Hagerty any great favors by resurrecting Hagerty’s “Samar problem” at the start of early voting.

Early on in the campaign, Hagerty was confronted with questions about his Sharia finance hire. During the 2012 First Tuesday event when Hagerty defended hiring Samar, he described her as having “tremendous credentials, and we are fortunate to have her in our office.” In fact, Hagerty was so committed to keeping Samar on staff, that he refused to accept her proffered resignation.

On the campaign trail, however, Samar became a one-off hire as a way to deflect more troubling questions about why he hired her and how Hagerty used the state’s Department of Economic & Community Development to pay his political IOUs.

Now Carol Swain suggests that Hagerty hired a Samar Ali who was somehow different than the one she became after leaving Hagerty’s department “on less-than-favorable terms.”

Swain’s attempt at spin is laughable and makes Hagerty look incompetent. Samar’s resume which reportedly her father asked Hagerty to review, documented the “tremendous credentials” Hagerty referred to in defense of her hiring.

Among those “tremendous credentials” was Samar’s Sharia finance background and her appointment as an Obama White House fellow.

Let that sink in – a Sharia finance specialist receives an appointment from Obama.

Before the White House fellowship, Samar worked for Hogan Lovells and opened the law firm’s office in the United Arab Emirates. Her firm viewed Sharia finance as “ethically driven” and that “…many eminent Sharia scholars commonly recommend us [Hogan Lovells] to financial institutions that approach them for advice.”

While working for Hogan Lovells, Samar donated $500 to Obama’s 2008 Victory Fund.

The dark side of Sharia compliant finance comes along with “eminent Sharia scholars” who are the determiners of whether any particular financial instrument is sharia compliant.  One such “eminent Sharia scholar” is the Muslim Brotherhood’s spiritual guide, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi who is credited with characterizing Sharia compliant finance as “jihad with money.”

For unknown reasons, while defending his decision to hire Samar, Hagerty trivialized Sharia finance by comparing it to the Napoleonic code. “Any firms that do a lot of international transactions has someone who can do Sharia compliant finance (SCF). There is nothing sinister about that.” In the same breath, he called the questioning of Samar’s hiring, “bigotry.”

How elitist of Hagerty.

Samar went from Hogan Lovells to the White House fellowship.

Samar’s White House bio and the Global Islamic Finance Magazine touted Samar’s Sharia finance expertise as well as being a “founding member of first U.S delegation to the World Islamic Economic Forum.” The WIEF is where key leaders declared Sharia finance to be “dawa” (proselytizing) activity to promote Islam and Sharia. In addition, Samar’s White House bio noted that she was the “transatlantic liaison for the development of the Palestine Diabetes Institute” a project of the Jerusalem Fund overseen by her father.

Under her father’s leadership, the Jerusalem Fund has become vocally anti-Israel employing executive directors who advocate for Israel’s destruction through the Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

Hagerty’s statement about Samar’s father passing on her resume does make one wonder how well Hagerty and Samar’s father knew each other.

All this information was either in Samar’s resume or easily know. For whatever reason, Hagerty willingly chose to ignore the red flags. It’s equally disingenuous for Carol Swain to suggest that the information right in front of Hagerty’s face was no reflection on the person he chose to hire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Why Are TN’s Elected Using Our Money to Pay For Our Demise?

It’s no surprise that Tennessee’s elected elitists sold out Tennessee conservatives to New York lefties.

Former governor and never-Trumper Bill Haslam handed over $20+ million of Tennessee taxpayer dollars to get Alliance Bernstein (AB), a NYC investment management and research firm, to move its new corporate headquarters to Tennessee.

The move of course was to Mayor David Briley’s leftist Nashville since no self-respecting NYC transplant could possibly live someplace that didn’t have a Starbucks on every corner, organic food markets, or the trendiest restaurants.

While Haslam couldn’t conceal the $20 million fast track grant, the actual total of tax incentives for the AB deal were not disclosed, but months later, the Nashville Metro Council added their own $3.68 million dollar incentive package to lock in the AB deal. Regardless of the dollar and social cost (to be discussed below), both Lamar and Corker couldn’t heap enough praise on Haslam for bringing in more Yankees who want the benefits of living in a no-state income tax state.

“”Moving our corporate headquarters here allows us to offer advantages to our employees that we simply couldn’t in the New York metro area,’” president and CEO Seth Bernstein, said during a press conference. He noted lower living expenses, taxes and housing costs, shorter commute times and a more modern work facility.” https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/02/alliancebernstein-is-moving-to-nashville-from-manhattan-to-save-money.html

Along with AB’s promise to create 1,000 jobs, they also promised to spread philanthropic dollars in the city they planned to call home.

How AB’s philanthropy is being spread around Nashville is hard to document. But what is known, is that AB Vice-President, Daniel Weisman is serving as a board member of the Nashville-based Equity Alliance.

Founded in 2016, The Equity Alliance, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, employs state-wide and community organizers, communications and operational managers along with two co-executive directors. This group organizes around issues of alleged police brutality, equity for people of color, and like every other far left group, maintains a 501(c)(4) arm which is working to vote Trump out of office and elect progressive socialists.

The Equity Alliance’s 501(c)(4), Equity Alliance Action Fund, is a member of the Nashville Justice League coalition (NJL) along with TIRRC Votes, the affiliate of (the Soros-funneled money) TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition which advocates for illegal aliens and legal immigrants like refugees, and the Central Labor Council of Nashville & Middle TN (AFL-CIO).

The NJL formed a PAC shortly before the August 2019 election for the Nashville Metro Council with the goal of moving the city council further left. The NJL’s true intentions were exposed in the July 2019 Liberation Road Newsletter. Liberation Road is the continuation of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO). The name was changed to Liberation Road at the group’s national congress in April 2019. FRSO is well-seated in Tennessee; the co-director of the Highlander Research & Education Center, the socialist training school just outside of Knoxville, is a longstanding participant with the FRSO.

Given the NJL’s core mission there is no surprise about the candidates they endorsed.

For example, Bob Mendes and Colby Sledge were the council members who in 2017, introduced two bills that if passed, would have made Nashville the most liberal sanctuary city in the country. Sledge is married to Lindsey Harris who until very recently, was a co-director of TIRRC.

The NJL also endorsed Zulfat Suara who resigned her leadership of the TN American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) to run for the Metro Council. From the comfort of her new $650,000 home, Suara served as one of Bernie Sanders’ three Tennessee campaign co-chairs. Under Suara’s leadership, AMAC joined forces with Linda Sarsour, one of the most vocal anti-Semites in the U.S., featuring Sarsour at different AMAC events. Sarsour served as “Bernie Sanders’s Anti-Semitic Surrogate”.

Kyontze Toombs, who serves as Secretary and General Counsel for the Equity Alliance was endorsed and won her Metro Council race so they now have a front row seat at the table.

Gicola Lane, another NJL endorsed, but losing candidate, was paid by Black Voters Matter as a campaign coordinator in getting the anti-police Community Oversight Board on the ballot and passed. This year she is an electoral justice fellow with the Movement for Black Lives, the policy setting umbrella organization.

The same co-director of the Highlander Education Center who is a long-standing participant with FRSO, is also a member of the policy table leadership team of the Movement for Black Lives.

As to Alliance Bernstein, it didn’t take long for the company which is ranked fifth among Nashville’s largest private employers, to try and use its economic weight to influence the Tennessee General Assembly’s work. In 2019, AB joined a chorus opposing several bills which they, Taylor Swift, Amazon, the Equality Project and the Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce claimed discriminated against the LGBT community. Guess they don’t care about “Q.”

Tennessee politicians and their appointees continue to pour state taxpayer funds into Nashville. Between 2015 and 2020, the state has given Metro Nashville $99,581,919 in fast track economic development grants supporting more than 70 projects. Rewarding the out-of-control and irresponsible spending of the Nashville city government didn’t stop with the state’s FY2021 supposed COVID-driven austerity budget which directed $5 million to the San Fran on the Cumberland.

As to the can’t-figure-out-how-to-do-the-governor-job Bill Lee, he is blindly following along, thanking AB for its “ongoing commitment to Nashville and to our state.”

Is this really worth the price we will pay?

 

 

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Why Would a TN Republican Legislator Support Democrats’ Ballot Harvesting Bill?

Predictably, Shelby County Democrats Sen. Katrina Robinson and Rep. London Lamar, sponsored a ballot harvesting bill.

Their bill would allow a first-time registered voter to vote absentee.

Democrats in Tennessee have been trying different ways to undermine both the state’s voter ID law and the relatively narrow allowances for absentee voting.

It’s okay to stand in line to go to the grocery store and it’s even better to gather hundreds to protest and riot and risk COVID contamination, but never okay to stand in line and be socially distanced to vote.

As it is, both the voter ID law and the absentee mail in exemptions that are in effect, are easily circumvented.

On Tuesday, June 2nd, Sen. Robinson presented her bill in the Senate State & Local Government Committee chaired by Republican Sen. Steve Dickerson.

Dickerson and Democrat Jeff Yarbro (D-Nashville) were the only two votes in support of ballot harvesting.

Sadly, self-described conservative Richard Briggs (R-Knoxville) couldn’t decide, so he passed. BTW, word is that Briggs was deeply involved, in fact deeply involved, in getting never-Trumper Democrat Eddie Mannis from Knoxville rebranded as a “bona fide” Republican so he can run in the primary for a Tennessee House seat against the actual Republican candidate Gina Oster.

Despite Briggs’ inability to vote against ballot harvesting, the bill failed because the committee’s other Republicans – Gardenhire, Jackson, Kelsey, Reeves, White, and Yager, voted against it. Kelsey deserves thanks from voters for his efforts in bringing down this bill.

In 2012, Dickerson campaigned as a “different Republican” and since being elected, he has worked hard to dilute any bill that remotely smacks of conservative principles. Instead, he supports a liberal Democrat agenda – the most recent being ballot harvesting.

Since being elected Dickerson has voted to give in-state tuition to illegal alien students, vote against the state’s Tenth Amendment lawsuit challenging the federal refugee resettlement program, and refused to support a bill that would help avoid using taxpayer money to fund elective abortions. He has worked to impair our Constitutional rights, siding with Democrats and sponsoring a red flag gun law.

“In 2016, [Dickerson] had the LOWEST rating at 57% from the American Conservative Union Foundation putting him even lower than the highest rated Democrat Senator at 75%” – but none of this stopped Bill Lee from donating to Dickerson’s campaign.

Dickerson remains the lowest rated Republican in the Tennessee legislature according to the ACUF ratings.

During two legislative sessions Dickerson has pushed creating an industry for medical marijuana which some say is the first step in legalizing marijuana for recreational use. Dickerson is also part owner of a pain management business and is being “sued by the federal government and Tennessee over alleged Medicare and TennCare fraud totaling at least $25 million.” Dickerson is alleged to have profited by about $6.5 million.

Of course he says he didn’t do anything wrong but the case has yet to be resolved.

Dickerson is up for re-election this year. Sadly he does not have a Republican primary opponent. There are, however, two Democrats in the primary, the winner of whom will challenge Dickerson for the seat. 

Combined with the lawsuit hanging over his head and a really lousy voting record, Dickerson is likely begging for the Governor and Lt. Governor to support his re-election even though he is the worst kind of “Republican.” He may be currying favor with the Governor by blocking SB2730 which is supposed to be in the committee he chairs. This is the bill that would prohibit Bill Lee from resettling refugees in Tennessee unless granted permission by the legislature.

Bill Lee and Steve Dickerson are aligned on the refugee issue. Bill Lee gave Dickerson campaign money even after Dickerson voted to give illegal alien students in-state tuition. Dickerson may be a “different kind of Republican” but he seems to be different enough to appeal to Bill Lee and other ignorant Republicans in his district. And shame on them all if they send Dickerson back to the Senate. After all, it’s no different than sending a liberal Democrat – so what’s really the difference?

 

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No More State Money For the San Fran on the Cumberland

Nashville’s far left mayor and city council are working overtime to be the San Francisco of the South.

“Our Revolution – Nashville & Mid TN” is intimately involved trying to spread the insurrection and overthrow of Nashville outward. They endorsed and helped get elected former American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) and socialist, Zulfat Suara, to the Metro Nashville Council.

While Suara was leading AMAC, her former co-chair and AMAC co-founder Daoud Abudiab was leading TIRRC (TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition), and both groups joined with Black Lives Matter to “strategize, dream and build [their] movement for 2016.”

And there is very little in their way to stop Nashville’s full transformation.

In fact, a legitimate argument can be made that Bill Lee and his leadership SNAFUs is abetting Nashville’s agenda.

For starters, when Tennessee’s COVID lockdowns began, Bill Lee decided to give Nashville’s far left mayor free reign to do whatever he wanted. Predictably, Mayor Cooper followed other Democrat run cities and put Nashville on a seemingly perpetual lockdown.

Except of course when it was time to host a mass protest and invite all elected officials to attend – no social distancing required!

Cooper was cautioned by other leaders that similar protests in other blue cities had in short order, turned violent and destructive. Neither Cooper nor Metro police were prepared for the inevitable which wasn’t hard to predict especially since the Metro police department has been effectively neutered and is now under the thumb of the anti-police-pro-open-borders special interest groups running the Community Oversight Board (COB).

AMAC was an aggressive proponent of the charter amendment that made the anti-police COB a formal and $1 million dollar funded arm of the Metro Nashville government. AMAC board member Drost Kokoye was a lead organizer against police while she attended UT Knoxville.

Cop haters policing the police combined with low pay has put Metro’s police force at over a 100 person deficit.

Protest organizer Prophetess Venita Lewis admitted that the violence, and wanton destruction is “happening all across the county. The protests are not gonna end peacefully” and that “the rioting will not stop when associated with Floyd’s death.”

Bill Lee stood back and watched while Nashville was looted and burned waiting until Cooper asked for help.

In November 2019, the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office reviewed and rejected Nashville’s budget, threatening to take over if the city couldn’t figure out how to address the years of irresponsible over-spending. According to the Comptroller, “Metro’s expenses have outpaced the city’s revenue growth since 2013, according to Wilson. To accommodate those increasing expenses, city leaders have been depleting Metro’s available cash and reserve funds, which are down 24% and 16% respectively.”

Then came the March tornadoes and COVID followed by the BLM protest turned riot.

Between 2015 and 2020, the state has given Metro Nashville $99,581,919 in fast track economic development grants. In 2017 and 2018, the state rewarded the out-of-control and irresponsible spending and illegal-alien-protectionist government in Davidson County with over $28 million dollars to recruit Philips North America and Alliance Bernstein.

Cooper’s 32% property tax increase isn’t going to exempt people who’ve been and may still be out of work since his COVID lockdown started. Nor will it exempt people whose home or business was destroyed by the tornadoes. Nor is Cooper’s tax increase going to exempt the 30 business owners whose properties were vandalized by the protest rioters.

Is there any rational reason that any more state economic development funding should be given to Nashville? Does spending more state tax dollars to help the San Fran on the Cumberland benefit the state in any conceivable way?

No. But the decision to steer the economic development money to Nashville comes from the administration, not the legislature.

So San Fran on the Cumberland probably has nothing to worry about. Remember, the state’s chief executive officer, aka, the governor, had no problem sending money to the campaigns of leftists Megan Barry, Karl Dean and Phil Bredesen or rushing to meet with AMAC.

 

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The Take Down of Tennessee By Its Own Government?

Bill Lee chose to weaponize the use of COVID testing results against Tennessee’s citizens instead of recommending or ensuring that law enforcement had adequate PPE with which to protect themselves. Sadly for Tennesseans, the governor didn’t appear to realize that his justification for providing the names as a means to protect law enforcement, didn’t hold water as to asymptomatic individuals with whom law enforcement might encounter. https://www.fox8live.com/2020/05/10/law-enforcement-agencies-able-access-names-addresses-tennesseans-testing-positive-covid-/

The governor didn’t rescind this absurd move until after bi-partisan pushback from legislators.

It appears, however, that the practice is on-going in Nashville compliments of the governor allowing 6 counties which includes Davidson County, from the start of COVID lockdowns, to run their own operations with their own rules.

The legislature has begun to address the weaponizing of COVID as a means to the government unconstitutionally gorging itself with power.

Tennesseans better hope that legislators very quickly begin tamping down on contact tracing. Watch the video linked here and decide for yourself.

http:// https://vimeo.com/421657568

 

It looks like Bill Lee has already endorsed contact tracing but it remains unknown how far he’ll run with it.

Socialists elected to Metro Nashville Council and Knoxville City Council and council members openly supporting socialists, are likely cheering him on.