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TN State GOP Curcio Calls Rep. Cepicky a “Show Horse” & Then Votes to Keep Pornography in Schools

Yesterday, the Tennessee General Assembly’s Criminal Justice Subcommittee continued its hearings about Rep. Cepicky’s bill, HB1944, that would keep pornographic and obscene reading materials out of Tennessee’s schools. Plenty of people showed up to speak for and against the bill.

The video is posted through the link here https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB1944. Get comfortable, make a big bowl of popcorn and watch the show.

Prior to the show getting started, Cepicky explained the bill and how the bill avoids broad brush book banning and the explicit guardrails in the bill to avoid indiscriminate censorship and possible constitutional challenges. As Cepicky explained, the bill permits the review of books and materials in schools to determine if they are in violation of the state’s law on obscene materials provided to minors, here and here.

Everyone knows that groups like the ACLU and other Marxist driven organizations, will sue and claim that taking pornography out of schools violates students First Amendment free speech rights regardless of whether that claim is legitimate or not. In fact, the folks who spoke in opposition to the bill including a representative of school librarians and prize-winning authors of books for minors, waived the students’ rights flag for everyone to hear. These same speakers carefully avoided addressing the super explicit examples taken from Tennessee school materials, provided by the first set of panelists.

Probably one of the most impactful points made by one panelist, was that the books found in different county schools in Tennessee, would be considered contraband and disallowed for distribution in the state’s prisons.

To no great surprise, the subcommittee’s two Democrats voted against the bill.

But, prior to the vote, Republican Michael Curcio, who is not a lawyer, schooled the committee on why the bill was “facially unconstitutional”, referred to the bill sponsor as a “show horse” and then voted NO when the roll call was taken.

Curcio explained that a “show horse” is one that does “a lot of huffin’ and puffin’” as opposed to a “work horse” who actually gets something done.

GOP Rep. Michael Curcio – claims he’s against pornography and obscene materials in schools but votes with Democrats to keep it in schools.

Email Curcio and tell him how you feel about his NO vote –rep.michael.curcio@capitol.tn.gov

Two things to consider about Curcio’s vote. First, the week before, the Main Street book store owner in Curcio’s hometown of Dickson testified in opposition to the bill. Second, two subcommittee members who actually are lawyers voted for the bill. Even more surprising about these two lawyers is that one is the Majority Leader William Lamberth, and the other is Andrew Farmer who tends to lean RINO. 

Moral of this legislative hearing? Cepicky the “work horse” is putting his all into getting the needed protection for Tennessee’s school children across the finish line while Curcio stands with Democrats and leftists who want to keep pornography and obscene materials in our schools.

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Are Tennessee Republican Candidates Really “Bona Fide” or Just Good Ole Boys?

 

 Someone needs to tell the head of the Tennessee State GOP, Mr. Scott Golden, the definition of Bona Fide, according to the American Heritage Dictionary is “Made or carried out in good faith; sincere. Authentic; genuine: In good faith. In business dealings it means without fraud or deception.

Tennessee State bylaws redefine the word as being “ any individual actively involved in the Tennessee Republican Party, his County Republican Party or any recognized auxiliary organization of either and ; and either any individual who has voted in at least three (3) of the four (4) most recent Statewide Republican primary elections; or Any individual who is vouched for in writing (to the satisfaction of the decision makers defined herein) as a bona fide Republican by an officer of the TRP or a member of the CEC, excluding SEC members, of the County and/or District where said individual resides. The decision makers defined herein may require additional verification that said individual is indeed a bona fide Republican.

According to an article in the On the Hill Tennessee Journal, Previously, the number of required votes was two of the last four. The change was done to “create a consistent standard” for candidates statewide, Golden said, not to make it harder for people to run for office.

“These approved changes were not proposed to prevent people from exercising their right to run for office, but to ensure that primary voters have strong Republicans on the ballot to choose from,” he said in a statement.

Strong Republicans? What a joke!

No where in the current bylaws does any word regarding a candidate’s character, or values matching that of what Republicans are supposed to stand for are mentioned. Why is that? How can the integrity of the Republican party in Tennessee be maintained when its potential candidates are less that authentic or genuine?  

The upcoming information on candidates are based on findings from open, factual sources, which helps shed light on the true values of candidates claiming to be “bona fide Republicans”.

Garth Roland Segroves, currently an attorney in Tullahoma TN is running for General Sessions Judge, Part 2. The question should be asked if being a “bona fide Republican” includes running as a Democrat for Tennessee House District 47 in 2006.

Other questions are regarding the donations by Mr. Garth Segroves to Democrat Beto O,Rourke presidential candidate in 2020, Democrat runner for TN Senate Phil Bredesen in 2018, and Democrat Karl Dean for Nashville Mayor also in 2018.

Other donations of note are to Actblue, and a PAC supporting Beto O’Rourke called People Powered Action.

https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=garth+segroves

https://apps.tn.gov/tncamp-app/public/ceresults.htm

The following link is an article regarding The Powered By People PAC aka People Powered Action

https://nypost.com/2021/07/15/escapade-to-dc-by-texas-dems-funded-by-beto-orourkes-pac/

Is this really a “strong” or “bona fide Republican”? If so, the Republican party has lost any semblance of what integrity really is.

The following are other candidates currently running for positions in Coffee County that may meet the criteria to run, but are they true “Bona Fide Republicans”?

Joshua Morris –  Running for Coffee County Circuit Court Clerk

 SO in future elections, will Mr. Morris vote with the party he proclaims to be a member of or whoever he prefers. In addition, in Mr. Morris’s announcement for his candidacy, he is disingenuous by implying he is currently in this position. “I would be honored to serve the residents of Coffee County as Circuit Court Clerk.  I have had an interest in leading this office since my employment began there in 2010,”

Mr. Morris also ran for Coffee County Trustee in 2014 as a Democrat.

Eric Burch,  an attorney in Coffee County TN seeking for position as Circuit Court Judge Part 2

Mr. Burch donated $1000 in 2018 to Phil Bredesen for his senate run against Marsha Blackburn. 

Robert Carter, also an attorney in Coffee County running for Circuit Court Judge Part 2 has had his own legal issues in 2011 which involved his being publicly censured by the TN Board of Professional Responsibility

 

Tim Morris vying for County Commission District 5 and Scott Hansert running for Coffee County Road Superintendent both ran as democrats in local races in 2014.  https://www.manchestertimes.com/news/local/election-results-brown-wins-dem-primary-for-coffee-county-mayor/article_47aa9487-00e4-5728-bba2-03c2de80e485.html

This isn’t a personal attack or as many will respond “no big deal” on those running for political offices in Coffee County, but rather a wake up call. Local elections are the foundation for state and federal  campaigns and can turn a red state blue at any time. If  those running for office have  an agenda other than what the republican party claims to have, it will result in the downfall of conservatism. Doesn’t it matter?

 So since the leadership of the Tennessee State GOP doesn’t particularly care how sincere the potential candidates have been, it is up to the voters to know who they’re voting for, not just based on personality but rather on character and the integrity they bring to the true Republican Party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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States Can Combat Illegal Immigration If They Really Want To

 

When Tennessee’s elected tell you that they can’t do anything about illegal immigration, that it’s all up to the federal government to fix, or because the Chamber of Commerce and the NFIB small business lobbyist say it’s anti-business, or because it’s not really a problem in Tennessee because the governor and too many RINO state legislators refuse to acknowledge the growing problem in Tennessee, show them this:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/01/11/ron-desantis-agenda-blacklist-companies-facilitating-illegal-immigration-to-florida/

DeSantis has been working hand-in-glove with his Republican state legislators to protect his state’s citizens and legal residents from the destructive immigration policies of the Biden administration.

DeSantis has already issued an emergency order to “ban the issuance or renewal of all state licenses to companies or NGOs that provide services to Unaccompanied Alien Children (UACs) in Florida.” Now he has sent six legislative proposals to the legislature to address the problem of businesses, NGOs, and any other concern whose operations facilitate illegal immigration.

DeSantis is sending a clear and unequivocal message, that these businesses and NGOs are not welcome in his state and he will do whatever is legally within his power and that of the other branches of his state government, to make life untenable for those helping spur illegal immigration.

Tennessee on the other hand, continues to bend over backwards to accommodate the Chamber and NFIB on any business related legislation practically forgetting that big businesses have been moving to Tennessee because of the business-centric benefits. 

For example, Alliance Bernstein moved its headquarters from NYC because it is simply cheaper from any and all perspectives to operate in Nashville as compared to NYC. In addition, their employees could afford to live where they work. They and their woke politics were welcomed with Tennessee taxpayer money.

As to illegal immigration, Tennessee’s state legislators choose to side with the Chamber and NFIB and close their eyes to growing problem in the state. Even with lax workplace enforcement, GOP Rep. Mike Sparks couldn’t stop himself from whining about the fines placed on employers who hire illegal aliens in violation of state law.

And heaven forbid Tennessee actually pass an E-verify law that actually makes sense, assuming a bill that makes sense is actually filed. The E-verify process requires submission of certain documents which then are compared to U.S. government databases to determine “employment eligibility”, ie, that a person is legally authorized to work in the U.S. There are three categories of acceptable documents to establish identity for submission through the E-verify program. If a person cannot submit one of the documents from List A, then they must submit one document from each of List B & C. 

List B includes submission of a drivers license but it must be backed up by a document from List C.

What this means is that Tennessee’s current statute and any bill that relies solely on a drivers license to determine employment eligibility, is meaningless given the numerous documented reports of fraud perpetrated in the issuance of driver licenses. And that’s to say nothing of the implications for voter fraud.

Tennessee legislators spent months and taxpayer money exploring the arrival of UACs to the state and Sen. Richard Briggs and Rep. Ryan Williams making excuses and minimizing the impact of NGO Bethany Christian Services whose Nashville director openly admitted to contracting with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement to receive and provide transitional foster care to UACs extolling the Christian virtue of facilitating illegal immigration to Tennessee.

Catholic Charities of East Tennessee, also reputed to be assisting UAC arrivals to Tennessee, was asked to appear before the committee but simply didn’t show up and the committee just couldn’t be bothered to follow up.

At least two members of the Joint Study Committee, Sen. Richard Briggs and Sen. Bo Watson, after wasting taxpayer money on the study committee, conceded that addressing illegal immigration is a federal problem and they can’t really do anything about it at the state level. Worse still, Watson says we need to look to our federal legislators to fix the problem and Briggs says Tennessee is not in an illegal immigration crisis, so basically, we don’t have anything to be concerned about.

Both Watson and Briggs were cheerleading Mark Green’s UAC refugee bill which allows an illegal alien living in Tennessee to facilitate the smuggling of a child to the U.S. border without any penalty, and which would override the (unlikely) governor’s veto regarding UAC placements in Tennessee.

Tennessee not only has a growing illegal immigration problem strengthened immensely by the proliferation of well-funded NGOs protecting illegal aliens living and working in the state, so much so that they are holding public rallies protesting employers who take advantage of illegal alien workers because they are “undocumented.”

These are the employers being protected by bad policy pushers like the Chamber and NFIB and bad policy makers like Briggs, Watson to name a few.

They could not be more wrong on all counts. We’ve already had the lesson that when Republicans had complete control of the federal government, they did nothing to address the problem of illegal immigration. In fact, they worked against the most impactful, beneficial for Americans, immigration policies put forward by Trump. Why would we expect anything more in 2022 or 2024?

The DeSantis lesson is crystal clear – our Constitutional system of federalism equips states with power if they choose to use it and it is absolutely up to states to guard their own best interests. Unfortunately for Tennessee, the governor’s office and too many in the General Assembly don’t see it that way and perhaps even believe that a certain amount of illegal immigration (ie, cheap labor), is just fine for Tennessee.

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Catholic Charities..Help for Refugees over Nashvillians.

 

Catholic Charities doesn’t care about Nashvillians  in need, but they do care about refugees and illegals. That’s right, the same Catholic Charities that received $7.3 million dollars from the bloated TANF fund (Tennessee Assistance for Needy Families) is the same organization sitting on over $100,000 meant to be distributed to those victims of the Nashville Christmas day bombing in 2020.

From September 2021 through March of 2022, Catholic Charities will help resettle over 150 Afghanis in the city of Nashville, the same city where many Nashvillians and businesses were displaced by a terrorist and need help to rebuild.  

In a recent tv interview between News Channel 4 and Ashley Bergeron, who lost her apartment and her art gallery, Bergeron states she needs help, and after one year of trying to make ends meet, she needs it now. Bergeron says she received a little over $3,200 that helped pay for things like her mortgage and utility bills, but those bills haven’t gone away. “Now that its been almost a year I’m now realizing okay wow, I’m going to need to ask for some more support,” said Bergeron.

Almost a year after the bombing, Ashley Bergeron is still feeling the impact

 

 

 

 

 https://www.wsmv.com/news/investigations/one-year-later-christmas-day-bombing-survivors-still-struggle-financially-where-s-all-the-donated/article_746f9e02-63f7-11ec-ba25-aff5cb8f7697.html?block_id=994460

Why is it Nashvillians are not receiving the assistance they need? Judy Orr, the executive director of Catholic Charities says “What we try to do is take care of the most immediate needs. If someone were to come forward now with additional expenses all of those would be considered.” Considered? Seriously?

 So what does CC bring to the table when refugees are involved? Afghans receive 30 to 90 days of assistance, case management and $1,225 per individual. Per individual. So for a family of lets say 4 that is $4900, $1700 over what Nashvillian Bergeron was given. But wait, the Afghan refugees, according to Kellye Branson, director of Refugee and Immigration Services for CC, will also receive  housing complete with furnishings, Social Security cards, enrolling their kids in school , and following up on any medical needs or mental health needs they might have.  Gee..did those suffering from the Nashville 2020 Christmas day bombing get that help and service?

Executive Director Judy Orr

 The bottom line is $950,000 was forked over to The United Way and The Community Foundation in Nashville, in addition to a $2 million grant.  The question begs to be asked where is the money for those Nashvillians?  Perhaps it is time for donations to be given elsewhere rather than large wealthy non profits. Catholic Charities may imply they are religious, and a charity, however it looks more like refugees and illegals are more profitable for them rather than those in their own backyard.

 

 

 

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Bill Lee and TN’s General Assembly Fail Conservatives on COVID & Immigration

Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles nailed it when he accused Bill Lee of “indecisiveness and half measures” in response to the multi-faceted attack by Democrats on our Constitutional rights and liberties.  

Like Lee, too many Republicans in Tennessee’s General Assembly also sidestep concerns voiced by the conservative base of the state’s GOP.

Republican leadership in Florida should be the measuring stick by which Tennessee conservatives judge Tennessee’s governor, House and Senate members. Tennessee’s elected spend a lot of air time crowing about their conservative credentials but come up short when it comes to action. DeSantis and his fellow travelers don’t need to talk about their conservative principles; they simply show it through action.

Bill Lee has wiffled and waffled around COVID issues, failing time and again to articulate an informed and educated understanding of the state’s exclusive Constitutional authority to assert and protect our rights. He would do well to take a lesson from DeSantis and learn about federalism and state’s rights which DeSantis asserts with forceful clarity:

“…So, the states are the primary vehicles to protect people’s freedoms, their health, their safety,
their welfare in our constitutional system.”

Bill Lee chose inaction in response to Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate. Nor did he call a special session to enable the legislature to act. Despite Speaker Sexton’s urging to convene a special session, Lee, with the backing of Establishcan Lt. Governor McNally, continued to refuse. Fortunately, Sexton didn’t back down and instead, flexed the muscle responsible for getting a COVID special session on the calendar. 

The final COVID omnibus bill is pretty typical of what comes out of the General Assembly. Legislators caved to big business and private companies with mask mandates and vaccine mandates for certain healthcare workers and other employees of institutions which receive federal funding, leaving these workers at the mercy of a deranged federal government. “The new law allows employers, private businesses, schools, and state and local governmental entities to apply to the state comptroller for exemption from the requirements of the statute if compliance would result in a loss of federal funding.” If granted, an exemption means that vaccine and mask mandates can be enforced. Fifty-seven Republicans and one Democrat voted in favor of the final bill (including the House member who called vaccine mandate supporters “medical Nazis”); eight Republicans voted no and two Republicans abstained. 

In stark contrast, DeSantis timely used the full scope of his authority, worked in concert with his legislators to protect Floridians from COVID mandates, and made it clear that fundamental Constitutional rights must never concede to the megalomania of Washington politicians. 

DeSantis exemplifies the type of leader Tennessee desperately needs. 

Immigration

The very same pattern of political nonfeasance by Tennessee’s elected has played out on immigration issues. 

It’s a known fact that Republican Reps. Bob Ramsey and Patsy Hazelwood, the legislature’s top “Tennessee Last” lawmakers, want to protect illegal aliens who commit crimes in Tennessee, (Tennessee’s Worst Pro-Illegal Immigration GOP State Legislators), which is why they would not support passing the sanctuary city bill in 2018. Of course, neither did Haslam who was governor at the time and who refused to support the bill letting it go into law without his signature. 

One month after reneging on his campaign promises related to illegal immigration, Haslam said that immigration is a federal issue and has little to nothing to do with being a governor. During his campaign Bill Lee also tried to convince voters that he was hawkish on illegal immigration. In reality, Lee’s sole pushback on Biden’s open border and policies incentivizing illegal immigration, has been to sign a letter with other governors requesting a meeting with Biden. Lee’s signature on the letter is at best, a meaningless gesture since unlike other signers, he’s done nothing to attack the problem in Tennessee.

In stark, predictable contrast, DeSantis issued a comprehensive executive order to attack illegal immigration to his state with a named official responsible for enforcing the order, and his Attorney General filed suit against the Biden administration. Included in DeSantis’ EO, is a provision addressing the granting of licenses to facilities housing unaccompanied alien minors (UACs) who are, defined in U.S. law, as illegal aliens.

When Haslam tried to bluff his way out of knowing that UACs were being delivered to Tennessee, immigration and refugee advocates questioned his pretended non-knowledge – “[t]he unaccompanied minors have been placed into Tennessee households with approved “sponsors” — typically their own families and relatives — as has been happening for years….’[u]naccompanied minors have been coming into the U.S. for years and years and years,’ said Holly Johnson, state refugee coordinator for the Tennessee Office of Refugees.”

More recently when the arrival of UACs to Chattanooga was made public, state Sen. Todd Gardenhire who knew where they were being housed, expressed his own surprise that other Tennessee elected officials claimed not to know. The fact that Tennessee’s DCS had licensed the Chattanooga facility and Bethany Christian Services (which authored an oped about their services to UACs in Tennessee), knowing that both had contracts with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide services to UACs, raises serious questions about Bill Lee’s knowledge around the issue.

After lots of political theater and multiple meetings, members of the misnamed Joint Study Committee on Refugees plan on issuing a report based on their findings. They may also propose legislation. Two “highlights” of the last meeting should be noted. First, Catholic Charities of East TN which is known to provide services to UACs arriving to Tennessee was asked to appear and speak with the committee, but failed to show up. Second, during this last meeting, both Sen. Richard Briggs and Rep. Ryan Williams went to great lengths to minimize the role of Bethany Christian Services which provides foster care services to arriving UACs despite testimony about the virtues of facilitating illegal immigration to the state.

Add to this that committee member Sen. Todd Gardenhire has pushed for more illegal immigration to Tennessee and has sponsored bills to reward those who violate the law. Rep. Chris Todd was the sole committee member that accurately noted that an agency like Bethany Christian which is licensed by the state but has a contract with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement to provide services to UACs was facilitating illegal immigration.

There are plenty of other Republican members in the Tennessee General Assembly who are too willing to claim that immigration, legal and illegal, is exclusively for the federal government to handle. Center for Immigration Studies Policy Director Jessica Vaughn strenuously disagrees and has provided a detailed roadmap for state and local action on legal and illegal immigration which also includes suggestions for states on refugee resettlement.

Since the Tennessee legislature gifted $7.3 million dollars to Catholic Charities of Tennessee to enable the leftist organization to expand their infrastructure into ten new counties, the legislature should consider putting some meaningful guardrails on that money. Regardless, that money, which CCTN said is the single largest grant they have ever received, will free up the agency’s other funds to serve their work with legal immigrants like refugees and illegal aliens.

Bill Lee’s position on wanting more refugee arrivals to Tennessee is well known. His weak and unrealistic position regarding Afghan arrivals is centered on acceptable vetting but is nothing more than a political smokescreen. And as par for the course, his supposed opposition is not backed up with any articulated plan to act in the best interests of the state. 

In 2020, the Nashville government issued a report documenting that 31,000 illegal aliens are living and working in Davidson County. That same year the Center for Migration Studies estimated that in 41,200 legal immigrants and 66,900 illegal aliens are working in Tennessee “often at great risk to their health and lives – to keep Americans safe, healthy, fed and poised for economic recovery.”

These reports are clear indicators that the state has a robust base and state-wide infrastructure of organizations support illegal immigration to the state and it is reasonable to assume that with Biden’s open border and other policies incentivizing illegal immigration, the numbers in Tennessee have increased. 

Add to this that the Biden administration is working to more firmly embed and expand Obama’s unconstitutional DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals) program. Despite being an overt unconstitutional exercise by Washington bureaucrats, Tennessee legislators like Todd Gardenhire and Mark White, have over the years, worked to try and pass legislation supporting this program. 

At one point in time, Tennessee’s Attorney General Herb Slatery joined the coalition of states challenging the DACA program but after meeting with TIRRC, the gang leader of organizations pushing illegal immigration in Tennessee, Slatery withdrew the state from the litigation. Instead, he chose to advocate for amnesty for illegal aliens. This is the same Attorney General who refused to assert the state’s Tenth Amendment position with regard to refugee resettlement. In other words, this Attorney General appears to also believe that immigration is solely a matter of federal control.

Compassion should never be far from our collective consciousness, but neither should the rule of law and its fundamental importance to an ordered society, especially when the issues are grounded in the Constitution. Even if Republicans in Congress achieve a majority in either or both chambers, there will be no trickle down in policy which addresses the challenges faced by conservative voices in the direction Tennessee is heading. This problem demands that individuals get involved at all levels of state government and stop giving a pass to those in office who continue to work against conservative principles. 

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State Licensed Bethany Christian Services in Nashville Provides Foster Care to UACs

Why hasn’t Bethany Christian been asked to testify to the Tennessee Joint Study Committee on Refugees whose charge is to address the situation with UAC arrivals to the state? Why is this organization being shielded from legislative and administrative scrutiny?

Tennessee’s Dept. of Children’s Services (DCS) has known or should have known all along that they licensed Bethany Christian Services to provide foster care services to UACs* arriving in Tennessee.

Recall, that DCS was grilled by the Joint Study Committee over their licensing of the Baptiste Group, a federal contractor which was providing housing and other services to UACs in Chattanooga.

Like Baptiste Group, Bethany Christian (BC) is a federal contractor with the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement and gets paid by the federal government to provide services to arriving UACs. Unlike Baptiste which provided the housing itself, BC finds foster care parents to house children smuggled to the border until they are placed with a self-identified sponsor. 

According to Amy Scott, Nashville Branch Director at Bethany Christian, “our role is to care for children who flee to the U.S. without their families, reunite families, and restore communities.” Further down in her January 2021 Tennessean op-ed she makes it clear that she is talking about UACs and discloses that they have provided transitional (short-term) foster care to 8,000 arriving UACs since 2013. 

Scott suggests only good Christians support illegal immigration

BC is among the largest adoption and foster care providers in the country and has multiple offices in other states. In Tennessee BC operates in Nashville, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Johnson City and Memphis, so it is not clear whether Scott’s reference to the 8,000 UACs served refers solely to Tennessee.

According to BC’s website Nashville is the only Tennessee location providing foster care to UACs at this time but they are actively seeking to expand “beyond [the] locations” listed.

BC is also an advocate for increasing the number of overseas refugees to be resettled in the U.S..

Without question, BC is in the same business as the Baptiste Group. The sole difference between them is that Baptiste operated a facility where the UACs were housed whereas BC farms the UACs out to paid foster care homes.

Both Baptiste and BC are responsible for releasing a UAC to self-identified sponsors who present themselves. BC is responsible for vetting the self-identified UAC sponsor. Data indicates that  approximately 78% of UAC sponsors are here illegally themselves. And some “vetted” sponsors have turned out to be labor traffickers like those in the August 2021 investigation. 

Both Baptiste and BC get paid by the federal government for these services.

Both Baptiste and BC are licensed by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services but only Baptiste was ever discussed by the Joint Legislative Committee on Refugees. In fact, the committee legislators made a big show about going after the Baptiste Group once it became public that Baptiste was being paid to provide transitional housing and services to UAC arrivals in Chattanooga. DCS was grilled about the licensing.

Why hasn’t BC been called to account for facilitating illegal immigration with UACs by the Joint Legislative Study Committee on Refugees? Why hasn’t DCS been questioned about its licensing for BC?

The Joint Committee’s agenda for its upcoming meeting on October 12th, appears to be going after federal ORR contractors which have been identified for providing services to UACs arriving in Tennessee.

Bethany Christian Services is not included – why not? How credible is this Joint Committee or these legislators if they are willing to shield a self-identified UAC provider?

*BC insists that UACs “in the transitional foster care program are not illegal immigrants.” The Congressional Research Service (CRS) which refers to itself as Congress’ “think tank” writes, “[u]naccompanied alien children are statutorily defined as children who lack lawful immigration status in the United States, are under age 18, and lack a parent or legal guardian in the United States or a parent or legal guardian in the United States who is available to provide care and physical custody.” All UACs are illegal entrants until they receive some form of adjudicated immigration relief.

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TN’s Elected Okay With Illegal Immigration in the State

The first problem is that we don’t have a Ron DeSantis type governor. The second problem is that the TN Chamber of Commerce and NFIB have outsized influence over too many legislators in the General Assembly. The third problem is that there are too many Republicans in the General Assembly who are simply okay with illegal immigration.

With over 130,000 UACs, over 380,000 family units and over 950,000 adults – all illegal aliens, having crossed the border from October through August for a total so far for FY21 of over 1.5 million, untested and untreated for COVID, but still being shipped to communities around the U.S., you’d think our so-called “conservative” super-majority would get serious about the impact on Tennessee.

Add, another 16,000 migrants from Colombia and another caravan of 40 – 60,000 Haitians heading to the border not including those waiting in Mexico which by December, an internal report speculates will total 125,000 migrants waiting to cross into the U.S..

And these massive numbers are on top of the almost 60,000  Afghan (many unvetted or poorly vetted) evacuees being relocated to communities around the U.S. and the 125,000 refugees Biden promises to import from overseas during FY22. BTW, the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants is urging Biden to up the number to 200,000.

Even before Biden opened the border and stopped construction on the border wall in April 2020, the Nashville government issued a report documenting the 31,000 illegal aliens living and working in Davidson County. The following month, the Soros funded Center for Migration Studies reported that at least 66,900 illegal alien “essential” workers were earning their livelihoods in Tennessee. 

The Partnership for a New American Economy 2016 report put the illegal alien population in Tennessee at 128,620.

Then there’s TIRRC….

TIRRC board member Sandra Pita, an illegal alien living in Memphis who has work authorization and temporary deferred deportation because she is a DACA beneficiary of the unconstitutional Obama program tells us that she was promised a pathway to citizenship and it’s time to give it!  In any case she says, she deserves it because of the sacrifices she’s made to “go out every day and work on the front lines to keep this country going” by being paid to clean people’s homes during COVID. Pita says that she has a business that employs other women and was forced to reduce her staff because she was denied COVID relief money.

While both Pita and her husband are illegal aliens, their six children were born here and are considered U.S. citizens. Pita admits that her husband cannot work legally but yet, is employed by a home remodeling firm. See why E-verify is important?

Pita is hoping that her soon to be 21-year old son can file the paperwork to legalize her and her husband.

Pita is a board member of the TN Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), an organization which has benefitted in the past from Soros funding. More importantly perhaps, is TIRRC’s six paid lobbyists who aggressively attack key legislation at Tennessee’s state legislature. It doesn’t hurt that TIRRC maintains a large staff and over $3 million in the bank.

David Lubell, a former organizer with Latino Memphis launched TIRRC at the same time the Nashville Chamber of Commerce signed up to be a paid site for a U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement pilot called “Building the New American Community”. One objective of this grant was to demonstrate how local governments could help immigrants and refugees better integrate.  It emphasized building coalitions and immigrant leadership.

Since then, TIRRC has become the state ringleader with a satellite office in Memphis and along with Latino Memphis, Centro Hispano in Knoxville, La Pax in Chattanooga, and Conexion Americas in Nashville, advocate for illegal aliens and refugees in the state. TIRRC Votes has helped Marxist candidates in Tennessee get elected to local seats.

TIRRC fiercely opposed the sanctuary city bill and the lesser publicized municipal identification bill along with every bill that creates any obstacle for illegal aliens in Tennessee.

It doesn’t help that Tennessee’s Attorney General is super soft on illegal immigration going so far as to advocate for amnesty for the “dreamers” after meeting with TIRRC’s director a few years back. No different than Haslam who ran as a hawk on illegal immigration, refused to sign the sanctuary city bill, and ended up pushing in-state tuition for illegal alien students in Tennessee.

Even though illegal aliens depress the wages of the least skilled Tennessee workers, the General Assembly and its conflict-of-interest driven voting, is complicit in throwing legal Tennessee workers and conservative voters under the bus in deference to the wishes of the Chamber of Commerce and NFIB, because “we are a business friendly state.”

If Tennessee legislators were serious about illegal immigration in the state they would at least…

  • fix the Tennessee municipal ID law and amend TCA 8-5-120 to prohibit the use of consular cards for identification in Tennessee.

Back in 2018, Rep. William Lamberth and then state Sen. Mark Green sponsored a bill that would have prohibited the use of consular cards issued by foreign governments, to be used for identification by state residents. During the hearing in the House, “co-Directors of TIRRC admitted that immigrants who primarily rely on consular cards are ‘people who do not have immigration status’ and that the Mexican consulate visits Tennessee monthly to issue its consular cards.” Lamberth also pointed out that “illegal immigrants use the matricula consular to obtain services here and to avoid deportation” and “impressed upon the subcommittee members that law enforcement can’t run that card through a database to verify a person’s identity.”

City governments had begun issuing local municipal ID cards to illegal aliens to help them appear as   

if they had some type of legal presence. In some cities, municipal ID cards are used to enable voting in local elections.

Lamberth’s bill passed the House intact prohibiting the use of the consular cards. Mark Green  dropped that part of the bill in the Senate and unfortunately, the House ultimately concurred. 

Tennessee law has long prohibited the use of the consular card for identification to get a driver’s license although it is likely that illegal aliens obtaining driver licenses in other states are using these or fraudulent documents to get Tennessee driver licenses.

  • require every business operating in Tennessee to use E-verify. Data from states which mandate the use of E-verify by all employers shows significant reductions in the number of illegal aliens working in those states.
  • require that any individual seeking to do business in Tennessee and obtain a license to operate, provide documentary proof of lawful immigration status. This would apply to independent contractors as well. It is critical for Tennessee lawmakers to understand that DACA does not confer any lawful immigration status. 
  • follow Oklahoma’s example and impose a wire transfer fee on the money illegal aliens send out of the country. 
  • audit the issuance of driver licenses to ensure that fraudulent documents are not being used and that state law is being followed.
  • discontinue licensing companies and organizations that cater to illegal aliens including those that contract with ORR to move and/or resettle illegal UACs to Tennessee 

If Bill Lee and Republicans in the General Assembly were serious about illegal immigration they would hurry up and study Governor DeSantis’ Executive Order 21-223.

It won’t be Congress or another Trumpian president who will soften the blow to Tennessee. It’s highly unlikely that Bill Lee will rise to the challenge.

The Tennessee General Assembly already has the authority and Constitutional mandate. They can help insulate the citizens and legal immigrants living in Tennessee from the disastrous effects of Biden’s illegal immigration policies and the efforts of traitorous and/or inept Republicans in Congress.

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Gov Bill Lee and The Unsavory Groups Aiding Unvetted, Unvaccinated Unknown Refugees.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Gov Bill Lee and wealthy “charitable” organizations,  Nashville Tennessee is preparing  to accept hundreds of Muslims from war torn Afghanistan.  It should not come as a surprise though, back in December of 2019, Bill Lee changed course and accepted refugees, despite knowing Tennesseans were not in favor of it. It also should not be a surprise as 10 days after being sworn in, Bill Lee met with a group of Muslims from the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC), whose ties to radical Muslim Brotherhood front groups are well known.

 

 

It isn’t about being “anti-Muslim”, it is about being pro-America. The safety and security of Americans, including Tennesseans is supposed to be most important to our elected officials, but it is not. Do not believe for one second Afghani refugees are facing the proper practice of being vetted. Vetting is an 18 month to 3 year process and there have been several flown into military bases that are heading to the gates and disappearing into our towns. Do not believe the Muslims from Afghanistan are different from the Muslims here in America, as they all recite the shahada, the most unifying of the five pillars, and do not believe their goal is any different..the return of the global caliphate where Islam reigns supreme. This “hijrah” or the migration of Muslims from the lands of Islam to the land of Shirk (sin) is necessary to achieve their end goal..the caliphate.

So could there be a terrorists within the hundreds coming to TN?  Statistically, most likely, some violent and some who will continue to spread dawah(the invitation to join Islam) Lets look at the organizations “assisting” 300 Afghans dripping into Nashville.

Since the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) is the forerunner to settling these refugees, one should be familiar with who they align with. Sabina Moyhuddin, executive director and public face of AMAC has no qualms stating American Muslims hold true to their “religious” values. In 2013 during a what was supposed to be a forum held for Muslims in Manchester TN, (which included the FBI and then US District Attorney Bill Killian) Ms. Moyhuddin equated those values to that of the Muslim Brotherhoods Fiqh Council of North America, and The Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). Both recognized Muslim Brotherhood organizations. Remember, the Muslim Brotherhood is a designated terror organization in many middle east countries. 

 

The American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) was formed in 2011 to oppose legislation to the anti terrorism material support bill which was created to enhance security for all Tennesseans. Daoud Abudiab was Co-chair of AMAC in its infancy, after which he founded the interfaith organization “Faith and Culture Center” in Nashville TN. Abudiab was also on the board of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC), a leftist, group that promotes open borders, illegal immigration and voting privileges for all as well. Abudiab sends a mixed message as he pushes rhetoric that likens Islam to Christianity, that all gods are the same, and that he loves America, while backing groups that seek to destroy everything America stands for. Included in those groups is a very dangerous, terrorist organization, that Abudiab has been connected to. The United States Council on Muslim Organizations (USCMO) is a Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas conglomerate considered to be their first political party within the United States. In February of 2016, Abudiab attended the first ever conference held in the West which brought together a who’s who of radical leaders from every Muslim Brotherhood front group in America, including CAIR/Hamas.

Zulfat Suara, the current treasurer of AMAC who also is an at large member of the Metro Nashville Council seems to do and say all the right things,  however she also affiliates with individuals and organizations that are dangerous and hateful. In 2018, Ms. Suara was given an award for her work in public policy by the largest Muslim Brotherhood organization in the United States, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which falls under their parent group, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). According to federal court papers and the FBI, ISNA is the number one “friend” of the Brotherhoods front groups present in America. 

Unfortunately, Ms.Sulfat’s choices of who she rubs elbows with doesn’t end with just the unsavory Muslim Brotherhood, but rather the openly anti Jewish, America haters in Congress Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. Both who also support Muslim Brotherhood organizations, as well as Hezbollah and Hamas.  

 

Accepting an award, and attending anything involving the Muslim Brotherhood is not good, as the stated goal by this group is the destruction of America and the West as we know it. This excerpt is from the “Explanatory Memorandum” which was submitted into evidence as part of the Holy Land Foundation Trial in 2008 in Dallas Texas. See entire document here, again English follows Arabic text

“The process of settlement is a “Civilization-Jihadist Process” with all the word means. The Ikhwan [Muslim Brotherhood] must understand that their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and “sabotaging” its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim’s destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who chose to slack. But, would the slackers and the Mujahedeen be equal.” 

These are the organizations each member of AMAC has a relationship with. This list was part of a document presented into evidence in a federal trial in Dallas TX, called the Holy Land Foundation trial.

All this to say, Governor Bill Lee met with members of this group at least twice. The very Governor who believes refugees should be here in TN, despite where they come from, and despite the ideology they hold is completely antithetical to our Constitution and way of life. 

Coming in part two, how the TN General Assembly allocated $7 million dollars to Catholic Charities, who also is helping refugees settle here in TN.

 

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Tennessee’s School Boards..The Downfall of Education and the Rise of Indoctrination

 

For decades, American parents and community members have elected those they believed had their child’s best interests in mind when it came to their education.  Today, In hundreds of cities, and counties across the country, education is no longer the priority, social justice is.

A new culture exists not only to further dumb down children, but now to exploit their race, gender, and status. It is called Critical Race Theory (CRT). Beware though, those 3 words may not be present in curriculum or instructional material, but parents should note the presence of terms such as diversity, equity, equality,  anti-racism, social justice and civil rights.   

Do not for one second think your child is not being exposed to todays cancel culture or a teacher’s radical ideology, it is everywhere, and if it has not reared its ugly head in your community yet, look closer, it is there. Fortunately, in many states, teaching CRT has been banned by state laws, but unfortunately, many of those laws lack teeth.  

Parents need to demand their school board members carefully monitor their teachers and instructional materials. Despite curriculum aligning with states standards, CRT can be introduced with classroom videos, books and websites that never are talked about at home. Textbooks no longer are the sole source of questionable instruction because parents took control of their content when common core was introduced.

In Tennessee, a new state law defines what can and cannot be taught regarding CRT

  The Tennessee law  prohibits the following:

  (1) One race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex;

(2) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, is inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously

(3) An individual should be discriminated against or receive adverse treatment because of the individual’s race or sex;

(4) An individual’s moral character is determined by the individual’s race or sex;

(5) An individual, by virtue of the individual’s race or sex, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex;

(6) An individual should feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress solely because of the individual’s race or sex;

(7) A meritocracy is inherently racist or sexist, or designed by a particular race or sex to oppress members of another race or sex;

(8) This state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist;

9) Promoting or advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government;

 

(10) Promoting division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people; or

(11) Ascribing character traits, values, moral or ethical codes, privileges, or beliefs to a race or sex, or to an individual because of the individual’s race or sex.

 

This isn’t educating children, this is bullying them. Interestingly enough, schools in Tennessee have bullying and harassment policies that every one of the above points encourages. Imagine a teacher wanting to harm the very children they are charged with caring for. Even worse imagine a school board member thinking of CRT as only a political wedge.

That is exactly what Mr. Pat Barton of  the Coffee County TN School Board believes. On July 19th, I sent an email to the entire school board along with the Director, asking them their opinion of CRT, and how they would respond if a teacher was found to be violating TN law that prohibits teaching CRT as stated in above points.

Mr. Barton’s answer was disgraceful, and this should grate on every parent.   “CRT is nothing more than the flavor of the month, and we will have another flavor next year. Our fine legislators will see that when bills are passed as hastily as this do nothing but cause confusion and take the focus off teaching and learning. You have asked how I will react if one of our teachers disobeys the law and incorporates CRT into his/her instruction.  I will ask to see the state standard the teacher was teaching in the lesson. I will then ask to see the lesson plan for the lesson taught.  I will then make a determination if factual information was taught. Once I am satisfied that my criteria was met. a reply will be given. My reply to the teacher will be, “Job well done, keep up the good work!”

Teaching children America is racist and that black children are oppressed is the flavor of the month? Being flippant regarding a very dangerous ideology, and then implying he may condone a teacher breaking a law sends a message he is no longer fit to be a school board member.

Mr Barton further states: “One area that is prohibited from being taught is, “Promoting the violent overthrow of the U.S. government”.  I personally don’t know of any teacher who has ever promoted the overthrow of the U.S. government.  How would I react if we had a teacher promoting such?  My vote would be to dismiss the teacher.  However, our students don’t need teachers promoting the overthrow of our government. They have lived during an attempted overthrow of our government. They can research the  last year in office of our former president to understand how to plan for an overthrow to come about. They can then find videos to observe the violence that occured when the U.S. Capitol was breached. However, one can refuse to believe their lying eyes and conclude the breach was nothing more than a typical Capitol tour”.   

Another red flag. Mr. Pat Barton insinuates his personal beliefs. Whether factual or not, or proven or not. This is exactly why CRT was banned.  On a side topic, Mr. Barton also expressed during a school board meeting parents need to get their children vaccinated. None of Mr. Barton’s business.

None of the other Coffee County board members felt it was important enough to answer my email, leaving one to think silence is complicity. 

Parents, and community members the ball is in your court. Perhaps today CRT is not an issue in our small county, but undoubtedly tomorrow it will be. These are your children. Stand up for them, and stop being cowards. Demand, DEMAND, school boards do what they were elected to do,  and not to promote their personal agendas. Today’s children are the leaders of tomorrow. School for them isn’t about exceptionalism, it’s all about learning how to be little socialist activists.

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TN UAC Arrival Numbers Indicator for Illegal Alien Employment Violations?

The federal government only reports county level numbers for Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) arrivals if the number is 50 or more. This means that UACs may well have been placed in more counties throughout Tennessee than are officially reported and since information on individual children and their receiving sponsors is kept secret, state officials have no way to know where or even how many children being smuggled over the border are now making their home in Tennessee.

The latest data posted by the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services for UAC county placements only goes through May 2021 and shows that a total of 1,470 UACs were placed in the following counties:

Davidson – 719;  Hamilton – 161;  Knox – 88;  Rutherford – 104;  Sevier – 71;  Shelby – 327.

However, the state total for UAC placements is 1,775, suggesting that there are other county placements that do not meet the 50 reporting threshold.

Per federal policy there are three categories or levels of UAC sponsors, none of whom are required to have legal immigration status:

Category 1: Parent or legal guardian (This includes qualifying step-parents that have legal or joint custody of the child or teen)

Category 2A: An immediate relative–a brother; sister; grandparent or other close relatives (aunt, uncle, first cousin) who previously served as the UAC’s primary caregiver. (This includes biological relatives, relatives through legal marriage, and half-siblings).

Category 2B: An immediate relative– including aunt, uncle, or first cousin who was not previously the UAC’s primary caregiver. (This includes biological relatives, relatives through legal marriage).

Category 3: Other sponsor, such as distant relatives and unrelated adult individuals.

Category 4: No sponsors identified

On the issue of illegal immigration the Tennessee state legislature is most accurately described as taking “half measures.” Campaign trail big talk against illegal immigration never quite translates into full measures recommended by experts with E-verify being one of the issues. That being said, there are two action steps the General Assembly could undertake if they are serious about countering the negative impact of illegal immigration in the state.

The Tennessee Lawful Employment Act  is the state’s E-verify law. Discovered violations of the law that is in place to ensure that only individuals legally able to work, are hired. The TN Department of Labor & Workforce Development is responsible for investigating complaints that the law has been violated and if so, levy the prescribed fines.

Recall, that Rep. Mike Sparks was wringing his hands about fines being imposed on law-breaking businesses found to be hiring illegal alien workers. Someone in his district should remind him that the idea behind the fines is to remind businesses that they have to follow the law.

Tennessee’s law also allows lawful residents of the state to submit an E-verify violation complaint form – available here. The law also says that the money collected from the violations is to be put in a fund and used to enforce the law. Feel free to scroll through the violations here.

With the high number of illegal aliens making their way to Southern states, perhaps the Tennessee General Assembly needs to look at bumping up investigating and catching business violators.

Additionally and in some ways perhaps even more importantly, is a focused audit to determine whether driver licenses are being issued to illegal aliens, an issue not addressed in the most recent audit of the Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

Driver licenses are a gateway document. They can be used to bypass being determined ineligible under the state’s E-verify law. They can be used to access almost all public services and is a key document which helps an illegal alien “pass” as if they have some type of legal immigration status. Oh yeah, and vote.

Tennessee’s driver licensing law could be considered one of the few full measure laws in that the documents required to actually get a Tennessee driver’s license are typically not in the possession of an illegal alien. The law also specifically does not permit the matricula consular card to be accepted as “proof of identification for driver license application and issuance purposes”. 

Banning the use of the matricula consular card state-wide for any identification purpose should be put into law.

There have been any number of cases where fraudulent documents have been used to obtain legal documents like driver licenses and other cases like the one in Massachusetts in 2017, where corrupt state workers were selling state driver licenses and identification cards to illegal aliens. Judicial Watch uncovered the trade in fake Puerto Rican birth certificates being used to get U.S. passports and driver licenses.

In February, Homeland Security busted a fraudulent document ring run out of Los Angeles selling counterfeit U.S. passport cards, Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and other documents. 

No telling how many of these fake documents have been processed through Tennessee driver license centers or presented to employers with fewer than 50 employees and who can take a drivers license in lieu of using the E-verify database.

And it wasn’t that long ago that twenty illegal aliens in Tennessee were indicted for using fraudulent documents in order to work. Even border patrol catches illegal aliens using fake documents.

The UAC numbers and known county distribution suggest starting point locations where state officials should scrutinize compliance with the law.