THE RHEA COUNTY REPUBLICAN

ADVANCING THE CONSERVATIVE CAUSE

Vol. 5 – No. 6                                                                                                   August 2021

Table of Contents Editorial ——————————————————————— 1 Should Be the Official Language of the United States? —- 4 The Solar Elephant —————————————————— 5 Tennessee Must Stand Against Alien Child Smuggling—–6 Misrule of Law in Blount County ———————————– 8 CRT Now Sanctioned in Tennessee Schools—————– 13 Comments from Representatives——————————— 15 Comments from Correspondents ——————————– 15 Legislative Report —————————————————–20 Rhea County Republican Party News————————— 25 Lagniappe —————————————————————- 28  Contact Your Representatives ———————————— 32

 

EDITORIAL

 

Kris Bancroft, Editor, and Publisher

We are, thankfully, not currently engaged in a declared war with a foreign power — or any other such armed conflict that steals from us the lives of our best and brightest patriots and depletes our treasury — but those who have studied history and stay apprised of current events know the United States of America has been in one struggle or another — a “hot” or “cold” war — since the days preceding our country’s existence.  Unfortunately, such has been the price of Freedom.

And so, as we are currently dealing with the clear and present danger imposed by the Chinese, and economic assault on our country that is aided and abetted by the Russians, Islamic terrorists, and to some lesser degree the North Koreans, we must also acknowledge that we are simultaneously engaged in a civil war.

The two “sides” in this domestic conflict are those who wish to preserve the greatest country to ever exist on planet Earth and those who want to tear it all down.

Those who are fighting to preserve our country — people like you and me — are folks who understand that our rights come from our Creator and that our government — the people whom we choose to represent us — are elected to serve as the sworn guarantors of our Natural and God-given rights.

We are folks who respect our Constitution and our just laws, and we respect those who are sworn to uphold them.   We likewise respect — and defend — the rights of our fellow citizens, and we are constantly thankful for the sacrifices made by so very many — those folks who have served, and continue to serve, our nation in so many honorable ways — in the ongoing struggle to defeat our enemies and to preserve for us this unique privilege of being an “American.”

We are folks who believe every other American Citizen has rights equal to our own; the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

We are folks who understand that we are only entitled to that which we have earned — or that which has been bequeathed to us — through honest work and ethical dealings, and we have respect for all others who share these same values.

We are the folks who have compassion and empathy for those who are struggling to make their way and are earnestly trying to improve their station in life; we are the folks who are not only willing but are eager, to lend a helping hand to those who have come up against hard times as they struggle to get back on their feet again.

We are the Patriots.

Our enemies travel under many flags; they are the Communists, Marxists, Socialists, Progressives, Socialist Democrats, etc., as well as those who aid and abet them.  They are generally referred to as “The Left,” and they are the antithesis to every good thing this country has ever stood for.  They are the promoters and purveyors of false narratives that run contrary to Nature and Nature’s God; they advocate for the idea that humankind is subservient to all other creatures on this Earth and not the stewards — the preeminent species — whose job it is to oversee its management and the wise use of its resources. Our enemies — The Left — have been in operation in the USA since before Woodrow Wilson assumed the Presidency. They have infiltrated our government at every level, our public schools — which they now control — our universities, and even our churches.

Our enemies — The Left — demand that “we” (meaning everyone except “they”), assume a role of self-immolation and self-sacrifice — they call it altruism.  Instead of pursuing our individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, they advocate that we must all be nothing more than sacrificial animals for what they define as the “good” of the State.

And, speaking of our rights to pursue our own happiness — to live for ourselves instead of living for the benefit of others — our enemies, The Left, would compel us to abrogate the laws of Nature so that we might guarantee equal outcomes — equity — instead of equal rights and equal opportunities for all of humankind.

When we closely and truthfully examine The Left’s prescription for addressing their indefinable — and false — accusations of “systemic racism” we learn they are demanding an end to anything resembling a meritocracy — defined by Miriam-Webster as a system, organization, or society in which people are chosen and moved into positions of success, power, and influence on the basis of their demonstrated abilities and merit instead of a scheme to achieve quotas — the Marxist fraud called “Social Justice.”  Would those advocates for equity through racial quotas, i.e. “Social Justice” change their minds when they learned the neurosurgeon slated to perform brain surgery on their child was certified on the basis of equity as opposed to merit?  I think you know the answer.

Our enemies — The Left — by way of trying to force a Marxist-rooted philosophy they call “Critical Race Theory,” declare that the entire Caucasian race must profess its self-shame of its past because a relative few once owned slaves.  The Left does not like the TRUTH:  History tells us that from the 1600s to 1865, of all the slaves in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and North America, only 4% were owned by Americans, and of all Americans during those years, only 1.6% owned slaves.  Yes, that’s too many — slavery should have never come to the United States — but the purveyors of Critical Race Theory also overlook the fact that, worldwide, 70% of all slaves during this period were owned by non-whites!

Our enemies — The Left — ignore these inconvenient facts; they claim that all of the white men’s achievements from 1600 to 1865 were built on the backs of slaves, and for that reason, the United States of America is an evil country.  Our enemies – The Left – lie and manipulate black Americans into demanding undeserved, undefined, and unlimited reparations.  They tell their followers that the increasing and expanding welfare programs that now have spanned six generations are not enough!  But, do they really speak for the descendants of slaves?  No, they do not, The Left continues to use black Americans as their props — just as they always have!  Fortunately, however, black Americans are beginning to understand how The Left has used and manipulated them and they’re slowly breaking away.  The question at this point becomes:  Whom will be the Left’s next proxies?  If we truly want to know the answer, all we have to do is study the recent changes on border and immigration policies being imposed by The Left.

Our enemies – The Left – know that their theory is based entirely on a lie but, ironically, our enemies are quick to ignore – and obfuscate – the historical fact that slavery was commonly and widely practiced on the North American continent when the first white man arrived; The Left tries to hide the fact that slavery has been practiced on every other continent on this planet and that it is still widely – and brutally – practiced today in Africa, in Asia, and in the Middle East.

Our enemies – The Left – also do not like to be reminded that America’s first foreign war was fought over slavery:  The Marines, dispatched by President Thomas Jefferson, went ashore at Tripoli, to fight the Barbary pirates who had captured and enslaved our merchant sailors, as well as persons from Europe, and other countries in the Mediterranean.

Our enemies – The Left – are obviously the enemies of ethical behavior.  As a means by which to harm our economy, the Left encourages people who take advantage of a system designed to provide temporary help to those who are struggling to regain their financial stability – they sell their fraud as entitlements.

Our enemies – The Left – are not only the enemies of our just laws but are the instigators of civil unrest – they are anarchists who manipulate the dim-witted – e.g. Antifa and BLM – into looting and destroying public property and private businesses, many of which are owned by those same minorities whom they claim to represent.

Some of their “Generals” are well-known to us but many are not; they are among those who helped to elect – and consequently control – the more radical people in the House of Representatives and Senate, and operate through their bureaucrats working within the Deep State, or heading up organizations like the ACLU, Southern Poverty Law Center, CAIR, Open Society Foundations, the Advancement Project, and hundreds of others.

Ironically the funding for The Left comes largely from people who have taken advantage of our capitalistic system – the same system they are set on destroying!

The one debate that continues to this day is whether the “Deep State” is actively complicit in the anarchy we see today.  Rational human beings see the crimes in the streets of Democrat-run cities all across America and we are perplexed and sad.  We are angered when we see those crimes going unpunished and the criminals being released on a “no cash bail.”  We are angered even more as we are made aware of the crimes committed by the politically well-connected – crimes we know that if we were to commit would certainly ensure our incarceration . . . or execution.  Yes, we – the Patriots – are in many ways, disappointed but, sadly, we have our answer if only by default, for it is as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once told us:  “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth,” and armed with the truth we can go forward to defeat The Left.  Join us in the struggle today!

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and the Republic for which it stands.  Miracles do not cluster and, what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again.  Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world. – Daniel Webster.  [And there will be no safe harbor to which humankind may seek safety. – Editor]

 

SHOULD ENGLISH BE THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE UNITED STATES?

Without a common language, we have by default a multicultural society.  Multiculturalism is at the root of divisiveness in America today.  The only way in which America can defeat its enemies is if we are, in all ways, united.  A prerequisite to unity demands that we are able to communicate and thus achieve a mutual understanding.  The only way to achieve mutual understanding is if we all speak the same language.

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

What is privilege?

Privilege is wearing $200 sneakers when you’ve never held a job.

Privilege is owning $300 Beat headphones while living on public assistance.

Privilege is having a smartphone with a data plan for which you receive no bill.

Privilege is living in taxpayer-subsidized housing where you don’t have utility bills, where rising property taxes and rents, and energy costs have absolutely no effect on the amount of food you can put on your table.

Privilege is the freedom to go into the streets to march against anything that “triggers” you without worrying about calling out of work and the consequences that accompany such behavior.

Privilege is having as many children as you want, regardless of your employment status, and being able to send them off to daycare, school, or college that you don’t pay for.

 

THE SOLAR ELEPHANT

Jim Clarkson, President

www.rmsenergy.com

 

“The elephant in the room” is an idiom describing an obvious problem or truth that no one wants to discuss.  That’s the situation in discussions of solar power.  Energy discussions and articles on solar power rave about how much it has increased, which state is doing this or that, and what the future holds for solar expansion. “Success” stories abound in the energy press and the general media.  To the uninitiated, all of this enthusiasm could give the impression that solar power is a great development and boon to mankind.
The solar power phenomenon for on-grid electricity is wholly a result of tax credit subsidies that no one wants to talk about.  If you are out in the boonies, then solar power beats having no power at all.  But the production of solar power to feed into the grid and compete with traditional sources of power is a phony, government-created industry with no free market support.  If there were no subsidies, one would be a fool to invest his own money in the technology – and fools usually do not have a lot of money to invest.
Warren Buffet says solar does not make sense without the tax breaks.  Tom Fanning, CEO of Southern Company, says essentially the same thing.  The big winners in the solar business owe their success to political connections and gaming the myriad of complicated governmental programs.  The real underlying economics do not support the huge investment being squandered on solar equipment production and installation.

As such it is – to use a popular word – unsustainable. It is a pretty safe bet to predict it will all come crashing down like previous governmental energy industries.  There was the multi-billion-dollar waste of synfuels making a $30 per MMBTU natural gas substitute.  There were the “PURPA machines” where pretend and uneconomical co-generation plants were built.

https://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/glossary/mmbtu
Solar power joins the list of expensive government-sponsored energy failures.  Yet the rhetoric is that renewables will be the base of a whole new energy economy.  A new energy paradigm characterized by political connections, fly-by-night bankruptcies, a huge waste on projects that fail to perform as promised, and favorable crony-driven local and state policies that are spreading following federal examples is fundamentally unsound and an enormous misdirection of resources.

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

During the 0bama regime, the IRS (and other entities of the Executive branch) was used to harass, persecute, and criminalize political enemies.  By way of proof that the “nut” doesn’t fall far from the tree, Mr. Biden has announced his IRS will hire 87,000 new IRS agents over the next five years.  FYI:  The IRS currently employees more than 120,000 bureaucrats, the average compensation for each is >$130,000 per year!

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/20/irs-funding-boost-489830

 

TENNESSEE MUST STAND AGAINST ALIEN CHILD SMUGGLING

Pat Hamsa, feature writer for The Daily Rollcall shared this expose’ reminding us that, since we can’t count on Congress to stop the smuggling of illegal alien children through Tennessee, change will have to come from the state legislature.

The federal government has known for decades that parents, other relatives, and sponsors in the U.S. whether here legally or illegally, have been paying coyotes and other criminal entities to smuggle children to the border who then enter as unaccompanied alien children (UAC).  But Congress is too dysfunctional (even when Republicans are in the majority), to do anything about it.  State legislators on the other hand have the authority to effectively address the issue.  Criminalizing child smuggling is a way that helps protect children, disincentivizes illegal immigration to the state, and makes it clear that the state government will not abet facilitating illegal immigration or turn a blind eye to anyone who does.

Ignoring this practice is unfair to the children and unfair to American citizens and legal immigrants.

Whether a person uses a child to help get them over the border more easily, albeit illegally or pays a coyote to smuggle a child over the border to reunite with a “biological relative” who may themselves be illegally in the country, using children in this way must stop.

The first situation was sickeningly and tragically illustrated in a recent case of a 2-year old abandoned on the highway by his father with whom he was traveling. According to the mother, the toddler would make it easier for his father to get across the border – “‘they were going through like this with minors…”’

While Tennessee’s state legislators can’t do much about the first scenario, they do have the authority to address the situation (like the toddlers) where someone in Tennessee facilitates the smuggling of a child who will cross the border illegally as a UAC and eventually reunite with a family member or sponsor in the state.

During the General Assembly’s first Joint Study Committee on June 18, 2021, Rep. Ryan Williams (R- Cookeville), raised an important issue relative to the UAC arrivals in Tennessee. In fact, Tennessee’s GOP Congressional delegation should also pay attention to what Rep. Williams had to say.

Williams talked about his constituent who had traveled to another state to pick up his adoptive child.  But before he was able to legally bring his child home to Tennessee, he needed Williams to help him get the paperwork required by the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children corrected.  This paperwork creates additional hurdles that must be satisfied before being able to legally bring a minor child across state lines and if not followed to the letter of the law, it can jeopardize the adoption.

BTW, Williams came through for this family.

So here’s the point – an illegal alien living in Tennessee can facilitate the smuggling of a child to the U.S. border without any penalty – federal or state.  But a U.S. citizen or legal immigrant can be penalized if paperwork is faulty?  The issue has nothing to do with whether there is a biological connection between the adoptive parent and the child or the smuggling facilitator and the child.  It’s about complying with the law.

It’s important to note that smuggling is not the same as trafficking.  Human smuggling is defined as:

 

“[T]he importation of people into the United States involving deliberate evasion of immigration laws. This offense includes bringing illegal aliens into the United States as well as the unlawful transportation and harboring of aliens already in the United States.”

Trafficking, on the other hand, is about the exploitation of people using force, fraud, or coercion for a sought-after objective.  It can include, for example, sex trafficking, debt bondage, and involuntary servitude.

 

Lt. Gov. McNally and Speaker Sexton are so concerned about Unaccompanied Alien Children (UAC) being ferried into Tennessee, that they authorized a joint legislative committee to look into the issue; presumably with some intent to determine legislative options in response.

The committee has already held one meeting and has another scheduled for July 13th providing a platform for Senators Blackburn and Hagerty to wave their consultation bill around and yack about the importance of “transparency.”

And like Mark Green’s new UAC bill, Blackburn and Hagerty appear to be unwilling to take on the child smuggling problem.  Green’s bill allows a child smuggled over the border to override the governor’s veto regarding UAC placements in Tennessee.  And the “biological relative” in his bill can also be an illegal alien.

Sen. Bo Watson (R-Hixson), who is on the Joint Study Committee, has said he doesn’t want the Chattanooga facility to reopen or any other facility like it to open in Tennessee.  Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga), who is also on the Joint Committee, has made it clear that he wants more of these children brought to Tennessee so they can be reunited with “loved ones.”  As it turns out, UAC smuggling is more often than not, financed by the parents who themselves are in the U.S. in violation of the immigration laws.

Only time will tell whether the Joint Study Committee is a pro forma or whether state legislators are serious about trying to address the problem.  If instead, they insist that “immigration is a federal issue” then remind them that 2022 is just around the corner and it looks like four of the Senate members on the Joint Committee could potentially face a primary if necessary.

https://dailyrollcall.com/tn-must-stand-against-smuggling-unaccompanied-alien-children/

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most that has made it possible for evil to triumph. -Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia (23 Jul 1892-1975)

 

MISRULE OF LAW IN BLOUNT COUNTY

Mark Pulliam, Blount County, Tennessee authored an article warning parents of school-aged children in the Maryville, area about how local schools were skirting recent legislation passed in Tennessee which forbids the teaching of Critical Race Theory in their schools.  This is particularly disturbing since it is considered a very conservative part of the State.  It should, therefore, cause parents – and all concerned citizens – everywhere in the United States to do some checking on their local school systems.  Using the information Mark provides, I hope you’ll do just that.  THANKS, Mark, we are grateful for your activism. – Editor

 

Despite a state law condemning such indoctrination, wokeness threatens public education in Blount County.  Citizens, wake up!

Deep in conservative east Tennessee, in a county that voted for President Trump by a margin of 71%-27%, and following passage of a state law (SB 623) forbidding public schools to instruct students on topics related to “critical race theory,” the local school district Maryville City Schools (MCS) announced recently that Principals and Assistant Principals this year will study the book “Beyond Conversations About Race,” about how to move forward on equity and access issues.

MCS Assistant Director Amy Vagnier stated that this “professional development” initiative was in response to “a diversity survey conducted in January to examine equity and access.”

Out of curiosity, I ordered a copy of this book to see what exactly MCS Principals and Assistant Principals would be “studying.”  It is pretty much what I expected, given the topic and authors, and the promotional blurb on Amazon:

 

Learn how to talk about race in the classroom and advocate for racial equity in schools:

• Recognize the presence of systemic racism in schools and understand why racism is such an uncomfortable topic for many.
• Use scenarios and effective discussion questions to encourage challenging conversations.
• Learn how to advocate for underserved communities and those who suffer from racism.
• Resist racial stereotypes and promote equity in the classroom.
• Take appropriate action based on challenging conversations.
• Ultimately develop classrooms, schools, and districts into safe, anti-racist educational strongholds and promote positive learning experiences for marginalized students.

 

What did I find?

• Gratuitous partisan attacks. Throughout the book, conservatives and Republicans are referred to in derogatory and/or dismissive terms.  Examples include Ward Connerly (p. 8), Sen. Tom Cotton (p. 60), President Donald Trump (p. 82), and social scientist Charles Murray (pp. 122-23).
• Overt political bias. The book purports to be a neutral discussion guide for a potentially uncomfortable topic—race.  But it is essentially a primer on one side of that contentious discussion, citing controversial figures such as the radical Ibram Kendi, author of “How to Be an Antiracist” (p. 148); Robin DiAngelo, author of “White Fragility” (pp. 19, 93, 145); Nikole Hannah-Jones, author of the discredited 1619 Project (pp. 59, 147); and Ta-Nehisi Coates (pp. 28, 144).
• The jargon of critical race theory. Although the book is careful to avoid using the term “critical race theory,” it is replete with terms and concepts drawn from the CRT worldview:  Actual data is less important than “lived experiences” (i.e., subjective impressions), “structural inequities” are simply assumed to exist, the gender-neutral term “Latinx” is consistently used to refer to Hispanics, “racial disparities” in law enforcement are presumed to be “obvious,” meritocracy and the Protestant work ethic are declared to be vestiges of racism, and the book recites similar loaded vernacular (oppression, inequities, privilege, racial equity, “structural racism,” etc.).  The book is a tract for surreptitiously pushing CRT.
• It promotes a far-left, un-American narrative. The clear premise of the book is that minorities are at an inherent disadvantage in our society due to events that occurred (and were corrected) long ago—in some cases hundreds of years ago: slavery, segregation, and race discrimination.  All disparities among races in 2021—educational achievement, residential housing patterns, criminality, income, poverty, etc.—are the result of America’s racist history, the book argues.  This ignores the Civil War, the Reconstruction Amendments, the Civil Rights Movement, the War on Poverty, the Great Society, decades of affirmative action, the election (and re-election) of a black President, and an unprecedented societal commitment to Martin Luther King’s vision of a color-blind world in which people would be judged, not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character.  The United States is the most diverse, and least racist country in the world.  The book rejects all of this and presents instead a simplistic, tendentious model of helplessness and oppression for “marginalized” groups.  This is a despicable lie.
• It celebrates racial division. The book uncritically promotes Black Lives Matter, refers several times to the death of George Floyd (which was not even a racially motivated incident), demonizes the police, assumes that our society is a “racist system” (p. 8).  Whites have “benefited from racism,” even if they are not themselves racist. (p. 142)
• It explicitly advocates progressive activism. The worst thing about the book, however, is that it is a misleading sales pitch designed to convince the hapless participant in this one-sided “conversation” that the only solution is “change.”  Society needs to “change,” and the book—if used in MCS–tries to recruit our principals and assistant principals as agents of change.  Chapter 14 is entitled “How Can We Advocate for Change?”  What specific steps are advocated?  “Dismantling structures” is one goal (p. 121).  Another is “creating equity consciousness” (the subject of chapter 16), which is a euphemism for achieving end-result equality among students regardless of differences in ability, effort, or merit.  This is Marxism.  The book closes in chapter 17 with a call for “practicing anti-racism,” which means (according to the author who invented and popularized the phony term, Ibram Kendi) discriminating against people in some racial groups (usually whites and Asians) who are deemed to be “privileged” and who are felt to have unfairly benefited from the (alleged) structural racism in our society, and in favor of members of other groups (usually blacks and Hispanics) who are deemed to be at an inherent disadvantage.  This is an insult to the concept of equality under the law and sorts people by skin color.  In America, citizens are judged as individuals, not as members of groups.  Individuals are responsible for their own choices and actions, not the supposed “sins” of history. Success in life is determined by effort and merit, not race or ethnicity.

 

[This] book, if used to “train” MCS principals and assistant principals, would be a “social justice warrior” training manual, which in turn would be used to recruit MCS teachers to become SJWs, who would turn around and indoctrinate our children to parrot the leftist rhetoric contained in Beyond Conversations About Race.  Indoctrination is not the purpose of public education.

All of these features of the book make it wholly unsuitable for use in Maryville City Schools, as a “professional development” tool or otherwise.  The book violates the spirit if not the letter of SB 623.  Whoever proposed this misguided project should be held to account by the Maryville School Board.  It is egregious and unacceptable and shows extremely poor judgment.

Let the elected School Board members know how you feel.  They are:

Nick Black, Chair   Email: nick.black@maryville-schools.org

Julie Elder  Email: julie.elder@maryville-schools.org

Chad Hampton   Email: chad.hampton@maryville-schools.org

Candy Morgan   Email: candy.morgan@maryville-schools.org

Bethany Pope   Email: bethany.pope@maryville-schools.org

Better yet, show up at the next School Board meeting and tell them in person.

The law states that:

 

“An LEA [local education agency] or public charter school shall:

• not include or promote the following concepts as part of a course of instruction or in a curriculum or instructional program, or
• allow teachers or other employees of the LEA or public charter school to use supplemental instructional materials that include or promote the following concepts:
  (1) One (1) 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; [or]
  (8) This state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or
  sexist; …”

 

“INFRASTRUCTURE” IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

     Following is an informative article published by The Beacon Center.  A link to their website is provided at the end; I hope you’ll take a look at what they’re doing and consider subscribing and supporting Justin Owens and his many champions for fiscal responsibility. – Editor

 

Last month, a 911 operator in Memphis, Tennessee, received a frantic call from an engineer pleading with her to have the Hernando de Soto Bridge immediately shut down.  The bridge, spanning the vast Mississippi River, connects Arkansas and my home state of Tennessee, via Interstate 40, and is one of the most utilized arteries along the river.  During a routine inspection, transportation officials found that one of the bridge’s main structural beams had cracked completely in half.

Repairs on the bridge remain ongoing and could last months.  This isn’t just a headache for a few redirected road trippers.  More than 50,000 cars normally traverse the bridge daily.  And forcing traffic to reroute is causing the trucking industry an estimated $2.4 million every single day.

Help is apparently on the way.  U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg recently made a trip to Memphis to tout President Biden’s infrastructure plan as a solution to the problem.  But the cracks exposed in Biden’s plan are far bigger than the one found in the bridge’s beam.

The plan, while billed as an infrastructure plan, includes funding for childcare and eldercare, as well as paid leave for workers.  It’s one thing to have a discussion about whether to fund these types of programs, but it’s another entirely to label them as infrastructure.  Yet, in an effort to justify this extraneous spending, the plan’s proponents have twisted themselves into a pretzel claiming these things are true “infrastructure.”  Twitter abounds with the hashtag #childcareisinfrastructure.

No matter what these politicians claim on Twitter, or elsewhere, none of these items are actually infrastructure.  Calling them such – and setting aside funding for them in a transportation package – will lead to less funding for, well, cracks in real bridges like the Hernando de Soto Bridge, or any of the other 600,000 bridges in America.

This is typical Washington.  After all, calling something by another name in order to lump a bunch of pet projects into an entirely unrelated bill is D.C.’s favorite pastime.  Only this time, it’s not so quaint.  It takes away meaningful debate and funding from the pressing matters of true infrastructure upgrades.

The driving force behind attempts to label childcare and paid leave policies as infrastructure is an acknowledgment that the role of government in these functions is up for debate.  And, as such, support for more government intervention in dealing with them is lacking, particularly in an evenly divided Senate.  Thus, proponents of President Biden’s plan want to hijack our nation’s infrastructure needs by redefining the term to redirect precious resources from what the government is directly and clearly responsible for – public transportation – to programs where government responsibility is much murkier or even non-existent.  They are telling Americans, “If you want to cross safe bridges, you must first pay for my ideological preferences.”  This extortion should be wholly unacceptable to us all.

Democrats in D.C., from Mr. Biden on down, owe a dose of truthfulness to their constituents.  They should stop being intellectually dishonest about the shell game they are playing with infrastructure spending.  Except, to Americans, this is no game; there are real-life consequences.  It is now up to the Senate to do what is right and eliminate anything from the plan that is not truly devoted to improving public infrastructure.  We got lucky with the Hernando de Soto Bridge.  Let’s just hope some other bridge doesn’t collapse before this charade ends.

https://www.beacontn.org/no-your-pork-project-is-not-infrastructure/?utm_source=Beacon+Center+of+Tennessee&utm_campaign=bbdaea3d80-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_03_12_03_38_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b75483a717-bbdaea3d80-1309586374

 

CRT IS NOW SANCTIONED IN TENNESSEE SCHOOLS

Tennessee Education Commissioner Penny Schwinn awarded an $8.06 million contract to a company whose CEO supports Critical Race Theory and anti-racism in classrooms.  As The Tennessee Star reported previously, Schwinn’s husband works at The New Teacher Project (TNTP) as well.

TNTP CEO Dan Weisberg has posted frequently about his support for Critical Race Theory and anti-racist teaching.  Weisberg tweeted articles showing his support for the two ideologies five times in the last month, as of this publication.

As recently as Tuesday, Weisberg shared an article from The Hill claiming that Critical Race Theory was a hard history of racism and slavery in America and that it was necessary for students to be uncomfortable with that presentation of history.  He shared another article expressing a similar message last week.

Last month, Weisberg retweeted an article that accused those against Critical Race Theory of misconstruing the ideology, repeatedly calling the legislators who ban the theory “racists” and “White supremacists” and those who support the bans “cronies.”  Weisberg commended the author for putting forth “powerful arguments.”

The article claimed that Critical Race Theory teaches the “whole truth of history” and doesn’t depict America as evil.  The article also claimed that anti-racism actually teaches empathy – not the complicit guilt or hatred of White people.

Further, the article claimed that White people claiming to be victims in response to this ideology are part of “an evil legacy” of White supremacy that terrorizes Black people.

“Lots of us are glad you kept writing, @selmekki – powerful arguments,”  wrote Weisberg.

In February, Weisberg shared a resource from Innovate Public Schools titled “Seen and Affirmed:  What Black Educators and Students Need to Thrive.”  The report said that in order to solve systemic racism, schools should incorporate concepts like anti-racism, cultural responsiveness, inclusivity, and implicit bias recognition.

In the wake of George Floyd’s death last year, Weisberg shared TNTP’s post decrying systemic racism and announcing allegiance with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.  Several months later, Weisberg reaffirmed his support for the BLM movement by stating that it should be part of education.

“Important perspective from @selmekki for those of us aspiring to be [White] allies:  ‘As a Black educator, the answer is clear to me: in order to ensure that Black Lives Matter, we must ensure that Black Minds Matter.  We must start with our schools,’” wrote Weisberg.

Weisberg’s views on systemic inequality and racism appear to be consistent over the years.  One of his biggest studies and public engagement strategies since his appointment in 2015, The Opportunity Myth, touched on concepts of systemic inequity and racism.

“‘[T]his is The Opportunity Myth.  ‘We tell kids that if they don’t succeed, it’s their fault – not the inevitable outcome of a decades-old program of structural cruelty advanced by neoliberals and conservatives, not to mention centuries of White supremacy on which the nation was founded.’  (OK, I’d include us, plain old liberals, as sharing responsibility for structural inequity),” wrote Weisberg.

As part of their contract with Tennessee, TNTP – formerly called “The New Teacher Project” – is providing educator training for Pre-kindergarten through fourth-grade reading skills.

The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) didn’t respond to The Star with a comment by press time.

Corinne Murdock is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and the Star-News Network. Follow her latest on Twitter or email tips to corinnejournalist@gmail.com.

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

“I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time with the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost their ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what is true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.  The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media; the 30-second soundbites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.” – Dr. Carl Sagan, Nobel Prize winner in Astronomy & Physics, 1994

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

What we need:  MERITOCRACY (mer-ə-ˈtä-krə-sē).  A system, organization, or society in which people are chosen and moved into positions of success, power, and influence on the basis of their demonstrated abilities and merit.

What we’ve got:  INEPTOCRACY (in-ept-oc’-ra-cy).  A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services that are paid for by the confiscated wealth of a dwindling number of producers.  Sound familiar?

 

COMMENTS FROM REPRESENTATIVES

     Elected representatives from all States and all levels of government are encouraged to share their thoughts, opinions, ideas, and announcements by emailing them to pyrope84045@mypacks.net .  Your constituents want to hear from you! – Editor

 

Victoria Spartz  (R-IN, 5^th District)

As a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I am responsible for oversight of the FBI and federal law enforcement agencies.  Protecting your constitutional rights and due process is extremely important to me.  I will always put your rights before the interests of federal bureaucrats or lawless prosecutors.  That’s why I was so troubled by a recent Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court report raising concerns of “widespread violations” of the 4th amendment rights of the U.S. Citizens by the FBI.
At a recent hearing, I questioned FBI Director Wray on this matter, and he was not able to reassure us that the violations had stopped and those responsible had been held accountable.  I will continue to press this issue until the FBI can prove they have stopped trampling the rights of our citizens.

 

COMMENTS FROM CORRESPONDENTS

     You are invited to become a Correspondent and share thoughts, opinions, ideas, and announcements with subscribers to this newsletter.  Please state your city, state, or country in your submissions and email them to:  pyrope84045@mypacks.net .  Your fellow Conservatives want to hear from you! – Editor

 

Adam Laxalt, Las Vegas, NV & Publisher of Morning Source shared the following:

What would be the impact of President Biden’s economic agenda?
The editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal recently highlighted analysis from a leading national tax-policy group, and the findings are … not pretty.
     “The nonpartisan Tax Foundation analyzed the ramifications of Mr. Biden’s spending plans on the economy. It studied the American Jobs Plan, which is his ‘infrastructure’ bill, the American Families Plan, and his budget blueprint for next year. Those proposals would increase spending by more than $4 trillion from the current baseline. Some of the spendings would occur over several years.
     “To pay for this, Mr. Biden has proposed a series of tax increases. That includes an increase in the corporate income tax from 21 percent to 28 percent. High-income earners would face several tax hikes, including an increase in the top tax rate, higher taxes on long-term capital gains, and an increase in the death tax for unrealized capital gains. The Tax Foundation estimates these changes would increase net revenues by $1.3 trillion over 10 years. The Biden administration also claims it will collect around $700 billion through increased tax enforcement.
     “The Tax Foundation finds that Mr. Biden’s spending binge ‘would increase long-run GDP by 0.3 percent, due to enhanced public infrastructure.’ But that small positive would be overwhelmed by the downside of higher taxes.
“Combined, Mr. Biden’s plan ‘reduces GDP by 0.9 percent in the long run, reduces wages by 0.8 percent and eliminates 165,000 full-time equivalent jobs.’”
Hey, Democrats … tell us again about how you’re the party of the American worker?

 

Kevin Rhodes, Grafton, OH – We had high hopes for Anthony Gonzalez when he was first elected but he has turned out to be a huge disappointment.  Your readers may recall he was one of several so-called “Republicans to have voted to impeach President Trump.  But, there are many other reasons why Gonzalez should be given the boot; the main reason is he’s failing to keep his campaign promises to the voters in the 16^th District.  For one thing, if you write to him, all you get back is some form letter and nothing is done to address the problems you write to him about.

All three challengers are good folks but Jonah Schultz needs to mature a bit more I think.  Christina Hagan is a decent person and I think there’s some important stuff for her to do in the future, but she’s also a little bit “green” in my opinion.

The best candidate we have now – one who can trounce the Democrat’s Marcia Fudge – is Max Miller.  He’s a solid conservative, he’s got a good head on his shoulders, he’s honest, and he’s energetic.  I hope all those who can do so will support Max and help him win the GOP nomination.  If you can do so, a donation would be helpful.  This link will help you learn more:   https://www.votemaxmiller.com/   THANKS!

 

Lee Tabin, Schenectady, NY – Just so we’re clear, I never cared that you were gay or transsexual UNTIL you began criticizing me for not honoring the fact that you were.  I never cared what color you are UNTIL you started blaming me for YOUR personal problems.  I never cared about your political affiliation UNTIL you started condemning me for mine.  I never really cared where you were born UNTIL you began trying to erase my history and BLAME my ancestors for YOUR life failures.  I never really cared whether your beliefs were different from mine UNTIL you said my beliefs were wrong.  Now I care.  My patience and tolerance are gone!  And I’m not alone in feeling like this.  Just know there are hundreds of millions of us who feel the same way.

 

Dr. Rosemary Biggio, Williamstown, NJ – Calling All American Men

Before you ask a woman on a date, Lawyer Up.  Men have been denied to meet their accusers and due process, a constitutional guarantee.  Even a forty- year old allegation, can destroy your career and your life.  I am not defending pedophiles or harassers, but their constitutional protections.  This is a slippery slope to go down.
Remember In 1987, a 15-year-old black girl named Tawana Brawley went missing and was found four days later covered in dog feces and with racial slurs written on her body.  She claimed that at least two and possibly six white men, one of them carrying a badge, had repeatedly raped her in the woods in upstate New York.  Sharpton took up Brawley’s cause and defended her refusal to cooperate with the prosecutor.
In March 2006, Crystal Gail Mangum, a black student at North Carolina Central University who worked as a stripper, dancer, and escort, falsely accused three white Duke University students – all members of the Duke Blue Devils men’s lacrosse team – of raping her.

Both accounts turned out to be hoaxes.
A male friend, years ago, said to me, “The women have become the men.”  He was right.  Now, the left declares there are 63 genders, but DNA doesn’t lie.  My friend passed away before genders multiplied.
America has witnessed a war on masculinity over the past three decades perpetrated by well-intentioned over-parenting, the agenda-driven entertainment industry, dangerous political correctness, feminism, and deliberate political strategy of the Democrats.
It starts as early as Kindergarten.  Boys who act ‘rambunctious’ are immediately prescribed Ritalin or Adderall to keep them docile and calm.  The Democratic Party has been successful in stifling masculine thought and ensuring voters who espouse traditional beliefs of masculinity are marginalized and branded ‘cavemen,’ ‘anti-women,’ or worse.  However, the last and perhaps most pernicious cause is a directed strategy by the Democratic Party to produce as many voters dependent on the federal government as possible.  This is the real war.

 

Andrea Widdison, Moses Lake, WA (via Facebook) – On August 19, 1966 – Chinese students launched a fight for social justice to fight for the rights of the oppressed in China.  It was widely believed that the ‘patriarchal system’ in China had been created by the 1% and held down women, minorities, and the working class.  The students cried out for a revolution and change and consequentially launched the infamous Chinese Cultural Revolution.

Students put a red band around their arms to stand in solidarity with the oppressed and called for a change on old ideas that they called the FOUR OLDS.  The Four Olds were:  Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas.

The movement was supported by the Chinese media.

Mass demonstrations and looting by the students ensued.  Statues were torn down.

Chinese architecture was destroyed.  Classical literature and Chinese paintings were torn apart and burned.  Temples were desecrated.  The Cemetery of Confucius was attacked.  The corpse of the 76th-generation Duke Yansheng was removed from its grave and hung from a tree.  Wealthy homes were attacked and destroyed.  Many families’ long-kept genealogy books were burned to ashes.

All of history, in short, was to be removed and replaced.  This was the central meaning of the Cultural Revolution:  That China was going to destroy every trace of its bourgeois (privileged) past and replace it with a new culture built on the principles of Maoism and Marxism.

Communist leaders like President Liu Shaoqi were taken out of power and replaced with men Mao believed were not critical of his reign.

Public leaders who were considered to be oppressive were tried by angry mobs and vigilantes.

Three days later, on August 22, 1966, a central directive was issued to stop police intervention.  The police were disbanded in the city and the students formed a community solution called the RED GUARD.  The RED GUARDS policed the communities and punished anyone who did not agree with their ideas.  Even people that supported the movement, but had bad thoughts (“wrong think”) could be punished.

Though many Christians supported the movement in the beginning, they quickly became the number one target of the RED GUARDS and public trials were held to condemn them to death.

Many of those that were on board with the cause of the rebellion, in the beginning, saw that it was not really what they had signed up for, but by then it was too late.  The power that the Red Guard wanted had already been given.

More people died during the Cultural Revolution in China than any war, famine, or natural disaster in the history of man.  An estimated 20 to 30 million people were killed.

Are you listening America?

 

Bill Bastenbeck, Dayton, TN – The recent New York Times piece titled The 1619 Project, by Nikole Hannah-Jones, states that the landing of the first enslaved Africans in English-occupied North America occurred at Point Comfort Virginia in 1619. (Wikipedia the 1619 project)

This is correct, but this was not the first landing of Enslaved Africans in what we now call the USA.

Nikole Hannah-Jones suggested America wasn’t a Democracy until Black Americans made it one.  (Wikipedia the 1619 project)

The USA of course declared its independence from the British crown on July 4^th, 1776; Virginia was a colony of Great Britain, and under rule of law of the British Crown prior to that date; it was not a free and independent nation.

Hannah-Jones’ article does not inform the reader in 1661; Virginia passed its first law allowing any free person the right to own slaves.  This is years after 1619.  The suppression and apprehension of runaway slave labor were the objects of 1672 legislation.^[1]  Additional laws regarding the slavery of Africans were passed in the seventeenth century and codified into Virginia’s first slave code in 1705.  All this occurred under the rule of the British Crown. (Wikipedia history of slavery in Virginia)

Hannah-Jones does not inform the reader that according to the African American Registry (https://aaregistry.org/story/st-augustine-florida-founded/) on Saturday 8/28/1565, St. Augustine, Florida was founded with the first arrival of Black African slaves to North America.  On that date, Spaniard Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles came ashore and named a stretch of land near the inlet in honor of Augustine, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church.  That is 54 years earlier than the 1619 project states.

     It does not inform the reader that During the Seven Years War (French and Indian War), the British had captured Spanish Cuba and the Philippines.  In order to get these valuable colonies back, Spain was forced to give up Florida.  Signed on February 10, 1763, the First Treaty of Paris, gave all of Florida to the British.  (Fort Matanzas- The British Period – 1763-1784, https://www.nps.gov/foma/learn/historyculture/the-british-period.htm).  Florida went back to Spanish rule in 1783 after the American Revolution and did not come under USA control until 1819.  It became a state in 1845, the 27^th state.

Also from African American Registry (https://aaregistry.org/story/st-augustine-florida-founded/); when the Spanish conquistador Menendez arrived, not only were there Black slaves and members of his crew, but he noted that his arrival had been preceded by free Africans in the French settlement at Fort Caroline, just a few miles north.  During the 16th and 17th centuries, St. Augustine was the center of the slave trade in Spanish colonial Florida, a distinction that continued through the early 1800s. “The Spanish Crown was one of the largest slaveholders, workers on the defense works,” said St. Augustine historian Susan R. Parker.  And, though many of the records from that period are lost, documents from the Catholic Church reveal slavery’s deep roots in North Florida’s history.  In 1606, before the founding of Jamestown, VA, the first documented slave birth was recorded in St. Augustine.  Agustin was baptized in the Catholic faith.   He was the son of Agustin and Francisca, both Black and listed as slaves in church baptismal records.

Church documents from what is called the First Spanish Period, 1565 to 1763, were taken from St. Augustine to Cuba in 1763 when the British occupied Florida.  Some records were lost.  But St. Augustine’s Cathedral Basilica has records dating to 1594.  Parker said church documents show how the royal government worked through slave owners to record slaves’ marriages and births. “The Church was so prominent in this role,” Parker said.  The plantation society did exist around St. Augustine in the 18th century, the first slaves, primarily from Africa, worked in Spanish households in town.  “In a lot of the homes, they did the hard tasks.  “You would have a female domestic slave, a male slave for hard work.” From 1763 to 1783, when the British ruled Florida, more of an Antebellum South plantation society-style developed in St. Augustine.

Historian Daniel Schafer said St. Augustine maintained its dominant position in the slave trade under British rule but it did so with more of an economic and less of a domestic slant.  Schafer is a professor of history at the University of North Florida and has studied the roots of slavery in Florida from its African origins.  In the 20-year occupation of St. Augustine by the British, slave ships regularly arrived either after stopping in the American colonies or coming directly in from Africa.  As the British settled in East Florida, agricultural plantations were built apart from the center of town. British residents coming to Florida from the Carolinas and Georgia brought slaves with them to work in the fields.

Florida’s British Gov. James Grant had African slaves but Lt. Gov. John Moultrie, Schafer said, had third-, fourth- and fifth-generation slaves born in America.  Principal slave suppliers to eastern Florida were South Carolinian Henry Laurens, who provided mostly African-born slaves, as well as John Graham of Savannah, GA, and Richard Oswald of Scotland.  Oswald, said Schafer, had a slave “factory” on Bance Island in what is now part of Sierra Leone, Africa.  Oswald brought hundreds of slaves for his plantation near St. Augustine and to sell to others.  Ships coming into the Port of St. Augustine would carry about 100 Africans at a time, Schafer said.  The slave population of this period also included West Indies natives.

The 1619 Project makes it sound like there was no difference between The United States of America and the British Crown and totally ignores Spain’s enormous role in the trading of Enslaved Africans.  It is very misleading.

 

Pam Whit, Sunny, FL.  At the entrance gate of a university in South Africa, the following message was posted for contemplation.  “Destroying any nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long-range missiles . . . it only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by the students . . .  patients die at the hands of such doctors . . . buildings collapse at the hands of such engineers . . . money is lost at the hands of such accountants and economists . . . humanity dies at the hands of such religious scholars . . . justice is lost at the hands of such judges.  The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation.”

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Let us never forget this fundamental truth:  The State has no source of money other than that which the People earn themselves.  If the State wishes to spend more, it can do so only by borrowing your savings or by taxing you more.  It is no good thinking that someone else will pay; that “someone else” is you.  – Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister, United Kingdom 13 October 1925 – 8 April 2013).

 

LEGISLATIVE REPORT                                                                                                                                                     

     The Legislative Report provides information on some of the more remarkable bills that have been introduced in Congress.  Its purpose is to provide the reader with information about pending legislation that may prompt the reader to contact their representatives to express their views.

     In the emailed version of the Legislative Report, you will see markers + and + on certain bills.  The red icon is placed to encourage the reader to contact their representatives and ask them to vote against the legislation.  On bills marked with the green icon, the reader is encouraged to contact their elected representatives and ask them to support the legislation.  The reader is always encouraged to keep informed about all legislation from other sources so they may be aware of bills that affect our lives.  Decide today that you will make your voice heard.  If you remain silent, your representatives will never know your thoughts! – Editor

SPECIAL NOTE:  It’s Appropriations Time in D.C., and wading through the hundreds of pages for the various bills to read the enormous figures allocated for various Departments, Agencies, Bureaus, and Offices is mind-numbing.  Appropriations bills are not normally included in the Legislative Reports of this publication because there simply isn’t room to provide a thorough analysis of each one but, rest assured, if they were included, they’d each be marked with the icon to encourage taxpayers to contact their elected representatives and demand to know whether they’ve lost their mind.  In all candor, our representatives are spending us into the poorhouse; they’re running up the debt on our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  They are tarnishing our legacy and enslaving our progeny.  Our generation will be despised by those who inherit the debt we’re giving them! The ONLY way to change that is for each American Citizen to DEMAND those who represent us start immediately to show some restraint and start paying off our national debt.  Will you join me in sending that message? – Editor

 

+ HR 3385 HOPE for Afghan SIVs Act of 2021 (Jason Crow, D-CO, 4 pages)

This bill would waive the requirement to undergo a medical exam for aliens who are otherwise eligible for special immigrant status under the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, and for other purposes.  This Act may be cited as the Honoring Our Promises through Expedition for Afghan SIVs Act of 2021.

This bill may also be cited as “A Means to Invite More Diseased People into the United States so More Americans Can be made to Suffer Act!”  What kind of a numbskull thinks this is a good idea?

 

+ HR 3985 ALLIES Act of 21 (Jason Crow, D-CO, 6 pages)

This bill amends the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009, to expedite the special immigrant visa process for certain Afghan allies, and for other purposes.  This bill may be cited as the “Averting Loss of Life and Injury by Expediting SIVs Act of 2021.”  Unlike HR 3385 – a bill also introduced by Mr. Crow – this bill simply modifies Title 8 US Code – 1101, Section 3, by adding Subparagraph G, which provides a limit of 8,000 vetted (See Section 2 (d)), Afghan immigrants:  “Beginning on the date of enactment of this subparagraph, in addition to any unused balance under this paragraph, 8,000 principal aliens may be granted special immigrant status under this subsection.  For purposes of status provided under this subparagraph the authority to issue visas shall commence on the date of the enactment of this subparagraph and shall terminate on the date, such visas are exhausted.

 

S 2123 Pray Safe Act (Robert “Rob” Portman, R-OH, 17 pages)

This bill establishes a Federal Clearing House on Safety and Security Best Practices for Faith-Based Organizations and Houses of Worship.  The Clearing House provides resources for such organizations who desire to improve safety and security for their members, guests, and customers.  The bill is in response to the increasing number of attacks on such facilities.

 

+ HR 3593

Department of Energy Science for the Future Act (Eddie Johnson, D-TX, 93 pages)

To provide guidance for and investment in the research and development activities of the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, and for other purposes.

The mission of the DOE is to “ensure our nation’s energy security.”

Since its founding in 1977, the DOE has systematically failed to accomplish its mission.

The closest our country has come to have a secure energy supply was during the administration of President Donald J. Trump, but each year, the DOE continues to be a money pit for the U.S. Taxpayer.

This year, Congresswoman Johnson has devised a scheme to fund the DOE through FY 2026, beginning with a contribution of $8.8 billion in 2022, and elevating that gift to $11.1 billion by 2026.  The primary focus for these expenditures are stated to be:

• Accelerator research and development;
• Isotope development and production for research applications;
• Increased collaboration with teachers and scientists (IOW more grants);
• A high-intensity laser research “initiative;”
• Helium conservation program (we use it every day, don’t we?), and;
• Funding for the Office of Science – Emerging Infectious Disease Computing Research Initiative (sounds like something that should be covered by HHS)

This bill passed in the House of Representatives351/68, and has been forwarded to the Senate for consideration.  Contact your Senators and ask that they vote AGAINST this bill.

 

+ HR 3261

To Repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iraq (Abigail Spanberger, D-VA, 1 page).  The title of the bill explains the intent.

The U.S. military is the most compelling “Sword of Damocles” currently on Earth.  In as much as Mr. Biden is also in the process of capitulating his influence in Afghanistan while turning the country over to the Taliban, and given that Iran is posing a greater threat than ever before (sensing Mr. Biden’s timidity) it is a strategic blunder to give up a platform in the Middle East at a time when our allies are under multiple threats from the radical Islamic madmen who are focused on reestablishing their Caliphate.  Should war break out – and there’s not much doubt but what it will – all the agreements that have been established in the Middle East will have to be rebuilt from scratch.

 

+ HR 2689 Minority Business Resiliency Act of 2021 (Al Green, D-TX, 61 pages).

To require the Minority Business Development Agency of the Department of Commerce to promote and administer programs in the public and private sectors to assist the development of minority business enterprises, to ensure that such Agency has the necessary supporting resources, particularly during economic downturns, and for other purposes.

This bill is an insult to every Citizen of an ethnic minority; it communicates to Americans that Mr. Green does not think minority Citizens are capable of succeeding if they start a business without help from the government.  It is also a discriminatory bill in that it penalizes white business owners who are competing against minority-owned businesses.

 

S 2311 A Bill Making Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for the Fiscal Year Ending September 30, 2021, and for Other Purposes (Patrick Leahy, D-VT, 71 pages)

In addition to the several trillion dollars allocated to fund various government agencies, Senator Leahy’s bill increases the budgets of various bureaucracies by $4.8 Billion.

 

HR 2931 Enhancing Grid Security through Public-Private Partnerships (Jerry McNerny, D-CA, 8 pages).

This bill provides for certain programs and developments in the Department of Energy concerning the cybersecurity and vulnerabilities of, and physical threats to, the electrical grid, and for other purposes.  It is a rather timid “first step” in addressing the matter of hardening our country’s electrical grid but it is, at least, one step in the right direction.  As with most legislation, it seems lacking in specifications for oversight.

This bill passed by voice vote and has been forwarded to the Senate for consideration.  It is a companion to HR 2928 Cyber Sense Act of 2021 (Robert Latta, R-OH, 6 pages).

 

+ HR 2118 Securing America from Epidemics Act (Ami Bera, D-CA, 5 pages).

This bill would cause the United States to join (and no doubt principally fund) an initiative called “Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations” (CEPI).  CEPI members would be responsible for developing, supplying, distributing, and administering vaccines on a global scale to locations where epidemics are active.  Since no dollar amounts are allocated in this bill the implication would be that US Taxpayers would pony up as much money as may be necessary to relieve the world of diseases.

 

+ HR 3524 EAGLE Act (Gregory Meeks, D-NY, 470 pages).

“To revitalize and assert United States leadership, investment, and engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, and globally.”  [With an emphasis on “investment.”]

Mr. Meeks’ bill, which may also be cited as the “Ensuring American Global Leadership and Engagement Act,” amounts to nothing more than an extraordinarily costly boondoggle for which the US Taxpayer is required to fund our government’s meddling in affairs that have no benefit to those who must pay for the whimsical dalliances of our State Department and other entities of the Executive Branch, and risk the potential of becoming embroiled in another war.  The hard-working American taxpayer should be screaming at their representatives to dispatch this monstrosity to the shredder and to stop hatching out such money-wasting legislation.

 

S 2377 Energy Infrastructure Act (Joe Manchin III, D-WV, 578 pages).

This bill would direct funds to invest in the energy and outdoor infrastructure of the United States to deploy new and innovative technologies, update existing infrastructure to be reliable and resilient, and secure energy infrastructure against physical and cyber threats, and for other purposes.

 

+ HR 3764 Ocean-Based Climate Solutions Act of 2021 (Raul Grijalva, D-AZ, 290 pages).

Mr. Grijalva’s bill directs the Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to provide for ocean-based climate solutions to reduce carbon emissions and global warming; to make coastal communities more resilient; and to provide for the conservation and restoration of the ocean and coastal habitats, biodiversity, and marine mammal and fish populations; and for other purposes.

The “strategy” of this plan is to deploy an interagency working group to create a strategic plan for Federal investments in basic research, development, demonstration, long-term monitoring and stewardship, and deployment of blue carbon ecosystem and marine blue carbon projects for the 5-year period beginning on the date that is 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.

The plan shall include:  an assessment of the use of existing Federal programs to protect, restore, enhance, and preserve blue carbon ecosystems; an analysis of potential sea-level rise migration corridors for blue carbon ecosystems; an analysis of anticipated fish and wildlife uses of blue carbon ecosystems, and; identification of priority strategies and investments for preserving, restoring, and enhancing the resilience and carbon sequestration potential of such blue carbon ecosystems; and

What is this miraculous “blue carbon” stuff?  Glad you asked!

“Blue carbon” is a term hatched out by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is a part of the US Department of Commerce, for carbon captured by the world’s ocean and coastal ecosystems.  NOAA informs us that their “blue carbon” is unlike the carbon given off by those evil human activities (e.g. exhaling), which contains “atmospheric carbon” – normal people call it “carbon dioxide.”

Their justification for doing some undefined work to conjure up more “blue carbon” is premised on the utterly false claim that carbon dioxide causes climate change (formerly known as “global warming”),

While you have probably heard that human activities emit (or give off) something called carbon dioxide, you may also recall that all plant life on Earth dependent upon this gas mammals exhale and, in return, plants flourish and reward us with more of what we must have in order to live – oxygen.

As for that “blue carbon” thingy, every solid organic substance on Earth – trees, grass, rabbits, humans, you name it, contains non-atmospheric carbon so, here’s the takeaway on Mr. Grijalva’s 290-page opus (written, no doubt, by his benefactors in NOAA):  It is a means to justify an increased budget for NOAA (an organization who often has difficulty in justifying its existence!), and the entirety of the “blue carbon” ruse is yet another means of fleecing the taxpayers out of their hard-earned wages.

 

+ HR 2635 Restoring Offshore Wind Opportunities Act (Paul Tonko, D-NY, 1 page).

This bill allows the Secretary of the Department of the Interior to issue leases for private concerns and publicly-owned utilities to erect wind-powered electrical generation stations on the outer continental shelf.  There are numerous reasons why this is not a good idea but the most prominent reasons are:  Windmills can pose a significant hazard to shipping, especially when they malfunction – they cease emitting a warning signal to shipping when this occurs; maintenance costs for ocean-based windmills are significantly more expensive than land-based systems; they pose an environmental hazard when they malfunction and lubricants are released into the water, and; they pose a hazard to wildlife.

 

+ S 272

Congressional Budget Justification Transparency Act of 2021 (Gary Peters, D-MI, 9 pages).

A bill to amend the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, to require the budget justifications and appropriation requests of agencies to be made publicly available.  Access to information would be available electronically.

 

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Hunter Biden has reportedly sold one of his paintings for $500,000 … to an individual high up in the Chinese Communist Party.

 

RHEA COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY NEWS

Rhea County Republican Party Executive Committee

Bitsy Gryder – Chairman                            Kris Bancroft – Vice Chairman

Judy Bancroft – Secretary                          Ted Engel – Treasurer

Marvin Keener Sr. – Vice Treasurer

 

Minutes from the Previous Meeting

Chair Elizabeth Gryder called the meeting to order on July 8, 2021, at 7:02 pm.

 

Marvin Keener offered prayer and Elizabeth Gryder led the Pledge of Allegiance.

 

Minutes from the meeting of May 13, 2021, written by Judy Bancroft, were read by Kris Bancroft.  The motion was made by Marvin Keener, seconded by Chuck Bauer, to accept the minutes as read.  Motion carried.

 

The Treasurer’s Report was given by Ted Engel, who assumed the Treasurer’s responsibilities as of June 1, 2021.  A motion was made by Chuck Bauer and seconded by Marvin Keener to accept the report as read.  Motion carried.

 

The PAC Treasurer’s Reports for May and June were given by Kris Bancroft.  The required Mid-Year Supplemental Campaign Finance Disclosure Statement was filed with the State Registry of Election Finance and the Rhea County Election Commission.  A motion was made by Marvin Keener and seconded by Chuck Bauer to accept the reports as read.  Motion carried.

 

Guests   All guests were welcomed, several of whom spoke to the group as follows:

 

David Shinn introduced himself as a Republican from Rhea County, who is running for the position of General Sessions Court Judge for Rhea County.  His education is in Political Science, and he is currently the Assistant DA for the 12^th Judicial District.

 

Cyril and Janis Ostiguy introduced themselves as the Chairman and Secretary, respectively, of the Carroll County Republican Party.  They spoke about the Coalition of Conservative Tennessee Counties and invited us to join in order to have a stronger voice in Nashville.  We were invited to peruse their table display of pro-America, pro-Republican articles, and documents after the meeting. They also shared ideas which the Carroll County Republican Party is implementing to grow their membership and promote Republican ideals, such as:

• Holding Town Halls with civics lessons and guest politician speakers;
• Assisting potential political candidates;
• Having a donation jar at meetings;
• Getting to know their local newspaper people in order to promote coverage, and;
• Attending local governmental meetings, such as county commission meetings

 

Bradley Sherman introduced both himself and Brook Lynch, Chairman of the Franklin County Republican Party.  Mr. Sherman is a Republican running for the office of Circuit Court Judge of the 12^th Judicial District (there are two vacancies).  He invited members to communicate with him on Facebook.

 

And, our own Ted Engel is running for the position of Public Defender for Rhea County.

 

BUSINESS

Reagan Day Dinner   Elizabeth Gryder stated that there will be no Dinner this year but that we should plan to have one in February or March of 2022; this would be before the May primary.

 

Request for Republican Primary   The Executive Committee presented a motion to request that a Republican Primary Election for Rhea County be held on May 3, 2021, for all positions up for election.  The motion carried.  Elizabeth Gryder will write a letter to the Rhea County Election Commission and to the State for this purpose.

 

Partisan vs. Non-Partisan Elected Positions   Elizabeth Gryder announced that Rhea County Republican Party has the option of recommending that some or all nonpartisan elected positions be changed to partisan positions.  A motion was made by Kris Bancroft, seconded by Bill Bastenbeck, to recommend that all elected positions be partisan.  Motion carried.

 

Volunteers for Elections   Elizabeth Gryder stated that more volunteers may be needed to go into long-term care facilities to help with resident voting and to work precincts on Election Day.  Anyone interested in helping should let her know.

 

Spring City Chamber of Commerce   Jody Bauer reported that their new Office Manager, Kristen Urani, would like to get to know the member businesses.  She also reported that their workshop meetings are held on the last Thursday of the month, at 5:30 PM, and their voting meetings are held on the first Thursday of each month, at 7:00 PM.

 

Judy Bancroft reported that our application for membership has been mailed, along with a check for the annual fee.

 

Bylaws   Kris Bancroft read the Rhea County Republican Party Bylaws, as amended by members of the Executive Committee.  He stated that the format used in the amended version is the same as that used in legislative bills.  The Bylaws have been discussed at past general meetings.  The Executive Committee presented a motion that the amended Bylaws, as read tonight, be approved.  The motion carried.  Secretary Judy Bancroft will mail them to the State Republican Executive Committee for approval.

 

PAC Treasurer   Elizabeth Gryder announced that Marvin Keener, Jr., has accepted this position.  He will be able to assume duties in a few weeks, after fulfilling prior work commitments.

 

Tennessee Counties’ Reagan Day Dinners   Grundy County’s Reagan Day Dinner will be held July 17^th.  A motion was made by Elizabeth Gryder, seconded by Jody Bauer, to donate $40 for that event.  Motion carried.

 

Bledsoe County’s Reagan Day Dinner is scheduled for August 17^th.  A motion was made by Ted Engel, and seconded by Chuck Bauer, to donate $50 for that event.  Motion carried.

 

Elizabeth Gryder reminded members that it is important to support surrounding counties, as they also support us.

 

Stationery   A motion was made by Jody Bauer and seconded by Bill Bastenbeck to pay $39 for an order to Keener Marketing for stationery.  The updated stationery contains new officer information.  Motion carried.

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Frances Wuethrich announced a Mike Lindell cyber symposium on August 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th.  The topic will be in regards to how the Presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump.  She urged everyone to press State officials to attend the symposium.

 

Bill Bastenbeck encouraged counties to write letters to the Governor, U. S. Representatives, and U. S. Senators, asking for more support in the investigations of the January 6^th event at the U. S. Capitol.

 

Elizabeth Gryder announced that our next meeting will be Thursday, September 9^th, at 7:00 pm.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Judy Bancroft

Secretary

 

The Rhea County Republican Party Monthly Meeting

The next meeting of the Rhea County Republican Party will be a regular meeting, held on 9 SEPTEMBER 2021, at 7:00 PM, at the Sheriff’s Training Center, 711 Eagle Lane, Evensville, TN.  Guest Speaker, Mr. Quentin Kaus, Vice President of the McMinn County Young Republicans, will be our guest speaker.  The topic will be:  How to start a Young Republican’s organization in Rhea County.

 

LAGNIAPPE

The murmurs of questioning and doubts gained credibility more than a century ago.   There doesn’t seem to be a consensus on the precise date, but Citizens of the day began to suspect that our country was descending into a state of anarchy.

Since then, we have seen and heard all sorts of accounts from all sorts of people in all the various eras of our past – we have watched the movies about the lawlessness of the Old West, the days when the organized crime took root in our society during the prohibition days, and the drug wars of the 1980s.  But there was a marked difference in our society then as compared to now.  All those eras were marked by a zero-tolerance judicial system (operating at the insistence of a law-abiding public majority perhaps), that caused law and order to prevail.  The Citizens of the day could, without question, rest assured that criminals would be arrested and that they would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

So, what changed?

The Citizens’ faith in law and order probably dimmed when they began to notice that some crimes, committed by some criminals, were not being prosecuted as robustly as other crimes and criminals.  If challenged to cite one specific period for this radical departure, the historian may likely cite those days when George Washington Plunkitt was Ward Boss of the Fifteenth Assembly District of New York and ruled Tammany Hall (c. 1905-1924).

Since then, there has been no shortage of politicians who have been accused – and occasionally convicted – of various crimes, but very few ever see the inside of a prison cell.  Perhaps the most remembered for having been sent to jail are:  William “Cold Cash” Jefferson (D-LA), sentenced for bribery in 2009, and; James Traficant (D-OH), sentenced to eight years for financial corruption in 2002.  NOTE:  William Jefferson was sentenced to thirteen years but his sentence was commuted after having served only five years.  As you will ascertain from the following link, most politicians (and their cohorts), get no prison time in spite of their convictions for egregious crimes.  List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes – Wikipedia

And so, matters have only gotten worse.

Over the past decade, we have seen innumerable crimes committed by innumerable politicians and other well-connected people, and some of these are, arguably, capital crimes – crimes that are punishable by the death penalty.  Those that seem to be most vividly remembered today are former president 0bama’s decisions to relieve sanctions that had been imposed on Iran – a country that is a sworn enemy of the United States – followed by a shipment of some $400 million in cash, a violation of Article III – Section 3 of our Constitution; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s dereliction of duties in the way of providing military relief to our embassy in Benghazi, that cost the lives of Ambassador Stevens, and other Americans, and then destroying subpoenaed evidence followed by lying to Congress in sworn testimony about it; former Vice President Biden’s use of his office to extort money for himself and his family members from politicians in Russia, Ukraine, and China.  It is likely that the average person can recall many, many more examples of crimes by those in high places that have yet to be prosecuted . . . and probably never will.

It has been the exponential increase of such examples listed above, as measured against the passage of time, that compels the rational and reasonable Citizen to conclude that we are, indeed, living in a de facto state of anarchy.

Unfortunately, that status of de facto anarchy that we reluctantly acknowledged has only gotten worse – the disease of unchecked crime has, for several years now, been spreading all across our country.

Even those individuals who rarely keep up with current events have been shocked by seeing the riots in Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, New York, and St. Louis.  Like those of us who stay up with current events, our detached friends have been appalled to learn that the rioters (Antifa, BLM, and others), have caused $1.9 billion in damages to public and private property, yet very few were ever arrested for their crimes.

The “normally detached from the news” crowd seems to have finally taken notice of the increases in the murder rates of our major cities – Atlanta 60%, Austin 75%, Los Angeles 25%, and Minneapolis 64%.  (The murder rates are increasing in small-town America, too!)

Then, there is the increase in drugs seized by Customs & Border Patrol (CBP) officers:  Since February 2021, CBP has captured 3,271 pounds of heroin, 62,324 pounds of cocaine, 6,494 pounds of (Chinese made) fentanyl, 105,032 pounds of Methamphetamine, and 330,000 pounds of marijuana.  Some knowledgeable people inform us that more drugs make it into the United States than are seized.

Finally, it seems people are beginning to finally notice there seems to be something amiss at our southern border.  Since March 2021, when the Biden regime announced an end to President Trump’s border wall construction and the order for CBP to virtually stand down, more than 1.2 million illegal aliens have entered and have been released into our country.  CBP estimates another 40% of that number – 480,000 – are “got aways,” – those who evaded capture.  All these illegal aliens have violated federal law.  Title 8 US Code, Section 1325 (a) informs us that:

 

Any alien who (1) enters or attempts to enter the United States at any time or place other than as designated by immigration officers, or (2) eludes examination or inspection by immigration officers, or (3) attempts to enter or obtains entry to the United States by a willfully false or misleading representation or the willful concealment of a material fact, shall, for the first commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both, and, for a subsequent commission of any such offense, be fined under title 18, or imprisoned not more than 2 years, or both.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1325

 

Sadly, for the American Citizen, due to their overwhelming numbers, these illegal aliens have been released without having medical examinations to determine whether they are infected with the Wuhan virus, or tuberculosis, or venereal disease, or scabies, or any of the other medical exams for which immigrants are customarily examined.

When considering the matter of illegal aliens and their invasion of our country we must understand that they depend on help from people residing inside our borders in order to sustain their presence.  As it turns out, there are federal laws that define criminal activity as it pertains to those who provide such assistance to illegal aliens; one of those laws is found in Title 8 US Code, Section 1324.

In examining the text of this law (see the link below), we learn (except in cases where an alien seeks protection from religious persecution), anyone who enables or shelters (by commission or omission), an illegal alien from detection (and subsequent deportation) from law enforcement officers who are tasked with the arrest and deportation of individuals who have entered the United States by illegal means, is guilty of a felony.  This would, of course, include coyotes and those who employ illegal aliens, but it would also include elected representatives who have sworn an oath to uphold the laws of their state or the United States, as well as individuals employed by numerous law enforcement agencies.  In their failure to uphold and enforce our laws, these elected representatives and those who are sworn to uphold our laws are guilty of breaking those same laws that pertain to illegal aliens – those elected representatives and law enforcement officers are, in fact, criminals!  https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/1324

Our country’s descent into anarchy doesn’t end there.

Not only are our elected officials failing to uphold our laws, but they are also actively engaged in encouraging – aiding and abetting – lawlessness.  Their current edicts to defund the police and to marginalize their effectiveness has caused thousands of law enforcement officers to either resign or simply walk away from a job they are prevented from doing.  Coupled with the current trends in the judiciary to either reduce charges imposed on convicted criminals, institute a cashless bail system, and in some cases refuse to sentence criminals when they are convicted of crimes, the state of anarchy is expanded.

In some cases, the defunding of our police forces have been blamed on a lack of funds but, when one examines the revenues derived from the “American Rescue Plan,” this claim loses its validity.  The notion that law enforcement can somehow be “re-imagined” by hiring more social workers rings false in the ears of the law-abiding citizen in crime-ridden neighborhoods, but if there is one thing certain, those elected representatives who are defunding the police are greatly concerned for their own safety.

On 25 July, former Congressman Trey Gowdy reported on Fox News that the Mayors (and presumably other elected “representatives”) who have defunded their Police Departments are using federal tax dollars to upgrade their own personal security:  Lori Lightfoot (Chicago) has a security detail that costs $3.4 million per year.  The personal security details assigned to protect London Breed (San Francisco), and Brandon Scott (Baltimore), each cost the taxpayers $3.6 million per year.

This leaves the reasonable person to conclude that those individuals holding elected office who are actively promoting the defunding of our police are also promoting our nation’s descent into full-blown anarchy, and it thereby compels that same reasonable person to ask WHY.  Please consider the following:

If our country should descend further into its state of anarchy, in the absence of protection that would be provided by our duly sworn law enforcement officers, the law-abiding citizens will determine there is no recourse left to them but to rise up and enforce those laws themselves, try those who have been determined to have broken the law insofar as their discernment should allow, and to punish those convicted in the manner seen to be most fitting.  Such a system is typically referred to as “Vigilante Justice.”  However, this will justify those who have stoked the evolution of the state of anarchy to plead with the federal government for remonstration – to restore their version of “law and order.”  The demonstration demanded by those who had previously advanced the state of full-blown anarchy will be Martial Law – the federal government will initially be compelled to strike down the 10^th Amendment, and that action will be followed by the cancellation of the entire Bill of Rights.

To those who doubt this to be their desired outcome:  All those people who have in the past, or are currently living under the thumbs of tyrants, didn’t think it could happen to them, either.

 

CONTACT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES TODAY!

Regardless of where you live you can find your elected representatives at any level of government by visiting the following link.  Remember:  While they might be fairly bright, none of them can read your mind, so it is your duty as a citizen to express your thoughts (and to urge all your friends and family and like-minded folks to do the same!)

https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials

Here’s a handy guide for Tennesseans in the 4^th Congressional District:

Joseph Robinette Biden (a.k.a. the “Big Guy”) The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington D.C. 20500 Phone:  (202) 456-1414 Fax:  (202) 456-2461 e-mail  http://www.whitehouse.gov president@whitehouse.gov	U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty Russell Senate Office Building Suite SR-B11 Washington D.C. 20510 Phone:  (202) 244-4944 Fax:  (202) 228-3398 e-mail:  https://www.hagerty.senate.gov
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn 357 Dirksen Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510 Phone:  (202) 224-3344 Fax:  (202) 228-0566 To contact visit website: www.blackburn.senate.gov	U.S Representative Dr. Scott DesJarlais 2301 Rayburn HOB Washington, DC 20515 Phone:  (202) 225-6831 Fax:  (202) 226-5172 e-mail http://desjarlais.house.gov
Governor Bill Lee Tennessee State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Phone:  (615) 741-2001 Fax:  (615) 532-9711 e-mail: http://www.state.tn.us/governor	Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House https://www.speaker.gov/contact Link above provides all methods of contact. Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader https://www.mcconnell.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=contact
State Representative Ron Travis 301 Sixth Avenue North Suite G-3 Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Phone:  (615) 741-1450 Rep.ron.travis@capitol.tn.gov	State Senator Ken Yager 301 Sixth Avenue North Suite G-19 Nashville, Tennessee 37243 Phone:  (615) 741-1449 Fax:  (615) 253-0237 sen.ken.yager@capitol.tn.gov