Chamber and others in pro development coalition expresses concern about proposed inclusionary zoning bill.

A coalition of pro development organizations including the Chamber of Commerce, The Greater Nashville Association of Realtors,  and the Greater Nashville Association of Apartment Association have written letter to the Metro Council expressing concerns over the proposed inclusionary zoning proposal before the Council. 

The letter says the coalition shares the desire for a new housing policy that addresses affordable housing, but that "working toward the wisest and most effective policy is not possible on the fast track timetable proposed by the legislative sponsors. " Below is a copy of that letter. 

To read The Tennessean's coverage of this development follow this link:  Nashville chamber, others: Slow down affordable housing plan.

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Reflections on Justice Antonin Scalia's Jurisprudence

The Nashville Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society

presents 

Reflections on Justice Antonin Scalia's Jurisprudence 

with 

Vanderbilt Professor Brian Fitzpatrick 

Tuesday, March 15, 2016 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.

 at 

 The Law Offices of Waller Lansden Dortch & Davis, LLP 

Nashville City Center, 511 Union Street, Suite 2700 Nashville, Tennessee 37219 

 Lunch Will Be Served, and CLE Credit Will Be Available 

 RSVP 

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Inclusionary housing public meeting

What: Community meeting regarding the Inclusionary Housing Policy and Feasibility Study and proposed legislation.
When: 3/22/2016,  5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Where: Location Sonny West Conference Center 700 Second Avenue South Nashville, TN 37210

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Donald Trump: Offensive. Out of Control. America Can do Better.

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TNGOP Releases Total Presidential Delegate Allocations

Press release, Tenn.-March 8, 2016--The Tennessee Republican Party has released the final delegate allocations based on the unofficial results of the 2016 Presidential Preference Primary.

Tennessee is responsible for awarding 58 total delegates to the candidates who crossed the 20% threshold at either the statewide or congressional level in the state. These allocations are based on the unofficial at-large vote tallies and congressional tallies released by the Tennessee Secretary of State. The results will be certified over the next month.

At-Large Delegates 
Donald J. Trump: 15
Ted Cruz: 10
Marco Rubio: 6

Congressional District 1 
Donald J. Trump: 2
Ted Cruz: 1

Congressional District 2 
Donald J. Trump: 2
Marco Rubio: 1

Congressional District 3 
Donald J. Trump: 2
Marco Rubio: 1

Congressional District 4 
Donald J. Trump: 2
Ted Cruz: 1

Congressional District 5 
 Donald J. Trump: 2
Marco Rubio: 1

Congressional District 6 
Donald J. Trump: 2
Ted Cruz: 1

Congressional District 7 
Donald J. Trump: 2
Ted Cruz: 1

Congressional District 8 
Donald J. Trump: 2
Ted Cruz: 1

Congressional District 9 
Donald J. Trump: 2
Ted Cruz: 1

Total Delegate Allocations: 
Donald J. Trump: 33
Ted Cruz: 16
 Marco Rubio: 9

Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes stated, "Over the next week, delegates and alternates who were elected will be contacted directly by the Tennessee Republican Party. We look forward to welcoming these individuals to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this July." The full slate of delegates to the Republican National Convention will be confirmed by the State Executive Committee of the TNGOP on Saturday, April 2nd.

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Budget Talk: How are Metro schools funded and how do they spend the money? Here’s how.

Children First , News from Metro Public Schools- Metro Schools is one of the largest and most diverse school districts in America. It takes nearly 11,000 employees and countless community partners to educate 86,000 students in 166 schools. It also takes a large budget: more than $800 million, or 41 percent of the entire city’s operating budget.

We’re in the budgeting process for the 2016-2017 school year and we want you to know how schools and the district use taxpayer funds to give students a great education.

At the core of what we do, we believe instructional and support decisions should be made by the educators who know students best and see them every day. Rather than using a centralized, top-down approach, we give principals the authority to both design their own schools and decide how to use their resources to support them. We do it through a funding model called student-based budgeting.

 

With student-based budgeting, principals have direct control and authority over more than half of the district’s operating budget.
This means principals and school leadership teams can make their own major decisions like:

• how many and what kinds of teachers to hire
• whether to hire academic coaches to improve instruction
• what extra supports their students need
• how to offer tutoring
• what kind of software will help improve literacy or math

“Student-based budgeting allows schools the flexibility to prioritize the needs of the school and community and spend funds accordingly,” said James Urquhart, principal of Norman Binkley Elementary School.  “One size does not fit all.” (read more)
For more on the Metro Schools budget process, visit this webpage.

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“Just let me say that a 21 year old is still a kid,” says Sherry Jones.

“Just let me say that a 21 year old is still a kid,” she said. “College kids, as evidenced by some of the things we’ve seen lately, really don’t grow up for a long time. I just can’t imagine all of those guns in trunks at frat parties. I understand they are permit holders. With all of the shootings on campuses, I can’t see it.” (link)

Is Sherry Jones right? At 21 year old are young adults still "kids."  We do not allow them to drink until they are 21.  They can however decide to get married at age 18 without their parents consent. At age 18 a "kid" may decide to get an abortion without their parents consent. A parent is not required to provide financial support for their kid past the age of 18. A kid may move out of their parents home at age 18. The legal smoking age in Tennessee is 18. At age 18 you may enter into a legal contract in Tennessee. You can get married at age 18 without your parents consent. In Tennessee at age 18 you can get a regular unrestricted drivers license without your parents consent. You may vote at age 18. You have to be 21 to own a handgun permit in Tennessee, however. Nationwide, under the terms of Obamacare an adult child may be covered by his parents insurance until the child turns 26 years of age.

If you cannot be trusted with drinking or getting a handgun permit at age 18, then I don't think you should be trusted with voting for the President of the United States at age 18.  If you are to be trusted with making a wise informed decision in selecting the next President, then you are old enough to decide to drink or not or whether or not to get a gun permit. Sherry does not say at what age she thinks one is old enough to be trusted with a gun. However, she says at age 21 they do not grow up for a "long time."  Would she make it age 26?  Ok, then raise the voting age to age 26.

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Sen. Steve Dickerson moves to stop the rock quarry near Old Hickory Dam.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A State Senator has been among those who want to try and stop a rock quarry from blasting near the Old Hickory Dam.

Senator Steven Dickerson has planned to present the Dam Safety Act to the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural Resource Committee on Monday.

The act would stop rock quarries from blasting within a mile of any government-operated dam in Tennessee.

The bill has aimed to protect dams in Tennessee. Most of them are over half a century old. (link)

My comment: I support this effort of Senator Dickerson. I believe in private property rights and I support small government.  However, I am not purist and a fanatic.  Between the extreme of a purely libertarian anarcho-capitalist concept of the stateless society and a Dictatorship of the Proletariat Marxist Leviathan concept of the state, there are hundreds of shades of gray.  I am normally hesitant to embrace taking of ones property without a public purpose and stopping someone from doing with their property what they could previously do is a "taking," however, in this case it is justified. Those who think government should never expand and think the market can deal with all issues would say that insurance and the courts can dispense justice should blasting from a rock quarry cause a dam to fail. I am not buying that argument.

The problem with that is that by the time the damage is done, resulting in loss of life and millions in damage, it may be difficult to prove in a court of law that the blasting caused the dam to fail and the dead people will be dead and the damage will be done. Also, if a multi million dollar damage is awarded then the rock quarry company simply goes bankrupt. If there were no limits on damages, then the bond would be so huge that no company could purchase the insurance to proceed with development of rock quarry near a dam. Theoretically, if the law was amended to remove the cap on damages and to require a certain level of insurance, this issue could be resolved without a law specifically prohibiting building a quarry near a dam. That may be one way to address this problem, but I support the more direct and more certain approach of Senator Dickerson.

Common sense says that it is not wise to blast near an old dam.  Governance is often about making common sense tough decision and making exception from theoretical preferred principals. It is often about where to land on those shades of gray. I support this common sense proposal to stop rock quarries from locating near dams.

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Tennessee General Assembly honored as the most conservative legislature in the country at CPAC

...the American Conservative Union, which organized the conference, honored the Tennessee General Assembly as the most conservative legislature in the country. This is the first year the organization has given the award.

Kelsey and state Rep. Timothy Hill, R-Blountville, accepted the award.

"I'm proud of our record as the most conservative state in America," Kelsey said.
"We've balanced our budget," Kelsey said. "We've stopped Obamacare Medicaid expansion. We've cut taxes repeatedly. We've passed a constitutional amendment to forever ban the state income tax. This is a record we should be proud of, and I appreciate the American Conservative Union has recognized that success." (link)

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Tennessee must concentrate resources on most violent offenders, Kelsey says

Senator Brian Kelsey

By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal,  NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - Tennessee and other states with limited resources to fight crime must make sure they are concentrating their efforts on the most violent offenders, state Sen. Brian Kelsey told a gathering of conservative leaders Saturday.

"Those are people who are committing murders, burglaries and robberies — those are the people we need to be focused on," he said. Kelsey, chairman of the state Senate Judiciary Committee, was one of the members of a panel on criminal justice reform at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, an annual gathering of conservative activists and elected leaders meeting just outside Washington.

....40 percent of the state's prison inmates are people incarcerated for violating their probation and parole. ....offenders convicted of aggravated burglary serve just 30 percent of their sentence....(link)

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Matt Collins' legislative testimony in favor of Constitutional Carry in West Virginia

Below is a statement from Matt Collins:

I am very proud to have been a part of the effort and have the privilege of getting to play a major role in passing Constitutional Carry in West Virginia. I was the point man and "lobbyist" working on passage during the 2015 legislative session. We had a few amazing legislators fighting like hell and an awesome team behind the scenes to make it happen. Unfortunately the Governor vetoed it with cover from Manchin, Bloomberg, and local law enforcement. Since it wasn't passed until the last day of the legislative session the veto could not be overridden in 2015. 

This year it was passed earlier in the session with the help of the same legislators and my former protege who did a kick ass job mobilizing pro-gun supporters across the state with the help and backing of the National Association for Gun Rights. After the expected veto it was overridden by the legislature a couple of days ago.

As of July, it will now be legal to openly or conceal carry a firearm without a permit in the state of West Virginia!!!

This is about as much fundamental raw freedom as you can get.  I congratulate everyone involved, the legislators, and all of my former colleagues.

The takeaway is that the methods used to accomplish this can be done by anyone who is dedicated to winning back their liberties. The playbook works every time and anyone can do it if they simply put out the effort and have the resolve to win. Those who say it is impossible are simply ignorant of the strategy and should be ignored.

West Virginia is now more free because of these efforts, and I want to encourage everyone to endeavor to work on similar efforts in their local and state governments!

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Representative Marsha Blackburn Remarks at CPAC

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