City council members looking to help minority-owned businesses keep their doors open
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Thursday, December 30, 2021
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
At least President Biden didn't revive Pajama Boy.
but at least he did not bring out pajama boy to ruin your holiday. Remember pajama boy?
As if we were not polarized enough already, in 2013 President Obama introduced pajama boy who, on Christmas mourning, was supposed to educate his ignorant backward parents on the virtues of socialized medicine.
It is hard enough these days to have a family get-together and avoid the landmines of politics without the president of the United States inciting family squabbles. One must be careful in even talking sports or the weather. Don't talk cars, for sure.
The Biden Administration is sometimes called Obama's third term. Well, as a person, I don't think Biden is as bad as Obama. President Biden could have brought out pajama boy as a model for educating your dumb Republican uncle on the advantages of Build Back Better. He didn't. Biden may be bad, but he could be worst. He is just wrong and has some cognitive ability issues but he is not evil. Obama set out to ruin your holiday and cause family conflict; Biden didn't.
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Rand Paul's "Festivus Report" reveals over $52.6 billion in government waste.
Press release, December 22, 2021, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Emerging Threats and Spending Oversight (ETSO) Subcommittee for the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), released his 2021 “Festivus” Report, totaling over $52,598,515,585 billion in government waste.
This marks Dr. Paul’s and the subcommittee’s seventh edition of the Festivus Report as he continues working to alert the American people to how their federal government uses their hard-earned money.
Sections are broken down into COVID-19 spending, Afghanistan, and Miscellaneous.
You can find Dr. Paul’s 2021 Festivus Report HERE.
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Tuesday, December 28, 2021
Expect to hear the term "budget equity" a lot this year when Metro develops a budget. What is it?
It appears that Budgeting for Equity was a project of Bloomberg Philanthropies and was launched in 2020. Initially, 30 cities participated in a training session to learn the concept and use of the tool. "The 30 cities that have been selected to participate in the program, which will run through December 2021, are: Akron (OH), Austin (TX), Birmingham (AL), Chattanooga (TN), Chula Vista (CA), Columbia (SC), Columbus (OH), Denver (CO), Durham (NC), Fort Collins (CO), Knoxville (TN), Lincoln (NE), Madison (WI), New Orleans (LA), Oakland (CA), Peoria (IL), Philadelphia (PA), Providence (RI), Pueblo (CO), Rochester (NY), Salt Lake City (UT), Savannah (GA), Seattle (WA), Springfield (IL), Stockton (CA), Syracuse (NY), Tacoma (WA), Tampa (FL), Toledo (OH), West Palm Beach (FL)." (link)
Note that Nashville was not one of the original 30, but since the launch of "Budgeting for Equity," by Bloomberg, this concept has spread rapidly beyond the original thirty participating cities. Numerous cities are now incorporating "budget equity" in their budgeting process.
Here is some of what I gleaned about the "budget equity" movement from reading various sources and included are some snippets of the rhetoric. One can expect this to be repeated in Nashville.
- A BUDGET IS A MORAL DOCUMENT AS WELL AS A FINANCIAL ONE
- BE SPECIFIC. “Equity” can sound like a broad term. Identify the inequity or disparity you wish to address and how you will address it. 'Our department will create a performance goal for each employee to attend at least 2 equity, diversity, and inclusion related training per year."
- Budget Equity Tool (BET) is designed to integrate explicit considerations of racial and economic equity into decisions, including policies, practices, programs and ultimately, the Departmental budgets.
- Systemic inequities are entrenched in local governments. And the sheer pervasiveness can make it hard for city leaders to know where to start when making structural changes to how services are delivered or programs are designed. Many local leaders are now looking at their budgets—a city’s most important annual statement about its values and priorities—to address long-standing issues of racial injustice.
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Sunday, December 26, 2021
At Gov. Lee's request, Nashville submits bid to host 2024 Republican National Convention
Dec. 26—NASHVILLE — Tennessee Republicans have high hopes the city of Nashville can win a bid to host their party's national convention here in 2024.
The city is among a group of states now under consideration by the Republican National Committee for the convention, according to Republicans here.
"Stay tuned," Beth Campbell, a Republican National Committee member from Nashville, told executive committee members during a Dec. 4 meeting in Brentwood. "We have a very, very strong chance of securing this convention."
Cautioning that it was "a tall order," Campbell told executive committee members "You know what? We can do this in Tennessee. It's going to be good for the whole state, it's not just Metro Nashville." (read more)
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Saturday, December 25, 2021
Friday, December 24, 2021
Tennessee House committee unveils state House legislative map
By Jon Styf | The Center Square Dec 17, 2021 – The Tennessee House Select Committee on Redistricting made public Friday its plan for new state House legislative districts.
The committee heard several publicly submitted plans and responses, along with the House Democrats’ plan, during Friday's meeting before committee Vice Chair Rep. Pat Marsh, R-Shelbyville, introduced the committee's plan.
The House must approve the plan during the General Assembly's upcoming legislative session, which begins in January, before sending the plan onto the Tennessee Senate and Gov. Bill Lee for his signature.
“I appreciate members of the first-ever bipartisan Select Committee on Redistricting for their thorough efforts in formulating a fair and constitutional plan, representing the distinctive voice of all Tennesseans,” House Speaker Cameron Sexton tweeted about the process. “Our committee effectively engaged the public as part of a months-long open and inclusive process that resulted in the first House proposal ever released before the start of a new legislative session. I look forward to continued engagement from both the public and our members as this proposal travels through an equally transparent House committee process.”
The committee’s map shows 30 counties would be split between districts, while seven districts would include a pair of incumbents based on current addresses listed for members of the House.
The map also would create eight districts with no incumbents.
Ethics Counsel Doug Himes presented the responses to the district plans, including a response to the Democrats’ plan, which was presented by Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Nashville. Freeman took exception to the analysis Himes presented because several House members have announced they will not be running for reelection while two others have moved from the home listed in the legislative directory.
“House Republicans have adopted an unconstitutional, racially and politically gerrymandered map that minimizes minority voting strength and splits dozens of communities statewide,” Tennessee Senate Democrats tweeted. “Mostly in service of petty personal grievances. And the Senate majority hasn’t released a map.”
One of the proposed districts that includes two incumbents is that of Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, and Rep. Torrey Harris, D-Memphis.
“I’m sad to report that [Tennessee Republicans have] proposed a map that will eliminate [Harris'] district and draw him into my district 91. It’s unfortunate that your two youngest representatives are being pitted against each other while it’s possible to maintain all our districts,” Lamar tweeted. “I will continue to advocate to maintain or districts until we vote on the map when session resumes in January. We don’t want to cut out Tennessee’s next generation of leaders.”
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Thursday, December 23, 2021
Councilman Freddie O'Connell to be Garbage Man Freddie.
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Curbside recycling pickup suspended. I would like to know if our recyclables were going to the landfill anyway.
I don't know, but I suspect Nashville's recycling is wishcycling. If I could get answers, I would want to know how much it costs to dispose of a ton of garbage in a landfill. I would want to know how much we have to pay to get someone to take a ton of our recyclables. What is the real net difference? Is landfilling cheaper than recycling? I don't know. Do our recyclables often end up in the landfill anyway? If so, how often? I would like to know. I know we do pay for companies to take our recyclables. At one time, it is my understanding, a company paid us for our recyclables.
The reason I suspect that our recycling program may be a scam and simply wishcycling is because it often is in other places. A report out of Seattle Washington says over 2000 tops of paper collected as recyclables were landfilled. This is not that uncommon. One sees stories like this from all across the nation. The problem is that China has, for the most part, stopped accepting plastics and paper for recycling and China was the world's number one customer for them.
In an article appearing in The Huffington Post, The Dirty Truth Is Your Recycling May Actually Go To Landfills, this situation of recyclable actually not being recycled is reported. Similar stories have appeared in The New York Times and other major publications.
This week, The Tennessean reports, Nashville suspends recycling pickup services as trash collection woes sap Metro resources. The article says that Metro recycling trucks and staff are being reassigned to trash collection due to growing trash collection delays caused by staffing and fleet issues. The article explains how we got in such a mess that the garbage is not being collected. The article says this is a temporary suspension of the curbside pickup but gives no clue as to how long it may be before curbside is resumed.
The article list drop-off recycling locations where one may take their recyclables. I won't be doing so. I need some assurances that when collected as recyclables, they will not be landfilled anyway. And, I need assurances that if they are recycled that it is worth my gas money and time to do it. I am civic-minded and don't mind doing something for the public good, but my time is valuable. If it takes me three gallons of gas a week and three hours of my time to recycle and only saves the city $3 it is not a wise use of my time.
I am not opposed to recycling I just wanted it to be a rational thing to do. A long time ago before Metro had curbside recycling I volunteered many a Saturday morning at a recycling drop-off site, helping people dispose of their recyclables and making sure they were properly sorted and did not contaminate the whole batch. I do recycle now. I also compost and a lot of my paper waste gets composted instead of placed in the recycle bin. I like to garden and am now retired and have this year stepped up my gardening game. With time to do it, I started composting my kitchen waste, and yard waste. Recently, I added paper waste. The worms seem to really like cardboard. (If interested in composting see this video: How to compost.)
I support recycling if it makes sense. I will do it myself if it makes sense to me. I will support the city's recycling program if convinced it makes economic sense for the city and is not all for show and nothing more than an exercise to make people simply feel virtuous.
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Wednesday, December 22, 2021
Student loan forgiveness is the poor subsidizing the wealthy. How is that fair?
by Rod Williams, Dec. 22, 2021 - I am convinced that liberals only pretend to care about poor people. The cynical side of me thinks they want to keep poor people poor so they will keep voting Democrat. One has to look no further than the various welfare programs to see how their affect it to keep poor people poor. And inflation, which hits those with less disposable income the hardest helps keep poor people trapped in poverty. And an overtaxed and overregulated economy is less dynamic and provides less opportunity for people to pull themselves out of poverty.
Maybe, however, Democrats really do love poor people and that is why they favor policies that keep people poor and create more poor people.
When it comes to student loan forgiveness, there is nothing that could be more unfair to poor people.
Median career earnings for a bachelor’s degree holder are $1.28 million in 2018 dollars. ... At the median, career earnings for a bachelor’s degree graduate are more than twice as high as for someone with only a high school diploma or GED, roughly 70 percent higher than for someone with some college but no degree, and more than 45 percent higher than for someone with an associate degree. (link)
With student debt forgiveness the person with only a high school education is taxed to help someone who has a college education. How is that fair? How can any fair-minded person support such a policy?
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House redistricting to eliminate five Democratic incumbents in urban Tennessee. Dems freak out.
by Yue Stella Yu, The Tennessean, Dec. 17,2021 -Tennessee House Redistricting Committee on Friday unveiled — and voted to advance — its own draft state House map that would eliminate five Democratic incumbents who face re-election in 2022.
The plan, if approved by the legislature, would further solidify the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly and diminish Democratic influence.
The map, presented for the first time in public and immediately passed by the committee Friday, would lump nine Democratic incumbents in urban areas such as Nashville, Knoxville and Memphis in four districts.
Six Republicans are paired together under the new district lines, .... House Democratic Caucus Chairman Vincent Dixie, D-Nashville, said the redistricting process reflects Republicans' efforts to "rig" the elections. ... most partisan and racially motivated process that I've been involved in since I have been in the legislature," Dixie said. ...
It preserves 13 majority-minority districts statewide ... In Nashville, Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, and Rep. Jason Potts, D-Nashville, are drawn into House District 52, represented by Rep. Mike Stewart, D-Nashville. Clemmons represents House District 55, which covers west Davidson County. Potts is not up for re-election in 2022, leaving Clemmons and Stewart potential competitors. (read it all)
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