At-large Nashville Council member Sharon Hurt announces mayoral campaign

Sharon Hurt

by Cassandra Stephenson, The Tennessean, Dec. 5, 2022- 

• Sharon Hurt has served as an at-large member of Nashville's council since 2015.
• Hurt was president and CEO of Jefferson Street United Merchants Partnership (JUMP) for 23 years before retiring last fall.
• Hurt joins District 19 Council member Freddie O'Connell and economic development veteran Matt Wiltshire in the candidate pool for the 2023 mayoral race.
• Metro Council member Sharon Hurt is entering the 2023 race for Nashville's next mayor.
• Hurt has served Nashville as an at-large council member since 2015 and announced her mayoral campaign Monday.

"It's about taking care of our people, and as I look at this city, we have a tale of two cities here and I want there to be more equity and inclusion brought into the fold so Nashville can have a balance and be the best that we can be," she said. "As the next mayor, I will work my heart out to restore hope and prosperity on every forgotten block of our city." ....

Hurt joins District 19 Council member Freddie O'Connell and Nashville economic development and affordable housing veteran Matt Wiltshire in the growing candidate pool. First-term Mayor John Cooper has yet to announce whether he plans to run for reelection, though campaign finance disclosures show he has continued to fundraise. Nonprofit leader Hal Cato contemplated a mayoral run for months but declined to launch a campaign this fall. ...

During her Metro Council tenure, Hurt has been an outspoken advocate for the inclusion of minority- and women-owned businesses and supported the creation of an equal opportunity program for businesses seeking to contract with the council. ... She said she was proud to support the creation of the Community Oversight Board to oversee Metro's police department. ... She carried legislation asking Nashville Electric Service to round up electricity bills to the nearest dollar (unless customers opt out) to contribute to Home Uplift, a program providing weatherization for homeowners with limited income. That program went into effect in January. (read more)

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Trump calls for suspending of the Constitution in order to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

by Rod Williams, Dec. 4, 2022- Trump has now said it. We know he tried to subvert the constitution in order to hang on to power, but now he has publicly called for suspending the constitution and returning him to office.'s 

Surely, this should be the straw that breaks the camel's back. It is time for Republican leaders to unmistakeably say Donald Trump is unfit to hold office. It is past time for Republican leaders to issue mealy-mouthed statements that say they will support the Party's 2024 candidate whoever that might be. It is time to stop being a timid follower with a finger to the wind and be a leader. It is time to denounce Donald Trump in the strongest terms.

Hell will freeze over before I will ever vote for Donald Trump.  He is a disgrace and a traitor. 

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“Racism, antisemitism and denial of the Holocaust have no place in the Republican Party and are completely un-American.”

by Rod Williams, Dec. 3, 2022- A couple days before Thanksgiving, Donald Trump had a private dinner with Kanye West and alt-right leader Nick Fuentes. This has created a firestorm.

During Trump's presidency and campaign, Black rapper Kanye West had become an outspoken admirer of Donald Trump. Kanye West has recently seen his star fade, however. He has lost lucrative business deals and has become somewhat of an outcast for making antisemitic remarks and praising Hitler. He is no longer welcome in polite society. It appears to many that West may suffer from mental illness.  

I have never cared for Kanye West. Of course, I find rap music disgusting and harmful to society, and have a hard time admiring any rapper.  I know that is a generalization and there may be some wholesome rappers who are good people but in general, the music glorifies thuggery and objectifies women.  It is crude and offensive.

When I think of Kanye West I remember West interrupting Taylor Swift's acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards in 2019 to say that her video didn't deserve an award. He said instead the award should have gone to Beyoncé.  My thought at the time was, "what a jerk."

Why Trump chose to have dinner with Kanye West, (who now goes by the name "Ye"), I don't know.  I do not see an upside to Trump meeting with him. Possibly, Trump's association with Ye will improve his standing in the Black Community, but maybe not.   I don't know if the Black community is standing by Ye or not. 

It may make Trump more popular with anti-Semites, but there are not that many of them.  They are not a significant voting block. Maybe Trump just likes the guy; maybe Trump likes anyone who is loyal to him and will sing his praises. Maybe Trump is not that calculating.  Maybe Trump was not going to ditch a friend when he was down and thought it would be a quiet non-public, non-eventful dinner.

If so, then why also have dinner with Nick Fuentes?  The way it is being reported is that Kanye simply showed up with Fuente and Trump did not know him.  That is hard to believe.  Trump has Secret Service protection.  Trump is a hated figure.  One would think that his dinner guest would be vetted. Hard as it is to believe that Trump was unaware and that Ye just showed up with Fuentes, it looks like that is what happened. NBC news is certainly no fan of Donald Trump and it reports that that is what happened.  To read the NBC report of the dinner, follow this link. 

The agenda of West and Fuentes appeared to be to criticize Trump for not doing more to support those arrested in the Jan. 6th insurrection and to implore Trump not to abandon his base. Trump fumed afterward that Ye had betrayed him by ambushing him. 

Ye may be a pathetic figure, not very well educated, and one who suffers from mental illness. Fuente is beyond a doubt the real-deal racist and antisemite, however.  This is an excerpt from a piece in National Review and what it had to say about Fuente:

Fuentes. He once called a writer a “race traitor” because he “work[s] for Jews.” He opposes interracial marriage and has praised segregation.

“Enough with the Jim Crow stuff. Who cares? Oh, they had to drink out of a different water fountain, big f***ing deal. Oh no, they had to go to a different school,” Fuentes said in one video. “It’s better for them, it’s better for us.”

“I’m getting really sick of world Jewry — that’s what it is! what it is! — running the show, and we can’t talk about it,” he said in another video.

In yet another video, he joyfully promoted grotesque claims denying that millions of Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Smirking and laughing, he read a question from a viewer who was obviously comparing murdered Jews to cookies and Adolph Hitler to Cookie Monster: “If I take one hour to cook a batch of cookies, and Cookie Monster has fifteen hours working every day for five years, how long does it take Cookie Monster to make six million batches of cookies?”

“The math doesn’t seem to add up there,” Fuentes says. “Maybe two-hundred to three-hundred thousand cookies,” he adds before making several more references to bits of propaganda cited by Holocaust deniers. 

So, Trump had lunch with a White Nationalist and a holocaust denier. So what?  Does that mean Trump is a white nationalist or anti-semite?    I don't think so.  Trump's son-in-law is an orthodox Jew and Trump has long had close friendships with African Americans and Jews.  

Unfortunately, Trump has repeatedly put himself in a position to be identified as friendly to bigots and anti-Semites. He falsely accused Barack Obama of not being a natural-born citizen, and he categorized most Mexican migrants as rapists and drug runners, instead of denouncing the support of David Duke he claimed not to know who he was, and during the Tiki torch Unite the Right rally Trump said there were many good people on both sides. 

Back during the 50's when the modern conservative movement was formed, leaders such as William F. Buckley worked hard to purge anti-Semites, racists, and nutty conspiracy theorists from the movement.  Now, unfortunately, almost seventy years later those unsavory elements have again found a welcoming environment in the Republican Party.

Trump should, in unmistakable terms, denounce bigotry and anti-Semitism. Unfortunately, Trump is one to never back down or admit that he is wrong.  Call him a bigot for a mistake he has made and he won't back down but will double down.

Anti-Semitism and bigotry is not exclusive to the right, of course, Prominent Democrats will share a stage with and show respect to notorious anti-Semetic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Democrat Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is an established anti-Semetic figure in Congress, yet the Party shows no inclination to censor her or strip her of her committee assignments. So, while both parties tolerated anti-Semites, the Republican Party gets the White Nationalist.  Also, while both parties may tolerate anti-Semites and bigots, it is the leader of the Republican Party that sits down and has a meal with them. 

While I wish more Republicans and especially conservative commentators and media would take the Trump dinner with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes as an opportunity to condemn bigotry and antisemitism, I am pleased with those who have spoken out. Below is an excerpt from a  National Review article, listing some of the Republican responses. 

Georgia Republican governor Brian Kemp, fresh off a resounding reelection victory, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: “Racism, antisemitism and denial of the Holocaust have no place in the Republican Party and are completely un-American.”

“President Trump hosting racist antisemites for dinner encourages other racist antisemites,” Louisiana GOP senator Bill Cassidy wrote on Twitter on Monday. “These attitudes are immoral and should not be entertained. This is not the Republican Party.”

Former vice president Mike Pence said in a NewsNation interview: “President Trump was wrong to give a white nationalist, an anti-Semite, and a Holocaust denier, a seat at the table and I think he should apologize for it. And he should denounce those individuals and their hateful rhetoric without qualification.”

Florida’s senior GOP senator Marco Rubio told reporters in the Capitol on Monday that Fuentes is an “evil . . . a**clown” who was “legitimized” by Trump’s meeting.

“There’s no room in the Republican Party for white supremacists and antisemitism, so it’s wrong,” Florida’s junior GOP senator Rick Scott said. “I think Republicans should all condemn white supremacy and antisemitism.”

Utah GOP senator Mitt Romney said: “There’s no bottom to the degree which he’s willing to degrade himself and the country for that matter. Having dinner with those people was disgusting.”

Montana GOP senator Steve Daines said: “We cannot tolerate antisemitism. Period.”

Maine GOP senator Susan Collins said: “I condemn white supremacy and antisemitism. The president should never have had a meal or even a meeting with Nick Fuentes.”

On Sunday, Nebraska GOP congressman Don Bacon told reporters: “I am appalled.”

Arkansas GOP governor Asa Hutchinson told CNN on Sunday: “This was not an accidental meeting. It was a set-up dinner with Kanye. . . . You have to disavow it. It is as simple as that.”

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said: “This is just another example of an awful lack of judgment from Donald Trump.”

This is great as far as it goes.  However, many are going to be dismissive of Susan Collins, Chis Christie, and Mitt Romney as out-of-touch RINO never-Trumpers.  I want to hear from Ron Desantis, Newt Gingrich, Lindsey Graham, Nicki Haley, and Tim Scot denouncing this normalization of bigotry and antisemitism. I want to see Tucker Carlson condemn it and many more conservative pundits and new conservative media personalities condemn it.  And, I want to see my Facebook friends denounce it. 

I believe in a 'big tent" conservative movement, but not big enough for Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. Anti-Semitism, denial of the Holocaust, and White nationalism should have no place in the Republican Party.

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Bellevue Breakfast Club - Dec. 3rd. "The elections and how the Republican Party moves forward."

From Lonnie Spivak:

Lonnie Spivak

Greetings Breakfast Club Members,

Looks like our desire for a Red Wave was met with near disaster, as we wrap up the mid-term elections. The GOP has failed to take the Senate, and has the slimmest of majorities in the House.

This month, I will be leading the conversation regarding the elections and how the Republican Party moves forward in Davidson County and nationally. Touch on Donald Trump's announcement and next year's Metro elections. This will be a lively discussion as we look forward to 2024. 

Please join me as we meet our our normal location, Plantation Pub. Located at 8321 Sawyer Brown Rd, Nashville, 37221. Our meeting will begin on Saturday, December 3rd, at 8:30 am.

Congratulations to Congressman Elect Andy Ogles, Rep. Dr. Mark Green on their victories. And a special thank you to Michelle Foreman, who ran one heck of a race, but came up a little short election day.

Have a great Thanksgiving,

Lonnie

 

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Metro Nashville School Board Approves 4 Charter School Agreement Renewals

By Jason Vaughn, The Tennessee Conservative, Nov 29, 2022 – Last Tuesday, four Nashville charter schools agreements were up for renewal at the Metro Nashville Public School’s Board of Education meeting. ... While all the school’s agreements were renewed by majority, none received a unanimous vote from the board members. ... According to the district’s director of charter schools, Shereka Roby-Grant, all schools received ratings of “meets or exceeds standard” in every category which is the highest possible rating.

TNReady test results show that Nashville’s charter schools outperform MNPS and other districts throughout the state. Eighth-grade students who graduated this spring from Nashville Classical Charter School had a combined English and Math success rate of 62% – MNPS had a 19.5% rate in comparison.

(Emphasis was added by the editor. To read the full article, follow this link.)

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Number of Tennessee residents on food stamps hits 19-year low

Liberals cry in anguish upon learning Number of
Tennessee residents on food stamps hits 19-year low

By Tom Gantert, The Center Square, Nov 25, 2022 -  The number of individuals receiving food stamps in Tennessee has dropped to the lowest levels since November 2003, according to data released by the federal government.

There were 786,502 people receiving food assistance in Tennessee in August 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which recently updated its data on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

By comparison, in the wake of the recession of 2009, the number of people on food stamps in Tennessee reached as high as 1.35 million in the spring and summer of 2013. The number of people on food stamps peaked during the pandemic at 912,733 in January 2021.

The cost of the federal program has also dropped significantly. The monthly cost was $117.88 per person in August 2022 after peaking during the pandemic a year earlier at $336.18 per person in August 2021.

The state of Tennessee has updated its data on SNAP participation through October. The number of individuals on SNAP reached 793,968 that month.

Gov. Bill Lee did not renew a COVID-19 state of emergency in November 2021, which had been in effect for 20 months. Additional emergency SNAP benefits authorized by the federal government ended Dec. 31. The SNAP benefits cost per person was $256.66 in December and dropped in January to $166.82.

The state's unemployment rate during the pandemic peaked at 15.9% in April 2020 and dropped to 3.4% as of September 2022.

Tennessee's lower participation in SNAP bucks trends seen in other states. For example, Illinois has had about 2 million people on food stamps in 2021 and 2022 and that state's SNAP cost per person has increased from $220.04 in August 2021 to $250.03 in August 2022.

Lee also signed a law that took effect in May that added a work requirement to receive food assistance.

According to the Department of Human Services, "... most able-bodied people between 16 and 59 years old must register for work, participate in the Employment & Training Program if offered, accept offers of employment, and cannot quit a job. Able-bodied adults without dependents aged 18 to 49 can receive only a limited number of benefit months in 3 years, unless working 80 hours per month or otherwise determined exempt from the rule."

College students, in general, must be working an average of 20 hours per week to be eligible for food assistance, according to the state.

The number of households receiving food assistance in Tennessee has dropped to the lowest levels since December 2007.

There were 398,078 households receiving SNAP benefits in August 2022. It was the first time in 15 years the number of households on food stamps had dropped below 400,000.

State Sen. Jack Johnson's office and the Tennessee Department of Human Services weren't able to provide comment prior to the Thanksgiving holiday.

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Report: Tennessee is 31st highest in average retail price for electricity

 By Jon Styf, The Center Square, Nov 28, 2022 -  Tennessee ranked 13th in total retail sales of  electricity and was 31st in average retail price, according to new data from 2021 released recently by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The state also ranked 21st in summer megawatt capacity and was 11th in direct use.

Tennessee’s average price was 9.78 cents per kilowatt hour, compared to the national average of 11.1.

In 2020, Tennessee was 22nd in energy consumption per capita while being 41st in electricity prices and 35th in the cost of natural gas.

The Tennessee Valley Authority is the largest public power corporation in the country, generating 90% of the state’s electric generating capacity and three-fifth of its power plants.

TVA is federally owned and serves 10 million by providing electricity to 153 local power companies. TVA said that natural gas prices were 141% higher in June 2022 than June 2021 but TVA’s effective power rate, inclusive of fuel cost, is only 11% higher than a year before.

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Nashville DA Glenn Funk rejects $354,000 in state money for DUI prosecutions, refuses to say why

 Nashville DA Glenn Funk rejects $354,000 in state money for DUI prosecutions, refuses to say why

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Student Loan Pause Could Cost $275 Billion. Major beneficiaries are the wealthier. New doctors receive almost ten times the benefit of the average borrower

Commitee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Nov. 22, 2022- The Department of Education announced it would extend the pause to the sooner of 60 days after resolution of the student debt cancellation litigation or 60 days after June 30, 2023 (which would be the end of August, based on our understanding). An extension to the end of August 2023 would cost $40 billion, bringing the total cost of the pause to $195 billion.

Recent reports suggest the Biden Administration plans to once again extend the federal student loan payment moratorium – currently set to expire on December 31, 2022 – in light of court rulings against the Administration’s unilateral student debt cancellation plan. As we’ve shown several times before, extending the pause is costly, inflationary, regressive, and economically unjustified.  

The pause costs over $5 billion per month and extending it through the end of 2024 would cost at least $120 billion. This would bring the total cost since Spring of 2020 to $275 billion. This represents about 70 percent of the cost of the President’s announced debt cancellation plan and is higher than the ten-year cost of President Biden’s proposal to double the maximum Pell Grant by 2029. 

Extending the pause would also worsen inflation. We previously estimated the pause could add up to 20 basis points to inflationary pressures, which could lead the Federal Reserve to further raise interest rates and increase the risk of a deeper recession. 

As we’ve shown before, the benefit of the pause accrues disproportionately to those with advanced degrees. Should the President extend the policy through the end of 2024, the nearly five-year long pause would mean that a typical medical student who graduated in 2019 would effectively have $107,000 forgiven and a law school graduate would have $65,000 forgiven. That’s compared to the average borrower receiving $11,000 of forgiveness. Between 75 to 80 percent of the forgiveness would be from the pause itself and the rest from the effects of higher inflation on eroding debt. New doctors receive almost ten times the benefit of the average borrower and $107,000 more than someone who never attended college. 

The pause disproportionately benefits borrowers in higher-paid professions because people in those professions tend to borrow more and pay higher interest rates. Indeed, roughly 40 percent of debt is held by the 7 percent of borrowers that have over $100,000 of debt and 17 percent is held by the 2 percent of borrowers with over $200,000 of debt. Most of these borrowers have advanced degrees that lead to very high lifetime earnings; 16 of the 18 highest paying occupations in America are types of medical doctors and the other two are types of dentists.

Overall, the student debt pause is far more regressive than the President’s announced cancellation of $10,000 to $20,000 of debt. While we’ve estimated 57 to 65 percent of the President’s debt cancellation plan would go to those in the top half, it’s likely that well over three-quarters of the benefit of the pause goes to the top half (73 percent of repayments come from the top two income quintiles). 

It is also completely unjustified under current economic conditions. The pause began as an emergency when the economy was in free fall, the country was largely shut down because of the pandemic, and the unemployment rate was surging toward 15 percent. The unemployment rate is only 3.7 percent today and only 1.9 percent among college graduates. The emergency phase of the pandemic has long since passed, and most borrowers are actually financially better off than they were before the pandemic. The biggest threat to the economy is now inflation – which extending the pause would exacerbate.

Ultimately, continuing the pause would be expensive, regressive, inflationary, and unjustified. The pause has already been extended seven times – and the Administration has announced twice that it would come to an end. Reneging on this again will undermine the Administration’s credibility to cancel future debt, especially from the $250 billion of new federal student loans issued over the course of the pause. 

Regardless of what the court decides on the legality of debt cancellation itself, it’s time to restart payments. 

Emphasis was added by the editor. For more on this topic visit Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 

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Tennessee's school voucher program wins court challenge

by Mariah Timms, The Tennessean, Nov. 23, 2022- Tennessee's contentious school voucher program in Nashville and Memphis can go ahead without court intervention, a three-judge panel ruled Wednesday. 

The program, which allows families in Nashville and Shelby County schools to use public funds for private school costs and tuition, has been in legal limbo since it squeaked past the legislature in 2019.

... "This controversy is merely a disagreement of public policy and inappropriate for judicial decision," the majority wrote on Wednesday. ... "The Court's decision secures access to additional educational opportunities for thousands of children in Shelby and Davidson counties," Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti's office wrote.

The Institute for Justice says it is the nation’s leading advocate for school choice and was joined by the Beacon Center of Tennessee in intervening in the case. (link)

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Happy Thanksgiving!

 

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AIER’s Bastiat Society program in Nashville will host an in-person event with William J. Luther, Nov 29. "Why Are Prices So High?"

 

AIER’s Bastiat Society program in Nashville will host an in-person event with William J. Luther, associate professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University and director of the American Institute for Economic Research’s Sound Money Project.

Prices have risen rapidly over the last two years. Some claim prices are higher due to supply constraints. Others blame the Federal Reserve. Dr. William Luther assesses these two views and considers the likelihood that inflation will remain high well into the future.

Eventbrite Ticket Required. Register Here.

More about the speaker: William J. Luther is an associate professor of economics at Florida Atlantic University and director of the American Institute for Economic Research’s Sound Money Project. The Social Science Research Network currently ranks him in the top five percent of business authors. Luther has published articles in leading scholarly journals. His work has been featured by major media outlets, including NPR, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, TIME Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Barron’s, Forbes, Fortune, National Review, The Guardian, POLITICO, and VICE News. He earned his MA and PhD in Economics at George Mason University.

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