Beacon Center names Tennessee Titans' proposed stadium as 'Pork of the Year'

 

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Tennessee Titans stadium term sheet approved, setting up Tuesday's full council vote

Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee at sunset. The stadium
would torn down and replaced by a new $2.1 billion stadium
 if city and team officials have their way. Steve Heap / Shutterstock.com

 By Jon Styf, The Center Square, Dec.20, 2022-  Nashville’s Budget and Finance Committee voted
11-2 on Monday to recommend a non-binding term sheet on the basics of the deal to build an estimated $2.1 billion new stadium for the Tennessee Titans.

The non-binding term sheet will head to the full council on Tuesday night for a vote, along with eight attached amendments.

The committee voted against recommending amendments that would have given the city rights to the funds for selling naming rights at the stadium, asking the state to allocate $50 million toward the Department of Children’s Services instead of the stadium and an amendment to require a 27-vote super majority to approve a new non-NFL ticket tax at the stadium that is defined in the term sheet at Titans rent.

"The idea that 'fixing up Nissan is the path with the lowest GO bond debt for Metro' is an aspiration (fairy tale?) and not a fact," Councilmember Bob Mendes wrote about the deal. "Mark your calendar to fact check this in 5 years — the GO bond debt within 0.5 miles to build the neighborhood will be more than updating Nissan."

The deal, as it stands, would require the state to pay $500 million, the city to bond $760 million and the Titans/NFL to pay the remainder to build the stadium. Then, a tax fund projected to bring in $2.9 billion of state and local taxes over the 30 years of the agreement, would be used to pay off the $760 million of bonds and send money to a Capital and Repairs Fund to pay for future stadium upgrades.

That means that, over the span of the deal, $3.4 billion in public funds are set aside for the stadium project not including future tax deals the city is planning to create for a new neighborhood and district on the East Bank next to the stadium.

The stadium will use more public taxpayer funds than any stadium in history.

Titans CEO Burke Nihill said at the meeting that the new stadium lease would again have a "first-class" clause requiring the stadium to continuously meet NFL peer standards but that the team would have to pay for future improvements beyond the projected $2.9 billion tax fund.

When asked about the team’s finances or the amount that the team makes on the current Nissan Stadium deal or would project to make on a new naming rights deal, Nihill said that all of those details are "confidential."

Forbes estimates the Titans are worth $3.5 billion with $481 million in annual revenue, which would likely expand under a new stadium deal where the team retains in-stadium sales from any additional events at the stadium.

In response to Councilmember Emily Benedict’s term sheet amendment that would give Metro Nashville the revenue from a naming rights deal, Nihill claimed that the debt the team is taking on to pay its negotiated portion of the deal requires the naming rights funds in order to happen, saying conceding the naming right revenue was "quite literally an impossibility."

Nihill wouldn’t say how much debt team ownership would take on but said that the naming rights funds would not pay off "less than half" of the debt.

When asked why the deal was so urgent now, Nihill said that Nissan Stadium improvements have become more of a priority for the NFL. Nashville Deputy Mayor Sam Wilcox claimed that "Time can kill deals. ... the landing zone is now."

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Oberlin College pays bakery it called 'racist' over $36 million after years-long defamation lawsuit

by Rod Williams, Dec. 17, 2022 - As explained at this news link, Oberlin College in Ohio has paid out over $36 million to Gibson’s Bakery and Food Mart after years of attempting to overturn a jury decision that found the college defamed the local bakery. 

In 2016, a Black student stole a bottle of wine from the bakery, the owner gave chase and tackled the student, two other Black students came to the aid of the student who stole the wine, and blows were exchanged. The three students were arrested and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges.

Students from Oberlin College protested outside the bakery and the Oberlin College vice president and dean of students, Meredith Raimondo, handed out flyers stating that the bakery is a "RACIST establishment with a LONG ACCOUNT of RACIAL PROFILING and DISCRIMINATION." 

The bakery sued for defamation and won, the college appealed and lost. The college just paid up. 

Hallelujah! Maybe people ought to think twice before calling people racist and ruining their reputation and attempting to ruin their business. $36 million could have gone a long way toward scholarships for underprivileged students. Unfortunately, justice is expensive.  I would like to see more public interest law firms taking on cases of this nature. Society needs to push back against woke bullies. 

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Metro needs to reject the proposal for a new $2.1 billion indoor stadium. Back to the drawing board.

by Rod Williams, Dec. 13, 2022 - Bruce Barry writing in Tennessee Outlook sheds light on the issues surrounding the proposal to build a new stadium for the Titans. Below are some of the highlights of the points he makes

• Proponents of the new stadium have stage-managed the public comment sessions. Vested interest used the public comment sessions as a vehicle for advancing the establishment's pro-stadium narrative.
• The assertion that “This doesn’t cost Nashville’s taxpayers a dime; the revenue is coming from people who travel here and come from outside” is demonstrably false.
• County superstar Garth Brooks in a letter to Metro Council said "domed stadiums are revenue-generating machines because they can be kept busy 365 days a year." Others have made the same argument. Barry provides data. Sofi in Los Angeles which books more events than any other domed stadium only booked 17 nights last year. 
• The alternative to building the new stadium is to rehab the existing one and "we still don’t actually have a conclusive and reliable analysis of those costs. "

The push for a new stadium needs to be slowed down and the Council needs real cost analysis and facts before allowing this to be railroaded though. 

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TN man sentenced to more than 5 years for role in Jan. 6 Capitol riot

Sandlin smoking a
marijuana joint in the
Rotunda of the Capitol.

by David Royer,  Dec 9, 2022, MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Millington, Tennessee man who participated in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol last year will spend more than five years behind bars.

Ronald Sandlin, 35, was sentenced Friday in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers. He also faces three years of supervised release and a $2,000 restitution payment. (read more)

Rod's Comment

Revolution might seem like fun and games until you pay the penalty. I am pleased to see the January 6th insurrectionist punished, I just wish that insurrectionists involved in the 2020 BLM/Antifa riots had received the same harsh treatment. 

In the 2020 BLM uprising, hundreds of riots occurred nationwide, over 2,000 officers were injured, and nearly $2 billion worth of property damage occurred. Our own Metro Nashville Courthouse was set afire. Streets were blocked and White people were pulled from their cars and beaten. Portions of some big cities were just abandoned to be ruled for weeks by Antifa/BLM activists.  During this time, police did not respond to assaults and rapes in the lawless occupied zones.  During the unrest, people died. 

The 2020 BLM riots were the most destructive in U.S. history.  Liberal big city attorney generals often just dismissed charges against the rioters and liberal politicians and media were understanding and excused the rage.

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Republicans Abandon Any Pretense of Fiscal Responsibility. Republicans sign up to "bring home the bacon."

by Rod Williams, Dec. 10, 2022- I still prefer Republican policy positions over those of Democrats, but it is not because Republicans have stood firm with principled positions. In fact, it is hard to know what Republicans actually believe any longer.  Republicans have moved away from a party committed to conservative principles and toward populist positions of simple anti-elitism and anti-intellectualism. They have become the party of those, "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore."

Anger and resentment have replaced reason. To a large extent, the Republican Party of Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson is hardly recognizable as the same party as that of Ronald Reagan and Williams F. Buckley, Jr.  The Republican Party only looks good compared to the Democrat Party which has moved further left and embraced Critical Race Theory,  "equity" over equality, and a gender ideology that pretends gender is fluid and nothing but a social construct. 

One area in which Republicans have blurred what it means to be a Republican is by the abandonment of fiscal responsibility. The following article from the Wall Street Journal examines this development. 

The GOP Spending Poseurs

House Republicans prove themselves unserious by refusing to ban earmarks.

By Kimberley A. Strassel, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 1, 2022 - ... Leader Kevin McCarthy in September unveiled to great fanfare the party’s Commitment to America, which vowed that Republicans would “curb wasteful government spending” that feeds inflation and the national debt. Hundreds of Republican candidates stormed their districts, waving Commitment pocket cards and pronouncing on fiscal discipline and oversight.

Then came Wednesday’s first test of whether this was all hot air, and it turns out a fleet of dirigibles wouldn’t have held the gas. California Rep. Tom McClintock moved to repeal the recent party rule allowing earmarks. The caucus routed his motion, voting it down 158-52. Commitment to America? More like Commitment to Spoils.

The vote came despite a vigorous campaign by independent conservative groups. “Earmarks are one of the most corrupt, inequitable, and wasteful practices in the history of Congress,” read a letter signed by representatives of 15 groups, including Heritage Action, Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Americans for Tax Reform and Citizens Against Government Waste. The groups told lawmakers it was “your first opportunity to demonstrate to taxpayers that the election of a Republican majority in the House will be accompanied by a serious effort to restore and maintain fiscal responsibility.” So much for that.

The GOP swore off earmarks in 2011, when it stood for something other than investigations. But when a Democratic Congress in 2021 announced intentions to bring them back, GOP trough-feeders rushed to sign up. At least in March 2021, the vote was closer: 102-84. But that was before members got hooked on the earmark drug. Some 120 Republicans partook in the subsequent earmark free-for-all, snorting up nearly $5 billion for their states and districts. And the addicts aren’t interested in rehab. ... 

... 41 House Republicans on Thursday voted with all Democrats to give the Justice Department $50 million to hand out in grants to create re-entry programs for former prisoners. ... grant making has become the “third-biggest expenditure of the federal government, behind only Social Security and national defense”... $1 million for the St. Louis Symphony (Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt) or $650,000 for feral swine management (Arkansas Sen. John Boozman) or $4.2 million for a sheep experiment station (Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson). (read it all)

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Report gives Tennessee high marks for economic freedom

By Steve Wilson, The Center Square,  Dec 7, 2022 -  A recently released report by a Canadian-based policy group says Tennessee is one of the freest states in the nation.

The report, "Economic Freedom of North America 2022," by the Fraser Institute ranked the Volunteer State as one of the freest, along with Florida, South Dakota and Texas. At the bottom of the list for the U.S. was New York, California, Delaware and Hawaii. 

The report ranked U.S. states, Canadian provinces and Mexican states by three criteria: Government spending, taxes and regulation.

Tennessee was ranked second for the lowest taxes (the Volunteer State has no state income tax, as it is in seven other states), third for labor market freedom (Tennessee is a right to work state), but only 13th for government spending. 

Tennessee's score in the annual Fraser report on government spending might worsen next year. 

The state's tax revenues have skyrocketed despite a moratorium on registration fees for automobiles and autocycles. In the last fiscal year, tax revenues were $4.6 billion over estimates.

With more revenue, state agencies are asking for spending increases, including $350 million for education and $202.5 million for more incentives to lure industry to the state. The state is also planning to spend $500 million in taxpayer funds to build a new $2.1 billion stadium for the NFL's Titans in Nashville. 

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TN GOP Senators Look To Expand Eligibility For Education Savings Accounts

By Jason Vaughn, The Tennessee Conservative, Dec. 8, 2022- Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga-District 10) has filed legislation to expand Tennessee’s Education Savings Accounts to bring the same opportunities now afforded to families in Shelby and Davidson counties to many who have children in other struggling schools. ... Public Chapter 506 established the Tennessee Education Savings Account (ESA) program, which allows eligible students in Shelby and Davidson counties to use state and local Basic Education Program (BEP)  funds toward expenses, such as tutoring services, fees for early postsecondary opportunity courses and examinations, and tuition, fees, and textbooks at approved private schools. ...

The current rules of State Board of Education Chapter 0520-01-16 for Education Savings Accounts can be found HERE. (read more)

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You might be a Rino, if ...

 by Rod Williams, Dec. 8, 2022- ... you fail to claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen, if you doubt the Arizona and Georgia mid-term elections were stolen, if you are not holocaust-denier-friendly, are not White-supremacist-friendly. and do not support terminating the constitution.

For more on this topic see these posts: 

• Confessions of a RINO, by Rod Williams, July 18, 2022
• Ronald Reagan was a RINO, by Rod Williams, Dec. 31, 2010
• Names to call Republicans, by Rod Williams, Dec. 30, 2010
• You might be a Rino. by Rod Williams, Dec. 28, 2010

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Every GOP loss is due to "election fraud?"

WH Bernstein

by WH Bernstein, Reposted from Facebook, Dec. 8, 2022 - Getting sick of hearing that every GOP loss is due to "election fraud."  It's bullshit.  And as long as people push that story, the GOP will continue to lose.  Never mind it undermines this country more effectively than the Russians or Chinese could.

Let's look at Georgia: In the general election, Kemp got 2.1M votes. Walker got 1.9M votes.

If every Kemp voter had also voted for Walker, there wouldn't have been a runoff.  Walker would have won outright.  But they didn't.  I suspect some Kemp votes were Democrats unable to stomach the anti-gun Abrams.  And I also suspect that many Republicans simply could not hold their nose enough to vote for Walker, who was just a crappy candidate.

And the proof is that in the runoff, Walker got only 1.7M votes.  If he had merely gotten all the votes he did in the general he would have won.  But his subsequent campaigning didn't help him with voters.  And the fact that the Senate was already 50-50, with Democrats controlling it, didn't encourage people to turn out.

Rod's comment: Well said. I agree.

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There is no way to pick this up by the clean end. What Donald Trump said about suspending the constitution.

Some Trump supporters are claiming Trump's call for abrogating or suspending or "termination" of the constitution is taken out of context. The above is what he said. The highlighting is mine. There is no way to sugarcoat this. Trump is a wannabe dictator. 

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Some Trump Jewish Allies at Breaking Point After Kanye West, Nick Fuentes Meeting

By Aaron Zitner, Wall Street Journal, Dec. 4, 2022 - “It is over, it is finished,” Mr. Hikind, whose 36-year run as a state lawmaker ended in 2018, said of his support for the former president. “Right now, he’s doing so much damage. He has disqualified himself from any of us supporting him ever again.”

Republicans have tried for decades to boost their generally tepid support among the nation’s Jewish voters, who gave President Biden nearly 70% their vote in 2020 despite Mr. Trump’s argument that they should reward his stalwart backing of the Israeli government. Now, some prominent Jewish leaders say that Mr. Trump has both damaged his nascent 2024 presidential campaign and hampered his party’s outreach as a result of his dinner with the rapper Kanye West and the white nationalist Nick Fuentes, as well as his refusal to apologize for hosting them at his Mar-a-Lago resort.

Many Jewish leaders, including Mr. Hikind, say a spate of anti-Semitic violence and harassment around the country has created an elevated sense of threat from hateful speech—and that the image of any political leader will suffer for failing to sever ties with Mr. Trump. ...

... Mr. Trump won 30% of the Jewish vote, compared with President Biden’s 69% in 2020, the VoteCast survey found, and 33% of Jewish voters backed a Republican House candidate this year. Republican candidates drew higher support in some states, such as Florida, where GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis drew 45% of Jewish voters in his successful re-election campaign. In New York, Mr. Zeldin, who is Jewish, drew 46% of Jewish voters in his unsuccessful campaign for governor.

Some Jewish groups said that the Republican Party was the more welcoming party for Jewish voters, citing what they view as anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli positions on the political left. The challenge that Democrats face in navigating Israel policy was on display in 2019, when the party’s House leaders struggled to respond to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), whose comments about people who “push for allegiance to a foreign country” was viewed as an accusation that Jews who support Israel are disloyal to the U.S. The House passed a broad measure condemning hate in all forms, which Ms. Omar voted for and which critics said insufficiently called out anti-Semitism.

“The reality is, ‘I stand with Israel’ isn’t an applause line at the Democratic-base rallies, but it is at a Republican rally,” said Norm Coleman, the national chairman of the Republican Jewish Coalition and a former Republican senator from Minnesota. (read it all)

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