I Can Say Some Good Things About Donald Trump

by Rod Williams, Dec. 14, 2024- As anyone who reads this blog or follows me on Facebook knows, I have been very critical and concerned about Donald Trump. I have been "negative." With justification, I think, but I am not going to reiterate by concern at this time. Today I am going to be positive.

A dear friend of mine the other day told me I was too negative.  This is from a person who did not vote for Trump herself but does not think he will be near as bad as I do. She said to me, "You're too negative. Surely there are some things he may do that you would agree with. Give him a chance."

I thought about it. I overwhelmingly think the bad outweighs the good when it comes to Trump, but I thought I would try to be positive and look on the bright side.  After all we are stuck with him, so here goes. These are things Trump has said he would do, or he has done where I agree with Donald Trump. On some of them, I applaud him.

Trump says he might end daylight savings time. That would make a lot of people happy. I don't know anyone who likes it. Why are we stuck with it? If Donald trump can end Daylight Savings Time, I will be pleased.

Trump has said to be considering privatizing the post office. Yes! That is something I have long advocated. The only mail I ever get is fundraiser appeals and advertisement. I have not written a letter in years.  I pay bills by automatic draft. When I don't talk on the phone with someone, I communicate by Facebook messenger, text, and email. There may be some people who would miss the post office, but they would adjust. Anyway, it would probably not just disappear overnight. Fed Ex or Amazon might buy it.

Trump will likely end the insanity of the federal government forcing states to allow men to play women's sports and putting men in women's prisons. 

Trump will likely end some of the sillier aspects of wokeism. I expect a single individual will no longer be referred to with the plural pronouns of "they/them."  I suspect government communications can refer to "mothers" instead of "birthing parents." I expect this to spill over into the larger culture. 

Under a Trump administration, I doubt our embassies around the world will fly the gay pride flag. 

Trump will take a hard line on Iran. Biden reversed Trumps hardline policy on Iran when he came into office and allowed Iran to benefit from billions in oil revenue and reduced sanctions. Now, thinks to Isreal, Iran is weak. I expect Trump to reinstate his tough on Iran policies and keep Iran in check.  

Trump has vowed to slash the size of the federal government through a new government agency run by businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. They are to find inefficiencies, waste, and fraud. Something similar has been tried before. You may remember the Grace Commission under Reagan. It is hard to root out waste and reform is resisted. People like efficiency in theory but not when it threatens jobs and money spend in their state. Also, the majority of the budget is untouchable consisting of interest on the debt, Medicare, and Social Security.  So, it is a hard job to actually affect any significant savings, but some improved efficiency is better than none. And, Musk and Ramaswamy are thinking big.  "We expect certain agencies to be deleted outright," Ramaswamy told Fox News last month. "We expect massive cuts among federal contractors and others who are overbilling the federal government." Last year, when he was running for president, Ramaswamy pledged to immediately fire 50% of "federal bureaucrats." I don't know that it can be done, but I support this effort. I'm kind of excited about it. 

He gives hope, pride, and encouragement to liars, mediocre, and weird people everywhere. If people like Robert F. Kennedy andPete Hegseth  and Kash Patel and Kari Lake can rise to the level of success to serve in a president's cabinet or other important post in the federal government then weird and unqualified people and liars everywhere can have a hope for success.

He may cause liberals to rediscover an appreciation for political norms necessary for the functioning of a democratic republic. I am speaking of things like appreciating the filibuster and opposing packing the supreme court. It has been Democrats who have favored ending the filibuster and ramming things through with a simple majority and it has been Democrats who have talked about packing the Court. Now, I would bet they don't want to see those "reforms" take place. Of course, the downside of what I suspect will be a positive development is that Republican may now favor those things.

Trump will secure the border. Biden made a huge mistake in May 2023, when he lifted Title 42, the emergency health order Trump had put in place to block migrants from entering the country to seek asylum. Biden’s decision allowed millions of migrants to stay in the country while their asylum cases slowly moved through the courts. Biden oversaw the largest immigration surge in U.S. History.  I expect Trump's get-tough approach will drastically discourage illegal border crossings.

Trump will deport the undesirables.  There are illegal aliens who are criminals here and people who have deportation orders who have not turned themselves in. I am concerned about Trump's mass deportation plan. However, Trump has said he will start with the criminals and recent arrivals. Mass deportation takes a lot of funding for manpower and retention facilities and travel cost. Congress has to appropriate the money, and it takes time to do the mass deportation, so I don't think mass deportation will occur. However, he will probably deport a few hundred thousand or a million people who should be deported.

Trump will lessen the risk of a terrorist attack on American soil. Among the illegal aliens are people from many nations including from countries that wish us ill. Known people on the terrorist watch list have been caught at the southern border, and we don't know who is among the gotaways. Border security will make us more secure.

Trump says he will legalize the dreamers. I think he may actually do it. Maybe, he really does believe it is the right thing to do. Maybe, he thinks it will soften his image and counter the bad press certainly to arise from deportation. It is an issue that has evaded resolution for a long time. Trump may make it happen.

Trump showed that the backlash to Dobbs was overstated. No antiabortion senator or governor has lost an election since the ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.  Many thought the overturning of Roe would result in Democrat sweeping victories. Trump kept that from happening.

Trump gave people hope. He said he would bring down groceries prices and people care about that and are hopeful. He also said he could raise tariffs and export millions of laborers. A lot of those laborers are farm laborers, and a lot of our food is imported, so the hope of lower grocery prices is probably a false hope, but a false hope is still hope.

Trump badly crippled or ended identity politics. Trump made inroads in groups that normally vote Democrat. Dems put people into different buckets and appeal to them as Blacks, Latinx, gay, women, Asian and any other group they could think of, by telling them they are victims. Trump broke that.  About the only group where Democrats dominated were among college-educated, wealthy elites, and single women.  Trump made inroads among Blacks and won 21% of the male Black voters. He lost Latinos by just 5% and Asian Americans by just 15%, and Trump won “other” minorities such as Arab Americans, Native Americans, and others.  He also made inroads into gays, giving them speaking roles at the convention while keeping in his coalition Christain fundamentalist This is quite an accomplishment and bodes well for the future of the Republican Party. 

Trump's presidency may reduce crime. Most crimes are violation of state laws, not federal laws and a president is limited in how much impact he may have on crime. However, Trump's threat to use the US military to police crime ridden cities may cause local governments to improve policing themselves. Trump can use the power of grants to states and cities to cause them to take a tougher stance on crime. Also, by sitting the right tone and using the bully pulpit, blue city mayors may abandon some of their soft on crime policies. We have already seen that no one is advocating "defund the police" (well, almost no one, we still have Ginny Welsch). Metro Nashville has started enforcing traffic laws again. The woke policies that led to more crime are already fading. Trump will set the tone that makes getting tough on crime popular. 

There, I have said some nice things about Donald J. Trump. Don't expect me to make this a habit. 

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Tennessee panel still waiting to hear first book appeal under 2022 school library law

 By Marta W. Aldrich, Chalkbeat, December 11, 2024 - Two years after Tennessee lawmakers made it
possible to ban books from school libraries statewide, not a single book challenge has been heard, let alone approved.

And no complaints are waiting to be considered, either. 

... But only three appeals have been filed with a commission that this year hired its first full-time staff at an annual cost of $500,000, in part to manage anticipated book appeals. All three appeals were withdrawn within a month.

.... Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature passed Gov. Bill Lee’s school library law in 2022 to establish a local review process to make sure books and materials are “appropriate for the age and maturity levels” of the students who can access them.

A few months later, lawmakers approved a second measure creating an appeals system so that book complaints can go before the state’s existing textbook commission if the complainant isn’t satisfied with a decision by a local board or charter school. That law gave the commission unprecedented authority to ban certain books statewide, or to restrict them to certain grade levels in all Tennessee schools.

... at least 1,100 books were removed locally during the first few months of the academic year, according to a statewide survey of members of the Tennessee Association of School Librarians. Hundreds more have been pulled since the survey was conducted. Leaders with the librarians group believe those numbers are conservative. (read it all)

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The Disgruntled Republican's End-of-Year Giving Guide and Thoughts on Giving.

by Rod Williams, Dec 3, 2024- I recently completed by end-of-year giving and was not near as generous this year.  I am not sure why, exactly. I just wasn't feeling it. 

With the reelection of Donald Trump and seeing the kind of people he is appointing to cabinet positions, I am convinced he will be as much of an authoritarian as I feared he would be. I think that helping thwart this march toward authoritarianism is the most important use I could make of my money, but I don't really know where it is best to spend it. 

I do not want any of the money I may contribute going to promote progressive wokeism. I want to support organizations, for example, that will oppose cruel mass deportation and care for left behind orphans, but not organizations that support refusing to turn over criminal aliens to ICE. I want to use my funds to oppose Trumpism and yet not help Wokeism. 

I want to support organizations that will help fund opposition to Justice Department persecution of the "enemies within."  If Trump's Justice Department goes after Mitt Romney or Liz Channey or other of his critics, I want to contribute to an organization that will defend them in court. I guess I am keeping my powder dry, so to speak, to have the money available to contribute when the crises arrive, and I am hoping organizations will spring up to meet the challenge.

In addition to wanting my money available to thwart Trumpism, I want to promote the ideas of liberty and free markets. I feel this is more important than ever. Several organizations that use to do this have abandoned traditional American conservatism and have become nationalist-populist and part of the Trump cult of personality. I think it is important to fund the organizations that continue to promote free market ideas, constitutionalism, and liberty. Liberty is now threatened from the Trumpian right and the progressive woke left. Those promoting liberty need to be supported. 

I don't make a distinction between supporting the cause of freedom and charitable giving. To my way of thinking, there is no better use of my money than in helping to conserve the American Founding.  I want to leave the world a better place than I found it and I want future generations to know the blessings of liberty, justice, a free-market economy, and a world not dominated by authoritarian and totalitarian tyrants.  I believe freedom is the greatest gift we can leave our descendants.  

Below I am listing the organizations I support but in addition to the list below, I have a couple individuals who I financially help. If you have a family member or an acquaintance who you could help, that may be where your charity should begin. If people helped other people directly there would be less demand for the welfare state. Personal giving like this creates a community bond and you know if the recipient is deserving. Often churches help fellow church members in this way. I am not a member of a faith community but think that supporting one's local church can be a good way to give.

Unfortunately, sometimes charity does more harm than it does good, both foreign and domestic charity. A good documentary that makes this point is Poverty Inc. Before giving, I ask myself if this organization just perpetuates dependency, or does it respond to a crisis, or support actions that really help people long-term. Sometimes it is hard to know.  

When I give, I want to make sure I am not being scammed and that the organization I support does more than just perpetuate the organization. A lot or organizations spend more money raising money than they do funding their goal. A good source for checking on an organization's efficiency is Charity Navigator and Charity Watch.

Another thing I consider when giving is that I don't want to support and encourage bad behaviors. I never give money to beggars holding signs on the side of the road. In addition to encouraging bad behavior, they may be trying to scam you. I don't want homeless people freezing on the streets, so I support organizations like The Salvation Army and The Nashville Rescue Mission but do not support panhandling. 

I also do not contribute money to organizations that insult my values. For several years, I gave money to an organization that saves places of natural beauty in Tennessee and preserves critical habitats.  I still think they do a worthwhile job doing what they do. However, in one of their email communications a couple years ago, they went off-topic and expressed their support for Black Lives Matter and pledged a commitment to equity and diversity, and social justice.  I support tolerance, equality, and non-discrimination but not modern woke concepts of social justice and equity. I marked them off of my giving list. There was also another organization I stopped supporting for the same reason. I am not going to support any organization whose values I do not share. 

In addition to supporting certain organizations, I think in this age of misinformation, and attacks on the press that it is important to support journalism, and I subscribe to much more than I can possibly read.  I subscribe to The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. I also subscribe to The Tennessean, but it is not much of a newspaper, but I do not want our city not to have a daily newspaper.

I also subscribe to National Review and a couple other conservative journals that have not succumbed to Trumpism. In addition, I am a paid subscriber to The Bulwark and The Dispatch. I get more than enough of their free stuff on YouTube and newsletters, but I want to support them. Both of these could be described as never-Trumper Republican publications. Not all analysis can fit on in a meme or be expressed in 280 characters. Good analysis and opinion journalism needs to be supported. 

If we don't support journalism the truth will suffer, and corruption will flourish. While there are thousands of blogs and podcast and pundits, journalism needs boots on the ground. We need more than just opinions; we need facts. I think subscribing to newspapers is a contribution to a better world and preserving freedom.

If you are looking for a place to give, please consider the following.

Rod's End-of-Year Giving List

The Beacon Center is my favorite non-profit and gets the largest single chunk of my charitable giving.  It is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and independent organization dedicated to providing expert empirical research and timely free-market solutions to public policy issues in Tennessee.  Time and time again, Tennessee is recognized for being one of the most fiscally responsible and economically free states in the union.  Much of the credit for these honors is due to the work of the Beacon Center.  The Beacon Center has worked to ensure the Right to Work by pushing to overturn professional licensure laws that serve no purpose but to keep out the competition. They have worked to prevent local government from banning work-from-home opportunities like recording studios in homes in Music City. They have stopped local government from forcing homeowners to build public sidewalks when they remodel their home. Beacon is responsible for enshrining the protection against being forced to join a union in the State constitution.  Beacon gets much of the credit for the advancement of educational choice in Tennessee.  Beacon produces the annual "Pork Report," highlighting the most egregious examples of government waste in Tennessee.

Republican Accountability PAC is an organization of Republicans who had voted for Trump previously but could not support his reelection after his attempted coup and were alarmed at his talk of suspending the Constitution. During the recent election the PAC created ads to expose Trump's authoritarian tendencies and will remain active in trying to stop Trump's march toward authoritarianism. 

Nashville Rescue Mission: A Christ-centered community committed to helping the hungry, homeless, and hurting by providing programs and services that focus on a person’s entire life-physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, and social. We are devoted to restoring the whole person through a Christian approach that helps the homeless and addicted learn how much God loves them and gain the biblical insight they need to lead a productive life in and for Christ.

Guests are cared for in a safe, supportive environment where they can find refuge and rest. Once their basic and immediate needs are addressed, case managers work one-on-one with each person to identify next steps, including healthcare and treatment options with a goal of helping them change unhealthy patterns of behavior.

Nashville Rescue Mission’s Emergency Services Include: FOOD, SHELTER, CLOTHING, HOT SHOWERS AND PERSONAL HYGIENE, COURTYARDS/DAY ROOMS, CASE MANAGEMENT TRANSFORMATIVE PROGRAMS, EDUCATION/TRAINING.

The Mercatus Center: A research center at George Mason University that advances knowledge about how markets solve problems and help us lead happier, healthier, and richer lives. For more than 40 years, Mercatus has supported leading talent and scholarship in the mainline economics tradition, applying rigorous research to real-world concerns. Through our continuing efforts to bridge the gap between theory and practice, we strive to realize a world where markets operate at their full potential to increase abundance, civility, and well-being. Your gift to the Mercatus Center ensures free-market ideas are championed in public policy, the academy, and the broader public discourse. 100% of your donation supports educating tomorrow's academic leaders as well as generating peer-reviewed research on today's most pressing issues.

Doctors without borders: Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) cares for people affected by conflict, disease outbreaks, natural and human-made disasters, and exclusion from health care in more than 70 countries.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee opened its doors in 1978 with commitment from several community leaders. The purpose of the organization was to provide a central distribution center for companies, groups, and individuals who wished to help provide food for hungry people in Middle Tennessee. During my years of working for a non-profit agency, we were a Second Harvest outlet.  This organization provides food to needy people, mostly bread, that would otherwise be thrown away.

The Fund for American Studies: (TFAS) is a 501(c)3 educational nonprofit that is changing the world by developing leaders for a free society. Our transformational programs teach the principles of limited government, free-market economics and honorable leadership to students and young professionals in America and around the world.

By offering a portfolio of more than 20 different academic programs, fellowships and seminars, the TFAS Journey helps cultivate future leaders from high school, all the way through to their university studies and professional careers. 

Today, there are more than 42,000 TFAS alumni making the difference in their communities and throughout the world by championing the values essential to the preservation and success of a free society.

The Salvation Army has Been Serving Nashville For Over 125 Years Through Much Needed Social Services And Programs. A 90-bed Adult Alcohol and Rehabilitation Center for men was opened in 1900 and served the community for over 100 years. In 1940, The Salvation Army built and opened the “Red Shield” Community Center – rebuilt in 1984 as the Magness-Potter Community Center which offered Army-administered youth and adult leisure activity programs. Now, the community center houses the United Way-sponsored Family Resource Center, the Red Shield Kids Club after-school and summer day camp programs, the Life Skills Learning Center, the Second Harvest Food Pantry, and the Emergency Services Program.  In 1980, the Area Command facility was moved from Demonbreun to Dickerson Pike, receiving the name the “Center of Hope”, and opened a 75-person transient shelter, an emergency shelter for men, and a day and night child care center serving homeless and other families in urgent need. Today, the Center of Hope and the Magness-Potter Community Center, along with the three worship centers, serve Nashville by being strategically placed in the neediest areas of the community. Our services are provided to all of Davidson County, as well as Cheatham, Dickson, Hickman, Williamson, and Sumner Counties. Your donation will directly impact your community.

The Salvation Army has been many things over the years as communities’ needs have changed over the years, but today, the focus of the Nashville Salvation Army is to fight poverty and prevent homelessness in our community through a myriad of comprehensive programs designed to bring a holistic approach to the individual’s or family’s need.

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) is an educational, research, and human rights nonprofit organization devoted to commemorating the more than 100 million victims of communism around the world and to pursuing the freedom of those still living under totalitarian regimes. 

Institute for Justice: IJ is a nonprofit, public interest law firm. Our mission is to end widespread abuses of government power and secure the constitutional rights that allow all Americans to pursue their dreams. Donations to the Institute for Justice enable us to represent our clients at no cost to them—and to stand with them no matter how long their cases take. And when we win for our clients, we secure precedent that protects the rights of all Americans. IJ’s work is powered by nearly 10,000 supporters from across the country who believe in the Constitution and its ideals. 70% of our funding comes from individuals like you. Please join our fight for freedom and justice today. 

IJ has been involved in several high-profile fights over the years in Nashville. IJ defended a small music studio owner from efforts of the city to take her property by condemnation for no other purpose than to provide room for expansion of a bigger neighbor.  In the pre-ride-share days of Uber and Lyft, IJ defended an innovative entrepreneur who wanted to provide cheaper limo rides. IJ has defended homeowners who wanted to work from home.

The American Enterprise Institute is a public policy think tank dedicated to defending human dignity, expanding human potential, and building a freer and safer world. The work of our scholars and staff advances ideas rooted in our belief in democracy, free enterprise, American strength and global leadership, solidarity with those at the periphery of our society, and a pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture.

The Center Square. The disappearance and decline of journalism concern me.  Nashville went from two daily papers to one newspaper that is only a shadow of its formal self.  While there are lots of people, like me, blogging and sharing opinions, without staff they can seldom break stories.  Journalism needs paid boots on the ground. News, especially local news, most often comes down to shootings, car wrecks, sports, and reposted press releases.  There are far too few outlets looking for scandals and corruption.  The watchdog of democracy has died.

The Center Square is conservative but without the rancor, sensationalism, and conspiratorial mindset of what defines many so-called conservative news sources today. 

"The Center Square was launched in May 2019 to fulfill the need for high-quality statehouse and statewide news across the United States. The focus of our work is state- and local-level government and economic reporting. A taxpayer sensibility distinguishes our work from other coverage of state and local issues. As a result of this approach, our readers are better informed about the focus of state and local government and its cost to the citizens whose tax dollars fund governmental decisions.

The Center Square is staffed by editors and reporters with extensive professional journalism experience. We engage readers with essential news, data and analysis – delivered with velocity, frequency and consistency. We distribute our journalism through three main channels at no cost to our partners or readers: a newswire service to legacy publishers and broadcasters. The Center Square is a project of the 501(c)(3) Franklin News Foundation, headquartered in Chicago."

Pre-Born! is an organizations that partner with life-affirming pregnancy clinics all across the nation. In the wake of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, several states where abortion is still legal have become key destinations for vulnerable women seeking abortions. Planned Parenthood is working to place mobile abortion units on the borders of states where abortion is illegal. 

Pre-Born provide ultrasound equipment to pro-life pregnancy crisis centers.  Data shows that when an expectant mother sees an ultrasound image of her baby and hears the heartbeat, she most often decides to keep the child. 

National Review Institute. Your support ensures that NRI will continue to preserve and promote the legacy of William F. Buckley Jr. and advance the conservative principles he championed: limited government, free markets, individual liberty, personal responsibility, a strong national defense, and the rule of law. As the Republican Party and other conservative organization abandon their core values, it is more important than ever that these ideas be promoted. 

Foundation of Economic Freedom. FEE's mission is to inspire, educate, and connect future leaders with the economic, ethical, and legal principles of a free society. These principles include: individual liberty, free-market economics, entrepreneurship, private property, high moral character, and limited government. Here are some highlights from 2021: We broke a world record for the largest online economics lecture. We made 95 mainstream media appearances. Our videos received 11 MILLION views and over 1.8 MILLION shares. On TikTok, we went from reaching 65,000 people to over 2 MILLION in just seven months! We reached over 83 MILLION Gen Z online.

Americans for Prosperity Tennessee: AFP’s grassroots, policy, government affairs, communications, political, and education and training capabilities make us the best organization to change the policy landscape in America.

The Pamphleteer: The Pamphleteer is an arts, culture, and politics publication based in Nashville, TN. Corporate and progressive media dominate the landscape in the state of Tennessee. The word "independent"—typically associated with legacy brands such as the Nashville Scene—means less and less as time goes on. Many of the perspectives from local media outlets you read come from an almost identical perspective, inseparable from the tone and tenor of politics at the federal level. The Pamphleteer seeks to reinvigorate local discourse by offering fresh, regional perspectives on local topics. It is our hope that through our work, we can challenge readers to engage more earnestly in local politics and motivate leaders to reach higher and farther in their efforts to make Nashville a world-class city.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization committed to educating the public on issues with significant fiscal policy impact. Our bipartisan leadership comprises some of the nation's leading budget experts, including many past heads of the House and Senate Budget Committees, the Congressional Budget Office, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Government Accountability Office. 

As an independent source of objective policy analysis, we regularly engage policymakers of both parties and help them develop and analyze proposals to improve the country’s fiscal and economic condition. These efforts have reinforced the Committee’s role as an authoritative voice for fiscal responsibility and an educational resource for policymakers and the general public. We are also a trusted budget watchdog that assists journalists across the country in understanding fiscal developments in Washington.

In 2023, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget sought to educate and engage the public, policymakers, and the media about the major fiscal issues facing our nation from the debt ceiling negotiations and passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act to the looming insolvency of our nation’s trust funds. We also launched US Budget 2024, which seeks to bring transparency and accountability to the presidential campaign by analyzing the total cost and savings from each major candidate’s policy agenda.

American Interprise Institute: The American Enterprise Institute is a public policy think tank dedicated to defending human dignity, expanding human potential, and building a freer and safer world. The work of our scholars and staff advances ideas rooted in our belief in democracy, free enterprise, American strength and global leadership, solidarity with those at the periphery of our society, and a pluralistic, entrepreneurial culture.  

I am going to wrap this up but other organizations to which I contribute, and you may want to consider include these:

• The Hoover Institute
• Insititute for Humane Studies
• CATO Institute
• American Institute for Economic Research
• National Association of Scholars

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U.K. Bans Puberty Blockers for Gender-Confused Children Indefinitely

 U.K. Bans Puberty Blockers for Gender-Confused Children Indefinitely (read it)

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Word of the Day: Kakistocracy

 

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AG Jonathan Skrmetti Discusses Tennessee's Trans Case at SCOTUS

by Rod Williams, Dec. 11, 2024- The above is an informative and insightful video. Sarah Isgur of The Dispatch interviews Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. They discuss Skrmetti's bio and how he became Tennessee's Attorney General and the scope and functioning of the office.

The bulk of the discussion is devoted to discussing the case just recently heard before the Supreme Court in which Tennessee's law banning gender transition medical treatment for minors was challenged. The nuances and complexity of the issue are explored. Tennessee is one of about 26 states that have placed restrictions on things like gender blockers, hormone treatment and surgery for minors for the purpose of sex reassignment. Skrmetti is optimistic Tennessee's law will stand. Also, this court case will likely be quite influential with various concurring opinions. 

Sarah then talks to David French. French is an opinion writer for the New York Times, and an attorney who has a long history of defending religious liberty. He has a history as a conservative legal activist and pundit but is a Trump critic and has fallen out of favor with many in Trump world. As you may know, he is a resident of middle Tennessee. I have had the privilege of taking a class taught by French at Lipscomb University. He is one of my favorite conservatives of the current era. 

The French segment is informative. I learned something. He clarifies the importance of the different levels of Judicial scrutiny. The three levels of scrutiny are strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny and the rational basis scrutiny. He breaks it down and explains it and how this applies and favors Tennessee in the Supreme Court case challenging the Tennessee bill protecting minors. 

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Tennessee Bureau of Investigations: Venezuelan gang in every major city in state

By Bethany Blankley, The Center Square contributor, Dec 8, 2024 - At a state budget hearing last month, the director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigations, David Rausch, reported to Gov. Bill Lee that a violent Venezuelan prison gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), is operating “in all of our major cities. They are running human trafficking operations, that’s where they start. We are now talking with our peers throughout the country that they have a pathway to more violence.”

In response, Gov. Bill Lee, an ardent supporter of border security efforts, issued a statement on X saying, “The border crisis is exactly why Americans voted for change. It’s not political – it’s about safety & security. TN will support @realdonaldtrump as he secures our border while delivering key resources for @TBInvestigation to stop illegal criminals from operating in our state.”

Tennessee has long partnered with Texas’ border security mission Operation Lone Star. Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared TdA a foreign terrorist organization and Texas Department of Public Safety began creating a database to identify TdA members, characterizations, and arrests. No such database currently exists at the local, state or federal level.

TdA members are known for violence, and have been accused of murder, kidnapping, extortion, bribery and human and drug trafficking, and linked to more than 100 law enforcement investigations nationwide, The Center Square has reported.

In Texas, they’ve been connected to ATM and bank thefts, car jackings, execution style murders and assault of women and children, The Center Square has reported. Texas law enforcement officers have arrested more than 3,000 Venezuelan illegal border crossers; more than 200 are wanted, Abbott said. Multiple agency arrests are occurring in major Texas cities involving kidnapping, murder, drug and human trafficking.

TdA crime has escalated nationwide after more than one million Venezuelans were reported illegally entering the country under the Biden administration, The Center Square exclusively reported.

Rausch has been sounding the alarm after TBI has been involved in operations involving TdA arrests over the past year.

Ahead of Thanksgiving, he announced a joint investigation involving the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, the Chattanooga Police Department, the state’s Human Trafficking Task Force and Homeland Security Investigations that resulted in the arrest of four men, including a TdA member. They were allegedly involved in a sex trafficking ring using a local hotel. The confirmed TdA member is also suspected of committing violent crimes in Chicago and New York City, TBI said.

When announcing the arrest, Chattanooga Police Chief John Chambers said, “I want to make sure it’s crystal clear that CPD does not have issues with our Latino community members in Chattanooga, CPD and its officers are focused on criminal activity not ethnicity.”

What makes TdA “different is they do move about,” Rausch said. “They remain transient until they get comfortable. If they get into an area where they feel like they are able to operate without impunity, then they will start to dig their heels in, as we have seen in some of the other communities. What we’re trying to do – and my purpose was, in introducing this information – was to ensure that all of policing in Tennessee understands we’re not going to let them get their foothold in Tennessee.”

In March, TBI announced that an investigation into a multinational criminal organization linked to human trafficking in Middle Tennessee led to the arrest of a second alleged trafficker in Murfreesboro. TBI worked with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, Metro Nashville Police Department, and the United States Marshals Service to make the second arrest.

The investigation began last fall after TBI Human Trafficking Unit special agents uncovered a trafficking operation that allegedly lured women from Central and South America to the U.S. and forced them into commercial sex acts to pay off their debt to get to the U.S. One of the alleged traffickers was arrested last year.

Rausch’s warning prompted several local jurisdictions to release statements. The Metro Nashville Police Department said, “This police department is well aware of Tren de Aragua and the criminal activity associated with its members. We have a heightened awareness for any such activity seen here.”

The Knoxville Police Department and Knox County Sheriff’s Office said they hadn’t identified TdA members but were closely monitoring their jurisdictions. Putnam County Sheriff’s Office said there was no indication that TdA members were operating in the county.

The Memphis Police Department confirmed TdA activity. It said, “There have been two incidents in Memphis regarding Venezuelan gang activities. In 2023, officers located graffiti in the Appling Farms Station area. Additionally, on November 19th, 2024, ICE ERO arrested Luis Alejandro RUIZ-GODOY, who had outstanding warrants through INTERPOL. He was transported to Louisiana for deportation. Investigators with the Memphis Police Department have been and will remain in contact with our local, state, and federal partners concerning any new developments with Venezuelan gangs.”

Chattanooga Police Department said “there was no evidence to indicate that the gang is actively operating in our city.” Two weeks later, TBI and CPD announced the multi-operation arresting sex traffickers, including a TdA member.

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House Republicans introduce bill to eliminate sales tax on groceries

By Kim Jarrett, The Center Square, Dec. 10, 2024- Tennessee Rep. Elaine Davis, R-Knoxville, has filed a bill that would remove the state's sale tax on groceries.

It's the second bill filed to end the tax. Democrats introduced a bill last month. The bills only remove the tax on food and food ingredients and not prepared foods, candy or alcohol.

Davis said her bill would not raise taxes or cause local governments to lose revenue. Local governments would have the option to impose a grocery tax.

"We have all felt the impact of rising food prices over the last few years, and working families have struggled to put food on the table as a result," Davis said. "Tennesseans know best how to spend their own money. Repealing taxes on essential items like food and personal hygiene products has been one of my top legislative priorities."

House Majority Leader William Lamberth, R-Portland, backs the bill. Senate Democrats called the Republican bill a "publicity stunt."

"Republicans have had control in Tennessee for 14 years and they didn't eliminate the grocery tax. Instead, they cut BILLIONS in taxes for the wealthy and big corporations," they said in a social media post.

Democrats introduced the bill during the 2024 session but it failed.

Lawmakers passed a bill that suspended the state's grocery tax for three months in 2023 that returned an estimated $272.8 million to the taxpayers.

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United States Supreme Court Hears Arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, Tennessee's ban on childhood gender-transition interventions.

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti

Press release, WASHINGTON, D.C., Dec. 4, 2027 – The United States Supreme Court today heard oral arguments in United States v. Skrmetti, a constitutional dispute regarding the authority of state lawmakers to protect vulnerable kids from risky and unproven medical practices.

The Office of the Tennessee Attorney General presented a robust legal and evidence-based defense of the State’s legislative response to the recent explosion of childhood gender-transition interventions. The law at issue restricts the provision of irreversible medical interventions to minors with gender dysphoria—a psychiatric condition marked by mental distress from a conflict between a person’s sex and asserted gender identity. 

“We are here defending Tennessee’s law protecting children from irreversible and unproven gender transition procedures,” Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti stated. “Tennessee’s General Assembly reviewed the medical evidence, as well as the evidence-based decisions of European countries that restricted these procedures, and ultimately passed this bipartisan law prohibiting irreversible medical interventions.  The plaintiffs in this case are asking the Court to take the power to regulate the practice of medicine away from the people’s elected representatives and vest it in unaccountable judges.

Challengers claim the Tennessee law’s prohibition of the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for the purpose of “gender transition” discriminates based on sex and transgender status, which they say is a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. Tennessee argued that the law presents an across-the-board rule that represents a reasonable exercise of the States’ longstanding authority to regulate the practice of medicine within their borders.

"Our arguments were ultimately about constitutional clarity and common sense," said Attorney General Skrmetti. "Our Founders guaranteed States the right and responsibility to protect children, regulate the medical profession, and independently evaluate the evidence of the risks and benefits of practices to be regulated. We cannot allow ideology to override medical evidence at the expense of our right to self-government and our duty to protect our children."

To read a copy of Tennessee’s filing at the Supreme Court, please click here.

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Why Harris Lost and Trump Won

by Rod Williams, Nov. 26/2024 -It has been a little over three weeks since the election and Democrats have been engaging in a lot of Monday-morning-quarterbacking, soul-searching, second-guessing, and finger-pointing, trying to figure out how Kamala Harris lost the election. Other pundits and observers are also trying to explain the election outcome. 

Much of this analysis deals with strategic and tactical decisions of the campaign. I think little of it
matters. Democrats have always believed that the "ground game" and knocking on doors and making the phone calls and the personal postcards is how to win elections. Democrats were better than Republicans at doing that. l am not so sure people want a stranger knocking on their door or another phone call anymore. It appears that big rallies and dominating social media may be the way to win in the modern era. However, I am not convinced that that was a significant factor in the campaign.

If the outcome would have been close, then questions of whether or not Harris should have gone on the Joe Rogan show would matter. She lost by such a large margin, that I don't think it matters. Should Harris have chosen Josh Shapiro over Tim Walz as her VP pick? I don't think it really mattered. I think Shapiro would have been a better choice under normal circumstances. However, the Democratic electorate was not ready for a Jewish VP at a time when pro-Palestinian sentiment was running high in segments of the Democrati Party coalition. Facing down antisemitic Arab Americans and college students would not have been a distraction for the Harris campaign.

One of the opinions that I think does have merit is that Joe Biden should have announced he was not running for reelection much earlier and the Democratic Party should have had a primary. I still think Kamala Harris would have ending up being the nominee. The Democrat Party was not going to pass over a Black female who was the Vice President for someone else. However, a primary would have had the benefit of letting the public get to know Harris better. She would have had longer to come up with a decent answer as to why she flip-flopped on so many issues. She would have had a better chance to define herself and decide what she really believes. I am still not convinced that it would have made a big difference.

One of the most ludicrous conclusions I have heard some Democrats come up with is that President Biden should not have resigned, and the Party should have stuck with him. Granted few people have said that but some have. After the June debate it was clear that Biden was not up for the job.  I think Trumps victory would have been an unprecedented landslide, had Biden not stepped down. If Biden was not president, he would probably be in an assisted living facility. His cognitive decline could not have been hidden from the American people. I think it is almost criminal that his condition was hidden from the American people for as long as it was. His handler could not have kept it hidden throughout the campaign. 

Another conclusion that some Democrats have reached is that the campaign should have gone full-Bernie. Or some have expressed it as the party should have conducted a populist campaign. Maybe. The public does not understand economics, and everybody likes free stuff. As it was, the Trump campaign promises were estimated to add twice as much to the national debt as was Harris' campaign promises. Harris could have been more irresponsible than Trump and promised even more free stuff than Trump. 

Along with promising more free stuff, the campaign could have ginned up resentment of rich people. The campaign could have convinced the poor and the middle class the reason they were bad off is because someone else was better off.  Maybe that campaign would have worked better than Harris' more moderate campaign. I am not sure Americans are ready to have their private insurance taken away from them however, but I think "making the rich pay their fair share," could have resonated. The problem with this approach is that a populist campaign does not mesh well with a campaign of wokeness and identity politics and the more socialist of the Democrats are also the most woke. A populist appeal has to be framed as the people against the powerful. With identify politics there is no people but various slices of the people. I don't think the Democrats could have pulled off a populist appeal. 

One criticism of the Harris campaign is that it was unfocused and never found a theme.  The campaign started out as a campaign of joy and Republicans are just weird. For a while it seemed to be a campaign about abortion rights. It then switched to a campaign of Trump is a fascist and maybe America's next Hitler and this is a campaign to preserve American democracy. I agree the campaigned was unfocused, but I don't know that being focused on any one message would have worked. There are reasons much of the Harris campaign did not resonate. I am not sure improved messaging would have helped.

Another criticism of the campaign that I think has merit is that Harris lacked authenticity. While I think it may have merit. I think given who she is, it would have been hard to fix. If you are inauthentic, it is hard to switch to being authentic.  She never seemed at ease talking to people. There was the issue of her using a different accent depending on her audience. I understand why she did not go on Joe Rogan. Rogan is not a tough interviewer. He does not grill but simply has conversations. I am sure Rogan would have asked her about her about her flip flops on policy issues and she never developed a convincing answer. She could have said things like, “You know, in retrospect, maybe the taxpayers shouldn’t pay for gender-transition surgeries for detained immigrants and federal prisoners.”  She could have, but would not. She would not have been able to explain why she was wrong on so many issues then and what led her to change her mind. She seemed to me to be unable to be spontaneous and real. It seemed to me like she struggled to keep up a facade of a moderate.

From her 2016 campaign to her 2024 campaign, she went from favoring Medicare for all to a more centrist position. She went from opposing fracking to not opposing it. She was a strong supporter of the Green New Deal and then moved to the center. In 2016 she favored decriminalizing illegal border crossings. She went from that position to supporting the border deal that failed in the Senate, which is considered one of the toughest, bipartisan immigration measures in many years. As a senator, Harris was a co-sponsor of legislation that called for increasing zero-emissions vehicles and ultimately phasing out gas powered vehicles by 2040. 

In the campaign she said that none if those were currently her position. She never said why. She needed to explain what epiphany had occurred to cause her to see the light. She failed to do so. I think that was a factor in her campaign and why many did not like her, but even that, I don't believe was the deciding factor. I think most of the strategic and tactical analysis of why Harris lost is either just wrong or not significant or something that could not be corrected. 

A factor that I think may have been pivotal was Trump getting shot. When he rose from the ground with blood streaming down his face, raised his fist and screamed, "Fight! Fight! Fight!", that may have been the moment Trump won. The picture could have not been more dramatic. I suspect that is the moment some wavering Republicans were brought back into the fold and some young 'bros' became Trump voters. 

I think an important factor in Trump's win was policy and policy favored Trump. The two largest issues were immigration and the economy. On immigration, Biden should never have reopened the border and reversed Trump policies. Eventually he reimposed some of the Trump restrictions and brought down the rate of border crossings, but the country had already been flooded. It was too little, too late. I am not going to elaborate on the complexity of border policy hear and how Trump stopped Congress from passing a good bipartisan border bill. The important thing is that the people wanted illegal immigration brought under control and they believed Trump would do it.

On the economy, people believed the economy was much better under Trump than Biden and it was. Most people are pretty much ignorant of economics, but they care about the price of a gallon of gas and a dozen eggs. By the time of the election, we had a low unemployment rate, and inflation had been brought down to almost the 2% target. It didn't matter. There is a lag time between good news and people feeling it. There is also a lag time between economic policy and the effects of that policy. Often things like employment rates, and the size of the deficit, and inflation are the results of previous policy; not current policy. That is just the way it is, but in this case, it benefited Trump.

One policy issue that was supposed to benefit Democrats was the abortion issue. One would have thought it would have benefited Harris but it did not. In several states where a ballot initiative liberalizing abortion policy was on the ballot, abortion won but so did Trump. Most people are not single-issue voters, and they are not as ideological consistent as are politicians. 

An issue that one would have thought would have favored Harris and overwhelmed all other issues was the threat to democracy. For the first time in our history, we had a candidate who had attempted a coup, and who in his next term said he may suspend the constitution. That did not matter. Why? 

I think there was a foundational reason Trump won, more important than strategy or tactics or policy. I contend the reason Trump won is that Americans are sick and tired of wokeness. I think wokeness is much more than the dictionary definition of "a state of being aware, especially of social problems such as racism and inequality." Wokeness consist of DEI, political correctness, affirmative action, cancel culture, and an attitude of superiority and self-righteousness. 

Tennessee Democrat Party showcases its gender fluidity ideology in every
communication. This is from Jan. 14, 2022

Wokeness is divisive identity politics in which the population is divided into aggrieved groups based on race, gender, or sexual orientation, or other factors and each group is empower by being powerless and playing the victim.  Wokeness judges people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. I think identity politics only plays well to a small but vocal constituency. Many people in those groups do not embrace the identity. People of a Latin American background, as an example, were told they were "Latinx," and they didn't feel it. 

Wokeness is the deliberate conflation of legal immigration and illegal immigration and telling people that if they believe a country has a right to determine who may become a resident of their country that they are a bigot. 

Wokeness is approvingly watching BLM rioters topple statures, burn buildings, spray paint monuments and anything else within reach, burn police cars, and block interstates, and telling those who believe the lawless behavior should be prohibited and punished that they are racist, and we must understand the rage and be supportive of the behavior. 

Wokeness is saying that a child who decides he wants to be of the opposite sex is to be encouraged in his delusion and even advocating he has a right to transition. It is calling genital mutilation and chemical castration, "gender affirming health care."  And, if one disagrees, they are denounced as "transphobic" and a terrible person.

Wokeness is putting ones preferred pronoun following one's name in a communication. Wokeness is hectoring people for using the wrong pronoun. Wokeness is making it a crime or a disciplinary offence to "misgender."

Wokeness is silencing voices that are not attuned to the same insight as the liberal elite. It is labeling opinions with which one disagrees as "hate speech." It is shouting down conservative speakers on college compass. It is ostracizing and marginalizing and denying a platform to people with the "wrong" opinions. It is illiberal attitude toward free speech. 

Wokeness is an arrogance and moral superiority and demonizing those with a different point of view. It is viewing those who are critical of or question climate change as no better than holocaust deniers. It is saying of people you may even know well, that if they voted for Trump then they might as well be a Nazi. 

It is calling people who vote for Trump, “garbage.” It is condescension toward white rural voters and people of religious beliefs or certain moral beliefs.

I did not vote for Trump in this last election. I think he genuinely is a threat to democracy. However, the term "fascist" has been thrown around so much that it has been diluted of all meaning. It doesn't stick. There is a member of our Metro Council who routinely calls people fascist and there are a lot of people like her. I personally know people who called George W. Bush a fascist. They have stripped all power from the word. People do not like being told they are sexist, bigots, fascist and no better than a Nazi. In response, I think their attitude becomes, "I'll show you. I will vote for the guy you detest." 

Tell a people long enough they are "deplorables," "garbage," fascist, sexist, homophobes, xenophobes and bigots and inferior to your enlighten self and they will not take it anymore and strike back.  

I have had people with whom I am close say the reason Harris lost is simply because Americans are sexist and racist. It that is the extent of their analysis and their conclusion, I think Trumpism has a bright future. 

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