By Steve Hunley
The big news across Tennessee was the convergence of 500 people who rushed into the Capitol building shouting, “No action, no peace!” following the shootings by Audrey/Aiden Hale of three children and  three adults.  The “protest” was organized by AWAKE, a leftist organization supposedly advocating for women and children.  One can get some idea of just what the organization’s priorities are by viewing its website:

“As we work to fulfill our mission to advocate for women and kids, we use ‘women’ in an inclusive manner, acknowledging that folks in the LGBTQ+ community are also impacted by ‘women’s issues.’”  Gender expansive individuals include those with transgender and non-binary identities, as well as those whose gender is some way is seen to be stretching society’s notions of gender.  For both women and gender marginalized people, the root of discrimination and marginalization are the same – – – misogyny and white supremacy.  Our advocacy efforts are trans-inclusive.”

Capitol police had to escort legislators to the restrooms as they were surrounded by leftists screaming and squalling.  The “rally” was advertised by the Tennessee Democratic Party for hours before the stated time of the protest.

Three Democrat legislators hurried to the well of the House of Representatives: Knoxville’s Gloria Johnson, Justin Pearson of Memphis, and Justin Jones of Nashville.  Jones has a lengthy record as an “activist” and was carrying a bullhorn where he began shouting and screaming, inciting the crowd in the galleries.  For several minutes, chaos reigned while the three showboats blathered.

Justin Jones, before he was in the legislature, is the person accused of throwing coffee in the face of the House Speaker at that time.  One Nashville journalist says Jones has a habit of shoving his phone in someone’s face as if it were his “security blanket.”  Jones tried that with fellow Representative Justin Lafferty of Knox County.  Jones, who is a member of the far left, shoved his phone in Lafferty’s face and squalled that the Republican legislator grabbed his phone and shoved him to the floor.  Jones, who pretty much supports defunding the police, promptly filed a police report that he had been assaulted, exposing his hypocrisy.

Jones, before being elected to the Tennessee General Assembly, led numerous demonstrations against the police.  State Representative Brian Richey of Maryville believes Jones wanted national publicity for his demonstration in the well of the House.  According to Richey, he had a conversation with Jones who was thrilled, saying he and Johnson and Pearson had become “national heroes.”

Gloria Johnson has never shied away from publicity and in fact got hers with an appearance on MSDNC.  The notion the trio was hoping for national publicity has the ring of truth.  It also seems likely not a single member of the trio likely thought the majority in the legislature would respond by expelling them.

Johnson, aided and abetted by the Knoxville News Sentinel, does what she always does in such situations; Johnson cloaked herself in the mantle of the most pitiful of victimhood.  Gloria Johnson rushed to appear on MSDNC to squeal about how she had been mistreated.  It is abundantly clear Johnson, Pearson and Jones violated the rules of the House of Representatives.  She posted a statement acknowledging she had broken the rules, but excused herself and said the move to expel her was for caring about third graders.

Johnson, a retired teacher, represents the teachers’ union in Nashville more than the actual people of her district.  Chicago is a perfect example of a city tightly in the grip of the teachers’ union where 75% of the students can’t read on their grade level and aren’t proficient in math either.  The city is bankrupt and infested with violent crime.

The focus has been on the gun rather than the shooter and of course many Democrats have lost their collective minds because the murderer was trans.  That is a very inconvenient fact for them and far too few have condemned the killer, preferring to blame the gun.

The protestors were calling for gun control, which is yet another reminder these people always blame the gun, never the shooter.  They want to take guns out of the hands of people who pose no threat to anyone.  And their outrage is pretty selective, not to mention hypocritical.  I don’t think these people give a hoot about the victims, the six people gunned down in cold blood by Audrey/Aiden Hale.  They’ve never shown much interest in victims before; these are the same people who urge legislation to empty our prisons, want prosecutors NOT to prosecute crimes, reduce criminal penalties and defund the police, making everyone less safe.  Truth be told, they feel more sympathy for the shooter than the six victims, which included three 9-year-old children.  Certainly, Audrey/Aiden Hale was a victim of sorts; a victim of the madness that drove him/her to deliberately plan to kill other human beings at a Christian school.  And evidence supports the notion Audrey/Aiden Hale targeted the Christian school.

The mainstream media is trying to change the narrative and claim it is parents clamoring for gun control.  One protester was identified as a high school teacher from New Jersey.  The same kind of “protest” occurred in Frankfort, Kentucky at the state capitol.  One was a self-described “genderqueer clown nun” who immediately became the mirror image of the QAnon Shaman of the January 6 protest.  The trans shaman was dressed like a demon, according to some news reports.

The mainstream media is working overtime in an attempt to shift the narrative; the narrative is being shifted to say the murders committed by Audrey/Aiden Hale were somehow a consequence of the oppression of trans people in the Southern states.

How many times do you see these same people protest about the nearly 700 people gunned down in Chicago each year for the last several years?  Incidentally, Chicago has some of the strictest gun control laws of any city in the country.  One of the big reasons Mayor Lori Lightfoot lost in the Democratic primary was because she allowed crime to balloon to the point the city became a cauldron of violent crime of all varieties.

The death of American youngsters in this country from gun violence is infinitesimal when compared to those from fentanyl.  Do you see any of these people protest the open border?  Of course not, although that is the direct pipeline from which the deadly drug comes into this country.  Fentanyl is made, like so many other things, in China and is carried across our open border by the drug cartels who rape and kill children, sell people, and commit any number of unspeakable crimes.  But those predators have become almost a protected species by the Left in this country.  If guns become illegal in this country, they will flood through that same open border to be purchased on the black market and they will do a steady to booming business.  We can’t expect people who say there may be as many as 72 genders to face reality.  They aren’t even acquainted with reality, much less on a speaking basis.

Locally, the Left has targeted Congressman Tim Burchett for their special fury.  Burchett was candid enough to tell the truth by saying Congress isn’t going to fix the problem, because it can’t be legislated.  One significant fact Democrats and the Left can’t seem to process mentally is the fact criminals do NOT obey the law and never will.

We have come to a sorry state of affairs in this country when our public officials can’t tell the truth without being cursed for it.  Burchett is entirely right that people need to get right in their hearts.  The heart of Audrey/Aiden Hale felt nothing but hatred for those he/she slaughtered without mercy including three 9-year-old children.

Both Justin Pearson and Justin Jones were expelled from the House.  Gloria Johnson survived by a single vote.