When Public Is Not Public
Mayor Indya Kincannon has already got a transparency problem as evidenced by the lawsuit filed by the Knoxville News Sentinel over the process used by the city government in selecting a new police chief. Still, the city just doesn’t get it. City media spokesperson Eric Vreeland just emailed Kincannon’s public schedule, which is only notable for how meager it is. Yet the media is advised: “For media information only, not for publication.” So, it’s Indya’s public schedule, yet not for public consumption. Kind of sums it all up, doesn’t it?
Common Sense Needed
Tennessee state Senator Richard Briggs is by profession a physician. More specifically, a heart doctor. Some on the far right have been giving the senator a hard time over Briggs having questioned the need for doctors to mount an “affirmative defense” stating under Tennessee State law why ending a pregnancy was medically necessary to save the life of the mother. The Tennessee Journal quoted Dr. Briggs as saying, “The defendant is guilty until he can prove that he’s not guilty. In my opinion, that is a very bad position to put the doctors in – – – why should this doctor have to pay his own legal bills for saving a woman’s life?”
According to the Tennessee Journal, Lee Berkenstock, chair of the Tennessee Medical Association, as well as president Edward Capparelli, said in a statement Briggs has noted recognition of the “unintended consequences” of the abortion laws passed by the General Assembly. The statement issued by Berkenstock and Capparelli puts a fine point on the issue, saying of the law, “It places doctors in the unconscionable position of having to choose between saving a patient’s life or committing a felony.”
Folks complain about the cost of health care, but the position physicians are placed with the current state law would only drive the cost of heath care up. It illustrates the need for the legislature to revisit the law and fine tune it. Many matters of the law are much more gray than black and white. A heapin’ helpin’ of common sense would really be helpful in this instance.
Rose Calls for Mayorkas’ Removal
Congressman John Rose of Tennessee’s Sixth District is calling for Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, to either quit or be removed from office. Rose wasn’t especially particular about it; the congressman suggested Mayorkas either resign or be impeached. Congressman Rose was fed up after reading a report from the Department of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) stating busloads of illegal immigrants are being shipped to Tennessee. Rose said Mayorkas has repeatedly violated his oath of office. The congress noted 175 Americans die daily from the deadly drug Fentanyl flowing over the border in astonishing quantities.
Governor Bill Lee issued a press statement, saying his office had been notified last Monday that “ICE facilities in New Orleans are scheduled to begin transporting an unknown number of single adult male detainees to Tennessee this week to await court proceedings.”
How many of the illegals do you suppose will show up for their court dates?
Charter School Applications Continue To Grow
Tennessee’s Department of Education has received 23 letters of intent from operators of Charter Schools in eight districts across the Volunteer State. At least three of those letters are resubmissions in Rutherford, Montgomery and Madison Counties, where their applications were denied.
In Davidson County, there are currently 12,800 students enrolled in 32 charter schools. The Metro Public School system has received 5 letters of intent for new charter schools.
The county receiving the largest number of letters of intent is Shelby. No less than 10 proposed new charter schools want to begin operation. That would be in addition to the existing 57 charter schools operating in Shelby County presently.
Knox County has two new applications to open charter schools. That would be in addition to Emerald Youth Academy, which boasts 438 students currently.
Thank Goodness For Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s release of the “Twitter Files” has caused leftists to meltdown daily. The constant stream of revelations confirms much of what we already knew. Voices on the right were deliberately silenced as Twitter staffers tried to build blacklists to keep some comments and commentators from trending.
Bari Weiss, an independent journalist, has reported Twitter kept a secret blacklist and the social media giant supposedly tried to suppress the accounts of conservative commentator Dan Bongino and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who argued against COVID lockdowns.
Ms. Weiss said Twitter secretly placed Dr. Bhattacharya on what she described as a “Trends Blacklist” which deliberately kept his tweets from trending.
Weiss also stated Dan Bongino was placed on a “Search Blacklist” while conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s account had the admonition “Do Not Amplify” for Twitter insiders.
Happy Holidays!
Everyone here at The Focus hope you and your family stayed warm, dry, and happy during Christmas. We hope that Santa was very good to you. The Focus family wants to wish you and your family a healthy, prosperous and very Happy New Year!
