We talk about the short-sightedness of the Tennessee Republicans in the Legislature after expelling two members yesterday.
Check out this episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts!
Do you think any of the Christian Republicans in the Tennessee Legislature see the irony of expelling two young outspoken preacher-like representatives during Holy Week? Yeah, probably not.
The biggest question is, what do they think this has accomplished? Besides, elevating three unknown but well-spoken state representatives to national prominence where they are being lauded for their stance on a wildly popular issue all while in a scenario where those two can win back their seats also immediately. Seems a bit shortsighted.
Background:
Yesterday, Tennessee’s Republican-led House expelled two Black Democratic lawmakers over their protests in the chamber. Last week, State Reps Justin Jones, Justin Pearson, and Gloria Johnson — now known as the “Tennessee Three” — called for gun reforms in response to the deadly shooting at a Christian school in Nashville. All three were stripped of their committee assignments. And state Republicans called for their expulsion, saying the trio broke decades-old House rules and brought “disorder and dishonor” to the chamber. Republicans accused these lawmakers of conducting a “mutiny,” while the expelled Democrats said the GOP was attacking democracy instead of addressing gun violence.
Now, Jones and Pearson have been voted out of office. But a third vote to expel Johnson, who is white, failed. Why not Johnson? The results of the votes led to accusations of racism. Pearson said “the racial dynamic” couldn’t be ignored. And when asked why she thought she wasn’t expelled, Johnson said, “It might have to do with the color of our skin.” State Republican leaders denied that race was a factor, adding that the majority voted for Johnson to be expelled. Meanwhile, Jones said the expulsions were a “farce of democracy.”
It’s worth listening to the first hour to hear one of our callers who actually worked as a political organizer in Tennessee spills more tea on the chaos that is the Tennessee Legislature.
Here are some of the better clips from yesterday’s hearing:
Yesterday, Joey Chestnut downed 14.5 burritos to win Qdoba’s first world championship in Deer District, walking away with the World Burrito Eating Champion belt and a $5,000 giant check.
Chestnut is ranked the No. 1 competitive eater by Major League Eating and holds at least 55 world records, according to MLE‘s website. One of those records is in the category of “burritos, long-form” for eating 14.5 pounds of burritos in 10 minutes at Illegal Pete’s Burritos in 2016.
Watch the video of him winning (slight trigger warning if seeing a grown man spread food over his face like a toddler makes you queasy) and read more about Joey’s training style at Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
