(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Watching Justin Jones burn a bigoted colleague shows why TN GOP was so hellbent on expelling him [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-15 Justin Jones and Justin Pearson have always been known for being fiery orators on the Tennessee House floor. They don’t mince words and have never had an issue calling out their GOP colleagues for passing hateful legislation or, in the case of gun violence, refusing to do anything at all. After all, Tennessee has one of the highest rates of gun deaths in the country, yet loves to enact laws that make gun violence easier. Outside of Tennessee, the situation made no sense. The two men took part in a protest against gun violence from the floor of the chamber; and even though their protest broke a rule of decorum, the proper process, as outlined by the Tennessee House rules, was to refer the matter to the ethics committee. (It’s also important to note that the Republican supermajority oftentimes refuses to call on Democrats, cuts their microphones during debate, and ends debate to vote on a bill before a Democrat is allowed to weigh in.) The men demanded to be heard. In response, they were instantly expelled from the legislature for breaking decorum. The white female lawmaker who joined them was spared the same fate for some reason. The entire nation was shocked that the Tennessee legislature had such an outrageous, unprecedented response to a decorum issue in the aftermath of another mass shooting. What made even less sense was the fact that these same GOP lawmakers refused to expel Representative David Byrd for sexually assaulting underage girls because they said it would mean his district wouldn’t have representation. This wasn’t about decorum. The GOP lawmakers were tired of constantly being called out on the House floor by these two and saw an opportunity to get rid of them. Thankfully, their plan backfired spectacularly. If you want to understand why the Justins are so hated, click here. You will see a the back and forth exchange with Republican John Raglan and Justin Jones. You will see Justin Person’s retort as well. For a much shorter version featuring just Justin Jones, see below: x Ragan: My belief is in god.. Jones: Stop using god to justify your bigotry. Stop using god to justify hatred and racism. pic.twitter.com/UakUjFIyvO — Acyn (@Acyn) April 13, 2023 Transcript: John Ragan (R): “My belief is in God. I settle other things with facts and data. The fact of the matter is, sir, this bill is not racist. It is not unconstitutional. Justin Jones (D): “You keep bringing up God. but God says in Isaiah 10: ‘Woe to those who pass unjust laws that hurt the poor and robbed them of their rights. And so stop using God to justify your bigotry. Stop using God to justify hatred and racism.” Cameron Sexton (R): “You are out of order!” Sadly, Ragan’s bill to limit teaching “divisive concepts” in social justice, racial inequity, political science, social work, psychology and many other fields in college courses passed. It stemmed from last year’s manufactured outrage over “critical race theory,” which later encompassed any teaching about race in U.S. history The national attention on Tennessee has been a blessing for these two men. They have a national platform, and Democrats in the state are energized. Yet for the Tennessee GOP, not so much. The national press has already discovered that the House Speaker, Cameron Sexton, who led the charge to expel, secretly bought a $600,000 home through an anonymous trust far from his district where he isn’t living. Under Article II, Section 5a of the Tennessee Constitution, he isn’t a “qualified voter” from the district he represents and thus should be expelled. Not only did he go to great lengths to obscure his purchase, but also billed taxpayers for $92,071 in per diem expenses for his fake commute from Crossville. Unsurprisingly, the Tennessee Republicans are rushing to end this year’s session in the hopes that the national press will leave and they can return to their bigotry and corruption in peace. Sadly for them, I think that ship already sailed. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/15/2164092/-Watching-Justin-Jones-burn-a-bigoted-colleague-shows-why-TN-GOP-was-so-hellbent-on-expelling-him Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/