Today is Thursday, April 6, 2023. Today was a dark day in this country as all eyes are focused on the fascistic state of Tennessee that just saw a horrific school shooting just a week or so ago. Today the state chamber decided for no other good reason to expel two Black representatives but leave one white female representative untouched for the offense of chanting in the well of the House in support of the many protesters seeking sensible gun control legislation. This is fucking so undemocratic that there should be people out protesting in the streets. What an outrage!

This is the stunning news of the disgusting action executed by white men in power. Every American should be up in arms over this move. Therefore, an article in the Daily News evening edition outlines the details of what has just happened in one fascistic-leaning state in this country. The article is entitled “GOP lawmakers in Tennessee to vote on expelling 3 Democrats” by Kimberlee Kruesi and Jonathan Mattise.

Therefore, thousands flocked to the Tennessee Capitol today in support of the three Democratic lawmakers who were facing expulsion for their role in a gun-control demonstration, cheering and chanting outside the House chamber so loudly that the noise drowned out the proceedings.

One of those hapless representatives was Rep. Justin Jones, a young Black lawmaker, who stated right before his expulsion from the chamber, “We called for you to ban assault weapons, and you respond with an assault on our democracy.”

The calls for this unprecedented action stem from a protest held just days after six innocent lives were lost to a deranged killer at The Covenant School. (As fucking expected, repugnicans decided to focus on the murderer’s trans identity rather than support better gun control laws.)

Jones and his fellow colleague, Rep. Justin Pearson, chanted back and forth from the chamber floor with gun-control supporters who packed the gallery.

The other representative who survived the vote of expulsion was white Democrat, Rep. Gloria Johnson.

Outrage over the action taken here in this state chamber once again thrust Tennessee into the national spotlight, underscoring not only the ability of the repugnican supermajority to silence opponents, but also its increasing willingness to do so.

This unprecedented maneuver illustrates how rare this action is in the chamber. A very illustrative case from 2019 just demonstrates how craven repugnicans really are in that lawmakers faced pressure to expel former Republican Rep. David Byrd after he faced accusations of sexual misconduct dating to when he was a high school basketball coach three decades earlier. The pusillanimous repugnicans declined to take any action, pointing out that he was reelected as the allegations surfaced. The scandalous situation resolved itself when the disgraced repugnican retired last year.

The other two representatives who were expelled earned that distinction, not the two black representatives today who just lent their voice to gun control protesters in the House chamber. The first one was Democrat Katrina Robinson after she was convicted of using about $3, 400 in federal grant money on wedding expenses instead of her nursing school. The other case occurred in 2016 when the chamber voted 70-2 to remove repugnican Rep. Jeremy Durham after an attorney general’s investigation detailed allegations of improper sexual contact with at least 22 women during his four years in office. That’s a lot of women!

Today then marked the third time the Tennessee state legislature expelled representatives, but today’s vote was the most outrageous step this body has taken and should be condemned by everyone.

Asked about why she survived a nay vote in the House, Rep. Johnson, who is white, bluntly said why: “I will answer your question. It might have to do with the color of our skin.”

President Joe Biden weighed in on this shameful display of racism and autocracy, saying in a tweet, “Three kids and three officials gunned down in yet another mass shooting. And what are GOP officials focused on? Pushing lawmakers who joined thousands of peaceful protesters calling for action. It’s shocking, undemocratic, and without precedent.”

Again, the only reason why two of these representatives were expelled is that they stood in the well of the House and used a bullhorn to address their colleagues and protesters in the gallery. To expel these passionate Black lawmakers for really doing nothing is just short of a political lynching. This action was supposedly in violation of House rules. In my mind, it was a violation of white men’s rules which look askance at Black “uppity” members who join peaceful protesters in the well. They will fucking regret this action as Americans wake up to their ignominious breaking of democratic norms. The three lawmakers already have received recognition from their constituents as the “Tennessee three.”

The repugnican speaker of the House, Cameron Sexton, likened the actions of the three representatives to that of the January 6th insurrectionists. What a fucking analogy to use by an autocratic repugnican who doesn’t know the real equivalence of the events of January 6 to the events of yesterday. How dare he even suggest that a peaceful protest is the same as Dumpf’s insurrection against his own government on January 6? Those stupid protesters at the Capitol were not peaceful; they were not merely demonstrating their First Amendment rights.

People in this country should now feel incensed and motivated to quickly take to the streets over this disgraceful power grab by repugnicans. Another step that can be taken, I hope, is that some corporate entities decide to remove their footprint from the state as a result of this patently antidemocratic action. This will surely serve to punish those repugnicans who dared try to silence First Amendment rights of their own constituents.

I hope this action will be the lightning rod to stir a massive movement against the kind of autocracy demonstrated in the Tennessee House chamber.

One rare positive sign in the country was the severe loss of repugnicans in the big Wisconsin Supreme Court election, as Justice Janet Protasiewicz defeated Republican-backed rival Dan Kelly by 11 points.

Here the issue at the center of Protasiewicz’s successful campaign was protecting abortion rights and this win seems to point out that the GOP (“Guns Over People”) is having a “full-blown freakout” about implications for the 2024 presidential election.

So I missed writing in this space yesterday because I was celebrating Passover with my dear friend “Harold” and his wife “Rachel” at their home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. In addition to us at the Seder table, our hosts welcomed another married couple “Morey” and “Alison,” with their daughter “Rivka.” There was also Harold and Rachel’s gentle and very quiet dog, Teddy, who stationed himself under the dining room table, hoping to get scraps during the Passover meal. Harold positioned himself as the leader of the Seder, having all of us partake in reading the customary Haggadah, which is the traditional guidebook to the Passover evening meal. The word “Haggadah” means “retelling,” which is what is done during a traditional seder. In this text, the story of Passover is read and the “order” of the traditional meal is laid out in its pages.

Elliot and I left Harold and Rachel after breakfast today. We had lunch at Beechwood Cafe in Jersey City. We didn’t get home until a little after 5.

The time I spend with my friend Harold is always sadly very brief. I don’t think we even spent a full 24 hours with my friend and his wife. We arrived around 4:15 p.m. yesterday and we left around 1 this afternoon.

Anyway, tomorrow is Good Friday. For those who celebrate, have a blessed Good Friday!

By the way, a new scandal involving that repugnant Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who has that crazy wife who irrationally supported Dumpf’s insurrection is brewing, with the report that this jurist has accepted without complaint several luxury trips paid for by a repugnican megadonor that was reported in Propublica. This newest ethical lapse on Thomas’s part screams for something to be finally done on reining in this jurist’s questionable decisions to accept lavish trips and gifts from a billionaire. Let’s have term limits on Supreme Court justices!

Oh, by the way, Tennessee exposed its most racist spirit today just two days after the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, 55 years ago. What a shameful reminder of how much work still needs to be done in this country so many years after the death of the civil rights leader!!

Stay safe and be well.