Discussion: Tennessee Guv Favors Discontinuing Confederate Flag License Plates

Discussion for article #237762

Looks like this is having a domino effect. Bout tricking time

2 Likes

But not on the Big Gulp cups at the Quick 'n Go…

The governor said he wasn’t aware of that some of the state’s license plates bore an image of the Confederate flag but he’d “be in favor of discontinuing it,” as quoted by the newspaper.

Bull !! Shit !!

2 Likes

The senate has just passed the initial vote to approve fast track.
Thought somebody at TPM might be interested.
Or not. Can’t possibly be as important as everything else.

"The most controversial provision of the TPP is the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) section, which strengthens existing ISDS procedures. ISDS first appeared in a bilateral trade agreement in 1959. According to The Economist, ISDS gives foreign firms a special right to apply to a secretive tribunal of highly paid corporate lawyers for compensation whenever the government passes a law to do things that hurt corporate profits — such things as discouraging smoking, protecting the environment or preventing a nuclear catastrophe.

Arbitrators are paid $600-700 an hour, giving them little incentive to dismiss cases; and the secretive nature of the arbitration process and the lack of any requirement to consider precedent gives wide scope for creative judgments.

To date, the highest ISDS award has been for $2.3 billion to Occidental Oil Company against the government of Ecuador over its termination of an oil-concession contract, this although the termination was apparently legal. Still in arbitration is a demand by Vattenfall, a Swedish utility that operates two nuclear plants in Germany, for compensation of €3.7 billion ($4.7 billion) under the ISDS clause of a treaty on energy investments, after the German government decided to shut down its nuclear power industry following the Fukushima disaster in Japan in 2011.

Under the TPP, however, even larger judgments can be anticipated, since the sort of “investment” it protects includes not just “the commitment of capital or other resources” but “the expectation of gain or profit.” That means the rights of corporations in other countries extend not just to their factories and other “capital” but to the profits they expect to receive there."


3 Likes

MAyBE REInce saID we neeD TO ADD faBric to OUR tENT to MAke it Much BIGGER? ElectION YEar and ALL…

Good. Glad it passed.

1 Like

Roof must be just SO bewildered right now.

1 Like

Could you remind everyone just how much is TPM paying you to shill for the TPP?

4 Likes

4 Likes

And it only took 150 years and nine dead people…well, nine before all the others.

“The governor said he wasn’t aware of that some of the state’s license plates bore an image of the Confederate flag….”

If Dylann Roof represents the brutality of racism, then Bill Haslam represents the banality of it.

5 Likes

This is all quite amusing. “Shocked, shocked!” they cry.

1 Like

I love that excuse.

What, you didn’t look at the fucking CARS as you went to work?

I would tell you, but then I would have to shoot you. :wink:

Surprised Mr. Smirk, my gov by the way, would come out immediately with a statement one this. His usual mode is to hem haw and do it all over again until someone tells him what to do.

Bull Shit is very true… a sample of every available plate type is displayed prominently at each County Clerks office so that you can easily choose when getting your plates.

1 Like

I’ve known Bill Haslam for years.
He’s a nice man, with a nice family.

That said, he’s a mediocre governor, who never takes the lead on any issue, especially controversial ones.

The same SCV plates Virginia wants to eliminate—and the same as the ones Texas went to SCOTUS to avoid issuing—are available in Tennessee, and have been for years now.

But as was the case with the ACA insurance exchange, marriage equality, and expanding Medicaid, Gov. Haslam has done as his far-right-wing advisors have told him to do—to his detriment and to the detriment of Tennessee and its citizens.

Such is the nature of Republican “governance,” which is a misnomer is ever there was one.

1 Like

What ever will they do if they take away their beloved confederate flag???

I know. “Choose Life” plates are currently available in 29 States and only one of those states uses the proceeds to fix the fucking roads. My guess is they’ll probably just go with that.

Btw, Pro-choice license plates…currently available in zero States.

1 Like

By the way----there is only one “o” in Volkswagen.

Hire a damned proofreader!

1 Like