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The angry grandmother wishes for a New Year  – Tennessee Lookout

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The angry grandmother wishes for a New Year  – Tennessee Lookout


At the end of each year I reflect on the good and bad times I have experienced and I begin making my wishes — rather than resolutions — for the new year. 

This year has been memorable for many of us as we’ve  welcomed new births into our community and we buried innocents who were tragically killed by gun violence. That is just not acceptable. 

My grandchildren are celebrating the holidays away from Larry and me this year in what I pray will be fun and safe environments.  I miss them but I am so very lucky because my grandchildren are alive and well.

Other families in my community and across the world must get through this holiday season without their children because their child was killed by a gun. A parent never gets over this. My mother said we are not supposed to outlive our children, that to bury a child is out of the order of our life cycle. 

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Parents bury their children everyday because of cancer, accidents and heartbreaking medical conditions. Our world raises money to fight these diseases and we rejoice everytime science comes closer to finding a cure. My wish in 2024 is that Tennesseans demand that we find a cure to stop easy access to guns that result in the death of our children. 

I am at my wits end about how to revise the gun laws in Tennessee. If we cannot change things in Tennessee,  what comfort and hope can we offer to grieving families? 

The supermajority of the Tennessee Legislature is living in a glass bubble of their own making; a snow globe enclosing the Tennessee Capital and offices of the legislature, with members of the legislature who oppose new gun laws, the snowflakes. 

These members isolate themselves from voters who want change.  Never mind that the voters pay the salaries of these legislators. You can shake their snow globe world like the protestors did in the do-nothing August special legislative session. Despite the pleas from parents who have lost children because of guns, the supermajority snow globe would not open their hearts and listen to people outside of their comfort zone. 

Perhaps the gun industry lobbyists are allowed into this snow globe world but those of us who want our children to live in a safer world are not. As a result, nothing changes in such a snowglobe world and that is sad and frustrating. 

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If this Angry Grandmother could wave a magic wand, I would wish that we could penetrate the sheltered world in which members of Tennessee’s live.

Imagine a snow globe that opens and welcomes love and change. I ask you, why in the name of all that is holy can’t we find a cure for the addiction of gun obsession in the state of Tennessee? 

Will the cure be to vote out members of the supermajority who are not willing to listen to us despite poll after poll showing Tennesseans want background checks, red flag laws and safe weapon storage?

It has been hard for me this holiday season to find comfort in many traditional Christmas songs that have always brought me inner peace. I picture some of our elected officials singing “Silent Night,” or “Away in a Manger,” and this grandmother becomes angrier. I wish I had the courage to go to the worship place of every Tennessee legislator who has voted against gun reform laws. If I did this, I would probably cry and only ask “Why?” 

How many of our Tennessee legislature attend a worship service on a regular basis? Even if they do not identify as a member of a church, synagogue, or mosque, perhaps they show up for the high holidays to shake hands with their constituents.

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Are members of the Republican supermajority praised publicly while they are at a worship service?  Or do people leading service pray to soften the  hearts of people who have hardened theirs about our gun laws and protecting our children? 

I specifically pray to soften the hearts of our leaders who could make our world just a little safer. These prayers are hard for me because I am so angry and I believe our Creator understands how often humans fail.  

I encourage you to join me and tune in and watch your tax dollars at work when the Tennessee Legislature is back in session. Check out https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/livevideo/ and see if members of the Republican supermajority introduce religious leaders as their guests.

I hope that prayers will be lifted up to change the hearts of those who worship the gun industry in 2024, and that voters will take note of those whose hearts don’t change.

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Tennessee

Second-Year Lineman is Titans Best Building Block

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Second-Year Lineman is Titans Best Building Block


The Tennessee Titans are excited to have offensive lineman Peter Skoronski take another leap in his second season in the NFL.

The No. 11 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Northwestern played left tackle in college, which saw him high on many experts’ draft boards coming out. However, the Titans had a different vision for Skoronski, moving him to left guard in his rookie year.

Skoronski’s 6-4, 313-pound frame projects as more of a guard in the NFL than a tackle, so the switch makes sense for the Titans. Still, Skoronski has a ton of talent, which is why he was chosen in NFL.com’s “win-now” draft as a seventh-round selection.

In the exercise, each team had a chance to choose any player in the NFL with the idea that they are starting a team from scratch. Skoronski was the No. 211 overall pick, meaning he should be one of the top-seven players on a roster. For the Titans, he projects as such.

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However, Skoronski had to deal with a lot of change in his first season in the league. He had to adjust to the speed of the game changing from college to the pros and learn a whole new position in the process.

Skoronski was thrown into the deep end, but he found a way to float. He committed just one penalty all season long in his rookie year, competing in 14 games for the Titans at left guard.

Now, Skoronski enters his second season with a lot more comfort and experience. He also has No. 7 overall pick JC Latham on his left-hand side at tackle and Lloyd Cushenberry III on his right as the team’s center. That should also make Skoronski feel a lot more comfortable with that kind of help on each side of him.

On top of that, offensive line guru Bill Callahan has joined his son’s coaching staff, and he’s considered to be one of the best position coaches in the NFL. He should be able to develop Skoronski’s talents and make him one of the better guards in the NFL.

Make sure you bookmark All Titans for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!

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Democrats denounce Patriot Front march in downtown Nashville

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Democrats denounce Patriot Front march in downtown Nashville


NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Tennessee Democrats are speaking out after Patriot Front held its annual Independence Day March in downtown Nashville.

The group posted videos of the march, including “activists” entering downtown, crossing the Cumberland River, marching down Broadway and giving a speech at Legislative Plaza across from the Tennessee State Capitol.

Democrats denounced the protests, calling the group “white supremacists.”

“Just two days after celebrating the independence of our nation, white supremacists have taken to the streets of Nashville carrying Confederate flags and chanting ‘deportation saves the nation’ and “Seig Heil,’” the Tennessee Democratic Party said in a statement. “We condemn these acts of terror in our community and call on Republican leaders of our state to do the same. The hatred and division that white supremacists and right wing groups seek to sow should never be acceptable to any citizen.”

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“This comes after a march of new-Nazis in the Spring and Proud Boys rallying there a year ago,” State Rep. Justin Jones, D-Nashville, said in a social media post. “Shame on my Republican colleagues who continue to welcome these hate groups to our state with racist laws and rhetoric.”

“This is what we’re fighting against in Tennessee. This is what we’re fighting against in America,” Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Hendrell Remus said in a statement. “While our Republican state leaders sit quietly by, we refuse to let hate filled racists terrorize our community.”

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Tennessee Street site of two deaths in 12-hour period

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Tennessee Street site of two deaths in 12-hour period


A heated pursuit of nearly two miles after an attempted traffic stop on Saturday morning ended in a vehicle collision on Sonoma Boulevard and Tennessee Street that left one dead and others transported to a local hospital.

A driver on Vallejo’s Sonoma Boulevard and Lemon Street at close to 1 a.m. Saturday refused to pull over for officers, triggering a high-speed pursuit that ended when the driver collided with an uninvolved vehicle.

According to Vallejo police, a male occupant of the vehicle was pronounced dead at the scene. The other occupants in both vehicles were transported to local hospitals for treatment.

The Solano County Major Crimes Task Force took over the investigation.

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The incident came just a day after a hectic Fourth of July that saw the Vallejo Fire Department respond to 86 calls in a 32-hour period. It also came approximately 12 hours after a homicide at Tennessee and Humboldt streets — the city’s 10th homicide of the year.

The identity of the victim in Friday’s shooting is being withheld pending notification of next of kin by the Solano County Coroner’s Office. Police say it is too early to know if the incidents are related.

Anyone with information regarding this case is urged to contact Detective Daniel Callison at (707) 648-4533 or Daniel.Callison@cityofvallejo.net or Detective William Carpenter at (707) 651-7146 or William.Carpenter@cityofvallejo.net.



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