IT’S A SIMPLE QUESTION, NIKKI HALEY

AND THE ANSWER IS … SLAVERY

There’s telling on yourself and then there’s what former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley did when asked at an event in New Hampshire, “What was the cause of the U.S. Civil War?”

“I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how the government was gonna run,” Haley said, “the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”

Haley then flipped the question back to the man in the audience who asked the question. He responded, “In 2023 it’s astonishing to me that you would answer that question without mentioning the word slavery.”

“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Haley responded. “Next question.”

Haley is considered by some to be a rational alternative to other presidential candidates Donald “There’s very bad people on both sides” Trump and Ron “Florida is where woke goes to die” DeSantis. Hardly. She is trying too hard to thread a very tiny needle: She doesn’t want to turn off the Trump wing of the GOP and she wants to convince independents and never Trumpers that she’s their candidate. Fail.

And the cherry on top of this ignorance cake, Haley is the former governor of the first state to secede from the Union because of slavery.

In a document declaring its secession from the United States, South Carolina cited “an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slave-holding states to the institution of slavery.” State leaders also insisted that Northern states had violated their constitutional obligation to enforce federal laws like the Fugitive Slave Act and had “united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States” in Abraham Lincoln who would “inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destructive of its beliefs and safety.”

Beliefs that include slaves should not be freed or considered human.

Haley and leaders like her believe they’re scoring political points by spinning history and perpetuate the myth that America isn’t racist. All they’re doing is poisoning the political discourse.

It was a simple question. But it’s a big ask in a party whose members still worship a man who thinks being a dictator is something to joke about.

The party of Lincoln currently does not look like it.

SHORT-TERM RENTAL LAWSUIT LOSES MOMENTUM

It was reported by the Times Free Press this week that a lawsuit against the city over short-term rental policies will be withdrawn. According to the report, an online fundraiser by the coalition for the legal effort raised $47,285 out of a $200,000 goal. There have been 99 donations over about 10 months; seven of those donations, totaling $2,445, came in the past month.

The coalition was challenging short-term vacation rental rules the Chattanooga City Council approved in May. As it hashed out the updated policies, the city instituted a yearlong pause on permits for absentee rentals, those where the owner doesn’t live on-site. That moratorium lasted from April 2022 to July 2023.

This lawsuit withdrawal is good news for neighborhoods. Our communities have concerns that matter more than if someone gets to buy up houses and rent them out to strangers for six months or less.

We need our neighborhoods filled with people who want to be in Chattanooga, not people who just want to make a buck. I’m all for people making a living but not at the expense of their fellow neighbors.

DRAG IS NOT THE PROBLEM

A Cleveland pastor was arrested on Christmas on a count of sexual exploitation of a minor. The indictment said he had more than 100 sexually explicit images involving a minor. He’s now out of jail after paying a 75,000 bond.

This is not the only sickening case of child sexual exploitation or abuse this year.

A 68-year-old Tennessee soccer coach was charged with rape of a child and sexual exploitation of a minor in June after he left his phone at a restaurant that held pictures and videos of his victims.

These are heart-wrenching crimes that require more attention, if only our lawmakers would step up.

These cases and others like them all happened in a year in which state lawmakers patted themselves on the back for passing legislation that banned drag shows because they thought that that was the biggest threat to children.

There have been no cases in Tennessee involving a drag queen harassing a child. You know why? Because it was never a problem.

We must stop focusing our attention on issues that are not there. Children are paying the price.