It seems like most Internet bloggers would do a little homework before calling someone a RINO. Given my reputation as one of the most conservative state senators in the United States, it came as a surprise. What did I do to "deserve" that?

The headline reads, "These 7 State Senators Put Joe Biden's FBI Before Tennesseans." And there's my picture, along with a handful of my colleagues, who - along with me - are considered among the most conservative state legislators in the nation.

"I'm for LEGAL immigration and against ILLEGAL immigration. That critical distinction of legal versus illegal is ignored by the hysterical leftists who label anyone not in favor of ILLEGAL immigration as anti-immigrant or some sort of hater. Nothing could be further from the truth and, thankfully, most people do get the distinction.

After telling the story in Judiciary Committee and on the Senate floor of being surrounded by a mob of angry protestors on the streets of Nashville, leave it to some in the media to totally miss the point! By relying upon a quote without context, the Huffington Post, Washington Post, and others reported it as complaining when, in fact, I was defending the protestors' right to protest! [To clarify, there is a difference between protesting (speaking one's mind) and rioting (tearing things up). I defended the right to protest, not riot.]

As reported on goodnewsnetwork.org:

Majority of Americans Wish They Could Give Patience and Peace to Their Loved Ones This Holiday

A new survey of 2,000 Americans found that the holiday spirit transcends the physical realm, as half of those polled said they wished they could give somebody in their life something intangible this year.

In thinking about a Thanksgiving message, this caught my eye: Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1963 Thanksgiving address. It was delivered to a grieving nation just six days after the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22, 1963, in Dallas. In his opening remarks, Johnson asked for prayers that God would guard our Republic and guide his every labor. Tragedy tends to turn people to God, a lesson that history repeats often...   

Joy Pullman writes a scathing article with the following headline: First Common Core High School Grads Worst-Prepared for College in 15 Years. That comes as no surprise to those who recognized early on that Common Core was about power, not education.

Advocates preached endlessly about how beneficial it would be for all schools in all states to have the same platform of standards, instructional materials, and testing. Legislators and school administrators, lured by federal dollars and pressured by the Obama administration, plunged headfirst into Common Core without considering this fundamental question: who is preparing the standards and why?

"I'm in favor of medical cannabis reform. Safe Access Tennessee, a 501(c)4 nonpartisan, patient advocacy group devoted to restoring cannabis-based products to a legal status for medical treatment use, has defined "medical cannabis reform" to include the following:

"I'm 100% pro life with the belief that life begins at conception. It breaks my heart that society so casually embraces abortion as an acceptable practice. It's ironic that the social justice crowd protests loudly for the rights of whoever they perceive as vulnerable, yet are totally silent in defense of those precious lives who are truly the most vulnerable.

"I've never understood why politicians think criminals obey laws. Despite hundreds of federal, state, and local laws, the evidence is clear: we've not stopped drunk driving, illegal drugs, sexual abuse and assault, or murder. Criminals, by definition, are law breakers. And law-abiding citizens, by definition, are not.