Francis Lee

@RussLatino According to your followers, only the rich pay income taxes and the economic pie and the government pie is fixed in size. #TheyMeanWell

There are 1.2 million workers in Mississippi. They teach in our schools, patrol our streets, build ships at our ports and lots in between. Letting them keep what they earn is not radical. It’s how economies grow.

@BKatherine958 @JasonWhiteMS Nobody has “dipped” into Pers. Where did you get that?

@JasonWhiteMS PERS was stable until you guys started dipping into it. I worked many years for the state getting less wages than the market just so I could be invested in PERS. Fix the mess that you made.

I’m not a tax lawyer like you, I’m a country lawyer from a small town, but here’s what I do know about PERS. My wife is a PERS Retiree. Both of my parents were lifelong educators in Mississippi’s public schools and our outstanding community college system. They are both PERS Retirees. I really don’t need a late afternoon tweet on PERS or leadership from you. Trust me, I’ve got real world examples of the importance of both from those mentioned above. True leadership is solving the stability of PERS which is why the funding for our state’s retirement system is directly addressed in the House tax plan. Which part of the Senate tax plan addresses dedicated funding to PERS? No one denies we’ve got a $25 billion dollar deficit currently with PERS. No one denies we have to stop digging the hole. No one denies we owe it to retirees and employees to honor the benefits promised. What Mississippians, including House of Representatives members, are concerned about is your lack of leadership to address the money side of the problem you refuse to engage in: a dedicated stream of revenue directly to PERS. You have in your Senate a House Bill that directly addresses the MONEY side of the PERS problem by dedicating $100 million dollars annually of the state’s share of lottery proceeds DIRECTLY to PERS. It’s called House Bill 1. Look it up this weekend. I’ll clue you in, it’s in Section 11.

@JeremyEnglandMS How many paid days off would a female state employee with 5 years of service have already including sick time and vacation time, etc. that can be taken with pay right now for having a baby? I'm clueless.

I was happy to play a role in passing this pro-life, pro-workforce development legislation. One of the most common questions asked by applicants, particularly young women, during interviews is: “do you provide parental leave?” We appreciate our state employees in MS. #msleg

@HawkinsChip @magnoliatribune Can you explain why my choice in wine is limited to what the state wants to permit me to purchase?

@magnoliatribune Consumers will pay 15.5% in taxes while package stores will still have to pay 28%. Can someone explain why it’s fair for consumers to be able to buy alcohol cheaper and directly from the winery than the liquor stores that must buy from the state and at a higher tax rate?

Senate committee narrowly votes to allow wine shipping to consumers in Mississippi Mississippi is one of only three states that doesn’t allow direct shipment of wine to consumers. #msleg magnoliatribune.com/2025/01/31/sen…

@RussLatino Holmes County holding its vote “count” until last?

Holmes County only one that hasn't reported yet. If turnout pattern holds from similar counties, expect Kitchens to pick up between 600-800 votes and swing ahead of Branning by a very, very slim margin. BUT, huge number of absentees left to be counted. Being told over 3,000 in Rankin and 1,700 in Hinds County. If those absentees hold at current percentages in respective counties, Branning would pick up 300 or so more votes. (Madison has already counted absentees). Razor thin stuff. Not going to be decided tonight.

@RussLatino “…prioritize athletics over education” at an Institution of Higher Learning. That suggestion runs counter to the core mission of the University.

Mark Keenum has been/is a phenomenal leader at Mississippi State. Bulldogs are lucky to have him. Your football program suffered a major setback with the unexpected death of a legendary coach and hasn’t regained footing. That’s it.

@IAPolls2022 Suburban women. Wow.

Georgia poll: Do you approve or disapprove of the job Governor Brian Kemp is doing? Approve: 64% Disapprove: 34% —— • Male: 66-32% • Female: 61-36% • White: 70-26% • Black: 50-48% • Dem: 51-46% • GOP: 79-20% • Indie: 50-45% • Moderate: 56-39% • 4 year degree: 65-33% • No college: 63-35% • White college: 71-28% • White no college: 70-27% • Urban: 54-46% • Suburban: 63-35% • Suburban women: 69-28% • Rural: 69-28% • Ages 18-44: 58-40% • Ages 45+: 67-31% • Biden 2020 voters: 51-47% • Trump 2020 voters: 77-21% —— @foxnewspoll (#15) | 8/23-26 | 1,014 RV static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/co…

@MSGOP @BennieGThompson @realDonaldTrump @msdemocrats @WLBT @16WAPTNews @WJTV Horrible.

@RussLatino Or a history book. We keep doing stuff where there is already a failed case study.

It increasingly as if people in power have never once opened an economic textbook.

@RussLatino Well, that’s interesting in a cryptic sort if way.

There are people who are about to find out in painful ways that you cannot just make up “facts” to disparage those with whom you disagree. Some have gotten away with it for far too long.

@MelissaFausz @RussLatino I have found that Doctors somehow thinks medical school makes them authorities on economics. Business school didn’t teach me to treat cardiac disease. So, I am not sure the disconnect.

@RussLatino Thank goodness he’s a doctor and not an economist. If he’s confused by your clear and straightforward math, well, bless his heart.

I’m sure Dusty could point out my honest mistake. I literally showed my math in the article. Explained the equation and ran the numbers in plain sight. If my math is wrong, say how.

@RussLatino @GentryMD Doctors— forgive me if I don’t take comfort in their financial calculations.

@GentryMD There was no mistake. You can keep repeating your dogma. The numbers are accurate.

I’m sure Russ just made an honest mistake and didn’t intend to make a sad attempt to mislead his readers or the elected officials of Mississippi. The House Bill that passed overwhelmingly by our Republican led majority takes full advantage of the 90% Federal Match and the remaining 10% is covered by a tax on the MCOs. 90+10= 100% 40 states and counting have expanded. Bipartisan. 10 + years of data. No repeals. It’s time to do what makes cent$ for Mississippi.

@RussLatino @DelbertHosemann That no longer baffles me either. It turns out that you are un-Christian as well.

Adam says it’s “baffling” that a good man like @DelbertHosemann would support a work requirement. I think there are good people who want Medicaid expansion & good people who don’t. The only thing that is baffling to me is the lengths to which desperate charlatans will go.

@grantcallen Augusta National is not a democracy. You don’t get a vote. It’s time for what the members say it is time for.

It's 2024, isn't it about time to replace the caddy jumpsuits? #themasters

@FloridaFSA It’s too bad that rate cap precludes borrowing small amounts and precludes those with lower credit scores from borrowing at all. We don’t cap pricing on clothing, shelter, fuel, or food. Why do we do so with credit?

@JoelCarterMS And better than Jackson.

Facts…lower taxes result in a booming economy. Americans know how to spend their money far better than Washington.

@alan_lange @michbeyer Probably Jim Herring, who thought Bill Waller was “the Republican who could win in November” despite the fact that he could neither win nor was he a Republican.

@michbeyer I got $100 cold hard cash leading to the affirmative ID of the “anonymous Republican sources”. Apply within.

🚨REPUBLICANS ARE SOUNDING THE ALARM ON A #MSGov RUNOFF🚨 “I would think the Democrats are smelling blood in the water.”  “I’ve crunched the numbers, and anyway you slice it, I’d be preparing for a runoff if I was them [Reeves].” mississippitoday.org/2023/10/28/rep…

@alan_lange Some church leaders seem all to willing to turn their primary missions over to government so as not to dirty their hands with Christ’s work. And thus compelling non-believers to do church work and simultaneously allienate them from faith.

I saw this coming. Faith leaders’ first order of business is bringing the most people to Christ. Full stop. Everything else is secondary. People of good faith can disagree about Medicaid expansion for lots of reasons. Faith leaders picking sides in spending programs is anathema to that main goal. If you want to make the case that health care for the poor is a moral case, fine. But @gallowayumc and every other congregation is in a position as a nonprofit to raise and spend as much as it can on healthcare if that moral issue trumps all else. There are lots of ways to fund healthcare for the less fortunate. Medicaid specifically is a government spending program. It’s about how to spend government money. But there’s no specific biblical moral case for it. And faith leaders would be wise to (1) not wade into the politics (two weeks before an election), (2) not be partisan media pawns and (3) put their congregations’ money where their mouth is on the issue.

@bricewigginsMS @DelbertHosemann @SenatorHarkins They might not know -- you seem like a "hold it all in" sort of Senator! 😂

@FrancisCLee @DelbertHosemann @SenatorHarkins I will, though they probably know my feelings anyway. Harkins and Hosemann are top notch people, which makes BB choice of Palazzo even more suspect/ridiculous.

Sorry Governor, but Bully Bloc endorsed the verified corrupt and ineffective Steven Palazzo 2 yrs ago. There were multiple credible candidates to choose from, incl. ones who helped them. The voters knew the real story and kicked Palazzo out. Bully Bloc's credibility = zero.