...the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around…. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars...

MLK

Well of course we have toons for you!

The rest of them are HERE

I love these people!

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church, in conjunction with the nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, was able to fundraise through community donations. The two organizations reached their goal in just a month

Now, families in Anderson, Roane and Cocke Counties will soon be getting the good news: their medical debt has been completely erased.

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I'm forwarding this because it says everything I could say better:

The attached depressing press release shows the Silver Carp are now in Chickamauga. This is devastating news. Two years ago, when I was told by TWRA there was no evidence of Silver Carp presence in Guntersville, I replied that I was nearly certain the Silver Carp were in Guntersville, for I understand fish and how fast they move. Well, they have traversed Guntersville, Nickajack, and are now in Chickamauga.

The U.S. Department of Labor says the Tennessee Valley Authority fired a nuclear engineer who blew the whistle on safety concerns and lied about it.

The Labor Department is ordering TVA to give Beth Wetzel her job back and shell out more than $200,000 in back pay, lost bonuses and benefits, compensatory damages and legal fees.

TVA said it fired Wetzel for badmouthing supervisor Erin Henderson, but the Labor Department ruled Wetzel properly raised safety concerns about the nuclear program and – when asked by a TVA attorney – gave her “honest” opinion Henderson was too inexperienced for her post and ignored safety complaints.

“(TVA’s) claim it terminated (Wetzel) because she attempted to attack Henderson’s credibility is demonstrably false,” the Labor Department order stated. “Rather, (TVA) terminated (Wetzel) because of the information she provided during (a) chilled work environment investigation, which happened to include her opinions about Henderson.”

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More toons!

Tonight we celebrate the beginning of the month dedicated to Janus, the two faced god who looks into the past and the future. I would like to ask him, "How the hell did America get to this state of affairs?"

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus (/ˈdʒeɪnəs/ JAY-nəs; Latin: IANVS (Iānus), pronounced [ˈjaːnʊs]) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.

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Roane County Commission Calendar

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I accept that folks hold many differing beliefs about the winter season. I hold with those who have philosophies and creeds as opposed to religions but some of the celebrations are wonderful in their meaning and have significant beauty, whether we "believe" in them or not. Here is an example...

Alban Arthan is a universal festival, which has been (and still is) celebrated by many peoples and long before the coming of the Celts. The Winter Solstice is probably (together with the Summer Solstice) the oldest seasonal festival of humankind.

Christianity Today thinks unbelievers will lose respect and confidence in believers if they don't call out Donald Trump's immorality and lack of fitness for the office of the Presidency and demand that Trump be removed from office by the Senate. I agree.

“Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?”

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Far more than Watergate, certainly more than the frivolous impeachment of Bill Clinton, crimes like Trump has committed are precisely, uniquely what the constitution writers created impeachment to prevent. It’s true that there are a lot of other bad things Trump has done which likely merit impeachment. But the vast majority of them are similar in kind to this, welcoming subversion by foreign powers and the use of the powers given to a President for just administration to corruptly perpetuate his or her own power.

Read:
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RESOLUTION

Impeaching Donald John Trump, President of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors.

House Democrats Unveil 2 Articles Of Impeachment Against Trump

Resolved, That Donald J. Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate:

Articles of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the people of the United States of America, against Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America, in maintenance and support of its impeachment against him for high crimes and misdemeanors.

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It is important for the Tennessee Valley Authority to step forward and be responsive to questions that Tennesseans have about Kingston. After all the problems we have seen with mismanagement of facilities and clean up, it is imperative to get this right for the safety of Tennesseans.

East Tennesseans deserve transparency and detailed information from TVA as this process moves forward.

I believe that open meetings are an important part of transparency. I encourage TVA to open each of their meetings to the public. As Senator, I would follow the lead of the Tennessee Legislature in calling for TVA to have open meetings.

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This is onerous on several levels. TVA's lack of forthcoming on its environmental issues is not the least of our concerns.

More than 50 tons of asbestos were discovered buried in a new coal ash dump.

Special waste permits reviewed by the news organization reveal as much as 56 tons of asbestos is being removed along with roughly 30,000 tons of contaminated soil.

“As we said previously, the material appears to be decades old, possibly even before or during plant construction,” TVA spokesman Scott Brooks told Knox News.

So it's decades old material in a "new" coal ash dump?

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Wooten Fallout Shelter (Memphis – Shelby County)

Hoyt Wooten, engineer and radio/television station owner, built his house on 27 acres in the Whitehaven community, south of Memphis, around 1938. At the height of the Cold War, Wooten designed and built a fallout shelter in his backyard. Completed 1961-1963, the 5,600 square foot fallout shelter was designed to hold 65 people for a month if a nuclear bomb was dropped near Memphis. Rooms in the shelter included a fully-equipped kitchen, male and female dormitories, recreation room, bathrooms, radio communication room, and a morgue. The interior of the shelter was designed by Memphis architect and interior designer William Nowland Van Powell, known for his designs for the Greyhound Lines bus company. The shelter is now part of a gated community and for many years was used as their community center.

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more toons

For the record I personally do not support Biden of Trump.

The Tennessee Aquarium Christmas Tree is in house powered by Miguel Wattson. Miguel happens to be an electric eel.

Flashy fish: electric eel powers Tennessee aquarium’s Christmas tree
Special system connected to Miguel’s tank enables his naturally-occurring shocks to power strands of lights on a nearby tree

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The Tennessee Valley Authority has been hit with a $145,000 fine for providing regulators “incomplete and inaccurate” information about a potential safety issue at its Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant for nearly five years, records show.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission levied the fine against TVA as punishment for repeated assertions over a five-year period that it had an adequate backup plan to keep safety equipment at the Watts Bar facility operational even if the plant temporarily lost power.

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Kick off the holiday season right!

Join us at the American Legion Hall in Harriman on November 30 at 7pm for the American classic 'It's a Wonderful Life - a live radio play'.

Tickets are just $10.00 and include the show, dessert, and beverage. Proceeds benefit the Harriman Public Library.
Any questions, just give them a call. See you there!

Jupiter and Venus will be in close conjunction in the western sky this evening. This should get you in the mood...

These are rather good this week.

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From Cooper's Statement:

Al Gore was ahead of his time and has been warning us about climate change for decades. His new presentation is a sobering reality. Our climate is changing faster than anyone expected, and we need bold solutions to help save our planet.

I have always said that the Green New Deal is an important call to action, but it’s not a legislative proposal and our job as legislators is to implement things and make them work. Well today the 100% Clean Economy Act sets forth parameters that help to confront the crisis head-on. The Green New Deal is quite ambitious in that it tries to solve many of society’s problems, including the health care system, housing policy, living wages. But, its bold environmental goals can’t be ignored just because the initiative might be a bit too expansive. So, supporting the combination of both of these measures – bold proposals and legislative text – makes a lot of sense to me.

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Federal regulators today slapped the Tennessee Valley Authority with a $145,000 fine for submitting inaccurate information about the reliability of power service to the last new nuclear reactor licensed in America.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said an inspection this summer at the Watts Bar Nuclear Power Plant near Spring City, Tennessee concluded that TVA repeatedly submitted incomplete and inaccurate information to regulators about the adequacy of an off-site electric power system.

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America's highest paid federal employee. Is he worth it? Is anybody?

The Tennessee Valley Authority paid Jeff Lyash, its new CEO, a recruitment and relocation incentive of nearly $1.8 million to join the federal utility in April and awarded him other performance pay, incentives and pension benefits.

Those benefits increased Lyash's total compensation to a record $8.12 million in his first six months on the job, provided he stays for at least the next three years, according to regulatory filings released Friday by TVA.

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Women tip off at 5:30, men at 7:30.

I have always wondered why folks don't support Roane State B Ball more? It's really good ball to watch.

As for the inaugural “Pack the Gym!” event, Nesbit said it’s his brainchild. “I’m the only one dumb enough to try it, but if I didn’t think we had a strong men’s team this year, I wouldn’t be doing this,” he said.

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The TVA and Harriman Utility Board have scheduled a power outage that will take place on Saturday, Nov. 9, starting at 11:30 p.m. until 6 a.m. or sooner on Sunday morning, Nov. 10.

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