More Toons

(link...)

You might notice that there is no comparison for Trump. That's simply because he is such a disgusting liar about everything he said in his previous campaign that no comparison would be possible.

As for the others we should take things with a small grain of salt. There are differences even when they agree on an issue. Statements made in context are also windows into their true alignments, since their handlers will tell them what to say and not say as they read the tea leaves of various polls.

(link...)

More toons

Instead of passing the Butch Lewis Act to fix the pension crisis, Senate Republicans introduced legislation that would make the problem worse.

Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee want to increase the premiums that retirement plans pay PBGC—something that would push currently healthy plans into financial ruin and put more workers’ retirements in jeopardy. The added costs also would propel some employers into bankruptcy, costing workers their jobs.

Grassley and Alexander also want to increase taxes on pensions, taking a bigger slice of the benefits workers earned and imposing a greater burden on retirees unable to afford it.

The full read is here:

(link...)

TN Gop continue to hate on women.

Tennessee has an annual sales tax-free holiday weekend that begins on the last Friday of July. Part of the push is that certain items, including computers and clothing, can be purchased throughout the Volunteer State free of sales tax, which promotes consumerism while helping out families purchasing items for kids who are about to go back to school. The Charlotte Observer reports that a proposal to include feminine hygiene products among sales tax-free items has been receiving big-time pushback from Republicans.

Republican state Sen. Joey Hensley explained that he was worried about … how many tampons women might buy.

(link...)

These figures only reflect fundraising in 2019 for personal campaign accounts (i.e., not for political action committees).

Full report is here: (link...)

more toons

“(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.”

Wetzel is the fourth TVA nuclear oversight staffer to claim retaliation for raising safety concerns in the past year.

TVA nuclear oversight managers Melody Babb, Deanna Fultz and Mark Richerson have a pending complaint with the Labor Department. They allege TVA ousted them from their jobs, disbanded an independent whistleblowing program, and publicly humiliated them to intimidate and silence whistleblowers.

TVA said in both internal and public announcements the independent whistleblowing program was ineffective and was being scrapped in favor of a new one in which whistleblowers would take their safety complaints to their bosses.

(link...)

(link...)

More:
(link...)

...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.

(link...)

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.”

(link...)

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.

(link...)

More: (link...)

Roane County Commission Calendar

(link...)

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?”

(link...)

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:
(link...)

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.

(link...)

(link...)

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.

(link...)

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?

(link...)

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.

(link...)