Well of course he is!

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Time: Sat Mar 16 6:02 AM, Visible: 3 min, Max Height: 43°, Appears: 41° above NNE, Disappears: 11° above ESE

Should be a beautiful morning for a Space Station flyover. Post is you see it!

Here's a great video from the ACA (American Canoe Association).

It's true. Republican Teddy Roosevelt was the first Progressive in the Presidency.

Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive movement

Theodore Roosevelt, bynames Teddy Roosevelt and TR, (born October 27, 1858, New York, New York, U.S.—died January 6, 1919, Oyster Bay, New York), the 26th president of the United States (1901–09) and a writer, naturalist, and soldier. He expanded the powers of the presidency and of the federal government in support of the public interest in conflicts between big business and labour and steered the nation toward an active role in world politics, particularly in Europe and Asia. He won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1906 for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05), and he secured the …(100 of 2862 words)

This is a pet peeve of mine. I don't know why it isn't a bigger issue in elections. We have burdened a generation of college students with a Trillion Dollars in college debt and charge them the highest interest rates in America. This is madness and will weaken America's economic future. Turns out they are crooks:

Last month, the Ed. Department’s Inspector General’s Office issued a scathing report revealing the department’s student loan arm, the Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA), failed to properly oversee all nine student loan servicers that handle the accounts of over 42 million federal student loan borrowers. The audit directly contradicted the Trump administration’s arguments that borrowers receive excellent customer service and protection from substandard practices, stating the FSA is “not holding servicers accountable…[giving] the impression that it is not concerned with servicer noncompliance with Federal loan servicing requirements, including protecting borrowers’ rights.”

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This all show and no real substance. Republicans know this will be struck down. It's all for their foam at the mouth base, as is the white supremacist chatter on their web pages.

Although the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down laws in North Dakota and Arkansas barring abortions after a “fetal heartbeat” is heard, and an Iowa state judge did the same to a similar law in that state, this hasn’t stopped lawmakers in at least 17 other states from introducing and sometimes passing similar bills. The Tennessee House of Representatives passed such a bill Thursday, and a committee in the Georgia House of Representatives has now approved one, too.

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Republicans have long been at war with the public school system in America. We now have a religious extremist governor who will advance that agenda with vouchers and charter schools, neither of which has ever improved education....Not once! They are very successful at transferring public school money into the hands of private operators who never live up to the promise. They do make a bunch of money, though, so I guess that justifies it in the conservative mind.

The Republican governor announced his “parent choice” initiative on Monday before a legislative body that has consistently rejected vouchers in numerous forms. He promised that his plan “will enable low-income students from the most underperforming school districts to attend an independent school of their choice at no cost to their family.”

...Voucher opponents believe that public schools ultimately will pay the price. “We know we have a very finite amount of dollars for public education, and it is not good for our schools when those monies are diverted. This is just a voucher scheme,” said Beth Brown, a Grundy County teacher who is the president of the Tennessee Education Association, the state’s largest teacher organization.

Read the whole article for a balanced view of what we know so far:

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We have a criminal President. It's time we deal with this fact.

Federal prosecutors have said Cohen committed felonies "in coordination with and at the direction" of Trump.

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31 mile canoe trip in the Okefenokee swamp. I'll get back to this as soon as I recover. Ha!

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There are few things that concern me more than this. I am amazed at the levels of intentional ignorance. This will kill our children!

Within a century, then, there may be an additional 14 degrees Fahrenheit of warming that previous models haven't accounted for. And 14 degrees of warming, within a century, is a level of calamity far beyond any plausible mitigation attempts. Sea level rise would happen far more rapidly; croplands worldwide would turn unviable; every ecosystem on the planet would be thrown into chaos. The resulting loss of snowpacks, permafrost, glaciers, and Antarctic ice would each compound the effects. All told, it points to precisely the sort of "feedback loop" that climate scientists have long feared, a measure of carbon concentration beyond which the climate does not change gradually, but as if a switch were flipped.

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From the Knox News Sentinel:

Jeffrey Lyash will become the new president and CEO of Tennessee Valley Authority, probably in April.

His hiring was announced Thursday at TVA’s board meeting in Chattanooga.

Lyash is currently president and CEO of government-owned Ontario Power Generation Inc. and chairman of the international nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute...

...And it phased out coal generation in 2014, now relying on water, nuclear and solar power for generation that’s 99 percent free of greenhouse gas emissions, according to the company.

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Paul Manafort is a hardened criminal who “repeatedly and brazenly” broke the law even while serving as Donald Trump’s campaign chairman, special counsel Robert Mueller has said.

'Even Nixon wasn’t like him': Trump's bid to upend Russia inquiry unprecedented, experts say

Mueller’s team said in a new court filing in Washington DC that Manafort deserved a second prison sentence, which could total 10 years, reflecting the seriousness of his crimes.

The prosecutors also said they may ask for that sentence to begin only after Manafort, 69, completes a sentence of up to 24 years for separate convictions in Virginia.

Manafort has shown a “hardened adherence to committing crimes and lack of remorse”, they wrote in a sentencing memo released on Saturday afternoon.

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From NC DOT:

UPDATE: Both directions of I-40 are closed due to a rockslide at MM 7.5. Eastbound lanes are closed at MM 7, the Harmon Den exit. Westbound lanes closed at MM 20 in Waynesville. Detour: Combination of I-40, I-81, I-26 through Johnson City and Asheville.

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An old friend of mine has written a trilogy, fictionalized of course, on the life of Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp. (Check out Mark Warren's "Adobe Moon".)

As I tend to do, I researched Wyatt Earp and found this web site:

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It is fascinating rainy weather reading. Earp, like most historical figures, is more and less than the popular mythology depicts.

Enjoy!

This is very troubling to me:

"Adopting this legislation will further undermine my city's ability to build trust between the policed and the police," Briley said.

Curcio’s bill — backed by Republican leadership and Gov. Bill Lee — would strip Nashville’s oversight board of its subpoena power and eliminate demographic requirements for its members.

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But you may not have heard this on the national news because Mexicans!

A U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant who is an alleged white nationalist with a hit list and a plan “to murder innocent citizens on a scale rarely seen in this country” has been arrested by the FBI in the Washington, DC area.

Christopher Hasson planned to “establish a white homeland” by force

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After Comey was fired, McCabe says he ordered two investigations of the president himself. They asked two questions. One, did Mr. Trump fire Comey to impede the investigation into whether Russia interfered with the election. And two, if so, was Mr. Trump acting on behalf of the Russian government.

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Given that the cost of installing the equivalent solar power capacity is less than the operating cost alone, this is not surprising. It will heavily affect the local communities who will lose the jobs.

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David Taylor – Colored Rockwood Resident On South Pole Expedition. Rockwood will have the distinction of having a representative in Admiral Byrd’s party on the trip to the South Pole. David Taylor, colored, whose home is in Rockwood and who joined the Navy two years ago, has been detailed for duty to mess attendant with the Antarctic service to accompany the polar expedition it was announced by the Navy department in Washington last Friday. Taylor is a brother-in-law of Roy Barnett who works at the home of Dr. G.E. Wilson. He graduated at the colored school here and then spent two years in a school in Cincinnati. He is 25 years of age. From: The Rockwood Times, Thursday, 30 Nov 1939.

Posted by our Roane County Historian on fB... I appreciate Robert Bailey!

Time: Sat Feb 09 6:45 PM, Visible: 6 min, Max Height: 49°, Appears: 10° above NW, Disappears: 11° above ESE

6 Minutes is a long time to be visible. When it fades out you are watching the International Space Station experience sunset.

Some 5 million people live in the watershed of the Tennessee River, according to a working report co-authored by Fath and Knoll, among others, compared to around 56 million people living in the Rhine’s watershed.

Despite an order of magnitude’s difference between the two populations, Fath found that microplastic levels in the Rhine amounted to just 200 particles per cubic meter, meaning that levels in the Tennessee River were some 80 times higher.

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According to a survey from the Yale Climate Change Communication program, 81% of voters backed its description of a Green New Deal.

With Republicans in control of the White House and Senate, any climate change legislation would be dead on arrival. But supporters of a Green New Deal say Democrats need to lay the groundwork for a plan that could achieve what scientists say is necessary.

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Classy lady, well deserved.

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Captain Rosemary Mariner, a military trailblazer who lived in Anderson County, was laid to rest Saturday after a long battle with ovarian cancer. She died at the age of 65 on Jan. 24...

As she was laid to rest Saturday, another historic first took place in her honor. The Navy held its first-ever all-female flyover at her funeral -- officially referred to as the 'Missing Man Flyover.'

Four fighter jets flown by women offered an aerial tribute to the pioneer and legendary military leader.

"She was very proud of the fact that women followed her and that she wasn't the only one to walk through that door. That legacy shows that door stayed open," her husband Tommy Mariner said.

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Asked what appetite exists among the constituents in East Tennessee, GOP caucus chair Ken Yager said there was support for medical marijuana but none that he knew of for recreational marijuana — a contention that drew a fair amount of skeptical jesting from the media as well as his leadership colleagues.

"These teams are playing like they know the winner has to go to the White House."

Signed up online but apparently cannot cancel online. Sent them a message and got this...

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Shorter KNS: "We are a newspaper that cannot use correct English and are happy to assist but will not assist you"