
From our "No S**t, Sherlock" Dept., Esquire Magazine calls the TN Legislature "stupid"...
The hills are alive with the sound of stupid these days, so let’s start in Tennessee, where they’re drawing a line against the imminent Antifa invasion of Dollywood. Or something. From the Tennessean:
There was also back-and-forth between the chambers on how harshly to punish protesters for camping overnight on state property. While the final version ultimately made the offense a felony, the Senate at first passed the bill with an amendment that kept it a misdemeanor. Democrats largely resisted the legislation, and some Republicans raised questions and concerns about repercussions for people who aren't actually protesting, such as families having a picnic or a person taking a midday nap on War Memorial Plaza.
Felony snoozing? Really? You’ll take my midday naps when you pry them from my cold, dead, lazy-ass fingers, dammit.
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Eco Warriors and Politics
- Tennessee Republicans' Crooked Priorities (Nashville Scene)
- The Weekly Links: Spanglish, Forever War and Britney Spears (Nashville Scene)
- New Library and Archives building to open April 13 (Tom Humphrey)
- New Library and Archives building to open April 13 (TN Journal)
- Virtual reception, real Jack Daniel’s for lawmakers (Tom Humphrey)
- Virtual reception, real Jack Daniel’s for lawmakers (TN Journal)
- The Christmas Day Bomber's Bizarre Obsessions and Dark Plans (Nashville Scene)
- Tennessee Democratic Party Facing 'Significant Financial Penalty' (Nashville Scene)
- Influencer Church Superspreads the Word (Nashville Scene)
- Feds rescind effort to lock in Medicaid changes made by Trump administration (Tom Humphrey)
Science and Stuff
- To sustain a thriving café culture, we must ditch the disposable cup. (Science News Daily)
- New skills of Graphene: Tunable lattice vibrations (Science News Daily)
- Protein kinases significantly contribute to the immunodeficiency in HIV patients (Science News Daily)
- Staying in the shade: How cells use molecular motors to avoid bright light (Science News Daily)
- Wrasses dazzle: How fairy wrasses got their flamboyant colors (Science News Daily)
- New treatment unlocks potential for baking raspberries (Science News Daily)
- Rocket launches reveal water vapor effect in upper atmosphere (Science News Daily)
- Climate change threatens European forests (Science News Daily)
- Bottling the world's coldest plasma (Science News Daily)
- How 'great' was the great oxygenation event? (Science News Daily)
Discussing
- Trump Losing Streak Continues (1 reply)
- Sometime Today Roane County Will Record Its 80th Covid Death (1 reply)
- We are Dying Here! (2 replies)
- TN Legislature Passes Bill Making a Snooze at the Capital a Felony (1 reply)
- Governor "Death" (1 reply)
- Feel Good Friday Whop Frazier (Bobby Thompson) Edition (1 reply)
- Parents may choose either of two options for school (1 reply)
- Your Bandana or Cloth Mask Won't Really Protect You Much if Other Folks don't Wear Theirs (1 reply)
- Requirements for Absentee Ballot in TN (1 reply)
- Friday Toons (1 reply)
- Toons! (1 reply)
- Winter Solstice is at 9:21 PM EST Today...Alban Arthan (2 replies)
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Steve, Well, I'm back from
Steve,
Well, I'm back from Special Session and I have to admit, it wasn't very special, at least not for hard working Tennessee families. It was pretty special for corporate special interests and private prisons, yet we didn't do anything to benefit hard working Tennesseans. The telehealth bill was not a bad bill, but the Governor could have extended that through January under his State of Emergency, he did not have to spend over $100,000 taxpayer dollars to make it happen.
Here's the truth, we went back to pass a liability bill that does nothing but level the playing field for bad actors. The vast majority of businesses are doing everything right during the pandemic and we already have laws on the books to protect them. Now they have protected the bad actors like private prisons and less than 1% of businesses who aren't trying to keep workers and customers safe. They will tell you it was to protect schools and non-profits and that's just not true, they are already protected. They have removed access to the justice system from those who need it most.
They also increased penalties for protesting-targeting peaceful protestors who have been at the Capitol for 60 days wanting to speak with the Governor about racial justice and the KKK Grand Wizard bust in a place of honor in our Capitol, wanting just to be heard.
They made it a felony to camp on state property, punishable by a 1-6 year sentence and up to a $3000 fine--and a loss of voting rights. All the while, adding up to $1.3 million to our budget each year. For perspective, here are some crimes in Tennessee that are misdemeanors: false imprisonment, sexual contact with a minor by an authority figure, a public official using position to make money, and child abuse and neglect of a child over 9 years of age.
This is not about vandalism, we have laws on the books for that, this is about silencing the voices of non-violent protestors who just want to be heard, because they also want and deserve to feel safe in Tennessee.
Now let's think about the Special Session Tennessee familes deserved. We could have expanded Medicaid at no cost to our state, so that all Tennesseans have access to affordable healthcare and a rural hospital when they need it during a pandemic. We could have fixed our broken unemployment system so folks aren't waiting months for a check. We could have made sure our schools were ready to open by public health metrics and science and not a rush to give the appearance that all is well, endangering our kids and school staff. We could have developed a comprehensive plan for rapid testing, contact tracing, and a mask mandate to help contain the virus so we could begin to bring back the economy.
Yet the Republican supermajority had to punish protesters and do the bidding of the special interests to be sure they would get their campaign donations at election time. I'm pretty sure those guys won't be sending me checks, I voted for Tennessee families instead of them;-) That's why I am asking you to chip in if you can, because they will be coming for me and I need to be ready to fight back with all I have. Chip in here if you can, to send me back to Nashville to fight for you and our real Tennessee values!
Rep. Gloria Johnson