Common Sense Firearm Reform

A friend had asked me to compose a letter to national elected officials addressing firearm violence.

Following is the letter.

 

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President Joe Biden
Senator Marsha Blackburn
Senator Bill Hagerty
Representative Mark E. Green

 

Dear Mr. President, Senators, and Representative,

 

We, the undersigned members of

Nashville, TN, and the nation, weeps

Statistically, there are two extremes on the bell curve (the left and the right), and they both resemble each other. In fact, the bell curve itself — so named because its outline shape resembles a bell — is a mirror image of itself. Both halves are identical.

At the far end on either side, there’s very few of the thing being measured, or counted.

But, up in the middle, is where most everything is located.

It’s the same way with politics.

And guns.

Some say ban them all — but up in the middle is where consensus is found — while others say do nothing.

The Volunteer State and the nation are grieving over the deaths of three 9-year old children, and 3 adults gunned down at The Covenant School, a private Christian elementary school in Nashville’s Green Hills district. The world has taken notice not only the victims’ deaths, but of the heroic actions of Nashville’s Metro Police Department, whose members were on scene and resolved the problem in 15 minutes. Such quick action undoubtedly saved lives. They are to be commended beyond measure, and deservedly should be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor, perhaps even the Congressional Gold Medal.

Even the Babylon Bee, an online satire magazine stepped up to the fore and acknowledged MPD’s bravery, by Tweeting an article about it: “Putin Immediately Surrenders After U.S. Airdrops Nashville Police Officers Into Battlefield.”

Putin Immediately Surrenders After U.S. Airdrops Nashville Police Officers Into Battlefield https://t.co/ZUb9rf0EaW

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 29, 2023

Two former Tennessee Governors — Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, and Bill Haslam, a Republican, the 48th, and 49th Governor, respectively, who are friends — co-authored an Op-Ed published March 31 in The Tennessean, on the necessity of state, and Federal, lawmakers to collaborate to help bring about an end to the preventable tragedies of school shootings.

Both men share several similarities — both men were Mayor of a major Tennessee city, Bredesen of Nashville,  Haslam of Knoxville, both men were re-elected as governor, both men are entrepreneurs, and very wealthy — and for the past year, they have both co-hosted a podcast at the Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Howard Baker (1925-2014) was a long-time Republican U.S. Senator from Tennessee (1967-1985), who was renown for his pithy axiom, “Always remember that the other fellow might be right.”

They restated what some consider to be obvious, which is that,

Simple Things To Do To Ameliorate School Shootings

Senate Chaplain: Senators suffer “from the paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous.”

More True Words Are Rarely Spoken

United States Senate Chaplain Barry C. Black, official photo
On June 27, 2003, Rear Admiral Barry C. Black (Ret.) was elected the 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate. He began working in the Senate on July 7, 2003. Prior to coming to Capitol Hill, Chaplain Black served in the U.S. Navy for over twenty-seven years, ending his distinguished career as the Chief of Navy Chaplains. The Senate elected its first chaplain in 1789.

“Eternal God, we stand in awe of You.

“LORD, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond ‘thoughts and prayers.’

“Remind our lawmakers of the words of the British statesman Edmund Burke: All that is necessary for evil to triumph, is for good people to do nothing.

“LORD, deliver our Senators from the paralysis of analysis that waits for the miraculous.

“Use them to battle the demonic forces that seek to engulf us.

“We pray in Your powerful name.

“Amen.”

— Opening prayer, United States Senate, Tuesday, 28 March 2023

By now, you’ve heard the sad, bad new of the mass shooting at a private religious elementary school in Nashville, Tennessee in which 6 individuals were killed — 3 – 9 year old children, and 3 adults.

Nashville Metro Police Department is to be HIGHLY COMMENDED for their heroism, and rapid response — only 15 minutes after the first call came in, the shooter was killed on site.

In fact, the whole world now knows how brave Nashville’s police officers are, because unlike the Coward of Broward, and the fearful Uvalde, Texas police, even the Babylon Bee, an online satire magazine website, stood up and took notice, by recently publishing this tweet:

Putin Immediately Surrenders After U.S. Airdrops Nashville Police Officers Into Battlefield https://t.co/ZUb9rf0EaW

— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) March 29, 2023

And so, when I shared with a friend the Senate Chaplain’s actions, there were only two questions asked, and one emphatic expression in response.

Did he propose any ideas? (Yes.)
-and-
What were his thoughts? We do need to take action!

Here is how I responded.

Not to be sarcastic, of course, but his suggestion was that good men (and women) take action.

My longstanding suggestion — since being published Thursday, August 27, 2015 in “A Simple Solution to America’s Gun & Mass Shooting Problems” — continues to be, that ALL such firearms as the AR-15, AK-47, etc., should be placed under the auspices of the National Firearms Act of 1934, which was enacted to limit access to automatic weapons used by criminals like Bonnie & Clyde, Ma Barker, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, Al Capone, et al, to ameliorate the ease with which they committed crimes.

SEE ALSO: “George H.W. Bush NRA Resignation Letter,” published Thursday, January 17, 2013, 2:18 PM CST

SEE ALSO: “Ronald Reagan co-signed letter supporting Assault Gun Ban,” published Thursday, January 17, 2013, 3:12 PM CST.

SEE ALSO: “Ronald Reagan wrote Op-Ed supporting Gun Control Law the Brady Bill,” published Thursday, January 17, 2013, 3:13PM CST

SEE ALSO: “How To Resolve Gun Sickness & Disease,” published Tuesday, November 7, 2017.

SEE ALSO: “Joe Biden is Responsible for Increased Gun Violence,” published Wednesday, December 18, 2019.

SEE ALSO: “Common Sense Gun Reform Laws,” published Friday, May 27, 2022.

The act permits citizens to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights through ownership, yet places a VERY HIGH BAR to ownership by mandating fingerprinting, thorough & intensive background investigations by FBI, State & Local police/Sheriffs, etc., payment of a $200 tax to the U.S. Treasury Dept., and perhaps a few more things, such as character & mental fitness.

IF for any reason there is any problem with the findings, the application is DENIED, and the tax returned.

That process ensures that ONLY the MOST upstanding & law-abiding citizens can possess such firearms. Included in the NFA are: Silencers (now called “suppressors”), short barreled shotguns & rifles, and automatic firearms (defined as any firearm that discharges more than one bullet with one tigger pull).

I have also proposed that ALL

Southern Slave States Foster Nazism by Anti-Drag, Anti-Trans Laws

Homosexual prisoners at the Nazi concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany, wearing pink triangles on their uniforms to identify them as such, on December 19, 1938.

Southern Slave States (you know the ones) where legislators have a “trifecta” control over state government — meaning that Repugnicunts control all three branches of government:
1.) Executive;
2.) Legislative, and;
3.) Judicial

— that have:
• banned books,
• enacted so-called “don’t say ‘gay’ laws,
• banned drag shows,
• forbidden teaching about slavery & institutionalized, government-enforced racial discrimination,
• outlawed abortion,
• made illegal gender-affirming healthcare, etc.,

share significant common denominators with Adolph Hitler and Nazism.

Hitler did the same things.

That is NOT exaggeration, it is NOT hyperbole.

One more time:

They’re doing the
EXACT SAME THING
that Nazi Führer Adolph Hitler did.

In this current day and era, amidst the actions of rebellious Confederate Southern Slave States, and a handful of select others led by Repugnicunts, to ban, or outlaw, anything which they:

1.) Don’t understand, or;

2.) Disagree with — including abortion, books, drag, gender affirming healthcare, etc.;

it’s vitally important to remember THAT ONE THING.

So did Hitler.

Nazi Concentration Camp Armband Identification Chart
Star of David=Jew;
Inverted Triangle with Bar Atop=Repeaters
Pink Triangle=Homosexual Male;
Black=Roma & Sinti;
P=Poles, T=Czech (German word begins with ‘T’);
Star of David with Pink triangle=Gay Jew;
Purple=Jehovah’s Witnesses; Red=Political Enemies;
Green=Habitual Criminals;
Blue=Immigrants;
Black Bulls-Eye=Inmates of Penal Battalions;
Red Bulls-Eye=Escape Suspect;
Brown Arm Band=Special Inmate;

Again, that is NOT exaggeration, it is NOT hyperbole.

IT IS HISTORY:

Hitler’s Nazis destroyed the first Gender clinic.

Together, we must ensure such atrocities never happen again.

Such actions by those states’ governments are essentially the wholesale removal of personal liberties, the repeal, an denial of personal freedoms guaranteed by our nation’s founding documents.

And yet,

Nashville, TN Cop Has A Shooting Problem

Q: How many bullets does it take for Nashville, TN cops to kill a man?

A: ALL of them.

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“On the call recording, Jerome acknowledges the presence of police a few seconds before a flurry of gunshots. He continues to repeat, “Don’t shoot him! Don’t shoot him!” through sobs after shots have been fired. The footage from Slim & Husky’s shows the man turning and tossing something toward Ramos, at which point Ramos fires 14 shots and the man falls to the ground. The man reportedly died shortly after.”

That officer, “Metro Nashville Police Officer Dylan Ramos shot and killed a 47-year-old Black man on Buchanan Street just before 7 p.m. on Sunday,” just emptied the fucking magazine on that man.

Just TOTALLY EMPTIED IT.

12345, 12345, 1234

ALL 14 rounds.

Even big game hunters DO NOT shoot that many bullets into their game.

Goddamn!

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In-car camera footage shows Nashville Metro Police Department officer Dylan Ramos approach a man on Buchanan Street on Sunday night.

Police Kill 47-Year-Old Black Man on Buchanan Street

Officer Dylan Ramos fired 14 shots in the second MNPD shooting of 2023

https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithinthewind/police-kill-47-year-old-black-man-on-buchanan-street/article_02116188-a0be-11ed-9b89-23270989a3f5.html

by Eli Motycka, January 30, 2023

Metro Nashville Police Officer Dylan Ramos shot and killed a 47-year-old Black man on Buchanan Street just before 7 p.m. on Sunday.

A video from MNPD stitches together two 911 calls with footage from Ramos’ body cam and squad car. It also includes an angle from Slim & Husky’s patio camera, which shows the man — whose identity the police have not yet released — tossing something toward Ramos moments before Ramos fires 14 shots toward him and the man falls to the ground.

The first 911 call came from an individual identified as Jerome at Willie B’s Kitchen and Lounge, a restaurant across the street from Slim & Husky’s.

“He’s playing with this gun, pointing it at people,” Jerome tells the 911 operator. “He needs to

Marsha Blackburn is an ignorant, dunder-headed twit.

Video screen capture of Tennessee Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn lining a baking tray with WAX PAPER upon which she will bake cookies.

Marsha Blackburn… 🤪🤢🤮

I’m trying to decide if Marsha Blackburn is a moronic imbecile, or an imbecilic moron.

Regardless, she’s a fool, and is proof positive why NO ONE should EVER even give her the time of day, much less seriously consider anything she says.

And you know what’s even WORSE?

She majored in Home Economics at Mississippi State University, in Starkville, where she earned the Bachelor of Science in 1974.

Maybe she missed class that week.

Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn is telling her followers to put wax paper in the oven, a potential fire hazard,… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…—
PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) November 24, 2022

Video screen capture of Tennessee Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn placing cookie dough upon WAX PAPER lining a baking tray which she will then bake.

1.) “The short answer to the question of whether you can put wax paper in the oven is a resounding no!”
— Bob’s Red Mill Natural Foods, miller/granary

2.) “…definitely not for heating food in the oven.”
— A Taste of Home, cooking website

3.) “…using wax paper in the oven is not recommended.”
— ryujinramenbrooklyn.com, cooking blog

4.) “…you cannot put wax paper in the oven.”
— OvenQueries.com, oven cooking website

5.) “The paper could catch fire

Vanderbilt Nurse On Trial: Will The Outcome Adversely Change Healthcare?

NOTE To The Reader:

This matter has been previously addressed in an entry dated January 28, 2019, headlined as “Vanderbilt University Medical Center Corruption.”

The subject of concern is a complex one, with many “moving parts” which most news-reporting organizations have not mentioned, nor will they. (That’s a whole ‘nother “ball of wax.”) In this entry, I will attempt to enumerate some of those important-yet-unreported situations, scenarios, their corollaries, and relationships, in order to give a more full understanding to the readers.

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One CRITICALLY IMPORTANT MATTER is the as-yet-unreported problem in which CMS found that VUMC had 100% TOTAL responsibility for the failure that led to the patient’s death.

Yet this trial is apparently completely overlooking that matter, and the critical unitarily integrated legal principle of “respondeat superior.”

As written in the journal Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2010 Jul; 23(3): 313–315., which appears online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2900989/, in the article “Responsibility for the acts of others,” by Russell G. Thornton, JD:

“Respondeat superior embodies the general rule that an employer is responsible for the negligent acts or omissions of its employees. Under respondeat superior an employer is liable for the negligent act or omission of any employee acting within the course and scope of his employment (1). This is a purely dependent or vicarious theory of liability, meaning a finding of liability is not based on any improper action by the employer. The fact that the employer may have acted reasonably in hiring, training, supervising, and retaining the employee is irrelevant and does not provide a basis on which the employer can avoid liability for the acts of employees (1). The underlying premise of respondeat superior is that the cost of torts committed in the conduct of a business enterprise should be borne by that enterprise as a cost of doing business (2).

“An employer can also be directly liable for the negligence of its employees. This means that some negligent act or omission of the employer was a cause of, allowed, or led to the negligence of the employee, thereby causing injury to the claimant. This direct or independent liability of the employer generally arises from a claim that it negligently hired, trained, supervised, or retained the employee in question (13). These claims can also involve allegations that proper policies and procedures were not implemented or enforced and that those failures caused the injury at issue (13).

“If a member of your group acts negligently, you must expect there will be a direct liability claim for negligent hiring, training, supervision, or retention of that person. In my experience it is rare that the employee at issue in one of these claims is a longstanding, well-qualified, well-experienced, still-employed exemplary employee that simply made a mistake. More often than not, the employee involved was not very good to begin with, had been talked to before about competency-related issues, and was subsequently let go for similar reasons within 12 months or so of the incident at issue.

“The assertion of a claim against an employee also means that employee’s past experience and performance are relevant. As such, the hiring, training, supervision, and retention of that employee are relevant and discoverable. For this reason, it is imperative that problematic employees not be retained. It is also important that any concerns about employees are quickly and properly addressed and that these steps are noted in that employee’s file.”

The RN undoubtedly made a horrible mistake, a sloppy, lazy one, even, as some have previously noted.

However… the matter turns not on her carelessness, or sloppy work, per se, inasmuch as it OVERLOOKS the CMS findings of FAULT with VUMC, which agency attempted to coverup their doings and activities, by FAILING to report the matter to the appropriate regulatory agencies, State and Federal.

Further, while the RN’s admitted mistakes resulted in a death, it has NEVER been the practice of ANY law enforcement agency to prosecute any practitioner for such careless work, however “negligent” it may be.

Such matters have historically been handled by civil courts, not criminal, and by licensing and/or professional boards of practice.

At first, the TBON (TN Board Of Nursing) did NOT revoke, nor suspend (as best as I recall) her RN license… BUT! After the Davidson County DA obtained a criminal indictment, TBON reversed and rescinded their previous ruling, and revoked her RN license to practice.

Meanwhile… VUMC got off SCOT-FREE.

Not even a 10¢ fine.

VUMC was NOT punished. They only received a threat of what was essentially “fix this NOW, or else we’ll pull the plug.”

WHERE is the JUSTICE in that!?!?

Again, this is NOT to exonerate her sloppy, even careless work, but to illustrate that historically, such matters have NEVER been criminal, only civil, because there was NO MALICE involved.

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Nurses, and the healthcare professions in general, will undoubtedly be watching the State of Tennessee’s criminal lawsuit against RaDonda Vaught, of Bethpage, TN (an unincorporated community in Sumner County, Zip Code 37022), with bated breath.

The outcome of the trial-by-jury case against her in Davidson County Superior Court in Nashville could affect the very future of the Nursing profession, and healthcare delivery in general, on a broad national scale.

The “long and short” of the matter is, that

Tennessee GOP Governor Bill Lee Gives Insipidly Milquetoast State of the State Address

If you want to see, and hear, what an insipidly milquetoast governor Bill Lee is for Tennessee, simply watch a few minutes of his disgustingly loathsome address, delivered to the General Assembly, Monday, 31 January 2022.

It is weak, weak, weak.

As the namby-pamby, weak-kneed, say-little-do-nothing Republican Governor Bill Lee gave his State of the State address today, I thought his knees would buckle under the weight of his featherweight words.

His was a vapidly bland address, delivered in a monotonic voice, devoid of fervor or passion, full to overflowing with the null set of simply maintaining the status quo. Nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing life-changing… a real snooze-fest.

He said NOTHING about

Chrystul Blue Persuasion

Look over yonder
What do you see?
The sun is a-rising
Most definitely
A new day is coming (whoo-hoo!)
People are changing
Ain’t it beautiful? (whoo-hoo!)
Crystal Blue Persuasion

Better get ready
Gonna see the light
Love, love is the answer (whoo-hoo!)
And that’s alright
So don’t you give up now (whoo-hoo!)
So easy to find
Just look to your soul (look to your soul!)
And open your mind

Tommy James and the Shondells wrote and performed that song, which became a hit, rising to the Number 2 position on Billboard’s Hot 100 pop singles chart for 3 weeks in June 1969. And more recently, it enjoyed a resurgence in popularity as thematic music for the phenomenally popular multi-year teevee serial drama “Breaking Bad.”

Tommy explained the song this way:

“First of all, I was becoming a Christian at that time, and we never thought a thing about it. We never thought that doing something semi-religious was any big deal. We didn’t think of it as being politically incorrect or anything like that. We just did what felt right. I wrote ‘Crystal Blue Persuasion’ with Eddie Gray and Mike Vale. Eddie came up with the little guitar riff, and Mike and I did the lyrics. And it just felt very right as a sort of semi-religious poetic song, but it turned out to be one of the hardest records I’ve ever made.”

The past couple weeks, the nation’s eyes have been upon Kenosha, Wisconsin. Now, they’re turned to Brunswick, Georgia, a tiny town of 15,210 with a 55.1% Black population, and a 33.1% White population.

It was almost difficult — and perhaps still is — to go a day without seeing, hearing, or reading something about the Kyle Rittenhouse trial. The talking heads, pundits, prognosticators, and their ilk were all a twitter about whether this, that, or the other, would happen, and in the process whipped their followers — whichever side of the fence they sat upon — into a frenzy.

It’s good for their ratings and corporate earnings, you see. So, yeah… it’s all about the money, and the media ~does~ have a dog in that fight. I’ll spare you the details of the matter, because by now, if you’ve been paying attention, you know it all. The media made sure of that.

That’s what the mass media these days does to us all — force feeds us a steady stream of bad news like geese fed by gavage, then harvested for their artificially enlarged fatty liver. That French delicacy is called foie gras. However, the only thing that’s changed about us, is our hearts. They become artificially hardened, calloused and insensate to the suffering of others.

But maybe you’re not affected.

Kyle Rittenhouse draws numbers randomly to select jurors in his case (L), and Chrystul Kizer (R); both cases are in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

So let me tell you about another 17-year old child, also in Kenosha, Wisconsin, who’s charged with

Birth of a Myth: How Ivermectin Got Mixed Up With COVID-19

Dr. Carlos Chaccour, PhD

Dr. Carlos Chaccour, PhD, Assistant Research Professor, Barcelona Institute for Global Health, and Chief Scientific Officer of the Unitaid-funded BOHEMIA consortium project in Barcelona, Spain, is a scientist and researcher whose primary area of scientific interest is with Emerging Viruses, Malaria, and Coronavirus.

For the last 10 years, his most intense professional focus has been upon “the development of mosquito-killing drugs (endectocides) as complementary vector control strategy for malaria control and elimination.” In fact, the specific area in which he “obtained his PhD in 2015, was working with slow-release ivermectin formulations for that purpose.”

Dr. Joe Brew, PhD

In May 2020, he, along with fellow researchers  Dr. Joe Brew, PhD, a Data Scientist, Epidemiologist, and Economist; and Dr. Alberto García-Basteiro, MD, Assistant Research Professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health, ISGlobal in Barcelona, Spain, and physician at the International Health Service of Hospital Clínic, authored “Ivermectin and COVID-19: How a Flawed Database Shaped the Pandemic Response of Several Latin-American Countries.”

Dr. Alberto Garcia-Basteiro, MD

Their critical examination was in response to efforts by healthcare professionals and officials in the nations of Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Colombia who suddenly began taking an unusual interest in ivermectin, and using it on COVID-19 patients in their respective nations. Those nations’ officials were motivated, in large part by a since-retracted, and debunked manuscript initially placed on a “preprint server,” a website which publishes online, a full draft of research which has not yet been validated by the peer-review process. The respected healthcare/medical science journal Lancet, which has been continually published since 1823 with the objective to improve people’s lives, states that “a preprint is a version of a scientific manuscript posted on a public server prior to any formal peer review.”

Specifically, Dr. Chaccour and colleagues examined antiviral research published June 2020 in Science Direct entitled “The FDA-approved drug ivermectin inhibits the replication of SARS-CoV-2 in vitro,” i.e., in glass, such as test tube, beaker, or Petri dish, which was performed early in April by Australian researchers Leon Caly, Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Royal Melbourne Hospital, At the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Victoria, Australia, Julian D. Druce, Senior Medical Scientist in the Virus Identification Laboratory of the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, et al, which “used concentrations that are not readily achieved in the human body” but raised enough interesting questions that further investigation was warranted, and because of “the drug’s excellent safety profile and lack of effective treatment for COVID-19.”

In response to their critical examination, and genuine questions about the techniques and methods, they wrote a guest editorial entitled “Ivermectin and COVID-19: Keeping Rigor in Times of Urgency” which was

Phil Valentine Has Died

“Yes, the rumors are true. I have COVID. Unfortunately for the haters out there, it looks like I’m going to make it. Interesting experience. I’ll have to fill you in when I come back on the air. I’m hoping that will be tomorrow, but I may take a day off just as a precaution. It’ll be a game time decision.”
– Phil Valentine’s July 11, 2021 message on Facebook shortly after his positive diagosis with COVID-19

Phil Valentine is dead.

Nashville-based talk radio show host Phil Valentine has died of COVID-19.

https://www.wkrn.com/news/conservative-talk-show-host-phil-valentine-dies-after-covid-19-battle/

During a live broadcast today (Saturday, 21 August 2021) at 4:15PM on SuperTalk 99.7 WTN, several of Phil Valentine’s coworkers & close friends announced they had spoken with his brother Mark, who confirmed the 61-year-old had died earlier in the afternoon.

Following his infection with COVID-19, Mr. Valentine had been hospitalized at Williamson County Medical Center, in nearby Franklin, TN, a tony suburb south and sightly west of Nashville, since July.

On July 11th, mere days after his positive diagnosis, he

Marsha Blackburn: Liar, Idiot, Moron, Fool

Sometimes, you just have to wonder:
Are people born permanently stupid, or, are they made that way (over time)?

There’s no question that we’re all born stupid, but whether we stay that way, or not, is largely of our own choosing.

It’s the classic “Nature versus Nurture” argument.

And frankly, while there’s evidence both ways, there is at least ONE thing we are absolutely certain of, which is that education cures and eliminates ignorance. So, score one for the “Nurture” column.

And, if you’ll recall, there were at least two (and, perhaps more) hit comedy motion pictures which played upon that theme: One in 1983 called “Trading Places,” starring the inimitable clown-men Eddie Murphy, and Dan Akroyd, supported by Don Ameche, Ralph Bellamy, and the ever-lovely and talented Jamie Lee Curtis; then in 1985 a motion picture with an obliquely similar theme entitled “Brewster’s Millions,” starring late funnyman Richard Pyor, and John Candy, supported by Hume Cronyn, Jerry Orbach, and Yakov Smirnoff; and yet another, although somewhat-lesser-known — though certainly with no less star power — in the 2014 title “Breaking the Bank,” staring Kelsey Grammer, supported by Susan Fordham, Richard Cordery, and Pearce Quigley.

In all three motion pictures, the protagonist is placed in an unexpected predicament by either the sudden presence, or lack of, abundant wealth. What they do with their lives in those stories, is comedic – though no less authentic examples of – nurture, combined with a healthy dose of nature.

And we can certainly see real-life examples of such stories in those who win phenomenal sums in lottery. Late West Virginia businessman Andrew “Jack” Whittaker, Jr. (1947-2020) is perhaps the most notable real-life example of a tragic, everything-goes-wrong-after-winning-the-lottery life story. A self-made construction business millionaire worth at least $17 million, on Christmas night 2002, then-aged 55, he purchased a winning Powerball lottery ticket which at the time was the single-largest lump-sum payout in U.S. lottery history — $315 million, which after taxes was valued at $113.4 million. In later years, he was very public about his sorrow at winning, and in a 2007 interview, stated that he wished that he’d torn up the ticket, saying,

“I’m only going to be remembered as the lunatic who won the lottery. I’m not proud of that. I wanted to be remembered as someone who helped a lot of people. I’ve had to work for everything in my life. This is the first thing that’s ever been given to me. Since I won the lottery, I think there is no control for greed. I think if you have something, there’s always someone else that wants it. I wish I’d torn that ticket up.”

But more to the point — the point being, stupidity on very public display.

In an emailed communique recently, Tennessee Banana Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn wrote the following, and shared YouTube video of her ignorant remarks which she made from the U.S. Senate floor about the House, no less.

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From an email communique from Republican Marsha Blackburn, U.S. Senator for Tennessee:

MASK MANDATES ARE ABOUT POWER

Washington elitists are willing to do whatever it takes to keep the American people under their control. The new guidance from the CDC doesn’t follow the science and puts the wellbeing of children in K-12 schools at risk. There is no valid reason to require a vaccinated person to wear a mask. Mask mandates and lockdowns are all about power.

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What she DELIBERATELY does is couch “freedom” as being able to do any damned old thing that you want, WITHOUT regard for anyone else.

That is NOT “freedom.”

That is selfishness and stupidity.

Musician/singer/song-writer Eric Johnson, in his song “Sad Legacy” from his 2005 album entitled “Bloom,” wrote in part that,

“There’s no such thing as freedom
Without some responsibility.
All this shock and surprise…
But we’ve been throwing out a mean boomerang,
And now it’s coming back at us.”

As has oft been stated, “your right to swing your fist ends where my nose begins.”

Furthermore, in her remarks, she deliberately DENIES the scientific facts.

And to be certain, despite her claims otherwise, the former President did NOT

Nashville, TN Conservative Talk Radio Host Phil Valentine Hospitalized With COVID-19

Earlier, a friend had notified me that Phil Valentine, a Nashville, TN-based WASP Republican talk radio show host, affectionately known as “Uncle Phil” by listeners, is hospitalized with an infection of COVID-19.

Oh!

The irony!

He certainly fits the typical anti-COVID-19 vaxxer profile:
• Southern
• White
• Republican
• Conservative
• Male

The last FaceBook update from him was February 5, 2020, which consisted of a link to a podcast entitled “I’m Calling Bovine Scatology,” which is a “polite” way of saying “bullshit,” and the episode posted was entitled “They Closed Down the Economy for the Spanish Flu?”

• Business Insider picked up the story and wrote in part that, “A conservative radio talk-show host who had told followers that they were “probably safer not getting” the COVID-19 vaccine if they weren’t at high risk is now hospitalized in serious condition with the coronavirus, his family said.

“Phil Valentine, who hosts “The Phil Valentine Show” on WWTN-FM in Nashville, Tennessee, contracted COVID-19 more than a week ago and “has since been hospitalized & is in very serious condition,” his family said in a statement on Thursday.”

• All Access Music Group of Malibu, California wrote on their website that, “Posts by his family on social media confirm that CUMULUS News-Talk WWTN (SUPER TALK 99.7 WTN)/NASHVILLE afternoon host PHIL VALENTINE is in the hospital “fighting for his life” after contracting COVID-19.

“VALENTINE had voiced skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccine on the air and opposed government efforts urging the public to get vaccinated, touting

God Wanted Them Dead: TN Diet Guru/Christian Cult Leader Gwen Shamblin Lara’s Jet Crashed

N66BK is a 1982 Cessna Citation 501 2-turbofan engine private jet registered to: JL&GL Productions LP, 902 Franklin Road, Brentwood, Williamson County, Tennessee 37027-6535, United States. JL & GL are Joe Lara & Gwen Lara, Limited Partnership.

Diet guru / Christian cult leader Gwen Shamblin Lara, founder of the Remnant Fellowship Church and author/founder of “The Weigh Down Workshop,” her husband William J. “Joe” Lara who were residents of Nashville’s wealthy/ritzy Brentwood enclave, and 5 others are presumed dead after her Cessna C501 Citation private jet crashed into the waters of Percy Priest Lake near and southeast of Nashville, Saturday at 10:55 AM CDT shortly after takeoff from nearby Smyrna Rutherford County Airport.

Rutherford County spokesperson Ashley McDonald said the Cessna Citation 501 single pilot jet was bound for Palm Beach International Airport in Florida when it crashed into nearby Percy Priest Lake shortly after takeoff.

Federal Aviation Administration registry indicates that the private jet was registered to JL & GL Productions LP, located in Bradwell, Tennessee, while the Tennessee Secretary of State’s website indicated that JL & GL Productions LP was owned by Gwen Shamblin Lara.

The private jet, which was registered to their company JL&GL Productions LP, has not been found, though parts have been retrieved, along with human remains, and Rutherford County Fire Rescue Captain John Ingle said the debris field is about a half-mile wide.

On Sunday, officials said that dive teams have recovered several components of the Cessna Citation jet, along with human remains, from Percy Priest Lake. Recovery efforts will continue Monday, which is Memorial Day.

Tennessee Highway Patrol investigators said that a small aircraft had been seen descending into the lake, and that debris consistent with the jet had been found near a boat ramp.

Gwen Lara’s daughter, Elizabeth Hannah, sent a text message to church members stating that, in addition to her husband Brandon, her mother and father, all passengers had ties to the church, and that it was forced to make a “quick, controlled landing.” Authorities identified other passengers as David and Jennifer Martin, and Jonathan and Jessica Walters.

Elizabeth Hannah messaged further that “More information to come, but be in prayer—and be at peace. My brother and I are asking for immediate prayers right now, as we have just gotten word that Gwen and Joe Lara’s plane had to go down. GOD IS IN CONTROL, and we will not stop moving forward with WHAT GOD WANTS with this church.”

https://news.yahoo.com/plane-said-carry-christian-diet-232123416.html

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Based exclusively upon daughter Elizabeth’s text message, clearly, god wanted them dead, since “GOD IS IN CONTROL” because that’s “WHAT GOD WANTS.”

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The church’s website states that, “Gwen, her husband Joe Lara, and their children and grandchildren live within a few houses of each other.”

Based upon FAA registrations to JL&GL Productions LP,

TN GOP Governor Bill Lee Expected To Sign “Show Us Your Genitals” Law

50th Tennessee Governor Bill Lee (R)

It makes me wonder… why are Banana Republicans so interested in others’ genitals – especially CHILDREN’S GENITALS?

Sounds VERY creepy to me.

In fact, it sounds very much like something a pedophile would do, or support.

What’s the possibility, eh?

Now, I’m not suggesting that the bill’s authors are pedophiles, but “if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck,” it’s probably a cow… right?

Maybe a pedophile influenced, or wrote the bill, eh?

But then, why are Tennessee’s GOP legislators listening to pedophiles, eh?

Of couse, this sounds very much like a remedy in search of a problem, rather than vice versa. Seriously. I mean, how “bad” a problem is the so-called “problem” it purports to remedy?

I’ve yet to read any news items about any such matters. You know… something like “Man Shoots Trangendered Victim In Public Toilet,” or “Teacher Shoots Transgendered Teen In Lockerroom” something else patently and absurdly similar. After all, we’re assaulted daily, 24/7 with

Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Lee Has Lost His Mind

A gun in every pocket.

Not a chicken in every pot.

No pot there, either.

Not even medical.

The state wants people to kill each other.

But not in the womb.

That’d be wrong.

Shooting people to kill them, is A-OK.

Shooting pregnant women is not.

Might harm the unborn, you know.

Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee has signed NRA-written legislation that allows any adult aged 21, or older, to carry a handgun either openly, or concealed without any special training, education, or permit. Active duty Military Service Members aged 18 to 21 are excepted.

Tennessee’s Law Enforcement Agencies throughout the state, including the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, have told the Governor that they thought his idea was poor policy, but he ignored them, and signed into law a bill that removes restrictions on carrying firearms, either concealed, or openly.

Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee (RIGHT) signs HB786 as the bill’s sponsor, Republican Representative William Lamberth of Portland, District 44, observes.

Despite law enforcement’s opposition to his legislation that would end gun permits in Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee told a gathering from the National Rifle Association that his legislation would “make Tennessee safer.” However, he failed to mention how it would.

A spokesman for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation told a Senate committee, “The bureau has been consistent [in opposition] on this from a public safety standpoint.” The TBI and Tennessee Sheriff’s Association oppose eliminating requirements for concealed carry gun permits.

Governor Lee’s Press Secretary Casey Black said, “The ‘Constitutional Carry’ legislation is a key priority in the governor’s public safety package, which is focused on protecting law-abiding Tennesseans’ Second Amendment rights, while also significantly increasing penalties for criminals who steal firearms.”

Advocates point to permitless carry which is often misnomered as

Tennessee’s Republican Legislators Seek To Cut Unemployment Benefits Time

Tennessee’s Republican State Legislators Have Lost Their Minds

Republican-written legislation being considered in the Tennessee General Assembly would kick to the curb over 65,000 unemployed Tennesseans who have lost their jobs due to the COVID pandemic.

Republicans are seeking to cut in half the time frame for collecting unemployment benefits.

Richie Townsend, 39, an East Nashville resident and former bartender at Rolf and Daughters in Germantown, has struggled to find work after losing his restaurant job when the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020.

In the time since, he’s held various unstable, low-paying jobs from which he, and others, have been fired over three times, due to no fault of his own. During those times, he has applied for, and has been granted access to his State Unemployment Compensation, a type of insurance paid for by employers, and backed by the state government, which all 50 states have.

Fortunately, he has benefits remaining, but only because of the extensions granted by Congress.

He’s recently started a new job in Franklin, but even as the state told him it is expediting his request for benefits, he’s reached out to his state House member but hasn’t gotten any payments on his latest extension.

“It sounds like an over-exaggeration by our local government to try to react to the fact that unemployment was extended for a year and a half in total,” he said.

Though he hates to admit it, Townsend says he’s

The Midnight Train To Georgia Has Left The Station

The Number 1 smash hit popularized by Atlanta, Georgia-based family band of Gladys Knight and the Pips in October 1973 was the work of a native Mississippian from Pontotoc named Jim Weatherly.

His family reported that Jim died recently at his residence in Brentwood, Tennessee, a tony suburb of Nashville, of natural causes, aged 77.

Weatherly wrote two additional tunes that became hits for Gladys Knight and the Pips: “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” and “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” – which was originally recorded by country singer Ray Price.

A star quarterback for the University of Mississippi, aka “Ole Miss,” in the 1960s, after graduation, Weatherly, who had already formed a band with some classmates, moved to Nashville where he hoped to find his fortune. Nashville, however, long known as a very cliquish town musically, rejected him. So he and his band moved to the Los Angeles area where he became a songwriter in that area’s then-hot music scene. It was a “training ground” for many musicians who later became immensely popular, super-star caliber artists, including Glen Campbell, Jackson Browne, Tom Petty, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, Beck, and many others who populated the Laurel Canyon area – a mountainous canyon region in LA’s Hollywood Hills West district, in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Although Laurel Canyon is a rocky, arid, and largely agriculturally inhospitable area, it was fertile ground for artists like Joni Mitchell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash, and Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt, The Byrds, Frank Zappa, Jim Morrison, Buffalo Springfield, Love, Michelle and John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas, Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman, J. D. Souther, Judee Sill, Carole King, the Eagles, Richie Furay (of Buffalo Springfield and Poco) and many, many more, almost too numerous to mention.

But, lesser known is the backstory of Jim Weatherly’s first hit song for Gladys Knight and the Pips.

After his college football days ended, Weatherly worked in Los Angeles as a songwriter.

During his off-time in LA he often played flag football with other creative types who had athletic backgrounds – among them, Lee Majors, who himself was a former college football player and was then starring in The Big Valley as Heath Barkley, alongside the lead and central character Victoria Barkley, played by renown actress Barbara Stanwyck. The Big Valley was a unique western television serial whose central character was a woman (Stanwyck), who had taken Heath as her own, though he was the illegitimate son of her character’s late husband Thomas Barkley, following his death.

Jim Weatherly was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame at their 45th Annual Induction and Awards ceremony at the Marriott Marquis Theater on June 12, 2014 in New York City.

The Big Valley was

Contradicting Tennessee Governor Bill Lee On Abortion

Bill Lee is the 50th Governor of the State of Tennessee, a Republican, and is serving his first term in office, having been elected in 2018.

Vice President Kamala Harris two days ago Tweeted:
“On the 48th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we recommit ourselves to ensuring that everyone has access to care—including reproductive health care—no matter their income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status.”

On the 48th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we recommit ourselves to ensuring that everyone has access to care—including reproductive health care—no matter their income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status. https://t.co/2CMdjihsXV

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 22, 2021

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee included the Vice President’s Tweet with a response of his own:
“Abortion isn’t healthcare.”

Abortion isn’t healthcare. https://t.co/hpHnvw5pso

— Gov. Bill Lee (@GovBillLee) January 22, 2021

I’d like to address this entry to Governor Lee, and to every other person who, for whatever reason, opposes abortion – though opposition to the procedure is mostly religious-based, and that itself presents a Constitutional problem, insofar as our nation is not established upon any religion, and I mean specifically to refer to the “Establishment clause” of the First Amendment. I am NOT going to argue religion, that is for theologians, and I am not making a theological argument.

First, it is a very dangerous precedent to write a law that not only eliminates one’s ability to make an independent, and informed decision (about that, or any other private matter), but mandates that the government tell you (or anyone) what to do in your private life. That is the essence of what is happening with this type of argument. Proponents are: 1.) Forbidding exercise of Constitutional rights and freedom to make a free-will decision, and; 2.) Essentially forcing the pregnant woman to give birth to the child.

Regardless of whether one agrees, or not, that abortion should be discouraged, or even made illegal, the essence of what is happening is that, when government gets involved in a personal, private matter, there is no longer just a woman, and her physician, in that private treatment room, but 535 other people – 435 Representatives, and 100 Senators. And that’s just too many people in one small room.

Whenever government steps in and makes decisions for you, you no longer have freedom, you no longer have liberty. And whether they realize it, or acknowledge it, or not, that’s what the anti-abortion activists want – for government to make your decision, or more accurately, to deny you the ability to make a decision… one with which they disagree with upon religious grounds. Not only is that is the VERY antithesis of so-called “smaller, less intrusive” government (something about which GOP types have clamored about), but it is “Big Brother” government, another thing about which most right-wing, and GOP-type folks complain.

Second, contrary to the claims made by

Funny Thing About The Nashville AT&T Bomber…

Undated image of deceased Nashville bomber Anthony Quinn Warner, 63, of 115 Bakertown Road, Antioch, Tennessee, whom authorities have identified using DNA testing from remains found on-scene from the blast site, as the perpetrator of the Christmas Day bombing of the AT&T distribution building in downtown Nashville.

He’s White.

Dude looks kinda’ pasty White.

VERY pasty White.

Not Black.

Not Hispanic.

Not Asian.

But White.

White-bread American White.

As in

Ted Cruz, Jack Dorsey, Twitter, and Free Speech

GOP Texas Senator Ted Cruz, member of the Senate Commerce Committee, moments before he screamed at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey via remote hearing about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Once again, Ted Cruz turns in a great performance, and quite possibly may be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for the same.

A reminder:
While he was in high school, Ted’s parents talked him out of moving to California to pursue an acting career. So he said in a November 2013 interview with the Boston Globe.

But yesterday, the Asshole from Texas, aka Republican Senator Ted Cruz, made an ass out of himself.

No surprise there, eh?

Nobody likes Cruz. Recall that in 2016, former Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner (OH-8) called him “Lucifer in the flesh.” Additional diatribes against Cruz may be found at the conclusion of this article.

Ted WILL make a run for the Presidency again, so he’s just posturing. After all, it IS election season, and even though he’s not on an election ticket, per se, he is on the ticket. And just 2 years ago (2018), Cruz just barely escaped being replaced by Democratic challenger Representative Beto O’Rourke (TX-16) – 50.9% to 48.3% of 8,371,655 ballots cast.

In fact, the entire GOP slate is on the ticket nationwide this year. And so far, it’s not looking good. It didn’t look good yesterday, either. The “optics” aren’t good, goes the saying about political appearances.

But more to the point…

The Senate Commerce Committee conducted a Full Committee Hearing on Wednesday, October 28, 2020, 10:00 a.m. which was entitled, “Does Section 230’s Sweeping Immunity Enable Big Tech Bad Behavior?”

What is Section 230?

In short, Jeff Kossett describes it as the “26 words that created the Internet.”

Who is Jeff Kossett?

Jeff Kossett is Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Law at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and is one of the nation’s foremost experts on Section 230. Regarding the law, he said, “Section 230 set the legal framework for the Internet that we know today that relies heavily on user content rather than content that companies create. Without Section 230, companies would not be willing to take so many risks.”

The law, written in 1996, modified the 1996 Communications Decency Act, is short, sweet, and to the point.

Section 230(c)(1) reads:

“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

But this hearing was pure grandstanding from the get-go.

Why?

Senators

Edible Fake Food Is A Real Problem, But Who Has Your Back?

Food Fraud: How Do You Know What You Buy Is What It’s Labeled As Being?

What is it, how often, and where does it occur?

Who does it?

What’s being done about it?

Sure, you may pooh-pooh the thought, the idea, the notion, that someone, anyone (people) could be defrauded in food purchases.

And quite frankly, the reason why, is that YOU TAKE IT FOR GRANTED.

Yes, 99.99% of ALL PEOPLE in the United States TAKE FOR GRANTED THAT THEIR FOOD IS WHAT IT IS LABELED TO BE.

Milk, for example, comes from a mammal, such as a cow, or goat – NOT a plant, NOT a nut (almond) – a MAMMAL.

Horse, or donkey milk isn’t a popular item in the States. And I don’t think that I’ve ever seen, or heard of camel’s milk anywhere stateside.

But, there is NO SUCH THING as “almond milk.” It’s actually a HIGHLY PROCESSED, chemically-produced, made-in-a-chemical-laboratory concoction that’s a poor wanna-be ALMOND JUICE, or some other disgusting kind of slurry of crushed almonds that couldn’t make the cut for edible snacks.

If you want REAL FOOD, only buy REAL FOOD.

Same thing goes for the gobbledygook parading as “turkey bacon.” There’s NO SUCH THING. BACON COMES FROM THE PORK BELLY – NOT GROUND-UP, HIGHLY PROCESSED TURKEY MEAT.

The etymology of the word “bacon” (its origin and derivation) is from the:

“early 14c., “meat from the back and sides of a hog” (originally either fresh or cured, but especially cured), from Old French bacon, from Proto-Germanic *bakkon “back meat” (source also of Old High German bahho, Old Dutch baken “bacon”). Slang phrase bring home the bacon first recorded 1908; bacon formerly being the staple meat of the working class and the rural population (in Shakespeare bacon is a derisive term for “a rustic”).”

Chicken, beef, pork… same thing. Not only is it by law, USDA inspected to be free from diseases or defects, and for cleanliness and sanitary conditions of slaughter and preparation, it’s the world’s HIGHEST quality for those reasons.

And, believe it, or else, in some nations – such as China, or India – food is REGULARLY adulterated (contaminated and mixed with) non-food items such as cellulose (paper/wood pulp), then sold to unsuspecting consumers. And, it’s NOT illegal.

Adulterated, and purposely mislabeled food is NOT a problem with a limited scope, or occurrence, and sadly, in recent years, with the proliferation and increase in global trade, it has increased in volume, and incidents, at home, and abroad.

For examples of other such instances, see:
• https://foodrevolution.org/blog/food-fraud-olive-oil-and-avocado-oil/

• https://globalnews.ca/news/4014182/food-fraud-avoiding-fake-product/

• https://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2019/02/17/5-fake-foods-and-food-scams-you-need-to-avoid/

• https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/over-%E2%82%AC100-million-worth-of-fake-food-and-drinks-seized-in-latest-europol-interpol-operation

• https://realfoodfakefood.com/

• https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-fake-food-sector-unlicensed-products-knock-offs-supply-chain-contamination-public-health-alibaba-walmart-inscatech-a7880341.html

• https://www.fraud.org/fraud_food

• https://nationalpost.com/life/food/food-fraud-hits-one-of-italys-most-famous-products-raising-questions-about-effectiveness-of-gourmet-labels

The United States’ food safety and health laws have historically prevented such abusive, deceptive practices from occurring. It doesn’t mean, however, that it never occurs. I have written about this subject previously.

And yet, mostly-Republican administrations (including this one) have attempted to cut back on

White Lady Antebellum Steals From Black Lady A

White Folks Trying To Steal From Black Folks

Southern White Musical Trio Attempting To Steal Name From The Black Woman Who’s Used It For 20+ Years

OH!

The irony!

White folks sue Black woman who’s been known professionally as “Lady A” for 20+ years.

The original Lady A is a 61-year-old black singer who’s released multiple records under that name, and said in part that

“This is my life.
They’re using the name because of a Black Lives Matter incident that,
for them,
is just a moment in time.”

Lady Antebellum’s very actions exemplify and perpetuate the sense of White Entitlement.

For several years they didn’t give a rat’s rip about the name, and “suddenly” they care.

Yeah… right.

And so now, the racist bastards are gonna’ try and steal it from her… legally.

In a July 8 story in Billboard headlined as “The Band Lady A Files Lawsuit Against Singer Anita ‘Lady A’ White: Exclusive” Melinda Newman wrote in part that

“The suit also alleges that after conversations broke down between the band — whose members are Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and David Haywood — and the singer and their respective attorneys, White’s new counsel “delivered a draft settlement agreement that included an exorbitant monetary demand.” While the dollar figure is not mentioned in the suit, a statement concurrently issued by the band says the amount is $10 million.

““Today we are sad to share that our sincere hope to join together with Anita White in unity and common purpose has ended,” the group said in a statement. “She and her team have demanded a $10 million payment, so reluctantly we have come to the conclusion that we need to ask a court to affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A, a trademark we have held for many years.””

Variety picked up the news as well, and in an article headlined as “‘Lady A’: Group Sues Singer for Right to Share Name, Says Lawyers Demanded $10 Million; The Nashville trio says it was granted a trademark on “Lady A” in 2011 after five years of use, but the blues singer of that name first released music in 2010. So much for a planned joint single.” which was published Jul 8, 2020 5:30pm PT.

The information for the story came from an Instagram post made by the trio which in part read:

“It was a stirring in our hearts and reflection on our own blindspots that led us to announce a few weeks ago that we were dropping the word ‘Antebellum’ from our name and moving forward using only the name so many of our fans already knew us by. When we learned that Ms. White had also been performing under the name Lady A, we had heartfelt discussions with her about how we can all come together and make something special and beautiful out of this moment. We never even entertained the idea that she shouldn’t also be able to use the name Lady A, and never will – today’s action doesn’t change that.

“Instead, we shared our stories, listened to each other, prayed and spent hours on the phone and text writing a song about this experience together. We felt we had been brought together for a reason and saw this as living out the calling that brought us to make this change in the first place. We’re disappointed that we won’t be able to work together with Anita for that greater purpose.

That kind of drivel – prosaic use of language such as “a stirring in our hearts,” and words such as “heartfelt,” phrases like “all come together and make something special and beautiful” – are purposely designed to pull at the emotional heartstrings of readers, and are nothing but a manipulative tool.

And for Southerners, at least – and Lady Antebellum is a musical ménage à trois of Three White Southerners – one must include religion, so it’s entirely apropos to let folks know that “we prayed.”

They just have the wrong god – mammon.

This entire ordeal stinks to high heaven of racism, and White Entitlement – it is the VERY embodiment, the quintessential substance of everything and every ideal that the Black Lives Matter movement stands for, and fights against – White Power.

It also shows Lady Antebellum’s utter lack of creativity.

A creative person could’ve announced a New Name Contest and given the three runners-up “consolation prizes” of $10,000 each, while the Grand Prize Winner – all which would be submitted and chosen by fans – a $100,000 cash prize.

But no… Lady Antebellum is not that creative.

The Three White Bitches would rather expend much more money to lawyer up and very publicly legally steal from a Black Woman.

There are a variety of names which they now ought to be called:

• Entitled White Thieves
• Three White Folks Stealing Names
• The Southern Bi-Sexual Ménage à Trois
• Three Musical Confederates
• Sorry… Not Sorry
• Three White Lives Matter More
• All White Meat: Two Men and a Woman
• We’re Richer Than You
or, the most apropos…

• Three Clueless White Southern Shitheads.

But if they really want to stay with the architectural theme, they could take:

• Ghost of Frank Lloyd Wright
• Greek Revival
• Dorian Columns
• Corinthian Scrolls
• Split-Level Singers
• Ranch-Style Songsters
• Idols of Excess
• Marble Columns
• Three Colonnades
• Spiral Staircase (that name has been used as “Spiral Starecase”)
• Cupola Singers
• Belvidere’s Belfry

Of course, another altogether unique option is:
The Band With A Racist Name

Joe Coscarelli of the New York Times wrote and confirmed the proceedings which the Nashville trio made “In the weeks that followed [the announcement made by Lady Antebellum to change their name], an apparent détente between the two parties, initially celebrated on social media by both sides, faltered when representatives for White “demanded a $10 million payment,” the band said in a statement on Wednesday. Now, the platinum-selling Nashville group has filed a lawsuit that seeks no monetary damages, but asks the court to affirm “a trademark we have held for many years.”

So apparently, the figure of $10 million came up in negotiations between Lady Antebellum and Lady A, which Lady A seemed to have proposed for use of the name “Lady A.”

The group apparently refused.

They’re only worth about $84 Million… and counting.

Ten million wouldn’t even begin to put a dent in their savings or checking accounts… or in the accounts of their corporations, or their accountants, or army of lawyers, or the numerous members of their extended entourages.

But seriously, the platinum-selling threesome has confessed being lackadaisical in their name choice, so this shenanigans is nothing but pure laziness on their part.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8504311/Country-band-Lady-A-files-suit-against-singer-name.html

Now, before you go off all half-cocked, read on… to become full-cocked.

Yes, this entire ordeal is stupid.

And what exactly is “this entire ordeal”?

“This entire ordeal” is that

Trump: A Made-for-Teevee President

Apparently, the Current White House Occupant (CWHO) thinks that he’s fooling you.

But hopefully, you know the saying:

Fool me once, shame on you;

fool me twice, shame on me.

The origin of the “fooled me once, shame on you…” adage is from an 1817 book entitled “The Court and Character of King James, Written and Taken by Sir A. W., Being an Eye and Ear Witness,” p52 (Sir Anthony Weldon)

POTUS George W. Bush couldn’t get that saying right when he visited East Literature Magnet School in Nashville, Tennessee September 17, 2002 – his remarks are interestingly entirely apropos to today and befitting the CWHO:

“There’s a lot of talk about Iraq on our TV screens, and there should be, because we’re trying to figure out how best to make the world a peaceful place. There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again. You’ve got to understand the nature of the regime we’re dealing with. This is a man who has delayed, denied, deceived the world. For the sake of liberty and justice for all, the United Nations Security Council must act, must act in way to hold this regime to account, must not be fooled, must be relevant to keep the peace.

Part of the American history teaches us that we must lead toward a more peaceful world. Part of the history of the world shows that as threats develop, we must deal with them before they become too acute, unmanageable. Part of our history is, is that we’re a peaceful people. We love and long for peace, that we want peace for generations to come. But sometimes we must act in order to achieve the peace.”

It should be noted as well, that there is SIGNIFICANTLY IMMENSE irony in those remarks which are entirely apropos and befittingly descriptive of this POTUS – the Current White House Occupant.

The CHWO is without question “… a man who has delayed, denied, and deceived the world” – AND the American people.

The self-congratulatory whitewashed video POS45 had made of himself in that act was more like

America! You’re GROWING!!! GET COUNTED! Because SIZE MATTERS!

Here are a few factoids for your entertainment.

• There are SO FEW people in Wyoming, that they have enough room on their automobile license plates to depict a cowboy on a bucking bronco… and STILL have plenty of room leftover for numbers & letters for EVERY car in the state.

• There are MORE people in Nashville, TN (669,053) than there are in Wyoming (578,759).

• There are MORE people in Tennessee (6,829,174) than there are in Colorado (5,758,736).

• The TOTAL number of students (13,131), faculty, and staff (9,253) at Vanderbilt University, and employees at the now-independent University Medical Center (24,039) totals 46,423, which, in effect, makes it a city unto itself, and is why the University (and MC) have the state’s ONLY state-certified police force, with full authority to perform EVERY law enforcement function of the state. They’re also voluntarily, and fully accredited by three law enforcement accrediting bodies, one international, one national, one state:

• CALEA (Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies)
• IACLEA (International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators)
• TLEA (Tennessee Law Enforcement Accreditation)

Here’s a factoid sheet on VUMC (Vanderbilt University Medical Center).

Speaking of size (because, yeah… size matters!), we’re growing! And by “we” I mean to refer to the United States.

For example, did you know that: → Population Rank

• Denver’s population is 716,492. → 19

• Atlanta, GA’s population is 498,044. → 37
(And was once called the “New York” of the South.)

• Jacksonville, FL = 903,889 → 12
• Fort Worth, TX = 895,008 → 13
• Columbus, OH = 892,533 → 14
• San Francisco, CA = 883,305 → 15
• Charlotte, NC = 872,498 → 16
• Indianapolis, IN = 867,125 → 17
• Seattle, WA = 744,955 → 18
• District of Columbia = 702,455 → 20
• Boston, MA = 694,583 → 21
• Detroit, MI = 672,662 → 23
• Portland, OR = 653,115 → 25
• Memphis, TN = 650,618 → 26
• Fresno, CA = 530,093 → 34

Comparatively, these cities’ names, while familiar, might conjure up population pictures that are not necessarily what one might imagine.

For example, who would’ve thought that San Francisco (883,305) and Charlotte (872,498) are almost identically populated? Size Rank → 15, 16

Or Denver (716,492) and Nashville (669,053)? →  19, 24
Or Boston (694,583) and El Paso (682,669)? → 21, 22
Or Las Vegas (644,644) and Louisville, KY (620,118)? → 28, 29
Or Atlanta (498,044), and

95 Year Old Nazi German Living In Oak Ridge Tennessee Ordered Deported

UPDATE: Monday, 22 February 2021 – WWII Nazi Concentration Camp Guard Removed to Germany
February 20, 2021
Man is the 70th Nazi Persecutor Removed from the United States.
Press Release Number: 21-169
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wwii-nazi-concentration-camp-guard-removed-germany

“Today a Tennessee resident with German citizenship was removed to Germany for participating in Nazi-sponsored acts of persecution while serving as an armed guard at a Nazi concentration camp in 1945.

“In February 2020, Friedrich Karl Berger, 95, was ordered removed from the U.S. based on his participation in Nazi-sponsored persecution while serving in Nazi Germany in 1945 as an armed guard of concentration camp prisoners in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp system (Neuengamme).

““Berger’s removal demonstrates the Department of Justice’s and its law enforcement partners’ commitment to ensuring that…”

…

“In November 2020, the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld a Memphis, Tennessee, Immigration Judge’s Feb. 28, 2020, decision that Berger was removable under the 1978 Holtzman Amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act because his “willing service as an armed guard of prisoners at a concentration camp where persecution took place” constituted assistance in Nazi-sponsored persecution. The court found that Berger served at a Neuengamme sub-camp near Meppen, Germany, and that the prisoners there included “Jews, Poles, Russians, Danes, Dutch, Latvians, French, Italians, and political opponents” of the Nazis. The largest groups of prisoners were Russian, Dutch and Polish civilians.

Friedrich Karl Berger (1959), Visa photo

“After a two-day trial in February 2020, the presiding judge issued an opinion finding that Meppen prisoners were held during the winter of 1945 in “atrocious” conditions and were exploited for outdoor forced labor, working “to the point of exhaustion and death.” The court further found, and Berger admitted, that he guarded prisoners to prevent them from escaping during their dawn-to-dusk workday, on their way to worksites and on their way back to the SS-run subcamp in the evening.

“At the end of March 1945, as allied British and Canadian forces advanced, the Nazis abandoned Meppen. The court found that Berger helped guard the prisoners during their forcible evacuation to the Neuengamme main camp – a nearly two-week trip under inhumane conditions, which claimed the lives of some 70 prisoners. The decision also cited Berger’s admission that…”
–MORE–

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UPDATE: Saturday, 21 November 2020 – Friedrich Karl Berger appealed his deportation case and lost. He will be deported as originally ordered.

• See: Removal Order Upheld Against Tennessee Man Who Served as Nazi Concentration Camp Guard During WWII
Thursday, November 19, 2020
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/removal-order-upheld-against-tennessee-man-who-served-nazi-concentration-camp-guard-during

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The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has dismissed the appeal of Tennessee resident Friedrich Karl Berger, a German citizen who was ordered removed from the United States earlier this year on the basis of his service in Nazi Germany in 1945 as an armed guard of concentration camp prisoners in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp system (Neuengamme).

“Berger’s willing service as an armed guard at a Nazi concentration camp cannot be erased and will not be ignored,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian C. Rabbitt of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “On the eve of tomorrow’s 75th anniversary of the commencement of the Nuremberg trials of the surviving leaders of the defeated Nazi regime, this case shows that the passage of time will not deter the department from fulfilling the moral imperative of seeking justice for the victims of their heinous crimes.”

“Berger was an active participant in one of the darkest chapters in human history. He attempted to shed his nefarious past to come to America and start anew, but thanks to the dedication of those at the Department of Justice and Homeland Security Investigations, the truth was revealed,” said Deputy Assistant Director Louis A. Rodi III of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) National Security Investigations Division, which oversees the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center. “War criminals and violators of human rights will not be allowed to evade justice and find safe haven here.”

The BIA upheld a Memphis, Tennessee, Immigration Judge’s Feb. 28, 2020, decision that Berger was removable under the 1978 Holtzman Amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act because his “willing service as an armed guard of prisoners at a concentration camp where persecution took place” constituted assistance in Nazi-sponsored persecution. The court found that Berger served at a Neuengamme sub-camp near Meppen, Germany, and that the prisoners there included “Jews, Poles, Russians, Danes, Dutch, Latvians, French, Italians, and political opponents” of the Nazis. The largest groups of prisoners were Russian, Dutch and Polish civilians.

After a two-day trial in February, the presiding judge issued an opinion finding that Meppen prisoners were held during the winter of 1945 in “atrocious” conditions and were exploited for outdoor forced labor, working, “to the point of exhaustion and death.” The court further found, and Berger admitted, that he guarded prisoners to prevent them from escaping during their dawn-to-dusk workday, and on their way to the worksites and also on their way back to the SS-run subcamp in the evening.

At the end of March 1945, as allied British and Canadian forces advanced, the Nazis abandoned Meppen. The court found that Berger helped guard the prisoners during their forcible evacuation to the Neuengamme main camp – a nearly two-week trip under inhumane conditions, which claimed the lives of some 70 prisoners. The decision also cited Berger’s admission that he never requested a transfer from concentration camp guard service and that he continues to receive a pension from Germany based on his employment in Germany, “including his wartime service.”

In 1946, British occupation authorities in Germany charged SS Obersturmführer Hans Griem, who had headed the Meppen sub-camps, and other Meppen personnel with war crimes for “ill-treatment and murder of Allied nationals.” Although Griem escaped before trial, the British court tried and convicted the remaining defendants of war crimes in 1947.

The trial and appeal of the removal case were handled by Eli Rosenbaum, Director of Human Rights Enforcement and Policy in the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section (HRSP), HRSP Senior Trial Attorney Susan Masling, and attorneys from ICE New Orleans, Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (Memphis), with assistance from HRSP Chief Historian Jeffrey S. Richter, and the Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center. The investigation was initiated by the HRSP and was conducted in partnership with the Nashville ICE HSI office.

Since the 1979 inception of the Justice Department’s program to detect, investigate, and remove Nazi persecutors, it has won cases against 109 individuals. Over the past 30 years, the Justice Department has won more cases against persons who participated in Nazi persecution than have the law enforcement authorities of all the other countries in the world combined. HRSP’s case against Berger was part of its ongoing efforts to identify, investigate and prosecute individuals who engaged in genocide, torture, war crimes, recruitment or use of child soldiers, female genital mutilation, and other serious human rights violations. HRSP attorneys prosecuted the first torture case brought in the United States and have successfully prosecuted criminal cases against perpetrators of human rights violations committed in Guatemala, Ethiopia, Liberia, Cuba, and the former Yugoslavia, among others.

To learn more about HRSP, visit https://www.justice.gov/criminal-hrsp.

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• See also: https://news.yahoo.com/94-old-former-nazi-concentration-150221553.html

• See also: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/20/94-year-old-former-nazi-concentration-camp-guard-deported-us/

• See also: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/nov/19/friedrich-karl-berger-nazi-guard-loses-deportation/

• See also: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/board-dismisses-appeal-on-removal-order-for-former-nazi-concentration-camp-guard/ar-BB1bbepu

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Friedrich Karl Berger, 94, of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, who voluntarily served as an armed guard in a Neuengamme Nazi concentration camp subcamp, had been a Tennessee resident for over 75 years, and was drawing an employment-based pension which included his Nazi service, has been ordered deported by the U.S. Department of Justice to Germany, where he still has citizenship.

An index card found submerged in a sunken ship in the Baltic Sea helped federal prosecutors prove their case. Justice Department historians documented his service at the camp with information from that index card which summarized his Nazi work.

Berger emigrated from Germany to Canada after the war with his wife and daughter, and entered the United States in 1959.

While in the United States, he made a living building wire-stripping machines, and is now a widower with two grandchildren.

After a two-day trial, Judge Rebecca L. Holt, a Federal Immigration judge in Memphis, TN, found him deportable under the 1978 Holtzman Amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act because his “willing service as an armed guard of prisoners at a concentration camp where persecution took place” constituted assistance in Nazi-sponsored persecution.

He voluntarily served as a Nazi guard at

Early Morning Tornado Blasts Nashville Tennessee On Super Tuesday

Nashville residents and others in outlying areas along a pathway proceeding west-to-east of Nashville, including Mt. Juliet, located east of the Music City along I-40, were kept awake around midnight by the sounds of a tornado which wreaked havoc in the downtown capitol hill region, slightly north and east of the city.

The storm twisted its way through an neighborhood north of Nashville known as Germantown, into the Five Points area of East Nashville, and on through Mt. Juliet, 20 miles east of Nashville.

Nashville Fire Department officials have tentatively reported 48 collapsed, or damaged structures, numerous broken windows, and downed power lines. Numerous homes and businesses in the East Nashville and Donelson areas of metro Nashville were reported damaged, some perhaps, beyond repair.

Maggie Hannan, Community Relations Officer for Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, confirmed that, across a four-county region including Benton (Camden), Davidson (Nashville), Wilson (Mount Juliet), and Putnam (Cookeville) Counties, 19 lives were lost.

Authorities had earlier tentatively reported 14 deaths in Putnam County, 2 each in Davidson and Wilson Counties, and 1 in Benton County, but that figure has been revised upward and is expected to top well over 20 total deaths from this storm.

Putnam County officials wrote that “at approximately 2:00 a.m. CST, one confirmed tornado touched down between

“Socialism” : A Tired, Old, Republican Punching Bag For Over 110 Years

Formerly entitled: “Bernie Sanders Said…”

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On November 19, 2015, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders addressed a crowd at Georgetown University.

It was not a campaign rally.

In the conclusion of his speech, he said:

“So the next time you hear me attacked as a socialist, remember this:

“I don’t believe government should own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal.

“I believe in private companies that thrive and invest and grow in America instead of shipping jobs and profits overseas.

“I believe that most Americans can pay lower taxes – if hedge fund managers who make billions manipulating the marketplace finally pay the taxes they should.

“I don’t believe in special treatment for the top 1%, but I do believe in equal treatment for African-Americans who are right to proclaim the moral principle that Black Lives Matter.

“I despise appeals to nativism and prejudice, and I do believe in immigration reform that gives Hispanics and others a pathway to citizenship and a better life.

“I don’t believe in some foreign “ism”, but I believe deeply in American idealism.

“I’m not running for president because it’s my turn, but because it’s the turn of all of us to live in a nation of hope and opportunity not for some, not for the few, but for all.

“No one understood better than FDR the connection between American strength at home and our ability to defend America at home and across the world. That is why he proposed a second Bill of Rights in 1944, and said in that State of the Union:

““America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for all our citizens. For unless there is security here at home there cannot be lasting peace in the world.”

“I’m not running to pursue reckless adventures abroad, but to rebuild America’s strength at home. I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will never send our sons and daughters to war under false pretense or pretenses or into dubious battles with no end in sight.”

– Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Georgetown University, November 19, 2015

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The word ‘socialism’ has been used for many years as a fear tactic to persuade people to do, or not do, what the one who is using the word wants them to do, or not do. It’s been around at least as long as since 1931 – and likely, much longer. Perhaps 20 years, or more.

A cursory search of the Congressional Record (part 1 volume 45, p270) showed that in the 1910 Congress, in the Second Session, on December 20, Representative Frank Wheeler Mondell (1860-1939), a Republican, said in part the following:

“Advanced with the extraordinary argument that to take authority from the people locally and lodge it with a federal bureau is “saving” something for “all the people” and from the” interests,” and backed by the demand of a certain section of the press, inspired by socialistic government bureaus, the propaganda has much influence with some legislators.”

Demonizing “the press,” demonizing “socialistic government bureaus,” and claiming it’s all “propaganda.”

Wow.

That stuff reads like it was ripped from today’s headlines in 2020, over 110 years later.

Grand OLD Party, indeed.

Same… tired… old… rhetoric.

But, let’s continue searching in that year’s record.

Senator Porter McCumber (1858-1933), a Republican from Nebraska, addressed that body on February 4, 1910 and as found on page 1481, is recorded to have said in part,

Lamar Alexander And Lisa Murkowksi Vote To Acquit Charles Manson

United States Senator from Tennessee, Lamar Alexander

Tennessee’s United States Senator, Lamar Alexander (b.1940), a 3-term Republican who is retiring this year, recently said of his decision to vote to acquit the President in the Impeachment Trial of Donald J. Trump, that, “I’m going to vote to acquit. I’m very concerned about any action that we could take that would establish a perpetual impeachment in the House of Representatives whenever the House was a different party than the president. That would immobilize the Senate.”

Alexander’s remarks were made in an interview on the NBC News program “Meet the Press” which aired Sunday, 02 February 2020.

He had previously issued a press release 30 January 2020, which stated in part that,

“It was inappropriate for the president to ask a foreign leader to investigate his political opponent and to withhold United States aid to encourage that investigation. When elected officials inappropriately interfere with such investigations, it undermines the principle of equal justice under the law. But

Flooding Rains Damage Alabama and Tennessee

America could build infrastructure to PREVENT tragedies like this from happening. And by “tragedy,” I mean to refer to the damage done in the wake of such climatological events – REGARDLESS of their causes, whether human-influenced, or not.

We once did build infrastructure, or rather, attempted to, after the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1927, when nearly 30,000 square miles of land along the lower portion of the Mississippi River was flooded to depths up to 30 feet, and stayed flooded to that extent for well over two months before receding. That natural disaster displaced well over 1.5 million people, and killed thousands directly and indirectly.

After that, Republican POTUS Calvin Coolidge refused to call a Special Session of the then-adjourned Congress, and rather than initiating governmental action, wanted to raise money to facilitate recovery efforts through bake sales, church raffles and private philanthropy, which he also thought should be dealt with at a local level, rather than Federal. It’s NO exaggeration to write that.

Obviously, that approach didn’t work. So Coolidge, who couldn’t be bothered to go and visit the people in the areas devastated, came under significant pressure for his lackadaisical do-nothing attitude, and assigned the task of “doing something” to then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, who – though Stanford-educated as an infamously mediocre student who failed all the entrance exams but mathematics – had led food distribution efforts in post-WWI Europe.

Newspapers were not kind to Coolidge, and the Jackson Clarion-Ledger (in Mississippi) wrote, “It has been necessary to school President Coolidge day by day a bit more towards the realization of the immensity of the catastrophe.”

The Paducah News-Democrat (in Kentucky) wrote that Coolidge had either “the coldest heart in America or the dullest imagination, and we are about ready to believe he has both.”

The New York Times however, saw things differently only because they were unaffected, and wrote, “Fortunately, there are still some things that can be done without the wisdom of Congress and the all-fathering federal government.”

But the Chicago Tribune thought little of the hare-brained scheme, and instead headlined a story with “Coolidge Backs Gigantic Flood Control Scheme,” while their Editorial Board wrote, “Only the resources and jurisdiction of the federal government can cope with the task of flood control.”

Coolidge’s contempt for government was well-known, and he disparagingly said, “If the federal government were to go out of existence, the common run of people would not detect the difference.”

Instead of governmental action, the Coolidge White House started

White Male Domestic Terrorist Commits Early Morning Earth Day Mass Murder #AR15 Shooting @WaffleHouse In Nashville, Tennessee

The AR-15 rifle used in the Nashville Waffle House Mass Murder on Earth Day, Sunday 22 April 2018.

Let’s start Earth Day with some sad news.

Around 0325 this morning (Earth Day, Sunday, 22 April 2018), a White male gunman using an AR-15 rifle opened fire at the Waffle House, 3571 Murfreesboro Pike in Nashville and shot 6 persons, 4 fatally – 3 died at the scene, 1 at the hospital. The 2 others are being treated at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Crime Scene tape surrounds the Waffle House, 3571 Murfreesboro Pike in Nashville, TN where an early morning Mass Shooting Murder occurred around 0325 Sunday, 22 April 2018.

A patron wrestled away the gunman’s rifle.

He was reported to be

#Trump’s Billionaire Care

“We don’t have it; we can’t afford it, and we don’t make enough to be penalized at the end of the year so either which way it goes we don’t have the money to pay for it,” he said. 

Under the Affordable Care Act, millions more Americans now have insurance through online exchanges and Medicaid. But like the Wallaces, many still lack coverage, especially in states like Tennessee where elected leaders declined to expand Medicaid. 

The Wallaces were camped out on a blanket outside Red Bank High School in Chattanooga on a Friday afternoon, the day before the clinic was set to open Saturday morning.

They said they make too much money for Medicaid, and they looked into an Obamacare exchange plan but couldn’t afford the premiums. 

President Trump has promised to replace the ACA with something better. But the Congressional Budget Office estimates a plan passed by the House of Representatives would leave 23 million more Americans uninsured, and Senate Republicans have yet to reveal the details of their plan. 

In Response to John Goodwin’s FaceBook Post

A man named John Goodwin made a public post on FaceBook, which also included a link to an OpEd published in the Washington Post on November 9, 2016, which was written by Charles Camosy (PhD, University of Notre Dame), and entitled “Trump won because college-educated Americans are out of touch.” Dr. Camosy is an Associate Professor of Theological and Social Ethics at Fordham University, and the author of a book entitled “Beyond the Abortion Wars: A Way Forward for A New Generation.”

Mr. Goodwin’s FaceBook profile is sufficiently ambiguous of himself, though in his public post which is time & date-stamped 9:45AM, November 10, 2016, and ostensibly geolocated from Washington, D.C., he wrote of himself that, “I haven’t posted about the election mostly because 1) I do this for a living and most of you don’t,” which would lead one to suppose that at some level, he works in or with public policy, or more likely, with politicians.

I do not.

However, suffice it to say, that for many, many, many years, I have remained immensely interested in public policy, though I do not now, nor have I ever made my living from it, or influencing, or attempting to influence others in elected office.

In other words, I have taken the high road.

Mr. Goodwin’s public post to FaceBook is linked herein, as is the article upon which he expounded.

https://www.facebook.com/goody37/posts/10154328123133884

In order to fully understand the matter of discussion herein, I encourage the reader to fully read this item following herein, as well as Mr. Goodwin’s post, and the OpEd upon which he opined

I have responded to Mr. Goodwin’s post as follows:
His words appear italicized, and in “quotation marks.”
My commentary follows immediately after.

“…not everyone lives in big cities.”
• That is correct. The United States Census Bureau says that 80.7% of American reside in urban areas. In fact, they report that “the population density in cities is more than 46 times higher than the territory outside of cities.” So that leaves a whopping 19.3% in rural areas.

“I didn’t grow up with money.”
• Money had been invented by the time I was born. But seriously, someone votes for Donald Trump as if the wealthy are advocates for the impoverished or even the average American? C’mon. Mr. Born-With-A-Silver-Spoon-In-His-Mouth? Really?

“…not everyone went to elite colleges.”
• According to the United States Census Bureau, “in 2015, almost 9 out of 10 adults (88 percent) had at least a high school diploma or GED, while nearly 1 in 3 adults (33 percent) held a bachelor’s or higher degree.” I’m in the 33%. So I’m an elite. Thanks!

“You think they (people who eat at

Terrorism In The South

Reunion of Quantrill’s Raiders, circa 1924, Oak Grove, Missouri. The first official reunion occurred in 1898, more than 30 years after Quantrill’s death and the end of the Civil War. The circled figure is Jesse James. Image from the Jackson County Historical Society and the Truman Library.

The 1901 reunion of Quantrill’s Raiders in Blue Springs, MO. Note the tag in the upper LEFT corner of the image. Sim Whitsett was at this reunion and is probably in this picture. Also in the picture is Frank James (center front, named). The first picture of the Quantrill veterans (Sim Whitsett was in attendance) was taken at the 1900 reunion. The picture is of a parade of the attendees on horseback. The 1901 is the first group photo in which the faces of individuals can be (barely) distinguished.

In response to a post expressing justifiable criticism of terrorism at home and abroad, it occurred to me that terrorism itself is nothing new… not even in the United States. So, I thought to share a brief overview of it, which appears as follows.

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You forgot all about the War Between the States.

The Southern rebellion, of course, was often comprised of loosely associated rag-tag bands of incompetents and criminals, which thrived and often deserted formal association with the Confederate Army, and ransacked their way throughout the countryside.

John Singleton Mosby, image from his memoir. His note reads: “This picture is a copy of the one taken in Richmond in January 1863: The uniform is the one I wore on March 8th 1863 on the night of General Staughton’s capture. John S Mosby”

The rebels were known for such terroristic activities as

Understanding ISIS Origins: Islamic Extremism & American Middle Eastern Foreign Policy

Gustav “Gust” Lascaris Avrakotos (January 14, 1938 – December 1, 2005) CIA Case Officer, and Afghan Task Force Chief

After the Paris terrorist attacks of Friday, 13 November 2015, news media is awash in reports of seemingly innumerable variety. There is so much information, it’s almost like sifting sand or searching for a needle in a haystack to understand anything about the whys and wherefores of an evil international effort that has morphed into ISIS/ISIL/Daesh.

Charlie Wilson (center) and a group of Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. February 25, 1987. Contact sheet 1 photograph 16.

Unquestionably, what happened is evil, and inexcusable. And just like any other crime, prosecutors search for motivations.

“But why would they!?,” you may ask.

In a nutshell, it’s PsyOps (Psychological Operations) work to understand the basis for motivation, because to prevent further occurrences, one’s mind must be changed.

But without further ado, here’s an easy way to understand what has happened, which will form the foundation, and guide understanding on what is happening.

What would it be like if Christians fought each other like the Hatfields & McCoys?

That’s what’s happening in Islam today.

Sadly, Saudi Arabia long ago

TVA Closing Widow’s Creek Coal-Fired Electricity Plant In Stevenson, Alabama

TVA announced recently the Board of Directors voted to close the last operating unit of 8 coal-fired electricity generating operating units at their Widow’s Creek facility near Stevenson, AL by October 2015.

Especially problematic was the issue of costs associated with storing “fly ash” the toxic residual waste generated by burning coal. While fly ash is used in construction of roads, and in concrete, there is more waste generated than used.

Nationwide, increased “accidents” from accumulated and overfilled swamps of coal ash have polluted rivers and water supplies. Remediation costs associated with cleanup, and repair of waste storage facilities has proven unprofitable for TVA and other coal-burning electricity-generating utilities.

According to Knoxville, TN television station WBIR, “TVA has spent an estimated $1.2 billion cleaning up since the [December 2008 Kingston, TN] spill. Coal ash is left over from burning coal to power a power plant.”

How Successful Is It To Drug Test Public Assistance Welfare Recipients?

UPDATE: 07February2016
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2016/02/07/drug-testing-benefits-tennessee-yields-only-65-positives/79776756/

Since implementation of a law began July 1, 2014, the Tennessee Department of Human Services found only 65 out of 39,121 people who applied for a cash assistance program known as “Families First in Tennessee,” tested positive for illegal substances, or medicines for which they had no prescription.

That’s less than 1% of all applicants who tested positive.

That information was provided provided to The Tennessean by the Tennessee DHR.

An extra 116 refused to participate in an initial drug screening questionnaire, which automatically disqualified them for benefits.

The average monthly benefit of the cash assistance program was $165 per month in December – or $1,980 per year. If they otherwise would have qualified to have received assistance, the total value of the benefit to the 116 people who refused to take the test would have been $230,000 annually – if they had otherwise qualified for benefits.

Since the law began, 609 people have been asked to take a drug test: 544 tested negative, and 65 tested positive. Of those who tested positive, 40 were referred for substance abuse evaluation, and 13 enrolled in a drug treatment facility or recovery support group as a condition of receiving benefits.

The total cost to Tennessee taxpayers so far has been $23,592.

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There’s a meme which circulates on FaceBook and presumably, in other places as well, which appears similarly as this:

Drug Test Public Assistance Recipients Meme

Honestly, the idea is a failure.

But you’d rarely – if ever – hear about it’s failures.

Florida was the first state to tread that path. What they learned was surprising. And then, the law was struck down by a Federal court. The states that embark upon Florida’s path will be wa$ting their citizen$ taxe$.

Only 2.6% of Florida applicants failed the drug test.

“Because the Florida law requires that applicants who pass the test be reimbursed for the cost, an average of $30, the cost to the state was $118,140. This is more than would have been paid out in benefits to the people who failed the test. As a result, the testing cost the government an extra $45,780.”

The purported savings in Florida’s program will be negligible after administrative costs and reimbursements for the drug tests are taken into account.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/us/no-savings-found-in-florida-welfare-drug-tests.html

But it wasn’t limited to Florida.

More Hobby Lobby Store Hypocrisy: Investigation finds close ties to creepy resigned Southern minister sex molester

This just gets creepier and creepier.

In light of these recent revelations, perhaps the SCOTUS might want to vacate their decision.

—

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/07/hobby-lobby-bill-gothard-institute-basic-life-principles/

Hobby Lobby Funded Disgraced Fundamentalist Christian Leader Accused of Harassing Dozens of Women

By David Corn and Molly Redden | Wed Jul. 2, 2014 6:00 AM EDT

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Social Title:

Hobby Lobby funded disgraced fundamentalist Christian leader accused of harassing dozens of women

For a decade or so, Hobby Lobby and its owners, the Green family, have been generous benefactors of a Christian ministry that until recently was run by Bill Gothard, a controversial religious leader who has long promoted a strict and authoritarian version of Christianity. Gothard, a prominent champion of Christian home-schooling, has decried [1] the evils of dating, rock music, and Cabbage Patch dolls [2]; claimed [3] public education teaches children “how to commit suicide” and undermines spirituality; contended [4] that mental illness is merely “varying degrees of irresponsibility”; and urged wives to “submit to the leadership” [5] of their husbands. Critics of Gothard have associated [6] him [7] with Christian Reconstructionism [8], an ultrafundamentalist movement that yearns for a theocracy, and accused [9] him of running a cultlike organization. In March, he was pressured to resign [1] from his ministry, the Institute in Basic Life Principles, after being accused by more than 30 women of sexual harassment and molestation—a charge Gothard denies.

More MoJo coverage of the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision.

• Hobby Lobby’s Hypocrisy: The Company’s Retirement Plan Invests in Contraception Manufacturers [10]

• The 8 Best Lines From Ginsburg’s Dissent [11]

• Why the Decision Is the New Bush v. Gore [12]

• How Obama Can Make Sure Hobby Lobby’s Female Employees Are Covered [13]

• Hobby Lobby Funded Disgraced Fundamentalist Christian Leader Accused of Harassing Dozens of Women [14]

The Institute traces it origins to 1964, when Gothard designed a college seminar based on biblical principles to help teenagers. The ministry says [15] it was established “for the purpose of introducing people to the Lord Jesus Christ” and to give individuals, families, businesses, and governments “clear instruction and training on how to find success by following God’s principles found in Scripture.” The group, which operates what it calls “training centers” across the United States and abroad, says more than 2.5 million people have attended its paid events, which have brought in tens of millions of dollars in revenue. Gothard and the Institute have drawn support [16]from conservative politicians, including Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. The Duggar family, the stars of the reality show 19 Kids and Counting, have been high-profile advocates [17] of Gothard’s home-schooling curriculum and seminars. (One of Gothard’s alleged victims has called [18] on the Duggars to break with Gothard and the Institute.) Don Venoit, a conservative evangelical who has long been a critic of Gothard, contends [19] that Gothard’s approach to Christian theology emphasizing obedience to authority creates a “culture of fear.” In 1984, Ronald Allen, now a professor of Bible exposition at Dallas Theological Seminary, observed [20] that Gothard’s teachings were “a parody of patriarchalism” and “the basest form of male chauvinism I have ever heard in a Christian context.” He added, “Gothard has lost the biblical balance of the relationship between women and men as equals in relationship. His view is basically anti-woman.”

According to the 79-year-old Gothard, the Greens and Hobby Lobby—which this week won a landmark Supreme Court case [21] with a decision ruling that the firm does not have to

Howard Baker 1925 – 2014: Photographer, United States Senator, Ambassador

Howard Baker, 18 years United States Senator from Tennessee, Republican Majority Leader, widely respected by Democrats & Republicans as “the quintessential mediator, negotiator and moderator,” Chief of Staff to President Ronald Reagan, Ambassador to Japan under President George W. Bush, and award-winning Photographer has died aged 88 in his Huntsville, Tennessee home of complications from a stroke Saturday, 21 June 2014.

He said of his photographic hobby that it “may be the only place where I can reasonably aspire to perfection.”

Mr. Baker began his photographic hobby as

*!* ATTENTION ALABAMA RESIDENTS *!*

Please continue to fund out-of-state K-12 schools, and send Tennessee, Georgia & Florida kids to college by purchasing Tennessee, Georgia & Florida Lottery tickets.

• Today, in Tennessee, over 100,000 students benefit annually, and Republican Governor Bill Haslam signed a bill written by Republican TN legislators which will pay for 2 years of community/junior/technical college education for every Tennessee high school graduate.

• In Georgia, over 1,600,000 students have benefited from Georgia Lottery.

• In Florida, over 650,000 students have received over $4,290,000,000 since 1986 to attend higher education.

Inequality in Government: Is there Racism in Mississippi? In 2014? Say it ain’t so!

It occurred to me recently in a couple conversations I had with friends in various parts of our United States, that equal representation is a matter with which we still struggle.

While on occasion I’ve opined about injustice through inequality – the United States’ Constitution guarantees Equal Protection and Equal Rights under law via the 14th Amendment – it occurred to me recently that there are some who “just don’t get it.”

More to the point, I was spurred by a photograph sent to me by a friend in one of our Northern sister states – the Land of the Frozen Chosen, sometimes also referred to as “The Great White North.”

In gentleness, I refer, of course, to Minnesota.

It was a photograph of my friend’s co-worker which sparked my interest, and subsequent curiosity.

The co-worker was Afro-American, aka “Black.”

I was somewhat surprised to see a Black person in Minnesota, so I queried the Census Bureau for some Quick Statistics about our United States.

Here’s what I found:
Only 5.5% of Minnesota’s population is Black.

In comparison to the United States at large, 13.1% of our American population in general is Black. And in Alabama, 26.5% are Black, while in neighboring Mississippi, 37.4% of that state’s residents are Black. Alabama’s Eastern neighbor Georgia has a closely similar percentage with a 31.2% Black population, while Tennessee is nearly half, with a 17% Black population.

Examining some other states, I found that Alabama’s Southern neighbor, Florida has a very closely similar Black population with 16.6%, while Louisiana’s Black population is just about double with 32.4%. The “Natural State” of Arkansas has a 15.6% Black population, while North and South Carolina are almost evenly tied with 22 & 28% respectively.

On the other hand, Texas has a lower Black population than either Tennessee or Arkansas with only 12.3%.

Kentucky? Only 8.1% of Kentuckians are Black.

Interestingly, of the 16 players on the Kentucky Wildcats Basketball team, only 6 are not Black. In other words, 62.5% of the team is Black – a clear majority. And yet, the state’s general population is completely and disproportionately unrepresentative of the team.

What about Virginia? With a 19.7% Black population, Virginia stands in distinct contrast to West Virginia, which only has a 3.5% Black population – a very stark contrast, indeed.

But what about some of the other Midwestern states?

Missouri has an 11.7% Black population, while only 3.2% of corn-fed Iowans are Black.

From Minnesota moving West, South Dakota has a mere 1.7% Black population, while Montana…

Well.. there just about no Black folks in that state, at all. Only a mere 0.6% – 6/10ths on one percent – of that state’s residents are Black.

A casual observation would be that it’s mighty White up North.

But let’s bring it back on home to Mississippi…

In a recent post shared by someone else on

No More Alcohol in Gasoline?

Recently, I received an email message from a friend, one who is highly intelligent, and who has a phenomenal diversity of life experiences. The item had a video to a Faux News video segment, which is included in this post, at the conclusion.

My response to the half-truthed item follows.

Here’s hoping you and others find it informative, and helpful.
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While I have neither been the type to proclaim THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! nor believe there is conspiracy against me, nor the paranoid type that imagines “the government” is out to get me (and therefore neither view nor read Fox News), I do think there is some credence to the item. (Of course, a “Snopes check” shows a mix of half-truths. But, if it ain’t all true, it ain’t true – kinda’ like the gas, you know.) More details on that follow.

In a story published published Saturday, February 1st, 2014, the Chattanooga Times-Free Press wrote how some motorists in that area are preferring 100% pure gasoline over the 10% Ethanol blend. (I happened to read that story at the time it was published.)
http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2014/feb/01/some-motorists-want-their-gasoline-corn-free/

While residing there, I also noticed the same, and noticed that the price for 100% pure gasoline is higher than for the 10% ethanol blend. One day, while pumping the 100% gasoline at a Chattanooga gas station, I happened to speak with a gent at the adjacent pump about the difference. He shared an observation with me which I thought quite interesting, and one which certainly seemed reasonable.

He said that in an “accidental” experiment, he purchased some 10% ethanol blended gasoline for use in his lawn mower. He then poured some of the 10% ethanol blended gas into a glass jar, and let it set out at least overnight (or a bit longer). He observed that it had become cloudy from the accumulation of humidity.

While I’ve never tried such an experiment, I do note that many years ago, on occasion, I would run my little carbureted Toyota’s gas tank empty, and would then fill it up with 1 gallon each of Methanol, 100LL, Toluene, Xylene and Methyl Ethyl Ketone. I did so for at least two reasons: 1.) to get any water in the fuel tank & system out, and; 2.) to “clean out” any deposits that may have formed in the fuel system.

Of course, Gasoline and Water are different for several reasons, not the least of which is that

Dumb Dope Smugglers Lose Little Load

From the third episode of “dumberer & more dumberer” comes this asinine item.

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Officials: Package at Daikin plant marijuana, not bomb

By Eric Fleischauer Staff Writer | Posted: Thursday, November 21, 2013 9:54 am

Authorities have determined a suspicious package attached to a rail car in Decatur was not a bomb but contained marijuana, Morgan County officials said.

The rail car contained toxic gas and was at the Daikin America plant on State Docks Road.

Investigators said they believe the marijuana had been on the rail car since it was in Mexico. They said the package was the size of a large telephone book and contained 1 to 2 kilograms of marijuana. They believe the rail car entered the United States in Brownsville, Texas.

The package was in the dome on top of the rail car. It was discovered when

How much can one employee’s bad attitude cost? How about $360,000/yr?

I’ve decided to take a different track with this entry.

I choose to grocery shop at Kroger.

I don’t grocery shop at Wal-Mart. I don’t grocery shop at Publix. I don’t grocery shop at Winn-Dixie. For the most part, I don’t regularly grocery shop at local Mom & Pop grocery stores, though on occasion, I have. On occasion, I do shop at Aldi. I don’t shop at Sav-a-Lot. On rare occasion, I have shopped at various local ethnic grocery markets for specialty items. But on the whole, I do the exceeding majority of my grocery shopping at Kroger.

I have grocery shopped at Kroger for well over 10 years. In the Tennessee city where I’ve resided for the past year, there is

There’s something to be said for mothers

1“Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord,^a for this is the right thing to do. 2“Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: 3If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.”^b

4“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.” cf.Ephesians 6:1-4 NLT

Politically, it certainly seems that Southerners have been more often wrong, than correct.

And today, continuing the tradition of Radical Liberal Republicans who endeavor to remove voting rights and foist more atrocities upon the nation, they continue to be “right” about being wrong.

Consider the following:

SUNDAY Aug. 18, 2013

“On this date in 1920, the 19th Amendment

Remarks by President Barack Obama at Chattanooga, Tennessee’s Amazon Distribution Center on Jobs for the Middle Class, 07/30/13

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

July 30, 2013

Remarks by the President on Jobs for the Middle Class, 07/30/13

Amazon Chattanooga Fulfillment Center
Chattanooga, Tennessee

2:00 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Hello, Chattanooga!  (Applause.)  It is good to be back in Tennessee.  (Applause.)  It’s great to be here at Amazon.  (Applause.)

I want to thank Lydia for the introduction and sharing her story.  Give Lydia a big round of applause.  (Applause.)  So this is something here.  I just finished getting a tour of just one little corner of this massive facility — size of 28 football fields.  Last year, during the busiest day of the Christmas rush, customers around the world ordered more than 300 items from Amazon every second, and a lot of those traveled through this building.  So this is kind of like the North Pole of the south right here.  (Applause.)  Got a bunch of good-looking elves here.

Before we start, I want to recognize your general manager, Mike Thomas.  (Applause.)  My tour guide and your vice president, Dave Clark.  (Applause.)  You’ve got the Mayor of Chattanooga, Andy Berke.  (Applause.)  And you’ve got one of the finest gentlemen I know, your Congressman, Jim Cooper.  (Applause.)  So thank you all for being here.

So I’ve come here today to talk a little more about something I was discussing last week, and that’s what we need to do as a country to secure a better bargain for the middle class -– a national strategy to make sure that every single person who’s willing to work hard in this country has a chance to succeed in the 21st century economy.  (Applause.)

Now, you heard from Lydia, so you know — because many of you went through it — over the past four and a half years, we’ve been fighting our way back from the worst recession since the Great Depression, and it cost millions of Americans their jobs and their homes and their savings.  And part of what it did is it laid bare the long-term erosion that’s been happening when it comes to middle-class security.

But because the American people are resilient, we bounced back.  Together, we’ve righted the ship.  We took on a broken health care system.  We invested in new American technologies to reverse our addiction to foreign oil.  Changed a tax code that had become tilted too much in favor of the wealthy at the expense of working families.  Saved the auto industry, and thanks to GM and the UAW working together, we’re bringing jobs back here to America, including 1,800 autoworkers in Spring Hill.  (Applause.)  1,800 workers in Spring Hill are on the job today where a plant was once closed.

Today, our businesses have created 7.2 million new jobs over the last 40 months.  This year, we’re off to our best private-sector jobs growth since 1999.  We now sell more products made in America to the rest of the world than ever before.  (Applause.)  We produce more renewable energy than ever.  We produce more natural gas than anybody else in the world.  (Applause.)  Health care costs are growing at the slowest rate in 50 years.  Our deficits are falling at the fastest rate in 60 years.  (Applause.)

So thanks to hardworking folks like you, thanks to the grit and resilience of the American people, we’ve been able to clear away some of the rubble from the financial crisis.  We’ve started to lay a new foundation for a stronger, more durable America — the kind of economic growth that’s broad-based, the foundation required to make this century another American century.

But as I said last week, and as any middle-class family will tell you, we’re not there yet.  Even before the financial crisis hit, we were going through a decade where a few at the top were doing better and better, but most families were working harder and harder just to get by.  And reversing that trend should be Washington’s highest priority.  (Applause.)  It’s my highest priority.

But so far, for most of this year, we’ve seen

President Barack Obama to visit Chattanooga, Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Chattanooga is an old, old, old, old city.

It’s older than Civil War old.

Throughout the city there are narrow streets, many (if not most) of which need widening and repaving. Interstate 24, which leads into the city, is in sore need of widening. Because of the twisting, winding route it takes as it leads into, through and around the city and it’s numerous mountains and hills, it can be treacherous. When any slowdown for any reason occurs, traffic can be backed up for 15-20 miles, or more. When wrecks occur on that route, they’re often fatal, and create even longer delays. The only other major route into the city is US Highway 72. There is no bypass. If there are problems on either of those two routes, significant delays can take hours. (See a Google Map of the area.)

It has a university – University of Tennessee, Chattanooga – with other smaller colleges & universities nearby (Lee University, in Cleveland & Southern Adventist University, in Collegedale). One of three hospitals in the area (each which has numerous campuses) Erlanger, is a Level One Trauma Center, and teaching hospital for the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Memorial Hospital, is part of the Catholic Health Initiatives system, and is a teaching hospital, while Parkridge Hospital is operated by TriStar Health.

Because of industrial waste released by area manufacturing, in 1969, Chattanooga had the filthiest air in the nation. The Tennessee River which serves as a boundary for the area was equally polluted. For many years, troubles GALORE plagued the city, including economic inequality, poor race relations, deteriorating economic infrastructure, rapid population decline, and departure of industry.

Recognizing that the city and area residents were suffering a slow suicide, officials and interested citizens embarked upon a plan to revitalize the area, including cleaning up industrial waste, reinvigorating the economy with employment opportunity, and looking forward, rather than backward.

EPB (Electric Power Board), one of the public utilities in the area, came upon an idea to infuse their power grid with Fiber Optic cable to enable better response times, to pinpoint areas of concern, and to re-route electricity during power outages when lines were downed by trees or severe weather. They faced stiff opposition in the form of legal fights by Comcast (principally), yet were successful in overcoming. In turn, they sold High Speed fiber optic Internet Connectivity to area residents at a significantly reduced cost in comparison to the Wall-Street-traded Comcast. They also provide better service.

While the area’s renaissance is by no means complete, it has advanced with enormously significant strides.

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Obama to visit uneven Chattanooga area recovery

published Saturday, July 27th, 2013

Mike Pare, Deputy Business Editor, Chattanooga Times Free Press; MPare@ TimesFreePress.com phone: (423) 757-6318

by Mike Pare
view bio

When President Barack Obama flies into Chattanooga on Tuesday to tout new economic initiatives, he’ll see a city recognized in a national study as a metro area emerging from the recession as an “economic frontrunner.”

Area Development, a national business magazine covering site selection and relocation, ranked metro Chattanooga at No. 86 — in the top quarter — among 380 metro areas examined for the study titled “Leading Locations for 2013.”

While in Chattanooga Obama is expected to unveil new ways to spur the nation’s sluggish economic recovery.

At the Amazon distribution center at Enterprise South industrial park, the president will see a growing, state-of-the-art distribution facility with 1,800 full-time jobs created since 2011. The Chattanooga facility, along with

Would President Obama privatize TVA & Kill the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg?

Shoals: Privatizing TVA is ‘a bad idea’

By Mike Goens
Managing Editor
Matt McKean/TimesDaily
4/21/13

Anglers fish below thousands of feet of power lines that run from TVA’s Wheeler Dam turbine systems. Those from the Shoals who work closely with the Tennessee Valley Authority said the federal agency should not be turned over to private companies. Matt McKean/TimesDaily

If President Barack Obama needs help orchestrating an effort to privatize TVA, he shouldn’t expect much support from the Shoals.

Those from the Shoals who work closely with the Tennessee Valley Authority said the federal agency should not be turned over to private companies. They fear a privately owned TVA will lead to higher electricity rates, job cuts, more flooding problems and navigational issues on the Tennessee River and other waterways under TVA’s jurisdiction.

“The first questions you need to ask are what’s the gain for government and what would be gained by the community,” said Steve Hargrove, manager of Sheffield Utilities. “If the purpose is to make things better and there is reason to think it’s possible, I would be the first one interested in sitting at the table and talking about it. I just don’t see advantages of privatizing at this time.”

Obama brought the issue to the table through his 2014 budget proposal, which was released last week. He said selling TVA should be explored as a means to increase revenue by as much as $25 billion, money that could reduce the federal deficit and pay for other government services.

Hargrove has a unique perspective to the debate, having worked at TVA for 33 years before retiring as plant manager at Colbert Fossil Plant. He became manager of Sheffield Utilities in December.

His department purchases electricity from TVA and provides power to about 19,000 customers in Colbert County.

“I am a believer in the private sector, but I would fear their mission would be different than TVA’s,” Hargrove said. “The mission of TVA is not to make profit, and the mission of the private sector is to make a profit. They have to answer to a board that wants to maximize profits. When your primary goal is to make a profit, that becomes a higher goal than helping the community.

“TVA has had its problems, and bad decisions have been made, but its mission is good and they are an established part of the communities.”

Hargrove said residential rates for TVA customers in the Southeast are among the lowest 25 percent in the country and

Tennessee may modernize antiquated beverage alcohol laws

Tennessee has some very strange and peculiar laws regarding the regulation of beverage alcohol, most of which remain rooted in the Prohibition Era, and in in fear.

And, true to form, it would be no wonder that Baptists – the arch-conservative religious political right wing activists of the right wing party – are directly involved in efforts to keep the state mired in the antiquated bad old days of yore.

Tennessee is unique in the regard that state law forbids sale of wine except in state-licensed liquor stores. To clarify, the state of Tennessee has an unusual combination of laws that forbid sales of wine in any other type store save one that sells liquor. Further, sales are prohibited on Sunday. Beer, however, is able to be sold in grocery stores… but only if the ABV (Alcohol By Volume) is under 6%.

Alabama once had a similarly prohibitive content law, along with bottle size restriction – which severely limited the sales of domestic and imported craft/micro brew beers and ales. Alabama no longer has such prohibitive limitations.

And then, if one considers the implications of that law – mandating the sale of wine be exclusively limited to sales in liquor stores – the state actually sanctions the liquor enterprise itself, rather than being a neutral, regulatory body. In Tennessee there are no state-operated liquor stores as there are in Alabama. To have a state-run enterprise is not contradictory to the free market, because the state is a direct competitor in the market, which frequently has the lowest priced products, because taxes are the markup/profit margin for the state. Contrasting that model with the private retailer, the private retailer must make a profit atop the taxes which the state charges (after they purchase from the state at a wholesale cost – the same cost the state sells to the general public), thus increasing the retail price above what the state sells it.

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Supporters and opponents of a bill that would let grocery and convenience stores sell wine undertook one final push to sway Tennessee lawmakers Monday ahead of a make-or-break vote in the state legislature.

Liquor store owners, grocery store operators, wine shoppers, a sheriff, an addiction specialist and a minister were among the people allowed to testify at a special hearing held a day before the Senate State & Local Government Committee is to vote on the biggest rewrite of Tennessee’s liquor laws in decades. Members guarded

Growing America’s Middle Class and Increasing Profitability

Some time ago, a friend shared an unsolicited comment about “ObamaCare” before all the ruckus over it had reached the SCOTUS. He had observed about a fellow he knew and described as “a snaggle-toothed Tennessee hillbilly,” whom had joined the United States Army. He observed that the fellow had some health needs, among them poor dentition and the need for corrective lenses. Upon his enlistment, he noted that the fellow was given proper healthcare, and all of his needs – food, clothing, housing, and healthcare – was provided by the United States government.

“Now, why did they do that?,” he asked rhetorically.

Answering his own question, he said quite simply, “because they know