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Friday, August 21, 2020
Republican State Executive Committee members getting death threats, targets of vandalism.
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Biden hit a homerun.
by Rod Williams - Biden gave a very good speech last night. For people who base their vote on how much they like the candidate and are not too concerned with policies, Biden will win some votes. And, there are a lot of people who use criteria like that to pick a candidate.
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Trump Rally Nashville!
From Davidson County Republican Party :
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/trump-rally-nashville-tickets-117589203473?aff=DCRPFacebookEvent
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Thursday, August 20, 2020
Worst city to live in Tennessee: Memphis (no surprise)
Well, not much of a surprise. This survey even included small cities. I thought maybe there was
some depressed fading town in west Tennessee where the one local plant had closed, or maybe some poor town in the mountains of east Tennessee hit hard by the meth epidemic and then the opioid epidemic that could rate lower than Memphis, but no, it's Memphis.Top Stories
Just for the record, I also think Black lives matter.
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Art Break: Heading Home after Washing Clothes at the River by Ouida Williams
This was the last painting my mother ever painted. It was painted in 2008 as a gift for my daughter Rachel. It was based on a photograph Rachel had taken when she was living in India. Rachel spent several months in India in 2004 studying anthropology while at UT Chattanooga.
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Wednesday, August 19, 2020
With Nashville losing $100M a week in visitor spending, city 'scrambling' to forecast for the future
The Tennessean - Nashville businesses have so far lost $2.45 billion in visitor spending due to COVID-19 and are losing more than $100 million per week as the pandemic continues, according to the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.
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Metro Council moves to expand Metro police powers
by Rod Williams - Last night the council passed two bills on first reading that would expand the authority of Metro government to enforce Covid-19 health orders. One would allow Metro employees who are not police officers or employees of the Metro Health Department to issue citations. The other bill would allow Metro Codes and the Fire Marshal to post stop work orders on construction projects where health orders are not being followed.
Both of these were late filled resolutions. While I oppose both, I do not criticize council members who voted for them on first reading. First reading is a formality that allows the bills to be considered. To become law the bills must be voted on two more times. I hope both are defeated on second reading.
I oppose these bills because I do not want to expand the capability of the city to harass citizens. Also, Metro can not be trusted with more power. The enforcement of health orders is not applied uniformly. If thousands of people stage a sit-in on lower Broadway, the health orders are not enforced. If more than 25 people gather from some other purpose, or if a person is not wearing a mask and the wearer is not engaging in a favored political protest, then the order is enforced.
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Tuesday, August 18, 2020
Maury County mayor Andy Ogles causes major lib meltdown over humorous meme.
by Rod Williams - Andy Ogles, mayor of Maury County posted the meme show here on his Facebook page. Liberals have gone nuts! He got over a thousand comments and the meme was shared over 500 times. I have posted a sample of some of what was posted as a reply. He is being denounced as a racist and getting "hate" post. The Columbia newspaper and The Tennessean found it newsworthy. The Tennessean called it a "racist meme" in their article headline.
I find it humorous. I am sick of people being so "woke" and politically correct that they are offended by the least little thing. If I were an elected official, I would probably not have posted this, but that is more a matter of style than of finding this unacceptable.
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Monday, August 17, 2020
Nashville for Rational COVID Policy: The Costs of Mitigation.
Nashville for Rational COVID Policy acknowledges the need to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic safely, and to minimize the risk of infection for those at highest risk: The elderly, and those with significant pre-existing conditions. Simultaneously, however, it is important for policymakers to acknowledge and account for the costs of mitigation efforts, so as to balance these costs against the perceived benefits.
- 99 additional overdose deaths in Q1-Q2 2020 as compared to the same 6-month period in 2019. This report, prepared by the Metro Public Health Department's Overdose Reduction Program, details a notable increase in overdose deaths in our city starting in April 2020. More than 50% of overdose deaths were of individuals between the ages of 25-44 - an age range in which there have been only 3 COVID-19 deaths to date. It also shows that Q2 2020 was the deadliest quarter on record in terms of overdoses in the city, and that ER visits for suspected overdoses were more than 50% higher than in any other quarter.
- More than 130,000 residents of Middle Tennessee became newly unemployed between March and April of 2020, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of June 2020, more than 100,000 area residents remained unemployed. This is important because, in addition to the financial implications for families and individuals, there are also significant public health concerns associated with prolonged unemployment. Unemployment has been linked to increased rates of depression, suicide, and deteriorating mental health in a number of studies. Further, extended unemployment has been associated with increased mortality over a longer time horizon, suggesting a relationship between unemployment and overall health and well-being.
- Many area businesses have been forced to permanently close due to extended restrictions. Across Tennessee, more than 1,100 businesses have permanently closed since March, including at least 410 in Middle Tennessee. These business closures alter the fabric of our communities, make re-employment of the aforementioned unemployed workers more challenging, and may facilitate pronounced wealth transfers from small business owners and lower/middle-income households to higher earners. Second-order economic effects may include further disadvantaging young workers and minorities, as this study shows.
- More than 86,000 children in Metro Nashville Public Schools are beginning the fall semester in remote-only learning. This poses challenges for children in single-parent homes, or homes where parents work full-time in vocations which cannot be performed remotely. For older children, social isolation is already translating into increased depression rates, as shown by two independent surveys of college students. Younger students may have difficulty learning autonomously in remote settings, and may suffer effects that go beyond their academic achievement. Last but not least, studies have demonstrated that social isolation in childhood may lead to poorer adult health in the long term.
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