Who will Blackburn embarrass next?
If memory serves, Marsha Blackburn ran successfully for the Senate by promising to take "Tennessee values" to Washington. Turns out she values more the opportunity to embarrass a federal appeals court nominee in front of his family.
Last week Blackburn announced her opposition to Andre Mathis, a nominee to the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for allegedly insufficient experience. (Like a freshman senator but never mind.)
Having failed to find serious flaws in Mathis' past, Blackburn opted for triviality:
"He has a rap sheet with a laundry list of citations including multiple failures to appear in court." (Actually, "Rap" is an acronym for Record of Arrests and Prosecutions and is typically applied to felonies, not speeding.)
On a roll, Blackburn doubled down with a slur: "If Mr. Mathis thought he was above the law before, imagine how he'll conduct himself if he's confirmed as a federal judge."
It's not often that you see a senator embarrass herself in public while simultaneously repudiating those "Tennessee values" she claimed to cherish in 2018.
Makes a person wonder who she will insult next.
Michael Loftin
Freedom to choose, but fools begat fools
My patience can be measured in the nanoseconds I can tolerate a blabbing Trumpster. If hate could be measured in peanuts, they would in number reach the moon.
Oh, the otherworldly waste of the mind of those of evangelical persuasion [who] capture the minds of children of the corn.
Lemmings of COVID-19, give me insurrection or give me death, they say in the infirmary with their last breath. I and they would argue a piece of chocolate cake that it's Hillary Clinton who made them fat.
A fat brain is impossible to re-train but suffers like a muscle without exercise when the ability to think atrophies. Nor is it the fault of a cult but those in it who cry freedom!
But they are free! Free to choose to be a Trump supporter or not. That is the question. Ignorance is afoot when people shoot themselves perennially in the foot.
Mike Bodine
Residents' concerns overlooked in zoning
On a cold wintry mix night with omicron raging, more than 30 residents of the Mountain Creek community gathered to hear a presentation by the engineers representing developers planning more apartments for Mountain Creek.
Why did they brave the conditions? Because Mountain Creek has become an intolerable "minor arterial" with too many travelers on a curvy, narrow road. After the presentation painting a glowing picture of the project, more than 30 attendees said they still opposed it.
A week later many of those same residents showed up to oppose the zoning change that will allow the apartments. Why did they show up? Because Mountain Creek is not designed to carry this many cars. The planning commission approved the project with two dissenting votes. Why? Because it met past precedent. What was not considered? There was no traffic study done; there is no long-range plan for the corridor; there was no study of impact on storm water runoff.
Mountain Creek Road already floods in its dips; there was no look at impact on local schools; there was no investigation of ecological damage; there was no concern for the residents of Mountain Creek.
Perhaps the planning commission should change its name to Zoning Approval When a Developer Asks.
Ralph Noble