Commentary
Commentary: Party loyalty shouldn’t keep you from speaking up for black lives
“Please, I can’t breathe. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. They’re going to kill me.” George Floyd is dead because four police officers made the unanimous decision that his life did not matter. With these actions came an unspoken pact that they would defend this use of force at all costs, with full […]
Commentary: Future Shlock
To judge by recent polls, Tennesseans are generally satisfied with how their leaders have handled the coronavirus pandemic, though marks are a lot higher for Nashville’s response than for the state’s. It is to be expected that political leaders will find their approval ratings juiced in times of crisis as long as they keep a […]
Commentary: Marsha’s madcap newsletter needs corrections
Roughly every two weeks Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn puts out her online and email newsletter, the Blackburn Report. It has the usual array of public service and federal information links that any good congressional staff can produce. Interspersed, however, are moments when Marsha lets her freak fly. Politifact as of mid-May had a scorecard […]
Tennessee wants nice things, too
Tennessee needs nice things, too Recently, I sat in on a virtual panel discussion hosted by ThinkTennessee, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that conducts research on civic and economic opportunity. The topic? Voting by mail. You’ve probably already heard discussion about voting by mail, as it’s become a hot item nationally and with good reason. […]
Commentary: Tennesseans with Sick Family Members Forced into Impossible Choice Under Restrictive State Election Law
In the COVID-19 era, mandatory in-person voting is a public health risk for people that depend on the assistance of family members to meet daily needs. My father relies on me. People looking after family members with illnesses shoulder an enormous burden. That burden should not force us to sit on the sideline during the […]
We should celebrate one more type of frontline worker
There’s one type of frontline worker that isn’t getting enough attention these days. The nonprofit service worker. Even as stay-at-home orders are being lifted, the economic impacts of coronavirus have hit Tennesseans hard. In fact, 12 percent of our workforce – nearly 400,000 Tennesseans – are unemployed due to coronavirus. We’re also still dealing with […]
Knox County’s Mayor Grapples with Nonsense, and Loses
Knox County’s mayor is Glenn Jacobs. It’s his first elective office. He is better known as the wrestler Kane, and before his election the only clues to his political inclinations were his anti-government online rants. Unfortunately, those inclinations are causing trouble during a pandemic that requires not only faith in government abilities to take action, […]
Stand up for the media
First things first: Thank you for your support. The Tennessee Lookout is wrapping up our first full week of coverage and the support we’ve received from across the state has been gratifying. We’ve received social media follows and daily newsletter subscriptions. Readers from all areas of Tennessee have reached out with ideas for stories. But, […]
Is Voting a Right or a Risk?
On Tuesday, Gov. Bill Lee said he will not allow expanded mail-in ballots. “What we want to do in this state is remove a reason to have fear about going to the polling booths,” Lee said. While planning to reopen the state is a complex undertaking, removing any fear of in-person polling is simple: Expanding […]
Commentary: Pandemic reveals continued importance of manufacturing
Since its beginnings, the American economy has gone through countless changes. We’ve seen both times of prosperity and times of hardship. We’ve seen several recessions and subsequent recoveries. One of the biggest changes that we’ve seen, especially in recent years, is the shift from a manufacturing economy to a mostly service-based economy. Make no mistake, […]
Commentary: Let it Bleed
Since the 2016 campaign, MAGAheads at Trump rallies have been regaled with the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” as Dear Leader’s post-bloviation anthem (over the Stones’ objections, but that’s how it goes). Whatever the song’s merits as a musical coda for the assembled agitations of red-capped masses, it turns out to […]
Commentary: Pandemic brings mental health toll, PTSD
There’s a statistic that mental health advocates frequently use when discussing the prevalence of mental illness: At least one in five individuals will experience a mental health challenge in any given year. That challenge could range from situational anxiety and depression to more debilitating conditions such as schizophrenia. Despite the large segment of the population […]