At his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Trump announced (using executive orders) he was postponing payroll taxes through the end of the year, extending the unemployment “bonus” at $400 a week (down from $600), helping people “stay in their homes,” and waiving student debt payments through the end of 2020. The details, however, are not as generous as he made them sound.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday called President Donald Trump's executive actions on coronavirus relief "absurdly unconstitutional."

"Well, the fact is, is that whether they're legal or not takes time to figure out. I associate my remarks with what the Senator (Ben) Sasse (R-Nebraska) who says, they're 'unconstitutional slop.'

He is ordering a payroll tax deferral, not a cut, meaning the taxes won’t be collected for a while but they will still be due at a later date. On housing, he instructs key officials to “consider” whether there should be a ban on evictions. He also insists that state governments pick up the tab for some of the unemployment aid.

Currently the CARES Act provides that all employers may defer the deposit and payment of the employer's portion of Social Security taxes and certain railroad retirement taxes... The payroll tax deferral period began on March 27, 2020 and ends December 31, 2020.

Trying to kill Social Security as well as the Postal Service.

Deferral of taxes will be an unwelcome surprise when it comes time to ante up. Employees could be in for a real surprise, but can you imagine the liability some employers could take on.

Also, I wonder if the State of Tennessee will be willing to ante up the state recommended portion of unemployment?

The Knox County Health Department reports
4,592 coronavirus cases and 156 probable cases.

That's 678 new cases in the past week, with 83, 114, 54, 131, 75, 129, 92 as the cases per day for the past week.
That's a 17.3% increase over last week.

There are 30 Knox County COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized.

There have been 44 total deaths in Knox County from COVID-19.
That's a 16% increase in deaths in the past week (38 as of August 1).
4 in the 18-44 age group (9%)
15 in the 45-64 age group (34%)
4 in the 65-74 age group (9%)
21 in the 75+ age group (48%)

Tests conducted on Knox County residents has gone down in the last two weeks (4,353 week of July 19, 3,492 week of July 26) as compared to the three prior weeks (4,425 week of June 28, 5,401 week of July 5, 5,972 week of July 12).

As of August 4, 2020, ICU Bed availability is down at 19.1%. (278 ICU beds total with 53 beds available) (Note, prior to this 8/4/2020 report, ICU bed capacity was 272. It would appear that Knox County has increased ICU bed capacity by 6 beds.)

The County Health Department has a map with the number of coronavirus cases per zip code.
On August 6, 2020, these zip codes were reported with the most cases:
(last reported on July 30)
37921 has the most cases with 416 (population 28,000) (16.5% increase), then
37920 with 376 cases (population 39,000) (15.7% increase)
37918 with 317 cases (population 44,476) (17.0% increase)
37917 with 281 cases (population 27,000) (21.1% increase)
37919 with 279 cases (population 28,000) (increase not calculated, 37919 not in top 4 since June 14)
37923 with 269 cases (population 30,000) (13.5% increase)

Be careful out there.

From reports dated as of August 8, 2020.

There has been a steady increase in coronavirus (covid-19) cases in Tennessee.

According to the TN Dept. of Health, 120,585 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in TN and 1,176 have died from it.

That is an additional 12,401 cases in one week and an additional 109 reported deaths.

1,683,722 tests have been given to Tennessee residents.
That is an additional 142,107 tests in the past week.
17,649 fewer tests were given in the last week as compared to the week before.

Hospitalizations have increased slightly. From August 1 to August 8 (7 days) the number of patients hospitalized for the coronavirus has increased by 3.0% (by 32 from 1,020 to 1,052). .

7.4% of TN residents tested for the coronavirus have tested positive for the coronavirus.

24.4% of the 6.89 million people estimated to live in TN have been tested for the coronavirus.
However, that may not be true. I don't know how tests are counted when a single person gets tested multiple times. Certain people in certain fields of work (medical, education, sports) or physical ability (mursing home residents, hospital patients) may get tested multiple times.

Be careful out there.

Songs start with a familiar tune. In this case it's One Night in Bangkok. Then you start seeing how it should change.

Thigh-land, Oriental setting

And the Prez don't know that the Prez is saying

The creme de la creme of political worlds 

In a show with everything, and this loser
Time flies. Doesn't seem a minute

Since Yo Semite was how he stepped in it
(edit here)
One night in Thigh-land makes an orange man stumble

Not much D'Souza can try to save

One night in Thigh-land and the fake guys tumble

Can't be too careful with the words you say
I can feel covfefe walking next to me
Siam's gonna be the witness

To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
.
(edit here)
Get thai'd, he's a presidential tourist

Whose every move's is hardly purest

I get my kicks below the waistline, sunshine
(edit here)
One night in Bangkok makes fake tough guys grumble

Get the British Open for his company

I can feel corruption walking next to me.
(gong)

in their quest to dismantle every federal government agency, Trump, McConnell and the GOP are now going after one of our most dependable and crucial services. How is this in any way acceptable?

State...
Local...

The BBC is reporting that the New York Attorney General announced a lawsuit aimed at dissolving the NRA. And nobody in Knoxville cares enough to make it a headline?!

(link...)

The political ads I have seen are not very flattering to Tennessee in general. Regarding the candidates and the reflection on the perceived intellect and mentality of the electorate by the candidates and their campaign staff.

Tennessee GOP Senate primary sets up another establishment vs. insurgent battle

Tennessee Republicans battle to fill Lamar Alexander's Senate seat

Where to vote...

Washington Post takes a look at Gov. Lee's back-to-school "experiment" in Blount County.

Sheriff Tom Spangler with the Knox County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday he is deferring on enforcing the BOH's order, telling people to call the Knox County Health Department with concerns or complaints about bars not following the order at its (865) 215-5555 COVID-19 hotline.

Knox County sheriff: Call the health department if a bar violates the closure order

They seem to be looking in water for someone. Helicopters hovering over water. Just off Alcoa highway.

ED. UPDATE: Four people aboard, three rescued, one fatality. According to unconfirmed social media source, the helicopter was owned by the Claytons.

AP: President Donald Trump said Monday that he had fired the chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority, criticizing the federal-owned corporation for hiring foreign workers...

NASA...

Matthew Conlen et al in the NYT - The Risk That Students Could Arrive at School With the Coronavirus

No single factor can settle such a fraught decision. But new estimates provide a rough gauge of the risk that students and educators could encounter at school in each county in the United States.

The estimates, from researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, range from sobering to surprisingly reassuring, depending on the area and the size of the school.

Based on current infection rates, more than 80 percent of Americans live in a county where at least one infected person would be expected to show up to a school of 500 students and staff in the first week, if school started today.

The projections are rough guidelines based on the estimated prevalence of the virus in each county, which is drawn from a New York Times database of cases, and estimates that five people may be infected for each known case. Those estimates reflect current levels of infection around the country and are likely to change, improving or worsening in individual communities over the next weeks and months.

The estimates assume that children are as likely to carry and transmit the virus as adults — “a large assumption, given the unknowns about children,” said Spencer Fox, a member of the research team.

10 out of 15 traditional high schools in Knox county have enrollment of greater than 1,000.

The Knox County Health Department reports
3,914 coronavirus cases and 129 probable cases.

That's 960 new cases in the past week, with 131, 120, 167, 161, 108, 120, 153 as the cases per day for the past week.
That's a 32.5% increase over last week.

There are 36 Knox County COVID-19 patients currently hospitalized.

There have been 38 total deaths in Knox County from COVID-19.
That's a 65% increase in deaths in the past week (23 as of July 25).
3 in the 18-44 age group (8%)
11 in the 45-64 age group (29%)
5 in the 65-74 age group (13%)
19 in the 75+ age group (50%)

As of July 28, 2020, ICU Bed availability is up to 21.0%. (272 ICU beds total with 57 beds available)

The County Health Department has a map with the number of coronavirus cases per zip code.
On July 30, 2020, these zip codes were reported with the most cases:
(last reported on July 16)
37921 has the most cases with 357 (population 28,000) (64.5% increase), then
37920 with 325 cases (population 39,000) (92.3% increase).
37918 with 271 cases (population 44,476) (93.6% increase)
37923 with 237 cases (population 30,000) (80.9% increase) and
37917 with 232 cases (population 27,000) (64.5% increase)

From reports dated as of August 1, 2020.

There has been a steady increase in coronavirus (covid-19) cases in Tennessee.

According to the TN Dept. of Health, 108,184 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in TN and 1,067 have died from it..

That is an additional 14,248 cases in one week and an additional 100 reported deaths.

1,541,615 tests have been given to Tennessee residents.
That is an additional 159,756 tests in the past week.
49,191 fewer tests were given in the last week as compared to the week before.

Hospitalizations have stayed constant. From July 27 to August 1 (5 days) the number of patients hospitalized for the coronavirus has decreased by less than 1.0% (by 4 from 1,024 to 1,020). .

7.0% of TN residents tested for the coronavirus have tested positive for the coronavirus.

22.4% of the 6.89 million people estimated to live in TN have been tested for the coronavirus.
However, that may not be true. I don't know how tests are counted when a single person gets tested multiple times. Certain people in certain fields of work (medical, education, sports) or physical ability (mursing home residents, hospital patients) may get tested multiple times.

Be careful out there.

Watching "Live at Lucille's" on PBS.

I really liked that place.

A day after a top official in Gov. Bill Lee's administration said Tennessee plans to withhold the number of COVID-19 cases in schools from the public, a spokesperson said the information will not even be collected by the state.

When Lee announced guidance for school reopenings on Tuesday, state Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey said Tennessee had no plans to provide the public with data on the number of coronavirus cases and deaths at schools as many return to in-person classes.

State won't collect, release data on coronavirus cases in Tennessee schools