Tennessee Senate Votes To Ban Chemtrails Because What Even The Fuck
from the bats-are-running-the-belfry dept
Look, I’m nearing 50. I’ve been around. I have seen some absolute clown shit from politicians. I have witnessed years of things like “bridges to nowhere” and self-aggrandizement taking the form of renamed airports or whatever. I have seen any number of candidates step into the arena with a headful of moronic ideas.
But things changed for the definite worse once Donald Trump took office. Once this happened, politicians who normally would have been marginalized into nonexistence for their trumpeting of conspiracy theories suddenly became the sort of people the public chose to elevate into public offices.
And this is just another example of how America is turning democracy into a farce.
To be fair, Tennessee’s politicians haven’t exactly been great. At least they finally passed an anti-SLAPP law with enough teeth to prevent people from suing people over things they didn’t actually say. But since Trump’s arrival on the political scene, they’ve gotten considerably worse.
Here’s what’s happened in recent years. In 2020, state rep Jay Reedy asked Congress (the federal version) to get back to the important government business of banning flag burning — something that went out of fashion decades ago when it was ruled protected speech (multiple times!) by the US Supreme Court. In 2021, state legislators decided the man who tried to sue Apple because he couldn’t stop looking at porn had good ideas about compelled morality. They pushed an anti-Section 230 law that would have made it impossible for the state government to invest in anything tech-related. In 2023, legislators joined other idiotic legislators around the nation by passing an anti-drag show law that clearly and comprehensively violated the First Amendment.
Just incredibly stupid shit from legislators who are expected to know better… or at least were expected to know better until the nation was overseen by a president who firmly believed the rule of law should only apply to people he didn’t like.
Now, there’s this: a simple bill originally meant to ensure a minor oversight position would be filled in a timely manner got hijacked by 25 state senators to support a hideous blend of conspiracy theories and climate change denial.
I’m going to turn this over to Kevin Underhill, the man behind the wonderful and devastatingly funny legal blog, Lowering The Bar. Underhill explains how a bill that was only supposed to ensure empty seats on the state’s Air Pollution Control Board could only remain vacant for 30 days turned into one of the stupidest bills to ever receive majority support from the Tennessee state senate.
[A]t some point between January 31 and last week, it appears that the sponsors of SB 2691 and a companion measure, HB 2063, became aware of a far greater threat to the public welfare than the 180-day vacancy-reporting period. Which seems not to have been an emergency after all, since the committee completely gutted SB 2691 with an amendment that did this instead:
That links to the bill, which assumes one thing and mandates more things, none of which have any basis in reality:
WHEREAS, it is documented that the federal government or other entities acting on the federal government’s behalf or at the federal government’s request may conduct geoengineering experiments by intentionally dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere, and
those activities may occur within the State of Tennessee…
Um.
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 201, Part 1, is amended by adding the following as a new section:
The intentional injection, release, or dispersion, by any means, of chemicals, chemical compounds, substances, or apparatus within the borders of this state into the atmosphere with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight is prohibited.
And there it is. The legalese grants this proposal a gossamer-thin sheen of respectability, but it doesn’t take too much examination to understand what this amendment targets. I’ll hand it back to Underhill to explain the batshit proposal masquerading as serious government work state legislators are expected to do:
As the Nashville Tennessean (not the most creative name, but they do good work) explains here, what’s going on is chemtrails. Or, rather, a belief in “the chemtrail theory,” which the Tennessean explains is “the belief that the [federal] government is secretly adding toxic chemicals to the atmosphere from aircraft, similar to contrails [the condensation trails that jets leave behind].” Why would it do that? As this Harvard University group puts it, “[v]arious different motivations for this alleged spraying are speculated, including sterilization, reduction of life expectancy, mind control, or weather control.” So in other words, on March 18 there were at least 25 Tennessee senators in a room wearing tinfoil hats.
Yeah, that’s the level of service Tennesseans can expect from at least 25 members of the state senate. While they did have enough restraint to avoid speculating about things like mass sterilization, mind control, or other extremes of chemtrail conspiracies, they still felt it was worth including, if only for the reason of preventing any federal or local efforts to (very speculatively) improve environmental conditions.
[T]he bill refers only to chemtrailing “with the express purpose of affecting temperature, weather, or the intensity of the sunlight.” In other words, this seems to be something about climate change. So they’re proposing to ban something that isn’t real to make a statement about something that is.
Which is somehow even worse than just embracing the crazy. This is virtue signalling via conspiracy theory — something these senators clearly believe will signal to their voting base that they’re willing to do anything to ignore the reality of climate change, up to and including writing bills that are completely divorced from all reality.
The good news, so to speak, is that this amendment will cost taxpayers nothing more than the money they’re blowing on these senators’ salaries. The Fiscal Review Committee has noted this amendment won’t cost any money because this is something that has never happened, isn’t currently happening, and will probably never happen in the future.
It is assumed the action prohibited by this legislation is not currently occurring in this state, nor will it in the future; therefore, this legislation will result in no significant fiscal impact on the state government.
Chemtrails just aren’t real. If there are any efforts to “change” the climate, it’s mostly efforts like cloud seeding, which doesn’t involve contrails, which are nothing more than clouds of water vapor left behind as planes pass through the sky and heat the air. No one has been able to show the climate can be altered in any noticeable or provable fashion by sending planes into the air to disperse… stuff.
Somehow, I think this will have no effect on the electability of these senators during the next state senate race. This stupidity will likely be replaced by something stupider in the near future. Those who think these representatives are idiots likely already did. Those who don’t won’t care and will vote them back in. Voters still on the fence may decide this is the sort of thing they like: a performative push-back against climate change concern via a bill that bans something that isn’t happening and likely is never going to happen. And everything will just keep getting worse so long as the electorate is willing to embrace conspiracy theorists, rather than hustle them towards the exit.
Filed Under: chemtrails, tennessee
Comments on “Tennessee Senate Votes To Ban Chemtrails Because What Even The Fuck”
Or ... I know this is crazy but ...
maybe we will find out something that we want to put into the atmosphere that will help counteract global warming in a way that doesn’t make things worse (unlike sulfur dioxide, which creates acid rain but also reflects sunlight to help cool things down). But due to this law, it can’t be used in Tennessee.
Re:
Eh, Congress could just fix that by requiring all states to allow whatever it is to be used and making the bill preemptive. Tennessee seems to be thinking that it’s the federal government. We just need to get a competent federal government first. Then Tennessee can be laughed out of the courtroom.
Someone should challenge this bill just for shits and giggles. Like I’m truly curious how Tennessee would respond if one of the arguments the challenger made was “Your tryign to restrict the federal government”.
Re: Re:
Congress does not have that type of power; it cannot arbitrarily supersede a state law. If Congress wants to legally overturn a law like this, it would need to show that one of its enumerated powers gives it the authority to override the law. Failure to do so, would trigger the tenth amendment which grants TN the power to regulate the Federal government in this case.
All that said, I personally think this particular TN law is silly. Hopefully, they won’t try to ban hydrogen-monoxide next…
Re: sulfur dioxide
There are serious considerations going on about putting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere (where it doesn’t cause acid rain) – e.g. this article from University College London – or other reflective particles – e.g. this paywalled news feature in Nature.
That was actually my first thought, that it was targeted at preventing such an experiment in Tennessee (is there some professor that these senators hate?). This is inside of the edge of space, but well above anything like regulated airspace (or where airplanes can get to, this is rocket and balloon territory).
You know, if these guys are trying to restrict what the federal government is doing, um, don’t they know they can’t do that? The federal government trumps (pun intended) the authority of the Tennessee government. So if it really was “documented that the federal government or other entities acting on the federal government’s behalf or at the federal government’s request” was doing this, and they really were, this bill wouldn’t do shit, because Tennessee is not “The United States of America”. Just rofl.
Re:
Can’t do that… Yet. These is a slew of cases designed to provide the supreme court ample opportunity to whittle the things the federal government can do down to a nub. They’ve already overturned settled precedent on abortion rights the first chance they get and the very existence of the EPA and other agencies are next so America is in for a bumpy ride. All those regulations that protected people from unrestrained capitalism are going to be gone soon unless there supreme court seats open in the next few months.
” things like “bridges to nowhere” and self-aggrandizement taking the form of renamed airports or whatever. I have seen any number of candidates step into the arena with a headful of moronic ideas”
And let us not forget the world renowned PI bill.
Seems like the language in this bill means that cloud seeding will be explicitly banned in Tennessee, so that’s one tangible impact of this bill.
The best part of this is that...
… while it was written as pure crackpot nonsense. If it were to be interpreted at it’s most literal wording, it would be the most radical anti-climate change legislation in the world. Banning burning coal, hydrocarbons, biomass, etc.
Re:
Read again:
The burning of coal, hydrocarbons, biomass, etc. doesn’t meet the definition of chemtrailing.
Re: Re:
Highlighted the wrong thing. Ugh.
But if we inject poison into the atmosphere merely as a side effect of making money, that’s still totally cool, right?
Re:
Oh! Is that a loophole? If I am just trying to “please my customer” does it mater that I vended a large quantity of chemicals into the atmosphere that ruin (or fix.. business you know) the environment?
Ironically the Tennessee Senate make a compelling argument… for “mass” hallucinations.
I guess there’ll be no driving any more in Tennessee, since internal combustion tends to inject things into the atmosphere. Giddyap!
Re:
Are.. are you endorsing biological warfare?
/s
My counter argument to the assholes who believe for health and sterilization efforts is to say “Wouldn’t be be far more effective to put stuff in the food and water or in fuel for car exhaust than in a plane that is pretty much hit and miss?” All I ever get is a blank stare.
This seems like yet another bill more intended for symbolism than actual governing.
I suspect that these senators know their constituents, and expect them to think, “Yay! My senators are fightin’ back against that federal government overreach!”
I would like to think I was joking…
PA: Hold my beer.
Unindicted insurrectionist Doug Mastriano wants in on the action, so he’s introducing legislation to ban those mythological chemtrails in Keystone Commonwealth…
https://penncapital-star.com/energy-environment/mastriano-proposes-bill-to-combat-chemtrails-rooted-in-conspiracy-theory-and-climate-science/
Take that, Tennessee!
“Expect” is a tricky word because it can refer to thinking something is likely or to thinking it’s reasonable.
Often, those are two completely different things. The behavior we expect from our representatives may not be the behavior we expect from them, so to speak.
Me? I have to wonder what such a law would do to cloud seeding efforts.
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
The article should be retitled to How Al Gore Convinced the Tenessee Republicans in Hid Home State to Oppose Emissions and Crop Dusting
“WHEREAS, it is documented that the federal government or other entities acting on the federal government’s behalf or at the federal government’s request may conduct geoengineering experiments by intentionally dispersing chemicals into the atmosphere, and
those activities may occur within the State of Tennessee… ”
Wonder what they would say to someone requesting copies of this documentation ? FOIA request anyone?
Did they consider the effect their bill will have upon the private and small business aircraft use in their state?
afaik, small piston aircraft engines still burn leaded fuel.
Misreading
I misread the title and thought originally this was about banning chemicals…
And I still thought it was plausible.
Ugh someone mentioned that at lunch here today. “Why, with all the crazy stuff they try to ban in Oregon here haven’t they already banned chemtrails too?” Completely straight faced. I had forgotten what the hulabaloo was about until today and had to look it up.
Good lord. I mean even if they did disperse chemicals, does no one know about the principles of volatilization or evaporation? The particles would just convert to vapor and go up into the atmosphere where it wouldn’t affect anyone aside from the effects greenhouse gases on the environment. Think like the VOCs that come out of solvent borne coatings. It volitilizes into gas and up it goes.
Re:
And if a plane was loaded with enough chemicals to overcome the evaporation, the weight would be almost too much for the aircraft to handle. So there’s no physical way a commercial aircraft with passengers and luggage can carry enough chemicals to create chem trails that would have any effect.
So, there we go- the law works!
Next up- a law mandating that all cars must have at least 4 wheels and 2 doors. Oh, they have that already? Job well done, legislators!
“We’ve banned chemtrails”
“But there are no chemtrails”
“See, the ban worked”
“…the sort of people the public chose to elevate into public offices.
And this is just another example of how America is turning democracy into a farce.”
Did you write this with a straight face?
Public chose…democracy into a farce. WTF is democracy?
Re:
“Public chose”
Ah .. but did they?
Re: Re:
Doesn’t matter, that is what is written.
Re:
Are you arguing that the people in elected office weren’t chosen by a plurality (or in some cases an actual majority) of those who voted in their respective elections? How else did they get into office?
The method by which we in the United States choose our elected officials is democratic. The fact that we use elected officials to pass the laws that bind us is republican. Our states have quite a bit of devolved power from the federal government making us a federation of sovereign states. As such we are a federal democratic republic.
Re: Re:
no
Re: Re:
poor reading comprehension all around here.
above quote. Mike saying Gay didn’t commit plagiarism because other academics said it was inadvertently forgotten to cite source. Appealing to authority is not usually a good arguing point but to not know what plagiarism is…Just silly.
TN Idiots
As a current Tennessee resident I’ll agree that idiocy is not a drawback in our politics at every level — it is a benefit. After 20+ years living here I’ll say that nothing the legislature does surprises me any more. Disgusts me, yeah, but not surprises.
It’s no more stupid than all the attempts to ban DiHydrogen Monoxide.
Re:
Haha, jokes on them! I’m so rich I literally bathe in it and they can’t stop me!
OH wow… I never expected Tennessee , of all places, to take such a strong, nation-leading stand to restrict greenhouse gas emissions.
I simply cannot wait for some Tenn cop to climb a “really tall ladder” trying to arrest a pilot as they fly over @ 10k feet.
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
Total misrepresentation of the law...
Total misrepresentation of the law and the potential dangers it is trying to avoid – but that’s what the left does, isn’t it?
Re:
Which misrepresentations are present in the article?
Re:
I’ll bite.
How is the law misrepresented and what potential dangers is it trying to avoid?
If you can’t answer these simple question in a factual and objective way, your protestations has as much worth as a fart in a blizzard – you may feel a moment of warmth and satisfaction but you’ll still be freezing your ass off.
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it.
I hate to have to say it, but when the circumstantial evidence is tallied, it becomes clear that over 1 million Americans were killed because the world’s largest coronavirus laboratory accidentally released a coronavirus. This total is greater than Americans lost in Vietnam, Korea, World War II and World War I combined.
The biggest conspiracy theory by far is the notion that the location of the initial outbreak near this laboratory was entirely coincidental. There is nothing else that comes close.
Re:
The conspiracy theory that anything related to the outbreak of the virus was done intentionally is quite a bit bigger.
put up an umbrella over Tenneseee
A really big umbrella.
While we're at it...
Let’s go ahead and ban gremlins, the tooth fairy, the easter bunny, Santa Claus and anything else that’s not real.
Chemtrailing… which I think they view as grooming the atmosphere.
Chemtrails/Cloud Seeding/ Geo Engineering
So all that are stating this is not real…tell me why “contrails” dissipate, as they should being it’s condensation, however “chemtrails” remain in the sky ALL DAY.
They are thin lines at first, then spread out and milk out they sky…and they carry some materials such as aluminum, barium, strontium, graphene oxide etc.
Really think about how ice crystals (condensation) would stay up in the troposhere for hours upon hours at a time then somehow magically expand? Yet not melt remain in the troposhere and just spread out?
Re:
That’s you if you happened to be a rich media personality.
Tennessee
Really? They drank the Kool Aid. What is happening and please fix this. A true conspiracy theory bill.