In 2026 our Medicare supplement insurance increased by nearly 30%. In the 7 years we have had Medicare the annual increase has been 15% or less.

Now, "For the second year in a row (2027), premiums are likely to rise as climbing medical costs impact the economy and taxpayer spending." This is for any health insurance (private, employer sponsored, ACA/Obamacare, etc), not just Medicare supplements.

*Monthly premiums for both employer-provided and individual insurance are likely to climb due to rising hospital and drug spending, the use of AI in medical billing, labor shortages, federal policy changes, general inflation and more.

*The ACA market is experiencing turbulence, with millions of consumers dropping coverage, insurers exiting the market, and premiums spiking, which could lead to further problems and reduced access to health care.
...
Innovations in technology and medical care are other reasons premiums are rising.
...
Recent pharmaceutical advances also led to higher costs. ...driven in part by high-cost specialty drugs and GLP-1 weight loss drugs. For instance, cancer drugs are evolving and raising the cost of care.

Storm warning for ACA shoppers: Double-digit premium hikes are coming.

Every spring, health insurance companies file state-by-state rate forecasts, an early warning system for premium hikes we can expect to see the next year in the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

The median proposed increase is 14 percent...

Consumers will have to wait for broader insurance coverage of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs until prices come down and clear evidence emerges that they will reduce health care costs, the CEO of CVS Health, which includes Aetna insurance, said in an interview.

ACA Marketplace insurers are proposing a median premium increase of about 14% in 2027...second-highest requested rate change since 2018,

A national day of protest against data centers is planned across the U.S. for July 18, as community backlash over the development of artificial intelligence (AI) centers continues to grow.

Humans First, a conservative advocacy group, says the demonstrations are intended to pressure local, state and federal officials to protect communities from rising utility costs, water demand, noise, land-use changes and what it describes as national security risks tied to rapid AI expansion.

Maps Show 40 Cities Taking Stand Against AI Data Centers Draining Resources.

No protests scheduled in Tennessee. Nashvillian's are fighting against a data center next to the Nashville Zoo.

California attracted more than $335 billion in venture capital funding this year...

Its next biggest competitor, New York, raised less than a tenth of California’s total. Texas raised 1/40th of the amount.

The state’s economy grew 5% last year to a record $4.25 trillion, making it larger than every country other than the U.S., China and Germany. It is home to nearly 400 billion-dollar startups — more than any other state, according to CB Insights.

Blue states rule!

I hear and read about the complaints on Californian's moving to Tennessee. Yes, well, it is not progressives moving here and buying up properties, it's MAGA conservatives. Happy now?

I walk the same walk nearly every morning, a loop around the neighborhood. Yikes! Yesterday I started to get dive bombed by swallows. I could hear them buzz by my ear. It happened again today.

I finally looked it up.

Barn Swallows are fiercely territorial and will dive bomb anyone who gets close to their nest site. They have been known to hit people while doing this and yes, it may hurt you when it happens. But they won’t hit you on purpose as it will hurt them even more than you, birds being very fragile animals.

Chances are, if the swallows are dive-bombing you, it is because they have eggs or young in their nest. Relocating the nest and young is not a good idea so for this year, I would suggest trying to access the garage through another route. This may well be an inconvenience but it won’t be for long as the swallows will stop defending their nest as soon as the young have fledged and are able to fly on their own.

I don't know if it's barn swallows harassing me. Either way, I'll avoid the area for 2-3 weeks.

In her latest campaign television ad, Sen. Marsha Blackburn destroys a large number of fortune cookies, an act of wonton destruction.

Taxes are one of the most expensive ingredients in beer, according to the Tax Foundation.
...
Federal, state and local taxes equal about 41 percent of the overall cost of beer, according to a 2025 study for the Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association.
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Buying a 12 pack in D.C.? That’s an extra $0.90 included in the price tag, before sales tax. Tennessee comes in with the steepest state levy at $1.50.

It’s easy to be fooled by AI photos, so in an effort to help Tennessee travelers verify where online photos were taken, the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development has launched its new “It’s Real” campaign. It’s a program that promises that the photos you see on its website – TNVacation.com – are not AI-generated, but the real thing.

“It’s a commitment to authenticity and a promise to travelers that, when it comes to Tennessee, what you see is what you get..."

Bill Clinton.

“Today, we celebrate this milestone amid another period of deep division, renewed questions about America’s future and role in the world, and serious threats to our own institutions and to our democracy itself,”
...
“Their New Deal is socialism for the super-rich (and their own enrichment) even if it means increasing poverty, inequality, and illness at home and around the world. They also want to rewrite history to ignore and outright deny our past flaws while banning books that say otherwise from our libraries. And they select even our military leaders based on their version of political correctness over ability.

Former presidents reflect on America at 250.

Barack Obama.

America is, and always has been, a constant work in progress,” Obama wrote...
...

Every generation must take up the unfinished work of the last and carry it further — protecting what’s right, fixing what’s wrong, and making our union a little more perfect.

Joe Biden.

calling the Declaration of Independence “a promise” to the nation from the Founding Fathers that Americans have spent more than two and a half centuries trying to fulfill.
...
“Now it’s our turn. There’s nothing guaranteed about our democracy,” he wrote... “We have to fight for it, defend it, and earn it. Over and over, year after year. That’s not a burden. That’s what it means to be an American.”

George W. Bush.

Americans need to take an active interest in the health and wellbeing of the country and democracy.

“It requires Americans to vote, to be involved in the democratic process,” the Republican said, adding that while “you may not like outcomes of the elections,” one must focus on the fact that the capacity to vote and determine the country’s future is a “powerful freedom.”

While the current President warns about "a resurgence of the communist menace in our land, including from newcomers to our country who embrace ideas totally opposed to our way of life and our great success."

This is the new GOP talking point for the midterms. Watch and listen. Hopefully, a majority of Americsn voters don't fall for it.

We watched the PBS July 3, 2026, "A Capitol Fourth – 250th Weekend Celebration." It was a wonderful production. Brought tears to my eyes once or twice

We also watched a lot of the Macy's fireworks, Boston fireworks with the Boston Pops Orchestra, Nashville's fireworks and entertainment.

Across the country so many people and organizations did so much to celebrate our independence and Democracy.

This land was your land.

the first thing I learned from spending a morning at the Great American State Fair is that there’s no way in hell I’m bringing my kids to see this.

Meanwhile, this end of the Mall is sparse because it’s so insufferably boring. And if you have small children, you can hear the whining start without them even being there.

Yesterday we went up to the Smokies for a cooling reprieve. It was hot up there. It was around 87 degrees in Cades Cove. Even though it was about 10 degrees cooler than Alcoa, it was hot.

We stopped at Abrams Falls trailhead just to mosey around. There were people returning from their hike to the falls and they looked pretty bad. They did not look happy. One family of three said they drank 5 bottles of water on their hike. They have signs for a lot of different things preparing people for the hike, but they don't say carry a lot of water.

We saw Mama bear and a cub 15 or so feet up in a tree. They were lolling around. Avoiding the heat I would guess.

This is the second time we have been to Cades Cove in the past 3 weeks. We went on a Thursday both times around 11:30am. Neither time was it too crowded. If you get a chance we recommend the trip.

Released by the State of the Nation Project, a group of scholars from across the political spectrum, the “State of the States” report analyzed 31 measures of national well-being across 14 topic areas, from mental health and education to income, violence, and trust. A picture emerges of a country where economic growth has become untethered from actual human happiness, and where not a single state is improving on life satisfaction.
...
New England and the western Midwest consistently topped the charts, while the South posted the lowest average rankings across the board.

8 of the bottom 11 states are in the South. Tennessee ranks 41st in national well-being.

AI Bubble Burst: Meta Admits 'Excess Compute Capacity.

Meta has to monetize this excess capacity - and that's why Meta is forced to enter the cloud computing business, directly competing with Microsoft, Google, and Amazon, and also neocloud companies.

Meta, like SpaceX, looks to turn excess AI compute into cash

Meta’s decision to sell off excess compute comes weeks after SpaceX, via xAI, announced similar plans. In early May, SpaceX signed a deal with Anthropic to buy out all of the compute capacity at SpaceX’s Colossus 1 data center. SpaceX has signed similar leases since with Google and Reflection AI.

Could this mean there is not the demand for data centers as expected?

Trump: "I even had a conversation with Theodore Roosevelt. I said, 'What do you think about the Panama Canal? Do you consider that your greatest achievement and how do you feel about the fact that the Democrats gave the Panama Canal away to Panama for $1?'"

Say what?

Various Tennessee officials/governments may end up paying more than $3.2 million in 2026 to cover invalid firings/arrests over comments about a conservative activist.

University of Tennessee System officials have approved a tentative agreement that would pay a former UT-Knoxville professor who was fired over comments she made in the wake of political activist ... assassination nearly $2 million.

The professor claimed that her 1st Amendment rights were violated.

Austin Peay State University in Clarksville reinstated a professor in January and paid him a $500,000 settlement after he sued over his firing over comments he made about the conservative activist.

Tennessee officials will pay $835,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was jailed for more than a month over a Facebook post he made about the assassination of the conservative activist.

AI Data Centers & Our Communities
An initiative by Erin Brockovich · Environmental Advocate

"The RACE to build AI infrastructures is unfolding town by town across America. In some places, data centers are welcomed. In others, they are delayed, contested or abandoned altogether. This MAP captures the real-world footprint of that race — revealing patterns of growth, conflict and uncertainty.

I am watching as YOU, the communities show up and speak out. In the famous words of Mark Twain … “The secret of getting ahead is getting started,” so let’s go!

— Erin"

The 114th Tennessee General Assembly wrapped up its legislative session in late April, 2026. ... dozens of new Tennessee laws go into effect on July 1. The laws impact the criminal justice system, immigration, education, the environment and families.

* Underage vaping punishment
Under SB1740/HB1679, anyone under the age of 21 who illegally buys tobacco, hemp, vapor or smokeless tobacco would be required to do 50 hours of community service, complete a prescribed court program, and pay a fine between $10 and $50 for anyone between the ages of 18 and 21.

* Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act
HB1822/SB1828 requires public schools and public charter schools to teach about the positive impacts of religion on American history.
The list includes 19 historical subjects schools can use for instruction. Of the 19 suggestions, IMO, these might be acceptable, History of the Pilgrims, George Washington's farewell address, The concept of separating church and state.

...the maximum contract amount for Student First Technologies, LLC to nearly $637 million over the life of its five-year contract to run an online portal where parents can apply for the funds and receive payments.

The increase for the last two years of the contract comes after the legislature added 15,000 students to the “Education Freedom Scholarship” program this year, pushing it to a total of 35,000 for the 2026-27 school year.

The Department of Education hired the Indiana-based company in May 2023 to administer the Education Savings Account program, ESA, for low-income students to attend private schools at a cost of around $40 million.

35,000 students are allowed to use the state’s two private-school voucher programs. It appears the cost to run the sign up and funds distribution for these programs is approximately $3,640 per student. This is in addition to the funding to pay for the tuition for the students to attend private schools. Is there more cost for transportation?

As a former software developer, this is a fine contract. It's kind of like paying for gold computers to program and manage the project. Of course, they could also be using AI tokens to up the cost.

Then, there is the company receiving this $637 million. They were terminated by Arkansas for failure to deliver. They are struggling to run a similar project in West Virginia, "failing to process nearly 3,000 of 9,000 student applications."

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk on Friday urged prompt action to prevent further loss of life in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody and called for independent investigations into all deaths under ICE custody.

Türk said that it is alarming that, according to US Government official data, in the first five months of this year, 18 people had died in ICE detention. A further case of death in ICE custody has been reported this month. In 2025, a total of 33 deaths were registered, compared with 11 in 2024.

The Blount County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a vehicle of interest after a woman was struck and killed while riding her bicycle Thursday morning.

Around 10:30 a.m., the sheriff’s office responded to the 3800 block of Old Niles Ferry Road because of a report a woman was found lying in a ditch and badly injured.

Joyce Frey rode in the Tour de Blount, was a member of the Foothill Striders, and was a Board Member of Little River Chapter of Trout Unlimited.