To win we must vote.
To have healthcare we must vote.
To have Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid we must vote.
To have public education we must vote.

I know several people that claim to be Democrats that are not voting. One said, I don't vote in primaries. I mentioned this is a general election for local offices to no avail. One said the Democrats never win. I said Obama won, Biden won, Gloria Johnson won, to no avail. One said they haven't voted since they moved here 9 years ago. Whatta ya gonna do.

A modification of the poem First They Came by Pastor Martin Niemoller.
First they came for the Immigrants
And I did not speak out
Because I was not an Immigrant
Then they came for the African Americans
And I did not speak out
Because I was not African American
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me

And there was no one left
To speak out for me

In May, Blackburn nearly emptied her federal U.S. Senate campaign account, donating $4.8 million to the Club for Growth PAC.
...
Tennessee Freedom Fund, one of several PACs with close ties to Club for Growth, has been purchasing TV advertisements praising Blackburn [for Governor] and attacking her opponent, U.S. Rep. John Rose, since June.

Republicans want to talk about James Talarico’s manhood. Talarico says let them.

“If Andy Beshear is remembered, it will be for being neutered at every turn by the Republican legislature,” Rand Paul said.

Justin Pearson, a Tennessee lawmaker, has become one of the loudest voices amid a growing national backlash against the pollution and politics of America's AI buildout.

When Justin Pearson sits at his desk, he looks at a polluted orange sky.
...
A 10 minute drive to the northwest is Elon Musk’s Colossus 1 data center. A 15 minute drive to the southeast is Colossus 2 and the army of 69 methane gas turbines located just over the state line in Mississippi that currently power the supercomputing hub — most without any of the pollution controls typically required by federal rules. Multiple environmental groups who are now suing xAI have estimated that the machines could emit more than 2,500 tons of smog-forming pollution annually into an area that already leads Tennessee in rates of emergency room visits for asthma.

On July 29, 2026, Publix announced that it recalled all lots of GreenWise Organic Frozen Whole Blueberries and Whole Mixed Berries.

Recalled product was shipped to Publix retail stores throughout 8 states including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Chelly and Kevin Clayton are partnering with Streamside RV Resorts & Campgrounds, which will include their Townsend businesses: Little Arrow Outdoor Resort, Little Arrow Base Camp RV Park, River Rat Tubing & Rafting and Burger Master.

More from the Maryville Daily Times.

I don't know about the other properties, but I hate to see that Burger Master is no longer locally owned.

The Department of Commerce quietly announced this week it will designate more than $870 million in federal incentives for semiconductor manufacturing in exchange for a minority equity stake in seven companies.

Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership.

Wellll...

Shell posts best quarterly profit in four years as Iran war boosts oil and gas prices.

Update: "Exxon Mobil, the largest U.S. oil company, said on Friday that it had earned $14.53 billion in the April through June period, more than twice as much as it did in the second quarter of 2025. Chevron’s second-quarter profit soared to $12.07 billion, from $2.49 billion a year earlier."

Former White House chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci will testify before the Senate Homeland Security Committee today, where lawmakers are expected to question him about the federal response to COVID-19 and his time leading the nation's public health response.

Dr. Anthony Fauci (video included), who led the US government response to the Covid-19 pandemic, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, refusing to testify Wednesday just minutes into a Capitol Hill hearing that Republicans outwardly hoped would undermine the scientist and open him to claims of perjury.

New York Times summary of committee meeting. Senators asking questions, Fauci pleading the 5th amendment.

Heh. One of the Republican Senators asked Fauci why he didn't endorse using Ivermectin or Hydroxychloroquine as Covid-19 medications.

Dolly Parton not only has her name on a hospital, she now has her own truck stop. The location is in Cornersville, TN. It's about an hour South of Nashville, off I-65.

Last month, Parton unveiled Dolly’s Tennessean Travel Stop in Cornersville, better known as Exit 22. The country music star and businesswoman nonpareil partnered with Gregory H. Sachs, the rest area’s managing partner.
...
The logo — a mud flap girl with voluminous hair, alarmingly high heels and a microphone...
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a painted walkway sprinkled with musical notes and butterflies to a mural titled “Butterfly Lullaby (Mountain Gospel).”

Etc.

The Food and Drug Administration has recalled a commonly prescribed thyroid medication, levothyroxine.
...
The FDA said they had been functioning as "subpotent drugs," meaning they had less of an active ingredient and were ultimately less effective.

Major Pharmaceuticals packaged and distributed the recalled tablets, while Cardinal Health also distributed some of the recalled products.

Here is a list of the recalled levothyroxine medications.

You can call your pharmacist to find out if the levothyroxine you are taking is covered by the recall. In addition, you can look up your levothyroxine pill using a pill identifier to help determine the status of your levothyroxine pills. Although, contacting your pharmacy is the safest method.

A group of investors led by Chattanooga businessman and media specialist Craig Fuller is planning to buy the Chattanooga Times Free Press newspaper from its Arkansas owners, sources say.
...
The deal would not include the newspaper property on E. 11th Street, it was stated... it is expected the new operation would be online only.

The Times Free Press currently prints only on Sundays.

The Erlanger Health system announced Wednesday morning that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent with Prisma Health, a nonprofit healthcare system based in Greenville, South Carolina, to become part of that system.

Erlanger has been treating patients with no healthcare coverage as a so-called 'safety net hospital.'

Erlanger is a Level I trauma center, one of six in Tennessee. Erlanger is the primary teaching hospital for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center's College of Medicine Chattanooga.

Sad on both accounts. I'm surprised that the Chattanooga metro area can barely support a newspaper. Also, it is very surprising that Erlanger Health can't stay in business without the help from a South Carolina health system. I'm surprised Vanderbilt or U.T. Medical Systems weren't interested. Maybe they were, but not enough money? It is reported that Blount Memorial Hospital, now Prisma, turned down options from U.T. Medical Systems and Covenant.

Got the chance to see these talented players in action today! It was great having the @wnba.com at Home Court at the Obama Presidential Center for All-Star Weekend. ????

[image or embed]

— Barack Obama (@barackobama.bsky.social) July 24, 2026 at 5:22 PM

Those were the days. Obama Biden, Clinton... For the people.

In an online post on Tuesday, the President said that, starting in August 2028, all imported generic drugs will be slapped with a tariff of 100% for a year-long period, after which that rate will be raised to 200%.
...
Imposing massive tariffs on generic medicines risk making lower-cost generic drugs millions of Americans rely on ⁠more ​expensive and harder to access."

...high tariffs may lead to a shortage of some generic drugs in the U.S., if manufacturers decide to leave the American market entirely.

Does this man no nothing about governing?

You'll have to travel to Chattanooga to see The Odyssey in full 70mm IMAX, as Regal is only screening it here (in their home town) using laser projection. Not quite the same.

But, however, on the other hand, the Trumpster is unilaterally "reaching a broad nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that could lead to the country enriching its own fuel for nuclear reactors..."
...
"The Trump administration plans to formally sign and announce the agreement with the Saudis on Wednesday,.. It would announce the details to Congress soon afterward.
...
The agreement will require review by Congress, which under the Atomic Energy Act has the power to vote a resolution of disapproval. But as a practical matter, the agreement would likely pass, because Congress would have to assemble a veto-proof majority to override Mr. Trump’s initiative."
...
"Prince Mohammed has vowed he would build nuclear weapons if Iran does so..."

Once again, whatta ya gonna do?

OpenAI said on Tuesday that an autonomous agent powered by its advanced artificial intelligence models went rogue during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of AI startup Hugging Face last week.

Well, is it safe? This whole AI, data center business has gone bonkers. Who will protect the citizens? What about this do know harm idea?

UPDATE: "The OpenAI agent that broke into tech firm Hugging Face went on a days-long hacking spree that OpenAI didn't notice until well after the threat was contained and the FBI was alerted, according to people familiar with the investigation."

Saturday, July 18, 2026, FDA, Cyclospora found in Taylor Farms lettuce: The Food and Drug Administration said on Saturday ​a sample of shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by ‌Taylor Farms has tested positive for a parasitic illness that has sickened thousands of people in the U.S.

Sunday, July 19, 2026, FDA, Cyclospora NOT found in Taylor Farms lettuce: The Food and Drug Administration said Sunday that a Taylor Farms lettuce sample initially reported as positive for Cyclospora should be considered a false positive following an additional laboratory review.

Taylor Fresh Foods also said the FDA apologized to the company over the erroneous result. The FDA did not include an apology in the agency language provided with the story.

Well, I'll be. Whatta ya gonna do?

Previous Report: CDC ho-hum on parasite outbreak?

UPDATE (People Magazine reporting on the Trump Administration, who'd a thunk?):

Taylor Farms "company donated $1 million to President Donald Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC in March 2025 and millions more to other Republican committees in recent years."

A test of one Taylor Farms product was initially determined to show evidence of the parasite’s presence, but that “false positive” was quickly retracted on Sunday, July 19.

State Primary and State and County General Election
Early voting Friday, July 17, 2026 to Saturday, August 1, 2026

Competitive seats:
Governor - my choice is Jerri Green
U.S. Senate -?
U.S. House of Representatives District 2 - Michaela Barnett, not competitive in primary, but need to get out the vote for her for the General in November

Knox County Election Commission

Blount County Election Commission