Did you know you pay approximately $281,516 in interest on a $300,000 30 year mortgage with 20% down and a 6.063 rate?

$1,702.66 Monthly payment, including property taxes and homeowners insurance.

Do you know you would pay approximately $524,736 in interest on a $300,000 50 year mortgage with 20% down and a 6.063 rate?

$1,528.56 Monthly payment, including property taxes and homeowners insurance.

Thus, you will pay an extra $243,220 interest on a $300,000 home if you elect to obtain a 50 year mortgage.

Your mortgage payment will only be $174.10 a month less.

Note, In general, shorter term loans have lower interest rates and lower overall costs. Thus, if you go with a longer term, e.g. 50 years over 30 years, then your interest could increase and you would pay more in total interest over the term of the loan.

Note: I used mortgage calculators from the internet to come up with these numbers. I used the Alcoa, TN zip code. I could be wrong.

Maybe you could address landlord collusion, etc. if you want to keep housing affordable..

Trump calls 50-year mortgages no 'big deal' as right-wing conservatives balk

Children are not safe in custody at the troubled Knox County juvenile detention center, the former interim superintendent of the facility told Knox News on Nov. 11, two days after he abruptly quit with no explanation.

Brian Bivens resigned, he said in a written statement, because county leaders have failed to live up to their promises to turn around the Richard L. Bean Juvenile Detention Center.
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In light of the County’s failure to make good on its commitment to these children and to this community, I could not, in good conscience, remain involved."

June, 2025: We need a leader who gives a damn, like Richard Bean has for almost 60 years

November 2023: State lawmakers demand answers after 'damning' report on Knox Co. juvenile facility's punishments

Veterans Day is a chance to reflect, remember, and show gratitude.

Veterans Day is an important day set aside to honor and show appreciation for ALL who have served in the United States military—in wartime or peacetime, living or deceased.

In 1954, this federal holiday was changed from “Armistice” to “Veterans” Day.

The Food and Drug Administration will remove the so-called black box warning from all hormone replacement products containing estrogen, Dr. Marty Makary, the agency’s commissioner, announced on Monday.
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In 2003, large government-run clinical trials concluded that hormone pills did not protect against heart disease or dementia, and in fact raised the risk of blood clots and breast cancer. Medical guidelines since then have told women to use hormones only sparingly for menopausal symptoms like hot flashes.
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Critics opposed to removing the warning, the strongest kind the F.D.A. issues, had urged Dr. Makary to convene a scientific advisory panel to carry out a careful assessment of the evidence before making any changes to the label.

“Removing the black box and putting warnings in a lengthy label that many doctors and most patients will not read is taking women’s health backward,” Diana Zuckerman, a scientist and president of the National Center for Health Research, said on Monday.

“The claim that hormones for menopause is the best way to improve the health of women is inconsistent with years of research and will harm millions of women,” Dr. Zuckerman said. “There are many better ways to reduce the chances of osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer and dementia than hormone therapy for menopause.”

Many of the articles I read do not mention those opposed to removing the warning nor do they mention the request to "convene a scientific advisory panel to carry out a careful assessment of the evidence before making any changes to the label."

How can we trust anything that comes out of this administration while the current Secretary of Health and Human Services (which includes the FDA, CDC, NIH, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) is a conspiracy theorist that doesn't believe in vaccines?

Once again, "Republican senators floated a proposal toxic to Democrats: scrapping the Affordable Care Act (ACA), known as Obamacare." They want to replace Obamacare with no plan.

They are proposing ACA "subsidies to be replaced by health savings accounts."

Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat, shared an alarmed response to Trump’s proposal from Larry Levitt, the executive vice-president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, who wrote on social media: “You have to read between the lines here to imagine what President Trump is proposing. But, it sounds like it could be a plan for health accounts that could be used for insurance that doesn’t cover pre-existing conditions, which could create a death spiral in ACA plans that do.”

“In other words, Donald Trump’s ‘concept of a plan’ for health care is another cynical attempt to repeal Obamacare,” Warren commented. “It’s the same failed Republican plan that’s been rejected by voters and Congress. We can lower costs and open the government TODAY by extending ACA tax credits.”

Beware. As I said before, we had trouble getting individual health insurance in Tennessee after moving here from Florida. No insurance company would sell us an individual policy. Luckily for us, we have a small business with two or more employees and were able to obtain health insurance through the business. "How many people in the State of Tennessee were unable to purchase individual health insurance until the passing of the Affordable Care Act? How many people were unable to get the healthcare they needed since they did not have health insurance? Do you have any idea of the pent up demand in Tennessee since individual health insurance policies were unavailable until recently? Do you really care? I don't think so."

Money in a health savings account does not guarantee you will get health insurance. Money in a health savings account will not cover the costs of major health issues. That's why you have insurance.

Nero is tuning his fiddle. Can you hear him?

America might be in a recession already. It’s impossible to tell officially, as the public officials who make those calls have been furloughed or fired.
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The American economy is cleaving into the have-nots and the have-yachts.

And what has Nero done about it? He’s building a Big, Beautiful Ballroom.

Who could have known Alabama allowed a political humorist in the state?

And, Alabama sending $300 to needy families, $5M to food banks as shutdown continues.

I'm behind on Tennessee government. What is Tennessee government doing to help SNAP recipients who are not receiving benefits?

No SNAP benefits or direct assistance for Tennesseans. The TN Gov has said he will take $5 million out of TennCare surplus to send to food banks.

The president takes it to the Hamptons. Federal judges have told the president to feed the needy. He continues to refuse to help those in need and takes it to the U.S. Supreme Court. That's the thanks his followers get for voting for him.

As the federal government shutdown drags on, the hunger crisis is growing. More than 1 million federal workers are once again going without a paycheck, while 42 million people didn’t receive their food benefits at the start of the month. Grocery prices continue to climb while lines at food pantries are growing. And food banks are straining under the weight of growing need and shrinking budgets.

The country is now facing the perfect storm for a hunger emergency. But the president, a billionaire, is sick of hearing about hungry people.

Fact-Checking Misinformation About SNAP.
We examined falsehoods about SNAP eligibility and costs and the number of unauthorized immigrants receiving benefits.

The speeches by President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth before a compelled in-person meeting with all our nation’s admirals and generals properly have been criticized on many grounds: improperly shifting the military mission to internal threats, explicitly declaring our cities as dangers to be met with military tactics, and rambling political diatribes irrelevant to our non-partisan military. One other item, however, deserves mention—the wholesale misuse of merit as the rationale for some of Trump’s most egregious policies.

An event in the Oval Office on Thursday was suddenly halted when a White House guest collapsed behind the President.

Monster by Steppenwolf lyrics

A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing significant high-profile departures from the state.

Millionaire tax that inspired Mamdani fuels $5.7 billion haul in Massachusetts

The moves continued a pattern of Trump, a Republican, using his second term to bestow unlikely pardons on political allies, prominent public figures and others convicted of defrauding the public.

Trump pardons former Tennessee House speaker convicted of federal public corruption charges

Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will not seek reelection to the U.S. House, bringing to a close her storied career as not only the first woman in the speaker’s office but arguably the most powerful in American politics.
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her first campaign slogan was “a voice that will be heard.”

And with that backing, she became a speaker “whose voice would certainly be heard,” she said.

Someone who has done so much for our country. I can only hope we can show her we heard and respected her actions.

This November's full moon will also be a supermoon, according to NASA.

The full moon will reach peak illumination in the United States on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2025, at 8:19 a.m. ET, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory's Astronomical Applications Department.

The Old Farmer's Almanac, which began publishing full moon names in the 1930s, says the beaver moon got its name because this is the time of year when beavers take shelter in their lodges after gathering food for the winter.

At 5:30 p.m. EST (2230 GMT), the moon will reach its closest point to the Earth for the year, known as perigee, at a distance of 221,726 miles (356,833 kilometers). Nine hours and 11 minutes prior to that, the moon will officially turn full.

Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett notified the president he is referring 42 “potential non-U.S. citizens” (out of state’s 4.3 million voters) to the FBI for illegal votes.

Those potential illegal voters account for 0.0001% of all registered voters in Tennessee.

Hah. Guess the system must be gutted.

The president "has given us Democrats an opening on all the things he has not delivered on, but we have got to do our part of actually not only relying on his failure but putting together a positive agenda to get the working-class voters back..."

Yes, let's talk about what Democrats have done and will do.

In Tennessee, Hancock County has the highest percentage of SNAP households with a median income of $31,995. Williamson County has the lowest percentage of SNAP households and a median income of $131,202. In the eastern region, 6.20% of Blount County households receive SNAP benefits, and it has the highest median income ($74,607) of the region.

MAP: See the number of SNAP participants by Tennessee county as benefit lapse looms

A Middle Tennessee sheriff is defending the arrest of a man for posting an online meme quoting President Donald Trump.

As of news report he has been jailed for 35 days.

Tennessee sheriff defends jailing liberal activist for posting Trump meme

Big Tech companies use secrecy agreements with local governments to keep communities from knowing who is building in their backyards.

“It’s just destroying trust in the government,” said Max Moran, the resident who started the Facebook group. “People just feel let down and kind of betrayed, because if you can’t ask what’s going on, then how can you trust anything they say?”

How NDAs keep AI data center details hidden from Americans