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 nati9nal 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.

Knox County Mayor won't sign county commission’s data center moratorium.

“Whether we like it or not, data centers have become a necessary part of our everyday life. I’m recording this video on my smartphone. You’re likely streaming it on a smartphone, tablet, or computer. That entire process requires data centers.”

For years we've been performing those specific activities without the many new proposed AI data centers.

Yesterday, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. There are videos on Facebook.

Near O'Charley's in Alcoa. It climbed the tree to get over the fence then crossed Alcoa Highway.

On Green Meadow Country Club golf course.

A trail of destruction.

It all started with Jan. 6, 2021, destruction in the Capitol.

Then, Jan. 2025, it picks up, again, destruction of the East Wing of the White House, destruction of the front lawn of the White House, near destruction of the Reflecting Pool. This is, of course, on top of the destruction of our government.

It's hard to forget some of the destruction that went on in 2020 when the Administration was having trouble with the Pandemic (hydroxychloroquine, chloroquine, ivermectin, lack of support for social distancing, injecting disinfectants, lack of support for stay at home orders, halts funding for World Health Organization, blah, blah, blah).

Whatever.

The Summer/June solstice occured on Sunday, June 21, at 4:24 A.M. EDT.

TVA considering rate changes due to data centers

As discussions of data centers that require high power loads continue to develop, the Tennessee Valley Authority is considering changing its rates in a way to accommodate the growing demands without placing undue cost increases on residents.
...
In May, 2026, the TVA shared a letter with 6 News that it sent to local power companies in February to begin the rate-changing process. The utility provider explained that it has continued to have frequent discussions with those local power companies and other customers about the proposed changes, and the TVA will be proposing actions for implementation to its board of directors in August at the earliest.
...
TVA spokesperson Scott Brooks explained that in the last year, data centers made up around 18% of the TVA’s overall industrial load, and that number is expected to double by the year 2030.
...
if it approved all of the data centers interested in coming to East Tennessee, there would be an increased power demand of 11,000 megawatts.
...
According to KUB’s website, there are currently three data centers in its service area that have a range of energy usage. The largest of those data centers is contracted to use up to 73 megawatts of power...

From my research,
73 megawatts powers approximately 45,000 homes

11,000 megawatts powers approximately 5-6 million homes in the South or nearly 10 million in the Northeast

More needs to be done to rein in power consumption by these new "data centers." Then there is the noise problem and possible air pollution and water usage issues. Are they even that necessary?

Received an email from the U.S. Treasury, or so it says, wanting me to log in to my account and confirm my bank account.

"To check your bank account information on file, log into TreasuryDirect (we recommend typing “TreasuryDirect.gov” directly in your web browser)...

They don't want me to use the provided link, then why provide it? I'm not sure why they are sending this unsolicited email. The IRS doesn't send unsolicited emails. Why is the Treasury? What are they selling? What problem are they trying to correct (or causing)? Is the President going to try and sell me his bitcoin?

At Obama's Presidential Center on the Southside of Chicago. It was a time to be proud, to be happy, to have/give hope.

To George and Laura, Bill and Hillary — we're grateful for your friendship, counsel, and devotion to this country. And to Joe and Jill, thank you for being on this journey with us.

[image or embed]

— Barack Obama (@barackobama.bsky.social) June 18, 2026 at 3:57 PM

Bernie Sanders wants to spread the wealth.

Bernie Sanders pitches $1,000 annual payout from public ownership of AI.

Americans could receive an annual $1,000 payment from artificial intelligence companies under legislation Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) introduced Thursday that would give the public a direct stake in the largest AI firms.

Not that this would ever, but he's thinking.

$853 in today’s dollars is the equivalent of $100 in 1970. The average inflation rate over the 50+ years is 3.9%. However, the $23,000 house we purchased in 1979 would cost $300,000+, not the average increase to $105,000.

Something has to give.

Sanders’s proposal adds to recent interest from across the political spectrum in the idea that economic disruption from AI could be offset by the U.S. government holding stakes in firms developing the technology.

A statement from the Bezos owned Washington Post. He, as is the case of many technology companies, wants government funds.

Well, I hope everybody had a Happy Watergate Day. It's been 54 years since the break-in, a calendar event we all should recognize. The plumbers' parade was a bit disappointing this year, but Republicans on Capitol Hill and President Trump in Europe kept up the Watergate Day spirit by making many "inoperative statements."

On January 7, 2009, two weeks before Obama’s inauguration, President George W. Bush invited all three former living presidents and the president-elect to the White House.

Now in 2026, no former President wants to be close to the current President.