According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest data, the U.S. economy lost 23,000 jobs in July, and while the unemployment rate inched lower, to 4.1%, even this was discouraging: The “improved” rate was the result of the labor force participation rate dropping, as opposed to additional hiring.
...
On Friday, shortly after the job numbers were released, Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council and the top economist in the White House, told Fox News that if we exclude the part of the economy that lost jobs, “you actually had a number that was about plus 100,000.”

Huh?

334,029 - 6/2026 - Knox County Voter Registration (69,551 considered Inactive)
Number of registered voters increased by 4.1% over 2024.

85,351 - Knox County votes cast in August 6, 2026, Primary and Local General

25.5% of Knox County registered voters voted in the August 6, 2026, election

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320,933 - 6/2024 - Knox County Voter Registration (18,700 considered Inactive?)

54,848 - Knox County votes cast in August 1, 2024, Primary and Local General

17.1% of Knox County registered voters voted in the August 1, 2024, election

Interesting how the Republicans did not bother putting up a candidate for the Tennessee House of Representatives District 15. The Democrats and Sam McKenzie seem to have that wrapped up.

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100,818 - 6/2026 - Blount County Voter Registration (12,923 considered Inactive)
Number of registered voters increased by 5% over 2024.

21,819 - Blount County votes cast in August 6, 2026, Primary and Local General

21.6% of Blount County registered voters voted in the August 6, 2026, election
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95,917 - 6/2024 - Blount County Voter Registration (4,393 considered Inactive)

15,462 - Blount County votes cast in August 1, 2024, Primary and Local General

16.1% of Blount County registered voters voted in the August 1, 2024, election

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Numbers of Registered Voters provided by the State of TN Secretary of State

According to the TN Secretary of State, Div. of Elections, "Voters may be made inactive if the county election commission receives notice that the voter may no longer reside at the address of their voter registration.  A notice is sent to the voter requesting that they update their address." "Since a voter may update their address on Election Day, an inactive voter would be considered eligible to vote on Election Day.  If the county election commission does not hear from the voter in the inactive status before two (2) Federal November General elections have passed, the voter will automatically be purged from the voter files when the county election commission completes its annual maintenance of voter files."

The Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced they weren't able to do their job resulting in huge recalls of beef and bacon.

Nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef products imported from Argentina have been recalled in two states because they entered the United States without undergoing a required inspection.

The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) sent out a recall notice for over 22,000 pounds of Maple Leaf Foods bacon product from Canada that made its way onto store shelves without going through required U.S. inspection.

Is it a message to punish Canada and Argentina? Is it the USDA FSIS can't/won't do their job?

Knox County Commissioner Andy Fox, a Republican who represents Fort Sanders, South Knoxville and South Knox County, wants to punish any person or organization that sounds an Islamic call to prayer "in public by means of any amplification whether electronic or otherwise "with a fine of $1,000 per violation.

UPDATE: Knox County Commissioner Andy Fox withdrew his proposal Aug. 11 for an ordinance that would ban public Islamic calls to prayer...

I am surprised this person got elected. Part of his campaign rhetoric was/is "I will fight against liberal Democrat attempts to turn Knox County into a place of high taxes, rampant homeless population defecating and urinating in public, and Soros-backed social justice District Attorneys, who let criminals go but will prosecute citizens who try to defend themselves."

I thought SoKno had lots of progressive young newcomers.

Trump Administration to Pay German Firm $1.2 Billion to Cancel Wind Leases.

Including Thursday’s announcement, the government has so far spent roughly $3.9 billion to get companies to terminate 12 offshore wind leases.

“New Yorkers are suffering from sky-high energy costs, and Trump’s answer is to spend almost $4 billion of taxpayer money killing twelve offshore wind power leases that would have provided unlimited clean energy once online,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said.

A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Pentagon to lift its freeze on reviewing offshore wind energy projects for national security concerns, one of several tools the Trump administration has used to undercut the renewables industry.

Taylor Farms -- the massive food producer linked to the record cyclosporiasis outbreak -- is now pulling more than a dozen products with jalapeños from grocery stores across the United States.

It’s the latest recall as part of the salmonella outbreak that has made 345 people sick in 27 states. Restaurant chains Chipotle and QDOBA pulled jalapeños last week. The USDA said this weekend grocery stores (Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and Kroger) are also removing meat products that include jalapeños.

I was at a small, local market the other day looking for fresh Cilantro . They had some but it was packaged like what you might buy at a major grocery store. Since Parsley and Cilantro have been identified as Potential Sources of Cyclospora Outbreak in North Carolina, I asked them where they got the Cilantro. Their answer was Knoxville, with a laugh. They had no clue as to where they purchased the Cilantro. It's sad you can't even rely on a neighborhood market.

Knox County Democrats are celebrating gains they made on election night, picking up a county commission seat, coming within five points of the mayor’s office, and securing a 5-4 majority on the Knox County School Board.

Cyclosporiasis outbreak has expanded to six more states.

The CDC’s planned update marks a significant expansion in the outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms.
...

Plug-in solar panels are coming.

Plug-in or so-called balcony-solar systems have become popular in Germany in recent years. Ten American states have passed legislation making them legal, and many others are considering measures that would allow consumers to buy and install them.
...
Plug-in systems can be as cheap as a few hundred dollars and typically top out at roughly $2,000.
...
You want to look for products that carry the “UL 3700” certification. It indicates that the product has been tested and meets the safety criteria set by UL Solutions.

Contact your utility company before taking steps to implement plug-in solar panels.

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.
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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...
...
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.
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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.