The Supreme Court on Friday kept a block on the Federal administration’s use of a rarely invoked wartime power to deport migrants in Northern Texas and said administration officials had not given those targeted for removal last month sufficient time to challenge their deportations.

We can only hope the Supreme Court is waking up to this administration's authoritarian ideas.

How Medicaid works, who it covers, and what states will be most affected if proposed GOP changes to the government program pass

How proposed Medicaid changes would affect Americans, state-by-state

The President of the United States has trouble with the word "groceries."

On April 2, 2025, in a major speech, he said, ""An old fashioned term that we use, 'groceries.'... It's such an old-fashioned term, but a beautiful term. Groceries. It says a bag with different things in it."

Yesterday, May 15, 2025, he confirmed his knowledge of groceries in a speech to the United Arab Emirates, saying "“They have a term grocery. It’s an old term, but it means basically what you’re buying: food. It is a pretty accurate term, but it’s an old-fashioned sound..."

What is it with this person? He cannot relate to the majority of Americans. Has he ever gone grocery shopping? He has not concept of the life Americans live. How is it this is who was elected President in November 2024?

Shelby County, which includes Boxtown, leads the state in emergency room visits for asthma. One study found that Southwest Memphis has at least 22 local pollution sources and a cumulative cancer risk four times higher than the national average. Last month, the county received an “F” from the American Lung Association for its air quality.

Up against Musk's Colossus supercomputer, a Memphis neighborhood fights for clean air

While testifying before a U.S. House subcommittee, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the Health and Human Services secretary said, "I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me.”

This from an appointed agent of the Federal government who has nearly complete control of how our health care system works. Gee, thanks guys.

Update: then there is the administration’s surgeon general pick who has recommended "that people should consider using unproven psychedelic drugs as therapy.

No to vaccines but yes to psychedelic drugs? Be careful out there.

U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles, a Republican representing the 5th District which covers part of Nashville, alleged in a press release that O’Connell is responsible for “blatantly obstructing” ICE agents.

Ogles "said Wednesday he will call for an investigation into Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell following more than a week of traffic sweeps and detentions by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in Nashville."

These threats by Ogles came after a statement from Mayor O'Connell where he said, "By ICE’s own admission, a large percentage of people caught up in this sweep had no criminal record. Who and where are they? ICE should release the names and charges for everyone they detained in Nashville, not just a select few.”

The federal government is becoming more threatening to the citizens. Just recently a judge in Wisconsin was arrested and the Mayor of Newark, New Jersey. There is also the continuing issue of the detainee sent to El Salvador that has been ordered back to the U.S. but the executive branch of the U.S. government is ignoring the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the Land of the Free, how far will the executive branch go to silence citizens?

Sherman Luna believes some of those being detained would be allowed to stay in the country if they were able to receive competent legal representation at an immigration hearing. Instead, she has heard that people are agreeing to be deported out of fear that they could spend months or years in immigration detention.

About 9% of the Nashville metropolitan area population of about 2 million are immigrants, with many from Mexico and Honduras, according to the Migration Policy Institute’s analysis of census data. The city also has a large Kurdish population living alongside refugees from Sudan, Myanmar and other countries.

Authorities arrest over 100 people on Tennessee roads in support of Trump’s deportation plan

PESP Private Equity Hospital Tracker

ERs staffed by private equity firms

Article I of the Constitution says writs of habeas corpus are a privilege that “shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” That direction “is almost universally understood to authorize only Congress to suspend habeas corpus,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University.

Slippery slope

Trump Officials Consider Suspending Habeas Corpus for Detained Migrants

Wow! That was the strongest earthquake I have ever felt.

Centered in Greenback, TN, 4.1 magnitude.

Thought the house was going to collapse.

In January 2025 under the Biden administration, it was announced that Knoxville was "awarded a $24.7 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation."

In April 2025 under the Trump administration,
"City officials received a letter April 24 from the federal transportation department, Knox News has learned, warning them against engaging in diversity, equity and inclusion practices.

“It is the policy of the department to award and to continue to provide federal financial assistance only to those recipients who comply with their legal obligations,” U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in the letter.

Knoxville's "grant application makes many references to efforts to improve equity and diversity and to combat climate change."

This should be interesting. Can't wait to see how they change the language of the grant request.

How do Tennessee voters feel about the current political landscape? To answer this question, Vanderbilt has released the results from its latest poll, which surveyed 1,223 Tennessee registered voters on major issues from the economy to immigration between April 17 to April 27.

Vanderbilt Poll: Tennessee voters largely oppose federal spending cuts on key programs

Then the Trump administration’s science cuts hit.

The best and brightest young scientists are looking beyond the U.S. as cuts hit home

The data reflected here can't capture the true number of crashes where drivers handle the insurance paperwork on their own. But it's a look at where police were called to help at the scene of a collision.

Top 10 Knoxville intersections with the highest number of collision calls in 2024

Work has begun to repair to Gay Street Bridge for pedestrian traffic, a city spokesperson said.

Last week, a contract was signed stating that the repairs need to be done by December 31, 2025, and cost no more than $1,944,929.50.

Due to the condition of the bridge and its old age, the city plans to reopen it as a pedestrian and cyclist bridge that will not allow cars. They plan to replace it in the next five to 10 years.

Repair work begins on Gay Street Bridge to restore pedestrian access

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick says factory gigs are the “great jobs of the future” that Gen Z could work in for the "rest" of their life—and so could their grandkids.

“It’s time to train people not to do the jobs of the past, but to do the great jobs of the future...

Huh, factory jobs are jobs of the past.

“Access to cheap goods is not the essence of the American dream,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said to a crowd of economists.

Define cheap. Many of these goods are what most Americans can afford.

“You know, somebody said, ‘Oh, the shelves are going to be open,’” Trump said. “Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know? And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.”

But it’s a discordant political argument for a billionaire president who moves in an orbit of wealthy CEOs and members of his Mar-a-Lago club to tell working parents that they will be able to afford fewer toys for their children.

This is where we are... But, whatever is bad is Joe Biden's fault.

Former Vice President Mike Pence spoke of the importance of the U.S. Constitution in bringing people together as he received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his actions on Jan. 6.

The big picture: The John F. Kennedy Library Foundation bestowed the honor on Pence for resisting pressure from President Trump and others to not certify former President Biden's 2020 election win following the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Whereas, the former President/current President pardons those who attacked the Capitol on that fateful day.

Local elected officials say around 100 immigrants, some en route to work, were detained early Sunday morning.

According to a press release from state Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat, “Witnesses reported multiple drivers pulled over and detained, including mothers driving to work, allegedly leaving children in vehicles by themselves. Videos, photos, and firsthand accounts point to ICE working in tandem with the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) to carry out what can only be described as a dragnet.”

A Tennessee Lookout photojournalist on Sunday documented buses leaving a U.S. Department of Homeland Security facility in Nashville. Family members of the alleged detainees were also present, protesting the alleged detentions.

Sad.

President Donald Trump, asked during an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker,” whether he believes that he needs to uphold the Constitution during his presidency, responded, “I don’t know.”
...

he also did not rule out the use of military force to take Greenland, while saying it’s “highly unlikely” he would do so with Canada.
...
“I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy...

Buffett also finally shared what he thinks about tariffs.

The CEO of Berkshire Hathaway called America’s trade wars a “big mistake.”

“Trade should not be a weapon,” Buffett said. He also said that “trade could be an act of war.”

Warren Buffett to step down from Berkshire at year’s end, Greg Abel to succeed Oracle of Omaha