But he welcomed such acts in Oklahoma, insisting that radars and other meteorological equipment are part of a government conspiracy to manipulate weather. The claims of such a conspiracy are baseless.

"When we destroy and eliminate over 15 in a state of Oklahoma, your radar maps are going to change big time, and the weather is just going to be completely different over Oklahoma and the surrounding area," he said Thursday.

How are these people walking around loose?

Oklahoma man accused of targeting television news weather radar

South Knoxville happenings....

(link...)

What if AI Isn't Intelligence but Anti-Intelligence?

Key points:

*Coherence is no longer a marker of meaning but a statistical artifact, language that merely sounds right.

Be careful out there.

The Trump administration’s broadsides against scientific research have caused unprecedented upheaval at the National Cancer Institute, the storied federal government research hub that has spearheaded advances against the disease for decades.

World’s premier cancer institute faces crippling cuts and chaos

SUNDAY MORNING "When is cancer political?" Medical researchers, patients decry Trump admin's layoffs, budget cuts

Two U.S. senators (one a Republican, one a Democrat) are proposing an additional method for investing Social Security funds. Currently, "Social Security is funded through payroll taxes and the Social Security Trust Fund — which is invested exclusively in U.S. government bonds..."

They"propose creating an additional investment fund — in parallel to the trust fund, not replacing it — that would be invested in stocks, bonds and other investments that generate a higher rate of return."

What could go wrong? As many commenters said, lift the cap on earnings taxed for Social Security. The current cap is $176,100. Doesn't this indicate the wealthier of us benefit from this cap? Otherwise, it would be scary if someone in the current administration determined how our Social Security funds were invested. Uninsured stocks? Bitcoin? Trump bibles, phones, watches?

Pam Bondi is the United States Attorney General. The United States Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice.

In February, 2025, Pam Bondi said on Fox News that a [Jeffrey Epstein] "alleged client list was sitting on her desk and would soon be released."

In July, 2025, "a memo from the Department of Justice (DOJ) said there was no evidence that the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein kept a "client list".

So, what is going on at the DOJ? Can any U.S. government data be trusted?

As has been mentioned before, "Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an energy hog."

Every time we ask AI to write an email, draw an anime-style George Washington or generate a video of a cat doing a back flip, we’re triggering another roar in those massive halls of GPUs.

We’ve all heard about AI’s insatiable energy appetite. By 2028, data centers like this one I visited in Ashburn, Va., could consume up to 12% of all U.S. electricity, according to a report from the Energy Department and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said that the average ChatGPT query uses about 0.34 watt-hours of energy.

Whatta ya gonna do?

Rose Garden event?

UFC confirms Trump's plan to host a fight at White House in 2026

Least to most expensive

Barleys
Smash burgers loaded with a side of fries
Single $6
Double $8
Triple $14
Barleys menu

Good for Barley's

Urban Bar
The Urban Fatty (The Ultimate Hangover Cure!)
A half pound beef patty with shredded cheese, lettuce and tomatoes on a
kaiser bun smothered with our queso – $12
(link...)

Boyds Jig and Reel
Burger $14
Boyds Jig and Reel menu
(link...)

Southern Grit
Burger $15
Southern Grit Menu

Old City Sports Bar
Classic Burger: $16.50
Old City Sports Bar Menu

Lonesome Dove
Cheeseburger $17
Lonesome Dove menu

Smashburger single pattie build self
They do not seem to show prices on online menu.
Interesting
Smash City menu

USDA home grilled cheeseburger costs

How the Cost of a Burger Stacks Up in Every State

According to a Knox New Sentinel article,

U.S. Congressman Tim Burchett (TN) "met with Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the White House the day before the vote." He said the meeting was "very productive."

"The president was wonderful as always, informative, funny, told me he likes seeing me on TV, which is kind of cool," he (Burchett) said in a video.

Then after the vote he plays grab ass with another Congressman!!!

OMG. The majority of those who voted in his district elected him??? What was that, 20% of registered voters? How can this be??? He has no sense of the people or government or economics.

Federal grant money that keeps Boys and Girls Club and YMCA sites open after school is on hold.

The YMCA in Knoxville is losing $170,000 for this upcoming school year and $500,000 over the next three years, directly impacting 149 children and over 100 families that depended on the childcare they need after school.”
...
Boys and Girls Clubs are set to lose about $1.1 million, which impacts around 750 children at 13 of their locations. The organization is working to ensure that they are in a stable place to continue delivering services to the children and families, despite the unpredictability and turbulence of federal funding.

But, hey, they'll give tax breaks to the rich and corporations.

The U.S. Labor Department announced plans this week to slash more than 60 regulations — including eliminating overtime and minimum wage protections for home health care workers and union organizing rights for migrant farmworkers.

The effort to deregulate the federal agency that governs workers’ rights and protections aims to deliver on President Donald Trump’s promise to “restore American prosperity,” the agency said.

Say what?!?! Worker bees must unite!

Independence Day celebrates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, establishing the United States of America.

The Founding Father delegates of the Second Continental Congress declared that the Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the monarch of Britain, King George III, and were now united, free, and independent states.

It's only the 2nd time in 249 years someone from within has come along and tried to destroy our Democracy.

How each representative voted on Trump agenda megabill per CNN

How each senator voted on Trump’s agenda bill

How Every Senator Voted on the G.O.P. Megabill

How members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted on President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill

President Trump recently renewed his political assault on Canada, ending trade talks via social media post and hissy fit over digital services taxes. Trump’s musings and outbursts about Canada have all the bizarre twists of a Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon, likely one involving occasional character and frequent failure, Captain Peachfuzz. Amazingly, I am not the first person to notice these similarities. Thus, I wrote it up my version of the episode. As usual it starts with the booming words of the voice-over announcer.

Ten years later "Michigan said Tuesday that it has completed the replacement of lead water pipes in Flint, putting an end to one of the nation’s most devastating water crises after more than a decade."

In 2016, "With the help of a group of doctors (led by Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha of Hurley Medical Center) and a research team from Virginia Tech, it was finally accepted that Flint, Michigan, drinking water was unsafe, with high levels of lead."

"During his first year in office, President Joe Biden made replacing lead pipes one of his top environmental priorities, securing $15 billion through a bipartisan infrastructure law to address the problem and vowing that the country could never allow another Flint to happen again."
...
In October, the EPA finalized a rule requiring water utilities to replace all lead pipes within a decade and reduce the amount of lead allowed in the nation’s drinking water. The administration allocated an additional $3 billion to the efforts.
...
In December, the American Water Works Association... filed a lawsuit against the EPA challenging the water utilities’ responsibility for removing pipes on private property, the cost to remove the pipes and the timeline.
...
the Trump administration on Tuesday morning asked for a third extension to decide whether it will defend the Biden administration’s lead and copper regulation.

Last year, notices were sent out to residents of Alcoa with likely lead pipes. Not sure of the outcome.

Lee Beaman of Tennessee was nominated for a term expiring May 18, 2030. Mitch Graves of Tennessee, Jeff Hagood of Tennessee and Randall Jones of Alabama were nominated for terms ending May 18, 2029. If confirmed by the Senate, the new appointments will bring the board back to a quorum.

Trump announces four nominees to TVA board of directors

The University of Tennessee at Knoxville hopes to increase enrollment from 38,728 in 2024 to 41,000 students in 2030. Part of the growth is to increase online enrollment to 14,000 students.

UT projects that 40,705 students will enroll at the university for the upcoming 2025 fall semester, with 37,205 students in-person and 3,500 students online.

The 2030 online enrollment goal will be boosted by UT's partnership with Arizona State University to improve and increase UT's infrastructure for online education

So, if I take Arizona State courses through the University of Tennessee, will my degree be from UT or ASU?

Next Tuesday, July 1, will see a number of laws passed by the Tennessee General Assembly in recent years take full effect.

LIST: New laws that take effect July 1, 2025

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) imploded the smoke stacks at the Bull Run Fossil Plant in Claxton/Oak Ridge Saturday.

TVA retired the plant in 2023 after it was in service for 56 years.

TVA plans to repurpose the site to house a new fusion power plant prototype.

"It is known as a stellarator fusion machine, which uses magnetic fields to confine plasma in the shape of a donut, according to the Department of Energy."

Assuming there will be a Department of Energy by the time this administration is done. I'm surprised the link still works.

From the International Energy Forum, "How Close Are We To Unlocking The 'Limitless' Energy Of Nuclear Fusion?"

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project is a collaboration of 33 nations to build the world's largest tokamak, a magnetic fusion device that has been designed to prove the feasibility of fusion as a large-scale and carbon-free source of energy based on the same principle that powers our Sun and stars."

Yowza! Science is still alive, at least for now.