A censure (sometimes referred to as condemnation or denouncement) does not remove the president from office. It is a formal statement of disapproval, however, that can have a powerful psychological effect on the president and his relationships. Of course, this president may wear it as a badge of honor. The only president to be censured was Andrew Jackson.

As most everyone knows, the president told "‘Progressive’ Democrat Congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe" to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

Of the four women it is believed the president is referring, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx. Ms. Pressley, was born in Cincinnati and raised in Chicago. And Ms. Tlaib was born in Detroit.

The president continued his hate speech and doubles down, "If you’re not happy in the U.S., if you’re complaining all the time, you can leave, you can leave right now,” he said."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is looking to counter the president's comments legislatively by introducing a resolution to officially condemn Mr. Trump's remarks.

I commend the Speaker for considering a resolution, but it is not enough. It is time to censure the president. He is putting many of our citizens at risk. Is it domestic terrorism? I don't know. But, it is endangering our country and must stop.

Kicking off the race to 2020, the first Democratic presidential debate of the 2020 cycle will be held in Miami on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Candidates are expected to be grilled on all things policy, party and news of the day.

Twenty candidates qualified for the two debates. Four candidates did not qualify.

Yeehaw! The debates are held in Miami. Alright!

Lots of talk about canceling student debt for higher education.

Senator Bernie Sanders on Monday proposed canceling all $1.6 trillion of outstanding student loan debt in the United States... Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has proposed canceling $640 million of the debt.

Interesting stats in the article.

According to the Department of Education, only 45 percent of student loans are used to attend public colleges and universities, ...

Will those later debts be forgiven, too?

Free college is an interesting idea. There are plenty of pros and cons. Personally, I think it more important to resolve the healthcare issue first. Some might say college degrees enable people to afford healthcare. Not sure I agree. I do like the idea of giving more assistance to Phds, medical doctors, and some masters programs. Also, I'm not sure this is an issue that will get out the vote. We'll see.

RAM Medical is great but not enough. We thank them for their services. But,

Tennessee has lost 14 percent of its rural physicians and 18 percent of its rural hospitals in the past decade, leaving an estimated 2.5 million residents with insufficient access to medical care.

Once again, the stories will bring tears to your eyes.

Tennessee has lost over $12 billion in federal funding because those in charge in Nashville elect to not expand Medicaid/Tenncare.

Trump threatened to deport 2,000 families a couple of days ago. Now he has delayed the deportations for two weeks to give Democrats time to cave to his asylum law changes.

Democratic lawmakers and immigration activists had demanded that the raids be stopped, calling them a cruel attack on minority communities whose only crime was illegally entering the country. Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday called the raids “heartless” and urged Mr. Trump to “stop this brutal action.”

He did as they asked.

He keeps threatening to do horrible things trying to get his way. It doesn't work. Sheesh. Would someone control this dude?

From the NYT,

To better understand what life with an electric car is like, I hopped into a Chevrolet Bolt recently and traveled from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, a 540-mile round trip that many people make regularly.
...
On top of the eight hours or so that we were actually on the road, we spent close to five and a half hours charging the car.
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Of the more than 270 million registered vehicles nationwide, only about 1.1 million are electric, with about half of those in California.

Interesting read. We love the several hybrid vehicles we have owned, all Toyotas. Not sure we're ready for a plug-in. There does appear to be a future in electric vehicles. We're waiting on technology, batteries for example.

The Institute of Agriculture campus is being merged into UT-Knoxville and the chancellor of the Ag campus is being demoted to a UT vice president.

In an email from UT Interim President Randy Boyd,

We believe there are many opportunities for improved alignment, impact and effectiveness, and that our faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters across the state will have the best insights.
...
When we work together, the collective impact of the synergies and collaboration gained is far greater than the sum of the parts.

Hmmm... Not sure this is a great idea. The Ag campus is a huge asset to the university. But, hey if there are synergies.

We're just halfway into the year and already we are seeing the lives of young black men and women taken from us through senseless violence.
...
Many urban residents have had enough of our fellow citizens commenting on every news post on social media talking about the ghetto and East Knoxville, shrugging it off as if we are some species undeserving of basic human needs. It is time people in this city started caring for the marginalized.
...
With all these abandoned buildings and open spaces for construction, surely we can think of something other than apartment buildings with rent ranges of $2,000 per month.

She makes some very good points. It's certainly a process, especially when not much help has been forthcoming for decades. Some small steps have been taken, but it is a lot of effort to make major changes.

The Pellissippi campus was a great addition. Some of the new housing efforts have helped. There is a lot of work to be done, especially when it comes to gun violence.

The United States is stepping up digital incursions into Russia’s electric power grid in a warning to President Vladimir V. Putin and a demonstration of how the Trump administration is using new authorities to deploy cybertools more aggressively, current and former government officials said.

Cyber wars have been going on for a while. A little scary. I wish we could work harder to prevent intrusions.

A shooting occurred at a club on Maryville Pike in South Knoxville. This is the same club that was shutdown in 2017 for repeated shootings and violence. How is it this place was allowed to open? I guess they waited long enough, paid their dues? What does it take to keep out the criminal element?

We visited Suttree Landing Park, by the river, in South Knoxville the other day. I noticed some of the plantings appeared to include Horsetails (Equisetum hyemale). Years ago I looked into planting some in our yard only to find they are very aggressive spreaders. Thus, I did not plant. I would like to suggest to the City of Knoxville (or whoever manages park plantings) to not plant anymore Horsetail and to possibly get rid of the ones already installed.

Technically, a species native to North America cannot be considered invasive in North America; that label is reserved for alien species that escape into the wild and begin to displace flora native to the region in question. It's more accurate (in a North American context) to describe horsetail plants as aggressive spreaders.

Eradication is difficult due to its ability to grow back from the tiniest of rhizome fragments left behind in the ground, as with the dreaded invasive weed, Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum).

Throughout our lives we have to have repairs done around our homes. Many times we take it to the next step and do remodels. Please beware of unethical contractors and handymen.

There is an article in the Maryville Daily Times newspaper warning us to do our due diligence, "Need your home painted? I'm your man!". I cannot find it online, but the gist is be careful when selecting contractors. If you are offered a large discount, it's probably too good to be true. If they want the money upfront, don't. If they knock on your door, don't. No one is too smart to fall for a scam.

Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada is using your money to pay Scott Alan Buss $53,000 a year to help influence state policy.

A YouTube video discovered by NewsChannel 5 Investigates shows Buss arguing that public schools are a satanic plot.

He also publishes a blog called Fire Breathing Christian...

Yeehaw! We got us some absurdly ridiculous people working in Tennessee state government.

Fireflies are on display. Check it out in a dark, woodsy, grassy area. It doesn't have to be a forest, go to a local park or your backyard if you have one.

Firefly.org

SoKno: Kern's Bakery Version Three was announced in February, 2019.

Ozone Capital Management, LLC announces a Transformative Opportunity Zone Investment in Knoxville, Tennessee, for the Kern's Bakery site on Chapman Highway, a half mile or so from the new One Riverwalk apartments (previously Baptist Hospital) and 303 Flats apartments (across Henley from the old Baptist Hospital).

The investment, made on behalf of and alongside entrepreneurs, institutional investors, family offices, finance executives and technology leaders, will go towards constructing a 160-unit, 310 bed multifamily community at the historic Kerns Bakery Site.

The Opportunity Zone program is the idea that tax incentives for investors will transform declining areas into thriving economic hubs. This is based on the notion that urban or rural deterioration results from excessive taxation undermining capital investment. The program lets investors avoid the usual tax on capital gains by putting their profits into so-called opportunity funds, an incentive that lasts until 2026.

The community is designed to appeal to millennials and members of Generation Z – including young professionals, graduate students, medical students and upper classmen from nearby University of Tennessee. The two-bedrooms will have roommate floorplans with a private bath for each bedroom. A roommate matching service is available.

(In February, it was reported the apartments were not targeted toward the student market. "Our amenity package is not student oriented,” said David McKenna of Mallory & Evans.")

The community will also be adjacent to one of the most extensive natural urban environments on the East Coast. Construction on the boutique housing is expected to begin in early summer. The retail and restaurant portion will begin in July. Both should be complete by August 2020. The construction timeline for the hotel will be announced at a later date.

Looks like it is going to happen this time. SoKno isa changin. Kind of exciting. We can only hope it turns out to be a wonderful positive for the community.

Betty Bean, KnoxTNToday:

For the past several decades, abortion-rights opponents have become one-issue voters, willing to ignore the flaws and shortcomings of their champions as long as they help in the fight to reverse Roe v. Wade.

Now, with new members on the U.S. Supreme Court, the threat to Roe is real. Perhaps those who don’t want to go back to the days of coat hangers and quinine better think about doing the same.

Over the last few decades, Americans have become less mobile, and most adults – especially those with less education or lower incomes — do not venture far from their hometowns.
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Over all, the median distance Americans live from their mother is 18 miles, and only 20 percent live more than a couple of hours’ drive from their parents.
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The United States offers less government help for caregiving than many other rich countries. Instead, extended families are providing it, whether they never moved apart, or moved back closer when the need arose.

Families live closest to their mothers in Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, New York, and Tennessee.

Aging baby boomers and childcare are reportedly contributors to less mobility.

During the 1983 recession, we moved 600 miles away from family for job opportunities. My mother and father moved 400-800+ miles from their families due to WWII. My husband's parents moved 200 miles from their parents for education opportunities.

Sometimes, for some people, a move is just not possible. It cost a lot of money to move and then you have to have enough when you get to your destination to survive for a while. We sold our little fishing boat for $800 and a job was waiting.

It's a heat wave. A month before the start of summer and it's in the 90s. Can wear shorts and a t-shirt at 6am. Love it. Kinda wish we had a pool. Running through the sprinklers will have to do. Enjoy!

Republican Caucus members voted 45-24 for the nonbinding resolution of no-confidence in Casada.
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Gov. Lee, said in a statement that House Republicans had "sent a clear message, and I'm prepared to call a special session if the speaker doesn't resign."

It takes a lot for the Republicans in Nashville to act. Isn't there someone else who should have resigned and never did?

A Tesla Model 3 car involved in a fatal crash with a semitrailer in Florida was operating on the company’s semiautonomous Autopilot system, federal investigators have determined.
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David Friedman, who was acting head of the NHTSA in 2014 and is now vice president of advocacy for Consumer Reports, said he was surprised the agency didn’t declare Autopilot defective after the Gainesville crash and seek a recall. The Delray Beach crash, he said, reinforces that Autopilot is being allowed to operate in situations it cannot handle safely.

“Their system cannot literally see the broad side of an 18-wheeler on the highway,” Friedman said.
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“Tesla has for too long been using human drivers as guinea pigs.

It's like a lot of new technology these days. The beta versions get implemented or people are allowed to continue using the product(s) without safety precautions otherwise you're a Luddite if you don't go with the flow. Sheesh.