The Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday awarded its 2025 Peace Prize to María Corina Machado, the Venezuelan opposition leader who has become a symbol of democratic resistance against an increasingly authoritarian regime, even as she has been forced into hiding and barred from holding public office.
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The White House, which had been calling for Trump to win the prize, did not immediately congratulate Machado but a spokesman, Steven Cheung, questioned the committee’s motives. “President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives,” Cheung said, adding: “The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace.”

He is the authoritarian regime. How could anyone justify his receiving a Peace prize?

Or, the Graft, political corruption defined as the unscrupulous use of a politician's authority for personal gain.

"If you can do things like impose tariffs arbitrarily, that’s a tremendous power. It creates opportunities for corruption because the CEOs of tech companies are very incentivized to get into the Oval Office and cut deals.”
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"What boggles me more is why MAGA adorers, and the American populace in general, seem to care so little about the raging kleptocracy that is business as usual in the Trump circle."
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"Corruption is too complex a topic to capture the attention of a society addicted to the tabloid rhythms of TikTok dross (whose spoils are now divvied up among some of Trump’s biggest supporters, including Oracle’s Larry Ellison). The minutiae of balance sheets are not sexy enough to vault over the more seductive silos of digital hearsay or the suffocating national obsession with wealth porn. (Quiet luxury was a bore anyway.) The Instagram feeds of “power women,” who used to post their fashionable concerns about social causes, have turned into leggy displays of female pout clout by content creators, encased in body-hugging Lycra and staring at their own phones in dazed self-admiration."

Some of us are listening. We are listening. I hope therexwill be a gathering.

This president's administrations, 2017 to 2021 and 2025 to ?, have imposed tariffs on China resulting in China refusing to buy soybeans from American farmers.

In the first term, "The fallout was so painful that the administration delivered more than $20 billion in aid to farmers."

In the first year of this second and final term, "Republican lawmakers have estimated that, this time around, farmers could need as much as $50 billion in economic support."

"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent even blamed the Biden administration for the predicament."

The president of the united states attended a celebration yesterday of the U.S. Navy's 250 years of service.

As part of his speech, while declaring the event a rally for him instead of a Navy celebration,

“We have to take care of this little gnat that’s on our shoulder called the Democrats. They want to give all of our money to illegal aliens that pour into the country,” said Trump, making a flicking gesture from his shoulder as he spoke.

The article has a link to a video where the president is saying these words. At the very beginning the sailors behind them are clapping exuberantly. After he says these words the sailors are quiet. Hmmm...

Full operations at Great Smoky Mountains National Park will resume this weekend as state and local governments have come together to fund normal services.

While some areas remained open after the shutdown began on Wednesday, the park will be fully operational beginning Saturday, October 4, through an agreement with the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and Sevier County. Local and state partners will fund $61,703.18 each day to ensure full operations.
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The "Sugarlands Visitor Center, Chimneys Picnic Area, and Cades Cove Loop Road, Visitor Center, and Picnic Area, will reopen, and the funding will ensure staff are on duty to respond to visitors, provide essential services to protect wildlife during peak visitor season, and service restrooms."

Thanks to local governments, Friends of the Smokys, and Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

Merriam-Webster is thrilled to announce that their NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Republicans all voted against a Democratic spending bill that extended subsidies for people who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act.

The Hillshire Brands Company has announced a voluntary recall of 58 million pounds of corn dogs and breakfast-on-a-stick products due to potential extraneous material contamination [wood in the batter].
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Tyson Foods, the parent company of Hillshire said in a statement Saturday that the recall specifically includes select State Fair Corn Dogs on a Stick and Jimmy Dean Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick products.

There is also an unbranded product included in the recall.

Here is a list of the recalled products.

I feel kind of sad about this recall. We used to eat the State Fair corn dogs fairly often. We have since given them up.

Just type in hud.gov and you'll get one of these screens.

Wow! More lies in our federal government?

“I told [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth], we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military — National Guard, but our military...

“They’re very unsafe places, and we’re going to straighten them out one by one,” Trump said. “And this is going to be a major part for some of the people in this room. That’s a war too. It’s a war from within.”

Is he declaring a civil war?

On September 15, 2025, UTK Chancellor Donde Plowman placed Assistant Professor of Anthropology Dr. Tamar Shirinian on administrative leave pending termination proceedings, saying that “no statement endorsing a campus shooting can be acceptable.”

Shirinian responded in a letter dated September 22, apologizing for her comment, calling it “ineloquent and heartless.” She said her words came from anger and grief, and now haunt her. She added that she would not have made them had she known they would be “leaked into the public.” However, she said that her post, while “insensitive,” did not endorse violence.

In 2016, The University of Tennessee says it will take no disciplinary action against the law professor who came under fire last week for a tweet during the deadly protests in Charlotte.

Glenn Reynolds, who posts under the handle @instapundit on Twitter tweeted “Run them down,” with a link to a live video stream of demonstrators stopping traffic on I-277 during protests in Charlotte.

Free speech? Male vs female? White American male vs Armenian female? Full professor vs associate professor? Law vs anthropology (the study of human societies and cultures and their development)?

From Gov. Pritzker today, the president and ICE are not arresting violent offenders, they are arresting tamale vendors.

“What I have been warning of is now being realized,” Pritzker said. " One thing is clear: None of what [President] Trump is doing is making Illinois safer.”

Pritzker urged Chicagoans to record any interactions with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on their phones, and “narrate what you see, put it on social media.”

“With one voice, we are telling this unwarranted and unconstitutional occupation by ICE and potentially by military troops to get out of Chicago,” Pritzker said. “You are not helping us.”

Tennessee hospitals could see a 29% increase in uncompensated care costs if Congress allows enhanced health insurance marketplace subsidies to expire this month, a new analysis found.
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Tennessee is among 15 states that would experience the largest increases in uncompensated care. Nine of these states, including Tennessee, have not expanded Medicaid.
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The Republican-controlled U.S. House passed a seven-week spending bill last week that didn’t include a continuation of the Affordable Care Act Marketplace tax enhancements.
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...Democrats have proposed a four-week funding measure that would permanently keep the tax credits in place.

Why do Tennesseans continue to support the Republican ticket?

Chattanooga Audubon Society hires goats to clean up invasive plants on society owned island.

These goats won't eat English ivy.

Conservative political strategist and CNN commentator Scott Jennings had a discussion with liberal media outlet MeidasTouch’s Adam Mockler.

Mockler said, the president has "amped up the tension in America."
Jennings asked, “Can’t you just take responsibility for it?”

“Wait, me?” Mockler asked, amid cross-talk. “You want me to take more responsibility than the president of the United States? I’m a 22-year-old YouTuber, dude.”

All northbound lanes of Alcoa Highway between John Sevier Highway and the University of Tennessee Medical Center will close beginning Saturday, October 4.

All roadwork is anticipated to be complete by 6 a.m. on Tuesday, October 7.

The roadwork and closure would be rescheduled to the weekend of October 18 if inclement weather occurs.

Wow! This should be interesting. Mainly for Monday, October 6, 2025. Maybe they should have scheduled this for the weekend of Saturday, October 11, 2025, when that Monday, October 13, 2025, is a federal holiday, Columbus Day.

In response to suspending Jimmy Kimmel for free speech issues, magas are saying Biden did it first. They say he suppressed free speech by trying to prevent lies about Covid-19.

George Will- Perhaps progressives should have been more troubled when the Biden administration was throwing its weight around, using regulatory threats from the White House and federal agencies to pressure social media companies to censor what that administration called “covid misinformation.”

Hmmm... big difference.

Michaela Barnett is a scientist, small business owner... She has a PhD from the University of Virginia, in Behavioral Science for Sustainability.

Michaela knows that we can't just be a voice in opposition — we have to show the American people our vision for the future, our plan for how we're going to achieve it, and fight for it with all our might.

She's running for Burchett's seat. He needs to go. He's gone full blown maga.

We received our Covid-19 vaccine last week from Walgreens. We elected to receive the Pfizer COMIRNATY 2025-2026 vaccine. It is my understanding Moderna has a Covid-19 vaccine as well and was available at the Walgreens in Alcoa. The pharmacy will let you know if there are any restrictions. You can also contact your doctor, your County Health Department or the Tennessee Health Department ((615) 741-3111 or tn.health@tn.gov).

From Sept. 23, 2025 article, COVID-19 vaccines still available prescription-free in Tennessee.

There have been stories floating around about the increase in Covid-19 cases locally.

Time to get your vaccine, if you so choose.

The fall equinox and the first day of autumn arrives today, Monday, September 22, 2024, at 02:20 P.M. EDT in the Northern Hemisphere.

"We experience two equinoxes each year, one in March and one in September, when the tilt of Earth is such that the sun shines equally on the north and south hemispheres. During an equinox day and night boast a roughly even 12-hour duration."