A felony for homeless camping in public? 1 state is making arrests : NPR

Supporters of these laws say they enable public officials to enforce rules that already exist and provide incentive for unhoused people to seek shelter. But opponents call the laws cruel and say that an arrest record only makes it harder for those experiencing homelessness to secure a job or a home...

 https://www.npr.org/2026/07/21/nx-s1-5887358/tennessee-homeless-arrest-felony-camping-ban

 

A pattern of shootings by federal agents in Memphis nods to a worrying trend : NPR

The night that her son was having a mental breakdown, Jessica Neal called 911, hoping to save his life. 

Jonah Neal, 25, had a handgun and was threatening suicide. Instead of local police, federal agents arrived at her doorstep. Within minutes of entering her home, a special agent had shot her son, Neal said. It would be hours before she found out her son was dead, she added...

 https://www.npr.org/2026/07/13/nx-s1-5888618/memphis-safe-task-force-shooting-jonah-neal

TN Rep. Ogles faces backlash after deleted post declares 'homosexuality has no place in America

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRjMwS86rFE

Tennessee school district bans Alex Haley’s Roots under 2022 state law

With third-highest number of books banned, state removes renowned work about slave trade from library shelves…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/15/tennessee-book-ban-alex-haley-roots

 

Tennessee Republicans redraw maps to erase last Democratic, Black-majority district

Move comes days after supreme court ruling weakened Voting Rights Act protections against racial gerrymandering…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/07/tennessee-congressional-map-redistricting

 

A Tennessee woman needed an abortion to save her life. She then joined a lawsuit against the state’s ban

“What the state is trying to do by this delay is prevent these women from telling their story in court,” Goldstein said. “The state wants to convince the people of Tennessee that the abortion ban is working and that women who need medically necessary abortion care are getting it. And what women in our case prove, and what the state is very afraid of coming to light, is that it’s not working. Women are being denied care, they’re getting infected, they’re going septic, and this is all because doctors are terrified to provide standard medical treatment that they used to provide to their patients before the ban went into effect.”…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/27/tennessee-abortion-lawsuit-halted

 

Christian Nationalism Has Taken Over the GOP (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #624)

— Christian Nationalism has captured the Republican Party. (2:28)

— A Tennessee bill would force Bible lessons and prayer in public schools. (16:23)

— Ten Commandments posters must go up in schools before Louisiana families can sue, says federal court. (30:18)

— “Pro-life” Tennessee GOP pushes amendment to murder women who have abortions. (39:54)

— Kansas House passes bill making clergy mandated reporters… but Confession loophole remains. (56:50)
Interview: 

https://friendlyatheistpodcast.com/2026/02/26/christian-nationalism-has-taken-over-the-gop/

Tennessee to test Stephen Miller’s plan of enlisting states for immigration enforcement

The power to enforce immigration law rests with the federal government. But Trump adviser, Stephen Miller, has a vision for states working in coordination with federal immigration officials, and he's attempting to test it out in Tennessee. 

Earlier this month, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Miller had been meeting in Washington DC with Tennessee speaker of the house, Cameron Sexton, to craft model legislation for states around the country...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/04/stephen-miller-trump-immigration-plan

 

Here's who attended a white nationalist conference at a Tenn. state park

For years, the guest list for an annual white nationalist gathering at Tennessee’s Montgomery Bell State Park has been a closely guarded secret.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQwRnGRoMgA

 

Aftyn Behn shows us what happens when we fight everywhere. This is coming for MAGA

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RoMMI-twWE8

 

Surprisingly tough Tennessee election reveals House GOP has base problem - The Washington Post

Republicans face a dire predicament heading into the midterm year, with independent voters breaking away from President Donald Trump and a conservative base losing faith in the GOP majorities on Capitol Hill...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/03/house-republicans-base-problem/

 

Republicans threaten TN voters! What you gonna do TN?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/v_NvoR08RSw

 

Far-right Tennessee pastor demands removal of 'Hate Has No Home' signs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM4PML8O3yo

 

Floodwater engulfed a hospital. Then came the megalaw. - POLITICO

By one estimate, the law's tax cuts could force more than 300 rural hospitals to close. In Erwin, Tennessee, it may mean Unicoi Hospital never reopens, leaving the county without any hospitals or emergency rooms. 

"This is going to be a bloodbath if something isn't changed," said Levine, a Republican who once led Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' health care transition team. "The issue isn't just about Unicoi and whether it reopens, it will be about how many hospitals we can even keep open."…

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/22/54-survivors-a-flooded-hospital-and-trumps-political-bloodbath-00518507

 

Meet the out-of-state investors funding a Christian nationalist community in Tennessee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxP34ORMiZU

 

Tennessee republican Mark Green resigns from the House

Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) has resigned from the House, further shrinking the GOP's narrow majority in the chamber...

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5412871-tennessee-republican-mark-green-resigns-house/ 

 

Supreme Court allows Tennessee ban on gender transition care for minors - The Washington Post

Seven major U.S. medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, called Wednesday's ruling disappointing and said it "strips patients and families of the choice to direct their own health care."…

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/06/18/supreme-court-transgender-transition-care-tennessee/ 

The Nazis next door: Inside the influential hate group that's expanding in Tennessee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi4Vftj9uFk

John Roberts Has a Plan to Deny Transgender Rights – Mother Jones

The argument that Tennessee's law discriminates based on sex was laid out multiple times and is fairly simple. If a boy seeks puberty blockers to prevent precocious puberty, he can get them. If a transgender boy seeks them to stop puberty, he cannot get them. In other words, access to the drug depends on the biological sex of the child requesting it. That, the plaintiffs argue, is sex discrimination. The law "prohibits inconsistency with sex," Prelogar argued, in the same way that laws once prohibited people dressing like the opposite sex or women from pursuing certain professions. 

Tennessee denies any sex discrimination, arguing instead that it is not banning access to puberty blockers and hormones based on sex, but rather purpose. If a boy seeks puberty blockers to stop precocious puberty, the drugs are allowed. If the same boy requests them to treat gender dysphoria, the drugs are denied. The underlying medical condition is different. "Its application turns entirely on medical purpose, not a patient's sex," Matthew Rice, Tennessee's solicitor general, told the justices Wednesday. 

The problem with that analysis, the liberal justices countered, is that the purpose of hormones and puberty blockers is to control sexual development. If a boy and a girl both want to take testosterone for the same purpose—perhaps to deepen the register of their voice—only the boy can do so, Jackson pointed out. As Prelogar put it, under the law "you can't have these medications to live or identify in a manner inconsistent with your sex." Kagan was more blunt. "It's a dodge to say that this is not based on sex, it's based on medical purpose, when the medical purpose is utterly and entirely about sex."…

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/12/supreme-court-transgender/

Christian nationalists set sights on tiny Jackson County, Tennessee

An exclusive NewsChannel 5 investigation has discovered that those Christian nationalists have set their sights on a remote Middle Tennessee county, hoping to attract hundreds, even thousands, of like-minded people from across the country as part of efforts, in the words of one activist, to “radicalize Main Street.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byvkRclGfSE