JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY

I have been thinking on our recent election cycle and the issue of so-called false news. As is almost always the case, things are not as simple as we might wish them to be and "fixing" the situation will not be simple either. But let's approach it from a slightly different angle than you might expect.

According to a recent Gallup poll, for the 21st time "Americans named Hillary Clinton the Most Admired Woman." Since 1993, Clinton has topped the list for Most Admired Woman except for 1995 and 1996, when she was second behind Mother Teresa, and in 2001, when she was second to Laura Bush. "Eleanor Roosevelt has the second-most No. 1 finishes among women, at 13."

Most admired 21 times, but we can't get her elected President. What does a woman have to do/be to get elected President?

Barack Obama (22%) was voted the Most Admired Man over Donald Trump (15%).

Weigel's is coming to South Knoxville. The store is being built at Chapman Highway and Moody. This will be a good addition to the community.

I haven’t met anyone living, working or shopping downtown who likes the new parking meters. Simply put, they’re difficult to read and confusing to use. They have a rather dim black-and-white display that can be made invisible by the angle of sunlight. As already noted, rates for parking in one part of downtown do not necessarily apply to another part, so the chaotic inconsistencies of no-way, one-way and two-way streets extends now to the meters. You never know in advance how much you’re going to have to pay. Or whether you have to pay at all, because the programmable bottom line of the display is a horizontally scrolling, near-illegible line of type that alternately gives you the date, time and parking info. That in contrast to the simple labelling on the older meters: Monday - Friday 8 am - 6 pm. (now extended to Saturday as well.) Finally, some of those parking spots are now really long, apparently to accommodate those Made-in-Detroit F-150 Xtendeds.

The real 'fake news' fight needs concerted action

Parody, satire and humor are not the problem. We need instead to focus on sites like WorldNet Daily and InfoWars that traffic in conspiracy theories, unsubstantiated assertions, wild speculation and bizarre extrapolations. These types of sites have a poor record of fact checking and correction, and even will repeat debunked claims.

I would include Fox News in the "unsubstantiated assertions, wild speculation and bizarre extrapolations" category. As mentioned in the column, Facebook is also part of the problem.

Obama Issues Sanctions for Alleged Russian Hacking

President Obama has expelled 35 Russian nationals and sanctioned five Russian entities and four individuals for an alleged cyber assault on Democratic political organizations during the 2016 presidential campaign, the White House announced today.

Read Report: Malicious Russian Cyberactivity Interfered US Election

Read Full Executive Order

Balance billing is forbidden for Medicare enrollees.

Donald Trump's pick of Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare, wants to allow it.

So what is balance billing? It's the practice of billing the patient for the difference between the sticker price and what insurance will pay. So if a hospital visit costs $1,000, but your insurance will only cover $300, some providers will "balance bill" you for $700.

The next four years could be tough with all the things we have to keep track of to try and prevent.

From Kaiser Family Foundation ...

We estimate that 27% of adult Americans under the age of 65 have health conditions that would likely leave them uninsurable if they applied for individual market coverage under pre-ACA underwriting practices that existed in nearly all states.

The rates of declinable pre-existing conditions vary from state to state. On the low end, in Colorado and Minnesota, at least 22% of non-elderly adults have conditions that would likely be declinable if they were to seek coverage in the individual market under pre-ACA underwriting practices. Rates are higher in other states – particularly in the South – such as Tennessee (32%), Arkansas (32%), Alabama (33%), Kentucky (33%), Mississippi (34%), and West Virginia (36%), where at least a third of the non-elderly population would have declinable conditions.

Pre-existing Conditions and Medical Underwriting in the Individual Insurance Market Prior to the ACA

Let's face it. 2016 sucked. Personal challenges and losses. Political disasters. Dysfunctional government and society. Natural disasters. Long list of cultural and creative icons taken too soon. Thankfully it will soon be behind us. Hoping for a better 2017, but it's hard to be optimistic at this point.

(I will forgo the usual boring list of blog stats, favorites, big stories, etc. and just reiterate the overriding theme: 2016 sucked. Good riddance.)

from nbcnews.com ...

Nearly 6.4 million people have signed up for 2017 Obamacare coverage on the federal exchanges — 400,000 more than last year — the federal government said Wednesday.

"Total plan selections from November 1 through the extended deadline of December 19 include 2.05 million new consumers and 4.31 million returning consumers actively renewing their coverage," the Health and Human Services Department said in a statement.

"Consumers whose coverage will be automatically renewed for January 1 are not yet included in these totals."

More Than 6 Million Sign Up for Obamacare

COMMUNITY FORUM: WHAT IS THE BELOVED COMMUNITY?
Co-facilitated by Dr. Keri Prigmore and Dr. Nina Gregg
Thursday, January 12, 6:30pm at the Blount County Public Library
In the Sharon Lawson Room
The Community Forum is cosponsored by Blount County SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) and Blount County United, in consultation with the MLK Celebration Committee

All are welcome to this Community Forum to explore Dr. King’s understanding of the Beloved Community with excerpts from his writing and speaking, examples of community-based projects inspired by the idea of the Beloved Community, and conversation about our visions of what the Beloved Community could look like in our community.
For more information contact [email protected] or Nina Gregg 865 977 7399.
(link...)

Atrios continues his "lonely battle against self-driving cars".

He makes some good points. "They won't work, but they will "work" if we hand over massive amounts of public infrastructure to them, which is free, and spend nothing on alternatives, which are not free, because reasons. "
...
I suspect everybody involved knows these things are vaporware, but if they can get enough public money involved they can make it work financially. It's the American way.

Another point, imo, is that there will be millions of people who will not be able to afford the cars but could afford a train ticket.

The distinguished gentleman who wrote the article referenced by Atrios may be a professor of engineering and a director of research, but he definitely learned marketing as well.

Too funny. A clever Louisville resident sent a very concise letter to the KNS editor.

... what kind of president Cas Walker would have made, I think we're getting ready to find out.

Dear Tamara, we are so sorry to hear your husband passed away. It is impossible to know what to say in your time of grief. You and your family are truly in our hearts and prayers. We know your strength is great. Let those around you help in your time of need. Bless you, bless your husband, and all those around you. We are so sorry.

Holidays always get a little interesting. So many people out at the same time.

Went to PetSmart yesterday only to be faced with a shopper carrying a handgun on his hip. Is that really necessary? No. Saw a parked car with a big orange T on the rear hatch. No big deal, you see them all the time. This one continued with Trump. You see on car rear windows those cute stickers with mom, dad, and kids, or several dogs. Saw one the other day with rifles, assault rifles, and handguns. One each for mom, dad, and the 4 kids.

Then there is the new method of government communication, twitter. Besides that new guy coming into office always sounding off on twitter, now the Pakistani Defense Minister is using twitter to respond to fake news. Both the new guy and the Pakistani Defense Minister were discussing nuclear weapons. Come on people, confirm your source first. Us peons out here are kind of dependent on your actions.

Seems there would be better places for tax relief. Like the middle and lower income citizens. Education funding for poorer schools, psychological health needs, etc.

But they come up with this ...

From Tom Humphrey ...

The veteran lawmakers both also said their personal priority in tax-cutting would be a reduction in the state’s excise tax, a 6.5 percent levy on corporate income.

TN revenue bonanza leads legislators to eye more tax cuts

May this be a great season for dedication and celebration.

The National Weather Service is predicting a high of 65 degrees tomorrow, Christmas Day. This is not a record. The record is from 1982 when the high was 76. In the following year, 1983, the high was a record low of 13 degrees. 1983 was the year we moved to Orlando, FL. It got down to a low of 20. We were not happy.

Snow is not common on Christmas Day in the Knoxville area. The record snowfall was 7 inches in 1969. In the 21st century there has been only one Christmas Day with more than a trace of snow, 2010 with 2.5 inches.

If it doesn't rain, it could be nice enough for a Christmas picnic.

Nate Cohn at TheUpshot in the NYT
How the Obama Coalition Crumbled, Leaving an Opening for Trump

But the limited data that’s already available is consistent with the story evident in the pre-election polling: Turnout wasn’t the major factor driving shifts among white voters.

The voter-file data in North Carolina, where nearly all of the state’s jurisdictions have reported their vote, shows that the turnout among white Democrats and Republicans increased by almost the exact amount — about 2.5 percent. The same appears to be true in Florida.

Nationally, there is no relationship between the decline in Democratic strength and the change in turnout. Mr. Trump made gains in white working-class areas, whether turnout surged or dropped.