Cybercriminals are trying to steal financial information from Americans through the QR codes that restaurants and businesses have increasingly turned to during the coronavirus pandemic, the FBI warned this week.

FBI says crooks are using fake QR codes to steal money

Get free at-⁠home COVID-⁠19 tests by going to covidtests.gov.

Every home in the U.S. is eligible to order 4 free at-⁠home COVID-⁠19 tests. The tests are completely free. Orders will usually ship in 7-12 days.

If you need a COVID-⁠19 test now, please see other testing resources for free testing locations in your area. Other testing resources include local retail stores and pharmacies for at home tests or you can go to one of the many testing sites in your area (e.g. pharmacies and health centers).

Note: The tests available for order are rapid antigen at-home tests, not PCR tests. PCR tests are very accurate whereas rapid antigen tests are fairly accurate.

Nashville International Airport, in particular, saw a record spike that singlehandedly broke the previous state record. The TSA caught 163 guns at BNA checkpoints in 2021 -- more than all other Tennessee airports combined. Nashville's airport also saw the fifth-most guns caught at TSA checkpoints compared to the rest of the U.S.

Nashville airport alone breaks all-time TN record for gun seizures at TSA checkpoints in 2021

"Republicans in multiple states created forged election materials and sent the documents to, among others, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Archivist, as if the materials were legitimate. They were not."
...
"Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said Thursday she referred to federal prosecutors a probe into Republicans who signed and submitted a certificate falsely claiming Donald Trump won Michigan's electoral votes."

Then it is reported that Republicans in more states did the same thing, i.e. Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada.

"The fake documents had identical formatting, spacing, fonts, and phrasing, leaving little doubt that there was a template for Republicans to follow in each of these states."

It's shocking and sad. Will they get away with this? Unacceptable. Young people in these states should be protesting. Is our Democracy going down?

Happy Birthday lyrics by Stevie Wonder

You know it doesn't make much sense
There ought to be a law against
Anyone who takes offense
At a day in your celebration
'Cause we all know in our minds
That there ought to be a time
That we can set aside
To show just how much we love you
And I'm sure you would agree
What could fit more perfectly
Than to have a world party on the day you came to be
...

Tennessee House Republicans are trying to dilute minority districts in the large urban areas (Nashville, Memphis, and Knoxville) so there are no minority districts.

"House Redistricting Committee Counsel Doug Himes deemed the committee plan to have met all the criteria. It splits 30 counties — the maximum allowed under state law. It preserves 13 majority-minority districts statewide, meaning the majority of voting-age residents living in those districts are racial minorities."

Two Democratic House Reps in Davidson County (Nashville) will lose their districts. Gloria Johnson in Knox County will lose her district. A Shelby County (Memphis) Democratic House Rep will lose his district.

Let's hope someone in Tennessee will dispute this redistricting as they did in Ohio. "The Ohio Supreme Court has declared newly drawn district maps that retain Republican supermajorities invalid and ordered them redrawn."

Photos and videos showing piles of empty boxes littered alongside rail tracks in Los Angeles County, California have gone viral as shipping companies say they've seen a dramatic spike in railroad theft. Some of the boxes are packages from companies like UPS, Amazon and FedEx.

Thieves in LA are looting freight trains filled with packages from UPS, FedEx and Amazon

Or senior citizens?

As of January 7, 2022, in Knox County, 75% of COVID-19 deaths (767) have been residents 65 years of age and older. 767 deaths in 2 years, 32 deaths a month, over 7 deaths a week.

From WBIR: As of January 13, 2022, "the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations is rising across East Tennessee, according to health leaders... Dr. James Shamiyeh from the University of Tennessee Medical Center ... said 429 people were hospitalized with the coronavirus in medical facilities in East Tennessee.".. At UT Hospital there are " 112 people in the hospital as of Jan. 13. That is around double the number of people hospitalized compared to the start of January." One day later the number of people hospitalized at UT Hospital has risen to 119. 76% of them are unvaccinated.

From the Maryville Daily Times, "Blount County averaged more than 130 new COVID-19 cases a day Jan. 2-8, and cases at Blount Memorial Hospital have nearly doubled in the past two weeks, to 39." "About 75% of those currently hospitalized are unvaccinated. While BMH said 10 of 39 patients in the hospital Thursday, Jan. 13, were vaccinated, that doesn’t mean they had received a booster shot."

As I mentioned in a previous comment, it is hard to understand how some places you will see plenty of mask and others you won't. An acquaintance whose husband liked to frequent a well known convenience store called it a petri dish the other day and I agreed. I try to avoid them.

Then there is the Everett Senior Center in Maryville holding a Mood Swing Dance along with dance lessons. You have to wonder how close these people are getting. You have to get kind of close to dance. Are they fully vaccinated? Are they wearing good KN95 or N95 masks? Are they aware that any one dance partner could have been recently infected?

Alas.

Twitter link to a complaint that KN95 masks are made in China. Hah. So you don't want to wear them if made in China? So you think the U.S. can start making enough N95 masks to prevent having to import KN95 masks from China? The Republicans should have thought about that during the Obama and Trump administrations when the Republicans decided not to finance pandemic prevention. And, come on, most everything is made in China. If that needs to be changed it will take years.

Twitter post complaining about not wanting to require voter IDs but yes to requiring proof of vaccine. He doesn't understand why there should be proof of vaccination to do certain things but they don't want to require voter IDs. Duh. Not all states currently even require voter IDs. Does he understand we are in a pandemic situation? If we could have gotten everyone vaccinated and required everyone to where mask we might be in better shape and we might not have so many deaths. Particularly senior citizen deaths.

He just has to complain about something that the good people are trying to do to help this democracy. He's beginning to sound like Marsha.

A vaccination requirement still stands for millions of health care workers. Whereas, the "Supreme Court has blocked President Biden's vaccine mandate for large employers."

Several large employers are requiring vaccines.

"United [Airlines] CEO says vaccine mandate appears to have ended weekly deaths of employees from Covid."

Wells Fargo, "which had 230,000 employees as of its last annual report, has a mandate that closely resembles the federal vaccine-or-testing requirement."

"Citi’s [Bank] stricter vaccine mandate will still go into effect on Friday. The bank is requiring its 210,000 employees be vaccinated, or else be fired at the end of this month. Head of human resources Sara Wechter said Thursday evening that the company has reached 99% compliance."

"Apparently, there is still a federal rule for federal contractors in place that still requires vaccines. The federal rule covers companies like Boeing, with 141,000 employees, and Honeywell, which has 103,000 employees, American Airlines."

Sen. Marsha Blackburn criticized for saying judicial nominee has 'rap sheet' over court appearances and speeding tickets

Biden judicial nominee grilled amid objections by GOP home state senators

Tune in on Friday @ 9:30PM for Democratic TV’s MLK Day show. This week the show features a panel made up of these distinguished civil rights leaders in Knoxville:

The Reverend Dr. Harold Middlebrook, Civil Rights Leader Emeritus

Rev Sam Brown, President of the NAACP Chapter in Knoxville and pastor at the Logan Temple AME Zion Church

Rev Renee Kesler, President of the Beck Cultural Exchange Center

LaKenya Middlebrook, Knoxville City Director of Community Safety

Rev Sam Brown leads a lively discussion of the impact of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act on their lives over time as well as their hope for continued progress on voting rights and ballot access in the future.

DTV airs live on the Knoxville Community Television Network every Friday at 9:30 PM. The Community Television Network can be viewed at 9:30 PM on Friday on these stations.

AT&T Uverse: Channel 99
Comcast NBC Universal: Channel 12
WOW! Channel 6
Charter: Channel 193

Community TV can also live streams and 9”30 PM on Fridays (here!)

You can apply for 2022 Marketplace health insurance right now

You can apply for the first time, update, or change your plan for 2022. Open Enrollment ends January 15, 2022.

Birds were active around the feeders over the weekend during the snow. Species seen so far: Tufted titmouse, cardinal, chickadee, brown headed nuthatch, dark eyed junco, mockingbird, house finch, dove, blue jay, wren, red bellied woodpecker, eastern towhee, yellow bellied sapsucker, goldfinch, downy woodpecker, house sparrow, robin, plus one other as yet unidentified sparrow.

Click on image for a gallery of some photos taken from across the yard through a window.

The East Tennessee Children's Hospital and the Knox County Health Department partnered to sponsor Knoxville's first "Mega Children's Vaccine Clinic" in the Jacob Building, near Zoo Knoxville.

But, the COVID-19 vaccines are available to everyone, not just children.

Cynthia Finch, founder of New Direction Health Care is an event organizer. She says they hope to create a festival atmosphere. She has activities for the whole family, including a raffle of kids’ bicycles and a mobile arcade full of video games. Muse Knoxville is sponsoring a science of vaccines booth with educational activities for kids. A DJ will provide music. Friends of the Library is providing free books.

No appointments are necessary to get a COVID-19 vaccine at this clinic.

"When: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, January 8, 2022

Permissions: Children aged 16 and younger must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to receive a vaccine. Adults are welcome to receive vaccines or boosters. Volunteers will assist in planning second doses if needed."

On Jan. 6th, here is what our congressman chose to tweet:

Two matters of ethics:
1) ignoring this important anniversary
2) giving financial advice, considering his pre-pandemic stock dump. From the Tennesseean (May 26, 2020):
Burchett reported just one transaction – selling between $1,000 and $15,000 in stock of Denny’s, the breakfast restaurant, on Feb. 12.

Renaissance Terrace Assisted Living is announcing they will be shutting down April 15, 2022. "The facility opened with 50 resident rooms and community areas in 2008."

The facility gets $1,305 a month per resident from the TennCare Choices program. Most of us know that will not cover the necessary care for these residents. The facility has been losing $30,000 a month.

The "TennCare CHOICES program still has not released the $137,500,000 in new funds to home and community-based services (HCBS), such as Renaissance Terrace, from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)."

A small portion of those funds would keep this facility running for years. But, we know the kind of people running the Tennessee state government right now. Uncaring people.

It would be nice to contact someone who might support maintaining this facility, but I can only think of people from other states.

Update from KnoxTNToday, "Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, Tennessee Sen. Richard Briggs respond to Renaissance closure."

On Thursday, the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Tennessee chapter filed an amicus brief supporting the plaintiffs in the federal mask lawsuit, arguing "universal school masking policies substantially reduce the risk of death and serious illness among Tennessee's school-age children and their families."

National pediatricians' group joins federal suit to support Knox County Schools mask mandate

"Knoxville Fire Department investigators, along with assistance from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), have conducted a thorough scene investigation of the December 31st 710 N. Cherry Street - Planned Parenthood fire and determined the fire to have been purposely set by an individual or individuals who, at this time, remain unidentified," the fire department said in a statement.

New Year's Eve fire at Planned Parenthood facility in Tennessee was arson, officials say

A top Tennessee House Republican lawmaker has apologized for losing his temper and being ejected from watching a high school basketball game after a confrontation with a referee. The dustup included what appeared to be either a feigned or failed attempt at pulling down the official’s pants, according to video footage.

Tennessee lawmaker upset at game