It begins.

Live on C-SPAN

The officers spoke to Michael Pelletier, who is the Chief Operating Officer for TrueCore, which operates the facility. The officer noted that Pelletier was filling in for the facility's director, who had walked off and quit a few days earlier.

It took 24 officers to contain inmates at Mountain View facility in incident 1st reported as medical call

TrueCore Behavioral

Our first snow is 3 weeks earlier than last year. Looks like about an inch. Will it be gone by noon?

Voice prompted phone systems are driving me crazy. It's bad enough when you call a company that you have to go through the automated systems to get the help you need. But, now, instead of pressing a number for what services you need, the phone systems want you to speak your response. Not a number but a word or sentence. I'm pretty sure they don't have the nuances of different dialects. Thus you have to repeat yourself often to get the desired result.

Also, I love it when they start out saying the options have changed. Then they go into options for their address, directions, or website information. This takes up my time to actually get to the service person I need.

My call is very important to them? Really?

History of Veterans Day...

(link...)

Ghost is developing a kit that will allow privately owned passenger vehicles to drive autonomously on highways. And the company says it will deliver in 2020. A price has not been set, but the company says it will be less than what Tesla charges for its Autopilot package that includes “full self-driving” or FSD. FSD currently costs $7,000.
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The kit will let human drivers hand control of their vehicle over to a computer, allowing them to do other activities such as look at their phone or even doze off.
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While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration could potentially step in, Ghost’s approach, like Tesla, hits a sweet spot of non-regulation. It’s a space, that Hayes notes, where the government has not yet chosen to regulate.

What could possibly go wrong? Heh.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha... Do you hate us so much you have to lie and take away needed services?

... the Social Security Administration also announced that the amount of income subject to SSA taxes will be increased to $137,700. This is a 3.6% increase from the $132,900 of income... in 2019."

The cost of living adjustment for Social Security will be 1.6% in 2020. This is 43% percent less than the cost-of-living increase of 2.8% that was received this year, 2019.

However, the cost of living adjustment has been even less in the near past.

Historical cost of living adjustments: 2.0 in 2017, 0.3 in 2016, 0.0 in 2015.

"The average retiree will receive a bump of $24 to their average monthly Social Security benefits."
...

... the trustees for Medicare projected the standard monthly premium in 2020 for Medicare Part B, which would increase by $8.80 per month from $135.50 to $144.30 per person. This alone would eat more than a third of the 2020 Social Security cost of living increase."

...when half (most?) of the artists on your "favorites" playlist are deceased. Here's a partial list from mine...

Half of the Beatles. Most of the Allman Bros. Leon Russell. Jimi Hendrix. Janis Joplin. Elvis. Tom Petty. Joe Cocker. Prince. Glenn Campbell. Otis Redding. Aretha. Marvin Gaye. Half of Little Feat. James Brown. Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane). John Bonham. Keith Moon. Wilson Pickett. Johnny Cash. B.B. King. Terry Kath (Chicago). Ginger Baker (1/3 of Cream). Johnny Winter. Glen Frey (Eagles). Sonny Bono. Half of Sam & Dave. Frank Zappa. Stevie Ray Vaughan. Robert Palmer. Ric Ocasek (The Cars). Sharon Jones. David Bowie. Dick Dale. Walter Becker (half of Steely Dan). Maurice White (Earth Wind and Fire). George Jones. Almost half of Lynyrd Skynyrd. Toy and Tommy Caldwell (Marhhall Tucker Band). RIP.

On a more positive note, Keith Richards will outlive us all. After he plays at Eric Clapton's funeral.

Follow here...

Absentee/Early vote:

Kincannon: 48.76%
Mannis: 51.24%

Update: with 14 precincts reporting, Kincannon has taken a five point lead and Mannis has conceded.

It found the states’ decision over Medicaid expansion has had a cumulative impact on mortality among older adults, leading to 19,200 fewer deaths in Medicaid expansion states from 2014 to 2017, while states that decided against expansion “likely resulted in 15,600 additional deaths” that could have been avoided.

Continued...

Polls are open from 8AM to 8PM. Info here...

Mann Packing Co., Inc. (Salinas, CA) announced today the voluntary recall of a series of vegetable products sold to select retailers in the United States and Canada. The voluntary recall is a response to a notification by the Food and Drug Administration and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency of a potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. To date, public health officials have not reported any illness associated with these products.

The fresh vegetables are packed under various brands, e.g. Del Monte, Kroger, HEB, Mann's, Marketside, O Organics, Signature Farms, Sysco, Trader Joes.

We had a couple of rebates paid in the form of pre-paid credit cards. I was checking the balance on one of them and realized it was expired. Thankfully we had used all but about $5 of the value. Another one had not been used but expires this month. Glad I checked.

Anyway, these things are a pain to use at retailers because you may not know how much is left on the balance and/or end up trying to split the purchase amount between different cards/payment methods.

Solution (if you use Amazon): Add them to your Amazon gift card balance. That's what I did for the one that was expiring. The Amazon "reload" page is: https://www.amazon.com/asv/reload/. From there, add your rebate/pre-paid card as a new payment method. Then "reload" your balance for the full amount of the card using that card as the payment method. Wait a couple of days to make sure the transaction clears, then remove the card from your Amazon account.

The new rules would allow extensions that could keep unlined coal ash waste ponds open for up to eight additional years and allow plants to discharge wastewater that captures the waste through a membrane system, though many plants would be exempt.

EPA plans to relax coal power plant waste rules

EPA to scale back federal rules restricting waste from coal-fired power plants

One of the TVA towers in downtown Knoxville has been nearly empty for years. It would appear the towers are owned by TVA/the federal government.

Knox County is talking about leasing office space in the TVA towers. At 37 cents/sq foot. Downtown office space appears to be going for around $1.25/sq ft.

The University of Tennessee is talking about sub-leasing office space from Knox County in the TVA towers. At $1.00/sq ft. Wow! What a markup.

Hmmph... Are our federal tax dollars being wasted? Well, not wasted, manipulated maybe.

On the other hand, "The space would require tenant improvements at the cost of approximately $125 or less per square foot."

So how does that work out, 37 cents plus $125 (or less) per square foot? Of course the $125/sq ft will be allotted through multiple years.

Oh, and as of right now there is some controversy over security access to the building for the public.

A new video produced and released by East Knoxville's Park City Preservation Alliance (http://www.preserveparkcity.org/) is making the rounds on social media this weekend as a rallying cry to "Save Caswell Park." The video is a response to the City of Knoxville's proposal to re-zone a portion of the park from its protective "Park & Open Space" zoning to a planned residential development, effectively transferring public park land to private hands for housing.

To watch and share the video, visit: https://youtu.be/nKdtzEDJDWE

The ten minute documentary style video explains some of the history of the formerly segregated park, including the history that part of the park had been sold before (in the 1920s), and that several parks serving predominantly Black neighborhoods had been sold during the period of urban renewal.

The video captures the idea that when West Knoxville park land was threatened with residential development, the law was literally changed to prevent that from happening (giving rise to the City's protective "Park and Open Space" zoning, also known as OS-2). When an East Knoxville park serving a diverse, lower income neighborhood is again threatened with development, the City Administration says that law doesn't even apply.

Tuesday night's City Council meeting will determine if a secretive "Land Acquisition Committee" vote to dispose of park land, a planning commission recommendation based on misinformation, and five Council votes and two readings are all that stand between public park land being sold or given away for private development.

This is the first real test of the City's Park & Open Space zoning. The reality is that if the zoning is not protective of this park, it doesn't protect any park, and everyone's neighborhood park is just one development proposal away from being given away.

To watch and share the video, visit: https://youtu.be/nKdtzEDJDWE

To write your Council members and weigh in, visit http://knoxvilletn.gov/government/city_council/city_council_members.