Doctors Are Not ‘Steering Clear’ of Medicare

Despite what Republicans say, a study shows that physicians are not turning away elderly patients on the insurance plan; after revelations about the NSA, the American public has becoming increasingly discontent with government protection of privacy; meanwhile, television host Jimmy Kimmel duped the world with a disastrous twerking YouTube video that proves how easy it is to divert attention from serious matters. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

Public Doubts Rise On Surveillance, Privacy Following disclosures about the National Security Agency’s massive surveillance programs, a majority of Americans believe the U.S. government is doing a poor job of protecting privacy rights, according to a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Google and edX Create a MOOC Site for the Rest of Us Until now, massive open online courses have mostly reinforced existing hierarchies in higher education.

Study Debunks Myth of Doctors Fleeing Medicare The claim has become a staple of Republican efforts to undermine the Affordable Care Act and transform Medicare into a system in which future elderly receive vouchers to purchase health insurance in the private market.

How Jimmy Kimmel Tricked the Internet into Believing in the Worst Twerk Ever Last week, a video of a woman catching fire during a twerking session gone wrong made the Internet rounds and amassed over 9 million views on YouTube.

Fake ‘Dominatrix’ Lures Slaves for Farm Work Several sadomasochists eagerly responded to an advert posted by an Austrian woman farmer seeking clients.

Obama’s Rogue State Tramples Over Every Law It Demands Others Uphold For 67 years the US has pursued its own interests at the expense of global justice – no wonder people are skeptical now.

Putin Sets the Record Straight A prominent Russian screenwriter working on a ?lm of Tchaikovsky’s life that has just received state financing caused an uproar this week by saying that the biopic will not focus on the homosexuality of the composer because “it is far from a fact that Tchaikovsky was a homosexual.”

Defining Gender Categories How many sociologists does it take to develop a working set of gender categories?

Ad­juncts Are Bet­ter Teachers Than Tenured Professors, Study Finds Students learned more when their first in­struc­tor in a dis­ci­pline was not on the ten­ure track, as com­pared with those whose in­tro­duc­tory pro­fes­sor was tenured, ac­cord­ing to a new pa­per from Northwestern University.