Thursday, July 14, 2016

President Obama live talking about racial unrest:

You can watch ABC's special program (click here) 'The President and the People: A National Conversation' on ABC7 at 8 p.m. or right here:

The Green Party comes alive. Bernie supporters have found a new home.

July 13, 2016
By Tom Cahill
Jill Stein, the presumptive Green Party presidential nominee, (click here) is seeing an unprecedented surge of energy for her campaign in the wake of Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of Hillary Clinton.
Stein, who is running her second presidential campaign in four years, said donations to her campaign have increased tenfold in just over 24 hours, obviously due to Bernie Sanders’ endorsement of Hillary Clinton and a resulting fallout from the Democratic Party.
Since Tuesday morning, the Green Party has received over $80,000 in contributions, over half of which comes from first-time donors, and half of which comes in the form of contributions under $50. Tellingly, about 615 of those contributions totalled $27, the exact number commonly trumpeted and solicited by the Sanders campaign during his revolutionary grassroots funding movement.
“There’s been an explosion of Berners coming in through every portal of the campaign, and it’s really exciting,” Stein told US Uncut in a phone interview. “There is so much courage out there to stand up to the marching orders handed down by the usual suspects.”...

Green Party presumptive nominee for President of the USA would also expand the "Whistleblower Law" and have a provision for pardons when information has proven to be valuable to the country.

July 14, 2016
By Tom Cahill
Edward Snowden, (click here) America’s #1 fugitive, would not only get a full pardon under a Jill Stein administration, but would get a promotion to one of the highest levels of government.
“[Snowden] has done an incredible service to our country at great cost to himself for having to live away from his family, his friends, his job, his network, to basically live as an expatriate,” Stein said during a livestreamed town hall with supporters on her Facebook page.
“I would say not only bring Snowden back, but bring him into my administration as a member of the Cabinet, because we need people who are part of our national security administration who are really, very patriotic,” Stein continued. “If we’re really going to protect American security, we also have to protect our Constitutional rights, and that includes our right to privacy.”
In addition to pardoning Snowden, the presumptive Green Party presidential nominee has also said she would grant full pardons to government whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who leaked what became known as the Afghan War Diary and Iraq War Logs, including the infamous “Collateral Murder” video of US helicopters killing journalists in Iraq to WikiLeaks.
Stein would have also pardoned John Kiriakou,  a former CIA analyst who was the first to leak confirmation of waterboarding torture to the media and served 30 months in prison. Stein also said she would have pardoned Aaron Swartz, the MIT student and Reddit cofounder who leaked academic research to the public. However, Swartz committed suicide in 2013 after being threatened with 35 years in federal prison and $1 million in fines for the MIT information leak....
July 14, 2016
6:00 PM EST
US current temperature map (click here)

The Atlantic Hurricane season is fairly mute so far. But, the eastern Pacific is churning them out one after the other. This is a permanent shift in the climate. it is not to say there won't still be storms and some impressive storms in the Atlantic, but, the majority are not occurring in the eastern Pacific. Unfortunately, the last few years have not proven to be an improvement for southern Caifornia's drought.

The string of hurricanes in the eastern Pacific does work to control the heat on the North American continent. The heat would actually be far worse if the eastern Pacific wasn't this active. Hurricanes do heat the oceans which causes ice melt and sea level rise.

Usually, August and early September are the hottest because fo the season long exposure to direct solar rays. Expect the hottest summer on record. Do not under estimate what may becoming our way.


July 14, 2016
2130
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the north and west hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop-thank you)

Is the driver of the truck in France dead?

July 14, 2016
Krishnadev Calamur

What we know: (click here)
—There appear to be casualties in Nice, France, after a vehicle reportedly drove into the crowds celebrating Bastille Day.
—We’re live-blogging the major updates. All updates are in Eastern Standard Time (GMT -5)....

The truck has not exploded. I would think bomb squads would be in the area preparing to examine the truck. 

Beautiful cities should have designated areas where people can be safe and their city safe.

It is important to report these violent occurrences, but, regardless of the cause, the people should be staged in areas where they are protected from trucks of any kind. Cars for that matter.

I am not waving a flag, but, New York City does a magnificent job in crowd control, closing streets and limiting any issue with backpacks, etc. The people have a great time because they are safe as well as joyful.

The French government loves their people and all these disastrous events are fairly new to their governments. There are too many dangers in our societies to think the worst is over. Protective barriers where people gather should be made safe from even a run away truck if that is what this is. 

My sympathies to France and a completely terrible event on a day when celebration is a part of life.

"The Vote" by each American defines its democracy.

The Dump Trump Movement (DTM) is typical Republican establishment. They attack the vote. They do it in the states with oppressive policies including Voter ID. Here it is again at the very nominating convention and the establishment is once again attacking the vote.

The DTM is removing the people that voted in the primaries from their decisions. There is only ONE run of primaries to nominate a Presidential nominee. This needs to be a real lesson for the entire country. The Republican establishment is as corrupt as it comes.

The Republican Establishment is corrupt to the core. The candidate that comes out of the Republican convention will completely disregard the voter and do as they please to provide profits to Wall Street cronies regardless of the damage to the middle class or poor. And there will be cuts to domestic policies that support the Working Poor and international policies that are suppose to empower women.

If Donald Trump is not the Republican nominee then people will be voting for Wall Street corruption.

Taking away the meaning of 'the vote' is not democracy. Think about it. Do Americans want corruption or their democracy?

China refused shipments of GMO grain from the USA.

What was that about exporting USA agricultural products? Vilsack is about Monsanto. It would be completely unfair to state small family farms have not flourished under his leadership and I think his policies minimized the impact of the bird flu in the USA.
But, when thinking about TPP, there are real questions about his support of the ? free trade ? policies. Monsanto. TPP is all about Monsanto. The return of the small family American farm is about domestic sales and primarily local economies.

Washington, Oct. 5, 2015 – Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack (click here) today made the following statement following the successful conclusion of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership:

"An agreement on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations provides a more level playing field in trade for American farmers. The agreement would eliminate or significantly reduce tariffs on our products and deter non-science based sanitary and phytosanitary barriers that have put American agriculture at a disadvantage in TPP countries in the past. Despite these past barriers, countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership currently account for up to 42 percent of all U.S. agricultural exports, totaling $63 billion. Thanks to this agreement and its removal of unfair trade barriers, American agricultural exports to the region will expand even further, particularly exports of meat, poultry, dairy, fruits, vegetables, grains, oilseeds, cotton and processed products.

"Increased demand for American agricultural products and expanded agricultural exports as a result of this agreement will support stronger commodity prices and increase farm income. Increased exports under TPP will create more good paying export-related jobs, further strengthening the rural economy. Today, agricultural trade supports more than 1 million jobs here at home and contributes a trade surplus year after year to our nation's economy. All of this activity benefits rural communities and keeps American agriculture on the cutting edge of global commerce. The TPP agreement will contribute to the future strength of American agriculture and helps to ensure that the historic agricultural trade gains achieved under President Obama since 2009 will continue....

I do not lie.

December 27, 2016
By Richard Lopez

China rejected two shipments (click here) -- almost 546,000 tons -- of U.S. dried distillers' grain, a corn byproduct, because it contained genetically modified material, state media reported Friday.
China's top food-quality watchdog rejected the two shipments because they contained MIR162, a special insect-resistant variety of maize developed by Syngenta, a Swiss maker of seeds and pesticides.
The first shipment, 545,000 tons, was rejected last week in Shanghai, state media said. The second shipment, 758 tons, was rejected Monday.
MIR162 is not on the Chinese government's short list of approved grains considered genetically modified organisms, or GMO....

Legislators know this is wrong and acts against the middle class and poor.

Blatant, open, shameful corruption. This action by OUR government chooses to the victim that cannot counter the attack on their household's financial stability. The New York Times should be commended for bringing the truth forward. There peril within that truth. There will be a backlash against the New York Times. Or at least a backlash will be tried.

The financial institutions in the USA are corrupt to the core and the legislators Americans count on to protect them and improve their quality of life (the birthright of the USA of upward movement) is doing exactly the opposite. How does it feel to be violated by the man or woman elected to office? I know Americans will feel betrayed, but, the legislator won't. If anything the legislator is looking to more of the same and wealth that will sustain after they leave office including becoming a lobbyist in a year or two. 

This is the American government. "AMERICANS FOR SALE."

July 14, 2016
By Ben Protess, Jessica Silver Greenberg and Rachel Abrams

But Ms. Lundy (click here) is not a lawmaker, a government employee or even a statehouse intern.

She is a lobbyist for one of the nation’s largest lenders.

That lender — controlled by the Fortress Investment Group, one of Wall Street’s most powerful private equity firms — wrote the bill. Months later, in 2014, the state’s legislators passed the law, making it easier to charge interest of 36 percent to borrowers living on the financial margins.

The political access in Arizona was just one component of a broader effort to loosen consumer protection laws, according to emails obtained through public records requests. In nine other states, Ms. Lundy’s client helped win legislative changes, persuading lawmakers that it needed to raise costs to stay in business and serve borrowers.

Since the 2008 financial crisis, Fortress and other private equity firms have rapidly expanded their influence, assuming a pervasive, if under-the-radar, role in daily American life, an investigation by The New York Times has found. Sophisticated political maneuvering — including winning government contracts, shaping public policy and deploying former public officials to press their case — is central to this growth....

These financial institutions are the ones that will profit the most from the TPP. They are collecting up monies with double fists; the exploitation of international trade and the working poor. 

Got that?

These financial institutions know there will be impoverishment in the USA with the TPP and in the face of that truth exploit the impoverished anyway. 

Got that?

Please understand the heartless and cruel mind of the CEO of a financial institution. It is all about money and NOT about responsible business practices that grows an economy and provides for quality of life of a country of people.

Got that?

Wall Street PLANS on the impoverishment to maintain their cash flow.

What company groaned when President Obama ended the reduction in SSI tax as the economy recovered from 2008 economic collapse? Was it a Fifth Avenue company store? No. It was Walmart.

Got that?