Monday, February 25, 2019

Serges Lavrov is in Vietnam to pick up another bundle of highly classified USA intelligence as yet another payment for making Trump President of the USA. Lavrov is there because Putin ordered it. How many documents can one person place in their underwear without being detected? Their shoes? Their soxes? Inside their shirt and jacket or inside a long tie? My guess is a lot considering the size of microfilm.

Walmart's war on the disabled. What did Trump do to weaken the American with Disabilities Act?

Walmart forgets who many of their customers are. When driving into a Walmart parking lot what becomes very noticeable are a large number of handicapped parking spaces. The handicapped spaces at Walmart are usually full.

Despite several attempts to talk to the management at Walmart, Adam is unemployed.

February 19, 2019
By Charles Thompson

Adam Catlin, 30, is worried that restrictions from his cerebral palsy will cost him his longtime job at a Selinsgrove Walmart as the store transitions away from the traditional "people greeter" role.

A business decision (click here) by the nation’s largest retailer to revamp the role of the “people greeter” may have the perverse effect of costing a Snyder County man his job.

And for Adam Catlin and the customers he’s welcomed over the last 10 years with a big “hello”, this isn’t any old job in an ever-changing economy. Working the front door at the Walmart in Selinsgrove, Snyder County, has become the occupational sun around which his universe orbits.

You see Adam, age 30, lives with cerebral palsy.

The condition and its complications have left him, according to his family, unable to walk without a walker, lacking in fine motor skills with his hands, and legally blind.

But he can smile and cheer people up like nobody’s business, so the job as a front-of-the-store greeter - which Adam has held since shortly after his graduation from Midd-West High School - has made him a kind of a superstar in this river town about 60 miles north of Harrisburg....

Adam isn't the only American out of work because Walmart hates the disabled. Meet John Combs. This is very hard to accept. In the case of Mr. Combs, he has a dog to support. That dog is vital to Mr. Combs day to day activities. This is outrageous.

This is coming at a time when people have to work to maintain their Food Stamp benefit. I find this entire action by Walmart very suspicious.

February 25, 2019
By Alina Selyukh

John Combs is a "people greeter" at a Walmart in Vancouver, Wash. But he has been told that come April 25, his job is going away. And he is not alone.

If you ask John Combs (click here) what his biggest worry is, he'll say: "How will I feed Red?"

Red is actually white. He's a labradoodle rescue, just tall enough for Combs to pet if he reaches over the armrest of his wheelchair. Combs, 42, has cerebral palsy. He has difficulty speaking. But he has no difficulty saying the line most Americans have heard at least once: "Welcome to Walmart!"

Combs has one of Walmart's trademark front-door jobs: He's a "people greeter" at a store in Vancouver, Wash. But, he was told, come April 25 his job is going away. And he is not alone. According to Walmart, greeters are being removed at about 1,000 stores around the country.

NPR has found that Walmart is changing the job requirements for front-door greeters in a way that appears to disproportionately affect workers with disabilities. Greeters with disabilities in five states told NPR they expect to lose their jobs after April 25 or 26....

Who is surprised Trump is lying about the collapse of Venezuela?

This is a no brainer, it is just that THE TRUTH doesn't fit into Trump's political strategy. Got that one Facebook? This political rhetoric is a HUGE lie!

Venezuela's economic collapse has nothing to do with socialism or communism or anything other than an economy that is NOT DIVERSIFIED.

The people of Venezuela need humanitarian relief. As soon as there is food in their bellies and clean water to drink, the civil unrest in the country will stop. Maduro has instead of addressing the humanitarian need of the country, turned to Russia for $1 trillion in weapons. That money was sorely needed for the people. I am not surprised they are unhappy with Maduro. He is a foolish leader without answers for his people.

Russia needs to return those monies to Venezuela in order for the people to rehabilitate their economy and provide a better future for Venezuelan children. I always faulted Hugo Chavez for his outsourcing higher education of his own people. Venezuela can be a great country, but, it needs to change drastically to return civil obedience to the people. Included in that change is hope for the future of every Venezuelan child.

Hugo Chavez was quick to point out the problems with other countries that didn't appreciate his leadership. But, he rarely reflected on the demoralized lifestyle of the Venezuelan people in comparison to the quality of life of the rest of the world. Venezuela was never much of a sovereignty, considering it didn't value a brain trust.

It is a heavy lift for a country void of wealth and the brain trust to change it's path to prosperity.

February 24, 2019
By Jon Lee Anderson

...Venezuela (click here) has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, but since the 2014 crash in world oil prices, on which Venezuela depended for more than ninety per cent of its export revenues, its economy has contracted continuously, unleashing an economic crisis worse than that experienced by Americans during the Great Depression....

Where are the NFL sanctions on Kraft? The word "Cheating" never seems to leave the sport.

February 25, 2019

Authorities say New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft (click here) visited a Florida massage parlor for sex acts on the morning of the AFC Championship Game, which he attended in Kansas City later that day.

According to documents released by the Palm Beach State Attorney's Office on Monday, it was the second visit by Kraft to the parlor in less than 24 hours.

The documents say Kraft arrived at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa in a chauffeured 2015 blue Bentley at 11 a.m. on Jan. 20. He was videotaped receiving oral and manual sex from a woman at the spa in Jupiter. Officials say he gave her a $100 bill and another bill before leaving at 11:15 a.m.

The AFC Championship Game against the host Chiefs kicked off at 6:40 p.m. ET. Kraft was in attendance....

Of course he was in the stadium, he has to keep up appearances as if he is not guilty. I can't wait to see what Fan Appreciation Day includes for the Patriots, condoms and call girl phone numbers.

I am sure prostitution will be the new recruitment tool during "the draft."

Away games have never meant so much.

Let's see, what about JUST A FINE to bring some extra cash into the Florida economy.

The women will be charged with solicitation and face jail time, but, Kraft will buy his freedom with lawyers and a bankroll big enough to continue his dirty habit.

How young were the prostitutes? I hear they can be children and still get away with it under Trump. As a matter of fact, Kraft should tap Trump's labor secretary for advice.

Ah, yes, the excesses of wealth. A man can buy anything, even his own pimp

This won't effect The Patriots eighth record-setting $uperbowl victory facing off with another club with too much merchandise in the warehouse, will it? There are many leaving their credit cards open for the ticket scalpers.

The rumor is out there that Russia is paying it's bills with scalped $uperbowl tickets. It is called money laundering. It still hasn't found a safe market for Venezuela's gold yet.

Speaking of Venezuela, has anyone called Halliburton, by the way? They thrive in times of war. I am sure they won't mind working for Maduro.

February 8, 2019
By Scott Smith

Punto Fijo, — Nieves Ribullen, (click here) a Venezuelan oil worker sick of struggling to get by as his country falls apart, is betting it all on Iraq’s far-away Kurdish region to give his family a better life.

Over the years he’s watched dozens of co-workers abandon poverty wages and dangerous working conditions at the rundown complex of refineries in Punto Fijo on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast for jobs in far-flung places like Kuwait, Angola and Chile....
The Mueller Special Council has turned up an incredible number of lawbreakers and even more indictments of the laws they broke. The Special Council has a single purpose and that is to investigate the unlawful activity affiliated with KNOWN hacking of a political party and candidate in the 2016 elections.

The Special Council is funded through the budget the Congress passes. The Executive Branch has no right to block distribution of the Mueller report resulting from the Special Council. Each branch of the legislature should receive the report, read through it and realize the extent the American political system was compromised by Russia. There is no denying it. The hacking was real and it is documented.

Realizing the country was compromised by a hostile enemy whom only within the last few days has promised nuclear holocaust, the legislature needs to write new laws in the form of a bill to end the possibility of such influence by other countries. Congress has a right to the Special Council findings. It is just that simple and anyone in the US House demanding no OBSTRUCTION of the Special Council report is not practicing politics, they are standing up for the US Constitution. There is nothing complicated about this.
I don't know why Facebook is unable to handle false news. Wikipedia went through the same thing a long time ago. I suggest Facebook improve its business model. How many definitions of THE TRUTH exists in any paragraph?

The Imperial Presidency no longer exists. The legislature has to do it's job and with qualified members lacking ideology in their politics.

Donald Trump is tearing up nuclear weapon treaties without the Congress moving forward with alternatives, he is making nice-nice to North Korea while demanding Congress defund American troops in South Korea. 

If Vladimir Putin were president of the USA he would be doing the same thing. 

Donald Trump is a communist.

The modern day communists are incredible capitalists. There is no reason to trust Trump on any nuclear weapon treaty. He submits no proof to the safety of democracy or The West while he is making these decisions.

The USA legislature needs to do their job and demand proof of troop withdrawal and any change in funding. The War Powers Act exists for a reason and now the legislature has to complete the picture and demand proof of troop withdrawal, especially when it involves allies.

What is being seen with Donald Trump is complete disregard of freedom and democracy. The Republicans crying "Liberty" do not have an ally with Trump, they have someone taking radical actions in the name of COST that exposes the USA to danger. Perhaps, the right wing of the Republican Party are communists in disguise with names as "The Tea Party."

Trump's corrupt administration is overcome easily enough if there is no cooperation between the DOJ and the House Intelligence Committee.

February 24, 2019

A top Democrat (click here) threatened on Sunday to call special counsel Robert Mueller to testify on Capitol Hill, subpoena documents and take the Trump administration to court if necessary, if the full report on the Russia investigation is not made public....

There is no respect for the legislature and it's responsibility to the people of this country with the Trump administration. The Executive Branch acts on USA legislation to protect and defend the USA. The legislative branch is where the power has always been. It passes laws that reflect the will of the people.

The American people forgot how their government works and the competency at the legislative level needed to write laws that matter.

Figure heads, like Trump, can work in the Executive Branch where others carry out the majority of the responsibility. But, that model does not work well anywhere else in the federal or state governments. Legislators have to know what they are doing.

The Climate Crisis has to be viewed as one of the most urgent needs in the political races of 2020.

The Climate Crisis has a time line of 11 years. The response required demands USA leadership to act like the First World nation it is SUPPOSED TO BE.

There is no road to kick the can down. The petroleum industry's voice is poison to a First World Country. Every other First World country has already moved forward on the terminal timeline of the Climate Crisis. Enough. The USA must move into it's leadership role.

There is no more time. 2030 is upon us and the USA has to move into a new method of energy that will insure American lives forever. Forever is real. Developing energy that does not assault Earth's atmospheres is forever. That is a legacy issue every person seeking leadership in the USA has to address. 

The USA needs far more mass transit, it needs infrastructure eliminating at every turn greenhouse gas emissions. Now. Not in 2024 or 2028. Now. The time is now. As soon as the USA prioritizes the climate as a real path forward, the dialogue will reveal the existing crisis throughout the world. There is a reality Americans don't see because it is unpopular to address it. The "Real Time" world today is horrific in the dynamics occurring all over the planet due to the Climate Crisis.

It is not going away. This is real. This has to take precedence over any political issue. No more looking the other way. There is no alternative. The climate of Earth has to take priority.


21 February 2019
By Arthur Neslen


Climate change (click here) was responsible for the majority of under-reported humanitarian disasters last year, according to analysis of more than a million online news stories.

Whole populations were affected by food crises in countries ravaged by by drought and hurricanes such as Ethiopia and Haiti, yet neither crisis generated more than 1,000 global news stories each.

In Madagascar, more than a million people went hungry as corn, cassava and rice fields withered under drought and severe El Niño conditions. Almost half the country’s children have been stunted, but their suffering sparked few headlines....

Lisa Borders is not responsible for her son's behavior.

Ms. Borders now has her own story to tell facing a son's assault of a woman. We need to hear it all. It is somewhat the next layer of facing the sexual assault that is at epidemic rates.

Composite from top left: (click here) Emilia Clarke, Emma Watson, Naomie Harris, Poppy Delevigne, Noma Dumezweni, Gemma Arterton, Nicola Walker, Noomi Rapace, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Emma Thompson, Thandie Newton, Ophelia Lovibond, Saoirse Ronan, Samantha Morton, Carey Mulligan...

...All over the world, women have been organising, resisting and speaking out – from Ni Una Más in Latin America and the #lifeinleggings movement in the Caribbean, to the Balance Ton Porc movement in France and the #EverydaySexism hashtag in the UK. You might have seen #MeToo. You may have said: “Me too.”...

There is no stopping this. 
The Oscars were exceptional last night. I liked the presenters handling the entire show. It was nice. The final stage for Best Picture was a delight to see for it's diversity. Americans can be proud of their movie industry. The drastic change had to occur in a way that was visual and they rose to the need of the country.