Snyder should just plead guilty before some real charges are finally leveled against him.

Of course, Snyder's lawyers are going to appeal. I think the State of Michigan is still picking up the tab for the lawyers, right? Why not appeal?

Last week I discussed the little-known antiquated Michigan law that allows a one-person grand jury. All this requires some degree of investigation to find out why the case against Snyder wasn't appropriately pled before a jury of 16 or more people. Perhaps, the state will once again look into the outcomes of the one-person grand jury and rethink the charges against Snyder. There is no reason to undo the current misdemeanors, but, there is sufficient reason to bring in a new grand jury to examine the real reasons why Snyder is charged and add to his crimes.

The people of Flint deserve sincere justice. This is so racist in it's entire course there has to be a reconvening of a proper grand jury to render additional charges to Snyder. He was the impetus to the crimes that occurred in Flint. He was the one that covered everything up when the federal EPA wrote HIM and demanded something be done about the water quality. There is a good chance the federal system can look into the EPA's efforts and the willful disregard by Snyder and bring their own charges. It should be brought to the attention of the federal EPA's attention with requests for additional charges against the former governor.

March 18, 2021
By Ed White

Detroit - A judge on Thursday(click here) rejected a request to dismiss misdemeanor charges against a former Michigan governor in the Flint water scandal.

Lawyers for Rick Snyder said he worked in Ingham County, not Genesee County, so the indictment from a one-person grand jury was returned in the wrong place....

The crimes occurred in Genesee County. All of a sudden the charges have to be filed in the defendant's county of residency? If that is the case every other criminal case ever brought in the USA should be dismissed. I guess the lawyers have to try. The proper jurisdiction is Genesee County. Now, if the lawyers are concerned about a biased jury, the trial could possibly be brought elsewhere, like Detroit.

...But Judge William Crawford II said prosecutors have flexibility about where to pursue a case.

If the former Republican governor goes to trial, a jury will be asked to determine if charges of willful neglect of duty occurred in the boundaries of Flint and Genesee County, Crawford said.

The attorney general's office has “intimate knowledge” of what the investigation revealed and where, the judge said.

“The state Legislature does not want strict adherence to territorial boundaries applied to nebulous concepts of venue," especially if it could "impede justice,” Crawford said....

Since when does a legislative body weigh in on a criminal trial? This entire episode with Snyder and the Republican Michigan State legislature is a crime. Maybe the members of the legislature that acted to destroy the referendum by the people in an open and free election should be tried. It might be a good idea to look at that as well. A State hearing about the disregarded referendum will never happen, so maybe the State Attorney General needs to look into the ethical and criminal statutes to determine if members of the Michigan legislature acted to CAUSE greater harm to the people of the state, including Flint by destroying the referendum voted on by the people to end the Emergency Manager law.

...Snyder's attorneys plan to appeal. It's the first of what will be many aggressive challenges to an unprecedented case against a sitting or former Michigan governor for alleged acts while in office....

I really believe this episode of "citizens endangerment and death" is a human rights violation committed by people that legislate laws and those that carry them out. There must be a way to hold all involved responsible.

The Plutocrats are dictating our democracy.

The cost of filibustering? OMG. The reason the filibuster is nothing but hot air is that when a filibuster MUST be through speaking and debating Senators, it removes them from raising money full time. That is also why the Senate is always asking for a quorum call. Everyone is in their offices raising money. They aren't governing.

President Biden after leaving the Vice Presidency stated as a private citizen, he was making money he never saw before. Why? Because he was more interested in doing his job, then begging for campaign donations. It is true. President Biden never dreamed of being a billionaire, he wanted to protect the country and it's constitution. He never made vast money UNTIL HE LEFT OFFICE, not during.

March 19, 2021
By Jonathan R. Siegel

...According to this theory, (click here) there are two reasons filibusters have metastasized from an occasional problem into a constant catastrophe. First, in earlier times, senators shared a social understanding that filibusters should be reserved for matters of critical importance, whereas today the Senate minority routinely filibusters everything it doesn’t like. Second, in earlier times, filibustering senators had to work hard to filibuster, whereas today they have it too easy. And while everyone agrees that not much can be done about the first point in this hyperpartisan era, some people think a lot could be done by attacking the second.

Starting in the 1970s, Senate rules created a “dual-tracking system” under which filibusters didn’t have to involve constantly debating a bill on the Senate floor. Such debate ate up too much floor time, so bills that were being filibustered were instead shunted off to a separate track. This had the advantage of allowing the Senate to work on something else while the majority tried to win enough votes to end the filibuster, but it also reduced the cost of filibustering, thereby making it more common. If filibustering senators didn’t actually have to hold the floor and debate (which in addition to being physically taxing left them less time to do other things, including raising money), then they’d be more likely to filibuster, leading to the never-ending filibuster jam the Senate is in now....

The filibuster is an unseemly rule of the US Senate. There is nothing honorable about the filibuster. Sure it is clever and even sexy, but, governing should never be about being clever, it should be about being honest.

No one is governing. Filibusters? Fund raising while in session? All these measures are slimy and define a US Senate that is easily manipulated by money. The most dramatic of recent years is Moscow Mitch and his immediate change in vote as soon as a Russian Oligarch offered to build a steel rolling plant in Kentucky to help with jobs. That is quid pro quo and McConnell got away with it.

These are priorities of wealthy Senators seeking greater wealth and will do so at any cost. The two new Georgia Senators won because President Biden asked the voters of Georgia to help with his agenda to instill profound change in this country while ending the SARS-C0V-2 pandemic in the USA. Yes, that is true. But there is also another reason.

David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler are knee deep in securities scandals.

David Purdue decides not to run for US Senate in 2022 (click here).

Purdue was a wealhty man looking to be wealthier while in the US Senate and using the information he had before him, secret or not, to attain that goal. Those governing in the federal government have used their power and office to become wealthy and wealthier. That is not REMOTELY why the American people vote and vote for people they believe to be honest and willing to bring about the laws they believe will improve their lives.

October 22, 2020
By Brian Clark and Tala Hadavi

Four U.S. senators (click here) were accused in March of using insider information about the coronavirus pandemic to profit in the stock market.

A couple of months later, the investigations into Sens. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Dianna Feinstein, D-Calif., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., were closed. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., stepped down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee amid the allegations.

Until the 2008 financial crisis, lawmakers were under few restrictions, and the public wasn’t able to find out much about lawmakers’ investments. In 2012, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act was passed to clean up Washington. But recent events have yet again thrust the issue to the forefront....

Kelly Loeffler is beleived to be worth over a half billion US. (click here) and at the time the wealthiest elected legislator in the Congress.

The filibuster, talking or otherwise, will do nothing but obstruct very important and needed reforms in the USA government. This is ridiculous. The people in the USA need their civil rights returned and some furthered to become citizens and voters themselves. It is long overdue as well as all the other highly important issues before this Congress. If the Democrats fail the people this time again, they may never see a majority again to do what needs to be done.

The Democrats have an opporunity with Joe Biden as President to carry out an aggressive agenda that will make them heroes. They cannot fail us and if affection of a Senate rule that turns the USA majority in elections into disenfrancised, then it will be a world lost and out of reach to most Americans. People will suffer without this agenda passed and safely instituted.

I think the Democrats know what they have to do, but, are too attached to the romance of the powerful Senate to get out of their own way.

...The problem is that, under the Senate’s current rules, all-night talking filibusters would just end up imposing more costs on the majority senators than the minority senators. If the Democrats want to steer around the filibuster, they’re going to have to embrace actual change to the rules. There are good reasons to think hard before abolishing the filibuster altogether, but it would at least work. Bringing back talking filibusters would not.

Congratulations to Secretary Xavier Becerra.

March 18, 2021
By Eli Stokols

Washington - Xavier Becerra was narrowly confirmed (click here) as the Health and Human Services secretary on Thursday on a near party-line vote.

The Senate voted 50-49 in favor of Becerra, who will be the first Latino to lead the agency. The vote also made him President Biden’s 20th appointee confirmed by the equally divided Senate. He resigned later Thursday as attorney general of California.

All Democrats backed his nomination, while Republicans were nearly united in opposition, with many pointing to his past comments and record as attorney general of having led more than 150 Democratic legal challenges to Trump administration policies....

The Republicans didn't like him because Secretary Becerra believes in confidentially between a doctor and the woman seeking health care.

A cool one million US dollars was spent to defeat Secretary Becerra in his confirmation. A million dollars is a lot to pass up for Republicans. The opposition was willing to spend that kind of money to defeat an HHS Secretary, then Republicans were opposed as well.

So who opposed the nomination? A good guess is the healthcare insurance sector. Secretary Becerra backs "Medicare for All."

A point of pride for Democratic lawmakers is the immigration background of Secretary Becerra. Both his parents are Mexican immigrants that met in the USA. Secretary Becerra was born in the USA, but, has an intimate knowledge of the difficulties migrants face for their healthcare. I am confident he will do a remarkable job as HHS Secretary.

There are no terms for a debate. Putin is trying to build up his political support in Russia.

2nd COVID-2 vaccine went without a hitch.

But. I reported my previous episode of fatigue and rapid heart rate and the thing the doctor (Yes, a doctor. - Local public health clinic is handling vaccine administration and record keeping. Good idea to consolidate records for any unusual reactions.) asked was whether I took a blood pressure medication.

I hadn’t taken the Losartan I usually take when I took the 2nd vaccine. I figured it out, but, here sat the doctor asking me a question and validating my own conclusions. 

I told her I take a daily blood pressure medication every morning. She stated there was probably an interaction with the two medications and caused a systemic reaction. I never told her I figured it out. That would have lead to a more extensive conversation neither of us had time for. She made me wait for a half hour before I was allowed to go on my way.

I was administered the vaccine at 10:30 am yesterday and the only reaction I have is a sore vaccination site. I expected at least that considering this was the second invasion of “Moderna” mRNA.

It is my conclusion based on experience the mRNA, while a very successful immunity thus far, initiated an immune response through an invasion of a foreign body. The genetically engineered foreign body that triggered the response is wrapped in friendly fluids to the human body unless allergic to any of the transport media.

That immune response will cause vasodilation and will drop the blood pressure. This probably didn’t show up in any trials of the two mRNA vaccines, but, will show up on a broader distribution size of a population. 

I LIKE THIS VACCINE A LOT.

Don’t get me wrong.

This is an incredible break through in medical science. Imagine being able to translate this technology into vaccines for Ebola, Zika and every other nasty disease out there. We can worry a little less about weird Chinese Wet Markets.

But, I still haven’t taken the Losartan yet. I have a home blood pressure cuff and am testing a couple times a day. I will return to daily routines when the injection site is back to normal unless my pressure starts to creep up.

I am not a youngster. The older person might be a careful study for medical research. The mRNA vaccines will become more common place and the “shock like” reaction that starts the immune response needs to be perfected by physicians. People will need to be educated as to their medication regime WITH and AT THE TIME of the injections. No physician I know will tell a patient to suspend blood pressure medication for a shot in the arm.

SARS-CoV-2 is not the flu. The mRNA vaccines ARE MEDICAL PROCEDURES not just a vaccination.

I feel fine and expect to stay that way.

One more thing. I was told it would take two weeks for full immunity. Being with friends and family in small groups and without a mask is okay after the two weeks. But, being fully immune can be a danger to others that are not. How? The nose. In two weeks I will not know if the virus has made its way to my nose. If I cough, sneeze, talk or simply breath close to other people not immune I can pass on the virus while I am well.

BE A GREAT PERSON and continue to wear masks, social distance, practice excellent hand hygiene and don’t touch the face without first excellent hand hygiene.

GET VACCINATED and TRUST THE SCIENCE.

I carry a card now with the type of vaccine and lot numbers as well as the dates of each vaccination. I just added it to my standard medical information in my wallet. The same information is in me electrical health record. I like carrying the card in case “the net” fails.

The comments that are made as if "oops" just being a doofus are no longer acceptable.

Any eighth-grader knows that when speaking publically at a microphone there is a proper way to address basically complete strangers as information is provided. The officer is it Capt. Jay Baker, should be placed on leave while the comments are investigated. There are anti-American people in law enforcement and this may be another one. 

Has law enforcement come to the conclusion Robert Aaron Long is a White Supremacist/Nationalist? Because it is getting to be routine to see a twenty-something white man pick up a gun and start shooting minorities in this country. 

We know there is probably an endless supply of young twenty-somethings in the USA ready to kill for "the cause" of White Supremacy/Nationalist or whatever one wants to call it. The White Supremacist/Nationalists are and have actively recruited older boys at the age of puberty, age 12, 13, 14, or older. Then when they are twenty-something and estranged from a society where a young man would get a job and be anxious to support himself to win over the girl of his dreams, they become violent and ready to kill. 

There are no longer doofus remarks at news conferences. The facts and only the facts, please. No opinions are necessary. The American people can understand the facts and don't need to be misled to have sympathy for a man that has been groomed to be a killer.

The parents aren't responsible for these murders because the killer was put out of the house. They probably were scared of him anyway. He was going to kill. Sooner or later he was going to exactly what he did. It happened too quickly after he was put out of the home where he was welcome for many years. The killer stands accused and that is all that needs to be understood. We decided a while ago that killers weren't the important people in the facts the victims and the people they left behind are important. No comments of sympathy to a man that murdered multiple Asian people.

Something was wrong with this young man and his relationship with his family because his car had a tracker on it (click here). There needs to be an investigation that encompasses the Captain and why parents were tracking a 21-year-old.

March 18, 2021
By Wilborn P. Noble, III

The spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office (click here) faces calls to resign after he categorized the Atlanta spa shooting suspect’s actions as “a really bad day.”

That comment has elicited criticism from civil rights activists wary of law enforcement amid rising violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in this country.

During Wednesday’s press conference, Capt. Jay Baker said Robert Aaron Long, 21, was “kind of at the end of his rope” when he allegedly opened fire inside three spas in Atlanta and Cherokee County on Tuesday....