Countries, including the USA, have lost elements of sovereignty with a global oligarchy.

November 7, 2017
Bernie Sanders (click here) has warned that the world is rapidly becoming an “international oligarchy” controlled by a tiny number of billionaires, highlighted by the revelations in the Paradise Papers.

In a statement to the Guardian in the wake of the massive leak of documents exposing the secrets of offshore investors, Sanders said that the enrichment of wealthy individuals and companies in tax havens was “the major issue of our time”.

He said the Paradise Papers opened the door on a “major problem not just for the US but for governments throughout the world”.

“The major issue of our time is the rapid movement toward international oligarchy in which a handful of billionaires own and control a significant part of the global economy. The Paradise Papers shows how these billionaires and multinational corporations get richer by hiding their wealth and profits and avoid paying their fair share of taxes,” the US senator from Vermont said.

Sanders, who came in a close second to Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination last year, pointed the finger of blame for the flourishing of offshore holdings on both Congress and the Trump administration. He told the Guardian that Republicans in Congress were responsible for providing “even more tax breaks to profitable corporations like Apple and Nike”....

The Paradise Papers (click here) is a special investigation by the Guardian and 95 media partners worldwide into a leak of 13.4m files from two offshore service providers and 19 tax havens' company registries. The files reveal the offshore financial affairs of some of the world’s biggest multinational companies and richest individuals, and set out the myriad ways in which tax can be avoided using artificial structures.

Ireland was an offshoring tax haven? OMG.

November 7, 2017

Tech giant Apple chose the Channel Islands (click here) as a new haven to continue avoiding billions in taxes in the Paradise Papers show.

The company picked Jersey as an alternative after a 2013 crackdown on its controversial tax practices in the Republic of Ireland, they reveal.

Apple moved the firm holding most of its huge untaxed offshore cash reserve to the Channel Island, allowing it to avoid billions of tax around the world – but has insisted the secretive new structure had not cut its taxes....

Brexit was about ending corruption that caused the global economic collapse of 2008, not reinstating it, but, only worse.

There is real doubt as to Donald Trump ever visiting the UK ever again. The current government is turning up the heat on sexual harassment, assault and rape which includes through investigations to any past incidents. 

November 7, 2017

By Josie Cox

One of Donald Trump’s most senior advisers (click here) has told Britain it must scrap EU food standards on genetically modified crops and chlorine-washed chicken if it wants a successful post-Brexit deal with the US.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Confederation of British Industry on Monday,  US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said that other areas that could pose problems to negotiations between the US and the UK after Brexit, included "passporting" of  financial services, and future trade tariffs.

But he did say that he hoped the US could become the UK’s number one trading partner after the split, especially considering existing substantial trade flows between the two countries....

They call it an abuse of power. Imagine that. When, not if, Trump's name surfaces, the UK should take every claim seriously and investigate.

November 7, 2017
By Tom Peck

Leaders of the main political parties (click here) have agreed to new cross-party proposals to address sexual harassment, which will include an independent grievance process, improved human resources support, and the establishment of a working group to implement the changes.

Speaking after the meeting, the Prime Minister hailed an “important step forward” as she revealed the plans, which include upgrading an existing helpline in order to provide face-to-face support for staff by the end of this month. Theresa May said: “Sadly over recent days we’ve seen a number of allegations about figures from across the political parties.

“It’s important that those are investigated impartially and some have rightly been referred to the police. I think if this hasn’t happened to you it’s difficult to appreciate the impact this sort of behaviour can have....

...The Tories and Labour are both now running multiple investigations into MPs and frontbenchers following claims of sexually inappropriate behaviour that have already seen a cabinet minister forced out. Meanwhile Labour activist Bex Bailey has already claimed she was raped at a party event in 2011....

I haven't seen the video and don't need to.

November 6, 2017
By Patrick Cockburn

...It is worth forcing oneself (click here) to look at this disgusting video again as Isis is driven by Iraqi security forces out of its last strongholds in the deserts of western Iraq. The movement, now defeated and almost eliminated, revelled in its cruelty and boasted of its mass killings in order to terrorise its opponents. The Camp Speicher massacre was its worst single atrocity in Iraq or Syria....

This picture says all that needs to be said. It is an Iraqi soldier praying at the feet of a massacred soldier in a mass grave by Daesh.

Let this be the next charismatic image to go out on the internet about Daesh. Let those so inclined to believe in a caliphate know how evil it's leaders sincerely are when asking for devotion around the world. Daesh leaders are their enemy, not those that seek to end the slaughter of the innocent.

Did the Mother-in-law contact law enforcement regarding the threats? This is what happens when domestic violence is not reported.

There could be more fatalities if ten people in critical condition don't recover. How did this raging idiot every get his hands on a gun? That is as much the issue as anything. And it wasn't even a handgun, but, an assault weapon. How did this happen!

The laws in place to end gun violence don't work. If the laws don't work, then control the guns available to people in the country. That is the only thing that does work and it is proven to work. Killing the murderer after the fact is not good law enforcement.

November 6, 2017

By Jon Herskovitz

The Texas gunman, (click here) identified as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, fired on the church attended by his mother-in-law after he sent "threatening" text messages to her, officials have said.

Kelley - who slaughtered 26 parishioners at a church in rural Texas sent threatening text messages to his mother-in-law as a “domestic situation” roiled his extended family, Freeman Martin, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

“There was a domestic situation going on within the family and the in-laws,” Mr Martin said. “The mother-in-law attended the church. We know he sent threatening ... that she had received threatening text messages from him.”...

...“I heard that (the in-laws) attended church from time to time,” Sheriff Tackitt said. “Not on a regular basis.”...            

Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

It is amazing the account was only down for 11 minutes. It proves how ridiculous this account is to the real world of problems that need to be solved in the world.

The Twitter employee is believed eligible for Knighthood as well. He or she is considered a hero by many and still others believe should be rehired and promoted. 

A former Twitter customer support worker (click here) deactivated the US president’s choice of mouthpiece on his last day of work for 11 whole minutes - that's years in internet years.

View image on Twitter

Rand Paul's Neighbor original arrest warrant (click here)

Evidently, US Senator Rand Paul lives in a rough neighborhood. He feels embarrassed by the incident. I don't know why Senator Paul feels embarrassed he was the one that tackled a neighbor unexpectedly.

His injuries are very serious. The only way he could have avoided his injuries was to equip himself with "Google Glasses (click here) and rear view vision."

I don't know about Senator Paul, but, most Americans don't wear shoulder pads when walking the property. Maybe his neighborhood is different. 

November 6, 2017
By Aaron Blake

...Paul's office(click here) isn't clarifying exactly what happened either, for what it's worth, but a statement from Paul's chief of staff doesn't exactly downplay it. "It is a pending, serious criminal matter involving state and federal authorities," Doug Stafford said. "We won’t have any further comments at this time."....

Violence to injure others is just wrong.

HR 3562 us being introduced to the US House for passage.

HR 3582 (click here)

To amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to furnish assistance for adaptations of residences of veterans in rehabilitation programs under chapter 31 of such title, and for other purposes....

Title 38, Chapter 31 (click here)

This bill, HR 3582 is being passed in time for Veteran's Day.

This bill does a wonderful thing for handicapped veterans in rehabilitation to obtain housing. 

There are only two things I can criticize at this time, there needs to be an open invitation to all handicapped, homeless veterans to obtain housing. AND, the time limit must be extended to an indefinite time and chanced from a September 30, 2018 expiration.

Right now that is all I can see that causes problems for handicapped veterans.

When the PODUS engaged in retribution it is oppression. President Trump should demand she return to her job.

November 6, 2016 
By Jennifer Bendery

Washington ― You may have seen(click here) this photo of President Donald Trump’s motorcade winding down a wooded road last week as a woman on a bicycle pedaled by ― giving the middle finger to Trump.

The picture, snapped by a White House photographer traveling with the president as he left his golf course in Sterling, Va., went viral almost immediately. News outlets picked up the story when it appeared in a White House pool report. Late-night talk show hosts told jokes about the encounter and people on social media began hailing the unidentified woman as a “she-ro,” using the hashtag #Her2020.

The woman’s name is Juli Briskman. Her employer, government contractor Akima LLC, wasn’t so happy about the photo. They fired her over it....

Akima LLC needs to be reviewed for it's density of government contracts. There is no LLC that has enough employees to carry out all these services.

Akima, LLC, (click here) through its subsidiaries, engages in construction, information technology, data communications, systems engineering, software development, cyber security, space operations, aviation, fabrication, facility management, hospitality, and logistics businesses. It provides general contracting services for new vertical construction, and renovation and tenant improvements; design/build and installation support services, as well as construction management services; and site repair and maintenance works in CONUS and OCONUS, including self-performing electrical and specialized general works....

Told you so. Why too much government contracting. 

Mr. Bill Monet serves as Chief Executive Officer of Akima, LLC (click here) and has been its President since 2016. Mr. Monet has been Federal Sector Leader at NANA Development Corporation, Inc. since 2016. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Qivliq, LLC. Mr. Monet served as the President of Qivliq Federal Services Group. He has more than 25 years of experience in providing services to federal, state, local and commercial clients. He is skilled in the expansion and maintenance of profitable enterprises. He has spearheaded numerous operational efficiency and process improvement programs across a wide variety of industries....

Jill Briskman has a lawsuit due to the violation of her First Amendment Rights. Sellf expression is a matter of civil rights. Her civil rights were violated.

A stranger started a conversation this morning over this killing. She said she is too scared to go to church.

On 5 November 2017, (click here) a gunman clad in black opened fire on parishioners at a Sunday service at a Baptist church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, killing at least 26 people. Within hours of that massacre, fake news sites were shamelessly exploiting the tragedy for personal gain by disseminating fabricated information about the shooter. One common theme to such fake news stories was that the shooter was connected to the “Antifa” movement:...

The right wing extremists will do anything to prevent the truth come to the surface. If everyone is screaming about an anti-fascist movement there is no more room for the fact this killer was a White Supremacist.

Not every place in the USA is a Sutherland, Texas where their policing is left up to the people to defend their homes and lives.

The only way to control this is to control the guns. This man had a huge background that would have prohibited him from purchasing guns, yet he had at least one. Why?

November 6, 2017

...Ann Stefanek, (click here) a spokeswoman for the Air Force, confirmed that Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 on two charges of assaulting his spouse and their child. He was confined for a year, given a bad conduct discharge and reduced in rank to E-1, or airman basic, Stefanek said.

Records show that Kelley's first marriage ended in divorce in 2012. He remarried in 2014; the status of that relationship was unclear.

Two ex-girlfriends told NBC News that Kelley's behavior became disturbing — even violent — after they broke up with him.

"Years after dating me he would try to bribe me to hang out with him," former girlfriend Katy Landry told NBC News in a Facebook message. "He ended up assaulting me. He would stalk me by repeatedly calling me — even prank calling me saying really weird stuff.

"That was another thing about him — he was very sick in the head...He would tell me very sick strange things," she said, without providing details....

This is yet another angry white man that got a gun when he should never have had one. Other such incidents occurred in the USA, this is not in isolation to the fact, when killers carry out their own agenda it is ENABLED by a relative or friend, ie: Sandy Hook, the shooter in New York State was given a gun by his girlfriend. There is also the shooter that should have never been able to buy the gun because of his background, but, with a clever agenda Dillan Roof beat the system.

Aaron Alexis, the Washington Navy Yard shooting, never should have been able to obtain a gun, with some question as to his employment due to mental illness. Yet, he had access and a weapon. There is James Holmes and Seung-Hui Cho.

The stories are many and they are often the same, including the identity issues with immigrants that kill; ie. Fort Hood, Pulse Club in Orlando, the San Bernardino killers.

The Americans that kill as in Las Vegas don't really have a motive, simply they were allowed to obtain weapons and unleash there fury, ie: Stephen Paddock and George J. Hennard.

All these men have one thing definitely in common, they had reached a depression over their purpose. They had reached a low spot in their lives and they chose to take it out on others.

There is no way of knowing if a man depressed is going to kill. There is no way of controlling the guns they use. The only way to take control of these ever escalating mass killings is to take the guns off the shelf. We know it works and it did work during the years of "The Assault Weapons Ban," which was allowed to "Sundown" by George W. Bush.

The Hennard Case is worth noting. His roommate blacks, Hispanics and Gays. He had a disdain for women. 14 of the 23 killed were women and stated, "bitch" before killing two of them.

The day before the killings was Case's 35th birthday. The day after the killing in Killeen, Texas there was a crime bill to be voted on which included a gun control measure. The people dead in Killeen were the constituents of a US Representative who opposed the gun control measure. He changed his vote after the massacre, but, the measure did not pass anyway.

The gun organizations wanted to pass a concealed carry law. Governor Richardson vetoed it, but, George W. Bush then passed it. A daughter of two of the victims, her mother and father, campaigned for the bill to conceal carry. More than likely Ms. Hupp would have been outgunned since the killer carried a Glock 17 (designed and used by police officers with a clip of 17 bullets/rounds) and Ruger P89 (a semi-automatic pistol with a maximum clip of 15 bullets, but, has a gun site) . Ms. Hupp believed she was the answer to mass killings, but, she was wrong. The deaths of innocent people have occurred time and again in Texas regardless of concealed carry.

People that own guns feel better about their chances and there is the remote chance they could have ended the killing spree, but, to put it into perspective, these shooting happen fast. In the case of Sutherland Springs, the killer already did his killing before he was discovered and followed in high pursuit by two men immediately in the area of the church. That delay in reaction time is where the killer is able to disarm any chance of another gun against them. Killers, most of the time, in the USA believe they have a moral reason to carry out their killings But, in reality most of the time they are depressed over their lives, so they justify killing those perceived to cause their personal pain.

Lower the number of guns on the street and deaths of Americans will slow. That is a fact. There is no disputing these facts.

I think THE GUN EXPERIMENT of the political right wing should come to an end. Americans have died due to the "free and open access" to all kinds of weapons and accessories because of the Political Right Wing Gun Experiment.

For respect for the dead, I will not be posting any blog entries. It would not hit the right cord, at all.

My sincerest sympathies to the families and friends of the dead.

To the left are the current ten most deadly shootings.

The last time there was a church shooting it was by a White Supremacist at Mother Emanuel. It would be prudent to discover which group mass killers are affiliated.

The pastor's daughter, Annabell, is dead. He must be devastated beyond understanding for the loss of her and those in worship, including other children.

5 October 2017

At least 26 people have been killed (click here) after a gunman opened fire at a church during Sunday services, officials say.

The attack happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small town in Wilson County, Texas.

The gunman, who is reported to have been killed in the aftermath, entered the church and opened fire at around 11:30 local time (17:30 GMT).

Governor Greg Abbott confirmed the death toll and said it was the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas.

"This will be a long suffering mourning for those in pain," he said at a news conference on Sunday.

Sheriff Joe Tackitt said authorities do not know the names of any of the victims yet as they continue to work the crime scene.

Wilson County Commissioner Albert Gamez Jr earlier told US media the gunman fled the scene in a vehicle before being killed....

I suppose Joe Arpaio can enforce the laws of religious dogma in Arizona.

This is a civil rights violation. Moving the regional EPA office to Pheonix, Arizona is due to the fact San Francisco is a sanctuary city and has a strong LGBT community.

November 3, 2017
By Lily Altaven

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt (click here) discussed moving the agency's regional headquarters from San Francisco to Phoenix during a meeting with metro Phoenix officials in May. 

GPEC President and CEO Chris Camacho said the Phoenix-area team pitched the idea.

Meeting notes distributed by GPEC to attendees of the meeting state:

"In order to mitigate the $30 million annual lease cost to the agency, Administrator Pruitt stated the intention of moving EPA's region 9 headquarters from San Francisco to Greater Phoenix, following due diligence of cost feasibility."...

There is nothing wrong with the Hawthrone Plaza building. It is modern in it's presentation and is a sound structure that has provided valuable service to the USA EPA. There is no justifiable reason to move the office to Pheonix. It is costly and will increase the cost of those traveling within the region to the regional office.


Regional 9 is comprised of California, Nevada, Arizona, Hawaii and Guam.

There really is not debate, San Francisco is a centrally located city with all the accommodations any EPA and it's citizens would need. The job of the EPA is not about politics, at least it isn't supposed to be, but to solve the problems of the people; all the people.

Hawthorne Plaza (click here) received the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED® Gold for Existing Buildings (version 2.0) certification in May 2009 and received LEED Platinum for Existing Buildings (version 2009) in August 2014.

EPA also renovated its office space and achieved LEED Platinum for Commercial

Interiors (version 2009) certification in November 2016.

The building has received the ENERGY STAR® annually since 2008, most recently in 2016 with a score of 97.

This is unconstitutional and treason.

During the years President Bill Clinton as in office he signed into law a measure that would allow federal employees to have a Bible openly on their desk. Having a Bible on one's desk is eons from overthrowing the USA Constitution to instill a theocracy.

November 1, 2017
By Michael Stone

Biblical war on science: (click here) EPA chief Scott Pruitt uses the Bible to justify new rule preventing university scientists from serving on key advisory boards.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is using the Bible’s Book of Joshua to prevent “hundreds of expert scientists working in environmental and health fields at universities from serving on the (agency’s advisory) boards”...

Besides being incompetent, deceitful and corrupt, he is now a treasonist. A President's Cabinet is supposed to carry out the business of the country, not destroy the US Constitution and institute a theocracy. Perry is doing the same thing in stating fossil fuels is a light from heaven. 

There isn't that much wrong with the US federal government. If one is a Secretary it practically runs itself. Guiding federal policy, which is the job of any Cabinet Secretary, doesn't mean reinventing the wheel.

Congress needs to remove from their offices, the cabinet secretaries that obviously don't know their job and cannot carry out the duties they are assigned.

EPA Advisory Committees, as any other advisory committee within the federal government, require salaries and spending accounts. There are dearly few Americans that can live in Washington, DC without a salary and act as a volunteer to the committee. There is the issue of those that live elsewhere and have travel and housing expenses when needed in Washington, DC. The entire idea advisory committees can be filled with volunteers is nonsense and malpractice.

This paper discusses the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (click here) and how it affects public participation in environmental decision-making. Passed in 1972 as one of the "openness in government" laws, FACA governs how the federal government seeks outside advice. It has had a profound influence on who participates in government decision-making, when they participate, how they participate, and what influence participation has on policy....

No different than Trump, THERE ARE LAWS!

The Cabinet Secretaries are incompetent because they don't seem to understand THERE ARE LAWS that direct their roles within the Cabinet. The USA is not a dictatorship by which anyone in the Executive Branch can launch into treasonist agendas.

The Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) (Pub.L. 92–463, 86 Stat. 770, enacted October 6, 1972) (click here), is a United States federal law which governs the behavior offederal advisory committees. In particular, it has special emphasis on open meetings, chartering, public involvement, and reporting.

The Justice Department should be moving against Cabinet Secretaries that cannot carry out their responsibilities and/or seek to instill "biblical order" instead of the USA Constitution and it's many laws. 

This is treason. John Ashcroft prayed before his Executive Committee everyday but, never required strict adherence for every member of his staff to carry out prayer with him as if the Pledge of Allegiance in order to work in the Justice Department.

Best of my knowledge, the USA Constitution and it's laws are still in force; much to the dismay of the Plutocrats.

There is an enormous differences of wealth and income distribution in the USA and it places out in Republican States.

November 3, 2017

K. Araujo

On Oct. 23, 12 Oakland County, Mich., (click here) communities spent roughly nine days without water after a major water main break. Almost 305,000 people were affected by the break.

Oakland County and the Great Lakes Water Authority worked nearly around the clock to ensure that the residents in those communities had safe, potable water. Water stations in various communities were set up. Businesses and residences alike were given access to the scarce commodity.

They even provided water to flush toilets. Let me repeat that: They were given water to flush their toilets. Of course, people had to bring their own containers, but at least people had access to clean, safe water for plumbing and drinking. All of these efforts are impressive, right? This is a fantastic example of how government officials should respond when a water crisis occurs.

It directly affected my mother, and as a native Detroiter and former resident of Oakland County, I should’ve been ecstatic to hear how well this situation was handled. So what’s the issue, you ask?

Residents in the Genesee County city of Flint, Mich., have been without potable, usable water since 2014. Government officials—locally and statewide—blatantly lied about the water supply being safe for human consumption. Fertilizers, pesticides, built-up bacteria and lead have contaminated the Flint River (the city’s primary source) for decades. Their half-assed attempt to “clean up the water” never ensured that the city’s folks would remain healthy.

It’s been three whole years, and citizens still can’t drink the water. Water stations were set up (some years later), and as of this past summer, many of the stations were closed following Flint’s lead levels being under the federal limit. Why is there such a disparity between Oakland County and Genesee County in their response to each crisis?

Race and class....

September 19, 2017

By Julia Mack

Flint has the nation's highest poverty rate (click here) among U.S. cities with at least 65,000 residents, according to 2016 data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Detroit was No. 4 on the list, after Bloomington, Ind., and Reading, Pa.

The Census released its estimate of 2016 poverty rates last week for 599 municipalities with a population of at least 65,000....

Oakland County, Michigan has the four highest income cities in the state:

1. West Bloomfield Township (Oakland County): $101,573 (click here)

Population: 65,210
Median household income: $101,573
Median family income: $117,616
Poverty rate: 7%
Poverty for children: 10%
% adults with bachelor's degree: 60%
% population non-Hispanic white: 75%

2. Troy (Oakland County): $95,975

Population: 83,392
Median household income: $95,975
Median family income: $116,513
Poverty rate: 4%
Poverty for children: 5%
% adults with bachelor's degree: 58%
% population non-Hispanic white: 78%

5. Rochester Hills (Oakland County): $81,195

Population: 72,263
Median household income: $81,195
Median family income: $100,647
Poverty rate: 6%
Poverty for children: 6%
% adults with bachelor's degree: 57%
% population non-Hispanic white: 69%

8. Farmington Hills (Oakland County): $71,100

Population: 80,817
Median household income: $71,100
Median family income: $101,525
Poverty rate: 9%
Poverty for children: 14%
% adults with bachelor's degree: 53%
% population non-Hispanic white: 66%

Poorest Cities in the USA. I might add all these cities have Republican Governors.

1. Flint, Michigan

2. Bloomington, Indiana

3. Reading, Pennsylvania

4. Detroit, Michigan

Flint households never receive an annual income higher than $36,689 according to the US Census.

          

Household Income and Average Income in Flint

Median Income Under 25	$16,102
Median Income 25-44	$27,941
Median Income 45-64	$36,689
Median Income Over 65	$35,376

Income distribution dictates whether families have resources to avoid water poisoning.

We already have witnessed in Puerto Rico the willingness of the impoverished and abandoned in accepting polluted and contaminated drinking water. The deeper the desperation felt by a person, the more likely self-preservation is abandoned.

October 30, 2017
By Ron Fonger

Flint, MI -- Seventy-one water systems in Michigan (click here) now have higher lead levels than the city of Flint, results of the most recent federally-required testing shows.

Water sampling in Flint from January through June showed the city's 90th percentile for lead was at 7 parts per billion, far better than the last six months of 2016, but still higher than 92.6 percent of the 1,333 water systems regulated by the state Department of Environmental Quality.

In the first six months of this year, 71 water systems had higher concentrations of lead than Flint. Just 24 systems had more lead than the city in the second half of 2016.

Only two private water systems in the state -- Island Lake Apartments in Livingston County and Knorrwood Knolls Subdivision in Oakland County -- had at least 10 percent of water samples from high-risk sites exceed 15 ppb in testing this year, the federal threshold for lead....

No alternative explanation.

...The gas being flared (click here) as a byproduct of a rush of oil drilling releases roughly six million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, roughly equivalent to three medium-sized coal plants. Because of a lack of gas-gathering lines connecting oil wells to processing plants, nearly 30 percent of the gas flowing out of the wells has been burned as waste in recent months....

November 3, 2017
By Chris Mooney, Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis

The Trump administration (click here) released a dire scientific report Friday detailing the growing threats of climate change. The report stands in stark contrast to the administration’s efforts to downplay humans’ role in global warming, withdraw from an international climate accord and reverse Obama-era policies aimed at curbing America’s greenhouse-gas output.

The White House did not seek to prevent the release of the government’s National Climate Assessment, which is mandated by law, despite the fact that its findings sharply contradict the administration’s policies. The report affirms that climate change is driven almost entirely by human action, warns of potential sea level rise as high as 8 feet by the year 2100, and enumerates myriad climate-related damages across the United States that are already occurring due to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit of global warming since 1900.

“It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century,” the document reports. “For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.”...

2015 was a catastrophic year for oil train explosions. (click here) Since, then the incidents have slowed. I can only believe the change in rail safety actually mattered.

May 1, 2015

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx (click here) today announced a final rule for the safe transportation of flammable liquids by rail. The final rule, developed by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), in coordination with Canada, focuses on safety improvements that are designed to prevent accidents, mitigate consequences in the event of an accident, and support emergency response.

The rule:

1. Unveils a new, enhanced tank car standard and an aggressive, risk-based retrofitting schedule for older tank cars carrying crude oil and ethanol;
2. Requires a new braking standard for certain trains that will offer a superior level of safety by potentially reducing the severity of an accident, and  the “pile-up effect”;
3. Designates new operational protocols for trains transporting large volumes of flammable liquids, such as routing requirements, speed restrictions, and information for local government agencies; and
4. Provides new sampling and testing requirements to improve classification of energy products placed into transport.

Canada’s Minister of Transport, Lisa Raitt, joined Secretary Foxx to announce Canada’s new tank car standards, which align with the U.S. standard....