Can't imagine why everyone is upset, can you? A year ago...

A security guard at a Family Dollar store in Flint, Michigan, was shot and killed after a confrontation with the family of a woman he had told to leave the store because she wasn’t wearing a face mask. (Three people, including the woman’s mother, were charged with first-degree murder.) Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the state’s stay-at-home order would remain in place for two more weeks; her statement came on the same day that President Donald Trump tweeted that she should “make a deal” with protesters who gathered at the state Capitol a day earlier, some carrying assault weapons.

April 29, 2021

By Craig Mauger

Lansing — Robert Gordon, (click here) Michigan's former health director who abruptly resigned on Jan. 22, said he made the decision after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told him it was time to go in a "new direction."

Gordon revealed the comment at the beginning of a Thursday morning state House Oversight Committee hearing. The Republican-controlled panel subpoenaed Gordon last week to appear before the panel. GOP lawmakers voiced concerns that the $155,606 separation agreement Whitmer's administration reached with Gordon violated a constitutional provision barring "extra compensation" paid to any public officer after the person's "service has been rendered."...

April 30, 2021

By Sarah Rahal

The first case of the India variant of COVID-19 (click here) has been identified in Clinton County north of Lansing, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Bob Wheaton told The Detroit News Friday.

The new variant, B.1.617, was initially detected in India in October with two mutations, E484Q and L452R, according to the World Health Organization....

April 30, 2021

Washington – The U.S. will restrict travel from India (click here) starting on May 4, the White House said Friday, citing a devastating rise in COVID-19 cases in the country and the emergence of potentially dangerous variants of the coronavirus.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden’s administration made the determination on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention....

Why is it that Genesee County does not have adequate vaccines for COVID-19? Flint is in Genesee County. I am fairly certain other areas of Michigan have sufficient vaccines.

April 26, 2021

By Dan Bondy

Flint - According to the Michigan Health and Hospital Association, (click here)  the number of children in Michigan being hospitalized with COVID-19 is growing.

The Association reports hospitalization rates for children to increase three hundred and eleven percent between February nineteenth and April twentieth....

...The report also says the number of children hospitalized with severe covid-19 symptoms hit a high of 70 across the state last week.

The report says, on average there are 1,500 pediatric covid cases diagnosed each day.

April 29, 2021

By Craig Mauger

Lansing — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (click here) announced a plan Thursday to tie the future of COVID-19 restrictions in Michigan to the percentage of residents who get their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

The Democratic governor described the "MI Vacc to Normal" plan as the state's way out of the pandemic, which has been tied to more than 17,400 deaths in Michigan and spurred limitations on gatherings and businesses for more than a year.

Under the new four-phase plan, the Whitmer administration will begin easing restrictions two weeks after 4.5 million residents, or 55% of the adult population, receive their first dose. She said her administration will lift a requirement for remote work when it's feasible....

So, let me get this right. Whitmer has a plan to lift restrictions on movement within Michigan after 55 percent of adults are vaccinated. Which 55 percent is that because Genesee County will have restrictions lifted without much of a hope of 55 percent of their citizens being vaccinated. Where did the 55 percent come from anyway?

I WOULD THINK the 55 percent of vaccinations is in the cities, right? That is where transmission is most likely to happen. Cities where there are many more people per square mile than rural areas. Where is the 55 percent coming from? Will it actually end the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in Michigan? Heck, no!

Immunizations (click here)

Due to the current recommendations of social distancing and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Immunization Department is appointment only, no walk-ins are available at this time.

Please call (810) 237-4569 or 810-237-4540 for an appointment, you will be asked a few questions on recent travel and current health status.

A bipartisan US Senate recognizes the poor condition of the country's water supply.

30 April 2021

By Cornell University

Jerel Ezell (click here) is a mixed methods researcher‚ currently enrolled in the sociology doctoral program at the University of Chicago. He is a graduate of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health (M.P.H., 2010), where he had his first experience in the housing sector working at New Destiny Housing Corporation, a nonprofit which develops supportive, sustainable housing for low-income survivors of domestic violence...

...The Senate has approved a bipartisan, (click here) $35 billion bill to upgrade the country’s water infrastructure, a measure that would clean up the nation’s water supply.

Jerel Ezell is professor of Africana studies and an expert in health disparities and social inequality in post-industrial communities. Ezell has worked on city infrastructure challenges in Flint, Michigan and his new research shows that five years after the beginning of the Flint water crisis, 29% of residents had associated PTSD symptoms, with higher rates observed among Black residents.

Ezell says:

“This rare moment of bipartisanship is welcome, and this bill takes a small, but important, step in acknowledging the importance of clean water as a basic human right. However, while this legislation will do a good deal to address some of the long-standing technical issues plaguing our national water supply, infrastructure upgrades alone will not motivate communities who are used to limited water potability to use it.

“This bill must be reinforced by earnest public engagement and education campaigns on water consumption, particularly in low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities like those in Flint, Michigan which have routinely been subjected to poor tasting water that has been unsafe to drink or bathe in and at times disastrous for their health.”...

Ashley Babbitt’s family has no basis for a lawsuit

Ashley Babbit was an insurrectionist that destroyed the people’s property and then attempted to enter a chamber to bring harm to members of Congress.

It was a lynch mob and she was a member of that group of people. In any video of the incident the crowd is yelling, “ He’s got a gun, he’s got a gun.” She went through the broken glass anyway. Was she wearing a bulletproof vest or not? They aren’t good at close range. The gun the agent was using looked like a 9 mm. 9 mm are effective against body armor.

The agent involved has been exonerated. He was acting according to his training. This isn’t a racist issue. This was a government agent doing his job. As soon as Ashley was shot the crowd started to disperse because they became scared. The agent did his job and saved lives.

Ashley Babbitt’s family has no basis for their lawsuit. 

President Biden's address to Congress.

They were finally able to come up with a solution to get people in the same room. It is highly notable that the Speaker of the US House and the President of the US Senate are women. They made history today. The women sitting at the front are Democrats. The historical basis of this cannot be ignored. The President of the US Senate is a minority. The historical significance by Democrats is groundbreaking. That is not a minor achievement. Democrats need to be proud of their progress and their history that brought the country to this accomplishment.

April 28, 2021

President Biden Addresses Joint Session of Congress (click here)

President Biden delivered his first address to a joint session of Congress. He discussed his actions over the first 100 days of his presidency, highlighting the number of people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and the economic aid package. He also outlined his agenda for the rest of the year, including his plans for child care assistance, jobs, combating climate change, and other issues.

I think President Joe Biden is one of the greatest presidents of this country. He is focused on the people and Wall Street is welcome to participate.

C-Span has a margin on the right to highlight the topics of the speech.

President Biden represents everything good about the USA. He believes in a powerful Middle Class that lifts people out of poverty.

The "American Jobs Plan" is a blue-collar, blue plan to build American. There is dearly little I disagree with in this speech. He is a great president. I always knew he was the answer to America's woes. There is every reason to support his agenda.

President Biden is absolutely correct about research and development. 

DARPA (click here)

I suppose if elected officials want to destroy the USA's national security to expose it to remove democracy by far inferior countries, depriving DARPA of significant funding is a sure way to do it.

"America's Families Plan" is a return to American values sacrificed for the politics of racism.

When having listened to the speech, Fact Sheets can be found at the White House website that expands on President Biden's speech.

Today, President Biden announced the American Families Plan,(click here)  an investment in our kids, our families, and our economic future.

In March, the President signed into law the American Rescue Plan, which continues to provide immediate relief to American families and communities. Approximately 161 million payments of up to $1,400 per person have gone out to households, schools are reopening, and 100 percent of Americans ages 16 and older are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccine. The Rescue Plan is projected to lift more than five million children out of poverty this year, cutting child poverty by more than half. While too many Americans are still out of work, we are seeing encouraging signs in the labor market, as businesses begin to rehire and some of the hardest hit sectors begin to reopen....

At this point, I have to remind Congress and the media that the filibuster is a problem. The Biden agenda needs the majority of both houses to return structure and strength to the USA. We MUST rise to the demand to strengthen this country out of the reach of people seeking to destroy it.

There are also other issues about the perception of President Biden by the people. There should be no bad choices in the presentation of President Biden to the country. In this picture, his right leg looks odd. It is nothing but the pant leg of his trousers moving ahead of a man briskly moving through the room. I am not asking for censorship, but, just common decency when presenting President Biden to the country. He deserves that consideration.

I sincerely have no issues with the agenda and programs President Biden provides in this speech. He is highly competent in his understanding and application of the USA's power both domestically and abroad. We all should come to terms with how the USA functions best for all citizens as opposed to using USA power for political power plays that are nothing short of corruption

Joe is taking us home. We all need to follow. He and Vice President Harris were the best choices for this country in the election of 2020. Now, we need to follow their lead to protect our democracy and country.

The media, especially major networks, need to appreciate the fact they still exist with a Democratic President and Congress. Had the election gone the other way, that might not be a reality today.

Our democracy, it's Constitution, and the power of the people are to be protected as it is the best of the USA. We are the shining light of democracy in the world. The USA cannot be sacrificed for the corruption that lingers beyond January 6, 2021.

Example:

...As we take a closer look (click here) at what is known about Trump’s actions, we’ll start with what McCarthy told Wallace. Broadly speaking, we found that McCarthy’s answers are not provably wrong, but they were evasive, inconsistent with his earlier comments, and selectively framed in a flattering way to Trump.

Congress, meanwhile, hasn’t been able to put together an official bipartisan inquiry into the storming of the Capitol because of partisan disagreement over its parameters.... 

The question of future insurrections is not politics, it is subversion. The USA was compromised on January 6, 2021. It is not to happen again!

Rudy Guiliani. It is about time the raid took place.

December 6, 2020

Washington - President Donald Trump (click here) said Sunday his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has tested positive for the coronavirus, making him the latest in Trump’s inner circle to contract the disease that is now surging across the U.S.

Giuliani was admitted Sunday to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly....

He survived the virus and recently the DOJ raided his home. I don't want to hear how attorney offices are never raided. Conveniently, the media has forgotten about Michael Cohen.

April 28, 2021
By Erica Orden and Paula Reid

Federal investigators on Wednesday (click here) seized cellphones and computers from Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City who became President Donald J. Trump’s personal lawyer, stepping up a criminal investigation into Mr. Giuliani’s dealings in Ukraine, three people with knowledge of the investigation said.

F.B.I. agents executed search warrants around 6 a.m. at Mr. Giuliani’s apartment on Madison Avenue and his Park Avenue office in Manhattan, carting away the electronic devices, Mr. Giuliani confirmed in a statement.

The execution of search warrants is an extraordinary action for prosecutors to take against a lawyer, let alone a lawyer for a former president. The move marked a major development in the long-running investigation into Mr. Giuliani, which examines some of the same people and conduct that were at the center of Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial....

Police reform in the USA is long overdue. Murder and assassination makes the police the criminals.

There need to be very clear indictments of all the police responsible for the assault of Andrew Brown. Assassinations are not legal.

I don't care if Andrew Brown was the biggest drug mob boss on the planet, there are to be no assassinations. Every person believed to have broken the law MUST receive a fair trial.

Mafia boss John Gotti, (click here) who was nicknamed the “Teflon Don” after escaping unscathed from several trials during the 1980s, is sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty on 14 accounts of conspiracy to commit murder and racketeering. Moments after his sentence was read in a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, hundreds of Gotti’s supporters stormed the building and overturned and smashed cars before being forced back by police reinforcements....

Remember this guy? "Teflon Don" Gotti. He ran one of the biggest and most corrupt crime syndicates in the country, if not the world. It took trying, but, eventually, we got him and imprisoned him for life. I believe it was the FBI that finally made the case about him. John Gotti died in prison.

I don't know what the police are chasing these days, but, assassination is out of the question. If there are crime bosses in a city or neighborhood that needs to be put in prison and the local authorities are unable to safely make the arrest, then it needs to be moved to a more federalized authority.

Enough of all this.

I realize there are criminals to be apprehended, but, assassination is out of the question. If Andrew Brown was a notorious criminal he should have been arrested. His success as a criminal is due to other people that are worse criminals. We need people like Andrew Brown to END THE DRUG TRAFFIC, not just move it to the next block. The testimony he could have given made him invaluable to law enforcement.

The plight of the African American community is one that the entire country needs to share. We need to find the men and women that can actually police the public without killing ANYONE. The police in the USA have too much authority to kill and their unions write those tragedies right into their contracts that make police above the law.

This has to stop. I don't know Andrew Brown and he may have been the toughest guy in the world to pin down and arrest but he DID NOT DESERVE TO BE ASSASSINATED. The police are wrong and the city needs to get on with charges against them and discharging them from their jobs. There are 20 seconds of video evidence that PROVES Andrew Brown was murdered for no reason at all.

The prosecutor does not need a judge's approval to watch the video, take testimony, and file charges. The county prosecutor needs to do his job or be replaced. It is not up to civil actions to bring a murderer to justice. That is the responsibility of the prosecutor. Civil actions normally happen AFTER the prosecutor filed charges, not before. The entire POWER DYNAMICS of these killings is wrong and prosecutors are not doing their job!

North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein needs to get his county prosecutors in line to carry out the brevity of the Rule of Law.

Murders by police happen and all too frequently it is the African American community that is the target. The county prosecutors need to do their jobs. If they are receiving death threats because they are doing their jobs, then give them bodyguards. Justice has to be the bottom line and not corruption. I know AG Stein is up to this. He can make North Carolina safe for all it's citizens.

   

Someone has a hate writing campaign going on. Have the authorities considered global contributions?

The DuSable Museum of African American History since 1961 (click here)

April 27, 2021
By Patrick Elwood

Chicago - The president and CEO of the DuSable Museum of African American (click here) History went public Tuesday with news of a series of threatening letters that began after the Capitol insurrection and shortly before the Biden/Harris administration took office.

“They were targeting us as a conduit to other Black leaders, threats against President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, even Nancy Pelosi,” said president and CEO Perri Irmer. “The minute I saw the content of this mail, I reached out to the US Secret Service.”

In all, the museum, which is the nation’s oldest independent Black museum, has received six letters espousing hate and vitriol since Jan 22. The latest one received was last Friday, April 23. The museum has also encountered threatening letters in the past, during former President Barack Obama’s tenure.

As a result, security has been increased on an already tight budget amid the coronavirus pandemic. Officials tell WGN the Chicago Police Department, the FBI and Secret Service are investigating....

Perhaps Reverend Al and other prominent African Americans can make speeches in a ceremony to celebrate 60 years of displaying art.

President Biden is absolutely correct. Vaccination to prevent illness is a patriotic act.

May 1st is around the corner. It is time for everyone to be prepared to be vaccinated.

To the left is the COVID-19 data tracker (click here).

The color coding is unbelievable. The percent change in counties at each level of transmission is the absolute change compared to the previous 7-day period.

Most of the USA is either high in the numbers of cases or substantial. The only place where blue shows up in most of the Midwest where population density is lower than the rest of the country. There are some areas in the West that are holding down the infection spread rate.

Every state with a red dot should be ashamed of themselves. It isn't easy to say, but, this is a horrible exposure may for the so-called greatest country on Earth. The spread over the past seven days is directly related to people who don't care about their fellow man, woman, or child.

This is a national shame. The Biden Administration has done everything possible to end the danger of SARS-CoV-2 and the people aren't paying attention.

Masks should still be in use.

Social Distancing should still be observed.

Proper hand hygiene is necessary and don't touch the face until hand hygiene is performed. 

There is nothing difficult about any of those strategies to protect from the viral spread. I don't care what it takes to have people feel an obligation to the country to be a part of the solution. Hand out flags or a sticker saying "I voted with my vaccination arm." Something to have people realize it is best to be vaccinated. 

I had my two vaccines and I am fine. I am better than fine. I don't worry as much as I used to a year ago. I have made peace with this and it is because I am vaccinated.

April 21, 2021
By John Wagner and Colby Itkowski

President Biden (click here) cast getting vaccinated as a patriotic duty Wednesday, urging all Americans over 16 to protect themselves and help protect those in their community from getting the coronavirus and putting their lives at risk.

His comments came at an event at which Biden announced that the nation was about to reach his goal of 200 million vaccinations and that the government would underwrite the costs of businesses giving their workers time off to get vaccinated....

These statistics are 13 hours old in Michigan.

The idea that Governor Whitmer doesn't know the state and the best way to address these increases in cases is not accurate. I am a strong proponent to the New Zealand Model and closing down human activity to limit the spread of the disease. Which is another issue for India. But, when it comes to Michigan, Governor Whitmer has a very difficult political environment to stop human interaction. The State legislature is hostile to any actions the Governor takes.

In the case of India, I would refer to the methods of China with a similar population of undereducated and impoverished. China used flying drones to announce to the people to stay indoors. I think the drones were armed and had the ability to approach individuals in disobedience to the order to remain indoors. I strongly believe this technique of flying drones to order people back inside is a prospect for India to control human interaction. That is not a method that will work in Michigan, the drones would be shot down.

April 12, 2021
By Melissa Nann Burke and Beth LeBlanc

Washington — The head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (click here) contradicted the Whitmer administration Monday, saying the answer to Michigan's "acute situation" with COVID-19 is not to surge vaccines but to shut down the state and "flatten the curve."

"Really what we need to do in those situations is shut things down," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a Monday briefing.

"I think if we tried to vaccinate our way out of what is happening in Michigan, we will be disappointed that it took so long for the vaccine to work — to actually have the impact."...

But, in the case of the political tensions in Michigan, the CDC is correct, but, so is Governor Whitmer.

April 19, 2021
By Beth LaBlanc

Lansing — The Michigan Bureau of Elections (click here) has recommended the certification of a petition that would repeal a law underpinning many of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders issued early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Board of State Canvassers will consider the bureau’s recommendation at Thursday’s meeting even as a lawsuit seeks a halt to the board's consideration of Unlock Michigan’s petition.

"If the Board of Canvassers does its duty on Thursday, this can be in front of the Legislature as soon as next week," Unlock Michigan spokesman Fred Wszolek said Monday.

The opposition group Keep Michigan Safe said the staff report ignored "90% of our many procedural and substantive challenges."

"We’re disappointed, but we will make our case to the Board of Canvassers and the courts to stop this ill-conceived and irresponsible petition drive," group spokesman Mark Fisk said....

The petition doesn't care about the number of hospital beds open to care for the sick and dying, nor does it take into consideration the safety of children. The petition is strictly a political attempt to build support for Republicans. The economy has taken precedent with Republicans over the lives and safety of people.

The fact that this political movement is finding signatures is only going to embolden them to continue to defy the Governor. Every time Governor Whitmer places restrictions on the movement of people to limit the spread of the virus, there is a very heavy presence of people that oppose her actions. 

So, on one hand, the Governor wants to protect people in the face of political opposition that has no interest in public health. What does she do? Close down areas of the state known to be "hot spots" or does she take the only other reasonable solution and escalate the vaccination rate. Her strategy is at least to protect the people while Republicans spin their ideology and promote an open economy where people die of the virus.

So, it isn't as though the CDC director is incorrect; quite the contrary. But, in the face of political opposition that ups their game every time the Governor seeks to close down areas of the state, there is political activism that negates those orders.

April 16, 2021
By Craig Mauger and Jennifer Chambers

Lansing — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's administration (click here) is expanding a requirement to children as young as 2 years old that residents wear masks during gatherings under a new epidemic order unveiled Friday.

The policy change comes amid surging COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates in Michigan. The state has led the nation in new cases per population for two weeks, and Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, Michigan's chief medical executive, described the situation as "dire" on Thursday.

The new order maintains the 50% capacity limit on indoor dining at restaurants and a 15-person limit on indoor residential gatherings. Some public health experts had called on Whitmer to do more to restrict gatherings and shut down certain activities to combat the high case rates.

The mask requirement previously exempted children younger than the age of 5. Expanding the mask rule to children ages 2 to 4 also requires "a good faith effort to ensure that these children wear masks while in gatherings at childcare facilities or camps," according to the Whitmer administration.

April 14, 2021
By Craig Mauger

Lansing — Michigan's chief medical executive, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, (click here) described the state's COVID-19 situation as "very serious" Wednesday as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vehemently defended her approach to the third surge of infections.

During a press conference, Khaldun said she personally worked in a hospital emergency department over the weekend and it was "exhausting" as more and more patients with COVID-19 needed care. As of Wednesday, there were 3,998 adults hospitalized with the virus, the second highest total the state has reported. The highest total, 4,011, came a day earlier.

"It is really putting a strain on our staff and our resources and our bed space," Khaldun said. "All of which are spread way too thin. Patients are again lining our hallways like they were last spring. This situation is very serious."

The answer in Michigan at this point is to create more beds with Army Corp. Field Hospitals, but, then there is the issue of staffing those extra beds. When the people remain defiant in the face of death, the strategy has to be to find a solution that works best if not 100 percent. The political propaganda in Michigan is ridiculous and is part of the reason the virus is so successful in the state.

Another issue is that Whitmer is not a good example. It is a lot of nonsense. Governor Whitmer is allowed to love her father and see that he is doing well. Imagine if she called up Social Services and stated they had to check on her father, that would be a fire storm of controversy. So, the Governor is allowed to care about her father IN PERSON and see to his wellness. But, this is the kind of hideous political environment there is in Michigan.

The GOP's motto since Trump is, "Do the unthinkable and defend it."

April 20, 2021
By Craig Mauger

Lansing — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (click here) traveled out of state earlier this year to visit her father who is battling a chronic illness, spokesman Bobby Leddy said Monday.

The acknowledgment came after spring break trips made by two members of Whitmer's administration drew criticism amid surging COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in the state. Whitmer's trip took place more than four weeks ago, before Michigan began leading the nation in new cases per population, Leddy said.

Michigan Information & Research Service News first reported Whitmer's trip Monday and noted it was of a personal nature in Florida. Whitmer's father has a property in West Palm Beach, according to public records.

"The governor did not go on spring break, and she has not left the state in over a month," Leddy said. "In the past six months, she has left the state three times, once for the inauguration, once to assist her elderly father who is battling a chronic illness, and once to visit with Michigan's National Guard troops.

State Infectious Disease Physicians need to take over the operations at Beaumont.

There is a better than 50 percent chance Beaumont is spawning it's own emergency. A state infectious disease team needs to evaluate Beaumont's "nosocomial" infection protocols and their actual applications throughout the hospital. Staff needs to be tested, too and given vaccinations.

Triage areas need to move out of the hospital to allow for faster evaluation and then if found to be ill from SARS-CoV-2 and/or one of the variants admitted to SPECIFIC units that house these patients.

April 26, 2021
By Mitch Smith and Sarah Mervosh

Royal Oak, Michigan - At Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, (click here) in one of America’s worst coronavirus hot spots, entire units are still filled with Covid-19 patients. People weak with the virus still struggle to sit up in bed. And the phone still rings with pleas to transfer patients on the verge of death to units with higher-tech equipment.

But unlike previous surges, it now is younger and middle-aged adults — not their parents and grandparents — who are taking up many of Michigan’s hospital beds. A 37-year-old woman on a ventilator after giving birth. A 41-year-old father. A 55-year-old autoworker who has been sick for weeks.

“We’re getting to the point where we’re just so beat down,” said Alexandra Budnik, an intensive care nurse who works in a unit with lifesaving machines, or circuits, that are in short supply. “Every time we get a call or every time we hear that there’s another 40-year-old that we don’t have a circuit for — it’s just like, you know, we can’t save them all.”...

"Young people are dying within hours. Please send oxygen...."

In New York it was a mass grave, in India it is funeral pyres.

If we can extract oxygen on Mars, we can find a way to supply India with oxygen. I think the hospital ships have to set sail for India.

April 26, 2021
By Sheikh Saaliq and Aijaz Hussain

New Delhi - With life-saving oxygen in short supply, (click here) families are left on their own to ferry people sick with COVID-19 from hospital to hospital in search of treatment as India is engulfed in a devastating surge of infections. Too often, their efforts end in mourning.

On social media and in television footage, desperate relatives plead for oxygen outside hospitals or weep in the street for loved ones who died waiting for treatment....

Rodrigo Duterte 2.0

In the Philippines, the world was aghast when Duterte turned the rule of law into anarchy and provided for anyone suspected of being involved in the drug trade to be killed at will by the people. This is the same thing.

This is turning murder into civil action. It is not only unconstitutional, it is highly illegal and if DeSantis thinks simply signing a bill makes it law, he has another thing coming.

According to Ron DeSantis, James Field, Jr. should be a free man. I don't think so. Ron DeSantis is desperately trying to the leader of the GOP and is failing royally. He is trying to distract from the fact his state spread SARS-CoV-2 throughout the country and quite possibly Europe and South America when he let Spring Break go forward without constraint. The people of Florida should impeach him on this legislation alone because he is literally turning automobiles into murder machines. That is a new identity the manufacturers have to contend with as well. Will Florida consumers demand ram bars as optional equipment or maybe just after factory additions. Literally, what that legislation does is change the Motor Vehicle Code into murderous statutes. You know all the drunk driving laws? Well, the lawyers have a new toolbox now. When is ramming with cars legal? And who is at fault, the person demonstrating or the murderer when it comes to car insurance?

Ron DeSantis is a Trump minion of the worst kind.

April 26, 2021
By Lizette Alvarez

James Fields Jr., (click here) who pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes, was sentenced on Friday to life in prison. Fields rammed his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others.

Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, (click here) seldom passes up an opportunity to celebrate the Sunshine State’s greatness under his watch. Earlier this year, he told television viewers that cities in Florida looked nothing like Minneapolis or other cities that had struggled with protracted violent outbreaks following the death of George Floyd in police custody last May.

“You didn’t see here what you saw there,” DeSantis told Tucker Carlson on Fox News in January, echoing the sentiment more than once.

The governor was right — there were protests in Florida last summer, but local organizers worked hard to try to keep them peaceful, and local police mostly did a good job of preventing damage and injuries. The few incidents of looting or fire-setting that erupted were short-lived.

Yet, on Monday last week, as a jury deliberated whether to convict former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin of murdering Floyd, DeSantis signed into law a draconian, First Amendment-vandalizing measure supposedly intended to prevent looting, arson, blocking highways and “mob intimidation” (whatever that means). And seemingly just in case mobs planned to pillage Florida cities if Chauvin were acquitted, DeSantis immediately enacted the law, a rarity....

Any state that has a loss of representation may want to challenge the 2020 Census before the Supreme Court.

The population of the USA fluctuated a lot in 2020 because of the scourge of COVID-19. If the numbers seem wrong, they probably are.

April 26, 2021
By Rick Pearson

Illinois’ population dropped (click here) by more than 18,000 people over the last decade and the state will see its U.S. House representation drop from 18 members to 17 next year, according to figures from the 2020 U.S. census released Monday.

The Census Bureau said Illinois’ 2020 resident population was 12,812,508, a decline of 0.14% from the 12,830,632 people reported as residents in the 2010 census. Illinois was was one of three states to lose population over the decade, census officials said.

It was the first-ever decade-over-decade drop in Illinois’ population count since it was admitted as the 21st state in the union in 1818, based on historic census data. It had a census population of 55,211 in 1820.

The state’s decline in congressional representation has been gradual over the past 80 years, but accelerated following the 1970 federal census, when the state had 24 House members....

As of today Illinois lost 190 persons per 100,000 to COVID-19. Add that to normal loss of life including natural deaths and the 2020 Census should line up. If not, then there is something wrong with the numbers. This is not rocket science.

The article below is from Brookings.

January 11, 2021
By William H. Frey

To the left COVID-19 deaths by state (click here) as of April 26, 2021

...Recently released Census Bureau (click here) population estimates show that from July 1, 2019 to July 1, 2020, the nation grew by just 0.35%. This is the lowest annual growth rate since at least 1900.

National population growth began to dip after 2000, especially after the Great Recession and, in recent years, due to new immigration restrictions. Yet the 2019-to-2020 rate is well below most growth rates over the past 102 years, and less than half the level observed as recently as 2000.

Part of this sharp decline can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which brought more deaths and further immigration restrictions. Still, the entire 2010s decade was one of fewer births, more deaths, and uneven immigration. Low natural increase levels (a result of the aging of the population) will likely continue regardless of federal policy, suggesting that only increased immigration can become a driver of U.S. growth....

No one should feel bad about Wall Street and taxation. The American people have a right to pay down the debt!

President Biden and his Cabinet are doing an incredible job in the White House considering what they faced on their first day, including, a past president that could not look him in the eye.

Trillions of assets were provided to Wall Street, investment banks and hedge funds since the global economic collapse of 2007-2008. The country has done the right thing for all those financial markets over the years, now it is time for them to do their share after the worst handling of a virus by a president.

April 23, 2021
By William Watts

Stocks finished with gains, (click here) but off session highs and with weekly losses for major benchmarks, bouncing a day after reports that President Joe Biden plans to nearly double the capital-gains tax rate for Americans earning more than $1 million a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.18% finished around 228 points higher, up 0.7%, near 34,043.82, according to preliminary figures, after rising more than 300 points at its session high. The S&P 500 SPX, 0.18% closed 1.1% higher near 4,180, after trading above its April 16 closing high at 4,185.47 during the session. The Nasdaq Composite COMP, 0.87% advanced around 198 points, or 1.4%, to close near 14,017. Stocks were lifted after IHS Markit purchasing managers index readings for the manufacturing and services sectors hit records and data showed home sales continued at a rapid pace. Investors also played down worries over a rise in the capital-gains tax rate, noting that past rises have been shown to have little correlation with equity returns. The benchmarks lost ground for the week, however, with the S&P 500 off 0.1%, the Dow down 0.5% and the Nasdaq off 0.3%.

Since the global economic collapse the financial markets and their investment banks, including, hedge funds are awash in USA Treasury money and Fed dollars. There is absolutely no reason to think they cannot sustain higher tax rates so they FINALLY pay taxes BACK to the USA Treasury.

This is where we were.

February 23, 2020

By Fred Imbert and Eustance Huang

Stocks fell sharply on Monday (click here) as the number of coronavirus cases outside China surged, stoking fears of a prolonged global economic slowdown from the virus spreading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 1,031.61 points lower, or 3.56%, at 27,960.80. The S&P 500 slid 3.35% to 3,225.89 while the Nasdaq Composite closed 3.71% lower at 9,221.28....

That was AFTER the bad news from a president that didn't care about the people enough to PREVENT the virus from reaching the USA as President George W. Bush did.

...It was the Dow’s biggest point and percentage-point drop since February 2018. The Dow also gave up its gain for 2020 and is now down 2% for the year. The S&P 500 also had its worst day in two years and wiped out its year-to-date gain as well.

“The second-largest economy in the world is completely shut down. People aren’t totally pricing that in,” said Larry Benedict, CEO of The Opportunistic Trader, adding a 10% to 15% correction in stocks may be starting. He also said some parts of the market, particularly large-cap tech stocks, appear to be over-owned. “It seems like there’s much more to come.”...

This was pre-Biden announcement of increased taxes. I really don't want to hear how higher taxes are not in order considering the DECADE OF INDULGENCE OF THE FINANCIAL MARKETS BY THE USA AND THE FED!

Title to the article:

"Dow Jones Today, S&P 500 Set New Record..."

April 5, 2021

By Alan R. Elliot

Stocks jumped into April's first full trading week on Monday, (click here) boosted by a strong March payrolls report delivered during Friday's holiday. Airlines, casinos and semiconductors all drove early gains. Tesla led rallying electric-vehicle makers after topping first-quarter delivery targets. Boeing climbed in a buy range on the Dow Jones today.

The Dow industrials briefly plowed 300 points higher, up 0.8% to snatch a new record high.... 

...The S&P 500 rallied 0.9% on the stock market today, sending it to its own fresh record above 4,000....

...The Nasdaq Composite notched a 1.1% jump, giving it a bit more breathing room above its 50-day moving average....

April 23, 2021

By Matthew Fox

Money is quickly pouring into the stock market as the S&P 500 trades near record highs.

Bank of America said $602 billion had flowed into global stocks in the past five months, compared with $452 billion in 12 years.

A rotation out of bonds and into stocks could continue to favor stocks, the bank said.

...More cash (click here) has flowed into stocks in the past five months than in the past 12 years, Bank of America said in a note on Friday. It said $602 billion had flowed into global stocks in five months, compared with $452 billion over 12 years.

The trend reversal could lead to further upside, Bank of America said. In the past week alone, $14.6 billion flowed into stocks, according to the note....

Where did all that cash come from? The National Debt. I really don't want to hear how the Republicans oppose President Biden's policies, spending and bills to facilitate it.

It rose almost $7.8 trillion (click here) during his time in the White House — approaching World War II levels, relative to the size of the economy. This time around, it will be much harder to dig ourselves out.

I don't want to hear it. Trump saddled the USA with $7.8 TRILLION DOLLARS and what did he do to pay for it? Nothing. He LOWERED TAXES to increase the national debt even more.

January 14, 2021

By Allan Sloan and Cezary Podkul

One of President Donald Trump’s lesser-known (click here) but profoundly damaging legacies will be the explosive rise in the national debt that occurred on his watch.

The financial burden that he’s inflicted on our government will wreak havoc for decades, saddling our kids and grandkids with debt.

The national debt has risen by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office. That’s nearly twice as much as what Americans owe on student loans, car loans, credit cards and every other type of debt other than mortgages, combined, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It amounts to about $23,500 in new federal debt for every person in the country.

The growth in the annual deficit under Trump ranks as the third-biggest increase, relative to the size of the economy, of any U.S. presidential administration, according to a calculation by Eugene Steuerle, co-founder of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. And unlike George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln, who oversaw the larger relative increases in deficits, Trump did not launch two foreign conflicts or have to pay for a civil war....

The Russian soldiers are pulling out of Ukraine. That means a lot to NATO.

The winds of change are rolling across Russia as I write this. It may be that Russia is finally beginning to understand the ways of the communists and the violation of human rights and dignity imposed by the communists.

I might add, the withdrawal of Russia troops from Ukraine, INCLUIDNG CRIMEA, might actually bring about a regional peace everyone has been looking for since the Soviet Union collapsed.

Why is the USA STILL preparing for nuclear holocaust and random wars when the rest of the world is not interested? American jobs? Certainly, we can do better than that when it comes to instituting peace rather than another Cold War.

April 23, 2021
By Natalia Datskevych

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (click here) can negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the settlement of the situation in Donbas only in a neutral country, but not in Russia, head of the Ukrainian delegation to the Trilateral Contact Group (TCG) on Donbas Leonid Kravchuk said.

"The president of Ukraine will never go to Moscow to negotiate on war in Donbas. If Putin comes up with the idea of talks on a global scale of relations between Ukraine and Russia, then it can only be a neutral country," Kravchuk said on Channel 4.

In his opinion, such a country "could be Finland or Switzerland."

As reported, on April 21, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russian, inviting him to meet anywhere in the Ukrainian Donbas, where the war is underway.

Mr. Snowball is a danger to the future of Americans.

The information (click here)  in these graphs are according to annual budget amounts. The graph to the left is the US military budget in the proportion of GDP. It has been nearly steady with about 10 percent.

Consider the fact that the USA defense budget is approximately 10 percent of the GDP. Now realize also that even though the budget is about 10 percent of GDP, it has increased in cost by enormous amounts. Which is the graph on the right derived from the same data as the GDP percentage.

March 18, 2021
By Fareed Zakaria

On the eve of his visit this week to Asia, (click here) Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin outlined his key concern. “China is our pacing threat,” he said. He explained that for the past 20 years, the United States had been focused on the Middle East while China had been modernizing its military. “We still maintain the edge,” he noted, “and we’re going to increase the edge going forward.” Welcome to the new age of bloated Pentagon budgets, all to be justified by the great Chinese threat.

What Austin calls America’s “edge” over China is more like a chasm. The United States has about 20 times the number of nuclear warheads as China. It has twice the tonnage of warships at sea, including 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers compared with China’s two carriers (which are much less advanced). Washington has more than 2,000 modern fighter jets compared with Beijing’s roughly 600, according to national security analyst Sebastien Roblin. And the United States deploys this power using a vast network of some 800 overseas bases. China has three. China spends around $250 billion on its military, a third as much as the United States. Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution notes that, “if China were in NATO, we would berate it for inadequate burden-sharing, since its military outlays fall well below NATO’s 2 percent minimum.”

At the height of its imperial might in the late 19th century, when it ruled a quarter of the world’s population, Britain adopted a “two-power standard” — its navy had to be larger than the next two put together. U.S. military spending remains larger than the defense budgets of the next 10 countries put together, most of which are Washington’s close allies. The United States’ intelligence budget alone — around $85 billion — is larger than Russia’s total defense spending....

I trust Fareed Zakaria because he has been bring important information for years to the American people. He likes to try to get it right and this is the Washington Post after all. 

On the other hand Jim Inhofe uses stunts and gimmicks to make arguments that so long as their are snowballs no one has to worry about the climate crisis. He is a bunch of hooey. 

Jim Inhoge's affection for the USA military budget is nothing but fear mongering to defame President Biden. Does anyone actually believe President Biden would do anything to compromise the USA's national security?

Well, President Biden came forward with the US military budget and Mr. Snowball is crying yet again for his own political purposes. Mr. Snowball also won't admit that the USA's GDP has fallen over the past year. I would fully expect the USA miltary budget to follow suit.

To make it perfectly clear that Mr. Snowball has no idea what the climate is doing or that the crisis is valid, the USA military has prioritized climate for nearly a decade and dare I say almost an entire generation. Perhaps Mr. Snowball needs to take a ride in a USA military jet fighter powered by alternative fuels. He might even come to understand that the mliitary is among the first to carry the burden for such issues as the climate crisis as part of it's perparedness.

Below is Mr. Snowball taking to the US Senate floor for more grandstanding about how China is more militarily advanced than the USA. Perhaps, Fahreed Zakaria is right about the problem with the USA military attempting to justify a swollen budget considering the country's GDP.

I first want to congratulate the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the winners were spectacular. Well done.

 

The national weather service better be watching for rotation because it is sleet and small hail, not snow.

The reported temperature is 54 F, but, the air is cooling very quickly. There is a mixing of cold and warmer air.

Oscars are being awarded tonight.

I plan on doing something tomorrow because the movement around the climate is spinning falsehoods. Tonight I want to know what is winning at the Oscars when very few films were made due to the pandemic.

Congratulations in advance to all the winners.

...The U.S. (click here) has the 32nd-highest rate of deaths from gun violence in the world: 3.96 deaths per 100,000 people in 2019. That was more than eight times as high as the rate in Canada, which had 0.47 deaths per 100,000 people — and nearly 100 times higher than in the United Kingdom, which had 0.04 deaths per 100,000.

On a state-by-state calculation, the rates can be even higher. In the District of Columbia, the rate is 18.5 per 100,000 — the highest in the United States....

If DC becomes a state, will the district have been outcomes to crimes and gun violence. One of the reasons to pass DC into statehood(click here) is to prevent any President from strong-arming the local authority that allows danger to the Capitol again.

...The second-highest is in Louisiana: 9.34 per 100,000. In Georgia and Colorado — the scenes of the two most recent mass shootings — the rates are a bit closer to the national average: 5.62 per 100,000 in Georgia and 2.27 in Colorado....

Just a note about gun violence. Perhaps few on the right noticed but the country's murder rate is climbing (click here). In 2020, there was a rise in crime in almost every category, including murders.

April 8, 2021
By Alexandra Jaffe, Aamer Madhani and Michael Balsamo

Washington - President Joe Biden, (click here) in his first gun control measures since taking office, announced a half-dozen executive actions Thursday aimed at addressing a proliferation of gun violence across the nation that he called an “epidemic and an international embarrassment.”

“The idea that we have so many people dying every single day from gun violence in America is a blemish on our character as a nation,” Biden said during remarks at the White House.

He announced he is tightening regulations for buyers of “ghost guns” – homemade firearms that usually are assembled from parts and often lack serial numbers used to trace them. Also, a proposed rule, expected within 60 days, will tighten regulations on pistol-stabilizing braces like the one used in Boulder, Colorado, in a shooting last month that left 10 dead.

On Thursday, family members whose children were killed at the Sandy Hook, Connecticut, school massacre in 2012 and the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 attended the announcement. Biden thanked them for attending, saying he understood it would remind them of the awful days when they got the calls.

He assured them, “We’re absolutely determined to make change.”...