It must be a governing nightmare in the northwest of North America.

This is more than just a shellfish die-off. This is the loss of income to the family businesses that work the fisheries. First, these fishery's families had to navigate acidic ocean waters and now the shellfish they are dependent on to make a living are dying of heat exposure. Water doesn't have to be boiling to kill fish. The boiling water used in the preparation of the fish is used to kill the bacteria that might be attached to the fish or living on the shell.

The oceans are not doing well due to the heat. A few months ago an entire population of Bowhead Whales (click here) lost their ability to migrate because the usual change in water temperature didn't tip them off.

This alarming reality seems to be happening on the margins of life, but, Bowhead Whales are hardly marginal species. They are mammals just like human beings. There is plenty to be worried about and the fisheries are just the beginning. 

July 10, 2021
By Catrin Einhorn

Dead mussels near Suicide Bend Park in West Vancouver, British Columbia

Dead mussels and clams (click here) coated rocks in the Pacific Northwest, their shells gaping open as if they’d been boiled. Sea stars were baked to death. Sockeye salmon swam sluggishly in an overheated Washington river, prompting wildlife officials to truck them to cooler areas.

The combination of extraordinary heat and drought that hit the Western United States and Canada over the past two weeks has killed hundreds of millions of marine animals and continues to threaten untold species in freshwater, according to a preliminary estimate and interviews with scientists.

“It just feels like one of those postapocalyptic movies,” said Christopher Harley, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia who studies the effects of climate change on coastal marine ecosystems.

To calculate the death toll, Dr. Harley first looked at how many blue mussels live on a particular shoreline, how much of the area is good habitat for mussels and what fraction of the mussels he observed died. He estimated losses for the mussels alone in the hundreds of millions. Factoring in the other creatures that live in the mussel beds and on the shore — barnacles, hermit crabs and other crustaceans, various worms, tiny sea cucumbers — puts the deaths at easily over a billion, he said....

Credit.

How many knew there is a microchip shortage. Well. Anyone think it could be due to the use in human beings?

9 July 2021

...About 50 (click here) employees at Three Square Market have agreed to the optional implant of the chips, which are the approximate size and shape of a grain of rice, said Tony Danna, vice president of international sales at the River Falls-based company....

How bad is the shortage (click here)  “Never seen anything like it,” Tesla’s Elon Musk tweeted last month. Since late 2020, the world has been facing an unexpected dearth of microchips – the tiny integrated circuits that are nowadays found in practically every manufactured device with a battery or a plug – from toasters to TVs to airbags to fighter jets.

The scarcity was first seen in sophisticated consumer electronics: gaming consoles like the PlayStation 5 and the new Xbox have had big order backlogs; prices for computer graphics cards have shot up. But because semiconductor chips are so ubiquitous, a large number of industries have been affected.

The car industry has been hit hardest of all. Modern cars can easily contain 3,000 chips, and the shortage has slowed down vehicle assembly lines across the world: global output will drop by four million cars, nearly 5%, this year.
Why is it happening?

At the best of times, chip supply chains are hard to maintain: it is an industry prone to gluts and shortages. Fabrication plants (“fabs”) for advanced chips are among the world’s most complex manufacturing facilities, costing tens of billions of dollars to build. Lasers print billions of transistors onto tiny areas of silicon wafers; it can take three to four months to turn a large silicon wafer into a useable batch of chips....

 US Drought Monitor (click here)

The climate crisis brings out the worst in Earth's weather.

People often find solace in the idea that all this bad news about weather and climate can be found in history books. There is some solace in that because at least we know how to be somewhat resilient to it. But, the climate crisis is different in that this bad news is repeating itself over and over while the stratosphere shrinks as it mixes ever more violently with the troposphere. There is nothing but bad news. The storms are more violent and the clear skies bring hotter temperatures. Is there any reason to doubt that most fires are in the western USA and Alaska?

July 11, 2021
By Kathryn Prociv

Current Large Incidents (click here)

On Friday, Death Valley, California, hit 130 degrees. (click here)

On Saturday, Las Vegas tied its hottest temperature, hitting 117 degrees, and Utah also tied its statewide record, hitting 117 in St. George.

On Sunday morning, nearly 30 million people remained under heat alerts across several Western states, where temperatures were forecast again soar to 10 to 20 degrees above average.

Las Vegas was forecast again to climb to near 117 degrees. If that happened for the second time in a row, it would be the first time in recorded history.

And all eyes were on Death Valley to see whether it would hit 130 degrees again for the second time in three days, or perhaps higher.

Death Valley is considered the hottest place in the world — it hit 134 degrees back in 1913. No reliable weather station has recorded a hotter temperature on Earth....

The video below was released July 9, 2021.

Someone else from the UK made headlines today. Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic.

Congratulations to Sir Richard Branson and his team at Virgin Galactic. It has been a long road with many interesting twists and turns. He never ceases to amaze. A perfect flight today and it was spectacular to see. The man that road out a Category 5 eye of Hurricane  Irma. (click here) Sir Richard never stopped his dedication to the UK, he mourned his employee losses in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria (click here). Once again, Congratulations Sir Richard Branson on a job well done.

July 11, 2021
By Jonathan Amos

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson (click here) has successfully reached the edge of space on board his Virgin Galactic rocket plane.

The UK entrepreneur flew high above New Mexico in the US in the vehicle that his company has been developing for 17 years.

The trip was, he said, the "experience of a lifetime".

He returned safely to Earth just over an hour after leaving the ground.

"I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid, but honestly nothing can prepare you for the view of Earth from space," he said in a press conference following the flight. "The whole thing was just magical."

The trip also makes him the first of the new space tourism pioneers to try out their own vehicles, beating Amazon's Jeff Bezos and SpaceX's Elon Musk....

In case no one can get enough of Sir Elton John he is making is good-bye tour. Below is a 3 hour concert.

July 9, 2021
By Nicolette Accardi

Elton John is set to conclude performances at major stadiums (click here) during his “Farewell Yellow Brick Road: The Final Tour,” starting next spring.

The tour will kick off May 27, 2022 in Frankfurt, Germany and will finish Nov. 20, 2022 in Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium.

Tickets to the concerts are currently on sale, with pricing starting around $70 for United States shows. The tour includes a stop at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Saturday, July 23, 2022.

Years later, Sir Elton John would sing the same song with revised lyrics. I do believe a statue was unveiled this past week in her honor.

Released in 1997, "Candle in the Wind" is considered the second best selling song with 33 million copies sold.

It is difficult for Republicans to admit they are a criminal element in the USA.

There is a lot of nonsense in the media these days about voter fraud and elections that should be overturned. The reason any of the election of 2020 is an issue is because it was a criminal conspiracy for the entire Trump presidency to overturn the USA Constitution that manifested to fruition on January 6, 2021. 

By making the Democrats look as though they tolerate such election crimes, then the democracy is more under seige by the Democrats rather than the Republicans. That is all this is. 

It is high time Guiliani has to face his crimes. This is probably just the beginning of his legal status radically changing to pretend Trump actually was a lawful and good president. Truly is a shame, and one has to act what goes on with Donald John Trump that people turn against their own country? 

June 25, 2021
By Paul Callin

In a carefully reasoned and evidence-packed decision, (click here) a New York State appellate court suspended Rudy Giuliani's law license this week. The court found that Giuliani engaged in so many clearly unethical actions while seeking to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election on behalf of his client Donald Trump, that immediate action was necessary to protect the public.

The order strips the former US Attorney and New York Mayor of his right to practice law while the court's Attorney Grievance Committee investigates misconduct claims against him. Giuliani can request a court hearing on the interim suspension within 20 days of the order.

The decision to suspend an attorney while he is still being investigated is highly unusual and customarily reserved for only the most serious forms of professional misconduct. But the court has made a compelling case that Giuliani's misconduct was a knowing and deliberate attempt by an officer of the court to disrupt and obstruct America's 2020 presidential election in violation of the legal profession's code of professional responsibility.

The number of allegedly false claims and acts of outright dishonesty outlined in the decision is truly staggering. Giuliani's career appears destined for ruination while Donald Trump heads for the golf course....

No electricity today.

Sorry.

Writing from my car.

Currently doesn’t look like there is any news that I can find regarding the trial of those charged in the poisoning of the people of Flint, Michigan. That includes the decision regarding the Detroit Bankrupcy Court.

The assassination in Haiti resulted from Trump administration.

The circumstances surrounding the assassination of the Haitian president resulted as endorsement of changes by the Trump administration. 

The Biden administration had recognized the Haitian President but opposed the changes in it’s democratic constitution. The Biden administration needs to recommend a new referendum and slate of candidates as a measure for voting to replace draconian changes under the assassinated president.

Haiti’s government has failed the people. It is astounding to realize the ease the assassins had in accessing the late president’s home and security vehicle. There were far more consenting citizens that allowed lax security.

The people of Haiti need a constitution they understand to protect their freedoms and leadership they trust to protect those freedoms.

This is further proof of the divisiveness of the Trump administration and advocacy of dictatorships pleasing to Moscow ideology. 

2 Americans are among those suspected in Haiti?

 Guess who brought the guns?

Now, the USA is exporting violence. 

This is Haiti?

July 7, 2021

By Aaron Feis

...Hours later, (click here) photos published by Turkey’s Anadolu Agency news outlet captured the scene outside the home where Moïse was gunned down.

A white SUV was pockmarked on its passenger side with apparent bullet holes, its rear passenger window partially blown out, one photo shows.

Another shot shows two spent shells lying on the ground on the street outside Moïse’s residence.

Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who has assumed control of the impoverished Caribbean nation for the time being, said at least some of the unapprehended assailants were speaking Spanish, while sources told the Miami Herald that one of the assassins spoke English with an American accent.

The primary languages in Haiti are French and Haitian Creole....

Haitians (click here) demonstrate during a protest to denounce the draft constitutional referendum carried by the President Jovenel Moise on March 28, 2021 in Port-au-Prince.

The federal judge appointed by Trump is pathetic.

No one can prohibit food and water from being given to voters when the state narrows the number of voting locations and the hours of operation.

That measure ruled out by the judge is dangerous. It would ultimately prohibit emergency medicine which can come to a diabetic as food and water.

The idea there is a need for identification at the polls has to be remedied once and for all. It is not needed by the pure fact there is no voting fraud. The recent years have resulted in Republicans being bad, but, they were caught and in NC an entirely new election was held.

The Vote has been at the center of American democracy since it's beginning. I am not so sure it was any easier to vote in the early days of our country, because, it was very different then. But, the truth is that the USA has grown substantially since the first thirteen colonies became a nation of people that passed on a strong and determined democracy. The USA is the world's last Superpower and we should act it and provide examples for all to emulate.

The country has more than 328 million Americans even after so many were lost during the pandemic. All those people cannot fit into voting booths on one day a year. The entire "Big Lie" that is Trump is ridiculous on it's face.

There aren't enough hours in one day to accommodate some areas of the country where population growth has occurred. For that reason alone there have to be more days and hours of operation of voting equipment and places to bring in a true vote and not manipulated by a hostile legislature.

The government of, by, and for the people has to address the needs of the many and not the desire of the few. So, this most recent Georgia decision is a lot of nonsense. He is trying to limit challenges going forward by stating there are aspects of the Georgia law that could still be challenged in elections to come. To that I say,

"You are damn right there is and it will be done before another election occurs!"

Honestly. 

J.P. Boulee, after this political judicial decision, should be under the radar of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as incompetent and inflammatory. Can you see it coming, the decision by the Supreme Court that sends the decision back to the lower courts the day before an election? What a mess that would be.

The Georgia legislature does not like Stacy Abrams, can anyone tell?

A country this close to USA borders and allied with the USA and the intelligence community knew nothing about this?

Does everyone need to be reminded there are still Russian bombers in Venezuela? I cannot believe an assassin(s) could enter the private residence of the president of Haiti to be assassinated with his family present. What the heck is going on? If this is about corruption then the USA needs to get to the bottom of it!!!!

WHERE IS SEAN PENN WHEN WE NEED HIM? (Click here)

July 7, 2021
By Catherine Porter

President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti (click here) was assassinated in an attack in the early hours of Wednesday at his home on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, the interim prime minister said, creating a political void that threatens to deepen the turmoil that had gripped the country for months.

As foreign governments struggled to assess the situation, millions of Haitians anxiously huddled around radios and televisions, staying off the streets as they tried to understand what the coming days might bring.

Mr. Moïse’s wife, Martine Moïse, was also shot in the attack, the interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, said in a statement. Her condition was not immediately clear.

“A group of unidentified individuals, some of them speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president of the republic and thus fatally wounded the head of state,” the prime minister said, but there was little solid information about who might have carried out the assassination....

This is not confusion. It is defamation of character. I challenge the media to discern "being on your toes" from "being original and real."

I don't think he is a member of the screen actors guild. The President goes into a store with secret service outside and makes a purchase. He is, in full view of the public, asked about a national security issue still under review by the intelligence community. DAH!

I am fully tired of the actors within the politician !!!!! 

I want my President and elected Representatives to be real and original, and not well practiced.

The USA has suffered an insurrection that the Capitol Police are still attempting to define in their practices and how to keep elected officials safe, DUE TO THE SKILLS of Donald John Trump. I would thoroughly expect the people voting in the future to decide if a candidate is CAPABLE of representing them as opposed to the ability to PROJECT a Hollywood image. Let me know when John Williams composes a new variety of "Hail to the Chief," I am sure it is coming. Something more "Star Warsy."

 

The Tech Firms should sue Trump for harassment.

I thought the Supreme Court already ruled in the Tech Firms favor. There is a "tone" of the leadership of Alphabet, Inc. and it has always been one of benevolence to society. I would expect their continuing companies would move in that same direction.

April 5, 2021
By Amy Howe

Just under three months (click here) after former President Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter, the Supreme Court put an end to a legal battle over Trump’s personal Twitter account, throwing out a lower-court ruling against the former president and instructing that court to dismiss the case on the ground that it is moot – that is, no longer a live controversy.

The lawsuit was filed in July 2017 by the Knight First Amendment Institute and seven individuals whom Trump had blocked on Twitter after they criticized the president or his policies. The plaintiffs alleged that blocking them on Twitter violated the First Amendment, and the district court agreed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld that ruling.

Represented by former Acting U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, the federal government’s top lawyer in the Supreme Court during the end of the Trump administration, Trump asked the justices to weigh in last summer. Wall contended that the 2nd Circuit’s decision disregarded “the critical distinction between the President’s (sometimes) official statements on Twitter and his always personal decision to block” the plaintiffs from seeing and responding to his tweets. The lower court’s ruling, he wrote, would limit the ability of public officials to “insulate their social-media accounts from harassment, trolling, or hate speech without invasive judicial oversight.” Particularly when it comes to the president, Wall concluded, the Supreme Court should have the final word on “where to draw the line between the President’s personal decisions and official conduct.”...

As Sergey and I wrote in the original founders letter 11 years ago, “(click here) Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” As part of that, we also said that you could expect us to make “smaller bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to our current businesses.” From the start, we’ve always strived to do more, and to do important and meaningful things with the resources we have....

Trump continues to rob the American people of their sanity by staying in the news. Enough of this mess the media easily could have created to trap Americans into higher ratings. Our country needs to heal from a president that wanted to destroy the USA Constitution for his own wealth and comfort. No more!

July 7, 2021
By Kevin Breuninger

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday (click here) he is suing Facebook, Twitter and Google, as well as their respective CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai.

Trump, who has a history of threatening legal action but not always following through, made the announcement at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, at 11 a.m. ET alongside two leaders from America First Policy Institute, the pro-Trump nonprofit group that is supporting the lawsuits.

The three related lawsuits, filed in federal court in Florida, allege the tech giants have violated plaintiffs’ First Amendments rights.

The lawsuits were unveiled just over a month after Facebook decided to uphold Trump’s ban from using the platform until at least January 2023. Twitter, Trump’s preferred social media outlet throughout his one term in office, permanently banned him on the heels of the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol by a mob of his supporters....

continued....

Hurricane Elsa

Hurricane Elsa is moving over Cuba as a tropical storm. When it reaches the Gukf of Mexico it will be refueled with hot Gulf water. Everyone needs to pay attention. 

Thank you.

"Mad Cow"

They needed a replacement for Larry King, so why not the former Captain of the Star Ship Enterprise.

Canada should be ashamed of its famous citizen. I know I am. The idea is rather interesting but old in concept, just like Putin. Get all The West hooked on William Shatner and the elections are ours.

Shatner's views are anti-freedom and pro-Kremlin. It is interesting what he will do for a fist full of money from the Russian government. Is he accepting it in Bitcoin?

I will not go to see any new movies or programs of any type with Shatner starring while he is supporting Moscow. Just that simple.

The Kremlin under Putin has the wrong idea of democracy. It seems to believe if one can pollute the elections with enough Moscow sympathizers, the democracy can be flipped for Russian dominance in the world. Simpletons. Putin never did or still does understand the basis of freedom and democracy nor the people that practice it.

William Shatner should be ashamed of himself. I am.

July 1, 2021

By Noor Ibrahim

Star Trek star William Shatner (click here) has taken to Twitter to trade blows with journalists who called him out for hosting a new show on the Kremlin’s notorious state-funded network, RT.

Earlier this week, the 90-year-old Canadian actor—known for taking on the legendary role Captain James Kirk in the Star Trek saga—announced he would be hosting a new general talk show on the American branch of RT called “I Don’t Understand,” where he’ll be posing questions to guests on a variety topics. The show is set to debut later this month.

Alexey Kovalev, an investigative editor for Meduza—one of the most popular independent Russian-language news outlets—had some choice words for Shatner on his work with the network.

“Quick reminder about [RT’s] views and editorial policies @WilliamShatner is now endorsing (whether he wants to or not),” he tweeted on Thursday, linking to a thread that ends with “Don’t go on RT, unless you are okay with sharing a mic with some of the most vile racist degenerates out there. It’s not a legitimate media platform. It has no redeeming qualities. And if no other platform will have you, then you really shouldn’t have *any* platform.”...

New Zealand experienced 26 deaths.

 It received its first shipment of Pfizer vaccine and has hopes of vaccinating the entire country so commerce can get back to normal.

The USA has an abundance of vaccine and a political culture that rather die of the virus than switch.

The West is doing what it has to in protecting the people from exposure, what ever happened to the USA? Politics of viral dimensions? That doesn’t even make sense except as a source of a wedge issue to insure Republican votes. That is extremely dangerous. When are State Attorney Generals going to arrest wanton politicians placing voters directly in the path of harm? It is illegal to lie to the public and cause warm. You can’t yell fire in a theater.