Facebook plus AI is a societal disaster with carnage of bodies along the way.

Where is the accountability? There is less and less accountability in our system of justice than anyone wants to say.

October 6, 2021
By Therese Poletti

What will happen to Facebook Inc. (click here) after a former employee testified in the U.S. Senate about the social-media company repeatedly putting profit ahead of its users?

Well, probably not much. Executives and directors at publicly traded companies are expected to place the creation of shareholder value, or profit, at the top of their list as part of their fiduciary duty to investors. As is often seen in these types of controversies, it would not be the actions by executives that produce recriminations, but the lies they tell to cover up those actions.

Former Facebook FB, +0.13% product manager Frances Haugen told a Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security on Tuesday that the social-media giant has lied to investors and the public about its practices, and that would be actionable.

“The documents I have provided prove that Facebook has repeatedly misled us about what its own research reveals about the safety of children, its role in spreading hateful and polarizing messages, and so much more,” Haugen said in her testimony on Capitol Hill.

Haugen was the main source of documents in The Wall Street Journal‘s recent investigation, The Facebook Files, and her identity was unveiled when she spoke with “60 Minutes” for a piece that aired Sunday night before testifying to senators Tuesday. The coordinated rollout coincided with an unprecedented six-hour outage of Facebook’s services on Monday, as well as the biggest drop in its stock in nearly a year....

Facebook is a myogynist tool. The sentimental feelings about Zukerberg and Facebook should never outweigh the reality of the nightmare it has created.

Febraury 4, 2019

By Alexis C. Madrigal

On the 15th anniversary of Facebook’s launch at Harvard, (click here) a dozen students and faculty members reflect on seeing and being the first users of the world’s largest social network.

There was a time when Facebook was small. After all, it only existed in one place on Earth: Harvard University, where Mark Zuckerberg was a sophomore. He lived in Kirkland House, a square of brick buildings arranged around a courtyard, one side hemmed in by JFK Street. For all the tendrils that Facebook now has snaked across the globe, it feels strange that one can pinpoint the moment it all began: 6 p.m. on February 4, 2004, as the temperature dipped below freezing on another day in Cambridge....

...Sarah Goodin was there in Kirkland House too. She was a sophomore like Zuckerberg, and friends with Chris Hughes, another one of the site’s co-founders. So, shortly after it launched, Zuckerberg emailed her and asked her to try his new thing. As far as anyone can tell, she was the 15th total user. “Supposedly, I am the first woman on Facebook,” Goodin, now an exhibit developer and interactive designer at the California Academy of Sciences, told me....

...By far the most cited common use was to check on someone’s relationship status, which now suddenly posed a new problem for couples. Defining or ending a relationship meant choosing a new answer in a dropdown; one of life’s enduring human messes now required an answer that a computer could understand....

...Heather Horn, now an editor at The New Republic, was an incoming freshman in the fall of 2004. Many of her classmates had signed up over the summer, so they never experienced a day on campus without Facebook. “Pretty continually through the next four years, I had people berate me that my three-year, rock-solid relationship wasn’t listed on Facebook,” Horn told me. “I remember my roommate’s boyfriend thought I must not be serious about my boyfriend, if he wasn’t listed on Facebook. I remember thinking that was just bananas.”...

...“Being asked out by someone you’d never met nor ever seen in person was completely new to us ... In February 2004, it was hard for us to believe that a photo and a few things you wrote about yourself would prompt a guy to ask you out and, at first, seemed sort of weird.” (In the end, the roommate and messenger had a single, awkward date.)...

...But if the downsides of this new thing were obvious to the critical eye, what made people keep coming back and back and back? Lester had a theory there, too. “There are plenty of other primal instincts evident at work here: an element of wanting to belong, a dash of vanity and more than a little voyeurism probably go a long way in explaining most addictions (mine included),” she wrote. “But most of all it’s about performing—striking a pose, as Madonna might put it, and letting the world know why we’re important individuals. In short, it’s what Harvard students do best. And that’s why, wildly misleading photos aside, it would be difficult if not near-impossible to go cold turkey in the face of thefacebook.com.”...

...“I often think about, you know, obviously Mark didn’t know it was gonna go this way. I still have his business card, from when his title was ‘I’m CEO, Bitch,’” said Goodin, the first woman on Facebook. “What’s weird is that it seemed like this kind of fun thing, and all of a sudden it’s a utility and it’s warped into something else that is not that great because of the way it has transformed social interaction.”

Trucking is lowering the availability for supplies to cities.

There needs to be some research as to why the availability of truck drivers is scare. This has sort of been coming to fruition for some time now. Truck drivers have been looking at these driverless trucks coming on and making their way to other employment or retirement. So, the lack of available truck drivers should not be surprising. 

There is a chance the pandemic provided a way to become educated for a different trade and now there are simply not enough truck drivers to go around. This grocer is sending his trucks to pick up produce for the store. 

So, I am left to wonder what is going on in the transportation sector. Are truckers leaving because they are finding better employment elsewhere or are there simply less of them by attrition and death or disability from the virus. At some point in time, the USA has to realize that 700,000 dead Americans is a lot of Americans. Some of those folks were still members of the workforce. They are not all the elderly.

Truck drivers made up 35 percent of the jobs in transportation in the USA and they continued to work as essential workers during the pandemic. I am quite sure some became ill. There is also the idea that some left because of their exposure that was unwelcome. I would imagine some older drivers simply retired and said no thank you I want to live to retire.

The profession is about 90 percent men. Men became ill and died at higher percentages than women to the virus.  There are more veterans that are truckers than other professions. About 10 percent of the truck drivers are military veterans. About 15 percent don't have health insurance. They are predominantly Caucasian in all age groups with older drivers showing less minority employed. Most have high school diplomas with some college.

Truck drivers are about 2 percent of the overall labor workforce in the USA. That would mean about 14,000 truck drivers are among the dead from the virus. That is based on 2 percent when there was no virus. My guess is that it is more, probably quite a bit more than 14,000 dead truck drivers.

This is a permanent change in the labor workforce and there needs to be some introspection about the way forward. The BOTTLENECK of deliveries to stores is causing higher consumer prices. If this that extensive, there needs to be National Gaurd troops brought in to fill in the gap, ESPECIALLY, where there is a large number of impoverished on food stamps.

The so-called inflation is not due to LACK OF GOODS in the case of food, but, becuase of the lack of delivery personnel. I think the President needs to look into this and decide the best way forward.

September 29, 2021
By Alicia Wallace

Bacon is more expensive for Americans than it has been in the past 40 years. (click here for video - thank you)

And yes, that is accounting for inflation.

That hankering for pork chops is costing you about 7% more than 12 months ago. The average price for that slab of bacon to accompany the Sunday morning spread has jumped nearly 28% during the past 12 months, inflation-adjusted Consumer Price Index data show.

The supply chain issues and inflationary pressures that have become all too common in these pandemic times certainly have played their roles in the pork price hikes, alongside a slew of industry-specific influence. President Joe Biden's administration, for its part, believes prices are high because a couple of large companies control the majority of market share, and has outlined plans to level the playing field.

By some analysts' expectations, the higher prices aren't expected to ease anytime soon....

The ports are being clogged up by ships that can't be emptied. I am sure there are Longshore persons, but, there are no truck drivers. Wow. Industry did this to themselves. They want these driverless trucks and where did all the drivers go? To other jobs. Truck driving is not an easy profession. It is a lot of hard work. If a driver can find an easier job, they will take it.

The supply chain is not the issue, it is the MOVEMENT of the supply chain that is the problem. The lack of drivers is huge. There are too many bottlenecks.

The other part of this that no one is looking at is THE WEATHER. Flooding and other issues, especially high wind, is a problem and the climate is reeking havoc with big semis on the road. It would be best to study this entire dynamic. The weather and driver availability are two huge issues. Insurance claims for big rigs due to inclement weather should be an easy place to find any trends. Drivers can sustain injuries that takes them out of work and sometimes permanently, too.

October 2, 2021

By David J. Lynch

The commercial pipeline (click here) that each year brings $1 trillion worth of toys, clothing, electronics and furniture from Asia to the United States is clogged and no one knows how to unclog it.

This month, the median cost of shipping a standard rectangular metal container from China to the West Coast of the United States hit a record $20,586, almost twice what it cost in July, which was twice what it cost in January, according to the Freightos index. Essential freight-handling equipment too often is not where it's needed, and when it is, there aren't enough truckers or warehouse workers to operate it.

As Americans fume, supply headaches that were viewed as temporary when the coronavirus pandemic began now are expected to last through 2022.

Dozens of cargo vessels stuck at anchor off the California coast illustrate the delivery disruptions that have become the signature feature of the recovery, fueling inflation, sapping growth and calling into question the global economic model that has prevailed for three decades...

The White House and secretaries for Labor, Commerce and Transportation need to get on top of this. i don't think merchants have a right to charge more for store items unless it is to distribute operating expenses over a smaller inventory (you got to keep the lights on), but, to charge for the sake of availability when the product is ample and the delivery being the issue is hardly fair to the consumer.

I know everyone wants a free market that sets prices and demand, etc. This is not the time with the country still fighting a pandemic.

How precious. Don't know of two men more worried about future employment.

I think we know now who is tampering with the Justice Department calling the insurrection a parade. Even the judges can't believe the prosecution is dummying down the charges of the insurrectionists.

October 5, 2021

"I know the media (click here) wants to distract from the Biden administration's failed agenda by focusing on one day in January," Pence said in a Monday night interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity.

"They want to use that one day to try and demean the character and intentions of 74 million Americans who believed we could be strong again and prosperous again and supported our administration in 2016 and 2020," he added.

"For our part, I truly believe we ought to remain completely focused on the future, and that's where I'm focused," Pence said i
n what may have been a nod to his 2024 presidential aspirations....

Facebook outage…

…is more than just the coastlines, it is down in Mid-Michigan. It doesn’t bother me a bit. For the lousy stuff being pumped out of that company killing and emotionally damaging American girls, I hope it stays down.

Stop LIne 3 from being built on pristine lands. A similar result will occur with an oil pipeline known as Line 3.

Oil is ancient. The use of the substance has to stop. These pipelines are ancient and were never designed or built to sustain the ravages of the Climate Crisis. It is time to get over this oil economy. We are moving to electric production and electric transportation. 

October 4, 2021
By Joe Sutton and Sussannah Cullinane

An oil pipeline off the coast of Southern California (click here) has spewed more than 100,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean, coating local wildlife habitats, shutting down a swath of popular beaches and potentially harming human health.

The leak appears to have stopped and oil removal efforts are underway, officials said Sunday.

The breach, reported Saturday, occurred about 5 miles off the coast of Huntington Beach in Orange County, spilling the equivalent of an estimated 3,000 barrels -- or 126,000 gallons -- of post-production crude, local officials said.

Divers have been inspecting the 17-mile pipeline, hoping to find its exact source. The leak's cause remains unknown....

This is post production oil. That means there is a refinery offshore. Since when do refineries exist offshore at all.

The beaches are closed and we know from other oil spills, this disaster is ongoing over decades of time.

Governor Newsome needs to file suilt against the oil company and seek to shutdown the pipelines permanently. The company MUST remove all the oil or they need to pay California for the years to come of lost tourist income as the toxins maintain not far from bare feet walking across beach sand.  The only way to resolve this pollution now is to remove all the natural sand and conduct beach replacement. That is expensive. Wildlife will continue to be effected so long as there is toxic oil imbedded in the beach sand.

October 4, 2021

By Joe Sutton and Sussannah Cullinane

An oil pipeline off the coast of Southern California (click here) has spewed more than 100,000 gallons of oil into the Pacific Ocean, coating local wildlife habitats, shutting down a swath of popular beaches and potentially harming human health.

The leak appears to have stopped and oil removal efforts are underway, officials said Sunday.

The breach, reported Saturday, occurred about 5 miles off the coast of Huntington Beach in Orange County, spilling the equivalent of an estimated 3,000 barrels -- or 126,000 gallons -- of post-production crude, local officials said.

Divers have been inspecting the 17-mile pipeline, hoping to find its exact source. The leak's cause remains unknown....

More than 30 years ago the Exxon Valdes ran aground dumping enormous amounts of oil into the water. While the view is nice, there is still toxic oil in the soils less than 12 inches down.

On the surface, (click here) Prince William Sound appears to have recovered. But you don’t have to dig too deep—into the soil or into memories—to find the spill’s lingering effects....

Canada has to find better energy infrastructure from the Tar Sands is over. Enbridge needs to get a life. The idea a pipeline can be replaced with another pipeline ONLY IN A FAR MORE SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL AREA OF EARTH is ridiculous.

Looking toward the tar sands to refine oil is a desperate act. The Tar Sands oil is very heavy and extremely energy demanding to refine. To build yet another pipeline is ridiculous and this one is completely an offense to the human condition on Earth.

July 16, 2021

Enbridge, based in Calgary, Alberta, (click here) built an oil pipeline running southeast from Canada's oil sands region to Lake Superior's western tip near the Minnesota-Wisconsin border. The pipeline replaces Enbridge's current Line 3, but with a larger line along a different route.

Enbridge says the existing Line 3 pipeline, built in the 1960s, needed to be replaced because it's corroded and cracked and requires extensive ongoing maintenance. As a result, it can't carry as much oil as it once could. It also means the line can't carry heavier grades of crude that come out of the oil sands region. 

The company built along a new route that avoids the reservation of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, which opposed locating the new line across its land. Find a map of the current route here....

If President Biden is unable to discern the way forward with Enbridge, then send the issue to the Secretary of the Interior for an appropriate ruling.

STOPPING BUILDING PIPELINES AND SHUT DOWN LINE 5. See Enbridge doesn't see the difference between clean and pristine water and the idea that pipelines leak into the water, because, their leadership is as corrupt as it comes. There is no justification for furthering oil pipelines. This is a HUMAN INFRASTRUCTURE issue and people come first. 

Enbridge has alternative energy as a means for profit, it is offshore wind. They need to stick to the idea that oil is past and ancient and invest more and more into alternative energies.

February 22, 2021

Construction (click here) is about to start on the 448-MW Calvados offshore wind project, Enbridge’s third offshore wind farm in France, as the project secures a key investment milestone. The project will provide enough energy to power nearly 300,000 homes in the Normandy region when it reaches operation in 2024.

“We are pleased to have reached a final investment decision on our third offshore wind farm in France, and for construction to formally commence on the Calvados (Courseulles-sur-Mer) project,” says Matthew Akman, Enbridge’s Senior Vice President of Strategy and Power. “Over the past several years, we have firmly established Enbridge as a competitive player in offshore wind in Europe and developed an extensive portfolio of projects.”

Adds Akman: “Enbridge is investing in renewable power projects that support the transition to a lower-carbon economy and are aligned with our low-risk investment approach.”

The project will use 64 Siemens Gamesa 7-MW offshore wind turbines and will be located between 10 and 18 kilometers (6-11 miles) off the coast of northwest France. The three-and-a-half-year construction project will create over 1,000 direct jobs in Normandy and will contribute to developing the future of France’s offshore wind industry....

OIL HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES TO BE A CONVENIENT CASH FLOW DIRECTIVE OF MOST CEOs regardless of the business model they are engaged in. The drilling and pipeline paradigm must stop. The only method of energy required by any country is national defense. The private sector has to remove any dependency on the petroleum industry.

Drilling for oil is old and obsolete. These old plans for pipelines are wasted money.

continued...

Reverend Jesse Jackson is turning 80 years young and his dedication to minorities, especially Black Americans is still alive.

September 12, 2021

The picture to the right is the Reverend and Mrs. Jesse Jackson

JESSE JACKSON’S SHOW Suburban Ecologies, (click here) installed at the Palm Court Arts Complex at Irvine, California, had an unconventional run from December 6, 2020, to March 14, 2021. As an exhibit, it took as its object the topography and built environment of Orange County and Irvine. The Great Park Art Gallery, which is part of the Palm Court Arts Complex, is one piece of the ambitious and flawed development of the former El Toro Marine Corps Air Station into a sprawling and “innovative” public park and sports complex. Jackson’s show was meant to hold a fractured mirror up to a space — a town and an idea — making viewers contemplate along with the artist the difficulty of framing the contours of this “super suburb,” located between the Orange Coast and the Santa Ana Mountains. The Gallery could never open to the public during the time of the exhibit because of the pandemic, and the city provided instead, a digital walk-through. Elements of Jackson’s show have been reinstalled in Irvine City Hall and opened on August 12, 2021. The great virtue of Jackson’s engagement with the suburban landscape is his refusal to condescend to his subject matter: he does not exhibit the jaded response to Irvine’s built and natural environment, that can be characterized as something like, “It’s so beige and boring. It’s built for normies, not cosmopolitans like me.” In fact, Irvine’s diverse immigrant communities connect it to Middle Eastern, Latin American, Asian, and South Asian diasporas that span the globe. Holding Irvine in contempt for its presumed provincialism, therefore, sorely misses the mark. Jackson, an expat Canadian himself, avoids this trap....

Here is the real Wall Street story that hasn't been covered by the media in the USA. EVERGRANDE.

This is the self-inflicted Wall Street crash that in no way can be connected to the Biden Administration and their policies. If anything the Biden policies are the complete opposite of this ANTICIPATED crash. This is the way China destroys commerce as well.

When this crash occurs, no hedge fund bailout and only bailout industries directly connected to the wealth potential of the Middle Class like insurance companies or mortgage companies.

This is nonsense and this is the excess that Wall Street is investing in China and they will come crying when their investment porfolios are reaching ZERO. The dips in the stock market that has occured under the Biden White House is due directly to this Chinese company. Wall Street has been strategizing around this company for weeks if not months.

Let Chinese companies crash. The Chinese have nothing but hostile agendas for people that love democracy as in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Let them crash.

The USA needs to be producing their own computer chips anyway. It is a national security issue. 

October 4, 2021
By Shalini Nagarajan

Global stocks fell Monday (click here) after a trading halt for beleaguered Chinese property giant Evergrande worried investors, while oil prices wobbled as investors braced for a meeting of major oil producers later in the day.

Futures on the Dow Jones were down 0.2%, while those on the S&P 500 lost 0.3%. Nasdaq futures declined 0.5% as of 5:50 a.m. ET, suggesting an unwinding of Friday's gains later in the day.

In Europe, the pan-continental Euro Stoxx 600 index dropped 0.2%, while Frankfurt's DAX moved 0.4% lower.

In Asia, shares in Hong Kong's Hang Seng index sank by 2.4%, while markets in mainland China were closed for a holiday. With South Korea also on holiday, trading was thin on other regional indexes. Tokyo's Nikkei fell 3% after Fumio Kishida was voted in as Japan's new prime minister....

The Biden White House is going to have to be prepared with a strategy if the worse happens. This is going to hit hard when the final drama  plays out and the entire Republican party will be blaming Biden for the crash. NOT SO! Fair notice to Republicans, NO MORE LIES, about anything including the lousy investments Wall Street makes in China.

October 4, 2021
By Isabelle Lee

US stocks slipped on Monday (click here) as investors closely eyed new developments in the the Evergrande saga, with trading of the property developer's stock suspended in Hong Kong. and looked for signs that Congress could avert the looming debt ceiling crisis later this month.

The benchmark S&P 500 fell after posting its biggest weekly loss since February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also slid lower, after spiking nearly 500 points on Friday.

Trading in shares of embattled Evergrande and its property management unit were suspended Monday pending an announcement about a "major transaction." The trading halt came as another debt payment loomed, with no sign that the world's most indebted company had met two obligations to foreign investors last week....

October 4, 2021
By Julie Gerstein and Harry Robertson

Trading in the shares (click here) of embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande and its property management unit were suspended on Monday pending an announcement about a "major transaction."

The trading halt came as another debt payment loomed, with no sign that the troubled company had met two obligations to foreign investors last week....

So, who cares? Right? There are legal ways to hide money, so what?

To begin if these are secret stashes of money they probably haven't paid taxes. But, in the case of government officials, elected or not, hiding stashes of cash, their interests change and they make policy to protect their secret hideaways, make it legal to place monies offshore and make policies that benefit their interests in these investments. 

There are times when I read a bill or an article about a law passed by a governing authority that causes pause. I think what the heck is that all about because it is out of the mainstream of governance. Well, here it is. People with power hide their money and make policy to protect it and benefit it.

October 3, 2021
By Yelena Dzhanova

Dozens of current and former world leaders, billionaires, rockstars, and government officials (click here) have stashed billions of dollars in secret offshore accounts, according to an investigation conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

The trove of documents, called the Pandora Papers, is a collection of nearly 12 million financial records that detail the existence of over 29,000 offshore accounts, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the BBC, and other outlets reported on Sunday. That's twice as many as the collection uncovered by the Panama Papers, a leak that exposed millions of financial and legal records and revealed the offshore holdings of powerful and influential people worldwide.

The findings of the documents, which will be rolled out in a series of stories over the next week, expose the secret offshore finances of about three dozen world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers, and heads of state. The finances of about 100 billionaires and people of extreme wealth are also included in the trove. "Many use shell companies to hold luxury items such as property and yachts, as well as incognito bank accounts," the Guardian reported....

 I will write more later today and it is about Wall Street. Thank you for your interest.

Misplaced priorities are a poor excuse for refusing to pass direly needed legislation.

This evening I was interrupted by a severe thunderstorm that forced me to shut down computers that could suffer damage by high levels of static electricity during the storm. This storm, while not deadly to my knowledge, was a climate crisis storm. It's capcity for dumping water on the ground was rather incredible, but, this is not an unusual occurrence. In general, the weather Americans are witnessing no matter what state or area one lives is extreme. These weather outcomes of the climate crisis is a national agenda for the USA.

The changes that have to take place within the USA to sustain infrastructure and a prosperous economy are part of a $1 trillion federal bill that must pass into law currently being held hostage by a few people in our elected federal government. Every person regardless of party must move to bring about this new reality for a country ready and able to sustain the climate crisis and reverse it. 

October 1, 2021
By Emily Cochrane

...The vote, )click here) 69 to 30, was uncommonly bipartisan. The yes votes included Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, and 18 others from his party who shrugged off increasingly shrill efforts by former President Donald J. Trump to derail it.

“This historic investment in infrastructure is what I believe you, the American people, want, what you’ve been asking for for a long, long time,” Mr. Biden said from the White House as he thanked Republicans for showing “a lot of courage.”...

The vote in the US Senate was overwhelmingly bipartisan. President Biden was successful in bringing this bill to conclusion in a bipartisan manner and passed without question. This level of bipartisanship is rarely seen in the USA these days, but, this bill is so desperately needed in the USA that no reasonable Senator could stand in it's way. The problem is now the US House that has linked two legislative efforts.

...The measure faces a potentially rocky and time-consuming path in the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a majority of the nearly 100-member Progressive Caucus have said they will not vote on it unless and until the Senate passes a separate, even more ambitious $3.5 trillion social policy bill this fall. That could put the infrastructure bill on hold for weeks, if not months.

The legislation is, no doubt, substantial on its own. It would be the largest infusion of federal investment into infrastructure projects in more than a decade, touching nearly every facet of the American economy and fortifying the nation’s response to the warming of the planet. Funding for the modernization of the nation’s power grid would reach record levels, as would projects to better manage climate risks. Hundreds of billions of dollars would go to repairing and replacing aging public works projects....

This is a more extensive list of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill listed by Reuters. The bill is bought and paid for already.

...The legislation (click here) is one of President Joe Biden's top domestic priorities and includes $550 billion in new spending, while the rest of the $1 trillion is previously approved funding.

Here are some of the details of the bipartisan bill:

* Roads, bridges and major projects: $110 billion

* Passenger and freight rail: $66 billion

* Broadband infrastructure: $65 billion

* Water infrastructure, such as eliminating lead pipes: $55 billion

* Public transit: $39.2 billion

* Resiliency, including flood and wildfire mitigation, ecosystem restoration, weatherization and cybersecurity: $47.2 billion

* Electric vehicle infrastructure, including chargers: $7.5 billion

* Addressing legacy pollution including cleaning up brownfield and Superfund sites, reclaiming abandoned mine lands, plugging orphan oil and gas wells: $21 billion

The plan has a number of proposals to finance the spending, including the following items and the revenue gains from each over the next decade, as estimated by Congress' nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and Congressional Budget Office.

* Repurposing unused COVID-19 relief funds: $210 billion

* Sales of future spectrum auctions and proceeds of February 2021 c-band auction: $87 billion

* Economic growth: $56 billion

* Return of unemployment insurance funds from some states: $53 billion

* Delaying Medicare Part D rebate rule: $51 billion

* Applying information reporting requirements to cryptocurrency: $28 billion

* Reinstating Superfund fees: $14.5 billion

The hold up in the US House is that the US Senate has not passed the $3.5 trillion that helps return the USA to a country of, by and for the people. It sets many social ills on a path to recovery. Will someone please find out why one US Democratic Senator, Senator Sinema, will not vote for this much needed bill. None of this makes sense. The country will benefit greatly by this, granted enormous bill, but it is not a frivilous effort. These are changes overlooked for decades and it is unfortunate Senator Sinema is burdened with a bill that will catch up the USA on just reform, but, that is her reality. This is a Democratic majority that is taking on the challeges of the past and correcting the path forward. The idea Senator Machin is not on board for the climate provisions is unfortunate as well, but, he needs to bite the bullet and pass the bill regardless of his excellent effort to reduce it's cost.

The facts are simple and I believe Representative Ocasio-Cortez states the truth about the bill and the need to pass it. To reduce the $3.5 trillion to less so that Sinema and Manchin will vote for it is slight of hand. The bill is important and there is not one aspect of it that is not urgently needed. The idea any Senator or US House member would not want to see the continuation of the Child Tax Credit is outrageous.

This Child Tax Credit is practially paid for when one realizes it keeps low income families together rather than removing children into foster care. There is an epidemic of catastrophe within the Foster Care paradyme and it has to stop. Low income is not supposed to be the peril of intact families. The child tax credit places federal monies where it should be on maintaining THE FAMILY regardless of parents ability to earn to support their family. We have heard over and over how such families are working three or more jobs to pay the bills when in fact that hurts quality of life for the children that need both their parents' love more regularly during the day and not just at bedtime.

The better place to look for cost cutting measures is in Foster Care as the child tax credit increases the better outcomes of intact families and Foster Care is needed less. This $3.5 trillion over ten years is not only needed to reform the current social policies of the USA, it is needed to maintain and create better opprotunities for children and their families. The reform must take place and it is now that it must move forward. It is long overdue.

Continued from entry below.

That was quite a storm. Besides sharp lightning, it sounded like a fire hose was opened on the roof. Deluge of water that came. There is no flash flooding where I am because of elevation from the surrounding area, but, there should have been flooding for the amount of water dropped out of the sky.

But, as to "Shock Soldiers," they are here now. There are currently corrupt persons involved in the election personnel that are sympathizers of this alternate governance. These people need to be eliminated from the election process. They are not simply activists and do the job as it is supposed to be done, but, they are in place to change the elections that they disagree with in it's outcome.

Every state needs to develop a standard for employees required to carry out the election process according to a democratic process. There can't be corruption within the governance of any election. Once again, the methods used in elections have to be transparent and solid. A certification process and pledge to carry out American elections should be in place and any deviction from that sovereign process can lead to automatic dismissal. In other words, "You're fired."

Some governors are already seeing attempts by Republican majorities at the state level to alter realities. The signing ceremony of a veto letter by Governor Whitmer is absolutely brilliant. If these legislative corruption was operating in the dark of a disinterested, distracted and uninformed public the fate of free and fair elections would definitely be eliminated for guaranteed and corrupted right wing outcomes.

October 3, 2021
By Beth LaBlanc and Hayley Harding

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vetoed four bills (click here) Sunday night that she said would "weaken voting rights" and suppress votes.

Speaking at the Detroit NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner, she said the goal of the bills was to "perpetuate the big lie," the false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

"I've done a lot of signing ceremonies when I sign bills," Whitmer said to a standing ovation from attendees at the event, whose theme was "Don't Rest on Your Freedom." "Tonight, I'm going to sign the veto letter in front of you."

While vetoing the bills, she also promised to reject more controversial voting bills that are making their way from the Senate. The House bills vetoed by the Democratic governor passed mostly along party lines in the Senate but had wider support from Democratic lawmakers in the House....

This is the level of vigilance and transparency all Governors should be exercising in the face of January 6th insurrection. These Republican bills are proof of the extensive level of corruption being exercised by the party. This is real and it is being conducted "in plain sight." Americans must act on any election to prevent corruption at every level to ensure their right to vote is not altered in any way. 

This is surprising, isn't it? That a long standing American political party can be corrupted so extensively that it imperils our democracy. Those elected and partaking in these practices should be scrutinized to their motives and eliminated from power with the idea their OATH ment nothing to them. They are conducting themselves corruptly and with total disregard to the USA Constitution. That is the reality. They are operating this corrupt political party once believed to be a conservative party in the open and in contempt of the voting rights of the American people.

President Biden probably needs to explain to Americans in a chat why these election laws are corrupt and how to eliminate their threat before their threat becomes reality. Most of the country is unaware or simply can't conceive of a trusted American political party as corrupt as the one now that exists with the GOP. I think the president needs to use these vetoed election laws as examples of what is taking place in backrooms to set our democracy on an agenda of failure as an expression of the people. There should be federal standards annouced as to what is good election practice and what is not recognizing the control of all votes belongs to the states.

Americans must be involved in election outcomes that reflect the true vote and eliminate those people from power that would alter those elections to benefit alternate governance.

We know the radical right Republicans agenda, now.

Kindly keep in mind Bannon has no loyalty to any constitution anywhere in the world. He makes his millions upon millions by getting people elected regardless of the harm they do to democracy. The Republicans that stand with or behind Trump state they are trapped by Trumpism. That is nonsense. The Republicans are looking for voters and find them where they are hiding, namely those Americans that hate government.

In this article, he gives away the agenda he sees for Republicans and it does not include Trump as president or the USA Constitution surviving the elections ahead of us.

I will get into "shock troopers" in a minute. In the fourth paragraph, he states, "...when the next Republican president takes office." He states the MAGA agenda is important and he holds onto it because that is where the voters are, but, he isn't seeing Trump as president. Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, stated, "Trump is not running for president." I believe him. Trump likes power and is the head of the GOP right now, so he is stating he is running for president in order to make Republicans more important in the 2022 elections. This is one of the elections Bannon sees electing many Republicans. Another, reason he is running is money. Trump can raise money and ask for fees if he is running for president in 2024. So, I think Michael Cohen is very correct in stating Trump isn't going to be on the party ticket.

Steve Bannon (click here) predicts 'sweeping victory' for MAGA movement in next elections, tells NBC GOP 'shock troops' need to be prepared to take over

Steve Bannon said that "shock troops" need to be prepared to take over and "deconstruct" the state when the next Republican president is elected, reports say.

"Shock troopers." These are people preparing to take over leadership positions in the federal government that can pass any nomination process and will then, once in power, dismantle the federal government agencies to end the federal government with an exception of the military. Perhaps. There is no reason to maintain the military if the Bannon Republican president is going to hand the country to Putin. I believe whoever the Republican presidential candidate will see defunding the federal government as a real upside and that will include the USA military so that communists can take their place with "A COLLECTIVE AUTHORITY." 

It is interesting to hear Elon Musk state, the reason there is no cryptocurrency is China is because the communists are in charge year after year. Interesting because he is willing to say it and expect those that like crypto to see that as a reality. Elon might want to pay attention to the elections in the USA to be sure he is not facing communists at the top of the government after 2024.

Bannon made the comments in a phone call to NBC News following reports that he had met with Trump political appointees on Wednesday to discuss how they could help the next Republican president.

These people, the political appointees of Trump, like power and are convinced the government can be reformed to the point of nonexistence so it doesn't interfere in business. By Business, Trumpism refers to Wall Street. Trump never cared about small businesses. So the Trump political appointees are the new "Shock Troopers." They will be prepared in 2025 to take the offices, pass as qualified to take on the leadership of the agencies, including the Cabinet, to dismantle the federal government.

Why are they "Shock Troopers?" Because they don't intend to carry out the law, so much as dismantle it. The media will report them as people operating with impunity in dismantling the USA democracy. Therefore, if you thought Trump was shocking, these guys will exceed his ability to destroy the USA democracy. 

"If you're going to take over the administrative state and deconstruct it, then you have to have shock troops prepared to take it over immediately," Bannon told NBC. "I gave 'em fire and brimstone."

Bannon, who ran Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and later served as an adviser to the president, told NBC that he wants to see pre-trained teams ready to jump into federal agencies when the next Republican president takes office.

He said that Trump's agenda was delayed by the challenges of quickly filling approximately 4,000 posts at federal agencies, NBC said.

"We're going to have a sweeping victory in 2022, and that's just the preamble to a sweeping victory in 2024, and this time we're going to be ready — and have a MAGA perspective, MAGA policies, not the standard Republican policies," Bannon told the outlet.

MAGA is a reference to Trump's "Make America Great Again" slogan. Bannon described a 2024 electoral victory as a "second term" for Trump, reported NBC.

The launch party at the Capitol Hill Club on Wednesday where Bannon spoke was hosted by a new organization called the Association of Republican Presidential Appointees, NBC said.

Approximately 200 former officials from various Republican administrations attended, a person at the event told NBC.

"There are so many statutes and regulations as well as agency and departmental policies. It can be very overwhelming when you first come in," Jeffrey Scott Shapiro, one of the organizers of the group, told NBC.

Stever Bannon is a greedy man that has made a name for himself by getting people elected in spite of their inability to govern in any effective way. Think about that. Take a moment and think about that. 

A person like Bannon wants money and he doesn't care how he gets it. He will dismantle governments, hand them over to Putin and Communist China and have enough money to hide from authority when the job is done. He would be admired by the people that counted on him to be elected and stick around for awhile, but, he most likely will find a destiny of his approval. 

THERE IS A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM COMING AND I WILL BE BACK WHEN IT ENDS. THERE ARE TOO MANY LOOSE ENDS FROM JANUARY 6TH THAT IT NEEDS ATTENTION.

PROMISE.

DeJoy

He is deliberately slowing the US mail service to push the drive for an Amendment to the Constitution to eliminate the US Post Office. He is deliberately opening up cheaper rates to business to use other trucking carriers.

The other carriers will accept US Mail and hold it until they have enough to dispatch a trailer to a destination. This is NOT constitutional. The US Postal Service was written into the US Constitution for reasons of national security. Farming out the U. S. Mail to other trucking carriers is a break in national security standards.

The US Mail will hire independents to pull US Mail trailers after they have necessary checks on their legal status. By routing US Mail to other carriers they co-mingle the mail with other packages, etc.

This move by LeJoy enriches him personally, his family, and completely compromises the national security of this country. What is taking so long in removing him? The Board of Trustees or Governors or whatever they are. They are contributing to this breach of national security and should be removed as well!

Another victim of the illegitmate president of Russia, Vladimir Putin.

This is outrageous. Isn't there somthing The West can do? The Russian people want to rid themselves of the corruption that runs that country and keeps Putin in office. There has to be something, the State Department, Reporters without Borders can do. There has to be someone to back up an editor of a newspaper in Russia.

Europe knows the degree Russia poisons anyone it deems unruly or a threat to their communist state. This is a clear demonstration of the oppressive regime in Moscow at the head of the government. An editor was brave enough to establish A TRUTH and now he is at peril because of it. This is a huge milestone for the Russian people. It cannot be ignored.

September 30, 2021
By Anton Zverev and Tom Balmforth

Roman Dobrokhotov, the editor-in-chief of "The Insider" Russian news outlet, who was taken in by Interior Ministry officers for questioning over a slander case, is escorted to a police van in Moscow, Russia July 28, 2021, in this still image taken from video. Video taken July 28, 2021.

Moscow - The editor of a Russian news outlet (click here) that angered the Kremlin with its investigations, including into the poisoning of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, said the authorities had declared him a wanted man.

Roman Dobrokhotov, editor-in-chief of The Insider, told Reuters the authorities had accused him of illegally crossing the border to leave Russia.

He said he was currently outside Russia and did not want to disclose his location. He did not say how he had left Russia.

The Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the Soviet KGB, said Dobrokhotov had illegally crossed the border into Ukraine on the night of July 31 on foot with the help of other unnamed. individuals....

Justice for the people of the Flint, Michigan poisoning.

I had to list this with Flint tonight. I applaud this effort by the State of Michigan to set former inmates free of their past. Every American is allowed a one time chance to expunge a criminal record. Ususally that right falls in around the age of 50 years. So, a former inmate will have only 12 years or so adding to their SSi balance. It is very victimizing.

There is only one other time in an American's life to eliminate any criminal convictions and that is as a minor. The record of a minor can be locked away forever to prevent impact on an American life.  That means there are 32 years an inmate has to accept poor paying jobs and a real chance at an American lifestyle and upward mobility.

These efforts to remove old chemical records is wonderful. It provides a chance for younger men or women to find good jobs even in the professions. There is no reason to prevent this one time opportunity. That may also mean ti can provide THE VOTE back to former inmates. If these efforts are controlled by a governor or otherwise, it has to be viewed as racist with the real fact that African Americans are incarcerated more often then Caucasians.

September 25, 2021
By Cheri Hardmon

Flint - There have been all kinds of challenges (click here) since Eequindre Stewart started his own home and business restoration company three years ago.

The biggest roadblock in taking his company to the next level is something Stewart did in 1996.

“I actually worked for a company that didn’t pay and they left their payroll office open and so I went and made checks out for me and the guys that worked with me,” Stewart said.

He was convicted of a felony check cashing fraud charge and served seven years in prison. That life altering decision is still with him 25 years later....

...He was hoping to change that Saturday and have his record wiped clean by attending one of the expungement fairs now taking place during Michigan Clean Slate Expungement Week. It’s an opportunity for Michiganders to remove old convictions from their public record and have a clean slate.

“That means our company will be able to grow. That means we will be able do more things as far as traveling and doing things in other states,” Stewart said....

This is amazing. It is probably the beginning of the end of the settlement. The idea a medical center is negligent in protecting their patients is an important finding. It should not be easily dismissed. The question is do the families of the dead suffer with their loss and to what degree can they tolerate legal processes to find justice. The settlement provides an income to people that cannot wait for justice. That is a good thing, but, if there is a large enough number of people opting out of the settlement, those that cannot financially tolerate it well may need to be identified and provided for in a legislative bill. 

Justice is about THE CORRECT WAY TO ADDRESS problems. It is not about a QUICK GET RICH SCHEME. These particular people suffering after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan should receive the best outcome considering this is such an egrigious event on the American landscape. I think taking these issues to court and allowing the legal system to play out will bring clarity and IMPORTANT findings and decisions by a jury of the peers of the people in Genesee County. The findings of any jury in any of these cases could be making not only a statement about the crime and the impact of the surviving relatives and effected adults and children in a community with a high minority population, but, how a society based in democracy handles such crimes to minority populations. 

The events that follow the poisoning of the people of Flint, Michigan is vital to the rest of the country to prevent such events from occurring again to people that are the most vulnerable in our society, the impoverished. Frequently, people that are unable to hire lawyers or pay court costs are negatively impacted. The proceedings here could change all that. HOWEVER, it is completely unfair to ask the people of Flint to withstand more suffering. Being a hero is not the idea of justice either. Finding justice is also timely so victims can recover. These are all very weighty decisions by the victims of Flint. But, the last thing I want for them, or this country should want for them, is to ask them to be martyrs to a legal process when relief to their suffering can occur now.

September 30, 2021

By Ron Fonger

Flint - McLaren Regional Medical (click here) wants more time before deciding whether to remain a part of the $641-million settlement of claims tied to the Flint water crisis.

In a filing in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 28, the hospital asked Judge Judith Levy for a stay of 60 days to an Oct. 10 deadline in the proposed settlement as officials continue to consider their opt-out options.

McLaren paid half of its share of the settlement pool -- $10 million -- previously and says in its motion that the remaining $10-million payment is due Oct. 10.

Court officials have said the hospital has an escape clause in the settlement, giving it the right to withdraw from the agreement if any of the 31 persons who sued the hospital, alleging exposure to Legionella during the water crisis, opts to take their case to trial....

continued...

I heard that Senator Sinema has a standard to be a maverick like the late Senator John McCain. Senator McCain was a Republican that sometimes agreed with Democrats. He was a maverick within the Republican ideology. Is Sinema saying she is a maverick within the Democratic party? What exactly does that mean?

If the Late Senator McCain is an idol to the newly minted Senator, then she needs to realize then Senator Clinton and the Late Senator were great friends. They sponsored bills together like the Carbon Emissions Tax. Not that I think that is a great idea, but, it was an attempt to bring about some path forward to environmental stewardship.

West Virginia needs jobs. Don't ask me what Manchin is thinking.

His votes do not make sense to me and it has nothing to do with politics. West Virginia is not a wealthy state and is dependent on federal dollars for health care and food stamps. Job diversity does not exist in West Virginia. If a citizen isn't working for the coal companies or a trucking company then they are making low wages.

The graph to the left is from Zip Recruiter. (click here) As a US Senator that is nothing to brag about. He will probably be replaced by a Republican that won't be any better AFTER he is elected.

September 8, 2021
By Darrough Roche

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) (click here) has suffered a decline in his approval rating among voters in his home state, according to the figures in the latest WV MetroNews West Virginia Poll.

Manchin now enjoys 42 percent approval in West Virginia, compared with 37 percent of respondents who disapprove. This is a notable change compared with results in the same poll in October, 2020.

The poll comes as Democrats in the House and Senate are pushing ahead with President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion infrastructure proposal, though Manchin has indicated he will not support that amount of spending....

Challenges to authority.

The thing that occurs to me when I read about challenges to a mask mandate is that the person involved in issuing that order is usually a governor and/or a president. 

Dr. Fauci could easily pledge to a court COVID-19 is a public health issue that has multiple dimensions of threat, including, the OPPORTUNITY for a Level Three virus to mutate creating a severe life threatening issue to human beings on planet Earth.

I sincerely believe public health mandates should be issued by the leadership of any health department, including HHS. The executive of the government can always back that public health mandate. But, in all sincereity I believe a mask mandate if issued by the leadership of the health department at any level, local, state or federal, is far more enforceable and less of a States Rights and/or Individual Liberty problem to the courts. 

It is difficult to argue with a health official if they have the credentials, knowledge and research to back them up. The executive, on the other hand, does not necessarily have the credentials. The executive has the ability to issue enforcement of that public health mandate which he or she is controlled by as well. A public health mandate would require the executive at any level of government to fall into line with the issuance of the emergency.

Public health issues on a federal level means the contagion can travel across state boundaries and controlling THE SPREAD is a matter of national necessity as well as individual and/or state necessity. An example is the bordering states problem. There are states that comply with CDC, FDA and NIH recommendations and then there are bordering states that do not require any protections from THE SPREAD. One state that is irreverent to the potential of a Level Three virus can cause enormous problems for everyone and that is what we are seeing.

I challenge any state in this country to violate the Clean Air Standards. The EPA can pass regulations that would classify the virus contagion as a threat to air quality. We know that Dr. Fauci uses indoor air standards differently than outdoor air standards. The US EPA has indoor and outdoor air standards. This contagion is no different than a deadly sized particle or a gas that causes disease over time.

The Clean Air Act is completely applicable in this instance as well as any standard the USA military may have in protecting the lives of Americans from biological or chemical warfare. I remind, that under the presidency of George W. Bush, there were enormous numbers of vaccine stored for the purpose of vaccinating the American people from a 1918 flu type epidemic. Therefore, there is precedent. 

I strongly believe if these principles were applied to the existing efforts, the mask mandates and vaccine mandates will hold as what is necessary for every American to OBEY in the case of ending this very dangerous virus and it's variants. Variants are real and adhere to existing science in understanding viruses. This is not a political game. This is survival and the courts have to see it that and enforce the standards handed down by public health authority.

Ask anyone in non-compliance with established science if they rather be in a jail where the virus has rampaged and see what they say.

Just as a side note, I remember when I was 5 years old. Yes, I remember. Imagine what the children today are going to remember. My father took me to the local elementary school gymnasisum to recieve sugar cubes containing polio vaccine. The polio vaccine could be taken orally.

If those days of WELCOME compliance to save the lives of children from an acquired nightmare that would alter their reality forever, is gone, then the methods of government has to change with the bizarre antics of making COVID-19 a political issue. COVID-19 is a non-discriminating virus that doesn't recognize political lines.

Pregnancy is a medical condtion that is managed by Obstetricians. Where are the health requirements in treatment?

If a pregnant woman does not want to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine, then place them in protective quarantine as a measure of public health. If abortion is such a social ill, why isn't the lack of vaccination?

By the way, Texas clinics regardless of a judge prohibiting the Texas law about abortion that will kill women and their fetuses, are struggling financially to stay open.

The reason pregnant women are followed by medical professions is that pregnancy is a co-morbidity, regardless of the immune status of women. Not being vaccinated against a known deadly contagion ADDS to the co-morbidity of pregnancy.

The alternative to quarantine is every person in the country wears masks to protect others. I ask myself, does everyone in the country wear masks? No, there are people in the country that have COVID-19 that would be happy to walk up to a pregnant woman and cough in their face in the name of acquired immunity otherwise known by the extreme right as herd immunity. The people of the USA are living with propaganda designed to kill them. The only venue that will protect pregnant women who are not vaccinated is quarantine. The quarantine should be reported to the local public health authorities to enforce it.

This is not a minor problem.

September 24, 2021
By Nancy Lapid

Vaccinated Women pass on antibodies to babies. (click here)

Pregnant women who get an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 pass high levels of protective antibodies on to their babies, new research shows. Doctors analyzed umbilical cord blood from 36 newborns whose mothers had received at least one dose of an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech or Moderna (MRNA.O). All 36 babies had high levels of antibodies that target the spike protein on the surface of the virus - and all of the antibodies could be traced to the mothers' vaccinations. The findings, reported on Wednesday in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Maternal Fetal Medicine, indicate that "the antibodies that the mother is building to the vaccine are crossing the placenta and that's likely to confer benefits for the infant after it's born," said coauthor Dr. Ashley Roman of NYU Langone Health in New York City....

Stillbirths are up as well. One other thing, Red State governors do not recognize poverty as a co-morbidity so much as laziness.

September 9, 2021

By Britney Shammas

Mississippi has recorded 72 fetal deaths (click here) in unvaccinated pregnant women infected with the coronavirus, state health officials announced Wednesday, sounding the alarm on the virus’s danger in pregnancy.

Speaking during a news conference, Mississippi State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said those deaths had occurred since the start of the pandemic. The number, which includes only deaths that occurred past 20 weeks of gestation, “is twice the background rate of what would be expected,” he said.

“That’s quite a number of tragedies that, sadly, would be preventable right now,” Dobbs said, referring to the availability of vaccines.

He said the state is also investigating the deaths of eight pregnant women who were infected with the virus. Those deaths occurred over approximately the past four weeks, during the delta variant-fueled surge, he said. Many underwent emergency Caesarean sections in an attempt to save their babies....

Where has all the civility gone?

Representative Dingle happens to be correct. The USA has many laws controlling abortion. There is no such thing as Late-Term Abortion anymore. We have a lot of policies regarding the borders of the USA, including the southern border. There is no tolerance of drug cartels or other illegal acts. Immigrant facilitators are not legal in the USA and can be arrested if discovered for human trafficking.

Greene is not a good legislator. She is underprepared for her responsibility as a US House Representative, and she practices inflammatory politics from morning 'til night and from the floor of the US House. Inflammatory politics is the stock and trade of the extreme right-wing that has found its way into powerful seats in the federal government. The problem is the inflammatory politics don't stop at politics, it continues into their priorities as legislators. 

If Representative Dingle didn't interrupt the ranting by Greene, Greene would not have stopped. She planned to OCCUPY the PRESS SPACE through the entire assembly on the Capitol steps.