…to end vaccine mandates? It isn’t constitutional. States Rights.
Monday, December 06, 2021
"Good Night, Moon"
2.2 days old
5.2 percent lit
December 4, 2021By Elizabeth Howell
The only total (click here) solar eclipse of 2021 took place under especially isolated circumstances today, sweeping over sparsely populated Antarctica and surrounding areas to create a spectacular sight visible to only a few dedicated eclipse chasers in its path..
The partial phase of the solar eclipse began Saturday (Dec. 4) at 2 a.m. EST (0700 GMT), and included less than two minutes of totality at 2:44 a.m. EST (0744 GMT), before ending at 3:06 a.m. (0806 GMT), according to NASA. The space agency broadcast live views of the eclipse as seen by scientists Theo Boris and Christian Lockwood of the JM Pasachoff Antarctic Expedition from their observing point in Union Glacier, Antarctica. You can see amazing photos of the total solar eclipse from Antarctica here...
Sunday, December 05, 2021
How often does anyone think about their planet?
The map below outlines glaciers in Oregon that deliver snow melt to the people for their water supply. That means if the drought persists there will be less and less "recharge" to those glaciers. Glacial recharge is necessary to grow the glacier and guarantee icemelt.
Now, while all that is, "hm, interesting," it is more than an interest the people of Oregon pay to such dynamics as drought and the amount of snowfall on the mountains. The point is that the climate crisis means different things to different people and it is vital to realize if one's life does not revolve around survival based on water availability, maybe it is important that one thinks exactly that way with Earth in the balance.
Young people have it right. This is serious. It is very serious. I have spend the better part of nearly a decade stating exactly that and it is imperitive we get it right.
The challeges that will be presented to the USA as well as every other country on Earth is not yet revealed, but, it is daughting. Water is at a premium everywhere. More places are warmer and dryer than before.
It is an easy map to understand and manipulate once eyes are used to looking at it. To the left of that chart is a measure of snow cover. The pinker the region the more the snow.
There are arrows at the bottom all the way to the left. They are easy to change, but, the difference in ONE DAY on multiple years is really what is important about this map. The change in snow cover, again the pink, in just ten years is remarkable. We are losing our snow cover. Just click the arrow in the bottom left corner to change the year while leaving the day an month in place. It is down right scary to look at the loss of snowfall even over ten years.
Everyone should be thinking about this. The white swirly stuff are clouds. It is interesting to look at the quality of the clouds as well. We have to get this right in drastic ways. We no longer have time to think about this and debate it. It is time to move to the future that is completely benevolent to Earth. Every person on Earth has to realize, this is it. We need Earth and in a very symbiotic way, it needs us to behave and allow it to be benevolent. This is not a Sci-Fi Flick. It is real and we cannot afford to wait any longer. The current administration and majority Congress have this mostly correct. They are absolutely correct when it comes to spending to change the way we live our lives to be more harmonious with Earth. It is now and it is a must.
Please, don't let the young people down. They need us more than ever to make the right decisions and move as quickly as possible.
Oh, the black lines? That is just so the map can lie flat and still be accurate.
Thank you for your interest.
Glaciers were lost in the USA as well as Greenland.
Oregon glacier or should I state it was an Oregon glacier.
By Nicole Vulcan
The year 2021 (click here) will likely be one of the worst for glaciers in southern British Columbia, Alberta, Washington and Montana.
It started out OK. A weak La Niña arrived in the fall of 2020 and continued through the winter. La Niñas tend to favour cool conditions and ample snowfall, so the winter of 2020-21 wasn’t bad for glaciers. But what followed was.
In late June, the so-called heat dome settled over the west, creating exceptional warming that melted snow cover on the glaciers and exposed ice in a matter of days. The timing was especially bad, as it coincided with days when energy from sunlight is at its maximum.
The hot weather also helped spark wildfires in British Columbia, Oregon and California that spread through the mountains. When soot, dust and debris from wildfires settle on snow and ice, it darkens the surface, causing them to absorb more solar energy and melt more....
By Nicole Vulcan
Late in the summer of 2020, (click here) a team of glacier experts, including Anders Carlson and Aaron Hartz, discovered a new glacier on South Sister in the Oregon Cascades. Finding a new glacier in Norway is no big deal, says Carlson, an Oregonian and the president of Oregon Glaciers Institute—but finding one in the Oregon Cascades is noteworthy. To Carlson, it's a sign of how little time we spend investigating our own backyard....
From NASA. To work the multimedia go to the article. Thank you.
The image pair above shows part of Greenland along Melville Bay (a sub-section of Baffin Bay) on September 3, 2000, and September 21, 2021. The images were acquired with the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) on Landsat 7 and the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8, respectively. (Note that Earth Observatory originally published a version of the 2000 image in false color. Both images above are natural color and show a slightly wider view.)
The images show a 80-kilometer (50-mile) stretch of coastline. Like so many places around the edges of Greenland, a series of glaciers here carry ice from the island’s interior toward the coast and onto the ocean. Most of these marine-terminating glaciers are retreating. Kjer and Hayes—the two main outlet glaciers shown above—are also speeding up.
Notice that in 2000, Kjer Glacier abutted a few rocky outcrops. These rocks helped buttress the ice and slowed its oceanward flow. Then sometime in 2012, the glacier’s floating ice shelf disintegrated. The rocks became free-standing islands, surrounded in the 2021 image by open water and a mixture of sea ice and icebergs, or mélange. Having lost contact with the rocks, the glacier’s inland ice can flow even more rapidly toward the ocean.
According to Alex Gardner, a snow and ice scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, data from the NASA MEaSUREs project ITS_LIVE show that one year before the ice shelf’s breakup, the glacier flowed at an average speed of 1,200 meters per year. By 2018, the glacier’s average speed was more than 4,000 meters per year....
This is just plain wrong. Since the beginning, the policy has been "If you or your child is ill, stay home."
There should be fines for parents that use the schools as daycare and send their children to school while COVID-19 positive. Just like a traffic fine.
Eight children contracted COVID-19 and 75 (click here) were quarantined after a family knowingly sent their infected child to a Marin County school after they were told to keep their children home, officials said Friday.
The parents, who have not been identified, were notified the week of Nov. 8 by the Marin County Health and Human Services Department that one of their two children had tested positive, said Brett Geithman, superintendent of the Larkspur-Corte Madera School District.
Both the siblings are students at Neil Cummins Elementary School in Corte Madera.
The parents were specifically told to keep both children home and to notify the school, Geithman said. Instead, they notified no one and sent their children to school for seven more days, and they did not return multiple calls from public health contact tracers, he said....
It is called a rape kit.
These are American women. They are not sex objects. They are not bad girls. They are women with minds that can be reasoned with and deserve respect when they report sexual assault and abuse at the hand of correction officers. If a woman incarcerated complains of sexual abuse or assault and there is any chance there was forced intercourse, the rape kits are completed while the correctional officer is given paid time off.
Women in prison practice their beliefs just as anyone else does. There are innumberable reasons why women find themselves in prison, that doesn't mean they have given up the belief in God or any other practice they have to cope with life.
A woman leaving jail or prison should be proud of herself for sustaining the time and planning to be a better citizen with opportunity to renew that belief everyday.
Family members need respect as well. If family brings complaints they should be taken seriously and acted on. Not every complaint will be correct, valid or measurable, but, they should be taken seriously. There is nothing more powerful to end complaints than to act on them. If inmates are to be lawful, the people surrounding their incarceration should be lawful.
By Mike Carter
Everyone, even her mother, thought 23-year-old Kimberly Bender would be safe in the Forks City Jail, away and protected from the drugs and past abuse that haunted her and fed her depression.
It turned out that everyone was wrong.
Bender, a single mother and member of the Quileute Tribe, died by suicide in her jail cell in December 2019, apparently after enduring weeks of torment and abuse at the hands of a corrections officer with an extensive history of abusive behavior, racism and sexual abuse aimed at men and women behind bars and co-workers alike.
Police and hospital records note that Bender complained, saying she was afraid to even go to the bathroom while the guard was working, and that he’d come into her cell at night to whisper lewd comments.
Investigators who interviewed Bender believed her story, but the Forks police chief and jail officials said they were “unable to substantiate” her allegations even as they terminated the guard, John Russell Gray. He then returned to a job as a correctional officer for the state Department of Corrections....
Every state in the country should be doing this. MAIL THE TEST TO THE PEOPLE! Save them $14.00 at Walmart!
Sending them the test is best, but, there is another way. Mail the coupons, enough for the family, to the house. Make the test free and let the people purchase their own test on the government. It is that important.
By Nik DeCosta-Klipa
InteliSwab™ (click here) COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test
New Hampshire (click here) began offering to send free, rapid COVID-19 tests to the homes of its residents on Monday. Countries like the United Kingdom have been doing it for months.
So why isn’t Massachusetts?
Gov. Charlie Baker says there simply aren’t enough testing kits — an issue he blames on the federal government’s approach to the easy-to-use, self tests.
Others say the reason is a lack of political impetus.
While the Baker administration has purchased loads of rapid COVID-19 tests for schools, prisons, and nursing homes, the self-administered kits — which return results in as quick as 15 minutes — can be elusive and relatively expensive for the typical resident....
Surfs Up. That will be heard more and more in the years to come.
This article in the New York Times is my pet pevee. The people with lawyers get the money. Everyone that needs funding to improve their circumstances need to band together and hire a lawyer to bring home the money from Washington, DC. Seriously. Communities can form coalitions, cooperatives or solicit unions to prepare proposals to improve their part of the world.
That is an incredible picture. I am guessing it was done with a drone. Amazing photo. Those circular things in the picture at water's edge are sand bags. North Carolina is famous for them.
So, be a Gerry McQuire, and "Show me the money!"
Attitude! Get attitude!
By Christopher Flavelle
Washington - The new infrastructure law (click here) signed by President Biden includes almost $50 billion to protect communities against climate change, the largest such investment in United States history and a recognition that the effects of warming are outpacing America’s ability to cope.
Mr. Biden has insisted that at least 40 percent of the benefits of federal climate spending will reach underserved places, which tend to be low income, rural, communities of color, or some combination of the three.
But historically, it is wealthier, white communities — with both high property values and the resources to apply to competitive programs — that receive the bulk of federal grants. And policy experts say it’s unclear whether, and how quickly, federal bureaucracy can level the playing field.
“These tensions have to be squarely faced,” said Xavier de Souza Briggs, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who volunteered on Mr. Biden’s transition team. The White House “is trying to transform some of these deep structures of government that have needed attention for a long, long time,” he said....
Mr. Biden has insisted that at least 40 percent of the benefits of federal climate spending will reach underserved places, which tend to be low income, rural, communities of color, or some combination of the three.
But historically, it is wealthier, white communities — with both high property values and the resources to apply to competitive programs — that receive the bulk of federal grants. And policy experts say it’s unclear whether, and how quickly, federal bureaucracy can level the playing field.
“These tensions have to be squarely faced,” said Xavier de Souza Briggs, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who volunteered on Mr. Biden’s transition team. The White House “is trying to transform some of these deep structures of government that have needed attention for a long, long time,” he said....
The northeast end (click here) of Topsail Reef Building 1 looking toward the northeast.
When sandbags are put in place that means the structures are already flooded but they don't know it yet.
Party line vote? Unethical and not sound governance.
So, is that what happened? No. There was a party line vote because the politics of the USA are divisive and not bipartisan. Are the best people in office? It doesn't look like it to me. There are a bunch of partisans that don't really do any work, except, line up their votes against each other. No one is doing the work of governance.
By Isabelle Chapman
A predawn phone call woke Ron Bledsoe (click here) with a jolt. It was his supervisor telling him to come in,
Bledsoe dressed and drove an hour to the power plant, near Kingston, Tennessee, where he worked. He arrived at a shocking sight: A mountain of coal ash covering the road and a set of railroad tracks. It looked like the surface of the moon, he recalled....
...Coal ash, an umbrella term for the residue that’s left over when utilities burn coal, is one of the United States’ largest kinds of industrial waste. It contains metals — such as lead, mercury, chromium, selenium, cadmium and arsenic — that never biodegrade. Studies have shown these contaminants are dangerous to humans and have linked some to cancer, lung disease and birth defects....
...About 400 miles southwest of Kingston, a coal ash lagoon — which holds almost four times as much sludge as what spilled in Tennessee — is sitting in the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, one of the most biodiverse areas of the United States, with flora and fauna not known to exist anywhere else on Earth. Environmentalists, community members and scientists fear the pond could someday unleash a Kingston-like catastrophe on southern Alabama and say leaving the coal ash in the delta is shortsighted and dangerous.
...About 400 miles southwest of Kingston, a coal ash lagoon — which holds almost four times as much sludge as what spilled in Tennessee — is sitting in the Mobile–Tensaw Delta, one of the most biodiverse areas of the United States, with flora and fauna not known to exist anywhere else on Earth. Environmentalists, community members and scientists fear the pond could someday unleash a Kingston-like catastrophe on southern Alabama and say leaving the coal ash in the delta is shortsighted and dangerous.
“We’ve got an A-bomb up the river,” John Howard, who lives in Mobile County and said he has been fishing in southern Alabama for decades, said. “It’s just waiting to happen.”...
This is called an economy. It is a leisure economy, but, leisure economies are a good for people. The US Travel Association seems to think Americans should be using all their vacation days every year (click here).
By Watt Key
One Saturday in May, a traffic jam of boats converges upon a handful of river camps up in the Mobile Delta for the Poker Run.
The fishing camps that host the Poker Run (click here) are overrun with visitors on the Saturday before Mother’s Day. This particular camp flies the event’s logo, with a High Flying Chickasaw on a banner right under the American flag for all party-goers to see.
At some point, you may have noticed someone in passing wearing a ball cap displaying a hand over a triangle. The hand is closed except for the thumb and pointer finger, which are extended straight out. On one day a year, the Saturday just before Mother’s Day, you can also find several swamp camps, miles deep into the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, flying a flag with the same sign. This hand signal is called the “High Flying Chickasaw, ” and the triangle represents the “Delta.” It’s the logo for the annual High Flying Chickasaw Poker Run, perhaps the most unusual party you’ll ever attend.
Kendall Dexter started the Poker Run in 2010, and it’s been going strong ever since. The event results in the busiest day of the year for the most remote area of Alabama, luring 50 or more boats into the swamps of the Mobile-Tensaw Delta for a day of adventure and socializing with a crowd that is about as diverse as they come. Kendall is one of the owners of Runamuck, a swamp camp four miles north of the Causeway. The Poker Run is his way of showing off an area that’s been special to him since he was a boy....
Party line votes should not occur in a Congress that functions well. It is easy and stupid politics.
November 19, 2021
By Lazaro Gamio and Alicia Parlapiano
...The bill, (click here) which Democrats have been negotiating since the spring and have pared down to secure the votes of their most centrist members, includes roughly $2 trillion in spending increases and tax cuts over 10 years, expected to be largely paid for through tax increases on the wealthy and on corporations.
The only Democrat to vote against the bill was Representative Jared Golden of Maine, who had expressed concerns about the inclusion of a provision that would reduce taxes for high earners in states like New Jersey, New York and California.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to change. Some policies may be removed or altered by Democrats in the chamber, and others could change to comply with a review by the Senate parliamentarian....
...The bill, (click here) which Democrats have been negotiating since the spring and have pared down to secure the votes of their most centrist members, includes roughly $2 trillion in spending increases and tax cuts over 10 years, expected to be largely paid for through tax increases on the wealthy and on corporations.
The only Democrat to vote against the bill was Representative Jared Golden of Maine, who had expressed concerns about the inclusion of a provision that would reduce taxes for high earners in states like New Jersey, New York and California.
The bill now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to change. Some policies may be removed or altered by Democrats in the chamber, and others could change to comply with a review by the Senate parliamentarian....
Basically, a party line vote. There are many issues these days that are party line votes. That is bad governance. There should be something for everyone in these bills and there is. But, trouble with the party line vote is that the politics are toxic to bipartisanship. The politics are practiced everyday in the Congress and it is basically unethical. I am sure if scrutinized, nearly 50 percent of the Congress could be written up on an ethical basis alone.
There is nothing difficult about party line votes. No thinking. No cooperation. No good governance.
Let me show you want I mean in the next entry.
November 19, 2021
By Lazaro Gamio and Alicia Pariapiano
The House of Representatives (click here) approved a sprawling social spending and climate bill on Friday, with all but one Democrat and no Republicans voting in favor....
So, how are all the tropical plants and animals doing?
By Becky Sullivan
Across the U.S., the weather is simply weird: (click here) The highest peaks of Hawaii spent the weekend under a blizzard warning, while record rainfall drenched the Pacific Northwest, unseasonably warm temperatures stretched across the Midwest and South, and a major snow drought in the Rockies means Denver has still not seen its first snowfall of the season.
The blizzard warning in Hawaii was first issued Thursday and remains in effect until early Sunday. Chances of snow were expected to peak Saturday afternoon then again Monday, according to a forecast by the Mauna Kea Weather Center.
The warning was prompted by the development of a large storm system off the coast of Hawaii, which has since stalled over the Big Island, "allowing extensive fog, ice and snow to plague the summit," the weather center wrote....
Does Hawaii need some "Build Back Better" dollars to upgrade their emergency shelters as the climate can be more brutal than "normal?"
August 23, 2021
While public hurricane/tropical cyclone/storm evacuation shelters (click here) offer some protection from high winds and flying debris, they are intended to be a last resort for residents and visitors without safer options to use at their own risk. In almost all cases, the identified evacuation shelters HAVE NOT been designed or hardened for winds greater than a severe tropical storm. These shelters are, however, a safer option than remaining in areas prone to flooding or storm surge inundation, on exposed ridge lines or in older homes with wood frames or single wall construction. Whenever possible, the public should plan to shelter in place or with family or friends in homes outside of these hazard areas that were designed, built or renovated to code after the dates below....
Debated how to start this evening, but, I think I need to start on the divisions in our country.
This article by Peter Jamison is as good a read about what divides us as Americans than any other read so far. He writes about the people with respect and frankness. He doesn't create judgement and for that reason it is excellent journalism.
I think back on the day I started my education that would change my life and that of my children. It was a JPTA (Joint Training and Partnership Act) program in the State of New Jersey. It was a grant program designed to lift people out of poverty and provide them with a trade. I entered the medical professionals training with about 28 other candidates living in the same town and the surrounding towns of me. Of those candidates there was two men and one was a minority and the rest were women, mostly divorced women with children. We were in the age ranges of 20 to 50 years of age. There was little to no discrimination in the program. Anyone that wanted to attend and took a simple test to qualify was let into the program.
There was a younger woman that sat in front of me I will call Barbara. She was younger than I and was single, no children. She was pleasant and came from a strict religious background. We talked every morning before classes. Our first semester would end with primarily lecture and reading and testing. There was one clinical day entered halfway through that semester to get our feet wet and demonstrate the ability to care for someone else and exhibit compassion in that care.
Some of us, primaily the mothers of children group which was approximately 12 or so; would get together to study before major exams and there were enough to create a friendship among us. The entire grant program was simply nice. We were learning for a better future with more options and better pay than we could ever achieve currently in our circumstances. It offered some security for the years we would retire. There was enormous promise in all that we did and it was palable at times. I asked Barbara if she cared to join us one weekend to study, but, she was very shy and introverted and declined. I told her, "Okay, then I will see you Monday."
As the first semester closed it became known to me that Barbara was lacking in clinical and a few of her classes were marginal, but, passing. For that reason she was asked to sit through the first semester again and grow her skills with a second round of opportunity. She called me aside in the parking lot and told me she thought she would simply leave the program. I discouraged her from doing so and offered to even tutor her if she needed someone to emphasize the material or the clinical technique. She declined and shed a tear and thanked me for being a really good friend. She stated I made the time that semester enjoyable and warm.
There are some Americans for whatever reason that don't achieve as others do. They were provided a public education just like every other kid on the block. They might even appear to do well and get decent grades, but, in the long view of life, they just can't cut it the way others can. I graduated high school with a well class of 200 students. Amazingly, 70 percent of those went on to higher education and some like my best friend, the valdicorian of our class, went on to achieve incredible education and later work that paid six figure salaries. She was amazing. We are still friends and exchange Christmas cards to this day.
But as to Barbara. I was employed by then and making enough money to move my children into a safety zone of the Middle Class. I had incredible health care benefits, vacation time, sick time and you name it, the job was a great job and I was only at the entrance level. But, I was running late to get home one day and I stopped at Burger King to pick up some fun food for supper. I was standing there and a clerk came to wait on me and all of a sudden I hear a "Hellooooooo," from the back in the kitchen. I looked and she came striding out to me and said I will wait on you. It was Barbara. She was happy. She had a grin on her face I have yet to see on many others I know.
She got me my food and told me it was on her. I told her I couldn't do that. I mean after all what does a Burger King clerk make? I was sure I was doing better than her and she stated, "Let me get us some soda and have a seat for just a few minutes." So, I sat at a table and she came with soda and we talked.
She was fine. Really, really fine and she said she made the best decision she ever could to leave the program. She was still unmarried without prospects, she and her mother shared a house and her mother was aging a bit, so the income from her job was a help. It was more than a help actually, she explained she was now manager of the Burger King and really enjoyed the work and the people. She even got the opportunity to say "No, I am sorry, I don't think this job will work for you," and not hire some folks.
See, Barbara wasn't really able to be in the same profession as me. She was unable to work past her inhabitions and couldn't quite get the techniques right. Yet, she could make fast food to beat the band and do it one handed. She found a nitche where she was queen and she was happy being that queen. She made good money. She had some benefits. Most of all she was appreciated by her mother who meant a great deal to her.
When I read stories like this and I look across the vast expanse of the USA I think about Barbara and how I would never want her to change or impose my beliefs or ideals on her. She could not live in that world and be happy. Some would say she was simply an underachiever. That wasn't it, she was ambitious as me, if not more so. Barbara simply fit into the world differently and grew into a place in that world where she could live with capitalism and be happy.
See that is the comparison of the two women I came to call friend and admire. One a valdictorian that was as much a young lady as I when we decided to see that gynecologist for the first time and get "the pill." One was a quiet, biblical scholar that lived with great affection for a widowed mother that dedicated herself to spiritual purity that I could only imagine. Spiritual purity and being acceptable to God is not as easy as seems to most of us, but, then there is a reason for Carmalite nuns that never show their face to anyone after they have earned their "habits and veils."
What is not always easy if for people on lower incomes to thrive in the USA capitalism we call an economy. That is why being considerate of the poor and what Republicans call underacheivers is important. If governance pays attention to these folks and uplifts them to have an equal standing in our politics that means they are as much achievers as anyone else. They are our equal in our national voice and they will be heard in one way or another.
I think we need to reflect on the differences we have between each other. After all, both women called me friend.
And. Oh. President Biden is absolutely correct to insist on the vaccine and those resisting it have the right to do so in most cases so long as they test for everyone's safety. What is really needed is as many vaccinated Americans that we can get and close the gap on contagions of COVID-19.
By Peter Jamison
Lake Chaweva - Her text messages with links (click here) to medical research had gone unanswered. Her halting pleas at the kitchen table had failed. And by the time Laurel Haught pulled into her driveway to find her daughter Sam’s car newly adorned with an Infowars bumper sticker, she could only conclude that her campaign to persuade her child to get the coronavirus vaccine was going nowhere.
Laurel was vaccinated. Sam was not. They lived together, along with Laurel’s vaccinated husband and Sam’s unvaccinated boyfriend, in a tumbledown chalet above an artificial lake outside Charleston. It was a home with creaking floorboards, bulging photo albums and a fireplace that had burned through three decades of Thanksgiving nights and Christmas mornings. It was a home the Haughts had always cherished, and it was about to come apart.
“Y’all got to move out,” Laurel, then 57, told her daughter. But Sam, then 32, appealed to her father, who didn’t share his wife’s alarm about the risk of contracting the virus. The eviction was overruled. So Laurel decided there was only one thing left to do: She moved out herself.
She drove just eight miles away, finding refuge with another daughter, this one inoculated. But across that short distance was a rift that is dividing households across America....
American women are absolutely second class citizens
When I listen to the questions of Associate Justice Breyer (click here) the arguements presented by the challenger to Roe v. Wade are profound. Justice Breyer made it very clear the challenge to Roe v. Wade and Casey change the focus of the decision from judicial to political. In other words, privacy which is the focus of the previous decisions was upheld over any interest the political rhelm may hold. Privacy is on the line with Roe v. Wade and Casey. The change in the decision in regard to abortion is a block at the base of "Jenga." The loss of this block to the issue of individual rights will lead to toppling of many other decisons because privacy is disregarded over that of the government's interests and/or political interests.
The government is supposed to serve the people and that is why a democracy is very important. The decisions by voters are reflected in the methods put forward in the government. The special interests such as the anti-abortion lobby are tempered by any favored government decisions through the courts. Indivdual rights have always been protected by the courts. The judicial courts and not the popular courts of social media.
If I can refer to "Gore v. Bush," that decision was to be used only in a one time decision, however, when it comes to the practice of law this decision has been brought before the courts many times. The way the courts decide effects our democracy and our personal lives. It is very important to know the judges from local to Supreme are practicing according to the US Constitution and not political preferences. We see preferences in some of the courts when it comes to political topics, but, that is somewhat haphazard in that opinons can vary within the cultures of the country. While preference is brought forward that is almost preferable because culturally all Americans can be heard through their regional appeals courts. Follow? Regardless of cultural differences, the justices of the Supreme Court have always been able to clear up any oddity in lower court decisions based in constitutional law. This political opposition to Roe v. Wade is now outside that of the constitution and hands it back to politics.
The challenge to Row v. Wade changes everything from constitutional decisions to political wing dinging. Basically, the five crackpot judges are feeling their priviledge and deciding to put their clout behind the opposition of abortion. Privacy is very important in personal decisions. It is unique to democracy and should be protected. Most Americans value their privacy, especially in the choice of a doctor and the privacy between them which became obvious during the passage of the Affordable Care Act.
Every American needs to understand Roe v. Wade and Casey are about personal privacy and not simply abortion. The political arguments can be compeling. Yes? Abortion vs. a born child. The late term abortion vs. high risk early birth of a live baby. It is compeling. No doubt. Every American that values human life finds the choices compeling and almost contradictory to valuing human life. But, as many, many women know the decision is often socioeconomic, although abortions are found throughout the income standards of the USA.
Low-income women (click here) are more than five times as likely than affluent women to experience an
unintended pregnancy, which has significant implications for social mobility given that unplanned
childbearing is associated with higher rates of poverty, less family stability, and worse outcomes for
children, according to a new Brookings Center on Children and Families (CCF) paper published today....
I might point out that the Child Tax Credit is going to shift the decisions about pregnancy and children. The Child Tax Credit creates a very happy part of the dynamics of family. The Child Tax Credit will provide this additional degree of happiness so long as it is maintained by the US Congress in budget appropriations. We need to be vigilant to this EQUALIZING tax credit.
Stating that is important because if a tax burden lightens the burden of low and middle income Americans the decisions regarding abortion and contraception will change all by itself. That is the practice of good and benevolent law. The tax burden may shift to higher amounts of tax on the wealthy, but, that does not effect their decisions when it comes to bringing a child or children into the family.
The United States of America is built on equality. All persons have one vote to bring to decisions about law. When the economy of the USA waxes and wanes for whatever reason it does, that doesn't mean abortions have to increase during very difficult times with a child tax credit in place. I will go so far as to say the demands for Foster Care will decrease as well, because, the poor and lower middle class are over represented in the loss of parenthood to the courts for a variety of reasons. Bigotry and racism is a separate dynamic in those decisions, but, when work income is lower because the American is not capable of higher paying jobs, the child tax credit is a great equalizer.
There is a lot on the line with the opposition to Roe v. Wade and Casey. It goes far beyond that of simply abortion. It is also addresses the fetus wrongly. It substitutes viability for fecunidty which is usually a measure of conservationists and not obstetricians. To be clear, a fetus does not have a WILL TO LIVE, that occurs when the fetus reaches viability. The fetus does not know pain until viabiliity and those are legal decisions as well as medical research proofs.
The legal decisions regarding this right of women and their biology, is expansive and cannot be ignored simply to say the USA is troubled by abortions. That is a political decision. Americans need to understand decisions by the Supreme Court are vital and should not be toyed with as the current five crackpot judges seem to be able to set aside in favor of political leanings.
It is plain to see the problems the Chief Justice has with five runaway decisions. They are incompetent by any legal measure.
I might add one more observation, the lawyer speaking to the Supreme Court is a man while the lawyer speaking to the rights of women is a woman.
Saturday, December 04, 2021
A couple of things tonight.
First, there has been an epidemic of financial assaults against the people of the USA. According to clerks at drug stores such as Walgreens and CVS, as well as local police, these computer assaults are coming from overseas, from countries such as India. I am sure Homeland Security is aware of these problems that are mounting by the day.
In an interview of store clerk I was told there was a young man in his 20s that came into the store to purchase $3000 of American Express Gift Cards. The clerk immediately called the manager and the manager conveyed to the young man the problem being experienced by more and more customers to their store. She was unable to influence him as the exploitive caller continued to call to the cell phone and plead for money. At one point the store manager got on the phone to talk to that person. Nothing changed the sad story being told that was to facilitate the purchase of $3000 in gift cards.
The police were called and given all the information and the $3000 remained with the young man and he did not purchase the gift cards. The store manager would not sell them to him.
Something must be done. Everytime I stop at stores and ask clerks if the fraud has slowed, they say no, that it has gotten worse. They do everything they can to stop the abuse, but, it is not ending. Person after person, many elderly are involved with scams that are absolutely incredible.
Another example is when an older woman purchaed $1500 to give to her grandson who stated he was in jail and needed bail money. The caller knew him and anyone connected to him because he found information on social media that allowed him to concoct a story based on intimate details. The grandmother would not be pursued differently and passed on the $1500 to the caller whom she thought was her grandson. Two days later, the daughter came in with the grandmother to ask the clerk to end the spending on the card. Well, then it is too late. The grandson is fine and doing well without a criminal record, but, that is not what the problem was, how did all the information the faux-grandson provided get into the story.
These fraudsters use a computer connection to communicate. They generate local phone numbers that have no traceable footprint. This has to stop. It is time to create an online site where victims can report all the facts they have and allow law enforcement to locate the country where the fraudsters are located. The country in question must provide monies back to the victims. The orginating country is getting a bump from this in their economy. That is the only way this fraud it going to happen. Law enforcement can follow incoming overseas activity. The online website has all the reports and/or the police reports and monies can be paid back to the USA to settle the debt created by fraudsters. The countries in question will have to move against these criminals and end it or continue to pay the USA back for the money stolen from it's people.
No more excuses. End this mess.
Secondly,
The US House January 6th Committee needs to build their case, based in truth, around these people from evidence that is available. The topic is too important to ignore and dismiss. The committee must use the information that is available and go forward. I would think there were listening posts everywhere while Trump was in the Oval Office. I would ask anyone with a listening post to provide whatever they can to round out the report. It is going to be highly classified information that cannot be released by the public, but, it will provide for a report that clarifies the activities of that day and why the American people have a very good reason to suspect Trump was manipulating the election to over throw their votes.
Friday, December 03, 2021
Snyder must face his accusers.
By Ron Fonger
Genesee District Court Judge William H. Crawford listens to arguments during a hearing in the criminal Flint water crisis case of former Gov. Rick Snyder on Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021 in Genesee District Court in Flint.
The hushed conversation (click here) lasted less than 2 minutes, but Genesee District Court Judge William Crawford made himself clear to an attorney representing former Gov. Rick Snyder earlier this week.
Crawford wants Snyder to appear in person when Flint water prosecutors and his attorneys appear in his courtroom in the future as the willful neglect of duty case against him unfolds.
“Everybody else has to be here,” the judge told attorneys involved in the case after asking the lawyers to approach the bench at the start of a motion hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 3.
“It’s very clear now,” Lennon told the judge after the brief conference....
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