The ships are being sold.

August 24, 2022

Madrid - $75-million superyacht (click here) linked to a sanctioned Russian steel billionaire was auctioned on Tuesday in Gibraltar, court sources said, in what is understood to be the first sale of its kind since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

The Axioma was impounded by the Gibraltar authorities in March after JPMorgan said its alleged owner Dmitry Pumpyansky had reneged on the terms of a $20 million loan.

The 72.5-meter vessel was auctioned by the Gibraltar Admiralty Court through a system of closed bids to be sent electronically by midday on Tuesday, a court spokesman said. The court added that 63 bids had been submitted for consideration, with the selection process expected to take 10 to 14 days.

There was an "unexpected late surge by prospective buyers" around the world for the vessel, Nigel Hollyer, broker to the Admiralty Marshal of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar who led the auction, told the Guardian newspaper last week....

Unrelated? LUKoil is having a very turbulent year for executives. There is something to be said for capitalism under the governance of democracy.

September 14, 2022

The top manager at Russia's Corporation (click here) for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic (KRDV), Ivan Pechorin, has been found dead after media reports said last weekend that he fell out of a motorboat in the Sea of Japan close to the city of Vladivostok.

The KRDV said in a statement that Pechorin's body was found on September 12.

Pechorin's death is the latest in a string of mysterious deaths among Russian executives to occur shortly before or after Russia's ongoing unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

In early September, LUKoil, Russia's largest private oil company and one of the few corporate voices to oppose to the Kremlin's war in Ukraine, said its chairman, Ravil Maganov, had died in Moscow following a "serious illness," while local media reports said the 67-year-old tycoon had plunged to his death from a hospital window.

In May, Russian media reported that a former top manager of LUKoil, Aleksandr Subbotin, was found dead in the basement of a house in the town of Mytishchi near Moscow....

I doubt a person would fall from a hospital window. Jumped or pushed or encouraged to jump might be closer to the truth. Normally, jumping from hospital buildings occurs when it is on fire. Why was he in the hospital? He thought he was safe? Oh, under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Well. That explains everything, doesn't it? Oh, more like heart failure. Right. Suicide with a knife? Really? Oh, "staged suicide." That is more believable. All these folks are Russian speaking people, right? A little gun violence seems to be at work as well. Falling off a mountain side? Falling off the side of a mountain is not suicide, okay? It just isn't. Who would go through all that trouble to die? First climb the mountain and then walk to a cliff and fall off. That seems like wrong. Okay? This guy loved nature and he went into nature to commit suicide. I would expect the opposite. I would expect he would find peace in the mountains and return home refreshed to face the day no matter what Putin had in mind for his life. Okay? I don't believe ANY of these deaths were suicide. Falling out an open window doesn't happen either. No one goes into a high rise building to enjoy the view so much they simply fall out of the window. I don't buy that one either.

And of all these murders. Dan Rapoport's murder is not being investigated. He just showed up dead in front of a ritzy hotel. That happens everyday, right? It is just one of those, oops, there goes another Russian billionaire kind of death. Well, I don't buy it! He knew and wanted Alexei Navalny to lead Russia. THAT IS A CLUE!

14 September 2022

By Aleksandar Brezar and David Mac Dougall

...The news of Pechorin's death (click here) came less than two weeks after the chairman of the board of Russia's largest private oil company, Ravil Maganov, died in what Russian news agencies cited as an accidental fall from a hospital window.

Initially, a statement by his company Lukoil said Maganov “passed away after a severe illness” on 1 September but did not give further details....

...Maganov appeared to have fallen from a sixth-story window, the reports said. Some sources claimed he tripped and fell while smoking, stating a pack of cigarettes was found by the window. The news site RBK also said police were investigating the possibility of suicide....

...A former top manager Aleksandr Subbotin was found dead in the basement of a residence in a Moscow suburb in May.

Russian news reports said the house belonged to a self-styled healer, Shaman Magua, who practised purification rites.

Magua testified that Subbotin came to his house under the influence of alcohol and drugs and demanded that the healer, whose real name is Aleksei Pindurin, performs a healing ritual for hangover symptoms....

...Only a month before the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, a top executive of the gas company Gazprom was found dead in his cottage near St Petersburg.

Leonid Shulman, 60, was found in the bathroom of the house with slashed wrists, local news reported, citing a source.

According to the police authorities, a suicide note was allegedly found next to his body, in which he recounted his suffering after a leg injury -- which Gazprom claimed caused him to take a leave of absence.

The version has been questioned after the Warsaw Institue think tank stated that Shulman, who was the head of the transport service at Gazprom Invest, was involved in a possible corruption case at the Russian gas giant.

The morning after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Alexander Tyulyakov, 65, a senior executive of Gazproms's Corporate Security, died at his home in the same village as Shulman. According to the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, his body was found hanged in the garage.

The same newspaper quoted an unnamed law enforcement source as saying that Gazprom's own security unit arrived at the scene of the suicide at the same time as the police and was also investigating the death.

One of two deaths that have taken place abroad is that of Mikhail Watford, who lived with his family in the UK. On 28 February, the Ukrainian-born 66-year-old oil and gas magnate, who also built a property empire in London, was found dead at his home in Surrey.

Watford's cause of death was determined as death by hanging, but his wife and children, who were at home at the time, were unharmed. UK authorities were treating Watford's death as unexplained but not suspicious....

...In March, the bodies of Russian billionaire Vasily Melnikov and his family were found in his luxury flat in Nizhny Novgorod, a city in western Russia.

Melnikov had made his fortune working for one of the medical companies affected by Western sanctions.

According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Melnikov, along with his 41-year-old wife and two young children, aged 10 and 4 respectively, died of stab wounds. The murder weapon was allegedly found at the scene of the crime.

The newspaper reported that the oligarch had killed his family before committing suicide, although neighbours and other relatives disagreed with the official version....

...The latest case has taken place in Spain, more specifically in Lloret de Mar, where Russian oligarch Sergei Protosenya, 55, was found dead along with two other family members on 19 April.

The former head of the gas giant Novatek, with a personal worth of €400 million, was found hanged, along with those of his wife and daughter, who were stabbed to death in the family villa.

What was initially classified by the police as a double homicide followed by Protosenya's suicide was later categorically denied by his son.

Several family friends have also come out in public to state that Protosenya is, in fact, the third victim of a "staged suicide" and that the oligarch would have been incapable of murdering his family....

...Just a day before the death of Protosenya and his family, the body of Russian oligarch Vladislav Avayev was found in his Moscow flat, along with the bodies of his wife and 13-year-old daughter. His daughter Anastasia, 26, was the one who discovered the crime scene.

Russian state-owned news agency TASS quoted a source close to law enforcement as saying that preliminary evidence pointed to Avayev -- former advisor to Putin and former vice-president of Gazprombank -- killing his wife and daughter and then committing suicide.

A pistol was found in the oligarch's hand, and the flat was locked from the inside....

...On 2 May, Andrei Krukovsky, the 37-year-old director of a Sochi ski resort owned by the gas giant, died after allegedly falling off a cliff while hiking near the Achipse fortress, the scenic area's landmark monument.

“The general manager of the Krasnaya Polyana resort, Andrei Alekseevich Krukovsky, tragically passed away. He loved the mountains and found peace there,” TASS news agency reported.

The Krasnaya Polyana is one of the most popular ski venues in Russia and was a part of the Olympic complex during the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

And on 4 July, multi-millionaire businessman Yuri Voronov was found in the swimming pool at his home in the affluent Vyborgsky neighbourhood of St Petersburg with a gunshot wound to his head.

The police retrieved a handgun at the scene, while bullet casings were found at the bottom of the pool, local media reported....

...In October 2021, a Russian diplomat was found dead after he fell from a window of the Russian embassy in Berlin, Der Spiegel reported.

The unidentified man was a second secretary at the embassy, but German intelligence sources told the newspaper they suspected he was an undercover officer with Russia's FSB.

Investigative outlet Bellingcat said it used open-source data to identify the man as Kirill Zhalo, the son of General Alexey Zhalo, deputy director of the FSB's Second Service, responsible for dealing with internal political threats for the Kremlin.

In December of the same year, the founder of nationalist blog Sputnik and Pogrom Yegor Prosvirnin died after falling out of a window of a Moscow apartment building.

Prosvirnin's naked body was found next to a knife and a gas canister after shouts and yelling were heard from his apartment, local media reported....

...And on 14 August, Dan Rapoport, Latvian-American investment banker and outspoken Putin critic who had just left Ukraine after the Russian invasion, was found dead in front of a luxury apartment building in Washington DC.

Police say they were not treating Rapoport's death as suspicious, the Washington-based Politico reported, but the case remains under investigation.

Rapoport became rich while in Moscow before falling out of favour with the Kremlin, mostly due to his support for the opposition leader Alexei Navalny, according to reports.

In 2017, Rapoport's then-business partner, Sergei Tkachenko, also fell to his death from his Moscow apartment's window....

Vladimir Putin is afraid of his critics. All these deaths were of people with a voice in business and government. If enough of his critics were able to raise enough awareness to Putin's war deeds there might be an overthrow of the Putin regime in Moscow. Putin silences his critics. That is what he does. There are poisonings in Europe to confirm that. 

None of these people died because they were distressed. They were all murdered. There needs to be open ended UNSOLVED murders of these cases, especially in Washington, DC. How it is an influential citizen of Russia simply shows up dead in front of a hotel in Washington, DC? I guess Putin wanted to make it plain no one can hide from his power. I would think in Washington, DC with mysterious deaths of Russian speaking people turning up everywhere, there would be at least a warning about the potential and an offer to provide some sort of protection.

These people hang in the balance of peace. They are vulnerable and while loyal to Russia, it is not plain to anyone they are loyal to Putin. One of the peace initiatives of USA policy is the encouragement of human rights and women's rights and girl's rights and prosperity for businesses that operate under the flag of global peace. These people should be at least on a list of vulnerable Russian speaking people by the FBI and/or CIA. They aren't operating as spies to injure the Free World, quite the contrary, they want enough global peace to make money. They should at least have the opportunity to know that the Free World knows their life is in danger.

All these very suspicious deaths need to be listed in the Free World as open ended unsolved murders. Please, let's find these Russian speaking people some dignity out of the wrath of Putin.

There is plenty evidence of Russia's status as guilty of state sponsored terrorism, but, now is not the time.

September 16, 2022

Russia (click here) is now six months into its long-feared full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February when Vladimir Putin announced his “special military operation” in a televised address to his citizens.

Ukraine’s cities have been under attack ever since, with the locals putting up a courageous resistance at street level to ensure the conquest is far from the formality Mr Putin and the Russian military appear to have assumed it would be.

As the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, leads by example from the streets of the capital Kyiv, tirelessly rallying the international community for support, his troops are holding back Russia’s armed forces as best they can....

September 16, 2022

Izium, Ukraine - The hundreds of graves (click here) had been cut into the sandy soil of a pine forest, isolated and unexamined for months. A chilly wind blew through the tree branches. Police officers spoke in hushed tones. And newly dug up bodies lay all about on the forest floor.

Ukrainian investigators on Friday began exhuming hundreds of bodies found after Russian forces fled the city of Izium in disarray last weekend. It was the first step in what officials said would be a painstaking process of figuring out how people had died during a three-week siege of their city and the six months of Russian occupation that followed.

The site consisted of around 445 individual graves and one mass grave where soldiers appeared to have been buried. Some had died when a Russian airstrike leveled an apartment building in March, residents said. “Here are my neighbors and friends,” said Serhiy Shtanko, 33.

Among the bodies already exhumed were a family — a mother, father, daughter and two grandparents — killed in Russian bombardments in the spring, Ukrainian officials said....

...He refused and was released, he said. But only a short time later, the Russians were at his door again. This time, they took him along with his wife and 15-year-old son to the basement.

“They tied our hands and put bags on our heads,” said Andriy, who, along with another resident interviewed by The New York Times, asked that only his first name be used for fear of reprisals. “For two days, they didn’t allow us to go anywhere, not even to the toilet, and gave us no food. They tortured me again, but I didn’t confess. After a week they saw it was useless and let us go.”

Andriy’s account, which could not immediately be verified, fits with a pattern of Russian abuses described by residents of the city who remained during the months of Russian occupation. It is also supported by the well-documented behavior of Russian forces during their brief occupation of areas outside Kyiv and other northern cities and testimony by witnesses who have fled still-occupied parts of Ukraine....

I agree with the US Senate bill to name Russia a country that sponsors terrorism, but, the current price to pay for that designation is high and the world's global food supply would be at risk in making that designation. There is no guarantee that Russia will back down from committing these crimes, but, they are all well documented. It would be wrong to inflict further pain and strife on the world due to Russia's unexpected war into Ukraine. 

If Russia backs away from the grain deal there is plenty of reason to apply the terrorist label to Russia.

The USA Senate bill is correct, but lacks balance in recognition of the current state of hunger caused by Russia.

August 18, 2022

By Alexander Ward

...To date, (click here) State officials haven’t openly said anything for or against the House measure, except to insist the ultimate decision rests solely with Blinken and note that current U.S.-imposed sanctions and export controls on Russia are nearly equivalent to what the bill would mandate....

Currently, President Maduro is romancing OPEC to bring income to Venezuela.

Kuwait, June 14 (QNA) - HH Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah (click here) held an official talks session on Tuesday with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros, who is currently visiting Kuwait. During the session, bilateral relations were discussed, as well as ways to enhance and develop them in various fields, in addition to a number of issues of common concern.

Don't make the mistake that this interest in OPEC is about the Venezuelan people, it is not. This is about power and Russia and Venezuela's potential strike against the USA. While some of any oil and gas proceeds will find it's way to the people, the intention of the Maduro regime is seeking power in the Western Hemisphere.

September 15, 2022
By Timothy Gardner

Washington -  A U.S. State Department official (click here) put pressure on Venezuela leader Nicolas Maduro in a congressional hearing on Thursday, threatening more sanctions if talks with the opposition on resolving the country's long-running political and economic crisis are not renewed.

The talks between Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido were last held in Mexico City last year, but yielded little.

The Biden administration recognizes Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president, having rejected Maduro's 2018 re-election as a sham. Maduro, a socialist, remains in power in the OPEC nation despite tough U.S. sanctions on it oil industry....

February 4, 2019

By Max Fisher

Venezuela’s crisis (click here) has raised questions that could determine the country’s future — and that a far-off news reader could be forgiven for finding confusing.

Juan Guaidó, the opposition leader, has declared that President Nicolás Maduro is illegitimate and has asserted himself as Venezuela’s interim president.

So who is the legitimate leader, how can we tell and who gets to decide?

The United States and several countries in Latin America and Europe have recognized Mr. Guaidó as the rightful leader, and he has called on the military to withdraw its support for Mr. Maduro.

But would elevating Mr. Guaidó constitute a democratic transition or a coup?

The answers to these questions, though urgently important, are not at all straightforward. Here is some help in trying to think them through....

January 4, 2022

The United States (click here) continues to recognize the authority of the democratically elected 2015 National Assembly as the last remaining democratic institution and Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s interim president. We welcome the agreement reached to extend the authority of the National Assembly elected in 2015 and of interim President Guaidó as its president.

The United States supports the Venezuelan people in their desire for a peaceful restoration of democracy through free and fair elections. The Maduro regime’s pattern of political repression, rampant human rights abuses, as well as severe restrictions on political and civil society actors and freedom of expression have robbed the Venezuelan people of democratic self-determination. We support the efforts of the Unitary Platform and other actors to establish democratic order and rule of law in Venezuela....

The military coup by Maduro is lasting years. It never allowed a change in leadership to Juan Guaido. The most recent elections saw the defeat of the oppositional party in most of the elections held. That is not a free and fair election as the oppositional party has either fled the country or is jailed.

...The exodus of Venezuelans (click here) fleeing repression and shortages of food, medicine, and medical supplies represents the largest migration crisis in recent Latin American history. Difficulty accessing legal status in other countries and economic hardship as a result of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 have led approximately 130,000 to return since March 2020. Returnees are subject to abuse upon arrival.

Persistent concerns include brutal policing practices, poor prison conditions, impunity for human rights violations, lack of judicial independence, and harassment of human rights defenders and independent media....

...Intelligence and security forces have detained and tortured military personnel accused of plotting against the government. Authorities have tortured various detainees for information about alleged conspiracies. To determine the whereabouts of some suspects, authorities have detained and tortured family members.

During several crackdowns since 2014, Venezuelan security forces and colectivos have attacked demonstrations. Security forces have shot demonstrators at point-blank range with riot-control munitions, brutally beaten people who offered no resistance, and staged violent raids on apartment buildings.

Of more than 15,500 people arrested since 2014 in connection with protests—including demonstrators, bystanders, and people taken from their homes without warrants—some 9,255 had been conditionally released as of September 2020 but remained subject to prosecution. A total of 870 had been prosecuted by military courts....

There is simply no way possible to recognize the Maduro regime as the legitimate president of Venezuela. A continued military coup is the only legitimate statement anyone can make about Maduro's leadership.

November 22, 2021

Venezuela’s political opposition (click here) must rebuild and reflect on its strategy after suffering a heavy defeat in weekend elections, leader Juan Guaido has said, calling for unity among the fragmented movement’s leadership.

The opposition broke a nearly four-year election boycott to take part in mayoral and gubernatorial votes on Sunday, but paid for its failure to put up single candidates against President Nicolas Maduro’s ruling United Socialist Party (PSUV).


Opposition candidates won in only three out of 23 states, while Maduro’s allies won 18 governorships, according to updated election results published by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday.

Maduro’s ruling party and its allies were well-positioned to claim the final two states, while a PSUV candidate also took the mayor’s office in the capital of Caracas. The President on Sunday welcomed the results of the vote as an “impressive” victory that “must be celebrated”....

 

I think this was a brilliant idea by Governor Baker.

It isn't as though DeSantis called and said, "Hey, Chuck, I need you to take a some immigrants off my hands."

The children will need to begin school to keep up with their classmates. All will have to receive physical exams and COVID vaccines. 

September 16, 2022

Migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard (click here) on the orders of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be moved Friday to housing on a military base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said. The Republican governor said the move to the mainland would be voluntary.

Baker praised residents and officials on Martha’s Vineyard for taking care of the nearly 50 migrants after their unexpected arrival on Wednesday but said the island lacks the resources to house the migrants for the long-term.

At Joint Base Cape Cod, the migrants will be given dormitory-style housing, food and services, Baker said. Families will be given separate housing....

It is almost guaranteed the immigrants will be filing for asylum.

People continue to leave Venezuela (click here) to escape violence, insecurity and threats as well as lack of food, medicine and essential services. With over 6 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants worldwide, the vast majority in countries within Latin America and the Caribbean, this has become the second-largest external displacement crisis in the world.

Children, women and men continue to leave Venezuela for neighbouring countries and beyond due to the ongoing political, human rights and socio-economic developments in their country. Many arrive scared, tired and in dire need of assistance....

Under the guise of containing the spread of COVID-19, (click here) the policy known as Title 42 has resulted in the summary expulsion of thousands of asylum seekers and has become a centerpiece of U.S. border policy since 2020. The policy is a failure from every angle. Denounced by public health experts, immigration, and human rights advocates alike, it continues to inflict immeasurable harm on vulnerable people seeking safety. By foreclosing legal pathways to people seeking asylum, it has produced record levels of “recidivism” – repeat, irregular crossings – among migrants who have no option but to attempt entry without inspection. Though the Biden administration finally acknowledged the need to end Title 42, they dragged their feet for too long, and have not fought hard enough to stop the deadly expulsion from continuing, relying on specious public health justification when convenient and on baseless border control rationale when politically helpful. Both excuses have been debunked. Now, we must contend with the resulting humanitarian disaster, and the Biden administration must do more to defend and implement its decision to finally end Title 42....

Title 42, Section 265 (click here)

The Title does allow for refusing people for asylum in the case of a health emergency, HOWEVER, the people are not to be sent back to the place that caused them to flee in the first place.

In other words, the Texas and Florida Governors don't know what to do and do not want to shoulder the cost themselves so they are sending the immigrants around to other states. The Venezuelans coming to the USA are in fear for their lives. Sending them directly back to Venezuela to prohibited by Title 42. It would be sending them back to face the same danger they left.

Title 42 recognizes asylum as a legitimate form of immigration, however, in the case of a health emergency the people can be refused asylum, but, another country that harbors no danger to the immigrants must be contacted and travel arranged. Title 42 does protect human life.

Nowhere does Title 42 recognize the right by any state to shuttle people around by any means of transportation to other states. Title 42 is about a health emergency. Title 42 assumes the health emergency exists in all 50 states and USA territories, so to simply shuttle the immigrants around is actually increasing the health emergency. An example would be a person infected with COVID-19 that arrived at the southern border to the USA. That person would then bring the virus to the transportation vehicle and to the place where disembarkation took place as well as all those along the way. In sequestering the immigrants to the point where they entered the USA is to contain the virus. Containing the virus is good public policy.

The states receiving the immigrants for political purposes (click here) can sue Florida and/or Texas for endangering the public and not finding suitable countries to place them. Florida and Texas are in violation of Title 42 and the USA Attorney for these states need to examine whether or not the Governors can be prosecuted for their violations.

September 15, 2022

Washington - U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), (click here) Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today delivered the following opening remarks at this morning’s full Committee hearing entitled “Assessing U.S. Policy Towards Venezuela.” Testifying before the Committee were Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian Nichols and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean Marcela Escobari.

“Venezuela is the epicenter of the second largest refugee and migration crisis in the world. The Maduro regime has overseen the collapse of the economy—taking down with it the country’s entire education and healthcare systems,” Chairman Menendez said, underscoring the regime’s crimes against humanity and invitation to Russian, Cuban, Iranian, and Chinese governments into the country. “So as we review United States policy towards Venezuela, we must reckon with how—in the span of a generation—a trusted democratic partner has become a mafia state. A criminal enterprise that uses brute force to cling to power.”

Continued Menendez: “Now, I want to be clear that this Committee believes in diplomacy. And Congress has long supported – and continues to support – a negotiated solution to Venezuela’s crisis. But a one-sided deal with a regime that kidnaps American citizens to increase its leverage is simply unacceptable. Unilateral concessions to a leader that tortures his political opponents is unacceptable. It’s not the path towards a successful negotiation. And it’s something the Biden administration—as well as newly elected leaders across Latin America—should keep in mind. Because given Maduro’s track record – given that he makes Al Capone look tame – there can be no return to normalcy with his regime.”...

Americans need to remember Venezuela's administration under Nicolas Maduro is a Russian sanctioned regime. Venezuela is hostile to the Western Hemisphere and is a national security threat to the USA in a near border war potential. 

What could Maduro ever expect from an American that has done nothing but good works for humanity and feel in love with a woman he met? He has committed no crimes yet Maduro holds him as a political hostage in Venezuela.

September 16, 2022

By Michael Wilner and Antonio Maria Delgado

...Her son, Osman Khan, a 24 year-old U.S. citizen, (click here) had been working remotely for months from the small city of Bucaramanga in Colombia, living with a college friend after graduating from the University of Central Florida. Around Christmas, Khan told his sister that he had started dating a girl there, and that the relationship was getting serious. But he did not mention that he planned on crossing the Colombian border to visit her family in Venezuela.

On the night of Jan. 17, Valdes says the anonymous group sent her a video showing Khan apprehended in a nondescript office. They sent her voice messages of Khan pleading for help.

The group initially asked Valdes for $1,200 to secure Khan’s freedom. On the advice of friends and family, she negotiated them down to $600, to send his captors a message that they could not ask for more. She transferred the funds. They asked for more anyway. Huddling with family in her Winter Garden home, Valdes decided to act. “One of the phone numbers that called me had a picture on the profile,” Valdes told McClatchy, sharing Khan’s story publicly for the first time. “My family and I began investigating on our own. We started going through social media in Venezuela, looking through pictures, searching for names.”...

It is a very sad time for the UK. It has been quite a day.

September 13, 2022
By Tara John, Jack Guy, David Wilkinson and Arnaud Siad

People watch the hearse carrying the coffin of Britain's Queen Elizabeth, following her death, in London on September 13.

Queen Elizabeth II's coffin (click here) has arrived at Buckingham Palace, after being transported from west London's RAF Northholt airbase by car.

The Queen's family received the coffin on its arrival at the palace, where it will rest in the Bow Room overnight.

The coffin was transported from Edinburgh earlier on Tuesday on a C-17 Globemaster transport plane, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston told Sky News Tuesday in an on-camera interview....

The family has been very dedicated to the Late Queen. I believe Princess Anne has been present to the movement of the Late Queen Elizabeth II since her death.

On Monday evening, (click here) King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward came together to conduct the Vigil of the Princes as their mother's coffin laid in state at St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I really feel badly for the UK. They really loved their Queen.

It is a great ad and Charlie Crist is not misrepresenting anything.

September 9, 2022
By Brea Jones of FactCheck.org

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (click here) wants to eliminate state permit requirements for carrying concealed firearms, and he supports banning abortion, with limited exceptions, after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

But political ads from former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s campaign misleadingly claim that DeSantis opposes “any background checks” on gun buyers and “wants to ban abortion” in all cases....

When Ron DeSantis states he wants to eliminate state permit requirements that is an elimination of background checks.

Here are the current requirements which are bare bones requirements:

To be eligible for a Florida concealed weapon or firearm license: (click here)

You must be 21 years of age or older.

You must be able to demonstrate competency with a firearm.

Unless you are serving overseas in the United States Armed Forces, you must currently reside in the United States and be a U.S. citizen or deemed a lawful permanent resident alien by Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. If you are serving overseas in the U.S. Armed Forces, submit a copy of your deployment documentation with your application. Those who are Resident Aliens must provide a valid Permanent Resident Alien card.

There are NO SAFEGUARDS NOW!

There are absolutely no requirements by the State of Florida for ANY background checks. The requirements for current background checks are due to federal requirements. 

Gun buyers are required to submit to a background check (click here) through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

A prospective buyer fills out ATF Form 4473 and the federally licensed firearms dealers relays this information to the NICS. NICS staff perform a background check to verify the prospective buyer does not have a criminal record and is not otherwise ineligible to purchase a firearm.

The NICS has conducted more than 300 million checks since launching in 1998, leading to over 3 million denials.

I believe President Biden has updated requirements for a gun purchase. so this may be outdated. 

States can have their own requirements that are much tighter than the federal laws, the example is Connecticut (click here). There is also every reason for background checks to be more stringent, the example is Dylann Roof (click here) who found a loophole that allowed him to obtain a gun purchase before his background check was completed. 

...Mr. Roof exploited the three-day waiting time that has allowed thousands of prohibited buyers to legally purchase firearms over the past decade — and some of those weapons were ultimately used in crimes, according to court records and government documents....

As far as abortion goes, the government needs to get out of the way completely. Abortions are a private decision between a doctor and the woman. The Republicans are touting 15 weeks as the end of legal abortions. The majority probably fall in that category, but, not all and certainly if a woman's life is in danger no matter when the pregnancy was conceived she should be able to get a procedure to save her life.

The current ability to allow a fetus to survive an abortion is 23 weeks or later. There are an occasional infant that will survive in a neo-natal critical care unit, but, that is very rare.

Results: (click here) Termination of pregnancy accounted for 33% of deliveries at 20–23 weeks; these were excluded from further analysis. Spontaneous delivery occurred at a frequency of 2.5/1000 deliveries; 30% died before the onset of labour, 27% died during labour, and 35% showed signs of life at birth. Of the latter, 8% were not registered as statutory live births. Of the live born infants, the largest group (39%) had a heart beat but no other signs of life. There was no trend for infants of lower gestation to show fewer signs of life. Duration of survival varied widely (median 60 minutes at 20–22 weeks), and this did not increase with gestation until 23 weeks (median six hours), probably because of selective treatment. Survival curves are presented for each gestation group. At 23 weeks, 4.5% survived to 1 year of age; all were > 500 g birth weight. Below 23 weeks gestation, none survived, and 94% had died within 4 hours of age.

Conclusions: This information on surviving labour, signs of life at birth, duration of survival, and birth weight at 20–23 weeks gestation should help decision making in the management of pre-viable delivery.

The viability of the fetus to maintain life can only be determined by a neonatologist. Viability is rare in fetus less than 500 grams of body weight.

This is from Kaiser.

Reasons individuals seek abortions later in pregnancy include medical concerns such as fetal anomalies or maternal life endangerment, as well as barriers to care that cause delays in obtaining an abortion.

Abortions occurring at or after 21 weeks gestational age are rare. (click here) They are often difficult to obtain, as they are typically costly, time-intensive and only performed by a small subset of abortion providers. Yet these abortions receive a disproportionate amount of attention in the news, policy and the law, and discussions on this topic are often fraught with misinformation; for example, intense public discussions have been sparked after several policymakers have theorized about abortions occurring “moments before birth” or even “after birth.” In reality, these scenarios do not occur, nor are they legal, in the U.S. Discussion of this topic is further obscured due to the terms sometimes used to describe abortions later in pregnancy– including “late-term,” “post-viability,” “partial birth,” “dismemberment” and “born-alive” abortions—despite many medical professionals criticizing and opposing their use. This fact sheet explains why individuals may seek abortions later in pregnancy, how often these procedures occur, how the concepts of viability and fetal pain play into this topic, and the various laws which regulate access to abortions later in pregnancy....

No one will say this besides me, but, politicians that invade a woman's right to privacy and control of her own body are moralizing to attract votes and not protections for babies. It is a rare occurrence in the USA that any late term abortions are conducted and when they are it is to save the life of the woman. 

When a politician states he or she opposes abortion after 15 weeks is saying women that seek abortion after that are wrong and immoral. That is the furthest from the truth. Women have a right to privacy and the advise of their doctors uninterrupted by government.

In my opinion, the Republican Party is hoping the 15 week bill will make everyone unhappy with them to now become happy with them to vote them into office. I don't think so. The Republican Party did not expect the uproar of women across the USA to the wrongful nullification of Roe v. Wade. Believe it or not, it is legal and correct to have case law in the USA. The Robert's Court doesn't  believe in case law. It is a convenient belief that allows them to play politics with existing case law. By overturning every case law the Evangelical funding sources don't like and returning it to the states as State's Rights is ridiculous and gross malpractice.

States Rights is an allowance in the USA Constitution when states are best left to decide if the Colorado River Compact is a good idea or not. The States Rights issue is about PARTICULAR decisions that are unique to that state. In the case of abortion, a woman is a woman. Every woman that once fell under the case law of Roe v. Wade was allowed to decide about their own bodies and the future of a pregnancy and to do so with the guidance of her doctor(s). There was absolutely nothing wrong with case law of Roe v. Wade. Nothing. It was a protection for all women and there were no States Rights that applied as far as I am concerned. The Robert's Court began to allow this provision or that provision because they premeditated the end of Roe v. Wade. Just that simple. There is no magic in what the Robert's Court has been up to all these years since Bush placed right wing conservatives on the court that came as a favor to the Federalist Society and it's treasury and members bank accounts.

Pregnancy is an intimate issue between the persons involved. There is no place for government in that decision. Just imagine the impact of anti-abortion laws and the havoc is reeks on adult lives. I do not in any way approve of a child giving birth to a child. It is harmful.

So, when Charlie Christ states he believes in the right for a woman to choose, he is simply putting back the protections of women and their doctors. He is getting out of the way of privacy and allowing good and informed decisions to exist. He is also not dictating any religion will have sway over the USA Constitution.

The fifteen week ban is not necessary and is pure politics without any regard to a woman's ability to make her own decisions and a physicians right to protect the life of his patient, a woman.

Blue lightning. I have a theory.

This storm was yesterday, September 13, 2022. Early morning. It was an enormous system. There is a blip in the data transfer, but, the specific PART of the system is seen plainly.

The water vapor in the lower left corner is over the Pacific with it concentrating at the equator. That concentrated water vapor is very warm as seen by pink and green on the radar. It traveled northeast from the equator and covered the east coast of North America.

The vortex north of Chicago is part of the cold air system coming from Canada. There is a clear division of water vapor STRUCTURES discerned from this satellite. Noted just north of the division of water vapor is a trough that mixes the two systems. It is approximately over West Virginia but that is not an exact location but an assessment. 

There is a mixing, but, no trubulence at the mixing which I find strange for a meeting of a warm and cold front. Normally, that would explain thunder and lightning. The turbulence I observed with consistent rain occurs north of Chicago (more about that in a minute), but, as to the patter of SETS OF TWO thunder and lightning.

The turbulence seen in pink north of Chicago was over Grand Traverse County.

Currently over northwest Michigan it is raining. It is not torrential, but, steady. There are occasional burst of increased rain rates, but, mostly consistent. The rain bursts are not affiliated with the lightning.

The lightening accompanying this storm is reportable. The entire sky lights up in a blue color approximately the same natural color of the sky. It is preceded by a boom of thunder. It occurs in a set of two, one loud boom accompanied immediately by a bright blue flash and followed by a second boom with the same blue flash. 

This dual flashing occurs between one minute to ten minutes apart.

At 4:25 am est the lightning has seemed to have stopped but the rain continues with slightly increased volume.

The rain is cold. The air temperature is 66 degrees Fahrenheit. The rain is colder than that.

THEORY 9/13/22

The vortex near Chicago was over Grand Traverse County (it was a big system and not concentrated over one particular city). The pattern of the blue lightening was first boom (not rolling thunder) followed by a sky full of blue lightning, then immediately the second Boom (not rolling thunder) followed by a sky full of blue lightning. The PATTERN repeated itself variably between one minute to ten minutes apart. 

I believe the water vapor was breaking down. H2O. If the very stable molecules met up with the perfect conditions to boil icy cold water within seconds, I believe the molecules broke apart. The boom was the explosion of a group of hydrogen atoms which would set off a blue lightening in the sky. The second boom was the other group of hydrogen atoms exploding followed by a flash of blue light. 

Oxygen atoms when excited will glow a purplish blue, but, blue is the predominant color.

Liquid oxygen in a beaker, (click here) showing its characteristic pale-blue color. Credit to U.S. Air Force photo

The lightening in this episode was very close to that color with the exception of it being an air mass.

I strongly believe, in contemplation of the sound patter, I am correct. I believe the mixing of the two different water vapor structures with movement near and over a body of lake water caused the destruction of H20 into two independent hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. There is absolutely nothing else that explains the color or the pattern. The PATTERN was consistent and exhibited in the same exact timing. There was no variability.

The spacing of the booms (not rolling thunder) I believe was due to the arrival of a water vapor pattern from a southeast location of the pink area of the vortex north of Chicago. I will illustrate that arrival pattern below.

This is image one. There is a puff of water vapor over Lake City, Michigan. This puff of water vapor will more north.

This is image two. The water vapor puff is concentrating and gaining and moving north-northeast. It will continue to move north-northeast.

This is image three. The first puff of water vapor is picking up more water vapor over Fife Lake and moving northeast and not just north-northeast. It is joined by a second water vapor concentration that originated over Lake City again. This is a pattern that repeats itself depending on the movement of the vortex and the heat in the region.

This is satellite image four. The two water vapor masses are moving northeast into the area of the vortex inner border over Grand Traverse County. Now, I repeat the volume of the rain falling does not change. But, I believe the addition of this additional water vapor and the temperature difference between it and the vortex creates enough instability to cause a heated reaction that quickly results in the splitting of the H2O.

One more image to go.

This is image five and it is easy to seek the water vapor that originated over Lake City, gathered mass near Fife Lake has moved into the boundary of the vortex. There is also a pink puff east of Mount Pleasant. That is a continuation of the movement of water from the surface of lakes into the atmosphere and incorporated into the vortex. 

The State of Michigan has over one thousand lakes. It only makes sense this phenomena would show up clearly in this dynamic.

There is one more image that will help complete the clarity of this phenomena.

In image six, the cloud formation that began at Lake City and grew in volume moved into the vortex northeast of Traverse City. It has the same structure as the water vapor in image five. It is well incorporated into the vortex border. It is this addition of a different temperature water vapor structure is what made the timing erratic.

I believe I am correct. I simply don't see it any other way, unless scientists elsewhere can explain the repeating EXACT pattern. 

I also believe this is a clear illustration of the impact of heat on our water supply at Earth's surface and how easy it is for conditions to rob Earth of it's water.

This phenomena is serious and needs to be addressed by a society that has the means to change it's greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible. This occurred over the USA, not any place else. If the USA wants to keep it's water, the time to act to reduce and end emissions of greenhouse gases is now.

This is what is occurring in Edinburgh, Scotland.

People wait (click here) to enter St. Giles' Cathedral to pay their respect to Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, September 12. 

The people absolutely adored and loved Queen Elizabeth II. When the people turned out during the Queen's jubilee, it was a complete contradiction of the often negative media.

 

Ukraine

Soldiers of the Ukraine military have reached the border between Ukraine and Russia at Kharkiv. 

I am very happy for the freedom and peace loving people in that region. Evidently, the people, while speaking Russian, did not want the governance of communists. Unfortunately, a Putin missile destroyed the power plant and the people now have danger in their lives due to the lack of electricity. This danger includes the health care facilities.

The people of the Kharkiv area are good people. They are the same flesh and blood that existed there under communist oppression. All of a sudden they deserve cruelty in their lives because they are now free. Those Ukrainians hold no desire to invade Russia, yet, they are considered to be irreverent children to Mother Russia and need to be punished.

That mind set with the Russian military leadership must stop. Those are political opinions sending those missiles. Those politics belonging to Russia must stop and allow people of Ukraine peace.

In the UK…

 …there is a peaceful transfer of power after a reigning monarch passed away at the age of 96 with a broken heart missing her dearly beloved husband.

The topic of the royals are chronically in the news and if media is not gawking at the latest frock of Kate Middleton there are complaints about the monarchy and it’s persistent place in society and government. The complaining is nonsense and the UK has a talented as well as beautiful member of the royal family in Kate Middleton.

I am witnessing through people I know and people they know absolute grief for the Late Queen Elizabeth II. Chronically puffy eyes from being assaulted by reality, advise to get back in touch with the here and now through nature walks and reports of young people and young children crying themselves to sleep. I am certain the Princes William and Harry are feeling the brevity of the loss of their mother at this difficult time.

The propaganda regarding the royal family of the United Kingdom is nothing less than flamboyant attempts at making money. The people, the citizens of the United Kingdom love the royal family because they are as much family to them as those that are immediate relatives.

I wish all the citizens of the United Kingdom and The Commonwealth sincerest sympathy for a difficult time for their countries and nations of people. I believe King Charles III and the Queen Consort Camilla are traveling to Edinburg, Scotland for official duties but also to honor the Late Queen Elizabeth II as she begins her final journey as she is laid to rest.

I wish the entire family of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth peace.

21 years ago…

 …there were deadly strikes against the people of the USA. Those strikes were intended to destroy the USA in a way that would instill fear of living their own lives.

The attacks were at a financial center of the USA in Lower Manhattan of New York City in the great State of New York. The attacks targeted the military base within our national capital, the Pentagon. Then a third attack was thwarted by great Americans as a commercial jet was in route to the Capital building to destroy it and any lives inside. Those Americans died for their country. I think the story of the crash into a Pennsylvania field is an astounding portrait of the love Americans have for their country and humanity.

In the remembrance of September 11, 2001 the real story is the USA is resilient in every aspect of the life Americans live. 

I am sorry so many families suffered after the terrorists strike that day. Most are living independent lives with a return of peace and happiness. Americans are resilient and if ever there was a reason to fall apart in every way those heinous acts were a reason for the families and the country.

Today and after two very long generational wars that were questionably fought we are all okay. We are not only okay, but, known now to our enemies as among the greatest people that ever lived within a democracy. 

Today, Americans can pause and realize exactly who we are on this Earth.

Peace and prosperity to every American.

Good night.

President Biden…

…needs to write an Executive Order prohibiting the further judicial review of highly classified national security documents. There are at least 100 documents that the DOJ will not submit and he needs to back them up.

The judiciary wants to release them publicly. Their out of their damn minds.

The prosecution of Donald John Trump needs to go forward now.

The Arizona US Senate Election

There is no contest here. US Senator Mark Kelley is a national hero. His love of the USA cannot be challenged.

Blake Masters is owned by Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel is a German Immigrant who is a successful financial wizard. Peter Thiel wants to own a piece of the USA Senate and his former employee, Blake Masters is just the ticket. I would not doubt Peter Thiel will dump a billion into the race convinced his money will win him power.

The last thing the USA Senate needs is a Wall Street billionaire.

September 8, 2022
By Sara Sidner and Meridith Edwards

Jackson, Mississippi, and Flint, Michigan (CNN)Six-year-old Charles Wilson V (click here) is scared to drink out of the water fountain at his school.

"I will die," he says matter-of-factly when asked the reason why.

It's a fear his father agrees with. At home in Jackson, Mississippi, Charles Wilson III -- who lost his first namesake son when he was just a baby -- gets bottled water for his family to drink, and he boils water for everything else.

The water is back on in Jackson after historic flooding took out the water treatment plant where pumps were already failing, but the Wilson family has lost faith....

Those are personal information and pictures. They were presented in a legal case to allow the jury to witness the issues of the children. There is no place for this in a defendant's possession.

Anyone can get transcripts from any trial. There is no reason for this request.

September 8, 2022
By Ron Fonger

Flint - A civil bellwether trial (click here) tied to the Flint water crisis ended in a mistrial last month, but attorneys for an engineering consultant that was sued is remaining active in U.S. District Court.

Attorneys for Veolia North America, one of two consultants sued by four Flint children for professional negligence in the case, has asked Judge Judith E. Levy to require the children’s attorneys to turn over a copy of the PowerPoint slide presentation they showed during their closing argument.

After final arguments from the children, Veolia and a second consultant -- Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam, the eight-member jury deadlocked after six days of deliberation before a mistrial was declared. Jurors reported in a note that they had become deadlocked and that continuing the trial would affect their “physical and emotional health.”

The new motion by Veolia says it wants the slide show, which included pictures of the four children and clips of videotaped testimony, in order to supplement the trial record in the case....

April 13, 2022

By Ron Fonger

...Attorneys for the children told Levy (click here) on Wednesday that they’ve already been forced to rearrange witnesses as they make their case against Veolia and LAN and suggested that the 5th Amendment appeals are harming their ability to present a coherent case to the jury.

Levy said attorneys may have to play videotaped depositions from witnesses and reserve in-person questions -- if allowed by the Appeals Court -- at a later time....

September 6, 2022
By Ron Fonger

Flint - The Michigan Supreme Court (click here) won’t alter a requirement that Flint water prosecutors use a taint team in their prosection of government officials, including former Gov. Rick Snyder, a decision that could delay the criminal cases for years.

In a two-paragraph order on Tuesday, Sept. 6, the Supreme Court said justices were “not persuaded that the question presented should be reviewed by this Court.”...

"The Daily Show" and Jeffery Toobin on "Taint Team."

It is about physical health of people. Climate Crisis temperatures are very dangerous.

August 13, 2022
By Rachel Ramirez

People cool off at a fountain in Piazza del Popolo in Rome in early August.

It is important to keep the head cool. He is doing the absolutely best thing by cooling his head. Think of neck veins and the blood flowing through them. Personal cooling appliances around the neck work, right? There is a reason for that. Cooler neck veins, cool the blood and that blood goes up to the circle of Willis and down to the heart to distribute it around the body. So cooling the head is also cooling the body.

Extreme heat is on the rise around the world, (click here) and a new study shows it is taking a significant toll not just on our physical health but also our sense of well-being.

A new analysis by Gallup in collaboration with Citi, shared first with CNN, found that people who experienced extreme heat -- days that were significantly hotter than normal -- also reported a decrease in their sense of well-being around the same time. On average, the global population experienced three times as many extreme heat days in 2020 than it did in 2008, Gallup reported, and well-being decreased globally by 6.5% in that time as well.

Researchers also found that because the climate crisis is pushing temperatures even hotter, global well-being could decrease by another 17% by the end of this decade....

The climate crisis is very hard on Americans. Very hard.

January 5, 2022

By Sarah Kaplan

 and 

Andrew Ba Tran

Alzile Marie Hand, 66, right, is comforted by her son Thomas James Hand, 19, outside their damaged house after Hurricane Ida passed through in Houma, La., on Aug. 30. 

2021 ended as it began: (click here) with disaster. Twelve months after an atmospheric river deluged California, triggering mudslides in burned landscapes and leaving a half-million people without power, a late-season wildfire destroyed hundreds of homes in the suburbs of Denver. In between, Americans suffered blistering heat waves, merciless droughts and monstrous hurricanes. People collapsed in farm fields and drowned in basement apartments; entire communities were obliterated by surging seas and encroaching flames.

More than 4 in 10 Americans live in a county that was struck by climate-related extreme weather last year, according to a new Washington Post analysis of federal disaster declarations, and more than 80 percent experienced a heat wave. In the country that has generated more greenhouse gases than any other nation in history, global warming is expanding its reach and exacting an escalating toll....

This is not the way Americans treat elections. It is however the way Russia does it.

September 8, 2022
By Bob Ortega, Audrey Ash, Yahya Abou-Ghazala and Drew Griffin

The evening before Michigan's state primary, (click here) Wayne County GOP leaders held a Zoom training session for poll workers and partisan observers -- warning them about "bad stuff happening" during the election and encouraging them to ignore local election rules barring cell phones and pens from polling places and vote-counting centers.

"None of the constraints that they're putting on this are legal," former state senator Patrick Colbeck told trainees on the August 1 call.

As far as cell phones, "I would say maybe just hide it or something, and maybe hide a small pad and a small pen or something like that because you need to take accurate notes," Cheryl Costantino, the GOP county chairwoman and host of the call, told participants.

Some participants raised concerns about being tossed out if they broke the rules. "That's why you got to do it secretly," Costantino replied....

Wayne County, Michigan Republican Officials need a perp walk. Voters should know who they are dealing with.

Wayne County, Michigan Elected Officials (click here)

Wanted for law violation and election fixing:

Chairman, Doug Deeken

Deputy Chairman, Charlie Hardman

Secretary, Christine Kobak

Treasurer, Dave Tschanz

Shame on you all!

His Majesty, if following in his father and mother's steps, should be a generous and concerned sovereign.

September 9, 2022
By Alex Barker

At the moment of the Queen’s passing (click here) on Thursday, her eldest son acceded to the throne as King Charles III, head of state of the UK and 14 other Commonwealth countries.

The King, aged 73, is the oldest monarch to take the crown, as well as the longest-serving heir apparent in British history. Unlike his late mother, who became queen at just 25, King Charles’s life has been one of extended preparation for this moment.

The historic transition from one royal generation to another will be marked by a period of national mourning and what is expected to be a relatively low-key coronation, which will set the tone for King Charles’s reign.

Alongside the ceremonial formalities of succession, the moment of the King’s elevation will also be one of personal loss and grief; he has been beside the deathbed of both his parents in the past 18 months.

“The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family,” he said in a statement on Thursday evening. “We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother.”...

I wish he and the people of the UK the very best through a time of transition and reflection.

Allies

Trump has exposed the military defense of our allies. He has compromised the national security of the USA. It is time for the USA to empower our allies, with the exception of the likes of Orban, to overcome the knowledge our enemies have. It is the best we can do now.

Trump should be arrested and jailed until his trial.