The Flint River Water Project - Documents are expected.

I first have to apologize for not posting this on Friday. Friday was crazy for me and I let my back bone slip. Just that simple. That is not an excuse it is a fact.

I want to apologize and ask for forgiveness. I know how people are invested in any word about a serious issue and I do not take it lightly. This was a glaring mistake.

I expect documents to arrive. There is no exact date because as I have stated before these are not frequently on the list of FAQs. 

I realized once this became obvious it was not going to be an issue any longer I didn't ask how they would arrive. I don't know if it will be an envelope or a semi-trailer. Seriously. The potential for it being a substantial size set of items is real.

I have made preparation. My garage is ready. All I have to do is park the Jeep outside. BUT. I really think I need to be prepared to have a storage locker ready, so I'll look into that this week. 

This is not a minor thing. I also realized it will be important to update by photo taking equipment. I have 35 mm that has become antiques. Great cameras though. All in all about $2000 worth, when I purchased them.

So. 

I am planning to be in Genesee County, Michigan the week of August 7th. I am sure no one will notice me. I don't intend to approach anyone about my project. When that happens I'll write the people necessary, but, I'll have to make plans for digital photography to post.

I am an anti-digital person. It was forced on me and it reflects Wall Streets demands for commercialism and not my preferences. But, given the fact digital is the only real answer, I will accept the restraint on my life and proceed. 

Again, I ask your forgiveness. It is a waiting game now, but, at least I have an ally and am not waiting alone. My ally and I expect progress.

I should have told them microfiche would be good.

Oh, well. 

This is a personal victory. Sophisticated information regarding drought in a newspaper.

I have no clue as to whether this is due to my advocacy, but, it seems like it to me. The really interesting thing about that news page is that it was written by the US government scientists. It doesn't get better than that. I have smile from ear to ear. People who read that page will know more about their country's stress than anyone else they meet. It is all good.

"Sierra Sun Times" (click here)

...West

Precipitation was virtually non-existent in much of the Western region during the period. Light rain (0.5 inch) did fall in central Oregon and norther Washington. The southwest monsoon provided some relief to parts of Arizona, albeit only light amounts fell. Temperatures were cooler than normal in the Northwest, but slightly above normal for the desert southwest. The cooler than normal temperatures during July have helped suppress many new wildfires from emerging. This is the dry season for the West Coast, so changes to the drought monitor are very rare this time of year....

...Looking Ahead

The next 3-7 days will bring above normal temperatures for much of the CONUS (CONUS is Continental United States) with the warmest anomalies forecasted for the Midwest and along the East Coast. Negative temperature anomalies will be confined to the Northwest. The High Plains, parts of New England, the Southeast, and Florida have the best chances of greater than normal precipitation.

The CPC 6-10 day outlook calls for the greatest chances of above normal temperatures in California and the Great Basin, as well as the East Coast. The probability is high that below normal precipitation will occur in the Northwest, especially in Washington and Oregon, and the Midwest, while odds are in favor of above normal precipitation in the Southeast and East Coast.

July 23, 2016
By Chris Jennewein
"Giant Santa Clara fire roars through 11,000 acres: Evacuations forced" (click here)

...No injuries were reported as a result of the blaze, which began at 2:10 p.m. Friday, near Sand Canyon Road, Marron said.

Fewer than 100 people were evacuated from the area of Capra Road off Soledad Canyon Road because of the flames, county fire officials said. And residents of between 200 and 300 home in the Little Tujunga area were also under a mandatory evacuation order, according to the sheriff’s department.

An emergency shelter for residents was established at Golden Valley High School at 27051 Robert C. Lee Parkway in Santa Clarita and shelter for large animals was made available at Agua Dulce Airport, Wayside Jail in Castaic and Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

About 300 firefighters were battling the flames from the ground and air as of Friday night, Marron said. The Los Angeles Fire Department sent a water- dropping helicopter to join four from the county fire department. Eight fixed- wing firefighting aircraft were also called in to attack the blaze, Marron added. Cal Fire and the U.S. Forest Service were also assisting in the fight....

No Comment.

Hugh Hewitt you lost your hair oil bottle.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Hair is a big thing with Democrats.

Welcome to the year 2016.

Did Donilon say no? No one on Earth has better national security prowess.

Thomas E. Donilon (click here) is vice chair of the international law firm of O'Melveny & Myers, where he serves on the firm's global governing committee. Mr. Donilon is also senior director at the BlackRock Investment Institute. From 2010 to 2013, he served as national security adviser to President Barack Obama. In that capacity Mr. Donilon oversaw the National Security Council staff, chaired the cabinet level National Security Principals Committee, provided the president's daily national security briefing, and was responsible for the coordination and integration of the administration's foreign policy, intelligence, and military efforts....

He will never ask, who?

He knows Wall Street and Fannie Mae inside and out.

She needs to decide on her comfort level. To me Donilon is a lot of comfort.

I wish her the best of luck.

Why is Hillary Clinton asking for scandal, problems and skepticism as to his loyalties?

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine (click here) took advantage of the state’s lax gift laws to receive an $18,000 Caribbean vacation, $5,500 in clothes and a trip to watch George Mason University play in the NCAA basketball Final Four during his years as lieutenant governor and governor, according to disclosures he filed.

Now a leading contender to be Hillary Clinton’s running mate, Kaine reported more than $160,000 in gifts from 2001 to 2009, mostly for travel to and from political events and conferences, according to disclosures compiled by the Virginia Public Access Project. The givers included political supporters, a drug company that soon after bought a facility in Virginia, and Dominion, the state’s biggest provider of electricity....

He taints the ticket. Whatever happened to announcing the Vice President at the convention? 

She looks like she is telling Trump effect her decision making by announcing before the convention. This isn't Hillary.

The DNC and Hillary campaign needs money that bad?

If she wants an old white guy there are plenty available. I am sure he has negative numbers, but, he already knows the job.

Well, maybe the cabinet.

Chancellor Angela Merkel states there is to be no speculation about the cause of death. I agree. I think that is very good advise.

Ya think?

More competition for Mexican drug cartels. Oops, there goes the plans for more tunnels under the Rio Grande.

11 July 2016
Written by James Bargent

Interpol has warned that drug traffickers (click here) could capitalize on the expansion of the Panama Canal, in a reminder of the crucial but often under reported role of maritime shipping in the global drug trade.

"The recent widening of the Panama Canal brings new opportunities for the country, but it also opens up new opportunities for criminals," said Interpol Secretary General Jürgen Stock, who was speaking at the inauguration of the International Police Regional Conference of the Americas in Panama City.

The $5.2 billion expansion of the canal, which was inaugurated last month, has doubled the canal's capacity for shipping containers. A significant increase on the 6 percent of world trade that already passes through the canal is now expected.

Speaking at the same event, Panama police chief Omar Pinzon said the police were ready for the new challenges this increase presents.

"Panama is an enormous platform for global trade and, for this reason, it cannot be ruled out that the ships that pass through the canal will be used by criminal bands, but we are prepared for whatever is coming," Pinzon said....

How did Germany lose it's edge? What does that mean about Interpol?

22 July 2016

By Andy Eckardt, Elizabeth Chuck and Emmanuella Saliba

A shooting at a popular shopping center (click here) Friday evening in Munich, Germany, killed or injured several people and brought the city to a standstill as police hunted for three attackers with long guns.

"At the moment, we don't know where the perpetrators are. Take care and avoid public places," Munich police tweeted.

Police confirmed to NBC News that they were searching across the city for three suspects. They said there were casualties, but didn't give an exact number.

According to a police spokesperson, the shooting started at a McDonald's attached to the Olympia Einkaufszentrum shopping center before the shooters made their way into the mall. The spokesperson said it wasn't clear whether the suspects were still in or near the mall or if they had gone elsewhere.

It is good Interpol is closing down the drain on economic conditions, but, I would think they would also focus on the new immigrant young men from Syria. The deaths in Europe threaten the entire economic structure. 

July 18, 2016

By Pa Sport

More than 4,100 people (click here) were arrested in coordinated raids across 11 different countries during Euro 2016 in one of the largest global police operations against illegal gambling in Asia.

Nearly 4,000 raids were carried out in China, France, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam on illegal gambling dens as part of Operation SOGA VI -- the sixth investigation into football gambling by Interpol, the organisation which facilitates cross-border police work....

The killers are suppose to be reverent to god. They aren't going to run an illegal gambling operation. Unless of course Interpol has different intelligence.

Burn them down and put the drones to real use. Save a police dog.

March 18, 2016
Mexico City -- The governor of one of Mexico's (click here) most violent states is making waves by proposing that impoverished farmers be allowed to grow opium poppies for legal medical use.

Do Mexican Mayors realize their cities are violent because of the drug cartels and their plantations?

Guerrero state is among Mexico's poorest, and many remote mountain communities already grow small plots of poppies, which are bought by drug cartels that have fought violent turf battles throughout the Pacific coast state.
It has become the biggest opium-producing state in Mexico, supplying about half the heroin used in the United States.
Guerrero Gov. Hector Astudillo suggested this week that farmers be allowed to produce opium for legal medical use.
Astudillo, a member of President Enrique Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, later said his comments were more thinking-out-loud than a concrete proposal.
But they illustrate the government's difficulty in weaning small farmers away from what is often their only alternative to migration. Local farmers often raise corn on their dry mountain plots, but don't grow enough to even meet their own needs. Many keep an acre or so of irrigated poppies to provide an income....

"The Evangelical Voice."

This is the second go round for the Evangelical Party. Bowed heads and halos, too.

This dark voice is the same voice of George W. Bush and Cheney.

Do the Evangelicals know how to spell the word PEACE. I don't think so. One has to master the spelling before mastering the application of it.

We don't need any more hate or oil in the USA.

I completely reject the tone. We don't need it back again. I thought Donald Trump had is own brand. 

That definitely is not my voice. Definitely not.

Levittown is a really nice town. The Middle Class rules.

July 21, 2016

By Erick Trickey

The nation’s most competitive congressional race (click here) is playing out in a placid slice of the Philadelphia suburbs.

Pennsylvania’s 8th District has swung from red to blue to red in the past 10 years. Now, the popular Republican incumbent is retiring and with a turbulent presidential race casting confusion over this battleground state, Democrats are salivating at the chance to flip a seat that could even help them retake control of the House.

Whether they succeed might well come down to what Levittown thinks of Donald Trump.

Levittown is the working-class heart of Bucks County, northeast of Philadelphia. Built in an assembly-line frenzy in the early ‘50s, its master-planned streets lined with Jubilee-model Cape Cods and Levittowner-model ranches became synonymous with American suburbia. The houses might look cookie-cutter, but its residents don’t vote alike.

Diane Dembinski, a grandmother of 16, lives on Levittown’s Harmony Road, a swing neighborhood in the swing district. Terrorists are her biggest concern this election year, but Trump is a close second. “Just the fact that he’s running is an embarrassment to me, and for our country,” she said recently....

Levittown, Pennsylvania History:

In 1951, (click here) Levitt and Sons promoted their new development outside Philadelphia as "the most perfectly planned community in America." Shortly afterwards, America's leading urban critic, Lewis Mumford, quipped that "Mechanically it is admirably done. Socially the design is backward."

The second of three "Levittowns," Pennsylvania's Levittown was a massive project for a single builder. Using mass-production techniques, the Levitts pioneered the creation of affordable housing for thousands of families.

Intrigued by their huge residential developments, journalists, novelists, sociologists, and planners exaggerated both their novelty and normality, using the term "Levittown" to invoke the best and worst of suburban living. Their mass-produced housing came to symbolize both the conformity of American post-war consumer society and its promise of upward mobility and home ownership. Indeed, after World War II, pent-up demand, returning veterans, and favorable government loan guarantees fueled a booming market for affordable, single-family housing and spurred an unprecedented surge of suburban development across the nation....

The Korean War started in 1951 and ended a few years later. The GI BILL would provide for low cost loans to our veterans. Levittown was one of the towns that provided more than a home to the GIs, but, a place where Middle Class values were shared and became a way of life.

The Middle Class. Heroes to the economy of the United States of America.

Border Patrol and police working together.

July 22, 2016
By David J. Neal

A boat with 17 to 20 migrants (click here) that reached Fisher Island on a “go-fast” vessel on Friday morning, and the U.S. Border Patrol said it might be part of a smuggling operation.

U.S. Border Patrol confirmed that there is currently a multi-agency investigation.

A report from Fisher Island Security via Miami Police Department at 7:30 a.m. gave the Border Patrol a heads up about a possible smuggling action happening on Fisher Island. The vessel wasn’t any kind of raft, however.

“Initial reports indicate that there are between 17-20 migrants of unknown nationality and a “go-fast” type vessel hard aground,” U.S. Border Patrol Division Chief Todd Bryant said.

This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

Nice work. It is far better work than chasing a man with Lucys on a street corner. Thank you.

I find it interesting, given the Florida Governor's history with crime, it wasn't the SBI that broke up the BILLION dollar crimes.

Given his criminal history in Medicare fraud, Governor Scott should have been at the forefront of any and all fraud.

July 22, 2016
By Jay Weaver

In a region notorious for Medicare fraud, (click here) this one is for the record books: a massive scam to steal $1 billion from the taxpayer-funded program was shattered on Friday when federal agents arrested the South Florida ringleader and his partners.

Federal prosecutors said it was the biggest Medicare fraud scheme in the nation’s history, costing the U.S. government program for the elderly and disabled hundreds of millions of dollars in fraudulent payments.

Although humongous, the scheme was all too familiar in the country’s capital of healthcare corruption. The lead defendant organized a network of skilled nursing homes and assisted-living facilities while billing Medicare for $1 billion in home healthcare services such as physical therapy that were not medically necessary. Recruiters were paid kickbacks for supplying supposedly home-bound Medicare patients, authorities said.

To put this Medicare scheme in context, the healthcare network’s billing activity equaled the amount of money that convicted Fort Lauderdale Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein churned while he ripped off wealthy investors from Florida to New York.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article91231277.html#storylink=cpy

Police Unions are overseeing the worst police work in the USA.

To the Union:

This is some of the worst police work I have ever seen next to that of Michael Brown, Jr.

I hope the police union called for blood donations from it's members Charles Kinsey.

The police WERE NOT WILLING TO LISTEN to Charles Kinsey. There was no reason for ANY use of a police officer's gun.

It is amazing to realize Charles Kinsey wasn't even the target and then bled out for 20 minutes. Charles Kinsey could have died from his loss of blood.

Even after shooting the wrong man there was no fear of the autistic patient. The officer is lying.

Rauner states half of Chicago teachers are illiterate. He said half of the principles are incompetent. ONLY HALF THOUGH.

The Illinois Republican Governor of Illinois should take a lesson from Brownback's Kansas.

Chicago — The nonprofit organization run (click here) by the Democratic wife of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has sued the first-term Republican amid the state’s unprecedented budget impasse.

The awkward situation has raised eyebrows and drawn a few jabs about Diana Rauner’s twin roles as first lady to the state’s first GOP governor in over a decade and as a longtime social services advocate in the Democratic state.

Diana Rauner has been president of the Chicago-based Ounce of Prevention Fund since 2011. The group offers early childhood programs and is partially state-funded.

Her organization recently joined a lawsuit against Gov. Rauner and state agencies brought by social agencies working without payment for nearly a year because of the budget gridlock.

A hearing in the court case is scheduled for July 2016.          

India needs a modern Air Force ! Really? And India is an ally in a very sensitive area of the world. Reallly?

Indian pilots need to come to the USA and trained on REAL military aircraft. I have no problem with propeller aircraft, but, this is the backbone of the Indian military! That is shameful.

July 22, 2016

The Antonov AN-32 aircraft (click here) took off at 8.30 am from Tambaram in Chennai and the last contact made was 16 minutes later, according to defence sources.
The aircraft can reportedly fly for up to four hours without refuelling.
A massive search operation has been launched by the IAF, Navy and the Coast Guard, sources said.

India is in a sensitive part of the world and providing jets may increase the focus on India by China and Russia, but, the AN-32 is too old. India needs to decide where their Air Force is going, but, this is a complete embarrassment to the USA.

I hope current satellite data and intelligence is being shared with India to locate their missing old and rickety military propeller plane.

So, what is the AN-32 plane?

According to Bharat Rakshak, the consortium of Indian military websites, the AN-32 forms the backbone of the IAF's medium lift capabilities. It writes, "the AN-32s were hit hard by the chaos in the ex-USSR, as spares became harder to obtain." To compensate, the IAF fitted several AN-32s with AN-12 power plants (after these were retired) and put a number of airframes (an aircraft's mechanical structure that includes fuselage, wings and undercarriage) into storage. It should also be noted that the AN-32s will need replacements by the end of the decade as spares are reportedly hard to come by and the life of the airframes are short.

The Indian Air Force website describes the aircraft as a "twin-engine turboprop, medium tactical transport aircraft of Russian origin with a crew of five and capacity to carry 39 paratroopers or max load of 6.7 tonnes". The website notes that the aircraft has a maximum cruise speed of 530 km/hr....

America's prosperity depends on the strength of it's people and local economies.

Any leader needs to realize the local, small business economies recovered from the 2008 economic collapse far faster after losing less from that same Great Recession. Presidents need to understand where the USA's strengths are and it is DOCUMENTED, the American people can recover their own economy. It is high time DC realize it and build on it rather than selling legislative power to Wall Street. No more stupidity. End of discussion.

It was an interesting convention. The speech by Donald Trump is no different than anything he has said before. It is a populous message and I questions his facts in many instances.

The issue is Congress. He is not automatically going to receive help with his agenda by Congress. Has he received support from the US House and Senate? 

I am fairly sure when he cuts spending and cuts taxes the USA will experience a recession. He might want to consult with someone about that. Brownback's Kansas did exactly that.

June 17, 2016
By Jim Tankersley and Max Ehrenfround
In 2012, (click here) voters in California approved a measure to raise taxes on millionaires, bringing their top state income tax rate to 13.3 percent, the highest in the nation. Conservative economists predicted calamity, or at least a big slowdown in growth. Also that year, the governor of Kansas signed a series of changes to the state's tax code, including reducing income and sales tax rates. Conservative economists predicted a boom.
Neither of those predictions came true. Not right away -- California grew just fine in the year the tax hikes took effect -- and especially not in the medium term, as new economic data showed this week.
Now, correlation does not, as they say, equal causation, and two examples are but a small sample. But the divergent experiences of California and Kansas run counter to a popular view, particularly among conservative economists, that tax cuts tend to supercharge growth and tax increases chill it.
California's economy grew by 4.1 percent in 2015, according to new numbersfrom the Bureau of Economic Analysis, tying it with Oregon for the fastest state growth of the year. That was up from 3.1 percent growth for the Golden State in 2014, which was near the top of the national pack.
The Kansas economy, on the other hand, grew 0.2 percent in 2015. That's down from 1.2 percent in 2014, and below neighboring states such as Nebraska (2.1 percent) and Missouri (1.2 percent). Kansas ended the year with two consecutive quarters of negative growth -- a shrinking economy. By a common definition of the term, the state entered 2016 in recession....

The verdict is in on "Trickle Down Economics." It doesn't work. 

Nice event and the family was great, but, the policies ?????? not so much.

Good night

We need to push alternative energy sources at a quicker pace.

The energy of the USA comes from many sources, but, the distribution of those sources are changing. We need to change at a faster rate.

When viewing this net generation chart of trends, the demand is consistent, but, from 2000 to 2016, carbon based fuels are reducing with the exception of natural gas while the alternative energy generation is increasing.

Ted Cruz does not want Donald Trump to win the presidency. It has nothing to do with any reason except because it could mean tying up the office for eight years. Eight years of Donald Trump will eliminate the Republican establishment and the Ted Cruz brand.