Thousands of children in Flint are set to receive additional money for nutritional foods that can limit the effects of lead exposure.

May 15, 2017

Flint, Mich. (AP) — Thousands of children in Flint (click here) are set to receive additional money for nutritional foods that can limit the effects of lead exposure, though families who recently left the Michigan city because of the lead-tainted water crisis won't be eligible.

About $7 million in aid is going to about 15,000 children who qualify for food assistance, meaning qualifying families will receive a one-time payment of $420 per child to be used throughout the year. The funding is in addition to the $30 per child families got in March, the Detroit Free Press (http://on.freep.com/2r93CWh ) reported.

The city switched to untreated Flint River water as its drinking-water source in a money-saving effort in 2014, while under state management. But the move resulted in lead being leached from pipes into the water supply. Flint returned to Detroit's water system in 2015.

To qualify for the new food assistance, residents must have lived in a ZIP code identified as being served by the city's water system on Feb. 28, and still live in an eligible ZIP code as of April 1. Families who left the city because of the water to escape the lead won't be eligible, regardless of whether their children suffer health effects....

That is outrageous. Flint is a closed community? No one can move out and no one can come in? That is bizarre. I am confident the children who have left Flint that are effected can be found and provided for in a meaningful way. I think Michigan needs to continue to administer the funds, but, there is no reason why the monies cannot follow the child. 

Lawsuit!

So what is so special about food and lead. 

...How Long Does Lead Stay in the Body? (click here)

Lead stays in the body for different periods of time, depending on where it is.  Half of the lead in the blood will be excreted in 25 days (this is called the "half-life").  In soft tissues, it takes 40 days for half of the lead to be excreted.  In bones and teeth it takes much longer, up to 10 years or longer.

Since lead is stored in the body, a person can get poisoned from exposure to just small amounts of lead over a long period of time (chronic exposure).  You do not need to get exposed to just large doses of lead to be poisoned (acute exposure).  It can take months or years for the body to get rid of lead.  A person will continue to be exposed to lead internally even after the actual exposure to lead stops....

Basically, increasing the body's ability to build a healthy body through good nutrition, will increase the chances of healthy tissue over a more unhealthy chance.

Lead replaced iron in the children drinking the leaded water. There is permanent damage because lead can effect hemoglobin and deprive body tissue of oxygen. There are places in the body where lead has permanently become a part of the cell structure.

A Role for Iron in Building Strong Bones? (click here) 

Information provided by the American Dietetic Association: Your Link to Nutrition & Health

When you think of ways to build strong and healthy bones, most people immediately mention calcium. However, new research indicates that iron might also make a difference in your bone health.

A recent study at the University of Arizona and University of Arkansas found that postmenopausal women who consumed at least 18 milligrams of iron a day had the greatest bone mineral density levels.

The role of iron in bone density may be linked to its role in the production of collagen, a key component of our bones. Good sources of dietary iron include beef, poultry, fish and beans.

Researchers also found that iron's benefits may be tied to calcium consumption in the range of 800 to 1,200 milligrams per day. It appears that a balanced intake of iron and calcium has the best benefit in terms of bone health.

Iron and calcium are among other important nutrients for healthy bones so be sure to include a variety of foods from the Food Guide Pyramid every day.

There are some permanently damaged tissues with the children from Flint. By increasing the good nutrition the body has it's best chance to build a body that can achieve optimal wellness for the challenge these children face.

Why take chances that will complicate their ability to be well? 

ALL the children from Flint, regardless of where they and their parents reside now, should be receiving this nutritional subsidy. Honestly! All these children should be followed through their pediatricians and parents as much as is possible.

Follow the 2015 Dietary Guidelines (click here) to include a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, protein foods and dairy products. When there is healthy food in the body, it is more difficult for lead to be absorbed. Make sure your diet is rich in important nutrients such as calcium, iron and vitamin C....

These children will become adults. Handicapped individuals have a different quality of life which means increased costs for health care and wellness. What are going to be their outcomes as adults? Will they do well and carry on a normal life or will they be effected and find life such a challenge they can never achieve a normal quality of life? It is the obligation of the State ,Governor Snyder and all other contributing government and private organizations to be sure these youngsters have the chance they need.

It is laughable. The USA now joins Nicaragua and Syria.

It is easy to be a blithering idiot as a politician, it is quite different to convince a nation of people to take themselves seriously. If a USA president is willing to sell the country to Russia for his own fortune, does anyone actually believe he values an intangible and valueless climate?

The climate crisis doesn't speak Trump's language, there is no profit angle to it.

Larsen C ice shelf has the greatest mass of all the ice shelves within the Larsen system.

The Larsen C ice shelf is not only the largest in ice mass, but, has the greatest exposure to the warming circumpolar circulation.

The crack that will release the largest block of ice shelf to date has cracked something like 11 miles in six days.

This is the climate crisis. It is real and it is happening. While an ice shelf in Antarctica seems a distant place and of little consequence to the USA, it will increase sea level rise and add to the deteriorating thermostat that are the North and South Pole.

It is not surprising this segment of the Larsen ice shelves should be the next one to melt away, the waters of the south Pacific are passing along their warmth to the Antarctica circumpolar circulation.

There has been a growing impingement of heat into the Antarctica circumpolar waters for the past 19 years.

Maybe these are the USA's new allies; Nicaragua and Syria. No citizens that values their dignity wants to live in a country that is a joke.

No different than other creative people, inventors do best in a culture that appreciates them.

May 31, 2017
By Adam Brinklow

The Oaks Theatre (click here) at 1875 Solano Avenue in Berkeley opened in 1925, built in “Moorish style” by the Reid brothers, the pair behind Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater and San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel.

Since then it’s been remodeled, renovated, and redesigned over the decades, gaining an Art Deco overhaul in the 1930s, an additional screen in the 1970s, antique chandeliers and doors salvaged from other old theaters in the 1990s, and then, sadly, multiple closures this century.

New investors swooped down in 2010 with a plan to revive the Oaks’s business with a combination of American and Indian cinema. That plan, however, fizzled out by year’s end....

The Oaks needs to be revitalized. It is incredible and needs a sponsor. The charm of an era cannot be replaced, it has to be preserved.

June 1, 2017

Donald Trump is expected to ignore billionaire businessman Elon Musk's advice to stick with the Paris Accord on climate change.

Musk - who serves on three White House economic advisory councils - says he will dump Trump if the President withdraws US support on the major climate change agreement.

"Don't know which way Paris will go, but I've done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain," Musk said on Twitter.

He added he would have "no choice" but to depart Trump's advisory councils if the US pulled out of the climate deal.

Influencing policy doesn't matter if it isn't applied in practice. In realizing Elon Musk is ignored, Trump's councils are probably an opportunity to picks the brains of geniuses rather than improve USA jobs and economics.

June 1, 2017
By Danielle Muoio

...Musk is on two of Trump's councils: (click here) an economic advisory board and the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative....

Trump's style is to retaliate, so Elon and his enterprises should be ready with attorneys. If that is the course of this administration, I would expect Mr. Musk to take his business to Canada or some other western country willing to entertain that talent, like New Zealand where their space program is in it's earliest stages.

It would not surprise me if talented people, like Elon Musk depart from the USA to seek peace from Trump's harassing behavior should he take that path. An individual leaving a country is far different than threats to a company with excise taxes, etc.

The USA should pay attention to it's inventors and experts. The country needs them. They should be respected for their points of view. They are some of the most talented people in this country and their opinions matter. Trump doesn't like them because their stereotyped as "Liberal" and who wants them within US borders anyway.

Drug gangs in Mexico cause a great deal of problems other than sending illegal drugs to the USA.

The thefts, while cleaver, were really facilitated by the lack of substantial governance in Mexico. This is a decades old problem. Nearly any type of motor vehicle, including 18 wheel semi-truck and trailers, can be sold in Mexico without a title. The Mexican government has never been able to stop the practice because of the interruption of drug gang activity.

June 2, 2017
By Hamza Shaban

In a cross-border auto heist (click here) that resembles a scrapped plot from the "Fast and the Furious" franchise, nine members of a Tijuana-based biker club have been charged with stealing 150 Jeep Wranglers using stolen computer code and key designs, the Justice Department announced earlier this week.

Known as the Hooligans, the biker gang allegedly stole the Jeeps in the San Diego area over the past several years, selling the vehicles or stripping them for parts, across the border in Mexico, US Attorney Mark Conover said during a news conference recorded by the San Diego Union-Tribune. The value of the stolen Jeeps was US$4.5 million (NZ$6.4m).

According to the indictment, the Hooligans staked out vehicles days before the thefts to obtain their vehicle identification numbers. With these numbers in hand, the suspects were able to get details to create duplicate car keys as well as the codes needed to program the keys, linking them to the Jeep Wranglers.

The key designs and codes were stored in a proprietary database. But law enforcement officials don't know how the Hooligans were able to access it.

In the course of the investigation, authorities said they learned that nearly 20 requests for duplicate keys were made by a single Jeep dealership, in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico....

Cannabidiol finds legitimacy in New Zealand.

July 2, 2017

Among the wide range (click here) of therapeutic uses CBD’s have been shown to be an effective anti-inflammatory, shown to support the reduction of pain and easing the symptoms of stress and anxiety.

Doctors (click here) will be able to prescribe a form of medical marijuana without needing Government approval, Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne announced today.

Dunne said that restrictions around cannabidiol, or CBD, would be removed, bringing New Zealand into line with other countries including Australia.

CBD, which is extracted from cannabis, has little or no psychoactive properties and can be used for pain relief.

Until now, it has been classed as a controlled drug, meaning the Ministry of Health needed to approve its use.

"I have taken advice from the Expert Advisory Committee on Drugs (EACD) that CBD should not be a controlled drug and am pleased Cabinet has now accepted my recommendation to make this change," Dunne said.

"Therefore, I am now taking steps to remove restrictions accordingly.

"In practical terms, the changes mean CBD would be able to be prescribed by a doctor to their patient and supplied in a manner similar to any other prescription medicine."...

America's Race (click here)		WINS	LOSSES	LVACWS*	TOTAL
	ORACLE TEAM USA	6	1	1	7
	Emirates Team New Zealand	6	1	0	6
	Land Rover BAR	3	5	2	5
	SoftBank Team Japan	3	4	0	3
	Artemis Racing	2	5	0	2
	Groupama Team France	2	6	0	2

June 2, 2017

Nigel Farage (click here) spotted leaving a meeting with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (not pictured)

London: Britain's Nigel Farage, (click here) a leading Brexit campaigner, has branded as "hysterical" a new report stating he is a "person of interest" in the US investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Donald Trump's presidential campaign.

The Guardian newspaper said on Thursday that Farage had not been accused of wrongdoing and was not a suspect or target of the US investigation. 

But it said the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) had "raised the interest" of FBI investigators because of his relationships with individuals connected to both the Trump campaign and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The report stated being a person of interest meant "investigators believe he may have information about the acts that are under investigation and he may therefore be subject to their scrutiny."

Mr Farage met Mr Assange in March this year at the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he has been holed up for five years....

There are some rumors of Trump engaging in an orgy with Russian prostitutes playing pin the tail on the donkey. ?????

It is not going to work, Vladimir.

June 1, 2017
By Ian Phillips and Vladimir Isachenkov

St. Petersburgh, Russia — President Vladimir Putin (click here) acknowledged that some “patriotic” individuals may have engaged in hacking but insisted Russia as a country has never done it, and he pledged Thursday to wait out U.S. political battles to forge constructive ties with President Donald Trump.

The Russian leader lamented what he described as “Russo-phobic hysteria” in the U.S. that makes it “somewhat inconvenient to work with one another or even to talk,” adding that “someday this will have to stop.”...

Russia has a policy that protects so called patriotic individuals. That policy encourages patriotic Russians to carry out crimes they should be held for trial in The West. Russia is implicated in all these issues and it is just that simple, because, of the no deportation policy in Russia. Please tell me Putin isn't as dense as Trump, is he?

Russia, within it's own borders, has never honored the sovereign state of the USA embassy. So where do you want to start?

Comey a drama-averse guy? When?

Comey was fired by Trump as a condition by Russia when they visited the White House. The Comey firing threw the FBI and the CIA for that matter a curve ball and they were off balance when Russia came to the Oval Office. 

Comey is facing the people because he threw the election. Just that simple. It is a fact and there is evidence to prove it and the California popular vote has nothing to do with it.

It wasn't just Clinton, it was down ballot, too. It caused the grossly imbalanced power in DC right now.

June 1, 2017
By Amber Phillips

James Comey (click here) just can't seem to stop haunting President Trump. Trump fired Comey as FBI director a few weeks ago, drawing criticism from Democrats and Republicans because the FBI is waist-deep into an investigation into Russia meddling in the U.S. election and whether Trump's campaign helped.

Then we learned Comey took “detailed” notes that outline potentially legally murky questions the president asked him about the FBI probe. And now, Comey is expected to testify before a Senate committee — as early as next week — about much of this.

Comey is known as a drama-averse guy, and this is as dramatic as it gets. Comey is likely very aware this sets him up for a major showdown with the president. So what's in it for him?

We tried our best to get inside Comey's head and run down the pros and cons of sharing what he knows with Congress....        

President Donald Trump backed President Rodrigo Duterte and discussed the positions of USA navy vessels that are nuclear capable.

2 April 2017
By Kate Lamb

Now in a safe house, (click here) a former police officer fears for his life after allegedly exposing Rodrigo Duterte’s role in extrajudicial killings when mayor of Davao

...Arturo Lascanas, a retired police officer, made the accusations of Duterte’s campaign of extrajudicial killings under oath to the country’s senate last month, and he repeats them to the Observer with an air of uneasy calm, with the resolve of a man who has carried these secrets for decades. “We were the first hit squad during his reign,” claims Lascanas, from the safe house in Manila where he is hiding from his own president....

President Duterte have killed thousands of people and looked the other way to the deaths of thousands more. Donald Trump has no control over his mouth and information entrusted to him. No USA President should be backing such a brutal regime. The people have a way of letting the world know what they are thinking and feeling.

A USA President with honor and dignity would be backing the police officer that fears for his life to bring Duterte to justice. But, President Mighty Mouth loves the strong man fallacy. So, he is now affiliated with one of the worst killers in the Philippines.

June 1, 2017

By Holly Yan

The popular Philippine tourist site (click here) Resorts World Manila was on lockdown after reports of gunfire and explosions at the sprawling complex.

Hundreds of guests and employees rushed out of one of the hotels after a masked gunman on the second floor began firing at guests, hotel employees fleeing the scene told CNN Philippines.

Heavily-armed SWAT officers wearing bulletproof vests and body armor descended on the scene, Camille Abadicio of CNN Philippines said. Video showed smoke coming from the upper floors of buildings.

Around 4 a.m. Friday, Resorts Chief Operating Officer Stephen Reilly told reporters police were looking inside the buildings for one suspect. He gave no other details....

Trump invited Duterte to the White House on May 1, 2017. (click here)

On 22 May 2017, Duterte took a five day trip to Russia after declaring marshall law in southern Philippines. Ah, poor Donald, he was shunned by the Philippine President and is not his favorite hero.


By Shaun Walker

The Philippine president, (click here) Rodrigo Duterte, is to cut short a trip to Moscow having declared martial law in the south of his country.

Duterte was at the beginning of a five-day trip to Russia and was due to meet his “favourite hero”, President Vladimir Putin, on Thursday. The visit was part of an attempt to reorient his country’s geopolitical alliance further away from the US and towards Moscow.

But after he declared martial law on Tuesday evening following a shootout between government troops and militants in the southern city of Marawi, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said Duterte was needed at home.

The meeting with Putin has reportedly been brought forward to Tuesday evening, to allow for his urgent return to Manila....

The truth hurts.

"What is the long term effect of too much information? One of the effects is the need to be first, not even to be true anymore"

Trump is a populist president.

When it comes to making decisions about complicated issues, he is not capable. The Paris Agreement will go forward and the states will take it up if they haven't already.

As an example of his populous extremism, look where we are with North Korea. The USA is test firing interceptor missiles. We are back to the 1950s and "Duck and Cover." 

The interceptors work great for Israel. Reality check. Israel is not intercepting multiple warhead nuclear ICBMs.

Like I said, Trump is not capable of making complicated decisions. We are better off asking Dennis Rodman to ask Kim to end his nuclear weapons for a Trump empire of casinos that will feed, cloth and shelter North Koreans forever. I mean every word of that.

Evidently Michael Flynn was having conversations with Russia regarding its real estate on Long Island while a consultant to Trump. More incentive for Russia to bolster Trump. Quid Pro Quo. Trump is elected Russia gets its real estate back without diplomatic designations. Heck, that would mean such a large estate on Long Island, New York would be worth a great deal of money. It would make a nice resort for development to important Americans. 

The Trump Organization might be very interested in running it considering China is already in Trump  Tower nearby. All that is left are the contracts with EB5 Chinese billionaires.

Well, if all this is only about real estate development that might even serve the local economy why should Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan worry about it? 

That would be just like Trump providing a magnanimous role model in Mara-la-go, huh? And imagine the perks of being involved with Trump after his presidency; the inside US government information they can all share. Wow that would be great with martinis on Long Island and only a helicopter hop from the tower.

Why is it when President Obama shut the Russian estate down it seemed more in the interest of national security? Go figure. 

Tropical depression TWO_E in the east Pacific is attached to a reverse circulation system over the Gulf of Mexico. It bears watching.

"Norman"

The film, "Norman" stars Richard Gere and is funded through Israeli interests. Go see it. It is enjoyable with a fair amount of humor. It is about the choices that are before a person and the unmeasured morality that accompanies them. It is worth the cost of the ticket. 

May 31, 2017
By Elizabeth Warren

Betsy DeVos recently completed her 100th day as Secretary of Education, and the resistance to her agenda has spread across this country like wildfire.

Last week, Secretary DeVos and President Trump's Department of Education released a budget that would upend the student aid program and make it much harder for students to afford college and repay their student loans. At the same time, the head of the federal student aid office abruptly resigned amid reports of political meddling by DeVos.

With the educational and financial futures of millions of people hanging in the balance, here's a place to start scrutinizing Secretary DeVos.

Early in the Obama administration, Congress gave full ownership of the federal student loan portfolio to the Department of Education, removing middlemen from the program and cutting out the profits that private banks skimmed off the system. This was a brave move that required standing up to some very powerful banks and private businesses that wanted to keep on skimming....

DeVos did not submit an ethnics document to the US Senate confirmation committee before her public questioning.

January 20, 2017
by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel

The Senate Committee (click here) on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has postponed the vote on Trump’s education pick Betsy DeVos, hours after receiving the completed ethics review for the Michigan billionaire.

The committee vote, originally scheduled to take place Tuesday has been rescheduled for Jan. 31 at 10 a.m., according to a statement from the HELP committee chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.). The announcement arrived after the Office of Government Ethics, an agency that examines nominees’ financial disclosures and resolves potential conflicts of interest, released its long-awaited report Friday. Alexander said he wants to give each Senator on the committee time to review the documents.

Ethics Director Walter M. Shaub Jr. had said a full vetting of extremely wealthy individuals, such as DeVos, could take weeks, if not months, much to the chagrin of Senate Democrats who wanted to review it before DeVos’s confirmation hearing, which took place Tuesday evening....

Are the ethics documents STILL being reviewed from Trump's billionaires?

Governor Brownback's economy failed and now Republicans are afraid to admit it.

Speaker Pelosi should be making example of the Kansas EXPERIMENT that has brought the state to the brink of disaster with nearly a half a trillion per year deficit.

Brownback and the Kansas Republicans have been buying votes. That is what this amounts to. He stayed in office at the expense of the budget and now it has to be paid back and the Kansas Republicans don't want to admit they have been deceiving the people about the truth of the issues facing the state.

May 20, 2017
By Jonathan Shorman

...House Majority Leader Don Hineman, R-Dighton, (click here) would not comment after the failed vote....

...In the Senate, Democrats joined with moderate Republicans and some members of Senate Republican leadership to move the bill across the line, but the vote total was short of the 27 votes that would have been needed to override a veto by Brownback.

"We need to get Kansas back on a somewhat structurally balanced budget," said Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, R-Overland Park.

Denning said the bill could make the state budget "semi-stable."

"At the end of the day, we’ve got to start some place. It’s the 102nd day of the session, people (are) wondering what the heck is going on," said Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City.

The bill the Senate passed Tuesday would have raised more than $1.2 billion over the next two fiscal years by ending Brownback’s tax exemption for roughly 330,000 business owners and boosting income tax rates.

It would have restored a third income tax bracket eliminated in Brownback’s 2012 tax cuts.

Tax rates would have begun to increase this year. The rates would have been phased in, rising first to 2.9 percent, 4.9 percent and 5.2 percent.

By tax year 2018, the tax rates would have risen to and remained at 3.1 percent for the lowest bracket, 5.25 percent for the middle rate and 5.7 for the highest rate.

The Sales Tax and Revenue Bond Financing Act, referred to as STAR bonds, would also have been extended under the proposal.

Kansas faces a budget shortfall of roughly $900 million over two years. That does not include any additional education spending that lawmakers may approve as part of a new school funding formula....              

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious