$600 million victims fund.

Damages to a human body, a child, an unborn fetus and the deaths of the elderly are hard to put in dollars. $600 million is a good settlement. I guess it's up to the Flint residents to decide if that is proportionate to their losses. I don't know why the details are public either.

I think other criminal investigations and legal proceedings, including that of individuals are still ongoing.

August 21, 2020

The residents of Flint, Michigan (click here) will reportedly receive $600 million to compensate for lead-tainted drinking water, which began back in April of 2014.

The details are not public but, according to the Associated Press, after 18 months of negotiations with the offices of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and the residents of Flint, a $600 million settlement was reached.

A spokesperson for Attorney General Nessel said in a statement, “We and the other parties are bound by a federal court order to maintain the confidentiality of detailed settlement and mediation communications until we reach a certain point. We have not yet reached the point where we can discuss a potential settlement.”...

Republicans need to knock it off. Being in Trump's back pocket is NOT the place to stake a claim to office.

This is pathetic. Even McConnell knows better than to speak at the Republican National Convention and Portman is defending a Post Master General that is doing his level best to sabotage the 2020 election.

Here are some of the basics, Americans need drop boxes to mail their letters, bill payments, and yes, their votes. They need RELIABLE mail service and DeJoy is providing is hugely problematic serve for all the people.

DeJoy BROKE IT AND NOW HE BETTER FIX IT BEFORE THE BALLOTING THAT BEGINS IN OCTOBER.

After Americans post their mail in the drop boxes, mailpersons on foot or by postal truck pick up the mail and place it into the system so the SORTING MACHINES can direct it based on the address. 

Anyone realize how remarkable those sorting machines are and how they have evolved over time. The genius of the Post Service over the decades have kept up with modern demands, not only that by the commercial services CANNOT match the efficiency of the USA Postal Service sorting machines. The sorting machines read handwriting, no commercial operation does. Not one. A customer has to fill out forms to mail through them and then machine created labels are attached to the package to be mailed with a bar code. No American has a bar code on their handwritten envelopes.

Over decades of time THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTIONALLY CREATED POST SERVICE NEVER AND I DO MEAN NEVER HAS ASKED AMERICANS TO CHANGE THEIR HANDWRITING. INSTEAD, THE POST SERVICE LOVED THE AMERICANS HANDWRITING THEY LEARNED IN SCHOOL AND FOUND MODIFICATIONS AND NEW INVENTION TO READ THE VERY PRECIOUS AMERICAN HANDWRITING.

THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

The US Postal Service and it's employees are magnificent and dare I say PERFECT!

DeJoy and now it looks like Rob Portman just can't wait to sabotage a perfect mail service and a presidential election. Trump, DeJoy, and evidently Portman are horrible human beings that think they can circumvent the USA Constitution and doing so an election.

SANTA CLAUS IS GOING TO RECEIVE HIS LETTERS AT THE NORTH POLE OR GOD HELP YOU!

IT IS DISGUSTING!

August 21, 2020

By Sabrina Eaton

...“As we head into the election season, (click here) I want to assure this committee and the American public that the Postal Service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nation’s election mail securely and on time,” DeJoy told the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. “This sacred duty is my number one priority between now and Election Day.”...

This evening has been a banquet.

Every one of the candidates could have been a successful president. It is the time we are in that has brought Joe Biden to the front of our great leaders. Joe is the moderate, fearless, and experienced leader we need now.

No more fast food for the presidency. A tried and true leader that is proven to be strong sustenance. That is why the American people chose Joe Biden. They know him. They know his steadfast faith in morality and justice.

This convention has brought the pride of its members to a pinnacle that needed to be achieved. The Democrats knew exactly what needed to be done and now we have a magnificent team to run for the presidency.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is the perfect team. It is a wise choice.

Every candidate should be reassured the choice made is about a steady hand and a way forward that is recognizable. Joe Biden has what it takes. He was an accumulation of values and expertise that can be counted on. Every one of the candidates could lead this country, but, the vision of what America is about is best served by the leadership of Joe Biden. Be reassured that every person that ran for the office of president is as magnificent American. They should be proud of their involvement knowing each one is the gift of being the best this country has to offer. They should stay involved. Americans love them, but, it was time for Joe Biden and the culmination of value systems that are rock solid and known.

Thank you to all, including those that made this convention possible. It is great. Now. It is time for Joe.

Postal Trucks and Tractor Trailers. How many of the US Postal trucks and semis have been sold?

It seems obvious why the new postal trucks were never ordered. Trump intends to liquidate the US Postal Service. Someone needs to investigate the FLEET and be sure there actually are trucks to move the mail.

September 03, 2019

by Cyndia Zwahlen

The U.S. Postal Service (click here) delayed awarding a multi-billion dollar contract to replace its fleet of aging mail trucks until next year. When the program first launched several years ago, the agency said the decision would be made by now.

The Postal Service also now says it may split assembly of 186,000 next-generation daily mail trucks between several of the four company teams competing for the $6 billion-plus contract....

It is about time!

August 20, 2020
By Paul Waldman

If you thought Stephen K. Bannon (click here) was going to end up in handcuffs, you might have predicted that it wouldn’t be for a small-time con. After all, Bannon went from running a far-right online publication to the heights of U.S. conservatism, first as CEO of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign and then as “chief strategist” in the White House. He even had ambitions to take his political project global

'

But it turns out that the scheme that Bannon has jut been criminally charged with is indeed a species of penny-ante grift. Yet it’s the sort of grift the American right has been running on its own voters for decades, which makes this absolutely fitting:

- Federal prosecutors in New York on Thursday unsealed criminal charges against Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist, and three other men they alleged defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors using an online crowdfunding campaign that was advertised as raising money to build a wall on the U.S. border with Mexico.

- In a news release, prosecutors said Bannon and another organizer of the campaign, Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, claimed they would not take any compensation as part of the campaign, called “We Build The Wall,” but that was a lie. Bannon, prosecutors alleged, received more than $1 million through a nonprofit he controlled, sending hundreds of thousands out to Kolfage while keeping a “substantial portion” for himself.

If you’re keeping score, the group of people around the president who have been charged with crimes now includes Trump’s campaign CEO, Trump’s campaign chairman, Trump’s deputy campaign chairman, Trump’s personal lawyer, Trump’s  national security adviser and Trump’s longtime friend and political adviser....

"She is for us." Personally, I could not be happier. Kamala Harris is a great American.

 

August 19, 2020 when Joe Biden passed the number of nominations needed for the nomination.

 

The legacy this legislation has established in the reputation of the USA, it needs to be permanent law needing no renewal.

April 4, 2019

By Emily S. Rueb and Niraj Chokshi

...The act (click here) has established the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the Office on Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice, and myriad programs to train victim advocates, police officers, prosecutors and judges on gender-based violence. Since it was created, more than $7 billion in federal grants has been given to programs that prevent domestic violence, sexual assault, dating violence and stalking. It has also funded shelters, community programs and studies tracking violence against women....

"The Act" never stopped at the USA borders.

...In July 2010, (click here) the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, to address such challenges....

The "Mayo Clinic" identifies violence against woman an adult health concern.

...Domestic violence (click here) — also called intimate partner violence — occurs between people in an intimate relationship. Domestic violence can take many forms, including emotional, sexual and physical abuse and threats of abuse. Domestic violence can happen in heterosexual or same-sex relationships.

Abusive relationships always involve an imbalance of power and control. An abuser uses intimidating, hurtful words and behaviors to control his or her partner.

It might not be easy to identify domestic violence at first. While some relationships are clearly abusive from the outset, abuse often starts subtly and gets worse over time....

She never stops being that international citizen.

February 25, 2020
By Stephen Schaefer

Berlin - Is Hillary Rodham Clinton (click here) breaking another barrier by being the first-ever former first lady and secretary of state to show up at the Berlin International Film Festival to promote a series?

Clinton is the intimate focus of “Hillary,” Nanette Burstein’s four-hour, four-part documentary profile. The premise, Burstein said, acknowledges that Clinton is a divisive figure and tries to answer the question, Who is the real person?

But Monday’s press conference began with questions not about “Hillary” but the Harvey Weinstein guilty verdicts — the disgraced producer was a major donor to her 2016 Presidential campaign.

“I think the jury verdict speaks for itself,” Clinton said. “It is obviously something people have followed because it was time for an accounting.”...

Her message tonight was spot on. She is still "Hillary" and the Clintons are still "Hill and Bill." They always will be. Their dedication to this country was for a lifetime. We will never know the brilliant policies she would have successfully carried out as President of the USA. The country would have been safe from SARS-CoV-2. I am confident of that.

There is a US Senate report published. She was leveraged against by Russia. That cannot occur again. There is no current legislation to ensure the voting in 2020 is absolutely safe. Reports are always interesting, but, action is more important.

Ten more years. The tipping point is EVIDENCED in the ice fields.

July of any year is the one month when crops, trees, and lawns are exhibiting the most chlorophyll. That means in the Northern Hemisphere there is a maximum amount of CO2 absorption. Got it? No? It means the global CO2 level is at it's lowest.

''

Everyone understands the word evidence?

August 12, 2020

By Mindy Weisberger

Milne Ice Shelf was Canada's last intact ice shelf — and it just collapsed. (click here)

On July 30 and July 31, the northern part of the Arctic ice shelf began to break off. A mass of ice measuring about 31 square miles (81 square kilometers) — bigger than Manhattan — then detached from the ice shelf and began drifting north, representatives of the Water and Ice Research Laboratory (WIRL) at Carleton University in Ontario, Canada, said in a statement....

SCIENTISTS cannot be ignored. The year of the tipping point we will all regret is 2030, not 2050. 2060 is convenient for politics. Al Gore never found politics convenient. He is correct.

New science (findings) sheds more light on recent controversy over how much the large carnivores are being impacted by melting sea ice.

February 1, 2018

By Stephen Leahy

...Because of melting sea ice, (click here for video) it is likely that more polar bears will soon starve, warns a new study that discovered the large carnivores need to eat 60 percent more than anyone had realized. Turns out they are high-energy beasts, burning through 12,325 calories a day—despite sitting around most of the time, according to a unique metabolic analysis of wild bears published sThursday in Science.

“Our study reveals polar bears’ utter dependence on seals,” said lead author Anthony Pagano, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)....

The year 2030 is not about Polar Bears. It is about the planet. Hurricanes are not the highest wind anymore, it is the tornadoes with it.

August 19, 2020

By Kalea Hall

Detroit — General Motors Co. (click here) is dialing up its aggressive electric-vehicle plans at home and abroad — even though it's yet to see the fruits of its multibillion dollar investments in its share price.

During Tech Day in China Wednesday, the equivalent of GM's EV Day hosted in March at the Warren Technical Center Campus in Michigan, the Detroit automaker showed off the technologies it will use to drive into the future, including the new Ultium battery system. It also showed next-generation electric vehicles to be launched in China.

GM plans to spend $20 billion on electric and autonomous vehicle development through 2025, deliver 20 electric vehicles globally by 2023 and sell 1 million of them globally by mid-decade. Meanwhile, analysts are pushing GM to spin off its electric-vehicle and battery business to reap the valuations of such electric start-up companies as Tesla Inc. The Silicon Valley EV maker is valued at $350 billion compared with GM's $42 billion....

The real path forward is not absent of jobs and truth.

A clean energy future is vital.

Gun rights have gone too far.

These two days of violence in the USA shook me to my roots. I do believe in responsible gun ownership, so, I so stand against the radically permissive gun laws. I was secure in that morality. These two days rattled my rock-solid beliefs of what was right and what was wrong. It was a horrible week. I struggled with the idea that responsible gun ownership might not exist in the USA anymore.

5 August 2019

Two mass shootings (click here) within 24 hours, leaving 31 people dead, has once again brought the spotlight on gun ownership in the United States.

An attack on a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas on Saturday left 20 dead, while nine died in a shooting in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday.

But where does America stand on the right to bear arms and gun control?...

Our young adults are moving toward a future that means radical gun ownership is not to be allowed anymore. The NRA was backed by Russian money. They are not the people to carry any message to the people of the USA.

"When we vote things get better."

Republicans for Joe Biden was a real hope that we can be one nation again. Joe is the real deal. He sees America from "the street." He knows us. He can bring the fabric of our flag back to health.

The US Intelligence Committee has finally submitted their findings.

There is much to be said about this report. I think to appreciate the findings it has to be read. But, Former Director Robert Mueller's report should be read to completion first. There was wrongdoing and those in power don't seem to be able to allow justice to stand so much as create a ruse for the political motivation of lies.

August 18, 2020
By Mark Mazzetti

Washington - Republican-controlled Senate panel (click here) that spent three years investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 election laid out an extensive web of contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Kremlin officials and other Russians, including at least one intelligence officer and others tied to the country’s spy services.

The report by the Senate Intelligence Committee, totaling nearly 1,000 pages, drew to a close one of the highest-profile congressional investigations in recent memory and could be the last word from an official government inquiry about the expansive Russian campaign to sabotage the 2016 election.

It provided a bipartisan Senate imprimatur for an extraordinary set of facts: The Russian government disrupted an American election to help Mr. Trump become president, Russian intelligence services viewed members of the Trump campaign as easily manipulated, and some of Mr. Trump’s advisers were eager for the help from an American adversary....

It was a mistake to begin the semester in person.

August 19, 2020
By Hayley Fowler and Simone Jasper

Students at the University of North Carolina started to move out of their dorms Tuesday, August 18, 2020, after the university announced, because of COVID, it would make all classes virtual and asked most students living on campus to return home. 

We’re tracking (click here) the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus in North Carolina. Check back for updates.

REPORTED DEATHS REACH NEW DAILY RECORD

At least 146,779 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus and 2,396 have died, according to state health officials....

Besides the dignity of protecting human life, protecting the nation's brain trust is paramount to protecting the future of the USA. Notre Dame and Michigan State have suspended in-person learning (click here) as the virus proves it is more dangerous than the flu.

The community won for now. One year and counting.

It is an important site and absolutely should be protected from demolition. That permanent protection was not afforded the Mendenhall-Blair homestead last night, but, a year to secure it's future was granted. If the community can negotiate a selling price with the owners, the homestead will stand for generations to represent the significance of land, a home, and the potential it has with the commitment to moral and higher values of citizens.

This is an important homestead and it should be preserved. It was a wonderful meeting to learn the dedication current citizens have to protect the past and its lessons.

August 18, 2020
By Olivia Steen

High Point - It is a home (click here) that has been a staple in High Point for hundreds of years.

Tuesday night, the community fought to keep the Mendenhall-Blair homestead on Skeet Club Road standing.

The Guilford County Preservation Commission held a public meeting to discuss the area.

The homestead is one of the few historical sites left in Guilford County occupied by Quakers back in the 1800s.

The owners of the property submitted an application for demolition last month.

On Tuesday night, the commission voted to halt demolition for 365 days.

This is a magnificent evening. The most incredible character of the DNC is their many, many young faces involved in this countries government. The mature voices of our leaders also remind all of us of the very importance of the USA and the DNC. This party truly carries the responsibility of this country to its people.

We have a presidential nominee, Joe Biden.

Other countries know the current administration is not the real USA. Iran is holding on to protect the Iran Nuclear Agreement.

A staff member (click here) removes the Iranian flag from the stage after a group picture with foreign ministers and representatives of the U.S., Iran, China, Russia, Britain, Germany, France and the European Union during the Iran nuclear talks at the Vienna International Center in Vienna, Austria July 14, 2015.

They are waiting Secretary Kerry. The world is waiting for the USA to return. That speaks to the greatness of the USA and it's magnificent leadership in John Kerry, Colin Powell and John McCain.

August 18, 2020

By Parisa Hefezi and Michelle Nichols

Dubai - The fate of a fragile 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers hinges on the result of the U.S. presidential election in November, not a planned U.S. bid this week to trigger a return of all U.N. sanctions on Tehran, said several Iranian officials....

They are waiting, Colin. They are waiting, John. Unfortunately, John McCain has left us behind, but, he would approve of the longing by the world for the real USA.

August 18, 2020

By Kristen de Groot

The importance of the media (click here) in helping dispel misinformation and the need for international cooperation in battling the coronavirus were topics in the first public conversation between senior health officials in Iran and their counterparts in the United States, an event hosted by Penn’s Middle East Center (MEC).

Panelists at the Aug. 13 virtual event included Iran’s former Health Minister Kamran Bagheri Lankarani, who now directs the Health Policy Research Center at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences; Hamid Soori, who serves on Iran’s National Coronavirus Combat Taskforce; and Mohsen Moghaddami, an infectious disease specialist on the city of Shiraz’s coronavirus committee. They were joined by virologist Susan Weiss, co-director of Penn’s Center for Research on Coronavirus and Other Emergent Pathogens, and Vira Ameli, a doctoral student at Oxford who has been studying Iran’s coronavirus response....

I told you so and no one bothered to realize the danger of youthfulness in contracting the SARS-CoV-2.

The age groups today that do better when percentages are reviewed are not UNTOUCHED by the virus in a profound way. The "age" of the human body determines the IMMEDIATE outcome of many patients, however, as these patients grow older they will be effected in their quality of life and longevity as the virus has done damage that should have never occurred.

AND THE DAMAGE IS RANDOM. THERE IS NO SET PATTERN. SIMILARITIES, BUT, NOT A PRESCRIBED POST COVID OUTCOME.

It is pure foolishness to go down the path that Herd Immunity is the answer. It will profoundly affect the efficacy of the nation. This virus is as much about the country as it is about the individual.

The numbers of Americans contracting this virus is enormous and in order to prevent a high degree of disability in the years to come, they need to be followed and interventions PLANNED to assist in maintaining a good quality of life, otherwise, the more that contract the virus the more likely it will provide a population of disabled people that will demand financial and medical support from the country.

Genetic intervention for disabilities, including heart-lung, need to be investigated. Can destroyed brain tissue be regenerated? Does it provide a platform to relearn a person's life?

It is one thing to regenerate a limb or an ear, it is quite something else to repair hearts and lungs. The future following this virus is a challenge BUT today, avoiding infection at all costs has to be the only reasonable path forward.

I told you so. Every person contracting the SARS-CoV-2 is facing a life of disbility.

Either authorities pay attention to the BEST PATH FORWARD or they need to get out of the way, because, accepting this as merely a "herd immunity" issue is asinine.

August 18, 2020

By Aria Bendix 

The clues (click here) were there all along. In the years following the 2003 SARS outbreak, studies showed many patients hadn't recovered six months to a year after their symptoms started. Some suffered from persistent muscle weakness and impaired lung functions.

A 2011 study of 109 SARS patients in Toronto found that more than half hadn't returned to work a year after they were discharged from the ICU. And 2009 research in Hong Kong found that more than 40% of SARS patients studied there reported chronic fatigue four years after their illness began.

Similarly, many COVID-19 patients have reported that symptoms can last several months. In July, Business Insider spoke to 17 coronavirus patients who had symptoms for more than 100 days. Italian researchers also recently evaluated 179 patients roughly two months after their first COVID-19 symptoms and found that around 44% had a diminished quality of life. Many were still suffering from fatigue, shortness of breath, body aches, and chest pain....

And now authoritarians want to make children face down this virus. 

I DON'T THINK SO!

DO NOT SEND THE STUDENTS TO SCHOOL. 

DO NOT SEND THE STUDENTS TO SCHOOL.

DO NOT SEND THE STUDENTS TO SCHOOL.

Additionally, they can carry the virus home to the entire household and who is going to be able to care for who?

The University of North Carolina system is a magnificent education. But, the folks running it are now canceling on-campus education because there is no controlling the in-person learning environment. If online education is the choice of the school where Michael Jordan earned his education, then it has to be the choice of the country.

Mail-in/Absentee ballots in three cities in Michigan which are Democratic strongholds have been parrallized by the Postmaster General

August 18, 2020
By Jordyn Grzelewski and Craig Mauger

Southfield — Michigan union leaders (click here) within the U.S. Postal Service are sounding alarms about policy changes that one official describes as a "conscious decision to delay mail" as a political showdown brews in Washington, D.C.

The removal of at least eight mail sorting machines in Detroit, Pontiac and Grand Rapids facilities are causing the loss of sorting more than 270,000 pieces of mail per hour, according to union officials from around the state. The planned removal of another three machines in West Michigan would reduce mail sorting capability by another 108,000 pieces of mail per hour, a union official there said.

The warnings come after Louis DeJoy of North Carolina became postmaster general in June and as President Donald Trump has publicly voiced concerns about mail-in voting this fall as he seeks re-election. The U.S. Postal Service lost $6.7 billion in the first half of the year as the service reported continued drops in first class and business mail that weren't offset by an over 50% increase in package deliveries....

None of the losses in income is due to the operations of the US Post Office. These income losses are related to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The US Post Office should have been allowed to apply for funding along with every other large business in the country. Now, it needs a grant and not a loan to maintain it's operations.

August 18, 2020

By Amy Gardner and Erin Cox

At least 20 states (click here) plan to file lawsuits this week against the U.S. Postal Service and its new postmaster, Louis DeJoy, seeking to reverse service changes that have prompted widespread reports of delays and accusations of an intentional effort to thwart voters from mailing their ballots this fall.

The suits, including one filed Tuesday afternoon in federal court in Washington state , will argue that the Postal Service broke the law by making operational changes without first seeking approval from the Postal Regulatory Commission. They will also argue that the changes will impede states’ ability to run free and fair elections, officials from several state attorney general’s offices told The Washington Post. The Constitution gives states and Congress, not the executive branch, the power to regulate elections.

“We will be taking action to reinstate Postal Service standards that all Americans depend on, whether it’s for delivering their prescription drugs or for carrying their very right to vote,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at an afternoon news conference....

There is absolutely no choice in handling these issues. They are deliberate and harmful to the country and its people. The Postal Service MUST MAKE EVERY CITY it attempted to dismantle whole again and REPLACE sorting machines and the postal drop boxes used to mail letters and in this case, their ballots. This is a planned and destructive act by the new Post Master General Louis DeJoy.

Permit to destroy an "Underground Railroad" house up for passage at Guildford County Historic Preservation Commission.

The house that stands proud of its heritage in the movement of African - Americans out of danger is on the chopping block tonight at 6 pm.

August 15, 2020

An application (click here) has been filed to demolish a home dating as far back as 1810 and believed to have ties to the Underground Railroad. A public hearing on the request involving the Mendenhall-Blair homestead goes before the Guilford County Historic Preservation Commission on Tuesday. The house on Skeet Club Road in High Point whose earliest portions were built using handmade nails, now sits in the midst of residential developments and a high-growth area.

Website of Guilford County Historic Preservation Commission (click here). They don't even have the meeting agenda listed for tonight. That seems a little shady.