On an incredibly historic day in the laying to rest Ruth Badar Ginsburg, it is appropriate to remember her nomination to the Supreme Court.

She was a woman of the people. She was regularly embraced by the people in her social engagements.

August 5, 1993 (click here) the current Democratic nomination for President of the United States of America, Joseph Biden from the Committee on the Judiciary, presented the Late Justice Ginsburg to the American people after thirteen years on the [DC Circuit] Court of Appeals. Thirteen years of federal experience in a high profile judicial position easily qualified the Late Justice Ginsburg for her most important role in the history of the USA Constitution.

It is important to remember on this date, September 25, 2020, Ruth Badar Ginsburg was extremely qualified for her Associate Justice status. She had already proven her intelligence and wisdom when she was nominated by William Jefferson Clinton to the Supreme Court. She was passed into that position with a vote of 96 "yea" votes (click here). There simply was no question to her nomination.

The family, their attorneys and their government representatives are standing there alone.

Our minority communities and their leaders are alone in carrying the voice of the people to justice. AG Cameron needs to bring Attorney Benjamin Crump into the office and provide him a quiet room to read the Grand Jury transcript regarding the death of Breonna Taylor. No matter how one approaches this woman's death it was a wrongful death. She was an innocent person cut down in her home.

September 24, 2020

By Christianna Silva

Kentucky State Representative Charles Booker (click here) says "justice failed us" when only one of the three officers who were involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville was charged.

The officers — Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove — entered the home that Taylor was sleeping in with a no-knock warrant. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced Wednesday that Hankison would be charged with wanton endangerment for firing his weapon into neighboring apartments. He did not charge any officers with Taylor's death.

Cameron also said he is going to create a task force that will review the process by which police officers get and execute search warrants.....

I don't know who is putting enormous pressure on people to stop their demands for justice, but, it needs to stop and the truth is heard.

September 24, 2020

By Janelle Griffith

Breonna Taylor's boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, (click here) is "devastated" that a Kentucky grand jury brought no charges against police in Louisville, Kentucky, for her death, his attorney said. And Walker believes he is being wrongfully blamed for her killing.

Frederick Moore III, a lawyer representing Walker, said his client believes Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron blamed Walker for Taylor's murder at a news conference Wednesday following the announcement of the grand jury's decision.

"Yesterday was almost as tough as the day itself," Moore said, speaking on behalf of Walker.

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency room technician, was shot six times in the hallway of her apartment on March 13 by officers executing a search warrant in a narcotics investigation. Moore said Walker was never the target of a probe and has no criminal record....

Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove never protected her. I do not care if the drug dealer lived in that house while unwitting occupants carried on their lives, THE POLICE EXECUTING THE WARRANT NEVER PROTECTED THE INNOCENT. 

There is no such thing as collateral damage in a home where no evidence existed to justify the violent death of Breonna Taylor.

Kenneth Walker never fired a single shot in her direction. He came to the living room to defend his household. All of a sudden he is a subject of a knockless search warrant that resulted in an invasion into that home of innocent people. They had absolutely no idea what was transpiring. That household was allowed to have guns to protect from home invasion.

Don't try to say there was no reason for the guns in the house either. Every law abiding person in the USA has the right to own, carry and use guns. How they use them has to be within the law and that law has become very loose in it's application.

Yes. (click here) Kentucky is a Castle Doctrine state and has a “stand your ground” law. A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat. He or she has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another. Force may also be used to prevent the commission of a felony involving the use of force. Any person who uses a gun in self-defense has immunity from criminal and civil law.

This looks like classical corruption no different than seen with Michael Brown. In the middle of a Ferguson street in broad daylight young Michael Brown was mercilessly gunned down when he was surrendering to the officer. Killed him and didn't care that he had a life that was promising.

Brioanna Taylor was living the dream. It was the dream promised her for being a responsible citizen. And she was gunned down within the sanctity of her own home in the presence of a man that loved her. There is absolutely no reason for this to happen to any of the African American communities.

There is a great evil at work and it is called racism. These are traumatized communities on many, many levels and the loss of some of their most promising people are being gunned down and put to death in the streets of their communities. 

Michael Brown didn't own a gun. Trayvon Martin was a young man without the capacity of owning a gun. How long is this list? None of them owned or were using a gun, yet they are dead, some as young as a child. Is there any reason to expect any of the survivors of these communities to sit silently by and witness more and more of this blatant imposition of government authority?

Right now in the case of Breonna Taylor there needs to be a meeting between Attorney Benjamin Crump and the Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron. The attorney and the family have a RIGHT to find peace and look for justice in the death of Breonna. She was doing everything right. EVERYTHING. Someone decided they would look to her wrongfully in a investigation of a known drug dealer. This is some of the worst police investigation work ever to exist and the reason it was allowed to exist was because there was no respect for the African American community.

Breonna Taylor was not a human being to Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove. She was an object so the police officers could pin their badges on with pride for their own elevation in taking down a PRETEND drug network. There was no evidence leading to the home of Breoanna Taylor. There was hearsay. That isn't evidence, but, when a black woman is the object of the hearsay it is as good as law.

The Grand Jury findings is highly questionable and the parents of Breonna and those that love her have the right to know. THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW WHY AN INNOCENT BLACK WOMAN IS DEAD WHEN SHE WAS DOING EVERYTHING RIGHT!

Sorry to interrupt such brotherly and sisterly love in the country...

 ... but, there are reports of two leaks in the International Space Station and one is effecting life support.

What spacecrafts are up there as escape vehicles?

What is going on with ISS? Funding cuts? Maybe channeled money to Space Force and possibly “The Wall?” WHAT IS GOING ON!

There is a significant slow down in the US Mail in Maine. It is reason to move in the courts against LaJoy based on fact finding of Congress.

Ruling

There was already a Supreme Court ruling in July of this year regarding faithless delegates. The states cannot arbitrarily arrange for its party delegates for the electoral college. Come on people pull yourself together. Get out the vote.

Trump is trying to raise hate in Michigan.

The Trump campaign has started to advertise for a repel of Governor Whitmer. The idea, of course, is to drive the right wing out in November if there is a referendum on the ballot. 

What next? 

Venezuela

Divided and in hell forever. Really? The USA? Where soldiers are losers and suckers. Seriously. I don’t think so.

We will have an orderly transition of government if the election results call for it. If the victor of the election is Joe Biden, the White House has to be fumigated first anyway because of the rampant spread of SARS-CoV-2 there.

Breonna Taylor

No one is charged with her death. The one officer is charged with reckless endangerment for shooting through Breonna’s apartment walls into the next apartment where no one was injured or killed.

This is a travesty. Police union and contracts. Corruption in the law enforcement arm of Louisville, Kentucky. Everything is being swept under the rug as a problem with the police structure and rules for raids.

This ain’t over. This is just beginning. Another Ferguson. People are not safe in their homes because the rules allow reckless home invasion by the POLICE. 

Bill Barr will never raise a finger as Eric Holder did.

Lasting tributes to a great American and trailblazer.

September 19, 2020

The remaining eight Supreme Court justices, (click here) and two former colleagues, are speaking out about their colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday at age 87.

Some, like Clarence Thomas, and Stephen Breyer, served with her for nearly all of her 27 years on the high court, and wrote emotional statements following news of her death. The justices all spoke of her undying devotion to the law and her grace as a colleague.

Excerpts from their statements, as released Saturday by the court:

Chief Justice John Roberts:

“Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature. We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague. Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice.”...

...Retired Justice David Souter

Souter wrote that “Ruth Ginsburg was one of the members of the Court who achieved greatness before she became a great justice. I loved her to pieces.”...

McConnell is a two faced racist. Dark money, MItch? A organization partically owns the Supreme Court and achieved it through Dark Money.

Former Justice David Souter was a Republican judge chosen by the Late President George H. W. Bush. Justice Souter just turned 81. He decided to retire giving our first African American president his first decision in making Supreme Court appointments. Souter was a great judge as well as a great American. His decision to retire brought a minority woman justice to the Supreme Court. On May 26, 2009, his replacement was decided to be Sonia Sotomayor.

The Late John Paul Stevens retired after 34 years of service. He also was a registered Republican. He was replaced on May 10, 2010, by Elena Kagan. That would bring three women to the court.

The death of Judge Scalia came on February 13, 2016. The death occurred while McConnell was Majority Leader of the US Senate. March 6, 2019, Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Merrick Garland was nominated by President Barak Obama to replace Judge Scalia.

There was absolutely no other person as qualified or non-partisan as Judge Garland. He should be sitting on the court today for the wisdom and insight he could have brought with him, but, McConnell decided to throw an ideological hissy fit and withheld any nomination hearings until Neil Gorsuch was nominated from the Federalist Society.

The Federalist Society, a private organization, has placed Robert, Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch on the Supreme Court under Republican presidents.

The Federalist Society receives 90% of its funding from individuals and foundations; the other 10% comes from corporations. It must be a real head trip to single-handedly place four, soon to be five Supreme Court justices with biased ideas of the world in the USA. Admittedly, quite an accomplishment.

Such an accomplishment is not beneficial to the USA in that those nominations come with expectations of an agenda by a private organization. No wonder private corporations rally round it.

May 21, 2019

By Robert O'Harrow Jr. and Shawn Boburg

Leonard Leo (click here) stepped onto the stage in a darkened Florida ballroom, looked out at a gathering of some of the nation's most powerful conservative activists and told them they were on the cusp of fulfilling a long-sought dream.

For two decades, Leo has been on a mission to turn back the clock to a time before the U.S. Supreme Court routinely expanded the government’s authority and endorsed new rights such as abortion and same-sex marriage. Now, as President Trump’s unofficial judicial adviser, he told the audience at the closed-door event in February that they had to mobilize in “very unprecedented ways” to help finish the job.

“We’re going to have to understand that judicial confirmations these days are more like political campaigns,” Leo told the members of the Council for National Policy, according to a recording of the speech obtained by The Washington Post. “We’re going to have to be smart as a movement.”...

Political campaigns. Really.

I digress. McConnell. When Merritt Garland was nominated Mitch McConnell could have easily been proud to confirm a highly qualified judge for the country's first Black American President. But, no, Mitch had to bow to those he felt would better be benefitted from the opening on the Supreme Court, the Federalist Society.

An entire year the US Supreme Court was absent a justice because the Majority Leader of the US Senate didn't feel like sitting a qualified justice, instead, he played politics with it. That is corruption at the highest levels of the US Senate.

TODAY, in ads and speeches the Supreme Court opening is being held up as a political and ideological victory. What gives McConnell the right to jeopardize decision making by the Supreme Court and stack the deck against those that solicit opinions.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. The Federalist Society received Dark Money to push Kavanaugh and Gorsuch through there nomination process. $22 million dollars BOUGHT AND PAID FOR KAVANAUGH and Gorsuch. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford didn't have a chance despite her forthright truth-telling. 

May 17, 2020

By Anna Massoglia and Andrew Perez

The conservative “dark money” organization (click here) that spearheaded controversial Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s contentious confirmation received $22 million in anonymous donations in the year before the 2018 court fight, newly released tax records show.

The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, pledged to spend as much as $10 million to ensure Kavanaugh’s confirmation — the same amount that it spent to help confirm Justice Neil Gorsuch in 2017. JCN has close ties to Trump’s judicial adviser Leonard Leo, a longtime executive at the Federalist Society, the influential conservative and libertarian lawyers network based in Washington, D.C.

More than three-quarters of the funds JCN raised between July 2017 and June 2018 came in the form of a $17 million contribution from a single anonymous donor, according to its latest tax return, which was obtained by MapLight and OpenSecrets. Former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement in June 2018, paving the way for Kavanaugh’s nomination.

JCN’s filing lists nine other anonymous contributions, none smaller than six figures....

But, where did the money go?

Chuck Grassley of Iowa - $1,356,543 donations from ideological groups. Which is more than 10 percent of his donations. That is corruption with a capital C because the only ideology any Senator is supposed to PLEDGE HER OR HIS LOYALTIES to is the United States of America's Constitution.

But as to McConnell.

McConnell could have placed the third Justice for a historic service of our first African American president, but, instead, he decided to play ideological poker. Mitch McConnell is among the first to condemn White Supremacists, but, the Federalist Society isn't known so much for a racist agenda so much as an oppressive religious agenda. It never ceases to amaze me the number of religious political groups with absolutely no relationship to any particular religion or religious leader. Where do they get the moral authority to upend the United States Supreme Court and buy out a Senate majority leader for the ideological voters they can deliver?

Now, McConnell is strutting like a peacock because his ideological dream is about to come true in sitting another ideologue on the Supreme Court. He is proud to say this is his third in three years. Indeed. But, if he was seeking claim to sitting three justices in his tenure, why wasn't it Merrick Garland as the first?

It is no secret that Judge Garland can run circles around Gorsuch and Kavanaugh. So there is McConnell's great accomplishment, selling out the best judge for the court and substituting Federal  Society fair-haired boys. That is an accomplishment? I hope anyone reading this can see the hypocrisy and the lack of loyalty to the USA Constitution to have it's best warriors on the court.

And, by the way, I still can't see an accounting for the $22 million in a public venue to understand where all that money went. $22 million dollars. Most US House candidates and US Senators don't have that size campaign fund. As of 2019, McConnell's war chest was a little less than $13 million (click here).

My father once told me, “Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see.” Perhaps that is why science is so appealing.

Benjamin Franklin on the last day...

 ...of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, when the constitution was adopted, stated to the American public, “What do we have a republic or a monarchy?” He then stated, “A republic, if you can keep it. OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO KEEP IT.”

Americans have forgotten their one vote is extremely powerful should they exercise it morally.

What terms do voters place on their vote? What level of moral character do voters look for in their candidates?

See, the high moral content of the USA is missing because voters have forgotten their power to bring about a good and decent government. They aren’t looking for good moral character which includes competency and qualifications. The American people have become reactionary rather than decided.

I don’t know if it is the social media sites influence or the deprivation of wealth or if it is the lack of commitment by the people to understand the depth of power they have in a vote, but, the past two decades seemed to have demoralized Americans in valuing integrity of government. I don’t mean the pomp and circumstance of government rituals, I mean real integrity that doesn’t disappoint Americans when they decide their vote and the votes are cast.

“Republicans Behaving Badly,” should be a real trigger to moving the vote away from those currently lying and changing their position in relation to a judicial nominee so close to an election.

It has been more than 4 months since the US Senate took up a meaningful COVID-19 Bill, but, it has been only days since a judicial nominee has been continuously talked about by Senate Republicans. The immorality in that dynamic is exactly the immorality Benjamin Franklin spoke of when the final US  Constitution was drafted.

It is up to the American people to vote for good and moral government. The fact the Republican judicial nominees voted to the court has stemmed out of one powerful lobby, The Federalist Society, should have every American worried. That fact should have every American scared to the future of the country. Currently 5 Supreme Court judges have come out of one lobby. That is not good for the country. What does it say about diversity of thought necessary to uphold the US Constitution? 

Disappointed is the word to use when bad behavior is allowed  by candidates in voting them back into office. Doesn’t responsibility for the integrity of the US Constitution begin with those elected to office to protect it? 

I believe the US Constitution is in peril and the electorate needs to reassess it’s responsibility to it before it is too late.

Autumn is officially here.

Autumn Equinox 2020 in Northern Hemisphere will be at 9:30 AM 

Lied

The American people were lied to by Republican leadership. That is just wrong, doesn’t convey trustworthiness and leads to government mistrust.

What is USA wrought with, mistrust of government. Ethics matter.

When politicians lie, it is a violation of the public trust.

Ethics Violations

Ethics violations have to be filed against Moscow Mitch, Flip-Flopper Lindsay Graham, former decent man Chuck Grassley and any others that have succumbed to influence that is not openly apparent.

McConnell alone has been playing footsie with a Russian Oligarch. When does that and his favorite Chinese shipping magnate receive a full shaming? 

This is ridiculous. They are hoping to raise the anger of white men before an election no different than they did Cavinaugh.

They all require independent ethics reviews including financial disclosure. Ethics at one time was the US Senate’s stock and trade. Now. Ethics is a joke to them on the way to the bank.

Bill Barr is an propagantist and anarchist.

There is no legislated definition of an "anarchist jurisdiction." It is all politics in its worst form as corruption at the highest levels of the DOJ. An AG of the USA has no authority to "make up" definitions not codified by law.

Barr cannot simply "think up" a criminal category of entire cities. Has the word buffoon ever entered a Congressional confirmation process?

September 21, 2020

By Matt Naham

The U.S. Department of Justice (click here) woke up bright and early on Monday and declared Portland, Seattle, and New York City “anarchist jurisdictions” two and a half weeks after President Donald Trump revealed a controversial memo aimed at withholding federal funding from several cities—all of them run by Democrats. The memo was widely criticized for the open-ended way in which Attorney General Bill Barr was permitted to define the term “anarchist jurisdictions”; many of those criticisms were repeated on Monday because the DOJ again said that “any other related factors the Attorney General deems appropriate” was a legitimate criterion for labeling a place an “anarchist jurisdiction.” But, in a twist, other attorneys said that cutting federal funds would mean defunding police....

The three cities involved are all Democratic-held cities.  Additionally, there have been many more troubled cities in the USA that are not considered to contain aspects of crime that might classify as anarchist paths.

A very good example of "anarchist trends" within a city came in May of 2019 when 40 citizens were murdered and the Dallas police were unable to stop it. What did occur to stop the trend was the Governor's order for the State Troopers to assist in ending the violence.

When a city is overwhelmed with murder and accompanying law-breaking that cannot be tamed, that can be considered an anarchist trend. In 2019 the increase in murders in Dallas, Texas was 21 percent higher than the year before. But, it is only right to note the State Troopers brought those statistics down once they were on the job (cilck here). After 1000 arrests Dallas no longer needed the State Troopers to curb violence and break up a trend in organized crime that was leading to anarchy.

August 15, 2019

By Troy Closon

...Less than six months later, (click here) Pintucci was shot and killed in that sedan in the parking garage of Dallas shopping complex near the city’s NorthPark Center. The teenager was waiting to sell marijuana. But when the buyers — three male suspects — showed up, police said, they placed guns to the heads of Pintucci and others in the car and took the vape cartridges. Before running away, one of the suspects shot and killed Pintucci.

The suspects laughed as they headed for the garage exit, witnesses said.

Pintucci is one of at least 135 homicide victims in Dallas this year as the city is expected to reach its highest homicide rate in more than a decade. Meanwhile, other large Texas cities such as Houston, San Antonio and Corpus Christi are on pace for declines.

After Dallas experienced 40 killings in May — its highest monthly total since the 1990s — Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state’s Department of Public Safety to send state troopers to reduce violent crime in a city that has struggled for years with a massive shortage of police officers. Since the troopers' arrival, they've seized more than 70 guns, according to the Dallas Police Department. Violent crime — though still up compared with last year — has also dropped by nearly 30% in the areas of Dallas where they're deployed....

There is no such thing as an "anarchist jurisdiction" lead by the FREELY ELECTED authority. The authority in those three Democratic cities, no different than Dallas, was freely elected and conducting the people's business. Conducting the people's business never stopped for a priority to bring in anarchists to overrun the city. 

Protests are allowed under the First Amendment in freedom of speech and a right to assemble. There are no anarchist trends in local governments recognizing the First Amendment rights of protesters.

Damage to any property caused within those demonstrations belongs to the thugs that carried it out. Looting falls into that category as well.

As noted in this article there has been an increase in states to criminalize protests.

August 27, 2020

By Akela Lacy

Prosecutors and lawmakers in several states (click here) have responded to mass protests against police brutality by charging demonstrators with committing felonies, including terrorism charges. The trend of criminalizing protest has been on the uptick since the 2016 protests against the Dakota Access pipeline at Standing Rock, during and after which numerous states upped charges for protests “near critical infrastructure” as felonies....

To clearly illustrate the wrong-headed thinking of this government aggression against protesters, the courts would eventually rule in the favor of the protesters at Standing Rock.

March 25, 2020

Washington, D.C. - A federal court (click here) today granted a request by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to strike down federal permits for the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline.

The Court found the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it affirmed federal permits for the pipeline originally issued in 2016. Specifically, the Court found significant unresolved concerns about the potential impacts of oil spills and the likelihood that one could take place....

The point is the First Amendment is absolute. There is no order by the government no matter what level, that ends the rights of citizens to protest. For Barr to come forward to call entirely freely elected city governments "anarchist jurisdiction" is a movement to end the First Amendment and replace it with an autocratic authority never sanctioned by any legislative process. Even if any legislative authority attempted to instill autocratic law, it would be struck down by the First Amendment and would not stand.

Bill Barr is also carrying out Trump's-Go-To strategy in enforcing his ideas by withholding money to states and cities already legislated to those official governments. That is illegal. Barr or Trump will never prevail in any of their machinations.

End of discussion.

There is nothing moral about McConnell anymore.

September 20, 2020

By Chris Truax

The year 2020 just keeps on giving. (click here) Not only have we lost one of the towering figures in American legal history in Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the empty Supreme Court seat she leaves is yet another wild card in the most dangerous and chaotic political season in American history. It’s not an exaggeration to say that how her seat gets filled could be as consequential for the continued political health of the republic as the election itself.

I’m not going to bother with all the justifications being offered as to why it’s perfectly OK to fill a Supreme Court vacancy a month-and-a-half before a presidential election while it is political obscenity to fill one nine months before a presidential election. They are fig leaves, not arguments, and all the explanations boil down to “because we can.” The issue here isn’t fairness or consistency. It’s consequences. Filling that seat would be the most disastrous thing Republicans could do, not just to the country but to themselves....

It is interesting how hypocritical McConnell is when it comes to the well being of the country. He really doesn't belong in the Senate with strong affiliations to China and Russia, while pulling the strings for a man in the White House that hates people, doesn't care about the country, has allowed a global pandemic to take hold of the USA, bows to dictators and is dreaming of a third term. 

Why did it happen? How is it that McConnell continues to wager in politics with very fateful and I might add hate-filled decisions and not be scarred by them? How did he know in early 2016 that Trump would be filling the Supreme Court seat in 2017? I find it odd. Not that he is hypocritical, but, that he is so willing to gamble with the well being of the USA on politics.

I am convinced he conducts the US Senate as an obstructionist to maintain the status quo. It is where his personal wealth and corrupt power live. I don't know why people in Kentucky continue to vote to maintain him in office. He is corrupt to the core and he is a liar. He is hypocritical and pats himself on the back for it.

You know, a politician is measured in two ways, but, his acts and by his words. If a voter can't trust the words of the person they are electing, then why elect them?

It would seem the USA is regularly laughed at when it comes to attempts to stop international gangs from conducting their illicit business. If the banks are doing their level best to report all this illegal and underworld activity, it isn't working because THERE IS NO ONE ENFORCING THE LAW. Oddly interesting.

Semion Mogilevich was in the Mueller Report. He is a Russian underworld boss. If the money is moving it should not be that difficult to find him. It is really creepy to think these Russian thugs are out there living their dream while banks are nothing more than their change agent. I don't know about Jamie Dimon, but, it can't be a good feeling to have all these thugs involved with a bank that is following the law. I doubt if the banks have much respect for law enforcement and the federal authorities that should be cleaning it up.

It must be a regular Wall Street joke to realize the number of criminals in Trump's circle of friends and loyalists and having them get pardons on top of the lack of interest in the bank's compliance and expectations to make a difference in the world.

And McConnell subscribes to it.

September 20, 2020

By David Pegg

"Why...may never be prosecuted." (click here)

..A separate report (click here) details over $1bn in wire transfers by JP Morgan Chase that the bank later came to suspect were linked to Semion Mogilevich, an alleged Russian organised crime boss who is named on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list.

A JP Morgan Chase spokesperson told the BBC: “We follow all laws and regulations in support of the government’s work to combat financial crimes. We devote thousands of people and hundreds of millions of dollars to this important work.”

According to BBC Panorama, the British bank HSBC allowed a group of criminals to transfer millions of dollars from a Ponzi scheme through its accounts, even after it had identified their fraud.

HSBC said in a statement: “Starting in 2012, HSBC embarked on a multi-year journey to overhaul its ability to combat financial crime across more than 60 jurisdictions.” It added: “HSBC is a much safer institution than it was in 2012.”...

Maybe if people like Trump and McConnell continue to throw Wall Street bailouts and money from the US Treasury, it is easier to accept the corruption conducted through USA banks. After all Wall Street needs banks, yes?

Whatever happened to Dodd-Frank?

Wow. Mom was right, someone is going to try to kill Trump. Wow.

You know how difficult it is to stress out a Canadian? I really didn't think anyone would try because Trump is nothing but a circus ringmaster, but, here it is. I feel bad for her. She loves the USA and really felt compelled to act. Wow.

20 September 2020
By Pete Williams, Tim Stelloh and Michael Kosnar

Washington - A woman suspected (click here) of sending a letter containing the deadly poison ricin to the White House was arrested trying to enter the United States from Canada, two federal law enforcement officials said Sunday.

An FBI spokesperson confirmed the arrest and said the agency is continuing to investigate the suspicious letter.

A federal law enforcement official said the woman was taken into custody while traveling across Peace Bridge, which connects Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York.

Another federal law enforcement official said the suspect was detained by Customs and Border Protection agents. Additional information about the arrest and the suspect was not immediately available....

I want to discuss the new findings about the lead in the Flint Water.

Friday night is when Justice Ginsberg died. As a result, I put this off until this evening. There is a finding by a graduate student of the Virginia Tech Professor Marc Edwards. There are many things to discuss and I do not consider this a conclusively better outcome than originally thought.

Just as an interesting fact, Synder was elected with the angry Republican wave of 2010. I am curious about what really caused the 2011 spike in lead. I think it needs to be realized whether it has anything to do with Snyder's administration, too.

September 17, 2020
By Siddhartha Roy and Marc Edwards

Sometime in 2021 (click here) a much-anticipated era of lead-free pipes will begin in Flint, Michigan. Contractors have replaced more than 90 percent of the city’s pure lead and galvanized-iron pipes connecting homes to the water mains, and they are hard at work inspecting and replacing the roughly 2,500 that remain. Flint will likely become only the third major American city — after Lansing, Michigan and Madison, Wisconsin — to have replaced all its lead pipes. They are also the first to replace all the galvanized iron connections, another source of lead, and to pay for all the work without charging customers. Blood testing and residential water testing suggest that the lead levels in Flint water are now at historic lows.

The improvements mark an end to Flint’s disastrous history with lead pipes, which resurfaced in April 2014 when the city switched the source of its public water from Lake Huron treated by the city of Detroit to the Flint River, while discontinuing the use of corrosion control chemicals. The switch triggered an alarming rise in lead levels in the city’s drinking water, a corresponding spike in children’s blood lead levels, and a national scandal that led the city to switch back to water from Detroit in October 2015 while more than tripling the corrosion control dose. Ultimately, after revelations of deaths from two outbreaks of Legionnaire’s disease caused by the initial switch, a federal emergency was declared by President Obama in January 2016....

The grad student found a spike in Flint's lead levels in 2011. That would still be the water from Detroit. That leads to all kinds of questions. What happened in Detroit? The bankruptcy didn't occur until 2013, so what is this? An investigation is necessary.

Now, the Flint children born in and around the time in 2011 would have been effected if their mothers were drinking the water, either through breastfeeding or pregnancy or reconstitution of formula. The children born after this incident should not have been effected by it until Snyder demanded the city of Flint no longer receive water from Detroit, but, from the Flint River.

The Flint Water Crisis would have added to the problem of the children born in 2011 or before. Any child in Flint at the 2011 spike would be effected, but, the 2014 poisoning would have contributed to more of a problem they already had.

Now, as to whether the poisoning is less than first thought is an entirely different issue. While this shows lead levels it does not reflect the entire amount of lead that effected the children of Flint in 2014. This shows the lead that was eliminated from the body, it does not show the lead in the child's body that stayed there. The records of the pediatrician that measured blood levels have the correct information as to what was being maintained in the child's body at the time.

This is a measure of lead in the effluent and at the sewage treatment plant. The lead in the children's body is still there. It was never eliminated. This is a partial measurement of the lead in the Flint water, not the entire picture.

Also, the effluent is in a different pipe system than potable water. The chemicals of defecation can cause effluent pipes to release their lead if they are lead pipes. The human stomach is acidic with a pH of between 1.5 and 3.5. That is what assists in the digestion of food. So, because the effluent pipes to the waste treatment plant show lead at a higher level than anticipated in potable water, it is because the digestive tract of a human being is acidic.

While this information by Professor Marc Edwards' graduate student is interesting it is not the entire picture. What also plays into lead levels in the effluent is the number of people living in Flint. As the city population increased or decreased the lead level would fluctuate as well. 

May I suggest this study needs to be followed up by the same graduate student if he or she is interested to determine the spike in the time of 2011. Did something happen in Flint at that time at the sewage treatment plant? Or. Was there something that occurred that actually made it into the diets of the people of Flint? If Virginia Tech is not pursuing the results published by a graduate student, then perhaps a U of M grad student could be provided a grant to continue to follow the results and definitively state what the problem was in 2011 that caused this result.

With all that said, as I stated before, this is an interesting study, validates the poisoning of 2014 and also raises concern about what the spike was in 2011. 

Other people may be interested in the records held by their city in relation to any amount of lead in the water and its source.

It was a good investigation of Flint. It definitely shows a declining amount of lead from the pipes as they are being removed and replaced.

With that, I will say good night for tonight. Thank you for your interest.

September 18, 2020

By Ron Fonger

Flint - The city says (click here) it will continue to accept consent forms that allow contractors to excavate their water service lines but says time is running out to request the free work to be done.

“I urge all residents: Please immediately consent to having your service lines checked and replaced,” Mayor Sheldon Neeley said in a statement issued by the city Friday, Sept. 18. “We still have crews in the field replacing pipes, so we can still accept consent forms -- but this needs to be done now. This is urgent.

Last month, the city said it was making a final push to dig up the service lines at up to 2,500 homes from which no one had given permission for the work to be done.

In a news release Friday, the city said it’s uncertain how many more days it will be able to continue accepting consent forms. Friday, Sept. 18, was the official deadline to file required paperwork, according to an agreement between the city and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

In that agreement, Flint officials committed to complete all service line work, including property restoration by Nov. 30.

To opt-in to the replacement program, residents can visit City Hall, call 810-410-1133, email GetTheLeadOut@cityofflint.com, make a request online at CityofFlint.com/GetTheLeadOut, or mail to Flint City Hall DPW Service line replacement program 1101 S. Saginaw St. Flint, MI 48502....

Ruth Badar Ginsberg Foundation

There needs to be a movement to start a foundation based in the judicial life of the Late Justice Ginsberg. The Board of Trustees should contain her family and/or her judicial clerks. Everyone on the Board of Trustees must meet the political ideals the Late Justice Ginsberg reflected in her life.

The mission statement has to contain the fact she moved the rights of women and civil rights forward along the aspiration of "equality for all."

Her work is vitally important and the idea of a 50 state organization with a headquarters in Washington, DC is important. Besides being a foundation that stands on liberties for women and demands for equality for all, there should be fund raising for scholarships that are awarded annually.

This is a huge effort to preserve Ruth's protects for Americans, but, it is doable and necessary. Her judicial life is about the soul of this country. It is for that reason her memorializing is extremely important.