It is up to the residents of Flint. They need to understand what is occuring to protect their rights.

There will be an "opt-out" filing but then a resident will need their own lawyer to sue in court. There are approximately 96,000 residents of Flint. Simple math means the settlement will deliver about $6700.00 per resident. For a family of four that is a settlement of $26,800. Every family is going to be different. Some were hit harder than others. Applications to the settlement will be weighed according to the severity and will bring greater amounts of settlement. Every resident may not necessarily receive a settlement either.

At this point, the city and the people have to decide about the settlement and/or whether they want to move forward with lawsuits. The lawyers will tell residents to take the settlement and move on. The residents have to come to a consensus on what the city's direction will be. 

Property taxes in Flint can increase if the city does not accept the settlement. It is a difficult decision and there is no guarantee taxes won't go up, but, it won't be due to this liability. There is a lot to consider. In all honesty, Flint did not bring this on itself, but, the liability is still there. Snyder's administration made a huge mess. This can be the beginning of reclaiming Flint. I am curious about the cost of insurance for Flint if there is a settlement.

November 27, 2020

By Amy Diaz

Flint – Attorneys involved in the Flint Water Litigation provided an overview of the $641.25 million water settlement Nov. 23 on the City of Flint Facebook page (click here).

This information session followed the proposal of a $20 million contribution to the settlement by the city’s insurer. Flint City Council is set to vote on the city joining the settlement at the Nov.23 city council meeting.

Present at the live session was Attorney Rick Berg, Attorney Sheldon Klein, Assistant City Attorney William Kim, City Attorney Angela Wheeler, and Director of Communications Marjory Raymer.

Berg presented an overview of the lawsuit settlement at the beginning of the meeting.

He shared four key points for residents to understand:

- Berg said the city’s insurer has provided all of the money for the settlement, meaning the $20 million will come at no cost to the city or the residents.

- He said that more money can be recovered through lawsuits against the EPA, and the two engineering companies that have indicated they would not settle: Veolia and LAN.

- If the City Council does not approve the settlement, Berg said “the city will be at risk for thousands of dollars in lawsuits, if not millions of dollars.” He said the $20 million that has been negotiated from the insurance company won’t be contributed, and the city “will be in the same boat it’s in right now.”
Berg said it was important for residents to make sure to get information from reliable sources, and shared the following links:

- After Berg presented an overview of the settlement, Raymer asked the attorneys to respond to questions that were being asked in the comments of the live video:...

...Klein said residents can opt out of the settlement and file their own lawsuit, which he said is “an extremely risky course,” or object to the settlement and tell the judge why it shouldn’t be approved.

“The court will consider all of that before deciding whether to approve it. Assuming it is approved, then there will be your opportunity to submit your claim and provide documentation,” he said.

Once the claims are submitted, Klein said someone will review them and make sure the documentation is correct, and then the money will be paid out.

“We’re on a very aggressive schedule to make that happen,” he said. “It’s not gonna happen tomorrow. It’s going to take a little bit of time to process the tens of thousands of claims, and give you an opportunity to understand and make your decisions.”...

Donald John Trump is an impeached president whom has already exhibited untrustworthy behavior regarding Ukraine.

Donald John Trump is a chronic liar. He and his entire staff during his four years, including his family, should be placed on a far lower level of intelligence access than trustworthy former presidents. I just don't see a man that prefers Russian national security over that of the USA at all worthy of being included in the intelligence services.

There is no precedent that would include an impeached president in national security information. 

November 27, 2020
By Ken Dilanian

Washington - When David Priess was a CIA officer, (click here) he traveled to Houston, he recalls, to brief former President George H.W. Bush on classified developments in the Middle East.

It was part of a long tradition of former presidents being consulted about, and granted access to, some of the nation's secrets.

Priess and other former intelligence officials say Joe Biden would be wise not to let that tradition continue in the case of Donald Trump.

They argue soon-to-be-former President Trump already poses a danger because of the secrets he currently possesses, and they say it would be foolish to trust him with more sensitive information. With Trump's real estate empire under financial pressure and his brand suffering, they worry he will see American secrets as a profit center....

Without profoundly clear satellite data and/or evidence there can be no pointing fingers at Israel

November 23, 2020

Dubai - Iranian state television (click here) says scientist that Israel alleged led a military nuclear program in early 2000s ‘assassinated.’

Engaging an armed caravan is not the style of Israel. Kindly remember the 2nd in charge of al Qaeda was recently killed. I think Israel took responsibility for that death.

There was a confrontation of the caravan which included exchanges of gunfire. That is a group of armed individuals confronting Iran. A group that well-armed with the knowledge of the movement of a particular nuclear scientist sounds more like a domestic attack than from outside the country. I remind Hezbollah has access to extensive weapons and will distribute them to groups within Iran. So, there is no clear indication Israel was involved at all.

This scientist is more of a signal that others have knowledge of any Iranian covert nuclear program than a real loss to the Iranian nuclear program. The reason nuclear scientists in Iran have bodyguards is that no one would be a nuclear scientist in Iran given the successful past assassinations.

That said, Iran will not hesitate to increase tensions in the Gulf of Oman, especially along the Straights of Hormuz.

The tensions within the Strait is not new. There were two incidences in 2019. So, this is nothing new.

Any military aggression in the Straits compromises ship movement and that involves the entire area. It is difficult to run significant actions in the area because of the countries dependence on that waterway. Changing the status is grave and should not be engaged out of some idea of defensive maneuver.

Iran's population is 81.1 million people. Currently, SARS-CoV-2 has caused infections in at least a little more than 169,000 in 465 cities. I think that is more the concern of Iran than engaging in any confrontation.

26 November 2020

Written bySecretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

• For the third consecutive day, (click here) the Health Ministry’s engineered statistics set a record in the number of dead and those critically ill.
• Iraj Harirchi, regime Deputy Health Minister: The increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths is worrying. It is excruciating that COVID-19 is the leading cause of death in the country and in many provinces.
• Chairman of the regime parliament’s Health Commission: ‌ We wanted the cities to be fully quarantined for 15 to 30 days. It happened with delays, and only for two weeks. One-third of the employees are going to work, and the banks and parks are open. The traffic is not much different in many major cities and even in Tehran. Do those who are making the decisions have a presence in society?
• Shiraz University of Medical Sciences: 42 people died in the past 24 hours, and the death toll reached 2,314. We have 2,297 patients, of which 386 are in ICU....

I wish everyone a peaceful Thanksgiving.

 For me, it will be spent as a party of two with the social butterfly, my 85-year-old mother. I have been very proud of her. She has turned down three different invitations to attend much larger and uncertain Thanksgiving Day dinners.

I have prepared a small turkey and all the fixings. She is looking forward to it.

Everyone this blog touches have a safe holiday.

Be well. That is the most important reason this Thanksgiving.

Ice on lakes and rivers will become less trustworthy.

Earth is warming and unfortunately, that absolutely effects ice structures both permanent and temporary.

Ice presents fun, competition, and culture to many Americans, including Native Americans. None of that has to be sacrificed if the method of freezing water is safe while still answering the qualified use. If running water under the ice is needed for cultural rituals a manmade facility can be engineered to provide that demand.

These temporary ice facilities provide a smooth ice surface if built and managed correctly. In some ways, we should be asking ourselves why did we allow the danger in the first place?

November 20, 2020
By Veronica Penney

New research (click here) on the connection between climate change and winter drownings has found that reported drowning deaths are increasing exponentially in areas with warmer winters.

The study, published on Wednesday in the journal PLoS One, looked at drownings in 10 countries in the Northern Hemisphere. The largest number of drownings occurred when air temperatures were just below the freezing point, between minus 5 degrees Celsius and 0 Celsius (between 23 degrees Fahrenheit and 32 Fahrenheit).

Some of the sharpest increases were in areas where Indigenous customs and livelihood require extended time on ice. Across the countries studied, children under the age of 9 and teenagers and adults between 15 and 39 were the most vulnerable to winter drowning accidents....

AstraZeneca's data is not measuring up to reality.

If AstraZeneca has data that proves certain age groups and/or gender do exceptionally well with their form of vaccine; I would urge the company to redirect it's application to the FDA to specify the groups doing well on the vaccine. 

There is no catastrophe here so long as AstraZeneca can state the facts clearly prove effective in specific types of clients. With that, the company should restart it's investigation into a broadly effective vaccine that is proven for all people.

This is a highly dangerous virus and if AstraZeneca has a vaccine that is effective with specific populations it cannot simply disregard that as mistakes. It is okay to have specialized vaccines, especially at the beginning of the research which is only months old.

November 25, 2020
By Rebecca Robbins and Benjamin Mueller

...The regimen (click here) that appeared to be 90 percent effective was based on participants receiving a half dose of the vaccine followed a month later by a full dose; the less effective version involved a pair of full doses. AstraZeneca disclosed in its initial announcement that fewer than 2,800 participants received the smaller dosing regimen, compared with nearly 8,900 participants who received two full doses.

The biggest questions were, why was there such a large variation in the effectiveness of the vaccine at different doses, and why did a smaller dose appear to produce much better results? AstraZeneca and Oxford researchers said they did not know.

Crucial information was also missing. The company said that the early analysis was based on 131 symptomatic Covid-19 cases that had turned up in study participants. But it did not break down how many cases were found in each group of participants — those who received the half-strength initial dose, the regular-strength initial dose and the placebo....

I told you they were crackpots. They confuse aurhority of power with qualified opinion. It is malpractice of law.

They are subverting governance. What kind of decision allows guaranteed illness and possible death to become part of the USA democracy? Freedom and liberty that achieves adverse outcomes is not freedom or liberty.

The five crackpots from the Supreme Court decided it was their responsibility to decide the health and well being of citizens practicing their religion with indoor air dangers. The five crackpots, Alito, Gorsuch, Coney-Barrett, Thomas, and Kavanaugh, are not qualified to decide public health issues.

This is not a factious virus made up by Governor Cuomo to inhibit the practice of religion. Health Department officials that study the virus, it’s toll on citizens, and methods to stop THE SPREAD are to be upheld in their practices and not ignored to leave people to become ill, suffer and die.

The five crackpots are not qualified to override the sound decisions of a state or city’s health department because some other crackpots within the religious groups, Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agudath Israel, an Orthodox Jewish congregation is crying about civil liberties at a time when the highest numbers of cases and deaths are being recorded in this country!

When a board of health presents itself and it’s policies with clear, concise data and sound science the Supreme Court has no right to disregard those policies. No right!

There are rock-solid examples in countries the size of New York that proves quarantine WORKS. So, this decision is ideological, disregards current science including remedies, and has no respect for human life.

Let me guess, Republicans, right? They might even be racists for all we know. Supreme Court Justices that put RELIGIOUS BELIEF before MEDICAL FACTS are malpractice of their status. These five crackpots would give Jim Jones permission to kill.

November 24, 2020
By Rebecca Randall

...Cell phone data (click here) was an early indicator that Sunday morning church attendance slowed significantly in the spring. According to a new model published in Nature, it also reveals the disparities in which segments of the population were able to stay at home and reduce exposure.

Researchers at Stanford University found that churches were among the top five sites for coronavirus transmission, alongside restaurants, gyms, cafes and snack bars, and hotels. According to an analysis of anonymous cell phone data, these places tended to have more visitors and longer visits. In all, the model calculates that visits to these sites accounted for 70 percent of transmitted cases during the first several weeks of the pandemic.

The study used mobility data from cell phone users in 10 large US metro areas throughout March and April. They calculated the transmission rate in various neighborhoods by overlaying US Census data with the density of infected individuals in those locations. (They compared it to the New York Times’ COVID-19 case tracker and found the model to be an accurate prediction.)

Even though black churches have generally been the most cautious about reopening, residents in black and Hispanic neighborhoods who met in person during this time carried a greater likelihood of transmission largely due to their higher mobility and more frequent visits to crowded places....

Pardons make subpoenas stronger.

There is no need to invoke the 5th Amendment. The pardon is not a preemptive measure. The only quality invoked is loyalty. Any pardoned person if invoking loyalty can create new charges. Mike Flynn and any of Trump's pardons can still be subpoenaed for other proceedings.

November 26, 2020
By Charles Savage

Former National Security Adviser (click here) Michael Flynn was paid more than $30,000 from a state-run Russian TV network for a Moscow talk, according to documents.

Washington - President Trump pardoned (click here) on Wednesday his former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, who had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his conversations with a Russian diplomat and whose prosecution Attorney General William P. Barr tried to shut down.

“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter.

The presidential pardon brings to an end the drawn-out legal saga of Mr. Flynn. The Justice Department had moved in the spring to withdraw the charge against him after a public campaign by Mr. Trump and his allies, but the judge overseeing the case, Emmet G. Sullivan, had held up the request to scrutinize its legitimacy....

Trump is completely obtuse. Never thought a president would be this clueless.

He will seek to come back to the presidency because he was not credited with the COVID-19 vaccines in time to win his re-election.

He knew according to the Bob Woodward interview how very dangerous and serious the SARS-CoV-2 virus was to the American population. He knew. THAT AMONG ISSUES IS WHY TRUMP WAS NOT REELECTED. Let it be known that if a president allows more than a quarter of a million Americans die, especially minorities and elderly, there will be no re-election. There is no propaganda that will deter a removal from office.

Impeached! He should have been removed by the Senate. Because Trump was allowed to continue to wreak havoc on the American people he is out of there!

The barber's son that was welcomed to his mayorship as a mentor.

He was pivotal in many ways. I am sorry he is gone. May he rest in peace.

November 24, 2020
By Jeffery C. Mays and Emma G. Fitzsimmons

David N. Dinkins (click here) served a single four-year term as New York City’s first and only Black mayor. His tenure has been judged harshly at times, but it was also filled with accomplishments.

Mr. Dinkins, who died on Monday, had a significant influence on the city, shaping its physical infrastructure and beginning criminal justice initiatives that started to reduce crime.

He was remembered as a somewhat reluctant trailblazer and a gentleman who led the city during a difficult period of fiscal crisis and racial tension — themes that the city and the nation are currently grappling with once again.

“David Dinkins simply set this city on a better path,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Here is a look at some of his accomplishments:...

Mayor Dinkins (click here) never turned away from the fact there police deeply corrupt that caused the loss of Black live in the city.

December 29, 1993

In a harshly critical report, (click here) a special mayoral panel asserted yesterday that the New York City Police Department had failed at every level to uproot corruption and had instead tolerated a culture that fostered misconduct and concealed lawlessness by police officers.

The panel, called the Mollen Commission, agreed with police officials who contend that corruption was not systemic, but rather isolated to small groups of rogue officers. But the commission warned that if corruption itself was not systemwide, the department's failure to address it was.

"We find as shocking the incompetence and the inadequacies of the department to police itself," Milton Mollen, the commission chairman, said yesterday as the panel released an interim report on its principal findings. Will They Be Followed?...

It is exciting. The Biden Cabinet are highly qualified and well known to the international community.

I am especially looking forward to the work of Special Envoy John Kerry. He is the right person for this position. He is known among the global community. He is lucky that he is not starting up a brand new effort, the US House has a subcommittee, there are many qualified groups working on a climate agenda noted to be among those funded by Jeff Bezos and last but hardly least is the USA military that has been working on being climate-friendly for more than a decade.

November 23, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden named John Kerry (click here) to the newly created role of climate czar, a move that underscores the incoming administration’s commitment to an international-focused approach to the issue and recognition of its strategic importance.

Kerry, the former secretary of state, is a diplomatic heavyweight who helped piece together the landmark Paris climate agreement during the Obama administration and pushed hard for domestic climate policies as a US senator.

“I’ve asked him to return to government to get America back on track to address one of the most urgent national security threats we face—the climate crisis,” Biden said in a statement released on Monday. “This role is the first of its kind: the first cabinet-level climate position, and the first time climate change has had a seat at the table on the National Security Council.”

Kerry’s appointment as “special presidential envoy for climate” is among the first of six cabinet-level nominations that the Biden team announced on Monday, as it works to form a government in spite of President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election. Unlike some cabinet roles, it will not require Senate confirmation, the New York Times reported....

There are going to be challenges that have resulted because of the very poor performance of the USA under the previous president that has turned loose the petroleum industry.

Australia's Barrier Reef as well as all other ocean reefs around the globe along similar latitudes are no longer endangered, but, destroyed by warmed ocean waters. Reefs are carbon sinks and the are failing,

There has been a severe deterioration of the permafrost releasing carbon to the troposphere as the melting occurs. Methane leaks around the world are out of control. There is a huge methane danger in Russia that needs to be closed. That means the hole may need to be bombed in order to close it.

India is taking a worrisome path in ambitions to be the largest oil exporter in the world. I don't know where all those ambitions lie, but, India is currently the third-largest consumer of oil. It is 24th in the world for oil reserves. I think the Prime Minister should concentrate on building his own electric car factories and putting the people of India to work in good-paying jobs. There are plenty of cars on the streets of India, it needs to address this ambition of exporting oil. They produce about a billion barrels a year while consuming 4 billion annually.

There are good things happening with American companies including GM which has returned to an agenda to protect the environment rather than returning to polluting directives by the previous administration.

I am looking forward to John Kerry working with the global community dedicated to protecting Earth for generations to come.

Protecting nature is very important for people globally. This is out of New Zealand, a climate accord member. It is demoralizing to citizens when the destruction of nature occurs for the purpose of mining. The climate accords are moving forward, but, the USA must take its place among those countries most responsible for climate protections rather than climate contamination.

14 July 2020

Rangitira Developments (click here) wanted to mine in Buller District Council's conservation land at Te Kuha, near Westport.

The government stopped it after Forest & Bird argued the council needed to protect the land's biological and natural features.

In an appeal to the Supreme Court, Rangitira Developments said economic benefits should also be considered by the council.

The Supreme Court today dismissed the appeal.

Forest & Bird said the decision made reserves across the country safer from mining.

"This is absolutely wonderful news for nature, and particularly for the plants and animals threatened with extinction which live in this area," Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said....

Essential warehouse workers are the most important cog in the USA economic wheelhouse.

Everyone should be demanding good wages and on the job safety for these vital people. They also need time off to prevent "burnout." Mistakes are made when people are over extended. That is the case with our health care workforce as well.

NO BURNOUT of essential workers.

November 24, 2020

By Kate Taylor

The US added 146,700 warehouse and storage jobs from April to October, (click here) as companies like

Amazon and Walmart scrambled to fulfill online shopping orders and prepare for the peak holiday season.
Some warehouse workers say that employers have not done enough to keep them safe during the pandemic.

"It's like Russian roulette, when you're trying to protect yourself and put food on the table," former Amazon warehouse worker Monica Moody said. 

"Let's hope that nothing happens with these workers," said Juan Arias, a senior consultant at real estate data firm CoStar Group. "Because right now ... our economy is basically working on the backs of these people."...

It doesn't do anything about prison overcrowding, but, it should lower the temperatures inside.

Paint the roof white.

November 22, 2020
By Cyrus Dunham

The only way to ascertain the temperature (click here) at the California Institution for Women, or CIW, on a given day is to check the hourly forecast at the nearest weather reporting stations. During the September 5 and 6 heat wave in Southern California, the closest recorded temperature to CIW hit 115 degrees. But those stations only measure outside temperatures, not the real heat index of a roughly 8-by-12 cement-walled cell, with no ventilation or air circulation....

The definition of overcrowding needs to be redefined. Multiple prisoners to one cell are deadly. It all needs to be revamped. The wardens to any prison need to know their population well enough to know when they can leave to go to a less restrictive environment. Moving prisoners out is a survival method and one that will dominate jail and prison time assigned to an inmate by the judge. 

It is unrealistic to believe any more prisons can spring up overnight, so it is time the USA returns to the idea of REHABILITATION of lawbreakers and allow the prison space for those most violent in our society. It is far better to bring a high school education to a lawbreaker and then perhaps that of a community college that can provide a good-paying job, then allow a person to deteriorate in a prison or jail cell.

People on probation are easier to manage with the intent of survival because it is easier to hire probation officers and/or than to build prisons.

31 May 2020

But by how much and are there downsides to doing it? (click here)

In a recent BBC interview, the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon suggested that this reduction could be as much as 30C, with the internal temperature of the building falling by as much as seven degrees.

So where do these figures come from and does wider research back this up?

Mr Ban was talking about a pilot project in Ahmedabad City in western India, where summer temperatures can reach as high as 50C.

In 2017, more than 3,000 city rooftops were painted using both white lime and a special reflective coating.

Known simply as "cool roofing", this process is designed to reduce the solar radiation absorbed, which in turn means less heat is transferred inside the building.

Cool roofs also emit away some heat normally retained by a building, cooling it further....

AstraZeneca is already established as a global company.

The cost is going to be a huge factor for countries like India which has a population of 1.4 billion people. Realizing the needed immunity will require two shots, the first being a half dose, which means there are actually 2 billion doses available. In narrowing that to the number of people receiving complete immunity with two doses that brings the number of immune people to 2 billion in 2021. One billion in half doses to 2 billion people and the remaining full doses are the full dose to two billion people.

It is most admirable these successful companies will seek to keep the cost per dose as low as possible. "Moderna" has estimated the cost of the vaccine in a range of less than $40.00.

The global community needs for all companies to produce as much as possible to their best outcomes, as well realizing the population of the world is nearing 8 billion and then there are the pregnancies. The need for these vaccines will be ongoing for some time. The companies' compassion and dedication to the best outcome of all people and ending the existence of SARS-CoV-2 can't be stated with high enough praise.

November 23, 2020

Hopes of an effective vaccine (click here) against coronavirus becoming available rose again on Monday with AstraZeneca and Oxford University claiming success with their product, becoming the third team to do so.

The head of AstraZeneca in France, Olivier Nataf, answered questions from AFP in an interview, saying that the data were very encouraging.

The 70 percent rate is the result of a combined analysis.

Using a regimen of first injecting half a dose of the vaccine and then a full dose a month later the effectiveness was 90 percent.

Another system, of one full dose first and another a month later the effectiveness is 62 percent.

This is an interesting lesson: the half-dose plus one dose scheme can become something that we follow, there is an opportunity for availability for the population, where it would take fewer doses to vaccinate more people.

The second point to remember is that there is 100 percent protection against the occurrence of severe forms of illness and hospitalisations in participants who received the vaccine. And the last point is the confirmation of safety: no serious side effects have been reported, the vaccine is well tolerated in both dosing regimens.

Finally, there is greater simplicity in storage, transport, handling, under normal refrigeration conditions of 2 to 8 degrees. This is a very interesting element from the public health standpoint. 

We will be producing three billion doses worldwide in 2021...

This is not a game, McConnell.

Sometimes I wonder about the lucidity of McConnell's mind. How any patriot could bring a Russian oligarch to sovereign Kentucky is beyond serious economics. A Russian oligarch within the sovereign borders of Kentucky is capitulating the idea that the USA does not have the means or ability to determine its own economic strength. I find it shameful.

McConnell hasn't legislated a darn thing to change the path of the USA economy or the economic status of Kentucky. In chronic obstruction, McConnell has weakened Kentucky so much so that it allowed "compromise" into Kentucky's security and that of the national security of the USA. McConnell is still being an obstructionist in refusing help to the states, small businesses, and the people of this great country need. What is his solution, sell Kentucky to the Russians?

President-Elect Joe Biden is assembling a magnificent cabinet. This is no surprise because he has chosen the very person as Vice President-Elect the country needs.

The Republicans put a president in office, Trump, that dismantled the US federal government and disconnected, if not officially, from alliances that protect and defend this country. Unless Senate Republicans want to continue their ASSAULT AGAINST THE USA from inside of our borders, the US Senate (albeit not fully assembled for January 2021) will immediately pass Joe's Cabinet into power. If the US Senate so much as balks at any of these highly qualified candidates for the USA Cabinet, then Joe Biden has the option to make every one of them "acting" until the point in time whereby recess appointments can be carried out. There is no getting away with hostility toward the American people by Republicans anymore. The country has been compromised by their party's president and it is their solemn duty to put power in the hands of those that sincerely love the country and its people.

NO MORE POLITICAL SHENANIGANS. Joe ran on a platform to reunite this country's people and he won't be disappointed.

November 23, 2020
By Sarah Mucha and Gregory Krieg

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday (click here) unveiled a slate of top foreign policy and national security picks, including the first woman to lead the US intelligence community and first Latino to helm the Department of Homeland Security.

Cuban-born Alejandro Mayorkas, a former deputy secretary of DHS who Biden has nominated to lead the department, will be tasked with rebuilding an agency that carried out some of the most draconian measures associated with President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policy, including family separations at the US-Mexico border. Biden's pick for director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, a former top CIA official and deputy national security adviser, will also make history if confirmed by the Senate.

Biden is moving swiftly to craft his incoming administration despite Trump's ongoing efforts to reverse the election results and gum up the transition. CNN reported Monday that Biden is expected to name Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary, according to a source with knowledge of the pick. Yellen would be the first woman to serve as secretary of the Treasury if nominated and confirmed.

The slate of nominations announced on Monday included confirmation of the selection of Antony Blinken, Biden's top foreign policy aide, as the next secretary of state, Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be the US ambassador to the United Nations. Jake Sullivan will join the White House team as Biden's national security adviser....

Why are indoor dining restaurants not practicing "best practices?"

Given the current outbreak (click here) of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, consumers may be interested in purchasing ultraviolet-C (UVC) lamps to disinfect surfaces in the home or similar spaces. The FDA is providing answers to consumers’ questions about the use of these lamps for disinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic....

Ultraviolet light is about disinfecting surfaces and areas that are exposed to it. There is a second issue.

Canada's Thanksgiving Holiday is October 11. So, they have suffered irresponsible behavior already.

Canada's staring down a Covid surge that has been blamed on social gatherings. And as Americans contemplate their holiday plans, Canadians are desperately trying to save Christmas.

LinK: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/22/us-canada-thanksgiving-lesson-438898

The reality of this virus does not go away because it is a holiday. There are issues with "indoor air" as well as air in trains where the ventilation is not necessarily state of the art. Everyone is waiting for this to go away rather than accepting the problems before them and worked to correct the infrastructure.

Herd immunity by exposure is NOT a humane answer. Currently, in the USA more than 2 percent of those infected dies. That is not acceptable.

The suppression of this virus has been grossly mismanaged. It is time to stop this hideous idea of "dealing with COVID-19" means "waiting it out." Now, is the time to correct the deficits in the infrastructure and make it permanent. Permanent changes mean reassurance to people that the business is serious about their wellness today and into the future. If funding is necessary to make permanent changes to ventilation and processes to end virus on countertops, etc. then the Small Business Administration needs to come up with policies that work including lobbying the US Congress to bring about permanent changes that will solve the problems of failing small businesses and loss of jobs.

The problem with Indoor Air

This is a study early on out of China, but, it spells out perfectly the problem with indoor air.

...COVID-19 has a high transmission risk (click here) among train passengers, but this risk shows significant differences with co-travel time and seat location. During disease outbreaks, when traveling on public transportation in confined spaces such as trains, measures should be taken to reduce the risk of transmission, including increasing seat distance, reducing passenger density, and use of personal hygiene protection....

Masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene work exceptionally well except with indoor air. There is a problem with indoor air in that it is not freely circulating and not having air exchanges rapid enough to KEEP A LOW VIRAL LOAD.

There has to be someone conducting research somewhere in the world to solve these problems. THE AIR CIRCULATING IN A RESTAURANT MUST BE EXPOSED TO UV LIGHT BEFORE IT IS REINTRODUCED INTO THE RESTAURANT AIR. That capacity for a restaurant has to be perfected. It should not be all that difficult to conduct such a study.

To be clear. Indoor air can be safe by wearing masks, but, if those masked customers are exposed to any viral load their risks increase with every breath by the person(s) infected with SARS-CoV-2. The best mask in the world will not be effective if there is a massive viral load in that room. The only way to eliminate that danger is to have a ventilation system that provides comfort to customers as well as PROCESSING the air with high enough air exchanges through a UV light device before returning the air into the room. 

The equation to this dilemma is VIRAL LOAD X TIME OF EXPOSURE. The only answer is AIR MANAGEMENT to REMOVE the virus in the restaurant air as it moves through a ventilation system designed to kill the virus. It is possible. It needs investigation and study to know the form in which the NEW INFRASTRUCTURE FOR RESTAURANTS takes shape. 

Restaurant customers can't wear masks while eating. The air that fills those rooms of customers has to be free of any virus. 

The research does not have to be conducted with SARS-CoV-2. Any coronavirus (like the common cold) contaminated air to run through a UV light ventilation system to be sure the air at the end of it's processing exhibits no virus. 

Indoor air in restaurants is a very difficult problem. It is different for gymnasiums which have larger volumes of air that can be contaminated by people playing basketball. That gym still needs adequate ventilation and AIR PROCESSING to be safe, but, the large high ceilings provide answers to VIRAL LOAD differently than restaurants.

There are very fine people involved in developing excellent experiences in their restaurants. They have a tough problem before them, but, there are answers. Heck, commission MIT, they can probably solve it overnight. Infrastructure needs to be changed and once there is a proven answer, funding will be needed. The restaurant businesses have depleted resources to restart, yet alone, change a restaurants' air quality.

Good luck.

Add a UV sterilization process to air circulation. If BART can solve their problems, the restaurant industry should as well.

08.13.20

The air you breathe (click here) while riding BART is filtered more effectively than that in the typical office or indoor setting like a grocery store or pharmacy, with an entire train car’s air being replaced about every 70 seconds.

That was the case before the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s even more important now, as BART implements a 15-step Welcome Back Plan with a raft of new health and safety measures....

Arrest them and put them in jail until the ballots are counted!

They are looking for an opportunity to grab a few hands full of ballots and run off with them. Lock them up, they are breaking the law by interfering with an election. That is all this vote checking is, an opportunity to steal ballots. There is no real reason for these recounts and obstructions to go on. It is just a manipulation in hopes they get a break somewhere to bring the count down for Biden.

November 21, 2020te
By Michael Tarm

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Election officials in Wisconsin’s (click here) largest county accused observers for President Donald Trump on Saturday of seeking to obstruct a recount of the presidential results, in some instances by objecting to every ballot tabulators pulled to count.

Trump requested the recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties, both heavily liberal, in hopes of undoing Democrat Joe Biden’s victory by about 20,600 votes. With no precedent for a recount reversing such a large margin, Trump’s strategy is widely seen as aimed at an eventual court challenge, part of a push in key states to undo his election loss....

"Good Night, Moon"

Waxing Gibbous

8.3 day old moon

59.6 percent lit

Water, water, everywhere. There is water on the Moon, Mars and probably on the Sun will be the next discovery. 

Read an article critical of Elon Musk's plans for a human Mars colony of 1 million by 2025. Wow. That has everyone excited. We haven't even put scientists on Mars yet. A million people require a lot of services. I admire the ambition, but, rushing into a plan with such high risk for 1 million people seems premature. Such a colony has to come with guarantees and so far the only entity able to survive are Mars Rovers. 

It is premature. It should happen when the venture is obviously safe. Not even close yet. Heck, humans haven't gotten Earth right, what makes anyone think they have Mars right?

October 26, 2020

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory (click here) for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.

SOFIA has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere. Previous observations of the Moon’s surface detected some form of hydrogen, but were unable to distinguish between water and its close chemical relative, hydroxyl (OH). Data from this location reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million – roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water – trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface. The results are published in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy.

“We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon,” said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Now we know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration.”

As a comparison, the Sahara desert has 100 times the amount of water than what SOFIA detected in the lunar soil. Despite the small amounts, the discovery raises new questions about how water is created and how it persists on the harsh, airless lunar surface....

The Climate Crisis must take priority as the President-Elect tackles the SARS virus.

15 November 2020
By Jeff Ernst 

Paddling in a canoe through the flood waters (click here) left by Hurricane Eta in his rural village near the north coast of Honduras, Adán Herrera took stock of the damage.

“Compared with Hurricane Mitch, this caused more damage because the water rose so fast,” said Herrera, 33, a subsistence farmer who is living on top of a nearby levee with his wife and child while they wait for the water to recede. “We’re afraid we might not have anything to eat.”

Hurricane Mitch in 1998 was the most destructive storm to hit Central America. But hundreds of thousands of subsistence farmers across the region have lost everything in flooding caused by Eta, which made landfall in Nicaragua as a category 4 hurricane on 3 November. Now, with a second hurricane projected to make landfall on Monday near where Eta did, even more could find themselves in the same situation....

Climate Crisis 2020 has been devastating to Central America. 

The fires in the USA are still burning (click here). The acreage is less, but, the number is high. 517 new fires for the week from November 13 to the 20th. 

Drought Monitor

Cruise ships are notorious for close quarters of passengers. Perfect for virus transmission.

November 22, 2020
By Bianca Padro Ocasio

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (click here) upgraded the cruise ship travel risk to a level 4, the federal agency’s highest risk level possible for contracting COVID-19.

Amid reports of widespread outbreaks in cruises earlier this year, CDC recommends for travelers to avoid cruise ships, including river cruises, around the world, given the “very high” risk of becoming infected or spreading the novel coronavirus.

If passengers decide to go on cruises, they should get tested three to five days after the trip. Even if they test negative after a trip, cruise ship travelers should stay home for seven days after the trip....

The statistics below is from the "Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association." 

- In 2016, (click here) a record 24.2 million passengers cruised globally.

- The industry estimates that 25.3 million will cruise globally in 2017

- $117 billion in total economic impact and 956,597 jobs paying $38 billion in wages and salaries were generated by the global cruise industry in 2015.

- The cruise industry is the fastest-growing category in the leisure travel market. Since 1980, the industry has experienced an average annual passenger growth rate of approximately 7% per annum.

- Demand for cruising increased 62% between 2005 and 2015.

- The cruise industry is the fastest-growing category in the leisure travel market. Since 1980, the industry has experienced an average annual passenger growth rate of approximately 7% per annum.

- From a capacity standpoint, utilization is consistently over 100%.

- Eight out of 10 CLIA-certified travel agents expect increased cruise sales in 2017.

- Throughout its history, the cruise industry has responded to vacation desires of its guests and embraced innovation to develop new destinations, new ship designs, new and diverse onboard amenities, facilities and services, plus wide-ranging shore side activities. Cruise lines have also offered their guests new cruise themes and voyage lengths to meet the changing vacation patterns of today’s travelers.