I hear President Biden is being investigated.

 ...for cancellation of contacts connected with the southern border wall.

THAT MONEY BELONGS TO THE USA MILITARY, morons!

You can bet Trump cancelled every contract that could be found on a whim.

End of discussion!

The Republicans like to call it liberty for political purposes.

It isn’t liberty. Nope. Allowing the free wheeling of weapons is NEGLECT IN GOVERNING.

Alissa bought a military style weapon after the gun ban was lifted.

A 21 year old Ahmad Al Aliwi Alissa was known by the FBI through an investigation of another person. The FBI was getting too close to the truth. Alissa is part of whatever the FBI is investigating.

Alissa had plans. The investigation was getting too close and his plans would have been ruined. I can’t help but think Alissa’s residence would provide excellent insight.

He could get his weapons and he acted killing ten precious American lives and leaving families with empty chairs at dinner still yet again. There are ten dead and a multitude of victims behind those deaths. This is the problem with the gun lobby. People in this country have privacy rights. That is a deeply held belief by most if not all Americans. The authority in this country at every level is hobbled by that deeply held belief and fundamental right. There is only one way to end military style weapons from killing innocent Americans and that is to control the availability of them. There is no other method. Background checks make some impact, but, people intent on these acts manage to get past the check to the guns. We have seen that “Oops” they shouldn’t have had that gun many times; too many times.

The supply of powerful guns is not needed in this country. There has to be a ban put in place. It is the only sure fire way of eliminating that danger. It not only protects unsuspecting Americans, but police and would end the profits of straw purchasers. There is a whole host of reasons, some domestic and some international to return a law that works. We know the ban works.

The Officer is leaving behind seven children. Those are just more victims.

End the filibuster!

Another 20 something after...

 ...the assault weapons ban of Boulder was blocked in a court proceedings. 

I would like to know why the gunman with a wounded leg decided to shoot up patrons of a grocery store.

 Fire DeJoy!

He is incompetent. He has fully demonstrated that. While willing to spend whatever it takes to purchase an entirely new fleet of vehicles, he can’t remain competitive. He is a ridiculous.

The US Post Office is required by the USA Constitution. It is a vital part of the definition of democracy. The best ally the USA has in running the Post Office is the union of workers, essential Americans at work. I strongly suggest the Board of Governors need to be replaced as equally as incompetent as DeJoy.

The union needs to work with a new slate of Board members and an experienced Post Master General to solve its problems if it actually has any.

The response by law enforcement in Boulder, Colorado...

 ...was nothing short of incredible. 

I am very sorry to hear ten people are dead, including the Officer that first responded to the carnage.

I am not surprised there is silence about the shooter simply because I think we witnessed a new approach to responding to an active shooter scene. It appears Colorado may have restructured their law enforcement since the Capital insurrection. That response should be a model for every state if it isn’t already.

Again, I am very sorry to hear of the ten deaths and especially the Officer that died from his heroic actions that probably saved lives.

GOP Rep. Crenshaw on the Medhi Hasan Show...

 ...is angry that 15 to 17 year olds from south of the USA border are crossing into the country. His argument is that they are old enough to be considered adult males and deported. He further states in their own countries they are part of the military. That is incorrect.

The countries south of the USA require men to be 18 years old to enlist. What Rep. Crenshaw went on to say is that these older teens should be returned to their home countries where they are enlisted to the drug cartels. 

??????????????????!!!!

Does a light not go on for Crenshaw when he states the 15 to 17 year olds crossing the border can work at that age for the drug cartels?

This is the kind of dummied down response that causes problems when really attempting to pass laws and implement policy that are moral and don’t violate human rights objectives that the USA embraces.

To be clear boys 15 to 17 years old from south of the USA border are in fear for their lives because they are pressed into service by the drug cartels. What member of the GOP has the almighty right to justify hate of these teens by stating they have to be deported KNOWING they are man enough to serve with drug cartels? 

The GOP leadership is at such a loss for real objections to the Biden Immigration Policy they will send teens back to their countries to service drug cartels that are sending drugs to the USA that is laced with fentanyl and kills Americans. 

Enough of this idiocy. The GOP leadership needs to take their racism elsewhere!

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

Andrew Ross Sorkin is reporting in the New York Times today, there is enormous tax fraud that has been allowed to exist that when collected will net trillions into the USA treasury. It would pay the bills for the support programs during the COVID-19 health emergency.

There are hundreds of billions in unreported taxes. A 2019 I.R.S. analysis estimated that Americans reported less than half of all income that wasn’t subject to verification like a W-2, meaning that lots of business profits, rent and royalties go untaxed. That’s the largest reason that unpaid federal income taxes may amount to more than $600 billion this year, and more than $7.5 trillion over the next decade.

"Tax Evasion at the top of the income distribution theory and evidence" (click here)

 

My sincerest sympathy to the living these people left behind.

Soon Chung Park

Hyun Jung Grant

Suncha Kim

Yong Ae Yue

Delaina Ashley Yaun

Paul Andre Michels

Xiaojie Tan

Daoyou Feng

Good evening.

This is not the poetry below, it is Buddist Monks praying.

Buddist Words of Kindness in repect of the Korean Monks influence

I realize there are many Christian Koreans in this world and the USA. This is simply a tribute to Korean Monks.

This is what should be done (click here)

By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all things be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all things be at ease!

If sex addiction...

 ...causes depression, then treat the depression.

Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, not the soul.

“The Centerfold” was been a healthy mainstay of sexuality for American men. Feminists will hate me for saying it is okay to objectify women. Take it or leave it, the Playboy ideology worked well for the American man. Playboys had their “taste” in women, blond, brunette or redhead among other characteristics. It was a brew of sexuality that most modern men enjoyed while they attended church on Sunday to ask forgiveness to protect the soul. 

I once had a man state to me, “Well, what do you think Sunday mornings are for if not to forgive everything that happened Saturday night.”

My sons grew up as playboys, but, my father did not. When he complained about my free wheeling sons I simply stated, “Well, that is easy for you to say, you are married to one of the sexiest women in town.” It never failed that a smile would come to his face.

In The NY Times article...

 ...Samuel Perry is correct in this case. Long was definitely conflicted in regard to his sexually. But, he while conflicted, was faced with rejection of the one place he called home by people he depended on for emotional support.

Evangelism is an extreme in that it demands perfection to its demands according to their interpretation of the New Testament. It causes not peace of mind in following God’s teaching, but, conflict that leads to mental health problems. Those mental health issues within the practice of the faith is more pervasive than other faiths.

In the case with Long, he was conflicted and faced a failure of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He was not prepared for the real world and was either unable or unwilling to turn to society in general for food, shelter and a way forward. He had no support other than his religion and God’s love was his highest priority, feared not just for his soul, but, his new reality. His soul won the fight and he desperately needed to end his conflict.

What I want to know is where did he find the abrupt personality path that lead to dispassionate killing to resolve his conflict to save his soul? That did not happen in an instant. Moving dispassionately to kill is a learned skill and not an abrupt, hysterical reaction. Logic won over chaos in his emotional mind. Who taught him that?

First day of spring is determined by the movement of the sun's rays to the northern hemisphere.

In 2021, the spring equinox occurs on Saturday, March 20. This event marks the astronomical first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere.

While people see the longer days as part of the first day of spring, other species are more about their instincts and temperature change. Due to the climate crisis the flyways are busy at different times of the year now, with migration shifting because of the warmer climate sooner.

September 25, 2020

By Brooke Bateman

The last few decades (click here) have seen an advancing onset of spring as temperatures have warmed due to climate change. Early spring may seem like something to revel in, but for natural ecosystems it can wreak havoc. Given the rapid pace of climate change, long established relationships can unravel, leading to mismatches in species phenology- the timing of seasonal and cyclic component of a species life. This phenomena can be seen with bird migration; millions of birds  are migrating earlier as temperatures have warmed. Some species like the Black-throated Blue Warbler are migrating nearly a week earlier than they did 50 years ago. However, not all species are able to adapt as rapidly as others, subsequently leaving them a step behind during the integral breeding time. This can be as simple as birds like the Broad-tailed Hummingbird missing out on a key food resource needed for breeding, or as bizarre as birds turning into zombie-like killers to defend limited resources....

October 10, 2018

By Doyle Rice

Currently, the Violet-Green Swallow (click here) is one of the most threatened species due to the climate because they are a desert species and the climate is making their habitat far warmer than normal. This temperature increase is stressing most desert species.

About two-thirds of America's birds (click here) will be threatened with extinction if global warming rises by 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, according to a report released Thursday from the National Audubon Society, a bird-focused conservation group.

“A lot of people paid attention to last month’s report that North America has lost nearly a third of its birds," said David Yarnold, CEO and president of Audubon. "This new data pivots forward and imagines an even more frightening future. It's a bird emergency."

About 389 out of 604 species are at risk of extinction from climate change. A few of the imperiled species include state birds such as Minnesota's common loon, New Jersey's goldfinch and California's quail.

To prepare the report – "Survival by Degrees: Bird Species on the Brink" – Audubon scientists studied 604 North American bird species using 140 million bird records, including observational data from bird lovers and field biologists across the U.S., Canada and Mexico....

One of the profound reasons the Endangered and Threatened Species classification started was to monitor Earth's life support. If other species were failing it would indicate a concern for the human condition. It is proving to be true. The Polar Bear is threatened and the lower 48 are now experiencing year-round upheavals in weather due to the climate crisis.

President Joe Biden fell three times going up the stairs to Air Force 1.

Those are steep stairs and there are many of them. I can imagine an old injury can bother an older American at an inopportune time. 

There are other ways on that jet. President Biden should feel free to use them. 

FDR didn’t worry about going up stairs and looking young and tough. He was respected for his age and wisdom.

America loves President Biden and if he needs to end the matcho act on the stairs to his jet, I imagine most Americans will feel good about it.

Georgia has the death penalty.

It bothers me there was a confession before Long had a lawyer assigned to his case. I think the judge has to be very cautious. Long needs psychiatric evaluation. It has to be determined that he understood what he was doing when he killed and understood the brevity of his actions at the time and when he confessed.

I do not believe in the death penalty. I think it makes a very poor statement about the country. 

This case is heinous for the sheer numbers of people killed. It is also a sensitive group of people that lost their lives. They were women and an American minority. There is every reason to believe the prosecution will seek the death penalty.

What bothers me most about this case and the case of Dylan Roof is the young age they decided they had a mission more important than life itself. I doubt when they killed they thought they would be caught.

The problem in the USA, including many other young men that killed including Kyle Rittenhouse, is that these young men could have been indoctrinated to kill. I realize that may not be the case with Long.

The problem as I see it, is the predatory methods of organized hate groups. Families are losing their sons to a derelict subculture that has been allowed to exist for far too long in the USA. There are more young men in their later teens and early twenties ready to kill for a purpose outside the USA definition of it’s society. 

We are struggling to erase racism in the USA because of unnecessary deaths of citizens at the hand of those that do not believe minorities should be a part of the USA. Let me make this clear, there is a subculture in the USA that turns our young men into killers. At a young age, these boys learn hate outside the influence of their families and grow to carry out killing for strange reasons. Hating skin color is a very strange and foreign reason to commit murder in the USA.

Long is 21 years old. He is joined by a growing number of young men, unafraid of the power of a gun, and killing without a second thought. These young men are removed from appreciating humanity and the beauty and value of life itself.

The USA has a problem with dispassionate killing in some young men. Dylan Roof sat among his victims before he killed dispassionately and simply walked away from his acts. Long sat in his car for an hour before he dispassionately walked out of the spa where he too killed and simply drove away to kill again. What are they meditating before they kill and who taught them that skill?

I am not surprised Robert Aaron Long is an evangelical looking to rid life of sexual imagery. Rather than growing into an adult body with a healthy outlook on life, they develop a necrosis about sex. It is ridiculous. 

We live in a society that offers young people guidance in sex education classes and where birth control is considered a normal method of balancing normal human sexuality with the joys of parenthood.

The evangelicals need to get over themselves.

Having sexual neurosis is not exclusive of racism. Both can exist.

How many American young men and women were using birth control by the age of 17, even if just a condom? Raise your hands. Wow, look at that half the country knows where it’s at.

Snyder should just plead guilty before some real charges are finally leveled against him.

Of course, Snyder's lawyers are going to appeal. I think the State of Michigan is still picking up the tab for the lawyers, right? Why not appeal?

Last week I discussed the little-known antiquated Michigan law that allows a one-person grand jury. All this requires some degree of investigation to find out why the case against Snyder wasn't appropriately pled before a jury of 16 or more people. Perhaps, the state will once again look into the outcomes of the one-person grand jury and rethink the charges against Snyder. There is no reason to undo the current misdemeanors, but, there is sufficient reason to bring in a new grand jury to examine the real reasons why Snyder is charged and add to his crimes.

The people of Flint deserve sincere justice. This is so racist in it's entire course there has to be a reconvening of a proper grand jury to render additional charges to Snyder. He was the impetus to the crimes that occurred in Flint. He was the one that covered everything up when the federal EPA wrote HIM and demanded something be done about the water quality. There is a good chance the federal system can look into the EPA's efforts and the willful disregard by Snyder and bring their own charges. It should be brought to the attention of the federal EPA's attention with requests for additional charges against the former governor.

March 18, 2021
By Ed White

Detroit - A judge on Thursday(click here) rejected a request to dismiss misdemeanor charges against a former Michigan governor in the Flint water scandal.

Lawyers for Rick Snyder said he worked in Ingham County, not Genesee County, so the indictment from a one-person grand jury was returned in the wrong place....

The crimes occurred in Genesee County. All of a sudden the charges have to be filed in the defendant's county of residency? If that is the case every other criminal case ever brought in the USA should be dismissed. I guess the lawyers have to try. The proper jurisdiction is Genesee County. Now, if the lawyers are concerned about a biased jury, the trial could possibly be brought elsewhere, like Detroit.

...But Judge William Crawford II said prosecutors have flexibility about where to pursue a case.

If the former Republican governor goes to trial, a jury will be asked to determine if charges of willful neglect of duty occurred in the boundaries of Flint and Genesee County, Crawford said.

The attorney general's office has “intimate knowledge” of what the investigation revealed and where, the judge said.

“The state Legislature does not want strict adherence to territorial boundaries applied to nebulous concepts of venue," especially if it could "impede justice,” Crawford said....

Since when does a legislative body weigh in on a criminal trial? This entire episode with Snyder and the Republican Michigan State legislature is a crime. Maybe the members of the legislature that acted to destroy the referendum by the people in an open and free election should be tried. It might be a good idea to look at that as well. A State hearing about the disregarded referendum will never happen, so maybe the State Attorney General needs to look into the ethical and criminal statutes to determine if members of the Michigan legislature acted to CAUSE greater harm to the people of the state, including Flint by destroying the referendum voted on by the people to end the Emergency Manager law.

...Snyder's attorneys plan to appeal. It's the first of what will be many aggressive challenges to an unprecedented case against a sitting or former Michigan governor for alleged acts while in office....

I really believe this episode of "citizens endangerment and death" is a human rights violation committed by people that legislate laws and those that carry them out. There must be a way to hold all involved responsible.

The Plutocrats are dictating our democracy.

The cost of filibustering? OMG. The reason the filibuster is nothing but hot air is that when a filibuster MUST be through speaking and debating Senators, it removes them from raising money full time. That is also why the Senate is always asking for a quorum call. Everyone is in their offices raising money. They aren't governing.

President Biden after leaving the Vice Presidency stated as a private citizen, he was making money he never saw before. Why? Because he was more interested in doing his job, then begging for campaign donations. It is true. President Biden never dreamed of being a billionaire, he wanted to protect the country and it's constitution. He never made vast money UNTIL HE LEFT OFFICE, not during.

March 19, 2021
By Jonathan R. Siegel

...According to this theory, (click here) there are two reasons filibusters have metastasized from an occasional problem into a constant catastrophe. First, in earlier times, senators shared a social understanding that filibusters should be reserved for matters of critical importance, whereas today the Senate minority routinely filibusters everything it doesn’t like. Second, in earlier times, filibustering senators had to work hard to filibuster, whereas today they have it too easy. And while everyone agrees that not much can be done about the first point in this hyperpartisan era, some people think a lot could be done by attacking the second.

Starting in the 1970s, Senate rules created a “dual-tracking system” under which filibusters didn’t have to involve constantly debating a bill on the Senate floor. Such debate ate up too much floor time, so bills that were being filibustered were instead shunted off to a separate track. This had the advantage of allowing the Senate to work on something else while the majority tried to win enough votes to end the filibuster, but it also reduced the cost of filibustering, thereby making it more common. If filibustering senators didn’t actually have to hold the floor and debate (which in addition to being physically taxing left them less time to do other things, including raising money), then they’d be more likely to filibuster, leading to the never-ending filibuster jam the Senate is in now....

The filibuster is an unseemly rule of the US Senate. There is nothing honorable about the filibuster. Sure it is clever and even sexy, but, governing should never be about being clever, it should be about being honest.

No one is governing. Filibusters? Fund raising while in session? All these measures are slimy and define a US Senate that is easily manipulated by money. The most dramatic of recent years is Moscow Mitch and his immediate change in vote as soon as a Russian Oligarch offered to build a steel rolling plant in Kentucky to help with jobs. That is quid pro quo and McConnell got away with it.

These are priorities of wealthy Senators seeking greater wealth and will do so at any cost. The two new Georgia Senators won because President Biden asked the voters of Georgia to help with his agenda to instill profound change in this country while ending the SARS-C0V-2 pandemic in the USA. Yes, that is true. But there is also another reason.

David Purdue and Kelly Loeffler are knee deep in securities scandals.

David Purdue decides not to run for US Senate in 2022 (click here).

Purdue was a wealhty man looking to be wealthier while in the US Senate and using the information he had before him, secret or not, to attain that goal. Those governing in the federal government have used their power and office to become wealthy and wealthier. That is not REMOTELY why the American people vote and vote for people they believe to be honest and willing to bring about the laws they believe will improve their lives.

October 22, 2020
By Brian Clark and Tala Hadavi

Four U.S. senators (click here) were accused in March of using insider information about the coronavirus pandemic to profit in the stock market.

A couple of months later, the investigations into Sens. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Dianna Feinstein, D-Calif., and James Inhofe, R-Okla., were closed. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., stepped down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee amid the allegations.

Until the 2008 financial crisis, lawmakers were under few restrictions, and the public wasn’t able to find out much about lawmakers’ investments. In 2012, the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act was passed to clean up Washington. But recent events have yet again thrust the issue to the forefront....

Kelly Loeffler is beleived to be worth over a half billion US. (click here) and at the time the wealthiest elected legislator in the Congress.

The filibuster, talking or otherwise, will do nothing but obstruct very important and needed reforms in the USA government. This is ridiculous. The people in the USA need their civil rights returned and some furthered to become citizens and voters themselves. It is long overdue as well as all the other highly important issues before this Congress. If the Democrats fail the people this time again, they may never see a majority again to do what needs to be done.

The Democrats have an opporunity with Joe Biden as President to carry out an aggressive agenda that will make them heroes. They cannot fail us and if affection of a Senate rule that turns the USA majority in elections into disenfrancised, then it will be a world lost and out of reach to most Americans. People will suffer without this agenda passed and safely instituted.

I think the Democrats know what they have to do, but, are too attached to the romance of the powerful Senate to get out of their own way.

...The problem is that, under the Senate’s current rules, all-night talking filibusters would just end up imposing more costs on the majority senators than the minority senators. If the Democrats want to steer around the filibuster, they’re going to have to embrace actual change to the rules. There are good reasons to think hard before abolishing the filibuster altogether, but it would at least work. Bringing back talking filibusters would not.

Congratulations to Secretary Xavier Becerra.

March 18, 2021
By Eli Stokols

Washington - Xavier Becerra was narrowly confirmed (click here) as the Health and Human Services secretary on Thursday on a near party-line vote.

The Senate voted 50-49 in favor of Becerra, who will be the first Latino to lead the agency. The vote also made him President Biden’s 20th appointee confirmed by the equally divided Senate. He resigned later Thursday as attorney general of California.

All Democrats backed his nomination, while Republicans were nearly united in opposition, with many pointing to his past comments and record as attorney general of having led more than 150 Democratic legal challenges to Trump administration policies....

The Republicans didn't like him because Secretary Becerra believes in confidentially between a doctor and the woman seeking health care.

A cool one million US dollars was spent to defeat Secretary Becerra in his confirmation. A million dollars is a lot to pass up for Republicans. The opposition was willing to spend that kind of money to defeat an HHS Secretary, then Republicans were opposed as well.

So who opposed the nomination? A good guess is the healthcare insurance sector. Secretary Becerra backs "Medicare for All."

A point of pride for Democratic lawmakers is the immigration background of Secretary Becerra. Both his parents are Mexican immigrants that met in the USA. Secretary Becerra was born in the USA, but, has an intimate knowledge of the difficulties migrants face for their healthcare. I am confident he will do a remarkable job as HHS Secretary.