Congratulations to Governor Asa Hutchinson fir vetoing the anti-transgender health care bill. He was absolutely right to fit it. The bill was a human rights violation. I was extremely surprised to realize Arkansas legislature was so biased and discriminatory in their laws. My goodness. It is a lot to be concerned about.
Monday, April 05, 2021
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is a genius.
Secretary Yellen is proposing a minimum tax globally on corporations. Companies play with countries’ borders a lot. Allies literally compete for businesses no different than states have to compete for PPE. The entire corporate structure is disincentivized to promote sovereign stability.
One of the places Secretary Yellen will meet with agreement is Wall Street transaction taxes. It is a minuscule tax who’s time has come. But, promoting sovereign economic stability also means corporate stability follows.
I think the United Nations has a place in a convention that stabilizes countries with companies that employ, pay good wages and provide for a consistent treasury income.
It is time the global community take on this challenge.
The Trump Tax Cut to Wall Street slowed job creation.
This was before COVID-19. After Wall Street received huge amounts of tax cuts and even refunds for taxes paid in 2017, they downsized. The cash provided for change, not new jobs.
Give me a break. How many CEOs looked at the Trump Tax Cuts and said, "Oh, joy, there is going to be more jobs created with the expansion of the business." WRONG! Wall Street always CUTS costs. Labor is costs and one that Wall Street doesn't like.
The Trump Tax Cuts hurt this country as companies downsized their labor force and instituted more computer and mechanized production of their products.
A seven percent tax increase on corporations in the USA will mean they will actually pay into the US Treasury and not have a ZERO TAX RATE. Honestly!
In 2017, (click here) total nonfarm payroll employment as measured by the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey rose by 2.2 million, or 1.5 percent, slightly slowing its advance from 2016. Job growth accelerated in goods-producing industries, while growth in most service-providing industries decelerated.
The employment gains in 2017 occurred while many economic indicators of the U.S. economy signaled strength. However, there were still some headwinds resulting from a tight labor market and two major hurricanes. The slight easing of job growth also occurred in the fourth year of the current employment expansion, which is now longer than the expansion from January 2005 to January 2008. This article provides an overview of these labor market developments....
Moscow Mitch always talks about the coal industry. Yes? It is his big claim that Republicans protect those coal companies. WRONG! Moscow Mitch is not a protection for any industry. His vote for the Trump Tax Cuts increased mechanization of industry, not jobs.
Stop the political rhetoric by Moscow Mitch and know the facts. Tell a friend, they are not the friends of the American people.
January 25, 2017
By Dayashree Saha and Sifan Liu
President Trump has made empty promises (click here) to make the coal industry great again, vowing to reverse decades of the industry’s downward employment trajectory. In previous blog posts, we have shown how his promises to put coal miners back to work will be a tall order. Here, we introduce another reason why coal will face an uphill battle: automation.
The problem facing the coal industry is not unique: Automation is rapidly reducing employment in mining and manufacturing. Across a wide range of industries, from car manufacturing to computing, robots or artificial intelligence are increasingly taking over roles traditionally performed by humans. The same is true for coal mining....
President Biden said we need jobs now. Well. Guess what?
April 2, 2021
By Jeff Cox
By Jeff Cox
Job growth boomed in March (click here) at the fastest pace since last summer, as stronger economic growth and an aggressive vaccination effort contributed to a surge in hospitality and construction jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 916,000 for the month while the unemployment rate fell to 6%.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for an increase of 675,000 and an unemployment rate of 6%. The total was the highest since the 1.58 million added in August 2020.
“It shows that the economy is healing, that those who lost their jobs are coming back into the workforce as the recovery continues and restrictions are lifted,” said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential Financial. “The only concern here is if we have another wave of Covid that leads to another round of closures.”...
Get vaccinated. End the health emergency. The Biden Presidency has put forward incredible numbers of vaccines and we need to continue to be safe from the virus and it's variants.
Masks work.
Social distancing works.
Hand hygiene works and no face touching until after hand hygiene.
GET VACCINATED.
The Big Biden Bill is necesssary.
The past two decades, yes decades, have been nothing but a rollback of maintenance and modernizing the USA infrastructure. This spending now is to CATCH UP over the lack of modernization of the USA infrastructure under Republican governance. They cut taxes and turn their back on the people and the future of this planet.
April 4, 2021
By Emily Czachor
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (click here) on Sunday defended the breadth of President Joe Biden's American Jobs Plan, a $2.2 trillion bill that aims to improve U.S. infrastructure and revitalize the economy as it works to recover from COVID-19.
The proposal, which Biden unveiled last week, was met with criticism from Republican and some Democratic lawmakers over its size. While conservatives, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, argued against the plan because of its spending goals, progressives, such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, suggested that additional funds are necessary to truly realize the bill's intended impacts.
Speaking to ABC News host George Stephanopoulos during an appearance on the network's This Week program, Buttigieg acknowledged the emerging partisan divide. A Democrat and former presidential candidate, Buttigieg served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for eight years before assuming his leadership role at the Department of Transportation under Biden's administration....
And, I think US Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is absolutely correct in the amount of money the USA needs to move the country to vastly lower GHG emissions. We are the leader of the Free World and we must set the standard. In obtaining a high standard of GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emission reduction we can then ask for other countries to meet the same standard. We must do this and the time is now.
2030 is less than nine years away. We cannot afford to miss that target. We must continue past 2030 to be carbon neutral by 2050. This is REALITY. This is not some weird political game that brings money to cronies. This is real and the danger is real. The stratosphere must remain intact without increased mixing as we have seen. The mixing between the troposphere and the stratosphere is record-setting. Enough of gambling with our planet to protect the petroleum industry. There are better ways.
By Emily Czachor
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg (click here) on Sunday defended the breadth of President Joe Biden's American Jobs Plan, a $2.2 trillion bill that aims to improve U.S. infrastructure and revitalize the economy as it works to recover from COVID-19.
The proposal, which Biden unveiled last week, was met with criticism from Republican and some Democratic lawmakers over its size. While conservatives, such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, argued against the plan because of its spending goals, progressives, such as New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, suggested that additional funds are necessary to truly realize the bill's intended impacts.
Speaking to ABC News host George Stephanopoulos during an appearance on the network's This Week program, Buttigieg acknowledged the emerging partisan divide. A Democrat and former presidential candidate, Buttigieg served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, for eight years before assuming his leadership role at the Department of Transportation under Biden's administration....
US Senator Joe Manchin believes he can find 10 Republicans to vote for this bill that will change the USA forever leading into the future. I hope he is right and if he is successful, the partisan divide is a myth. I would love to see that as a myth sooner than later. If Senator Machin hopes for bipartisan support is not realized, then the Democrats must do what is best for the country as a leader and for the generation of Americans growing up now. Our time is now.
This is Donald John Trump's best friend and he wants to kill us.
April 5, 2021
By Nick Paton Walsh
By Nick Paton Walsh
Russia is amassing unprecedented military might (click here) in the Arctic and testing its newest weapons in a region freshly ice-free due to the climate emergency, in a bid to secure its northern coast and open up a key shipping route from Asia to Europe.
Weapons experts and Western officials have expressed particular concern about one Russian 'super-weapon,' the Poseidon 2M39 torpedo. Development of the torpedo is moving fast with Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting an update on a "key stage" of the tests in February from his defense minister Sergei Shoigu, with further tests planned this year, according to multiple reports in state media....
This is a first-strike weapon and it is stealth, probably our technology, too. If this is our technology military research should be able to decode it and detect it, but, we don't know that for sure.
Look, Putin wins elections but he is not the choice of the Russian people. I doubt anyone but the hardline communists are in favor of escalating the nuclear war with The West.
Last summer there was a nuclear accident in Russia that killed 5 or 6 of their nuclear scientists. Now we know why. Russia wants war and this is one of the weapons they are intending to use. There is no doubt with parking nuclear capacity jets in Venezuela, Putin is outlining his strategy. This is serious and it won't go away. Why? Because Putin is on a timeline to regime change in Russia. The Russian people and in coveted satellites like Belarus, the people want a different government. They want free and open and fair elections that are not corrupt. They want representation in the Duma and other bodies in other countries to represent the values of the people and not a strong man that insists on being in power forever.
June 29, 2020
By Kyle Mizkoami
Radiation detectors (click here) across northern Europe have picked up a short-lived, non-dangerous release of radioactivity experts believe came from Russia. Authorities believe the leak, which was first detected in early June, is coming from western Russia. One possibility is that the test is in some way related to a new nuclear-powered cruise missile, which caused an accident in 2019 and several deaths.
The Associated Press reports that officials in Finland, Norway, and Sweden detected man-made radionuclides—that is, radionuclides that do not naturally occur in nature. According to the Barents Observer, Iodine 131 was detected by air monitoring stations at Svanhovd and Viksjøfjell, Norway, as well as a nuclear weapons monitoring facility at Svalbard. Analysis by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health indicates the source of the radiation is western Russia.
Iodine 131 is a radioisotope created as a result of nuclear fission, which is why scientists believe the radiation release is the result of an accident at a nuclear facility. According to the CDC, exposure to large amounts of Iodine 131 can cause burns to the eyes and skin. Iodine 131 ingested into the human body accumulates in the thyroid gland, causing thyroid cancer. Iodine 131 has a half-life of eight days, meaning it can disappear from the environment relatively quickly....
The Russian submarine fleet has always been it's "go to" capacity with nuclear bombs ready for launch off the shore of the USA and allies. But, it would seem as though Putin has opted for smaller ships more laden with bombs. I believe this is a European strategy more so than North America. I have to wonder if these ships are capable in the Black Sea.
April 1, 2021
By Benjamine Brimelow
It's stepping up operations in the Arctic, expanding its presence in Africa and the Middle East, and keeping a close eye on NATO around Europe.
It's also making progress on a number of high-profile shipbuilding projects. It plans to commission or receive six new submarines — three of them nuclear-powered — by the end of this year and expects to receive a fully modernized Kirov-class nuclear battlecruiser and to begin sea trials for its only aircraft carrier by the end of 2022.
These are impressive advances for a force that largely fell into disrepair after the Cold War. While the Russian Navy isn't as big as its Soviet forebear, the work shows that the Kremlin is committing to its modernization....
I never once believed the Russian military was incapacitated, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The hope for the world was always with new leadership with a vision to be part of greater global peace. Within that peace was economic prosperity, then came the Russian invasion into Ukraine. Yes, Crimea, regardless of Putin's rantings is part of Ukraine and the border war is still an issue. If one recalls Donald John Trump was going to withhold the necessary munitions from the USA that would hopefully end the conflict with Russia taking over the country. That was the Trump strategy, with a yellow streak up his back, he would hand over anything to Russia, including top secret information so long as he could be king.
But, these two new weapons are definitely a part of a global strategy for nuclear war. Putin has a problem though. If he deploys all this explosion in the world, there won't be a postage size stamp of land capable of occupying.
THIS ARMS RACE is old and dangerous and it has to stop. The Non-Proliferation Agreements must take precedent and end this madness. Putin as king is nothing the Russian people wanted. They probably don't like the arms race either, IF THEY KNEW ABOUT IT.
End this mess and get serious about the GLOBAL CLIMATE CRISIS that is now assaulting the mixing between the troposphere and stratosphere. That mixing is deadly and it has to come to an end. That is the real challenge of the world and this esclation in any arms race is stupid.
The Rooster
"Okeydoke"
Okay everyone we need to get vaccinated. Time to kick this virus to the curb. We are over with this mess. Still yet another variant, this time out of India. It is time the world is vaccinated, but, the worst-case numbers has been the USA. We MUST be vaccinated to end the OPPORTUNITY for these variants to develop.
April 4, 2021By Kelli Dugan
Santa Clara County - A new variant (click here) of the coronavirus, first detected in India, has been diagnosed in the San Francisco Bay Area and is believed to be the first of its kind discovered in the United States.
The variant, believed to be responsible for a recent surge in India’s COVID-19 cases, is classified as a double mutation, KNTV reported.
To date, Stanford University experts have confirmed only one case involving the new variant countywide, but more are expected, the TV station reported....
Sunday, April 04, 2021
This is RADIOACTIVE WASTE. How long does DeSantis PLAN to have Manatee County a dead zone?
No one can afford to sit by and let physics and gravity have it's way. That is the CHEAP Republican answer. The Governor of Florida needs to PUMP THE LOUSY WASTE POND DRY and transport the radioactive liquid to a safe deposit area. That all has to be coordinated through the President of the USA and the US Army Corps.
I also want to know how many violations this place has accumulated and why under Trump NOTHING WAS DONE about it?
What does the Florida EPA have on record and why weren't they screaming at the top of their lungs. The US EPA needs to have it's offices throughout the country report in on more of these "death pools," including and especially in coal country.
There have been and are crimes being committed here. It did not get this bad because people were doing their jobs and the right thing for the people.
By Ryan Callahan and Ryan Ballogg
Manatee County remained under a state of emergency (click here) Sunday as federal, state and local leaders worked to contain a leak at a former phosphate processing plant that threatens to contaminate the area with millions of gallons of polluted water.
A worst-case scenario could send 20 feet of contaminated water flooding from the site, Acting Manatee County Administrator Scott Hopes said Sunday during a news briefing with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. A total breach that spurts out uncontrolled water could also destabilize gypsum stacks containing radioactive material.
Crews on Friday found a breach in the site’s largest pond, which originally contained about 480 million gallons of water. Because of potential flooding, an emergency evacuation order was ordered in the area, and it has been expanded to more than 300 homes. U.S. 41 remains closed to traffic to Moccasin Wallow Road.
“The models for less than an hour could be a 20-foot wall of water,” Hopes said. “If you’re in an evacuation area and you have not heeded that, you need to think twice.”...
Noah Green is a home grown terrorist.
His methods of killing are straight out of the playbook in the UK. Trapping police between a car and some kind of barrier and then wielding a knife. If he had a gun he would have done far more damage than he did.
My complete sympathies to the family of the dead officer, but, this guy is a homegrown terrorist.
To the left Noah Green. Great American kid until he gets pissed off. Now, how much is Farrakhan involved in the anger that set this guy off?
Washington D.C. —The suspect who killed a Capitol Police officer (click here) and injured another has been identified as Noah Green—a self-proclaimed “Follower of Farrakhan”—and not “a White male” as MSNBC falsely reported, or a “white supremacist” as many mistakenly presumed.
Green, who posted several Facebook posts as a proud follower of the Nation of Islam, rammed a car into the barricade at the U.S. Capitol, striking two Capitol Police officers. Green then got out of the car and attempted to attack other officers with a knife before he was shot and killed during the rampage.
Within the past few weeks, Green posted several concerning social media posts—before Facebook took down Green’s profile, as the NY Post reported....
Americans no longer have to send their daughters to Aruba to find the most dangerous beaches in the world.
By Monica Galarza
Christine Englehardt left her home in Buck County, Pennsylvania, to travel to Miami’s spring break, an annual liquor-fueled street and beach party.
Two North Carolina men (click here) have been arrested and accused of drugging and raping a woman who later died in a room at the Albion Hotel on Miami Beach, police say.
The men, 21-year-old Evoire Collier and 24-year-old Dorian Taylor, also stand accused of stealing the victim's credit cards and cash and using them during their trip to South Beach....
By Jessie O'Neill
A vigil has been planned (click here) for the 24-year-old Pennsylvania woman who police said was drugged and raped before being found dead in her Miami Beach hotel last week.
Christine Englehardt will be remembered at the Albion Hotel in Miami Beach on Friday evening at an event that is expected to be attended by local officials and activists, according to NBC’s South Florida affiliate.
The event will also feature a performance from a gospel singer, the report said....
“We cannot allow her death to be in vain,” a news release announcing the vigil reportedly said. “We must show that this type of behavior will cease to happen in Miami Beach.”...
DeSantis doesn't deserve a medal for any of this governance. It was and is horrible. I would think a governor would LEARN SOMETHING about governance with Spring Break 2020, but, no, not Ron DeSantis. The super spreading events are his specialty.
March 27, 2021
By Chris Persaud
Only a week or two (click here) after widely shared videos showed crowds of teens and twentysomethings partying on South Florida's beaches, health officials are finding a surge of coronavirus infections in younger people.
Half of COVID-19 cases dated March 1 were found in people 39 or younger, but that median age has since dropped to 35.
Florida remains the nation's hot spot for the more infectious mutations of the viral pathogen, federal data shows. Health care workers have found 1,075 as of Friday — 1,042 of which are the so-called British strain — according to the latest data available from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And that is an undercount, as many such cases go unreported because they go untested....
People in government and running for office simply can't make up stories for their own purposes.
Every company in the USA has a right to have it's dignity and REPUTATION intact at the end of any election cycle. Allegations being made by demented politicians should never be rewarded. Here again, a decent American company is taking on the corruption within the USA government and making it easier to be an American.
The lies of the 2020 elections and their reverberation through the media is due to right-wing extremism that learned the truth is not as motivating as lies intended to make Americans fear their government. In all honesty, this sounds like a strategy carved out by Putin. He would love to be able to control the voting machines in this country. Everything being said by desperate politicians sounds as though they have a corrupt Russian teacher.
That is the real trick with the minions of Trump. They are definitely liars and seek to control the government to their own advantage. A different example of this is Ron DeSantis. He is touting how he minimized the impact on Florida's economy while only achieving half the cases and deaths than some states in the USA. Really? Florida has been a HUB OF THE INFECTION THROUGHOUT THE USA since Spring Break 2020. Does he actually think he will get away with pretending he didn't cause the spread of the virus throughout the country through young people that are unwitting to his lack of leadership?
By Craig Mauger
Lansing — Dominion Voting Systems (click here) is demanding that Patrick Colbeck, a former Michigan lawmaker, retract "false claims" he's been making about the company in PowerPoint presentations.
Dominion sent Colbeck, who's from Canton, a letter on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Detroit News. The company says Colbeck is waging a "disinformation campaign" while touring Michigan to give presentations entitled "Case for MI Decertification," which blames Dominion for "stealing the election" from former President Donald Trump.
"You are knowingly sowing discord in our democracy, all the while soliciting exorbitant amounts of money — totaling over $1 million so far — from your audiences paid directly to your personal business," says the letter signed by attorneys Thomas Clare and Megan Meier....
The Florida COVID-19 data isn't even accurate. One of the reasons the researchers (click here) decided to look at Florida statistics is because it was the first to lift the sanctions to PREVENT the spread of the virus. How convenient that DeSantis was able to manipulate the statistical reporting to make Trump's pronouncements seem real and the best way forward; Economic returns while Americans all over the country died due to "The Florida Super Spreader Events."
By Deidre McPhillips
...Their research found (click here) that "the impact of COVID-19 on mortality is significantly greater than the official COVID-19 data suggest." Nearly 5,000 excess deaths in Florida between March and September 2020 are "unexplained," according to the study.
However, a CNN analysis of excess mortality data published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that's another data point in which Florida is just about average....
I think Major League Baseball is absolutely correct in their actions against racism in government.
The only way to end racism and oppression, especially when Americans make their choices who will lead this country at any level of government, is to stand together. The fans of MLB should not only stand with organizations and PLAYERS, they should support these brave efforts.
I congratulate the MLB. More organizations should join the ranks of those that want to end racism and oppression in the USA.
I am proud of them. They aren't just in it for the money for a stronger America. I think oppression and racism are very dangerous for our society. The stronger the fabric of the American flag the better a country we have.
The corruption of the Trump White House was downright scary and nearly robbed the people of freedom. This is the correct thing to do for the MLB and it is not going unnoticed. Oppression and racism as institutionalized in Georgia voting laws are a threat to everyone. The power of the many is far better than the power of the one. We witnessed that with the Trump White House and now we have to defend our country at every turn. The MLB just made it easier.
By Shi Davidi
Rob Manfred (click here) has focused intensely on the business of MLB. How he's going about it is a study in some of his earliest moves as commissioner of the league.
Toronto - The discourse is too easily hijacked (click here) in these disquieting culture-war days, distilling complicated issues into a rhetorical jingoism that prevents rational conversation and nuanced arguments.
Predictably, Major League Baseball landed in the woke-versus-MAGA fray with its decision Friday to pull the all-star game from Atlanta, in protest of Georgia’s new election bill that places several restrictions around the state’s voting process. Media proxies spent Saturday dutifully howling into the echo chambers of their respective audiences, the usual bluster replacing anything that might resemble productive debate.
Rather than falling down the rabbit hole, let’s emphasize that any election reform that wins approval on a strict party-line vote, rather than bi-partisan support, is designed to give someone the shaft. In the wake of Stacey Abrams’ loss to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018 by less than 55,000 seats, after Democrats flipped a pair of senate seats in last year’s election, with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of widescale voting fraud debunked, the Georgia law is a blatant attack on the voters – often Black – who fuelled those gains....
Predictably, Major League Baseball landed in the woke-versus-MAGA fray with its decision Friday to pull the all-star game from Atlanta, in protest of Georgia’s new election bill that places several restrictions around the state’s voting process. Media proxies spent Saturday dutifully howling into the echo chambers of their respective audiences, the usual bluster replacing anything that might resemble productive debate.
Rather than falling down the rabbit hole, let’s emphasize that any election reform that wins approval on a strict party-line vote, rather than bi-partisan support, is designed to give someone the shaft. In the wake of Stacey Abrams’ loss to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018 by less than 55,000 seats, after Democrats flipped a pair of senate seats in last year’s election, with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of widescale voting fraud debunked, the Georgia law is a blatant attack on the voters – often Black – who fuelled those gains....
Three names come to mind, Trump, Bannon and Putin, not necessarily in that order.
We have witnessed Donald John Trump move a prince from the fringe in Saudi Arabia to the next ruler of the country. A vicious killer ruler as well.
We know for a fact Bannon is engaged in destabilizing The West. He has created a toxic conservative movement in nearly every country the USA calls an ally. The fact of the matter is Bannon and Trump are allies of Putin. So, I would not be surprised if somewhere along the way Crown Prince Hussein didn't mentoring from any three of them.
King Abdullah (click here) is young and healthy, but it’s never too early to introduce the country’s next ruler, Crown Prince Hussein, to key U.S. officials.
Amman - Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Maj. Gen. Yousef Huneiti (click here) on Saturday night denied reports that HRH Prince Hamzeh had been arrested but said the prince was asked to “cease all activities or movements exploited to target Jordan's security and stability” as part of comprehensive investigations conducted by security authorities.
He said Sharif Hassan Bin Zeid and former minister Bassem Awadallah, and others, were arrested as part of it.
The army chief added that investigations are ongoing and that results will be revealed in “a transparent and clear manner”, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The procedures that have been taken are in line with the law and came after thorough investigations, Huneiti said.
He stressed that “no one is above the law and that Jordan's stability and security are above all considerations”.
Earlier in the day, a security source said that Sharif Hassan Bin Zeid and former minister Bassem Awadallah, among others, were arrested for “security reasons” .
Investigations are underway into the issue, Petra, reported....
The US State Department said that His Majesty King Abdullah is a “key partner” of the US.
The procedures that have been taken are in line with the law and came after thorough investigations, Huneiti said.
He stressed that “no one is above the law and that Jordan's stability and security are above all considerations”.
Earlier in the day, a security source said that Sharif Hassan Bin Zeid and former minister Bassem Awadallah, among others, were arrested for “security reasons” .
Investigations are underway into the issue, Petra, reported....
The US State Department said that His Majesty King Abdullah is a “key partner” of the US.
Saturday, April 03, 2021
GET VACCINATED! IT WORKS!
I had all the apprehensions everyone else does. But, it went fine. I had two doses of the Moderna vaccine. It was fine.
Get vaccinated.
By Karen Weintraub
Six months after getting a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (click here) as part of a 46,000-person clinical trial, volunteers remained more than 90% protected against symptomatic COVID-19 and even better protected against severe disease, a new company study found.
Out of 927 trial participants who fell ill with COVID-19 more than a week after their second dose, only 77 had received the active vaccine, compared with 850 who got a placebo.
There were no serious safety concerns among the 12,000 volunteers who are at least six months past their second dose, according to the newly released findings. Many, however, did have typical, short-term side effects such as fatigue and sore arms.
The study also showed that the vaccine is effective against a virus variant called B.1.351, first identified in South Africa....
This is Holy Week and while Pope Francis had a glorious ceremony for children on Good Friday...
...the right-wing wackos in the USA are killing people. I do not want to hear how the right-wing has god on their side. It is a huge lie. Even Northern Ireland wasn't this disregarding of God. Perhaps we need to start peace talks with the idiots of the right. Ask Tony Blair to begin. He was successful with the radicals in Ireland.
April 2, 2021
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis (click here) presides at the Way of the Cross, in a near-empty St Peter’s Square: a poignant symbol of the solitude and isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic imbued by the hope provided by the reflections prepared by children....
This holy season Pope Francis wants all to concentrate on the crosses children carry. In a country where parents are dying in hails of gunfire it is easy to say American children definitely are bearing their own crosses.
April 2, 2021
By Emily Cochrane, Nicholas Fandos, and Ben Decker
Washington - The band of razor wire-topped fencing (click here) around the Capitol had recently come down. The heavy National Guard presence had begun to thin.
But on Friday, not quite three months after the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, a car came careening midday onto the Capitol grounds, slamming into two Capitol Police officers and leaving one of them dead and the other injured.
This time, the source of the violence was not an angry pro-Trump mob, but a lone driver, armed with a knife, who had recently told friends he had left his job and had “afflictions.” After crashing his car and menacing officers, he was shot and killed.
“It is with a very, very heavy heart that I announce one of our officers has succumbed to his injuries,” Yogananda D. Pittman, the acting Capitol Police chief, said during a news conference near the scene. “This has been an extremely difficult time for U.S. Capitol Police, after the events of Jan. 6 and now the events that have occurred here today.”...
By Linda Bordoni
Pope Francis (click here) presides at the Way of the Cross, in a near-empty St Peter’s Square: a poignant symbol of the solitude and isolation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic imbued by the hope provided by the reflections prepared by children....
March 31, 2021
By Jordan Culver
Four people, including a child, (click here) are dead after a suspect opened fire at an office building in Southern California, according to police.
Details were scarce late Wednesday regarding the incident in Orange, California, but Orange Police Department Lt. Jen Amat told reporters at the scene four people died and the suspect in the shooting was injured and taken to a local hospital and is in critical condition. Officers recovered one gun, she said.
One woman was injured and hospitalized in critical condition, Amat said. Both the woman and the suspect suffered gunshot wounds, Amat said. She added she didn't know if the suspect's wound "is self-inflicted or not."
There was no additional information about the suspect or the victims. Amat stressed there was no ongoing threat to the public and had no information about weapons found at the scene....
Get this straight.
There is absolutely no moral content to the killing by right-wing extremists. This is more than the security of the US Capitol. This is about guns and killing within the borders of the USA.
Why should the Capitol have to be secured at all? Before Trump's insurrection, it was never an issue.
By Emily Cochrane, Nicholas Fandos, and Ben Decker
Washington - The band of razor wire-topped fencing (click here) around the Capitol had recently come down. The heavy National Guard presence had begun to thin.
But on Friday, not quite three months after the deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, a car came careening midday onto the Capitol grounds, slamming into two Capitol Police officers and leaving one of them dead and the other injured.
This time, the source of the violence was not an angry pro-Trump mob, but a lone driver, armed with a knife, who had recently told friends he had left his job and had “afflictions.” After crashing his car and menacing officers, he was shot and killed.
“It is with a very, very heavy heart that I announce one of our officers has succumbed to his injuries,” Yogananda D. Pittman, the acting Capitol Police chief, said during a news conference near the scene. “This has been an extremely difficult time for U.S. Capitol Police, after the events of Jan. 6 and now the events that have occurred here today.”...
Friday, April 02, 2021
Three Flint residents are challenging the attorney fees. I congratulate them.
April 2, 2021
By Lia Kamana & Caleb Holloway
That is what the McKenzie Patrice Croom Flint Community Lab is all about.
You first heard about the lab right here on Mid-Michigan Now back in 2020.
The community lab, like most things this past year, was impacted by the coronavirus, so they did have to put programming and water testing a bit on hold.
Now they are moving full steam ahead with a brand-new group of high school students in to make it all possible.
“People are happy to see us in the community. Sometimes you get some pushback, they don’t believe this is something that can help them, but primarily, by and large people want to know what is happening in their water so we are going to be providing that, trying to bring that trust back into the community.” - Michael Harris – Partner, Flint Development Center Community Water Lab...
The community lab, like most things this past year, was impacted by the coronavirus, so they did have to put programming and water testing a bit on hold.
Now they are moving full steam ahead with a brand-new group of high school students in to make it all possible.
“People are happy to see us in the community. Sometimes you get some pushback, they don’t believe this is something that can help them, but primarily, by and large people want to know what is happening in their water so we are going to be providing that, trying to bring that trust back into the community.” - Michael Harris – Partner, Flint Development Center Community Water Lab...
March 30, 2021
By Beth LaBlanc
A Washington D.C.-based law center (click here) representing three Flint residents is challenging the $202 million attorney fee request in the water crisis settlement, arguing the amount should be millions of dollars less.
Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute's Center for Class Action Fairness is challenging pro bono the proposed attorney fees, which would shift about 32% of the $641 million settlement away from Flint residents and to the lawyers who have represented them over the past several years. The residents are claiming damages for lead contamination of the drinking water and Legionnaires' disease cases linked to the water source shift.
The group is asking U.S. District Judge Judith Levy to demand more transparency regarding the attorney costs that merited the 32% request and allow Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel to weigh in on the proposed attorney fees....
March 31, 2021
By Beth LaBlanc
About 45,400 people (click here) have registered to participate in a $641 million settlement to compensate individuals affected by the Flint water crisis, but it is not a final tally, according to a court filing released Wednesday.
Thousands of electronic and mailed registration forms are still being reviewed, although some of them appear to be redundant, case special master Deborah Greenspan said in the filing. The claims administrator expects to receive more registrations from Flint's roughly 95,000 residents with postmarks of March 29 or before.
The claims administrator "estimates that it will take at least a week to complete the review and additional time after that to determine the number of duplicative registrations," Greenspan said.
People who have submitted a registration will be contacted by the claims administrator....
Speaker Pelosi is responsible for the US House.
Less than a month ago a warning went out.
March 3, 2021By Mark Katkov
The House of Representatives (click here) has canceled its Thursday session after the U.S. Capitol Police said it is aware of a threat by an identified militia group to breach the Capitol complex that day.
The Senate plans to remain in session on Thursday to debate amendments to the COVID-19 relief bill.
March 4 is a significant date for far-right conspiracy theorists who believe that former President Donald Trump will return to power on that day. Presidents were inaugurated on March 4 until 1933, after which the 20th Amendment to the Constitution moved the date to Jan. 20....
Just a little over an hour ago this went out. Trump has to answer for this. He broke the law. The Presidential Records Act requires the preservation of all records in the White House by an exiting administration. If the records are gone, then they were destroyed. That is a crime.
The Presidential Records Act (PRA) (click here) of 1978, 44 U.S.C. ß2201-2209, governs the official records of Presidents and Vice Presidents that were created or received after January 20, 1981 (i.e., beginning with the Reagan Administration).
April 2, 2021
By Phil Mattingly
The White House (click here) says it no longer has custody of the documents House Democratic investigators sought to shed light on the inner workings of then President Donald Trump's top aides in the lead up to, and on the day of, the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
"It has been the longstanding practice for all White House records to be transferred to the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of each President's tenure," White House counsel Dana Remus wrote in a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat.
"As a result, NARA is the appropriate entity to address your request, and should have any records responsive to your request; we do not have custody of such records at the White House," Remus wrote.
House Democratic committee chairs, on March 25, sent letters requesting documents and communications from before, during and after the attack on the Capitol, from a wide range of entities, including the White House, federal agencies, local law enforcement and the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms....
Here we go with a ton of misinformation. One report says officers at the Capitol were rammed with a vehicle and this one said there were gunshots. So, what is the actual report this time?
April 22, 2021
By Michael Balsamo
Police locked down the U.S. Capitol on Friday afternoon (click here) after a report of gunshots in the area.
U.S. Capitol Police say all Capitol buildings were being locked down “due to an external security threat” and staff members were told they could not enter or exit the buildings.
A law enforcement official says officers were responding to a report of a possible shooting on a street near the Capitol complex. It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was injured.
The official could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity....
April 2, 2021
By Phil Mattingly
The White House (click here) says it no longer has custody of the documents House Democratic investigators sought to shed light on the inner workings of then President Donald Trump's top aides in the lead up to, and on the day of, the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
"It has been the longstanding practice for all White House records to be transferred to the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of each President's tenure," White House counsel Dana Remus wrote in a letter to House Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat.
"As a result, NARA is the appropriate entity to address your request, and should have any records responsive to your request; we do not have custody of such records at the White House," Remus wrote.
House Democratic committee chairs, on March 25, sent letters requesting documents and communications from before, during and after the attack on the Capitol, from a wide range of entities, including the White House, federal agencies, local law enforcement and the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms....
Here we go with a ton of misinformation. One report says officers at the Capitol were rammed with a vehicle and this one said there were gunshots. So, what is the actual report this time?
By Michael Balsamo
Police locked down the U.S. Capitol on Friday afternoon (click here) after a report of gunshots in the area.
U.S. Capitol Police say all Capitol buildings were being locked down “due to an external security threat” and staff members were told they could not enter or exit the buildings.
A law enforcement official says officers were responding to a report of a possible shooting on a street near the Capitol complex. It wasn’t immediately clear if anyone was injured.
The official could not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity....
There is no doubt at all that Putin is attempting to end the life of Alexei Navalny.
Symbolism aside, Alexei needs holistic medical advice. While I understand his pain is great and he is feeling the loss of sensation and strength in his legs it may not be due to additional poisoning this time with arsenic, but, more his lack of sleep.
Pain in the human central nervous system is resolved by sleep. Pain will build to a frightening crescendo with a lack of profound sleep. Being awaken every hour is torture. There is nothing in his jail sentence that exposes him to such treatment. It is an enormous human rights violation at the very least by Putin to allow such hatred against Navalny by the prison guards. This is a leader of the Russian people and in that, all courtesy should be extended to him in his prison cell.
The suffering Alexei Navalny is being exposed to is more of the oppression of the Russian people to kill their hope. I doubt this round of cruelty by Putin and his minions will result in the death of the demand for freedom and an uncorrupt democratic process.
This lack of pure democratic practices is everywhere Putin places his footprint including Belarus. Putin's ideas of governance is dead. It is dead everywhere he looks and all he can do is attempt to wear a mask of success.
Putin needs to change his ideology ensconced by the communists and return to the man he was in the year 2000. He can no longer pretend to be the voice of "safety" he likes to carry as his mantel. Safety is no longer enough in communist countries. The people are demanding their rights, their human rights including the right to express suffering and oppression.
The unrest will continue and grow and it is all his doing.
Alexei Navalny must be provided enough sleep to combat his obvious pain and provided healthy food to end his hunger strike. He needs his own CHEF to prepare his meals and ensure the fact he will conclude his undeserved prison sentence in good health. This time his stay in prison must be overseen by a secure set of guards that see to his well-being, including food deserving of a leader of the Russian people.
It is over Vladimir. You no longer have friends that admire you for bringing Russia from the dark ages, but, only disillusion your return to oppressive communism brings. Navalny's death will be your noose.
Moscow - Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny (click here) declared a hunger strike on Wednesday in an attempt to force the prison holding him outside Moscow to provide him with proper medical care for what he said was acute pain in his back and both legs.
The fate of Navalny, one of President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics, is in focus after he said last week that being woken up by a guard every hour during the night amounted to torture and that his appeals for treatment for acute back and leg pain had been ignored.
In a handwritten letter addressed to the governor of his prison which was posted to social media by his team on Wednesday, Navalny said his daily requests for a doctor of his choice to examine him and for proper medicine for his problems to be provided had been ignored....
Thursday, April 01, 2021
We are going to need every penny of this to move into the future.
By Scott Detrow and Tamar Keith
President Biden (click here) on Wednesday will unveil a sprawling, ambitious infrastructure proposal that, if enacted, would overhaul how Americans get from Point A to Point B, how their electricity is generated, the speed of their Internet connections, the quality of their water and the physical makeup of their children's schools.
The measure, called the American Jobs Plan, includes big infrastructure fixes that both major parties — as well as a majority of Americans — consistently say they want to see, including upgrades to bridges, broadband and buildings....
We can begin the immediate movement to the future by ending oil subsidies.
continued....
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