Every cryptocurrency ATM should be shut down immediately in the USA at the very least.

Elon Musk should be ashamed to be affiliated with cryptocurrency. I have been doing my homework. Very recently, a person's ID must be affiliated with THE WALLET NUMBER. That is the beginning of regulating this mess, but, it is a mess and it should not exist.

Basically, cryptocurrencies are taking on the regulations of banks in identifying the people who purchase these invisible currencies.

No one will find a cryptocurrency in the lobby of "Chase Bank." Nope. But, there will be plenty of shares of these currencies owned by Chase Bank and others. But, no real support for the currencies like allowing them into their banks for patrons that remove their own USA currency to place it in hiding with this mess. Won't find it there. So, where do you find these machines?

The cryptocurrency machines are primarily found in impoverished neighborhoods of minorities and/or economically suppressed cities and towns. The reason? It brings some economy to those areas by people seeking out the machines to obtain the currencies. The machines are in stores that are not owned and operated by Wall Street, but, that is typical of these cities, towns, and neighborhoods. There are deserts of economic vitality in many minority communities. The stores where these machines are found are liquor stores and gas station convenience stores with bulletproof glass between the patrons and the clerks. Of course, the glass is in place because of the virus, but, bulletproof?

How did the USA ever let this happen? How are these horrid machines on the streets of some of the poorest neighborhoods in the country? Certainly, the currencies do not believe being part of the drug market or money laundering is a good image for them, do they? Do they like facilitating crime? I cannot believe this is the USA and these machines even exist within our borders. They don't belong here and they need to be removed from the economic interests of criminals and con-artists.

The trend of impoverishment follows these currencies even internationally. Some of the poorest countries in the world are accepting cryptocurrencies as their sovereign currency. That is a crime all by itself. They are relying on "good luck" to enhance aspects of their countries wealth rather than building it from the ground up to have assets, including their brain trust, to elevate the quality of life within borders.

There is some talk about this being the future of currencies and the best idea for SPACE ECONOMIES. Really? Cryptocurrencies are not stable. They fluctuate from day to day and that sincerely wreaks havoc on a countries value if that is going to be declared their sovereign currency. A country runs well on a Wall Street currency? I hope not, because, without a sovereign currency the country might find itself in more debt than it bargained for.

Space? A space currency? That is only because Musk through his support behind it and bought some invisible money. 

Space has only one currency and that is survival. When air, water, and food begin to have a price on them in space travel forget about any next generation taking up residency on Mars or some distant moon or exoplanet. HUMAN LIFE AND HUMAN RIGHTS must always be a top priority to any space travel and/or settlements.

The USA doesn't need to regulate invisible currency as if another bank, it needs to remove the demons from our lives and restore sanity to normal people who believe that Bitcoin is the next way to wealth rather than hard work and a civil country that matters.

I guarantee anyone, that these currencies at the heart of sponsoring any thought of a civil war in the USA.

The time has come to get real about something that is unreal and end the influence of crime within our borders due to crytocurrencies.

I am very proud of President Biden in regard to Russia.

He was there for all the right reasons, being that we are the United States of America and we are principled in human rights as well as national security with our allies. It was good. Very good.

It was good to see Prime Minister Lavrov. He looks older than when I last saw pictures of him about four years ago when he was in the Oval Office.

It is going to be difficult to get real negotiations with Russia over cybercrime. To begin President Putin was using doublespeak with reporters/journalists after the four-hour meeting. President Putin on the one hand states there is going to be negotiations between the two countries regarding cybercrime, but, then he turned right around and stated that Russia doesn't have that problem. That is true. But, mostly because it doesn't practice human rights either. But, his doublespeak didn't stop there

He stated the countries that have the most problem with cybercrime are the countries near the USA, like Canada and Mexico. Putin also stated the USA has more problems with cybercrime within its borders. He stated the USA, Canada, and Mexico are at the top of the cybercrime list. That is true, but, what Mr. Putin didn't say is that we are having these problems BECAUSE OF HIS SPIES! If Mr. Putin remembers, and maybe with him aging and in the presidency for so very long, he doesn't recall a young woman who was spying on America by the name of Maria Butina. In case, Mr. Putin doesn't remember who Maria Butina is, here is her picture taken in the USA.

It makes complete sense that the USA, Canada, and Mexico are at the top of the countries with the most cybercrime problems BECAUSE PUTIN CAUSES THEM! Western nations at the top of the most cybercrime list should be proud to be there, at least we practice human rights and don't send people to prison to be poisoned!

That said, quite frankly, since Russia relies on spying to protect it's borders, it is going to be more difficult to get a cyber treaty than one regarding missiles. We need to first put Russia at the top of the cybercrime occurrence list and then it might matter to Mr. Putin to engage in a treaty. As long as Russia remains somewhat immune from cyber-spying it will have no skin in the game.

I think that demonstrates clearly what any cyber negotiators will be facing when there finally is a committee of Americans and Russians pounding out the details. 

I am proud of my President today. He did great work and opened a dialogue. I only hope the dialogue continues and the USA and Russia find ways to resolve their differences to bring about a real understanding of a LASTING PEACE and GREAT RESPECT for both countries.

Many, many decades ago the USA and Russia opened the potentials to be friendly if not friends with trading cultural arts and the finer points of quality of life. Hopefully, that same spirit was present today and our next generations of Americans and Russians will share more values, openness, and sincerely greater friendships that solve real problems while not creating silly ones such as nuclear proliferation.

I applaud all involved in bringing this meeting together. It was a wonderful start with great hope for today and for the future.

Stop immunizing the children!!!

 The profit-driven veterinarian that is the CEO of Pfizer needs to cool his jets!

This my friends is Dr. Fritz Boege (click here). Unlike the veterinarian CEO at Pfizer, he seeks to understand disease EXTREMELY WELL before preventing it or treating it. It is the old adage "Do no harm."

Dr. Boege is not only brilliant but, also dedicated to understanding the IMMUNE SYSTEM IN REGARD TO INTERACTIONS OF THE HUMAN HEART.

Dr. Boege found out that the bioreceptors in the heart will accept and react to many compounds, including the body's own immune system causing irreparable damage.

The article below is about a compound and was published in 2010. What Dr. Boege and his colleagues were finding out is that anything that enters the body for any reason can result in heart damage. This article was particularly interesting because they even address the issue of the REPAIR of damaged DNA.

Mycotoxin Res., 2010 Nov;26(4):247-5doi: 10.1007/s12550-010-0063-6. Epub 2010 Jul 27.

Alternariol (AOH) (click here) was reported recently to act as a topoisomerase poison. To underline the relevance of topoisomerase targeting for the genotoxic properties of AOH, we addressed the question whether human tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 1 (TDP1), an enzyme vital to the repair of covalent DNA-topoisomerase adducts, affects AOH-mediated genotoxicity. The relevance of TDP1 activity on AOH-induced genotoxicity was investigated by the comet assay in human cells overexpressing GFP chimera of TDP1 or the inactive mutant TDP1(H263A) as well as in cells subjected to siRNA-mediated knock-down of endogenous TDP1. Cells overexpressing TDP1 exhibited significantly less DNA damage after treatment with AOH in comparison to cells expressing the inactive mutant TDP1(H263A). In accordance with these results, levels of AOH inducing DNA strand breaks were increased in TDP1-suppressed cells in comparison to cells transfected with control siRNA. The specific topoisomerase poisons camptothecin and etoposide caused comparable effects, underlining that TDP1 plays an important role in the repair of topoisomerase-mediated DNA damage. In summary, the repair enzyme TDP1 was identified as a factor for the modulation of AOH-mediated DNA damage in human cells.

Dr. Boege has done extensive research and even examines the specific receptors of the heart and their potential for accepting compounds that cause such damage.

Angela Wölfel, Mathias Sättele, Christina Zechmeister, Viacheslav O. Nikolaev, Martin J. Lohse, Fritz Boege, Roland Jahns, and Valérie Boivin‐Jahns

Conclusions (click here)

The conformational auto‐epitope targeted by cardio‐pathogenic β1‐receptor autoantibodies is faithfully conserved in cyclopeptide homologues of the β1ECII loop bearing the NDPK211–214 motif and the C209↔C215 bridge while lacking cysteine C216. Such molecules provide promising tools for novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in β1‐autoantibody‐positive CHF.

Keywords: Antibody/autoantibody, β1‐adrenoceptor/β1‐adrenergic receptor, Chronic heart failure, Conformational auto‐epitope, Cyclic peptides/cyclopeptides, Cyclopeptide therapy

Dr. Boege and his colleagues in their decades of research have unearthed the very reason it is far better to examine the exact properties of the vaccines turning loose the immune system to wreak havoc on the heart muscle.

I have a real problem with CEOs that release discoveries on a QUARTERLY basis rather than when it is prudent to do so as all parameters of research show a benign, but, beneficial effect on the body. That is exactly what the Pfizer CEO is doing. He has planned his release of discoveries of the vaccine based on profit margins and a steadfast return on investment quarterly by stockholders of Pfizer to insure his CEO bonuses and expectations by stockholders to his real genius in earning profits for the company based on the vaccination industry.

Unlike cows that are treated in a herd, human beings should be treated expeditiously as BENEVOLENT discoveries are realized in actual reality rather than Wall Street priorities.

The research by Dr. Boege that initially got my attention was this:

February 9, 1999

Source: American Heart Association (click here)

Summary:

A new study links an abnormality in the immune system to some forms of congestive heart failure, a finding that may have important implications for how the disease is treated, say researchers in today's...

Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The children and teenagers being vaccinated are being attacked by the immunity developed in the body in reaction to Pfizer's vaccine that was supposed to be developed just for their age group.

I question that.

I think the initial vaccine by Pfizer was simply run through enough experimental trials to find a conclusion that their vaccine is immunity for everyone regardless of age. Pfizer will be releasing their infant vaccine in the upcoming quarter and it needs to be halted to understand FAR BETTER the immune response of young people to mRNA vaccines. Children are still growing and developing their immune systems. I find the idea of such POTENTIAL for a vaccine to do harm in young people and infants especially horrifying. If the FDA and CDC and their advisory panels don't suspend the use of the Pfizer vaccine to infants, then perhaps a conscience at the NIH can find real conclusions to these issues.

Every blade of grass must be turned over and examined in these vaccines for children to INSURE each and every human child will benefit from the vaccine rather than cause irreparable damage to children by the thousands.

Perhaps Wall Street needs to understand that profits ultimately causing damage to the consumer will ultimately fail in providing real profits when sued for the damage these CEO decisions have resulted in. 

The USA, nor any other country on Earth, can afford to have any percentage of children afflicted with shorter longevity and/or permanently handicapped and quite possibly incapacitated from their potential to contribute to the country in any measure.                                 

I really don't want to hear about the bellyaching from employees at Amazon.

They had a perfectly wonderful opportunity to organize a union and they blew it.

If there is a problem with working conditions that are dangerous, under President Biden, call OSHA and file a complaint.

If there is death and disease at Amazon, then call the local Board of Health.

If the Amazon employees are unhappy being paid as slave labor then complain to their congresspersons. 

BUT, DON'T GO TO THE MEDIA AND EXPECT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY!!

Last September, (click here) Ann Castillo saw an email from Amazon that made no sense. Her husband had worked for the company for five years, most recently at the supersize warehouse on Staten Island that served as the retailer’s critical pipeline to New York City. Now it wanted him back on the night shift.

“We notified your manager and H.R. about your return to work on Oct. 1, 2020,” the message said.

Ms. Castillo was incredulous. While working mandatory overtime in the spring, her 42-year-old husband, Alberto, had been among the first wave of employees at the site to test positive for the coronavirus. Ravaged by fevers and infections, he suffered extensive brain damage. On tests of responsiveness, Ms. Castillo said, “his score was almost nothing.”...

Grow UP!!!

The management at Amazon now has the right to instill fear for their lives into every employee.

The working conditions with the coronavirus were horrendous. There were people like Mr. Castillo that plowed into the unknown future of his job and worked and fell ill.

NONE of this would be happening if the employees were unionized. 

JUST THAT SIMPLE!

Ya have to bite the bullet, pay your dues and reep the benefits.

Enbridge Line 5 remains open because of pure greed and disregard for the Great Lakes, not necessity.

October 1, 2015
By Nia Williams

Calgary, Alberta, Canada - Enbridge Inc’s long-awaited start of its Line 9 (click here) oil pipeline to Montreal will allow Quebec refineries to run on 100 percent cheap North American inland crude, leaving around 100,000 barrels per day of foreign crude searching for a new home.

The Calgary-based energy company received approval from regulators on Wednesday to finally start operating the 300,000 bpd pipeline carrying mainly light crude from Sarnia, Ontario, to Montreal, Quebec, nearly a year after it was first expected in service.

For Quebec’s two refineries, Suncor Energy’s 137,000 bpd Montreal plant and Valero Energy’s 265,000 bpd Jean Gaulin facility, the approval is a welcome boon.

Both will be able to switch to a diet of 100 percent West Texas Intermediate-linked crude such as Canadian light synthetic or North Dakota Bakken, displacing pricier Brent-linked feedstock from regions including West Africa and the North Sea.

At present the refineries receive crude by rail, seaborne imports into Quebec, and volumes from the Portland-Montreal pipeline, which transports imported crude north....

Enbridge is operating Line 5 in violation of a 1953 easement agreement between Canada and the State of Michigan. The Canadian government is using "legal speak" in the face of burgeoning tragedy to the Great Lakes. The USA has invested incredible amounts of money to rehabilitate the Great Lakes and the economies that exist because of them, as well as Native American interests. Those investments will all be lost if the tragedy of Line 5 is realized and there is absolutely no reason to believe the danger is fictitious. 

Canada’s legal brief was direct: “The United States undertook a solemn and reciprocal commitment to Canada…not to interfere with the operations of international hydrocarbon transit pipelines. That obligation, with legally binding effect under international law, expressly applies to any measures instituted by a ‘public authority in the territory of either party’ — including the State of Michigan and this court…”

There needs to be a far different solution than Canada's "legal speak" that simply seeks to oppress the facts with the permission of the courts. Line 5 is dangerous. It needs to be ended. ESPECIALLY, in the face of the facts, there is no timeline for the building of a tunnel to accommodate a new pipeline. NO TIMELINE. Enbridge thinks it is all too unfortunate if Line 5 breaks open and dumps hundreds of thousands of oil in the water of the Great Lakes.

The big excuse about Line 5 is that it's absence will effect the jet fuel needed at Toronto Pearson International Airport. Really?

Enbridge has been operating Line 9 (click here) — a 762-mm (30-inch) diameter pipeline with the capacity to deliver approximately 300,000 barrels of oil per day—safely and reliably since 1976. The company's Eastern Canadian Refinery Access Initiative (Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project) has helped Canadian refineries become more competitive in the North American market, and continues to safeguard jobs in Quebec and Ontario and bolster the security of Canada's energy supply.

After an extensive and thorough review process by the National Energy Board (NEB), the Line 9B Reversal and Line 9 Capacity Expansion Project was approved in March of 2014 with 30 conditions that reflected the input of interveners and stakeholders throughout the consultation process. Enbridge continues to comply with all NEB conditions....

Matt Gaetz is a Trump Poster Boy.

Trump did nothing to assist the GOP as a party. He simply provided proof that his style of deceit, lying, and showmanship worked to fool Americans and/or recruit them for the wrongful lives they lead. That is the only thing he provided to the Republican Party, besides a disdain for the constitutional government of the USA.

Why would someone facing a federal investigation continue to question authorities as if nothing was wrong. Joel Greenberg already is guilty (click here). There is absolutely no doubt minors were involved with the trip by Gaetz. Being a lawyer for this guy must be at least as bad a nightmare as being one for Trump. He uses his current place in Congress to play up the "Idea" (not the truth) that he is a victim. All these people cannot be victims. That is another "Big Lie." 

The bad boys of the GOP don't conduct themselves as if there is some reason to come across as a decent good guy. They go about their lives with abandon because they know their style of deceit, lies, and showmanship works. There are enough people involved from "the street" that they simply supply the tone and tenor to grease the wheels of crooks and liars in the GOP.

I apologize to Director Wray for the chronic brow beating he takes on a regular basis since Trump took office. He doesn't deserve it and like Dr. Fauci is the star performer in the "Big Lie" by the GOP. They need a scapegoat. Most autocrats do.

June 11, 2021
By Tom Porter

President Donald Trump (click here) is joined on the podium by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and congressman Matt Gaetz during a rally at the BB&T Center in Sunrise Florida on Tuesday, November 26, 2019.

- Rep. Matt Gaetz questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray at a judiciary committee hearing Thursday.

- The scene was unusual: Gaetz is himself under investigation by FBI over claims of sex trafficking.

- Gaetz has retained his place on the panel despite calls for him to be removed.

- Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who is under investigation by the FBI, was in the unusual position Thursday of questioning the director of the agency, Christopher Wray, as part of congressional oversight hearings.

Gaetz is currently being investigated by FBI (click here) over allegations that he was involved in sex trafficking with a former tax official, Joel Greenberg.

He was able to participate because he is part of the he House Judiciary Committee, despite calls from Democrats for him to be removed in light of the allegations against him....

American Employers can ask for testing and vaccines of employees.

Vaccine resistance usually applies to the immune response of the body, not the cognitive decision-making of the person. The idea of vaccine resistance is a counterproductive measure to a better economy. If the vaccine resistance movement isn't vaccinated by the end of summer, they could be the next major wave of the COVID. If that occurs schools may not open and we can be back at square one in many instances.

This means cruise ships have every right to be as cautious as they need to be to protect passengers and employees.

June 12, 2021
By David Heath

Houston - In the first federal ruling on vaccine mandates, (click here) a Houston judge has dismissed a lawsuit by hospital employees who declined the COVID-19 shot – a decision that could have a ripple effect across the nation.

The case involved Houston Methodist, which was the first hospital system in the country to require that all its employees get vaccinated. U.S. District Judge Lynn N. Hughes ruled Saturday that federal law does not prevent employers from issuing that mandate.

After months of warnings, Houston Methodist had put more than 170 of its 26,000 employees on unpaid suspension Monday. They were told they would be fired it they weren't vaccinated by June 21.

The hospital had made it clear it meant what it said: It fired the director of corporate risk – Bob Nevens – and another manager in April when they did not meet the earlier deadline for bosses....

Take good care of President Biden and the First Lady

Putin is a Trump sympathizer. I don’t trust him as far as I can spit. I don’t spit.

"Good Night, Moon"

The waxing crescent 

3.4 day old moon

12.3 percent lit

June 10, 2021

As NASA continues plans (click here) for multiple commercial deliveries to the Moon’s surface per year, the agency has selected three new scientific investigation payload suites to advance understanding of Earth’s nearest neighbor. Two of the payload suites will land on the far side of the Moon, a first for NASA. All three investigations will receive rides to the lunar surface as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative, part of the agency’s Artemis approach.

The payloads mark the agency’s first selections from its Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM) call for proposals.

“These selections add to our robust pipeline of science payloads and investigations to be delivered to the Moon through CLPS,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “With each new PRISM selection, we will build on our capabilities to enable bigger and better science and prove technology which will help pave the way for returning astronauts to the Moon through Artemis.”...

This was almost assuredly predictable considering Netanyahu's escalation of tensions under Trump.

The Netanyahu party went to far in the years of Trump. They ignored and oppressed the Palestinians and promoted a more aggressive Israel that would take on the region for greater expansion. They needed to address the issue of a more civil relationship with Palestine and did the opposite.

I am not surprised. I am confident Russia in Syria is happier today. The expansionist ambitions of Netanyahu were sure to begin a war all would regret.

A Palestine - Israel peace treaty and plans for permanent peace must begin..

June 13, 2021

Jerusalem - Israel’s parliament on Sunday narrowly approved a new coalition government, (click here) ending the historic 12-year rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sending the polarizing leader into the opposition.

Naftali Bennett, a former ally of Netanyahu turned rival, became prime minister after the 60-59 vote. Promising to try to heal a divided nation, Bennett will preside over a diverse and fragile coalition comprised of eight parties with deep ideological differences.

But the 71-year-old Netanyahu made clear he has no intention of exiting the political stage. “If it is destined for us to be in the opposition, we will do it with our backs straight until we topple this dangerous government and return to lead the country,” he said.

The vote, capping a stormy parliamentary session, ended a two-year cycle of political paralysis in which the country held four deadlocked elections. Those votes focused largely on Netanyahu’s divisive rule and his fitness to remain in office while on trial for corruption charges.

To his supporters, Netanyahu is a global statesman uniquely capable of leading the country through its many security challenges.

But to his critics, he has become a polarizing and autocratic leader who used divide-and-rule tactics to aggravate the many rifts in Israeli society. Those include tensions between Jews and Arabs, and within the Jewish majority between his religious and nationalist base and his more secular and dovish opponents....

The IAEA needs to require comment from scientists for their opinions.

It isn't that tritium will be released in water, it is HOW MUCH TRITIUM will be released in the water.

Tritium emits a very weak beta particle. (click here) People are exposed to small amounts of tritium every day, since it is widely dispersed in the environment and in the food chain. Tritium primarily enters the body when people swallow tritiated water, inhale tritium as a gas in the air, or absorb it through their skin. Once tritium enters the body, it disperses quickly and is uniformly distributed throughout the body. Since tritium is almost always found as water, it goes directly into soft tissues and organs. Tritium is excreted through the urine within a month or so after ingestion. Organically bound tritium (tritium that is incorporated in organic compounds) can remain in the body for a longer period.

May 7, 2021
By Bianca Nogrady

The earthquake and tsunami (click here) that struck the east coast of Japan on 11 March 2011 led to the catastrophic failure of cooling systems at the power station. In the subsequent decade, 1.25 million tonnes of seawater have been pumped through the damaged units to stop the molten fuel debris from overheating, and pumping continues. The contaminated water has been treated to remove radioactive material and stored in more than 1,000 steel tanks on the site.

The release of treated waste water is part of the standard operation of nuclear power stations. However, Vives I Batlle says that the huge quantities amassed at Fukushima, and the high original concentration of radionuclides in the water through its direct contact with the melted reactor, do mark this situation as unusual....

This was a fantastic photo in the Washington Post (click here)

The elephants traveled a great distance to find a place to be safe. I particularly found the way the youngest elephant has situated in the picture truly a statement about how precious it was to the group. 

So, amazing to find our values innate in the values of animals.

There are too many guns on the street.

I did a review on this blog years ago, perhaps even a decade ago, comparing the approach to gun violence and safety in other countries vs. the USA. The dynamic I spoke to then is the same today. Where the NRA has promoted gun ownership based on "fear of the other" there is an increase in gun deaths.

June 13, 2021
By Bill Hutchinson

At least four major U.S. cities were reeling from an onslaught of mass shootings (click here) over the weekend that left at least 39 people wounded, five dead and police officials alarmed that the surge in gun violence is a prelude to a bloody summer as the nation emerges from the pandemic.

Police in Austin, Cleveland, Chicago and Savannah were all investigating on Sunday mass shootings that erupted over a six-hour streak that began around 9 p.m. on Friday and spilled over into Saturday morning....

There isn't any deep-seated social problem. Where there is guns in abundance, there is a politician pushing it because his wealthy donor wants a quid pro quo. That is exactly what the NRA counts on, no different than the petroleum industry, when they give money away to politicians they expect quid pro quo. In the case of guns, there is a culture of guns and death that becomes part of the social dialogue.

January 3, 2019

By Neil Weinberg, Polly Mosendz and Bill Allison

When it comes to guns, (click here) Brazil and the U.S. have a few things in common. They rank first and second, respectively, in the number of citizens shot to death each year among the 195 countries that the American Medical Association tracks. The political dialogue in each country is dominated by a charismatic leader who says the answer to rampant violence is fewer gun laws and more guns. And both of those leaders—newly sworn-in President Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and U.S. President Donald Trump—are big fans of America’s National Rifle Association.

Bolsonaro made gun rights one of the main planks in his campaign platform, liberally salting his speeches with NRA talking points: “Guns are our guarantee of freedom,” he said during an event in the southern city of Curitiba last March. “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” his son Carlos posted on Facebook.

His victory shows that a core NRA principle—that armed citizens are safe citizens—is gaining political and popular traction far beyond America’s shores. Founded 148 years ago in New York by two Union Army vets to promote marksmanship, the group describes itself as the “oldest civil rights organization in America.” Its public events and messaging are often draped in the Stars and Stripes. Yet for all the patriotic symbolism, many of the forces shaping the NRA these days are distinctly non-American....

The terror that ran through the hearts of the American people during the global pandemic drove gun sales that are absolutely ridiculous. The graph below only goes up to 2016 for the USA.

April 11, 2018

Latin America boasts just 8% of the world’s population, (click here) but it accounts for 38% of its murders. The number of criminal killings in the region came to around 140,000 people last year, more than have been lost in wars around the world in almost all of the years this century. And the crime is becoming ever more common.

Yet the continent also has some of the biggest improvers. In many Colombian cities murder used to be the leading cause of death. The rate in Cali in 1994 was 124 per 100,000, four times worse than New York at its most lethal. The mayor was a surgeon who realised that murder was like a disease. Following an approach pioneered in New York and copied across the rich world, he set up “violence observatories” to study precisely how people, places and behaviour led to killings. They found that, even amid a raging drugs war, most murders resulted from drunken brawls. Restrictions on alcohol and guns helped cut murders by 35%. Other Colombian cities tweaked Cali’s evidence-based policing to suit their own needs—Medellín, for example, targeted drug cartels. Police and judicial reform, and aid from the United States, were crucial, too. In 2017 Colombia’s murder rate was 24 per 100,000, the lowest for 42 years....

8 April 2021

America's gun culture in charts (click here)

China has lots of rivers and flood plain, sea level rise is not a good idea.

June 1, 2021

By Global Times

China entered the main flooding season (click here) from Tuesday after experiencing a series of heavy rains in South China since May, said the Ministry of Water Resources (MOWR).

A new round of heavy rainfall will be seen in the southern parts of the country from Tuesday to Friday, which may cause floods exceeding warning levels in the Xiangjiang River in Central China's Hunan Province, and four rivers in East China's Jiangxi and Fujian Provinces and South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, it said.

Larger floods may occur in some small and medium-sized rivers in areas with rainstorms.

In Jiangxi, the water level of Poyang Lake, known as the "Kidney of Yangtze River," has reached 18 meters, approaching the 19-meter flood warning level, more than a month earlier than previous years, according to observation from the Institute of Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences on Monday.

South China's Guangdong Province launched a level-IV emergency response to flood prevention, also raising the alert for risks of waterlogging, on Monday. Twelve hydrometric stations in the province recorded heavy rain of more than 250 millimeters, with the largest cumulative rainfall being 476 millimeters, from Sunday night to Monday morning.

In Hunan, local water resources authorities and the Hydrological Bureau of the Yangtze River jointly carried out an emergency monitoring exercise at the section of the river along the Xiangjiang River on May 26 in response to flood warnings, said MOWR on Monday.

The exercise was aimed at simulating a situation in which heavy rains cause excessive floods to occur in the lower reaches of the Xiangjiang River, leading to a bank collapse that eventually leads to water flooding into cities and causing pollution incidents.

The water level of the Three Gorges Reservoir was expected to fall under the 145-meter limit set to control flooding before June 10 as planned, an official from MOWR said on Thursday, noting that 47 reservoirs along the Yangtze River basin have made preparations to relieve floods, most of which had been discharged to full levels....

Believe me, Moscow Mitch has an agenda and it isn't income equality.

2060 is too late to achieve needed measures to deter any further degradation of Earth.

October 15, 2021
By Lindsay Maizland

China’s environmental crisis (click here), the result of decades of rapid industrialization, not only threatens the health and livelihoods of the country’s 1.4 billion people but also the global fight against climate change. As the world’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in recent years, China suffers from notoriously bad air pollution. Its carbon-intensive industries have caused additional environmental challenges, including water scarcity and soil contamination. And, like the rest of the world, China will face increasingly harsh consequences of climate change in the coming decades, including flooding and droughts.

In response, Beijing has implemented policies to curb emissions and stem further degradation, such as by signing the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate and pledging to be carbon neutral by 2060. However, following through won’t be easy, experts say, as the government struggles to maintain economic growth; ease public discontent; and overcome tensions with the United States, the second-largest emitter....

The events of January 6, 2021 MUST be brought to justice. This is real. It needs to end. NOW!

June 11, 2021
By Connor Radnovich

Salem, Ore. - The Oregon House of Representatives (click here) ousted Republican Rep. Mike Nearman Thursday night, the first time in state history a sitting Oregon lawmaker has been expelled.

The tally was 59-1, with the only vote against coming from Nearman himself. He showed no contrition during brief comments on the floor of the House.

Nearman was removed for the disorderly behavior of allowing rioters into the closed Capitol building during a special legislative session on Dec. 21, 2020.

His actions led to dozens of people — some armed and wearing body armor — gaining access to the Capitol, thousands of dollars in damage and six injured Salem and Oregon State police officers.

"Colleagues, it couldn't be any clearer. Rep. Mike Nearman intentionally allowed armed protestors, occupiers, to illegally enter the building during the peak of the pandemic," Rep. Paul Holvey, D-Eugene, said on the floor of the House. "He coordinated with his supporters and extremist groups and then opened a door to let them in."...

When the axis of the planet shifts so does the travel of direct rays from the sun. It effects the seasons and Earth's delicate balance.

April 23, 2021
By Damian Carrington

The massive melting of glaciers as a result of global heating (click here) has caused marked shifts in the Earth’s axis of rotation since the 1990s, research has shown. It demonstrates the profound impact humans are having on the planet, scientists said.

The planet’s geographic north and south poles are the point where its axis of rotation intersects the surface, but they are not fixed. Changes in how the Earth’s mass is distributed around the planet cause the axis, and therefore the poles, to move.

In the past, only natural factors such as ocean currents and the convection of hot rock in the deep Earth contributed to the drifting position of the poles. But the new research shows that since the 1990s, the loss of hundreds of billions of tonnes of ice a year into the oceans resulting from the climate crisis has caused the poles to move in new directions....

The circumstances of a very changing Earth on it's rotation around the sun is about as serious as it can get. I don't know what has to happen next to get the entire human population to take themselves seriously. The Stratosphere is shrinking and the axis of Earth is changing. It is time to pay attention.

Doesn't Europe import more coal than it mines and the import is from China?

June 13, 2021

By Dulcie Lee and Joseph Lee

World leaders meeting in Cornwall (click here) are to adopt strict measures on coal-fired power stations as part of the battle against climate change.

The G7 group will promise to move away from coal plants, unless they have technology to capture carbon emissions.

It comes as Sir David Attenborough warned that humans could be "on the verge of destabilising the entire planet".

He said G7 leaders faced the most important decisions in human history.

The coal announcement came from the White House, which said it was the first time the leaders of wealthy nations had committed to keeping the projected global temperature rise to 1.5C.

That requires a range of urgent policies, chief among them being phasing out coal burning unless it includes carbon capture technology....

March 24, 2021

By Kira Taylor

Half of Europe’s 324 coal-fuelled power plants (click here) have either closed or announced a retirement date before 2030, it emerged on Monday (22 March) when French power utility EDF announced the 162nd plant will close in 2022.

EDF’s planned closure of the West Burton coal-fuelled power plant in the north of England – one of two remaining in Britain – means half of Europe’s coal plants will have closed by 2030.

“We are in the endgame for the coal industry in Europe,” said Kathrin Gutmann, campaign director at Europe Beyond Coal, an alliance of civil society groups campaigning to phase-out coal.

“After years of unrelenting decline, half of Europe’s coal fleet is history. Governments, energy companies and financial institutions must now plan for a 2030 or earlier coal exit, end all funding flows to coal and fossil gas, and instead, direct their support to sustainable renewables, and the just transition of impacted communities,” she added.

Coal produces the most CO2 per kilogram of all fossil fuels, producing nearly double the amount natural gas does. It also causes air pollution by releasing particulates when it burns.

Phasing out the use of coal is key to tackling climate change. Last week Mike Bloomberg, the UN’s special envoy for climate ambition and solutions, wrote an opinion piece for CNN with EU climate chief Frans Timmermans calling to end coal subsidies world-wide.

“If we want to tackle climate change and ensure people’s health and well-being, we have to accelerate our move away from coal. Ending our dependence on coal will save lives,” they wrote....

Moscow Mitch is in Trump's back pocket.

May 28, 2021
By Greg Sargent

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (click here) just staged a last-ditch effort to persuade Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to reconsider his opposition to a commission to examine the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Alaska Republican appealed to her Kentucky colleague’s conscience.

In an extraordinary nine-minute session with reporters, Murkowski called on McConnell to stop placing “short-term political gain” before the need to grapple with what really happened on Jan. 6. At stake are the “principles of democracy we hold so dear,” which must be valued “beyond just one election cycle.”...

Maybe there is something else the Alaskan Senator has in common with President Biden. They both love the US Constitution and Earth without excessive atmospheric heat.

In three years time, the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica is breaking up.

First, the terminus was gone and resulted in the complete melting of the glacier as it hit the far warner water with every move to the ocean. Now, the glacier itself is breaking up and will melt far sooner than it has been melting. The more cracks in a glacier, the more warm air it is exposed to. This is a similar process that Greenland Ice is undergoing, except, this is the southern cap of Earth and not a glacier in the North Atlantic. Antarctica is more stable than Greenland because it's surroundings are far colder than the Arctic Ocean. The Arctic Ocean is down to new annual ice and not much more. It is succumbing to the heat in the troposphere created by anthropogenic greenhouse gas pollution.

June 12, 2021

By University of Washington

...These glaciers have attracted attention in recent decades (click here) as their ice shelves thinned because warmer ocean currents melted the ice’s underside. From the 1990s to 2009, Pine Island Glacier’s motion toward the sea accelerated from 2.5 kilometers per year to 4 kilometers per year (1.5 miles per year to 2.5 miles per year). The glacier’s speed then stabilized for almost a decade.

Results show that what’s happened more recently is a different process, Joughin said, related to internal forces on the glacier.

From 2017 to 2020, Pine Island’s ice shelf lost one-fifth of its area in a few dramatic breaks that were captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellites, operated by the European Space Agency on behalf of the European Union. The researchers analyzed images from January 2015 to March 2020 and found that the recent changes on the ice shelf were not caused by processes directly related to ocean melting.

“The ice shelf appears to be ripping itself apart due to the glacier’s acceleration in the past decade or two,” Joughin said....

June 11, 2021

By Seth Borenstein

...That ice shelf has retreated by 12 miles (20 kilometers) (click here) between 2017 and 2020, according to a study in Friday’s Science Advances The crumbling shelf was caught on time-lapse video from a European satellite that takes pictures every six days.

The tearing apart are crevasses in the ice becoming larger both due to added hot air exposure and the weight of the glacier is no longer supported by the terminus. I spoke to this years ago on the blog. The supporting ice structures will melt and finally, the ice cap will melt and fall into the oceans causing coastal disruption. These are huge ice structures at either end of the planet and they are melting and becoming circulating water for as long as the ocean circulation continues.

DO NOT CONTINUE THE POLITICS OF THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY.

“You can see stuff just tearing apart,” said study lead author Ian Joughin, a University of Washington glaciologist. “So it almost looks like the speed-up itself is weakening the glacier. ... And so far we’ve lost maybe 20% of the main shelf.”...