No electricity today.

Sorry.

Writing from my car.

Currently doesn’t look like there is any news that I can find regarding the trial of those charged in the poisoning of the people of Flint, Michigan. That includes the decision regarding the Detroit Bankrupcy Court.

The assassination in Haiti resulted from Trump administration.

The circumstances surrounding the assassination of the Haitian president resulted as endorsement of changes by the Trump administration. 

The Biden administration had recognized the Haitian President but opposed the changes in it’s democratic constitution. The Biden administration needs to recommend a new referendum and slate of candidates as a measure for voting to replace draconian changes under the assassinated president.

Haiti’s government has failed the people. It is astounding to realize the ease the assassins had in accessing the late president’s home and security vehicle. There were far more consenting citizens that allowed lax security.

The people of Haiti need a constitution they understand to protect their freedoms and leadership they trust to protect those freedoms.

This is further proof of the divisiveness of the Trump administration and advocacy of dictatorships pleasing to Moscow ideology. 

2 Americans are among those suspected in Haiti?

 Guess who brought the guns?

Now, the USA is exporting violence. 

This is Haiti?

July 7, 2021

By Aaron Feis

...Hours later, (click here) photos published by Turkey’s Anadolu Agency news outlet captured the scene outside the home where Moïse was gunned down.

A white SUV was pockmarked on its passenger side with apparent bullet holes, its rear passenger window partially blown out, one photo shows.

Another shot shows two spent shells lying on the ground on the street outside Moïse’s residence.

Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph, who has assumed control of the impoverished Caribbean nation for the time being, said at least some of the unapprehended assailants were speaking Spanish, while sources told the Miami Herald that one of the assassins spoke English with an American accent.

The primary languages in Haiti are French and Haitian Creole....

Haitians (click here) demonstrate during a protest to denounce the draft constitutional referendum carried by the President Jovenel Moise on March 28, 2021 in Port-au-Prince.

The federal judge appointed by Trump is pathetic.

No one can prohibit food and water from being given to voters when the state narrows the number of voting locations and the hours of operation.

That measure ruled out by the judge is dangerous. It would ultimately prohibit emergency medicine which can come to a diabetic as food and water.

The idea there is a need for identification at the polls has to be remedied once and for all. It is not needed by the pure fact there is no voting fraud. The recent years have resulted in Republicans being bad, but, they were caught and in NC an entirely new election was held.

The Vote has been at the center of American democracy since it's beginning. I am not so sure it was any easier to vote in the early days of our country, because, it was very different then. But, the truth is that the USA has grown substantially since the first thirteen colonies became a nation of people that passed on a strong and determined democracy. The USA is the world's last Superpower and we should act it and provide examples for all to emulate.

The country has more than 328 million Americans even after so many were lost during the pandemic. All those people cannot fit into voting booths on one day a year. The entire "Big Lie" that is Trump is ridiculous on it's face.

There aren't enough hours in one day to accommodate some areas of the country where population growth has occurred. For that reason alone there have to be more days and hours of operation of voting equipment and places to bring in a true vote and not manipulated by a hostile legislature.

The government of, by, and for the people has to address the needs of the many and not the desire of the few. So, this most recent Georgia decision is a lot of nonsense. He is trying to limit challenges going forward by stating there are aspects of the Georgia law that could still be challenged in elections to come. To that I say,

"You are damn right there is and it will be done before another election occurs!"

Honestly. 

J.P. Boulee, after this political judicial decision, should be under the radar of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court as incompetent and inflammatory. Can you see it coming, the decision by the Supreme Court that sends the decision back to the lower courts the day before an election? What a mess that would be.

The Georgia legislature does not like Stacy Abrams, can anyone tell?

A country this close to USA borders and allied with the USA and the intelligence community knew nothing about this?

Does everyone need to be reminded there are still Russian bombers in Venezuela? I cannot believe an assassin(s) could enter the private residence of the president of Haiti to be assassinated with his family present. What the heck is going on? If this is about corruption then the USA needs to get to the bottom of it!!!!

WHERE IS SEAN PENN WHEN WE NEED HIM? (Click here)

July 7, 2021
By Catherine Porter

President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti (click here) was assassinated in an attack in the early hours of Wednesday at his home on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince, the interim prime minister said, creating a political void that threatens to deepen the turmoil that had gripped the country for months.

As foreign governments struggled to assess the situation, millions of Haitians anxiously huddled around radios and televisions, staying off the streets as they tried to understand what the coming days might bring.

Mr. Moïse’s wife, Martine Moïse, was also shot in the attack, the interim prime minister, Claude Joseph, said in a statement. Her condition was not immediately clear.

“A group of unidentified individuals, some of them speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president of the republic and thus fatally wounded the head of state,” the prime minister said, but there was little solid information about who might have carried out the assassination....

This is not confusion. It is defamation of character. I challenge the media to discern "being on your toes" from "being original and real."

I don't think he is a member of the screen actors guild. The President goes into a store with secret service outside and makes a purchase. He is, in full view of the public, asked about a national security issue still under review by the intelligence community. DAH!

I am fully tired of the actors within the politician !!!!! 

I want my President and elected Representatives to be real and original, and not well practiced.

The USA has suffered an insurrection that the Capitol Police are still attempting to define in their practices and how to keep elected officials safe, DUE TO THE SKILLS of Donald John Trump. I would thoroughly expect the people voting in the future to decide if a candidate is CAPABLE of representing them as opposed to the ability to PROJECT a Hollywood image. Let me know when John Williams composes a new variety of "Hail to the Chief," I am sure it is coming. Something more "Star Warsy."

 

The Tech Firms should sue Trump for harassment.

I thought the Supreme Court already ruled in the Tech Firms favor. There is a "tone" of the leadership of Alphabet, Inc. and it has always been one of benevolence to society. I would expect their continuing companies would move in that same direction.

April 5, 2021
By Amy Howe

Just under three months (click here) after former President Donald Trump was permanently banned from Twitter, the Supreme Court put an end to a legal battle over Trump’s personal Twitter account, throwing out a lower-court ruling against the former president and instructing that court to dismiss the case on the ground that it is moot – that is, no longer a live controversy.

The lawsuit was filed in July 2017 by the Knight First Amendment Institute and seven individuals whom Trump had blocked on Twitter after they criticized the president or his policies. The plaintiffs alleged that blocking them on Twitter violated the First Amendment, and the district court agreed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld that ruling.

Represented by former Acting U.S. Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall, the federal government’s top lawyer in the Supreme Court during the end of the Trump administration, Trump asked the justices to weigh in last summer. Wall contended that the 2nd Circuit’s decision disregarded “the critical distinction between the President’s (sometimes) official statements on Twitter and his always personal decision to block” the plaintiffs from seeing and responding to his tweets. The lower court’s ruling, he wrote, would limit the ability of public officials to “insulate their social-media accounts from harassment, trolling, or hate speech without invasive judicial oversight.” Particularly when it comes to the president, Wall concluded, the Supreme Court should have the final word on “where to draw the line between the President’s personal decisions and official conduct.”...

As Sergey and I wrote in the original founders letter 11 years ago, “(click here) Google is not a conventional company. We do not intend to become one.” As part of that, we also said that you could expect us to make “smaller bets in areas that might seem very speculative or even strange when compared to our current businesses.” From the start, we’ve always strived to do more, and to do important and meaningful things with the resources we have....

Trump continues to rob the American people of their sanity by staying in the news. Enough of this mess the media easily could have created to trap Americans into higher ratings. Our country needs to heal from a president that wanted to destroy the USA Constitution for his own wealth and comfort. No more!

July 7, 2021
By Kevin Breuninger

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday (click here) he is suing Facebook, Twitter and Google, as well as their respective CEOs Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai.

Trump, who has a history of threatening legal action but not always following through, made the announcement at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, at 11 a.m. ET alongside two leaders from America First Policy Institute, the pro-Trump nonprofit group that is supporting the lawsuits.

The three related lawsuits, filed in federal court in Florida, allege the tech giants have violated plaintiffs’ First Amendments rights.

The lawsuits were unveiled just over a month after Facebook decided to uphold Trump’s ban from using the platform until at least January 2023. Twitter, Trump’s preferred social media outlet throughout his one term in office, permanently banned him on the heels of the Jan. 6 invasion of the Capitol by a mob of his supporters....

continued....

Hurricane Elsa

Hurricane Elsa is moving over Cuba as a tropical storm. When it reaches the Gukf of Mexico it will be refueled with hot Gulf water. Everyone needs to pay attention. 

Thank you.

"Mad Cow"

They needed a replacement for Larry King, so why not the former Captain of the Star Ship Enterprise.

Canada should be ashamed of its famous citizen. I know I am. The idea is rather interesting but old in concept, just like Putin. Get all The West hooked on William Shatner and the elections are ours.

Shatner's views are anti-freedom and pro-Kremlin. It is interesting what he will do for a fist full of money from the Russian government. Is he accepting it in Bitcoin?

I will not go to see any new movies or programs of any type with Shatner starring while he is supporting Moscow. Just that simple.

The Kremlin under Putin has the wrong idea of democracy. It seems to believe if one can pollute the elections with enough Moscow sympathizers, the democracy can be flipped for Russian dominance in the world. Simpletons. Putin never did or still does understand the basis of freedom and democracy nor the people that practice it.

William Shatner should be ashamed of himself. I am.

July 1, 2021

By Noor Ibrahim

Star Trek star William Shatner (click here) has taken to Twitter to trade blows with journalists who called him out for hosting a new show on the Kremlin’s notorious state-funded network, RT.

Earlier this week, the 90-year-old Canadian actor—known for taking on the legendary role Captain James Kirk in the Star Trek saga—announced he would be hosting a new general talk show on the American branch of RT called “I Don’t Understand,” where he’ll be posing questions to guests on a variety topics. The show is set to debut later this month.

Alexey Kovalev, an investigative editor for Meduza—one of the most popular independent Russian-language news outlets—had some choice words for Shatner on his work with the network.

“Quick reminder about [RT’s] views and editorial policies @WilliamShatner is now endorsing (whether he wants to or not),” he tweeted on Thursday, linking to a thread that ends with “Don’t go on RT, unless you are okay with sharing a mic with some of the most vile racist degenerates out there. It’s not a legitimate media platform. It has no redeeming qualities. And if no other platform will have you, then you really shouldn’t have *any* platform.”...

New Zealand experienced 26 deaths.

 It received its first shipment of Pfizer vaccine and has hopes of vaccinating the entire country so commerce can get back to normal.

The USA has an abundance of vaccine and a political culture that rather die of the virus than switch.

The West is doing what it has to in protecting the people from exposure, what ever happened to the USA? Politics of viral dimensions? That doesn’t even make sense except as a source of a wedge issue to insure Republican votes. That is extremely dangerous. When are State Attorney Generals going to arrest wanton politicians placing voters directly in the path of harm? It is illegal to lie to the public and cause warm. You can’t yell fire in a theater. 

Pope Francis Prayer for Peace. It seems appropriate for a troubled nation to find a path to peace.

Lord God of peace, hear our prayer!

We have tried so many times and over so many years to resolve our conflicts by our own powers and by the force of our arms. How many moments of hostility and darkness have we experienced; how much blood has been shed; how many lives have been shattered; how many hopes have been buried… But our efforts have been in vain.

Now, Lord, come to our aid! Grant us peace, teach us peace; guide our steps in the way of peace. Open our eyes and our hearts, and give us the courage to say: "Never again war!"; "With war everything is lost". Instill in our hearts the courage to take concrete steps to achieve peace.

Lord, God of Abraham, God of the Prophets, God of Love, you created us and you call us to live as brothers and sisters. Give us the strength daily to be instruments of peace; enable us to see everyone who crosses our path as our brother or sister. Make us sensitive to the plea of our citizens who entreat us to turn our weapons of war into implements of peace, our trepidation into confident trust, and our quarreling into forgiveness.

Keep alive within us the flame of hope, so that with patience and perseverance we may opt for dialogue and reconciliation. In this way may peace triumph at last, and may the words "division", "hatred" and "war" be banished from the heart of every man and woman. Lord, defuse the violence of our tongues and our hands. Renew our hearts and minds, so that the word which always brings us together will be "brother", and our way of life will always be that of: Shalom, Peace, Salaam!

Amen.

There is no reason to allay fears regarding other condos.

July 3, 2021
By Eileen AJ Connelly

After reading an engineer’s report (click here) on the Miami condo tower next door to his own, Bob Ross is worried.

Ross lives in Miami Bay Towers, across the marina from Palm Bay Towers, where the report, prepared in December, found “structural deficiencies” in the 26-story, 68-unit building, one of the only ones in the city built over the water.

It was the underwater portion that the engineering firm, The Falcon Group, pointed to as having several areas with concrete cracking and chipping, and rust spots. “Concrete deficiencies at the support columns, if not addressed in the near future, may affect the structural integrity of the building,” the report on Palm Bay Towers said.

Following the June 24 collapse of Champlain Towers South, a 12-story condo in the town of Surfside north of Miami, the concerns of the residents of Miami Bay Towers grew.

“Everybody is petrified, because as we’re looking at this monolith across the marina and if it came down, it would come down on us,” Ross said....

The residents of any seaside community have a real concern before them, was their condominium built with SUBSTANDARD construction? Every high-rise owner needs to be asking, "How sound are the buildings for human residence?" 

This building may or may not have received substandard construction for the time it has been built in. If there was substandard construction there are most likely substandard building materials. That is all about liability and the law as to negligent homicide. The idea every high rise owner has to be afraid is not the case.

By James Glanz, Mike Baker and Anjali Singhvi

Engineers (click here) who have visited or examined photos of the wreckage of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex have been struck by a possible flaw in its construction: Critical places near the base of the building appeared to use less steel reinforcement than called for in the project’s original design drawings.

The observation is the first detail to emerge pointing to a potential problem in the quality of construction of the 13-story condo tower in Surfside, Fla., that collapsed last month, killing at least 24 and leaving up to 121 still unaccounted for.

Reached by phone, Allyn E. Kilsheimer, a forensic engineering expert hired by the town of Surfside to investigate the collapse, said the investigation was still in its early stages. But he confirmed there were signs that the amount of steel used to connect concrete slabs below a parking deck to the building’s vertical columns might be less than what the project’s initial plans specified.

“The bars might not be arranged like the original drawings call for,” Mr. Kilsheimer said in an interview. He said he would need to inspect the rubble more closely to determine whether in fact the slab-to-column connections contained less steel than expected....

The owners of this particular condo had warnings about the building and years passed from the report of the engineers that initially found the building to be unsafe. So, the idea that this is going to happen to others is not founded in fact. The USA has become a society of fear and this is the reaction to one tragedy. All high-rise buildings are not in question.

There is a report by a couple that was eyewitnesses. The video is conclusive to the events of that day. The water from the pool rushed into the garage. That is not alone a reason for a building to collapse, but, the event was enough to cause a DETERIORATING foundation to give way to water weight and water pressure.

High-rise buildings need to be inspected regularly, especially now that the climate is severe and extremes of heat and cold are mostly unpredictable from season to season. But, with regular inspections demanded by regulation and reporting there can be problems resolved before they become this terribly bad. The idea every condo along this waterway is in question is not accurate. However, the idea of sea-level rise is real and seaside residents need to be aware of the reality and the potential to cause problems.

July 1, 2021

By Eliott C. McLaughlin and Rebekah Riess

Sara Nir and her two children (click here) were in their ground-floor condo at Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, moments before it partially collapsed. She was checking emails when they heard knocking sounds, she said.

The knocking grew louder before she heard a "smash," as if a wall had collapsed in the unit above hers. She thought it was construction, she said. It didn't make sense, not at 1:10 in the morning.

Nir eventually found the building's security guard, and as she complained about the noise, she said, they heard a boom. She ran toward the sound and witnessed the building's underground garage collapse. It was like something out of a movie, she said.

The mother's account is the latest to suggest last week's deadly collapse began in the lower reaches of the building. Several engineers have told CNN that video of the collapse suggests the failure began near the structure's foundation, and a 2018 survey prepared ahead of the building's mandated 40-year certification cited problems in the pool area and the garage beneath it....

...A pool contractor who was at the tower the Tuesday before the collapse said that while the pool deck area looked fine from the surface, he observed standing water in the garage and cracks in the pool maintenance room, the Herald reported....

...A 2018 photo,shared with CNN by Tom Henz, shows the earlier stages of the crack engineers and experts consulted by CNN say appears to be the same crack visible in 2021, although the more recent photo appears to show it has worsened. The cause of the apparent deterioration is not clear.

After inspecting the building in 2018, engineer Frank Morabito wrote in a report that "failed waterproofing" below the pool deck was "causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas," and warned that failure to replace it in the near future would cause "concrete deterioration to expand exponentially."...

Will they consider "infortainment" a fraud?

July 2, 2021
By Ariane de Vogue

Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch (click here) on Friday said the Supreme Court should revisit the breadth of the landmark First Amendment decision in New York Times v. Sullivan and explore how it applies to social media and technology companies.

That 1964 ruling created a higher bar for public figures to claim libel and has been a bedrock of US media law, but the two conservative justices said it's time to take another look.

"Since 1964," Gorsuch wrote Friday, "our Nation's media landscape has shifted in ways few could have forseen."

He added that "thanks to the revolutions in technology, today virtually anyone in this county can publish virtually anything for immediate consumption virtually anywhere in the world."...

..."Sullivan provides crucial protection of the independence of news outlets, whose reporting might otherwise be chilled, even for accurate stories, if it were easier to sue them for defamation," Vladeck said. "The more justices who look poised to potentially revisit that precedent in the coming years, the more alarming Justice Thomas's previously idiosyncratic critiques become."...

FOX News is recruiting the USA military past and present for a treasonist run at the USA Consitution or otherwise said, "Trump's reelection."

Everyone in Flint shoiuld have their pipes replaced or condemn the property.

A view into Flint drinking water pipes, showing various types of iron corrosion and rust.  (click here)

June 29, 2021
By Christina Tuser

Flint, Michigan's, (click here) lead water pipe removal program has entered its final stages, according to city officials.

As of June 18, 2021, Flint has checked the service lines at 27,092 homes and replaced 10,041 lead and/or galvanized steel pipes, according to the city’s website. The remaining 17,051 homes did not need replacement.

City officials set a final deadline of July 23, 2021 for residents to consent to get their lead water pipes replaced for free.

Residents can give the city consent to do the work through a form available here.

Completing the work will likely extend through the end of this year, according to city officials.

On June 28, 2021 the U.S. EPA hosted the community roundtable with organizers representing Michigan cities of Flint and Detroit in order to highlight the experience of these two cities with lead in drinking water.

“The impacts of the water crisis on residents, on children, and on the community are long-lasting, said Elizabeth Cisar, senior advisor for EPA’s Office of Water, reported ABC 12. “It is essential that EPA’s Lead and Copper Rule is informed by the experience of Flint and other cities across the midwest that are dealing with the legacy of lead pipes."

Even if residents previously declined service line replacement, they can still get their water pipes checked....

Spending infrastructure dollars on climate is badly needed.

Canada was completely unprepared for the heat. Hard to believe this heat map actually is a relief to some.

June 30, 2021
By the AP

Today's USA heat map.

...Oregon health officials (click here) said more than 60 deaths have been tied to the heat, with the state's largest county, Multnomah, blaming the weather for 45 deaths since the heat wave began Friday.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, police said they had responded to more than 65 sudden deaths since Friday. Washington state authorities had linked more than half-dozen deaths to the heat, but that number was likely to rise.

"Vancouver has never experienced heat like this, and sadly dozens of people are dying because of it,” Vancouver police Sgt. Steve Addison said in a statement....

What the heck is there to fight about?

Over the past nearly two decades, (click here) the presence of a variety of state and nonstate military and security forces has transformed the Syrian border district of Bukamal and the neighboring Iraqi district of Qa’im. Following the end of the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s caliphate, Iranian-backed militias began to play a major role in the area, turning it into a flashpoint between Iran and its allies on the one side and the United States and Israel on the other. The strain of tensions and the threat of instability are liable to ensure that this heavily securitized part of the border will remain a magnet for conflict for years to come.

Demilitarize the border. You would think that after Daesh was defeated, the region would have learned something, but, evidently not. Don't argue with Iran, just start a process to demilitarize the border. Iranian militias are viewed as the peacekeepers since Daesh cannot reorganize and begin again. But, the peacekeepers have religious differences that spark conflict. The only way this is going to resolve is to prevent the opportunity for violence.

...The militarization of the border and the presence of state and nonstate actors have blurred the lines between formal and informal institutions and obscured who ultimately holds authority and governs the area—state institutions or nonstate militias....

...The tensions between some official Iraqi and Syrian military, security, and civilian institutions and Iranian-backed militias hinder Baghdad and Damascus from restoring the sovereignty and governance capacity they previously had over the area. For better or worse, the lingering presence of Iranian-backed proxies leaves Iraq and Syria with no choice but to accommodate Iran’s interests to some degree....

It is nearly impossible to remove Iran from either Iraq or Syria. Iran currently manages a small town in northwest Syria called Latakia (click here). Basically, Syria, Iraq, and Iran are Shia strongholds. So, when the USA exerts it's authority, there is political backlash in Iraq as well. The Iraqis like Iran and are more likely to start an offensive against the USA than ask Iran to mind it's own business. Iraq and Iran are Shia homelands and all the ruling Alawites want in Syria is civil war reduction and threats. The Alawites are Shia as well.

Now, why I brought up the fact that a town in Syria is occupied by Iran for security purposes is because what exists in that city is a viable drug trade.

In the summer of 2015 a businessman (click here) in the Syrian province of Latakia was approached by a powerful security chief, seeking a favour. The official wanted the merchant, an importer of medical supplies, to source large amounts of a drug called fenethylline from abroad. The regime, he said, would readily buy the lot.

After an internet search, the merchant made a decision. He left his home that same week, first sending his wife and children to exile, then following after, scrounging what he could from his businesses for a new start. “I know what they were asking me to do,” he said from his new home in Paris. “They wanted the main ingredient for Captagon. And that drug is a dirty business.”

Other businessmen in Syria’s north have not shared his reservations. The manufacture of Captagon in the regime heartland has become one of Syria’s only recent business success stories; a growth industry so big and sophisticated that it is starting to rival the GDP of the flatlining economy itself....

No different than Afghanistan, Syria after Deash, is a failed state and what is the one economic structure that sustains in a failed state? Yep, some kind of drug trade. In Afghanistan, it is the poppies and in Syria it is Captagon.

...Captagon (click here) is one of several brand names for the drug compound fenethylline hydrochloride. Captagon is not a new drug. The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Encyclopedia places its debut in 1961, when it was manufactured by Chemiewerk Homburg, a subsidiary of specialty chemicals company Degussa. The patent for its production dates to 1962, according to the Merck Index....

This morning FOX News was propagating a wedge issue about how the politics of the extreme left effects the USA military and it's preparedness. Simply put, it doesn't. I don't know if FOX has a hotline to Netanyahu, but, they are obviously attempting to create an issue for the elections of 2022.

While it is correct to retaliate when American troops are threatened or attacked, one has to wonder, "why bother?"

A border war between Syria and Iraq will not break out. What is occurring, including this escalation with the USA, is nothing more than gang warfare, Here again, no different than when the USA military was in Iraq, the Americans are just viewed as another gang. So, the only logical question to be asked is, "What the heck are we doing there?"

What kind of shape is Lebanon in these days, too?

But, the issue with the Iraq and Syrian border is not our business. So, what the heck are we doing there?

These operations in the Middle East have been primarily run by the President's enormous OCO Funds (click here). When American soldiers are attacked it is only correct to end the attack today and in the coming weeks and months ahead. I have absolutely no problem with the USA military defending itself and if it can also end a toxic element in the area with GOOD INTELLIGENCE than do it.

The problem with this latest missile strike with Syria is not that it happened, defending the soldiers is vital. But, the real problem is why are we there at all? If we weren't there the USA military would not have to retaliate for escalations of fighting with American soldiers. Get the picture?

There is no Western answer for the Middle East without killing a whole lot of people and destroying cities' infrastructure. Or in the case of Syria, whatever is left of it's infrastructure. I realize that the USA in the region also limits Israel's idea of heaven in expanding it's borders in the name of peace. How a war brings about peace is anyone's guess. But, that is what goes on with Israel. Isreal doesn't believe in peace, not really. They believe in expansionism AS a tool for their definition of peace.

The USA military in the Middle East usually ends up in trouble of one kind or another. It is not that we lack the sophistication to carry out a mission, it is that we carry out a mission to make it the one and only mission they have to do and it ends up being so very different than any other military power in the region, it attracts attention.

It may be that ending the assault of Iranian militias against the USA could create instability at the border and otherwise. Follow? I mean the buildings that were destroyed in this attack were sort of a part of the infrastructure in the area. See all the trucks parked across the street. This area was somewhat busy and it is my guess the militias in that building were more or less carrying out attacks against DEATH SQUADS like Daesh. In that is the understanding they have purpose and the Shia Crescent has no problem with the skirmishes carried out by these militias.

So, now that the USA has rightfully defended itself, what next? None of the governments of those three countries want the USA there. Our military is attempting to end violence and create it's own understanding of stability, but, one missile strike is not going to do that. The criticism the USA has received in protecting it's own troops is to let all the other militias in the region know this isn't going to happen to them.

To my way of thinking there is only one reason for the USA to be in the region and that is to protect shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

So, while the USA is there it figures it can do some good by attempting to rid the region of militias. Nice idea. A little on the heroic side, but, is it really necessary? Probably not. I really think the USA military needs to rethink it's purpose in this part of the world and perhaps downgrade our presence. And for god sake bring the B52s back where they belong.

"Good Night, Moon"

The waning gibbous

18.5 days old

85.3 percent lit

June 10, 2021

As NASA continues (click here) plans 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.”

The Delta Variant is dangerous because it spreads so rapidly. Don't hesitate to get attention to symptoms.

June 22, 2021

By Daren Whitehead

...Nationally, (click here) the Delta variant makes up about 10% of cases, which is much lower than the variant's prevalence in Colorado, Herlihy said.

Missouri is the only state that has more cases of the Delta variant than Colorado, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)....

 

Love him or not, Dr. Fauci has the best guidance for a path that ends the virus danger.

June 22, 2021
By Rob Stein

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned on Tuesday of the danger from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Among those not yet vaccinated, Delta may trigger serious illness in more people than other variants do.

The dangerous Delta variant (click here for audio - thank you) of the coronavirus is spreading so quickly in the United States that it's likely the mutant strain will become predominant in the nation within weeks, according to federal health officials and a new analysis.

At a White House briefing on COVID-19 on Tuesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said 20.6% of new cases in the U.S. are due to the Delta variant. And other scientists tracking the variant say it is on track to become the dominant virus variant in the U.S.

"The Delta variant is currently the greatest threat in the U.S. to our attempt to eliminate COVID-19," Fauci said. He noted that the proportion of infections being caused by the variant is doubling every two weeks.

The variant, first identified in India, is the most contagious yet and, among those not yet vaccinated, may trigger serious illness in more people than other variants do, he said....

Masks work.

Social distancing works.

Hand hygiene works, especially before touching one's face.