This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman (I receive no compensation from any entry on this blog.)
Friday, September 24, 2021
The Estimated USD Federal Tax Revenue for FY 2021 is more than the $3.5 Trillion budget currently in reconciliation.
This Flint water problem is due to the climate crisis.
By Ron Fonger
I guess it is called liberty to deal in invisible coins.
By Isabelle Lee
China's central bank (click here) declared all cryptocurrency-related transactions illegal on Friday, and said foreign exchanges are banned from providing services to Chinese residents, in its strongest crackdown move yet on the digital asset industry.
Coins such as bitcoin and ether "are not legal and should not and cannot be used as currency in the market," the People's Bank of China said in a statement.
Virtual currencies do not have the same legal standing as fiat currency as they are issued by non-monetary authorities and use encryption technology, it said.
Bitcoin dropped 5.7% to about $41,110 in the wake of the announcement, according to data from CoinDesk. Ether lost 9% to hit $2,788, ada declined 3% to $2.16 and Ripple's XRP moved 7% lower to 92 cents. Dogecoin fell 8% to 20 cents....
In Russia, it's own cryptocurrency is sanctioned due to ransomware. It is the perfect crime. Completely outside the parameters of standard financial markets and banks. Is Russia's cryptocurrency for ransomware terrorism? It operates outside the definition of the civil world and uses infrastructure against itself. That is terrorism.
September 21, 2021
The United States (click here) has imposed sanctions on a Russian-based cryptocurrency exchange over its alleged role in facilitating illegal payments from ransomware attacks.
The Treasury Department action on September 21 targeted SUEX, in what officials said was the first sanctions leveled against a cryptocurrency exchange laundering money for cybercriminals.
This year, ransomware attacks have targeted companies and critical infrastructure, including a major U.S. pipeline and a meatpacker. There was also an attack on the software firm Kaseya that impacted some 1,500 businesses.
Ransomware payments surged last year to over $400 million, more than four times their level in 2019, according to the U.S. government.
But those payments represent only a fraction of economic harm caused by cyberattacks, which have disrupted critical sectors, including financial services, health care, and energy.
“Ransomware and cyberattacks are victimizing businesses large and small across America and are a direct threat to our economy,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen....
Russia earned the first in history sanctions against a cryptocurrency. Will the perpetrators ever be brought to trial? No. Russia does not cooperate with extradition.
September 21, 2021By Issabelle Lee
Governor Whitmer please don't let these important vaccines be wasted.
By Hayley Harding
More than 300,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines (click here) are on the verge of expiring in Michigan as demand for shots wane right as the state stares down what appears to be a fourth surge of cases.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services estimates that about 161,000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and between 143,000 and 146,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine expire near the end of this month, said Lynn Sutfin, a spokeswoman for the health department.
Eighteen months into the pandemic, 1 in 10 Michiganians have tested positive for COVID-19. One in 485 have died. And for months now, the number of people getting first doses of a vaccine has been dropping to a trickle.
The number of shots getting into people’s arms has been below 100,000 since the weekend of June 26, down from an April peak of 679,409 doses administered. Excluding this week, for which numbers are not yet completed, providers have been administering an average of 70,000 doses a week for three months, according to state data....
Hiding in plain sight.
Thursday, September 23, 2021
An earlier entry today on this blog stated "Sky News" was treating President Biden harshly. That still stands.
In watching that video in the previous entry nothing should be lost on the content of the information the three men gave to the press.
The COVID-19 virus has wreaked havoc on the UK. Their NHS was overwhelmed by the invasion of the virus and the fact the country is made up of nearly 67 million people dependent on good care. I think the medical professional stated clearly that in order to ADDRESS THE BACKLOG of needed procedures the country has to invest in updating and purchasing state-of-the-art equipment to move it along.
I read a very heart-rendering article that addressed a man that was struggling to combat a severe threat to his life and the NHS was literally prioritizing people in treatment outside of the COVID-19 deadly intent on people of all ages. He was brought to tears in his condition because while he has received good service from the NHS, he was finding it difficult to sustain some of the delays. At the time this interview took place he was receiving treatment. The point is that while the press corp is carrying urgent messages that are preceived as political rather than real, their purpose is to carry such tragedy to the highest levels of alertness and have it addressed.
That responsibility of the press is a noble one and also presents quite falsely as a method of promoting one political agenda. In the UK, the press must carry the message of the people and they do quite successfully. I think the Prime Minister has come to terms with that fact and openly reassures the press that they are heard. There are fewer adversarial relationships with the press and what is perceived as such by the Prime Minister, is met with a smile.
I do not believe the public has come to complete terms with the COVID-19 tragedy in the USA. The virus and its outcomes including vaccines are still part of a political dogma that is hurting the country and quite frankly businesses as well. The method the press uses in carrying information to the people and then emphasizing their response sometimes as front-page information is vital to democracy and is not a preference for one political party or another. Newspapers and news media is about dialogue and impacting what is important to the country to survive and move forward. Those media sources that choose an agenda vs. a dialogue should be ridiculed because it is a violation of ethics.
In this news conference with Boris and others.
There is no one to blame for the disastrous press briefing.
I will comment on this further this afternoon when I have time on my hands.
What was witnessed at a press opportunity between Boris and Joe was because the press is very unstructured at the White House. There was nothing but yelling.
Sky News also needs to find manners when it comes to their chronic harassment of President Biden.
The two NATO leaders have been conditioned differing regard to their approach. Boris engages the press with flattery and friendship while Joe rather not deal with it at all. That is what was witnessed Ms. Sky News and nothing else.
It also would seem that everyone who has a chance is attempting to ignite President Biden’s shuddering handicap. So, yelling has become a real blood sport with the press or any hostiles in the room.
Joe Biden is the legitimate President of the USA and he is completely capable and competent. The Haitian refugees need to get attention and the beginning is an increase in the number of refugees allowed in the USA. President Biden signed the order for that to happen several days ago. The responsibility for carrying out assessment of the Haitian refugee problem now falls to the State Department and its processes.
There are two peoples stressed for refugee status, the Afghans and Haitians. I think the USA has already taken its full complement of Afghans. Haitian refugees need to be addressed.
A new emergency in nuclear power, financial stability of companies that dismantle them.
Covert Township - A blockade of I-beams sunk deep into the beach (click here) serve as a stark barrier between industry and recreation along Lake Michigan's southern shore.
On one side is Van Buren State Park, where visitors swim, boat and sunbathe on the stretch of Great Lakes sand. On the other is Palisades Power Plant, a nuclear energy facility that has produced electricity for decades and has become a new source of controversy.
Palisades is slated for closure in the spring. Its owner, New Orleans-based Entergy Nuclear, seeks to transfer Palisades to a New Jersey company that is gobbling up shuttered nuclear plants, promising to decommission them swiftly and on a strict budget.
But environmental groups and Michigan's top law enforcement official doubt the company can fulfill those promises. Holtec International's plans raise "significant health, safety, environmental, and financial concerns for residents of the state," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel wrote to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in a February petition.
As part of decommissioning Palisades, Holtec intends to let nuclear waste sit in storage on the site abutting Lake Michigan. And if the company gets approval to build an interim storage facility in the southwest United States, it could ship that waste on barges over the storied Great Lake.
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
What will the Supreme Court misogyny do to cases involving some of the best in the country.
By Mary Clare Jalonick, Will Graves and Michael Balsamo
Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles (click here) told Congress in forceful testimony Wednesday that federal law enforcement and gymnastics officials turned a "blind eye" to USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse of her and hundreds of other women.
Biles told the Senate Judiciary Committee that "enough is enough" as she and three other U.S. gymnasts spoke in stark emotional terms about the lasting toll Nassar’s crimes have taken on their lives. In response, FBI Director Christopher Wray said he was "deeply and profoundly sorry" for delays in Nassar’s prosecution and the pain it caused.
The four-time Olympic gold medalist and five-time world champion — widely considered to be the greatest gymnast of all time — said that she "can imagine no place that I would be less comfortable right now than sitting here in front of you." She declared herself a survivor of sexual abuse.
"I blame Larry Nassar and I also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse," Biles said through tears. In addition to failures of the FBI, she said USA Gymnastics and the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee "knew that I was abused by their official team doctor long before I was ever made aware of their knowledge."...
At least most of the country now agrees, including the peer group of the Supreme Court.
September 11, 2021
The Supreme Court opened the door to fierce backlash (click here) when a narrow majority of justices in a ruling last week upheld a strict Texas law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.
From President Joe Biden to advocacy leaders, critics have knocked the court's decision, arguing it flouts the constitutional right to an abortion established nearly 50 years ago under Roe v. Wade. That Supreme Court decision, along with other major abortion rulings since, protect the right to an abortion until pre-viability, or the point when a fetus can survive outside of the womb, which most experts say occurs around 24 weeks of pregnancy.
The court's refusal to block the Texas law "unleashes unconstitutional chaos," Biden said last Thursday, hours after the decision was handed down. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit this week in an attempt to block the six-week abortion ban.
"This is the loudest alarm yet that abortion rights are in grave danger, in Texas and across the country," Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in response to the ruling....
Can we please get this right.
For once parents and children are receiving a tax break from the USA government rather than million-billionaires and enormously sized companies with bad employee policies.
If this is tied to the refusal of the Republicans to either pass a budget or a CR then the country should know by every Democrat exactly who their victims are.
September 22, 2021By Tami Luhby
Though the Internal Revenue Service (click here) sent out the third monthly child tax credit payment last week, some families are still waiting for the funds.
Angry parents have contacted CNN, taken to Twitter and posted to other online sites complaining that they did not receive the money on Sept. 15 as expected. Eligible families can get up to $300 for each child up to age 6 and up to $250 for each one ages 6 to 17.
The agency, which distributed $15 billion in credits to about 35 million families last week, acknowledged Friday that "some individuals" had yet to receive their September payments, though they were sent ones for July and August. It also noted that these parents may not be able to see the status of the payment on the IRS' child tax credit portal....
Mary Trump and the New York Times are great Americans
Former President Donald Trump (click here) sued his niece Mary Trump, The New York Times, and three of its reporters over coverage of his tax records, the Daily Beast reported.
Trump filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in Dutchess County, New York, which claimed his niece and the Times came up with an "insidious plot" on how to get his records for reporting on his tax history.
The Times reporters named in the suit are David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner, who won a 2019 Pulitzer Prize for their 18-month investigation into Trump's finances.
Damages requested from the Times and Mary Trump will be determined at trial but are "believed to be no less than One Hundred Million Dollars," the Daily Beast reported....
I demand OSHA investigate Amazon for very DANGEROUS demands of it's delivery drivers.
By Sarah Jackson
Amazon (click here) drivers say they are being punished for some driving habits that are considered safe and others that are beyond their control, Motherboard reported.
Drivers told Motherboard that the AI-powered cameras in Amazon's delivery vans unfairly penalized them for things such as looking at side mirrors, adjusting the radio, and even getting cut off in traffic by someone else.
"It's upsetting, when I didn't do anything," a Los Angeles delivery driver told Motherboard. "Every time I need to make a right-hand turn, it inevitably happens. A car cuts me off to move into my lane, and the camera, in this really dystopian dark, robotic voice, shouts at me."...
Tuesday, September 21, 2021
The officers knew this was a tragic relationship. They had no right to prevent them from being together.
That is a terrifying title. Yet, it is real.
Health officials reported the state’s seventh child death from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and raised alarms about a string of deaths in unvaccinated pregnant women.
What state has this reality?
The state is lead by a Republican governor.
It has a state GDP of 99.76 billion US. That is nearly it's highest. The highest GDP was a little more than 104 billion.
This far into the pandemic and vaccines the state's hospitals have not been able to keep up with the spread.
That reality in a state within the lower 48 states of the USA is pathetic. There is no excuse for all this disease, hardship and poverty.
September 9, 2021
Mississippi (click here) is closing its only remaining parking garage field hospital set up to treat coronavirus patients during the delta variant surge, but it is still relying on out-of-state workers to help increase ICU capacity in state hospitals, officials said Wednesday.
Health officials also reported the state’s seventh child death from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic and raised alarms about a string of deaths in unvaccinated pregnant women. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said eight pregnant women with coronavirus have died over the past four weeks....
That's right, it is the glorious state of Mississippi. The article below is ten years old, but, I am confident that are still issues with food security in Mississippi.
November 8, 2011By Christofor Husted
The state of Mississippi has the highest percentage of its population — 24 percent — on food stamps of any state in the country. (It's also the most obese state, with 7 of 10 adults in the state either overweight or obese.) That means the government is feeding one Mississippian in five right now.
All Things Considered host Robert Siegel yesterday interviewed John Davis, director of the SNAP program in Mississippi, to find out why so many people count on food stamps there.
"The economic downturn of course is a contributing factor," Davis tells Siegel. "And we know that from a historical standpoint anytime there is a decrease in the job availability, there's going to be an increase in our program."...
The Michigan Republican Legislature says the pandemic is over. Talk about lack of intelligence.
It is believed Whitmre is going to sign this mess because it is in the budget bill. That's right, the state budget is held hostage to the Michigan legislatures political dogma. Whitmer should be putting a very big veto across this budget and tell the legislature to do better. That veto would result in an override of it and the law within the budget would pass anyway.
I think the budget provision will be challenged by cites and probably successfully. As a matter of fact wasn't a similar attempt at killing people attempted by Florida's governor What's His Name? The courts did not endorse, oh, yeah, DeSantis, DeSantis' idea of good governance.
September 21, 2021By Dave Boucher
Michigan public agencies (click here) may not require employees or customers be vaccinated against COVID-19 while state and local health officials cannot enact or enforce mask rules for K-12 students under provisions of a budget bill that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and legislative leaders say will be approved.
The nearly $70-billion budget proposal also mandates the state publish detailed justification for any future pandemic orders.
Senate Bill 82, a budget measure that emerged from closed-door negotiations between legislative leaders and Whitmer's administration on Tuesday, includes nearly 1,000 pages outlining funding for all state departments next financial year. It passed the Senate with unanimous support.
"We wanted to negotiate. Those negotiations were in good faith, they were bipartisan. They were very productive. They weren't always easy, but I'm pleased with how the budget ended up," Whitmer said, speaking Tuesday afternoon from outside the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island.
This is absolutely amazing and should be the envy of every governor in the country.
California ranks as one of the largest states in the country and their ability to handle this virus is astounding. Could it be that the wackos that back Trump are fewer in number? Possibly. But, Governor Newsome has done a really good job with this and has every reason to be the center of attention at the next national governor's meeting.
Seriously.
September 21, 2021
California (click here) has the lowest coronavirus case rate of any state, federal figures show, illustrating the progress made in the ongoing battle against the highly infectious delta variant.
The state has been among the national leaders in that metric for the last week, as the number of newly confirmed coronavirus infections continues to tumble from a peak earlier this summer. But while infections have plummeted in highly-vaccinated Bay Area and Southern California, hospitals are struggling to keep up with a crush of cases in the Central Valley, underscoring how vaccines are so critical in combating serious illness.
California’s new case rate per 100,000 people is less than half of neighboring states, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some hard-hit states have more than quadruple California’s numbers....