Justice for the people of the Flint, Michigan poisoning.

I had to list this with Flint tonight. I applaud this effort by the State of Michigan to set former inmates free of their past. Every American is allowed a one time chance to expunge a criminal record. Ususally that right falls in around the age of 50 years. So, a former inmate will have only 12 years or so adding to their SSi balance. It is very victimizing.

There is only one other time in an American's life to eliminate any criminal convictions and that is as a minor. The record of a minor can be locked away forever to prevent impact on an American life.  That means there are 32 years an inmate has to accept poor paying jobs and a real chance at an American lifestyle and upward mobility.

These efforts to remove old chemical records is wonderful. It provides a chance for younger men or women to find good jobs even in the professions. There is no reason to prevent this one time opportunity. That may also mean ti can provide THE VOTE back to former inmates. If these efforts are controlled by a governor or otherwise, it has to be viewed as racist with the real fact that African Americans are incarcerated more often then Caucasians.

September 25, 2021
By Cheri Hardmon

Flint - There have been all kinds of challenges (click here) since Eequindre Stewart started his own home and business restoration company three years ago.

The biggest roadblock in taking his company to the next level is something Stewart did in 1996.

“I actually worked for a company that didn’t pay and they left their payroll office open and so I went and made checks out for me and the guys that worked with me,” Stewart said.

He was convicted of a felony check cashing fraud charge and served seven years in prison. That life altering decision is still with him 25 years later....

...He was hoping to change that Saturday and have his record wiped clean by attending one of the expungement fairs now taking place during Michigan Clean Slate Expungement Week. It’s an opportunity for Michiganders to remove old convictions from their public record and have a clean slate.

“That means our company will be able to grow. That means we will be able do more things as far as traveling and doing things in other states,” Stewart said....

This is amazing. It is probably the beginning of the end of the settlement. The idea a medical center is negligent in protecting their patients is an important finding. It should not be easily dismissed. The question is do the families of the dead suffer with their loss and to what degree can they tolerate legal processes to find justice. The settlement provides an income to people that cannot wait for justice. That is a good thing, but, if there is a large enough number of people opting out of the settlement, those that cannot financially tolerate it well may need to be identified and provided for in a legislative bill. 

Justice is about THE CORRECT WAY TO ADDRESS problems. It is not about a QUICK GET RICH SCHEME. These particular people suffering after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan should receive the best outcome considering this is such an egrigious event on the American landscape. I think taking these issues to court and allowing the legal system to play out will bring clarity and IMPORTANT findings and decisions by a jury of the peers of the people in Genesee County. The findings of any jury in any of these cases could be making not only a statement about the crime and the impact of the surviving relatives and effected adults and children in a community with a high minority population, but, how a society based in democracy handles such crimes to minority populations. 

The events that follow the poisoning of the people of Flint, Michigan is vital to the rest of the country to prevent such events from occurring again to people that are the most vulnerable in our society, the impoverished. Frequently, people that are unable to hire lawyers or pay court costs are negatively impacted. The proceedings here could change all that. HOWEVER, it is completely unfair to ask the people of Flint to withstand more suffering. Being a hero is not the idea of justice either. Finding justice is also timely so victims can recover. These are all very weighty decisions by the victims of Flint. But, the last thing I want for them, or this country should want for them, is to ask them to be martyrs to a legal process when relief to their suffering can occur now.

September 30, 2021

By Ron Fonger

Flint - McLaren Regional Medical (click here) wants more time before deciding whether to remain a part of the $641-million settlement of claims tied to the Flint water crisis.

In a filing in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 28, the hospital asked Judge Judith Levy for a stay of 60 days to an Oct. 10 deadline in the proposed settlement as officials continue to consider their opt-out options.

McLaren paid half of its share of the settlement pool -- $10 million -- previously and says in its motion that the remaining $10-million payment is due Oct. 10.

Court officials have said the hospital has an escape clause in the settlement, giving it the right to withdraw from the agreement if any of the 31 persons who sued the hospital, alleging exposure to Legionella during the water crisis, opts to take their case to trial....

continued...

I heard that Senator Sinema has a standard to be a maverick like the late Senator John McCain. Senator McCain was a Republican that sometimes agreed with Democrats. He was a maverick within the Republican ideology. Is Sinema saying she is a maverick within the Democratic party? What exactly does that mean?

If the Late Senator McCain is an idol to the newly minted Senator, then she needs to realize then Senator Clinton and the Late Senator were great friends. They sponsored bills together like the Carbon Emissions Tax. Not that I think that is a great idea, but, it was an attempt to bring about some path forward to environmental stewardship.

West Virginia needs jobs. Don't ask me what Manchin is thinking.

His votes do not make sense to me and it has nothing to do with politics. West Virginia is not a wealthy state and is dependent on federal dollars for health care and food stamps. Job diversity does not exist in West Virginia. If a citizen isn't working for the coal companies or a trucking company then they are making low wages.

The graph to the left is from Zip Recruiter. (click here) As a US Senator that is nothing to brag about. He will probably be replaced by a Republican that won't be any better AFTER he is elected.

September 8, 2021
By Darrough Roche

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) (click here) has suffered a decline in his approval rating among voters in his home state, according to the figures in the latest WV MetroNews West Virginia Poll.

Manchin now enjoys 42 percent approval in West Virginia, compared with 37 percent of respondents who disapprove. This is a notable change compared with results in the same poll in October, 2020.

The poll comes as Democrats in the House and Senate are pushing ahead with President Joe Biden's $3.5 trillion infrastructure proposal, though Manchin has indicated he will not support that amount of spending....

Challenges to authority.

The thing that occurs to me when I read about challenges to a mask mandate is that the person involved in issuing that order is usually a governor and/or a president. 

Dr. Fauci could easily pledge to a court COVID-19 is a public health issue that has multiple dimensions of threat, including, the OPPORTUNITY for a Level Three virus to mutate creating a severe life threatening issue to human beings on planet Earth.

I sincerely believe public health mandates should be issued by the leadership of any health department, including HHS. The executive of the government can always back that public health mandate. But, in all sincereity I believe a mask mandate if issued by the leadership of the health department at any level, local, state or federal, is far more enforceable and less of a States Rights and/or Individual Liberty problem to the courts. 

It is difficult to argue with a health official if they have the credentials, knowledge and research to back them up. The executive, on the other hand, does not necessarily have the credentials. The executive has the ability to issue enforcement of that public health mandate which he or she is controlled by as well. A public health mandate would require the executive at any level of government to fall into line with the issuance of the emergency.

Public health issues on a federal level means the contagion can travel across state boundaries and controlling THE SPREAD is a matter of national necessity as well as individual and/or state necessity. An example is the bordering states problem. There are states that comply with CDC, FDA and NIH recommendations and then there are bordering states that do not require any protections from THE SPREAD. One state that is irreverent to the potential of a Level Three virus can cause enormous problems for everyone and that is what we are seeing.

I challenge any state in this country to violate the Clean Air Standards. The EPA can pass regulations that would classify the virus contagion as a threat to air quality. We know that Dr. Fauci uses indoor air standards differently than outdoor air standards. The US EPA has indoor and outdoor air standards. This contagion is no different than a deadly sized particle or a gas that causes disease over time.

The Clean Air Act is completely applicable in this instance as well as any standard the USA military may have in protecting the lives of Americans from biological or chemical warfare. I remind, that under the presidency of George W. Bush, there were enormous numbers of vaccine stored for the purpose of vaccinating the American people from a 1918 flu type epidemic. Therefore, there is precedent. 

I strongly believe if these principles were applied to the existing efforts, the mask mandates and vaccine mandates will hold as what is necessary for every American to OBEY in the case of ending this very dangerous virus and it's variants. Variants are real and adhere to existing science in understanding viruses. This is not a political game. This is survival and the courts have to see it that and enforce the standards handed down by public health authority.

Ask anyone in non-compliance with established science if they rather be in a jail where the virus has rampaged and see what they say.

Just as a side note, I remember when I was 5 years old. Yes, I remember. Imagine what the children today are going to remember. My father took me to the local elementary school gymnasisum to recieve sugar cubes containing polio vaccine. The polio vaccine could be taken orally.

If those days of WELCOME compliance to save the lives of children from an acquired nightmare that would alter their reality forever, is gone, then the methods of government has to change with the bizarre antics of making COVID-19 a political issue. COVID-19 is a non-discriminating virus that doesn't recognize political lines.

Pregnancy is a medical condtion that is managed by Obstetricians. Where are the health requirements in treatment?

If a pregnant woman does not want to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine, then place them in protective quarantine as a measure of public health. If abortion is such a social ill, why isn't the lack of vaccination?

By the way, Texas clinics regardless of a judge prohibiting the Texas law about abortion that will kill women and their fetuses, are struggling financially to stay open.

The reason pregnant women are followed by medical professions is that pregnancy is a co-morbidity, regardless of the immune status of women. Not being vaccinated against a known deadly contagion ADDS to the co-morbidity of pregnancy.

The alternative to quarantine is every person in the country wears masks to protect others. I ask myself, does everyone in the country wear masks? No, there are people in the country that have COVID-19 that would be happy to walk up to a pregnant woman and cough in their face in the name of acquired immunity otherwise known by the extreme right as herd immunity. The people of the USA are living with propaganda designed to kill them. The only venue that will protect pregnant women who are not vaccinated is quarantine. The quarantine should be reported to the local public health authorities to enforce it.

This is not a minor problem.

September 24, 2021
By Nancy Lapid

Vaccinated Women pass on antibodies to babies. (click here)

Pregnant women who get an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 pass high levels of protective antibodies on to their babies, new research shows. Doctors analyzed umbilical cord blood from 36 newborns whose mothers had received at least one dose of an mRNA vaccine from Pfizer (PFE.N)/BioNTech or Moderna (MRNA.O). All 36 babies had high levels of antibodies that target the spike protein on the surface of the virus - and all of the antibodies could be traced to the mothers' vaccinations. The findings, reported on Wednesday in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology - Maternal Fetal Medicine, indicate that "the antibodies that the mother is building to the vaccine are crossing the placenta and that's likely to confer benefits for the infant after it's born," said coauthor Dr. Ashley Roman of NYU Langone Health in New York City....

Stillbirths are up as well. One other thing, Red State governors do not recognize poverty as a co-morbidity so much as laziness.

September 9, 2021

By Britney Shammas

Mississippi has recorded 72 fetal deaths (click here) in unvaccinated pregnant women infected with the coronavirus, state health officials announced Wednesday, sounding the alarm on the virus’s danger in pregnancy.

Speaking during a news conference, Mississippi State Health Officer Thomas Dobbs said those deaths had occurred since the start of the pandemic. The number, which includes only deaths that occurred past 20 weeks of gestation, “is twice the background rate of what would be expected,” he said.

“That’s quite a number of tragedies that, sadly, would be preventable right now,” Dobbs said, referring to the availability of vaccines.

He said the state is also investigating the deaths of eight pregnant women who were infected with the virus. Those deaths occurred over approximately the past four weeks, during the delta variant-fueled surge, he said. Many underwent emergency Caesarean sections in an attempt to save their babies....

Where has all the civility gone?

Representative Dingle happens to be correct. The USA has many laws controlling abortion. There is no such thing as Late-Term Abortion anymore. We have a lot of policies regarding the borders of the USA, including the southern border. There is no tolerance of drug cartels or other illegal acts. Immigrant facilitators are not legal in the USA and can be arrested if discovered for human trafficking.

Greene is not a good legislator. She is underprepared for her responsibility as a US House Representative, and she practices inflammatory politics from morning 'til night and from the floor of the US House. Inflammatory politics is the stock and trade of the extreme right-wing that has found its way into powerful seats in the federal government. The problem is the inflammatory politics don't stop at politics, it continues into their priorities as legislators. 

If Representative Dingle didn't interrupt the ranting by Greene, Greene would not have stopped. She planned to OCCUPY the PRESS SPACE through the entire assembly on the Capitol steps.

 

Why did Gabby Petito die?

Yeah, I am going there. The person who killed Gabby is fully responsible for his actions, but, why didn't she leave?

In the films of her behavior with police and otherwise, she was heavily dependent on the idea of being perfect. She wanted to be a person others turned to about quality information about national parks, etc. She was very dependant on the idea of "being liked." She fully accepted her FAULTS as part of her reality to become popular.

In those videos, she is highly self-blaming and even self-hatred. She never once blamed her male escort for his behavior. NEVER ONCE.

Since the inception of Facebook and all its variants, I believed and believe still this was a toxic element in the USA. Since, Facebook, which started as a WOMAN RATING WEBSITE AT HARVARD (click here), this country's dynamics including its democracy has been noted to have adverse effects traceable to Facebook. This is not healthy for anyone, but, especially young people. 

There is a rating system for movies and it contained X-Ratings. I strongly suggest Congress adopt a unique rating system for the internet, especially social websites like Facebook where young people congregate to insult each other in the spirit of IMPROVING themselves as socially acceptable. It plugs in directly to the natural emotions of young people to be accepted among their peers as well as evolving sex appeal as teens becoming young men and women. 

There is a lot of damage being done to the young people in this country that is carried into their adulthood. I believe Gabby Petito is a prime example. There is no real empowerment, only criticism with the intent to emotionally hurt others and create acceptable ideals. That is horrible as a society. These invisible standards are stronger than law in some instances. We also know they are stronger than family ties because young people exposed to these dynamics commit suicide.

These social networks are not healthy for a democracy, let alone young minds and hearts.

September 30, 2021
By Cecilia Kang

Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, (click here) is expected to face harsh questioning from senators on Thursday morning about Instagram’s effect on teenagers, addressing accusations that Facebook has known for years that its photo-sharing app has caused mental and emotional harm.

The hearing, which starts at 10, is the first of two that the Senate’s consumer protection subcommittee will hold on the effect that Facebook has on young people. The second, on Tuesday, will be with a whistle-blower who has shared information about Facebook’s research on teenagers.

The hearings were called after The Wall Street Journal published a series of articles this month about internal research at Facebook. One of the articles reported that, according to Facebook’s findings, one in three teenagers said Instagram made his or her body image issues worse. Among teenagers who had suicidal thoughts, 13 percent of British users and 6 percent of American users said they could trace those thoughts to Instagram.

On Wednesday evening, Facebook released two slide decks from the research cited by The Journal. The company heavily annotated the slides, at times disputing or reframing the accuracy and intention of the research report. The company said in its slides that many teenagers reported positive experiences on Instagram, including that the app at times helped with mental health....

Joe, How did you know what is good for the people is good for Wall Street?

September 28, 2021

By Ethan Wu

The team managing the $238 billion Walmart family fortune (click here) disclosed its holdings, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The Walton Investment Team held $5 billion in the stock market at the end of June, a 32% gain from $3.8 billion six months prior

The investment team managing the $238 billion Walmart family fortune revealed its stock picks in newly released disclosures, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The Walton Investment Team held $5 billion in the stock market at the end of June, up from $3.8 billion six months prior. That 32% gain came on the back of several low-cost exchange-traded funds as well as a few choice stocks.

The Waltons' largest holding was a $2.2 billion stake in VWO, Vanguard's emerging markets ETF, which rose 8.4% between December 2020 and June of this year. Other ETF holdings included various Vanguard and iShares funds in emerging markets and Treasury bonds.

Stock picks ranged widely from Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo to private equity giant Apollo Global Management and cloud computing firm Snowflake....

I think Walmart released it's earnings in hopes that Warren would think they had a better idea than Gates.

June 30, 2021

By Hamza Shaban

Wall Street wrapped up the first half of 2021 at record highs, (click here) with investors defying pessimistic projections of a broader pullback and pushing past concerns of rising inflation and potential rate hikes.

The Dow Jones industrial average advanced more than 210.22 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 34,502.51 on Wednesday. The S&P 500 edged up 5.70 points, or 0.1 percent, to settle at 4,297.50 and chalked up its 34th record finish of the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped 24.38 points, or nearly 0.2 percent, to end the session at 14,503.95.

Wednesday’s session marked the midway point of a year that saw a new president move into the White House, shift in power on Capitol Hill amid the continuing shocks of the coronavirus pandemic. The three major U.S. indexes are up by double-digit percentages, with the Nasdaq advancing 12.5 percent, the Dow adding 12.7 percent and the S&P 500 surging 14.4 percent since Dec. 31, 2020....

Opinion: Debt ceiling negotiations again see Republicans misleading and endangering

The "Des Moines Register" is in Iowa. The people are not happy about this political agenda of the Republicans. The people elect representatives believing they have an input to the decisions made in the US Senate.

September 28, 2021

By Hans Isikson

Every few years (click here) it seems that another argument erupts over raising the national debt ceiling. So, let’s explore this oft-misunderstood macroeconomic metric. According to the Treasury Department, the "Debt Limit" (or ceiling) “is the total amount of money that the United States government is authorized to borrow to meet its existing legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, interest on the national debt, tax refunds, and other payments.”

These “existing legal obligations” were incurred during past administrations of both parties. They were duly enacted by Congress and signed into law by the president at the time. But authorizing an increase in the debt ceiling does not give a green light to whichever political party is in charge to spend taxpayers’ money on whatever their new pet projects happen to be....

Is "long haul" COVID-19 killing people?

September 26, 2021

By Martha Ross

Freshman (click here) Riley Christiansen, a business administration major, passed away November 9. He was 18.

The day before Riley Christiansen took his life at Lookout Point, (click here) the scenic cliffs near Chico State University, the 18-year-old searched online for anything to explain his bewildering bouts of memory loss and why he felt so “down.”

“What to do if you start to talk less?” the usually affable college freshman from Clayton typed into a search engine on Nov. 8 and again the day of his death. “What to do if you are losing your personality?”

Two months earlier, Riley had tested positive for COVID-19 during an outbreak that swept campus just a few days into the fall semester. At first, Riley’s case seemed mild — he briefly lost his sense of taste and smell and developed a cough.

But afterward, Kevin and Lisa Christiansen said their son exhibited symptoms of “brain fog” — problems with memory, concentration and sleep, hallmarks of “long-haul” COVID. Beset by short-term memory issues, Riley quit his new job busing tables because he didn’t remember working the night before. In hindsight, his comments to friends and family in the weeks leading up to his death show his increasing distress over changes in his mood and personality.....

 year later, that COVID diagnosis has become the focus of questions about Riley’s Nov. 9 suicide. His family’s and friends’ concerns are informed by ongoing research into serious mental health struggles for even those with mild COVID cases.

Out of Context

 The “Fry President Biden” Movement including US Senators on the Armed Services Committee is achieving nothing but corrupted politics. 

Statements made by President Biden that the USA military would stay until all Americans were given transport out of the country previous to the terrorist attack in Afghanistan by Daesh changed afterward. As a matter of fact, any allies in Afghanistan made an immediate withdrawal of their personnel after the attack. They waited for no one.

It was impossible to say because some Afghans that wanted to leave the country were in hiding and didn’t make an effort to get to the airport. 

This US Senate hearing is off the rails due to the dense political content rather than the facts. This hearing is achieving nothing.

Afghanistan as a country dominated by the Taliban is not a threat to the USA or the region. There is absolutely no reason to maintain a military presence in Afghanistan.

I have yet to hear a reason why the Afghan military collapsed and why if the people were so scared of the Taliban support the Taliban during the previous 20 years? I know the answer to that because I pay attention. Not one US Senator is desiring answers about “Why the Taliban?”

This committee hearing is all politically motivated and no one is getting the business of the people fine.

“Don’t Americanize the war.” Well said.

It was never a priority to stand up an Afghan military and government. It was the job of the USA military to find and kill or capture Osama bin Laden. The war dragged on because the USA military continued the assessment that al Qaeda was still alive and doing well in Afghanistan. A generation went by and even after bin Laden was dead they continued to JUSTIFY the USA presence.

If the USA military cannot end a war as soon as possible but insist on a forever war there is something very wrong. In the USA Homeland the FEAR directive in the politics bolstered the idea the USA was still under threat. It is all nonsense.

Our troops died for no real reason at all. The death of Osama bin Laden took place in Pakistan with the very able Seal Team. There was no reason to be in Afghanistan. NO REASON.

The conflict in Afghanistan was and is a civil war and nothing was achieved that could stabilize a Western friendly government. The people of Afghanistan never stood behind any Western presence except it was NICE to have money to spend and additional freedoms for women and girls. 

“They miss us now that we are gone. Gee whiz, we have a military fan club.”

Iowa’s US Senator is playing simpleton politics. We aren’t in the country so diplomacy is not possible. Ernst needs to talk to THE SWISS. She is either an idiot or a jerk . Not sure which. Maybe both.

Afghanistan is not the 51st state.

North Carolina's Senator lied and PLAYED THE PART with the general for the benefit of fear politics in the USA Homeland.

August 26, 2021
By Ivana Saric

U.S. allies have rapidly begun to wind down their evacuation operations (click here) from Kabul amidst heightened security concerns and ahead of the August 31 withdrawal deadline.

Driving the news: The U.S. is in control of Kabul's airport but plans to end its operation by Aug. 31, which the Taliban considers a red line, and needs time to evacuate its troops. Thursday's attack at the airport will only increase the urgency. In the meantime, allies including Canada, Germany and Poland have already ended their evacuations.

The big picture: U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a statement condemning the attack at the Kabul airport Thursday that the U.K. is approaching "the very end" of its evacuation operation....

The Republicans are completely out of context in their questions and badgering the panel. But, then the nation's fear since September 11th is not within the definition of reality. If one is a Republican and trapped in "the fear culture" in order to win elections, why not continue an unnecessary war, the Republicans don't have to pay for it. Their millions in their war chest are theirs to keep.

Fear is a strong and necessary emotion. It is more or less a spontaneous emotion that creates a feeling of vulnerability. If a political party can capture the emotion and use it to relate the idea they are the best to protect the country, it is an easy vote for everyone. 

The USA has fought two unnecessary wars in the region and has managed to spend enormous amounts of money on their "wars of image."

The military did their jobs and did it well. Their mission was never clear. How do you tell military leaders they are fighting a war that is politically advantageous?

That was cute, the General now has an order from a US Senator to read the books that contain his comments. Amazing. What has that to do with Afghanistan? 

I think the STUDY GROUP needs to be established to bring a clear view of the invasion into Afghanistan. It is a chapter of USA history that should tell the truth.

Josh Hawley is shameful as a US Senator. He is a treasonist. Just that simple. There is no reason to take him seriously about anything. Americans in Afghanistan by choice, not circumstances. Spouses not having passports or background checks are not the fault of the USA military.

General Milley is telling the truth about China. His responsibility includes maintaining working relationships with other countries' military leadership and not just China. We live in a nuclear world. Mistakes happen. It is why non-proliferation is important.

I think my point was made in that all the generals stated THE REMNANTS of al Qaeda were still in Afghanistan. There is nothing that we can do about that. There was no reason to remain. These extremist Islamists are here to stay. Keeping a chronic war only reinforces the mission of those REMNANTS. No one ever states the war in Iraq resulted in Daesh. There is always a worse scenario that results when the current authority is disrupted and war ensues. There can be a good result where a war is met with appreciation by the people. 

A current-day war that resulted in a heroic appreciation of the USA military force is the USA attack into the Balkans. The USA was hailed by the people as heroes to their well-being and preservation of their countries. There is a place for the USA in the world with its enormous and very competent military. It is NOT in prolonged generational and/or forever wars. Forever wars harden those that oppose the presence of the USA. I think the world understood the attack on Afghanistan by the USA in 2001, what doesn't go well is prolonged occupations in attempts of national building. The military's purpose is never to include nation-building. Ever!

 The filibuster vs USA democracy

There is nothing else to say. A return to a 51 vote majority in the US Senate is paramount to protecting the USA democracy.

"Good Night, Moon"

Waning gibbous

20.4 day old moon

68.1 percent lit

September 26, 2021
By Victoria Cavaliere

Welcome (click here) to the 98th edition of 6 Storm Team Starwatch! This is a blog that will be posted every week that will list events happening in the sky!
Tuesday, September 28th 2021

Tonight is the Last Quarter Moon (Sky & Telescope). Remember, a Last Quarter Moon looks like a half Moon. The Last Quarter Moon takes place at exactly 9:57 PM EDT (Sky & Telescope).

Wednesday, September 29th 2021

If you like to stay up late, check out the night sky between 1 or 2 AM EDT and early dawn Thursday morning (Sky & Telescope). At this time you will be able to see the waning Moon near the bright stars Pollux and Castor (Sky & Telescope). Castor will be above Pollux (Sky & Telescope)....

Ya gotta love the partisan practices of the Robert's Court.

June 27, 2021
By Nina Totenberg

In a 5-4 decision (click here) along traditional conservative-liberal ideological lines, the Supreme Court ruled that partisan redistricting is a political question — not reviewable by federal courts — and that those courts can't judge if extreme gerrymandering violates the Constitution.

The ruling puts the onus on the legislative branch, and on individual states, to police redistricting efforts.

"We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts," Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the conservative majority. "Federal judges have no license to reallocate political power between the two major political parties, with no plausible grant of authority in the Constitution, and no legal standards to limit and direct their decisions."

Roberts noted that excessive partisanship in the drawing of districts does lead to results that "reasonably seem unjust," but he said that does not mean it is the court's responsibility to find a solution....

LET'S DO THIS THING!

Governor Pritzker is a hero!!!!!!!

Every Democratic Governor should be doing the same thing!!!!

September 24, 2021

By Rick Pearson

Gov. J.B. Pritzker (click here) signed into law Friday a revised map of General Assembly boundaries designed to ensure Democrats keep control of the Illinois House and Senate through the decade, starting with next year’s elections.

“These legislative maps align with the landmark Voting Rights Act and will help ensure Illinois’ diversity is reflected in the halls of government,” Pritzker said in a statement.

Republicans and several voting rights groups had asked the Democratic governor to veto the latest map plan, contending the vote by Democrats to approve it in an Aug. 31 special session came too quickly to adequately assess its effects on the state’s political, racial and ethnic makeup.

Republicans also said that by signing the revised measure, which was based on delayed federal census data that didn’t come out until mid-August, Pritzker reneged on his initial campaign vow not to approve partisan-drawn maps.....

President Biden handled the crisis at the border there is no reason for more spending on the southern border.

Ted Cruz has no reason to complain. The Haitian refugees at the bridge were an alarming discovery that has been resolved easily and in a short period of time. There is no reason for President Biden to visit Del Rio, his administration handled it.

The idea the Border Patrol on horseback attempted to prevent people from crossing into the USA is not the role of the Border Patrol. The Border Patrol is responsible for lawbreakers like the drug cartels and not unarmed people crossing into the USA. Those people may or may not have a valid reason to be in this country, but, that is for the courts to decide and not people on horseback representing the USA at our southern border.

There was no reason for Border Patrol agents to believe they have to drive people like cattle back across the border. That is a dangerous directive and not proper in this country. These people were unarmed and poor. There are processes that address these issues. The immigrants at the border need to be processed in and then left up to the courts to decide their future in the USA. There is no reason to act as a military unit from the Alamo.

September 24, 2021
By Maureen Groppe, Joey Garrison, Rick Rouan, and Courtney Subramanian

President Joe Biden on Friday (click here) vowed to take action against border patrol agents on horseback whose actions in Del Rio, Texas drew widespread outrage.

“It’s outrageous. I promise you those people will pay. They will be investigated. There will be consequences,” Biden said in response to a reporter's question at the White House.

The remarks, which came after Biden talked about the rollout of booster shoots for those most at risk for the coronavirus, were his first extended comments about the issue since the images emerged.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is already conducting an investigation that he has said will be completed by next week.

The administration has also temporarily suspended horse patrols in Del Rio, Texas....

This is the Republican majority in the State of Michigan practicing politics from their seats of power. (CORRUPTION)

September 24, 2021
By Craig Mauger

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office (click here) plans to a strike a controversial provision embedded in Michigan's new state budget that would ban health orders requiring kids to wear face masks.

Whitmer's spokesman Bobby Leddy labeled the language "dangerous" in a Friday afternoon statement, adding that it's unconstitutional and "the governor will declare it unenforceable."

"The state of Michigan will not withhold funding from local health departments for implementing universal mask policies or quarantine protocols in local schools that are designed to keep students safe so they can continue learning in person," Leddy added....

This is where all the extremists in the country find permission for bleach and internal lights.

The FDA cannot issue an Emergency Use Authorization. That is conducted by the HHS Secretary. At some point, the HHS Secretary has to rescind the Emergency Use Authorization to end the PERMISSION of wacko treatments.

Emergency Use Authorization

...Under section 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), (click here) when the Secretary of HHS declares that an emergency use authorization is appropriate, FDA may authorize unapproved medical products or unapproved uses of approved medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat, or prevent serious or life-threatening diseases or conditions caused by CBRN threat agents when certain criteria are met, including there are no adequate, approved, and available alternatives. The HHS declaration to support such use must be based on one of four types of determinations of threats or potential threats by the Secretary of HHS, Homeland Security, or Defense.

Please note: a determination under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act that a public health emergency exists, such as the one issued on January 31, 2020, does not enable FDA to issue EUAs. On February 4, 2020, the HHS Secretary determined that there is a public health emergency that has a significant potential to affect national security or the health and security of United States citizens living abroad, and that involves the virus that causes COVID-19. Subsequent HHS declarations supporting use of EUAs and based on this determination are described in the blue boxes below.....

Old Wives Tales, Superstition of any kind, Trumpism or Moralizing will result in a more dangerous virus.

September 19, 2021
By Kristen Jordan Shamus

Despite the widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines (click here) and easy access, the U.S. has fallen behind 40 other countries in getting its people fully vaccinated in a pandemic that is still raging.

About 55% of Americans have gotten at least two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines or a single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, according to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center. That compares with top-ranked Malta, which has fully vaccinated 83% of its population. Our Canadian neighbors have a 70% vaccination rate. China is at 72%. The UK is at 66%.

And though the pace of vaccinations rose slightly in August, it has trended downward the last two weeks.

At this rate, "by the end of September, the U.S. will have the lowest vaccination level of all prosperous democracies, With the largest supply & the biggest head start," Andy Slavitt, who stepped down in June as senior adviser to the White House pandemic response team, said in a tweet last week....

The reason some health care workers resist being vaccinated is because they don't understand or CONSENT to the science.

14 September 2021
By Elie Dolgin

How mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Work (click here)

...Realizing that this discovery (click here) might have far-reaching potential in medicine, Malone, a graduate student at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, later jotted down some notes, which he signed and dated. If cells could create proteins from mRNA delivered into them, he wrote on 11 January 1988, it might be possible to “treat RNA as a drug”. Another member of the Salk lab signed the notes, too, for posterity. Later that year, Malone’s experiments showed that frog embryos absorbed such mRNA2. It was the first time anyone had used fatty droplets to ease mRNA’s passage into a living organism.

Those experiments were a stepping stone towards two of the most important and profitable vaccines in history: the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines given to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Global sales of these are expected to top US$50 billion in 2021 alone.

But the path to success was not direct. For many years after Malone’s experiments, which themselves had drawn on the work of other researchers, mRNA was seen as too unstable and expensive to be used as a drug or a vaccine. Dozens of academic labs and companies worked on the idea, struggling with finding the right formula of fats and nucleic acids — the building blocks of mRNA vaccines.

Today’s mRNA jabs have innovations that were invented years after Malone’s time in the lab, including chemically modified RNA and different types of fat bubble to ferry them into cells (see ‘Inside an mRNA COVID vaccine’). Still, Malone, who calls himself the “inventor of mRNA vaccines”, thinks his work hasn’t been given enough credit. “I’ve been written out of history,” he told Nature....

Any private detention facility and/or prision needs to be transitioned into publicly owned faciliites.

September 23, 2021

By Salvador Rivera

Community organizations (click here) are calling on the Biden administration to uphold its promise and commit to closing the Western Regional Detention Center in downtown San Diego.

It is operated by a private corporation called the GEO Group.

In January 2021, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing the Attorney General to “not renew Department of Justice contracts with privately operated criminal detention facilities.”

The order included the Western Region Detention Facility, which can hold up to 770 people.

Its contract was set to expire on Sept. 30.

But GEO announced yesterday that its contract with the U.S. Marshals has been extended for six months, allowing it to continue operating while it looks at ways of extending its operations despite the executive order.

“President Biden forbid the Department of Justice from renewing the contract,” said Bardis Vakili, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union in San Diego.

According to Vakili, GEO has found a loophole to continue operating the detention facility....