Racism in America. The culture is too dangerous to ignore.

May 16, 2022

Buffalo calls itself the “City of Good Neighbors” for good reason. (click here) This sprawling, blue-collar city is more like a collection of distinct neighborhoods, built by successive waves of immigrants and strivers seeking work and a better life. Syracuse can relate.

Today, we feel a neighborly sense of solidarity, along with anger, grief and resolve, in the aftermath of a hate-inspired mass shooting Saturday targeting Black people at a grocery store in a predominantly Black neighborhood on Buffalo’s East Side.

Ten people died, including two with ties to Central New York. Three more were injured. The shooter, an 18-year-old white man, had an elaborate plan to kill more Black people but surrendered to police first.

The gunman traveled 200 miles from his home near Binghamton to execute his racist plan. It could have been our city. It could have been any city. That is the point of terrorism: to make people everywhere feel that nowhere is safe from murderous hate.

Not a synagogue. Not a mosque. Not a church. Not a nightclub. Not a supermarket on a sunny Saturday afternoon....

Come on, everyone. This is the truth and we haven't ended the nightmare. Decades of time. Decades and we haven't ended the extremist views that carry danger within their ideology.

White Supremacy/Nationalism is a source of fear. The ideology is a predator to the young minds and hearts of boys. There is no looking the other way. This is a poison in our country and it has to end. It has no legitimate place. For far too long, Americans have tolerated the idea that such extremism as allowed to be expressed in public demonstrations and parades. It was all to uphold the First Amendment. That lost it's permission with the death of Heather Heyer (click here).

Peaceful protests have always been the way to let those in power know there is something wrong and it needs to be addressed. The White Supremacists of Charlottesville, Virginia proved they are capable of a great deal of damage along with their protests (click here).

There is no basis for benevolence within the White Supremacist/Nationalist belief system. It places a majority ethnicity as superior to all other races in the USA and that is proven over and over to be a lie. Allowing the conjuring of old, bad habits of political dogma is unacceptable in the face of modern day society.

Back when White Supremacy manifested with burned crosses and lynching, those that carried the out such atrocities were ashamed to be known and considered dressing in white cloth necessary. Even their horses were not to be identified.

Make no mistake, this is a political movement to change the face of the USA (click here).

Today, being identified as a KKK member is accepted as if they are nothing more than a member of a club with "certain beliefs" not identified in other areas of life and government. This belief system espouses hate and that is simply Un-American. This is a belief system that needs to be reduced to a bad time in USA history before Martin Luther King, Jr. worked so diligently to pass legislation to free the USA of this burden of hate.

Today, (click here) two granite monuments stand on either side of the Potomac River. These are memorials to Lyndon B. Johnson and Martin Luther King, Jr. Little seems to connect them. One is filled with remarkable calls to justice. The other is a landscape of pine trees.

But for two years they strategized together—behind closed doors and during secretly recorded phone calls. They came together in the days after President Kennedy’s assassination. From 1963 to 1965, their coordination helped to push forward the landmark civil rights laws of the 20th century.

During Johnson’s time as president, he signed into law the most significant Civil Rights legislations in over a century: The 1964 Civil Rights Act, which ended legal segregation, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which prohibited laws meant to suppress Black voters, and the 1968 Civil Rights Act, which focused on Fair Housing policy. Johnson referred to these civil rights laws as “the greatest achievement of my administration.”...

There is no room in the USA for hate anymore. There is much work to be done to recover this country from a deadly pandemic and the disruption it caused. Hate is a waste of time. We should have no patience with any of it.

President Lyndon Johnson and the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. were not minor figures in history, they moved mountains. Where is that legacy today? It is missing among high powered and expensive political ads that promote the very essence that is destroying our national fabric of unity. There is no room in the USA for extremism as it continues to kill Americans through insidious ways mired in ignorance and hate (click here). It is believed a full one third of the one millions USA deaths from the pandemic were preventable. Then there was the impact on minority communities and families. They will never be whole again.

What Buffalo, New York proves is that social media has become a platform of hate in a way no one could initially understand. The underground of hate finds it convenient to harness the power of media and make it serve an illegitimate purpose. 

One gunman (click here) turned loose hate within him that was transformed by others that espouse hate online and seek to take the hate and turn it into power. That is what is at the essence of White Supremacy. It isn't just about the idea of racial superiority, it is about taking hate and turning it into power to cause widespread carnage. That is the goal of White Supremacy. It is not simply a neighbor with distasteful leanings. White Supremacy's ugliness is seen when those in power turn toward these leanings and encourage voting with the idea it will win out in a way that will finally bring about the final outcome for the manifesto of hate.

There are many layers of power within White Supremacy. They have to be defeated. The politics of hate in the USA is disgraceful. There is absolutely a political dogma that accompanies these acts of violence. There absolutely is and we cannot turn from it.

Great men and women have provided a proud legacy of diversity in this country and it is up to each one of us to revel in it and bring about a country that no longer values such hate or the violence that accompanies it.

An unclear and present danger?

May 17, 2022
By Shane Harris

Congress held a rare public hearing Tuesday (click here) into the existence of what the government calls unidentified aerial phenomena, more commonly known as UFOs, a subject of scrutiny by the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies following an increase in sightings by military personnel and pilots in recent years.

By taking testimony from senior government officials, lawmakers intended to bring “out of the shadows” a Defense Department organization that has been tracking the sightings, said Rep. André Carson (D-Ind.), chairman of the House Intelligence’s Committee’s panel on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and counterproliferation....

I think this is perfectly justifiable use of government's capacity to understand potential dangers to the USA. I once heard there is regular activity off the east coast of the USA of unidentified objects splashing down into the ocean. To realize we have observations of these elements and not the capacity to understand them is irresponsible.

There needs to be funding to investigate any and all sightings or radar record or any other detection interference of entities that are uncertain to know their characteristics and/or origins.

It is important to understand our world and all aspects of it. This is a part of the world we do not understand. If there is intelligence in these sightings, we may regret we started to pursue them. Why? Because the more we understand the unknown, the better the unknown may understand us and there in lies the lack of fear that would cause hesitation of attack. There is a safety in being as mysterious to others as they are to us.

I find this simply fascinating and don't understand how all this is simply left to the imagination. Hollywood doesn't seem to mind the mystery of ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind or Arrival. I think Americans are interested and quite frankly would be ready to understand other lifeforms if they truly exist.

June 4, 2021

The USS Russell and the USS Omaha (click here) captured video appearing to show UFOs flying, hovering and splashing into the ocean.

The West and it’s worries.

OWhen The West looks at the fallow and dangerous agricultural fields (bombed by Russia delivering metals and chemicals into the soil) of Ukraine it sees a world in need for food. 

When communists look at the fallow and dangerous agricultural fields of Ukraine they see a victory. They look to their own capacities to feed their people. They do not look at the unproductive agricultural fields in Ukraine and wonder how the world will eat. They don’t care. They don’t care if their own people go hungry. When that occurs the communists will blame it on the Nazis.

Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked war into a Post-Soviet country during a global pandemic for no other reason but to satisfy his own politics on Russia’s victory day.

Got that? The Ukraine invasion, genocide and continuing war is to benefit the wrongful politics of Russia. No other reason. When The West measures it’s national security and the benevolent acts it holds dear to its purpose nowhere in that equation is there any room for communists. None. Non-proliferation is the only path available. It benefits the communists to see their shortcomings in promoting any escalation of tensions.

Basically, no more nice-nice. 

Genocide is non-negotiable.

The West worries about The West and defends against communists. If The West wants to find places to be benevolent and promote economic ties, there is an entire continent in Africa that is fertile fields for peace and prosperity.

May 16, 2022

Seoul, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (click here) criticized officials over slow medicine deliveries and mobilized the military to respond to a surge in suspected COVID-19 infections as his nation struggled to contain a fever that has reportedly killed dozens and sickened nearly a million others in a span of three days.

North Korean health authorities said Monday that eight more people died and an additional 392,920 were newly found to have feverish symptoms. That brings the death toll to 50 and illnesses to more than 1.2 million, respectively. It's a sharp jump from the six dead and 350,000 sick reported last Friday, a day after the North said that it found that an unspecified number of people in capital Pyongyang tested positive for the now-widespread omicron variant of the coronavirus.

Kim has acknowledged that the fast-spreading fever, highly likely driven by COVID-19, is causing "great upheaval" in the country, and outside experts say the true scale of the outbreak is likely much bigger than what's described in the state-controlled media....

While the COVID-19 emergency in North Korea (click here) takes it's toll among the people, Kim Jong Un has fired ballistic missiles into the sea three times.

There is no way Western democracy can bring about any peace or economic ties to encourage peaceful paths between the countries of planet Earth. This is hopeless. There have been successes in the past, but, all that changed with the global pandemic. We are farther and farther from any form of peace or even any kind of productive dialogue than ever before.

The communists need to stop practicing politics that does not promote peace. The Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) has never been more important. This treaty must go forward and be the focus of peace for the purpose of saving lives through commonalities in the need for healthy citizens and an abundance of food. It is a viable path that I believe any country wants to believe will result in peace. It must be a high priority of The West. It is the last hope for these countries to end their poverty and save their people.

The BBC has been following the events in Ukraine rather intensely today.

The BBC has been reporting about the atrocities left behind in town after town after the Russians have left. There are civilians killed everywhere. They also have tape from a closed circuit television that shows Russian troops speaking with a security guard and business owner exchanging greetings and even smoking cigarettes together. As soon as the security guard and business owner walks away, the two Russian soldiers open fire on them. It is some very horrific stuff.

At first when reading this report about these Ukraine soldiers in Mariupol I thought Russia had taken the soldiers, but, evidently it is a Ukraine operation that is going well to secure the safety of the troops left in Mariupol. The civilians were evacuated on May 7th.

This report from President Zelensky is live.

May 16, 2022

Volodymyr Zelensky (click here) has said an operation to "save the defenders of Mariupol" has started, but added the work will require "discretion and time".

Ukraine's defence ministry says 264 fighters have left the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol and been taken to areas held by Russian-backed rebels.

This report originated with CNN. Both of these civilians were shot in the back after the conversations with the Russians.

May 12, 2022
by Sara Sidner, Sandi Sidhu, Vasco Cotovio, Kostyantyn Gak and Oleksandra Titorova

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN)Russian soldiers (click here) shot two unarmed civilians as they walked away after an encounter in the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

CNN has obtained surveillance video of what is now being investigated as a war crime by Ukrainian prosecutors.

Both civilians died after the heartless shooting that goes against the so-called rules of war that outlaw the targeting of civilians. CNN has identified the victims. One was the owner of the vehicle dealership that was looted, whose family does not want to be named. The other was Leonid Oleksiyovych Plyats, a 68-year-old grandfather who worked as a guard there....

Since the Maidan of 2014 (click here) Putin has used the idea of Ukraine being full of Nazis to justify all the aggression he has exerted on Ukraine, including the annexation of Crimea and the continuing civil war in eastern Ukraine.

Putin's propaganda is such poison that the soldiers see no reason to practice any form of proper war protocols, especially when it comes to civilians. One can understand the Russian soldiers point of view, they were given the understanding that right next door to Russia lies the unfinished business of WWII. That is a complete lie, but, it doesn't matter because it is a lie that the Russian people believe and that the Russian military uses to justify it's killing. The Ukraine civilians have been attempting since the initial invasion to drive the Russian soldiers out of Ukraine. They have acted, in some instances, as a volunteer force creating their own offensives to end the bloodshed, defend their neighborhoods and bring about a degree of peace in Ukraine.

That resistance through the eyes of Ukrainians is about defense of their homeland, but, through the eyes of Russian soldiers, that is simply the Nazis striking back at the soldiers. There is nothing anyone can do to change the politics of Vladimir Putin in calling the special operations in Ukraine necessary to rid the world of the Nazis. He won't give it up because he has a former Ukrainian president in Viktor Yanukovych willing to testify that the Nazis drove he and his family out of Ukraine. 

That is the story and that is what continues to be a false narrative within Russia. That false narrative, I believe, is what gave the Russian soldiers the right (in their own minds) to take the lives of civilians that were of no threat to them. These two men died needlessly because of Putin's politics. The war Russia is fighting is based in lies and nothing more. The politics within Russia has to change. How and when that will ever happen is anyone's guess. Putin will not change a narrative that continues to protect his grip on power.

The world economy has been rocked by this war into Ukraine. There is a burgeoning food shortage because of the chronic attacks on the farmers and farmlands in Ukraine. The West needs to address the needs of it's people that does not involve communist countries.

John Durham has lost respect.

The document that completely discounts Durham’s assertions is the Mueller investigation that clearly found a relationship between many Russians and the Trump campaign. 

There were no criminal charges because Barr ended the investigation prematurely. The report itself and its unpolished submission is proof of that. 

The contacts between Russians and the Trump campaign are numerous and the financial support came through a Russian spy, Maria Butina and the NRA’s dark money. Butina served jail time and was ultimately deported. 

The Muller investigation had plainly exposed the GRU and a special unit in the USA interfering with the 2016 campaign for President. 

The Clinton Campaign and it’s members should sue for defamation after the obviously important Mueller investigation that proved Russian interference on many levels with the 2016 presidential elections.  

The Great Society

For as great a society as we are and the perfection strived to elevate every American to their potential, corruption is reeking havoc with us. 

Racism Crisis

Gun Violence Crisis

Climate Crisis

Women’s Health Crisis

These are all issues because of corruption by special interests. Haven’t we had enough of the corruption that infiltrated our great society?

Good night.

Samuel Alito states privacy rights are not in the USA Constitution.

Samuel Alito states there is no right to abortion in the USA Constitution.

Well, Samuel Alito stop breathing because there is no expressed right to breathing in the USA Constitution either.

Stop encouraging violence!

May 11, 2022
By Grace Hase

San Jose is banning ghost guns, (click here) the untraceable firearms that increasingly have been found at crime scenes in Santa Clara County over the last six years.

The ban is the latest attempt by city leaders to reduce gun violence in the nation’s tenth largest city, which already has adopted a first of its kind law requiring gun owners to insure their weapons.

While the federal government and California have passed recent legislation around the manufacturing, transferring and assembly of ghost guns — which can be easily purchased online without a background check, built at home and lack a serial number — there is no current federal or state law that addresses the possession of ghost guns.

On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council voted unanimously to make it illegal to possess, manufacture, sell or transfer ghost guns or their parts, taking aim at the rapid proliferation of firearms that can be ordered online and delivered without a serial number or the buyer undergoing a background check. The new law, which will give owners of ghost guns 120 days to apply for a serial number through the California Department of Justice, follows other cities such as Oakland, Berkeley, San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles that have already banned ghost guns....

Everytown’s research (click here) found that it is possible to buy an AR-15 ghost gun build kit and a lower receiver for as little as $345. Kits for making Glock-type pistol kits with a frame can go for as little as $400. These prices compare favorably to the cost of buying an assembled firearm at retail....

National Security trumped the publication of instructions, but, can't stop the private sales.

That is simply crazy. This is how ghost guns began. Either this is a national security issue or not. Of course, it is. So, what is the problem in ending the sales and distribution?

April 14, 2022
By Jordain Carney

Senate Republicans (click here) said on Thursday they will force a vote to try to nix President Biden’s “ghost guns” rule, pushing a fight over gun laws onto the chamber’s agenda.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) said that he will introduce a resolution along with Sens. James Lankford (Okla.), Mike Braun (Ind.) and Mike Lee (Utah) to block the Justice Department regulation.

The Congressional Review Act allows Congress to try to overturn an administration rule with only a simple majority vote if it’s within a certain timeframe. Biden could still veto the resolution disapproving the rule, which would also need to pass the House.

“This is another attempt by the Biden Administration to strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights instead of addressing the failed policies that have led to increased crime across the country. This action by the Biden Administration is not going to solve rising crime rates,” Lankford said in a statement.

Cruz also accused Democrats of trying to “shift the blame and stoke anti-gun sentiment.”

“By introducing this resolution, we’re pushing back. … We want to stop the false narrative that links the rise in crime to ‘ghost guns,’ and firearms, and we want to protect law-abiding citizens who are exercising their Second Amendment rights,” he added....

The Assault Weapons Ban (click here for AAP) was not about anything except Quid Pro Quo between Republicans and the NRA. You know the NRA, the non-profit organization that cozies up to Russian spies.

It is time to end the relationship between the Quid Pro Quo Republicans and dangerous organizations that promote irresponsible relationships that cause danger to Americans!

California under Newsom is incredibly successful. He is proving all the Republican naysayers wrong.

Other states need to take notice.

May 12, 2022
By Alec Regimbal

Gov. Gavin Newsom (click here) announced a plan Wednesday that would both expand abortion access in California and lure businesses away from states that are expected to ban the procedure in the coming weeks.

The plan is a response to a recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that revealed the body planned to overturn Roe v. Wade. If that happens, political analysts expect abortions to be illegal or difficult to obtain in roughly half of the U.S.

“California will not stand idly by as extremists roll back our basic constitutional rights,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re going to fight like hell, making sure that all women — not just those in California — know that this state continues to recognize and protect their fundamental rights."

It’s not uncommon for Newsom to capitalize on what he sees as bad political moves being made by other state leaders, namely those in Florida and Texas....

Governor Newsom is also enjoying a huge budget surplus. How? By taxing the wealthy, of course.

State coffers (click here) are overflowing with an unprecedented budget surplus as Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday unveiled a massive $300.7 billion spending package that funnels billions in cash payments to vehicle owners and hospital workers while dramatically boosting spending on education, infrastructure and wildfire resilience.

During his highly anticipated May budget revision, Newsom said the state’s surplus ballooned to $97.5 billion — far higher than his $76 billion January estimate. A large chunk of this surplus is mandated toward education and other spending categories, while lawmakers have discretion over about $49.2 billion, some of which will be given back to taxpayers, Newsom said.

The bountiful budget is buoyed by a trend accelerated during the pandemic: Economic gains enjoyed by California’s wealthiest residents translated into unusually high tax revenue for the Golden State. In the 2021 tax year, residents will report a staggering $291 billion in investment profits, according to the revised budget estimate.

“It’s simply without precedent,” Newsom said during a two-hour press conference. “No other state in American history has ever experienced a surplus as large as this.”

But despite the rosy outlook, Newsom argued that California needs to ready itself for a stock market bust by putting $23.3 billion in a rainy day fund and using the vast majority of the surplus on one-time spending. He compared the state’s current budget situation to the bubble before the dot-com crash and said the recent stock market downturn is cause for concern....

Governor Newsom has more water problems that is mostly not experienced before.

May 4, 2022
By Stephanie Elam

As Southern Californians (click here) brace for unprecedented water restrictions, officials worry some communities won't have enough water to get through the summer -- at least not without residents and businesses significantly cutting back on their usage.

The state's top natural resources officer told CNN that California's water emergency clearly shows the climate crisis in action.

"Some would consider this a wake-up call. I disagree," Wade Crowfoot, California's secretary for natural resources, told CNN. "The alarm's already gone off."...

Lake Mead and Lake Powell are considered the first and second largest dams in the western USA (click here).

Governor Newsom has discussed the idea of desalination plants. It is a serious prospect. I might add, if the desalination plants are used, accompanying that reality is the RIGHT TO MAINTAIN A LAWN. Why? Because placing moisture back into the troposphere will return function to the climate. Desalination does not have to be used forever, if function can be returned to Earth. Artificial rain, which is what a sprinkler system is, can reverse the trend of drought that has been spinning out of control for the past three decades.

Ridding society of greenhouse gases is a must, but, accompanying that is the reality that Earth has entered NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOPS. Eliminating GHG pollution is vital, however, it must be accompanied by a REHABILITATION of Earth through returning water vapor to the circulating air mass of Earth. Basically, eliminating greenhouse gases is a rebalancing of Earth's troposphere to the place that was benevolent to life. Earth is going to need some help to return function to the climate by once again introducing moisture to the troposphere and that is best done by increasing the moisture to soil and land.

The best example I can provide is the loss of Ethiopian biotic areas that lead to nearly permanent famine. The dam used to replace water availability to Ethiopia is always criticized. But, along with the criticism there were no other viable alternatives offered.

April 2011
Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), (click here) formerly known as the Millennium Dam, is under construction in the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia, on the Blue Nile River, which is located about 40km east of Sudan. The project is owned by Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO).

Construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam started in April 2011 after the ETB80bn ($4.7bn) engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract was awarded to Salini Costruttori.

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam project is expected to be completed by July 2017. The people and Government of Ethiopia are funding the project, which will not only serve Ethiopia, but Sudan and Egypt as well. The latter two countries depend on the Nile River for their water although 85% of the river flows in Ethiopia.

The dam’s construction is expected to create up to 12,000 jobs. Approximately 20,000 people will be resettled during the course of the project.

The reservoir and dam will offer major benefits to Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan. Egypt has for a long time held the major ownership of the water from the Nile River and prevented Ethiopia from constructing a dam. Egypt depends on the Nile for 90% of its water needs.

A tripartite committee was formed in January 2012 to promote understanding and look into the benefits and impacts the project would have on the three countries....

Dams such as this is not about recreation or boating, it is about returning function to the land through evaporation of water in places now droughted and through irrigation to crops and even for the benefit of restoring forests and above all other interests, rainforests.

Once the biotic areas, OF NATURAL and NATIVE FLORA, is returned the need for irrigation ends in time and complete function can be facilitated through natural Earth processes.

BUT.

The ending of greenhouse gas pollution MUST OCCUR, otherwise, these projects will only prove to be long lived without the benefits initially intended. Evaporation of water from Earth into the upper atmospheres is happening. It has to stop and immediately if not sooner. The volatility between the troposphere and stratosphere is extremely dangerous and will result in the collapse of Earth's natural life sustaining air masses by MIXING of the two Earth atmospheres.

Currently, Earth's troposphere is expanding due to heat. The hotter it becomes the bigger a space it takes up and the more pressure it exerts on the stratosphere. Currently, Earth's stratosphere is being compressed and some of it lost to the mixing of the two atmospheres. This cannot continue and is an emergency that no country has a right to ignore. Projects such as this dam and desalination plants that return biotic function to land are vital to ending the climate crisis, but, the GHG pollution MUST STOP.

It was most heartening to pass by one of the electric recharge stations near home that are mostly empty only to see three cars at the charge stands. It was a sight that made me smile and lifted a great deal of hope for our society. We can do this. It is not that difficult. Consumption of fossil fuels must end.

What kind of a mess is this idiot in the USA running for the US Senate?

May 12, 2022

The Club for Growth (click here) on Wednesday endorsed Kathy Barnette, who is running in the GOP primary to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate.

...Surging Pennsylvania GOP Senate candidate Kathy Barnette (click here) has a history of anti-Muslim and anti-gay statements. In many tweets, Barnette also spread the false conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama is a Muslim.

In one speech uploaded to YouTube in 2015, Barnette forcefully argued it was OK to discriminate against Muslims and compared rejecting Islam to "... rejecting Hitler's or Stalin's worldviews." In comments on her radio show, she said accepting homosexuality would lead to the accepting of incest and pedophilia. One post she wrote called a transgender person "deformed" and "demonic."

Excuse me, but, Republicans have already accepted incest and rape as legitimate methods of pregnancy, can pedophilia be far behind?

Barnette surged in recent polls in the upcoming Pennsylvania Republican US Senate primary, putting her in a dead heat between Donald Trump-endorsed former TV star Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund manager David McCormick. The Pennsylvania Senate seat is one of the one of the best pickup opportunities for Democrats this November, and Barnette's sudden, rapid rise is causing worry among Trump allies....

I never get excited over flash in the pan poll surges. It happens all the time in Republican politics. The candidates surge and in the next breath they are at the bottom of the heap. There is no way of knowing if a Republican surge is anything more than variety and fund raising. The extremists alleviate to political boredom of the right wing. 

She is another Marjorie Taylor Greene, but, for the US Senate.

May 13, 2022

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s congressional opponents (click here) are turning wheels with a copy of a $92,679.60 purchase for a “campaign vehicle” in November. But, according to her team, there’s more to it than tax, tag and title — as well as much more about her overall security.

A search of Federal Election Commission files shows Greene’s campaign purchased the vehicle from Riverside Buick GMC in Cartersville. The actual image shows $96,694.50 but does not include the make or model. The expenditure was dug up by Peach Pundit from public records and it quickly spread across Twitter’s political landscape (pre-Musk) as well.

“Due to the massive amount of death and security threats directed toward Congresswoman Greene, it was determined a dedicated campaign vehicle with a supplemental security package was warranted for travel.”

Which brings up another section of Greene’s financial reports, focusing only on Jan. 1-March 31 of this year. Greene is paying more than $45,000 a month for “executive protection.” FEC records show payouts of $41,420 to The KaJor Group of Knoxville on Jan. 14; $49,551.04 on Feb. 1; and $44,727.51 on March 7. That’s $135,698 to KaJor alone. There’s also a $2,000 payment for logistics and security consulting on Feb. 1 to Gavin Thompson. Plus add $311 for insurance paid Jan. 10 on the “campaign vehicle.”...

No reason to see anything else besides genocide.

No matter what town or city the Russians pull out of the carnage of innocent civilians are found massacred. The dead were ordered to be killed. This is far more than the occasional band of out of control soldiers. City after city, town after town there are large numbers of slaughtered civilians discovered. 

Ukraine has paid a heavy price for neutrality in hopes Russia would see no threat. Russia does not need a threat to launch into celebratory killing of people that do not speak the Russian language.

The nonproliferation treaty needs to go forward with verification of mutual disarmament by the IAEA.

Filing deadline for Flint residents is quickly approaching.

May 9, 2022

Flint - The deadline for filing claims for a part of the Flint water settlement (click here) with the state of Michigan and others has been extended.

U.S. District Court Judge Judith Levy signed an order Monday, May 9, extending the claims period from May 12 to June 30 for those who previously registered to take part in the $626-million settlement.

Levy’s action came in response to a request from special master Deborah E. Greenspan, who said in a report to the court that many of those who registered to file claims have faced difficulties in obtaining the necessary documents and putting together the required information....

But, where are the Palestinians supposed to live, work and grow olives?

12 May 2022

Israel advanced plans (click here) for the construction of more than 4,000 homes in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, a rights group has said, a day after the Israeli army demolished homes in an area where hundreds of Palestinians face the threat of expulsion.

Peace Now, an anti-settlement group, provided the figure after a meeting of Israel’s Higher Planning Council, which convened to ratify the construction. At the meeting, 2,791 homes received final approval and 1,636 received an initial nod, the watchdog said.

Critics, including three major human rights groups, say those policies amount to apartheid, a charge Israel rejects.

Hagit Ofran, an expert at Peace Now, tweeted: “The state of Israel took another stumble toward the abyss and further deepened the occupation.”

“It’s bad news for Israel and for anyone who cares about the people in our region,” she said....

No one ever addresses the economic and cultural issues of Palestine in a real way. All that is ever discussed is violence. There is more to Palestine and Palestinians than violence.

Palestinians don't go around day after day with their hair on fire trying to end the existence of Israel. Why is that the only image the world sees? 

Al-Badawi olive tree (click here) in al-Walaja village, West Bank, seen in a still from a video uploaded Sept. 23, 2011.

...The olive harvest in the West Bank (click here) lasts roughly October through November, a festive season of family and friends coming together to pick olives, often on groves passed on through generations of ancestral inheritance. In the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, 45 percent of agricultural land is planted with olive trees, with the olive oil industry making up a quarter of the region’s gross agricultural income, and supporting the livelihood of about 100,000 families. The olive tree also has broader meanings—historically, the long-living, slow-growing, and drought-resistant olive tree represents peace and resilience for Palestinians, and also holds symbolic value across the religious scriptures of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism. Dating back at least 4,000 years, Bethlehem’s Al-Badawi is one of the oldest olive trees in the world, a living reminder of the tree’s presence in the region. It is said to have been named after a villager in the Palestinian town of Al-Walaja, who could often be found sitting under the shade of the tree—resting and reflecting—over two centuries ago....

Ali Al-Samudi was the producer accompanying Shireen Abu Akleh.

He states from his emergency room bed that the crew were all wearing press jackets and helmets. He states clearly there is no mistaking who they were (click here for video).

 

What occurred with beef also occurred with dairy.

Trump's CAMUS has caused a drop in competition.

October 30, 2022
By Lori Robertson

...A consolidation trend (click here) - of fewer but bigger dairy farms — has been happening “for quite some time now,” Chad Hart, a professor of economics and crop markets specialist at Iowa State University, told us in a phone interview. A decline in the number of producers continued under the Trump administration, he said. 

It’s true that dairy farmers generally applauded the new United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which went into effect on July 1, but Trump claimed “our dairy exports to Canada are expected to surge by at least 100%.” We found no support for that figure, and the president’s campaign didn’t respond to our query.

The International Trade Commission estimated dairy exports to Canada would increase by 43.8%, while dairy imports from Canada would go up 139.5% under the agreement, which would take six years to largely implement. The ITC described the overall impact as “small.”

Trump made his claims in an Oct. 27 rally in West Salem, Wisconsin....

Percentages can be deceiving. In 2016 the USA exported nearly four times more than was imported from Canada. To understand the percentages it must be realized that the USA was already exporting a far greater amount of milk to Canada. So, percentages can be deceiving. 

2016 Factsheet (click here)

There are basically five USA states that produce 64 percent of the milk. Milk production is an expensive business. From the utter of the cow to the bottle on the table, the entire pipeline is sterile and closed. So, in order to increase the competition the USA federal government needs to invest in more start up farms that can be equipped with "the pipeline." Setting up the dairy pipeline is the most challenging aspect of the operation. It is expensive to build and expensive to maintain. It is difficult for small producers to do the job. 

HOWEVER.

There are small farms still in existence such as "Moomers" in Traverse City (click here), Michigan. I am quite confident they are not alone in the USA. Moomers prides itself on it's ice cream. It sells it throughout the area. Very successfully, too. It is smaller operations like this that the federal government should encourage to produce more milk for use in baby formula. 

Like any other product in a capitalist economy, the shrinkage of competition under Republican leadership has cost the consumer dearly. Now, our very vulnerable Americans are at risk. This cannot be tolerated and it is up to Congress to address this issue and now.

The US House and Senate needs to take recommendations from the smaller dairies to help them to compete and produce to help the country move out of a baby formula scarcity. This is just not acceptable. The Congress needs to address the use of milk in the USA while exploring the balance of trade with Canada. It is not a problem that can be fixed overnight, but, it needs to be expedited to avoid any problems.

I remind. This is a Congress that defeated the codification of Roe v. Wade and if they don't act to increase the production of baby formula it will be all too obvious this is nothing but politics rather than a sincere concern for the country.

State legislators should explore the possibilities of promoting smaller dairies to help with a more abundant supply.

Sixty hours of investigation is a good start. I think a healthy debate between GMO and Non-GMO would be of interest to most any consumer

April 15, 2022
By Christina Szalinski

...We spent more than 60 hours (click here) researching formulas, interviewing pediatricians and other experts, and reading more than 20 scientific studies and journal articles. And we learned that all FDA-approved formulas made for healthy, full-term infants are safe and nutritionally adequate for normal growth and development from birth through the first year. We then analyzed the ingredients of more than 60 formulas to find the ones we think offer the best combination of evidence-backed benefits and value.

We recommend Costco’s Kirkland Signature ProCare Non-GMO Infant Formula, Sam’s Club’s Member’s Mark Infant, and Target’s Up & Up Advantage Infant Formula, all generic options that are just as nutritious as brand-name versions, but much less expensive. We also recommend the generic Parent’s Choice Tender Infant Formula (the least expensive true “gentle” formula we’ve found) and Earth’s Best Organic Infant Formula (an affordable organic formula). And we have information about an FDA-regulated “European-style” formula, as well as what to know about so-called toddler formula for older babies (hint: medical experts say it’s unnecessary)....

Welcome Aboard!

May 12, 2022
By Steven Erlanger

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (left) (click here) and President Sauli Niinisto in Helsinki

Brussels - Finland’s prime minister and president (click here) announced their support on Thursday for the nation to apply to join NATO.

President Sauli Niinisto, who is mostly responsible for Finland’s foreign policy, has helped orchestrate Finland’s move away from a long history of military nonalignment, prompted by the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay,” they said. “We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.”...

It would be best  if all of Europe would join NATO. I really do believe Russian aggression is so egregious there is no looking back. Europe should have zero risk in allowing any further warring by Russia. Even little Iceland, the most peaceful country in all of Europe is a part of NATO. It knows where security can be found.

Putin was and is attempting to scare Europe into factions and dividing the continent to facilitate further aggression. If Ukraine's struggle proves anything it is that Putin has no respect for neutrality.

May 15, 2022
By Danya Hajjaji

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (click here) welcomed Finland's newly announced petition to join the alliance and promised a "smooth and swift" process.

In a statement emailed to Newsweek, Stoltenberg said: "I welcome the joint statement by President [Sauli] Niinistö and Prime Minister [Sanna] Marin supporting an application for NATO membership without delay. This is a sovereign decision by Finland, which NATO fully respects.

"Should Finland decide to apply, they would be warmly welcomed into NATO, and the accession process would be smooth and swift."...

I am surprised "Rich Strike" will not run in the Preakness Stakes..

It was the jockey. Sure he had a lot of horse under him, but, the jockey rode that horse from the start to the finish. 

It was Leon's third careless riding infraction in the last nine months (click here)

I don't know how reckless riding is defined, but, the owners of "Rich Strike" should appeal any suspension and let the horse run the Preakness. The thoroughbred is up to it. It would be a shame if this is the reason they aren't running the horse.

I watched whatever was on film because it was pure skill and knowing the horse that brought about an upset at Churchill Downs. Sonny Leon took Rich Strike to the rail at the back of the pack, or herd whichever is your pleasure, and stayed there. This group of three-year-olds were very closely matched. If one looks across the pedigree of these horses it is easy to see where the "trust" in the bloodlines lie. But, that aside, Sonny Leon was stealth in his riding and it was brilliant.

He hung back and no one ever expected to find him first at the finish line. The herd ran very closely together and the distance from the front of that herd to the back was limited. "Rich Strike" was never even stressed. It was a fast field and they all kept that pace. At no point did any one horse stand out as the obvious winner. The entire herd was competing and none of them quite and finished a distant last. 

When Rich Strike finally comes into the camera view he is being ridden and guided by Sonny Leon. I could not believe he rode that horse so brilliantly and Rich Strike listened to every command. That is rare to see. Usually, the winner of the Derby is so game that the jockey simply let's him run a race he was bred for, but, Rich Strike was pointed in the direction of the opening and the horse was looking for an opening to go there. As soon as Sonny was able to find open space it was the home stretch and Rich Strike outpaced every other horse on the track. If that was Sonny's strategy to allow the horse to run at the back near the rail until the top of the stretch and then turn the colt loose, then it worked and it worked beautifully.

I think Sonny Leon is a brilliant rider and a superior strategist. If that ability to strategize his horse's best assets gets him in trouble once in a while then I think the stewards overseeing the races don't know what they are looking at. 

 

Bank of England raises rates with concerns for 10 percent inflation.

5 May 2022
By Eshe Nelson

As prices for energy, food and commodities rise after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, (click here) the impact is being felt sharply around the world. In Britain, the central bank pushed interest rates to their highest level in 13 years on Thursday, in an effort to arrest rapidly rising prices even as the risk of recession is growing.

The bank predicted that inflation would rise to its highest level in four decades in the final quarter of this year, and that the British economy would shrink by nearly 1 percent.

“Global inflationary pressures have intensified sharply in the buildup to and following the invasion,” Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, said on Thursday. “This has led to a material deterioration in the outlook,” he added, for both the global and British economies. On an annual basis, the economy would also shrink next year.

The Bank of England raised interest rates to 1 percent from 0.75 percent, their highest level since 2009. Three members of the nine-person rate-setting committee wanted to take a more aggressive step and raise rates by half a percentage point. The Bank of England has raised rates at every policy meeting since December....

The West must go back to producing it's own goods. It looks like the USA is going to be feeding the world again. The USA can do it better and safer than any other country on the globe. The USA can also go back to producing goods and agricultural commodities with an eye on the climate.

May 6, 2022
By Franco Ordonez

Bilka, Ukraine — For Ukrainian farmer Anatolii Kulibaba, (click here) this year's planting season comes with anguish. Kulibaba is among many who were forced to flee their land as Russian forces moved in with their tanks.

In the first few days of the war, Russian soldiers delivered an even crueler blow: They killed Kulibaba's son, Oleksandr, as he was traveling to their village of Bilka, 25 miles from the Russian border.

"He was just 45. He had his whole life ahead of him," Kulibaba says.

Two months later, Kulibaba, 70, is still trying to work through the pain, but it's a struggle. He desperately misses his son, who also led most of the farm duties.

Kulibaba says he could really use Oleksandr's help right now, trying to restart production after Russian forces took over and destroyed parts of their farm.

Ukraine is one of the biggest producers of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, and the war has wreaked havoc on the so-called "breadbasket of Europe." Ukraine and Russia together account for over a quarter of the world's wheat exports. Ukraine's Ministry of Agriculture now says that 30% of the country's farmland is occupied or unsafe....

A week ago the DOW plunged 1000 points because the cost of crude oil spiked. All this is related to the war in Ukraine. The impact is global and you'll have to excuse me, but, would it be happening if Wall Street wasn't given a shot at cheap labor in Asia?

5 May 2022

By Gabriella Clare

Russian troops (click here) headed by Vladimir Putin are set to go to court to challenge an illegal order for them to fight in the war against Ukraine.

A total of 25 national guards “refuseniks”, who report directly to Putin, are demanding their job back after they were fired for defying commanders’ orders to send them to a foreign war zone.

The Vladikavkaz garrison military court (click here) is due to start considering their lawsuit on Thursday said lawyer and human rights campaigner Pavel Chikov.

Vladikavkaz Garrison is in Osettia. He must be pulling soldiers out from all over Russia. Word about the casualties must be reaching the Russian military. Otherwise why would they question anything?

They aim to prove that their dismissal was “illegal” since it was based on their refusal to enter Ukraine....