I really don't care if China is offended when the Secretary of Defense is speaking about peace and democracy.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin vowed on Saturday that Washington would not stand for any “coercion and bullying” of its allies and partners by China, while assuring Beijing that the United States remains committed to maintaining the status quo on Taiwan and would prefer dialogue over conflict.

Golf Courses

There are plenty of golf courses in the USA not affiliated with the PGA. They can take on the same luster and professional status when the interest swings their way. No one needs Doral. No one.

PGA

The Professional Golf Assistant, an American Institution for its entire history, is now affiliated with a direct ally of Iran. How is that even legal? 

This is a national security issue. 

It is sports washing. It is an unethical strategy to diminish American values uphold by the PGA for decades. Assassination, Freedom of Speech guaranteed by the First Amendment in the practice of journalism, sound moral politics, and women's rights are continuing to be assaulted and eroded. Saudi Arabia and it's inhumanity are not welcome in the USA.

Tiger Woods and real American athletes need to have their own organization that promotes the accomplishment of Americans. It should be called the "American Professional Golf Organization" and allow amateurs to be the foundation to provide a clear moral path for Olympians (click here). The organization will develop momentum and find financial backing.

The erosion of American values in favor of autocratic cruelty leading to adverse human suffering must stop.

The PGA is welcome to move it's headquarters to Tehran.

11 March 2022

Saudi blogger Raif Badawi (click here) - jailed and sentenced to 1,000 lashes for "insulting Islam online" - has been freed, his wife says.

In February 2015, (click here) the Saudi Arabian authorities publicly flogged blogger Raif Badawi, sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for 'insulting Islam' and founding an online forum for political debate.

Due to be flogged 50 times every week, Raif’s lashes have so far been postponed on a weekly basis. For the first couple of weeks in January, the authorities cited medical advice given by doctors who examined Raif, who had found his wounds ‘hadn’t healed enough’ for him to be flogged again ‘safely’. Latterly, the Saudi Arabian authorities have refrained from flogging Raif, without giving a reason. He continues to be told on a weekly basis whether his 950 lashes will begin again that week.

Raif has made headlines around the world. But his case is just the tip of the iceberg for the Gulf Kingdom’s appalling human rights record....

Disney…

 …needs to consider Michigan for its next wonderland home for Mickey and Minny. Disney does not have a northern climate in its collection of theme parks; now is the time.

Everyone except Florida would love to have Disney in the neighborhood. Disney should go north this time.

Social Security

As President Biden contemplates Social Security’s solvency, there is a critical message that needs to be carried forward with any changes except new taxes. 

Retirement is not about longevity, but, about function. 

When Social Security was first legislated, it was to ensure that older Americans did not suffer through old age, but, aged with dignity and comfort.

US Senator Sanders is spot on in stating aging Americans are about rest and grandchildren. The greatest injustice to Social Security is that it is viewed as a wad of money that Wall Street should have access. That is “W”rong. It is not a wad of money Wall Street can salivate over, it is the result of hard working Americans and their long view of life in the USA.

The last insult Congress carried out to Social Security was making it whole at the age of 72. That is a full seven years from some time ago when full retirement with no penalty was 65 years old. 

In a recent conversation with a complete stranger he told me he and his wife NEEDED to have the full income from SSI so they were determined to wait until age 72 to retire. He got tears in his eyes when he stated his wife received her SSI only a few months before she died of natural causes. He went on to say he believed that is what Congress intended. He stated Congress didn’t care about the people but were striving to get SSI payments as close to the death of Americans rather than aging into the Golden Years.

The man absolutely believed that and I think he was right.

For many Americans the Golden Years are not so golden when they are incentivized to continue to work rather than retire. It reminds me of the “Carrot and Stick” approach of capitalism. The Carrot and Stick approach maybe a good way to get consumers to “buy up” and spend more money, but, aging is no joke and for the average American 72 years old for retirement is unjust. It is THAT word that needs to be at the heart of any debate about SSI; unjust.

Expecting to run this country like a business is a strategy that depersonalizes the “human experience “ and treats money like a citizen. It is cruel, depersonalizes the American experience, and creates a false narrative about our country, the needs of the people, and falsely elevates dollar bills above humanity.

It is time for the people of the USA to take back the humanity that was originally written into government programs like SSI and Veterans Benefits. That means there will be new taxes that will come from the only source available, namely billionaires that were facilitated by the American experience and a tiny transaction tax on Wall Street which would never had existed without this democracy.

We have had enough of cutting into the Middle Class and victimizing those most vulnerable in the USA. We want the USA to focus on the humanness of all of us. It is time to survey the university physicians in this country who treat the most vulnerable and have them talk about the aging of Americans and the appropriate age to set full retirement of Social Security and Medicare.

Thank you, President Biden. You are a great President focused on what is important. Thank you so much and the First Lady Jill, too.

Wall Street will be naysayers to the expansive growth under the Biden administration because they don't "get it."

June 2, 2023
By Josh Schafer and Jared Mitovich

...This marked (click here) the 14th-straight month that job creation came in above what Wall Street economists had expected and the largest monthly increase since January.

The data sent stocks higher on Friday as investors continued to expect a pause in the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike campaign will be announced later this month....

Wall Street understands money and the money that comes from the government is especially their concern. The markets are about profit and loss and not about governance.

Let me ask one clarifying question:

"When a President's governance opens OPPORTUNITY to minority populations through sound governing principles, isn't that expanding the economy to include more consumers with more income?"

Former President Jimmy Carter carried out an economic strategy to bring about more opportunity for minorities in the USA. It was mostly rejected as an incompetent economic strategy and the markets and Republicans fought it all the way. It was racist to fight progress in bringing all Americans into the work environment and ultimately the Middle Class and beyond.

May 1, 2023
By E. Stanley Godbold, Jr.

As we approach almost half a century since Jimmy Carter (click here) was elected president in 1976, the timing is right to reevaluate his place in history. His and Rosalynn’s legacy will be, as he wished it to be, peace and human rights. As more scholars, journalists and memoirists examine primary evidence and place the Carters in the context of their times, the image of two of the greatest peacemakers of their era emerges.

The turning point in Carter’s life came in 1953 when his father “Mr. Earl” Carter died. Returning to Plains, after resigning from the U.S. Navy to take charge of the family business, Carter was shocked to discover that his father had been quietly giving aid to poor and needy people, both Blacks and whites....

President Biden came into office with the same type of economic strategy. The progression of Biden's economy nearly was identical to Carter's. The reason Biden's administration is successful where Carter's failed is because there is a far stronger recognition of inequality in the USA than before. The change is palpable. Society is going through a paradigm shift.

Biden's strategy is designed to push through change in a way that is unfamiliar to the text book strategies of Wall Street. There is a huge difference between governance and economics of Wall Street. Governance is a matter of confidence that the moral and correct path will bring a change in the country that is benevolent and "good for America." Wall Street doesn't care about what is good for America, it cares about what is good for itself and it's stockholders. Wall Street's focus has NOTHING to do with governance and bringing equity UNLESS the government demands certain performance from companies.

When governance insists on changes that benefit those in society normally ostracized by prejudice it expands the economic markets by bringing folks into them through work earnings, not corporate earnings. The GDP grows and all is good. Not to say there isn't resistance to change, absolutely there is, but, pushing the envelope on that change and enforcing it results in good economic outcomes.

The Biden administration is not taking "no" for an answer and as a result there is incredibly good job growth, more economic purchase power in the markets and Wall Street really has no complaints. Wall Street has grown a consistent amount every month and year. They are making money and plenty of it. Why? Because governance is working, more people are earning and the markets are valuable.

So, while all the Naysayers are complaining about a recession that never happened, they are making money. They are not running away with every dime being generated in the moral working Middle Class, they are making money and the future looks really good for all Americans. The Fed has helped, but, there is plenty of confidence by consumers and that is fueling spending and profits. The growth is good and consistent. There is absolutely no recession in sight and the optimism should continue into the future.

Ya know, I have to laugh at Republicans. They complain about a work ethic that should accompany food stamps and other programs, right? Hello? There is no need for it. Whoever needs food stamps and other programs sincerely need it. You will excuse me, but, "Hey thar, Republicans," everyone is working that wants and can work. 

Republican politics is old and boring.

Don't look now America, but, the Republican passed more of their corruption into law.

Besides victimizing students, the bill cuts funding to the IRS. Why? Because they have too much funding? No, because that means the IRS capacity to collect taxes will be scaled back and Republicans will continue to break the law and accumulate tax debt with impunity.

June 2, 2023
By Nicola Slawson

Good morning.

The Senate narrowly passed (click here) a bill to suspend the debt ceiling on Thursday night, sending the legislation to Joe Biden’s desk and averting a federal default that could have wreaked havoc on the US economy and global markets.

The final vote was 63 to 36, with 46 Democrats and 17 Republicans supporting the bill while five Democrats and 31 Republicans opposed. Sixty votes were needed to pass the bill.

“Tonight’s vote is a good outcome because Democrats did a very good job taking the worst parts of the Republican plan off the table,” the Senate’s Democrat majority leader, Chuck Schumer, said after the vote. “And that’s why Dems voted overwhelmingly for this bill, while Republicans certainly in the Senate did not.”...

Bernie Sanders' answer to these debt ceiling and insufficient taxes is simple and does not victimize students, the "Make Billionaires Pay Act." If this legislation passed in 2020 the USA would not be facing the problems it has today. The problem with the National Debt is the indulgence of the wealthy by the Republicans. Democrats need to drive home the idea that legislated corruption is real and the IRS as unpopular they are, must be collecting taxes due the USA TREASURY!

Depriving the USA Treasury the money to function through "taxes due" is corruption. Plain and simple. If the USA Treasury had the monies to function for the country, the students would not be victims either.

August 6, 2020

...“The legislation (click here) I am introducing today will tax the obscene wealth gains billionaires have made during this extraordinary crisis to guarantee healthcare as a right to all for an entire year,” said Sanders. “At a time of enormous economic pain and suffering, we have a fundamental choice to make. We can continue to allow the very rich to get much richer while everyone else gets poorer and poorer. Or we can tax the winnings a handful of billionaires made during the pandemic to improve the health and well-being of tens of millions of Americans. In my view, it is time for the Senate to act on behalf of the working class who are hurting like they have never hurt before, not the billionaire class who are doing phenomenally well and have never had it so good.”

“As more than 160,000 Americans have lost their lives and millions more have lost their jobs, it is unconscionable that the super-wealthy are getting even richer in the midst of this crisis,” said Markey. “Despite overwhelming need, Republicans continue to look for any excuse under the guise of deficit reduction to cut vital support programs like jobless aid and health insurance for the most vulnerable. The American people pay with their lives every day for the criminal negligence of the Trump administration to combat the coronavirus. It is time the country’s wealthiest do the same off with their profits.”...

The Republicans are corrupt to the core and we all know it now.

President Biden will sign the bill to protect the country from default. Why? Because he doesn't want to have to worry about forcing more elderly into homelessness when their Social Security checks stop coming. Did the Republicans care about that? No. They care about cutting Social Security and forcing citizens to work longer into their retirement years so the grave is closer to cutting off monthly checked Americans worked hard to achieve.

There needs to be federal laws and enforcement.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons needs to join the rest of the Biden Administration to fight the deaths caused by the climate crisis. Federal funding will have to accompany human treatment of prisoners in all states, including the deaths from the climate crisis. I guarantee these deaths don't get counted among those of floods, freezing temperatures, fire and heat.

May 23, 2023

By Aryn Baker

This chart is from 2014, (click here) but, provides insight to the type of exertional problems that exist in prisons. The Texas prison authority can start by  ending exertional movement during very hot days. 

...It’s not just uncomfortable, (click here) it can be deadly. According to research by Julie Skarha, an environmental epidemiologist at Brown University’s School of Public Health, 271 prisoners died of heat-related causes in un-air-conditioned Texas prisons between 2001 and 2019. Many more suffer heat exhaustion each year, reporting dizziness, nausea, heat rashes, and muscle cramps. “With climate change each summer is going to be worse than the last. If nothing is done about this, people will continue to die,” says Dominick, founder of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, an organization that campaigns for prisoner welfare. “We have people going in for unpaid parking tickets and [drug] possession charges, and they end up getting a death sentence because of the heat.”...

The best idea ever coming out of BLM.

Happy Memorial Day to the USA. We have many to honor today. What greater tribute to the men and women who kept us safe and our country one of the greatest ever to exist in this world.

I think this proposed rule by BLM is genius.

This is an opportunity for the public lands to be managed by experts that belong to organizations like Nature Conservancy, Sierra, Defenders of Wildlife, and the controversial Audubon.

Our public lands are vitally important to many Americans. They are also a great heritage and this is among the best times to move in this direction as oil and gas leases are inevitably obsolete.The BLM must protect the conservation aspect of this rule and give priority to organizations lined with professionals as members and administration that can IMPROVE the land, eliminate invasive species, return native flora only to be followed by native fauna as function returns.

Everyone knows the enormous success of Yellowstone National Park. Before it's best outcomes it was known as mismanaged by those trying to make a park out of a wildlife area. This is an opportunity for conservation organizations to bring about far better management of the land to increase its importance to the climate crisis.

I believe using this opportunity to allow oil and gas companies to say they are covered in their atmospheric abuse by continued discharge of carbon dioxide and methane is a gross misuse of public lands. Those that pollute should never be allowed to enter into a conservation lease. Our public lands are not carbon credits to allow continued abuse of our planet.

These conservation leases can be used by organizations to determine if there is proper use of the land and if there is an interest in carbon credits, but, the leases should never be in the hands of corporate interest that pollute. Just that simple.

These leases are a promise to the youngest generation and the ones yet to be born into this remarkable country. I would expect even allies would show an interest in protecting the lands and perhaps participate to be sure nothing worse can come out of the land except better and better outcomes for our people. Our allies have an interest in the better outcomes in the USA. They are suffering under the weight of the climate crisis, too. Allies could establish organizations in the USA to participate. 

I don't see the current employees of the parks such as the park rangers leaving because of the leases. They are valuable to these lands for many reasons, including their longevity of employment. They have a great deal of experience and insight that is not replaceable. I see these leases as enhancements to those already employed by BLM to manage public lands. I am confident there will be controversy that comes out of these leases simply because that many more experts with eyes on the USA lands will bring about scrutiny like no other.

I am looking forward to USA public lands to be the envy of the world once they are properly managed under the conservation leases. 

May 26, 2023

By Amanda Eggert

BLM Mission (click here)

Through June 20, (click here) the Bureau of Land Management is accepting comments on a public land proposal that the agency put conservation priorities — e.g., ecological health and the “resilience of renewable resources” — on equal footing with long-established agency objectives such as livestock grazing and oil, gas and coal leasing.

More specifically, the proposed rule would establish conservation as a “use” under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act in an effort to “protect intact landscapes, restore degraded habitat, and make wise management decisions based on science and data.” As proposed, the new rule would allow the BLM to lease land for conservation purposes to tribal governments, non-governmental organizations, individuals or businesses. According to an Interior Department release, such leases could be used to protect wildlife migration corridors, for example, or establish carbon markets. In the latter example, the BLM might accept payment for a 10-year lease to leave grassland undisturbed for carbon sequestration....

I wish Wall Street would stop trying to make headlines when they don't understand the economy.

May 25, 2023

by Phil Rosen

1. Let's start with the CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon. (click here) He just issued a warning that inflation's not going down anytime soon, and it's going to stay around longer than Americans — and the Fed — want.

On an annual basis, inflation hovered at 4.9% in April, lower than its peak of 9.1% last year but still more than double the central bank's 2% goal....

..Naturally, Wall Street mogul Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan, who's no stranger to credit crunches and bank rescues, said that any further constricting in lending conditions will likely come down hard on real estate....

May 23, 2023

By Rob Lenihan

So, what are your thoughts about a recession? (click here)

The "R" word has been cropping up a lot lately as the general feeling moves away from "if" and more toward "how bad."

A survey conducted by The Harris Poll and HarrisX from May 17-18, 2023 among 2,004 registered voters found that only 21% of respondents believe the U.S. will be able to avoid a recession.

Two-thirds of respondents believe that the economy is heading in the right direction, and the strength of the economy is perceived at below 50%.

The same poll, by the way, said Twitter owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is now the most popular political figure in the United States, ahead of former President Donald Trump and current President Joe Biden....

USA GDP (click here)

U.S. gdp growth rate for 2021 was 5.95%, a 8.71% increase from 2020.
U.S. gdp growth rate for 2020 was -2.77%, a 5.06% decline from 2019.
U.S. gdp growth rate for 2019 was 2.29%, a 0.65% decline from 2018.
U.S. gdp growth rate for 2018 was 2.95%, a 0.7% increase from 2017.

USA Housing Starts (click here)

Date                               Value

April 30, 2023               1.401 M
April 30,2019                1.28 M

National statistics (click here)

The national average U.S. income in 2021 was $97,962. The median U.S. income in 2021 was $69,717.

Chief executives and nurse anesthetists earned over $200,000 a year on average in 2021, making them the highest paid occupations.

The median male salary in 2021 was $50,391, 27% higher than the median female salary of $36,726.

Male residents of Washington, D.C. made a median income of $83,567, the highest of any state or territory in the U.S. Arkansas posted the lowest median male income of any state at $40,736.

Two-person families have the lowest average family income, earning $75,143 on average. Four-person families earn the most on average by family size with an income of $105,901.

Americans between 56 to 64 years of age earned $83,812, the highest median income of any age band.

Asian Americans had the highest income in 2021, earning a median of $100,572. white Americans earned a median income of $74,932.

Next time financial investment institutions like Goldman and Chase are interviewed be sure to ask how their depositors are doing? Don't ask the CEOs what they think because they are always looking for sympathy and government money.

This is what is bothering the investment banks. 

May 24, 2023

By Tristan Bove

...An asset class recession (click here) means essentially that the economy as a whole would not shrink—and unemployment may not go up much from its recent 50-year low—but markets and asset values would take a prolonged hit, and most of the pain would be focused on those who rely on the value of their investments in addition to or instead of their salaries. Stocks in particular have made up a bigger and bigger chunk of U.S. households’ financial assets in recent years. In fact, Americans haven’t been invested in the stock market at this rate since 2008....

If only Wall Street could find more ways to rob the Middle Class they would feel better. The fact of the matter is there was rampant greed that robbed Americans of their status. It has been a bit of a difficult climb for many Americans to regain their footing after the pandemic, but, there was also an upside. Many Americans; that is many used to working two to three jobs to maintain their household budgets; never had the experience of not working and enjoying the households they worked hard to build.

The pandemic allowed them to breath easy even in the midst of tragedy all over the world, but, that tragedy struck the USA the hardest. I thought the USA House under the competent leadership of Nancy Pelosi was remarkable in it's inventiveness to support Americans through a very difficult time. An impossible time, actually. I am proud of that Congress and the American people. While the extremist population of the country took some of the hardest hits in contracting the virus and succumbing to it, there was a pause in the country that allowed a perspective about life that changed the way Americans valued time and how they spent it.

The current economy is doing fine. People have decided to work again and there are many options for employers that need people including immigrants with visas.

The USA has the largest Middle Class in the world. It is why so many other countries seek to be a part of life in the USA. That Middle Class is economically impossible to stop. Besides the actual magnificence to the American Middle Class a renaissance of sorts has been occurring in bringing equity to minorities and shifting economic opportunity for people normally suffering from the lack of opportunity.

So, basically, while Wall Street and the Republican cronies are spastic about the world, the USA population is stable and mostly flourishing. It is a stabilizing force in the world when so much of the world is experiencing upheaval. That upheaval isn't just the war in Ukraine, but, also climate and the strife that comes with it. 

There is no recession. There has been and maintains a shift in wealth and economic opportunity to facilitate that wealth. Whether anyone wants to realize it or not, the Biden Administration is exercising every attempt to revitalize the Middle Class and opportunity. You know, the NORMAL Middle Class where one or two jobs are all that is needed to balance the household budget so parents can actually be parents to their families.

Life is still not perfect, but, we are getting there and for the first time in a long time, the climate crisis is taking shape as an existential threat to our children and it matters. The petroleum industry is going down kicking and screaming while they wave methane in the face of Americans as the real green energy. We are getting there and it is right, moral and necessary to move away from traditional fuels and into alternative options. A huge shift such as this in energy and transportation is enormous. It always has been, but, it is finally happening and we need to hope it is in time.

We are doing fine. I don't mind if Morgan and Goldman are having spasms of fear. They can deal with it themselves.

There is no justice for the poisoning of Flint, Michigan.

December 9, 2022
By Ed White

Flint - A judge dismissed criminal charges (click here) against former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in the Flint water crisis, months after the state Supreme Court said indictments returned by a one-person grand jury were invalid.

Snyder, a Republican who left office in 2019, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect of duty. He was the first person in state history to be charged for alleged crimes related to service as governor.

Snyder also is the eighth person to have a Flint water case thrown out after the Supreme Court’s unanimous June opinion.

Genesee County Judge F. Kay Behm signed the order Wednesday, a day after the U.S. Senate approved her nomination to become a federal judge in eastern Michigan.

“The charges against (Snyder) were not properly brought and must be dismissed at this time,” Behm wrote, sending the case to a lower court for the final step, weeks after hearing arguments....

Ron Fonger who was so very dedicated to the people of Flint is still writing about them. 

May 26, 2023

By Ron Fonger

Genesee County - The state is suspending road work (click here) and lifting travel restrictions in most construction zones during the Memorial Day weekend but obstacles will remain in place at some active sites in and around the county.

The Michigan Department of Transportation said in a news release on Thursday, May 25, that it should be easier to drive through 81 of its 146 active construction zones as work is paused and lanes temporarily opened....

What occurred instead of justice because of something known as the statute of limitations is typical for Republican scandals, they threw money at it. 

The people of Flint are still and always will be recovering from the poisoning. The children will be scrutinized to their well being and success in life. They will be given every reason to do well, but, will they? Will the lead live up to it's promise of permanently replacing iron in those that were poisoned and susceptible to damage? The facts aren't in yet, but, many strategies are at work to take that reality and turn it into well being and success in the lives the poison touched.

The deaths are forever as are the miscarriages of fetuses. That is a stain in the USA and it's human rights record.

There is one place where justice might still be secured and that is the Department of Justice. They should do a review, if they haven't begun already, to determine if malpractice to facilitate corruption and manipulation to fight the statute of limitations ensued to protect the obviously guilty in the Governor's office.

Basically, why did the Michigan Attorney General turn away from the obvious crimes and cover-up by the Governor?

Someday, when he retires and reflects on his life as a journalist, I hope Ron Fonger will write a book of truth that rattles the judges chambers that facilitated the dismissal of justice for poisoning an American city.

Oh, one other thing. Snyder? Besides his return to some sort of wealth management office or whatever he is doing, came out of his hiding place recently to criticize the passage of the end of "Right to Work." The guy is no one to trust. His politics are corrupt and damage the American Middle Class. All he is doing is playing with a potential to be a Vice Presidential candidate for 2024. I mean some people are never remorseful of their crimes and simply want to commit more.

This is such a joke.

 https://fortune.com/2023/05/24/artificial-intelligence-ai-eric-schmidt-demographic-crisis-babies-labor-shortage/amp/

Computers are going to solve the labor shortage and protect the economy.

Really?

How much do they get paid and who are their customers?

An economy is about people and the services they share. Computers have no economy except when people are involved. 

It will be the war of the Wall Street machines and people will be nowhere to be found. This is a prime example of companies existing even after they are obsolete, ie: petroleum industry. Wall Street is about the control of wealth and no longer about commerce. 

A medical license should never be dictated by political ideology.

...Early childbirth (click here) is especially dangerous for adolescents and their infants. Compared to women between the ages of 20-35, pregnant women under 20 are at a greater risk for death and disease including bleeding during pregnancy, toxemia, hemorrhage, prolonged and difficult labor, severe anemia, and disability....

There is every reason to be prudent in saving the life of a ten year old child. The child was ten years old. The crime is not the abortion, it is the pedophilia.

If the Indiana medical licensing board rules against the good conscience of Dr. Bernard the board will have to come under severe review of it's by-laws, practices and decisions over it's past existence. 

Competent medical practice should be the ONLY concern of any medical board. If Indiana has problems focusing on competent practice it should be dissolved and the members reviewed for the methods they use in their medical/surgical practices.

The USA Surgeon General can carry the burden of determining medical practices for Indiana until the medical licensing board can be reorganized under competent by-laws, practices and decisions. The licensing board will have to be reviewed annually for a time until it proves it is competent in it's by-laws, practices and decisions.

...Adolescent pregnancy (click here) carries high risks for both girls and their babies. Globally, about 50,000 teenage girls die each year in pregnancy and childbirth, while one million babies born to adolescent girls die before their first birthday....

May 25, 2023
By Kim Bellware

Indiana’s medical licensing board (click here) will determine as soon as Thursday whether to take any disciplinary action against a doctor who made headlines last year for performing an abortion for a 10-year-old Ohio rape victim, after the state’s antiabortion attorney general alleged the doctor violated ethical standards and state reporting laws.

Indiana’s Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita for nearly a year has pursued punishment for Caitlin Bernard, an OB/GYN and an assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine who performed the abortion in June 2022, less than a week after Roe v. Wade was struck down, enacting trigger laws.

The stakes of Thursday’s hearing are significant for Bernard, whose lawyers have refuted Rokita’s allegations as baseless and politically motivated. The seven-member board of governor appointees can, by a majority vote, either take no action against Bernard or impose a range of disciplinary measures up to and including the immediate termination of Bernard’s medical license....

Putin's most innocent spy.

May 24, 2023
By James Frater and Jack Guy

People should “avoid contact” (click here) with a famous beluga whale to avoid accidentally injuring or killing it, the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries has said.

The whale, nicknamed Hvaldimir, shot to international fame in 2019 after it was spotted wearing a specially made harness with mounts for a camera, leading experts to believe the whale may have been trained by the Russian military....

The Norwegians are worried and rightfully so, the whale is unable to conduct itself like a Beluga and reproduce. There is a segment of the Beluga population now that is genetically unavailable because of Russia priorities for military reasons. The entire use of innocent animals for military purposes is outrageous. The Russians will try to attach bombs to them and deliver them like moving mine fields. 

Trump harnessed the innocent American minds of the tabloids, but, there is another group of innocent Americans being exploited as we watch.

The religious. They know not what they do.

Freedom of religion is granted in our USA Constitution and there is no reason for any religion to seek to dominate the minds of Americans. Yet, in Iowa, the legislature is taking religion and politicizing it in ways that inhibit American freedoms. My guess is that most of the Iowans are in favor of the values they practice at home. They would like to see that those values are reflected everywhere, but, that is a very dangerous idea when it is laced with the idea the USA Constitution is the enemy and other Americans are not as important within the understanding of the First Amendment.

What is occurring in Iowa and with rampaging politicians like DeSantis is a perversion far more dangerous than any DIFFERENCE we have from one another. The people of Iowa, regardless how simple their focus and benevolent their point of view are victims to those that see the USA Constitution as an enemy focusing only on what can be politically advantageous.

The USA Constitution is a very unique and powerful document. It is laced with generosity and not authority. The USA Constitution views the people as those most important and not the authority of the government. While that seems as though the people have the right to HAVE THINGS AS THEY WANT THEM, that is not what the USA Constitution states. In it's generosity the USA Constitution provides a platform for individuality of everyone. It provides also in generous portions TOLERANCE of difference between Americans and the First Amendment teaches us that.

Freedom of Religion is one place where I would expect TOLERANCE to be most at work, yet, today that freedom is creating indifference and intolerance and mean spirited forms of legislation that create victims rather than benevolence to bring about security for all Americans. Hate is replacing the real teachings of religion and it is being sanctioned under the idea the political power has the right to bring about these powers of intolerance and indifference in the name of religious freedom.

In the Supreme Court are religious extremists. They can't see the forest for the trees. The religious extremists are the majority and they believe every aspect of government should be lifted from the individual to allow purity of spirit to ascend to the here after. Really? I thought one of the most extremists in purity of spirit was illustrated clearly in the Bible's New Testament. I thought Jesus Christ was the iconic figure that was the most pure. The lessons of the Bible's New Testament is about a man who God called his son and how he traveled through his life changing the hearts of people by preaching about a monotheistic god and not the many deities the Romans held dear. 

The life of Jesus Christ was not about HAVING IT HIS WAY, it was about purifying the soul through mindful understanding of a moral life of generosity and tolerance. The followers of Jesus Christ did not know plush living with more than ample staples, but, of struggle and sacrifice and being true to that morality no matter the suffering asked of one's heart and mind. Today, that meaning has been perverted by this Supreme Court and those that seek power over the USA Constitution. The idea of Freedom of Religion is not to be intolerant in law of others, but, to allow all forms of spirituality to exist and even the right to be without a spirit god if one chooses.

There are always schisms that occur within religious organizations for ideological reasons, but, the schism occurring in the legislatures of this country is not supposed to exist. The USA Constitution recognizes the right for every American to have a life they cherish. That is not happening in some areas in the USA and unfortunately we have a Supreme Court that is suffering under ethical issues.

It is time to regroup to understand what life in the USA means without a USA Constitution to protect our individuality. It is a precious document and the First Amendment is important, but, not as a means of politics when that freedom is already secure. Legislating hate is highly immoral and causes harm to lives of innocent Americans.

May 24, 2023

United Methodist congregations in Iowa (click here) are leaving the denomination over a split on same-sex marriages and ordaining openly LGBTQ clergy.

The denomination has repeatedly upheld bans on both, but some U.S. churches and clergy have defied them. The Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church approved a new vision last year that allows Methodist ministers to host same-sex weddings and makes way for gay clergy to serve without fear of church charges.

Last year, conservatives launched a new Global Methodist Church, where they are determined to maintain and to enforce such bans. Across the United States, 3,755 churches have parted ways with the United Methodist Church, according to United Methodist News. There's an estimated 30,000 congregations in the United States, with nearly 13,000 more abroad....

There is a movement in some city to help pollinators survive and maybe even thrive.

It is called "No Mow May." (click here)

No Mow May (click here)

Ann Arbor resident Sarah Baird, who is participating in No Mow May, plays with her rescue dog Suki in the tall grass in front of her Harbroooke Avenue home on May 23, 2022.

Of course there are no pesticides applied to prevent toxicity to the pollinators.

With 40 million acres (click here) dedicated to them, lawns are the largest irrigated crop grown in the US. Maintaining them requires significant effort and resources, such as mowing, fertilizing, weeding, and chemical treatments, which can be time-consuming and expensive.

Despite this, lawns offer minimal benefits to wildlife and can even be harmful due to their lack of floral resources and nesting sites for bees, as well as the use of pesticides.

The common association with habitat loss is usually linked to images of bulldozers and damaged earth, yet the loss of habitat caused by well-maintained lawns covering acres can be just as significant as any construction site....

So, the idea is this, if bees have pollen to collect and return to the beehive to produce honey, they will do better. That is exactly what might help. If "No Mow May" participants are seeing bees and other pollinators enjoying the taller plants that are normally mowed down, they will be correct in their focus to give the pollinators a "leg up" this  year.

Bees (click here) feed on and require both nectar and pollen. The nectar is for energy and the pollen provides protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used by bees as larvae food, but bees also transfer it from plant-to-plant, providing the pollination services needed by plants and nature as a whole....

continued...

I think the Biden Administration needs to get started.

The gap in income to the USA Treasury is about two weeks in length. There is no reason to continue the standoff with a GOP that can't get their act together. McCarthy is basically incompetent. It took him forever to be elected to Speaker in the first place, there is no reason it won't take forever to close the gap on the income ceiling.

Secretary Yellen is most worried about US Treasury Bonds paid in June and December. It is those that are finding the shortfall a threat. US Treasury bonds are vital to the health of the USA government and economy. It is time to move forward with measures the White House can carry out because there is just no hope competency will return to the US House soon.

May 24, 2023

By Al Weaver

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) (click here) on Wednesday called for President Biden to invoke the 14th Amendment in order to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a default on the nation’s credit as White House and House GOP negotiators race to strike a deal.

In an Fox News op-ed, Sanders said enacting many of the proposed cuts Republicans passed in their debt limit bill last month — and that are on the table now — would be “a disaster,” just as a default would be....

Press Secretaries are very important in Russia. This is more of the same from Putin.

24 May 2023
By Iryna Balachuk

Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov (click here) says Russia will intervene in the event of a popular armed uprising in Belarus to overthrow the regime of its self-proclaimed president, Alexander Lukashenko.

Source: Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti

Quote: "This neighbouring country [Belarus − ed.] is our partner, ally and fraternal state. Naturally, the Russian Federation has obligations with regard to ensuring the security of Belarus, which we will do in the face of such an evident threat."

Details: He also called Poland a "hostile" state to Russia, claiming it is now "engulfed in Russophobic hysteria".

Peskov also claimed that Poland is "openly speaking of its intention to intervene directly, including by force, in the internal affairs of a neighbouring state"....

May 24, 2023

By Filipp Lebedev, Lucy Papachristpou, and Mark Telvelyan

London - The director of a top Russian science institute, (click here) arrested on suspicion of treason along with two other hypersonic missile technology experts, stands accused of betraying secrets to China, two people familiar with the case told Reuters.

Alexander Shiplyuk, head of Siberia's Khristianovich Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM), is suspected of handing over classified material at a scientific conference in China in 2017, the sources said....

More rampaging against the machine that Putin can't seem to get to do as he wants. The killing didn't work in Ukraine so maybe it will work somewhere else. And if the weapon systems aren't functioning well enough to defeat other's defenses it must be someone's fault and not Vladimir.

China does the exact same cyber facial recognition technology to maintain control over any freedom of expression.

May 24, 2023
By Dasha Litvinova

Yekaterina Maksimova enters a Moscow subway station in Moscow, Russia, Monday, May 22, 2023. The journalist and activist has been detained five times in the past year, thanks to the system's pervasive security cameras with facial recognition. She says police would tell her the cameras "reacted" to her — although they often seemed not to understand why, and would let her go after a few hours.

TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — When Yekaterina Maksimova (click here) can’t afford to be late, the journalist and activist avoids taking the Moscow subway, even though it’s probably the most efficient route.

That’s because she’s been detained five times in the past year, thanks to the system’s pervasive security cameras with facial recognition. She says police would tell her the cameras “reacted” to her — although they often seemed not to understand why, and would let her go after a few hours.

“It seems like I’m in some kind of a database,” says Maksimova, who was previously arrested twice: in 2019 after taking part in a demonstration in Moscow and in 2020 over her environmental activism.

For many Russians like her, it has become increasingly hard to evade the scrutiny of the authorities, with the government actively monitoring social media accounts and using surveillance cameras against activists.

Even an online platform once praised by users for easily navigating bureaucratic tasks is being used as a tool of control: Authorities plan to use it to serve military summonses, thus thwarting a popular tactic by draft evaders of avoiding being handed the military recruitment paperwork in person....

Surveillance cameras are not uncommon in the USA to protect from dangerous intersections and enforce speed limits. Americans really to object in many instances to the presence of these cameras and the traffic fines that result. But, they have also been heroes in places like Boston when terrorists struck innocent citizens enjoying a celebratory event in the way of a marathon. 

However, in Russia these cameras are a nefarious part of life that are more than traffic reporters or heroes to marathon runners, they are the police and enforcement of silence. Putin's propaganda is not to be questioned. Period. No freedom of speech. That is authoritarianism that Americans are not exposed to and quite frankly would cause problems in the USA economy. Begin grateful for our Constitution and the freedoms it affords us should never be a political debate. 

January 30, 2021

By David Chapek

Free speech (click here) is usually considered a constitutional right, which is certainly correct. It’s also often discussed as a human right—also correct. But the benefits of free speech go further. Free speech acts as a gateway toward human improvement and the betterment of society.

How, you ask? It’s simple: innovation.

Most great discoveries and achievements come not through one person’s sole genius, but through collaboration with others. Take, for example, the one and only Albert Einstein. His special theory of relativity was based not on his own solitary contemplations but on discussions with two other innovators, Marcel Grossmann and Michele Besso. Grossmann’s work in mathematics is said to have greatly helped Einstein. Who knows what would have happened had the latter worked alone?

Discussion leads to innovation.

When we are able to discuss and collaborate with one another, we are putting together our own individual gifts and talents (a principle known in economics as specialization) toward a broader purpose—in this case, discovering, inventing, or creating something. And, just as with Einstein, when we are free to collaborate, society is improved....

The Republican agenda of anarchy serves Musk's plans.

The assault against democracy and the free enterprise system are too numerous to mention, but, it is plainly obvious that his antics from the Florida Governor mansion was all political with the aspiration that rolling back history would win the presidency.

May 24, 2023
By Sara Fisher and Mike Alan

Elon Musk (click here) has displaced Rupert Murdoch and Fox News as the king of conservative media in recent weeks.

Why it matters: Fox News used to be the place where conservatives went to break news. But the right-wing ecosystem has turned on the network, leaving Twitter as the center of media gravity for the Republican Party just as the 2024 election heats up....

May 23, 2023
By Dasha Burns and Matt Dixon

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (click here) will announce he is running for president during a discussion with Twitter CEO Elon Musk, three sources familiar with the plans told NBC News.

Musk and DeSantis will host an event on Twitter Spaces, the site’s platform for audio chats, on Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET. It will be moderated by David Sacks, a tech entrepreneur who is a Musk confidant and DeSantis supporter....

May 23, 2023
By Charisma Madarang

Amanda Gorman (click here) prepares to speak at the 2020 inauguration of Joe Biden.

A Florida school (click here) has banned elementary students from reading “The Hill We Climb,” the poem written and recited by Amanda Gorman at Joe Biden’s inauguration as president.

The powerful poem, which was been internationally praised, was one of several works banned at the Miami-Dade County school library after a parent complained they referenced critical race theory, gender ideology, “indirect hate messages,” according to the Miami Herald.

On Tuesday, Gorman addressed the ban, in a statement posted to social media. “I’m gutted. Because of one parent’s complaint, my inaugural poem, ‘The Hill We Climb,’ has been banned from an elementary school in Miami-Dade County, Florida,” she wrote.

“And let’s be clear: most of the forbidden works are by authors who have struggled for generations to get on bookshelves,” she continued. “The majority of these censored works are by queer and non-white voices. I wrote ‘The Hill We Climb’ so that all young people could see themselves in a historical moment. Ever since. I’ve received countless letters and videos from children inspired by ‘The Hill We Climb’ to write their own poems.”

“Robbing children of the chance to find their voices in literature is a violation of their right to free thought and free speech,” the poet wrote. “Together, this is a hill we won’t just climb, but a hill we will conquer.”...