The concern for Flint, Michigan has no boundaries and has moved people across the spectrum of life to act to change the way life happens there.

What happened in Flint was wrong and it is never to happen again. It should not have happened this time, but, it did and everyone in the USA should pause in that reality and be alarmed.

Yo-Yo Ma and Bach makes the sound of the cello reach ranges from "the corporeal to cosmic."

March 1, 2019
By Mark Householder

Flint  - Yo-Yo Ma (click here) brought both music and a call for social change to Flint, Michigan, on Thursday.

The famed cellist performed for more than 100 fans inside a gymnasium at Berston Field House during his visit to the city that is still feeling the effects of a lead-contaminated water crisis.

But Ma said he found a city that is about much more than "water problems."

Donald Trump: 'Look at my African-American over here... (click here for news article - thank you)

Here is my African Americans, was Trump racist? Yes. Was his African American a prop? Yes.

Mark Meadows may believe he is not racist. But, in the Wednesday meeting, Mark Meadows and Lynne Patton were props for Trump.

Donald Trump is a racist and has been a long time and I will not allow him to blur the lines between equality of the races. It is immoral to allow such hatred and deception about that hatred.

Mark Meadows may be Chairman Cummings good friend and he may have nephews and nieces that are a minority and he may be sensitive to the issues those wonderful family members face in their lives. But, bringing Lynne Patton with a letter she wrote to the hearing to intimidate a witness and discredit him was absolutely racist in it's content.

When is Mark Meadows going to apologize for his political comments that defamed President Obama as a Kenyan? When is Rep. Meadows going to hold Donald Trump's feet to the fire and demand Trump apologize for YEARS of racist remarks about President Obama? President Obama is an American. He bent over backward to settle the dispute by displaying a full birth certificate to the public and even that wasn't good enough. That is racism and it was conducted by the current occupant of the White House.

I do not doubt Ms. Patton feels the way she does. I do not doubt she wrote a letter in protest of the racist identity assigned to Trump, but, she should also reflect on a much bigger picture than herself.

Racism can be about an individual, but, racism is much bigger than one person. Does Ms. Patton reflect on the number of innocent young black men shot dead in the USA by police when she writes her letters endorsing a president that has been openly racist?

Her willingness to be used for political purposes is very troubling. I do not believe she understands racism, it's impact in today's society or the extent such violent ideas have carried out real problems that are unsolved even today. How does she feel about Trayvon Martin being assassinated only feet away from his father's home? What about the gunning down of Laquan McDonald? She put herself on display in the US House Committee Meeting room while a witness was making his statement and answering questions. What does she think she was doing?

Rep. Mark Meadows was used as a prop and he was willing to water down the reality that the man in the White House is not only a racist, but, a hate monger. Was Rep. Meadows worried about his own election or the standing of a president? What was his purpose in displaying himself and Ms. Patton in servitude to Donald Trump?

The events of Wednesday's meeting were very troubling. I do not believe Michael Cohen was lying. It is not because I want it all to be true, but, the EVIDENCE he provided with the ability to supply more of the same is overwhelming. The entire idea racism can be dismissed to attempt to exonerate Trump from his wrong doing is absurd at best.

Mark Meadows and Ms. Patton practiced politics on Wednesday in order to protect the image of a man that is a criminal and currently in the White House. That meeting room is not a political stage and there are issues of ethics at hand. I sincerely hope this can be understood and respected because every time such political displays are carried out, there need to be ethic infractions that follow.

With the completion of Michael Cohen's testimony, Congress needs to subpoena Trump's financial records at Deutsche Bank.

In addition to bank fraud by Donald Trump and the Trump Company, that Michael Cohen testified to, there are most probably SEC violations as well. Whether Deutsche Bank was a willing partner is still another matter.

The US Congress has an obligation to the American people and to the financial sector to root out fraud. This is not a MAYBE matter, the investigation with subpoenas must go forward.

February 28, 2019
By Will Parker

At a congressional hearing (click here) in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, former Trump Organization attorney Michael Cohen testified that President Trump purposely inflated the values of his New York real estate holdings in order to obtain a loan from Deutsche Bank.

The requested loan was connected to an attempt to acquire the Buffalo Bills football team and the Forbes media company, Cohen said.

As one example of the value exaggerations, Cohen cited 40 Wall Street, which in exhibits presented to the committee, Trump pegged at $524.7 million in 2011. Cohen said Trump used comparable figures from similar properties, which is typical industry practice, but that ultimately the value “was based upon what [Trump] wanted to value the asset at.”

...In fact, the Trump Organization obtained an official appraisal from Cushman & Wakefield for 40 Wall Street in 2015, in a similar amount ($540 million), which it then used to sell mortgage-backed securities. The Morningstar credit ratings agency, however, assessed the value in a pre-sale report and cut it by more than half, to just $262.3 million, after adjusting for millions in annual rent concessions and leasing fees....

February 28, 2019
By Nathan Bomey

U.S. pedestrian deaths hit a 28-year high in 2018, (click here) according to new estimates that suggest the nation's SUV boom is becoming increasingly deadly.

The Governors Highway Safety Association estimated that pedestrian deaths across the nation rose 4 percent to 6,227 last year.

That full-year figure — which is based on a statistical analysis of the first six months of the year — would mark the most pedestrian fatalities since 1990.

The GHSA reported that the number of pedestrian deaths involving SUVs increased by 50 percent from 2013 through 2017, while the number of pedestrian deaths caused by passenger cars increased by 30 percent over that same period. That reflects booming sales of SUVs and the fact that pedestrians are much less likely to survive the impact of an SUV.

It's "clearly a factor," GHSA executive director Jonathan Adkins said in an interview. "We're going in the wrong direction."...

Elon Musk is so confident about the market for Model 3 he isn't worried about displaying it on any real estate.

March 1, 2019

Tesla on Thursday (click here) announced the arrival of its $35,000 Model 3, which CEO Elon Musk has been promising since March 2016.

Musk also said Tesla would close "many" of the its 378 retail stores, allowing the electric-car maker to lower the price of the sedan.

"Shifting all sales online, combined with other ongoing cost efficiencies, will enable us to lower all vehicle prices by about 6% on average, allowing us to achieve the $35,000 Model 3 price point earlier than we expected," the company said in a blog post.....

The weight of the "melt water" from the climate crisis is destroying the ice shelves of Antarctica.

February 13, 2019...

...NASA scientists (click here) monitoring the ancient ice sheet — formerly known as the Larsen B Ice Shelf — were startled by the sudden collapse; never had the researchers witnessed so much ice disappear so quickly.

They did have some warning, though. In the months preceding the collapse, the shelf's surface had become riddled with more than 2,000 meltwater lakes — large pools of melted ice and snow that form on the surfaces of ice shelves during the summer melting season. These seasonal reservoirs can contain more than a million tons of water apiece and, according to a new study published today (Feb. 13) in the journal Nature Communications, may actually be able to bend portions of huge ice shelves so much that they break in half, ushering in their spectacular demise....

February 28, 2019
By Kevin Anderton

In West Antarctica, (click here) an iceberg about twice the size of New York City is about to break away from the main continent. The area is known as the Brunt Ice Shelf, it’s about 492 feet thick, and the part of it that is in danger of breaking off is about 660 square miles. The question is not whether or not the ice shelf will break but whether or not it will be held in place by the land underneath....

No knows the perils of the Climate Crisis better than Governor Inslee.

Washington State is seeing the effects of severe weather as well as degradation of it's fisheries to an increasingly acidic ocean. The Climate Crisis is so important that it does not have to be attached to any other deal to succeed as a campaign issue. I look forward to Governor Inslee's insight and urgent message to the American people.

March 1, 2019
By Dan Merica

The Report (click here)

Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee (click here) announced Friday that he is running for President, launching a bid in which he intends to make combating climate change the central rationale for his campaign.

Inslee announced the bid in a video made public on Friday. He is slated to hold a news conference in Seattle at a solar panel installer to expand upon his presidential announcement. He will be surrounded by friends, family and business owners who the campaign says have benefited from his climate policies in the state.

"I'm Jay Inslee and I'm running for president because I am the only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation's number one priority," the governor says in a more-than-a-minute-long video that highlights his decades-long focus on climate change and compares tackling the issue to President John F. Kennedy's focus on going to the moon.

"We're the first generation to feel the sting of climate change. And we're the last that can do something about it," Inslee adds. "We can do this. Join our movement. This is our moment."...

Washington State has charged a Blue Ribbon Panel to investigate and find remedies for ocean acidification. The dangers are real. The dangers are urgent. The dangers have to be addressed now.

The world’s oceans absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) (click here) from the atmosphere. As the oceans soak up excess carbon emissions, the chemistry of the seawater changes — both locally and globally. This absorption alters the ocean’s natural acid-base balance. This move toward a lower pH value is called ocean acidification.

Washington is particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification. Washington’s coastal waters experience seasonal upwelling where waters that are naturally low in oxygen and rich in CO2 rise to the surface. Coastal waters also receive excess nitrogen from human activities that can stimulate algae blooms. As these blooms die and sink, bacteria decompose them, depleting oxygen from the surrounding water. The combined effects of upwelling, nitrogen inputs, and low oxygen zones mean that Washington is likely to see increased impacts of ocean acidification on marine organisms earlier than other coastal areas....

The security clearance Trump has ordered for his friends and family will last for the rest of their lives. They will have access to high level security clearance for every country they are seeking to build more towers in and they will provide USA information to leaders of countries that are our enemies while receiving grants of money to carry out their projects.

Something needs to be done to be certain the USA national security is not compromised today and into the future by people focused on their own financial security rather than that or the national security of the USA.

Congress needs to review the list of those cleared for USA national security status under Trump, now.

The abuses by this president need to be made public.

March 1, 2019
By David Brennan

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (click here) has warned that President Donald Trump’s family members working in his administration cannot be considered off-limits for federal investigations.

Speaking with CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday night, Christie—a former Trump ally—said that Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner were fair game for investigators because of their senior positions within the White House.

Cuomo and Christie were discussing a New York Times report published Thursday which alleged that Trump ordered former Chief of Staff John Kelly to issue Kusher top-secret security clearance, overriding opposition from Kelly and other intelligence officials. Kushner, officially a senior advisor to Trump, was eventually given the clearance in May 2018.

According to the Times, both Kelly and then-White House Counsel Donald McGahn II were so concerned by the order that they wrote contemporaneous internal memos recording the decision. McGahn’s memo included concerns raised about Kushner by the CIA, and noted that the former counsel had recommended Kushner not be granted top-secret clearance....