There is no such thing as "qualified immunity." It is outrageous the FICTION lawyers create when they play with language.

Six years later, the Flint residents are beginning to believe they will receive justice.

January 30, 2020
By Steve Carmody

The United States Supreme Court (click here) has dealt a victory to some Flint Michigan residents seeking damages for the city’s contaminated drinking water.

The court’s action last week clears a barrier residents faced trying to sue government officials.

But some Flint residents fear they’re still a long way from getting compensation.

Standing next to the Flint River, you can watch as the dingy brown water rolls over a former dam downtown, creating a frothy foam that floats downstream.

In 2014, state officials decided to use this murky water as Flint’s drinking water source. But the water was improperly treated, releasing lead and other contaminants into the Flint’s tap water.

Flint resident Margaret Wesley blames the drinking water switch for the death of her adult daughter Mary.

“They knew,” Margaret Wesley says, her voice cracking with emotion. “I’ll go to my grave believing they knew what was in that water…the bacteria.”

Wesley is one of more than 30,000 Flint residents who’ve filed lawsuits against the city and state regulators. They’re seeking compensation for medical expenses, property damage and in some cases deaths, tied to the Flint water crisis.

LeeAnne Walters (click here) shows water samples from her home from 21 January and 15 January after city and state officials spoke during a forum discussing growing health concerns being raised by residents about the water.

Lawyers for the government officials being sued had claimed they’re protected by something called “qualified immunity,” which is a legal doctrine shielding government officials.

But last week, the U.S. Supreme Court let a lower court ruling stand that government officials can not claim immunity in this case....

What is the problem now?!?

January 3, 2020
By Christina Tuser

Flint is having issues finding enough homes (click here) that have lead service lines or lead indoor plumbing to complete federally required water testing, according to Booth Michigan.

The city needs 60 samples from confirmed tier 1 sites, but had just 43 confirmed as of Dec. 27, according to a letter from Robert Bincsik, director of the city’s Department of Public Works and Utilities.

“At this time we don’t know how many tier 1 addresses remain in the water system, the city will need to continue to work together with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy to develop a sampling plan that takes into consideration some points of concern we believe are valid and will require some conversations between the city of Flint and EGLE," said Bincsik.

Water samples were due to the state by Dec. 31. City workers were still collecting water on this date in an effort to comply with regulations, reported Booth Michigan. Most but not all lead service lines in Flint have been replaced during the last three years....

January 31, 2020

On Wednesday, January 29th, (click here) the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Energy and Commerce held a hearing. The Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE), which would ban horse slaughter in the U.S. and end the export of American horses for slaughter in other countries, was on the agenda. The SAFE Act was introduced in 2019 by representatives Jan Schakowsky and Vern Buchanan, and it has 225 House cosponsors.

When horses are shipped for slaughter, they spend 24 hours at a time without food, water, or rest in crowded trucks. Then they’re forced to suffer through repeated blows and are sometimes left conscious during dismemberment, according to the Humane Society of the United States....

January 31, 2020
By Gavin Thomas

Just off Highway 101 in San Benito County, (click here) behind the large gate with the Freedom Reigns name, is where you will find a lottery winner.
Well, more like 500 of them. And the woman who gave them their prize.
"I have 493 right now," Alicia Goetz said. "Another 10 are coming."...

The era of corrupt government. The Unthinkable is now fashionable.Can't imagine what is causing this exploitative and alarming trend. Hm?

January 29, 2020

By Elliot Davis

Jefferson County, Mo. -  Citizens in Jefferson County (click here) are fighting their county officials over a move to end the practice of riding horses at Pleasant Valley Park.

They've been doing it for 30 years without a problem. But now a councilman has decided the horses must go. Brian Haskins says the trail is not big enough for people, pets, and horses, so the horses have to go.

Citizens called You Paid For It investigator Elliott Davis for help.

Nearly 40 citizens were at the council meeting to show their displeasure over Haskins' bill, which would end the practice of people riding horses in the park.

A number of disabled people ride horses as well.

But there is a twist to this deal. Councilman Haskins said if voters support a new tax to raise $9 million for the county, he could see his way to allow riders to use the park after all....

I'll be darn a quid pro quo.

January 31, 2020
By Berkeley Lovelace, Jr.

U.S. and international health officials (click here) are speeding work to create a vaccine for the deadly coronavirus spreading throughout Asia, which has already outpaced the 2003 SARS epidemic and killed at least 213 people in China.

Researchers will need to work fast. Since the first patient was identified in Wuhan on Dec. 31, the number of coronavirus cases has mushroomed to nearly 10,000 in mainland China alone as of Friday morning, up from roughly 800 the week before. While the new virus appears to be less deadly than the 2003 SARS outbreak that sickened 8,098 people and killed almost 800, it is spreading significantly faster.

Hopes to get a vaccine to market are high, but doctors want to set expectations for how quickly that can happen low. Developing, testing and reviewing any potential vaccine is a long, complex and expensive endeavor that could take months or even years, global health experts say....

SARS occurred in 2004. (click here) That was 16 years ago. The vaccine was considered unimportant because the virus was contained and the losses were acceptably within reason which could be viewed as a harsh judgement.

Now, 2020 in an atmosphere of economic disaster due to the tariffs that have caused food in China to become unaffordable, (How is Susan Collins still in the US Senate?) there is still no vaccine or treatment.

From the South China Morning Post:

5 September 2019
By Finbarr Bermingham

...With frozen Maine lobsters (click here) now attracting a tariff of 45 per cent, after an increase of 10 per cent, Canadian fishermen can look forward to more and bigger paydays ahead, leaving Maine’s political leaders to continue pondering “the blow of Chinese tariffs on a hallmark American industry that has done nothing to deserve the punishment that it is presently forced to bear”.

Soybeans, wheat and pork were also on the new tariff list, and the US’ loss will be other nations’ gain. With 1.4 billion mouths to feed, Chinese buyers are sourcing their food from nations with lower-tariff access to Chinese ports, a trend that will deepen as tariffs on the US rise.

According to Darin Friedrichs, a soybean analyst working for INTL FCStone in Shanghai, “yellow soybeans are the only ones that matter”, when it comes to US sales to China. The tariff on yellow beans has risen to 33 per cent, compared to just 3 per cent from Brazil and Argentina, China’s other major suppliers.

Unsurprisingly, US soybean farmers have fairly negative views on the trade war, which has allowed Brazilian rivals to grow their market share in China to 77 per cent over the first nine months of the 2018/19 market year, while their share has fallen to just 10 per cent, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

A survey of 400 US farmers released on Tuesday found that 71 per cent are not expecting a trade war resolution soon. The survey, conducted by Purdue University in Indiana, also found that 71 per cent of farmers think that government subsidies have helped offset the effects of tariffs, while 58 per cent expect more help in 2020....

Why is it that 16 years later, the pandemic is worse and the research is still not forthcoming? 

The US Senate states the US House has successfully proved their case, but, oops it isn't good for Republican politics.

I could not agree more. Leaving Donald John Trump is a danger to the country. The US Senate is under a delusion. People like Lindsay Graham thinks they can control Trump. Pence thought the same thing as President of the US Senate. He was unable to carry out his delusion as well.

January 30, 2020
By Noah Feldman

As Republicans scramble to argue (click here) that they don’t need to call witnesses in President Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, one argument seems to be gaining traction: that witnesses are irrelevant, because even if Trump did everything he’s accused of doing, abuse of power is not an impeachable offense.

This argument isn’t merely wrong. It is the single most dangerous argument that any of Trump’s defenders have made during the entire impeachment process. If abuse of power isn’t impeachable, what is?...

Lamar Alexander:

...There is no need for more evidence (click here) to prove that the president asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden and his son, Hunter; he said this on television on October 3, 2019, and during his July 25, 2019, telephone call with the president of Ukraine. There is no need for more evidence to conclude that the president withheld United States aid, at least in part, to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens; the House managers have proved this with what they call a ‘mountain of overwhelming evidence.’ There is no need to consider further the frivolous second article of impeachment that would remove the president for asserting his constitutional prerogative to protect confidential conversations with his close advisers.

The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. I believe that the Constitution provides that the people should make that decision in the presidential election that begins in Iowa on Monday....

What is sincerely troubling is the fact that Senators like Lamar Alexander admit the facts are clear and Trump clearly used the power of his office and the withholding of military aid to Ukraine to lean on the President of that country. YET. He continues to dismiss this violation of laws including the power of the legislation.

The question then is not whether the president did it, but whether the United States Senate or the American people should decide what to do about what he did. 

The American people EXPECT the US Senate to protect them from abuse of power. There is nothing stopping Donald John Trump from continuing his bizarre ideas and abuses of power. As a matter of fact, Alexander completely believes in the abuse of power, but, thinks it is no big deal. 

The American people do not expect to be exposed to abuse of power, but, yet Alexander believes it is okay to allow that to happen without knowing to what extent that will occur for the next year and clearly into at least the third week of January 2021. It is an outrage to believe that abuse of power continuing one more day should ever be allowed in this country!

The US Senate also threw away their own power in ignoring rather than enforcing the power they have in protecting funding provided in their power of the purse.

No rational human being would allow this to occur and dismiss it even though the legislature in the US House found the abuse an assault on the power of the Legislature.

The US Senate is a joke!

The president does not have absolute immunity (click here) UNLESS the US Senate is too cowardly and allows it as they have if Trump remains in office! Donald John Trump is making fools of the US Senate!

Moscow is laughing today.