The Post Office is important.

The US Post Office service is enormous and vital to the day to day activities in the USA. It is vital to surviving the onslaught of SARS-CoV-2. We need to support our post offices by making it the preferred service. If mail is slow it just might be because Americans are coming home to their constitutional preference. There is a place for private carriers, but, they should not be replacing the national post office.

That said.

I believe Joe Biden is the person to lead the USA. I love his speeches. He is me. He is Middle Class. He is like sitting down at the end of a long day with a cold, favorite beer to read the paper and understand where the country and the home town is in the scheme of the real world. 

I think he is great. He really does care about us. He is the local mayor, the state governor, and the official person that tries to get it right at the street level. He understands more about Americans than anyone else in this country. 

I believe he is wise. 

He never lives beyond his means. Joe worked for a living. He worked taking care of Delaware and then next in line to the presidency. He lived with the salary he received and was never tempted to reach beyond the money that was rightfully his.

I don't care about the gossip with Hunter. He is Joe's son. I am quite certain he cared about his son's life, but Joe was busy. Where in his schedule was the time for the corruption the Trump camp wants to label him with. I just don't see it.

I think we are already coming together as a country. I really believe Joe can bring the people of the USA back from a severe divide that provided a place where hate grew and ultimately nurtured.

There is going to be a lot of work to do if Joe is elected. We have to beat COVID-19 and instill an economy that is going to work for everyone while moving the USA into a safe zone and away from the climate crisis. This is doable. There is absolutely no reason to move away from the challenge. The alternative is more failure and fear of each other. We will never rescue Earth if we first don't rescue ourselves as a community.

Good night.

VOTE!

An informative video to benefit the understanding of the difficulty of operations within the Post Office.

October 13, 2020
By Natalie Zhang

It’s no secret the Post Office (click here) has been in financial trouble for years, a fact that has been politicized by President Donald Trump in the lead up to the 2020 presidential election.

The institution wasn’t spared from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thanks to a lifeline from the U.S. Treasury and better-than-expected sales, the U.S. Postal Service has enough cash to get through mid-2021.

Still, government watchdogs and private consultants warn it’s on a path to financial collapse, with unknown consequences.

“It’s an organization that provides a public service, a universal public service by the government,” David Trimble, director of physical infrastructure at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, told CNBC. “But at the same time, it’s an organization that’s required to be self-financing.”

Watch the video above the learn more about the business model of the U.S. Postal Service and why it’s not working.

I want to make it clear the fires are not California alone.

October 25, 2020
By Bruce Findley

Calista Morrill, walking with her dogs Lucy, in front and Ollie, not pictured, watches smoke from the East Troublesome fire become lit by the setting sun in Lyons on Oct. 21, 2020. At the time Morrill, who lives in Lyons, said she had packed her bags in case she needed to be evacuated for the CalWood Fire.

The record-breaking forest fires (click here) burning in Colorado even as winter sets in are the latest sign climate warming is hitting the West hard, causing scientists to up their rhetoric and warn it is past time to move beyond planning and start aggressively acting.

“We’ve got to get motivated and stop turning the thermostat up. That is urgent, not a sci-fi thing. It is us turning up the thermostat. It does not readily turn down. The farther we turn it up, the worse it will get,” said Scott Denning, a Colorado State University atmospheric scientist.

Colorado and the West face more hot days and temperatures will shoot higher, scientists say. The rising heat is depleting water and drying soil across the Colorado River Basin and other river basins. Last week, federal authorities classified 97% of Colorado in severe to exceptional drought.

Mega-fires including 2020’s Cameron Peak, East Troublesome and Pine Gulch are burning hotter and longer, with record destruction this year of 700,000 acres in Colorado and 6 million around the West. The smoke that exposed tens of millions of people to heavy particulates, health researchers say, will pose an even greater risk to public health in years to come....

A happy ending story out of Dallas-Fort Worth about their US mail delivery test.

The Watchdog mails first-class letters from across Dallas-Fort Worth to see if USPS has its act together.

October 22, 2020

By Dave Liber

...It used to be that a first-class letter mailed (click here) anywhere in D-FW to another area address was supposed to arrive in one day. A while back, USPS gave itself some breathing room and changed the local delivery time to two days.

So in my experiment, if every letter arrived by the second day, that’s a win for USPS.

Direct Mail Expert told me that logging in the deliveries was especially easy because the mail’s arrival fit a perfect pattern.

On day one, every letter mailed from Plano arrived. Every letter from Richardson and Southlake arrived too.

On day two, every remaining letter from Dallas and Lewisville arrived.

Out of 50 envelopes, there was not a single straggler. USPS earned a perfect delivery score of 100%.

The president of the local chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Kimetra Lewis, told me this was no fluke.

She said: “The postal service has improved. The morale and everything has improved since the lifting of the mandate to delay the mail. It has been a drastic improvement in the morale of the employees and in getting the mail processed timely.”

Yes, this is the US EPA shortening the lives of Americans through cancer causing exposure.

October 22, 2020
By Craig Pitman

Florida’s highways (click here) have frequently been built on a foundation of chicanery and political foolishness.

We’ve got toll roads that were built using fudged financial figures (Looking at you, Polk Parkway and Suncoast Parkway). We’ve got a Bridge to Nowhere that was built purely to benefit the then-speaker of the House but then went bankrupt (Hi there, Garcon Point Bridge). We’ve got a trio of expensive highways now under consideration that are opposed by the public but supported by wealthy roadbuilders and the politicians who took their campaign contributions.

But now we may soon see Florida roads that are built on something new: radioactive waste from phosphate mines.

When phosphate companies turn their mined rock into fertilizer, they produce about five tons of phosphogypsum waste to every ton of fertilizer. Since 1989, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has banned using that phosphogypsum waste for construction projects or anything else because it exceeds the level of radioactivity regarded as safe for humans.

With no other way to dispose of so much radioactive waste, the industry stacks it in huge piles, known as phosphogypsum stacks. The stacks tower over the flat Florida landscape. There are 25 of them scattered around the state and they can be up to 200 feet high.

Last week, with absolutely no notice to the public, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced the agency had changed its mind about phosphogypsum waste. Now, Wheeler said, the stuff that the EPA once deemed too dangerous is considered safe enough to use in building roads....

Trump doesn't want a federal authority that regulates anything. This is Trump and his arrogance to expose the American people to dangerous carcinogens because they already live too long.

Gypstacks (click here) are engineered features and are highly regulated. Federal regulations require phosphogypsum to be stored in stacks because of naturally occurring radionuclides in the mined phosphate rock. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has developed stringent standards regarding the design, operation, maintenance, closure and long-term care of gypstacks.

Don't forget your Dosimetry Badge (click here) to know if the road your traveling on has emitted more allowable radiation. This is Trump's economy. 

Phosphogypsum (PG), (click here) primary byproduct from phosphoric acid production, is accumulated in large stockpiles and occupies vast areas of land. Phosphogypsum is a technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TE-NORM) that contains radionuclides from 238U and 232Th decay series which are of most radio-toxicity....

Phosphogypsum is a waste product from the production of phosphoric acid. Our roads are going to be radioactive and a radioactive hazard to human health to satisfy the demands of China.

...The primary market for phosphoric acid (click here) is the production of the phosphate fertilizer products—ammonium phosphates and triple superphosphates. Fertilizer production accounts for an estimated 80% of the global market for phosphoric acid and animal feed for about 6%. The remainder is consumed in a variety of industrial applications.

Since 2010, there have been several consolidations and capacity reductions in the United States. In Latin America, the first half of 2018 saw a reduction in demand for phosphate fertilizers because of lower food prices. In the second half, demand is expected to rise following increases in soybean prices.

Fueled by the rapid growth in the Chinese economy and the growing need for phosphate fertilizers, China has become the world’s largest producer and consumer of phosphoric acid. From 2008 to 2018, phosphoric acid capacity in China grew at an average annual rate of 3.1%. Phosphoric acid production and consumption grew at an average annual rate of 4.5% and 4.6%, respectively, during the same period. It is projected that phosphoric acid production and consumption in China will experience slower yet moderate growth between 2018 and 2023....

The public health national emergency must be presented to the Supreme Court.

I haven't read the entire proceedings, but, from what I am reading about these issues, the PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICER must testify to the brevity of SARS-CoV-2.

Trump has confused the brevity of the virus with the flu and due to his authority who is Lady Justice to believe? Right now there is a huge divide between NIH and HHS. Both are significant departments and they are providing information that confuses these issues. Statements by Dr. Fauci need to accompany the issues of voting this year.

October 23, 2020

By Madeleine Carlisle and Abigail Abrams

Jenny Lux (click here) didn’t want to risk her life to vote. Her acute respiratory distress syndrome puts her at a high risk for dangerous complications related to COVID-19, compelling her to take quarantine seriously.

So when the 39-year-old read Alabama’s requirements for voting by mail this election cycle, she was stunned. While Alabamians no longer needed to give a reason for requesting a mail-in absentee ballot, they still need to either have their mail ballot notarized or witnessed by two adults simultaneously, as well as include a copy of their photo ID when applying for the ballot. Lux lives alone with her 17-year-old son, and suddenly faced an impossible choice: either risk COVID-19 exposure at a notary service or and allow two adults into her home to witness her ballot.

“My reaction [was], ‘Wow, really? You’re going to do this to me?’” she says. “I just can’t risk it. It’s life and death that we’re talking about here… Why should I jump through all these hoops?”...

This is a public health issue. The company should be made to be responsible and close the leak.

October 13, 2020
By Hiroko Tabuchi

The day the debt-ridden Texas oil producer MDC Energy filed for bankruptcy (click here) eight months ago, a tank at one of its wells was furiously leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. As of last week, dangerous, invisible gases were still spewing into the air.

By one estimate, the company would need more than $40 million to clean up its wells if they were permanently closed. But the debts of MDC’s parent company now exceed the value of its assets by more than $180 million.

In the months before its bankruptcy filing, though, the company managed to pay its chief executive $8.5 million in consulting fees, its top lender, the French investment bank Natixis, later alleged in bankruptcy court.

Oil and gas companies in the United States are hurtling toward bankruptcy at a pace not seen in years, driven under by a global price war and a pandemic that has slashed demand. And in the wake of this economic carnage is a potential environmental disaster — unprofitable wells that will be abandoned or left untended, even as they continue leaking planet-warming pollutants, and a costly bill for taxpayers to clean it all up....

No government regulation caused the issues the petroleum industry is facing today. They did it to themselves. They glut the markets with their products. When a Republican Congress passed the right for American energy to export their products, they glut the market. Their bankruptsies have absolutely nothing to do with regulation it is all because the regulations were removed from their industries.

Methane can become a poison when it is leaked.

When inhaled, it displaces ambient air, thus depriving the body of oxygen needed to breathe. While low concentrations are generally not harmful, higher concentrations lead to less oxygen availability and a range of symptoms may be experienced, including:

• Rapid breathing
• Increased heart rate
• Clumsiness and dizziness
• Decreased vision, especially in low lights
• Euphoria
• Decreased alertness
• Loss of memory
• Weakness
• Fatigue
• Emotional responses
• Nausea and vomiting
• Fainting and collapse
• Convulsions
• Coma
• Death

The short answer? Yes, natural gas does rise. (click here)

The longer answer is that it rises because of its composition. Natural gas is primarily composed of methane, a colorless and nearly odorless gas that’s lighter than air. As a result, it will gradually displace oxygenated air from the top down if enough of it is released in a confined space. In contrast, liquefied petroleum gases like propane are heavier than air, causing them to sink.

The companies must end these leaks. No methane should make it's way into a person's lungs. This is not an unreasonable request. Life matters.

I think the Republicans have become very dangerous to our democracy.

The reason the party is dangerous to our democracy is because the Republican extremists are being shunned by the people. And the extremists are wining Republican primaries. The rapid nomination of a Supreme Court Justice only proves how very, very dangerous the party has become since 2010.

October 17, 2020
By Tali Nance

The wildest race on Georgia’s Nov. 3 ballot (click here) is a 20-way, winner-take-all special election to fill the last two years of the term of retired U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson. Kelly Loeffler was appointed to temporarily fill the seat, but the law requires a special election.

There’s no primary, just everyone on the ballot at once. Five Republicans signed up to challenge Loeffler, as did six Democrats and eight candidates from smaller parties or no party at all.

With 20 people in the race and the rules requiring 50% of the vote to declare a winner, it’s almost certain the top two candidates with the most votes in November will contest in a runoff on Jan. 5 -- two days after all the other members of the next U.S. Senate take the oath of office....

Her political leanings came through in her hearings. She is clueless about climate.

Coney-Barrett is not qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice. The Republicans are too scared by reality to actually do the right thing for the country. 

I think McConnell took a really bad fall with bruises on his hands and face. When that occurred with Harry Reid, it was a sin, but, McConnell's reality is swept under the carpet.

I never expected a Supreme Court Justice to be an idiot when it comes to climate. It is the most demanding issue facing the USA that has enormous and damaging stroms in the Gulf and Atlantic while wildfires rage in the west of the USA, yet Coney-Barrett is clueless because of the controversy. What controversy? There is something about wildfires? There is no controversy. The wildfires are real. There is controversy about the storms rolling into the USA destroying large swaths of land? There no controversy, it is REAL.

I have been writing about this issue on this blog since 2004 at the point the Christmas Tsunami took place. I have noted every major ice movement that has occurred on Earth further compromising Earth's ability to mitigate climate. There is no controversy, there is simply political inconvenience for the Republicans because of their cronies. Coney-Barrett's ignorance to the topic speaks loudly to her lack of interest in the issues of the people of the USA.

“Judge Coney Barrett has displayed a profound inability to understand the ecological crisis of our times, and in so doing she enables it.”

The following op-ed (click here) has been signed by dozens of leading climate and science journalists, listed below.

We are science and climate journalists. We are researchers and weavers of information, creating a fabric that explains the work of scientists who themselves are working to describe our natural world and universe. We are published in the nation’s leading outlets, both large and small, including Scientific American, Nature, National Geographic, MIT Technology Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New Yorker and many more. Over decades of reporting on the threats and now deadly and devastating harms of worsening climate change, we have succeeded in at least one respect. The vast majority of the world’s people, including those in the United States, not only acknowledge the scientific certainty of climate change, but also want action taken to address it....

Another once in 100 year endorsement. Joe Biden is good for the USA.

October 25, 2020

This year’s general election ballot (click here) presents the voter with a dilemma. We have wrestled with this year’s choices, as we imagine many voters have. Up and down the ticket we are faced with choices in political ideologies, personalities, backgrounds and governing styles.

Some choices are easy. We can wholeheartedly recommend Chris Sununu be elected to another term as governor. He has proven himself a capable leader when faced with an extreme and occasionally hostile legislature. During the COVID-19 crisis, he has deftly handled a situation that left many leaders flustered and swinging from one extreme reaction to the next.

In the race that has dominated political discourse for the past four years the choice is murkier. There is no love lost between this newspaper and President Donald J. Trump. The Union Leader was very quickly dismissed by then-candidate Trump after we failed to bestow on him our endorsement in the Republican primary four years ago.

We were hopeful with Trump’s win that he might change, that the weight and responsibility of the Oval Office might mold a more respectful and presidential man. We have watched with the rest of the world as the mantle of the presidency has done very little to change Trump while the country and world have changed significantly.

President Trump is not always 100 percent wrong, but he is 100 percent wrong for America....

Vote by mail protects the vote no matter the reasons, pandemic or climate crisis.

October 22, 2020
By Sarah Kaplan

By many measures, (click here) 2020 has been disastrous. Hurricanes in the Atlantic are so numerous that there are not enough letters in the Latin alphabet to name them all. Fires in California torched more than 4 million acres, smashing the state’s record for land burned in a single season. In the first nine months of this year, at least 188 people have been killed in a record-tying 16 weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. The nation now spends almost 10 times as much responding to and recovering from natural events as it did in the 1980s. And that’s just the United States. Don’t forget the bush fires in Australia, floods in Central Africa and the powerful Cyclone Amphan, which killed dozens of people in India and Bangladesh....

If facing tragedies that have run rampant across the USA this year, I am sure the Secretary of State will have a solution to allow voting. If not, call the closest chapter of the DNC and if they can't answer questions, I am confident they will find out.

Every state is unique so check now and plan your vote.

VOTE SAFE with Your Vote By Mail Ballot 

All California voters will receive a vote-by-mail ballot for the November 3, 2020, General Election (click here)

California even has a mascot to help direct vistors to the website. Very nice.

Everyone check the "Secretary of State" website and hopefully find all the information to vote safely. Voting on time and safely is a huge issue this year. In California, the absentee or mail in ballots have to be post marked by November 3, 2020. The drop boxes in California will close at 8PM PT.

It's Sunday Night

October 30, 2012 (click here)

How completely correct is Bruce Springsteen about the US Mail Service. It is our life blood in the USA. Relationships are built and dashed through the USA mail. Birthday Cards and letters of encouragement to children and young people from their grandparents. All sorts of REAL LIFE dynamics are carried by the USA Post Office everyday. 

I love the song, the artist and his ability to bring life to ordinary events.
 

"Letter to You" By Bruce Springsteen (click here for official website - thank you)

'Neath a crown of mongrel trees
I pulled that bothersome thread
Got down on my knees
Grabbed my pen and bowed my head
Tried to summon all that my heart finds true
And send it in my letter to you

Things I found out through hard times and good
I wrote 'em all out in ink and blood
Dug deep in my soul and signed my name true
And sent it in my letter to you

In my letter to you
I took all my fears and doubts
In my letter to you
All the hard things I found out
In my letter to you
All that I've found true
And I sent it in my letter to you


I took all the sunshine and rain
All my happiness and all my pain
The dark evening stars
And the morning sky of blue
And I sent it in my letter to you
And I sent it in my letter to you

In my letter to you
I took all my fears and doubts
In my letter to you
All the hard things that I found out
In my letter to you
All that I found true
And I sent it in my letter to you
I sent it in my letter to you

I am tired of hearing how Trump could have been a really great president if only...

He does not have the capacity to be a president, let alone a great one. The Republicans found their circus clown to control a portion of the electorate. Trump is an entertainer because he knows what it takes to successfully lie to people to create loyalty. IT IS CALLED RATINGS. I never watched that stupid program.

No one can ever say now or again that Trump would have been a great president if only.... 

Donald John Trump NEVER had the capacity to be a great leader. His company, through manipulation, became a parasite in the USA. Trump Company NEVER contributed to the USA Treasury, hence, the stability of our government. 

Get over it. There is no "if only" that fits Donald John Trump. He will use "if only" to become president again.

The United States of Bananas.

This country is now officially the Banana Republic of North America. The real problem in gutting civil servants and replacing them with Trump Loyalists is a huge national security issue. When Trump finally leaves office he could have informants everywhere while he maintains his Russian connection. No department will be safe, including the USA military and it's partners, especially its research partners.

October 22, 2020
By Nicole Ogrysko

President Donald Trump (click here) signed a new executive order that will reclassify a portion of the career federal workforce, giving agency heads the ability to hire and fire them at will under a new class in the excepted service.

The order, which the White House released Wednesday evening, creates a new schedule in the excepted service known as “Schedule F.”

It gives agency heads the authority to reclassify certain confidential, policy-making, determining or advocating positions from the career civil service to the excepted service under this new schedule....