The barber's son that was welcomed to his mayorship as a mentor.

He was pivotal in many ways. I am sorry he is gone. May he rest in peace.

November 24, 2020
By Jeffery C. Mays and Emma G. Fitzsimmons

David N. Dinkins (click here) served a single four-year term as New York City’s first and only Black mayor. His tenure has been judged harshly at times, but it was also filled with accomplishments.

Mr. Dinkins, who died on Monday, had a significant influence on the city, shaping its physical infrastructure and beginning criminal justice initiatives that started to reduce crime.

He was remembered as a somewhat reluctant trailblazer and a gentleman who led the city during a difficult period of fiscal crisis and racial tension — themes that the city and the nation are currently grappling with once again.

“David Dinkins simply set this city on a better path,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Here is a look at some of his accomplishments:...

Mayor Dinkins (click here) never turned away from the fact there police deeply corrupt that caused the loss of Black live in the city.

December 29, 1993

In a harshly critical report, (click here) a special mayoral panel asserted yesterday that the New York City Police Department had failed at every level to uproot corruption and had instead tolerated a culture that fostered misconduct and concealed lawlessness by police officers.

The panel, called the Mollen Commission, agreed with police officials who contend that corruption was not systemic, but rather isolated to small groups of rogue officers. But the commission warned that if corruption itself was not systemwide, the department's failure to address it was.

"We find as shocking the incompetence and the inadequacies of the department to police itself," Milton Mollen, the commission chairman, said yesterday as the panel released an interim report on its principal findings. Will They Be Followed?...

It is exciting. The Biden Cabinet are highly qualified and well known to the international community.

I am especially looking forward to the work of Special Envoy John Kerry. He is the right person for this position. He is known among the global community. He is lucky that he is not starting up a brand new effort, the US House has a subcommittee, there are many qualified groups working on a climate agenda noted to be among those funded by Jeff Bezos and last but hardly least is the USA military that has been working on being climate-friendly for more than a decade.

November 23, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden named John Kerry (click here) to the newly created role of climate czar, a move that underscores the incoming administration’s commitment to an international-focused approach to the issue and recognition of its strategic importance.

Kerry, the former secretary of state, is a diplomatic heavyweight who helped piece together the landmark Paris climate agreement during the Obama administration and pushed hard for domestic climate policies as a US senator.

“I’ve asked him to return to government to get America back on track to address one of the most urgent national security threats we face—the climate crisis,” Biden said in a statement released on Monday. “This role is the first of its kind: the first cabinet-level climate position, and the first time climate change has had a seat at the table on the National Security Council.”

Kerry’s appointment as “special presidential envoy for climate” is among the first of six cabinet-level nominations that the Biden team announced on Monday, as it works to form a government in spite of President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election. Unlike some cabinet roles, it will not require Senate confirmation, the New York Times reported....

There are going to be challenges that have resulted because of the very poor performance of the USA under the previous president that has turned loose the petroleum industry.

Australia's Barrier Reef as well as all other ocean reefs around the globe along similar latitudes are no longer endangered, but, destroyed by warmed ocean waters. Reefs are carbon sinks and the are failing,

There has been a severe deterioration of the permafrost releasing carbon to the troposphere as the melting occurs. Methane leaks around the world are out of control. There is a huge methane danger in Russia that needs to be closed. That means the hole may need to be bombed in order to close it.

India is taking a worrisome path in ambitions to be the largest oil exporter in the world. I don't know where all those ambitions lie, but, India is currently the third-largest consumer of oil. It is 24th in the world for oil reserves. I think the Prime Minister should concentrate on building his own electric car factories and putting the people of India to work in good-paying jobs. There are plenty of cars on the streets of India, it needs to address this ambition of exporting oil. They produce about a billion barrels a year while consuming 4 billion annually.

There are good things happening with American companies including GM which has returned to an agenda to protect the environment rather than returning to polluting directives by the previous administration.

I am looking forward to John Kerry working with the global community dedicated to protecting Earth for generations to come.

Protecting nature is very important for people globally. This is out of New Zealand, a climate accord member. It is demoralizing to citizens when the destruction of nature occurs for the purpose of mining. The climate accords are moving forward, but, the USA must take its place among those countries most responsible for climate protections rather than climate contamination.

14 July 2020

Rangitira Developments (click here) wanted to mine in Buller District Council's conservation land at Te Kuha, near Westport.

The government stopped it after Forest & Bird argued the council needed to protect the land's biological and natural features.

In an appeal to the Supreme Court, Rangitira Developments said economic benefits should also be considered by the council.

The Supreme Court today dismissed the appeal.

Forest & Bird said the decision made reserves across the country safer from mining.

"This is absolutely wonderful news for nature, and particularly for the plants and animals threatened with extinction which live in this area," Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said....

Essential warehouse workers are the most important cog in the USA economic wheelhouse.

Everyone should be demanding good wages and on the job safety for these vital people. They also need time off to prevent "burnout." Mistakes are made when people are over extended. That is the case with our health care workforce as well.

NO BURNOUT of essential workers.

November 24, 2020

By Kate Taylor

The US added 146,700 warehouse and storage jobs from April to October, (click here) as companies like

Amazon and Walmart scrambled to fulfill online shopping orders and prepare for the peak holiday season.
Some warehouse workers say that employers have not done enough to keep them safe during the pandemic.

"It's like Russian roulette, when you're trying to protect yourself and put food on the table," former Amazon warehouse worker Monica Moody said. 

"Let's hope that nothing happens with these workers," said Juan Arias, a senior consultant at real estate data firm CoStar Group. "Because right now ... our economy is basically working on the backs of these people."...

It doesn't do anything about prison overcrowding, but, it should lower the temperatures inside.

Paint the roof white.

November 22, 2020
By Cyrus Dunham

The only way to ascertain the temperature (click here) at the California Institution for Women, or CIW, on a given day is to check the hourly forecast at the nearest weather reporting stations. During the September 5 and 6 heat wave in Southern California, the closest recorded temperature to CIW hit 115 degrees. But those stations only measure outside temperatures, not the real heat index of a roughly 8-by-12 cement-walled cell, with no ventilation or air circulation....

The definition of overcrowding needs to be redefined. Multiple prisoners to one cell are deadly. It all needs to be revamped. The wardens to any prison need to know their population well enough to know when they can leave to go to a less restrictive environment. Moving prisoners out is a survival method and one that will dominate jail and prison time assigned to an inmate by the judge. 

It is unrealistic to believe any more prisons can spring up overnight, so it is time the USA returns to the idea of REHABILITATION of lawbreakers and allow the prison space for those most violent in our society. It is far better to bring a high school education to a lawbreaker and then perhaps that of a community college that can provide a good-paying job, then allow a person to deteriorate in a prison or jail cell.

People on probation are easier to manage with the intent of survival because it is easier to hire probation officers and/or than to build prisons.

31 May 2020

But by how much and are there downsides to doing it? (click here)

In a recent BBC interview, the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon suggested that this reduction could be as much as 30C, with the internal temperature of the building falling by as much as seven degrees.

So where do these figures come from and does wider research back this up?

Mr Ban was talking about a pilot project in Ahmedabad City in western India, where summer temperatures can reach as high as 50C.

In 2017, more than 3,000 city rooftops were painted using both white lime and a special reflective coating.

Known simply as "cool roofing", this process is designed to reduce the solar radiation absorbed, which in turn means less heat is transferred inside the building.

Cool roofs also emit away some heat normally retained by a building, cooling it further....

AstraZeneca is already established as a global company.

The cost is going to be a huge factor for countries like India which has a population of 1.4 billion people. Realizing the needed immunity will require two shots, the first being a half dose, which means there are actually 2 billion doses available. In narrowing that to the number of people receiving complete immunity with two doses that brings the number of immune people to 2 billion in 2021. One billion in half doses to 2 billion people and the remaining full doses are the full dose to two billion people.

It is most admirable these successful companies will seek to keep the cost per dose as low as possible. "Moderna" has estimated the cost of the vaccine in a range of less than $40.00.

The global community needs for all companies to produce as much as possible to their best outcomes, as well realizing the population of the world is nearing 8 billion and then there are the pregnancies. The need for these vaccines will be ongoing for some time. The companies' compassion and dedication to the best outcome of all people and ending the existence of SARS-CoV-2 can't be stated with high enough praise.

November 23, 2020

Hopes of an effective vaccine (click here) against coronavirus becoming available rose again on Monday with AstraZeneca and Oxford University claiming success with their product, becoming the third team to do so.

The head of AstraZeneca in France, Olivier Nataf, answered questions from AFP in an interview, saying that the data were very encouraging.

The 70 percent rate is the result of a combined analysis.

Using a regimen of first injecting half a dose of the vaccine and then a full dose a month later the effectiveness was 90 percent.

Another system, of one full dose first and another a month later the effectiveness is 62 percent.

This is an interesting lesson: the half-dose plus one dose scheme can become something that we follow, there is an opportunity for availability for the population, where it would take fewer doses to vaccinate more people.

The second point to remember is that there is 100 percent protection against the occurrence of severe forms of illness and hospitalisations in participants who received the vaccine. And the last point is the confirmation of safety: no serious side effects have been reported, the vaccine is well tolerated in both dosing regimens.

Finally, there is greater simplicity in storage, transport, handling, under normal refrigeration conditions of 2 to 8 degrees. This is a very interesting element from the public health standpoint. 

We will be producing three billion doses worldwide in 2021...

This is not a game, McConnell.

Sometimes I wonder about the lucidity of McConnell's mind. How any patriot could bring a Russian oligarch to sovereign Kentucky is beyond serious economics. A Russian oligarch within the sovereign borders of Kentucky is capitulating the idea that the USA does not have the means or ability to determine its own economic strength. I find it shameful.

McConnell hasn't legislated a darn thing to change the path of the USA economy or the economic status of Kentucky. In chronic obstruction, McConnell has weakened Kentucky so much so that it allowed "compromise" into Kentucky's security and that of the national security of the USA. McConnell is still being an obstructionist in refusing help to the states, small businesses, and the people of this great country need. What is his solution, sell Kentucky to the Russians?

President-Elect Joe Biden is assembling a magnificent cabinet. This is no surprise because he has chosen the very person as Vice President-Elect the country needs.

The Republicans put a president in office, Trump, that dismantled the US federal government and disconnected, if not officially, from alliances that protect and defend this country. Unless Senate Republicans want to continue their ASSAULT AGAINST THE USA from inside of our borders, the US Senate (albeit not fully assembled for January 2021) will immediately pass Joe's Cabinet into power. If the US Senate so much as balks at any of these highly qualified candidates for the USA Cabinet, then Joe Biden has the option to make every one of them "acting" until the point in time whereby recess appointments can be carried out. There is no getting away with hostility toward the American people by Republicans anymore. The country has been compromised by their party's president and it is their solemn duty to put power in the hands of those that sincerely love the country and its people.

NO MORE POLITICAL SHENANIGANS. Joe ran on a platform to reunite this country's people and he won't be disappointed.

November 23, 2020
By Sarah Mucha and Gregory Krieg

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday (click here) unveiled a slate of top foreign policy and national security picks, including the first woman to lead the US intelligence community and first Latino to helm the Department of Homeland Security.

Cuban-born Alejandro Mayorkas, a former deputy secretary of DHS who Biden has nominated to lead the department, will be tasked with rebuilding an agency that carried out some of the most draconian measures associated with President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policy, including family separations at the US-Mexico border. Biden's pick for director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, a former top CIA official and deputy national security adviser, will also make history if confirmed by the Senate.

Biden is moving swiftly to craft his incoming administration despite Trump's ongoing efforts to reverse the election results and gum up the transition. CNN reported Monday that Biden is expected to name Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary, according to a source with knowledge of the pick. Yellen would be the first woman to serve as secretary of the Treasury if nominated and confirmed.

The slate of nominations announced on Monday included confirmation of the selection of Antony Blinken, Biden's top foreign policy aide, as the next secretary of state, Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be the US ambassador to the United Nations. Jake Sullivan will join the White House team as Biden's national security adviser....