There are several reasons why the prosecution of Rick Snyder is amiss.

August 6, 2021
By Lee Devito

Former Flint Mayor Karen Weaver (click here) responded to Metro Times' recent cover story about the city's water crisis, and commended reporters Jordan Chariton and Jenn Dize of independent news outlet Status Coup for helping to continue to draw awareness to the issue.

Status Coup, which reported the story co-published by Metro Times and The Intercept last month, interviewed Weaver during a visit to Flint on Thursday, where the former mayor, who served from 2015 to 2019, took aim at... well, everyone —including the media, former Governor Snyder, and even current Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel.

"You know, I always talk about 'how to get away with murder?'" she said. "Ask Snyder, and ask Nessel. They're all helping him do it."

When asked about the article, Weaver said, "I wasn't surprised because this whole thing has been a cover-up from the very beginning, and that's what we have been talking about — those that those of us that have been ... yelling and screaming and trying to keep the story alive from the very beginning."

The article reported evidence that the phones of Snyder's top health officials and aides had been wiped just before a criminal investigation was launched. It also reported on a letter drafted by Schuette accusing Snyder of interfering with his office's investigation by launching "sham" investigations of his own....

Karen Weaver was in the middle of the crisis in Flint. She knows it better than most legislators or law enforcement people. If she states there are things amiss with the prosecution of Rick Snyder it should be reviewed yet again with her assistance. I think she is spot on with the issue of erased cell phones. NO ONE HAS BEEN CHARGED that I am aware of for TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE.

July 28, 2021

New York - On Wednesday, (click here) the Democratically-controlled House Oversight Committee responded to a bombshell report in The Intercept by Status Coup's Jordan Chariton and Jenn Dize on the Flint water crisis that revealed phones belonging to top officials in former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's administration were erased and/or altered—with key communications and data from the 2014-2015 period Flint received toxic drinking water from the Flint River gone when criminal investigators obtained the phones....

These illegal acts are noted by people concerned about the ease with which the cover-up occurred. There is a far more casual approach to these issues in the year 2021. There needs to be ACCOUNTABILITY and it is not pursued from what I can tell. This can't simply be noticed and then allowed without penalty. The former Governor was responsible in maintaining the integrity of the facts within those phone records. Those records were State of Michigan property.  The current Attorney General needs to do more than shrug her shoulders about tampered evidence and bring charges for these illegal acts.

The reason there are economic shutdowns is for the very reason Minnesota is panicked.

...“Across the state, we have more hospitals reporting that they have zero available adult medical surgical beds and zero adult ICU beds available during this latest surge,” Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm told reporters. “These are numbers we didn't see even in the worst of last fall’s surge.”

The state is now down to 1 percent of hospital beds available in the Twin Cities metro region, 5 percent in the southeast and 7 percent in the central part of the state, she added.

The latest numbers also show there are no pediatric hospital beds available in the central Minnesota region, only two in the southeast, one each in the northwest and south-central areas and seven available in the metro area, she said.

She pleaded with eligible Minnesotans to get vaccinated and take precautions to slow the spread of the disease. “There’s, unfortunately, plenty of room for the virus to do its harm.”...

I told you so. There are currently not enough pediatric intensive care beds for all the children stricken with COVID-19 or it's variant. 

Why did the USA do this? Why did children stay home and educate across the internet only to cause this disastrous effect on those very same children now. Why did people decide child illnesses with potentially permanent disability and/or death didn't matter?

I WANT ANSWERS! If this was corporate profit-driven, then I want to know. It makes no sense for an entire country to disregard the concerns for children over the past year only to have them get sick and/or die.

THIS IS AN OUTRAGEOUS OUTCOME FOR AMERICAN CHILDREN!!!!!

This is an American tragedy of monumental proportions.

October 6, 2021

By Regina Mobley

Portsmouth, Va. - The world is going to miss Teresa. (click here) That’s what her parents have to say about the bubbly 10-year-old Hillpoint Elementary School 5th grader who they say died from COVID-19 on Sept. 27 at Children’s Hospital of The King’s Daughters.

“The world is gonna miss out on her. She had so many dreams, so many goals that she wanted to do; she wanted to be a teacher, she wanted to design clothes. She impacted so many people,” said Teresa’s mother, Nicole Sperry.

Suffolk Public Schools (SPS) in Virginia is responding to reports from the Sperrys that their daughter was assigned to escort sick children to the nurse’s office. Teresa’s father shared an account with Andy Fox, saying Teresa was proud of her role working as a so-called “nurse.”...

HUD's requirements for insulating manufactured homes MUST improve. Why is there a different U value for these homes?

Most manufactured homes are purchased by people, including the elderly, with low incomes. They are not going to have money laying around in order to insulate their homes and end up with either utility subsidies and/or high energy bills due to the lack of good government requirements.

The HUD-code for mobile homes (click here) is primarily a “performance" code, rather than a “prescriptive" code, meaning pretty much what it sounds like: instead of specifying what to install and how to install it, the code sets performance standards that give the manufacturer some leeway in how they choose to meet the standard.

The insulation performance standard is a U-value, also referred to as a U-value, which is the overall coefficient of heat transfer through the envelope of the home. The map above shows the U-value requirements for the three thermal zones that HUD has mapped for their standards. A lower U-value number means better insulation....

The problem with these manufactured homes is that leaving out significant insulation is a profit issue. Without mentioning the manufacturer, the amount of insulation is minimal or NON-EXISTENT.

Literally, whether heating or cooling, the DUCT systems that carry the air have to be warmed or heated before the heat will arrive in the living area. That means the manufactured home will become far colder or hotter before the air actually changes the temperature in the living area. It is the most outrageous infraction of energy efficiency I have ever witnessed.

Literally, there are manufactured homes that are colder at night because of the outside temperature and warmer during the day for the same reason and it depends if the sun is shining or not. If during the day it is cloudy, the internal temperature of these homes will be cooler than if there is sunshine. All this temperature change in these homes occurs because the heat or cold hits the aluminum skins of the walls, but, especially the roof. If the sun is shining and the temperature outside is 80 degrees, the interior temperature is more than 80 degrees because the manufactured home becomes an oven. Sure, there is air conditioning, but, the amount of energy it takes to roll back the cost of cooling an oven is ridiculous TO ANY CONSUMER.

The climate crisis is brutal. People have already died from heat or cold-related issues. The people living in these manufactured homes are more vulnerable to extreme temperatures that kill. This is a public health concern and should be readily addressed by HUD to demand highly insulated walls, roofs and floors. Those manufactured homes already in use MUST be viewed as dangerous and potentially insulated to meet modern-day standards to CONSERVE ENERGY and protect those living inside.

The same standard MUST be included in any FEMA trailers purchased by the government as temporary shelters. To leave these people vulnerable to heat and cold when this country can do something about it, is immoral and extremely costly to the climate itself.

This is going to be an ongoing problem. Be grateful of the Army Corps. Blue Roof tarps.

The federal government needs to be sure their blue roof tarps are well stocked. This issue isn't just Louisiana. This is going to be a countrywide problem with severe storms on the increase.

October 7, 2021

By Greg LaRose

It won't be until some time next year (click here) that the supply of roof shingles will catch up to demand, according to a homebuilding industry analyst. The shortage is particularly acute in south Louisiana, where two straight years of major hurricane impacts have also stretched the contracting workforce thin.

The shingle shortage has its roots in the COVID-19 pandemic, said David Logan, an economist for the National Association of Homebuilders. The problem grew worse when Hurricane Ida forced multiple refineries to shut down. Shingles are largely made from asphalt and petroleum byproducts.

"You're talking about a huge amount of raw materials that essentially have been lost, that the industry will have to catch up to without any increase in capacity," Logan said.

Even once the shingle supply gets back to normal, Logan said there will be the issue of logistics. Transportation and distribution have also seen labor shortages from the pandemic, and that could delay getting products to markets where demand is highest, he said.

Local homebuilder Frank Morse has most of his crews handling work that involves roof repair in the New Orleans area. He's telling clients not to expect much choice when it comes to shingle options, and he said most customers are willing to sacrifice aesthetics for function.

Morse is on the Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors and said the agency has made it a priority to assist legitimate out-of-state contractors that want to be certified for work in Louisiana. He acknowledged that the process could take weeks, rather than days, but said consumers benefit in the end....

COVID-19 vaccine hysteria has to stop.

There is a lot of vigilantism in the USA with having high numbers of guns in the country in the hands of average people. This is an example of how the right-wing political media is turning the USA into a blood bath due to the politicization of a vaccine that helps protect Americans and will end the spread of the virus and its ability to mutate to a far more dangerous form.

Jeffrey Allen Burnham literally took it upon himself to challenge his brother, Brian, a licensed and practicing pharmacist, to end the administration of vaccines by killing him. This is an outrageous outcome. There needs to be an FBI investigation as to who or what educated Jeffery Burnham about the vaccine to the point of hysteria and killing his own family over the vaccine.

Jeffery Burnham is in custody and needs to be interviewed to his ideas of what resulted in spurring him to act with violence. The source has to be known and stopped. Someone or some country is out there causing deep-seated fear to move a man to kill his own family in attempts to stop the administration of vaccines. No one can ignore this. The source MUST be discovered and their influence ended. 

October 7, 2021

By David Collins

Ellicot City - The man accused of killing three people (click here) wanted to confront his brother, who he's accused of killing, based on his profession and COVID-19 vaccines, court papers obtained by sister station WBAL-TV indicate.

Jeffrey Allen Burnham, 46, was arrested in West Virginia after a manhunt last week. He was extradited Tuesday back to Maryland on charges of murder and auto theft.

Burnham is accused of killing three people in Maryland: Rebecca Reynolds, 83, his brother, Brian Robinette, and sister-in-law, Kelly Robinette.

According to police charging documents, Burnham went to the Ellicott City home of his brother, who was a pharmacist, to confront him about administering COVID-19 vaccines. Investigators based the motive on statements Burnham allegedly made to his mother, Evelyn Burnham, a day before the killings.

The charging documents state: "Jeffrey stated to Evelyn that he wanted to confront Brian about the government poisoning people with COVID vaccines and that he repeatedly stated, 'Brian knows something.'"

Court papers show the Robinettes were shot multiple times by a .40-caliber handgun. The documents state that police said they found an empty box for a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson handgun in Jeffrey Burnham's residence....

The debt limit directly impacts economic interests that are already established.

October 7, 2021
By Shalini Nagarajan

Global stocks rose on Thursday (click here) after progress in talks between lawmakers on the US debt ceiling helped improve risk sentiment, while bitcoin continued to trade around five-month highs close to $55,000.

Futures on the Dow Jones rose 0.4%, while those on the S&P 500 rose 0.6% and the Nasdaq rose 1% as of 4:40 a.m. ET, suggesting a stronger start to trading later in the day.

Both parties made some headway Wednesday after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he was willing to offer a short-term debt ceiling extension until December to stave off catastrophic financial repercussions.

This means President Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats would be able to finish their fiscal spending package, of between $1.9 trillion to $2 trillion, and include a further increase to the borrowing limit into one large reconciliation package near year-end, Deutsche Bank strategists said....

Today is a great day for journalism. I am thrilled these two wonderful journalists have been recognized.

Ms. Reesa stated in an online interview stated, "Violence online doesn't stay online." She is spot on.

October 8, 2021

Seeking to bolster press freedoms (click here) at a time when journalists find themselves under increasing pressure from authoritarian governments and other hostile forces, the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday was awarded to two journalists thousands of miles apart for their tireless efforts to hold the powerful to account.

The journalists, Maria Ressa of the Philippines and Dmitri A. Muratov of Russia, were recognized for “their courageous fight for freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”

“They are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions,” the committee said in a statement released after the announcement in Oslo.

Ms. Ressa — a Fulbright scholar, and a Time magazine Person of the Year for her crusading work against disinformation — has been a constant thorn in the side of President Rodrigo Duterte, her country’s authoritarian president.

The digital media company for investigative journalism that she co-founded, Rappler, has exposed government corruption and researched the financial holdings and potential conflicts of interest of top political figures. It has also done groundbreaking work on the Duterte government’s violent antidrug campaign.

“The number of deaths is so high that the campaign resembles a war waged against the country’s own population,” the committee said. “Ms. Ressa and Rappler have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse.”...

In 2016, the Philippines was racking up the War on Drugs death rate of 12,000. The world was appalled. Today, the death rate of the War on Drugs is hidden among the COVID-19 death rate. The COVID-19 remains high in the Philippines. The current death rate in the Philippines is 39,232. That is the two-year total to date. That just about matches the death rate of the internal war experiencing in the Philippines. The cases are beginning to drop off, but, not substantially.

These deaths are in a population of slightly more than 109 million people.