Padding election coffers come first with Republicans, especially from the fossil fuel industry.

Fighting inflation and the climate crisis is NOT on the Republican agenda today or anytime in the future.

Republicans want to run on inflation so they are stonewalling the hearings and votes to fill the vacancies. They know a full compliment of qualified people running the Federal Reserve will act on inflation. The Republicans don't want to end the struggle of the Middle Class in the USA so they will believe President Biden is ineffective. It isn't President Biden that is ineffective, it is the Republicans.

January 14, 2022
By Scott Horsley

President Joe Biden (click here) announced three additional nominees for the Federal Reserve Board on Friday, rounding out the central bank's governing body as it prepares to tackle the highest inflation in nearly four decades.

Biden is tapping former Fed governor Sarah Bloom Raskin to serve as Vice Chair for Supervision — a key regulatory role. In addition, Biden nominated academic economists Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson to fill the remaining vacancies on the Fed's seven-member governing board.

"This group will bring much needed expertise, judgement and leadership to the Federal Reserve while at the same time bringing a diversity of thought and perspective never seen before on the Board of Governors," the president said in a statement.

If confirmed, Cook and Jefferson would be two of only five African American Fed governors in the central bank's 108-year history, and the first since 2006....

The petroleum industry owns the Republicans and this is proof. Americans want to bring inflation under control and they want the climate crisis to stop and reverse. The American people are not happy when Republicans play dirty trick to cater to cronies while their lives spiral out of control. The Republicans won't even vote on the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. This has to stop. We need the Federal Reserve to function not flounder.

March 2, 2022

By Jane Mayer

As the American economy faces market turmoil (click here) fuelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the highest inflation rate in forty years, and continuing damage from the covid-19 pandemic, the Federal Reserve System’s board of governors has become a ghost ship. There are multiple vacancies on the panel, and its chairman, Jerome Powell, is awaiting Senate confirmation to a second four-year term. Last month, instead of voting on the confirmation of President Biden’s slate of five nominees to run the world’s most powerful central bank, the Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee staged a boycott....

...The Republicans’ goal was to block a single nominee: Sarah Bloom Raskin, Biden’s pick for vice-chair for supervision. Had they met to vote as scheduled, her nomination would likely have survived a party-line tie, which under the Senate’s current rules would have advanced it to the Senate floor for the full body’s consideration. Instead, after the twelve Republicans on the committee failed to show up, the meeting adjourned, “We just want them to show up for work,” he said of his Republican colleagues. “In the midst of an attack, the Russians attacking Ukraine… they’re saying we’re not going to confirm the chair of the Federal Reserve, the vice-chair of supervision, the vice-chair of the Fed, and the other two governors.”...

...A boycott to stop a vote is extraordinary under any circumstances, but experts said they were stunned, given the magnitude of the country’s current economic challenges. “It’s an enormous dereliction of duty,” Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, told me. Stiglitz, a progressive professor at Columbia University who has advised Democratic presidents, stressed that “the Federal Reserve is the most important economic institution in the U.S., and the U.S. is the most important economy in the world. To leave this many vacancies is just mind boggling to the rest of the world. It is just amazingly irresponsible.”...

...So what, exactly, is the problem? In Stiglitz’s view, “It’s very simple: special interests.”...

...The fossil-fuel industry would have seemingly little say over who runs the Federal Reserve, but it has donated generously to the campaigns of all twelve Republican members of the Senate Banking Committee. According to OpenSecrets, the nonpartisan campaign-finance watchdog group, the industry has contributed more than eight million dollars to the collective campaigns of the dozen senators....

It is perfectly obvious the Republicans in the US Senate aren't interested in a government that works so much as one that appears to be ineffective. There is nothing wrong with the country and it's agencies, it is the Republicans that are ineffective, manipulative and hate the USA Constitution that requires participation in all government nominations.

This is corruption by the 12 Republican Senators and nothing short of it. It is quid pro quo and every one of the twelve should face an ethics investigation.

The story line by Putin is he is fighting White Supremacy in President Zelenskyy.

Very early on, Vladimir Putin stated Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is a White Supremacist. That is a lie and the free world knows it. The facts are clear, Vladimir Putin is backing White Supremacists in eastern Ukraine. That makes Putin as much a White Supremacist as any of those he supports.

This is where it gets tricky for Putin. Within Russia proper he is portraying himself as a liberator of African American people under seige in the United States of America. So, the Russian people view him as a necessary link in protecting African Americans anywhere in the world, including Russia.

Putin finds it convenient to 

History Ph.D. candidate (click here) Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon’s interest in all things Russian started with a childhood illness. It forced her to stay home from fifth grade for a few weeks at her family’s farm in the rural southwest Texas community of Dayton, population about 7,000. “To pass time I watched this eight-hour miniseries on the History Channel called ‘Russia, Land of the Czars’ and it blew my mind,” she says. “In sixth grade I was the only student in my little middle school to do a book report on someone who wasn’t American: I did mine on Joseph Stalin.” And so, a Russian historian was born. Her current research in the School of Arts & Sciences revolves around how the African American experience in the Soviet Union shaped Black identity and how the presence of people of color shaped ideas and understandings of race, ethnicity, and nationality policy in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet space....

Just because Dr. Kimberly St. Julian-Varnon is studying Russia and it's lack of racial strife doesn't mean she should stop, she absolutely should continue her focus and her work. I am quite confident Dr. St. Julian-Varnon has no idea she is playing into Putin's narrative.

That happens, yes? Where an American is carrying out research or writing for publications with a focus that a communist leader finds helpful. To oppress that which Putin finds helpful is counter to the American story. The American story is that we guarantee freedom of speech and consider scholars research and writing invaluable.

But, for those that pump propaganda into Russians this focus might flatter the idea of a raceless country where bigotry does not exist and all people are happy. That is the type of propaganda that 

The point is the Russian people, including it's military, are cut off from reality. We see it in the USA with the extremist right political wing which embraces White Supremacy to add to the voter count in any election. 

Vladimir Putin has a problem. He decided Crimea and eastern Ukraine were his to take simply because he expects to reconstitute the Soviet Union. He is an ideologe and not a leader that finds himself with an entire country's military to carry out his planned and expected atrocities. All that for a false idea that he can turn history back three decades or more. That is grossly ill conceived priorities. Nearly two generations of people have matured and been born during that time. The world is different and Putin is basically unwanted as a leader with a false sense of himself.

This, today, in the year 2022 is what the people of the world face with a man with his hand on the nuclear button. This is a dangerous time on Earth for many reasons and Putin is one of them.

Turkey and Russia have had a good relationship when it comes to the economics of tourism.

March 5, 2022
by Tuvan Gumrukcu

Ankara - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (click here)Ankara - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan will tell his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Sunday to stop the invasion of Ukraine, an Erdogan spokesman said, while adding that it was naive to expect talks between Moscow and Kyiv to yield results while fighting rages.

NATO member Turkey shares a maritime border with Ukraine and Russia in the Black Sea and has good ties with both countries. Ankara has opposed sanctions on Moscow, but also described its invasion of Ukraine as unacceptable, called for a ceasefire and offered to host peace talks.

President Erdogan had a fainting spell when he was attending an arts performance. He states he is okay. 

He might be able to reach Putin in a way that will matter to end the seige of Ukraine. Turkey is NATO and it doesn't hurt to have the President of Turkey advocating for the end of hostilities.

Israel is also seeking an end to the Russian war within Ukraine.

March 6, 2022
By Amy Spiro

Hours after returning from a surprise whirlwind trip to Moscow and Berlin, (click here) Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel had a moral obligation to work to broker peace talks between Russia and Ukraine — even if the likelihood for progress was slim.

“I returned from Moscow and Berlin a few hours ago,” Bennett said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. “I went there to assist the dialogue between all of the sides, of course with the blessing and encouragement of all players.”

Bennett said that he could not “go into greater detail” on the talks he held with Russian President Vladimir Putin or his phone calls with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky....

There is a diplomatic effort that is ongoing.

The two heads of state (click here) spoke several days ahead of a diplomatic forum which is due to take place in the southern Turkish city of Antalya from March 11 to 13 that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is due to attend.

Foreign Prime Minister Lavrov needs to come to these talks with an open mind and the ability to convey accurate information to Putin. He needs to be honest and not carry the Putin propaganda into these talks. The West is not interested in Putin propaganda. To achieve nothing is a bad idea. Vladimir Putin has violated the public trust of the people of Russia. Propaganda will only last for so long.

6 March 2022

By Stewart Carr

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (click here) is ready for direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to secure peace, according to his officials. 

The president's deputy chief of staff Andriy Sibiga made the announcement as other world leaders continue to mediate with Russia in a bid to halt its widely condemned invasion. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed for an urgent general ceasefire in Ukraine as he spoke with Russian leader Vladimir Putin by telephone today, his office said....

The Neo-Nazi that lead the civil war in Donetsk is dead.

March 6, 2022
By Elmira Tanatarova

A leader of a rebel military group (click here) in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), blamed for brutalwar crimesand shooting Ukrainian POWs since its formation in 2014, was shot dead in battle.  

Russian warlord Vladimir Zhoga, who headed the Neo-Nazi 'Sparta Battalion', was killed in Volnovakha, Ukraine, following the eleventh day of Russia's invasion as Putin's troops fail to make big wins.

Zhoga's kill was yesterday confirmed in a Telegram channel post from Denis Pushilin, head of the breakaway DPR....

17 November 2016
By Victoire Chevruel

What are (click here) some violent far-right groups in Eastern Ukraine?

In Donetsk, (click here) otherwise known as the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the self-proclaimed state in Ukraine, the Special Forces military unit, Sparta Battalion, holds its position at the Sergey Prokofiev airport to keep the city from Ukrainian troops. If you control the airport you control the city.

The Ukrainian war has largely been forgotten by the world. But more than 10,000 have died in a combat that began in March 2014. In Donbass, the fighting between Donetsk and Kiev mostly happens in the evening.

We found how these young soldiers are handling life in their position and how they occupy themselves during the day on the frontline. They managed to recreate some sort of cosy environment to feel almost “at home”, even if they are risking their lives every day to hold Donetsk in the new Republic....

Remember Huawei?

Huawei is assisting Russia (click here). It may be time to consider sanctions against China. The UK needs to consider it's own safety in Putin's ambitions. NATO cannot have Russian sympathizers assisting Russia in it's invasion. That is outrageous.

Chinese telecoms giant Huawei must be investigated over reports the firm has ‘rushed to Russia’s aid’ after attacks on its internet network.

Reports in China say the tech giant, which has several offices in the UK, has been helping Vladimir Putin’s efforts to stabilise Russia’s internet network after it came under attack from hacker groups across the globe.

Russian government and media websites have faced repeated disruption from suspected cyber attacks by groups targeting the state since the invasion of Ukraine....

September 24, 2021 

She was returned to China (click here).

Huawei CFO Wanzhou Meng (click here) Admits to Misleading Global Financial Institution

Meng Enters into Deferred Prosecution Agreement to Resolve Fraud Charges

The Chief Financial Officer of Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Wanzhou Meng, 49, of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), appeared today in federal district court in Brooklyn, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) and was arraigned on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, bank fraud and wire fraud.

“In entering into the deferred prosecution agreement, Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Nicole Boeckmann for the Eastern District of New York. “Her admissions in the statement of facts confirm that, while acting as the Chief Financial Officer for Huawei, Meng made multiple material misrepresentations to a senior executive of a financial institution regarding Huawei’s business operations in Iran in an effort to preserve Huawei’s banking relationship with the financial institution. The truth about Huawei’s business in Iran, which Meng concealed, would have been important to the financial institution’s decision to continue its banking relationship with Huawei. Meng’s admissions confirm the crux of the government’s allegations in the prosecution of this financial fraud — that Meng and her fellow Huawei employees engaged in a concerted effort to deceive global financial institutions, the U.S. government and the public about Huawei’s activities in Iran.”

“This Deferred Prosecution Agreement will lead to the end of the ongoing extradition proceedings in Canada, which otherwise could have continued for many months, if not years,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Mark J. Lesko for the Justice Department’s National Security Division. “We are enormously grateful to Canada’s Department of Justice for its dedicated work on this extradition and for its steadfast adherence to the rule of law.”,,,

These are the deaths CAUSED by the unvaccinated.

The people that did the right thing by being vaccinated were undone with Delta and more so with Omicron. Masks are still vital for EVERYONE, including children.

Those that didn't wear masks, didn't social distance and didn't use hand hygiene, exposed Americans that carried out all the precautions including vaccinations.

These California deaths are a direct result of a mutated COVID-19 virus that spread through the USA like wildfire because of the high number of unvaccinated. This is what right wing politics have done to the people of this country.

The political right wing of the USA refuses to accept leadership and only believe in social anarchy. These deaths are their responsibility as the virus was given a great deal of opportunity to mutate and become more and more dangerous.

These statistics appeared in The Mercury News today, we still don't know what AB2 will do. It spreads easier than omicron. California is a state with 39 and a half million people. The reliability of the information California collects is extremely correct in any reflection on the viruses.

For Americans that want to stay alive without the effects of the disease continue to wear masks, but, in particular N-95 masks. With N-95 masks it doesn't matter if others in the room are wearing them or not. The N-95 mask will protect the wearer as well as others.

March 6, 2022 (click here)

By John Woolfolk

During a three-week stretch at the height of this winter’s devastating omicron case surge, Santa Cruz County health officials lost 10 patients to COVID-19. All but one were vaccinated, and five had received booster shots.

As the omicron wave recedes, California data reveal an unsettling trend. Compared to the delta variant case surge last summer, deaths among the vaccinated rose sharply with omicron, a variant said by many experts to cause milder illness.

A Bay Area News Group analysis of state COVID-19 deaths found that in the four deadliest weeks of the delta and omicron surges, the number of unvaccinated people who died were nearly identical, and far higher than the totals for the vaccinated. Even so, three times more vaccinated people died during the omicron peak than during delta’s heyday.

“We’ve seen some chinks in the armor of vaccines that we didn’t see before,” said Santa Cruz County Deputy Health Officer Dr. David Ghilarducci. “As good as the vaccines are, they’re not 100% protection.”...

Mariupol attacks are a sincere surprise.

Mariupol is Donetsk Oblast. Russian propaganda has always stated the people of Donetsk want to be Russian. If they are fleeing, that would seem an opportunity for them to leave behind Russian occupation which they never wanted.

I am skeptical as to whether any of the occupied lands actually want to be a Russian possession. Here again, communism proves to be an adverse presence in people's lives. I am beginning to believe more and more that Putin is the only force behind any occupation and even the people of Russia don't want him.

The elite are the only people within a communist society that like things the way they are.

It is time for the Russian military to rethink who they are killing and end their assault of Urkaine. I mean if the occupied areas are fleeing Russian occupation why is this happening at all? The military has the power to end the assault and should do so.

If all those aggreived by Putin were to stop obeying his domestic assault against the people Putin's rule of Russia would end. The elite are the Duma and while they make hostile laws to oppress the people, they are only a few head count compared to all the people of Russia. The police enforcing the oppression have to be made to see the evil in their orders to do so.

The Russian people and the Russian military can end this now, today. Their oppression is obvious to all that observe it. They have to know the deceit that belongs to Putin in running war games and then driving the Russian military into war with Ukriane is wrong. The majority of the Russian leadership never knew of these plans. The Russian military is obeying the orders of a dictator, not a leader. The ONLY way Putin can succeed militarily and domestically is if the enforcement units, THE PEOPLE IN THESE RANKS, continue to obey orders that only one man tricked them into following.

There is every indication the Russian military is committing human rights abuses. STOP. STOP NOW! Putin doesn't care about the lives of the Russian military so much as his own agenda and counting on The West to cower to his nuclear brinkmanship.

No one is invading Russia. There is no reason to fear anyone but Putin himself.

Leave Russia as soon as can be done.

Any Russian citizen or journalist still in the USA should seek asylum. Don't hesitate. Decent people do no longer belong in Russia or affiliated with it. 

March 5, 2022
By Bryan Pietsch

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, (click here) the network that broadcast uncensored news across the Iron Curtain in Cold War-era Europe, said Saturday it will shutter its operations in Russia, citing mounting fines over its refusal to be identified as a “foreign agent” and a new law stifling freedom of the press.

“This is not a decision that RFE/RL has taken of its own accord, but one that has been forced upon us by the Putin regime’s assault on the truth,” Jamie Fly, the network’s president and chief executive, said in a statement. “Following years of threats, intimidation and harassment of our journalists, the Kremlin, desperate to prevent Russian citizens from knowing the truth about its illegal war in Ukraine, is now branding honest journalists as traitors to the Russian state.

RFE said that on Friday, the tax authorities in Russia started bankruptcy proceedings against its operations there, stemming from more than $13.4 million in fines for 1,040 violations of Russia’s “unlawful demand” that RFE’s content be labeled as produced by a “foreign agent.”

RFE added that 18 of its journalists also had been designated “foreign agents.” Nine of its Russian-language websites were blocked in the past week, it said, over its refusal to delete information about the invasion of Ukraine.,,,