Sister Simone Campbell was awarded the Medal of Freedom.

Pope Francis is a Franciscan Jesuit (click here).

President Joe Biden (click here) awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Sister Simone Campbell, a longtime advocate for economic justice and health care policy, during a ceremony at the White House in Washington July 7, 2022

July 10, 2022
By Emily Sweeney

...Kathy Kottaridis, (click here) the executive director of Historic Boston Inc., said the monastery appears to be the oldest remaining purpose-built women’s monastery in New England. Many in the community want the building to be preserved.

“I’m glad they’re moving in that direction,” she said. “It has such an institutional presence right there, and it has an interesting history.”

Sister Clare Frances McAvoy, the abbess of the monastery, said although the demolition plans are “off the table,” the sisters are moving forward with their plans of vacating the property.

“We do need to move,” she said. “This building is too big. And it’s too expensive.”...

This really does seem wrong. Their income is not all that. I am sure there is a foundation somewhere that can smile on this monastery. Maybe modernize it and make it more livable. But, to allow them to simply move to a different place while their home is taken in as a historical building just doesn't seem right. I am glad the building is valued, but, it needs nuns in it to keep it alive.

Either we believe in longevity or not.

President Biden is liked by a lot of people. Governor Pritzker is supposed to have already endorsed his run for a second term. I strongly believe after the exploitation of the USA with Russia during the time Trump was in office, especially with NATO, Joe Biden as president was a brilliant decision by the American people.

I think it is important for the Democratic Party to be comfortable with him in the presidency, but, in all honesty, except for stuttering from time to time there are really no complaints. The stuttering has been a characteristic for all his life, not simply as he aged. A president with a stuttering disability is no one to be ashamed of either. Who really notices?     

We as a society have valued longevity for a very long time. The only time longevity was not valued for all Americans is when Trump was in office. He didn't care who lived or died during the global pandemic and it was no error because of age; he just didn't care.

President Joe Biden is just the opposite. He cares a great deal about Americans. Refreshingly, he cares a great deal about the Middle Class. I think the country has vastly improved from the Trump years and it was Joe's leadership that did it. He knows what he is doing. He knows the American people. He has had a great presidency to date. NATO is back and not only back but standing the ground against genocide by a country we once trusted enough to be trade partners.

He wants the gun violence to stop. He knows the climate crisis is real and must be addressed. He is appalled by the decision by the Supreme Court about Roe v. Wade, which was considered settled law. He values everything American and wants peace as a top agenda item, but, he is also realistic in knowing other countries don't care about peace.

I have no problem with President Biden being 79 years old. Correct me if I am wrong, but, isn't Social Security encouraging Americans to work until the age of 75? Isn't the benefit for SSI scaled now to reflect some degree of penalty if one retires at the age of 65. So, what are we saying when we worry about President Biden? Are we saying we are worried about him and his ability to lead longer, or are we saying he is simply to old and we want someone else. 

Really? Someone else? Because of age? 

Is that who we are? Is that who we really are?

President Joe Biden gets respect from nearly everyone, except, those that want to replace him in 2024 with who? With Donald John Trump. 

Really? Trump? Is that who we really are? 

July 9, 2022
By Peter Baker

Washington - When President Biden (click here) leaves Tuesday night for a four-day swing through the Middle East, he will presumably be more rested than he would have been had he followed the original plan.

The trip was initially tacked onto another journey last month to Europe, which would have made for an arduous 10-day overseas trek until it became clear to Mr. Biden’s team that such extended travel might be unnecessarily taxing for a 79-year-old president, or “crazy,” as one official put it.

Aides also cited political and diplomatic reasons to reorganize the extra stops as a separate trip weeks later. But the reality is that managing the schedule of the oldest president in American history presents distinct challenges. And as Mr. Biden insists he plans to run for a second term, his age has increasingly become an uncomfortable issue for him, his team and his party...

It seems all the sewer rats are afraid of the flood of truth coming to Americans.

Mr. Bannon has acted as a criminal before with his offshore office. He was caught fair and square, but, his buddy Trump gave him a pardon. Now, he broke the law again, refused to be interviewed by the January 6th Committee, is about to stand trial and he comes forward with his tail between his legs looking for a way out.

I think he should be interviewed, but, he has no right to demand it be televised. He must follow the process everyone else has followed and be interviewed in a closed session with cameras running. If his testimony is found to be credible then perhaps have him face the American people in the public forum of the committee. I think to provide him a special interview session as a public forum would be unfair to all the other witnesses that freely came forward and answered questions.

I don't know what he could add to the information anyway. Most everything about him is already known from others and from his podcast. All he can do is validate the facts already discovered. It is up to the judge and any jurors to decide about refusing to cooperate with Congress. 

July 10, 2022
By Katie Wadington

Former White House strategist Steve Bannon (click here) has told the committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol that he may be willing to testify, after all.

Bannon, who was in contact with former President Donald Trump in the days leading up to the riot on Jan. 6, 2021, refused to comply with a subpoena issued last fall, claiming executive privilege from Trump. Both the committee and full House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress.

Overnight Sunday, the committee received a letter from Bannon's lawyer stating the former adviser would testify.

"Mr. Bannon was obligated to honor the President’s invocation (of executive privilege), unless and until, either your Committee reached a constitutionally required accommodation with President Trump as to the invocation of executive privilege or your Committee obtained a ruling from the Federal District Court that the invocation of executive privilege was improper or did not apply to the particular question or document sought," attorney Robert Costello wrote. "While Mr. Bannon has been steadfast in his convictions, circumstances have now changed."...

Mitch McConnell is corrupt to the core and must be replaced as soon as possible.

I think McConnell is a communist. It is far too easy for oligarchs and his Chinese family to talk him into a corrupted state of mind to benefit their own purposes. This is just too much already. Just before the 2020 elections he changed a vote to allow a Russian oligarch to build a steel rolling plant in Kentucky. We also know while his wife was Secretary of Transportation preference was given to Kentucky to receive monies for roads and bridges.

Not only that but McConnell had a hissy fit over the Supreme Court and any adjustments that need to be made to secure equal representation of all Americans not just the wealthy, Evangelicals (click here). McConnell wants a majority US Senate to control the Supreme Court. Make no doubts about it, that is his purpose.

Now, besides ending abortions, he wants to end a bill that will bring balance back to the USA when it comes to important domestic production of vital products such as medications and silicon computer chips. The US Senate seat in Ohio has the issue of computer chips at the center of the race. 

Blocking this innovation bill serves no one except the Chinese and it has to end. The bill must go forward and now. The USA has to function when any emergency hits and realizing the failure of the Republicans during the pandemic only brings home the very wrong path the Republicans are taking the USA. We must stop them. They are compromising our national security, in practice and not in policy.

McConnell's wrongful priorities need to be investigated. This is more than a bad habit.

July 7, 2022
By Michael Lee

The White House lashed out at Senate Minority (click here) Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., over his threat to hold up negotiations on the bipartisan innovation bill if Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., moves forward with a reconciliation bill aimed at tackling prescription drug costs and climate change.

"Senator McConnell is holding hostage a bipartisan package to make more in America and strengthen our competitive edge with China to protect big Pharma’s profits. It’s outrageous - we can and must do both," a White House official told Fox News.

"Leader McConnell himself agreed last fall that bipartisan negotiations shouldn’t be paused for other priorities saying: ‘Republicans have been negotiating in bipartisan good faith to meet the real infrastructure needs of our nation. The President cannot let congressional Democrats hold a bipartisan bill hostage over a separate and partisan process.’"...

Louisiana doesn't have the energy problem it thinks it has.

The Louisiana offshore 90-meter (m) height wind map (click here) and wind resource potential estimates are provided on this page. Areas with annual average wind speeds of 7 meters per second (m/s) and greater at 90-m height are generally considered to be suitable for offshore development.

Louisiana's entire offshore is completely able to produce electric power for the state. I look at it this way. It won't be underwater when sea level rise hits.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory has produced these estimates of the gross (not reduced by environmental or human use considerations) offshore wind potential expressed in "installed capacity." This is the potential megawatts (MW) of rated capacity that could be installed at offshore areas with mean annual wind speeds of 7 m/s and greater at a 90-m height, assuming 5 MW of installed capacity per square kilometer of water. The offshore wind potential tables present the resource broken down by annual wind speed, water depth, and distance from shore.

St. James Parish President Pete Dufresne may or may not be influenced by the petroleum industry, but, one thing is for sure the companies he wants to see in his parish want alternative energy. The people of the USA want the switch and they want it now.

American agriculture has never been more important. The agricultural land may also be compatible with wind turbines, too. But, for Mr. Dufresne to simply exclude alternative energy production as wrong is irresponsible. The people want it and valuing their consumers, the companies want it. While a reassessment is in order to determine the importance and production of the farmland, there are plenty of opportunity for solar that are mounted on top of buildings as well. 

That said, METHANE IS NOT A GREEN ENERGY.

Cities across the USA must provide a forum to move them from petroleum based energy to alternative energies.

IT MUST HAPPEN.

There is no politics or back room deals to be tolerated. Alternative energies must take hold and now. 

July 10, 2022
By David J. Mitchell

..."That's the most valuable real estate we have. (click here) That's the most valuable real estate, accessible to rail and river, and it's just taking away so many opportunities that could be other clean projects, as well, you know, that could actually bring jobs, and that's what our concern is," Dufresne told a few solar, utility and media representatives after a recent Parish Council meeting.

"We need jobs. I mean these thousands of acres of solar farms is not bringing any jobs, and who's getting the benefit? Who's getting the real benefit of these solar panels," he added.

Dufresne's and other local officials' concerns reflect the unease that has arisen among some in rural Louisiana over the proliferation of solar farms over thousands of acres agricultural land....

This is a disgrace. Some how human fecal discharge is occurring.

There is no hiding from this because enterococci comes from human colons. The US EPA needs to begin to hand out summons and fines for the towns or countries that are contributing to this problem. There are fisheries along the Gulf Coast. At least there used to be before the Deepwater Horizon. I thought there was serious rehabilitation of those areas. The fisheries are vital and there cannot be this level of abuse of coastal waters anywhere anymore.

July 8, 2022
By Roshaun Higgins

There are only two beaches in Louisiana (click here) that are open and safe to swim in: Cypremort Point State Park and Lake Charles North Beach. Every other beach is either closed or has a swimming advisory.

Every year, from April 1 through October 31, the Louisiana Department of Health does weekly water quality sampling for 24 coastal recreational beaches.

Swimming advisories are issued when an area is deemed so polluted with enterococci bacteria that it could have adverse health effects. Advisories are separate from the standing swim at your own risk notice for all Louisiana waters.

Under the Beaches Environmental Assessment and Coastal Health Act of 2000, the water quality must be in line with the EPA's recreational water quality criteria....

Hurricanes are a bit of the old world. The best word to describe these storms are system.

6000 miles of sustained tropical system. That is unheard of before now. This is the climate crisis.

July 8, 2022
By Jesse Ferrell and John Murphy

The second named (click here) system of the year in the Atlantic Basin, which crossed over Central America and became a post-tropical cyclone away from land in the Eastern Pacific basin on Sunday, July 3, was anything but a typical tropical cyclone. From its unusual track to the locations it has impacted, Bonnie was full of surprises....

Do NOT turn these young people over to a private prison or jail!

July 8, 2022
By Elyse Carmosino and Paul Cobler

Some of the state’s most rural parishes (click here) are struggling to find places for their youngest criminal defendants after Alabama announced this week it would no longer house Louisiana’s juvenile inmates. One district attorney with no local facility to hold youths is calling on state officials to fund the construction of regional facilities.

Alabama’s decision, announced Wednesday, left 18th Judicial District Attorney Tony Clayton and others scrambling to find places for the teens in a state that has long held underage pre-trial inmates in other jurisdictions because of a purported lack of adequate in-state resources....

...

The PGA did the right and best thing.

The game in the USA is better for the shake up. I firmly believe that. It seems like more of a sport to me.

This is from "Forbes."

July 9, 2022
By Derek Saul

...LIV Golf formally launched last fall (click here) with Australian former world No. 1 Greg Norman as its chief executive, but began to truly make waves in February when Mickelson defended his ties to the Saudi-backed league with inflammatory comments about the Saudi government’s involvement in the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi and its criminalization of homosexuality. Mickelson said and disappeared from the public eye for months before playing his first tournament in June at LIV Golf’s first-ever tournament at the Centurion Golf Club near London. The PGA Tour announced last month the suspension of any golfers playing in LIV Golf tournaments from the tour. DeChambeau made his LIV Golf debut at the series’ first U.S. tournament June 30, where Koepka, Reed and Ancer also made their debuts....

The USA military at least a decade ago, if not two, stated the climate crisis was a national priority.

This is why and it is only beginning. This problem must be solved. It is complex and can be treacherous politically. But, this is the 21st Century and water is a valuable commodity complicated by a war no country on Earth wanted, except for Russia's Putin. I doubt the people of Russia want this war, but, it rages just the same. The water issue in the USA West must be solved. Conservation is important and protecting forests are important as they act to purify water and maintain a cooling effect on the land and air.

Everyone that has a stake in this must be heard and a solution found. 

July 10, 2022
By Stephanie Elm

With a megadrought draining water reserves in the West, (click here) states are looking for alternatives to handle water rights, many of which were set more than 100 years ago when water supplies were far more abundant.

Back then, just posting a sign next to a water diversion was enough to be considered a right, one which could still be honored now. But the climate crisis is now straining those rights. There just isn't enough water in California to satisfy what's been allotted on paper.

For years, debate has raged in California about the best way to fix the water rights system for life in the modern era. Many of the senior water rights held in the state were set before 1914 when the permit system was established and when mining was big business.

"It's an old water system that many perceive isn't set up to deal with current climatic and hydraulic conditions," Nathan Metcalf, a water rights attorney for California law firm Hanson Bridgett, told CNN. "It's just not really set up to deal with climate change and the changing needs for water both from an environmental standpoint, and then there's also the rub between agriculture and municipal."...

This problem must be solved.

I have one word for California agriculture.

"Ukraine."

July 8, 2022
By Tom Stokley

California’s once-abundant salmon (click here) runs are on the verge of collapse. That’s a tragedy, but this story is bigger than the extinction of an iconic fish that once fed millions of people and was the basis of thriving commercial, tribal and sport fisheries. Salmon (to mix zoological metaphors) are the canary in the coal mine for California’s water and power ratepayers.

Our salmon are flirting with extinction because they’re not getting the cold water they need to survive. Over the last few decades, that water mostly has been supplied from Shasta Dam on the Sacramento River, other dams on Sacramento and San Joaquin river tributaries, and Trinity Dam on the Trinity and Klamath river system. These rivers comprise the state’s remaining salmon strongholds.

The ongoing drought and resource mismanagement, however, have left such cold water in short supply. Although they were aware of the growing water crisis, state and federal water managers have drawn down reservoirs rapidly over the past three years, leaving cold water — indeed, any water — in short supply. Why? To provide water to a small subset of commercial growers....

July 10, 2022
By Paul Rogers

Californians continue to miss conservation targets (click here) by a large margin, new numbers released Friday show, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s warning six weeks ago that mandatory statewide restrictions are on the way if local conservation efforts don’t improve.

Last July, Newsom declared a drought emergency and asked California residents to voluntarily cut urban water use by 15% compared to 2020 levels. Although Northern Californians reduced consumption by 8.5% in May, Southern California regions fell far short at just 2.2% and dragged the statewide reduction in use to 3.1% compared to May 2020.

The new numbers represent only a slight improvement from last July through May, when residents, businesses and government agencies cumulatively reduced water use statewide by 2% compared to the same period in 2020, according to the State Water Resources Control Board.

Is a crackdown coming, with mandatory conservation targets for each city? That’s what former Gov. Jerry Brown imposed during California’s last drought, but Newsom’s office wasn’t saying on Friday....

California is droughted. Alaska is on fire.

Current Large Incidents (click here)

July 7, 2022
By Rick Hurd

Yosemite - The Mariposa Grove (click here) in Yosemite National Park remained closed Friday afternoon as a wildfire that ignited Thursday near the lower portion of the popular destination continued to expand, fire officials said.

The Washburn Fire had increased to 250 acres by late Friday morning, according to a statement from Yosemite Fire officials. There was no estimate on containment of the fire.

The fire was first reported on the park’s the Washburn Trail — for which the fire was then named — in the Mariposa Grove’s lower section on Thursday around 2 p.m. by 911 callers, according to Nancy Phillipe, a Yosemite fire information spokesperson. Its cause remains under investigation.

Authorities evacuated the area and firefighters were battling the blaze with engines, crews and aircraft....

Yellowstone Bison

July 9, 2022
By Dennis Jorgensen, bison program manager for World Wildlife Fund's U.S. Northern Great Plains Program

As a resident Montanan, (click here) professional bison conservationist and neighbor of nearby Yellowstone National Park, I can understand why people feel the urge to touch these massive mammals. They are a sight to behold — both undeniably cute and seemingly oblivious to our presence. However, as a biologist, I assure you that they are keenly aware of our approach. They can and will respond with lightning-fast reflexes if we get too close.

Bison are wild animals and Yellowstone is not a Zoo. 

There have been at least two incidents of goring by Bison at Yellowstone recently. To begin this is a season when males are looking for females. They are very territorial. But, that has been the case before and why the goring now?

Climate change is providing very abnormal behaviors among the wildlife and not just Yellowstone. Currently, the oceans are a mess. The waters are warmer and schools of fish are found more north than they usually are found. That is an issue because fish are the food source for more than people.

But, the issues with food sources and territorial demands at Yellowstone are causing issues. The bison normally have a large range to graze and herd, but, they are now found near Old Faithful. That means they are in close range of tourists. 

We all know the severe storms that hit Yellowstone closing the north east corner for an extended period of time. That is land most likely closed to wildlife as well, making territory less abundant. That storm also caused a lot of movement of the wildlife at Yellowstone. I am sure there were creatures lost to the ravages of the water torrent and that is trauma and confusion to wild animals. 

All that said, the National Park Rangers need to have a collective meeting along with management and scientists to determine if Yellowstone should be open at all. The storm was trauma to wildlife, the staff that loves the park, but, also to a country that loves the park along with those that were planning to visit for the first time this year.

It is difficult for the National Park Service to turn away tourists and visitors. They want people to appreciate the beauty and learn what the natural world is all about to better understand the country we live in and planet Earth's majesty. Yellowstone National Park is majestic. There is no getting around it. It is also very wild. People do die there when they have the wrong orientation or attitude to the natural world.

Please, please understand that closing a National Park is serious business and should never be entered into except for extreme circumstances. I think Yellowstone National Park is exhibiting extreme reasons to close it until the Park Rangers believe it is stable enough to have Americans and tourists return.

Hi, first to complete the picture of Russia and then I am moving on to discuss Bison.

It's Sunday Night.

On Saturday night the entry was about nuclear weapons. Ridiculous nuclear weapons. The kind that will obliterate life.

Just to be clear about the intent of those nuclear weapons, Putin his no desire to allow others to live. Russia's nuclear arsenal that is being researched and deployed to readiness started development and building before the war in Ukraine.

Why is that important?

Because, realizing Russia openly engages in genocide to achieve it's own end is a far different reality than accepting the fact Russia develops weapons of mass destruction as a counter balance to other countries. As a counter balance it is more defensive than offensive purpose and thought of as more or less a beneficial balance of power.

Since Ukraine the "Balance of Power" valued by most any global leader may actually be a ruse. No, not may be, is a ruse. 

CRUX (click here) is a Russia You Tube publisher. I have no idea if this is simply propaganda, but, it nearly doesn't matter. The image this You Tube video portrays is a country intent on powerful weapons to dominate the world.

The global community must maintain the understanding that there is no feasible "Balance of Power" anymore. There is ONLY denuclearization and peace as a horizon from here going forward. The idea of a balance of power using nuclear weapons is hideous. Communists have to end their aggression and realize Earth belongs to everyone who lives here and Earth requires peace.