No text messages yet, huh?

Go figure.

August 16, 2022
By Julia Ainsley

The Democratic chairs of the House Oversight Committee (click here) and the House Homeland Security Committee sharply criticized the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general Tuesday for refusing to testify or share documents related to his office’s handling of missing Secret Service texts, according to a letter sent to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari.

The committees have previously urged Cuffari to recuse himself from the investigation into the missing text messages sent by Secret Service employees around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, in large part because he failed to notify Congress that the messages were missing until over a year after he knew they had been lost....

Florida's gun laws have teachers going elsewhere as well as a Governor that threatens their pensions.

The picture to the left (click here) is what it looked like when EMT workers tried to save lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

I get the picture now. Florida fills their schools with police and EMT qualified teachers.

In 2021 the State of Florida tried to end pensions for teachers.

Top ten pensions and bottom ten pensions for new teachers in the USA (click here).

April 13, 2021
By Eric Mock

Brevard County - Senate Bill 84, (click here) which would change the Florida Retirement System (FRS), has passed the state Senate and is currently being looked at in the Florida House.

“And that just … it’s not fair.” Brevard County teacher Traci Stiles said of the bill.

Many of Florida’s public workers — including teachers — are qualified to receive a pension after they retire under the FRS.

But the bill excludes teachers hired after July 1, 2022 from enrolling in the system's pension plan.

However, the bill does not exclude “special risk” employees, like police and firefighters, from enrolling in the pension moving forward.

Stiles has worked in Brevard County Schools and paid into the fund for more than 18 years.

If no new teachers are paying into the fund starting next year, she worries there won’t be enough when it’s her turn to retire.

“So then 10 years from now when I retire, there probably won’t be the funding to pay for it,” she said....

According to the record of the bill it died in the House Committee (click here). But, currently Florida is suffering a shortage of teachers. I can understand why when the state does virtually nothing to control the guns flowing into the state and sold to nearly anyone that wants one.

But, the Governor is modifying the requirements for teachers to allow police and emergency workers to teach instead of working in their field.

Ron DeSantis is proof that extremist administrations are trouble. It won't be long that the police turned teacher will be asked to be armed in the classroom.

16 August 2022
By Joseph Michalitsianos

...The governor (click here) also indicated he would be waiving exam fees for first responders and law enforcement for the certification necessary for teaching, just as he had done for military veterans.

DeSantis is a vocal supporter of law enforcement officers and has invoked hiring bonuses as a way to inspire more people to join police departments.

He also said people can take advantage of both incentives in Florida by first joining a local police department and then applying to become a teacher.

While the Florida Department of Education estimated in February they would need to fill approximately 9,000 vacant teacher positions, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity found 5,837 open teaching positions online in June, up 53 percent from June of 2021....

April 15, 2022

By Georgina Rannard 

Thunderstorms: (click here) Why drought can lead to dangerous flooding

After weeks of hot and dry conditions in most of the UK, with drought declared in parts of England, it might seem that a good downpour is what we need.

But the heavy rainfall and thunderstorms forecast by the Met Office this week could instead be a hazard.

Scientists are warning that they could lead to flash flooding and are unlikely to replenish dry soils.

Here is why torrential rain may not be what our parched land needs right now....

Aerate the soil before the deluge comes.

August 15, 2022

By Jasmine Andersson & Alex Binley

Thunderstorms are hitting the UK (click here) and weather warnings are in place as a spell of hot weather draws to a close.

There is a risk of torrential downpours, causing travel disruption and some flooding, the Met Office says.

Three days of alerts have been issued for most areas, ending on Wednesday.

Some parts of Devon and Cornwall have experienced flooding, after stormy conditions brought heavy rain showers and hail to parts of the South West.

Temperatures topped 34C in parts of the UK at the weekend and experts have said a lengthy period of rain is needed to end the drought declared in parts of England on Friday.

These areas include Devon and Cornwall, Kent and south London, East Anglia and the East Midlands.

Heavy rain is unlikely to ease the drought because rainwater struggles to permeate dry ground, meaning it will run off the dehydrated surface and lead to flash flooding in some areas, the Met Office said as it issued a number of weather warnings....

Soil Aeration Guide: How to Loosen Compacted Soil (click here)

This method is done before the deluge. It may still be necessary to seek shelter on higher ground.

There is a method of aerating the soil to allow absorption of compacted soil. Depending on the size of the land it can be conducted with commercial sized aeration tools, but, the UK has a lot of personal owners with yards that would suffer if the soil is not aerated. They can be a do it yourself person and take on the challenge of protecting the land their homes are built on.

It is called a "lawn butler." In the USA there are stores that sell this type of equipment and this one in particular is "Ace Hardware." 

Click here

If the UK home owner isn't empowered to conduct their own gardening this may be the exact time they should consider it. What can one homeowner do to stem local flooding. Probably not much, but, if a neighborhood and another neighborhood and another were to have an interest in the physics of preventing flooding and save soil, that could turn the tide on some of this. 

The picture of the roller with spikes in it can be pulled by a tractor.

There are all kinds of personal aeration devices, some come as shoes with spikes on the bottom. Others look like old time lawn mowers, but, the purpose is the same, to put holes in the ground so the rainwater can be soaked up and begin to recapture a healthy state to allow grass and trees and plants to hold the soil and soak up the water. Large amounts of water coming from the sky these days are tough to hold in the land and there are inevitable areas of flooding, but, when the deluge passes there is still land to soak up the water and end a drought. It is a small measure by any stretch of the imagination, but, if it becomes an areas past time to stem climate stress of the soils, it might be more interesting than anyone expected.

  

For the life of me I do not understand those that oppose the defense of the USA Constitution Wyoming US Representative Elizabeth Cheney is pursuing.

Liz Cheney: Trump’s nemesis faces Republican day of reckoning (click here)

I would expect every voter in Wyoming to be backing her up. I sincerely don't get it. I know for a fact her legislative focus is always Wyoming and the needs and priorities of the state. It is the only thing that separates us. She has some views I disagree with, but, the US Constitution is not on the auction block. I do believe there will be Democrats crossing over to support her even though they normally are on the other side of her values. If I were in Wyoming, I would be voting for her.