January 5, 2022
By Nathan Reed

Millions in congressional funding (click here) is a much-needed win for Flint & Genesee County, Michigan. Congressman Dan Kildee, who represents Michigan's Eighth District (much of Mid-Michigan) was able to submit 15 proposals to the Appropriations Committee for possible funding -- all 15 were approved.

Flint & Genesee County received the bulk of funding with eight approved proposals totaling $24,284,366....

January 6, 2023

By Ron Fonger

Flint - More than eight years (click here) after the Flint water crisis was triggered, bottled water distribution has ended at help centers in Flint while the fallout from the man-made emergency continues into 2023.

Here’s the most recent information on criminal and civil court cases tied to the water crisis, Flint’s water service line replacement program, and the historic water settlement reached by attorneys for residents, the state of Michigan, the city of Flint and others....

When one looks at Flint's overall demographic data there should be profound concern for this city.

QuickFacts

Flint city, Michigan (click here)

In order for a city to have a good GDP it has to have people, specifically people that work and purchase goods. That population along with their purchasing potential will attract businesses and even spawn private capital to invest.

In ten years from 2010 to 2020 Flint, Michigan population density dropped 635.6 people per square mile. That is a population drop of nearly 21 percent. There was no land loss. No annexation or sale of land with a population of people on it. There was a small growth in the land area by two hundredths. Nothing that would bring about a migration across the city to newly acquired land to effect it's density of population. That may include the effects of the 2020 pandemic. But, there should be a study conducted as an interest by the city, if not the state. 

The point is this is not a minor issue and Flint, Michigan still needs the assistance of federal monies. If the federal treasury can support the southern states, it can support Flint, too. It has a poverty rate of greater than 35 percent, a per capita income of $18,719 and a media household income of $32,358.

Flint's people need to decide when they no longer need bottled water and no one else. When the people finally trust their city's water supply the bottled water can be sold instead of provided. Until that occurs, the people need to be put first and the city should become a focus for economic opportunity and growth. There is a new highway to Flint, there needs to be an economy to go with it.

Why is it the poorest of the people of the USA have the most problems and least opportunity to bring about change? 

QuickFacts

Grand Blanc city, Michigan (click here)

The problem may very well be segregation. What would the area look like if Grand Blanc and Flint merged to form one city and the tax base remained the same, but, the budget inclusive of all services and ambitions?

Snyder was very, very wrong. He removed assets from Flint and other cities without solving the real problems, like segregation left over from the world of the 1950s and 1960s. It is the segregation that caused the decline of these cities, not the lack of trying. Snyder's assault against democracy was wrong and lacked any understanding of the problem. How could a city have such a poor GDP compared to one nine miles and eleven minutes away? The problem wasn't democracy, it was oppression. What occurred with Snyder as Governor was pure racism.

It is interesting to realize that many Russian allies are actually facing a humanitarian crisis.

Russia is no longer helpful at a time when it is conducting a multi-front war. It is why the USA sent humanitarian assistance to the people of Cuba. They are starving. 

The Cuban government (click here) continues to repress and punish virtually all forms of dissent and public criticism. At the same time, Cubans continue to endure a dire economic crisis, which impacts their social and economic rights.

In July, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in landmark demonstrations protesting long-standing restrictions on rights, scarcity of food and medicines, and the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government responded with brutal repression....

The exact same dynamics are playing out in Iran and the government response is the same as if someone in Moscow is directing it.

January 4, 2022

By Cody Jackson and Terry Spenser

...Ramón Saúl Sanchez (click here) with the Cuban American group Movimiento Democracia said he met a group of 22 Cubans who were standing along a main road, waiting for U.S. authorities to pick them up. He and Keys officials said the Biden administration needs a more coordinated response.

“There is a migration and humanitarian crisis, and it is necessary for the president to respond by helping local authorities,” Sanchez said.

Cubans are willing to take the risk because those who make it to U.S. soil almost always get to stay, even if their legal status is murky. They also arrive by land, flying to Nicaragua, then traveling north through Honduras and Guatemala into Mexico. In the 2021-22 fiscal year, 220,000 Cubans were stopped at the U.S.-Mexican border, almost six times as many as the previous year.

In Cuba on Wednesday, the U.S. reopened visa and consular services at its Havana embassy for the first time since a spate of unexplained health incidents among diplomatic staff there in 2017 prompted a sharp reduction in American diplomatic presence....

November 3, 2022

By James Rupert

The past week (click here) underscores a rising threat in Europe from Russia’s savage assault on Ukraine: the Kremlin’s parallel destabilization of tiny Moldova, between Ukraine and Romania. The Kremlin is escalating a hybrid subversion campaign against Moldova’s effort to build a stable democracy and join the European Union. It is choking off vital gas supplies to tank the economy, sponsoring mass anti-government protests and helping a fugitive Moldovan oligarch launch the latest of several pro-Russia political parties. European policymakers say Moldova, partly occupied by Russian troops, is one of the countries most vulnerable to a spread of the war in Ukraine....

January 4, 2022

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) is set to abandon Kazakhstan (click here) as disruptions triggered by the Ukraine crisis have left the nation without a substitute for Russian meat supplies, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The fast-food giant, which exited Russia in May, banned its local franchisee from procuring meat patties from Russian suppliers, the report said.

McDonald's declined to comment on the report.

The company's licensee in Kazakhstan was forced to temporarily close its restaurants in November after cutting ties with Russian companies and running out of supplies, three sources with knowledge of situation had told Reuters.

The exit highlights the supply issues faced by many Kazakh businesses in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions against Moscow that followed. Neighboring Russia is Kazakhstan's main trading partner....

December 12, 2022

Ashgabat - Pro-Russian propaganda (click here) efforts are under way in Turkmenistan, with officials in the authoritarian state vilifying the West for supporting Kyiv and whitewashing Moscow's image amid its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

Education officials along with police and intelligence officers have held several meetings with students and employees in the Balkan and Lebap provinces in recent days, urging people to shun Western media and culture that they say brainwash young Turkmen.

In one of such meeting in Balkan Province on December 8, officials warned against the "poisonous" influence of the West on the youth of Turkmenistan, a participant told RFE/RL.

"The officials said that a war such as the one in Ukraine can happen in Turkmenistan too, tomorrow, if we don't keep our youth away from the Western media and culture," said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing repercussion in the strictly controlled state.

"They added that American and European media information - which [they claimed] poisons the minds of young people - is the main reason the war broke out in Ukraine."...

Three countries in the same area seemed to have moved together to find common ground for energy production.

Original post (click here)

Indeed, on January 6 in Bishkek, (click here) a meeting of energy ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was held at the Ministry of Energy, where an agreement was signed on the "roadmap" for the construction of the Kambar-Ata-1 hydroelectric power station....

Russia is nothing but a propaganda machine. Its reputation is heard and understood along with the propaganda it permeates. These countries are still in fear of Russia because of logistics.

Entertain this idea; as Russia loses control of its global network of countries, the crisis becomes a further burden to the Free World. Where is the breaking point for the Free World? How long can it possibly continue to help allies of Russia from abandonment?

I think it is worth the effort to counter Russian fear tactics with the truth and empowerment for these countries to move out from under Russian shadows. They need to seek autonomy and relations between each other to sustain them and begin to grow their own ability for economic viability outside the problems of Russia and it's hatred of others.

There is a place for the United Nations here. There is a need to promote autonomy and regrouping of economic opportunity as Russia implodes from Putin's propaganda wars and five year communist calendar. Russia can only lean on these countries. Russia has no power to stop them from autonomy and economic growth between them.

This was expected and is why it is best to isolate and eliminate viruses.

Viruses mutate until they can pass through immunity and achieve replication. When COVID-19 was first introduced into the USA, this is what virologists knew would happen if the virus was not contained and eliminated through isolation. But, because of right wing politics a president decided to exploit the fear and build himself up as a savior of the people willing to try anything. Hence, three years later the virus has perfected itself and is now able to pass through immunity of any kind in 80 percent of the cases.

The Republicans falsely named it the Chinese Virus, it is the Trump Virus that he propagated for some perverted idea of leadership.

Since when do Americans throw away highly valuable information and guidance and strike out on their own to become infected and infectious?

January 6, 2022
By Karen Weintraub

The newest COVID-19 variant (click here) is so contagious that even people who've avoided it so far are getting infected and the 80% of Americans who've already been infected are likely to catch it again, experts say.

Essentially, everyone in the country is at risk for infection now, even if they're super careful, up to date on vaccines or have caught it before, said Paula Cannon, a virologist at the University of Southern California.

"It's crazy infectious," said Cannon, who is recovering from her first case of COVID-19, caught when she was vacationing over the holidays in her native Britain.

"All the things that have protected you for the past couple of years, I don't think are going to protect you against this new crop of variants," she said.

The number of severe infections and deaths remains relatively low, despite the high level of infections, she said, thanks to vaccinations – and probably – previous infections. But the lack of universal masking means that even people like her, who do mask, are vulnerable....

This is Amazon canvasing for presidential purchase.

When I clicked on "View Jobs Now" it didn't take me to jobs listed, it was a questionnaire of very invasive questions. The further I pursued it the more invasive the questions became. 

There is a good chance this isn't about jobs at all so much as research for buying the presidency. After all, it would be nice for Bezos to own NASA for his own purposes.