The global community may as well understand the motive behind Trump's withdrawal from the climate agreement. Greed.

This was a non-decision and completely immoral. The so-called decision by Trump was made long before the announcement; it was made before his election.

While Jeff Judson and Willie Soon believe they are qualified to comment on the deadly trend of Earth's climate, I haven't found Gilbert Garcia. The link with the article took me to an obituary page of many Gilbert Garcias. (click here) So, it is difficult to defend or critique Gilbert if I can't read his work.

But, I can still comment on the article/opinion paper.

June 11, 2017

By Jeff Judson and Willie Soon

As a policy analyst and atmospheric scientist, (click here) we felt the need to respond to Gilbert Garcia’s recent column attacking U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith’s “anti-science” support for President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, or PCA.

Smith is right to oppose PCA, which has the dubious honor of simultaneously being environmentally worthless for the planet and economically punitive for the United States. In fact, PCA is really more about global wealth redistribution than it is about the climate. The 2016 analysis of PCA by Bjorn Lomborg of the Copenhagen Consensus Center found that even if every single signatory met its nonbinding commitments, global temperatures would be reduced by at most 0.2 degrees Celsius in 2100 relative to the baseline case of no PCA.

Simply put — any impact on the climate produced by this treaty over the next 80 years would be negligible....

Lamar Smith is not qualified to comment on climate. My sincere guess is that if there is a Gilbert Carcia (hispanic - mixed race really, Gilbert is not an ethnic name - half breed) there would be some solid facts to his work.

Texas District 21 demographics

 

• 57.1% White
• 4.1% Black
• 3.8% Asian
• 28.5% Hispanic
• 0.10% Native American
• 6.1% other

On the other hand Lamar Smith simply speaks to impress his ignorant constituency who have little literacy benefit to understand the climate crisis. (Although, the literacy rate is fairly good. 92 percent have graduated from high school and about 45 percent have a bachelor's degree from college.) 

After all, the flooding in San Antonio only kills folks once in a while. And, of course, it is never attributed to the climate crisis. It just rained a lot. There have been at least six major floods in this congressional district, but, it just rained a lot. The flooding continues today.

March 10, 2017

By Andy Jechow

Cibolo, Texas (KXAN) — The body of a woman (click here) swept away in floodwaters outside of San Antonio on Friday has been recovered, according to News 4 San Antonio. 

Police in the suburb of Cibolo, just northeast of San Antonio, say a family member called for help overnight after the victim, identified by News 4 as

Shireal Boulanger, 58, said she was in a car surrounded by water.

Transportation officials later heard a man — the woman’s husband — screaming for help near an Interstate 10 frontage road at Santa Clara Road that was flooded with more than three feet of water. The man, who was found clinging to a tree, was rescued and treated for hypothermia along with cuts and bruises.

The man told rescuers that he and his wife were swept away as they drove down the frontage road.

Hm. These things happen. Very sad. God will forgive them for their sins.

There is a woman taking note of the disastrous administration.

May 20, 2017

By Sharon Lerner

...But Smith, (click here) who has boldly argued against funding for an institute that studies the toxicity of substances such as lead and asbestos, and has rushed to the defense of Monsanto’s RoundUp, is no longer just throwing bombs from the margins. With Trump in the White House and Scott Pruitt at the helm of the EPA, Smith now has the power to turn his visions of regulatory rollback into realities.

Already this session Smith revived two bills that, before the election, had been dismissed as nuisances. The Honest Act, which grew out of a strategy developed by the tobacco industry, is designed to prohibit the EPA from using public health research; the other bill, known as the EPA Science Advisory Board Reform Act, was crafted to allow industry representatives to serve on scientific boards. Both bills were passed by the House in March....

I don't doubt Ms. Lerner is correct and has done her homework when discussing Smith and all his cohorts, but, she is discussing the wrong methodology. We know science doesn't matter to these buffoons. So, why discuss science?

The Paris Agreement on Climate is not about a disputed scientific basis for ACTING on climate to protect life on Earth. The Paris Agreement on Climate has the word AGREEMENT in it's title. The conclusions have been made and the focus is what do we do about it. That is where the discussion lies. Got it?

Now Mr. Lamar Smith states that the Paris Agreement on Climate is fraudulent. He states it is a SCHEME for wealth distribution to other countries. Imagine that?

This is from a symposium in 2011.

The Challenge (click here)

In policy discussions of climate change, mitigation has been the main focus to date but adaptation to climate change is moving up the policy agenda. Simulation models suggest that the negative effects of climate change disproportionately fall on the developing world. Some argue that such effects have already started to become visible in the form of agricultural damage, displacement of people by floods, etc....

The United States of America has the second largest HISTORIC deposit of greenhouse gases in the world. The UK is the first, but, it has been a long time proponent to end the emissions, so the responsibility of the USA is undisputed. It is just that people such as Mr. Lamar Smith don't accept the responsibility of their country in the real world. Mr. Smith is from Texas where 60 percent of the state's wealth comes from oil stocks.

May 21, 2014

By Johannes Friedrich and Thomas Damassa

...For context, (click here) at the beginning of this time period—1850—the United Kingdom was the top emitter of CO₂, with emissions nearly six times those of the country with the second-highest emissions, the United States. France, Germany, and Belgium completed the list of top five emitters. In 2011, China ranked as world’s largest emitter, followed by the United States, India, Russia, and Japan. Tellingly, while the United States was the world’s second-largest emitter in both years, its emissions in 2011 were 266 times greater than those in 1850....

While men such as Mr. Lamar Smith demand that fraud needs to be the primary reason to oppose the responsibility of the USA at the Paris Agreement on Climate, he is a church going man that believes in God. He believes in god the way his church defines it and not the god that sees responsibility for all humans on Earth. God is not a citizen of the USA.

In 2014, (click here) the top carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters were China, the United States, the European Union, India, the Russian Federation, and Japan. These data include CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion, as well as cement manufacturing and gas flaring. Together, these sources represent a large proportion of total global CO2 emissions....

Mr. Lamar Smith's country, the United States of America NEVER changed it's place in the emissions of greenhouse gases. Since 1850, the USA has been second in emissions globally. That is undisputed.

So the issue is not whether there is a responsibility by the USA, the issue is WHY is the USA not accepting it's responsibility? In the case of Mr. Lamar Smith the problem is politics. He is stuck in a rut. He has to back the 60 percent petroleum portfolio of Texas, pretend flooding is sent my god and work to legitimatize the Paris Climate Agreement.

See there are special WORDS at work here. The word taxes is a bad word in Texas. Most folks don't like paying taxes. But, when the word REDISTRIBUTION of wealth is attached to the word taxes there is a special kind of social sin attached to that concept. Most Texans realize government costs money and has to be paid for, but, THE REASSIGNMENT of wealth is a sin. It is a capitalism sin. Capitalism demands that the people that create the economy and jobs and accumulate wealth deserve to keep it. They are only suppose to pay the same amount of their income to taxes, hence, the American Flat Tax. 

That is nothing but immoral greed. Let's say the flat tax is 14%. The fourteen percent that comes out of an annual income of $50,000 has a very different impact on a family's quality of life than an annual income of $1,000,000. So, as far as people like Mr. Lamar Smith is concerned what is FAIR is everyone contributing the same way.

Now, the Paris Agreement on Climate demands the wealthiest countries provide HELP to the poorest countries. That is what Mr. Lamar Smith considers redistribution of wealth and resents all of it.

Mr. Lamar Smith is not only immoral, but, should be behind bars for all the pain and suffering he causes his own constituents with his wacko lies and deceptions, but, the entire population of the Third World, especially Bangladesh and Burma. 

The discussion is not about the FACTS that 97 percent of scientists agree on, it is the 'skipping out of town (Paris)' that the Trump administration has decided is best for his party and their rhetoric. A rhetoric that is killing people, causing ciimate refugees, the loss of species and the entire collapse of fisheries around the globe. I remind, an ally to the USA, Australia is losing The Great Barrier Reef and that alone endangers a food supply and export of Australia. The loss of the Great Barrier Reef also is an economic loss for Australia and tourism. 

Mr. Lamar Smith should be listed among other American politicians that are turning their backs on the global community while the USA continues to be second in greenhouse gas emissions as of 2014.

I am going to start by reviewing the issue of "cow farts." It has been in the media lately.

From Scientific American:

Small molecule cuts methane emissions by 30 percent, (click here) and could curb this greenhouse gas

August 10, 2015
By Judith Lavelle

...What doesn’t stink is that Pennsylvania State University researchers, led by Alexander N. Hristrov, have now demonstrated that feeding 3-nitrooxypropanol (3NOP) to dairy cows over a 12-week period reduces the animals’ methane emissions by 30% (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA2015, DOI: 1073/pnas.1504124112). 3NOP inhibits methyl coenzyme-M reductase, an enzyme used by bacteria in a cow’s gut.

These symbiotic bacteria produce methane when they help cows digest grass and other fiber-rich foods in the animals’ diet. To test the possibility of mitigating this production without disrupting a cow’s digestion, Hristov and his colleagues mixed additives containing three different concentrations of 3NOP as well as a placebo additive into cattle feed. Then they administered it to 48 Holstein cows for three months.

The rate of methane emission fell in all the animals, except for those receiving the placebo. Scientists have discovered several other methane production inhibitors, but 3NOP appears to be the first to achieve a meaningful effect while being safe for cows’ health and the environment....

It's Sunday Night

"I am cow" by Arrogant Worms (click here for official website - thank you)

I am cow hear me moo
I weigh twice as much as you
And I look good on the barbecue
Yogurt, curd, cream cheese, and butter's 
made from liquid from my udders
I am cow, I am cow, hear me moo!

I am cow, eating grass
methane gas comes out my ass
and out my muzzle when I belch
o the ozone layer is thinner 
from the outcome of my dinner
I am cow, I am cow, I've got gas

I am cow, here I stand 
far and wide upon this land
and I am living everywhere
from B.C. to Newfoundland 
You can squeeze my teats by hand
I am cow, I am cow, I am cow
I am cow, I am cow, I am cow!

What brought the plane down? The weather

8 June 2017

Several bodies and debris (click here) were found in the water after a Myanmar military plane vanished over the Andaman Sea with 122 soldiers, family members and crew on board, the country's army said in a statement.

The Chinese-made Y-8 turboprop aircraft disappeared on Wednesday afternoon about a half-hour after leaving Myeik, also known as Mergui, for Yangon on a route that would have taken it over the Andaman Sea.

The army said on Thursday that 10 corpses, including five children and four women, had been retrieved so far from the sea.what 

A plane wheel, two life jackets and some bags with clothes - believed to be from the missing plane - was also found, the statement also said. 

"We have found the plane and some dead bodies this morning about 8:25am [01:55 GMT]," a spokesman for the military's information team told the AFP news agency.

"Some were on their way for medical check-ups and to attend school," said a spokesman from the military's information team....

According to historical data of that day; June 7, 2017; the winds were mild and out of the south with temperatures on the ground between 78 and 84 degrees Fahrenheit. The weather appeared to be good for flying.

                     

Past Weather in Yangon (click here)

There have been a lot of disappearing and crashing planes from this region of the world lately.

The murderers are dead.

10 June 2017
By Reuters

Iranian authorities (click here) have arrested seven people suspected of helping militants involved in this week’s attacks in the capital Tehran, according to a judiciary official.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the suicide bombings and gun attacks on parliament and the mausoleum of the Islamic Republic’s founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that killed 17 people on Wednesday....

Daba Rohrabacher applauds Daesh on Iranian deaths. Amazing. Republicans are about the most ignorant people on planet Earth. They don't even know who the enemy is, no wonder the USA has a "broken morality rudder." It is hard to believe he is from California.

June 11, 2017
By Salvador Hernandez

One day after 17 people died (click here) in an apparent ISIS attack in Iran, a California congressman questioned whether such an event might be a "good thing," and appeared to suggest that the United States might be able to collaborate with the terrorist group.

"Isn't it a good thing for us to have the United States finally backing up Sunnis who will attack Hezbollah and the Shia threat to us? Isn't that a good thing?" Rohrabacher asked a panel of terrorism experts assembled for a House hearing on Hezbollah financing Thursday.

"Maybe this is a Trump — maybe it's a Trump strategy of actually supporting one group against another considering that you have two terrorist organizations," he added.

The remarks were a reference to a pair of deadly rampages in Tehran Wednesday, in which attackers laid siege inside Iran's parliament building and outside the tomb of the Islamic Republic founder's Ayatollah Khomeini. The attacks — the first claimed by ISIS in Iran — left 17 people dead and dozens more injured.

A representative for Rohrabacher did not immediately respond to requests for comment, or to explain the congressman's comments....

Estimated Cancer Mortality Worldwide in 2012: Men (click here)

April 25, 2014
By Roxanne Nelson

Cancer mortality rates (click here) in Russia greatly exceed those in Europe and the United States, according to a report on the challenges to effective cancer control in China, India, and Russia, which was published in the April issue of the Lancet Oncology. About a quarter (26%) of all cancer patients will die within a year of their diagnosis, although this rate varies considerably by geographic region.

Russia is both a high-income country and an emerging economy, as defined by the World Bank. But despite this distinction, life expectancies have not risen in line with the increasing wealth of the country and, notably, cancer accounts for 15% of all deaths.

In Russia, the overall risk of dying from cancer is about 60%, which is higher than the 40% in the United Kingdom and the 33% in the United States.

The mortality-to-incidence ratio, an indirect measure of cancer survival, is higher for Russian men than Russian women (0.72 vs 0.49). It is also higher than for American men (0.36) and European men (0.44).


Graphic at right is from same source as above, but, this is "Estimated Cancer Incidences Worldwide 2012: Women." There is one distinctive word in that title. Incidence. That is different from above that states Mortality. Thank you. 

There are a number of reasons Russia faces such a daunting cancer burden, according to the report. For one, economic disparities are extreme and people living outside of major cities have inadequate access to cancer care facilities. The distribution of facilities throughout the country is uneven, and the disparity is most pronounced when comparing urban and rural areas....

President Donald Trump admires Russia for all the wrong reasons!

Calls for impeachment are at 48%. That has been rising over the past few weeks.

June 10, 2017

By Victoria McGrane and Astead W. Herndon

Washington — That rumbling you hear (click here) is from the fervent activists in the party’s base demanding that Democratic leaders press hard now to impeach President Trump. But the message coming back from the top is far more cautious: Just hang on folks.

Given how unlikely it is that the House Republican majority would approve articles of impeachment (no American president ever has been impeached when his own party controlled the House), the real political prize for Democrats is winning the House in 2018....

Those fervent activists are citizens of the USA (that is novel, an American citizen rather than Russian activists) that want a government without corruption, accept every American as it's own and provide rights to everyone, including the right to a living wage.

I don't believe the Democrats should be running on impeachment, they need to address the issues of the people. But, no doubt they will be asked about where they stand on Donald Trump's impeachment and they need to have a strong "yes" vote with every concern about the misuse and abuse of power in the White House.

Trump is doing a terrible job, except, for his family and his own business. Now he wants to enter a "Apprenticeship" into the economy of the USA.

The question is not a "Skills Gap" and the need for apprenticeship, it is about what the heck is Wall Street doing? The USA can pump out all kinds of qualified people in hopes it matches Wall Street's needs, but, the fact of the matter is "The Skills Gap" exists because Wall Street is conducting NO PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT nor pay scale that is meaningful to even the marketing of their own products.

iPhone 7 (4.7 inch display) (click here) From $32.41/mo. with the iPhone Upgrade Program. Or pay now from $649.

iPhone 7 Plus (5.5 inch display) From $37.41/mo. with the iPhone Upgrade Program. Or pay now from $769.

The majority of the iPhone users are loyal, sure. But, they are not running to the 
Apple store and paying the full price. Most iPhone users are paying for their phone as they go included in their phone bill. And while Apple Conducts product
development on a continual basis, the majority of Wall Street in the USA is looking for the next merger, the next buy out or the next set of layoffs because the CEO wants the bonus, forget the future of the company.

The reason the iPhone is bought primarily with installments is because there are dearly few Americans employed in manufacturing of the parts.

Accelerometer: (click here) Bosch Sensortech. Based in Germany, with locations in the U.S., China, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan

Audio chips: Cirrus Logic. Based in the U.S., with locations in the U.K., China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore

Battery: Samsung. Based in South Korea, with locations in 80 countries

Battery: Sunwoda Electronic. Based in China

Camera: Qualcomm. Based in the U.S., with locations in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, and more than a dozen locations through Europe and Latin America

Camera: Sony. Based in Japan, with locations in dozens of countries

Chips for 3G/4G/LTE networking: Qualcomm. (click here)

Compass: AKM Semiconductor. Based in Japan, with locations in the U.S., France, England, China, South Korea, and Taiwan

Glass screen: Corning. Based in the U.S., with locations in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, The Netherlands, Turkey, the U.K., and the United Arab Emirates.

Gyroscope: STMicroelectronics. Based in Switzerland, with locations 35 countries

Flash memory: Toshiba. Based in Japan, with locations in over 50 countries

Flash memory: Samsung. South Korea (click here)

LCD screen: Sharp. Based in Japan, with locations in 13 countries

LCD screen: LG. Based in South Korea, with locations in Poland and China

A-series Processor: Samsung. See above.

A-series Processor: TSMC. Based in Taiwan (Taiwan is China), with locations in China, Singapore, and the U.S.

Touch ID: TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company)

Touch ID: Xintec. Based in Taiwan.

Touchscreen controller: Broadcom. Based in the U.S., with locations in Israel, Greece, the U.K., the Netherlands, Belgium, France, India, China, Taiwan, Singapore, and South Korea

Wi-Fi chip: Murata. Based in the U.S., with locations in Japan, Mexico, Brazil, Canada, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, India, Vietnam, The Netherlands, Spain, the U.K., Germany, Hungary, France, Italy, and Finland 

If Trump wants apprenticeships, he can begin with his Wall Street CEOs. Many of the iPhone users are not among the Working Poor in the USA!

"What kind of person PREFERS an iPhone?" (click here)

The majority of the users of the iPhone and/or Android have a significant income and education. THAT LEAVES A HUGE MARKET OPEN for those that are the Working Poor. If Apple and Android put the Working Poor of the USA to work MAKING A LIVING WAGE perhaps they would not only have good and qualified workers, but, a brand new consumer base!

The CEO's of Wall Street an apprenticeship, not the people!

That consumer base would not only be available to Apple and otherwise, it would be available to purchase the products of many other American companies. That is called an growth economy and it works. The fact of the matter is currently in the USA, the local economy is the only USA economy that works. It has expanded from 2008 simply because IT WORKS! But, it works before 2008 and it recovered the quickest. The local economies feel the pinch the soonest and react the best. The losers in the USA are Wall Street CEOs.

...The components manufactured by those companies all around the world are ultimately sent to just two companies to assemble into iPods, iPhones, and iPads.

Those companies are Foxconn and Pegatron, both of which are based in Taiwan....

Taiwan is China!

Here is a clue:

January 26, 2015

APPLE IS EXPECTED (click here) to announce that it has sold more iPhones in China than the US during 2014.
Increased availability, thanks to a deal with China’s biggest telecom provider, and strong sales of the iPhone 6 allowed it to reach this turning point, according to the Financial Times.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said he expected China to overtake the US as Apple’s single largest source of revenue back in 2013. At the end of that year, Apple struck a deal with China Mobile to bring its collection of iPhones to the market....

Wall Street CANNOT expect to make products in impoverished third world countries and sell in the USA. It may have worked in the past, but, the USA is completely tapped out in providing good paying jobs to it's labor and THEY NEED RELIEF!

There are cities and states in the USA that now demand higher wages for their citizens AND IT IS WORKING!

WHY IS THAT WALL STREET? Why is it that states and cities where the minimum wage is increased has growing economies? 

Why is that?

What idiots are the CEOs that won't pay their people a living wage!

Morons!

We don't need apprenticeships, we need RESPECT for American Labor and their unions and a return of the Middle Class!

Does the call for impeachment seem wrong and the wrong idea for the 2018 elections? Wrong? Really?

Democrats need to rely on their own polling with the help of some healthy fundraising and they need to get the messages right; excellent health care for all with a realistic look at price and quality and the BEST WAY TO INSURE THE USA. Americans that work for a living need to have a better wage. Better wages grow the USA economy. Cities need support in the way of providing healthy and happy living space. Cities have to be put first on the Democratic agenda to provide good services, schools and MANAGEABLE DEBT. Detroit was not a failure alone, it was just 20 years ahead of every other city in the country.

The Democratic message has to be one of research, education, quality of life and jobs with a good minimum wage, health care that works for everyone and a demand to erase poverty across this country INCLUDING the southeast which is nothing more than welfare states and a drag on the USA economy. BREAK the cultural barrier of the southeast, it is literally killing people and building greater and greater poverty.

June 8, 2017

Wilmington  -- A chemical replacement (click here) for a key ingredient in Teflon linked to cancer and a host of other ailments has been found in the drinking water system of the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA), which cannot filter it.

Known commercially as GenX, the contaminating compound is made by the Chemours Co. at Fayetteville Works, a 2,150-acre industrial site straddling the Cumberland-Bladen county line along the Cape Fear River, about 100 miles upstream from Wilmington....

...In 2012, a research team detected GenX in the Cape Fear downriver from Fayetteville Works. Other teams found it again in 2013-14 and as recently as last December. Results of river water samples drawn last month are pending. Upriver from Fayetteville Works, none was found.

In a statement provided this week, Chemours officials said they are aware of the studies and that “additional water emissions abatement technology” was added to the Fayetteville Works plant in November 2013. That installation occurred more than three years prior to the latest confirmed discovery of GenX in the Cape Fear downstream from the plant. The company did not provide details on the abatement technology....

...They continued to find GenX and the “novel” substances at the end of the treatment line, where freshly treated drinking water enters pipes feeding faucets throughout New Hanover County....

...Frank Styers, chief operations officer of CFPUA, last week said the utility is aware of the most recent study and its findings.

“We think these type of studies are important and often lead to better regulation at the state and federal level,” he said. “Our drinking water continues to meet all state and federal drinking water standards. We would support proper regulation to improve water quality in the river or prevent compounds such as this from being discharged in the river.”

The Cape Fear River accounts for about 80 percent of the water treated and distributed by CFPUA, Styers said. The remainder comes from groundwater....

The chemical CURRENTLY in the water supply to New Hanover County, North Carolina, over 216,000 citizens, has cancer causing chemicals in their water supply. God is not going to change their outcomes and everyone outside of NC knows that!

March 3, 2016

In this series, (click here) Sharon Lerner exposes DuPont’s multi-decade cover-up of the severe harms to health associated with a chemical known as PFOA, or C8....

The southeast USA is a drag on the USA economy, national debt and has some of the worst health outcomes in the USA.

Death Rate by State of all cancers (click here)

While some states may have higher instances of cancer, the EARLY detection and treatment that is applied to the quality of life of the citizen is GROSSLY lacking in many states and I might add, Coal Black Lung of miners is a considerable problem. While LIFESTYLE choices are to blame for the impoverished.

Unfortunately, (click here) Kentucky has the highest overall cancer incidence and mortality rates in the country compared to all other U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Laura Ungar is a staff writer for the Louisville Courier Journal newspaper. In a recent article titled “Cancer Kills Kentuckians at the Highest Rate”, she makes a strong case that the unusually high cancer burden in Kentucky is related to the high rates of poverty and low educational attainment in the state. But, how are poverty and literacy implicated in the excessively high cancer burden in Kentucky? The answer to this question is not simple....

The two US Senators from the state of Kentucky are Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell. They and their Liberty for All promise sure as heck doesn't deliver health care OR literacy.

Kentucky has needed a strong health care initiative for a long time and they found it in the Affordable Care Act. Diagnosis of danger diseases are being found and the treatments MUST follow. It is difficult to believe Republicans, especially the Republican Leadership, actually allows such danger to exist with their citizens, but, if they are not diagnosed it is convenient to look the other way.

December 19, 2016
CDC's MMWR on Dec. 16 (click here) offered online an alarming report about a surge in cases of Appalachian coal workers' black lung disease. An NPR investigation also probed the increase in this occupational lung disease, which is caused by overexposure to respirable coal mine dust. NIOSH administers the Coal Workers' Health Surveillance Program, a voluntary program with the goal of reducing the incidence of black lung -- pneumoconiosis -- and eliminating its most severe form, progressive massive fibrosis (PMF)....

This surge is due to increased DIAGNOSIS, not necessarily an increase in disease. The reason the Southeast has such poor quality of life, including health, is because it goes undetected ON PURPOSE.

The overwhelming support for the ACA in Kentucky should come as no surprise!

Apprenticeships? Donald Trump should have had one before running for office.

Greenpeace is correct about this. The USA needs it's ocean sanctuaries and continental shelves intact for future generations. We don't need more oil. This is not USA energy, this is greed.

With "W" it was submarines with Trump it is pure greed. Neither are necessary.

If our children need oil, buy the time they do, they will have far better ways of performing this task. I wish someone would find a humane way to end oil companies.

The Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) (click here) released its flagship publication Global Wind Report: Annual Market Update at Windergy on 25 April in Delhi. More than 54 GW of clean renewable wind power was installed across the global market in 2016, which now comprises more than 90 countries, including 9 with more than 10,000 MW installed, and 29 which have now passed the 1,000 MW mark. Cumulative capacity grew by 12.6% to reach a total of 486.8 GW.

“Wind power is now successfully competing with heavily subsidized incumbents across the globe, building new industries, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and leading the way towards a clean energy future” said GWEC Secretary General Steve Sawyer. “We are well into a period of disruptive change, moving away from power systems centered on a few large, polluting plants towards markets increasingly dominated by a range of widely distributed renewable energy sources. We need to get to a zero emissions power system well before 2050 if we are to meet our climate change and development goals.”

Wind power penetration levels continue to increase, led by Denmark pushing 40%, followed by Uruguay, Portugal and Ireland with well over 20%, Spain and Cyprus around 20%, Germany at 16%;  and the big markets of China, the US and Canada get 4, 5.5, and 6% of their power from wind, respectively. GWEC’s rolling five year forecast sees almost 60 GW of new wind installations in 2017, rising to an annual market of about 75 GW by 2021, to bring cumulative installed capacity of over 800 GW by the end of 2021....

The drilling is not necessary. Healthy and oceans teaming with marine life is.

 

This is voter suppression. People like him and he does well in the polls, but, this is voter suppression.

Democrat Jon Ossoff (center) (click here) at Atlanta International Airport, flanked by Reps. John Lewis (at left) and Hank Johnson (Jan. 29, 2017).

Special election June 20th!

VOTE!

June 9, 2017

...Nervous Democrats (click here) are not planning a victory party yet. Roundtree noted that records showing who has cast early votes in the special election so far include more voters with a GOP primary voting history, as opposed to voters with a history of voting in Democratic primaries. (Voters do not register by party in Georgia; past primary participation is the closest proxy in Georgia's voter registration data.)...

Voter suppression is one of the problems that are putting a drag on Democrats at the ballot box. Hillary Clinton ran into this phenomena in Georgia last year.

October 24, 2016
By Vanessa Williams

...Fresh polls in the Peach State (click here) show a tightening presidential race between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump, who has complained that the election is “rigged” against him nationwide. But voting rights advocates in Georgia say Republican state and local election officials are undermining the fairness of the vote by passing laws and adopting procedures that deter minorities and young people, groups that typically vote Democratic....

Democrats can raise money, too. Jon Ossoff is a primary example of that. Democrats can also get out the vote. But, Democrats cannot erase corruption of Republican politicians that seek to effect the vote through underhanded ways. I hope the Ossoff campaign is tracking down all potential suppression. If they do it will make a difference if a judge will listen to the facts. FACTS. Not opinion, FACTS.

I wish him luck. He is the new generation of Democrat and they need to win!

Jon Ossoff for Congress (click here)

"I better hope there are not tapes....(as a catalyst) for appointment of a special prosecutor.

June 10, 2017

By Katie Bo Williams

James Comey’s release of his memos (click here) to The New York Times was a carefully orchestrated act that appeared designed to shield him from any legal repercussions, whistleblower and ethics lawyers say. 

While President Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, is reportedly preparing a leak complaint against Comey, experts say the fight over Comey’s disclosures is more political than legal.

“It’s clear that Comey understood the legal principles [protecting disclosures],” said Stephen Kohn, a lawyer who specializes in whistleblower cases.

But, he said, “Trump’s lawyer was also smart because he’s filing these complaints in places that don’t mean anything. It’s public relations.”

The memos, which Comey wrote to contemporaneously document his encounters with the president, have become a flashpoint in the administration’s response to the former FBI director’s scathing testimony before a Senate panel Thursday....

"...a carefully orchestrated act that appeared designed to shield him from any legal repercussions, whistleblower..."

That is not what James Comey said. He said he was hoping the exposure of his notes or their content would spawn a special prosecutor. What is so hard to understand? Isn't Mueller a Special Prosecutor? I guess Comey knew what he was doing. Why assign any other reason (which I could think of a few) when he already explained himself and he was right. Why the 'big hunt for the real reason.' It is  none sense. If Mueller wasn't so apparent there may be a reason to speculate, but, there is no reason to speculate. If James Comey is the recipient of legal benefits; good for him. He deserves it!

June 6, 2017

By Emma Kinery

The Columbia Law School website crashed (click here) after former FBI Director James Comey testified at a congressional hearing that he asked a friend who is a professor at the university to leak a memo he wrote about a conversation with President Trump....

Mueller is a special council. What he will find could easily lead to prosecution. There is no difference. Comey got what he wanted. GOT THAT! COMEY GOT WHAT HE WANTED!

June 9, 2017
By Sari Horwitz

One of the federal government’s top criminal law specialists (click here) is joining the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III centered on possible coordination between President Trump’s associates and Russian officials.

Justice Department deputy solicitor general Michael Dreeben, who has argued more than 100 cases before the Supreme Court, is the department’s go-to lawyer on criminal justice cases and is highly respected by Democrats and Republicans because of his encyclopedic knowledge of criminal law.

Dreeben will work part time for Mueller, according to Justice officials, while he continues to oversee the department’s criminal appellate cases.

Former and current Justice Department officials say that Mueller’s recruitment of Dreeben shows how serious he is about the investigation and signals complexities in the probe.

“Michael is the most brilliant and most knowledgeable federal criminal lawyer in America — period,” said Walter Dellinger, a law professor at Duke University School of Law and acting solicitor general for the 1996-1997 term of the Supreme Court....

As far as I am concerned, what is there to know? This isn't enough? Give me a break.

Trump's election team is guilty as sin. There are more members to the Trump election team that have connections with communists than members that don't, including now his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Trump is as dirty as they come. No one is going to make him clean again, it is not possible. The corruption is a thick as the pea soup at dinner.

The reason the investigation by the Senate is taking place is because elected Republicans are afraid of Trump. There has to be a warehouse or perhaps a parking garage somewhere with enough evidence of "Shady Don" to impeach him ten times over. 

Right now. This very instance, the Republicans have the USA at risk of it's national security because they are afraid of Trump and they love the corruption. They don't care the country's national security is at risk. The Republicans are simply hoping the investigation goes on long enough to complete their corrupt practices before Trump is impeached. 

Angry White Men.

June 5, 2017

By Safia Samee Ali

A Michigan official (click here) that manages tax foreclosed homes for the county where Flint sits has resigned after an audio recording of him blaming the city’s water problems on "n---ers (who) don't pay their bills" surfaced online.

Phil Stair, who was a sales manager at the Genesee County Land Bank, was recorded using racial slurs by local water activist Chelsea Lyons who later posted the recordings to the website Truth Against the Machine.

In the recording, Stair is heard saying "Flint has the same problems as Detroit, f--ing n---ers don't pay their bills, believe me, I deal with them,” he said....

They must have been abused as children. They don't get it and the only thing they want is someone to blame their frustration with a failed value system.

It is amazing people in this country still have such strong hate toward people they never met and don't know. Bigotry is convenient. I hope Phil's loss of his job will be a lesson to others that hate nameless, faceless peole of color.