Sea level rise is expected to have a profound impact on Bath property values.

January 23, 2019
By Nathan Strout

Bath — A new study claims (click here) that sea level rise has cost Maine homeowners just shy of $70 million in unrealized home value since 2005.  Bath has been the hardest hit community, with $4.1 million in unrealized value, the study finds. If nothing changes, researchers expect the community to miss out on another $4.7 million over the next 15 years.

The study compares home values against what they should be today absent sea level rise. The researchers found that many homes have underperformed expectations due to expectations of sea level rise.

Two of the top three homes hardest hit by sea level rise are in Bath: one has lost $57,774 in relative value while the second has lost $52,098. According to researchers, one home on Varney Mill Road is expected to be valued at more than $150,000. Instead, it’s valued at just $92,900.

Bath is closely followed by the coastal community of Biddeford and then Scarborough, Saco and Kennebunkport....

The Flood Maps of Bath, Maine are significant. (click here) To view them well, increase the resolution of the maps from 39 percent to 100 percent. They were drafted to be read at 100 percent size. The blue areas indicate flooding is possible at least one per year. I believe these predictions are without sea level rise. If the USA government doesn't recognize the climate crisis, the legal aspect of the country including flood maps will not include sea level rise unless there are laws mandating it. 

That is not healthy. Flooding brings mold, including black mold. Fungus will grow and there is a danger to people's health. 

In Wilmington, North Carolina there are still water marks on fences and buildings as far into the city as Fifth and Sixth Streets. It may even be at higher elevated streets. The houses along those streets still have the smell of mold in them on many occasions.

Flooding as a once in a lifetime occurrence is no concern as long as the buildings are recovered well. But, annual or frequent flooding is dangerous.

Great Britain began it's new path to energy independence and alternative energy long ago. This report is from 2011.

The nations of the United Kingdom (click here) are endowed with vast and varied renewable energy resources. We have the best wind, wave and tidal resources in Europe.

The UK leads the world in offshore wind, with more than 700 turbines already installed, and is accelerating the deployment of onshore wind with the biggest projects in Europe already operating and under construction in Scotland and Wales. Taken together onshore and offshore wind provide enough power for more than two and a half million homes. But we could do so much more. Our challenge is to bring costs down and deployment up.

This document – the UK’s first Renewable Energy Roadmap – sets out our shared approach to unlocking our renewable energy potential.

This UK Roadmap builds on the actions already underway: financial support mechanisms for renewables, the Green Investment Bank to help companies secure investment in green infrastructure, and encouraging the development of new offshore wind manufacturing facilities at port sites.

The Government’s Electricity Market Reform White Paper, published alongside this Roadmap, sets out our reforms to the separate Great Britain and Northern Ireland markets for all forms of electricity generation. Reform will ensure that low-carbon electricity from a diverse range of sources - not just renewables - becomes a more attractive choice for investors, delivering long-term change while minimising cost to the consumer....

The evidence of the demand for clean power in Great Britain is everywhere. This report is from 2017 and show high demand for alternative energies. Coal has basically been removed from use in Great Britain.

Click the link below to go to the report where this chart is located.

Chart 6.1: Demand for renewable energy by end use (click here): 6.6 In 2017, 66 per cent of renewable energy demand was accounted for by bioenergy with wind accounting for 21 per cent. Chart 6.2 shows a comparison for the key renewables sources....

...6.9 Total renewable capacity increased between 2016 and 2017 by 14 per cent. Most of the increase in both capacity is due to increased wind capacity, accounting for 75 per cent of the increase in capacity.

6.10 In 2017, onshore wind regained the highest share of capacity and it also held the highest share of generation (at 31.7 per cent and 29 per cent respectively).

6.11 The main use of renewable energy is to generate electricity. In 2017, electricity generated from renewables increased by 19 per cent on 2016, from 83.1 TWh to 99.3 TWh.

6. 12 Renewable sources provided 29.3 per cent of the electricity generated in the UK in 2017 compared to 24.5 per cent in 2016, an increase of 4.8 percentage points (measured using the “international basis”, i.e. electricity generated from all renewables except non-biodegradable wastes as a percentage of all electricity generated in the UK).

6.13 Taken together, onshore and offshore wind represented 79 per cent of the total increase in generation; onshore wind increased by 8.2 TWh (39 per cent) and offshore by 4.5 TWh (27 per cent). This was due to a combination of increased capacity and unusually high wind speeds. The third and fourth largest increases in generation (in absolute terms) were plant biomass (1.2 TWh) and solar photovoltaic (1.1 TWh). Landfill gas generation fell by 0.4 TWh, (8.9 per cent) to 4.3 TWh and cofiring with fossil fuels also fell by 54 per cent....

It is shameful to realize Plutocracy in the White House endangers Earth and all it's people, including Americans.

16 January 2019

Carbon spike 

Carbon dioxide emissions in the United States (click here) soared by an estimated 3.4% in 2018, setting back efforts to curb global warming. The findings, published on 8 January, were based on a preliminary analysis of government and industry data by Rhodium Group, an independent research firm in New York City. The rise followed three consecutive years of decline in US emissions from fossil fuels. It is the second such spike in carbon-emission levels since 2010, when they iEncreased after nearly two years of recession. This hitch in the decline of carbon emissions has made it more difficult for the United States to achieve its goal under the Paris climate agreement of cutting greenhouse-gas emissions by 26–28% below 2005 levels by 2025, according to the report.

There should be penalties written into the Climate Accords, especially for First World countries that not only know better but, have technology that can overcome such hurdles. I believe this is due to the wayward administration in the White House since 2017.

This is corruption!

EPA Fines for Polluters drop 85 percent. (click here)

This is NOT corruption!

EPA brings in billions in enforcement fines - but most stem from Obama era (click here)

USA eia
Annual Energy Outlook 2019 (click here)

The Energy Department expects no decline in America’s carbon emissions by 2050.

In fact, according to the latest U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) projections, our carbon footprint will only get bigger.

The lines estimating our future emissions look placidly flat, which might appear reassuring — until you remember that to stave off the risk of climate change’s catastrophic effects, we need those lines to plummet. Starting yesterday....

Flooded Britain 2018 British Floods & Storms UK Weather England, Ireland...(click here for the measures Great Britain finds most helpful in tackling climate flooding - thank you)

...Experts are now saying Experts are now saying that we can’t fight every flood with our armoury of flood walls and barriers, and that we must work with nature to combat this old but increasingly dangerous adversary.

Lord Deben, Chairman of the Committee on Climate Change, warned: "Despite the significant investment that has taken place in recent years – £38m was spent improving flood defences in Carlisle after the 2005 floods; £4.4m in Cockermouth and £6m in Keswick after 2009 – severe flooding can still be expected.

"Defences that might historically have provided protection against a 1 in 100 year flood will, with climate change, provide a much lower level of protection and be overtopped more frequently. The latest projections suggest periods of intense rainfall could increase in frequency by a factor of five this century as global temperatures rise."...

19 July 2017

BBC Radio, Cornwall/Maritime and Coast Guard Agency, Mark Newman and LeahLilly11

Footage has been released (click here) showing the dramatic rescue of an elderly couple trapped by Tuesday’s flash flooding in the Cornish village of Coverack. Six people were trapped in a house in the village due to the flood but no injuries were reported.

- Warning of more UK floods after helicopter rescues in Cornwall

- Drone footage courtesy of BBC Radio Cornwall

- Rescue footage courtesy of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency

It's Sunday Night

Penelope Mary Mordaunt, (click here) who markets herself as “Penny”, is off for a jolly on “reality” (which term increasingly adds a new dimension to surreality) TV:

This may have, or not have a connection with Ms Mordaunt’s day-job as MP for Portsmouth North. Which is one of those “swing” seats, tending to go one way or the other as governments change....

...Penny Mordaunt, the Conservative MP and ministerial aide, is facing criticism after announcing that she is to strip to her swimsuit and take part in the ITV celebrity diving show, Splash!

Mordaunt, MP for Portsmouth North and a member of the Royal Naval Reserve, will compete in the show, hosted by Olympic diver Tom Daley, alongside the glamour model Danielle Lloyd and Dan Osborne from reality show, The Only Way Is Essex.

Ms Mordaunt, 40, who topped a 2011 website poll of the sexiest female MPs, is donating her fee towards paying for the renovation of Hilsea Lido and will contribute the rest to armed forces charities. “Splash! is scary….dunk tank was worse!!,” she tweeted.

The MP, who is parliamentary private secretary to Defence Secretary Philip Hammond, was attacked for appearing in an entertainment show at a time when Portsmouth’s shipbuilding industry is under threat following a government downgrade of the port....

The National Anthem: One of Its Best Versions (click here for the official website of Great Britain - thank you)

British National Anthem (click here)

God save our gracious Queen!

Long live our noble Queen!

God save the Queen!

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us,

God save the Queen.

O Lord out God arise,

Scatter her enemies

And make them fall;

Confound their politics,

Frustrate their knavish tricks,

On Thee our hopes we fix,

God save  us all!

Trump is too busy trying to circumvent legislative authority to find ways out of the Russian sanctions. Why would he implement more?

Trump seems to have no use for the rule of law. Senator Menendez is correct.

Russia is out of step with most international treaties. I don't even understand why it is part of the G20. If Russia can't be trusted to comply with international treaties and laws, why trust Russia with trade?

January 24, 2019
By Morgan Chalfant

A Democratic senator (click here) is admonishing the Trump administration for not yet imposing a new round of sanctions on Russia for its poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain as mandated under law.

“These sanctions are more than two months overdue,” Sen. Bob Menendez(N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday and released Thursday.

“I urge you to impose these sanctions immediately to ensure that the statutorily mandated sanctions regime is not undermined," Menendez added.

In August, the Trump administration sanctioned Russia for using a military-grade nerve agent against ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury, England, earlier in the year.

The U.S. brought the sanctions under a 1991 law known as the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act, or CBW Act. Moscow has denied any involvement in the poisoning, which Skripal and his daughter survived.

Under the law, a second tranche of sanctions is automatically triggered unless Russia meets a number of strict criteria, including showing it is no longer using chemical or biological weapons and allowing for independent inspections.

The State Department alerted Congress in November that Moscow had not complied with the requirements to avoid a second round of sanctions. However, the U.S. has not formally announced new sanctions on Moscow in the more than two months that have passed....

Conservative politicians and their media minions should be ashamed of themselves for carrying on "hate politics" on the backs of federal employees and endangering the public, but, also the national security of the USA.

President Trump came to the conclusion that extremism doesn't work for America and ended the shutdown. He signed legislation he should have signed last year. He did the right thing only 35 days too late.

Now, the idiots that line the right wing extremism need to reassess their media minions and stop being lead around by the nose for no real apparent reason except to know who is a right wing nut and who is not. There is no purpose to the extremism witnessed after the bill was signed into law.

One of the culprits in all this is the 501(c)4. It is the reason the extremism exists in the first place. The Tea Party was built after President Obama was elected and their battle cry was extremist right wing positions and rhetoric. It spawned the most extremist caucus in the legislature, "The Freedom Caucus." They are dangerous and only exist because of illicit money thrown in to 501(C)4 coffers. The entire entity of government called the 501(c)4 has to be rewritten to exclude foreign money and when affiliated with a political party accountability provided.

The way the 501(c)4 is allowed to exist in the USA today, it has corrupted the country and allowed extremism to bring peril to our democracy and people. The reason the extremists are carrying on today is that they don't want to lose their money. It hasn't got to do with right or wrong, lawful or lawless, it is about plenty of money and the benefits it brings to themselves and their PACs. These PACS can spend 49 percent of their monies on political campaigns so long as they spend 51 percent on things like ultrasound imaging machines in abortion clinics.

Personage rights for the US Dollar have to end as well as that of corporations. The next thing will be to assign voting rights according to the amount of money one has in the bank. It won't be one vote per citizen, it will be one vote per dollar, including crytocurrency.

Why is justice coming into view now that Governor Whitmer is in office.

I mean that. Justice, as we know it, is finally coming into focus. Why is that? Why the corruption by Snyder? 

January 25, 2019
By Ron Fonger

Flint -- Former emergency managers (click here) in Flint acted as officers or employees of the state before and during the city’s water crisis and lawsuits against them must be considered by the Michigan Court of Claims, the state Court of Appeals said in a decision Thursday, Jan. 24.

In the 17-page unpublished decision, the Appeals Court agreed with attorneys for Flint residents and property owners who sued officials including former emergency managers Mike Brown, Gerald Ambrose, Ed Kurtz and Darnell Earley in 2016.

In a consolidated appeal, the residents and property owners contended -- and the Appeals Court agreed -- that the Court of Claims had mistakenly dismissed the emergency managers from the lawsuits when they granted motions for summary disposition due to a lack of jurisdiction....

No other defendant in the State of Michigan had millions of dollars spent on private attorneys to defend them. $30 million dollars. If a defendant needs a court appointed attorney they have to qualify for one, not wait for legislation to pad their take from the state treasury.

These monies are in addition to their annual salaries. They aren't paying a dime of their salaries for their representation. Are the defense monies considered part of their salary? Are they paying taxes on those monies?

January 25, 2019
By Leonard N. Fleming

Millions in state tax dollars (click here) for the legal defenses of Flint water crisis defendants are in danger of being cut when the aid runs out this year, as Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer pledges to ensure taxpayers "are getting their money's worth."

The specter of losing funding has the private-practice lawyers for the two highest-profile defendants saying the state should continue to pick up the tab because the water crisis happened under the state government's watch. The price tag is now $30.6 million and growing.

If state legal aid were cut off for the defendants, legal experts said it would pressure them to make deals with the special prosecutor — unless they have enough money to hire experts and mount a vigorous defense. 

Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder convinced the GOP-led Legislature to foot the legal bills of the 10 state employee defendants who were involved with Flint's switch of water sources in 2014 and an associated 2014-15 outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. They included two high-profile health department appointees, Nick Lyon and Eden Wells, who were accused of involuntary manslaughter and other crimes.

Whitmer has raised questions about the legal funding for private defense attorneys, while Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel has asked Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to review the legal cases. 

Whitmer told The Detroit News last week that "of course I'm worried about" the "legal bills that were from activity that were not on my watch." But she said it's too early to say how she will handle the issue and is working with Nessel to figure out the answers.

"Unfortunately, there's no easy solution here," Whitmer said. "It's not easy, but I'm going to make sure that taxpayers are protected and are getting their money's worth and that people of Flint get the justice they deserve."...

Congratulations to everyone.

Federal employees
The Media 
Congress and the president
The American people that wrote their congressmen and congresswomen

The terrible nightmare is over.

The southern border states need to petition Congress for the type of border protections that would work best for their state. Any state legislature can petition the federal government regarding border security. The states can be funded to do the work themselves as well. There are solutions and it is best left to the states to decide.

Stone said he was falsely charged. Right?

I take it the judge didn't reject the indictment. Right? Judges are not just passive observers of the proceedings between lawyers, they have standards, too. If an indictment is weak, it will fail in court. This indictment of Stone has substance otherwise it would not have been granted the right to proceed.

January 25, 2019
By Noah Feldman

The indictment of Roger Stone, (click here) who was arrested Friday by the FBI and charged with lying to Congress, provides the first detailed evidence that Stone was a go-between for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign with WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange. In 2016, WikiLeaks had and released a large numbers of emails that had been stolen by Russian intelligence from the Democratic National Committee and from Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Stone’s coordination between the campaign and WikiLeaks is substantive, from what the court filings show. Stone, a Republican political operative and confidant of Trump, got advance notice of WikiLeaks document releases that he passed on to the Trump campaign. That included information about an “October surprise,” which turned out to be the leaking of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s emails....

This just isn't right. I don't think Air Traffic Controllers should be working a second job.

It is not right that flight attendants can't estimate the degree of danger they may face from one flight to the next. There are far better ways to determine if there is still 911 type dangers to the airlines than waiting for the odds to catch up with everyone.

It just isn't right.

January 25, 2019
By Dom DiFurio

Flights out of DFW Airport (click here) are experiencing delay times averaging 41 minutes for travelers heading to La Guardia Airport Friday while the rest of the airport remains business as usual, according to the FAA's flight delay information.

Traffic at DFW Airport remains normal as the airport continues to monitor checkpoints, according to DFW International Airport Media Relations Manager Cynthia Vega.

Generally, arrivals to DFW are experiencing delays of up to 15 minutes.

The Federal Aviation Administration halted flights into New York's LaGuardia Airport because of a shortage of air-traffic control staff, escalating the pressure on President Donald Trump and lawmakers to end the government shutdown....

Things are going to get too dicey and everyone will go on a nationwide strike. Once the country is completely crippled, then Donald Trump and the Senate Republicans might see their way clear to pass a bill and sign it.

Federal employees are very valuable people. They care. They want the country to function and function well. But, when it comes to safety they won't compromise. They know what happens if they do.

January 25, 2019
By Lori Arantani

Federal officials temporarily restricted flights Friday (click here) into and out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport, another example of the toll the partial government shutdown – in its 35th day – is having on the nation’s airports.

“We have experienced a slight increase in sick leave at two facilities,” a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said in an emailed statement. “We’ve mitigated the impact by augmenting staffing, rerouting traffic and increasing spacing between aircraft when needed. The results have been minimal impacts to efficiency while maintaining consistent levels of safety in the national airspace system.”

Travelers were notified of air traffic issues at fly.faa.gov and were advised to check with their airline for more information.

The FAA’s Airport Status Information website cited shortages at two facilities, including one near Washington, which manages air traffic. The temporary restrictions affect arriving and departing flights at the airport. Arriving flights were delayed an average of 41 minutes and departures were experiencing delays between 15 and 29 minutes, the FAA said.

No one should be surprised Roger Stone was arrested.

To begin, Roger Stone has been uncooperative with the Special Council Investigation. Roger Stone has been a long time associate of Paul Manafort.

Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Donald Trump have a very long relationship.

...Unlike his old business partners, (click here) Roger Stone and Lee Atwater, you would never describe Manafort as flamboyant....

January 25, 2019

Stone faces obstruction, witness tampering charges in connection with the Mueller investigation.

Washington — Roger Stone, (click here) an associate of President Donald Trump, has been arrested in Florida.

That’s according to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, which says he faces charges including witness tampering, obstruction and false statements.

Stone is scheduled to make a court appearance later Friday.

Stone has been under scrutiny for months but has maintained his innocence....                

There is an escalation of activity along the Hidalgo County, New Mexico border with Mexico.

This crisis at the border in Hidalgo County has two components that are very typical to the USA southern border; one is violent, but, the majority of people crossing the border are non-violent and seeking asylum.

The violent aspect of these crossings are the drug cartels and they are armed with military style weapons that may have come from "straw purchasers." 

The problem is the cartels are escalating their activity and the county is being overwhelmed. The migrants may or may not be responsible for stealing vehicles. This escalation is probably due to increased enforcement efforts elsewhere. The increased border protections elsewhere is compressing the cartels crossings to less patrolled areas of the border.

Something has to be done for Hidalgo County, New Mexico with this escalation, but, is the long term solution a wall? They may need an improvement of some kind of a physical barrier, however, there is every reason to believe that is not going to stop either the cartels or the migrants. The best measure is the Border Patrol which takes down drug smugglers successfully.

Surveillance of electronic means can help identify border crossers to find them and bring them to justice, however, the drug smugglers aren't necessarily making a one way trip. The drug activity is the most dangerous and ultimately effects the country, but, the USA cannot turn away asylum seekers.

To be perfectly clear, this is Hidalgo County, New Mexico. Texas does not want a wall. Other solutions have to be found.

January 23, 2019
By Chris Ramirez

...New Mexico’s Boot Heel (click here) sits in Hidalgo County, wedged between Arizona and Mexico. The county shares 87 miles of its boundary with Mexico and there is no border wall in Hidalgo County....

...“It's not getting any better, it's getting worse and there is now an influx of people," said Billy Darnell.  “We know something is going to happen every day we go out.”

KOB 4 asked if any of them had been victimized by people who they believe to be undocumented immigrants.  All but one raised their hands to state yes. 

“We've had vehicles stolen,” said Randy Massey.

“They've had bundles of weed, coke and carrying heavy artillery,” said Cammi Moore.

“The worst part of it, we had an employee kidnapped. And that was probably the worst night of my entire life until we got him back,’ said Elrock.

“It's getting to the point where these confrontations are getting more aggressive and more and more violent,” said Kris Massey....

...In the last few weeks, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has sent news releases out that illustrate the ranchers' concerns.  On January 16th, U.S. CBP reported that a group of 247 migrants turned themselves in near the Antelope Wells Port of Entry in Hidalgo County.  Two days later, U.S. CBP released night video showing a group of migrants jumping over the Normandy barriers. Many, if not all, of the migrants are asylum seekers....

The Republicans are now the obstructionist party. Is that treason? Will obstruction cause damage to the country and ultimately to the country's sovereign national security?

Donald Trump stated the shutdown can last years. He said that. He would rather shut down the government until November of 2020 than govern. Trump wants to be the utmost obstructionist.

What bank or credit union is going to advance government workers two years of salary without taking payment on the loan?

These government workers have been out for over one month. Any loan that was made in January would require a payment in February. What are the government workers going to do borrow the payment and another month's salary? This is crazy. This is a belligerent Republican Party dug in without caring about the country or the people that work for it.

The previous Congress gave Trump a down payment. He batted it away.

Donald Trump is not going to sign a bill into law to end the shutdown. Congress has to act to bring about an end to the government shutdown.

The US House needs to carry out oversight and vote during breaks from the committees.

Which state has the best drivers in the country?

Maine has the worst. (click here)

An insurance comparison website has ranked Mainers the absolute worst drivers in the country....

...The annual ranking was released Thursday by Quotewizard.com. The site said it used incident data from the users of its website, as well as Federal Highway Administration fatality data. It looked at accidents, speeding tickets, citations, fatalities and drunk driving incidents....

The best belongs to the state that is home to the motor companies - MICHIGAN!

Mitch McConnell has to begin to take responsibility for this government shutdown. 

When Nancy Pelosi brought a very viable bill to the House floor it passed and she knew it would pass. McConnell, on the other hand, did nothing to propose a Senate bill and only voted on the president's bill which was never going to pass and then brought the US House bill to the floor without knowing what the outcome would be. Well, he doesn't get away with the idea he is not to blame. The blame for McConnell is mounting and he is doing nothing to end this impasse.

Why is McConnell waiting on the sidelines? Because if no bill passes he doesn't have to worry about overriding a veto or taking two separate bills into Reconciliation.

Mitch McConnell is not blameless.

Get the CR done, Mitch!

116th Congress, 1st Session (click here)

The tentative schedule for 2019 has been announced. The list below identifies expected non-legislative periods (days that the Senate will not be in session). The schedule is also available in calendar format (pdf image). The 2018 tentative schedule is still available.

Date	Action	Note
Jan 3	Convene
Jan 8	Reconvene
Jan 21 - Jan 25	State Work Period	Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday- Jan 21
Feb 18 - Feb 22	State Work Period	Presidents' Day- Feb 18
Mar 18 - Mar 22	State Work Period
Apr 15 - Apr 26	State Work Period
May 27 - May 31	State Work Period	Memorial Day- May 27
Jul 1 - Jul 5	State Work Period	Independence Day- Jul 4
Aug 5 - Sep 6	State Work Period	Labor Day- Sep 2
Sep 30 - Oct 14	State Work Period	Columbus Day- Oct 14
Nov 11		Veterans Day
Nov 25 - Nov 29	State Work Period	Thanksgiving- Nov 28
Dec 16 - Dec 31	State Work

Clueless with no empathy for those that serve our government.

January 24, 2019
By Damian Paletta

Washington — Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (click here) on Thursday said he didn’t understand why federal workers were visiting food banks during the government shutdown, saying they should instead seek low-interest loans from banks and credit unions to supplement their lost wages.

“I know they are, and I don’t really quite understand why,” Ross said on CNBC when asked about federal workers going to food banks. Ross is a billionaire and longtime friend of President Donald Trump....