It is one thing for people to understand their own reality, but, all too often anymore those facts are REPLACED with other contrived realities in an effort to make it go away for the purpose of politics and court fights. So, while this study may seem silly to many, it also is necessary. This study is indisputable. A court of law or political dialogue can't negate the findings of experts that examined all the facts.
So, here it is. We now can say officially Rick Snyder's exercising of the emergency manager law killed and maimed the people of Flint, Michigan.
April 29, 2020
By Ron Fonger
The state’s emergency manager law (click here) effectively silenced of the voices of Flint citizens during the city’s water crisis, allowing it to develop and grow, according to a new study by the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
The study found that the “virtually unfettered legal authority” of emergency managers in Flint deprived residents of a democratically accountable local government, and also found that “the complex legal arrangements governing public health and safe drinking water, combined with a lack of legal preparedness among governmental officials, prevented timely and effective actions to mitigate or avert the Flint water crisis.”...
Friday, May 08, 2020
Congress needs to legislate free access to government stations.
The Trump administration is charging Americans $2.99 per month for NOAA emergency warning radio. That is an outrage. Americans will now die of tornadoes, hurricanes and flash flooding because of the monthly charge.
Check the App Store. Probably Google Play, too. Under NOAA radio.
Check the App Store. Probably Google Play, too. Under NOAA radio.
This virus was not unexpected. We have been experiencing them regularly in recent decades. China used its strategy without complications.
The very Best Practices for new dangerous virus is to do what “W” did and have people on the ground in China for the earliest of detections, capture the few infected people and contact trace to END THE THREAT. That is not what occurred with the Trump White House.
Trump chose a very dangerous path of denial. In denial he wanted to allow the virus to run rampant and allow wide spread deaths with a concentration of elderly and minorities. The American people were up in arms over such a heinous strategy and Congress had to legislate for a better outcome. Trump is trying to end the general quarantine by encouraging state and citizens to go back to “normal.” In doing so Trump has confused the goals and made the timeline longer.
The only way forward while minimizing deaths is testing. An employer be it nursing home, meat processing plant or others; has to terminally clean their facilities, test all personnel and with positives entering into at home or hotel quarantine. It is the only way forward. School systems must terminally clean their facilities and require all teachers, administrative staff and students no matter the age to be tested. The cleaning can begin now and facilities sealed to people until school is about to open. The testing has to be done close enough to school beginning but far enough out to receive results for a day or two before occupying the buildings.
Don’t forget the bus drivers. Parents should be tested from their place of work or out if concern for their children to complete the circle.
The longer religious leaders are allowed to break the rules, the longer the timeline gets.
This country is contaminated and resulting options are expensive and time consuming.
Trump chose a very dangerous path of denial. In denial he wanted to allow the virus to run rampant and allow wide spread deaths with a concentration of elderly and minorities. The American people were up in arms over such a heinous strategy and Congress had to legislate for a better outcome. Trump is trying to end the general quarantine by encouraging state and citizens to go back to “normal.” In doing so Trump has confused the goals and made the timeline longer.
The only way forward while minimizing deaths is testing. An employer be it nursing home, meat processing plant or others; has to terminally clean their facilities, test all personnel and with positives entering into at home or hotel quarantine. It is the only way forward. School systems must terminally clean their facilities and require all teachers, administrative staff and students no matter the age to be tested. The cleaning can begin now and facilities sealed to people until school is about to open. The testing has to be done close enough to school beginning but far enough out to receive results for a day or two before occupying the buildings.
Don’t forget the bus drivers. Parents should be tested from their place of work or out if concern for their children to complete the circle.
The longer religious leaders are allowed to break the rules, the longer the timeline gets.
This country is contaminated and resulting options are expensive and time consuming.
Thursday, May 07, 2020
So Barr, the spineless yes man, is going to break every measure of ethics and law to exonerate a man who admitted to a judge he was guilty long after he was read his Miranda rights. Pardoning Flynn is an admission by Trump that Flynn was a guilty man that he pardoned. Pardoning Flynn doesn’t fit the Trump storyline about the Deep State, but Barr dropping charges against Flynn and the Russians are perfect for the “Deep State Fiction Story.”
It looks as though I have a lot of reading to do. There is the Mueller report, the US Senate investigations and now the US House has released their investigation. For those that read this blog be prepared to be bored because the three accounts are going to state the same facts over and over. The three documents will prove Barr is as much a criminal as Trump if not more so.
The corruption is knee deep and I do not know how that US Attorney that is investigating the Trump Deep State, I forget his name, is going to contradict Mueller, the US Senate and the US House and actually be believable. In order to successfully carry this off, (oh, yeah, Durham or Dunham or whatever) the Muller Investigation, US Senate and the US House will have to be discredited.
I hear Trump’s Guy Friday has COVID-19. Trump is a carrier. There are a lot of people both international and domestic that have contracted COVID after being in the presence of Trump, including his daughter as Bill Barr. Amazing.
Yes indeed, President Bubba is a piece of work.
It looks as though I have a lot of reading to do. There is the Mueller report, the US Senate investigations and now the US House has released their investigation. For those that read this blog be prepared to be bored because the three accounts are going to state the same facts over and over. The three documents will prove Barr is as much a criminal as Trump if not more so.
The corruption is knee deep and I do not know how that US Attorney that is investigating the Trump Deep State, I forget his name, is going to contradict Mueller, the US Senate and the US House and actually be believable. In order to successfully carry this off, (oh, yeah, Durham or Dunham or whatever) the Muller Investigation, US Senate and the US House will have to be discredited.
I hear Trump’s Guy Friday has COVID-19. Trump is a carrier. There are a lot of people both international and domestic that have contracted COVID after being in the presence of Trump, including his daughter as Bill Barr. Amazing.
Yes indeed, President Bubba is a piece of work.
Wednesday, May 06, 2020
Given a return to reading the Mueller report, I thought this was interesting.
The USA is under constant threat from Russia. It never stops. It won't stop this year either regardless of SARS-CoV-2. If anything, Russia will try to find weak stops and exploit them. Russia is currently a country without sincere leadership except for a president that won't understand he has overstayed his welcome.
December 19, 2019
Savannah - A newly unsealed superseding indictment (click here) has charged Russian and Italian nationals, a U.S. Citizen and various companies in a conspiracy to evade international trade sanctions.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia unsealed the superseding indictment on Monday, charging two Russian nationals, two Italian nationals, a U.S. citizen, and various companies with violating and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA), conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
The indictment, which was returned in October 2019 by a federal grand jury in Savannah, Ga., charges Oleg Vladislavovich Nikitin; Nikitin’s Russian-based company KS Engineering (KSE); KSE employee Anton Cheremukhin; Gabriele Villone; Villone’s Italian-based company GVA International Oil and Gas Services (GVA); and GVA employee Bruno Caparini, with violating and conspiring to violate IEEPA/ECRA. Additionally, the aforementioned defendants, Dali Bagrou, and Bagrou’s U.S.-based company World Mining and Oil Supply (WMO) are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Nikitin, Villone, and Bagrou were all arrested in Savannah, Ga., while attempting to complete the illegal transaction and are awaiting trial....
...“The defendants in this case went to great lengths to circumvent export control laws enacted to protect our nation’s security,” said Cynthia A. Bruce, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Southeast Field Office. “The DCIS will aggressively support our law enforcement partners working to ensure protected items don’t fall into the wrong hands.”
December 19, 2019
Savannah - A newly unsealed superseding indictment (click here) has charged Russian and Italian nationals, a U.S. Citizen and various companies in a conspiracy to evade international trade sanctions.
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia unsealed the superseding indictment on Monday, charging two Russian nationals, two Italian nationals, a U.S. citizen, and various companies with violating and conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and the Export Control Reform Act of 2018 (ECRA), conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
The indictment, which was returned in October 2019 by a federal grand jury in Savannah, Ga., charges Oleg Vladislavovich Nikitin; Nikitin’s Russian-based company KS Engineering (KSE); KSE employee Anton Cheremukhin; Gabriele Villone; Villone’s Italian-based company GVA International Oil and Gas Services (GVA); and GVA employee Bruno Caparini, with violating and conspiring to violate IEEPA/ECRA. Additionally, the aforementioned defendants, Dali Bagrou, and Bagrou’s U.S.-based company World Mining and Oil Supply (WMO) are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Nikitin, Villone, and Bagrou were all arrested in Savannah, Ga., while attempting to complete the illegal transaction and are awaiting trial....
...“The defendants in this case went to great lengths to circumvent export control laws enacted to protect our nation’s security,” said Cynthia A. Bruce, Special Agent in Charge of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, Southeast Field Office. “The DCIS will aggressively support our law enforcement partners working to ensure protected items don’t fall into the wrong hands.”
“This brazen scheme to undermine United States sanctions was a direct threat to national security,” said Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, Chris Hacker. “But because of the tireless efforts of federal law enforcement partners, the deception ends and the first steps in bringing these defendants to justice begins.”
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s collaboration with our fellow federal law enforcement agencies is critical to the successful enforcement of US import and export laws,” said Donald F. Yando, Director, Field Operations, Atlanta Field Office, U.S. Customs and Border Protection. “These partnerships provide for the successful identification and destruction of these types of criminal enterprises.”...
I don't know where to start tonight.
President Bubba, Jr. AKA Jarod Kushner is completely incompetent. When a USA president assistant tells the State of New York to purchase ventilators with a $65 million by contract and no ventilators show up, it allows me to call him, President Bubba, Jr.
Actually, New York State should hold Jarod Kushner personally responsible for this disaster. Incompetent government employees can be sued for carrying out the important jobs of the government that do not have a clue to what they are doing.
This is not the only thing Kushner has done. At the beginning of this family charade in the White House, he was using non-governmental online sites for government business. Kushner thinks he is teaching the government on how to run itself better as well as Trump and they are completely incompetent and only compromise the national security of the USA. SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 are national security issues. OBVIOUSLY! And yet, the White House cannot seem to get over the idea they are incompetent and lean on anyone "competent enough" in the nearby vicinity who is scared to death to have them fail.
So, at the top of the viral response is President Bubba and President Bubba, Jr.
Then there are the new deaths and COVID-2 diagnoses in Colorado. Then company JBS seems to think since they have a letter from President Bubba they don't have to test their employees because the plant has an enormous viral load. The bosses tested positive so the employees are going to test positive and they opened the plant knowing it would have a viral load to choke a horse.
Seven employees are dead and JBS is under the impression they don't have to answer for that. It boggles the mind to understand why JBS thinks it is exempt from liability.
April 28, 2020
A meatpacking plant (click here) at the center of the COVID-19 outbreak in Green Bay, WI, was temporarily closed by its owner Sunday, the latest such facility to be shuttered across the nation as federal authorities investigate safety at the operation.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that at least 189 cases have been linked to JBS Packerland, Brown County.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Friday that the agency is looking into the outbreaks at the JBS and American Foods Group plants.
In addition, OSHA said Friday it was opening a new investigation into the COVID-19 safety practices of the Patrick Cudahy/Smithfield Foods meatpacking plant after a worker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel his concerns about unsafe work conditions at the plant. The man said he hadn't received a face mask despite working closely with others....
If any company and/or state contemplating opening for economic gain and proves to be a danger to Americans, both workers and patrons; will not get away with it as some kind of sick patriotic movement. President Bubba can do his level best to sit on the neck of OSHA, but, it won't last forever and the people will find their ways into a court to bring this entire travesty to the docket.
What good is a president, his assistants, states influenced by his travesty of a White House or the companies that believe their patriotic duty is to the economy over human life? They will not be tolerated in this country! They do not have a blanket right to kill Americans via a virus.
During this time of rest for a portion of the American workforce, the companies and businesses were supposed to be busy altering their business model to accommodate "social distancing" and methods of business that won't compromise employees and patrons. That included factories such as JBS.
Part of the problem JBS is facing is the lack of leadership in the White House. The Ag Department should have had their people on the ground all over the country helping. Those most needed as indicated by President Bubba's letter should be high on the list for help from the Ag Department. Did that occur? No, what did occur was a cover-up and the idea of entitlement in emergencies to get away with it. Clue: that is not leadership.
The longer this travesty goes on because President Bubba politicized a virus and expected it to behave the longer it will take to return to any form of normalcy in business in the USA.
This is what is going on with American agriculture. Let's bet on "the futures market." President Bubba managed to turn the entire Midwest into a one armed bandit.
Grain markets (click here) this morning are mixed with corn, canola, and soybean prices all higher but cereals in the red. Yesterday, grain markets ended the day mostly in the green, supported by WTI oil prices and broader equity markets, which both had solid daily gains. That said, volatility in the grain markets remains, not just because of COVID-19-related demand uncertainty but also the combination of additional investor dollars (which fled equities back in March) and weather.
More specifically, there are some freezing temperatures forecasted this weekend for everywhere from North Dakota down to northeastern Missouri and back up to Michigan and Ohio. [1] Early planted soybeans are the most at risk but because cooler temperatures have kept emergence in check, the total percentage of the crop that’s at risk is much lower than what’s actually been planted.
On that note, the USDA said in Monday’s crop progress report that 23% of the U.S. soybean crop has been planted. [2] This is above pre-report expectations, and way ahead of the 5% planted by this week a year ago, as well as the five-year average of 11%. Also, 51% of the U.S. corn crop has been planted, which is a one-week 24-point jump and, like soybeans, also ahead of average pre-report guesstimates from grain markets participants. It’s also well-above the five-year average of 39% and the 21% seen planted through this week a year ago. Conversely, 29% of the American HRS wheat crop has been planted, slightly below the 30% expected, but also behind the 43% average for this week.
Last night, Shaun Haney of Real Agriculture and I did a live, 30-min
Facebook/Youtube/Twitter/LinkedIn Skype-based video interview, and we covered everything from pulses to cereals to oilseeds to why I’m more tanned than Shaun. [3] We also discussed why I’m still quite bearish on corn prices, something that I walked extensively through in Monday’s Breakfast Brief. That said, I also commented on how I think there is more downside risk for soybean and canola prices, but I’m way less bearish than I am on corn prices....
Actually, New York State should hold Jarod Kushner personally responsible for this disaster. Incompetent government employees can be sued for carrying out the important jobs of the government that do not have a clue to what they are doing.
This is not the only thing Kushner has done. At the beginning of this family charade in the White House, he was using non-governmental online sites for government business. Kushner thinks he is teaching the government on how to run itself better as well as Trump and they are completely incompetent and only compromise the national security of the USA. SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 are national security issues. OBVIOUSLY! And yet, the White House cannot seem to get over the idea they are incompetent and lean on anyone "competent enough" in the nearby vicinity who is scared to death to have them fail.
So, at the top of the viral response is President Bubba and President Bubba, Jr.
Then there are the new deaths and COVID-2 diagnoses in Colorado. Then company JBS seems to think since they have a letter from President Bubba they don't have to test their employees because the plant has an enormous viral load. The bosses tested positive so the employees are going to test positive and they opened the plant knowing it would have a viral load to choke a horse.
Seven employees are dead and JBS is under the impression they don't have to answer for that. It boggles the mind to understand why JBS thinks it is exempt from liability.
April 28, 2020
A meatpacking plant (click here) at the center of the COVID-19 outbreak in Green Bay, WI, was temporarily closed by its owner Sunday, the latest such facility to be shuttered across the nation as federal authorities investigate safety at the operation.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that at least 189 cases have been linked to JBS Packerland, Brown County.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced Friday that the agency is looking into the outbreaks at the JBS and American Foods Group plants.
In addition, OSHA said Friday it was opening a new investigation into the COVID-19 safety practices of the Patrick Cudahy/Smithfield Foods meatpacking plant after a worker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel his concerns about unsafe work conditions at the plant. The man said he hadn't received a face mask despite working closely with others....
If any company and/or state contemplating opening for economic gain and proves to be a danger to Americans, both workers and patrons; will not get away with it as some kind of sick patriotic movement. President Bubba can do his level best to sit on the neck of OSHA, but, it won't last forever and the people will find their ways into a court to bring this entire travesty to the docket.
What good is a president, his assistants, states influenced by his travesty of a White House or the companies that believe their patriotic duty is to the economy over human life? They will not be tolerated in this country! They do not have a blanket right to kill Americans via a virus.
During this time of rest for a portion of the American workforce, the companies and businesses were supposed to be busy altering their business model to accommodate "social distancing" and methods of business that won't compromise employees and patrons. That included factories such as JBS.
Part of the problem JBS is facing is the lack of leadership in the White House. The Ag Department should have had their people on the ground all over the country helping. Those most needed as indicated by President Bubba's letter should be high on the list for help from the Ag Department. Did that occur? No, what did occur was a cover-up and the idea of entitlement in emergencies to get away with it. Clue: that is not leadership.
The longer this travesty goes on because President Bubba politicized a virus and expected it to behave the longer it will take to return to any form of normalcy in business in the USA.
This is what is going on with American agriculture. Let's bet on "the futures market." President Bubba managed to turn the entire Midwest into a one armed bandit.
Grain markets (click here) this morning are mixed with corn, canola, and soybean prices all higher but cereals in the red. Yesterday, grain markets ended the day mostly in the green, supported by WTI oil prices and broader equity markets, which both had solid daily gains. That said, volatility in the grain markets remains, not just because of COVID-19-related demand uncertainty but also the combination of additional investor dollars (which fled equities back in March) and weather.
More specifically, there are some freezing temperatures forecasted this weekend for everywhere from North Dakota down to northeastern Missouri and back up to Michigan and Ohio. [1] Early planted soybeans are the most at risk but because cooler temperatures have kept emergence in check, the total percentage of the crop that’s at risk is much lower than what’s actually been planted.
On that note, the USDA said in Monday’s crop progress report that 23% of the U.S. soybean crop has been planted. [2] This is above pre-report expectations, and way ahead of the 5% planted by this week a year ago, as well as the five-year average of 11%. Also, 51% of the U.S. corn crop has been planted, which is a one-week 24-point jump and, like soybeans, also ahead of average pre-report guesstimates from grain markets participants. It’s also well-above the five-year average of 39% and the 21% seen planted through this week a year ago. Conversely, 29% of the American HRS wheat crop has been planted, slightly below the 30% expected, but also behind the 43% average for this week.
Last night, Shaun Haney of Real Agriculture and I did a live, 30-min
Facebook/Youtube/Twitter/LinkedIn Skype-based video interview, and we covered everything from pulses to cereals to oilseeds to why I’m more tanned than Shaun. [3] We also discussed why I’m still quite bearish on corn prices, something that I walked extensively through in Monday’s Breakfast Brief. That said, I also commented on how I think there is more downside risk for soybean and canola prices, but I’m way less bearish than I am on corn prices....
More ethical improprieties by Moscow Mitch.
During a global pandemic health crisis, "Moscow" Mitch called the Senate back into session to pass a McConnell "back pocket" judge, Justin Walker, into the DC Circuit. The nominee has absolutely no experience to be a judge in the DC Circuit. McConnell wanted to hide this activity under cover of the pandemic so the public would not be called to the attention of his underhanded dealings.
May 1, 2020
By Carl Hulse
Just days before a high-profile Senate confirmation hearing (click here) to fill a vacancy on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the court’s chief judge has opened the door to an inquiry into whether ethical improprieties occurred in the creation of the coveted opening.
In an order dated May 1, Judge Sri Srinivasan asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to assign another circuit to look into a complaint filed by the progressive advocacy group Demand Justice, which questioned the timing and circumstances of Judge Thomas B. Griffith’s retirement announcement in early March.
The advocacy group acted in March after disclosures that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader who has focused intently on conservative judicial confirmations the past three years, had been contacting appeals court judges nominated by Republican presidents to encourage them to retire. In the case of Judge Griffith, his retirement opened the way for his retirement opened the way for President Trump to nominate Justin Walker, a 37-year-old protégé of Mr. McConnell’s whom the senator had ardently promoted for the seat....
The retiring judge is expected to have been given a sweet deal to retire to open a seat on the DC Circuit.
May 5, 2020
...Therefore, if Judge Griffith (click here) accepted anything of value in exchange for his retirement from the bench, including the promise of future employment, such as a prestigious professorship, or future income or any bonuses that could have come with an agreement for future employment, he may be violating these Rules....
Walker is yet another member of the Federalist Society with no experience to be assigned to the DC Circuit. His age alone provides for the inexperience of a man that has mostly clerked for Supreme Court judges.
Justin R. Walker (click here) is a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Prior to his confirmation, he was a professor at Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville from 2015 to 2019. Judge Walker graduated from Duke University and Harvard Law School. After graduating from law school, he practiced appellate law in Washington, D.C., and clerked for Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Walker was given the seat at the US District Court of Western Kentucky on June 19, 2019. He is the radical right. It is another religiously based appointment. They are trying to change the courts, not based in established law and principle, but, by their own religious prejudice.
ANOTHER QUID PRO QUO:
May 5, 2020
In March, after Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh took time off from his Supreme Court duties to swear in Justin Walker to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Louisville, the newly minted judge recognized how he had gotten there at the age of 37, with zero trial experience but a pedigree in conservatism....
...He closed with a broadside against the American Bar Association, which had given him a rare “Not Qualified” rating for his absence of courtroom work, categorizing the professional organization among his “opponents.”...
...Republicans promote Judge Walker as a “drain the swamp” Washington outsider, who triumphed over a hardscrabble upbringing in Kentucky to reach the heights of American jurisprudence 11 years out of law school.
“He’s young, brilliant and conservative,” said Mike Davis, who leads the Article III Project, a judicial advocacy group that has pushed President Trump’s appointments to the federal bench.
The current Judge Walker is the son of a judge and the grandson of a very wealthy man that went on to be Secretary of Transportation in Kentucky, Frank R. Metts. Justin Walker is another person of privilege to pollute the USA Justice system.
He was the owner of Robert F. Metts Real Estate. (click here) Bob was one of the founding members of, Freed from Within, a Christian based organization that introduces men to Jesus Christ and helps them become better men in their family and community. He was an avid bass fisherman, U of K fan and loved Wednesday night food, fellowship and worship and Friday night Dominos with his FFW family.
Justin's daddy was a very wealthy man.
...This is an appeal from an order (click here) and judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court, Chancery Branch, permanently enjoining the appellants herein from conducting various business ventures due to certain restrictions as contained in a deed of conveyance. There is also an amended order and judgment being appealed in this case.
On April 17, 1969, Frank R. Metts (Justin's Daddy) and Miller Kimbrough, Jr., as co-trustees, who hereinafter for brevity will be referred to as Metts, purchased a 95.48 acre tract of unimproved land in Jefferson County, Kentucky, for the sum of $2,387,000.00. It has been subdivided into acreage tracts and is known as the "Village Subdivision"....
Justin's mommy is a political socialite in Kentucky, right Moscow Mitch?
May 1, 2020
By Carl Hulse
Just days before a high-profile Senate confirmation hearing (click here) to fill a vacancy on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the court’s chief judge has opened the door to an inquiry into whether ethical improprieties occurred in the creation of the coveted opening.
In an order dated May 1, Judge Sri Srinivasan asked Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to assign another circuit to look into a complaint filed by the progressive advocacy group Demand Justice, which questioned the timing and circumstances of Judge Thomas B. Griffith’s retirement announcement in early March.
The advocacy group acted in March after disclosures that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader who has focused intently on conservative judicial confirmations the past three years, had been contacting appeals court judges nominated by Republican presidents to encourage them to retire. In the case of Judge Griffith, his retirement opened the way for his retirement opened the way for President Trump to nominate Justin Walker, a 37-year-old protégé of Mr. McConnell’s whom the senator had ardently promoted for the seat....
The retiring judge is expected to have been given a sweet deal to retire to open a seat on the DC Circuit.
May 5, 2020
...Therefore, if Judge Griffith (click here) accepted anything of value in exchange for his retirement from the bench, including the promise of future employment, such as a prestigious professorship, or future income or any bonuses that could have come with an agreement for future employment, he may be violating these Rules....
Walker is yet another member of the Federalist Society with no experience to be assigned to the DC Circuit. His age alone provides for the inexperience of a man that has mostly clerked for Supreme Court judges.
Justin R. Walker (click here) is a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky. Prior to his confirmation, he was a professor at Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville from 2015 to 2019. Judge Walker graduated from Duke University and Harvard Law School. After graduating from law school, he practiced appellate law in Washington, D.C., and clerked for Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Walker was given the seat at the US District Court of Western Kentucky on June 19, 2019. He is the radical right. It is another religiously based appointment. They are trying to change the courts, not based in established law and principle, but, by their own religious prejudice.
ANOTHER QUID PRO QUO:
May 5, 2020
In March, after Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh took time off from his Supreme Court duties to swear in Justin Walker to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky in Louisville, the newly minted judge recognized how he had gotten there at the age of 37, with zero trial experience but a pedigree in conservatism....
...He closed with a broadside against the American Bar Association, which had given him a rare “Not Qualified” rating for his absence of courtroom work, categorizing the professional organization among his “opponents.”...
...Republicans promote Judge Walker as a “drain the swamp” Washington outsider, who triumphed over a hardscrabble upbringing in Kentucky to reach the heights of American jurisprudence 11 years out of law school.
“He’s young, brilliant and conservative,” said Mike Davis, who leads the Article III Project, a judicial advocacy group that has pushed President Trump’s appointments to the federal bench.
The current Judge Walker is the son of a judge and the grandson of a very wealthy man that went on to be Secretary of Transportation in Kentucky, Frank R. Metts. Justin Walker is another person of privilege to pollute the USA Justice system.
665 S.W.2d 318 (1984)
Frank R. METTS (click here) (now J.F. Runke), Secretary of Transportation; Drexell R. Davis, Kentucky State Treasurer; George Fischer (now Robert L. Warren), Secretary of Finance & Administration Cabinet, Commonwealth of Kentucky, Appellants, v. CITY OF FRANKFORT, Kentucky and Robert C. Yount, Appellees.
Court of Appeals of Kentucky.
March 9, 1984.
Robert Metts is the great-grandfather of Justin Walker. No doubt Justin Walker is the dream come true of the religious right.
Justin's daddy was a very wealthy man.
...This is an appeal from an order (click here) and judgment of the Jefferson Circuit Court, Chancery Branch, permanently enjoining the appellants herein from conducting various business ventures due to certain restrictions as contained in a deed of conveyance. There is also an amended order and judgment being appealed in this case.
On April 17, 1969, Frank R. Metts (Justin's Daddy) and Miller Kimbrough, Jr., as co-trustees, who hereinafter for brevity will be referred to as Metts, purchased a 95.48 acre tract of unimproved land in Jefferson County, Kentucky, for the sum of $2,387,000.00. It has been subdivided into acreage tracts and is known as the "Village Subdivision"....
Justin's mommy is a political socialite in Kentucky, right Moscow Mitch?
Trump is going to talk the virus and country to death.
Trump will be eating his words about the virus going away my summer.
Tuesday, May 05, 2020
Hey, President Bubba, where are the tests?
"Live and let die" is a theme song that fits Trump to a T. I think it is perfect for his campaign. Absolutely. Can't imagine a better one. 007. A spy.
When scanning the horizon of the Trump administration and it's insults to America's magnificent country including the EPA and Interior department, the theme song from a spy movie is absolutely perfect. Better than Hail to the Chief.
The virus alone brings such heinous themes to his campaign.
He expects the American people to be sheep to his orders. He does not care about this country and he certainly doesn't know it. Where he leads the masses will not follow.
May 5, 2020
By Matt Zapotosky, William Wan, Dan Balz and Emily Guskin
Americans remain deeply wary (click here) of eating at restaurants, shopping at stores and taking other steps to return to normalcy, a poll shows, even as the White House is contemplating shutting down its coronavirus task force.
With several covid-19 models taking a wrenching turn toward bleaker death forecasts in recent days because of reopening moves in some states, most Americans say they worry about getting the virus themselves and they oppose ending the restrictions meant to slow its spread, according to the Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.
Experts around the country are now revising their forecasts about the spread of the virus, and several models in the past three days suggest that resuming normal activity would spur a significant increase in the number of cases and deaths.
I think disbanding the White House coronvirus task force is an excellent idea and I have never been more serious. I stopped watching them at least a week ago. They were an insult to my intelligence.
The more dire outlook came as Vice President Pence revealed that officials have discussed disbanding the White House coronavirus task force within a month because of “the tremendous progress we’ve made as a country.” President Trump said, “We can’t keep our country closed. We have to open our country.”...
I hope Governor Pritzker sticks to his guns. He, at least, is putting the people first.
May 5, 2020
By Jamie Munks, Dan Petrella and Lisa Schencker
...The final phase of Pritzker’s plan, (click here) when conventions, festivals and sporting events resume, won’t kick in until there’s a vaccine, treatment or widespread immunity to COVID-19.
Until then, “the option of returning to normalcy doesn’t exist,” Pritzker said at his daily briefing Tuesday.
“That means we have to figure out how to live with COVID-19 until it can be vanquished. And to do so in a way that best supports our residents’ health and our health care systems, and saves the most lives," he said....
I have been "Up North" recently. It was very sobering to see a sign across the highway stating "Admission into Canada is based on Essential need." All of a sudden our neighbor to the north was very, very distant and that felt horrible. I love Canada. SARS-CoV-2 is an enemy separating Americans from their friends. It is a terrible feeling for a terrible reality.
When scanning the horizon of the Trump administration and it's insults to America's magnificent country including the EPA and Interior department, the theme song from a spy movie is absolutely perfect. Better than Hail to the Chief.
The virus alone brings such heinous themes to his campaign.
He expects the American people to be sheep to his orders. He does not care about this country and he certainly doesn't know it. Where he leads the masses will not follow.
May 5, 2020
By Matt Zapotosky, William Wan, Dan Balz and Emily Guskin
Americans remain deeply wary (click here) of eating at restaurants, shopping at stores and taking other steps to return to normalcy, a poll shows, even as the White House is contemplating shutting down its coronavirus task force.
With several covid-19 models taking a wrenching turn toward bleaker death forecasts in recent days because of reopening moves in some states, most Americans say they worry about getting the virus themselves and they oppose ending the restrictions meant to slow its spread, according to the Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.
Experts around the country are now revising their forecasts about the spread of the virus, and several models in the past three days suggest that resuming normal activity would spur a significant increase in the number of cases and deaths.
I think disbanding the White House coronvirus task force is an excellent idea and I have never been more serious. I stopped watching them at least a week ago. They were an insult to my intelligence.
The more dire outlook came as Vice President Pence revealed that officials have discussed disbanding the White House coronavirus task force within a month because of “the tremendous progress we’ve made as a country.” President Trump said, “We can’t keep our country closed. We have to open our country.”...
I hope Governor Pritzker sticks to his guns. He, at least, is putting the people first.
May 5, 2020
By Jamie Munks, Dan Petrella and Lisa Schencker
...The final phase of Pritzker’s plan, (click here) when conventions, festivals and sporting events resume, won’t kick in until there’s a vaccine, treatment or widespread immunity to COVID-19.
Until then, “the option of returning to normalcy doesn’t exist,” Pritzker said at his daily briefing Tuesday.
“That means we have to figure out how to live with COVID-19 until it can be vanquished. And to do so in a way that best supports our residents’ health and our health care systems, and saves the most lives," he said....
I have been "Up North" recently. It was very sobering to see a sign across the highway stating "Admission into Canada is based on Essential need." All of a sudden our neighbor to the north was very, very distant and that felt horrible. I love Canada. SARS-CoV-2 is an enemy separating Americans from their friends. It is a terrible feeling for a terrible reality.
Monday, May 04, 2020
I had considered talking about sewage systems at the beginning of this mess, but, decided it was not as high on the list as other matters. We had to concentrate on the people we call heroes today.
Now that sewage treatment plants can diagnose the intensity of the virus in communities, which is a good idea, there are sewage treatment plant workers that must be protected. One of the ways to protect such workers is by using ultraviolet as a process in sewage treatment. This is not a pipe dream, no pun intended.
Ultraviolet light (click here) is another disinfection method for destroying disease-causing organisms in wastewater effluent in onsite wastewater treatment systems. The UV light destroys the genetic material of microorganisms which prevents them from reproducing....
Now that sewage treatment plants can diagnose the intensity of the virus in communities, which is a good idea, there are sewage treatment plant workers that must be protected. One of the ways to protect such workers is by using ultraviolet as a process in sewage treatment. This is not a pipe dream, no pun intended.
Ultraviolet light (click here) is another disinfection method for destroying disease-causing organisms in wastewater effluent in onsite wastewater treatment systems. The UV light destroys the genetic material of microorganisms which prevents them from reproducing....
This is a prime example of the pitfalls of Ideologues.
I have no doubt that Robert Kadlec was a great soldier that loves his country and is dedicated to his focus now that he has compromised his standing by hiding his relationship with the company he founded. Power is not handled well by a lot of people. That is the case here.
Trump and his administration are lined with ideologues. There basically is nothing else. That is what happened here. I think Mr. Kadlec has a lot to explain in regard to his past relationship with a company that has benefited from his current office. He also needs to explain why the national strategic reserve was moved out of the CDC?
Mr. Kadlec has a lot of explaining to do. He needs to explain his relationship with his past company and it's current contracts. He needs to explain the length of those contracts, the cost of the vaccines and the lack of bidding. He also needs to explain why the national strategic reserve was moved out of the CDC?
Additionally, which only proves the danger of ideologies both in elections as candidates and as leaders, the administration of Mr. Kadlec was partisan and caused plenty of problems for the USA.
Rather than a machine that President Obama wanted to put in place to manufacture enormous amounts of N-95 masks... (The article is specific about that.) ...he Trump White House called up a sterilizing machine from Ohio to clean existing N95 masks.
It is completely and absolutely unconscionable to have crippled the doctors, nurses, and caregivers by not having an enormous number of N95 in the strategic national reserve. Obama not only recognized that but, took it one step further. President Obama wanted to purchase a machine that produces those very important masks, but, Kadlec canceled the purchase and institutions of such measures to protect the country. THAT FACT boggles the mind. How can a man involved in the study of biological and chemical weapons in the USA military not prioritize N95 masks? None of this makes sense in the extreme.
Robert Kadlec was a USA soldier. He was a good soldier and a patriot. He studied some of the deepest concerns of the USA military, biological and chemical weapons. We are still seeing primitive weapons of this nature at work with the Assad regime. It isn't as though they simply disappeared because of international conventions. But, Kadlec became highly focused on smallpox and anthrax. What did he think would be the first priority to protect the American people should such warfare be released? Vaccines? Sure. Absolutely, but, who is going to administer them and why would it not be obvious to Kadlec that health care professionals were high on the list of people to protect in the USA? N95 masks are that protection.
President Obama's plans MUST be reinstated and I would suggest regional partners in the USA even consider purchasing such machines and put them into action should this horrible virus not abate with the economic priorities of opening state's prohibitions and removing "Stay At Home" orders. If every region of the country owned its own N95 production masks the people would be well served and protected.
Think how perfect such preparedness prioritized by President Obama would be especially now. Consider the N95 masks were being sold to China and exported in large numbers only to have the states bidding against each other and running up enormous debt were then importing the masks back to the USA again.
President Obama's preparedness for the N95 masks did not need the global supply chain. No other country would need to be begged to provide absolutely important supplies. Obama had this. He knew the best way forward and it was CANCELLED. It was canceled by a President that absolutely hated the first black president and his henchman without any oversight. And why, oh why, was there no oversight? Because there was also a degree of corruption considering the changes of authority over these efforts and the choice of a former business of Mr. Kadlec.
It is unfortunate Mr. Kadlec could not convince Trump of the brilliant idea of President Obama. The N95 masks production machine was canceled, not postponed, because it was ordered by President Obama, a black democrat.
These are the pitfalls of ideologues. This is the danger of a media source like FOX News that incubates and propagates such ideologies for the convenience of hostile politics to elect a populous president.
There needs to be, and you guessed it, an investigation into why such important measures by the Obama White House were canceled imperiling our doctors and nurses that have seen losses of their peers. This is not a minor, oh well, that Trump and his regular screw-ups. People have died that should still be here.
May 4, 2020
By Jon Swaine, Robert O'Harrow, Jr. and Aaron C. Davis
After Robert Kadlec (click here) was confirmed as President Trump’s top official for public health preparedness in 2017, he began pressing to increase government stocks of a smallpox vaccine. His office ultimately made a deal to buy up to $2.8 billion of the vaccine from a company that once paid Kadlec as a consultant, a connection he did not disclose on a Senate questionnaire when he was nominated.
Under the agreement struck last year with Emergent BioSolutions, Kadlec’s office at the Department of Health and Human Services is paying more than double the price per dose it had previously paid for the drug. Because Emergent is the only licensed maker of the vaccine, Kadlec’s office arrived at the price through negotiations with the company rather than through bidding....
Trump and his administration are lined with ideologues. There basically is nothing else. That is what happened here. I think Mr. Kadlec has a lot to explain in regard to his past relationship with a company that has benefited from his current office. He also needs to explain why the national strategic reserve was moved out of the CDC?
Mr. Kadlec has a lot of explaining to do. He needs to explain his relationship with his past company and it's current contracts. He needs to explain the length of those contracts, the cost of the vaccines and the lack of bidding. He also needs to explain why the national strategic reserve was moved out of the CDC?
Additionally, which only proves the danger of ideologies both in elections as candidates and as leaders, the administration of Mr. Kadlec was partisan and caused plenty of problems for the USA.
Rather than a machine that President Obama wanted to put in place to manufacture enormous amounts of N-95 masks... (The article is specific about that.) ...he Trump White House called up a sterilizing machine from Ohio to clean existing N95 masks.
It is completely and absolutely unconscionable to have crippled the doctors, nurses, and caregivers by not having an enormous number of N95 in the strategic national reserve. Obama not only recognized that but, took it one step further. President Obama wanted to purchase a machine that produces those very important masks, but, Kadlec canceled the purchase and institutions of such measures to protect the country. THAT FACT boggles the mind. How can a man involved in the study of biological and chemical weapons in the USA military not prioritize N95 masks? None of this makes sense in the extreme.
Robert Kadlec was a USA soldier. He was a good soldier and a patriot. He studied some of the deepest concerns of the USA military, biological and chemical weapons. We are still seeing primitive weapons of this nature at work with the Assad regime. It isn't as though they simply disappeared because of international conventions. But, Kadlec became highly focused on smallpox and anthrax. What did he think would be the first priority to protect the American people should such warfare be released? Vaccines? Sure. Absolutely, but, who is going to administer them and why would it not be obvious to Kadlec that health care professionals were high on the list of people to protect in the USA? N95 masks are that protection.
President Obama's plans MUST be reinstated and I would suggest regional partners in the USA even consider purchasing such machines and put them into action should this horrible virus not abate with the economic priorities of opening state's prohibitions and removing "Stay At Home" orders. If every region of the country owned its own N95 production masks the people would be well served and protected.
Think how perfect such preparedness prioritized by President Obama would be especially now. Consider the N95 masks were being sold to China and exported in large numbers only to have the states bidding against each other and running up enormous debt were then importing the masks back to the USA again.
President Obama's preparedness for the N95 masks did not need the global supply chain. No other country would need to be begged to provide absolutely important supplies. Obama had this. He knew the best way forward and it was CANCELLED. It was canceled by a President that absolutely hated the first black president and his henchman without any oversight. And why, oh why, was there no oversight? Because there was also a degree of corruption considering the changes of authority over these efforts and the choice of a former business of Mr. Kadlec.
It is unfortunate Mr. Kadlec could not convince Trump of the brilliant idea of President Obama. The N95 masks production machine was canceled, not postponed, because it was ordered by President Obama, a black democrat.
These are the pitfalls of ideologues. This is the danger of a media source like FOX News that incubates and propagates such ideologies for the convenience of hostile politics to elect a populous president.
There needs to be, and you guessed it, an investigation into why such important measures by the Obama White House were canceled imperiling our doctors and nurses that have seen losses of their peers. This is not a minor, oh well, that Trump and his regular screw-ups. People have died that should still be here.
May 4, 2020
By Jon Swaine, Robert O'Harrow, Jr. and Aaron C. Davis
After Robert Kadlec (click here) was confirmed as President Trump’s top official for public health preparedness in 2017, he began pressing to increase government stocks of a smallpox vaccine. His office ultimately made a deal to buy up to $2.8 billion of the vaccine from a company that once paid Kadlec as a consultant, a connection he did not disclose on a Senate questionnaire when he was nominated.
Under the agreement struck last year with Emergent BioSolutions, Kadlec’s office at the Department of Health and Human Services is paying more than double the price per dose it had previously paid for the drug. Because Emergent is the only licensed maker of the vaccine, Kadlec’s office arrived at the price through negotiations with the company rather than through bidding....
A cross bearer has died.
Greg Zanis, with wife Susan, is visited by well-wishers at his home in Aurora on May 1, 2020. Zanis has been making crosses for those who have been killed by gun violence for years and is now battling terminal cancer.
Greg Zanis, (click here) an Aurora man who gained national attention for placing crosses at the sites of mass shootings in the United States, has died after a battle with cancer, city of Aurora officials confirmed Monday.
A drive-by event to salute the ailing “Cross Man” was held outside his house on Friday, where hundreds of people drove by to show their support. Zanis has mostly been bed-ridden recently and was on hospice care at his home....
Russian health care workers need to hear from their international colleagues.
In recent years Russia has been a bit of an isolationist country. There is a good chance the doctors, nurses, and care providers in Russia are struggling on their own to cope with this pandemic. I would not be surprised if they are not talking about this as a pandemic. Taken out of the context of the pandemic there can be a lot of self-blaming for patients' illnesses and deaths.
All care providers globally need to put this into the perspective of a pandemic with HEROES taking the front lines and treating patients that have fallen VICTIM to the virus.
May 4, 2020
By Mary Ilyushin
Three frontline health care workers (click here) have mysteriously fallen out of hospital windows in Russia over the past two weeks, heightening public attention to the working conditions for doctors and medical professionals amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Two of those health care workers are dead, and one remains hospitalized.
All three incidents, which are being investigated by Russian law enforcement authorities, have prompted intense discussion in the Russian press and on social media.
Alexander Shulepov, an ambulance doctor in Voronezh, a city about 320 miles south of Moscow, is in serious condition after falling from a hospital window on Saturday. Local state television, citing regional health officials, said he fell out of second-floor window of the Novousmanskaya hospital, where he worked and was receiving treatment after testing positive for
coronavirus.
Shulepov was hospitalized for coronavirus on April 22, the same day he and his colleague Alexander Kosyakin posted a video online saying that Shulepov had been forced to continue working after testing positive for coronavirus....
All care providers globally need to put this into the perspective of a pandemic with HEROES taking the front lines and treating patients that have fallen VICTIM to the virus.
May 4, 2020
By Mary Ilyushin
Three frontline health care workers (click here) have mysteriously fallen out of hospital windows in Russia over the past two weeks, heightening public attention to the working conditions for doctors and medical professionals amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Two of those health care workers are dead, and one remains hospitalized.
All three incidents, which are being investigated by Russian law enforcement authorities, have prompted intense discussion in the Russian press and on social media.
Alexander Shulepov, an ambulance doctor in Voronezh, a city about 320 miles south of Moscow, is in serious condition after falling from a hospital window on Saturday. Local state television, citing regional health officials, said he fell out of second-floor window of the Novousmanskaya hospital, where he worked and was receiving treatment after testing positive for
coronavirus.
Shulepov was hospitalized for coronavirus on April 22, the same day he and his colleague Alexander Kosyakin posted a video online saying that Shulepov had been forced to continue working after testing positive for coronavirus....
APPEAL!
If Americans are jobless because of the COVID-19 and are refused unemployment benefits, appeal the decision to courts. The federal law was to reach all Americans unemployed by the pandemic. If the states are failing to care for their citizens appeal the decisions by state unemployment agencies until it gets to a court and the hearing results in a decision based on the new laws.
The states are going to be receiving the monies directly from the federal government. Don't let them turn the unemployment benefits into a federal block grant so they can pay their bills.
To illustrate a far different approach by the State of New York; the unemployed applicants didn't have to wait for the federal monies to arrive, they received them immediately. New York knew it would be receiving federal dollars and took the initiative to be sure it's citizens had the monies they needed.
May 4, 2020
By David Lyons
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday (click here) he will order an inspector general to investigate how Florida paid nearly $80 million to build an unemployment claims system only to see it overwhelmed by thousands of jobless workers thrown out of work amid the coranavirus pandemic.
Speaking at a news conference in Tallahassee, DeSantis retraced nearly two months of troubles that faced the unemployed as many unsuccessfully applied for benefits or did not get paid if they were approved....
The federal law was written to REPLACE lost incomes by everyone effected, even those that were tip workers.
...When you add $600 (click here) to the national average unemployment payment — $371.88 a week at the end of 2019 — the replacement rate goes from 38 percent to almost exactly 100 percent. In other words, that amount is what it would take for Congress to replace what the average American worker receiving unemployment would have earned....
The states are going to be receiving the monies directly from the federal government. Don't let them turn the unemployment benefits into a federal block grant so they can pay their bills.
To illustrate a far different approach by the State of New York; the unemployed applicants didn't have to wait for the federal monies to arrive, they received them immediately. New York knew it would be receiving federal dollars and took the initiative to be sure it's citizens had the monies they needed.
May 4, 2020
By David Lyons
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday (click here) he will order an inspector general to investigate how Florida paid nearly $80 million to build an unemployment claims system only to see it overwhelmed by thousands of jobless workers thrown out of work amid the coranavirus pandemic.
Speaking at a news conference in Tallahassee, DeSantis retraced nearly two months of troubles that faced the unemployed as many unsuccessfully applied for benefits or did not get paid if they were approved....
The federal law was written to REPLACE lost incomes by everyone effected, even those that were tip workers.
...When you add $600 (click here) to the national average unemployment payment — $371.88 a week at the end of 2019 — the replacement rate goes from 38 percent to almost exactly 100 percent. In other words, that amount is what it would take for Congress to replace what the average American worker receiving unemployment would have earned....
When it comes to testing nursing homes should come first.
It only makes sense to test those most vulnerable first. This article in ProPublica points to the idea that if nursing home residents were tested those that test positive can be moved to the hospital for treatment until they are no longer positive for the virus.
May 1, 2020
By Max Blau
On Tuesday afternoon in a small town (click here) in southwest Georgia, Army National Guard 2nd Lt. George Peagler stepped into a white hazmat suit, pulled up his bright green gloves and adjusted his N95 mask.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to gradually reopen the state for business was beginning to show results. More cars were on the road than the week before. Locals lined up at the drive-thru at the only McDonald’s in Dawson, a predominantly black town in one of the poorest corners of the state.
Peagler headed into Dawson Health and Rehabilitation Center, a small nursing home where 14 of the 60 or so residents had died from COVID-19 over the past month. He and his fellow soldiers conducted their mission with efficiency, quickly testing the home’s surviving residents for the coronavirus. A military medic stuck a swab into each resident’s nose, then dropped it into a vial held by another guard member, who then handed it down an assembly line of soldiers until it was placed in an ice-filled cooler.
“If you were to see us, you would think we’ve been doing this longer than we have,” said Peagler, a native of suburban Atlanta, who, like many members of the Guard, had no formal medical experience before the pandemic. “That’s because we’ve had to pick up on it so quickly.”...
...States such as Maryland and Massachusetts have taken steps to mitigate that risk by mandating tests for all workers at long-term care facilities. Georgia does not have such a requirement. It is up to each facility to request tests for its workers....
There is no such thing as being overly cautious, especially with the long term facilities, their residents and staff.
...After visiting the Dawson home on March 27, Capt. Matthew Rushing called his superior officer, Brig. Gen. Randall Simmons, with some troubling news, according to interviews and emails obtained by Georgia Health News and ProPublica.
Nineteen patients had been tested for COVID-19 in the 74-bed facility. The first patient test had just returned positive. Rushing feared it wouldn’t be the last....
May 1, 2020
By Max Blau
On Tuesday afternoon in a small town (click here) in southwest Georgia, Army National Guard 2nd Lt. George Peagler stepped into a white hazmat suit, pulled up his bright green gloves and adjusted his N95 mask.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to gradually reopen the state for business was beginning to show results. More cars were on the road than the week before. Locals lined up at the drive-thru at the only McDonald’s in Dawson, a predominantly black town in one of the poorest corners of the state.
Peagler headed into Dawson Health and Rehabilitation Center, a small nursing home where 14 of the 60 or so residents had died from COVID-19 over the past month. He and his fellow soldiers conducted their mission with efficiency, quickly testing the home’s surviving residents for the coronavirus. A military medic stuck a swab into each resident’s nose, then dropped it into a vial held by another guard member, who then handed it down an assembly line of soldiers until it was placed in an ice-filled cooler.
“If you were to see us, you would think we’ve been doing this longer than we have,” said Peagler, a native of suburban Atlanta, who, like many members of the Guard, had no formal medical experience before the pandemic. “That’s because we’ve had to pick up on it so quickly.”...
...States such as Maryland and Massachusetts have taken steps to mitigate that risk by mandating tests for all workers at long-term care facilities. Georgia does not have such a requirement. It is up to each facility to request tests for its workers....
There is no such thing as being overly cautious, especially with the long term facilities, their residents and staff.
...After visiting the Dawson home on March 27, Capt. Matthew Rushing called his superior officer, Brig. Gen. Randall Simmons, with some troubling news, according to interviews and emails obtained by Georgia Health News and ProPublica.
Nineteen patients had been tested for COVID-19 in the 74-bed facility. The first patient test had just returned positive. Rushing feared it wouldn’t be the last....
Sunday, May 03, 2020
I do want to talk about a growing concern for the stability of Russia. Everyone is focused on SARS-CoV-2 and correctly so, but, there is a worrisome set of events occurring in Russia. Vladimir Putin is literally alone at the top of the government. The danger of Russian nukes falling into the wrong hands is something everyone should be focused on as Russia goes through this instability.
Trump is completely disconnected from these realities and can only think about the price of oil.
It is getting late and I really didn't have much time to prepare for any topic this evening.
I think "World Order" and the fall from grace of the USA is an important topic and it is there I would like to start next time.
Thank you for your interest.
Good night for now.
I wish you peace and health.
Trump is completely disconnected from these realities and can only think about the price of oil.
It is getting late and I really didn't have much time to prepare for any topic this evening.
I think "World Order" and the fall from grace of the USA is an important topic and it is there I would like to start next time.
Thank you for your interest.
Good night for now.
I wish you peace and health.
Will be slightly delayed.
It is 10:11 that is more than slightly delayed.
I wanted to discuss a new film that I think is a documentary about climate science, but, I haven't seen it yet and all I had to work from was a news article.
The film is directed by Jeff Gibbs and its executive producer is Michael Moore. This is a new direction for Moore as he is usually directing his documentaries. I have debated the idea of this Gibbs film being a documentary because he is such a defeatist.
From the fragment of film loops and news articles, I already know this film has to be set straight. It is incredibly negative and basically seems to say, "Why bother."
In this loop below Gibbs states that electric cars are the same impact as gasoline cars. Well, he is flat out wrong. His perspective is to add up all the "manufacturing energy" to make them and then the daily energy surge from everyone returning home after a day of work to plug them in. And of course for Gibbs, the charging energy is coming from a fossil fuel power plant. The coal-fired power plants are leaving the face of Earth and it started some time ago. They no longer provide enormous amounts of employment either.
January 13, 2020
By Scott DiSalvino
U.S. coal-fired power plants shut down (click here) at the second-fastest pace on record in 2019, despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to prop up the industry, according to data from the federal government and Thomson Reuters....
The coal-fired plants produced 32 percent of the USA's carbon dioxide emissions while only producing 9.9 percent of USA power as of 2006. They have been a horrible failure with coal mines of anthracite coal (the cleanest burning coal) completely depleted from the USA.
The only reason coal plants are still talked about is that they serve as political rhetoric that doesn't count the number of Americans dead due to coal mines, black lung disease, and children left without a father. When all that reality is added in and then add the GHG they emit and coal is an antiquated commodity that has no place anywhere as an energy source.
That said, the electric cars are very viable and wind turbines are a real answer for the electric grid of the USA. They don't cause cancer, they don't kill birds and they are extremely quiet when they are running.
Let me say this in defense of the wind turbine and the idea they are worn out in 30 years. Really? 30 years isn't good enough?
Look, one of the reasons environmentalists SHOW UP to fight electric power produced by GHG (greenhouse gases) is due to a strong reality that when the communities of the USA authorize and fund new energy sources it is done every 30 years. So, no means of power sources are every planned to last beyond 30 years.
Then there is the innovation reality and excitement of an entirely new form of investment.
There is a lot to the understanding of SHOWING UP to demand better and more efficient means of power every 30 years. Ask any member of the USNRC and they will tell you once the nuclear plant is built, the life of the source is about 30 to 40 years with authorized refits taking them into the range of 50 to 70 years. It costs more to build and maintain nuclear plants then a wind farm will every cost the American taxpayer and it is much safer than nuclear plants eyed by terrorists.
The most exciting form of alternative energy is "Flower Power." The name of it is "Smartflower."(click here)
This sculpture in the yard is a solar generator. It opens in the AM when the sun comes up, follows the sun across the sky, and then folds up and is stored until the next day. It even has a special wind monitor to close the unit if the wind increases. This accompanied by batteries and Americans can be completely autonomous in the production and use of electrical energy. d
But, this is a separate conversation. As soon as I can sit for the Gibbs film I will write about it again.
No industry is perfect and I am glad someone is discussing any corruption and selling out by supposedly "the people with the answers." There are plenty of groups that have ideas and at least a portion of is a sell out to right-wing politics. So, I welcome Mr. Gibbs to air a film that reveals corruption and complains about inefficiency.
I mean, the energy that it takes to produce a gasoline engine is far higher than that of an electric car. And once it is on the road it really outperforms the gas power car in relation to protecting the climate and providing reassurances to the next generation that they parents haven't completely self-indulged in old ways of life when the future doesn't belong to them.
I think this film loop discusses the population of the world. Earth does have a carrying capacity and it was the environmentalists in the 1960s that stated, population control was vital to QUALITY OF LIFE. Here again, there is nothing by political rhetoric standing in the way that wants to remove birth control from women. It is one of the most stupid ideas that politicians came up with to try to influence the religious right to "vote for me."
It is 10:11 that is more than slightly delayed.
I wanted to discuss a new film that I think is a documentary about climate science, but, I haven't seen it yet and all I had to work from was a news article.
The film is directed by Jeff Gibbs and its executive producer is Michael Moore. This is a new direction for Moore as he is usually directing his documentaries. I have debated the idea of this Gibbs film being a documentary because he is such a defeatist.
From the fragment of film loops and news articles, I already know this film has to be set straight. It is incredibly negative and basically seems to say, "Why bother."
In this loop below Gibbs states that electric cars are the same impact as gasoline cars. Well, he is flat out wrong. His perspective is to add up all the "manufacturing energy" to make them and then the daily energy surge from everyone returning home after a day of work to plug them in. And of course for Gibbs, the charging energy is coming from a fossil fuel power plant. The coal-fired power plants are leaving the face of Earth and it started some time ago. They no longer provide enormous amounts of employment either.
January 13, 2020
By Scott DiSalvino
U.S. coal-fired power plants shut down (click here) at the second-fastest pace on record in 2019, despite President Donald Trump’s efforts to prop up the industry, according to data from the federal government and Thomson Reuters....
The coal-fired plants produced 32 percent of the USA's carbon dioxide emissions while only producing 9.9 percent of USA power as of 2006. They have been a horrible failure with coal mines of anthracite coal (the cleanest burning coal) completely depleted from the USA.
The only reason coal plants are still talked about is that they serve as political rhetoric that doesn't count the number of Americans dead due to coal mines, black lung disease, and children left without a father. When all that reality is added in and then add the GHG they emit and coal is an antiquated commodity that has no place anywhere as an energy source.
That said, the electric cars are very viable and wind turbines are a real answer for the electric grid of the USA. They don't cause cancer, they don't kill birds and they are extremely quiet when they are running.
Let me say this in defense of the wind turbine and the idea they are worn out in 30 years. Really? 30 years isn't good enough?
Look, one of the reasons environmentalists SHOW UP to fight electric power produced by GHG (greenhouse gases) is due to a strong reality that when the communities of the USA authorize and fund new energy sources it is done every 30 years. So, no means of power sources are every planned to last beyond 30 years.
Then there is the innovation reality and excitement of an entirely new form of investment.
There is a lot to the understanding of SHOWING UP to demand better and more efficient means of power every 30 years. Ask any member of the USNRC and they will tell you once the nuclear plant is built, the life of the source is about 30 to 40 years with authorized refits taking them into the range of 50 to 70 years. It costs more to build and maintain nuclear plants then a wind farm will every cost the American taxpayer and it is much safer than nuclear plants eyed by terrorists.
The most exciting form of alternative energy is "Flower Power." The name of it is "Smartflower."(click here)This sculpture in the yard is a solar generator. It opens in the AM when the sun comes up, follows the sun across the sky, and then folds up and is stored until the next day. It even has a special wind monitor to close the unit if the wind increases. This accompanied by batteries and Americans can be completely autonomous in the production and use of electrical energy. d
But, this is a separate conversation. As soon as I can sit for the Gibbs film I will write about it again.
No industry is perfect and I am glad someone is discussing any corruption and selling out by supposedly "the people with the answers." There are plenty of groups that have ideas and at least a portion of is a sell out to right-wing politics. So, I welcome Mr. Gibbs to air a film that reveals corruption and complains about inefficiency.
I mean, the energy that it takes to produce a gasoline engine is far higher than that of an electric car. And once it is on the road it really outperforms the gas power car in relation to protecting the climate and providing reassurances to the next generation that they parents haven't completely self-indulged in old ways of life when the future doesn't belong to them.
I think this film loop discusses the population of the world. Earth does have a carrying capacity and it was the environmentalists in the 1960s that stated, population control was vital to QUALITY OF LIFE. Here again, there is nothing by political rhetoric standing in the way that wants to remove birth control from women. It is one of the most stupid ideas that politicians came up with to try to influence the religious right to "vote for me."
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