This administration in DC and the majority of Congress, including Mitt Romney who has come out of the dark shadows of the GOP as a real human being, is intent on correcting the course of gone-wrong policies. I think the American public should applaud this effort and continue to support the initiative. This very well may be the "Year of the Child" in the USA and I am all the happier for it. The future. Climate is among those priorities and so is child poverty.2 February 2021
February 2, 2021
By Corey Stern...For too long (click here) the burden of our crumbling infrastructure has not been equally felt. As of last January, lead in ageing pipes, contaminated soil and old, peeling paint was found in 3.6m homes nationwide – most of which are concentrated in low-income neighborhoods. I’ve ridden the unhurried roads to justice for communities that have been debilitated by public officials allowing infrastructure to fall into disrepair. I’ve represented thousands of children exposed to lead-based paint hazards in New York City public housing, and I currently represent 3,000 young victims of the Flint water crisis and their parents....
Joe Biden is a magnificent father and wonderful grandfather. It seems a natural place for his administration. The future and American children. Nice and long overdue. They aren't born wealthy and have absolutely no right to decision making in Washington, DC, otherwise, "Flint" would never have happened.
...The Biden administration now has the opportunity – and the obligation – to change that trajectory. He can ensure infrastructure gets modernized while achieving his goals of creating new jobs and holding polluters accountable. Here are three ideas for how he can do it.
First, Biden’s infrastructure plans should include investments to finally deliver clean water and shelter for every American. This is basic stuff, and he doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel to follow through: last year, Senator Cory Booker and the then representative Deb Haaland introduced a proposal to clean up dangerous Superfund sites, replace wastewater systems and lead pipes, and remove lead-based paint in low-income and tribal communities. And of course, Senator Elizabeth Warren has a plan for this too, which mandates that the federal government fully fund drinking water infrastructure and install filtering systems to clean up our drinking water – all while creating 190,000 new jobs. Both of these are good ideas, and they share a common component: putting people to work at a time when jobs are sorely needed, while delivering on a fundamental right for millions of Americans....
Senator Romney first addressed the issue of child poverty a short time ago when he thought a $3000 per year GRANT to every child in the country an appropriate expenditure for the USA government, with income qualifying standards. An amazing proposal, but, considering Mitt's financial well-being and the fact he has many grandchildren I am not surprised his moral side has reflected on how to correct the path for so many children in poverty in the USA. I sincerely believe Mitt Romney to be among the great moral Senators of our time and perhaps all time. I think the US Senate is the perfect place for him and his spouse. May he spend as many years as he likes in that position.
So, in realizing we are just as sick of child poverty as we all can get, this initiative has taken flight and the US House is considering this as a proposal for at least a year and possibly forever. I think it will be successful considering the cost of raising a child in the USA and the fact up to now Congress has mostly cut support for children in the way of food stamps and health care.
The Democrats always had these great programs for impoverished children, but, it has been the mission of the GOP/Plutocrats to cut those programs at every turn. Given the most recent Republican administration that seems to now to not want to go away given Gaetz's stupidity to attack a woman legislator, the entire Affordable Care Act was to be eliminated. So, I really don't want to hear how the GOP loves kids, because they only love money and that is completely clear.
As to Flint, who brings a cannon-type device to a baby shower? Really, America?
February 6, 2021
...Silva (click here) was an attendee at a baby shower where the homeowner fired a small cannon-type device in the backyard to celebrate the baby’s pending arrival, police said.
The cannon blew up upon firing, spreading metal shrapnel that hit Silva, as well as three parked cars and the garage where the baby shower was held.
Silva was standing 10 to 15 feet from the explosion, police said. He was taken to Hurley Medical Center in Flint where he later died from his injuries.
He was one of about five people outside the residence where the cannon was fired and was the only one hit by shrapnel, police said.
The cannon was designed to fire more like a novelty Signal Cannon, which is intended to emit a big flash, a loud noise and smoke, police said....
As to be expected, there are wrongful statements being made about the enormous financial settlement for Flint. Why is it that money makes people do things and say things that simply are not in the realm of "the truth?"
February 5, 2021
By Ron Fonger
Flint - A federal court judge (click here) has ordered a Flint attorney to stop sharing “misinformation” about a proposed $641-million settlement of Flint water crisis civil lawsuits and says all 200-plus people he contacted by mail must be told the information they received was misleading.
U.S. District Court Judge Judith Levy made her ruling after an hour-long hearing with attorney Loyst Fletcher Jr. on Friday, Feb. 5, after other attorneys involved in the settlement requested a temporary restraining order and asked the court to forbid Fletcher from communicating with residents who are already represented by other attorneys in the settlement....
...Fletcher said he contacted 200 or more residents by mail after they called his law office, upset that the settlement agreement does not provide enough money for adults and does not allow them to receive direct refunds for water bills they paid after the city’s water source was switched from Lake Huron to the Flint River and back to Lake Huron again....
...Fletcher said he mailed those residents information, including a form letter they could mail to Levy, that contained “multiple inaccurate statements” about the settlement agreement, “distorts the opt-out procedures,” and “improperly solicits individuals who have been retained by counsel to represent them for their Flint water crisis claim,” the court filing says....
Prosecutors need to keep going in their review of the Flint Water Crisis. These latest charges still haven't finished the depth of corruption leading to the deaths and maiming of so many people. Add two more to the "Michigan 9."
Two former Michigan health officials (click here) were charged Thursday with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of nine people who got Legionnaires’ disease during the Flint water crisis, as prosecutors revisiting how the city’s water system was contaminated with lead and bacteria also hammered a key adviser to ex-Gov. Rick Snyder with extortion and perjury crimes.
Snyder joined a parade of former state and local officials pleading not guilty in Genesee County courts. He’s facing misdemeanor charges of willful neglect of duty in Flint in a case that was filed Wednesday night, the first governor or former governor in Michigan’s 184-year history to face charges related to time in that office....
