It is not enough for an ally or cooperating country to have their military needs met, we have to provide for the people, too.

 "Oligarch Toys" -- The extreme wealth disparities (click here) are glaring between Ukraine's oligarchs and the average person living on $500 a month in Europe's second-poorest (after Moldova) nation. We round-up what we know of the mansions, yachts, jets and other luxuries of the top 5 oligarchs. -- The revolving door continues at Ukraine's almost-bankrupt state railway, on the brink of collapse because of subsidies to oligarchs' steel, coal & metal, a bloated workforce & a history of management in private rather than national interests. -- Hacking is big business now. Ukraine's cyber defenses need to be improved. -- Will Amos Hochstein mitigate the damage of Nord Stream 2? -- Belarus dictator retains firm grip after stealing an election a year ago. -- The 25 Ukrainians who won 19 Olympic medals at Tokyo Games. -- Eugene Czolij: Why Ukraine's renewed independence matters.

There is poverty in Moldova and Ukraine. NATO nations need to address the poverty within these important democracies. The people are allies as much as a country's military. Where there is poverty there are always underlying beliefs about the government that never improves the people's circumstances. NATO allies need to examine more closely the economies of these poorer countries and provide immediate relief to the people in some of the basic needs such as food, clean water, and medical needs. The people are as important as the military in supporting democratic principles that provide a good education to their children and an economy that is always improving to meet their needs. The USA cannot appear to be the bogeyman with the state-of-the-art military while the people wallow in poverty and lack hope. USAID should be strongly at work in these countries and bring about change to end any and all corruption and provide a far better quality of life.

Russia's presence is rather insidious. They send in oligarchs to bring some sort of economic opportunity to the people and in doing so begin to develop propaganda the people will listen to in order to protect their interests in Russian oligarchs and their MOBILE economies. We see this same dynamic in Kentucky with oligarchs that are viewed as essential to any type of economy.

The Oligarch Regimes of Russia MUST END!

The people need heroes and the USA should be supplying them.

Moldova cooperates with NATO on a range of issues. (click here) The main focus of NATO’s cooperation with Moldova is to support the country’s efforts to reform and modernise its defence and security structures and institutions. Moldova is also a valued contributor to the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kosovo....

Russia is running scared since President Biden took office and it should remain that way. These INVITES are typical on many occasions by leadership because these smaller countries are interested in peace rather than a military invasion by Russia. Ukraine lives as a democracy attempting to remove Russian corruption from all of it's citizen and government structures. But, Ukraine's loss of control in Crimea and the War of Donbas are all examples of Russian aggression to avoid. So the leadership in Russia become a diplomatic issue and not a military issue, hence, a prolonged occupation by Russia. NATO needs to engage diplomatically and be involved with the military, but, also the people have to have the promise of democracy and upward movement to a better quality of life to ensure the stability of their democracy, hence economic growth.

With China and Russia becoming a bit of a nightmare when it comes to individual rights and engagement of ideas, I would think Wall Street should be less interested in Russia and China and more interested in allies and cooperating countries to offer ways to stronger economies.

August 12, 2021
By Vladimir Socor

Deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak

The Kremlin (click here) has wasted no time reacting to the positive signals from Moldova’s new, Western-oriented leadership. On August 11, only five days after Moldova’s new government took office, the deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration, Dmitry Kozak, descended unexpectedly on Chisinau for talks with President Maia Sandu and government members. Kozak carries out the Kremlin’s policy toward Ukraine and toward Moldova on parallel, correlated tracks (see below).]

Kozak rushed to be the first foreign official of high rank from any country to visit Moldova after the new authorities came to power. According to the Russian side, Sandu invited Kozak; but the Moldovan side did not mention this (TASS, Moldpress, August 11). It may well have been an informal self-invite by Kozak followed by Sandu’s formal but unpublished invitation....

This is a real problem. We are not doing this correctly. NOT a Friday the 13th joke.

There need to be more forensic pathologists to follow all the COVID-19 variants. We (medical professionals and forensic experts) are allowing variants to fly under the radar.

Lambda has a real potential to be the FIRST Level Three Virus. Yet, because the PATH of these variants is important, the community is putting emphasis on "the virus of the moment," hence, intense tracking on the Delta Variant. While the global community is discussing the Delta Variant, Lambda is spreading widely and only being picked up when sequencing is being done. The sequencing for Lambda is rarely performed and only showed up as it grew in numbers among the people.

The reason Lambda is being sequenced at all is because it is making people sick and they are presenting in the hospital emergency room. If Lambda is presenting with ill and suffering people then it is just as important as Delta if not more so. Why? Because we understand Delta. We know all that we need to know and now it is a matter of numbers of people and CONTACT TRACING where it is realistic to do it. 

IT IS TIME TO MOVE ON to sequence Lambda and understand it ENTIRELY. The focus on sequencing has to take place and it's characteristics known BEFORE it becomes more dangerous than Delta.

The scientific nightmare of a virus becoming stronger than the people's immune system is playing out with Delta. Delta is more contagious and it is making unvaccinated people sick who are then passing it along to vaccinated people that have compromising health situations such as COPD or asthma. 

We need to know more about Lamda! Now! And we need more lab space and staff to adequately identify through sequencing the virus and thorough clinical examination of reporting, the symptoms of patients.

Let's do this thing. It is NOT a waste of time and money to know the enemy better than we know ourselves.

July 22, 2021
By Laurel Wamsley

...Lambda spread (click here)until it became a dominant sequence in people with COVID-19 in Peru. The WHO noted last month an elevated presence of lambda in other South American countries, including Argentina, Chile and Ecuador. And now we know it's present in the United States.

The lambda variant carries a number of mutations with suspected implications, such as potential increased transmissibility or possible increased resistance to neutralizing antibodies, the WHO says. But it says the full extent of those mutations' impact isn't yet well understood and will need further study....

So good to know everything is back to normal.

August 10, 2021
By Thomas Maresca

Seoul - Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, (click here) called joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States a "war rehearsal" and warned that they would inflame tensions on the peninsula in a statement released in state-run media on Tuesday.

U.S. and South Korean forces began a four-day crisis-management training session Tuesday and will hold a combined command post training exercise from Monday to Aug. 26.

Kim Yo Jong called the joint drills "the most vivid expression of the U.S. hostile policy towards the DPRK" and said they were an "unwelcoming act of self-destruction for which a dear price should be paid."

The Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea....

Belarusian refugee found hanged in Kyiv, dissidents feel threatened 

Link: (click here)

or

https://www.kyivpost.com/multimedia/podcast/belarusian-refugee-found-hanged-in-kyiv-dissidents-feel-threatened

Belarus is one of the countries that Russia covets to state proudly that they have an ally in Belarus. That is why the elections are monitored and corruption wins the election in Belarus.

Russia is beginning to look like a stand-alone country except for it's sister, China. It would have been nice for Russia to capture the elections in the USA on a regular basis. it would make Russia's life much simpler.

Motorcycle rallies are not the only place where SuperSpreader events occur.

August 12, 2021
By Sophia Tareen

Chicago - Chicago health officials on Thursday reported 203 cases of COVID-19 (click here) connected to Lollapalooza, casting it as a number that was anticipated and not yet linked to any hospitalizations or deaths.

“Nothing unexpected here,” Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said at a news conference. “No sign of a ‘superspreader event’. But clearly with hundreds of thousands of people attending Lollapalooza we would expect to see some cases.”

The four-day music festival, which started two weeks ago, drew about 385,000 people to a lakefront park. Critics questioned holding the event during the pandemic. Footage showed tightly packed crowds at concerts and on public transportation with few masks in sight. Last year's festival was canceled because of COVID-19....

Does everyone want to get on the same page?? What is a SuperSpreader Event in the way of verifiable numbers. People begin to challenge the validity of their own authorities because there is opposing information about very important information.

August 12, 2021

By Maher Kawash

Chicago -  Chicago's top doctor (click here) said there's "no evidence" Lollapalooza was a "super-spreader" event.

Two weeks ago Thursday, Lollapalooza kicked off.

And on Thursday morning, Chicago's top doctor, Dr. Allison Arwady, gave some answers about cases linked to the big music festival.

It's been two weeks since Lollapalooza, so it's right in the timeline to see any infections linked to the festival.

To this point, the city has held its ground, saying it does not regret hosting Lolla, which saw crowds of more than 100,000 people each day of the weekend festival.

Arwady said Chicago health officials did not see anything that "surprised" them in regards to COVID cases linked to the music festival....

A total of four Capitol police officers have died of suicide.

This is what the Trump Insurrection has done to the good men and women that protected our legislators and Former Vice President Pence that day. AND there are current legislators in the House and Senate that are using this insurrection to garner support for their elections. It is outrageous this is occurring.

Surgeon General Vice Admiral Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA needs to commission a slate of doctors to examine each one of the Capitol Police and DC Police regardless of whether they were on duty or not on January 6, 2021. The members of the commission need to be expert psychologists and psychiatrists to determine the best way forward for EVERY Capitol Police Officer.

The financial circumstances need to be assessed as well, perhaps by Treasury Secretary Yellen's commission. They are doing the nation's hard work. They deserve to be brought up to their standard of quality of life because they were hit by the pandemic as well as the loss of fellow officers. Police Officers no matter where they are become effected by the death or deaths of other officers.

The Capitol Police Officers and DC Police need to be decorated for their heroic struggle with the insurgents and held their ground until the National Guard was able to respond and end the insurrection. Speaker Pelosi could bring about a unique metal for every officer in the Capitol Police Force and the DC Police Force. I would also encourage the Mayor of Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser, to commemorate the day of January 6th in recognition of the brave men and women that came to aid the Capitol Police that day. They are valued in measures beyond imagination. They saved our US Constitution that day.

These people saved our country from the loss of order and the USA Constitution. Their heroics are no different than a soldier in the field. They are amazing men and women that serve in this capacity. We need to bring their feats to light and award them accordingly.

I hope the families of the deceased officers are being rightfully compensated to assist in their stability. I am not familiar with what support Capitol Police families receive, but, a Spouse's Auxillary would be a way of them being together to know each other and support each other through difficult periods of the country. There is every reason to bring about a good resolution to their heroics in making them the center of a very dangerous and necessary job on the Capitol Grounds.

August 2, 2021
By Kevin Breuninger and Dan Mangan

Two more Washington, D.C., (click here) police officers, Gunther Hashida and Kyle deFreytag, died by suicide in the months after defending the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 riot by Trump supporters.

Jeffrey Smith of the D.C. Police and Howard Liebengood of the Capitol Police, previously died by suicide within a month of the attack.

The riot began after then-President Donald Trump urged supporters to march to oppose a joint session of Congress confirming the election of President Joe Biden....

You can tell by looking at the graph this new wave of Delta Variant is far worse than it's parent COVID-19.

COVID - 19 New York Times graph (click here)

Take a good look at all the inclines to the wave of the COVID-19 and it's variants. Which incline going up is steeper? Yes, that is correct, the current one. The winter of 2020 into 2021 has the steepest decline, but, the current Delta Variant spreads faster, infects the host, and rampages through the body faster damaging the ONLY SET OF LUNGS A PERSON HAS.

What is the latest census of people with COPD, asthma, and emphysema? It would be easy to track escalations in lung disease because the inhalers are being sold at a higher rate than before.

Then take a look at the demand for other medications, like heart disease medications, mental health medications, appointments for rehabilitation after hospitalizations. There are ways of deciding what the exact toll is of these viruses and whether there were adequate precautions by state governors.

With this graph alone there is reason to keep schools closed. Then add the nightmare scenario of IGNORANT parents and children that contract the viruses and there is even more reason to keep the children enrolled in distant learning and home. That is especially true for the children of minority parents. 

August 9, 2021
By Emily Anthes

Pilar Villarraga had spent much of the summer (click here) counting down the days until her daughter Sophia’s birthday. In early August, Sophia would turn 12 — and become officially eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine. “I didn’t want her to start school without the vaccine,” said Ms. Villarraga, who lives in Doral, Fla.

And then, in late July, just two weeks before the milestone birthday, Sophia caught the coronavirus. At first, she just had a fever, but on July 25, after four quiet days convalescing at home, her ribs began to hurt. The next day, Ms. Villarraga took her to the emergency room, where chest X-rays revealed that Sophia had developed pneumonia. She soon began coughing up blood.

Sophia was promptly admitted to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital, in Miami. Her parents, and their friends, were in shock. “I didn’t think that kids could get that sick,” Ms. Villarraga said.

Why would anyone think that? Why would any rational adult in the USA think that children were not going to get violently ill and possibly die? It is all politics and the politics are deceiving Americans and making them and their children ill. BECAUSE if a parent, like Ms. Villarraga, doesn't think that children could get that sick from the killer viruses among us, then Ms. Villarraga is getting BAD INFORMATION from a source she trusts.

Amazing. After all the death in this country that is illustrated in the shortening longevity of Americans, people can't see the forest for the trees. Absolutely, Amazing.

130 children were admitted to hospitals across the entire country with the same problem, they were sick from deadly viruses. If that rate continues, which will probably increase after children return to school and winter sets in, but, 130 children hospitalized over a year is more than 45,000 children. Are there 45,000 pediatric intensive care beds in the USA on an annual basis? If there is not a census of pediatric intensive care beds in the USA to match the census of children, then the country needs to get busy building them.

Not only do pediatric intensive care beds need to be in line for this variant, but REHABILITATION beds for children exposed to these viruses will also be ultimate long haulers that need to be treated for their impairments and disability. The American people think there are too many special needs kids now, wait, you ain't seen nothing yet.

But Sophia was one of roughly 130 children with Covid-19 who were admitted to a U.S. hospital that day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number has been climbing since early July; from July 31 to Aug. 6, 216 children with Covid were being hospitalized every day, on average, nearly matching the 217 daily admissions during the pandemic’s peak in early January....

"Morning Papers" 

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

August 9, 2021

Justice Department (click here) says it intends to release some secret 9/11 files on Saudi Arabia....

"Good Night, Moon"

The new 

0.5 days old

0.3 percent lit

August 7, 2021
By Brian Lada

One of the best meteor showers (click here) of the year will unfold next week during arguably the best time of the year to enjoy a night gazing up toward the heavens. And this year's edition will be enhanced by the moon phase.

The night of Wednesday, Aug. 11, into the early morning hours of Thursday, Aug. 12, is the peak of the popular Perseid meteor shower. It is often touted as the best annual meteor shower, in part due to the weather.

“The Perseid meteor shower offers a consistently high rate of meteors every year and it occurs in August when the temperatures are usually nice enough for a night under the stars,” the American Meteor Society (AMS) explained on its website.

Only December’s Geminid meteor shower boasts more meteors per hour, but cloudy and cold weather often accompanies the peak of this event across North America....

Corruption is knee deep with Trump and his minions.

August 6, 2021
By Jacob Bogage

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy

The U.S. Postal Service (click here) will pay $120 million over the next five years to a major logistics contractor that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy previously helped lead and with which his family maintains financial ties, according to DeJoy’s financial disclosure statements and a federal contracting database.

The new contract will deepen the Postal Service’s relationship with XPO Logistics, where DeJoy served as supply chain chief executive from 2014 to 2015 after the company purchased New Breed Logistics, the trucking firm he owned for more than 30 years. Since he became postmaster general, DeJoy, DeJoy-controlled companies and his family foundation have divested between $65.4 million and $155.3 million worth of XPO shares, according to financial disclosures, foundation tax documents and securities filings.

But DeJoy’s family businesses continue to lease four North Carolina office buildings to XPO, according to his financial disclosures and state property records....

You got that? 

XPO Logistics purchased DeJoy's Trucking firm, New Breed Logistics. In the purchase agreement, DeJoy became the new Supply Chain Chief Executive for at least a year. 

Now, that he is Post Master General the company XPO Logistics will be working for the US Postal Service and pulling in $120 million over 5 years. 

DeJoy was appointed to the position of Post Master General in May 2020. 

This is the price trajectory of XPO Logistics. This is pure unadulterated corruption. DeJoy and his family's business continues to collect millions from the XPO Logistics in leases.

This needs to be reviewed by the Inspector General and also to discern if this was a no-bid contract to XPO Logistics. There have been a lot of no-bid contracts under Republican administrations.

It is amazing the blatant corruption this man has dealt himself. And he has nearly crippled the constitutionally protected US Postal Service and it's union. The union is there to protect our postal workers from jerks like DeJoy. This is amazing. It took place in the open and he simply didn't give a damn so long as he got his millions out of the hard work of US Postal Workers over centuries of time. They are monsters. He and Trump are monsters.

The European Bank of Reconstruction and Development is lending $20 million for the best Ukraine electric car.

A pair of electric cars (click here) stand outside Bank Agricole's designated electric vehicle parking zone on Oct. 1, 2019, on Pushkinska Street in central Kyiv. The EBRD loaned $20 million euros ($24 million) to automotive importer Winner Group to update its facilities and help the company invest in electric vehicles, according to the bank’s press release published on Aug. 6. 

Things are looking up in Philadelphia.

August 7, 2021
By Allison Steele

Lauren Pierre, 25, gets inoculated with the COVID-19 vaccine at Delaware County Wellness Center in Yeadon on Saturday. Pierre said she wanted to get vaccinated because she is going to work in a health-care profession.

As Lauren Pierre spent 2020 (click here) completing her kinesiology degree from Temple University, and learning what health-care workers have endured since the coronavirus pandemic began, she became more committed to her goal of someday working in an emergency room.

There is a real American. Nothing too dangerous to protect and save lives. Amazing. The other side of that is compassion and dedication are real clowns in this country that don't believe vaccinations are worth the time to get it.

This is what is so frustrating in this country. Health Care Workers have died attempting to save lives. They even became bedside family because patients are not allowed to have visitors. When there is a bike rally and the lives of nurses, doctors, and other staff such as nursing assistants and transport workers are in danger again. How can we tolerate such immature and completely irrelevant behavior by other Americans. THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT OTHERS AND THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE COUNTRY! The USA still has the highest infection rate numbers and the highest number of deaths. Nothing makes an impression on these bozos.

So even though she’s questioned the COVID-19 vaccines, wondering whether they were safe and whether getting one would make her part of a test group, her ambition to join the medical field won out. On Saturday she got her first shot of Pfizer-BioNTech at a clinic in Delaware County, and felt immediate relief.

“As I pursue a career in medicine, I have to get it,” said Pierre, 25, who lives in North Philadelphia. “Especially if I’m going to be pushing it on people.”...

"The Lambda Variant burns through the lungs faster."

August 5, 2021

By Katherine Fung

Experts are beginning to monitor (click here) another highly transmissible mutation of the coronavirus as the Delta variant continues to sweep across the nation and fuel the most recent surge in cases.

The Lambda variant, which was first documented in Peru and has been spreading predominately in South America, was only flagged as a "variant of interest" by the World Health Organization (WHO) on June 14.

While much remains to be known about the variant, experts have been wary that its rapid spread could mean that the mutation is more infectious and more resistant to vaccines than the original strain....

Vaccines have not been proven to work against the Lambda Variant.

July 7, 2021

By Keristen Holmes

San Diego - The State of California (click here) lifted its COVID-19 restrictions less than a month ago and now news of variants has doctors all across the globe concerned. First, the Delta variant that's been found in California. Now the Lambda variant out of South America has been deemed the variant of interest by the World Health Organization.

Yaneer Bar-Yam is a professor and the President of New England Complex Systems Institute. It’s his job to study and find scientific solutions to real-world problems like COVID-19. 

"The Lambda Variant is the latest in a string of variants that makes it more difficult for us to control the disease. They infect quicker and they burn through your lungs faster," Bar-Yam said. 

He’s concerned about this latest variant.

“This is not a mild disease and we should be doing everything we can to get the cases down. We should know by now that if it's not this variant it's going to be another that's going to really raise the bar in terms of danger to people and the difficulty in stopping it from spreading," he said. 

When Bar-Yam compares the Delta and Lambda variants, he said, “It's [Lambda] becoming a concern that maybe it will even be faster than the Delta as far as spreading."...

This is a major victory for Cook County. The protections work and small victories become big victories in time.

August 6, 2021
By Morgan Greene

An adult-size osprey sits in a nest in Busse Woods, part of Forest Preserves of Cook County, on July 9, 2021, in Elk Grove Village. Workers had hoped to band some ospreys this morning, but some were too large to safely remove from the nests. 

It’s not too late to see an osprey flying overhead or swooping down to seize a writhing fish out of water — both remarkable sights in Cook County considering the birds not long ago essentially disappeared from Illinois.

The dark-topped, white-bellied raptors — still a threatened species in the state — have made a comeback. Their return is credited to an environmental cleanup that includes the 1972 ban of the pesticide DDT, and to human help: For decades, platforms on top of towering poles have been added throughout the Cook County Forest Preserve District to create a safer version of the birds’ preferred treetop nesting habitat.

This season, 14 nesting pairs settled down on platforms as high as 90 feet throughout the county; 11 of those pairs survived the summer, after tornadoes ripped through the suburbs.

The Forest Preserves team tries to band young ospreys so the birds can be recognized if they’re lucky enough to touch down in following years. Local nests usually turn up one to three young birds, said Chris Anchor, a longtime biologist with the Forest Preserves. But peering into a nest is always a surprise....

While on the topic of inhumane treatment of people, there are issues in Hungary.

This is NATO. This started under Trump when he was carrying on about members of the armed forces being gay and transgender. The USA, as an ally, must protect the lives of all the people in Hungary and not leave out any simply because of hate or prejudice. That is exactly what this is, prejudice and it has to stop.

Trump made a huge issue out of the spending in NATO by the USA. That along with USA military policy changing with Trump, this prejudice began to grow to protect from any wrath Trump might cause NATO. We all know what horrible anger he demonstrated internationally. The "small hand" thing carried over to end handshaking with Trump by some other leaders. The circus never stopped and neither did his mouth.

USAID needs to work with the Hungarian government to bring about an understanding of the people caught up in a legislative pedophilia act. They are honest hardworking people and they are valued as very important within the armed forces of the USA. They should be valued as important citizens of Hungary as well.

The USA cannot allow such prejudice to exist because it will reflect on the readiness of our allies to work with USA troops.

Hungary has been considered a solid NATO partner (click here) since it became a member of the alliance in 1999. Today, it has troops in Kosovo and Afghanistan and contributes to the Baltic air policing mission. Meanwhile, its defense spending has remained low, amounting to just 1.22 percent of the country’s gross domestic product in 2019.

However, Hungarian defense spending has significantly accelerated, with a major focus on force modernization. In its 2020 national budget, Hungary is expected to increase its defense spending by 20 percent, for a total defense budget of 616 billion forints, or $2.1 billion. Hungary is on track to reach the goal of 2 percent defense spending by 2023. Much of the defense budget increase has occurred since the beginning of the Trump administration, with Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó emphasizing President Donald Trump’s call for European countries to ensure their own security.

Hungary is purchasing Saab Gripen fighters to replace its aging Soviet fighters....

August 8, 2021

The Hungarian government’s controversial anti-LGBT law, (click here) passed in June, will apply near churches as well as schools, according to a new official decree.

The NATO member country's so-called Anti-Pedophilia Act was originally aimed at enhancing penalties for child abuse, but amendments have been added banning the "promotion of homosexuality" or gender reassignment to minors.

The latest decree will go into effect in 30 days, the government said late on August 6.

Amnesty International’s Hungarian office in reaction to the latest announcement insisted on August 7 that the law will "fail sooner or later."

"In the meantime, it is the responsibility of all of us not to give in to the government's vile incitement to hatred," the group said in a statement.

Following passage of the law, thousands of people joined the annual Budapest Pride march on July 24 in a show of support for the LGBT community and to protest the legislation.

The law, which came into force last month, has become a target of Europe’s LGBT community and their allies, putting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s conservative government again at odds with Brussels....

These are the human beings that bring food to the American table everyday.

This is the global era of accountability and correctly the path of inequality. Americans eat a lot of food every day. Recent accountability for food that is thrown away every day has begun in the USA.

There is no reason for food insecurity in this country. To that is the understanding that every American household has enough food for a fair price. A fair price doesn't mean cheap. The food assistance programs would have to be adjusted if there is going to be respect for the food laborers in the field and their need for a good wage and fair treatment.

Graham and Manchin sat around on a house boat in DC Harbor somewhere sipping moonshine and dreaming up how to bring cheap labor back again.

More about inhuman goals for guest workers by some legislators (click here)

Senators Graham & Manchin Introduce Anti-Worker, Anti-Immigrant Bill to Radically Expand the Flawed and Exploitative H-2A Program On July 22, 2021, 

Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) (click here) introduced a bill, S.2443, that would radically expand the flawed H-2A temporary agricultural worker visa program, causing harm to countless U.S. and foreign workers in agriculture and other sectors. The bill would end the requirement that H-2A jobs be “temporary or seasonal” and expand the definition of agricultural labor in the H-2A program to new industries such as wild seafood processing, fish farming, care of horses, and potentially landscaping. The dangers of the Graham-Manchin proposal are clear: A massive influx of captive temporary visa workers in these sectors would place downward pressure on wages and working conditions for U.S. workers and guestworkers alike. The bill fails to address the most urgently needed immigration reform: a path to immigration status and citizenship for undocumented workers in these sectors....

Florida does NOTHING to protect Agricultural Workers

Interactive Map for the country (click here)

Wages and Overtime (click here)

Minimum Wage

• Florida has a state minimum wage law. (Fla. Const. Art. X, § 24, Fla. Stat. § 448.110)
• The current state minimum wage is $8.65/hour.
• On September 30, 2021, the minimum wage will increase to $10.00/hour. It will then increase each year by an additional $1/hour until it reaches $15.00/hour on September 30, 2026.
• On September 30, 2027 and on each subsequent September 30th, the minimum wage will increase by the rate of inflation and the consumer price index or by a successor index calculated by DOL.
• There are multiple wage rates for different occupations such as tipped workers.
• The minimum wage provision is implemented through the Florida Minimum Wage Act, which has several procedural requirements that must be met before filing suit. (Fla. Stat. § 448.110(6))
• Agricultural worker coverage is co-extensive with FLSA. Agricultural workers exempt from FLSA are also exempt from the Florida minimum wage law.

FLSA - Fair Labor Standards Act (click here)

'We didn't expect a monster like this'

That's right, they never expected it because they don't have a government at any level with programs in place to educate the public. One day everything is normal and the next day the house is burnt to the ground. Tough luck, the governments in the USA haven't believed in the climate crisis until Obama and now Biden. Obama did what he could and not President Biden is looking for enough funding to make up for decades of neglect.

FEMA advises citizens when they are living on a flood plain, not to build there again. Now, they have to advise citizens that it would be very difficult to rebuild because the infrastructure like road signs and water pipelines are gone, indistinguishable or polluted.

"How to Return Home Safely After a Wildfire." (click here)

The Paradise fire killed people while some people got away with their lives. Why? Why did that have to happen?

BECAUSE AMERICANS LIVE IN DENIAL OF THE DANGERS OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS.

Even after Paradise, people are still saying, "We didn't expect a monster like this."

WHY NOT?

No state in the country is more conscientious than California about climate. Yet, they do not even entertain the thought that such a disaster could destroy their idea of happiness. This is not a Governor's fault, this is a matter of the federal government over decades of the time ignored ALL THE WARNINGS. The federal government should have started back in the 1960s when Earth Day was founded to bring the public into politics to end this disastrous trend. Earth Day is not a child exercise in school.

Americans should be ashamed to lack the knowledge that this is now a reality in their lives.

August 8, 2021

By John Bacon

US Drought Monitor (click here)

Thousands of homes (click here) were threatened Sunday as the largest single wildfire in California history raced through hundreds of square miles of tinder-dry woodland and brush.

The Dixie Fire was less than a quarter contained after burning through more than 700 square miles in Northern California's Butte, Plumas, Tehama and Lassen counties. At least 400 homes and other structures have been destroyed, Cal Fire said.

The fire was the largest among more than major 100 wildfires in 15 states. Those fires have burned more than 3,500 square miles, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

"The fire outlook continues to reflect warmer and drier conditions leading to the high potential for severe wildfire activity throughout the (West) through the rest of summer and into the fall," the fire center warned Sunday. "Widespread high temperatures ... with periods of lightning activity continue to exacerbate the wildfire situation."...

From the New York Times a fascinating article about how parents love their children.

All I have to say is, "That's right there are children that were homeschooled for the first time because their parents loved them." Does that mean other parents don't love their children? I can't answer that. These children are home, healthy, happy, learning at whatever pace they could maintain and they don't have heart conditions after vaccination.

Some parents rely on school and after-school programs in order to work. There are plenty of jobs not filled in the USA. How many of the people not going back to work are keeping their children home because the pandemic gave them a chance to regroup and set priorities they could not before?

Sometimes life throws you a curveball. You make the best of it and hold your children, your elderly parents close, and find a way.

Chicago schools did not have sessions last year. Why? Because the teachers didn't want the children exposed to a very bad virus. They took a stand as a unionized group and told the school administrators, "We ain't teaching and RISK the lives of the very children we hold dear every day." There were school lunch programs carried out and other supplemental efforts for children reliant on the Chicago Public Schools for their well-being, including meals. THE PARENTS WERE HOME in the beginning of all this disaster. They weren't working.

I love the public school system in this country, but, enough is enough. No one person who is a governor or superintendent has the right to place children AT RISK when there are other paths to follow. 

I have to mention this. Look at all those states that didn't even keep records. There is one or two Blue States, but, they are primarily Red States. Either they don't want to spend the money to understand the people of their states or they like to hide statistics so it doesn't complicate elections or both. That is amazing. When are Republicans going to stop being terrified by their own actions? Because that is what record keeping and graphs like this reflect, the more quality of government when the facts are known. It's a darn shame. A global pandemic and they don't give a hoot about how the people are doing.

How many states cut unemployment benefits to FORCE and INTIMIDATE people to return to work? Why? Because they wanted to protect their families? Something wrong with that in states where no one cares about securing them away from a potentially fatal virus that DEFINITELY maims EVERY PERSON infected.

August 7, 2021
By Dana Goldstein and Alicia Parlapiano

As the pandemic took hold, (click here) more than 1 million children did not enroll in local schools. Many of them were the most vulnerable: 5-year-olds in low-income neighborhoods.

Philadelphia - On a sweltering July afternoon, Solomon Carson, 6, jumped off the stoop of his family’s tidy rowhouse in West Philadelphia, full of what his father, David, called “unspent energy.”

When a stranger asked his name, he answered brightly, but added that he couldn’t spell it. “I can help you with that,” his father said, patiently pronouncing each letter, with Solomon repeating after him.

Solomon was supposed to have learned the basics in kindergarten this past year, but his first year of formal education was anything but.

When Covid-19 closed classrooms, his parents chose not to enroll him in city schools that they already had doubts about. As they were not working, they decided to teach him at home along with his two older brothers. And they signed him up for a virtual charter school that advertised in-person tutoring — and failed to provide it.

Now, as Solomon heads to first grade, Mr. Carson is cleareyed about where his son stands academically. “I really think we can improve,” he said.

Solomon is part of a vast exodus from local public schools.

As the pandemic upended life in the United States, more than one million children who had been expected to enroll in these schools did not show up, either in person or online. The missing students were concentrated in the younger grades, with the steepest drop in kindergarten — more than 340,000 students, according to government data....