On the eve of Christmas, I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas.

15 December 2021
By Kenneth Libbrecht

SNOWFALL in Pasadena, California, (click here) is so rare, it’s almost unheard of. Except, that is, at the California Institute of Technology, where Kenneth Libbrecht can conjure it up using the world’s most sophisticated snowflake-making equipment.

As a physicist, Libbrecht has tackled some fairly epic questions, like the nature of gravitational waves and the internal workings of the sun. But he also has a delightful sideline in the science of snowflakes, which are far more complex and mysterious than you might think. One of the biggest unanswered questions about them is why they appear to come in two distinct types.

Libbrecht went on a 20-year odyssey to solve this mystery. Recently, he published the fruits of that journey in the form of a monograph that runs to more than 500 pages. It contains a kind of grand unified theory of snowflakes, explaining for the first time how and why they grow into the delicate shapes they do.

Joshua Howgego: What got you interested in snowflakes?

Kenneth Libbrecht: One day I was chewing the fat with one of my students and we got talking about how crystals grow and take on shapes. We started thinking about what we could study in this area and I thought: well, water would be cheap and easy. Then I thought: actually, that would be the physics of snowflakes, I wonder how that works? Apropos of nothing – I was just curious – I started reading up on research on snowflakes and I found it really fascinating....

No matter where an American lives it looks as though "caution first" is prudent when travelng. Please.

Remember to get updates at Weather.gov (click here) the USA National Weather Service.

Looks like NORAD is still focused on the North Pole. (click here)

The "Met Office" (click here) in Europe is reporting Santa is over France.

Below right are storm totals thus far for Eureka, California from Weather.gov when clicking on color of warning.

December 24, 2021
By Doyle Rice

Forget (click here) about trying on those new coats or boots if you live in the south-central U.S.: Record, spring-like warmth is forecast to overspread the region into the Christmas weekend.

"Dallas, Houston, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Little Rock and Memphis all stand to match or top the record high for Dec. 25, this Saturday," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Brett Anderson said.

Highs in the 70s and 80s, which will be common for much of the south-central region, are more typical of early to mid-October, he said.

Weather.com meteorologist Domenica Davis said these highs are 25 to even 30 degrees above average for this time of year and that "dozens" of records are likely to be broken.

The National Weather Service in Houston said record highs remain "a very distinct possibility" for Christmas Day as temperatures surge into the lower 80s there....

This is going to sound hokey and a little old fashion, but, I think it is time for a group effort.

Half a century ago, (click here) the Supreme Court settled the matter of when a court can stop a newspaper from publishing. In 1971, the Nixon administration attempted to block The Times and The Washington Post from publishing classified Defense Department documents detailing the history of the Vietnam War — the so-called Pentagon Papers. Faced with an asserted threat to the nation’s security, the Supreme Court sided with the newspapers. “Without an informed and free press, there cannot be an enlightened people,” Justice Potter Stewart wrote in a concurring opinion....

It seems to me if Project Veritas (click here) can defame and accuse at will, there needs to be a newsprint somewhere with the facts. Veritas is obviously more interested in putting mainstream media out of business before the 2024 elections. No one else sees that? Today, CNN, the one channel of news that Trump insisted on insulting regularly and tomorrow then who?

...In requesting the order from Justice Wood, Project Veritas’s lawyers acknowledged that prior restraints on publication are rare but argued that their case fits a narrow exception the law recognizes for documents that may be used in the course of ongoing litigation....

That is so Trumpian. A narrow anything in the law to carry forward the "Big Lie." Give me a break this is a project far less interested in democracy and it's many freedoms so much as overthrowing it.

The Netherlands is doing the right thing for the people.

The available bed space is the problem and to have those vaccinated, but sick with Omicron needing hospital care is more than the health care service can provide.

There have been disasterous episodes in the USA. There have been some poorer cities and states that were overwhelmed by the virus in the beginning and thereafter. I remember the horrible bed statisics from Louisiana. I am certain Netherlands is looking at those episodes and learning from them. There does need to be clinics established for boosters in the Netherlands.

This is a huge problem. There is no balance with the global pandemic because the virus continues to mutate. It is so grossly unfair for a single past president of the USA to cause this level of hardship. At some point the truth of abrupt change in USA policy with scientific observers in China must be brought to light and remedies of justice decided.

The idea China created this virus is ridiculous. Recent explosions in Chinese student laboratories (click here) is proof that China is not even close to being considered a First World country and it's people are still exposed to animal markets that breed deadly viruses.

The current light at the end of the tunnel is that South Africa is proving to have emerged from Omicron and travel restrictions were lifted by the USA. There is still a deficit of vaccine in South Africa. Both the WHO and CDC along with the NIH are still concerned for a greater threat, so the idea this is over is too soon to tell. It would be good if Omicron was the last of the variants. But, as to the Netherlands, it's government is doing the right thing and people need to realize they are lucky if they are free of the most recent variant and the lack of movement is protecting them further.

I might add, this area of the world was hit very hard with storms, floods and devastating destruction to infrastructure. It doesn't make the responsibility any easier now that a virus can cause more hardship.

December 24, 2021
By Senay Boztas

Amsterdam - Since 5 a.m. on Sunday, (click here) bars, restaurants, museums, schools, clothing stores, gift shops and anything resembling fun have been closed across the Netherlands. We’ve become the first European country to go back to lockdown life amid Omicron (until at least early January): It was “unavoidable,” said Prime Minister Mark Rutte. So here we are, looking over the borders enviously at holiday sales and seasonal celebrations in Belgian Antwerp. Once more, it doesn’t look a lot like Christmas.

The Netherlands’ lockdown stands as a warning to the United States, other European countries and Covid hot spots across the globe. The warning, though, isn’t just about Omicron — other countries have more coronavirus cases and worse vaccination rates than the Netherlands does, and they are not locking down (at least yet).

The warning is about policy failures — the failure to start a booster campaign sooner, to spin up free testing capacity quickly when needed, to persuade more groups of the benefits of vaccines and to ensure there are enough beds in intensive care. Now our hospitals are already full of patients who are infected with the Delta variant, and we probably won’t have enough beds for all of the people who need care if the Omicron wave hits vaccinated people hard too....

The formula is a bit more complicated based on whether a person is vaccinated or not.

But, I should not be a monumental task for the CDC or Dr. Fauci from the NIH to formulate recommendations or have a hotline for employers.

I would think the seven day isolation in the nurse recommendation can also be a guide to employers, too.

December 24, 2021
By Lauren Hirsch and Emma Goldberg

Barbara Sibley’s (click here) four New York restaurants had already weathered the city’s initial Covid-19 wave, the prevaccine surge last winter and this summer’s Delta spike when last weekend it finally happened: Fearing an outbreak and struggling with staffing after one of her workers got sick with Covid, she temporarily shut down one of her locations.

That was only the start of Ms. Sibley’s worries. She also had to weigh how long the employee, who was fully vaccinated, should isolate before returning to the job. And the messaging from public health experts was not clear-cut.

In the early days of the pandemic the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that most people who tested positive for the coronavirus isolate for 14 days. It later reduced its recommended isolation period to 10 days. But these policies were based on data from unvaccinated individuals and were implemented before the widespread availability of rapid tests. An increasing number of health and policy professionals now suggest that vaccinated people can end their isolation after five to seven days, so long as they are not symptomatic and they test negative....

Any fines paid to Russia is a national security threat to Ukraine and the USA.

This is censorship. The Russia Roubles are basically worthless anyway, but, $40,000 USD is still more than should be tolerated in paying a fine to the Russian government. The Tech companies should consider removing their exectives from the country, such as Russia and China, and end their companies interest.

The Russian Rouble above (click here) has gained value due to natural gas exports. Worth a little more than a penny now, when natural gas values went up so did Russian curreny. There are a lot of reasons to convent to alternative fuels and Russia is still another reason. Russia achieves income from the petroleum industry.

...The recovery of the Russian ruble coincides with the decline in the dollar exchange rate, during the trading of the Moscow Stock Exchange, to below 72 rubles to the dollar for the first time since last June....

December 23, 2021

A Moscow court on Thursday (click here) said it had fined Twitter TWTR.N 3 million roubles ($40,920) for failing to delete content Russia deems illegal, the latest in a string of penalties against foreign technology firms.

Moscow has increased pressure on Big Tech this year in a campaign that critics characterise as an attempt by the Russian authorities to exert tighter control over the internet, something they say threatens to stifle individual and corporate freedom.

Twitter has denied allowing its platform to be used to promote illegal behaviour.Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Moscow's Tagansky District Court said Twitter had been fined 3 million roubles for failing to delete banned content....

A word from the national weather service.

For complete and up to date weather information check their website (click here). Easy to remember:

https://www.weather.gov/

Arrive alive!

A series of Pacific storms will bring periods of heavy low elevation rain and heavy mountain snow to the Western U.S. through the Christmas weekend. Flash flooding and debris flows are possible in the vicinity of recently burned areas.

9:48 PM · Dec 22, 2021·Twitter Web App

Tic-Toc is a populous website and it is very dangerous.

Tic Toc does not compare to Google in that it exceeds in popularity. Google is a work space and the most popular work space on the planet. Tic Toc is a populous attraction, highly sexual and spawning iconic challenges to the youth of our country in a very unhealthy way. Google is taking responsibility for what is occuring in their internet environment, while Tic Toc is a free for all.

December 24, 2021

Editor:

In the Dec. 18/19 weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal, (click here) the Journal's investigation team pointed out the terrible dangers faced by teenage users of Tik Tok. Teenage girls seem to be especially targeted by this site. Many of the posts on the site urge girls to starve themselves, advocate consuming only 300 calories a day, and promote the so-called "corpse bride" diet, among other life threatening actions. Too many young girls have actually died as a result of following this terrible advice.

I wonder how many parents realize that Tik Tok is owned by the Chinese company Byte Dance, and that Byte Dance is owned and controlled by the government of Communist China?...

There are terrible things occurring do to the lack of cyber regulations. The USA needs to stop this malicous use of American cyber space. This is outrageous. American children have plenty of challenges in growing up, they don't need a cyber space where sexuality and guns are promoted.

December 16, 2021

PECATONICA, Ill. (WIFR) - Pecatonica Schools Superintendent (click here) posted a google document on the districts Facebook page on Thursday, warning parents and teachers of a viral Tik Tok challenge flagged by The Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center.

The document, on official District 321 letterhead reads:

“Subject: TikTok Challenge...

The need for Congress to act to end malicous software is now. This is not a freedom of speech issue and falls into the National Security interest under the Patriot Act. 

I don't see at home testing as a critical statistic.

The postives will show up at the point of care. There is no way reporting from home can be enforced. The at home testing will result in higher reporting of positive results. That is what is important. While some negatives may be reported, the incidence of postitives is what will result as an overriding importance.

Currently, the number of Omicron cases reported exceed that of Delta at it's peak. That could be due to testing. That is a good thing. This is an important holiday to most Americans and it is wise to be safe and to be treated. Soon there will be pill available to Americans that will result in better treatment and conquer the symptoms of the Omicron variant. That is also a good thing.

This holiday season the USA and First World countries need to focus on the Third World. The statistics in the Third World are very poor and why Omicron was reported in South Africa in the first place.

The World Health Organization has voiced it's concern for the administraiton of boosters in the First World Countries. The Third World is as important as the First World in receiving vaccines. The WHO is concerned with still another variant emerging because of the unvaccinated in the Third World. This concern is the fact that Omicron came out of South Africa where vaccines have not reached all the people. These folks want to be vaccinated and they are used to it as well. The Third World countries are some of the most vaccinated people globally.

Infrastructure to vaccinate the Third World is in place thanks to the exceptional work of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. All that is needed is the vaccine. Considering the urgency of this, the First World needs to up their game and begin to produce MORE AND EFFECTIVE vaccine as soon as is possible. The Third World has the same human rights as everyone else on Earth. It is time to realize while other countries are having less incidence of the variants of COVID-19, it is more important than ever that they are vaccinated.

December 23, 2021
By Emily Deruy

With the omicron variant spreading quickly (click here) even among vaccinated people, and pandemic-weary families eager to gather for the holidays, at-home COVID tests are flying off the shelves as fast as stores can stock them. Lines at testing sites across the Bay Area are long, and some places that welcomed walk-ins are now requiring appointments as demand outstrips availability at certain locations.

While health experts say testing is a valuable tool for keeping people safe, all those nasal swabs happening at home this week could actually pose a challenge when it comes to the state’s COVID-19 data and our understanding of exactly where and how the virus is spreading. That’s because the results of the more accurate “PCR” tests done by private and county labs are reflected in California’s COVID-19 data, but the results of rapid tests people take at home are not, which could mean a major undercount....

Primary Manchin

I might add, there are plenty of West Virginians that don't like or approve of the window dressing that earns Shelley Moore Capito (click here) an election.

For the Democrat that is going to primary Joe Machin start now to dispel the lies that support his elections.

The people of West Virginia don't know the truth about the new jobs the Build Back Better bill would bring to West Virginia. They don't know what alternative fuels will do for them? They have children and grandchildren that need to inherit a promising and beautiful future with an Earth that will sustain for millenium.

The people of West Virginia are among the most impoverished in this country and it is a shame that they are and ignorant of the lies that exist to support their political choices. If nothing else a strong, truthful candidacy that seeks out the young people and their families will begin to chip away at the rhetoric that has locked them in servatude all these many decades.

West Virginians are people of conscience and in that they have a right to the truth. 

Every year West Virginia is feed the truth will be a greater and greater success for Democrats and this USA Constitution. The union needs to help to demonstate the LOSS of jobs under Machin and his promise to cronies that ignore the need of the people and the future of their children. I would like to see a union member run to primary Machin and speak the truth to the power of the people of West Virginia.

We can bring the truth to West Virginia, it just has to be done.

Joe Manchin is devoted to the Old World. West Virginia is not moving forward so much as maintaining old paradigms.

I started this entry and was going to post it after Christmas, but, now is a good a time as any.

December 20, 2021
By Jonathan Weisman and Lisa Friedman

Open Secrets (click here)

Washington - Senator Joe Manchin III (click here) on Monday cited a litany of issues that drove him to oppose President Biden’s $2 trillion Build Back Better bill, from Democrats’ refusal to attach work requirements to social benefits to their failure to raise tax rates on the rich. But left almost unsaid was the issue that has always propelled his political career as a Democratic maverick: climate change.

The version of the bill that passed the House last month devoted $555 billion to shifting the nation to renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, and away from fossil fuels like West Virginia coal. Mr. Manchin, who defied gale-force political headwinds in 2010 by running for the Senate on his opposition to President Barack Obama’s climate change legislation, killed a provision in Build Back Better that would have imposed stiff penalties on electric utilities that continued to burn coal and natural gas....

Senator Machin was once governor of West Virginia and it has tainted his ability to place priorities on what is important.

Michael J. Anderson is on the Board of Directors at First Energy in West Virginia. He was also CEO of First Energy before joining the Board (click here). He along with the entire Board of Directors provides Machin with some of his largest donors.

But, that is not all.

I want to portray a state of these magnificent United States that is TRAPPED in the past and never to let go.

The Climate Crisis movement has been an agenda item for a long time. It has been an agenda item for the Democrats from at least 2002-3. I wrote in the "New Source Review" in 2003 that carbon dioxide was a toxic gas when found in large amounts in Earth's troposphere and that Global Warming was real. That leadship after that testimony resulted in the US Senate Chair of the environmental committee to bring about legislation to regulate any effects of carbon dioxide and any other GHG (greenhouse gas) that is forcing change in Earth's climate leading to adverse effects for citizens. The Senator was Barbara Boxer, who we all still miss, but, gave rise to another great Californian, Vice President Harris.

Given that time frame it is easy to say the majority of states in the USA have been moving as they can toward alternative energy sources, such as Solar and Wind. EXCEPT, West Virginia.

US Department of Energy (click here)

c

West Virginia's electricity is 88 percent coal fired plants. Coal is followed by Natural Gas/Methane, Motor Gasolines (it is used to generation electricity), Distilate Fuel Oil ( “distillate fuel oil” includes kerosene, kerosene-type jet fuel, diesel fuels (Diesel Fuels No.1, 2 and 4)). West Virginia hasn't even tried to change it's form of energy supply. I mean, you have got to be kidding me. All these fuels used in West Virginia to produce electricity are high offenders of the Climate Crisis, no exceptions. This state is so backward, it has no forward gear anywhere.

Now, as far as wind energy for West Virginia.

...Annual average wind speeds (click here) around 6.5 meters per second and greater at 80-m height are generally considered to have a resource suitable for wind development....

West Virginia has a corridor of wind that reaches into the 6.5 category. That is the brick and orange category. We all know that transmission lines have to be updated and the Obama Adminstration provided that guidance when he was in office. 

In the topigraphical map below is noted the corridor is the mountain tops. It is easy to say that region is also good for solar. Now, I have been through West Virginia many times and the mountains are signficantly high. Ask any trucker that drives through there on a regular basis. Those mountains also host some of West Virginia's tourist economy. (click here) So, there is always the argument wind mills are unsightly. No more than power lines are and we as a society have accepted their above ground reality for a long time. Power lines also bring electricity to tourists and everyone knows a smart phone is a tourist's best friend for location and safety.

But the lack of will for change is also a moral issue. There are some areas of West Virginia where residents could install solar as a better fuel and sell it any excess back to the grid. But, in all honesty, I don't believe the unsightly issue or private solar panels is the resolve either. I think it is blatant corruption and nothing short of it.

Everyone knows that coal is a huge GHG pollutant. Natural gas is also undesireable but is slightly better than coal in the offense of fossil fuel burning. Ready? I mean like where do you find energy in those mountains except coal? Yes? No.

In 2019, (click here) West Virginia had the third-largest natural gas reserves of any state. It overlies part of the Marcellus Shale area, one of the largest natural gas-producing areas in the nation....

So, I asked myself, where are all the fracking wells? There aren't any that I know of, but, there is a good reason. Everywhere coal exists, coal bed methane exists.

US Geological Survey Report (click here) on coal bed methane in the USA.

There is a problem in West Virginia in that their energy infrastructure is antiquated AND DANGEROUS TO CLIMATE. Better alternatives exist and if West Virginia hired Elon Musk in how to convert energy to GREEN ENERGY for the state he would find a way to bring about a more benevolent energy for West Virginia. Elon Musk is a genius and knows the potential of harnessing energy and has batteries that do the job.

At one point coal was a far cheaper fuel, but, not anymore. Wind is surpassing coal as a far more economical alternative that carries with it morality. If one drives through West Virginia it is difficult to get a radio signal, but, when one finally reaches the in car radio it is usually a program with religious content and that goes for any Rock'n'Roll stations as well. Where is the morality in the energy sector in West Virginia? There isn't any. West Virginia's energy sector is pure unadultered profit driven by cronies to Manchin as old as those mountains. Nothing changes in West Virginia. I mean nothing.

Electricity (click here) routinely flows between the Lower 48 states and, to a lesser extent, between the United States and Canada and Mexico. Electricity generation exceeds electricity consumption in 25 states, and excess electricity is transmitted across state lines—almost 10% of U.S. electricity generation is traded among states. In 2019, California’s net electricity imports were the largest in the country at 70.8 million megawatthours (MWh), or 25% of the state’s total electricity supply. Pennsylvania’s electricity exports were the largest of any state in 2019, at 70.5 million MWh, or 24% of total supply....

The point is there are many, many alternatives for West Virginia to achieve Zero GHG Emissions. There is no excuse for coal fired power plants anymore EXCEPT CORRUPTION. By corruption I mean an unwillingness to change, no matter the reason including crony capitalism.

Cheap costs of living create cheap labor. This is the unwillingness for even governors to change the status quo.

West Virginia is one of the poorest states in this country and the quality of life of residents is far below that of most Americans. There are all kinds of health problems attributed to the coal industry in that state, including exposure of children at school on playgrounds due to wind blown coal dust.

The coal industry DOES NOT support any type of green economy and has been eroding jobs out of the industry as it has become highly mechanized. There are tens of thousands of former coal workers that need retraining and sustainable jobs in West Virginia. The Build Back Better program provides that training and new CLEAN jobs for West Virginia that do not cause health problems. Green jobs do not cause health problems in the workplace and that reduces the cost of health care across the country, including West Virginia.

The Obstructionists in the US Senate are doing it to promote profits for cronies. It is just that simple. The Build Back Better legislation is good for America and will change the danger of GHG to allow a vision for the future of Zero GHG emissions. There is every reason to do this and not one good reason to postpone any of it. 

I thank the United Mine Workers. Magnificent and a strong support of President Joe Biden.

United Mine Workers of America and Who They Represent (click here) West Virginia's Democratic Party needs to "primary" Joe Manchin and provide a strong candidate representing human rights and dignity.

December 20, 2021
By Valerie Volcovici

UMWA and it's' proud history (click here).

Washington - The main union representing U.S. coal miners (click here) urged West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin to reconsider his opposition to the Biden administration's $1.75 trillion climate and social spending bill to preserve measures that would have benefited its members.

United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil Roberts, a long-time ally of Manchin's, said the sweeping bill contained important measures like an extension of funding to aid victims of black lung disease, tax incentives to urge manufacturers to build new factories and employ ex-miners, and protect union workers.

“For those and other reasons, we are disappointed that the bill will not pass. We urge Senator Manchin to revisit his opposition to this legislation and work with his colleagues to pass something that will help keep coal miners working, and have a meaningful impact on our members, their families and their communities," Roberts said on Monday....

How many inmates in jails or prison have been vaccinated with a booster?

May 18, 2021
By Tiana Herring and Emily Widra

Throughout the pandemic, (click here) prisons have been a hotspot for COVID-19, with case rates in prisons between four to five times higher than in the general population. Despite being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, however, most states did not prioritize incarcerated people in their vaccination plans. As a result, seven months since the first vaccines were distributed, just 55% of people in prison have been vaccinated, leaving them vulnerable to infection.

Using data from the UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project, The Marshall Project/AP, and other state-specific sources, we calculated the current rate of vaccinations among incarcerated people in 48 state prison systems and the federal Bureau of Prisons. For our measure of vaccination, we counted anyone who had received at least one dose of a vaccine as of May 14, 2021. Our findings are disheartening:

In 17 state prison systems and the Bureau of Prisons, less than half of incarcerated people have received a vaccine.

Vaccination rates are the worst in Utah, South Carolina, and Alabama where 20% or less of the prison population has received the first dose of a vaccine.
And two states – Florida and Wyoming – have not released any vaccination information at all. Their lack of transparency makes it impossible to hold these Departments of Corrections accountable and ensure they are doing all they can to limit the spread of the virus....

People with good intentions were used for their capacity to build a coup against President - Elect Biden.

I think Jennifer said it best, "That is not okay."

The organizers of January 6th bring an interesting perspective to Trump's real intentions for that day. He hijacked the rally to carry out a coup against the newly elected Pesident Biden. That is exactly what it is. It was a coup attempt by Trump. No one else is responsible for the march on the Capital. Trump diverted the "end of presidency" rally and redirected it to carry out a violent coup against the Rule of Law in the USA Constitution.

To the issue of voter fraud and mail-in ballots. The identity question is best to return to an actual signature when entering the ballot station. "Voter ID" is a very bad idea. It allows elections to become places where personal information can be exploited for many other purposes. It is simply wrong to require any person to provide proof of identity when their signature is all that is needed. Year after year in a voter record book the same signature appears when signing in to vote. There is nothing else needed. The other option is a thumb print next to the signature. If ever one runs into inappropriate activity when voting the thumb print may provide insight into who it may be.

But, im all honesty, I think we are seeing nafarious uses of the Voter ID and it's many laws. Now, lawyers are asking judges to release confidential information to a candidates campaign to determine if any of the persons voting were fraudulent. That is simply unrealistic. Voting should not be a burden so much as a responsibility. There should be a day off on election day and everyone should vote.

Occam's Razor. Simplicity is the best answer. 

 

Moderna has come out to state their mRNA vaccine in two does and a booster is effective against the Omicron variant.

December 20, 2021
By John Woolfolk and Harriet Blair Rowan

The fast-spreading COVID-19 omicron variant (click here) has rocketed to dominance over the highly contagious delta strain across much of the U.S., jumping from less than 13% of sequenced cases on Dec. 11 to more than 73% in a week’s time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Monday.

It was unclear how fast omicron has spread in California — the California Department of Public Health had not updated its variant tracking data and had no immediate comment Monday. But the rapid spread across the rest of the country alarmed infectious disease experts.

“Amazing — this is faster than I expected,” said Dr. John Swartzberg, clinical professor emeritus of infectious diseases and vaccinology at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. “I think this is fair to say: This is explosive.”...

I believe there is a test case in Senators Warren and Booker. (click here) There is no statement as to the variant the two Senators contracted, but, they are ill after being vaccinated and this is the first Level Three Virus that circumvents immunity. So, currently, in looking at Moderna's statement and the two Senators, it is reassuring there is great degree of protection from the variants with a two injection initial shots and a booster. The three shots are providing a really good degree of protection. That is reassuring. We are on the right path with these viruses and there is good news to the efforts by research scientists.

December 20, 2021

Yahoo Finance’s Anjalee Khemlani (click here) explains the latest coronavirus news as Moderna announces the results of its booster vaccine dose against the Omicron variant, COVID-19 cases rise, and Europe braces for lockdowns....

...We've got news out of Moderna saying that their booster shot-- so the half dose compared to the initial course-- is effective against the omicron variant in addition to a full dose suggested as a booster or as an option. They've studied both and have come out with results showing that the half-dose booster is 30-- gives you 37-fold protection against omicron, and a full dose-- that's 100 milligrams-- gives you 83. That's in comparison to Pfizer, which had reported 25-fold increase protection from a booster dose....

.

What the heck?

RUSSIAN OCCUPIED LAND NEEDS TO END!!!!!

...1,500 soldiers (click here) of the Operational Group of Russian Forces in Transnistria (OGRF) are based at the decommissioned Soviet-era ammunition depot at Cobasna, in the unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria. Located just 2km from the Ukrainian border, this depot is the largest in Eastern Europe with around 22,000 tons of military equipment guarded by the Russian troops. Russophile Transnistria had long been a point of cooperation between Russia and Ukraine, who serve as two of the mediators in the international effort to find a peaceful resolution to its separatism. Now, however, it has the potential to open a fourth front in the looming conflict feared by many observers and civilians....

This cannot be tolerated. These are methods of the old and failed Soviet Union. The occupied land needs to dismantled and returned to sovereign countries. THIS IS AN ILLEGAL OCCUPATION BY THE RUSSIANS. After the failure of the Soviet Union, Putin looked around to preserve mlitary sites whereby Russia could keep munitions and soldiers to assault Europe. This is one of those sites. Basically, Ukraine is surrounded by Russian troops and munitions. The current Ukraine military is not up to the challenge, but, if Russia is going to resist it's occupation of these lands that don't belong to them, then there is going to be conflict. Ukraine is being wittled away at to lessen it's strength and promote invasion.

...called on Russia to “urgently formulate a proposal for resumption of the process of removal and destruction of ammunition from the Cobasna site.”... 

There is nothing new here. Russia is simply the Soviet Union with a smaller foot print. These are all failed Soviet tactics. These soldiers are not protecting Russian sovereign lands. They are deployed to harass Ukraine and prepare for a multi-front war to end the sovereign country of Ukraine. That priority is a direct threat to Europe.

...Chisinau has argued that because Transnistria is internationally recognised as Moldovan territory, the presence of Russian troops there against its political will undermines Moldovan territorial sovereignty. Russia contends that the remaining OGRF troops serve as peacekeepers, authorized by the 1992 ceasefire and will remain until the conflict is resolved....

In 1992, Russia wasn't a threat and their peacekeeping was welcome. Enough of this mess with Russia already. Russia is NOT a reliable peace partner anywhere.

Perhaps the United Nations needs to remove Russia as a country willing to provide peacekeepers. These Russian troops need to leave as they have been completely unable to secure the peace for the region. The West needs to formulate deployments into these Russian occupied areas to bring real peace and not just a faux face of Ukraine invasion plans.

The Biden adminisration should hold a USA Police Summit in 2022. There is a crisis in law enforcement.

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster 

"Okeydoke"

December 19, 2021
By Julius Prodis Sulek

Officer Michael Brown (click here) and his police dog Odin burst into the bedroom with a pack of officers from Richmond’s gang unit, and there he was: the intruder hiding under the bed.

It was around midnight as the swarm of police, guns drawn, crowded into the dark, cramped room to capture the 21-year-old man who had barged into a neighbor’s apartment after police showed up at his home to search for a weapon.

But in the shaky glow of their flashlights, they quickly discovered the suspected gang member wasn’t the only one concealed under the bed.

“Hey, there’s a kid under here!” an officer called out with alarm....

This reminds me of another police incident where a show of unnecessary force lead to the death of James Boyd.

March 16, 2021

By Russel Contreras

Albuquerque - A deadly New Mexico police shooting (click here) that happened a year ago Monday prompted angry protests and a murder investigation into the officers involved.

The fallout from the killing of James Boyd, a mentally ill homeless man, provided an early glimpse of the outrage that would spread across the country in 2014 over what critics decried as heavy-handed law enforcement tactics.

Boyd’s death came amid a wave of police shootings in Albuquerque. Mayor Richard Berry called it a game changer and urged the U.S. Justice Department to finish an investigation into the police department so a federal monitor could be appointed....

The issue regarding police violence within the USA is a two edge sword, in that, officers need options and the law abiding public, including those with mental health problems, need protection from them.

The policing with attack dogs is a worry. Of course, it can be a good tool, but, under what circumstances. I see the use of dogs in the USA as a means of detecting illegal drug activity. But, as a routine form of law enforcement, the question arises, once a dog tastes the blood of humans are they still effective in their purpose?

In an issue (click here) described in "The Mercury News" the police officer lost control of the dog. The dog caught by his harness under a porch was interpreting the struggles of the man in pursuit as aggression and became more aggressive and more injury was inflicted. Dogs don't think in terms of civility or crime, they think in "pack mentality" and protection of the pack, even if that pack is one man and one dog. Should the dog ever be "off leash?"

“I attempted to call K-9 Gunnar to my side several times,” Hodges later wrote in a police report, but the Belgian Malinois (click here) “refused to come off the contact ​​as the suspect was screaming, flailing his arms, agitating K-9 Gunnar.”

In speaking to a guard dog trainer it was stated dogs need to own their aggression to know their capacity. They need to experience their own strength in training to understand they are not in danger when they attack a target or in this case a potential criminal.

Dogs, tasers, guns and flash bangs are not the best domestic tools for a police officer in a country that likes to think of itself as civil. Yet, because of capitalism and consumer choices available in the USA, police officers are sadly outgunned by sincere criminals. It seems to me there needs to be a summit that encompases current police practices with current danger to police on the job and current dangers in those practices.

The issues law enforcement face today also include their top killer, COVID-19 and it's variants.

A summit of police enforcement in the USA could include all these issues. There needs to be a vision of future enforcement that doesn't face gun violence and military style weapons in their work. Some of the reasons for the crisis is the authority each individual officer allows themselves as seen in the murder of George Floyd.

But, the future vision for police officers needs to include a higher level of safety from more than the virus, but, also the chance of meeting a criminal that has more power at the end of a gun than the officer does. The USA needs a new vision of law enforcement and that includes an evaluation of danger within the societies where police do their work. 

Are current measures appropriate and what does a society have to do to end the problems police face? That aspect of SOCIETY RESPONSIBILTY is a huge part of the picture no one ever addresses. Why? Because of the profit margins of all aspects of the USA economy. Economists need to be part of a larger picture to target the violence and keep the benevolence.

The summit will have to encompass every aspect of danger for police officers, what causes it and a PLAN to end that danger to return the USA to PEACE WITHIN IT'S BORDERS.

I do not believe police use grievance processes at all to mayors and council to end violence within the city. They simply take it on the chin and that spawns self-righteous attitudes, bonding and strategies outside the definition of good police work.

The full

15.7 day old moon

99.1 percent lit

The Climate Crisis is causing water shortages, wars and creating refugees.

December 16, 2021

By Ben Adler

A herder guarding his cattle. (click here)

Violent confrontations (click here) over increasingly scarce water in Africa have broken out in northern Cameroon, causing more than 30,000 people to flee into neighboring Chad, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. Since Sunday, 22 people have been killed and 30 others seriously injured in fighting between fishermen and farmers, which follows an eruption of violence in August, which led to 45 deaths and forced 23,000 Cameroonians to leave their homes.

The root cause, according to the United Nations, is the dramatic decrease of water levels in Lake Chad, which has lost 90 percent of its surface area since 1963 due to overuse and climate change. “The water body is no longer sufficient to meet the demands of the population who need water to carry out their daily activities,” Benjamin Tonga, a campaigns officer at CIVICUS, a global alliance of civil society organizations based in South Africa, told Yahoo News. The dwindling of water resources has led to fighting over what is left.

“The conflict started in August between herders and fishermen, and it’s all about the sharing of resources and especially of water,” Xavier Bourgois, a spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Cameroon, told Yahoo News. “What they do in that specific region of Cameroon is fishermen dig holes to do fish farming. As there is a lack of water in this region, the cows are naturally attracted by the water, by these huge holes made by the fishermen. That was the beginning of the conflict.”

The herders raise cattle, and when their livestock are drawn to the muddy, water-filled ditches, they can fall in and drown. So angry herders have attacked farmers to punish them for digging the trenches and to prevent them from making new ones, which in turn leads to reprisals. The fighting that broke out as a result led to the displacement of tens of thousands Cameroonians....

The Arctic regions of Earth are a house of cards. One part fails and it opens entire areas to move into the oceans.