Friday, March 11, 2022
Thank you, Mary Barre..
Thursday, March 10, 2022
The exodus of Wall Street from Ukriane.
Goldman Sachs is leaving Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.
I think it is appropriate to recognize the sacrifice these larger corporations are making in leaving these countries. While diplomacy assists in setting up a path to enter a country and bring prosperity, there is still a lot of investment in real estate and the process of competently setting up a profit structure that provides shareholders their percentage.
I think we need to realize how there is a downside to doing the right thing for Wall Street. I can't fathom a guess to what it is costing a firm like Goldman to rip up their roots and move on.
I am sure the CEOs had great hopes for their venture into Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. It has had to be difficult bringing a team together to successfully rip up their roots and call it a failure to some extent in the face of blatant aggression by a Russian president they had come to trust.
It wasn't as though the recent past tells us anything except to proceed cautiously.
PUBLIC LAW 112–208—DEC. 14, 2012 (click here)
On December 7 (2020) —following years of debate (click here) among member states—the European Union finally adopted the European Magnitsky Act, establishing a global human rights sanctions regime that allows the EU to freeze the assets of, ban entry to, and prohibit dealings with human rights abusers wherever they may be located. The EU joins the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, which have similar Magnitsky legislation. The European Magnitsky Act has some limitations, but if implemented and enforced consistently, it has the potential to make a large impact in the global fight against human rights abuse because of the opportunity it creates for the United States and Europe to coordinate their efforts together....
A presentation of history that is absolutely incredible.
This is an absolutely stunning reality of Ukraine and historical violence. (click here)
It is no surprise Ukraine can only be governed by Ukranians.
They thought they were safe this time. No NATO membership, dismantling of any nuclear weapons, pledged to peace and neutrality and a strong anti-corruption agenda. Public officials that were young, vital with profiles that dictated peace and not aggression.
I guess so long as their are despots in the world trying to portray a peaceful, non-violent stance is worthless. Unfortunately. Even dangerous.
I applied to work and was accepted to help with the census. I was never asked to work.
March 10, 2022
By Bill Keveney
The nation's Latino population (click here) was undercounted in the 2020 census at a level more than three times that of the 2010 census, according to estimates U.S. Census Bureau estimates announced Thursday.
The Black population along with Native Americans living on reservations also were undercounted at higher levels in the 2020 census, while non-Hispanic white people and Asian Americans were overcounted, according to comparative demographic data released in conjunction with a Census Bureau virtual presentation.
Census officials acknowledged unique challenges with the 2020 census, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns in 2020.
A nearly 5% undercount of Latino people was more than three times larger the population's 2010 undercount (1.54%), marking the biggest differentiation by far for any racial or ethnic group since 2010....
Only one witness is necessary to prove ethnic cleansing. I am confident there are others.
By Rachel Bunyan
The man, a platoon leader in Russia's military according to Ukrainian authorities, said Vladimir Putin had ordered the troops to occupy the city of Kharkiv before advancing and capturing other Ukrainian cities.
The soldier, who has not been named, said they were told to 'open fire' on the civilian population in Kharkiv, after they landed in Ukraine at the beginning of Russia's barbaric invasion on 24 February....
Doctors Without Borders
Needless to say, the bombing of the hospitals in Ukriane have their attention.
It is an organization that values women's leadership (click here).
They go where the patients are. (click here)
FACT!
I have received word that a Scottish man has been killed in Ukraine. How many of the dead are foreign nationals? Will we ever know? Are some in mass graves? This widow has her husband coming back to her for a proper funeral. At the very least, NATO has a right to be involved. Obviously, NATO beiieves their distancing from the war in Ukraine will satisfy Putin to prevent a greater war. There should be a descriptor that goes along with that idea, "...for now."
The lies keep mounting. Russia has a long history of never acting to end the Syrian attacks on civilians either, be they hospitals or barrel bombs of chlorine. Here again, if those attacks are by militias, they belong to the insurgents of the civil war in the east. Putin has no control over his allies. That is an excuse since he is arming them.
Ukraine said three civilians died (click here) after Russia bombed a maternity hospital in Mariupol on Wednesday.
Russia's foreign minister said Thursday, without giving evidence, that it was occupied by Ukrainian militia.
Multiple images showed bloodied civilians being rescued from the wreckage.
Wednesday, March 09, 2022
McDonald's is still paying it's employees from Ukraine.
It is costing something like $50 million per day or something to shut down the restaurants and pay the people that worked there. Some of those people may be moving to surrounding countries. They should seek out employment in those countries with McDonalds as soon as they get there.
Those same people are going to be new consumers once they get their feet under them. They will be looking to settle into housing at least temporarily. That is a lot of new consumers for those countries as well as refugees. They are also bringing children for McDonald's Playland.
Those same people once employed again will need Amazon and all the other resturants and merchants in their new place to live for right now. Perhaps, someday, they will return to Ukraine, but, until then they will be more than refugees, but, additional consumers as soon as they find work.
This is just one of Putin's Big Lies.
Now Russia (click here) accuses US of 'experimenting with bat coronavirus samples' and carrying out research on ANTHRAX in Ukraine as White House warns Putin could use chemical or biological weapons after spreading 'preposterous propaganda'
These are the people of Mariupol.
Mass graves, the method resorted to when dictators rule. This is ethnic cleansing. I will tell you why. It is one thing for a powerful country to demand land as it's own and warn the people they have a certain amount of time to decide to stay or leave. It is something else to simply decide a local civil war isn't accomplishing it's goal and invade ruthlessly and relentlessly to kill as many people as possible with hatred measured only by a death count.
They are dead and their children and grandchildren dead because Putin doesn't want insurgents. He wants the land, not the people.
Putin wants his own DMZ (demilitarized zone).
He wants the port for whatever reason he thinks it is important. There won't be much trade going to The West out of that port now or in the future. He expected The West to look the other way because their money was more important than these peoples' lives.
President Zelenskyy may be correct. The West might be looking the other way at World War Three. Could be. The question is does Vladimir Putin love Russian people more than his hate wants to kill everyone else? He lies to them on a regular basis, he doesn't seem to think their opinion is important at all. He is probably so far gone in his ideology he just sees his power as a vehicle rather than a presidency.
Graphic images (click here) show mortuary workers digging trenches 25m long at one of the old cemeteries in the besieged port city of Mariupol, and making the sign of the cross as they pushed dead bodies wrapped in carpet or bags over the edge
According to some reports...
...there are more than 20,000 battle hardened soldiers that have volunteered to President Zelenskyy's call.
This is interesting.
Russia is likely sending paid mercenaries into Ukraine to help along its invasion of the country, a British government ministry said.
This is being reported today, about TWO days ago the cases of financial abuse I am following of elderly women in the USA had an uptick within an hour of each other. I suppose one can read that for what they want, but, within an hour as if a call went out and the men needed money? Really. One man is in Somalia, the other in Turkey and the third in Doha, Qatar. Two European white guys and an Arab that claims he is a USA citizen.
It is anyone's guess.
The government of President Vladimir Putin “almost certainly maintains extensive links” with Russian companies that sell mercenary fighting services, the U.K. Ministry of Defence.
I always thought there was a sovereign country involved in this mess. I should post that, especially now.
Such mercenary services already operated in eastern Ukraine prior to Russia’s current invasion, according to the U.S. government.
Treasury Designates Individuals and Entities Involved in the Ongoing Conflict in Ukraine (click here)
6/20/2017
Action Underscores U.S. Commitment to Maintain the Strength of Existing Sanctions in Furtherance of a Diplomatic Solution to the Crisis in Ukraine
President Zelenskyy calls the bombing of a CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL genocide. Sure sounds like it to me. There is only one reason to target children.
This is a resurgence of communism promoted by Xi.
By Ian Johnson
...China's current system (click here) was launched in the late 1970s under Deng Xiaoping, who was willing to relax Communist Party control over society to allow China to flourish. Deng's two hand-picked successors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, had their flaws but possessed relatively similar ideas about broadening the Communist Party's appeal and pursuing better ties with neighbors.
Xi has none of these instincts. Raised by one of the country's founding fathers, he is the first leader to be born and raised in the People's Republic. He has a relatively limited education -- not his fault because it was due to the political turmoil of the Mao years -- but still telling. Once the turmoil ended in the late 1970s, his well-connected father put him on a track to success, with one careerist job following the next.\
Xi's vision is essentially to recreate the Chinese Communist Party of his father's generation. Soon after the party took power in the 1950s, so the myth goes, it was incorruptible, popular, and firmly in charge of society.
No conscience.
This is exactly what occurred in Syria. There is no conscience in their warring. This is completely unconsionable in a civilized country. All of it is, but, this is completely barbaric.
This is ethnic cleansing. There is no other possible description for it.
Syria was all about chemical weapons and strikes on hospitals. The Ukraine military should be outfitted for chemical weapons release. Putin is not above any measure. He is full of hate.
March 9, 2022
Mariupol - A Russian airstrike (click here) devastated a maternity hospital Wednesday in the besieged port city of Mariupol and wounded at least 17 people, Ukrainian officials said, amid growing warnings from the West that Moscow’s invasion is about to take a more brutal and indiscriminate turn.The ground shook more than a mile away when the Mariupol complex was hit by a series of blasts that blew out windows and ripped away much of the front of one building. Police and soldiers rushed to scene to evacuate victims, carrying out a heavily pregnant and bleeding woman on a stretcher.
Another woman wailed as she clutched her child. In the courtyard, mangled cars burned, and a blast crater extended at least two stories deep....
One other thing.
US Senate Republicans are hapless legislators. This is called price gouging, not Biden's waterloo!
President Joe Biden (click here) announced a ban on Russian oil imports on Tuesday as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues to drive gas prices to record highs. But will this latest move spike prices even higher?
“We will not be part of subsidizing Putin’s war,” Biden said in a televised statement on Tuesday, adding that Americans should expect gas prices to continue their steady march upward. “I’m going to do everything I can to minimize Putin’s price hike here at home.”
Bay Area residents are particularly feeling the pinch in one of the most expensive metro regions in the country, with average gasoline prices topping $5.50, over $1.30 more per gallon than the national average, according to A A A . Average gas prices in California were $4.68 a gallon one month ago, and $4.80 just a week ago...
States need to investigate their petroleum market for price gouging and corruption.
March 9, 2022
Gov. Gavin Newsom touted California (click here) as an economic powerhouse leading the way on vexing issues from chronic homelessness, a warming climate and improving public education in his State of the State speech Tuesday and promised relief as the state’s already high gas prices hit records.
“People have always looked to California for inspiration,” Newsom said in remarks at the Natural Resources Agency headquarters in Sacramento. “And now, in the midst of so much turmoil with stacking stresses and dramatic social and economic change, California is doing what we have done for generations, lighting out the territory ahead of the rest, expanding the horizon of what’s possible.”
Republicans have called on Newsom and his fellow Democrats to give motorists a gas tax holiday as average prices hit about $5.50 a gallon. The governor proposed pausing the gas tax increase that would kick in this summer in his budget but said “it’s...
As far as I am concerned this is price gouging. Demand for fuel has not spiked and the Russian supply of oil to the USA is only 8 percent. It is ridiculous to believe the price of fuel has nearly doubled in less than 2 and a half months.
It is price gouging at the pump as fasciliated by a hungry Wall Street that has deeply missed it's oil commodity which acts no different than cash in it's ability to be liquid.
The problem is that Wall Street is feasting on the idea of a gasoline shortage. That is nonsense. The demand for fuel has not spiked and the supply has not dwindled to the point of scarcity. This entire idea that somehow the cost of "fueling up" has to double because of scarcity is all artificial. I am not saying the local fueling station is gouging the consumer, it is the big boys on Wall Street that seek profit at any cost regardless the reason.
The petroleum industry supplied commodities that act like cash in it's value and return as well as it's ability to be sold in an instant to facilitate oher transactions. During the pandemic when fuel was abundant, did the cost come down? No. So, why now is the cost of the products from the petroleum companies skyrocketing?
This is nothing more than greed at a time that supplies excuses such as the invasion into Ukraine by Russia.
9 March 2022
Russia has been barred from new Large Hadron Collider experiments (click here) due to its ongoing military invasion of Ukraine, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) has announced.
In a statement, CERN said it 'will not engage in new collaborations' with the Russian Federation and its institutions 'until further notice'.
CERN also said it will promote initiatives to support Ukrainian collaborators and Ukrainian scientific activity in the field of high-energy physics....
Russia has proved itself unworthy of trust. I don't know if that level of trust will ever return. Russia has clearly demonstrated it does not have good governance to allow a single man the power of killing a vast number of ethnic people, including the elderly and children. Not only that the science involved here is at the pinnacle of many achievements. The science community needs to protect the integrity of such projects and not allow discoveries to be used for nefarious purposes.
Russia has clearly demonstrated it can live to existances at once. A nation of people completely unaware of a war against peace loving people in Ukraine and a Duma that is the servant to Putin, the mad dictator. That was mad and not insane.
This episode with Russia has opened the eyes of many and caused the world to sink into dispair over the dead in Ukriane. So many have died in such a short time it is completely impossible to look the other way. It could be any one of a number of countries that can fall to Putin's hate filled aggression. A a community of human beings the global community should have reigned in the killing in Syria and perhaps this would never have occurred in the first place. The global community is far to tolerant of violence and too scared of spawning nuclear war. Putin chronically uses nuclear brinkmanship tto carry out wayward purposes of his military and this is not the first time.
Perhaps Russia is a terrorist state, it certainly without doubt is a rouge state.
Tuesday, March 08, 2022
The exodus
No Russian oil imports, but, that is only 8 percent of imported oil, why is the cost of gas is so high?
Why am I not surprised the Syrians are in Ukraine?
By Josh Rogin, columnist
As Russian President Vladimir Putin (click here) expands his murderous attacks on civilians across Ukraine, regular citizens are becoming front-line troops. Syrians, who have been facing Russian military attacks for seven years, are ready to help Ukrainians organize their first responders. Ukrainians will need all the help they can get to save as many innocent lives as possible in what could be a long struggle.
Since 2015, when Putin dispatched his troops to Syria to help President Bashar al-Assad maintain his hold on power, the Russian military has been attacking civilians in opposition-held areas, reportedly committing war crimes on a regular basis by targeting hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure. Those tactics are now being used in several Ukrainian cities, complete with attacks on fleeing families and credible reports of illegal weapons such as cluster bombs. Last week, the International Criminal Court said it would “immediately proceed” with an investigation into alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.
The Syrian Civil Defense force, known as the White Helmets, has been working to rescue, evacuate and give emergency care to civilians under attack since 2014. The all-volunteer force says it has saved more than 100,000 civilian lives and that at least 252 of its members have been killed in the process. Now, the White Helmets are turning their attention to Putin’s latest victims...
By Greg Myre
The Pentagon (click here) said Monday it believes that Russia is now trying to recruit Syrian fighters to bolster the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the story Sunday, saying Russia is seeking Syrians who have taken part in urban combat and could help Russia take control of cities such as Ukraine's capital Kyiv.
"The accounts of the Russians seeking Syrian fighters, to augment their forces in Ukraine, we do believe there's truth to that," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters. "It's interesting that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin would have to rely on foreign fighters."
Kirby said he had no information on the numbers or the caliber of the Syrian fighters that the Russians are trying to sign up.
Russia has not commented on the reports....
President Zelenskyy is a brave leader.
During his speech to the British Parliament President Zelensky said something interesting. He stated Russia should be considered a terrorist state. Perhaps, he is correct. I never thought Vladimir Putin was capable of such carnage. Obviously, he is.
Vladimir Putin had no honorable motives in executing this war. He also persists.
Ukraine should have the same right to exist as North Korea.