January 15, 2022

Martin Luther King Jr. (click here) often spoke about institutional and systemic racism, saying that true racial equality cannot be reached without “radical” structural changes in society, says a Texas A&M University sociology professor.

“Justice for black people will not flow into this society merely from court decisions nor from fountains of political oratory…White America must recognize that justice for black people cannot be achieved without radical changes in the structure of our society,” King wrote in an essay published in 1969 titled “A Testament of Hope.” In his 1958 book Stride Toward Freedom, he wrote, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”

Joe Feagin, the Ella C. McFadden Professor in Sociology and Distinguished Professor, said those are just two of the many times King spoke of structural changes needed to achieve equality, but first and foremost of the need for white and Black people to agree on what “equality” actually means.

Feagin said King noted in a speech not long before his 1968 assassination that a major problem was getting white people to understand the meaning of the civil rights movement because there isn’t even a common language when the term “equality” is used.

King said that many white people, even well-meaning people, think that equality means Black people have to improve.

Feagin said King’s commentary on what equality means to many white people, and how some do not want to face that, is as accurate now as then.

“We whites created slavery, Jim Crow segregation and contemporary racial discrimination over 400-plus years now,” Feagin said. “Whites are the main racial villains in this story and have most of the political and social power to change that racial discrimination and inequality now. We cannot have a truly free and democratic society, with ‘liberty and justice for all’ until we do that.”

“The first step to do that is for whites of all ages to learn an honest history of this country’s systemic racism and the Black movements against it—something many whites today are not even willing to begin doing.”...

Example of racism. The minority populations always have to accept watered down meanings of justice. The same is true of confederate flags and statutes. Somehow that is okay. The injustice is that when minority members of the USA have to face objects of hate from the civil war, that it hurts them and the legitimacy of our country's leveraging of equality in all that is the USA. The symbols of hate must be removed forever for the sake of young minority people. The biggest injustice right now that lingers in the USA is segregation and it is not even discussed in a way that allows resolve in political dialogue.

Steph Sommer, Feature's Editor
February 2, 2017

Every third Monday in January, (click here) Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a civil rights activist who was shot in 1968. In 49 states, this federal holiday is explicitly referred to as Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but here in Wyoming the holiday is called Equality Day.

It took 10 years for Wyoming to originally accept Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday, but with the help of Wyoming Senator Harriet Elizabeth (Liz) Byrd- the first African-American woman to serve in both houses of government they eventually accepted it as a holiday. Wyoming accepted it on one condition-

It had to be called Equality Day....

IT IS NOT EQUALITY DAY!

Schumer is correct. There is no equity in the way the Trump and Biden cases are handled.

So much for equal treatment under the law. It seems as though immunity from investigation is only for Republicans. Under Bill Barr no one could touch Trump and his family. All of a sudden all that has changed (click here).

January 15, 2023

By Ben Blanchet

...“It’s not just, hold on, it’s not just us buzzing around (click here) — you’re the Democratic head of the Senate,” said Lemon after Schumer remarked that all the hosts want to do is “buzz around” on the case.

“This is a really important issue. It’s not just buzzing around. This is serious stuff.”

Schumer said prosecutors will get to the bottom of the matter and suggested that if there wasn’t a special counsel there’d be a “different thing to say” on the situation.

“I think we should have a special prosecutor on each,” said Schumer regarding both Biden’s case and former President Donald Trump’s case involving classified materials at Mar-a-Lago.

“I don’t mind [that] you’re asking these questions, but my view is I’m not going to say anything. Let the special prosecutors do their job,” the Senate Democratic leader said....

The greatest difference between the two cases is transparency. Biden's attorneys willingly handed the found documents to the National Archives. Trump's attorneys lied about the documents, eventually turned them over after they negotiated the return. Negotiated? What is there to negotiate? What did they negotiate, freedom vs. prosecution? The attorneys for the President have no right to negotiate with the National Archives. The National Archives are not part of the Justice Department as if they could actually guarantee Trump immunity from prosecution.

...Trump has made the dubious claim that, (click here) as president, he issued a “standing order” declassifying all of the documents that were taken to his Florida estate. As we wrote in August, numerous experts on national security and the law surrounding classified documents say that is not plausible. Also, Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, told the New York Times he never heard of Trump’s alleged standing order and that it is “almost certainly a lie.”

Furthermore, in his statement, Sauber, Biden’s special counsel, indicated that Biden’s attorneys voluntarily turned over the documents found at the Penn Biden Center and then notified NARA of their existence. As we also have written, in Trump’s case, federal officials contacted his team about the missing presidential records and then had to negotiate the return of the materials over a series of months before the FBI obtained a court-authorized search warrant for Mar-a-Lago because Trump wasn’t fully cooperating.

In January 2022, Trump representatives initially transported 15 boxes containing presidential records to the National Archives and said they were searching for any additional records, according to a NARA statement. That was after NARA made multiple requests between May and December 2021 for the missing documents, according to the Justice Department. (For more, read “Timeline of FBI Investigation of Trump’s Handling of Highly Classified Documents.”)...

The Timeline is ridiculous (click here). Trump had plenty of time to make everything right and he did nothing but obstruct. When it comes to dealing with Republicans there is nothing but corruption of the processes of the Rule of Law the USA Constitution demands.

...Article II, Section 3: (click here)

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Disagreement between them, with Respect to the Time of Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed, and shall Commission all the Officers of the United States.

In its 1867 decision Mississippi v. Johnson, the Supreme Court established that the President is largely beyond the reach of the judiciary by holding that it could not direct President Andrew Johnson in how he exercised his purely executive and political powers. The Court stated, it had no jurisdiction . . . to enjoin the President in the performance of his official duties. 

In subsequent decisions, however, the Court made clear that Johnson does not stand for the proposition that the President is immune from judicial process. For example, in United States v. Nixon, the Court held that President Richard Nixon was amenable to a subpoena to produce evidence for use in a federal criminal case. There, the President had argued that he was immune to judicial process, claiming that the independence of the Executive Branch within its own sphere insulates a President from a judicial subpoena in an ongoing criminal prosecution.4 The Supreme Court unanimously disagreed, holding that neither the doctrine of separation of powers, nor the need for confidentiality of high-level communications, without more, can sustain an absolute, unqualified Presidential privilege of immunity from judicial process under all circumstances. The Court noted that the constitutional duty of courts to do justice in criminal prosecutions was counterbalanced by the claim of presidential immunity. To accept the President’s argument, the Court further reasoned, would undermine the separation of powers that was at the core of a workable government as well as gravely impair the role of the courts under Art. III....

Schumer is correct, there is no equal treatment under the law for President Biden in comparison of Trump's obvious obstruction of justice.

He is still killing innocent people for pure political volleys.

January 14,, 2023

By Olena Harmash and Tom Balmforth

Kyiv - Russia unleashed a major missile attack (click here) on Ukraine on Saturday, smashing a nine-storey apartment block in the city of Dnipro, killing at least five people and striking vital energy facilities, officials said.

Ukraine's energy minister said the coming days would be "difficult" as months of Russian bombardment of the power grid threaten the supply of electricity, running water and central heating at the height of winter....

The bombing Putin is carrying out are not military targets. The bombs are falling on innocent civilians.

January 14, 2023

Chisinau - Missile debris (click here) was found in the north of Moldova following the latest barrage of Russian air strikes on Ukraine, Moldova's interior ministry said on Saturday.

"Following Russia's massive bombardment of Ukraine, a border police patrol discovered ... the remains of a missile, originating from Russia's air attacks on Ukraine," the ministry said on Facebook.

Russia did not immediately comment on the report.

Belarus President (click here) Alexander Lukashenko appeared to release military plans on TV which include invading the Transnistria region of Moldova.

There is no comparison to Trump in this folly.

In case anyone is confused, that is at the Helsinki meeting where Trump sold out NATO and the USA. What did he know about Putin's plans for Ukraine then? 

The documents at Maralogo were military intelligence which is eons away from what was found with Biden. That is why Trump is guilty of treason. It was military and we know it for a fact as he gave away intelligence of an ally's nuclear network.

GET OVER YOURSELVES AND BE AMERICANS RATHER THAN PROPAGANDISTS!

January 14, 2023
By Patrick Reis

The White House (click here) said Saturday that President Joe Biden’s aides had found more classified information stored at his private residence. It is inopportune timing for the president: His team said on Thursday that only one classified page had been found there. Now, it’s up to six.

For an administration whose FBI searched Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate over improper storage of sensitive government materials, it’s a bad look to be having your own issues with improper storage of sensitive government materials. The government has a system for storing sensitive documents, and “Don’t worry gang, it’s my home office,” isn’t part of it. (Especially not when there were secret documents also found at the Penn Biden Center, a Biden-affiliated think tank.)

There are political issues here, but let’s get the facts as we know them straight first. Biden’s team has found government documents in places where they shouldn’t be, copped to its mistakes, and handed the material back over to authorities. Biden is now facing a special counsel investigation, and he’s planning to cooperate with it. Trump knowingly took documents from the White House to Mar-a-Lago and sat on them. After the FBI found them, he claimed he was the victim of a “Deep State” plot and that he could declassify documents telepathically. And in the aftermath, rather than cooperating, he told his legal team to get “my” documents back, Rolling Stone reported in August....

I am happy to hear this was all minor concerns.

January 11, 2023
By Laurie McGinley and Mark

The skin cancer (click here) first lady Jill Biden was treated for Wednesday — basal cell carcinoma — is highly treatable and the most common form of skin cancer, experts said.

Doctors removed lesions from above Biden’s right eye and the left part of her chest using Mohs surgery, a common procedure for that type of skin cancer, according to the White House. A third lesion, on her left eyelid, was surgically excised and sent to a lab for examination....

Skin Cancer Foundation

One of three main types of cells in the top layer of the skin, (click here) basal cells shed as new ones form. BCC most often occurs when DNA damage from exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or indoor tanning triggers changes in basal cells in the outermost layer of skin (epidermis), resulting in uncontrolled growth....

Where is Erik Prince? Still getting a tan in the Seychelles Islands?

Video (click here)

12 January 2023
By Pjotr Sauer

Hundreds of civilians remain trapped in Soledar, Ukraine has said, (click here) as bloody fighting continues over control of the largely destroyed salt mining town in eastern Ukraine.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Donetsk, told Ukrainian state TV that 559 civilians remained in Soledar, including 15 children, and could not be evacuated.

Ukraine said on Thursday its troops were “holding on” as fighting continued in Soledar, dismissing claims made by the Russian mercenary group Wagner that its forces had taken control of the town....

He wasn't at January 6th. Soledar, Ukraine is about 12 and 1/2 hours from Moscow, Russia. About 600 miles as the crow flies. I take it no one there is dying of wounds of war or suffering from genocide at the hand of a country grossly out of step with reality.

Someone needs to set up a bank of drones that fly day and night to end this mess and protect the Ukraine borders.

July 7, 2021

By Simon Shuster

On the second night of his visit to Kyiv, (click here) Erik Prince had a dinner date on his agenda. A few of his Ukrainian associates had arranged to meet the American billionaire at the Vodka Grill that evening, Feb. 23, 2020. The choice of venue seemed unusual. The Vodka Grill, a since-defunct nightclub next to a KFC franchise in a rough part of town, rarely saw patrons as powerful as Prince.

As the party got seated inside a private karaoke room on the second floor, Igor Novikov, who was then a top adviser to Ukraine’s President, remembers feeling a little nervous. He had done some reading about Blackwater, the private military company Prince had founded in 1997, and he knew about the massacre its troops had perpetrated during the U.S. war in Iraq. Coming face to face that night with the world’s most prominent soldier of fortune, Novikov remembers thinking: “What does this guy want from us?”...

...This account of Prince’s ambitions in Ukraine is based on interviews with seven sources, including current and former U.S. and Ukrainian officials as well as people who worked directly with Prince to try to realize his aspirations in Ukraine. Those business plans, which have not been previously reported, were confirmed by four of the sources on both sides of the negotiations, all of whom recalled meeting in person with Prince last year to discuss them...

Where are the bailout monies?

January 12, 2023

By Jaclyn Diaz and David Schaper

Flights across the U.S. slowly resumed Wednesday (click here) after a nationwide ground stop by the Federal Aviation Administration, stemming from the outage of a crucial piece of technology.

The failure of the Notice to Air Missions system, or NOTAM, caused airlines to cancel more than 1,300 flights, and delay nearly 10,000 more, according to flight tracker FlightAware.com.

The FAA said that early investigative work traced the blackout to a "damaged database file," but the agency is still working to determine the root cause.

"At this time, there is no evidence of a cyberattack. The FAA is working diligently to further pinpoint the causes of this issue and take all needed steps to prevent this kind of disruption from happening again."...

..Similar disruptions arose in Canada on the same day. NAV CANADA, which owns and operates that country's civil air navigation system, reported its own issues with their NOTAM technology and subsequent delays.

"NAV CANADA continues to investigate the cause of the outage; at this time, we do not believe it to be related to the FAA outage experienced earlier today,
the company said late Wednesday....

It is AI. The USA experience is not an isolated incident. I don't believe in coincidence. AI was talking to both these systems. It took a human being to straighten it out.

January 10, 2023

Washington, D.C. - On Monday, (click here) the New York Senate approved Senate Bill 616, which would effectively rescind an out-of-date ban on providing food and water for voters waiting at the polls, otherwise known as a line-warming ban. When the Republican legislatures in Florida and Georgia passed large voter suppression laws in 2021, provisions that made it illegal to distribute items to voters waiting in line drew the most outrage from voting rights advocates. Though enacted years ago, New York state has a similar law on the books, one that says that, “during the hours of voting, on a day of a general, special or primary election,” no person may provide or pay for “any meat, drink, tobacco, refreshment or provision.” The archaic ban has limited exceptions for items with a “retail value of less than one dollar,” which is, in effect, a total ban given that almost all snacks or drinks would cost more than that. Violators are subject to criminal penalties....

March 26, 2021

Atlanta - The sweeping rewrite of Georgia’s election rules (click here) represents the first big set of changes since former President Donald Trump’s repeated, baseless claims of fraud following his presidential loss to Joe Biden.

Georgia has been at the center of that storm. Trump zeroed in on his loss in the state, even as two Democrats won election to the U.S. Senate in January, flipping control of the chamber to their party. The 98-page measure that was signed into law Thursday by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp makes numerous changes to how elections will be administered, including a new photo ID requirement for voting absentee by mail....

January 10, 2023

Washington, DC - As of Tuesday, Jan. 10, Missouri Republicans (cilck here) have introduced a dozen bills to make it harder for Missouri voters to approve constitutional amendments. In Missouri, citizens can initiate statutory or constitutional changes via a petition process; approved petitions will be placed on the ballot before Missouri voters. Less than a week into the 2023 legislative session, Republican lawmakers are trying to undermine that form of direct democracy. 

Two resolutions — House Joint Resolution 2 and House Joint Resolution 28 — both would make it harder to get a citizen-led petition onto the ballot by raising the percentage of voter signatures required. They also require that the expected percentage of signatures comes from “each” congressional district in the state....

16,000 otherwise valid votes in the Midterm Elections in Pennsylvania were tossed out on technicality. They voted for the Democratic candidates.

January 6, 2023

Harrisburg - New data from Pennsylvania’s elections agency shows (click here) an early November state court decision that barred mail-in ballots without accurate handwritten dates on their exterior envelopes resulted in otherwise valid votes being thrown out.

The Department of State said this week more than 16,000 mail-in ballots were disqualified by county officials because they lacked secrecy envelopes or proper signatures or dates. Democratic voters, who are much more likely to vote by mail, made up more than two-thirds of the total canceled ballots.

The agency said 8,250 Pennsylvania mail-in ballots were rejected because they were sent in without being contained within a secrecy envelope, making it impossible for them to be tabulated without putting voter privacy at risk.

The remaining 7,904 invalidated ballots were tossed out because the exterior envelopes used to send in those ballots did not have the voters’ signatures, or because those exterior envelopes were either undated or improperly dated....

Jordan can start with his own ethics review. (click here)

January 10, 2023

By Rebecca Beitsch and Mychael Schnell

The subcommittee, (click here) part of the House Judiciary Committee, is expected to be chaired by the full panel’s chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).

Such a move would give broad authority to Jordan, an ally of former President Trump who has railed against current and prior investigations of the former president.

“This is about the First Amendment, something you guys used to care about. And I’d actually hoped we could get bipartisan agreement on protecting the First Amendment — the five rights we enjoy as Americans under the First Amendment,” Jordan said during debate on the House floor Tuesday.

“We don’t want to go after anyone, we just want it to stop. And we want to respect the First Amendment to the Constitution that the greatest country in the world has. That’s what this committee is all about, and that’s what we’re gonna focus on, that’s what we are going to do,” he later added....

January 10, 2023

By Mychael Schnell

A pair of House Democrats (click here) on Tuesday filed and hand-delivered to Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) a complaint urging the Ethics Committee to open an investigation into allegations the freshman congressman failed to file timely, accurate and complete financial disclosure reports.

Reps. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.) and Daniel Goldman (D-N.Y.) filed the ethics complaint against Santos on Tuesday and delivered a copy of the six-page document to the New York Republican’s congressional office. Goldman knocked on Santos’s door and entered the office, leaving the complaint on a desk inside....

They weren't SAP. They were a mistake.

Executive Order 13526 of December 29, 2009 (click here)

Classified National Security Information

January 10, 2022
By Jamie Gangel, Marshall Cohen, Evan Perez and Paula Reid

Among the items from Joe Biden’s time as vice president (click here) discovered in a private office last fall are 10 classified documents including US intelligence memos and briefing materials that covered topics including Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has received a preliminary report on the documents inquiry, a law enforcement source said, and now faces the critical decision on how to proceed, including whether to open a full-blown criminal investigation.

John Lausch Jr., the US attorney in Chicago, has briefed Garland multiple times. No additional briefings are scheduled but would be conducted if necessary, a source said....

Out of respect for a dead Princess.

Harry isn't really a middle child (click here), but, there are those that claim birth order has an effect on personality. I rarely comment on such popular gossip, but, I find my conscience bothering me as I read some of the articles regarding the Royal Family of Great Britain.

In all honesty, if this was an American complaining about family dysfunction it would never make the news and absolutely not a book. So, for a couple that wants a normal life as I believe Megan and Harry stated they wished for, writing an inflammatory book about the Royals is hardly wanting a normal life.

There was an article (click here) that came before me recently stating that Charles could be removed from power and his coronation denied by the Church of England as he is divorced. I would find that unfortunate, because all people that would be cast out of prestige Prince William should never be ignored. Prince William, of royal birth both father and mother is a sincere heir to the throne. He is a good and decent guy that is in touch with his generation and expresses their concerns regularly.

I like William. It would be terrible if he was denied leadership in Great Britain. Removing Charles would bring that about as the lineage would fall to Princess Anne. I don't know how she would feel following in her mother's footsteps, but, she was diligently present at the funeral proceedings of the dead queen.

I think what needs to be said is that Diana would be Queen had the divorce not taken place. I think that should matter. Her sons would have a rightful place in the lineage of the former Queen and it should be preserved. In stating that, I firmly believe Queen Consort should be maintained for Camilla. She, after all, was somewhat instrumental in the marriage failure. No one can deny that.

As to Harry. He is free to live his life as he wishes and away from the business of the family. He may actually object to his role in the Royal Family. He is allowed his own conscience.

Diana Spenser was a very special woman that took the power granted to her and used it to benefit others. She was exceptional in every way and her sons are a testament to those qualities. William obviously carries his responsibilities well, as did Diana. Harry has his own voice of which I am confident she would approve of and the fact his father is miffed only solidifies his mother strongly embedded in his personality. It could be said that Harry speaks for Diana in exposing the underbelly of the Royals. 

But, the Church of England needs to take their role seriously and do what is right for Diana's children. The Late Queen Elizabeth II would strongly support the Church in any of its decisions. She did let her preference be known before she died. She was interested in her family lineage continuing to lead and William and his son George was all a part of that picture.

I think Harry and his wife Megan are great people and are not afraid of the truth or living the truth in full view of the world's interests. That is about as close to gossip I will venture into. Everyone have a good day.

January 9, 2022
By William Booth and Rachel Pannett

London - Prince Harry, (click here) the memoirist and estranged son of the House of Windsor, launched a full broadside against Buckingham Palace on Sunday and Monday, appearing in more interviews to promote his new book, “Spare,” claiming his family, especially his stepmother, Camilla, now the Queen Consort, is actively feeding negative stories to the press about him and his wife, Meghan.

Harry said he is often asked in America, his new home, “How could you ever forgive your family for what they’ve done?”

In Britain, the royal family may ask the same about Harry, who has broken the fourth wall of the royal soap opera and named the names of those he says have leaked against him, including his father, King Charles III and his wife Camilla, and his brother Prince William and his wife Catherine — and their PR teams....

The Populism of truth telling, decency in policy, and equality for all is winning elections.

Some allies and advisers (click here) want the Brazilian president to contest his election loss to Lula. Others want a global fight over free speech.

Steve Bannon loses another one to democracy. He and his associates are national security issues globally. They make their living putting extremist right wing politicians into office, regardless, the harm it does to the people, their economy, national security and global stability.

Bannon is a master at corruption and dangling millions and billions as the enticement for donations to his campaign. That is what Bannon practices ardently, corruption. His campaigns, even Trump's campaign, was nothing but the promise of corruption's profiteering.

Bannon has no regard for law or constitutions. He does like free speech to a point, but, only to the point where he can craft an alternate reality that brings anger and declension. All free speech is not his forte.

January 8, 2022
By Anthony Faiola and Paulina Villegas

Brasilia - Thousands of radical supporters of Brazil’s former far-right president (click here), Jair Bolsonaro, stormed and vandalized the country’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential office building on Sunday before being pushed back by security forces, in an episode that paralleled the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

The attacks in the capital city came only a week after the inauguration of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in a runoff election in October. They amounted to one of the worst attacks against democracy in Brazil since the 1964 military coup.

A visibly irritated president Lula condemned the “abominable” acts and said all those involved would be investigated and punished “with all the strength of the law.” He also blamed Bolsonaro for encouraging the attacks by repeatedly questioning the integrity of the electoral process....

When cronies get pay offs it is hard to simply walk away from to concede a political loss. The rainforests are important to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There was a referendum on the ballot this year in Brazil. The people want to protect their heritage.

01 January 2023

...The Brazilian Legal Amazon (BLA) (click here) has the largest tropical rainforest area, the highest biodiversity and the largest amount of aboveground biomass in the world1,2,3. Since 2000, the Indigenous territories (ITs) and the protected areas (PAs) in the BLA have increased substantially and by 2013 they accounted for 43% of the total land area and covered about half of the total forest area in the region1. ITs and PAs have important roles in forest and biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation in the BLA....

Brazil art exhibition (click here) showcases an Indigenous worldview and poses questions

The greatest economy for Brazil is protecting the Amazon and inviting the world to visit their beautiful and fun cities in the world, Rio de Janeiro. The rainforest provides a home for the indigenous tribes. There are many that live in the rainforest. The indigenous tribes produce crafts of which professional interior designers around the world seek out for their clients. The crafts of these tribes are original and provide an economy for them.  

October 27, 2022

By Andrew Downie

When historians write books (click here) about why so many Brazilians voted for the far-right they will justifiably focus on ideological, political and social issues. But there is another key reason why President Jair Bolsonaro is still competitive as Sunday’s runoff ballot approaches: he’s handing out billions from a government slush fund.

The fund is known as the “secret budget” because there is little or no oversight over where the money goes once it is handed to lawmakers.

Worth 19bn reais a year (£3.1bn), the fund amounts to around one-fifth of the government’s entire discretionary spending.

“It is the biggest corruption scandal on the face of the earth,” said Simone Tebet, the conservative senator who finished third in the first-round ballot on 2 October....

Congratulations to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, truly the people's president.

Yes, indeed, CEOs are such brilliant leaders for profit, except, when a pandemic disrupts supply chains.

CEOs are not the leaders government needs. Governing, be it China or the USA, is not about efficiency, it is about the people and what is best for their ultimate outcome.

Now, because of the CEOs pressure to return China back to manufacturing cheap labor, the people are sick and dying. So much for manufacturing. At the beginning of the pandemic in the USA people were worried about toilet paper, it has gone way beyond that now.

Additionally, China is trying to buy up all sorts of oil supplies. It is decreasing some discounts. The petroleum distributors need to see their responsibility in global stability and the future of the planet.

The Free World needs to ban together, maintain their focus on freedom, the well being of the people and complete conversion to alternative energies.

January 4, 2023
Speaker - Andrea Garcia, JD, MPH, vice president, science, medicine & public health, American Medical Association

...Garcia: Yeah, China unfortunately is seeing the highest number of cases per day (click here) since the start of the pandemic and there are increasing reports of severe disease there. The outbreak has gone from bad to worse since that sudden reversal of its zero-COVID policy last month. And that zero-COVID rule basically prevented people from leaving their home if cases were detected in their area. People were undergoing regular testing.

And they also required overseas travelers, including Chinese nationals, to stay in quarantine for as long as two months before entering the country. That reversal of those policies has likely exposed two vulnerabilities. And the first is that a lot of the country has not been vaccinated, including its most vulnerable older population. And second, because of the many lockdowns that they've undergone, they don't have much natural immunity from some of the previous COVID waves.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the situation on the ground there is difficult to track because China is not releasing reliable COVID data. The stories and videos coming out do suggest that the crisis there is worsening. And if you look at some of the recent New York Times reporting, local governments have reported hundreds of thousands of infections a day. And sick patients are crowding hospital hallways, which is reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic....

The transmission between the Chinese and the poor reporting to the global medical organizations allows more danger to the type of variants that are currently mutating among a billion Chinese. 

What is XBB.1.5? (click here)

It is yet another offshoot of the globally-dominant Omicron Covid variant. Omicron has outperformed the earlier Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta coronavirus variants since emerging in late 2021.

Omicron has also given rise to many more contagious sub-variants....

XBB.1.5 is expected to become the dominant sub-variant in the USA and UK. It can circumvent the immunity of most people. All high risk people should be taking the usual precautions when it comes to masks, distancing and hand hygiene.

CEOs do not have the answer for the end to the COVID Pandemic.

January 6, 2023
By Michael S. Derby

New York - Declining world supply chain pressures (click here) are being challenged by new disruptions in China tied to the coronavirus pandemic, the New York Federal Reserve reported on Friday.

The regional Fed bank’s December Global Supply Chain Pressure Index ticked down to 1.18 from November’s revised 1.23 reading. According to the report, supply chain pressures have been easing notably since the spring of last year and bottomed in September, and have since then been bouncing around in a tight range.

In a blog posting accompanying the report, bank economists said “while supply chain disruptions have significantly diminished over the course of 2022, the reversion of the index toward a normal historical range has paused over the past three months,” adding that “our analysis attributes the recent pause largely to the pandemic in China amid an easing of ‘Zero COVID’ policies.”

In contrast to much of the rest of the world, until recently China has been pursuing aggressive lockdown strategies to mitigate the spread of the virus. Given China’s large role in manufacturing, that approach has kept pressure on supply chains over recent months. Now, the easing of restrictions has been attended by a massive wave of coronavirus infections, which threaten to keep pressure on the ability to ship goods out of China....

January 5, 2022
By Nathan Reed

Millions in congressional funding (click here) is a much-needed win for Flint & Genesee County, Michigan. Congressman Dan Kildee, who represents Michigan's Eighth District (much of Mid-Michigan) was able to submit 15 proposals to the Appropriations Committee for possible funding -- all 15 were approved.

Flint & Genesee County received the bulk of funding with eight approved proposals totaling $24,284,366....

January 6, 2023

By Ron Fonger

Flint - More than eight years (click here) after the Flint water crisis was triggered, bottled water distribution has ended at help centers in Flint while the fallout from the man-made emergency continues into 2023.

Here’s the most recent information on criminal and civil court cases tied to the water crisis, Flint’s water service line replacement program, and the historic water settlement reached by attorneys for residents, the state of Michigan, the city of Flint and others....

When one looks at Flint's overall demographic data there should be profound concern for this city.

QuickFacts

Flint city, Michigan (click here)

In order for a city to have a good GDP it has to have people, specifically people that work and purchase goods. That population along with their purchasing potential will attract businesses and even spawn private capital to invest.

In ten years from 2010 to 2020 Flint, Michigan population density dropped 635.6 people per square mile. That is a population drop of nearly 21 percent. There was no land loss. No annexation or sale of land with a population of people on it. There was a small growth in the land area by two hundredths. Nothing that would bring about a migration across the city to newly acquired land to effect it's density of population. That may include the effects of the 2020 pandemic. But, there should be a study conducted as an interest by the city, if not the state. 

The point is this is not a minor issue and Flint, Michigan still needs the assistance of federal monies. If the federal treasury can support the southern states, it can support Flint, too. It has a poverty rate of greater than 35 percent, a per capita income of $18,719 and a media household income of $32,358.

Flint's people need to decide when they no longer need bottled water and no one else. When the people finally trust their city's water supply the bottled water can be sold instead of provided. Until that occurs, the people need to be put first and the city should become a focus for economic opportunity and growth. There is a new highway to Flint, there needs to be an economy to go with it.

Why is it the poorest of the people of the USA have the most problems and least opportunity to bring about change? 

QuickFacts

Grand Blanc city, Michigan (click here)

The problem may very well be segregation. What would the area look like if Grand Blanc and Flint merged to form one city and the tax base remained the same, but, the budget inclusive of all services and ambitions?

Snyder was very, very wrong. He removed assets from Flint and other cities without solving the real problems, like segregation left over from the world of the 1950s and 1960s. It is the segregation that caused the decline of these cities, not the lack of trying. Snyder's assault against democracy was wrong and lacked any understanding of the problem. How could a city have such a poor GDP compared to one nine miles and eleven minutes away? The problem wasn't democracy, it was oppression. What occurred with Snyder as Governor was pure racism.

It is interesting to realize that many Russian allies are actually facing a humanitarian crisis.

Russia is no longer helpful at a time when it is conducting a multi-front war. It is why the USA sent humanitarian assistance to the people of Cuba. They are starving. 

The Cuban government (click here) continues to repress and punish virtually all forms of dissent and public criticism. At the same time, Cubans continue to endure a dire economic crisis, which impacts their social and economic rights.

In July, thousands of Cubans took to the streets in landmark demonstrations protesting long-standing restrictions on rights, scarcity of food and medicines, and the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The government responded with brutal repression....

The exact same dynamics are playing out in Iran and the government response is the same as if someone in Moscow is directing it.

January 4, 2022

By Cody Jackson and Terry Spenser

...Ramón Saúl Sanchez (click here) with the Cuban American group Movimiento Democracia said he met a group of 22 Cubans who were standing along a main road, waiting for U.S. authorities to pick them up. He and Keys officials said the Biden administration needs a more coordinated response.

“There is a migration and humanitarian crisis, and it is necessary for the president to respond by helping local authorities,” Sanchez said.

Cubans are willing to take the risk because those who make it to U.S. soil almost always get to stay, even if their legal status is murky. They also arrive by land, flying to Nicaragua, then traveling north through Honduras and Guatemala into Mexico. In the 2021-22 fiscal year, 220,000 Cubans were stopped at the U.S.-Mexican border, almost six times as many as the previous year.

In Cuba on Wednesday, the U.S. reopened visa and consular services at its Havana embassy for the first time since a spate of unexplained health incidents among diplomatic staff there in 2017 prompted a sharp reduction in American diplomatic presence....

November 3, 2022

By James Rupert

The past week (click here) underscores a rising threat in Europe from Russia’s savage assault on Ukraine: the Kremlin’s parallel destabilization of tiny Moldova, between Ukraine and Romania. The Kremlin is escalating a hybrid subversion campaign against Moldova’s effort to build a stable democracy and join the European Union. It is choking off vital gas supplies to tank the economy, sponsoring mass anti-government protests and helping a fugitive Moldovan oligarch launch the latest of several pro-Russia political parties. European policymakers say Moldova, partly occupied by Russian troops, is one of the countries most vulnerable to a spread of the war in Ukraine....

January 4, 2022

McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) is set to abandon Kazakhstan (click here) as disruptions triggered by the Ukraine crisis have left the nation without a substitute for Russian meat supplies, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The fast-food giant, which exited Russia in May, banned its local franchisee from procuring meat patties from Russian suppliers, the report said.

McDonald's declined to comment on the report.

The company's licensee in Kazakhstan was forced to temporarily close its restaurants in November after cutting ties with Russian companies and running out of supplies, three sources with knowledge of situation had told Reuters.

The exit highlights the supply issues faced by many Kazakh businesses in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Western sanctions against Moscow that followed. Neighboring Russia is Kazakhstan's main trading partner....

December 12, 2022

Ashgabat - Pro-Russian propaganda (click here) efforts are under way in Turkmenistan, with officials in the authoritarian state vilifying the West for supporting Kyiv and whitewashing Moscow's image amid its unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

Education officials along with police and intelligence officers have held several meetings with students and employees in the Balkan and Lebap provinces in recent days, urging people to shun Western media and culture that they say brainwash young Turkmen.

In one of such meeting in Balkan Province on December 8, officials warned against the "poisonous" influence of the West on the youth of Turkmenistan, a participant told RFE/RL.

"The officials said that a war such as the one in Ukraine can happen in Turkmenistan too, tomorrow, if we don't keep our youth away from the Western media and culture," said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing repercussion in the strictly controlled state.

"They added that American and European media information - which [they claimed] poisons the minds of young people - is the main reason the war broke out in Ukraine."...

Three countries in the same area seemed to have moved together to find common ground for energy production.

Original post (click here)

Indeed, on January 6 in Bishkek, (click here) a meeting of energy ministers of Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was held at the Ministry of Energy, where an agreement was signed on the "roadmap" for the construction of the Kambar-Ata-1 hydroelectric power station....

Russia is nothing but a propaganda machine. Its reputation is heard and understood along with the propaganda it permeates. These countries are still in fear of Russia because of logistics.

Entertain this idea; as Russia loses control of its global network of countries, the crisis becomes a further burden to the Free World. Where is the breaking point for the Free World? How long can it possibly continue to help allies of Russia from abandonment?

I think it is worth the effort to counter Russian fear tactics with the truth and empowerment for these countries to move out from under Russian shadows. They need to seek autonomy and relations between each other to sustain them and begin to grow their own ability for economic viability outside the problems of Russia and it's hatred of others.

There is a place for the United Nations here. There is a need to promote autonomy and regrouping of economic opportunity as Russia implodes from Putin's propaganda wars and five year communist calendar. Russia can only lean on these countries. Russia has no power to stop them from autonomy and economic growth between them.

This was expected and is why it is best to isolate and eliminate viruses.

Viruses mutate until they can pass through immunity and achieve replication. When COVID-19 was first introduced into the USA, this is what virologists knew would happen if the virus was not contained and eliminated through isolation. But, because of right wing politics a president decided to exploit the fear and build himself up as a savior of the people willing to try anything. Hence, three years later the virus has perfected itself and is now able to pass through immunity of any kind in 80 percent of the cases.

The Republicans falsely named it the Chinese Virus, it is the Trump Virus that he propagated for some perverted idea of leadership.

Since when do Americans throw away highly valuable information and guidance and strike out on their own to become infected and infectious?

January 6, 2022
By Karen Weintraub

The newest COVID-19 variant (click here) is so contagious that even people who've avoided it so far are getting infected and the 80% of Americans who've already been infected are likely to catch it again, experts say.

Essentially, everyone in the country is at risk for infection now, even if they're super careful, up to date on vaccines or have caught it before, said Paula Cannon, a virologist at the University of Southern California.

"It's crazy infectious," said Cannon, who is recovering from her first case of COVID-19, caught when she was vacationing over the holidays in her native Britain.

"All the things that have protected you for the past couple of years, I don't think are going to protect you against this new crop of variants," she said.

The number of severe infections and deaths remains relatively low, despite the high level of infections, she said, thanks to vaccinations – and probably – previous infections. But the lack of universal masking means that even people like her, who do mask, are vulnerable....

This is Amazon canvasing for presidential purchase.

When I clicked on "View Jobs Now" it didn't take me to jobs listed, it was a questionnaire of very invasive questions. The further I pursued it the more invasive the questions became. 

There is a good chance this isn't about jobs at all so much as research for buying the presidency. After all, it would be nice for Bezos to own NASA for his own purposes.
 

This is all a bunch of horseshit.

January 4, 2023

Written by Andy Jassy

As I shared back in November, (click here) as part of our annual planning process for 2023, leaders across the company have been working with their teams and looking at their workforce levels, investments they want to make in the future, and prioritizing what matters most to customers and the long-term health of our businesses. This year’s review has been more difficult given the uncertain economy and that we’ve hired rapidly over the last several years. In November, we communicated the hard decision to eliminate a number of positions across our Devices and Books businesses, and also announced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in our People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organization. I also shared that we weren’t done with our annual planning process and that I expected there would be more role reductions in early 2023.

Today, I wanted to share the outcome of these further reviews, which is the difficult decision to eliminate additional roles. Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we’re sharing today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles. Several teams are impacted; however, the majority of role eliminations are in our Amazon Stores and PXT organizations....

The US Department of Labor needs to review Amazon's recruitment and hiring methods. I am retired from a profession that allowed me to raise my family. I still perform some work as allowed by the Social Security Administration. I became fully retired this year and I can earn more money now if I care to, so when I received an invitation from Amazon to work from home I was curious. It turned out to be one of the most invasive processes I have ever witnessed. It was so invasive I discontinued the online document because I also had to commit to the company any and all information they could find. There was also a commitment to the company as if I were to pledge my dying love to Jeff Bezos.

I am fully tired of giant plutocratic companies that allow their owners to fly rockets to outer space. That is the function of the USA government and not every plutocrat on the planet. If they want to fly then commit to an astronaut program that has allegiance to the USA and not Wall Street.

For the past two decades plutocracy has been allowed by the Republicans for the sake of staying in power. There is nothing wrong with our democracy, there is a lot wrong with the politics of the Republicans. It is corruption. It is very easy to buy Republicans or a place in their party, just bring your checkbook.

But, as to Amazon, if they are reducing the size of their work force I congratulate them, at least 180 thousand people will not have to suffer the rigors of one of the most perverse employers in the country. I mean the idea van drivers can't look to their left or right because the company statistics say that causes accidents is bizarre and idiotic. Their employees are mostly unhappy at work. It is little difference than Walmart in their expunging the disabled as greeters while being willing to take their money as consumers.

All those companies are nothing but trouble because they are looking at their return to stockholders and not the well being of their employee shareholders. Stockholders don't care about the employees or their families who are equal if not greater shareholders in the success of the company. That's right, if these companies lost every American as an employee tomorrow with no one to replace them, they would shutter their doors and Main Street would be all the better for it.

It was amazing to watch how China removed COVID restrictions while telling their restless people to go back to work, while predicting a million dead of this wave in China. IT WAS THE NEXT DAY THAT WALL STREET NUMBERS RETURNED TO THE POSITIVE SIDE OF PROFIT. Amazing. Chinese die and no one on Wall Street can give a dam. All Xi had to do was turn the key for Wall Street and China was golden again.

So, how much is a million Chinese worth to Wall Street? Zero. Zero dollars because they stood in the way of stockholder returns.

I am more than pleased to see these companies reduce their workforce because it means the USA economy again belongs to the people and we are on the right path to a balance between profitability and the workers quality of life.

Death to plutocracy, it is a killer.

At 6:20 pm an Amazon ad to sucker punch you hit my email. “New Amazon Jobs (Remote).” DO NOT DO IT!

I know who to trust and it isn't the right wing media that drove Mr. Peart crazy.

January 5, 2023

By Greg Jaffe

...This was one lesson from the brave Israelites’ story. (click here) His experiences over the last two years had left him wondering if it was the right one. The facts of the Jan. 6 riot have been documented in more than 14,000 hours of video surveillance from the Capitol, hundreds of hours of congressional testimony and millions of pages of documents. The truth was out there, available for all to see. But Peart still didn’t know who to trust. Nor, it seemed, did the country.

Peart was in the same chair that he had been sitting in during his sentencing hearing, in a part of America where many still questioned the outcome of the 2020 election and viewed the rioters’ cause as legitimate.

He fingered his leather-bound Bible and struggled to reconcile the fearful far-right voices that he had long relied on with his comfortable life, the federal judge’s compassion and, most of all, Jung’s kindness and mercy.

“I know who my God is,” Peart said. “But I’m still figuring out who I am.”

There is no doubt in the 2020 elections. These Americans are confused about their own idea of democracy. They remind me of a suitor that can't make a commitment to a girlfriend enough to get married. These Americans are caught in the faux parallel universe of right wing media that taps them for the money they spend on their advertisers.

As far as I am concerned they are nothing but a bunch of sore losers that hang on to a faux parallel reality created to tap their money for products and politics.

This is an easy one. Americans have to commit their belief in their constitution and its election process. It is the largest number of democratic voters in the world. There is no other democracy with such vibrant differences in their perspectives. All that is legal up to the point where it undermines the rule of law for the sake of growing extremism for profit.

I have no use for Right Wing Whiners. They are pathetic.

There is one flag and it is defined by the USA Constitution. Get over it!

The Insurgency

Are those unwilling to settle on a Speaker in order to govern members of the insurgency? There were members of Congress willing to have a coup happen on January 6th.

I am glad the Senate majority remains with the Democratic Party. If the Senate had gone Republican we might be seeing a rush to vote a Speaker in the House.