"It's on us."

Preservation of African American Churches is vital to their legacy.

January 16, 2023

By Maria Elena Scott

...With the grant from Preserving Black Churches, Cory United Methodist Church will “hire its first director of preservation to lead the building's restoration efforts and continue its legacy as an active church and transformative community landmark.”...

The National Trust for Historic Preservation's African-American Cultural Heritage Action Fund (click here) is giving out $4 million in grants to 35 historic Black churches this year, and three are in Northeast Ohio.

Called Preserving Black Churches, the program will “help historic Black churches and congregations reimagine, redesign, and redeploy historic preservation to address the institutions’ needs and the cultural assets and stories they steward.”

Among the recipients: Cory United Methodist Church and Euclid Avenue Christian Church (East Mount Zion Baptist Church) in Cleveland and Wesley Temple African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in Akron....

They aren't going to get away with it.

July 2, 2023
By Graig Graziosi

Members of the far-right organization, (click here) the Proud Boys, have been ordered to pay more than $1million damages for their role in destroying property at a predominantly Black church in 2020.

DC Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz approved the judgement on Friday against Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, Enrique Tarrio, Jeremy Bertino, and John Turano, as well as the group's LLC.

Judge Kravitz described the incident as "hateful and overtly racist conduct," according to CNN.

The hate group tore down the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church's Black Lives Matter sign while rallying in Washington DC in 2020.

On 12 December, 2020, individuals dressed in Proud Boys clothing had "leaped over Metropolitan AME's fence, entered the church's property, and went directly to the Black Lives Matter sign," according to Judge Kravitz's order....

The new 99 percent. Money can't buy a normal planet.

NO, THIS IS NOT OKAY.

It is the alternative energies that are protecting the lives of Texans. Since the devastating 241 deaths of the winter storm of 2021, the growth of solar and wind in Texas has outpaced that of California.

...But during this historic heat wave, (click here) it’s been all these new, low-cost wind, solar and batteries that have kept the grid afloat and Texans cool – in many cases saving lives. Solar and wind provided 35% of statewide power last Tuesday and generated a record 31,500 MW Wednesday, which more than covered the 9,600 MW of electricity lost when extreme heat knocked several natural gas and coal plants offline. And just as solar power started falling in the evening, batteries kicked in immediately to get Texas through the most difficult part of the day when the sun was setting but the ACs were still cranking....

June 26, 2023
By Eric Ryan

Brace yourselves (click here) for a heatwave that will leave you reaching for the nearest ice cream cone and searching for shade like never before. In fact, some parts of Texas are set to be hotter than 99 percent of the entire planet this week. Can you handle the heat? Let's dive into this sizzling situation....

It was all told for decades, but, propaganda by the petroleum industry brought about disaster. There are a lot of reasons to police misinformation, this is the most important.

Highlights from Assessing the U.S. Climate Climate in July 2022 (click here) 

Independence doesn't exist for many of our youngest Americans.

July 3, 2023

By Silas Morgan

Growing up, Joaquin “Guac” Oliver (click here) was “always worried about community issues,” recalled his mother, Patricia Oliver.

“[He worried] about his friends, about immigration, about social issues,” she said. “… When Joaquin was 12 years old, he was able to write a project about [firearm purchase] background checks, when he just was 12 years old. He was posting on Twitter, he was tweeting about all that happened in Sandy Hook.”

In February 2018, Joaquin was one of the 17 people killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland. His parents, Patricia and her husband Manuel Oliver, have spent the years since the shooting raising awareness for gun violence prevention in honor of their son, following in his footsteps as an activist.

On Monday, they joined the families of other mass shooting victims and mass shooting survivors for a gun violence prevention rally at the Pulse Memorial....

Is it legal to scream "FIRE!" in a theater yet?

That is what this comes down to.

Dallas, Texas has a population of 1,304,379 citizens as of the 2020 Census. The number of deaths from COVID-19 as of today is 1,133,620. That virus wiped away lives in the USA without mercy and no one could stop the misinformation. The online misinformation was incredible with a President asking his advisor in public if injecting bleach was a method of ending the virus. What Doughty did in this case was to allow firestorms of information to cloud the judgement of Americans and because of it dying is okay.'

The "Misinformation Age" is alive and well in the USA and judges like Doughty simply don't care if we live or we die when the government knows how to save our lives and our democracy.

I hope there are independent organizations that are objective, love the law and the people of this country and are logging decisions by judges that amount to the classification of "dangerous."

There needs to be a clear understanding that "online" language/speech is definitely not the same as "offline" language/speech. There is no way conversation or "real" speech between people causes the level of concern on a societal basis. Online speech is completely different from offline speech. Online speech is more powerful and magnifies the intent of the words a million times than the same exact words between individuals. Online speech affects the thoughts of complete strangers around the world. It has to be treated differently.

Misinformation has to be policed.

July 4, 2023
By Steven Lee Myers and David McCabe

A federal court in Louisiana (click here) on Tuesday barred parts of the Biden administration from communicating with social media platforms about broad swaths of content online, a ruling that could curtail efforts to combat false and misleading narratives about the coronavirus pandemic and other issues.

In the ruling, Judge Terry A. Doughty of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana said that parts of the government, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, could not talk to social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.”

Judge Doughty said in granting a preliminary injunction that the agencies could not flag specific posts to the social media platforms or requests reports about their efforts to take down content. The ruling said that the government could still notify the platforms about posts detailing crimes, national security threats or foreign attempts to influence elections....

China. China cannot exist in the form it is now without USA innovation and information.

The spy balloon that was shot down was American technology in order to spy on us. 5G should have been reserved for military purposes only. 

July 4, 2023

By Julia Shappero

Former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham (click here) said Saturday that she saw former President Trump show classified documents to people at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.

“I watched him show documents to people at Mar-a-Lago on the dining room patio,” Grisham, who served as Trump’s chief spokesperson from July 2019 to April 2020, said in an interview on MSNBC. “So, he has no respect for classified information, never did.”...

National Cherry Festival

 The Thunderbirds are here to wow the crowd.

The Equal Protection Clauses

 The 4th and 14th Amendments to the USA Constitution are the Equal Protection Clauses. They are to be sure all citizens are treated the same under the law. But, what happens then if there are social prejudices that oppress some ethnicities and cast them into prison unjustly? 

What happens is that racism, bigotry, hate, bias, and discrimination run rampant. That has been the history in the USA. In the case of higher education, it is a matter of the trickle down of circumstances. If a child is raised in adverse circumstances and opportunities are limited or absent due to oppression, where does it stop? 

continued…

Supreme Court Deliberate Malpractice

All judicial decisions are supposed to be based on facts. The evidence in the case regarding web design and the rights of the LGBTQ+ community was manufactured. The only thing factual about the evidence is it’s falsehood. 

This is gross malpractice by the conservative majority of the court including Chief Justice Roberts. This is a new low for the Supreme Court and it is a glaring miscarriage of justice.

This wrongful decision is one of several that is ideological and sound. It would be best to examine the minority opinions. Op-eds would be welcome here.

The Affirmative Action decision promotes white supremacy as the timeline of racism, bigotry, discrimination and bias continue to be tolerated and evidently preferred by the Supreme Court. What is so astounding is that the Supreme Court finds the federal legislation unfit to be law. The Supreme Court likes to play politics with an ideology that is selective in separation of powers. Stare Decius be damned.

The decision regarding student loan debt was an economically sound decision by President Biden for a burdened population of people that would have expanded opportunity and growth.

This Supreme Court is grossly under qualified to service this democracy well, besides known corruption of at least half of the conservative justices, Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch. Kavanaugh is another issue of character and unethical written content to persuade him as a cinder choice.

US Senator Tommy Tuberville should be impeached.

He is a traitor seeking to weaken the USA military. He is a Putin ally.

Attorney General Garland…

 …is being set up to be the next Dr. Fauci. The Republicans need a scapegoat for all their lies and false narratives. His testimony to the House Judiciary Committee is to create a celebrity to hate because the committee is going to attempt to tie Hunter Biden’s plea agreement to a corrupt President Biden.

It is the only way to attempt to carry out a groundless impeachment. The Republicans plan to run on corruption if they can get it to stick to Democrats. Corruption in politics begins with an R not a D.

Republicans are the champions of a banana republic.

Persistence pays off.

The canopy of black spruce trees have never been so important. It is an incredible story of dedication. It is a great story of two species, one human and the other elusive. The Bog Elfin Butterfly now adds to the beauty of Vermont.

This is the reference to the Bog Elfin Butterfly from US Forest Service (click here). 

The butterfly is a pollinator.

June 26, 2023

By Billy Baker

The bog elfin (click here) had never been confirmed in Vermont, but Pfeiffer’s gut told him it was there. So the entomologist logged countless miles through isolated terrain swarming with mosquitos and black flies, armed with binoculars and a butterfly net and a determination his friends and colleagues marveled at. He was 44 when his search began; a heart attack and a knee replacement later, he found himself at age 65, wondering the sort of things people wonder as the years race by. “Every year I felt like my window was closing,” he said.

But the quest wasn’t just a challenge; it was about a legacy, not for him but for the butterfly. If he could prove the rare insect was in Vermont — he had initially begun his search as part of a team compiling the first-ever Vermont Butterfly Atlas — then it would be recorded forever as something Vermont must preserve. These things matter to Pfeiffer, who decades ago left a career in journalism to “go outside,” as he says.

Right is A black spruce bog in Lake County, MN (click here)

For the last several years, Pfeiffer’s search had focused on a single bog with plentiful black spruce trees, where bog elfin are known to lay their eggs. But on this fateful day, he decided to explore a new bog. There were two potentials he’d identified but never been to, and something told him to choose one over the other. He made the drive, and after he parked on a country road and started to suit up for the bushwhacking it would take to get to the bog, a bobcat sauntered past. “That had certainly never happened before,” he said....

Is it possible for an entire society to suffer from Stockholm Syndrome…

 …whereby death is ever present and possible if one steps outside prescribed public roles? Or is a society so dysfunctional and disordered that public order is the only aspect of life that is not bizarre and normal reactions and feelings cannot exist?

It is my belief that propaganda and not the truth is paramount to such societal maladies. I think dictators, emperors or whatever one wants to call the entity of control requires a societal order that is recognizable in order to act against it in defense of control. Propaganda is a requirement in such a paradigm. Normalcy or normal human emotional response is basically outlawed by the emperor’s propaganda to favor control.

Wagner Private Military

It appears the mercenary group is trying to stop the carnage. They are right to do it. There are large numbers of Ukrainians and Russians dead.

Oh, well, just another day in Russia and Belarus.

The videos are amazing. Russians sweeping the streets while mercenaries take their positions. The citizens are looking at each other as if to say, “What is it this time?”

Putin was the only one scared by it. No one else seemed to be bothered by it. 

This is the fight against genocide as well.

A special Member Spotlight (click here) for the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies on working in the field of Ukrainian Studies in 2022, including the experience of organizing and curating a worldwide art flash mob "Theory of Protection" by Ukrainian artist Darya Koltsova, marking one month of the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

This beautiful Ukraine scholar has a beautiful heart of inclusion and love of the beauty art can bring to the world while relating a message. The genocide and the refugee movement has not soured her and made her angry. She acted initially to assist others in saving their lives and when she realized what she had to offer as a scholar mattered in ways other acts did not, she returned to the beauty of art and expression. 

There is nothing to dislike about Ukraine and it's people that desired nothing but peace through neutrality. 

She is a magnificent expression of the people of Ukraine and their aspirations to peace, prosperity and humanity.

Every effort to protect Ukrainians and return their homeland is right and just.

Please help American farmers in becoming part of the expertise they need.

June 23, 2023

Engineering assistance (click here) can be obtained from NRCS field offices, area offices, state offices, national centers, and the Conservation Engineering Division in Washington, DC.

Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (click here) announced it is ramping up hiring for key positions that will help strengthen agricultural conservation efforts and turn President Biden’s Investing in America agenda into action. The available positions include engineers, civil engineering technicians and natural resource specialists, building on other large-scale hiring announcements earlier this year. The application period for engineer positions is currently open, and engineering technicians and natural resource specialist opportunities will open over the next two weeks.

“Thanks to President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, we are building a robust workforce with the skills necessary to support communities as they address conservation challenges and respond to increasing extreme weather events fueled by climate change,” said NRCS Chief Terry Cosby. “If you are interested in leveraging your skill in engineering or the agricultural sciences to make a positive impact in your local community, you are exactly the kind of candidate we’re looking for. You would work with farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners, as well as other community members, to address a variety of natural resource conservation challenges and support our country’s investment in a climate-smart future for agriculture.”

Today’s announcement is funded by $19.5 billion from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. The new NRCS engineers and engineering technicians will play a critical role in solving a host of natural resource problems for agricultural producers and local communities. Their projects may involve stream restoration, erosion control, developing water systems for livestock, improving and conserving irrigation water and restoring wetlands. They may also help communities recover from natural disasters.

Natural resource specialists perform a variety of duties to help landowners meet their conservation objectives. This may include assisting in the implementation of conservation plans, conducting scientific studies and performing on-site evaluations with customers. Their work enhances conservation program delivery and helps build resilient farms and communities across America....

THIS IS NOT OKAY!

June 22, 2023
By Gabe Hauari

A postal worker (click here) collapsed and died Tuesday while on his route in Dallas amid extreme heat in the area, according to the U.S. Postal Service.

While going door to door during Tuesday’s high temperatures, family members told local outlet Fox 4 Eugene Gates Jr. collapsed in a front yard before a homeowner came outside to perform CPR.

While a cause of death has not yet been determined, the heat index in the Dallas area reached 115 degrees Tuesday. According to NBCDFW, that's the highest in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 1980.

According to the National Weather Service, heat index is a measure of what the temperature feels like to the human body when relative humidity is combined with air temperature....

The map above is what is expected to be the high temperatures throughout the country. As the summer progresses it will get higher and higher. Why? Because the first day of summer just occurred on June 21, 2023 at 10:57 AM. The sun is now in the northern hemisphere and traveling back to the equator. The sun will continue to provide heat to Earth and add to the heat it already was exposed to between Spring and Summer. The autumnal equinox occurs on September 23rd. It will be at that point the sun will return to the southern hemisphere where Spring will begin.

There is a reason why the worst hurricanes happens beginning in late August into September. It is because the sun has warmed Earth to a maximum that spins up hurricanes. This year is also El Nino. So the heat this summer will be significant and those out in the heat doing their jobs in order to work and live in the USA will be suffering. 

The death of this postal worker is completely uncalled for and these diligent servants to the public needed protection and planning.

There are options for these folks including ice collars that can help providing their doctors state it is an acceptable method of remaining cool. Otherwise, take the postal workers out of the heat and into air conditioned vehicles.

The climate crisis is expensive. Get used to it.

Everyone is allowed to survive this calamity of the petroleum industry. The petroleum industry needs to be sued for every penny they have for the crimes against humanity it has allowed and is continuing to allow. The petroleum industry is responsible for this postal worker death.

The ocean is unforgiving.

There is no room for error or doubt. The most minor flaw or need of attentive repair will not hold up to the powers of the oceans of Earth.

I am so very sorry to hear this had ended with loss of life. They were all great people and will be missed. (click here)

Shahzada Dawood, and Suleman Dawood, Hamish Harding, Paul Henry Nargeolet, and Stockton Rush.

The best in the world are working diligently to find survivors.

There has been some discussion by a person affiliated with OceanGate that the hull was in question on inspection. I can only imagine what everyone is going through that are affiliated with these brave people. I wish all those involved the very best in finding the vessel. If this fails over time, it will not be for the trying. The effort is astounding.

There are conflicting currents in the region where the Titan was lost. (chart below - click here) The two currents flow in opposite directions. There is the Labrador Current which flows south and the Gulf Stream that flows north. One is a cold water current flowing south and one is a warm water current flowing north. When cold and warm meet there are interactions within the ocean that aren't necessarily mapped. 

Basically, the expedition team saw a break in the weather and decided to move into the area of the ship wreck. There is a lot going on with the ocean in that region of the world right now, including issues with changing dynamics of the "global conveyer belt" (click here).

These waters in the conveyer belt are not surface, but, deep ocean currents. Part of what is playing out is also the rapid ice melt of Greenland. All that fresh water dumping into the North Atlantic where the global conveyer belt originates is causing changes in the ocean itself as well as the deep water currents. To say this operation is complex is an understatement when realizing the NEW AND UNCERTAIN dynamics of quickly melting glaciers.

Get daily satellite (click here) images and information about melting on the Greenland ice sheet.

The Titan is a small vessel that will be effected by strong ocean currents. I think the navigation was not as simple as a straight line to the Titanic. The vessel probably was effect by currents no one expected nor could navigate through. 

Earth's oceans are not in a good state right now. There are all kinds of warnings that are sent to ocean going vessels when circumstances change in the ocean, but, when it comes to warning about changes in deep water and surface water currents, there simply isn't that degree of involvement by any governing agency or scientific body. I applaud those that love the ocean and understand the fascination for the ship wreck, however, the idea of accepting danger to be in a submersible when a surface operated submersible will achieve the same thing, especially around such an old ship wreck, is worrisome. The North Atlantic on a good day is dangerous, but, to realize the meltwater running into it now creates a lot of concern for such a small vessel.

An underwater rescue of 13,000 feet has never been attempted before.

20 June 2023
By Graham Russell

Contact with the Titan submersible (click here) was lost 1 hour 45 minutes into its dive on Sunday afternoon, according to the US Coast Guard. Here’s what we know about the vessel and what might have happened....