Kyoto Protocol and the IPCC has addressed every aspect of the anthropogenic warming of Earth. Every Greenhouse Gas is dangerous. Every GHG has to be addressed and brought to zero. It has to be done and the longer it is left to the spin of the roulette wheel the greater the odds our children will be effected by this episode of warming. 

Human beings are responsible for this warming and it is human beings that have to exert their power to end it. 

   

Loss of Arctic sea ice impacting Atlantic Ocean water circulation system (click here)

Date: July 31, 2017

Source: Yale University

Summary: Arctic sea ice is not merely a passive responder to the climate changes occurring around the world, according to new research. Scientists say the ongoing Arctic ice loss can play an active role in altering one of the planet's largest water circulation systems: the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

The surface currents is where all those wonderful single celled photosynthetic organisms live that produce 60 percent of Earth's atmospheric oxygen.

The deep ocean currents is where there are high pressures and water movement. The water movement is facilitated by heavy colder waters from the Arctic Circle. When those waters are no longer cold enough to drive those deep ocean currents they will stop. The result of stopped currents effects the very physics of the planet. Earth has already been measured to have marginally slowed. The lack of movement of the oceans add drag to the planet and will drastically change the climate of every continent.

This is no joke. Earth is first a planet and there are no deals to be made even though the First World countries continue to bargain against Earth's consent to their methods of obtaining wealth.

Here is the loop hole the Republicans enforce through refusal to recognize the climate crisis.

The Republicans deny the reality of the climate crisis or simply say it has nothing to do with anthropogenic emissions to keep their cronies and their political treasuries full of money. It is corruption, deception of the public and half truths leading to half measures that maintain danger to people. 

There you have it. Republicans don't care about the truth, hence, they care less for the American people. As long as they can slide half truths before the people they'll do it. 

The methane regulations are important, need to remain in practice and the courts will have to end the lies and deceptions of the Republican party. Imagine being concerned about ESTABLISHED AND KNOWN methane leaks and the state and federal government laughs and walks away because the wind hasn't carried into the lungs of people nearby.

August 10, 2017

By Amy Sisk

...Methane is a greenhouse gas (click here) far more potent than carbon dioxide. Some residents of the Bakken oil patch, like Lisa DeVille, are concerned it’s harming the quality of the air. DeVille is a board member of local watchdog Dakota Resource Council and president of affiliate Fort Berthold Protectors of Water and Earth Rights.

Last year, she stood at a well site near her home in Mandaree with an infrared camera, which can detect gas leaks. She saw a plume on screen coming from one of the tank batteries next to the well.

“I knew how toxic they were,” she said. “But just to witness it on this camera, it’s like, this is what we’re breathing?”

The Dakota Resource Council has released a new report highlighting its concerns about these leaks. The group wants federal methane rules to go into effect to limit pollution they say is “endangering the health of communities across North Dakota.”

But state health officials point to their own air monitors, which show the leaks have not harmed air quality across the oil patch.

The air is healthy to breathe, even for people living close to oil well sites, said Jim Semerad, manager of permitting and compliance for the North Dakota Department of Health’s Division of Air Quality.

“Our monitors that are portable haven’t shown dramatic rises off site,” he said. “I haven’t seen anything that would cause me concern for those folks.”...

Delhi children breath toxic air, (click here) reveals Greenpeace air-monitoring survey in schools

Press release - February 16, 2015

Publicising reliable air quality data along with a set of Precautionary Measures are the first steps needed to tackle the issue of air pollution in Delhi

New Delhi, February 16, 2015: The air-quality monitoring survey carried out by Greenpeace inside five prominent schools across Delhi found the PM2.5 levels to be 4 times the Indian safety limits and 10 times that of the World Health Organisation’s. The real-time monitoring data from all the five schools revealed particulate matter 2.5 to be at very unhealthy levels...

There are parents that can afford face masks and then there are the impoverished that do their best to protect their lungs.

"Respiratory Health: Measuring the Health Effects of Crop Burning"

Tina Adler, Environ Health Perspect. 2010 Nov; 118(11)

...Ravinder Agarwal, (click here) head of the University Science Instrumentation Centre at Thapar University in Patiala, India, and colleagues used portable spirometers to regularly test the lung function of children aged 10–13 and adults aged 20–35 over the course of a year. The 40 participants were healthy nonsmokers living in a village surrounded by farmland, with little traffic and no industry within 10 km.

Children’s force vital capacity (FVC) dropped from a mean 98% in August 2008 to 92% in July 2009. Mean FVC dipped as low as 88% in October and November, when farmers burned their rice crop residue, and in April and May, when they burned wheat stubble. The children’s mean lung function remained significantly lower throughout the test period. The mean lung function of the adult study participants declined during the burn seasons as well, but largely returned to original levels by the end of the study.

Decreases in lung function correlated with increases in the concentration of particulate matter, which exceeded India’s national air quality standards during the burn season. Small particles (PM2.5 and PM10)—which make up the majority of the smoke produced by crop burning—were more closely associated with decreases in lung function than suspended particulate matter (SPM), which can contain particles 100 μm or larger....               

It just feels good, ya know? Generations of Canadians will be able to realize the beauty of a protected area.

August 11, 2017
By Gloria Galloway

The federal government (click here) has reached an agreement with local Inuit that will lead to the protection and management of a massive swath of northern sea in one of the most ecologically sensitive regions of the Canadian Arctic.

The new proposed boundaries of a national marine conservation area in Lancaster Sound, which has sometimes been called the Serengeti of the Arctic because of the breadth of its biodiversity, would encompass more than 131,000 square kilometres of ocean.

That is 10 times larger than the biggest of the four existing national marine conservation areas, more than twice as large as any other protected area on land or sea, and would more than double the area of Canada’s marine protected waters.

It also represents about 1.9 per cent of the country’s expanse of ocean and would mark a significant step toward meeting its commitment, under the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, to conserve 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas by 2020....

...While all environmental groups contacted for this story praised the expansion of the protected area, some said they hoped the government would not wait long to actually put the permanent protections in place.

“We’d be pleased with any announcement that includes meaningful protections for Lancaster Sound,” said David Miller, president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund Canada. “Since Shell relinquished 30 oil and gas exploration leases last summer after a WWF-Canada lawsuit, there is nothing standing in the way of creating the largest marine protected area in Canada, with a boundary that is informed by traditional knowledge that will fully protect the integrity of this unique ecosystem.”

Right now, a large portion of the world’s narwhal are feeding within the area to be protected, with their newborn calves at their side, Mr. Miller said. “ Bowhead whales, beluga, walrus, polar bears and countless migratory birds are stocking up on Lancaster Sound’s bounty in the 24-hour daylight to get themselves through next winter.”

The report below was written in 2015.

Short and Long Term Impacts of Burning Crop Residue (click here)

This has been an extraordinary season for raising wheat, barley and oats in Cache County (Utah - click here). On most farms yields have been exceptional on both irrigated and drylands. In most cases, bushel weights have been respectable too. Growers were able to plant weeks earlier than normal, and the copious spring rains in May really got small grains off to a good start. About the only down-side some growers experienced was lodging. Heavy grain heads were more than stiff straws could hold up. As such some grain tipped over making it difficult to combine.

Not only did we enjoy heavy grain yields, but we now have an abundance of straw, more straw than we know what to do with. Some straw is used for bedding and some for feed, but we have more straw than we can sell and adequate storage is difficult to find....

...More than 30 years of research has shown that, although there may be some short-term benefits to burning crop residue, there is a slow and steady reduction in soil health that will eventually result in reduced productivity that cannot be overcome with increased additions of mineral fertilizers. Long-term soil, chemical and nutrient effects include a significant reduction in total Carbon and Nitrogen pools. An improved C:N ratio under residue retention increases and maintains higher microbial activity, ensuring more rapid organic matter decomposition and nutrient release to the soil. Burning decreases readily assimilated carbon sources for microbes, decreases soil ammonium levels and available soil phosphorus. That’s to say nothing of increased erodibility, lower organic matter levels and reduced water intake and retention.

A general review of the literature indicates that no measurable negative effects are associated with occasional and short-term burning, but that prolonged burning (>15 years) results in a significant loss of soil health and function. What may, at first, be attractive as short-term benefits, eventually become long-term cost increases in soil nutrient and crop production management. The costs associated with the loss of organic matter and nutrients from burning crop residue exceed its benefits....

Below is a clear demonstration of NO TILL farming. (click here) The residual from previous crops are left in place. It prevents erosion and loss of nutrients while preserving the moisture in the soil. This practice has been in use in the USA for at least the past 20 to 30 years. The crops sown into the ground in this method grow a normal course. The sunlight is available through the stubble. The plants do not have competition for sunlight as the stubble no longer grows. The crop yields are sometimes exceptional.

...The USDA- NRCS office promotes sound conservation practices to help make those transitions from burning residue to leaving residue. Practices such as residue management no till, mulching, cover crops, conservation crop rotation, and many other practices are all alternative to burning....

9 August 2017

The dogs (click here) that made Australia’s era of Antarctic exploration possible have been immortalised this week as 26 landmarks were named after the most important four-legged team members. The huskies served alongside Sir Douglas Mawson and his men throughout Mawson’s Australasian Antarctic Expedition in the early 20th century. The loyal dogs played a critical role in the mission as they pulled sleds with important supplies, provided expedition transport and offered much needed companionship for the men.

The landmarks named after the dogs include islands, rocks and reefs with the most prominent sites named after the most important dogs. You can now pinpoint sites such as Pavlova Island, Ginger Reef and Devil Rock scattered across the Antarctic, all named in honour of Mawson’s beloved huskies.

The naming and accurate positioning of prominent landmarks is crucial for Antarctic research and operations, with satellite imagery allowing better identification of islands and other features in the landscape. So, the dogs will live on and continue to help man explore this wild, wonderful and mysterious corner of the world.

"Multicriteria Analysis of the Effects of Field Burning Crop Residues"

Vasilica Stan, Gina Fintineru, Mircea Mihalache

University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, 59 Mărăşti Bd., Sector 1, 011464,Bucharest, Romania

Abstract Burning crop residues (click here) is frequently used by Romanian land users to clean agricultural fields after crop harvest for ease in postharvest soil tillage. Huge amounts of crop residues biomass, on very large areas, were burned in Romania in the last twenty years, as compared to other countries. There are several reasons (e.g. the lack of equipment to gather the crop residues and to transport and store them, the diminishing of the livestock after 1990, the absence of other alternatives, especially in the 1990s, but also the lack of information regarding the good practices) that are evocated to support the use of this method. However, this method is not a sustainable one since it can cause many environmental damages, especially related to soil properties (physical, chemical and biological), greenhouse gas emission and crop yields. Contrary to the above stated, crop residues’ addition to the soil may restore damaged soil structure, improve aggregate stability, soil water retention, soil fertility, increase total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) etc. The purpose of this paper is to make a multicriteria analyze of the effects of crop residue management on the soil, agricultural productivity and environment. At the same time, the use of crop residues biomass as a source of energy is presented as an alternative, given its potential ability to offset fossil fuels and reduce CO2 emissions. 

In the USA farmers bail straw or bring it in from the fields on large wagons to use for animal bedding. I keeps more sanitary conditions.

2014-03-13

Japanese electronics (click here) maker Panasonic has decided to pay smuggle money to Chinese dispatch workers, the Financial Times reported on Friday. This is partly due to the growing concern about the Chinese air pollution problem.


PM2.5 refers to atmospheric particulate matter (PM) that have a diameter less than 2.5 micrometers, which is about 3% the diameter of a human hair. Commonly written as PM_2.5, particles in this category are so small that they can only be detected with an electron microscope.

"Contributions of open crop straw burning emissions to PM 2.5 concentrations in China" (click here)

Libo Zhang, Yongqiang Liu and Lu Hao

Published 27 January 2016
Environmental Research Letters, Volume 11, Number 1

PM2.5 inventories have been developed in major Chinese cities to quantify the contributions from various sources based on annual emissions. This approach, however, could substantially underestimate the contribution from open straw burning during the harvest or other active burning periods. This study examines this issue by estimating monthly and annual straw-burning PM2.5 emissions in China and comparing with them with the corresponding emissions from other anthropogenic sources. Annually burned straw PM2.5 emissions during 1997 ~ 2013 for 31 China provinces were calculated based on crop and related burning information for 12 months based on satellite detection of agricultural burning. Annual emissions from other anthropogenic sources were collected from the literature and allocated to monthly values using air pollution index measurements. The results indicate that the annual PM2.5 emissions from open straw burning in China were 1.036 m tons. The monthly PM2.5 emission ratios of straw burning to other anthropogenic sources during June, the harvest period for many regions, were several times larger than the annual ratios at national, regional, and province levels, suggesting that, in contrast to annual emissions that were used in the PM2.5 inventories in Chinese cities to assess the contributions from other sources, monthly emissions should be used to assess the contributions from straw burning during the harvest or other active burning periods. The larger contributions from straw burning shown in this study also suggest that substantial reduction of open field straw burning would dramatically improve air quality in many Chinese regions during the harvest or other active burning periods.


In Bozeman, Montana (click here) children play in a maze constructed of bailed straw.

This is the problem when East meets West. The interpretation of values are different and sophistication is lost.

The football The mayor in a long-ago all-star in 1983 (click here)

August 13, 2017
By Amelia Urry

Bernard Carvalho (click here)  might be the least jaded politician in the United States of America right now.

True, it might not seem too hard to keep a sunny disposition when you’re the mayor of a laid-back Hawaiian island that runs on tourism and surfing—especially one that’s making the transition to clean energy faster than just about anywhere else in the country.

But when President Trump made the announcement that he would pull the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord—an international agreement backed by 194 countries, with the goal of forestalling disastrous levels of global warming—Carvalho knew he had to do something.

A 6-foot-5-inch former NFL guard, Carvalho threw his weight behind the international agreement. In early June, Kauai’s mayor joined Hawaii Governor David Y. Ige and other Hawaiian state and county officials to independently sign support for the agreement, making Hawaii the first state to enact laws enforcing the treaty’s commitments in their own communities....

November 24, 2015
By M Rajshekhar

The fog underscored just how poorly India's pollution problem is understood. (click here)

Why do farmers burn their fields in Punjab despite knowing that it worsens the fog over North India? Profitability of Punjab agriculture has fallen. The farmers know about the pollution caused, but do they have an option? Read more on Scroll.in. Photo by M Rajshekhar

On the evening of 7 November, a deep fog settled along the stretch of 250 kilometres between Sirsa and Gurgaon in Haryana. By ten in the night, it was thick enough to make travel almost impossible. In places, visibility shrank to not more than five metres. State transport buses cut their trips short. Cars, trucks and buses which kept moving towards Delhi did so cautiously, taking as long as six hours to cover a distance of 150 kilometres.

That night, the consensus among drivers and locals was that the fog was not natural but man-made. Not only does this part of India have several industrial units and power plants, in the months of October and November, farmers in Punjab burn fields to clear the crop stubble left after their kharif harvest. A sudden nip in the air that evening appeared to have trapped the emissions from both industry and burning fields close to the earth.

The fog underscored just how poorly India's pollution problem is understood. While the worsening of Delhi's air during the winter gets some attention, there is barely any acknowledgement that the blanket of chemical soup extends all the way till Punjab, and perhaps to the south of Delhi too.

There is also little understanding of what's needed to tackle the problem.

In the run up to the winter, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal asked Punjab government to ensure farmers did not burn their fields. A better alternative, he said, would be to plough the stalks back into the earth where they can decompose into humus.

But on the ground, things aren't as simple....

"Here and Now" was never the promise to generations growing into leadership.

13 August 2017
By Geoff Dembicki

‘The window for hope is closing rapidly.’

If progressives (click here) can’t take back control of the White House and Congress from climate change deniers in the next three years, it’s conceivable that humankind could be screwed. But evidence is mounting that a new political force is up to the task. It has millions of potential supporters across the US, the UK and Canada. It’s openly critical of capitalism. And it’s led by millennials such as Moumita Ahmed.

The 25-year-old activist is intimately aware of what’s at stake. She grew up in Queens, New York, and rose to prominence during the 2016 Democratic primaries as co-founder of a group now known as Millennials for Revolution.

She has since rallied thousands of people her age against Donald Trump’s travel ban and the Republican healthcare bill. Yet climate change is never far from Ahmed’s mind. Rising oceans directly threaten her family members back in Bangladesh. “It makes me so angry and upset,” Ahmed said. “But at the end of the day, I still believe there is hope.”...

There is a reason 'old white men' are elected as Republicans in government. They are the only ones invested in the petroleum industry. They have no desire to hand any responsibility to younger generations, it would ruin their 'comfort zone' of power and money.

Field burning of agricultural residues. as known as "Don't light that agricultural fire."

Burning of crop residues leads to the emission of a number of atmospheric pollutants: ammonia (NH3), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) including black carbon (BC). Burning these residues will also give rise to emissions of heavy metals (HM) and dioxin.

Table 1-1 Contributions of emissions of gases from the field burning of agricultural residues; 2005 estimates (Gg) (Gigagram)

Cereals
Pulses
Tuber and root
Sugar cane
others

When examining ANY issue, to determine if racism is involved know the victims and their socioeconomic place in the scheme of things.

It's Sunday Night 

Prescription opioid overdose was responsible for more deaths in the United States from 1999-2008 than heroin and cocaine overdose combined.

"Opioids could kill nearly 500,000 Americans in the next decade." (click here)

There is a national health emergency involving addiction to opioids. There is a treatment and potentially a cure with this noble use of Mary Jane, saving lives.

August 13, 2017

Much to the dismay (click here) of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the Senate Appropriations Committee recently approved a budget amendment in an appropriations bill covering fiscal 2017.

The amendment would protect states with responsible medical marijuana laws from Department of Justice interference and would help prevent a federal crackdown on state-legal cannabis businesses—a position the majority of Americans support.

However, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued a letter that stated "Congress has determined that marijuana is a dangerous drug and that the illegal distribution and sale of marijuana is a crime.” The DOJ is committed to enforcing the Controlled Substances Act under the guise of addressing “the most significant threats to public health and safety.”...                      

"What's left?" by 3 doors down (click here for official website - thank you)

A few pictures, two tickets, from a trip we took last year
A handful of memories, some still seem clear
Few regrets, couple melodies, that remind me of you
Well, I could say that I won't miss this
But that wouldn't be the truth

There's no one here to blame and this is the only way
There's nothing left for us, to say

It's time to let you go, it's what we have to do
It's time to give this up, I think that we both knew
There's nothing left to say, there's nothing left to prove
And now it's time to turn and walk away from
What's left of me and you
What's left of me and you

Box of letters, that old t-shirt, still brings me back to you
A few more hours in the day, not sure what I should do
There's no one here to blame, and this is the only way
There's nothing left for us to say

It's time to let you go, it's what we have to do
It's time to give this up, I think that we both knew
There's nothing left to say, there's nothing left to prove
And now it's time to turn and walk away from
What's left of me and you

You were the best thing I'll ever give up
And it's hard to see the truth
When you think you're still in love
The only way to get on with my life
Is to say goodbye, so goodbye

It's time to let you go, it's what we have to do
It's time to give this up, I think that we both knew
There's nothing left to save and nothing left to prove
And now it's time to turn and walk away from
What's left of me and you
Whoa-oh-oh that's left of me and you

A few pictures, two tickets, from a trip we took last year
A handful of memories, some still seem clear

White nationalists have no protections under any international conventions, quite the contrary.

The USA White Nationalists are nothing more than a political icon of the south that is a remnant of the civil war. They lost the war. 

They are no particular ethnicity and carry no protections for freedom of speech. Their demonstrations promulgate hate. Even the USA media is not permitted to promulgate hate.

Hate speech is speech which attacks a person or group on the basis of attributes such as race, religion, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or gender. In the law of some countries, hate speech is described as speech, gesture or conduct, writing, or display which is forbidden because it incites violence or prejudicial action against or by a protected group, or individual on the basis of their membership of the group, or because it disparages or intimidates a protected group, or individual on the basis of their membership of the group.

White Nationalists exist in the USA for political purposes based in false promises that their particular skin color will only exist in the USA. It is the base of the USA Republican Party and it should never have been tolerated in the first place.

USA White Nationalists do not seek rights, they seek to remove rights from others and as of the repeal of the Voting Rights Act or making it empty of purpose and power they are succeeding in causing hardship and reduction of quality of life of Americans. The actions of the Republican Party is racist. I dare anyone to state otherwise. When was the last act of civil rights by the Republican Party?

White Nationalists have to be the longest lived dead-enders in the history of the world.

White Nationalism is just wrong. The demonstrations, as far as I am concerned, are hate crimes.

Demonstrations that exhibit hate are hate crimes. It isn't freedom of speech. The demonstrators want oppression, not freedom, so, what the heck let's give them every opportunity to spread the word of hate. 

It is an expression of hate in a country where diversity has been valued from the beginning of the country. The civil war is over. The remnants are not welcome here anymore. These people that hate have now become a subversive force with members in the White House and Congress. It is just "W"rong.

The Voting Rights Act was repealed for votes. Votes to elect people that either hate or tolerate it.

My sincerest sympathies to family and friends of the woman that died via auto. I expect the other victims to fully recover. How many people have now died in the civil rights movement in the USA? The total has now increased by one.

The confrontations are new, but, we saw them at Berkley, too. There is a subversive movement in the USA and it is done for the sake of the First Amendment. We should be ashamed we tolerate such expressions of hate.

August 12, 2017

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Brian M. Rosenthal

Charlottesville, Va. — Violence erupted on Saturday (click here) as hundreds of white nationalists had gathered here for a rally and clashed with counterprotesters, resulting in at least one death and prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency.

After the rally at a city park was dispersed, a car plowed into a crowd near the city’s downtown mall, killing a 32-year-old woman, Police Chief Al Thomas, said. Some 34 were injured; at least 19 in the car crash, according to a spokeswoman for the University of Virginia Medical Center.

The authorities did not immediately say whether the episode was related to the white nationalists’ demonstration, but several witnesses and video of the scene suggested that it might have been intentional. Chief Thomas said that a suspect had been taken into custody and that police were treating the episode as a criminal homicide.

Witnesses said a crowd of counterdemonstrators, jubilant because the white nationalists had left, was moving up Fourth Street, near the mall, when a gray sports car came down the road and accelerated, mowing down several people and hurling at least two in the air....                      

Why Venezuela? Joking, right?

Tillerson is Cheney on steroids.

The proven oil reserves in Venezuela are recognized as the largest in the world, totaling 297 billion barrels (4.72×10¹⁰ m³) as of 1 January 2014.

Stay tuned for Iraq 2.0. They will love us as their liberator!

And you think I am joking about the white supremacists? Not. The Alt Right is the next leading cause of accidental deaths in the USA.

Every 'real' southern home has at least one portrait of Robert E. Lee. Seriously. Migratory northerners can be discovered when the portraits include people like Lincoln or the American flag with all it's stars. Did the "Real Housewives of the South" leave that part out? Lee's name is tattooed on every 'real' southern woman's ass.

August 12, 2017
By Nicole Chavez

White nationalists and counter-protesters (click here) are expected to flood downtown Charlottesville Saturday as the Virginia city braces for the "Unite the Right" rally.
By noon, thousands are expected to gather in Emancipation Park, where barricades have been placed in proximity to the statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The rally comes hours after a large group of torch-bearing white nationalists marched through the University of Virginia campus Friday night....

Then there is this wacko election in Alabama to replace what's his name, AG, Sessions. There are three Republican candidates running for the nomination and they are all these right wing extremist white men. All of them. There are at least 50 percent women in Alabama, most of them white and there are at least 30 percent minorities, but, the Alt Right rather their white guys.

LIBERAL BIAS! Liberal bias is everything other than hate. Remember now, God is the path. So is the Alt-Right's god full of hate? Why do Black churches burn?

August 9, 2017
By Kevin Roose

...For alt-right activists, (click here) who occupy the rightmost flanks of a powerful conservative internet subculture, Google’s response to Mr. Damore’s memo was low-hanging fruit for mockery. But there is another reason that the alt-right’s opposition campaign appeared so quickly, with such well-practiced maneuvers.

For the last several months, far-right activists have mounted an aggressive political campaign against some of Silicon Valley’s biggest players. Extending their attacks beyond social networks like Facebook and Twitter, tech’s typical free-speech battlegrounds, they have accused a long list of companies, including Airbnb, PayPal and Patreon, of censoring right-wing views, and have pledged to expose Silicon Valley for what they say is a pervasive, industrywide liberal bias....

The biggest joke going is North Carolina's unemployment handouts that emphasize becoming drivers for Uber. Has everyone seen the average car in North Carolina? Hello? Would you get in it in fear it wouldn't make it to the destination?

...I fully intend (click here) to comply by all legal rules while filing for unemployment, so I understand that I have to report all part-time and self-employment income each week that I file. I also understand that this would likely reduce my unemployment benefit.

But here's the question: If I am legally self-employed with Uber while filing for unemployment, do I report my GROSS income from Uber, or my NET income after deducting expenses? And would I deduct actual expenses, or the much larger standard mileage discount?

(My state's unemployment web site does an extremely poor job of addressing this, and the phone number is voice-prompt hell.)...

Now, remember, people on unemployment have to report the places they look for work. Really? "Let's see, do I drive this next ride or go to that interview? I'll make money if I do the ride, but, I need one more place of employment for my reporting. Ah, heck, I need the ride to buy gas anyway to keep goin' on Uber. I probably won't get that job. I'll find another place to make application for my reporting instead. Wait a minute, will that put my mileage over the warranty I bought?"

There are few to none independent taxi drivers left in NC. The highest paid taxi driver in NC is in Winston-Salem with a salary of $32,712 per year. I suppose if a household has two drivers in a family they may be able to buy a house for their many children.

The biggest talk around town in the south is how to set aside enough land to atrract car makers to create jobs. What the south doesn't realize is, it takes a high school education to fill out the job application.

"The South Shall Rise Again." A person could really pity them if they weren't so full of hate. No mercy. This is the base of the Alt Right/All White.

The Alt Right in this video are Alt Right for generations, past and future. How many of these people have a marketable education? There are profound reasons companies do not locate in the south OR stay in the south. It is the people. There are few long term employers with stable product bases. The richer southerners with politicians in their pocket don't want the competition either. The richer (not wealthy) southern folks think having poor people with god in their heart is preferable than any other lifestyle. There is a reason why the soutern USA states are the largest recipients to the federal dollar and it isn't because they are empulating the values of New Jersey or it's Governor.

"We rather go without then give up our cultural values." Even if they are a drag on the USA's economy and standing in the world. Making "Trump Deals" for these folks is easy, just promise to get rid of every regulation that ever existed, including tort laws. The problem is even after the "Trump Violation of American Values Deals" there still aren't qualified employees among the natives. Trump is going to be looking for immigrants and/or transplants from other states, but, at least the state GDP will improve even if the people's lives don't.

There are no lazy Americans, there are "Trapped Americans." They all need health care to live a normal longevity. If they start to feel well without drug and/or alcohol and/or 'fat food' dependency they might even want an education with a desire for a quality of life no one in their families have had before.

Much credit to the southern African American community that works very hard to raise all boats and bring some of the most profound impoverished wellness and quality of life. Their churches are phenomenal centers of instilling the desire for clean living and improvement of life's definition. Prospective employers should begin their search for employees with the minority communities of the south, they are phenomenal.

AFOLU - Agricultural, forestry and Land Use

Sectors/source categories

     Agriculture

          Other

Land use is the one place any country can examine where land use can be improved to grow larger carbon sinks.

11 April 2014, Rome (click here) - New FAO estimates of greenhouse gas data show that emissions from agriculture, forestry and fisheries have nearly doubled over the past fifty years and could increase an additional 30 percent by 2050, without greater efforts to reduce them....

...Meanwhile, net GHG emissions due to land use change and deforestation registered a nearly 10 percent decrease over the 2001-2010 period, averaging some 3 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr over the decade. This was the result of reduced levels of deforestation and increases in the amount of atmospheric carbon being sequestered in many countries....

...Averaged over the 2001-2010 period, agriculture, forestry and other land uses (AFOLU) emissions break down as follows:

5 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr from crop and livestock production

4 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr due to net forest conversion to other lands (a proxy for deforestation)

1 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr from degraded peatlands

0.2 billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr by biomass fires

In addition to these emissions, some two billion tonnes CO2 eq/yr were removed from the atmosphere during the same time frame as a result of carbon sequestration in forest sinks....

...The largest source of GHG emissions within agriculture is enteric fermentation - when methane is produced by livestock during digestion and released via belches - this accounted in 2011 for 39 percent of the sector's total GHG outputs. Emissions from enteric fermentation increased 11 percent between 2001 and 2011.

Emissions generated during the application of synthetic fertilizers accounted for 13 percent of agricultural emissions (725 Mt CO2 eq.) in 2011, and are the fastest growing emissions source in agriculture, having increased some 37 percent since 2001.

Greenhouse gases resulting from biological processes in rice paddies that generate methane make up 10 percent of total agricultural emissions, while the burning of savannahs accounts for 5 percent.

In 2011,  44 percent of agriculture-related GHG outputs occurred in Asia, followed by the Americas (25%), Africa (15%),  Europe (12%), and Oceania (4%), according to FAO's data. This regional distribution was fairly constant over the last decade. In 1990 however, Asia's contribution to the global total (38%) was smaller than at present, while Europe's was much larger (21%)....