Why were the Guatemalans migrating to the southern USA border? Because crime was allowed to flourish by the very president that used them for a political agenda.

July 5, 2020
By Kevin Sieff

Laguna del Tigre National Park - The makeshift airstrips (click here) are sliced into the jungle, clearings carved out of the oaks and palms wide enough to land jets full of cocaine.

The planes arrive in the middle of the night, their lights off, guided by drones, unsteady under the weight of the drugs. They descend over Mayan ruins, over camps of jaguar researchers and ornithologists, over illegal settlers and ranchers.

The cat-and-mouse game between the United States and the leaders of Latin America’s drug trade has shifted to this wild stretch of Guatemala, one of the most inhospitable landscapes in the Western Hemisphere. Jets can carry more than $100 million worth of cocaine, to be ferried swiftly out of the jungle, through Mexico and on to the United States....

September 25, 2020

By Nathan Yerby

On September 19, (click here) Guatemalan Interior Minister Enrique Degenhart confirmed that drug cartels are manufacturing cocaine in Guatemala. “As a result of the discovery of fields planted with the coca leaf, Guatemala is now a cocaine-producing country,”  he admitted in a press conference last week. “This places Guatemala in a totally different situation with respect to regional security.”

Guatemala is a Central American nation that shares its northern border with Mexico and its southern border with Honduras and El Salvador. Earlier this month, the Guatemalan military discovered coca leaf plantations in the eastern, mountainous Izabel region. The leaves of the coca plant are the raw ingredients for cocaine production. The military found the plantations while they were patrolling the region in search of drug traffickers who murdered three soldiers there several weeks ago. The military destroyed the plantations, dismantled two laboratories for processing cocaine, arrested 342 people, and confiscated a large supply of weapons and vehicles....

Guatemala Human Rights Commission / USA

THE PROBLEM: Drug trafficking has infiltrated Guatemala, (click here) further destabilizing a country already riddled with violence and corruption. Guatemala is a haven for drug traffickers en route from Colombia to Mexico and the US. A recent crackdown on drugs by the Mexican government has pushed drug cartels across the porous border into Guatemala, where they thrive in an environment of organized crime, gangs, and corrupt police and officials....

Call the police and get it on camera.

 If there is a crime to be committed within the USPS it will occur on Trump's watch. (click here)

...A spa employee found the large mound of boxes and envelopes in the parking lot, and police were called out to the scene. A USPS manager came and collected the tossed mail....

18 U.S. Code § 1703.Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers (click here)

"Law Enforcement Guide to Postal Crimes" (click here)

Anyone in possession of USA mail outside the US Postal Service is guilty of theft. 

Whoever (click here) steals, takes, or abstracts, or by fraud or deception obtains, or attempts so to obtain, from or out of any mail, post office, or station thereof, letter box, mail receptacle, or any mail route or other authorized depository for mail matter, or from a letter or mail carrier, any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or abstracts or removes from any such letter, package, bag, or mail, any article or thing contained therein, or secretes, embezzles, or destroys any such letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail, or any article or thing contained therein; or...

California is in trouble. The nighttime temperatures aren't low enough to effect the daytime temperatures. The heat continues to build.

There may be some relief in the way of hurricanes in the Atlantic. Hurricanes in the Atlantic can effect the overall air temperatures of Earth.

September 6, 2020

By Jennifer McGraw

As a historic heat wave left Southern California (click here) broiling, Woodland Hills on Sunday recorded an all-time high of 121 degrees, which the National Weather Service said was the hottest temperature recorded at an official weather station in Los Angeles County.

It broke the old record of 119 degrees set in July of 2006 and was one of several records to fall on Sunday. The NWS said Riverside hit its highest temperature ever for September at 117 degrees; Santa Ana hit a record high for the day at 106.

In some areas, Sunday was even hotter than Saturday, where the mercury hit historic levels in some areas. Officials said at least three areas tied or topped all-time record highs Saturday: Alpine (113), El Cajon (114) and Idyllwild (103). The weather service said Burbank appeared to tie an all-time record at 114 degrees.

A slight cooling trend should begin Monday. Even though areas could see temperatures drop by 10 degrees, many locations will remain in the triple digits....

This is from NOAA. All the previous record highs were within the last three years, except, for Woodland Hills which was 2006. Within the past decade and a half all-time high heat records have been established. That should be telling everyone something, besides how annoying rolling blackouts are.

THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS REACHED OR EXCEEDED ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES
 
                             HIGH TEMP          PREVIOUS          
                               TODAY            ALL-TIME          
          LOCATION          09/06/2020         REC HIGH            DATE   
 ------------------------   -----------        -----------       ----------
 
 WOODLAND HILLS PIERCE COL  121 DEGREES *      119 DEGREES       07/22/2006
 VAN NUYS AIRPORT @         118 DEGREES        117 DEGREES       07/06/2018 
 PASO ROBLES AIRPORT        117 DEGREES &      115 DEGREES       09/02/2017^
 SAN LUIS OBISPO AIRPORT %  117 DEGREES &      114 DEGREES       09/02/2017
 BURBANK AIRPORT            114 DEGREES        114 DEGREES(TIE)  09/05/2020^
                                                                 
 
 * - THE OFFICIAL ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY
 & - TIES FOR THE ALL-TIME RECORD HIGH IN SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY
 @ - PERIOD OF RECORD IS ONLY 24 YEARS
 % - PERIOD OF RECORD IS ONLY 23 YEARS
 ^ - MOST RECENT OF MORE THAN ONE OCCURRENCE
September 6, 2020
By Susan Miller
The bustling Atlantic basin (click here) isn't taking a Labor Day breather: One depression intensified Monday into a tropical storm, and forecasters are tracking multiple areas that could spin up trouble in a  record-breaking hurricane season.
I am not surprised a record breaking heat index is accompanied by a record breaking hurricane season. The two go hand in hand. It would be great if the eastern Pacific would spin up a few hurricanes that trave l due north to southern California, but, there is a very stable high pressure system in the way.
"The eastern Atlantic is going to become quite active during the next few days," AccuWeather hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski said.
Tropical Storm Paulette formed in the Atlantic, the National Hurricane Center, with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. "Modest strengthening" was expected over the next few days as the storm, located about 1,205 miles west of the Cabo Verde Islands, moves toward the west-northwest.
Forecasters were also watching a tropical depression  that formed off the coast of western Africa Monday morning. The depression had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and was moving to the west at 12 mph; it was also expected to strengthen into a tropical storm....

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

Okeydoke

Happy Labor Day

From Brookings:

November 2017

by Mark Muro, Sifan Liu, Jacob Whiton and Sinddhartn Kulkarni

In recent decades, (click here) the diffusion of digital technology into nearly every business and workplace, also known as “digitalization,” has been remaking the U.S. economy and the world of work. The “digitalization of everything” has at once increased the potential of individuals, firms, and society while also contributing to a series of troublesome impacts and inequalities, such as worker pay disparities across many demographics, and the divergence of metropolitan economic outcomes.

In light of that, this report presents a detailed analysis of changes in the digital content of 545 occupations covering 90 percent of the U.S. workforce in all industries since 2001. The analysis categorizes U.S. occupations into jobs that require high, medium or low digital skills and tracks the impacts of rapid change.

The full report concludes with implications of the key findings and suggests ways communities can work with firms and workers to spread the benefits of digitalization while mitigating its potentially harmful effects....

"Good Night, Moon"

The waning gibbous

19.2 day old moon

79.2 percent lit

Clear skies. (click here for full article)

September Sky Watch

Sept. 2: Full Moon

Sept. 2: Moon passes 4° south of Neptune

Sept. 6: Moon passes .03° north of Mars

Sept. 6: Moon is at apogee (252,032 miles from Earth) (click here)

Sept. 6: Moon passes 3° south of Uranus

Sept. 10: Last quarter Moon

Sept. 14: Moon passes 4° north of Venus

I hope this has helped to understand vaccines.

This page covers subunit, conjugated, recombinant, and toxoid vaccines.

‘Conjugate’ means (click here) ‘connected’ or ‘joined’. In the early days of polysaccharide vaccines (made using sugars from the surface of bacteria), it was found that they did not work well in babies and young children. Researchers discovered that they worked much better if the polysaccharide was attached (conjugated) to something else that they knew created a strong immune response. In most conjugate vaccines, the polysaccharide is attached to diphtheria or tetanus toxoid protein (see ‘Toxoid vaccines’ above). The immune system recognises these proteins very easily and this helps to generate a stronger immune response to the polysaccharide. On product information sheets the diphtheria toxoid is often called ‘CRM197 carrier protein’, because it is almost the same as diphtheria toxoid but not quite....

I sincerely believe the successful vaccine with be a killed virus while using enough of the exterior of the cell to prompt the immune response. I am curious as to the degree there is an immune response. The virus elicits a very strong immune response that causes severe illness and death. The new drugs administered during treatment are rolling back that strong response to allow for greater survivability of the virus. I have to believe the vaccine might elicit a similar but somewhat subdued dynamic during the immune response. I have to believe some of the medications currently used on the virus should be on standby for vaccine recipients.

I also believe people will need booster shots for this virus. I have read an article whereby natural immunity lasts about three months after recovering from the initial infection. That will be better known when the vaccine is being administered to many people.

I hope the Russian scientists testing their vaccine in the Philippines are also preparing to treat some severe responses to the vaccine with anti-inflammatories that can be taken by mouth and perhaps an anti-coagulant in some instances.

We may be in for a rough ride with the vaccines that are produced. The mRNA (messenger RNA) vaccine will be the first of it's kind. I am looking forward to it's final stage testing. This is more engineering than will take place with any other standard method to date. If any one of the vaccines have a chance at being a cure that may be the mRNA variety. It has a chance to provide lasting results in only two injections.

I do see vaccines as part of the initiative to eradicate SARS-CoV-2 from Earth.

This is the methodology I expect to be successful as a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2.

An inactivated vaccine (or killed vaccine) is a vaccine consisting of virus particles, bacteria, or other pathogens that have been grown in culture and then lose disease producing capacity. In contrast, live vaccines use pathogens that are still alive (but are almost always attenuated, that is, weakened).

Abstract

Vaccines are cost-effective for the prevention of infectious diseases (click here) and have significantly reduced mortality and morbidity. Novel approaches are needed to develop safe and effective vaccines against disease. Major challenges in vaccine development include stability in a suitable dosage form and effective modes of delivery. Many live attenuated vaccines are capable of eliciting both humoral and cell mediated immune responses if physicochemically stable in an appropriate delivery vehicle. Knowing primary stresses that impart instability provides a general rationale for formulation development and mode of delivery. Since most pathogens enter the body through the mucosal route, live-attenuated vaccines have the advantage of mimicking natural immunization via non-invasive delivery. This presentation will examine aspects of formulation design, types of robust dosage forms to consider, effective routes of delivery (invasive and noninvasive), and distinctions between live attenuated or inactivated vaccines....

This is from a published article in India. I thought the use of electron radiation to kill the nucleic acid was easier to understand. Viruses are RNA or ribonucleic acid. The illustration above shows more options that can be used to kill the virus while preserving parts of the virus for vaccine development.

An inactivated vaccine (or killed vaccine) (click here) is a vaccine consisting of virus particles, bacteria, or other pathogens that have been grown in culture and then lose disease producing capacity.

In contrast, live vaccines use pathogens that are still alive (but are almost always attenuated, that is, weakened).

Pathogens for inactivated vaccines are grown under controlled conditions and are killed as a means to reduce infectivity (virulence) and thus prevent infection from the vaccine.

The virus is killed using a method such as heat or formaldehyde.

Inactivated vaccines are known for their safety and easy production....

A live but attenuated vaccine.

Live, attenuated vaccines

They fight viruses and bacteria. These vaccines contain a version of the living virus or bacteria that has been weakened so that it does not cause serious disease in people with healthy immune systems. Because live, attenuated vaccines are the closest thing to a natural infection, they are good teachers for the immune system. Examples of live, attenuated vaccines include measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) and varicella (chickenpox) vaccine. Even though they are very effective, not everyone can receive these vaccines. Children with weakened immune systems—for example, those who are undergoing chemotherapy—cannot get live vaccines.

This vaccine is the live virus. It is an injection of a small population of the live virus genetically weakened and is considered a weakened virus. While there is enough of the virus to stimulate an immune response, there isn't enough virus replicating that is actually causes disease.

Using this strategy, (click here) viruses are weakened so they reproduce very poorly once inside the body. The vaccines for measles, mumps, German measles (rubella), rotavirus, oral polio (not used in the U.S.), chickenpox (varicella), and influenza (intranasal version) vaccines are made this way. Viruses usually cause disease by reproducing themselves many times in the body. Whereas natural viruses reproduce thousands of times during an infection, vaccine viruses usually reproduce fewer than 20 times. Because vaccine viruses don't reproduce very much, they don't cause disease, but vaccine viruses replicate well enough to induce "memory B cells" that protect against infection in the future. Find out more about these and other cells of the immune system.

The advantage of live, "weakened" vaccines is that one or two doses provide immunity that is usually life-long. The limitation of this approach is that these vaccines usually cannot be given to people with weakened immune systems (like people with cancer or AIDS).

HOWEVER, if the virus is attracted to neural pathways, it is far too dangerous to be live attenuated. It MUST be identified as to whether the SARS-CoV-2 virus is a neurological virus or absolutely not.

I don't recall reading a definitive characteristic of this virus in regard to neural pathways. There are bloodshot eyes, brain infarcts, and heart attacks. Are these symptoms brought on by microscopic blood clots and their accumulation in capillaries or is this disease occurring along a neurological path? Is it one of these possibilities OR is it even both? Does this virus attack the neurological pathways as well as the clotting cascade?

If the wild-type virus is neurotropic (click here) or the vaccine has been passaged through neural tissue, health authorities require that an evaluation of neurovirulence during nonclinical development be included in a model capable of distinguishing between wild-type and fully or partially attenuated strains. Small animal models may be acceptable for this purpose provided they are susceptible to wild-type virus. Programs including live attenuated vaccines based on genetically modified organisms also include an environmental risk assessment including the possibility of shedding of vaccine organisms following administration....

Graph below from "Engineering the Live Attenuated Polio Vaccine to Prevent Reversion to Virulence" (click here)

This was the first time the idea of vaccination was proved invaluable.

The first modern use of the idea of vaccinated started with Edward Jenner.

Distinctive cowpox (click here) lesions appeared on the boy's hands, arms and feet

Edward Jenner (1749-1823), (click here) an English doctor, became interested in the idea that previous illness with a disease called cowpox could protect a person from later becoming ill with smallpox. Jenner's biographer claimed that Jenner heard this folk wisdom from a milkmaid: having caught cowpox from a cow, she believed herself, and her smooth skin, safe from smallpox.

Cowpox is an uncommon illness in cattle, usually mild, that can be spread from a cow to humans via sores on the cow. During an infection, dairy workers may have pustules on their hands. Sufferers can spread the infection to other parts of the body.

We know now that the cowpox virus belongs to the Orthopox family of viruses. Orthopox viruses also include horsepox virus, monkeypox virus and variola viruses, which cause smallpox.

The death of corals, especially the Great Barrier Reef, is also an economic loss for sports fishing, too.

8 April 2018

By Josh Gabattiss

This is just one (click here) of several species of good-sized, toothy mackerel likely to slam plugs around the GBR. "Sharkies" are great light-tackle gamesters (also sometimes used for black marlin trolling baits). The IGFA world record is 27 pounds, 1 ounce, taken off Brisbane in 1989.

The coral bleaching events (click here) that have devastated the Great Barrier Reef in recent years have also taken their toll on the region’s fish population, according to a new study.

While rising temperatures on the reef killed nearly all the coral in some sections, the effects on the wider marine community have been less clear.

Now, scientists have begun to establish the long-term effects of bleaching events on the Great Barrier Reef’s fish population.

This work is essential for researchers trying to understand what will happen to coral reef ecosystems as global warming makes mass bleaching events more frequent....

Macrophages carry the template for antibodies to the lymphocytes.

24 January 2020

...Different lineages of tissue-resident macrophages (click here) respond divergently to microbial, environmental and immunological stimuli....

Breathing brings in foreign particles into the lungs. A person body is constantly producing white blood cells.

Macrophages (click here) are specialised cells involved in the detection, phagocytosis and destruction of bacteria and other harmful organisms. In addition, they can also present antigens to T cells and initiate inflammation by releasing molecules (known as cytokines) that activate other cells....

Within the discussion of SARS-CoV-2 and the human body's reaction to it is the word "cytokine storm." 

...Cytokines (click here) are small secreted proteins released by cells have a specific effect on the interactions and communications between cells....

So, an antigen (virus, bacteria or fungus) enters the body. It engages the immune response, cytokines carry the message to the white blood cells that help in defending the body is needed, then the macrophages devour the foreign cell and pass that template of destruction to the lymphocytes. Hence long-lasting immunity. 

Some may recall when being immunized as a child, then adult the reason there are BOOSTER shots is to REMIND the immune system, the danger still exists. That may be the path of the vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, in that booster shots may be necessary until the virus is eradicated from Earth.

The loss of Earth's ice compromises it's thermostat and raises sea level.

1 September 2020
By Marlowe Hood

Greenland Surface Melt Extent Interactive Chart (click here)

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, (click here) which hold enough frozen water to lift oceans 65 metres, are tracking the UN's worst-case scenarios for sea level rise, researchers said Monday, highlighting flaws in current climate change models....

September 1, 2020

By Robin Young and Samantha Raphelson

A total of 28 trillion tons of ice (click here) has disappeared from the Earth’s surface since 1994, according to the results of a study that shocked the U.K. researchers who conducted it.

This report fulfills the worst-case scenario that was predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 30 years ago. Scientists from Leeds and Edinburgh universities and University College London predict that by the end of this century, sea level could rise by more than 3 feet....

There are four methods of virus development, but, B-lymphocytes are the antibody machine.

Live, attenutated

Inactivated/Killed

Toxoid (inactiated toxin)

Subunit/conjugate

A person produces white blood cells every day. The human body is magnificent. The immune response if very complex and it isn't easy to simplify to communicate the process. The same immune response when it is a vaccine at work, is produced whenever the need exists. How does that immune response occur and what happens when it doesn't?

B-lymphocytes are the memory cells. T-lymphocytes also have the capacity for developing an antibody response, but, the B-lymphocytes primarily produce the antibodies from the attack of macrophages of the antigen.

B-cell development. The figure shows the broad outline of B-cell developmental stages in mice and humans. B-1a, B-1b, and B10 populations are less well characterized in humans. CLP indicates common lymphoid progenitor; SHM, somatic hypermutation; and CSR, class switch recombination.

White blood cells (click here) get their start in your bone marrow. They have a short life -- only two to three days -- so your body constantly makes more. There are different types, and they all have the same goal: to fight infection.

They wait, poised for duty, in many different places in your body, including your:

• Thymus
• Spleen
• Tonsils
• Blood vessels
• Lymph nodes
• Small intestine
• Adenoids
• Blood vessels

From the very first break up of Larson B ice shelf, scientists were stating this is getting to late to end the climate crisis.

For nearly two decades politicians have dummied down the response to severe storms, hurricanes, and tornado outbreaks. The message from the 1960s has always been the same, this is serious and everyone needs to take it seriously. The politics of the petroleum industry has prolonged the emissions even increasing them and placing the entire planet Earth in peril.

...How strange is recent weather? (click here)

The expression "500-year storm" is losing its meaning: Houston has suffered five of them in a five-year span. California's wildfires — ignited by 1,200 lightning strikes in a 72-hour span — produced the second- and third-worst blazes in state history, even without the aid of the fall's strong Santa Ana winds. The Atlantic coast has seen 10 named storms so far this season, a mark typically hit in October, and upcoming storms are projected to be twice as intense as usual, because of extremely warm ocean waters. Hurricanes have done $335 billion in damage over the past three years, compared with $38.2 billion across the entire 1980s, adjusted for inflation. Climate disasters of all types inflicted $807 billion in damage during the 2010s, the hottest decade on record....

The figure below shows the production of white blood cells from stem cell to maturity.

Pfizer has an excellent online page that is very informative to understanding the immune response and how a vaccine will benefit those susceptible COVID-19. (click here)

Generally speaking most of the white blood cells initiate the immune response, but, leukocytes are the ones that develop the antibody response to viruses.

How long will the heat wave continue?

September 6, 2020

By Amy Graff

Heat that the National Weather Service (click here) is calling "dangerous" and "life-threatening" is on track to impact nearly all of California over the three-day Labor Day weekend.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, peak temperatures are expected Sunday and Monday when the hottest interior locations could exceed 110 degrees.

The National Weather Service issued an Excessive Heat Warning for interior locations, 11 a.m. Saturday to 9 p.m. Monday, and a Heat Advisory for coastal areas during the same time frame....

Bakersfield, California is south-central to the state. July is usually the highest temperature in Bakersfield with highs reaching 98 F. This year August and September are setting records. The area is receiving temperatures as high as 117 F. This is more than dangerous, it could be a tipping point. 

The question is more what will next year bring? A lot will be determined whether or not there is water vapor and moisture returning to the region.

Weather Underground Graph (click here)

Leukocytes are the disease fighting cells in the body. They are also known as white blood cells. There are five types.

Here are the five main types of white blood cells and their functions:

Neutrophils: 58%. They kill and digest bacteria and fungi ( called phagocytosis). They are the most numerous type of white blood cell and your first line of defense when infection strikes.

Lymphocytes: 4%. They create antibodies to defend against bacteria, viruses, and other potentially harmful invaders.

Monocytes: 4%. They have a longer lifespan in comparison with many other white blood cells and help to break down bacteria as well .

Eosinophils: 2%. They generally help to attack and kill parasites, destroy cancer cells, and play a role in allergic responses.

Basophils: 1%. These small cells function in allergic reactions. They release histamine, a marker of allergic disease, that helps control the body’s immune response, and heparin, that prevents clotting in the infected area so that the white blood cells can reach the bacteria.

It's Sunday Night

Don't really understand the fuss about hair. Today it keeps a woman from purchasing extensions. 

"With Long Life" By Israel and New Breed (click here for official website - thank you)

With Long life You will satisfy me, You will satisfy me, with long life
With Long life You will satisfy me, You will satisfy me, with long life

So I will praise you forever, only you can satisfy
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh

When I call on, You will answer
When I fall, You will raise me up
I'm protected, by Your shadow
Your so good, Your so good to me
I will praise you forever

With Long life You will satisfy me, You will satisfy me, with long life
With Long life You will satisfy me, You will satisfy me, with long life

So I will praise you forever, only you can satisfy
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh

When I call on, You will answer
When I fall, You will raise me up
I'm protected, by Your shadow
Your so good, Your so good to me
I will praise you forever

With Long life You will satisfy me, You will satisfy me, with long life
With Long life You will satisfy me, You will satisfy me, with long life

So I will praise you forever, only you can satisfy
oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
oh oh oh oh oh oh

You got to give all the glory to the King of the Kings
And give honour and praise for long life and blessings
Now raise your hands, wave them up in the sky
and Glorify the Lord cause He's the source of my life, sing
You are the source of my life and hope and my life and hope is in You
You are the source of my life and hope and my life and hope is in You

and not die

(In your presence) In your presence, (satified) satisfied
(In your presence) In your presence, (satified) satisfied
(In your presence) In your presence, (satified) satisfied

and not die
You are the source of my life and hope
and my life and hope is in You

and not die
(In your presence) In your presence, (satisfied) satisfied
(I will live) I will live, (and not die) and not die
You are the source of my life and hope lover of my soul,
my future Holder, Daily sustainer, Past redeemer, forever and ever and ever