This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman (I receive no compensation from any entry on this blog.)
Monday, October 26, 2020
I hope Gorsuch remembers his words when Trump comes knocking at the Supreme Court door.
Just to be clear.
Normalization of diplomatic relations is only the beginning of the peace process, not the final product. Russia has no right to establish an oppressive presence in any of it. Normalization invites UN peacekeepers not a Russian invasion.
I don’t see normalization between Taiwan and China without a strong military defense force in Taiwan. That is especially true after the problems China caused in Hong Kong.
China is preparing for a war with Taiwan.
...But this week, (click here) that tidy narrative has overwhelmed China’s state newspapers, dominated the airwaves and even filled box offices as the Communist Party rolled out an unprecedented week of commemorative events and coverage to mark 70 years since Chairman Mao Zedong sent Chinese forces across the Yalu River and ground the Americans to a stalemate....
By Ben Winck
There are red flag warnings on the West Coast due to high winds. Fires are expected to worsen with winds up to 90 mph.
October 26, 2020
Tropical Storm Zeta (click here) is expected to strengthen into a hurricane as it heads for a strike on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the northern U.S. Gulf Coast, where it's likely to bring heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surge.Current Status
Zeta is centered in the northwest Caribbean right now and is moving northwestward toward.
A hurricane warning is in effect for Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, from Tulum to Dzilam, including Cozumel and Cancún. Hurricane conditions are expected in this area Monday night into early Tuesday.
A tropical storm warning has been issued for Pinar del Rio, Cuba, and for small areas west and south of the hurricane warning in Mexico....
"Morning Papers"
By Frances D'Emilio
Vatican City - Pope Francis (click here) on Sunday named 13 new cardinals, including Washington D.C. Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who would become the first Black U.S. prelate to earn the coveted red hat.
In a surprise announcement from his studio window to faithful standing below in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said the churchmen would be elevated to a cardinal’s rank in a ceremony on Nov. 28.
Other new cardinals include an Italian who is the long-time papal preacher at the Vatican, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, a Franciscan friar; the Kigali, Rwanda, Archbishop Antoine Kambanda; the Capiz, Philippines, Archbishop Jose Feurte Advincula, and the Santiago, Chile, Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco....
"Good Night, Moon"
9.8 days old
74.7 percent lit
Sunday, October 25, 2020
The Post Office is important.
The US Post Office service is enormous and vital to the day to day activities in the USA. It is vital to surviving the onslaught of SARS-CoV-2. We need to support our post offices by making it the preferred service. If mail is slow it just might be because Americans are coming home to their constitutional preference. There is a place for private carriers, but, they should not be replacing the national post office.
That said.
I believe Joe Biden is the person to lead the USA. I love his speeches. He is me. He is Middle Class. He is like sitting down at the end of a long day with a cold, favorite beer to read the paper and understand where the country and the home town is in the scheme of the real world.
I think he is great. He really does care about us. He is the local mayor, the state governor, and the official person that tries to get it right at the street level. He understands more about Americans than anyone else in this country.
I believe he is wise.
He never lives beyond his means. Joe worked for a living. He worked taking care of Delaware and then next in line to the presidency. He lived with the salary he received and was never tempted to reach beyond the money that was rightfully his.
I don't care about the gossip with Hunter. He is Joe's son. I am quite certain he cared about his son's life, but Joe was busy. Where in his schedule was the time for the corruption the Trump camp wants to label him with. I just don't see it.
I think we are already coming together as a country. I really believe Joe can bring the people of the USA back from a severe divide that provided a place where hate grew and ultimately nurtured.
There is going to be a lot of work to do if Joe is elected. We have to beat COVID-19 and instill an economy that is going to work for everyone while moving the USA into a safe zone and away from the climate crisis. This is doable. There is absolutely no reason to move away from the challenge. The alternative is more failure and fear of each other. We will never rescue Earth if we first don't rescue ourselves as a community.
Good night.
VOTE!
An informative video to benefit the understanding of the difficulty of operations within the Post Office.
By Natalie Zhang
I want to make it clear the fires are not California alone.
By Bruce Findley
A happy ending story out of Dallas-Fort Worth about their US mail delivery test.
The Watchdog mails first-class letters from across Dallas-Fort Worth to see if USPS has its act together.
October 22, 2020
By Dave Liber
...It used to be that a first-class letter mailed (click here) anywhere in D-FW to another area address was supposed to arrive in one day. A while back, USPS gave itself some breathing room and changed the local delivery time to two days.
So in my experiment, if every letter arrived by the second day, that’s a win for USPS.
Direct Mail Expert told me that logging in the deliveries was especially easy because the mail’s arrival fit a perfect pattern.
On day one, every letter mailed from Plano arrived. Every letter from Richardson and Southlake arrived too.
On day two, every remaining letter from Dallas and Lewisville arrived.
Out of 50 envelopes, there was not a single straggler. USPS earned a perfect delivery score of 100%.
The president of the local chapter of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Kimetra Lewis, told me this was no fluke.
She said: “The postal service has improved. The morale and everything has improved since the lifting of the mandate to delay the mail. It has been a drastic improvement in the morale of the employees and in getting the mail processed timely.”
Yes, this is the US EPA shortening the lives of Americans through cancer causing exposure.
By Craig Pitman
...The primary market for phosphoric acid (click here) is the production of the phosphate fertilizer products—ammonium phosphates and triple superphosphates. Fertilizer production accounts for an estimated 80% of the global market for phosphoric acid and animal feed for about 6%. The remainder is consumed in a variety of industrial applications.
Since 2010, there have been several consolidations and capacity reductions in the United States. In Latin America, the first half of 2018 saw a reduction in demand for phosphate fertilizers because of lower food prices. In the second half, demand is expected to rise following increases in soybean prices.
Fueled by the rapid growth in the Chinese economy and the growing need for phosphate fertilizers, China has become the world’s largest producer and consumer of phosphoric acid. From 2008 to 2018, phosphoric acid capacity in China grew at an average annual rate of 3.1%. Phosphoric acid production and consumption grew at an average annual rate of 4.5% and 4.6%, respectively, during the same period. It is projected that phosphoric acid production and consumption in China will experience slower yet moderate growth between 2018 and 2023....
The public health national emergency must be presented to the Supreme Court.
October 23, 2020
This is a public health issue. The company should be made to be responsible and close the leak.
By Hiroko Tabuchi
- Rapid breathing
- Increased heart rate
- Clumsiness and dizziness
- Decreased vision, especially in low lights
- Euphoria
- Decreased alertness
- Loss of memory
- Weakness
- Fatigue
- Emotional responses
- Nausea and vomiting
- Fainting and collapse
- Convulsions
- Coma
- Death
The short answer? Yes, natural gas does rise. (click here)
The longer answer is that it rises because of its composition. Natural gas is primarily composed of methane, a colorless and nearly odorless gas that’s lighter than air. As a result, it will gradually displace oxygenated air from the top down if enough of it is released in a confined space. In contrast, liquefied petroleum gases like propane are heavier than air, causing them to sink.
The companies must end these leaks. No methane should make it's way into a person's lungs. This is not an unreasonable request. Life matters.
I think the Republicans have become very dangerous to our democracy.
Her political leanings came through in her hearings. She is clueless about climate.
Coney-Barrett is not qualified to be a Supreme Court Justice. The Republicans are too scared by reality to actually do the right thing for the country.
I think McConnell took a really bad fall with bruises on his hands and face. When that occurred with Harry Reid, it was a sin, but, McConnell's reality is swept under the carpet.
I never expected a Supreme Court Justice to be an idiot when it comes to climate. It is the most demanding issue facing the USA that has enormous and damaging stroms in the Gulf and Atlantic while wildfires rage in the west of the USA, yet Coney-Barrett is clueless because of the controversy. What controversy? There is something about wildfires? There is no controversy. The wildfires are real. There is controversy about the storms rolling into the USA destroying large swaths of land? There no controversy, it is REAL.
I have been writing about this issue on this blog since 2004 at the point the Christmas Tsunami took place. I have noted every major ice movement that has occurred on Earth further compromising Earth's ability to mitigate climate. There is no controversy, there is simply political inconvenience for the Republicans because of their cronies. Coney-Barrett's ignorance to the topic speaks loudly to her lack of interest in the issues of the people of the USA.
“Judge Coney Barrett has displayed a profound inability to understand the ecological crisis of our times, and in so doing she enables it.”
The following op-ed (click here) has been signed by dozens of leading climate and science journalists, listed below.
We are science and climate journalists. We are researchers and weavers of information, creating a fabric that explains the work of scientists who themselves are working to describe our natural world and universe. We are published in the nation’s leading outlets, both large and small, including Scientific American, Nature, National Geographic, MIT Technology Review, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New Yorker and many more. Over decades of reporting on the threats and now deadly and devastating harms of worsening climate change, we have succeeded in at least one respect. The vast majority of the world’s people, including those in the United States, not only acknowledge the scientific certainty of climate change, but also want action taken to address it....
Another once in 100 year endorsement. Joe Biden is good for the USA.
Vote by mail protects the vote no matter the reasons, pandemic or climate crisis.
By Sarah Kaplan
By many measures, (click here) 2020 has been disastrous. Hurricanes in the Atlantic are so numerous that there are not enough letters in the Latin alphabet to name them all. Fires in California torched more than 4 million acres, smashing the state’s record for land burned in a single season. In the first nine months of this year, at least 188 people have been killed in a record-tying 16 weather disasters that cost $1 billion or more. The nation now spends almost 10 times as much responding to and recovering from natural events as it did in the 1980s. And that’s just the United States. Don’t forget the bush fires in Australia, floods in Central Africa and the powerful Cyclone Amphan, which killed dozens of people in India and Bangladesh....
Every state is unique so check now and plan your vote.
VOTE SAFE with Your Vote By Mail Ballot
California even has a mascot to help direct vistors to the website. Very nice.
Everyone check the "Secretary of State" website and hopefully find all the information to vote safely. Voting on time and safely is a huge issue this year. In California, the absentee or mail in ballots have to be post marked by November 3, 2020. The drop boxes in California will close at 8PM PT.
It's Sunday Night
How completely correct is Bruce Springsteen about the US Mail Service. It is our life blood in the USA. Relationships are built and dashed through the USA mail. Birthday Cards and letters of encouragement to children and young people from their grandparents. All sorts of REAL LIFE dynamics are carried by the USA Post Office everyday.
I love the song, the artist and his ability to bring life to ordinary events.













