The barber's son that was welcomed to his mayorship as a mentor.

He was pivotal in many ways. I am sorry he is gone. May he rest in peace.

November 24, 2020
By Jeffery C. Mays and Emma G. Fitzsimmons

David N. Dinkins (click here) served a single four-year term as New York City’s first and only Black mayor. His tenure has been judged harshly at times, but it was also filled with accomplishments.

Mr. Dinkins, who died on Monday, had a significant influence on the city, shaping its physical infrastructure and beginning criminal justice initiatives that started to reduce crime.

He was remembered as a somewhat reluctant trailblazer and a gentleman who led the city during a difficult period of fiscal crisis and racial tension — themes that the city and the nation are currently grappling with once again.

“David Dinkins simply set this city on a better path,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.

Here is a look at some of his accomplishments:...

Mayor Dinkins (click here) never turned away from the fact there police deeply corrupt that caused the loss of Black live in the city.

December 29, 1993

In a harshly critical report, (click here) a special mayoral panel asserted yesterday that the New York City Police Department had failed at every level to uproot corruption and had instead tolerated a culture that fostered misconduct and concealed lawlessness by police officers.

The panel, called the Mollen Commission, agreed with police officials who contend that corruption was not systemic, but rather isolated to small groups of rogue officers. But the commission warned that if corruption itself was not systemwide, the department's failure to address it was.

"We find as shocking the incompetence and the inadequacies of the department to police itself," Milton Mollen, the commission chairman, said yesterday as the panel released an interim report on its principal findings. Will They Be Followed?...

It is exciting. The Biden Cabinet are highly qualified and well known to the international community.

I am especially looking forward to the work of Special Envoy John Kerry. He is the right person for this position. He is known among the global community. He is lucky that he is not starting up a brand new effort, the US House has a subcommittee, there are many qualified groups working on a climate agenda noted to be among those funded by Jeff Bezos and last but hardly least is the USA military that has been working on being climate-friendly for more than a decade.

November 23, 2020

President-elect Joe Biden named John Kerry (click here) to the newly created role of climate czar, a move that underscores the incoming administration’s commitment to an international-focused approach to the issue and recognition of its strategic importance.

Kerry, the former secretary of state, is a diplomatic heavyweight who helped piece together the landmark Paris climate agreement during the Obama administration and pushed hard for domestic climate policies as a US senator.

“I’ve asked him to return to government to get America back on track to address one of the most urgent national security threats we face—the climate crisis,” Biden said in a statement released on Monday. “This role is the first of its kind: the first cabinet-level climate position, and the first time climate change has had a seat at the table on the National Security Council.”

Kerry’s appointment as “special presidential envoy for climate” is among the first of six cabinet-level nominations that the Biden team announced on Monday, as it works to form a government in spite of President Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the election. Unlike some cabinet roles, it will not require Senate confirmation, the New York Times reported....

There are going to be challenges that have resulted because of the very poor performance of the USA under the previous president that has turned loose the petroleum industry.

Australia's Barrier Reef as well as all other ocean reefs around the globe along similar latitudes are no longer endangered, but, destroyed by warmed ocean waters. Reefs are carbon sinks and the are failing,

There has been a severe deterioration of the permafrost releasing carbon to the troposphere as the melting occurs. Methane leaks around the world are out of control. There is a huge methane danger in Russia that needs to be closed. That means the hole may need to be bombed in order to close it.

India is taking a worrisome path in ambitions to be the largest oil exporter in the world. I don't know where all those ambitions lie, but, India is currently the third-largest consumer of oil. It is 24th in the world for oil reserves. I think the Prime Minister should concentrate on building his own electric car factories and putting the people of India to work in good-paying jobs. There are plenty of cars on the streets of India, it needs to address this ambition of exporting oil. They produce about a billion barrels a year while consuming 4 billion annually.

There are good things happening with American companies including GM which has returned to an agenda to protect the environment rather than returning to polluting directives by the previous administration.

I am looking forward to John Kerry working with the global community dedicated to protecting Earth for generations to come.

Protecting nature is very important for people globally. This is out of New Zealand, a climate accord member. It is demoralizing to citizens when the destruction of nature occurs for the purpose of mining. The climate accords are moving forward, but, the USA must take its place among those countries most responsible for climate protections rather than climate contamination.

14 July 2020

Rangitira Developments (click here) wanted to mine in Buller District Council's conservation land at Te Kuha, near Westport.

The government stopped it after Forest & Bird argued the council needed to protect the land's biological and natural features.

In an appeal to the Supreme Court, Rangitira Developments said economic benefits should also be considered by the council.

The Supreme Court today dismissed the appeal.

Forest & Bird said the decision made reserves across the country safer from mining.

"This is absolutely wonderful news for nature, and particularly for the plants and animals threatened with extinction which live in this area," Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague said....

Essential warehouse workers are the most important cog in the USA economic wheelhouse.

Everyone should be demanding good wages and on the job safety for these vital people. They also need time off to prevent "burnout." Mistakes are made when people are over extended. That is the case with our health care workforce as well.

NO BURNOUT of essential workers.

November 24, 2020

By Kate Taylor

The US added 146,700 warehouse and storage jobs from April to October, (click here) as companies like

Amazon and Walmart scrambled to fulfill online shopping orders and prepare for the peak holiday season.
Some warehouse workers say that employers have not done enough to keep them safe during the pandemic.

"It's like Russian roulette, when you're trying to protect yourself and put food on the table," former Amazon warehouse worker Monica Moody said. 

"Let's hope that nothing happens with these workers," said Juan Arias, a senior consultant at real estate data firm CoStar Group. "Because right now ... our economy is basically working on the backs of these people."...

It doesn't do anything about prison overcrowding, but, it should lower the temperatures inside.

Paint the roof white.

November 22, 2020
By Cyrus Dunham

The only way to ascertain the temperature (click here) at the California Institution for Women, or CIW, on a given day is to check the hourly forecast at the nearest weather reporting stations. During the September 5 and 6 heat wave in Southern California, the closest recorded temperature to CIW hit 115 degrees. But those stations only measure outside temperatures, not the real heat index of a roughly 8-by-12 cement-walled cell, with no ventilation or air circulation....

The definition of overcrowding needs to be redefined. Multiple prisoners to one cell are deadly. It all needs to be revamped. The wardens to any prison need to know their population well enough to know when they can leave to go to a less restrictive environment. Moving prisoners out is a survival method and one that will dominate jail and prison time assigned to an inmate by the judge. 

It is unrealistic to believe any more prisons can spring up overnight, so it is time the USA returns to the idea of REHABILITATION of lawbreakers and allow the prison space for those most violent in our society. It is far better to bring a high school education to a lawbreaker and then perhaps that of a community college that can provide a good-paying job, then allow a person to deteriorate in a prison or jail cell.

People on probation are easier to manage with the intent of survival because it is easier to hire probation officers and/or than to build prisons.

31 May 2020

But by how much and are there downsides to doing it? (click here)

In a recent BBC interview, the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon suggested that this reduction could be as much as 30C, with the internal temperature of the building falling by as much as seven degrees.

So where do these figures come from and does wider research back this up?

Mr Ban was talking about a pilot project in Ahmedabad City in western India, where summer temperatures can reach as high as 50C.

In 2017, more than 3,000 city rooftops were painted using both white lime and a special reflective coating.

Known simply as "cool roofing", this process is designed to reduce the solar radiation absorbed, which in turn means less heat is transferred inside the building.

Cool roofs also emit away some heat normally retained by a building, cooling it further....

AstraZeneca is already established as a global company.

The cost is going to be a huge factor for countries like India which has a population of 1.4 billion people. Realizing the needed immunity will require two shots, the first being a half dose, which means there are actually 2 billion doses available. In narrowing that to the number of people receiving complete immunity with two doses that brings the number of immune people to 2 billion in 2021. One billion in half doses to 2 billion people and the remaining full doses are the full dose to two billion people.

It is most admirable these successful companies will seek to keep the cost per dose as low as possible. "Moderna" has estimated the cost of the vaccine in a range of less than $40.00.

The global community needs for all companies to produce as much as possible to their best outcomes, as well realizing the population of the world is nearing 8 billion and then there are the pregnancies. The need for these vaccines will be ongoing for some time. The companies' compassion and dedication to the best outcome of all people and ending the existence of SARS-CoV-2 can't be stated with high enough praise.

November 23, 2020

Hopes of an effective vaccine (click here) against coronavirus becoming available rose again on Monday with AstraZeneca and Oxford University claiming success with their product, becoming the third team to do so.

The head of AstraZeneca in France, Olivier Nataf, answered questions from AFP in an interview, saying that the data were very encouraging.

The 70 percent rate is the result of a combined analysis.

Using a regimen of first injecting half a dose of the vaccine and then a full dose a month later the effectiveness was 90 percent.

Another system, of one full dose first and another a month later the effectiveness is 62 percent.

This is an interesting lesson: the half-dose plus one dose scheme can become something that we follow, there is an opportunity for availability for the population, where it would take fewer doses to vaccinate more people.

The second point to remember is that there is 100 percent protection against the occurrence of severe forms of illness and hospitalisations in participants who received the vaccine. And the last point is the confirmation of safety: no serious side effects have been reported, the vaccine is well tolerated in both dosing regimens.

Finally, there is greater simplicity in storage, transport, handling, under normal refrigeration conditions of 2 to 8 degrees. This is a very interesting element from the public health standpoint. 

We will be producing three billion doses worldwide in 2021...

This is not a game, McConnell.

Sometimes I wonder about the lucidity of McConnell's mind. How any patriot could bring a Russian oligarch to sovereign Kentucky is beyond serious economics. A Russian oligarch within the sovereign borders of Kentucky is capitulating the idea that the USA does not have the means or ability to determine its own economic strength. I find it shameful.

McConnell hasn't legislated a darn thing to change the path of the USA economy or the economic status of Kentucky. In chronic obstruction, McConnell has weakened Kentucky so much so that it allowed "compromise" into Kentucky's security and that of the national security of the USA. McConnell is still being an obstructionist in refusing help to the states, small businesses, and the people of this great country need. What is his solution, sell Kentucky to the Russians?

President-Elect Joe Biden is assembling a magnificent cabinet. This is no surprise because he has chosen the very person as Vice President-Elect the country needs.

The Republicans put a president in office, Trump, that dismantled the US federal government and disconnected, if not officially, from alliances that protect and defend this country. Unless Senate Republicans want to continue their ASSAULT AGAINST THE USA from inside of our borders, the US Senate (albeit not fully assembled for January 2021) will immediately pass Joe's Cabinet into power. If the US Senate so much as balks at any of these highly qualified candidates for the USA Cabinet, then Joe Biden has the option to make every one of them "acting" until the point in time whereby recess appointments can be carried out. There is no getting away with hostility toward the American people by Republicans anymore. The country has been compromised by their party's president and it is their solemn duty to put power in the hands of those that sincerely love the country and its people.

NO MORE POLITICAL SHENANIGANS. Joe ran on a platform to reunite this country's people and he won't be disappointed.

November 23, 2020
By Sarah Mucha and Gregory Krieg

President-elect Joe Biden on Monday (click here) unveiled a slate of top foreign policy and national security picks, including the first woman to lead the US intelligence community and first Latino to helm the Department of Homeland Security.

Cuban-born Alejandro Mayorkas, a former deputy secretary of DHS who Biden has nominated to lead the department, will be tasked with rebuilding an agency that carried out some of the most draconian measures associated with President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policy, including family separations at the US-Mexico border. Biden's pick for director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, a former top CIA official and deputy national security adviser, will also make history if confirmed by the Senate.

Biden is moving swiftly to craft his incoming administration despite Trump's ongoing efforts to reverse the election results and gum up the transition. CNN reported Monday that Biden is expected to name Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary, according to a source with knowledge of the pick. Yellen would be the first woman to serve as secretary of the Treasury if nominated and confirmed.

The slate of nominations announced on Monday included confirmation of the selection of Antony Blinken, Biden's top foreign policy aide, as the next secretary of state, Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be the US ambassador to the United Nations. Jake Sullivan will join the White House team as Biden's national security adviser....

Why are indoor dining restaurants not practicing "best practices?"

Given the current outbreak (click here) of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, consumers may be interested in purchasing ultraviolet-C (UVC) lamps to disinfect surfaces in the home or similar spaces. The FDA is providing answers to consumers’ questions about the use of these lamps for disinfection during the COVID-19 pandemic....

Ultraviolet light is about disinfecting surfaces and areas that are exposed to it. There is a second issue.

Canada's Thanksgiving Holiday is October 11. So, they have suffered irresponsible behavior already.

Canada's staring down a Covid surge that has been blamed on social gatherings. And as Americans contemplate their holiday plans, Canadians are desperately trying to save Christmas.

LinK: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/11/22/us-canada-thanksgiving-lesson-438898

The reality of this virus does not go away because it is a holiday. There are issues with "indoor air" as well as air in trains where the ventilation is not necessarily state of the art. Everyone is waiting for this to go away rather than accepting the problems before them and worked to correct the infrastructure.

Herd immunity by exposure is NOT a humane answer. Currently, in the USA more than 2 percent of those infected dies. That is not acceptable.

The suppression of this virus has been grossly mismanaged. It is time to stop this hideous idea of "dealing with COVID-19" means "waiting it out." Now, is the time to correct the deficits in the infrastructure and make it permanent. Permanent changes mean reassurance to people that the business is serious about their wellness today and into the future. If funding is necessary to make permanent changes to ventilation and processes to end virus on countertops, etc. then the Small Business Administration needs to come up with policies that work including lobbying the US Congress to bring about permanent changes that will solve the problems of failing small businesses and loss of jobs.

The problem with Indoor Air

This is a study early on out of China, but, it spells out perfectly the problem with indoor air.

...COVID-19 has a high transmission risk (click here) among train passengers, but this risk shows significant differences with co-travel time and seat location. During disease outbreaks, when traveling on public transportation in confined spaces such as trains, measures should be taken to reduce the risk of transmission, including increasing seat distance, reducing passenger density, and use of personal hygiene protection....

Masks, social distancing, and hand hygiene work exceptionally well except with indoor air. There is a problem with indoor air in that it is not freely circulating and not having air exchanges rapid enough to KEEP A LOW VIRAL LOAD.

There has to be someone conducting research somewhere in the world to solve these problems. THE AIR CIRCULATING IN A RESTAURANT MUST BE EXPOSED TO UV LIGHT BEFORE IT IS REINTRODUCED INTO THE RESTAURANT AIR. That capacity for a restaurant has to be perfected. It should not be all that difficult to conduct such a study.

To be clear. Indoor air can be safe by wearing masks, but, if those masked customers are exposed to any viral load their risks increase with every breath by the person(s) infected with SARS-CoV-2. The best mask in the world will not be effective if there is a massive viral load in that room. The only way to eliminate that danger is to have a ventilation system that provides comfort to customers as well as PROCESSING the air with high enough air exchanges through a UV light device before returning the air into the room. 

The equation to this dilemma is VIRAL LOAD X TIME OF EXPOSURE. The only answer is AIR MANAGEMENT to REMOVE the virus in the restaurant air as it moves through a ventilation system designed to kill the virus. It is possible. It needs investigation and study to know the form in which the NEW INFRASTRUCTURE FOR RESTAURANTS takes shape. 

Restaurant customers can't wear masks while eating. The air that fills those rooms of customers has to be free of any virus. 

The research does not have to be conducted with SARS-CoV-2. Any coronavirus (like the common cold) contaminated air to run through a UV light ventilation system to be sure the air at the end of it's processing exhibits no virus. 

Indoor air in restaurants is a very difficult problem. It is different for gymnasiums which have larger volumes of air that can be contaminated by people playing basketball. That gym still needs adequate ventilation and AIR PROCESSING to be safe, but, the large high ceilings provide answers to VIRAL LOAD differently than restaurants.

There are very fine people involved in developing excellent experiences in their restaurants. They have a tough problem before them, but, there are answers. Heck, commission MIT, they can probably solve it overnight. Infrastructure needs to be changed and once there is a proven answer, funding will be needed. The restaurant businesses have depleted resources to restart, yet alone, change a restaurants' air quality.

Good luck.

Add a UV sterilization process to air circulation. If BART can solve their problems, the restaurant industry should as well.

08.13.20

The air you breathe (click here) while riding BART is filtered more effectively than that in the typical office or indoor setting like a grocery store or pharmacy, with an entire train car’s air being replaced about every 70 seconds.

That was the case before the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s even more important now, as BART implements a 15-step Welcome Back Plan with a raft of new health and safety measures....

Arrest them and put them in jail until the ballots are counted!

They are looking for an opportunity to grab a few hands full of ballots and run off with them. Lock them up, they are breaking the law by interfering with an election. That is all this vote checking is, an opportunity to steal ballots. There is no real reason for these recounts and obstructions to go on. It is just a manipulation in hopes they get a break somewhere to bring the count down for Biden.

November 21, 2020te
By Michael Tarm

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Election officials in Wisconsin’s (click here) largest county accused observers for President Donald Trump on Saturday of seeking to obstruct a recount of the presidential results, in some instances by objecting to every ballot tabulators pulled to count.

Trump requested the recount in Milwaukee and Dane counties, both heavily liberal, in hopes of undoing Democrat Joe Biden’s victory by about 20,600 votes. With no precedent for a recount reversing such a large margin, Trump’s strategy is widely seen as aimed at an eventual court challenge, part of a push in key states to undo his election loss....

"Good Night, Moon"

Waxing Gibbous

8.3 day old moon

59.6 percent lit

Water, water, everywhere. There is water on the Moon, Mars and probably on the Sun will be the next discovery. 

Read an article critical of Elon Musk's plans for a human Mars colony of 1 million by 2025. Wow. That has everyone excited. We haven't even put scientists on Mars yet. A million people require a lot of services. I admire the ambition, but, rushing into a plan with such high risk for 1 million people seems premature. Such a colony has to come with guarantees and so far the only entity able to survive are Mars Rovers. 

It is premature. It should happen when the venture is obviously safe. Not even close yet. Heck, humans haven't gotten Earth right, what makes anyone think they have Mars right?

October 26, 2020

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory (click here) for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed, for the first time, water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. This discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places.

SOFIA has detected water molecules (H2O) in Clavius Crater, one of the largest craters visible from Earth, located in the Moon’s southern hemisphere. Previous observations of the Moon’s surface detected some form of hydrogen, but were unable to distinguish between water and its close chemical relative, hydroxyl (OH). Data from this location reveal water in concentrations of 100 to 412 parts per million – roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce bottle of water – trapped in a cubic meter of soil spread across the lunar surface. The results are published in the latest issue of Nature Astronomy.

“We had indications that H2O – the familiar water we know – might be present on the sunlit side of the Moon,” said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Now we know it is there. This discovery challenges our understanding of the lunar surface and raises intriguing questions about resources relevant for deep space exploration.”

As a comparison, the Sahara desert has 100 times the amount of water than what SOFIA detected in the lunar soil. Despite the small amounts, the discovery raises new questions about how water is created and how it persists on the harsh, airless lunar surface....

The Climate Crisis must take priority as the President-Elect tackles the SARS virus.

15 November 2020
By Jeff Ernst 

Paddling in a canoe through the flood waters (click here) left by Hurricane Eta in his rural village near the north coast of Honduras, Adán Herrera took stock of the damage.

“Compared with Hurricane Mitch, this caused more damage because the water rose so fast,” said Herrera, 33, a subsistence farmer who is living on top of a nearby levee with his wife and child while they wait for the water to recede. “We’re afraid we might not have anything to eat.”

Hurricane Mitch in 1998 was the most destructive storm to hit Central America. But hundreds of thousands of subsistence farmers across the region have lost everything in flooding caused by Eta, which made landfall in Nicaragua as a category 4 hurricane on 3 November. Now, with a second hurricane projected to make landfall on Monday near where Eta did, even more could find themselves in the same situation....

Climate Crisis 2020 has been devastating to Central America. 

The fires in the USA are still burning (click here). The acreage is less, but, the number is high. 517 new fires for the week from November 13 to the 20th. 

Drought Monitor

Cruise ships are notorious for close quarters of passengers. Perfect for virus transmission.

November 22, 2020
By Bianca Padro Ocasio

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (click here) upgraded the cruise ship travel risk to a level 4, the federal agency’s highest risk level possible for contracting COVID-19.

Amid reports of widespread outbreaks in cruises earlier this year, CDC recommends for travelers to avoid cruise ships, including river cruises, around the world, given the “very high” risk of becoming infected or spreading the novel coronavirus.

If passengers decide to go on cruises, they should get tested three to five days after the trip. Even if they test negative after a trip, cruise ship travelers should stay home for seven days after the trip....

The statistics below is from the "Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association." 

- In 2016, (click here) a record 24.2 million passengers cruised globally.

- The industry estimates that 25.3 million will cruise globally in 2017

- $117 billion in total economic impact and 956,597 jobs paying $38 billion in wages and salaries were generated by the global cruise industry in 2015.

- The cruise industry is the fastest-growing category in the leisure travel market. Since 1980, the industry has experienced an average annual passenger growth rate of approximately 7% per annum.

- Demand for cruising increased 62% between 2005 and 2015.

- The cruise industry is the fastest-growing category in the leisure travel market. Since 1980, the industry has experienced an average annual passenger growth rate of approximately 7% per annum.

- From a capacity standpoint, utilization is consistently over 100%.

- Eight out of 10 CLIA-certified travel agents expect increased cruise sales in 2017.

- Throughout its history, the cruise industry has responded to vacation desires of its guests and embraced innovation to develop new destinations, new ship designs, new and diverse onboard amenities, facilities and services, plus wide-ranging shore side activities. Cruise lines have also offered their guests new cruise themes and voyage lengths to meet the changing vacation patterns of today’s travelers.

This is the Arctic Ocean. North Pole. Polar Bears. No penguins.

November 18, 2020
By Debora Patta

Scientists haul a sample of ice from the Arctic Ocean as part of research into the effects of climate change on the sensitive region as their vessel, the RV Polarstern, waits behind them. 

Johannesburg, South Africa — A massive ship called the RV Polarstern (click here) spent 389 days drifting slowly across the Arctic, trapped in ice. It was a scientific mission on an unprecedented scale, and the people who took part say their findings should serve as a warning that if action isn't taken, humans in every corner of the world will pay the price.

Just before she set sail more than a year ago, Rhode Island native Dr. Alison Fong told CBS News that she and her colleagues on the Polarstern were "looking at creating a whole picture of what the Arctic is going to do in the coming years." 

The picture that emerged from their makeshift labs-on-ice and high-tech equipment is not a pretty one. It is devastating proof, the scientists say, of a dying Arctic Ocean, where ice-free summers could become a reality in just decades due to manmade greenhouse gases warming the planet....

Cuba wants the tourists back? Not without an American embassy that is safe.

Human rights violations span many countries. It sounds like Putin is having a dialogue with these Western Hemisphere countries. Cuba is 90 miles off the USA border and why doesn't the USA has a clear understanding of Cuba and other near border countries. This is ridiculous.

20 November 2020

In response (click here) to reports that members of Cuba’s San Isidro movement have been detained, had their human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of movement restricted, and been criminalized simply for peacefully exercising their human rights, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International said:

“The ongoing harassment and intimidation of members of the San Isidro movement, at the forefront of challenging Decree 349, a dystopian law that stands to censor artists, shows Cuba’s ongoing repression of human rights, including the right to freedom of expression in the country. Authorities can continue to harass, intimidate, detain, and criminalize artists and alternative thinkers, but they can’t keep their minds in prison.”

According to the legal NGO Cubalex, between 9 and 19 November, authorities arbitrarily detained and harassed multiple members of the San Isidro movement, sometimes more than once. Members of the movement, which is composed of artists, poets, LGBTI activists, academics, and independent journalists, have in recent days been protesting the imprisonment of the rapper Denis Solís González....

November 20, 2020
By Katell Abivan

Cuba is reopening its doors (click here) to foreign tourists after an eight-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the cash-strapped country faces an uphill struggle to woo back wary travelers.

Tourism chiefs are banking on the island's track record of keeping the virus in check to win back holidaymakers.

"This is a major challenge," said Francisco Camps, deputy general manager of Melia, a Spanish hotel chain that currently is operating only 10 of its 34 locations in Cuba.

The industry is pinning its hopes for the November-April high season on the capital Havana, the country's main tourist draw, which opened its international airport last weekend.

With its old fashioned Caribbean charm, the UNESCO World Heritage city attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year.

"Havana is important because it has regular flights, which allows connections with Europe," says Camps....

South Florida was hit hard by SARS-CoV-2 early into the spread. It was allowed to enter Florida out of Brazil for months before Trump closed the airports. There were many reasons for these folks to vote for Democrats, but, they didn't. They are hooked into a lifestyle and relationships more than they are their own health. 

November 19, 2020

By Jackie Sato

A famous Cuban actress was found dead this week (click here) along the shoreline in Miami Beach, Florida, authorities said.

Broselianda Hernández Boudet, 56, was discovered unresponsive by someone walking on the beach near 79th Street and Collins Avenue around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, news station WPLG reported.

The body was later identified as Hernández Boudet, who was well known in Cuba for films such as “Habanera” and “Things I Left in Havana.”

Relatives said Hernández Boudet had gone out Tuesday night to purchase cigarettes, but never returned home, WPLG reported.

The actress was born in Havana, Cuba, but had been living in Miami for five years at the time of her death, the outlet reported....

This is a really excellent use of carbon.

November 19, 2020
By Sara Spary

...diamonds (click here) that are "physically and chemically identical to Earth-mined diamonds,"...

Diamonds might be forever, (click here) but that doesn't mean they have to take eons to form.

The gemstones are usually created after carbon is crushed and heated far beneath the Earth's surface over billions of years -- which is what makes them so coveted.

Now, scientists in Australia say they have sped up the process into just a matter of minutes -- and at room temperature.

An international team of researchers led by the Australian National University (ANU) and RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia said Wednesday they have created two types of diamond at room temperature by using high pressure equivalent to 640 African elephants balancing on the tip of a ballet shoe....

...To form the diamonds, researchers applied immense pressure to create a "twisting or sliding force" that they believe caused the carbon atoms to move into place, said Jodie Bradby, a physics professor at ANU.

"Natural diamonds are usually formed over billions of years, about 150 kilometers (about 93 miles) deep in the Earth where there are high pressures and temperatures above 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit)," she said. "The twist in the story is how we apply the pressure."...

Maduro now has "death squads."

November 19, 2020
By Isayen Herrera, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Tibisay Romero and Sheyla Urdaneta

The host of a popular radio show (click here), “The People’s Combat,” had always diligently praised Venezuela’s governing Socialist Party, even as millions sank into penury under its rule. But when acute gasoline shortages paralyzed his remote fishing town this summer, he strayed from the party line.

On his show, the host, lifelong Socialist José Carmelo Bislick, accused local party chiefs of siphoning fuel, leaving most people queuing for days outside empty gasoline stations.

Just weeks later, on Aug. 17, four masked, armed men burst into Mr. Bislick’s house and told him he had “run the red light,” before beating him in front of his family and hauling him away into the night. He was found dead with gunshot wounds hours later, dressed in his favorite Che Guevara T-shirt.

Those responsible for Mr. Bislick’s death remain at large in the town of 30,000, where everyone knew of him, and of his lifelong dedication to Venezuela’s Socialist revolution. The Socialist mayor never spoke of the crime or visited the family, who said the killing had been politically motivated....

Brazil has given up its sovereign borders to Maduro. Why does this sound like Putin's advice to the countries in South America. "Just pick him up and get on with it."

A country with a strong constitution and obeys the rule of law would have to hold extradition hearings before anyone can be brought across a border.

November 15, 2020

By Antonio Maria Delgado

...In accordance (click here) with the agreement between Russia and Venezuela dated December 8, 2011, the loan amounts up to US$ 4 billion. The Venezuelan government will pay a loan interest rate of 7.4% per annum.

Undercover agents of the Nicolás Maduro regime (click here) kidnapped an exiled Venezuelan businessman on Saturday in the Brazilian border town of Pacaraima, shooting him in a leg and then forcing him into an SUV to cross clandestinely into Venezuelan territory, in an operation that failed in the end when the truck got stuck in the mud, area residents and the local press reported.

People close to businessman Andrés Antonio Fernández, owner of a Brazilian radio station that is critical of Maduro, said they fear that the frustrated attempt is only the first in a series of similar actions to be perpetrated against people perceived as enemies of the regime on the other side of the border.

“They have orders to take dead or alive people that have been taking actions against that government,” a person close to Fernández told el Nuevo Herald on condition of anonymity. In this case, “they were unable to take him away because the community of Santa Elena de Uairén,” on the Venezuelan side of the border, “came out to save him when the truck got stuck.”...

There is a new economy of work from home that cannot be ignored for it's welcome reduction in GHG.

The Federal Reserve Chairman, Jerome Powell, (click here) has recently stated the economy is not going back to the way it was. The new economy into the future is being welcome within the financial markets.

November 19, 2020
By Steven Mufson

Greenhouse gases generated by the U.S. economy (click here) will slide 9.2 percent this year, tumbling to the lowest level in at least three decades, a new BloombergNEF study says.

Battered by the coronavirus pandemic, the stalled economy is projected to have generated 5.9 billion metric tons of emissions, about the same level as 1983, according to the private research organization.

As a result, the United States has been inadvertently pushed back on track to meet the commitments the Obama administration made at the Paris climate agreement in December 2015, despite the fact the Trump administration pulled the country out of the pact. Before 2020, the United States had fallen badly behind its targets under the accord....

The work ethic.

Cuba has socialized medicine. I don't think the ACA meant all that much to the people in relation to a lifestyle that improves their financial status.

The Democratic party is generous to a fault. The party likes public health to be stable without these ridiculous incidents that we are seeing in the USA today under Trump's indifference. To that end, the Democrats focus on providing help to people, but, with immigrants like those from Cuba, they are more interested in work and wealth. So, while the Dems focus on public health and food insecurity they also have to include job training and ethnic fairness in hiring.

The Dems need to get used to the idea of knowing the people and their dreams, not simply knowing their needs. Culture to Cuban men is very important and being a family provider is a point of respect.

Get to know them, not just their need.

November 19, 2020
By Nora Gamez Torres

...But Trump never really stopped campaigning in Florida. (click here) For years now, the Democrats have not been able to match the strong presence of the Republican Party in the community, which has given many Cuban Americans “an identity,” Florida International University professor Guillermo Grenier wrote in a two-part analysis of the Cuban vote. He is the director of the FIU poll that every two years surveys the opinions of Cuban-American voters residing in Miami-Dade....

...or many years, Democrats assumed that as older Cuban exiles were being replaced by new Cuban arrivals and younger voters, Cuban Americans would become less Republican. The 2020 presidential election was a surprise: The FIU 2020 poll found that many Cuban immigrants coming after 2010 had been registering Republican and becoming strong Trump supporters.

“We ran an innovative grassroots and advertising effort that directly engaged newer Cuban arrivals — who had been largely ignored by both parties — as well as young U.S.-born Cuban Americans in ways that were culturally relevant to them and different than how you’d engage my abuelos’ generation,” said Sopo, a Miami native who was one of the architects of the messaging targeting Hispanics in Florida.

The campaign ran a Spanish video ad featuring popular Cuban actress Susana Pérez, who is better known among Cubans who came to U.S. after 1980. Another radio ad with fictional characters “Marita y Yesenia” mimics the speaking style and slang used by recent arrivals.

Most observers agree that there is no single issue that could explain why most Cuban Americans mobilized so forcefully this year to support the president.

Take Hialeah, a working-class city with the most Obamacare enrollees in the nation and where many recently arrived Cubans live. The Trump administration asked the courts to strike down the entire Affordable Care Act. Yet, the Democratic Party was unable to exploit this to its advantage, and Trump grew his share of the vote by 18 points in the city, compared to 2016, beating Biden 67% to 32.5%, according to Sopo’s analysis....

...“We built a new conservative coalition in South Florida consisting of Cubans, Colombians, Puerto Ricans and other Latinos in Miami-Dade County,” Sopo wrote in a memo obtained by the Miami Herald. ‘This netted approximately 255,657 additional votes for President Trump in Miami-Dade in 2020, which accounted for around 69% of his 371,686-vote victory over Joe Biden in Florida.”...

Why is there no policy being set by NIH? This is ridiculous.

November 22, 2020
By Howard Frumkin and Richard J. Jackson

If there was any lingering doubt (click here) that climate change threatens human health and well-being, this year put it to rest. Wildfire smoke aggravated heart disease and lung disease up and down the West Coast and across the country. A record-breaking hurricane season killed and injured people from North Carolina to Texas, and left tens of thousands homeless and at risk of PTSD and other mental health problems. Oppressive heat across the Southwest imperiled outdoor workers and athletes, the elderly and the poor, and people with underlying health problems, with risks ranging from heatstroke to heart attacks and even death

2020 reinforced another lesson: If we don’t prepare for health disasters and manage them skillfully, informed by the best evidence, then people suffer and die needlessly. In confronting a novel virus, the United States failed in its response, and we continue to have one of the world’s highest COVID-19 death rates.

What is true for COVID is true for climate change. We’re not prepared. Part of the gap is a knowledge gap: We haven’t done the needed research, and we lack critical information....

Eighth greek alphabet storm.

November 11, 2020

By Doyle Rice

The relentless 2020 hurricane season has set another record. (click here)

The record for named storms in a single season was broken overnight with the formation of Subtropical Storm Theta far out in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean. Theta is the 29th named storm of 2020, breaking the record of 28 from 2005, the National Hurricane Center said. Theta transitioned to a "regular" tropical storm Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, closer to home, Tropical Storm Eta continues to spin in the Gulf of Mexico west of Cuba. Although the center of the storm is offshore, heavy rainfall from Eta will continue across South Florida into Tuesday night. "Additional flash and urban flooding, especially across previously inundated areas, will be possible in South Florida," the Hurricane Center warned....

This film loop is about Hurricane Laura on August 26, 2020. After Laura there are 13 more names for the 2020 hurricane season. 

In less than three months there has been 21 named storms in the Gulf-Atlantic. Primarily the Gulf this year. That is an average of 7 named storms per month. The cooling mechanisms of Earth is unable to keep up with the heat of Earth.

I don't know what it is like to have my name reduced to three letters, but, I find it depersonalizing.

Alexandria is a great competitor. She is also a great representative. How does her point of view become demonized by the right-wing media, because, she is an icon in South Florida that represents socialism and a return of Castro-like government while also favoring Maduro.

I don't know how Maduro has become an icon of fear in South Florida, but, he has. The fear of Castro and Maduro superimposed on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is to fear the Democratic party.

These folks in South Florida flock to the ACA/Obamacare, but, when it comes to voting they fear Democrats. Democrats brought them Obamacare. Go figure. Right-wing media manages to disconnect all that and demonize really great people at the same time. Democrats must fight off THE LABELING the right-wing media uses to sell their agenda and candidates.

July 10, 2019

It’s hard to recall (click here) a newly elected freshman representative to Congress who has made a bigger impact than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Her primary victory for New York’s Fourteenth District seat—as a young woman of color beating out a long-established white male incumbent—was big news, and Ocasio-Cortez has been generating headlines almost daily ever since.

Practically the day she took her seat in Congress, Ocasio-Cortez became the hero of the left wing of the Democrats and a favored villain of Fox News and the right. She battled Nancy Pelosi to make the Green New Deal a priority, and has been involved with a movement to launch primary challenges against centrist or right-leaning Democrats. Like Bernie Sanders, she embraces the label of democratic socialism and supports free college education for all Americans. She has called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement....

Right is Kyle Rittenhouse (click here)

This interview is brave and calls out the ability of people engaged in White Supremacy to leverage their way through the USA Justice System. For Rittenhouse, it begins with a bail of $2 million. Yes, he made bail. There are three unarmed protesters dead and their murderer is out on $2 million bail. I never knew Rittenhouse was out on bail until I read the interview of Alexandria. Her voice with the focus she has is very important in this country. She is able to bring issues forward no one else wanted to talk about and for that she is a victim of right-wing media? The right wing media elevates Rittenhouse when they defame Alexandria. It elevates what he can get away with rather than being a "law and order" media service. 

There is an enormous problem in the USA with White Supremacy recruitment. This is the contribution of the right wing media? Encouragement of violence? There is something very wrong with this. It is like yelling "fire" in a theater and igniting more hatred accompanied by violence.

I thought the above image illustrates the dire straights Earth is now in, hence the living beings calling this planet home. The image to the left is the temperatures across the planet for one month, October 2020. The image on the right is the average temperature for the years1951-1980. The difference is enormous and clearly illustrates how eliminating greenhouse gases is vital.

November 17, 2020
By Brett Anderson

NOAA and NASA (click here) have recently released their October global surface temperature data. Despite a strengthening La Nina, which typically has a cooling influence on the global average temperature, last month ranked as the fourth warmest October on record. Records go back to 1880.

As you can see by both images above, the greatest warming relative to normal was across the Arctic region where an extended period of open water, which allows more heat to be trapped near the surface, kept the region well above normal. Eastern Europe was also unusually warm, while a distinct area of abnormal cold was centered over central Canada.

The last seven years have brought us the seven warmest Octobers on record, according to NOAA.

October 2020 in the 44th consecutive October and the 430th consecutive month where the global average surface temperature was above the 20th century average....