President Biden authorized $8 billion...

 ...for the return of damaged homes to Texans. The country cares. The country also cares about how that money is spent because Texas has no consumer protection. Governor Abbott needs to work with utility companies and all the home contractors that will be flooding into Texas to get more than their share of that $8 billion. 

Either Governor Abbott places consumer protection in place to protect Texans, or there will be people living with blue traps on their roofs with little inside the home to provide warmth and cooling.

This is a new paradigm for the Governor so he needs to get up to speed to be sure there is no price gouging by utilities or contractors.

The findings about ...

 ...the Saudi Prince MBS are worrisome. Why the nepotism between him and the Trumps? MBS is not a stable partner if he satisfies his insecurities by killing his critics. It would be best to encourage Americans to quickly return home, until, their safety is not tenuous.

The deeper problem is that others will find resolve against Americans in that way. The violence will be tolerated if the prince gives it a nod.

This is a very big issue and will not be dismissed. Is Saudi Arabia a safe place for Americans that speak their minds? I think not.

Ms. Lindsey Boylan.

Mayor Bill de Blasio is correct in asking for an investigation into her allegations. What she is describing is a “Hostile Work Environment” and NOT sexual assault as FOX News is spinning in comparison with Bret Kavanaugh which is sexual harassment.

What Ms. Boylan is also describing is more than one actor within that hostile work environment. The New York laws are very strict about touching believed to be sexual in nature, including a person’s back or otherwise. New York law stipulates touching as harassment NOT assault. 

One of the questions of the investigation has to be why did this take so long to come out if the n fact it was a hostile work environment laced with harassment.

I apologize for not following the issues with New York nursing homes but my focus was different and I will try to get up to speed about that. I am not a department or committee. I am one human being. 

Governor Cuomo did not have first hand knowledge of the virus, Trump did. He also moved aggressively when the virus was rampaging through New Rochelle.

I don’t know about the interdepartmental tug of war, but, people dying is a serious issue and working to get it under control should have proceeded expeditiously. Perhaps a review of authority and what occurred needs to be understood so any delay would not happen again.

There also needs to be a review nationwide of containment in relation to transportation, especially airline travel. What capacity do states have in the way of intelligence of these threats and actual power to stop transportation known to facilitate virus spread.

Nationally there was a huge mistake in NOT putting health department leadership front and center to bring about solidified authority to place restrictions on citizens. It is the health department within the executive branch that has absolute power to any containment of disease regarding freedom of movement of citizens. Quarantine including wearing of masks, etc. is the authority of the health department. The health department has personnel with credentials that can exert that authority based in knowledge. Governors need to get that right when imposing restrictions on citizen freedoms.

I congratulate the Biden administration for the retaliatory strike in Syria. I hope the militia groups take it seriously. If this proves to be too little there will probably be more defensive measures taken.

There is also a report today that White Supremacists within the military is a threat. The military needs to resolve the issue through dishonorable discharges so real soldiers can trust their fellow team members. There also needs to be an investigation within the military of any deaths that may have been perpetrated by friendly fire as an excuse for murder of any race, ethnicity or gender. In such a case that is also a hate crime as well as murder.

The military needs to clean up the wayward culture while there is a Commander and Chief interested in doing so to strengthen the ranks. There is also the insurrection issue. The military should make it a clean sweep. Soldiers who feel wrongly accused have grievance procedures available to them.

February 19, 2021
By Matthew Fox

The graph (click here) to the left is from the DOW today.

US stocks moved higher on Friday, (click here) rebounding from a three-day losing streak after Janet Yellen advocated for more stimulus spending.

In a Thursday interview, Yellen told CNBC that there's a lot of pain in the economy still, evidenced by the recent jobless claims, which exceeded economist expectations.

"The price of doing too little is much higher than the price of doing something big," Yellen said, advocating for Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill....

I swear Americans are willing to believe the silliest things about supposed UFOs.

There is no UFO. The flight of a Russian missile is real and it was done to perform for Russian allies that are losing confidence in Putin.

The report by the airline pilot (click here) was correct and it actually is a matter of national security. Russia did an unauthorized flyover with a hypersonic missile to have the right to say even with President Biden in office, Russia would win any war by the USA. That is exactly what it was. The pilot couldn't believe his eyes because it appeared to be a UFO and it is more comfortable to allow the American people to believe there is no threat from Russia.

At a time in Russia when it is suffering under sanctions, the purchase of military weaponry by allies to Russia is an income for the country.'

What should come out of this is a better radar for the USA. How that happens is up to the military technology companies to design and build. I would think the advanced radar should be applied to the entire Nuclear Triad of the USA.

By Blake Stilwell

The age of Russian (click here) superweapons is upon us -- at least that's what President Vladimir Putin wants us to believe.

And they are cause for concern because the United States' traditional early warning systems might not be able to see those weapons coming.

Hypersonic weapons such as Russia's 3M22 Zircon fly so fast and low -- at speeds of up to Mach 6 and at a low atmospheric-ballistic trajectory -- that they can penetrate traditional anti-missile defense systems.

The missile flies with an advanced fuel that the Russians say gives it a range of up to 1,000 kilometers. And it's so fast that the air pressure in front of the weapon forms a plasma cloud as it moves, absorbing radio waves and making it practically invisible to active radar systems.

U.S. Aegis missile interceptor systems require 8-10 seconds of reaction time to intercept incoming attacks. In those 8-10 seconds, the Russian Zircon missiles will already have traveled 20 kilometers, and the interceptor missiles do not fly fast enough to catch up....

 

January 6 defense

Communication problems occurred on September 11, 2001.

Are there effective devices that are actually able to carry communications during active work? What does the military use as communications equipment that actually works during combat? Is there any device that actually works during combat? There has to be HACK PROOF equipment. I don’t believe that exists or can exist. 

Where communications break down then soldiers rely on their training. What kind of training do Capital Police actually receive? Is it sufficient to counter such an attack as was executed on January 6, 2021?

Regardless, if the Capital Police are trained for combat they 1. Did not have the equipment nor 2. The number of personnel to carry out effective resistance to protect their own lives yet alone the lives of the elected officials in the building, including the Vice President. 

There needs to be a new assessment of the ranks needed in the Capital Police. The National Guard going forward cannot remain as a protective force on Capital Grounds. If this level of protection is necessary, then there needs to be a new regiment developed for this purpose. The current National Guard cannot be assigned at Washington, DC forever.

The reality might be that the National Guard Commander will require an active unit at all times. But, to coordinate properly a new regiment might have to be within the authority of the Capital Police and the DC National Guard left as it exists today and as a back up to the Capital Police units.

No matter how this works out the appearance of soldiers at the Capital has to blend so families can visit their national seat of government. That cannot be dismissed as important.

While this beefing up takes place the real work belongs to the FBI and local police across this country to round up these insurrectionists and bring them to justice.

The real problem is Trump and his lousy authority to cause these problems. Going forward the Capital Police have to have an autonomous right to act without authority of a corrupt president and the power structure available for corruption by him. Attendance of such crowds in DC should automatically trigger the protective profile necessary to count any perceived threat.

I don’t believe what a mess Trump made of the security of the USA and the US Senate’s willingness to allow it to exist. I might point to THE ADDITIONAL COST these bozos are incurring for this country because of their wayward loyalties!

All oars in the water, please. There is such a thing as political pollution and it kills.

February 19, 2021
By Ariel Cohen

Let’s not mince words (click here) – the energy crisis in Texas is an unmitigated disaster on all fronts. Some 4.4 million people have been without power, heat, and running water for days and lack of the state grid’s preparation is to blame. Texas loves to brag about its energy independence and self-reliant electrical grid. But the events of the past week underscore that America’s largest energy producer is not as energy secure as once thought. About 90% of the Lone Star State is powered by a Texas-only power grid, but the current events strongly suggest that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) should join a regional transmission organization to meet energy demands.

Texas’ energy island, compounded by a failure to weatherize renewable and thermal power sources, led to the worst energy crisis in the country since the Northeast Power Outage of 2003. So far 30 people have died and hundreds have been poisoned by carbon monoxide from generators in their house or by car exhaust, trying to stay warm. What’s worse, we failed to prepare the country for the expectable pandemic, and now we have also failed to prepare a large section of the country to cope with fully expectable weather conditions. These are massive failures of resilience our geopolitical enemies take very seriously.

Climate change is empirically leading to more frequent and more extreme weather events on both sides of the thermometer – this is a fundamental reality. At the same time, America’s energy infrastructure has grown increasingly fragile, with vulnerabilities put on display over the years in California, New York, and now Texas....

Why is USA Today quoting "InfoWars?"

I was following the tragedy in Texas and Oklahoma. I would have been posting to the internet if there was a US DOE obstructing energy to Texas. What I read in reports at the time was that both Texas authorities and the US DOE were pushing ERCOT to produce as much energy as possible. The energy conglomerate didn't have the capacity regardless of emissions.

I was very, very surprised to see an earlier report by USA Today that quoted Infowars. USA Today has since updated the report to reflect the truth. Infowars is part of the problem in the media, not a solution to the country's vast misinformation under Trump.

Infowars globbed onto this letter (click here). It was signed and put into effect on the evening of February 14th. Unfortunately, the storm began hours after this letter was issued. 

One of the priorities of the Biden Administration is to bring an end to adverse environmental conditions of minority communities. So, any emissions by energy companies are going to be reviewed by this administration. The letter is specific and allowed time to answer it's questions.

February 15, 2021

Austin -The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) (click here) entered emergency conditions and initiated rotating outages at 1:25 a.m. today.

About 10,500 MW of customer load was shed at the highest point. This is enough power to serve approximately two million homes.

Extreme weather conditions caused many generating units – across fuel types – to trip offline and become unavailable.

There is now over 30,000 MW of generation forced off the system.

"Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now," said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness.

Rotating outages will likely last throughout the morning and could be initiated until this weather emergency ends....

That day, any restrictions were lifted by both the State of Texas and the US DOE. As a matter of fact, ERCOT was ORDERED to work at maximum capacity both by the State and the US DOE. I blogged that days ago. That is on this blog.

February 22, 2021
By Ali Swenson

CLAIM: An order from the U.S. Department of Energy (click here) under President Joe Biden blocked Texas from generating adequate power during the recent statewide emergency because it would exceed pollution limits.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The order did the opposite of what social media users are claiming. It gave the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates Texas’ power grid, emergency permission to produce enough energy to restore power to Texas homes, even if it temporarily exceeded pollution limits.

Please have confidence in the quality of governance being brought to the USA by the Biden Administration. When adverse information is brought forward to the media PLEASE validate that with authority. The Biden Administration is not going to lie to the media or the people. That "Era of Lies" ended when Trump vacated the White House.

Not to say there won't be mistakes from time to time, but, the mistakes will be minimal. The media should be interested in reporting everything good and bad, but, I guarantee if there is any problem it will be straightened out by if no one else the President himself. He wants the facts. Don't be afraid to share them with the press secretary to be sure the people are receiving good information.

The media has been through a rough few years. I really want the best of media coverage to come back. I want the media to find a way to remove hate from our dialogue as a country. We need to go there. 

But, quoting right wing extreme media is a big mistake. They spin everything. Try to practice the best of what I know is possible. The country needs it. Let's try to bring the people together around the truth and hold the government responsible when anything isn't as promised. This country is sometimes slow to make that turn because of capitalism and it's consumerism, but, it can be done and the media needs to put the muscle behind that turn. We have lives to save from a deadly virus. 

Thanks.

continued...

The Democrats need to find a path for their priorities and promises.

The Biden presidency has a great deal of confidence from the country. I was astounded by the graph in Philadelphia and the change in the number of cases of COVID-19 on a daily basis. That is definitely Joe Biden and his relationship with the country. He has taken action against all the monsters facing the USA. Texas is being held in his hand to be sure people are not exploited and has provided help to the state to return safety to their lives without being gouged for money by a utility plan that simply is a bad idea.

I hope President Biden maintains Neera Tanden to lead the Office of Budget and Management as an Acting Director. She deserves the opportunity to lead this office. He obviously has confidence in her and she has incredible credentials. I think she will be great.

I think Trump was saying in his defense at his impeachment trial and the US Senate accepted it, that the First Amendment protects inflammatory speech. That is a lie, but, if inflammatory speech is upheld by the US Senate, then the US Senate cannot be serious about their complaints as thin-skinned pouters to remove the nomination of Ms. Tanden. 

The pouting Republicans are not partners to the Democrats and certainly not the country. January 6th was real and the best the Republicans can do is leave Trump as a place holder to their future elections. That is simply mindlessness lead by Trump's priorities. As far as I am concerned, Trump is lucky to be within the borders of the USA, yet alone be upheld as a leader of the Republican Party. There is nothing left to value with the Republican Party. Their former members are running away in herds from the party. The exception to that might be the ones with guns and plans for more hatred of their very own country.

The Democrats must lead. They must help the American people to recover their lives. That isn't going to come from a Republican Party led by Moscow Mitch of spineless McCarthy. The Dems need to get on with it. The Republicans are putting a drag on the economic recovery.

Welcome J&J. The FDA sees a place for the vaccine in the country.

February 24, 2021
By Lynsey Mukomel

Grand Rapids, Mich.- The Food and Drug Administration’s report (click here) that Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine is safe and protects against severe illness is welcomed news for those tasked with inoculating the public.

The regulating agency confirmed Wednesday the single-dose shot is about 66% effective at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19. That efficacy rate is even higher, 85%, against the most serious illness.

Perhaps the most promising aspect of the vaccine analysis is that 28 days after vaccination, there were no hospitalizations or deaths for those who received the shot.

Kent County Health Department Immunization Supervisor Mary Wisinski says that takeaway is more important than comparing efficacy rates related to preventing illness altogether — both Moderna and Pfizer were 95% effective at protection against the virus....

McCarthy is like McConnell, they are mindless idiots reading off the same email from Trump.

Liz Cheney is a thinking person. She is not partisan. She makes decisions and spurns rhetoric. She carries the values conservatives are looking for and not finding anywhere else. She needs to set up her own caucus in the Republican House. She is capable of taking the US House. She should be at the lead, not empty-headed McCarthy.

The Republican women took the seats in the US House. 

I am not a Republican. I don't trust McCarthy or McConnell, but, I trust Liz Cheney. She is not an extension of her father, however, she is his daughter. She makes her own decisions. 

February 23, 2021
By Natalie Rahhal

AstraZeneca (click here) expects to get US emergency authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in April, the firm's president told lawmakers on Tuesday.

As soon as it gets the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) greenlight, AstraZeneca will have 30 million doses of the 62 percent effective shot ready to ship to the US, said president of the biopharmaceuticals arm of the company, Dr Ruud Dobber on Tuesday.

He told members of the House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce that the company could deliver 'up to 50 million' doses by the end of April...

The Joe Factor will have the USA end it's own epidemic without vaccines.

All they needed was a SuperStar.

February 23, 2021

Philadelphia’s coronavirus case counts (click here) have decreased by 80% since peaking in late December, Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said Tuesday.

“It’s a sign that things will be getting better this spring and summer,” Farley said.

The decrease is likely due to the virus following the pattern of most respiratory viruses, which peak in the winter months and decrease as spring arrives, Farley said. Farley said declining case counts cannot be attributed to vaccinations because not enough vaccines have been administered in the city; as of Monday evening there have been 174,092 first doses given in Philadelphia.

February 23, 2021

Chicago’s lakefront, (click here) playgrounds and indoor aquatics centers are starting to reopen after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to close nearly a year ago, the Chicago Park District announced Tuesday.

Many people have ignored the city’s playground strictures, and enforcement of the playground ban has been hardly consistent. But Chicago police have continued to enforce the closure of lakefront parks until this week, as first reported by Block Club Chicago, which reported Monday that lakefront aldermen announced the move starting Friday....

Members (click here) of the Philadelphia Police and Fire Pipes and Drum band leads the funeral procession for Philadelphia firefighter John Evans. 

He died of COVID-19.

FERC is investigating price gouging in Texas.

That is probably a new vocabulary word for ERCOT. Price gouging, especially after such a tragedy that cost lives, is not a State's Rights issue. A negligent company that causes it's own price squeeze because it neglected it's responsibility to its customers, doesn't get to exploit them after their own preventable failure.

February 23, 2021
By Catherine Moorehouse

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (click here) on Monday announced it would investigate whether any natural gas or electricity market violations occurred during the recent cold snap that left millions without power in Texas and Oklahoma last week.

FERC's announcement follows its decision, in partnership with the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), last week to investigate the mass outages across the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), as well as in the Southwest Power Pool and the Midcontinent Independent System Operator. It also follows calls from Chair Richard Glick for Congress and the Texas legislature to reexamine ERCOT's "go it alone" approach.

The commission also announced it would open a new proceeding to examine the threat climate change poses to electric reliability, following FERC's decision last week to close its resilience docket, originally opened in response to the Trump administration's coal and nuclear bailout proposal....

The vaccine attacks the spikes. As long as a variant has the spikes the person should be safe.

February 23, 2021
By Christine Clarridge

The first known case of the coronavirus variant (click here) discovered in South Africa has popped up in King County, and 19 additional cases of the variant first found in the UK have been identified, according to the Washington State Department of Health.

The B.1.351 variant of SARS-CoV-2, first seen in South Africa in December, was identified through genomic sequencing at the UW Medicine Virology Laboratory. It has been found in 10 states in the U.S.

The B.1.1.7 strain, which was first identified in the UK, seems to spread more easily and quickly than other variants and was first found a month ago in Washington state.

The appearance of the variants in Washington is not a surprise, Dr. Jeff Duchin, health officer for Public Health – Seattle & King County, said at a news briefing Tuesday.

The virus will continue to evolve and not all variants are worrisome, but those that are — called “variants of concern” — include both the UK and South Africa variants, he said.

Duchin said the new strains should cause people to “double down on their efforts to prevent COVID-19 transmissions.”...

No one used the "Jaws of Life" to extricate Tiger Woods from the vehicle. Retractions are required of every media that wrongly printed that.

As a matter of fact, he was able to use his legs to get out of the car. The vehicle had airbags over every interior surface. The car saved his life and quite possibly serious injury to his legs.

The GOP are headed in the wrong direction. Embrassing Trump will be their down fall.

Trump is a liar and most Republicans don't like it. They were lied to enough all during his time in office and the antics over the election were very obvious.

February 22, 2021
by Julia Terruso, and Jonathan Lai

When Diane Tyson (click here) got her driver’s license renewed Jan. 5, a DMV clerk asked whether she wanted to make any changes to her voter registration. A lifelong Republican, Tyson once ran for local office near Reading. She decided to wait: Supporters of Donald Trump were set to descend on Washington the next day as Congress met to certify his election loss.

“I wanted to see if it would be as ugly as it turned out to be,” she said.

As upsetting as the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol attack was, Tyson, 68, said watching Pennsylvania congressmen vote to throw out their own state’s election results is what soured her on the GOP.

She changed her registration to independent on Jan. 7.

The government buildings in DC need to be safe for families again.

The Capitol Police and the government of Washington, DC have to have their own national security officer related to the FBI. 

New York City formed their own investigation bureau after 911. It would appear NYC also needs their own international bureau on diseases. It took a horrible toll on that city because airlines from Europe were not shut down.

The health investigators need to answer to the Health Department. The Health Department of any city has the authority needed to declare a health emergency, but, the idea of intelligence is to prevent the health emergency. Health officials will understand a report without any interpretation. Or. At least they should.

It is a worry that North Korea...

 ...is refusing shipments of food. If North Korea has complaints it should speak up so misunderstandings can be cleared up to its people’s benefit.

These shipments go to many countries because the climate crisis is destroying crops. There is no shame in this.