Wasn't Flint supposed to join the Karegnondi Water Authority?

Reflecting on the extensive construction that has to occur to for a new pipeline, I can't believe the GLWA pipeline will make the September 3rd deadline. I know Governor Whitmer has initiated an emergency measure to move things along, but, her office really needs to take control of the final outcome.

I realize private contractors are preferred because they handle the business of economic thrift so well. But, with the Army Corp in Detroit (click here), I think they can be called in to protect the people from otherwise, gross mishandling of the water for Michigan.

The Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) (click here) acquired the services of LAN to evaluate and design a 66-inch raw-water transmission main from Bricker Road to Intermediate Pump Station. LAN was one of five design teams to help KWA design the 65 miles of raw transmission main that varied in size from 36-inch ductile iron pipe to 66-inch steel pipe. This project will include approximately 68,900 LF of pressure-class 150- and 200-psi steel pipe, as well as all necessary fittings, valves, and flushing hydrants. The estimated construction cost for the project is $36 million. The anticipated timeline for the evaluation and design of the project is to be completed within one year from the notice to proceed until notice to bid.

LAN also coordinated all site activities related to soil and survey collection both on the original and final routes within the allotted time, even though the final route was not determined feasible and easements acquired until after the completion of the 60 percent design documents for the original route.

This is how the it looks as of August 15, 2022.

Big connector pipes sitting on top of the ground are not the answer.

August 15, 2022

A water main break Saturday (click here for pictures) near the regional water authority’s water treatment facility in St. Clair County prompted it to place nearly two dozen communities under boil water advisories.

The water main distributes finished drinking water from the Great Lakes Water Authority's Lake Huron Water Treatment Facility to communities in the northern part of the water supplier's service area.

On Sunday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency for Lapeer, Macomb, Oakland, and St. Clair counties due to the break.

Also Sunday, officials with the Great Lakes Water Authority said crews restored water pressure to communities impacted by the break. The pressure is not at its normal level, but there is enough for sanitary use....

Remember this? February 23, 2022

September 3rd is the best GUESS.

It is still going on.

It has been five days since the water main break occurred. No one is stating what caused it.

It is incredible. This is the counter offensive.

There was nothing the Ukraine military could do at the time of Russia's invasion of Crimea. The clash in the Maidan followed by Yanukovych leaving the country due to a very quick occupation force in Crimea happened very quickly. The national military of Ukraine had been disarmed by Yanukovych. There was nothing they could do to move against the occupying force.

Yanukovych had armed the oligarchs with militias to contain any uprising by the people. Ukraine leaders were jailed in Russia at this time, if they hadn't been poisoned to attempt assassination. Ukraine was foundering with power struggles considering all the Russian corruption still within the country. 

This is Ukraine today. Eight long years of being divided. It was going to happen one way of another. There was too much tension within the populations to have this simply be settled by Russia spending money on bridges. I am not surprised there are Pro-Ukrainian forces in Crimea. Russia oppressed these freedom loving people through their Pro-Russian corrupt leadership. Oppression only lasts long enough until it reaches a boiling point and then people find a way to undermine it and get rid of it.

August 17, 2022
By Srishti Singh Sisodia

"Extraordinary" details were provided in advance to the United States President Joe Biden related to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, The Washington Post has reported.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the invasion of Ukraine, what it calls a "special military operation" to "demilitarise" and "de-Nazify" its neighbouring country.

The invasion turned into a full-fledged war, causing an outsized impact on the global supply chain and leading to a massive humanitarian crisis. Thousands of people are dead and millions flew away from the conflict zones.

August 19, 2022
By Greg Miller and Catherine Belton

Kyiv - In the final days before the invasion of Ukraine, (click here) Russia’s security service began sending cryptic instructions to informants in Kyiv. Pack up and get out of the capital, the Kremlin collaborators were told, but leave behind the keys to your homes.

The directions came from senior officers in a unit of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) with a prosaic name — the Department of Operational Information — but an ominous assignment: ensure the decapitation of the Ukrainian government and oversee the installation of a pro-Russian regime.

The messages were a measure of the confidence in that audacious plan. So certain were FSB operatives that they would soon control the levers of power in Kyiv, according to Ukrainian and Western security officials, that they spent the waning days before the war arranging safe houses or accommodations in informants’ apartments and other locations for the planned influx of personnel....

It is not worth it Vladimir, leave Ukraine.

 

Have the Ukrainian prisoners of war made it out of their prison camps?

August 19, 2022
By Josh Lederman and Hyder Abbasi

Dnipro, Ukraine - Pro-Ukrainian saboteurs (click here) were involved in the recent spate of explosions at Russian military sites in Crimea, a Ukrainian government official told NBC News.

The series of blasts hit military depots and airbases in the annexed peninsula over the past week, hinting at a growing ability by Ukraine's military or its backers to strike deep behind enemy lines, a development that could shift the dynamics of the war.

Kyiv has stopped short of publicly claiming responsibility for the explosions. The government official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to disclose information about the Crimea strikes to journalists....

August 18, 2022

By Annabelle Timsit, Sammy Westfall, Adam Taylor and Ellen Francis

A series of blasts at Russian military sites in Crimea (click here) this month has put a spotlight on the contested peninsula, which until now had been spared the heavy fighting of the nearly six-month-long war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials have told The Washington Post that the explosions — including those at two air bases and an ammunition depot — were the work of Ukraine’s special forces seeking to disrupt Russia’s supply lines. Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and has occupied it since.

The Black Sea peninsula, which is about the size of Massachusetts, has long been fought-over by the world’s great powers. For years, it has been a point of contention between Moscow and Kyiv.

As it emerges as a new battlefront in the war, here’s what you need to know about Crimea and its strategic importance....

August 19, 2022
By Zoe Strozewski

More than half of Russia's naval aviation combat jets (click here) from its Black Sea fleet were knocked out in a series of explosions at a Russian airbase in Crimea earlier this month, according to a western official cited in a Reuters report Friday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said that Ukraine was now steadily exacting "kinetic effects" far behind Russia's lines in the ongoing war that began February 24. This is impacting Russia's logistics support, as well as having "a significant psychological effect on the Russian leadership," the official said.

Newsweek was not able to independently verify the Russian jet losses and reached out to Russia's Defense Ministry for confirmation and comment....

The Russian military relies on propaganda and political hubris to maintain it's fearsome reputation. It has no successful military industrial complex. It relies on spies and spineless USA presidents to carry it's reputation as invincible. 

It is time Vladimir Putin retire or resign and end this siege of Ukraine. Russia cannot contain the war. Given it's vulnerability from inside it's own borders Putin should not have pulled the linchpin on an invasion without knowing he would succeed. It has been a disastrous war without mercy on any civilian, especially children. 

August 18, 2022
By Holly Ellyatt

When Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014 (click here) little was done to stop it or actively help Ukraine get its territory back, a salient point given Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor that begun earlier this year.

But now, Ukraine appears to be finally in a position to fight back on the peninsula with a spate of recent incidents in which Russian military positions and infrastructure in Crimea have been damaged.


These, it’s believed, are likely to be a part of Ukraine’s tentative counteroffensive in the south as it seeks to dislodge the occupying forces and eventually reclaim its territory, once and for all.

The latest incidents in Crimea took place on Tuesday when a fire caused multiple explosions in a Russian ammunition depot near Dzhankoi in the north of the peninsula. A nearby railway and electricity sub-station were also damaged as well as residential buildings, Russia’s defense ministry said....

This is not an unusual story.

We are a country, even with a global pandemic still unresolved, of nearly 330 million people. That is a lot of people on planet Earth in the USA. There are a lot of women managing their gender and it's potential for pregnancy everyday. There are also a lot of women becoming pregnant. There is an enormous amount of genetics at play in a country that proudly touts itself as "a melting pot." Those genetics can play tricks and physical ailments or physiological interruptions cause pregnancies to hang in the balance. The ONLY person qualified to assist in the decisions women make everyday regarding their fertility, unwanted pregnancies, pregnancies and some of those wanted pregnancies with troubles unique to the woman, is her doctor(s).

There is NO ONE IN THE USA qualified to assist every woman to make these decisions besides her doctor(s). 

NO ONE in the USA are licensed to practice medicine to assist American women with these difficult decisions. Women have worries about birth control, the kind that works best, unwanted pregnancies at a time in their lives that will set them back in their own pursuit of happiness and/or betterment in life than their parents. Women worry the entire time they are carrying a pregnancy. They think about the baby and wonder what it will be like to hold their children in their arms for the first time. 

Women worry about their husbands and/or partners as to what they will say and think when a surprise pregnancy is revealed. They worry about whether or not the future will be secure enough to provide for the ideals floating in their heads and hearts about the future expectations. 

Do you know there was a significant drop off in the number of pregnancies in 2020 because men and women thinking about having a family or having more of a family might be effected by a coronavirus. The financial insecurity that accompanied it alone was enough to postpone pregnancy.

Women with or without husbands worry a lot. They also experience great joy with pregnancy and childbirth willing to have their lives changed within nine months of a healthy and successful pregnancy. That goes unsaid. Americans love children. But, what no one in government stops to realize is that women don't want to have to worry about them, too. They have enough to worry about without having old, white guys in office call them irresponsible women for deciding an abortion is necessary for the reason they find it necessary.

Texas has passed laws that guarantee malpractice because highly qualified doctors have to first consult an attorney before doing the right thing for the woman and the family. THAT IS WRONG AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS!!!

July 26, 202
By Carrie Feibel

New, untested abortion bans (click here) have made doctors unsure about treating some pregnancy complications, which has led to life-threatening delays and trapped families in a limbo of grief and helplessness.

Elizabeth Weller never dreamed that her own hopes for a child would become ensnared in the web of Texas abortion law.

She and her husband began trying in late 2021. They had bought a house in Kingwood, a lakeside development in Houston. Elizabeth was in graduate school for political science, and James taught middle-school math.

The Wellers were pleasantly surprised when they got pregnant early in 2022.

In retrospect, Elizabeth says their initial joy felt a little naive: "If it was so easy for us to get pregnant, then to us it was almost like a sign that this pregnancy was going to be easy for us."

Things did go fairly smooth at first. Seventeen weeks into the pregnancy, they learned they were expecting a girl. They also had an anatomy scan, which revealed no problems. Even if it had, the Wellers were determined to proceed....

My mother was right.

She is frequently right. Long time ago when Trump first started his shenanigans with the White House, my mother said, "That man has a lot to hide. That is why he is in the White House. If he were a successful businessman like he portrays he would not be in the White House. You wait and see, he will end up against the law before long."

From the first day she heard the name Allen Weisselberg she said he would be convicted of law breaking. She stated, "He will probably die in prison when this is over."

I said, "Mom, please can the facts come out and we will see what occurs?"

She replied, "You have got to be joking, Donald Trump has been hiding from reality and the truth all his life. He wouldn't know the truth if it bit him in the butt. He is guilty and so is Weisselberg. And if Weisselberg takes the blame alone then Trump is threatening him. Cohen wasn't enough. Trump had to ruin lives to do what he did all his life. He doesn't deserve the time of day from any American in this country."

I guess if there has to be a moral to the story it is that many people like my mother have lived their lives within the law, paying their taxes, fighting for their country in war, raising their children to do better than they did and expecting their souls to go to heaven to be in the presence of the Almighty.

That is how my parents have lived their lives and they have a sixth sense when politicians are lying and/or promising something they can't deliver. The "can't deliver" part is a lie in a campaign that is unrealistic to any possible outcome. The "can't deliver" part is not about obstructionists like McConnell. My parents expect everyone elected to be forthright and honest and deliver what the country needs. My parents would not heap praises on a man who likes to be called "The Grim Reaper" or "Moscow Mitch." 

They were and my mother, now a widow, are very Middle Class. They didn't mind it. Both of their parents made their living as coal miners. In the case of my maternal grandfather from the age of 13 he went to work in the mines with his father. My paternal grandfather was a Blacksmith for the Pennsylvania coal mines. Anthracite coal was the commodity and it is gone now. But, they were poor. My parents didn't have nice homes as children growing up. My father went into the Air Force after graduation from High School and sent his pay home with instructions to buy a house for his return. Four years later, he returned to his parents and they had bought a two story house and he lived upstairs. 

Those are my roots. I am proud to this day to be the daughter of Middle Class adults who were in dirt poor poverty as young people and pulled themselves up through legitimate work and strong moral values. My grandparents on both sides are just as admirable and I still miss them to his day.

These people I speak of from my family have a sixth instinct. They know when something is wrong. They can sense it. It doesn't fit their moral fiber. So, when my mother says, "He will break the law, you just wait and see." I know she is right. I just like to have the facts before I "...get on my high horse about things."

I don't value living a lavish life. I value living. I value the quality of life I am afforded as an American and the freedom that accompanies it. My father and my uncles fought for it. I know when my mother protests the portrayed reality as false she means it and I know where she is coming from.

There is a Middle Class morality that many of us learn from the Unions that we join and the honor of representing others as Shop Stewards. We know the values that maintain the honor within our lives and we stand up for it every time.

I am glad Mr. Weisselberg is cooperating with the prosecutors. It is the right and moral thing to do. I am glad he will be in prison a short time and be able to be with the ones he loves for the rest of his life. I hope he holds this cleansing of his past dear to his heart and brings it to his god in humility. He is forgiven by the people of the USA. Mr. Cohen is, too. 

Donald John Trump is a traitor and he will not get away with it.

August 18, 2022

By Sheila McClear and Mark Berman

New York - Allen Weisselberg, (click here) the longtime top financial officer of former president Donald Trump’s company, pleaded guilty on Thursday to committing more than a dozen felonies, including criminal tax fraud and grand larceny.

Weisselberg and the Trump Organization were indicted last year by authorities in New York who charged them with concealing certain financial compensation as part of a years-long scheme to avoid paying taxes. The case is part of the churning legal maelstrom still surrounding Trump and his close allies, with local, state and federal authorities scrutinizing everything from his namesake business to his handling of classified government documents since leaving office.

Appearing in a Manhattan courtroom, Weisselberg, 75, acknowledged his part in the scheme outlined by prosecutors — and agreed to testify, if called, at a pending trial for the company. As part of his plea agreement, Weisselberg, Trump’s close and trusted associate for decades, would spend five months in jail, followed by five years of probation....

Rents are too high

 The reason there is a shortage of workers is because the rents and homes prices are far too high, especially rents. If workers can’t afford the rent they won’t be where they are needed. 

There is no reason for the increase except greed. The taxes haven’t gone up and city services are the same. Greed is the driving factor and when one landlord raises the rents they all do it.

There is a lot of really great stuff going on in the Interior Department.

It is pure joy to watch Americans enjoying nature and a natural setting. 

July 29, 2022

The Department of the Interior (click here) today announced that the National Park Service will distribute $192 million to local communities through the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership (ORLP) grant program, which enables urban communities to create new outdoor recreation spaces, reinvigorate existing parks, and form connections between people and the outdoors in economically underserved areas. In order to increase the program’s flexibility, the Department also announced new programmatic changes to the program.

Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Shannon Estenoz announced the updates while touring Belle Isle Park in Detroit, Michigan, today, which previously received a combined $1.075 million in ORLP grants to fund two projects: the recently completed Belle Isle Park Athletic Complex and a perimeter multi-use loop trail, the first phase of which was completed in April 2022.

“The Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program is essential to expand our communities’ connections to urban green spaces, where children can play, families can connect, and a love and appreciation for the outdoors can be nurtured,” said Secretary Deb Haaland. “The funding and programmatic changes we are announcing today will allow for us to support bigger ideas and more communities in their pursuit of creating more parks and places to get outside for every American."

Changes to program eligibility requirements include decreasing the city size cap from 50,000 to 30,000 residents; removing the requirement for cities to be in a Census-designated Urban Area boundary; and increasing the maximum grant amount from $5 million to $10 million....

Urban parks add to the quality of life and improve mental health.

December 6, 2021
By Laura Oleniacz

Declines in outdoor activities and park use (click here) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic were linked to reductions in mental health measures for teens and young adults from middle school through college, according to two new studies led by North Carolina State University researchers.

The studies build evidence for the mental health benefits of nature’s medicine – and the potential hazards of restricting access, researchers say.

“This is an opportunity for anyone concerned about the health and well-being of future generations to focus on the power of parks when it comes to mental health promotion, and to figure out what we can do to make sure all segments of the population have access to enjoy the health-related benefits that parks can provide,” said Lincoln Larson, an associate professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at NC State.

Larson was the lead author of a study looking at factors linked to emotional distress in college students. Published in the journal Environmental Research, the study involved a survey of 1,280 college students at four large public universities in the United States, including at NC State. Researchers wanted to understand why and how students’ outdoor recreation and park use changed in March through May of 2020, and how that related to their mental health. They asked students to rate their use of parks and other outdoor spaces and their levels of emotional distress before and during the pandemic.

They found 54% of students said they reduced their park use during the pandemic, and about two-thirds reduced outdoor activities. College students who were more worried about COVID-19 were more likely to limit outdoor recreation. Students who identified as Asian or Black were more likely to limit their park use than students of other ethnicities or races.

“It is becoming apparent that historically marginalized populations are having an even harder time enjoying the benefits that come from outdoor recreation during the pandemic,” Larson said....

It is all good and important use of American's funding for natural areas and the satisfaction of knowing natural history.

July 14, 2022

Channel Islands National Park (click here)

Ventura, Calif. - During a visit to Channel Islands National Park today, (click here) Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland celebrated the Department of the Interior’s commitment of close to $100,000 in funding from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The park’s ecosystem restoration project will rehabilitate and improve safety on trails, as well as protect archeological and natural resources on Santa Cruz Island. The project will be carried out in partnership with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.

“Through President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, we are advancing partnerships between the federal government and Tribes to support access to clean air, clean water and a better environment for future generations,” said Assistant Secretary Newland. “As we make essential investments through this transformative law to conserve ecosystems, mitigate the risk of wildland fire and maintain our national parks, the support and ingenuity of local partners and Tribes who know these natural treasures best is critical.”

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $1.4 billion for ecosystem restoration efforts over the next five years, building on proven projects, programs and partnerships that conserve our cherished wildlife and natural resources critical to supporting local economies, creating jobs and strengthening communities.

The project funding announced today will be carried out under a Task Agreement with the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, engaging their Fire Department in trail construction and their Cultural department in resources protection. The project will work to protect natural and archeological areas and enhance visitor experience and public safety by improving corridors and trail conditions on three miles of the park's most heavily used trails as well close and restore approximately 1,000 feet of unapproved trails. The project will also protect native plant communities and areas with archaeological resources while adapting existing historic routes for accessible and safe public access. 

July 21, 2022

As part of the President’s America the Beautiful Initiative, (click here) the Biden-Harris Administration today launched an interagency effort, called the Federal Interagency Council on Outdoor Recreation (FICOR), that will work to create more safe, affordable, and equitable opportunities for Americans to get outdoors.

The FICOR – which includes leaders from the Departments of the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, and Defense – will focus on improving access to nature, expanding outdoor recreation opportunities, and providing the public with improved and more affordable experiences on America’s public lands and waters.

Increasing access to outdoor recreation is one of the six areas of focus outlined in President Biden’s America the Beautiful Initiative. The FICOR will help coordinate policies, facilitate partnerships, and improve implementation on issues such as:...

No woman should be prosecuted in handling her own health issues.

August 17. 2022

Two weeks after he was suspended from office, (click here) ousted Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren fired back with a federal lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis, citing free speech rights and prosecutorial discretion in his fight to get his job back.

The lawsuit says it aims to confirm that the First Amendment still applies even though DeSantis is governor, and that the courts get to say what the state Constitution means — “not whatever DeSantis needs it to mean to silence his critics, promote his loyalists, and subvert the will of the voters.”

“The bottom line is everyone should follow the law, even the governor,” said Warren’s Tampa lawyer David Singer. “We’re going to ask a court to make sure that happens.”...

...Warren framed the lawsuit as a fight in defense of democracy. By suspending him, Warren said the governor was subverting the will of hundreds of thousands of people in Hillsborough County who voted to elect him as their state attorney. 

“By challenging this illegal abuse of power, we make sure that no governor can toss out the results of an election because he doesn’t like the outcome,” Warren said....

It all started when when the voters decided they trusted Mr. Warren and he decided he trusted women to handle their health problems. Then Ron DeSantis had a hissy fit because Mr. Warren would not obey him.

August 4, 2022
By Patricia Mazzei

Miami — Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida (click here) suspended the top prosecutor in Tampa on Thursday, accusing him of incompetence and neglect of duty for vowing not to prosecute those who seek or provide abortions.

In a startling announcement, Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, suspended from office Andrew H. Warren, the elected state attorney of Hillsborough County. In June, Mr. Warren, a Democrat, was among 90 elected prosecutors across the country who vowed not to prosecute those who seek or provide abortions after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Florida imposed a 15-week abortion ban in April.

The decision immediately raised concerns among Democrats, including Mr. Warren, who say that the governor has become increasingly heavy-handed....

It is called the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (click here)

Mr. DeSantis is injecting theocratic measures into a state government. He cannot do that.

It doesn't matter the person in the employ of State of Florida, Mr. DeSantis CANNOT demand a freely elected state prosecutor to participate in a religious practice. The entire idea a woman and her doctor cannot make rational decisions about the patient's body and an unwanted pregnancy and/or dangerous pregnancy that imperils her health is against the law.

Those decisions that DeSantis is attempting to carry out only have brevity in the practice of a religion. He cannot impose any religious standard on a Floridian, a Doctor practicing in Florida or any State Attorney freely elected by the people.

Mr. Andrew H. Warren is licensed by the State of Florida to practice the law in any capacity he so chooses without the weight of any discrimination and/or theocratic demands by an extremist Right Political Wing Governor.

I fully expect Mr. Andrew H. Warren to be made whole again by reinstating him to the capacity of State Attorney immediately.

Religious discrimination involves treating a person (an applicant or employee) unfavorably because of his or her religious beliefs. The law protects not only people who belong to traditional, organized religions, such as Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism, but also others who have sincerely held religious, ethical or moral beliefs.

Religious discrimination can also involve treating someone differently because that person is married to (or associated with) an individual of a particular religion.

The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.

It is illegal to harass a person because of his or her religion.

Harassment can include, for example, offensive remarks about a person's religious beliefs or practices. Although the law doesn't prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that aren't very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).

The harasser can be the victim's supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer....

There is no governance of any state or the country where an abortion ban is needed to increase a drastically falling number of citizens.

The current birth rate for U.S. in 2022 is 12.012 births per 1000 people, a 0.09% increase from 2021

The birth rate increase (click here) occurred across every age group of women 25 and older, CDC found, and continued to decline for teenagers, dropping 6% among those ages 15 to 19....

...Meanwhile, among different racial groups, birth rates rose slightly among non-Hispanic white and Hispanic women and dropped among Black, Asian, and American Indian or Alaska Native women.

The report also found that, in 2021, the percentage of premature births hit its highest point since the data became available.

Overall, births are still at historically low levels, peaking at 4.316 million births and a fertility rate of 2.12 in 2007....

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a fertility rate in a country of 2.1. That is a country with healthy values and love of life.

The total fertility rate in a specific year (click here) is defined as the total number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in alignment with the prevailing age-specific fertility rates. It is calculated by totalling the age-specific fertility rates as defined over five-year intervals. Assuming no net migration and unchanged mortality, a total fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman ensures a broadly stable population. Together with mortality and migration, fertility is an element of population growth, reflecting both the causes and effects of economic and social developments. The reasons for the dramatic decline in birth rates during the past few decades include postponed family formation and child-bearing and a decrease in desired family sizes. This indicator is measured in children per woman.

Americans get married for the right reasons, divorce for the right reasons and have families for the right reasons. Enough of this playing god with a population that is healthy and happy. Their health decisions are their own and not if there is a decrease in the birth rate, it is BECAUSE THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT FORCED STERILIZATION AS THE ONLY ALTERNATIVE TO UNWANTED PREGNANCIES.

No text messages yet, huh?

Go figure.

August 16, 2022
By Julia Ainsley

The Democratic chairs of the House Oversight Committee (click here) and the House Homeland Security Committee sharply criticized the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general Tuesday for refusing to testify or share documents related to his office’s handling of missing Secret Service texts, according to a letter sent to DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari.

The committees have previously urged Cuffari to recuse himself from the investigation into the missing text messages sent by Secret Service employees around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, in large part because he failed to notify Congress that the messages were missing until over a year after he knew they had been lost....

Florida's gun laws have teachers going elsewhere as well as a Governor that threatens their pensions.

The picture to the left (click here) is what it looked like when EMT workers tried to save lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

I get the picture now. Florida fills their schools with police and EMT qualified teachers.

In 2021 the State of Florida tried to end pensions for teachers.

Top ten pensions and bottom ten pensions for new teachers in the USA (click here).

April 13, 2021
By Eric Mock

Brevard County - Senate Bill 84, (click here) which would change the Florida Retirement System (FRS), has passed the state Senate and is currently being looked at in the Florida House.

“And that just … it’s not fair.” Brevard County teacher Traci Stiles said of the bill.

Many of Florida’s public workers — including teachers — are qualified to receive a pension after they retire under the FRS.

But the bill excludes teachers hired after July 1, 2022 from enrolling in the system's pension plan.

However, the bill does not exclude “special risk” employees, like police and firefighters, from enrolling in the pension moving forward.

Stiles has worked in Brevard County Schools and paid into the fund for more than 18 years.

If no new teachers are paying into the fund starting next year, she worries there won’t be enough when it’s her turn to retire.

“So then 10 years from now when I retire, there probably won’t be the funding to pay for it,” she said....

According to the record of the bill it died in the House Committee (click here). But, currently Florida is suffering a shortage of teachers. I can understand why when the state does virtually nothing to control the guns flowing into the state and sold to nearly anyone that wants one.

But, the Governor is modifying the requirements for teachers to allow police and emergency workers to teach instead of working in their field.

Ron DeSantis is proof that extremist administrations are trouble. It won't be long that the police turned teacher will be asked to be armed in the classroom.

16 August 2022
By Joseph Michalitsianos

...The governor (click here) also indicated he would be waiving exam fees for first responders and law enforcement for the certification necessary for teaching, just as he had done for military veterans.

DeSantis is a vocal supporter of law enforcement officers and has invoked hiring bonuses as a way to inspire more people to join police departments.

He also said people can take advantage of both incentives in Florida by first joining a local police department and then applying to become a teacher.

While the Florida Department of Education estimated in February they would need to fill approximately 9,000 vacant teacher positions, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity found 5,837 open teaching positions online in June, up 53 percent from June of 2021....

April 15, 2022

By Georgina Rannard 

Thunderstorms: (click here) Why drought can lead to dangerous flooding

After weeks of hot and dry conditions in most of the UK, with drought declared in parts of England, it might seem that a good downpour is what we need.

But the heavy rainfall and thunderstorms forecast by the Met Office this week could instead be a hazard.

Scientists are warning that they could lead to flash flooding and are unlikely to replenish dry soils.

Here is why torrential rain may not be what our parched land needs right now....

Aerate the soil before the deluge comes.

August 15, 2022

By Jasmine Andersson & Alex Binley

Thunderstorms are hitting the UK (click here) and weather warnings are in place as a spell of hot weather draws to a close.

There is a risk of torrential downpours, causing travel disruption and some flooding, the Met Office says.

Three days of alerts have been issued for most areas, ending on Wednesday.

Some parts of Devon and Cornwall have experienced flooding, after stormy conditions brought heavy rain showers and hail to parts of the South West.

Temperatures topped 34C in parts of the UK at the weekend and experts have said a lengthy period of rain is needed to end the drought declared in parts of England on Friday.

These areas include Devon and Cornwall, Kent and south London, East Anglia and the East Midlands.

Heavy rain is unlikely to ease the drought because rainwater struggles to permeate dry ground, meaning it will run off the dehydrated surface and lead to flash flooding in some areas, the Met Office said as it issued a number of weather warnings....

Soil Aeration Guide: How to Loosen Compacted Soil (click here)

This method is done before the deluge. It may still be necessary to seek shelter on higher ground.

There is a method of aerating the soil to allow absorption of compacted soil. Depending on the size of the land it can be conducted with commercial sized aeration tools, but, the UK has a lot of personal owners with yards that would suffer if the soil is not aerated. They can be a do it yourself person and take on the challenge of protecting the land their homes are built on.

It is called a "lawn butler." In the USA there are stores that sell this type of equipment and this one in particular is "Ace Hardware." 

Click here

If the UK home owner isn't empowered to conduct their own gardening this may be the exact time they should consider it. What can one homeowner do to stem local flooding. Probably not much, but, if a neighborhood and another neighborhood and another were to have an interest in the physics of preventing flooding and save soil, that could turn the tide on some of this. 

The picture of the roller with spikes in it can be pulled by a tractor.

There are all kinds of personal aeration devices, some come as shoes with spikes on the bottom. Others look like old time lawn mowers, but, the purpose is the same, to put holes in the ground so the rainwater can be soaked up and begin to recapture a healthy state to allow grass and trees and plants to hold the soil and soak up the water. Large amounts of water coming from the sky these days are tough to hold in the land and there are inevitable areas of flooding, but, when the deluge passes there is still land to soak up the water and end a drought. It is a small measure by any stretch of the imagination, but, if it becomes an areas past time to stem climate stress of the soils, it might be more interesting than anyone expected.

  

For the life of me I do not understand those that oppose the defense of the USA Constitution Wyoming US Representative Elizabeth Cheney is pursuing.

Liz Cheney: Trump’s nemesis faces Republican day of reckoning (click here)

I would expect every voter in Wyoming to be backing her up. I sincerely don't get it. I know for a fact her legislative focus is always Wyoming and the needs and priorities of the state. It is the only thing that separates us. She has some views I disagree with, but, the US Constitution is not on the auction block. I do believe there will be Democrats crossing over to support her even though they normally are on the other side of her values. If I were in Wyoming, I would be voting for her.

The future is here already.

This isn't about preparedness, the extreme  heat emergency is already here and right now California and the West are in dire straits.

Dangerous heat (click here) is possible for far inland parts of our area on Tuesday with an increasing risk for heat-related illnesses. Hydrate and take cooling breaks if you'll be outdoors. Avoid activities during the heat of the day if possible. Stay safe!

All 97 percent of climate scientists in the world say 2050 is too late. They are correct!

Stop denying the most dangerous issue of our day, the climate crisis.

August 15, 2022
By Denis Ohow and Nigel Ohiwaya

An "extreme heat belt" (click here) reaching as far north as Chicago is taking shape, a corridor that cuts through the middle of the country and would affect more than 107 million people over the next 30 years, according to new data on the country's heat risks.

The report, released Monday by the nonprofit research group First Street Foundation, found that within a column of America's heartland stretching from Texas and Louisiana north to the Great Lakes, residents could experience heat index temperatures above 125 degrees Fahrenheit by 2053 — conditions that are more commonly found in California's Death Valley or in parts of the Middle East....

Counting on 30 years as a cushion of time to get this right is foolishness. The crisis is now. 2053 is a calamity allowed to grow.

2023

2053

Ask the people living it.

August 15, 2022

By Jakob Rogers

A burst of sweltering-hot weather (click here) is expected to bake the Bay Area and Northern California early this week, sending temperatures into the triple digits in many inland cities and exacerbating fire conditions across the region.

The brunt of the mini heat wave is expected to hit on Tuesday and Wednesday as a massive ridge of high pressure builds over much of the American West. The swell of hot weather prompted meteorologists on Monday to warn of the potential for heat-related illnesses in the coming days, especially for residents of inland cities....

The article is exactly correct. It is going to get worse, but, that doesn't mean today is less terrible than 30 years from now. Thirty years from now is deadly dangerous, today it is a danger human civilization can try to mitigate. Basically, in 30 years those lands of the map labeled 2053 are parched and unlivable. There is no sense in mitigating heat in 2053 with failing water resources.

2053 is not about real estate prices, it is about survival.

2053 means loss of civilization. Adding 30 years of hope to a heating PLANET is not hope at all.

There is talk about using the Mississippi River for water to the west. In the map above 2053 there is no Mississippi River. Decision makers do not listen. They simply want to find something to stick to the wall for the sake of politics. Climate is not politics, it is physics. How many decision makers are climate physicists in Washington, DC?