"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Archive for the ‘– Business… None of yours’ Category
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, January 24, 2021
Bill Lee is the 50th Governor of the State of Tennessee, a Republican, and is serving his first term in office, having been elected in 2018.
Vice President Kamala Harris two days ago Tweeted:
“On the 48th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we recommit ourselves to ensuring that everyone has access to care—including reproductive health care—no matter their income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status.”
On the 48th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we recommit ourselves to ensuring that everyone has access to care—including reproductive health care—no matter their income, race, zip code, health insurance status, or immigration status. https://t.co/2CMdjihsXV
I’d like to address this entry to Governor Lee, and to every other person who, for whatever reason, opposes abortion – though opposition to the procedure is mostly religious-based, and that itself presents a Constitutional problem, insofar as our nation is not established upon any religion, and I mean specifically to refer to the “Establishment clause” of the First Amendment. I am NOT going to argue religion, that is for theologians, and I am not making a theological argument.
First, it is a very dangerous precedent to write a law that not only eliminates one’s ability to make an independent, and informed decision (about that, or any other private matter), but mandates that the government tell you (or anyone) what to do in your private life. That is the essence of what is happening with this type of argument. Proponents are: 1.) Forbidding exercise of Constitutional rights and freedom to make a free-will decision, and; 2.) Essentially forcing the pregnant woman to give birth to the child.
Regardless of whether one agrees, or not, that abortion should be discouraged, or even made illegal, the essence of what is happening is that, when government gets involved in a personal, private matter, there is no longer just a woman, and her physician, in that private treatment room, but 535 other people – 435 Representatives, and 100 Senators. And that’s just too many people in one small room.
Whenever government steps in and makes decisions for you, you no longer have freedom, you no longer have liberty. And whether they realize it, or acknowledge it, or not, that’s what the anti-abortion activists want – for government to make your decision, or more accurately, to deny you the ability to make a decision… one with which they disagree with upon religious grounds. Not only is that is the VERY antithesis of so-called “smaller, less intrusive” government (something about which GOP types have clamored about), but it is “Big Brother” government, another thing about which most right-wing, and GOP-type folks complain.
The state’s fiscal analysis stated that “Annual state and local sales tax collections on these purchases may reach $88 million in the next several years. The initiative also requires a one-time transfer from the Medical Marijuana Fund of $45 million for the Department of Health Services, a university tuition program, and an impaired driving program.”
Among other provisions, as stated in its purpose, the “Act permits limited possession, transfer, cultivation, and use of marijuana (as defined) by adults 21 years old or older; protects employer and property owner rights; bans smoking in public places; imposes a 16% excise tax on marijuana to fund public safety, community colleges, infrastructure, and public health and community programs; authorizes state and local regulations for the sale and production of marijuana by a limited number of licensees; requires impairment to the slightest degree for marijuana DUls; transfers monies from the Medical Marijuana Fund; permits expungement of some marijuana violations; and prescribes penalties for violations.”
Distribution of taxes collected upon its sale would be as follows:
• 33.0% to community colleges
• 31.4% to local law enforcement and fire departments
• 25.4% to the state and local transportation programs
• 10.0% to public health and criminal justice programs
• 0.2% to the Attorney General for enforcement
The state estimates that “based on a projected tax base of $1 billion, total state and local tax collections would be $254 million, including $166 million to the Smart and Safe Arizona Fund.”
“In its Medium-Series Population Projections, the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) estimates that Arizona’s population will have reached 7.59 million by 2023. Given the $137 estimate for per capita sales, the OEO population estimate implies Arizona would have $1.04 billion of recreational marijuana sales in 2023.”
$254,391,600
Their revenue and sales estimates are based upon western states experiences, and they wrote that, “Arizona marijuana sales may increase further after the third year. States with more than 3 years of sales data have experienced continued growth in years 4 and 5. In Colorado, Oregon, and Washington recreational marijuana sales grew by a weighted average of 20.5% in year 4. In Colorado, the only state with 5 full years of data, sales grew by another 11.2% in year 5. We do not attempt, however, to project past the third year due to the speculative nature of long-run forecasting.”
The Arizona analysis also examines the cost associated with expungement, meaning the legal elimination of any criminal record associated with whatever record is being expunged. They cited a Pew Charitable Trusts analysis in November 2017, which stated in part that, “California only had 1,506 applications for expungement its first year of legalization and Oregon saw only 1,206 petitions combined between 2015-2017. Furthermore, the 192,000 estimate includes all convictions for marijuana possession, whereas the initiative provides the expungement option only to those who were convicted of marijuana possession of 2.5 ounces or less.”
They also note as well, that “the initiative does provide a revenue source for DPS administrative costs. The initiative authorizes DPS to collect a “reasonable fee determined by the Director” for costs to “correct the petitioner’s criminal history record” unless the individual is indigent.”
Control, or rather, elimination of the illicit black market is also a strong motivator for government in the legalization, taxation, and regulation of cannabis, especially and particularly for Adult Recreational Use. To that end, Arizona’s fiscal analysts wrote that, “If the limited number of retail locations authorized under the initiative is insufficient to meet demand, then current marijuana users may be more likely to continue to purchase illegally or from medical dispensaries, potentially decreasing the size of the legal market.”
Elimination of the illicit black market was also a very strong motivating factor in Oklahoma’s recent liberalization of cannabis laws, particularly and especially for medical use. See “Oklahoma Has Become A Free Market Utopia For Weed,” published 11/2/2020 for more details. Of course as well, an “unintended consequence” for ALL states which have liberalized their cannabis laws, is an INCREASE in private enterprise, and entrepreneurship – the veritable “holy grail” of most Republicans… and Democrats, if folks would be honest about the matter.
Arizona’s fiscal analysts also acknowledge a very important, yet almost-overlooked matter: It is of local regulation. They write that, “the proposition grants Read the rest of this entry »
For the ignorant – and, that’s most people – it’s a SCOTUS ruling handed down June 17, 2019 that ruled that, “The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment prohibits only governmental, not private, abridgment of speech.”
In other words, Censorship laws DO NOT apply to the Private Sector.
Thank the so-called “conservative” Supremes who handed down that ruling. They are: KAVANAUGH, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and THOMAS, ALITO, and GORSUCH, JJ., joined.
So, Mr. Dorsey, and every other private company does NOT have to abide by anti-censorship laws.
Furthermore, what in the hell is Ted Cruz doing meddling, trying to tell Twitter how to run their business? That jacked-up twat probably doesn’t even own one share of Twitter.
What fucking hypocrite that son-of-a-bitch is!
I’d have loved to have seen Mr. Dorsey ask Cruz that question – “Are you telling me how to run my business?” – and follow it up with this one:
“Exactly what laws are you accusing me, and/or my company, of breaking?”
Of course, the obvious answer is ‘none.’
And remember: This is Political Theater for Banana Republican Ted Cruz, who feigns not-so-righteous indignation on behalf of those who would vote for him in future elections, Presidential, or not. And chances are, we’ll see that Texas turd make a Presidential run for the border in 2024.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, January 15, 2021
Freedom.
What a concept, eh?
The very idea that you have a brain, and therefore, can think independently to decide FOR YOURSELF what you want, or ought, to do, continues to frustrate others who think that they know better than you do what personal decisions you should make for yourself!
It’s an adult decision.
Why, it’s nothing short of… LIBERTY!
ENOUGH! of the “Nanny State”!
Take your religion home, and GET IT OUT OF GOVERNMENT!!
Practice it PRIVATELY, with your family, friends, and other like-minded individuals. STOP forcing your PRIVATE religious ethics and morals upon others by writing public laws that mirror your private interpretation of your religion.
Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter to the Danbury Baptists that cited the establishment clause of our nation’s Constitution, which as he wrote, erected a “a wall of separation between Church & State,” or as we now say, between government, and religion.
Religious nuts have been trying to tear it down, ever since.
And they’re STILL TRYING TODAY!
‘Drug Use For Grown-Ups’ Serves As An Argument For Personal Choice
If you grew up scared of what illicit drugs could do to you — hearing about all the horrors that could befall you from everyone from Nancy Reagan to your parents — the threat may have felt very real: If you actually took a puff off that joint that the kid who slept through math class offered you, it could lead to failed relationships, chronic unemployment, self-destruction.
The shame would outlive you.
But drugs are a more complicated matter than they’ve been made out to be, according to Dr. Carl L. Hart. In his new book Drug Use for Grown-Ups, the Columbia University professor of psychology and psychiatry zealously argues that drug use should be a matter of personal choice — and that, in more cases than not, personal choice can lead to positive outcomes. His positions may seem quite extreme to some but they also, by and large, make a lot of sense — and are backed up by ample research.
A major reason drugs have such a negative public image, Hart asserts, is racism. He notes that after the Civil War, some Chinese railroad construction workers smoked opium and, sometimes, established “opium dens” to do so. Over time, more and more white Americans visited these dens to smoke opium too. That in turn led to broader, bigoted social fear among whites, like, for example, the sentiments captured in H.H. Kane’s 1882 report:
“The practice spread widely…Many women and young girls, as also young men of respectable family, were being induced to visit the dens, where they were ruined morally and otherwise.”
Then there was the post-Civil War use of cocaine among some Black day laborers, something Hart writes was at first encouraged by white employers because of the productivity it could promote. Soon enough, however, articles appeared widely that tried to make a connection between African American cocaine use and criminality. One particularly egregious article in The New York Times in 1914, cited by Hart, even reported that some police in the South “who appreciate the vitality of the cocaine-crazed” were switching to higher-caliber weaponry capable of “greater shocking power for the express purpose of combating ‘the fiend’.”
But horrifying history aside, one of the book’s most eye-opening aspects is its challenge of the long-running association between drugs and addiction. First the basics: Addiction, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM – 5), must be a source of distress for a drug user. It must also interfere with a person’s job, parenting or personal relationships. Other indications of addiction may be Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, January 12, 2021
For all the hoopla being raised by Banana Republicans parading as GOP types, including the Loser in Chief, about the decision Twitter made to cut him (and others) off from their private non-governmental service, and who are calling it “censorship,” the United States Supreme Court has some news for you:
Censorship laws DO NOT apply to the Private Sector.
Period.
If you don’t like it, take it up with those who decided it: KAVANAUGH, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which ROBERTS, C. J., and THOMAS, ALITO, and GORSUCH, JJ., joined. SOTOMAYOR, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which GINSBURG, BREYER, and KAGAN, JJ., joined.
In a Certiorari to The United States Court Of Appeals For The Second Circuit, No. 17–1702, the court ruled that “The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment prohibits only governmental, not private, abridgment of speech,” and held that MNN (private nonprofit corporation, petitioner Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN)) was not a state actor subject to the First Amendment.
The court wrote further, that, “A private entity may qualify as a state actor when, as relevant here, the entity exercises “powers traditionally exclusively re-served to the State.” The precedent for that decision was rendered in the case Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Co., 419 U. S. 345, 352.
“The Court has stressed that “very few” functions fall into that category. Flagg Bros., Inc. v. Brooks, 436 U. S. 149, 158.”
In the decision, the court wrote in part that,
“Under the state-action doctrine as it has been articulated and applied by our precedents, we conclude that operation of public access channels on a cable system is not a traditional, exclusive public function. Moreover, a private entity such as MNN who opens its property for speech by others is not transformed by that fact alone into a state actor. In operating the public access channels, MNN is a private actor, not a state actor, and MNN therefore is not subject to First Amendment constraints on its editorial discretion. We reverse in relevant part the judgment of the Second Circuit, and we remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”
The background facts of the case which formed the basis of the suit are fairly straight-forward, and reads as follows:
“DeeDee Halleck and Jesus Papoleto Melendez produced public access programming in Manhattan. They made a film about MNN’s alleged neglect of the East Harlem community. Halleck submitted the film to MNN for airing on MNN’s public access channels, and MNN later televised the film. Afterwards, MNN fielded multiple complaints about the film’s content. In response, MNN temporarily suspended Halleck from using the public access channels. Halleck and Melendez soon became embroiled in another dispute with MNN staff. In the wake of that dispute, MNN ultimately suspended Halleck and Melendez from all MNN services and facilities. Halleck and Melendez then sued MNN, among other parties, in Federal District Court. The two producers claimed that MNN violated their First Amendment free-speech rights when MNN restricted their access to the public access channels because of the content of their film.
“MNN moved to dismiss the producers’ First Amendment claim on the ground that MNN is not a state actor and therefore is not subject to First Amendment restrictions on its editorial discretion. The District Court agreed with MNN and dismissed the producers’ First Amendment claim.
“The Second Circuit reversed in relevant part. 882 F. 3d 300, 308 (2018). In the majority opinion authored by Judge Newman and joined by Judge Lohier, the court stated that the public access channels in Manhattan are a public forum for purposes of the First Amendment. Reasoning that “public forums are usually operated by governments,” the court concluded that MNN is a state actor subject to First Amendment constraints. Id., at 306–307. Judge Lohier added a concurring opinion, explaining that MNN also qualifies as a state actor for the independent reason that “New York City delegated to MNN the traditionally public function of administering and regulating speech in the public forum of Manhattan’s public access channels.” Id., at 309.
“Judge Jacobs dissented in relevant part, opining that MNN is not a state actor. He reasoned that a private entity’s operation of an open forum for speakers does not render the host entity a state actor. Judge Jacobs further stated that the operation of public access channels is not a traditional, exclusive public function.
“We granted certiorari to resolve disagreement among the Courts of Appeals on the question whether private operators of public access cable channels are state actors subject to the First Amendment. 586 U. S. __ (2018). Compare 882 F. 3d 300 (case below), with Wilcher v. Akron, 498 F. 3d 516 (CA6 2007); and Alliance for Community Media v. FCC, 56 F. 3d 105 (CADC 1995).”
Certiorari [pronounced “sir-sha-rar-ee”] is a writ [a written order issued by a court]seekingreview of a lowercourtdecision by a highercourt.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Blessed are those who have, for they shall be given more.
That’s not a genuine Bible verse, by the way. And if you’re any kind of decently well-read individual, with more than a perfunctory, or minimal knowledge of the Judeo-Christian collection of holy writings collectively known as the Bible, you would know that already.
And by that same token, of being any kind of decently well-read individual, you would also know that there is an eerie parallel to a saying that Jesus of Nazareth made about a related matter – the Parable of the Talents – as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. A parable, of course, is a moralizing tale, a story meant to illustrate some matter, and to point out a wrong doing, or type of injustice in an unobtrusive, easy-to-understand manner.
We’re going to get to Georgia’s appointed Republican Senator whose net worth of $500M is BY FAR the wealthiest member of Congress in just a moment, but first you need some background for understanding.
Woodcut from Historiae Celebriores Veteris Testamenti Iconibus Representatae — dated to 1712 — depicts the Parable of the Talents as told by Jesus of Nazareth, in Matthew 25:14–30. Two men bring the money that was entrusted to them back to their master, while a third man searches for his money outside.
The story states that, in preparation for a journey of some duration, an owner/master entrusted and distributed his money to his 3 servants. The unspoken hope, or expectation those days, is that, upon his return, they would have increased the portion with which they were entrusted and charged.
To one, he gave he gave 5 talents (a monetary measurement), to another he gave 2, and to the third, he gave 1 talent. Upon his return, the first two who received 5, and 2, respectively, reported that they’d doubled the money. The third did not, and rather, reported that he buried the money in the ground, and had not gained anything. Upon hearing that news, the owner became enraged, called that servant lazy and wicked, fired him, then ordered that single talent to be taken from him and given to the one with 10.
That’s an important point, which you’ll see later, why.
Jesus of Nazareth, who was telling the story, made a moral assessment, and drew a conclusion based upon the actions of that one who did not return a profit, and reportedly said, “For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
While the story is simply told, the meaning behind it is uncertain, though there have been many sermons preached about the tale. And yet, the audience hearing that parable then, in the era in which is was told, would have interpreted it quite differently from today’s audience, according to Dr. Richard L. Rohrbaugh, STD, Professor Emeritus of New Testament and Religious Studies at Lewis and Clark College, whose primary scholarly pursuit was establishing proper historical and cultural contexts for Biblical texts.
Dr. Rohrbaugh said that, in the era in which the story was first told, the audience would have understood that the “profit” was made through the exploitative abuse of others, and that the third servant was the one which would have been considered honorable by the standard of the day. Thus, that interpretation of the parable, would mean that the first two servants were shameful, instead of the third. When asked about the matter, Dr. Rohrbaugh said in part that,
“[G]iven the “limited good” outlook of ancient Mediterranean cultures, seeking “more” was considered morally wrong. Because the pie was “limited” and already all distributed, anyone getting “more” meant someone else got less. Thus, honorable people did not try to get more, and those who did were automatically considered thieves: To have gained, to have accumulated more than one started with, is to have taken the share of someone else.”
As he explained in the Biblical Archaeology Society, “In the ancient world, greedy people who did not want to get accused of profiting at someone else’s expense – which was considered shameful – would delegate their business to slaves, who were held to a different standard.” Dr. Rohrbaugh explained that the reasoning was that, “Shameful, even greedy, behavior could be condoned in slaves because slaves had no honor nor any expectation of it.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, December 15, 2020
If you want to know what a person will do, simply look at their past.
That’s a generally good rule to observe, and that principle is found in practically every activity of human life – even in politics.
So, let’s examine Georgia’s Banana Republican Senator David Perdue, who was formerly Dollar General CEO from 2003 to 2007 of the Goodlettsville, TN-based business.
David Perdue has been selling out Americans for a long time. As long as it made a fast buck for him, or whoever hired him, he was okay with that.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 11, 2020
Let’s get some perspective on the unimaginably massive amount of wealth just ONE of these three men (in the article below) have.
Jeff Bezos, Founder, and CEO of Amazon dot com is, as of this writing, the wealthiest man in the world, bar none. With an estimated net worth of $183.3 billion it’s often difficult to get a grasp on the amount of money that is. So, lets give it the good ol’ college try.
$183,000,000,000 –– it’s sometimes good to simply see the number of zeros in the figure.
If, from this point forward Mr. Bezos NEVER MADE ANY MORE MONEY, and spent $100,000 every day, it would take 5013 years to spend it all.
So, let’s up the ante… SIGNIFICANTLY.
Again, using the same premise, NEVER MAKING ANY MORE MONEY, and spent $1,000,000 ($1 million) every day, it would take 50 years. Mr. Bezos is presently aged 56. And, given the current life expectancy for men in the United States – especially, and particularly men of wealth, who have the finest of everything, including health care – he could reasonably be expected to live to age 86, or 30 more years. That’s according to figures from the Social Security Administration. So clearly, spending at that rate – $1,000,000/day – he couldn’t spend it all in his lifetime.
Professor Dr. Zhang believes science holds the key to predicting viral outbreaks with similar accuracy as with which we now anticipate typhoons and tornadoes. He said, “If we don’t learn lessons from this disease, humankind will suffer another.”
Moderna’s vaccine design only took one weekend to develop at their Massachusetts facilities.
In fact, Moderna had completed development of their COVID-19 vaccine mRNA-1273 before the Chinese government had acknowledged the disease was transmitted by human-to-human means, and more than a week before the first confirmed coronavirus case in the United States – January 21.
And by the time the first American coronavirus death was reported a month later, on February 29, Moderna’s mRNA-1273 coronavirus vaccine had already been manufactured and shipped to the National Institutes of Health to begin its Phase I clinical trial.
In essence, what that means, is that for the entire time the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has infected well over 15 million – and counting – in the United States, we had the tools we needed to prevent it, as well as the death of over 250,000 Americans… and counting.
So, that begs the question: If Moderna had a vaccine ready in January, why has it taken until now – December, very nearly a year later – to have a vaccine readily available?
Moderna, a publicly-traded company (stock symbol: MRNA) with operations and headquarters in Massachusetts, is a biotechnology firm focused exclusively upon development of vaccines using mRNA – messenger RNA. Their vaccine is the first in the history of vaccine development to use mRNA.
Drs. Emmanuelle Charpentier-L & Jennifer A Doudna-R, are 2020 Nobel laureates, and creators of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool
Vaccines made using mRNA are fundamentally different from any other vaccine ever made. The history of vaccination began on May 14, 1796, when a country doctor from Gloucestershire, England, Dr. Edward Jenner, MD, first took some fluid from a cowpox blister and scratched it into the skin of James Phipps, an 8-year-old boy.
Dr. Jenner developed his vaccine while he was still a medical student, after noticing that milkmaids who had contracted a disease called cowpox, which caused blistering on a cow’s udders, did not catch smallpox. However, unlike smallpox, which caused severe skin eruptions and dangerous fevers in humans which often led to death, cowpox led to few ill symptoms in those women.
Science has come a very long way since then. While traditionally, vaccines were first made using active, live, then attenuated, then inactivated, or dead cells from the organism or virus. Throughout the history, the process of making vaccines used chickens’ eggs for the protein they contained, and were literally injected into the shell of an egg. Some are still made that way.
Most recently, two women have forever changed health, medicine, and many other life sciences, which gives hope to millions, and holds untold promises. Dr. Emmanuelle Charpentier, Ph.D., Director of Infection Biology at the Max Planck Institute, and Professor Dr. Jennifer A. Doudna, MD, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Professor in Biomedical and Health at the University of California Berkeley, in October 2020 won the Nobel prize in chemistry for the development of the revolutionary CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool which has been described as enabling “rewriting the code of life.”
Drs. Emmanuelle Charpentier-L & Jennifer Doudna-R, are the 2020 Nobel laureates in chemistry, and creators of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tool.
Cas9 is a type of modified protein and acts like a pair of scissors that can cut parts of DNA strands. CRISPR stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, in essence, a repeating mirrored DNA sequence in genomes that repeats. The technology has worked in most every organism that it has been used on, including plants, animals, microbes and humans.
By using the gene editing platform CRISPR, which could be thought of as cut-and-paste, the idea is to remove parts of a genome using RNA as a means of guiding to a particular place within a genome, genes can then be modified to eliminate mutated, or harmful parts.
The ability to use such sophisticated gene splicing technology holds enormous promise.
As it relates to the coronavirus, the gene splicing technology uses a very small portion of messenger RNA (mRNA) from the coronavirus genome, and produces a gene that codes for the spike protein – the characteristic protruding part seen on images.
The coronavirus has 4 proteins, the spike is 1, and is the part that enables the virus to invade cells. By using only that part of the virus, it causes the body to produce antibodies that neutralize that spike protein. RNA vaccines cause the body to make only that spike protein. Then, encased in a fat molecule mRNA then enters cells, and sends a coded message to the body to make the protein, which in turn causes an immune response.
RNA vaccines have many advantages, which, unlike other vaccines produced other ways, they stimulate the production of killer T-cells which stop the coronavirus from replicating. And because mRNA vaccines are produced in test tubes or tanks, rather than being cultivated in cells (such as in eggs), they should be relatively quick and easy to produce.
The use of mRNA to treat disease, even genetic-based disease, such as cystic fibrosis, is brand new, but holds exciting possibilities. Moderna is perhaps one of the most promising mRNA therapeutics research firms in the world. And under the leadership and direction of Chief Science Officer Dr. Melissa Moore, Ph.D., Moderna has developed, and publicized, the scientific blueprint for a unique form of cancer therapy using mRNA which when used used, ensures its mRNA is made only inside cancer cells. Ryan Cross reported in Chemical and Engineering News on September 3, 2018 in “Can mRNA disrupt the drug industry? Messenger RNA technology promises to turn our bodies into medicine-making factories. But first Moderna—and a long list of old and new competitors—needs to overcome some major scientific challenges.” and wrote in part that, “Moderna scientist Ruchi Jain designed an mRNA that causes cancer cells to self-destruct but is recognized by, and destroyed in, healthy cells.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, December 4, 2020
In the business world, the acronym “OPM” stands for “Other Peoples’ Money.” But at the Federal level of the United States Government, it stands for “Office of Personnel Management.”
Although Amway multi-millionairess Betsy DeVoss is an employee of the United States Government as the Secretary of Education – an ironic, even hypocritical position for her, since she’s never attended, even as much as set foot in, a Public School in her lifetime, even as Secretary – it’s painfully obvious that she continues to operate by the OPM business principle.
She continues to be resoundingly criticized by many, not all of whom are her political compatriots. If there could be said to be a “guiding light” to her first-ever tenure as a public servant in the capacity which she’s occupied for the past 4 years, it’s more for us, less for you. And in this case, the “us” refers to her wealthy pals, and anyone with a harebrained idea parading under the banner of “choice” and “education.”
As an aside, it’s ironic that Banana Republicans oppose choice in so many areas, especially healthcare; they don’t want a Federal Option for health insurance, they don’t want a woman to have autonomy over her own body to choose to carry or not, etc.
But as “choice” pertains to DeVos and Company, it refers to so-called “charter” schools – the educational “Flavor of the Day” among Banana Republicans. Simply put, charter schools are private, often for-profit and Wall Street-traded entities that compete for limited public tax dollars against Public Schools. Think of them as leeches, mosquitos, and other blood-suckers that little-by-little siphon off the lifeblood from the host upon which they feast. Not quite the scenario of pigs at a trough, but very close enough, because if you attempt to get in between them and their food source, they’ll kill you.
Again, choice is good for them, but bad for you.
And that’s but one example where the hypocrisy of the Banana Republican party comes in.
What you would think if I were to tell you that an entity with no experience in education, was denied local approval, applied for, and was granted well over a million tax dollars to open a charter school, but it never opened, and they kept all the money?
Would you be okay with that?
What about this?
From the 2006/7 through the 2013/14 school year, over 537 prospective charter schools that NEVER EDUCATED EVEN ONE STUDENT, NEVER OPENED, yet received well over $45 million tax dollars?
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks October 15, 2020 at Phoenix International Academy in Arizona.
Would you be okay with that?
What about a charter “school” that never opened even for one day in Pennsylvania, yet was granted well over $30 million by Secretary Betsy DeVos?
Would you be cool with that?
It all happened under Betsy DeVos’s oversight.
Enormous fraud, waste, and abuse is being perpetuated before our very eyes, and yet, we’re told bad is good, sweet is sour, abuse is good, taxes are bad, and government is corrupt by the very ones corrupting it, and lying to our faces about it all.
by Valerie Strauss
December 3, 2020 at 6:00 a.m. EST
Here’s a new, rather remarkable story about charter school grants recently awarded by the Education Department — including one for more than $1 million that went to a soccer club in Pennsylvania that had no experience running a school.
This is one of a number of pieces I have run in recent years about the Federal Charter School Program, which has invested close to $4 billion in these schools since it began giving grants in 1995.
Charter schools, a key feature of the “school choice” movement, are financed by the public but privately operated. About 6 percent of U.S. schoolchildren attend charter schools, with California having the most charter schools and the most charter students.
Charters had bipartisan support for years, but a growing number of Democrats have pulled back from the movement, citing the fiscal impact on school districts and repeated scandals in the sector.
Charter supporters say the 30-year-old movement offers important alternatives to traditional public schools, which educate the vast majority of U.S. students, and that the movement is still learning. Opponents say there is little public accountability over many charters and that they drain resources from traditional districts.
Research shows student outcomes are, overall, largely the same in charter and traditional public schools, although there are failures and exemplars in both.
Burris, who opposes charter schools, was named the 2010 Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State, and in 2013, the National Association of Secondary School Principals named her the New York State High School Principal of the Year.
I asked the Education Department to comment on the grant to the soccer club, about which Burris writes, but did not get an immediate response. I will add it if I do.
By Carol Burris
In late September 2020, amid the covid-19 pandemic, the U.S. Department of Education awarded nearly $6 million to five organizations to open new charter schools. One of the five awardees was “The All Football Club, Lancaster Lions Corporation,” located in Lancaster, Pa. The club had no experience running either a private school or a charter school, yet nevertheless pitched the AFCLL Academy Charter School for a grant from the federal Charter School Program (CSP).
The CSP awarded the football club $1,260,750 to be spent within its first five years, even though their submitted application only received 70 of 115 possible points by reviewers — a failing grade of 61 percent. And the club did not have permission from the local school board to actually open the school.
That award of tax dollars to an unauthorized charter school shines a light on how the federal CSP is driven by an ideology with only one aim — to push taxpayer dollars into the hands of would-be private charter operators, even if the school appears doomed to fail from the start.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, December 1, 2020
The more we progressed into this utterly incompetent and anti-American administration, the more I became convinced that the true extent of the damages done by the actions of this President and his maladministration will not be evident until at least a year, or two – or perhaps more – into the successive administration.
And, it just goes to prove my long-held point, that GOPers, now known as “the Party of Trump,” and formerly known as “Republics” (if those assholes can call Democrats “Democrat” instead of “Democratic” when referring to the party, then Republicans can be called “Republic,” or “Republics.” After all, turn about’s fair play) are hell-bent upon tearing down and destroying practically every vestige of government, all in the name of “efficiency,” or whatever they want to call it.
And remember: It was originally Ronald Reagan, who in his first Inaugural Address flatly stated that “government is the problem.” Of course, one needn’t be a rocket surgeon or a brain scientist to figure out that, if X is the problem, then the elimination of X is the solution to the problem. And in this case, “government” was the problem.
And so, Robin Hood and his band of merry men set of to rob and steal, to tear down and destroy as much of the system as they possibly could, all in the name of “liberty,” and “efficiency.” Passing tax cuts along to the wealthy, and doing little-to-nothing for the poor.
Destroy the monetary distribution system associated with funding various government programs – not all of which were social programs – and turn them all into “block grants” (blocks of money) and allow the states to play with them as they will to their hearts’ desire, all in the name of “efficiency.” And then, allow them to set up whatever freaky-deaky program and arcane asinine rules they want to associate with it. In other words, pervert it to the extent that it no longer looks like it once did, and is only a mere spectre of a program, and a mockery of the law that made it.
The Republic Party and its members haven’t done a goddamn thing to BUILD UP this country, and have ONLY worked like hell to tear it down, bit-by-bit, piece-by-piece.
They’re still straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel, and still champing at the bit to privatize Social Security. They almost privatized the U.S. Postal Service under the maladministration of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was actively aiding and abetting the destruction of the mail delivery system specifically in order to thwart the election, and throw it to the POS45 campaign. Fortunately, his treasonously corrupt efforts were caught in time, and stopped.
America was brought to the brink of destruction by this malignant misleader.
Fortunately, our Constitution works! And come January, we will have an entirely new administration and President – one of whom we can be proud!
And a parting thought: Since when did inexperience become a valued quality in regard to governmental service – as if someone with LITERALLY NO EXPERIENCE whatsoever is somehow qualified to be the Chief Executive? NO ONE in their right mind would imagine even for a moment that some moron picked up from off the street could run Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, Apple Computer, Ford Motor Company, or any other multi-million dollar business. So why would anyone think for a moment that someone with LITERALLY NO EXPERIENCE OF ANY KIND at any level in public service, either appointed, or elected, would have any ability to govern? Seriously! Why?
And that, my friends, is what we have had for the past 4 years – an utterly incompetent, and clueless boob.
A government watchdog says the Labor Department has been releasing flawed data — and finds that most states underpaid jobless Americans
Ben Winck
Monday, 30 November 2020
The Labor Department reported false counts of week-to-week jobless-benefits claims, and several states underpaid unemployed Americans through a key economic relief program, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.
Inconsistent state data, claims backlogs, and potential fraud in the benefits system resulted in “flawed week-to-week comparisons” of jobless-claims data, the government watchdog said.
Average weekly payments through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program fell below the poverty line in 29 of the 41 states reporting data, the agency added. While some states made minimum payments first and plan to back pay remaining totals, it’s unclear when the process can be completed.
The GAO’s report signals the virus’ economic fallout may be greater than first thought and that most states aren’t paying out the immediate relief allocated by Congress.
The Labor Department’s weekly tally of unemployment-insurance filings has reflected inaccurate data throughout the pandemic, and jobless Americans are being underpaid through the benefits program, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.
The historic number of unemployed Americans applying for benefits has skewed weekly claims figures for months, the government watchdog said in its report. Inconsistent state data, claims backlogs, and potential fraud in the benefits system has resulted in “flawed week-to-week comparisons of total claims numbers,” the GAO added.
Additionally, a program meant to provide benefits to workers who lost their jobs because of the pandemic has been underpaying recipients in most states, the GAO said. Some states paid minimum amounts first and Read the rest of this entry »
Joe Biden is hiring about 4,000 political staffers to work in the White House and federal agencies. Here’s how you can boost your chances getting a job in the new administration, according to 3 experts.
Robin Bravender
29 Novmber 2020
President-elect Joe Biden formally introduced his newly-picked national security team in Wilmington, Delaware on November 24, 2020. Biden will have thousands more political and non-political jobs to fill in 2021.Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images
President-elect Joe Biden is hiring about 4,000 political staffers to work in the White House and federal agencies.
Former campaign staff and Democratic insiders will have a leg up in getting their résumés considered, but government employment experts say there will be room for Washington newcomers, too.
The Biden administration is promising to build its team from a big talent pool that “looks like America and works for all Americans.”
The transition team created a portal where you can apply for jobs in the Biden White House and agencies across government, like the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Education. You can even try for obscure panels like a US-Russia commission on polar bears.
To be considered, employment experts urge job applicants to be clear about what they want, keep their application materials concise, play up their skills, and work any connections.
So you want to go work for Joe Biden.
You’re in luck. The president-elect has thousands of jobs to dole out inside the White House and federal agencies.
But you’ll probably want to get moving quickly since the incoming team is anxious to get up to full strength as it races to replace outgoing Trump administration staffers with its own people. You’re not the only one hoping to get a job on the new team, and you can expect stiff competition.
“There will be tens of thousands of people who are very excited about this administration and want to be a participant in it,” says Katherine Archuleta, who led the Obama administration’s Office of Personnel Management, the federal agency that manages government employees.
Of course, it helps if you have powerful allies who can vouch for you and help get your résumé in front of the right people. Connections are everything in Washington, and people who worked on Biden’s campaign or have ties to his orbit will have a leg up when it comes to scoring one of roughly 4,000 political jobs that change hands when a new administration arrives.
If you blindly send in a résumé to the Biden transition team or the White House personnel office, “the odds of the résumés actually being taken seriously are pretty darn low,” said Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University.
But don’t despair if you don’t count political insiders among your family and friends. You might still land your dream job at the State Department, the National Park Service or the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
OnlyFans isn’t the only site for sex-work entrepreneurs. Here are 7 other platforms, with the exact cut that creators take on each.
Mark Stenberg
29 November 2020
MelRose Michaels, a popular sex worker with accounts on FanCentro and OnlyFans, is one of many high-profile creators using multiple platforms to extend her reach.FanCentro
OnlyFans, a NSFW subscription-based website, has exploded in popularity this year, but its newfound fame has brought fresh criticism of its treatment of sex-work creators.
These sites all employ similar subscription models as OnlyFans, meaning revenue goes directly to creators, but they are also vocal supporters of sex workers and the industry at large.
This year, as stay-at-home measures across the country led to a surge in traffic to adult entertainment websites, the rising popularity of the subscription-platform OnlyFans brought a fresh wave of criticism to the site.
Sex workers, who are largely responsible for OnlyFans’ rise in prominence, told Rolling Stone that the platform has mistreated them, mishandled their money, and sometimes kicked them off inexplicably. As OnlyFans’ burgeoning popularity attracted celebrities, sex workers complained to The New Statesman that the site they had made famous was now abandoning them to cater to its newly joined, more influential creators.
In the wake of this growing animosity, a number of OnlyFans competitors have gained traction. Like OnlyFans, these sites use a subscription model and similar payout rates, meaning creators can profit directly off their content. Some even offer components that make their pages feel more like social media, such as stories and the ability to “follow” creators without subscribing to them, features that OnlyFans lacks.
They also differ from OnlyFans in another important way: They champion their sex workers and broadcast their committment to giving them a platform.
“The main reason I decided to leave was because I have read articles and seen people talking on Twitter about how OnlyFans has been deleting sex workers’ accounts with no reason and no warning, and sometimes people have lost thousands of dollars,” said sex worker Jamie Zella in a YouTube video.
Still, with more than 70 million registered users, OnlyFans remains the most popular of these subscription-based sex-work platforms, meaning the site’s network effects make it hard to quit; creators flock to where the traffic is, no matter their misgivings. To accomodate this reality, creators like MelRose Michaels have accounts on more than one platform.
Nonetheless, many of these OnlyFans competitors see the site’s dismissive treatment of their core users as a clear business opportunity. If OnlyFans won’t appreciate their sex workers, these sites will. Below is a list of OnlyFans competitors that employ similar business models but more openly support their sex-work creators. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, November 27, 2020
Nothing short of amazing!
Other states should take notice.
Oklahoma State Representative Scott Fetgatter (R-16)
Witness the Free Market and Free Enterprise at work collaborating with government with practically nominal regulation.
The primary difference being, is that the heavy hammer of law hangs over the heads of individuals whom violate the law, and licensing/permitting is required throughout the process – from producer to consumer – and, it is taxed.
“Anybody who wants to use marijuana is already using marijuana.
You’re not stopping that.
The goal is to eliminate the black market.”
– Oklahoma State Representative Scott Fetgatter (R-16)
“They’ve literally done what no other state has done: free-enterprise system, open market, wild wild west. It’s survival of the fittest.”
– Tom Spanier, owner of Tegridy Market (a dispensary that takes its name from South Park) with his wife in Oklahoma City last year
How One of the Reddest States Became the Nation’s Hottest Weed Market
Oklahoma entered the world of legal cannabis late, but its hands-off approach launched a boom and a new nickname: ‘Toke-lahoma.’
Photographs for Politico Magazine by Misty Keasler/Redux
WELLSTON, Oklahoma—One day in the early fall of 2018, while scrutinizing the finances of his thriving Colorado garden supply business, Chip Baker noticed a curious development: transportation costs had spiked fivefold. The surge, he quickly determined, was due to huge shipments of cultivation supplies—potting soil, grow lights, dehumidifiers, fertilizer, water filters—to Oklahoma.
Baker, who has been growing weed since he was 13 in Georgia, has cultivated crops in some of the world’s most notorious marijuana hotspots, from the forests of Northern California’s Emerald Triangle to the lake region ofSwitzerland to the mountains of Colorado. Oklahoma was not exactly on his radar. So one weekend in October, Baker and his wife Jessica decided to take a drive to see where all their products were ending up.
Voters in the staunchly conservative state had just four months earlier authorized a medical marijuana program and sales were just beginning. The Bakers immediately saw the potential for the fledgling market. With no limits on marijuana business licenses, scant restrictions on who can obtain a medical card, and cheap land, energy and building materials, they believed Oklahoma could become a free-market weed utopia and they wanted in.
Within two weeks, they found a house to rent in Broken Bow and by February had secured a lease on an empty Oklahoma City strip mall. Eventually they purchased a 110-acre plot of land down a red dirt road about 40 miles northeast of Oklahoma City that had previously been a breeding ground for fighting cocks and started growing high-grade strains of cannabis with names like Purple Punch, Cookies and Cream and Miracle Alien.
“This is exactly like Humboldt County was in the late 90s,” Baker says, as a trio of workers chop down marijuana plants that survived a recent ice storm. “The effect this is going to have on the cannabis nation is going to be incredible.”
Oklahoma is now the biggest medical marijuana market in the country on a per capita basis. More than 360,000 Oklahomans—nearly 10 percent of the state’s population—have acquired medical marijuana cards over the last two years. By comparison, New Mexico has the country’s second most popular program, with about 5 percent of state residents obtaining medical cards. Last month, sales since 2018 surpassed $1 billion.
To meet that demand, Oklahoma has more than 9,000 licensed marijuana businesses, including nearly 2,000 dispensaries and almost 6,000 grow operations. In comparison, Colorado—the country’s oldest recreational marijuana market, with a population almost 50 percent larger than Oklahoma—has barely half as many licensed dispensaries and less than 20 percent as many grow operations. In Ardmore, a town of 25,000 in the oil patch near the Texas border, there are 36 licensed dispensaries—roughly one for every 700 residents. In neighboring Wilson (pop. 1,695), state officials have issued 32 cultivation licenses, meaning about one out of 50 residents can legally grow weed.
What is happening in Oklahoma is almost unprecedented among the 35 states that have legalized marijuana in some form since California voters backed medical marijuana in 1996. Not only has the growth of its market outstripped other more established state programs but it is happening in a state that has long stood out for its opposition to drug use. Oklahoma imprisons more people on a per-capita basis than just about any other state in the country, many of them non-violent drug offenders sentenced to lengthy terms behind bars. But that state-sanctioned punitive streak has been overwhelmed by two other strands of American culture—a live-and-let-live attitude about drug use and an equally powerful preference for laissez-faire capitalism.
“Turns out rednecks love to smoke weed,” Baker laughs. “That’s the thing about cannabis: It really bridges socio-economic gaps. The only other thing that does it is handguns. All types of people are into firearms. All types of people are into cannabis.”
Indeed, Oklahoma has established arguably the only free-market marijuana industry in the country. Unlike almost every other state, there are no limits on how many business licenses can be issued and cities can’t ban marijuana businesses from operating within their borders. In addition, the cost of entry is far lower than in most states: a license costs just $2,500. In other words, anyone with a credit card and a dream can take a crack at becoming a marijuana millionaire.
“They’ve literally done what no other state has done: free-enterprise system, open market, wild wild west,” says Tom Spanier, who opened Tegridy Market (a dispensary that takes its name from South Park) with his wife in Oklahoma City last year. “It’s survival of the fittest.”
The hands-off model extends to patients, as well. There’s no set of qualifying conditions in order to obtain a medical card. If a patient can persuade a doctor that he needs to smoke weed in order to soothe a stubbed toe, that’s just as legitimate as a dying cancer patient seeking to mitigate pain. The cards are so easy to obtain—$60 and a five-minute consultation—that many consider Oklahoma to have a de facto recreational use program.
But lax as it might seem, Oklahoma’s program has generated a hefty amount of tax revenue while avoiding some of the pitfalls of more intensely regulated programs.Through the first 10 months of this year, the industry generated more than $105 million in state and local taxes. That’s more than the $73 million expected to be produced by the state lottery this fiscal year, though still a pittance in comparison to the overall state budget of nearly $8 billion. In addition, Oklahoma has largely escaped the biggest problems that have plagued many other state markets: Illegal sales are relatively rare and the low cost to entry has made corruption all but unnecessary.
All of which has made Oklahoma an unlikely case study for the rest of the country, which continues its incremental march toward universal legalization. Oklahoma is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, November 27, 2020
Congress will soon do something phenomenally noteworthy, and the outgoing President has said nothing about it. It could be because his predecessor had a hand in its initiation by co-sponsoring it in 2008, and because it had not yet become law by the time Obama left the White House, the soon-outgoing President could claim some degree of ostensible “plausible deniability,” for it will undoubtedly affect him, his clan, and numerous other very wealthy individuals.
The prospective legislation does not appear anywhere in the Congress.gov website, because it is set to be a “rider” on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is one of the final bills that this Congress will pass this year.
The legislation is remarkable for several reasons, not the least of which is that it was the result of collaboration among progressive Democrats, conservative Republicans and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin – groups not particularly known for their cooperation.
Because the bill significantly touches upon matters involving National Security, it will be an addition to the NDAA, and will require millions of anonymous business entities aka “shell corporations” to reveal their owners/beneficiaries to the United States Government in an effort to deter money laundering by hostile governments, global narcotraffickers, and other wealthy individuals who would elude American anti-money laundering laws.
Surprisingly little discussion about this momentous matter has been made by news reporting outlets, and yet, as Clark Gascoigne, Senior Policy Adviser for the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition said,
“It is certainly the most significant anti-money laundering reform in 20 years
– and probably the most significant anti-corruption reform as well.”
U.S. based shell companies have allowed drug traffickers, terrorists and America’s foreign enemies to operate freely.
The so-called “Panama Papers” – sometimes also called the “Mossack Fonseca papers” for the name of the obscure Panamanian law firm from which they were obtained – is a collection of well over 11.5 million documents identifying 214,488 entities and shell corporations, their owners, lawyers and the often-illegal network established to manage them, which were made public in 2016. Shell corporations are the anonymizing tools which the world’s wealthy individuals – business titans, celebrities, politicians, and narcotraffickers – use to hide their wealth.
Kelly Loeffler, Georgia’s Appointed Senator who is worth an estimated $500 million apart from her husband Jeffrey Sprecher, aged 65, who is Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange – the company that owns the New York Stock Exchange – also owns a significant portion of the NYSE, and together, they are worth an estimated $800 million to $1 billion dollars.
Their house in the wealthy Atlanta suburb of Buckhead is owned by a shell corporation – Descante.
Loeffler’s financial disclosures list several versions of Descante Capital LLC companies, which serve as holding companies for her primary residence, “Descante,” an extravagant 15,000 square foot $10.5 million Atlanta mansion. However, those disclosures do not list a company called Descante Capital Holdings.
A Federal Aviation Administration lookup for a mandatory two-year regulatory test shows that the jet’s operator is not listed as an individual, but as a company, Descante Capital Holdings.
Kelly Loeffler dodges taxes by placing ostensible ownership of her many assets into various shell companies, which are run/operated by accountants and/or lawyers for her benefit, though “on paper” it appears as if she has nothing to do with them… and yet, she is the DIRECT beneficiary of them ALL.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Dorothea Lange. “Nipomo, Calif. March 1936. Migrant agricultural worker’s family. Seven hungry children and their mother, aged 32. The father is a native Californian.” Gelatin silver print, 7 3/8 × 9 5/16″ (18.8 × 23.6cm). Farm Security Administration–Office of War Information Photograph Collection, Library of Congress
Hourly Wages
Dollar General: $8
Kroger: $10
Walmart: $11
CVS: $11
Home Depot: $11
Lowe’s: $12
Federal Study: Millions of Full-Time Workers Rely on Federal Health Care and Food Assistance Programs – Walmart’s and McDonald’s Employees Lead the Way
by Eli Rosenberg
November 18, 2020 at 5:02 p.m. CST
Some of the biggest and most profitable companies in the United States, including Walmart and McDonald’s, pay their employees such low wages that significant numbers of them must turn to Federal food and medical assistance.
According to a new report from the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan Congressional watchdog agency, made at the behest of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) there is a direct relationship between employers paying low wages and employees receiving the Federal assistance. The report examined February data from agencies in 11 states that administer the Federal programs Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Walmart was one of the top four employers of SNAP and Medicaid beneficiaries in every state. McDonald’s was in the top 5 of employers with employees receiving federal benefits in at least 9 states.
The GAO research found that in the 9 states that responded about SNAP benefits — Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington — Walmart was found to have employed about 14,500 people who were receiving benefits, followed by McDonald’s with 8,780. In six states that reported Medicaid enrollees, Walmart again topped the list, with 10,350 employees, followed by McDonald’s with 4,600.
In Georgia, for example, Walmart employed an estimated 3,959 workers who were on Medicaid — comprising an estimated 2.1% of the total of non-elderly, non-disabled people in the state who were receiving the benefit. McDonald’s was next on the list, employing 1,480 who received Medicaid, or 0.8% of the total of non-elderly, non-disabled people on the program.
In Oklahoma, 1,059 Walmart workers on Medicaid made up 2.8% of the state’s total, and McDonald’s was next, with 536 workers, or 1.4%.
In Arkansas, where Walmart was founded and maintains its global headquarters, 1,318 employees were receiving SNAP benefits — comprising 3.1% of the state’s total. McDonald’s was next on the list with 865 workers, which made for 2% of the state’s total. And in Georgia, another 3% of SNAP recipients worked for Walmart.
The GAO report found that the next companies with large numbers of workers receiving federal benefits included Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Amazon, Burger King and FedEx. (Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
While it’s unclear exactly how much she paid for the jet, which seats 8 passengers and can travel 3000 nautical miles, essentially coast-to-coast on one fill-up, an online listing of other such jets for the same year, make, and model, in an online listing shows $9.7 million to be an average asking price.
Kelly Loeffler’s Bombardier jet N830EC
Trump’s tax cuts essentially made private jets flying tax shelters for the wealthy. Under his changes, the entire purchase price of a new or used aircraft bought by a company can be a 100% tax deductible write-off against its earnings.
What the multi-millionairess did, was to create an “ownership trust” which is a company that owns the plane, rather than herself personally. By so doing, it offers some degree of anonymity by giving it the appearance of isolation from the individuals whom actually control it. Essentially, it’s a type of “shell company” set up exclusively for the purpose of ownership, and nothing else. It’s greatest single benefit? It helps avoid taxes.
Shell companies, while not illegal, per se, and can have legitimate uses, often deliberately “fly under the radar” to avoid payment of taxes, or for money laundering purposes, and are registered in the names of the attorneys or accountants who manage them, thus avoiding any readily identifiable connection with the person who truly owns it or benefits from it. Most often, shell companies are incorporated in nations with tax laws favorable to them, aka “tax havens,” which by law do not have to report income such as in Cayman Islands, Seychelles, Panama, Switzerland, Hong Kong and Belize, or other island or “offshore” nations.
The so-called “Panama Papers,” also sometimes called the “Mossack Fonseca papers” for the name of the obscure Panamanian law firm from which they were obtained, is a collection of well over 11.5 million documents identifying 214,488 entities and shell corporations, their owners, lawyers, and the often-illegal network established to manage them, which were made public in 2016.
Each aircraft has a registration number, often called a “tail number,” which is like an automobile license plate, or VIN, because it identifies an aircraft uniquely from among all other aircraft, under a system managed by the Federal Aviation Administration, and used in other nations. But unlike cars’ license plates which require regular periodic renewal (license plates essentially prove a tax has been paid), the tail number stays with the aircraft permanently, and is never reassigned to any other aircraft. So when a plane is sold, retired, or crashes, the number always accompanies the craft to identify it, regardless of its disposition.
N830EC, Kelly Loeffler’s Bombardier model BD-100-1A10 jet
There are some limitations on registration of aircraft in the United States to foreign individuals and/or corporations, however, which is to say, that unlike ocean-going vessels such as cruise ships, or cargo ships, under United States law, aircraft which are either majority or fully owned by foreign individuals or interests cannot be registered in the United States to be assigned a “N number,” aka “tail number.” An overview of the requirements and limitations can be found on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website here: https://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/aircraft_certification/aircraft_registry/register_aircraft/.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, November 9, 2020
America has a NEW President!
Despite efforts by malign internal actors, heads of government agencies, individuals who are domestic enemies of our Constitution and of The People, who abused governmental resources to thwart freedom…
The People have SPOKEN LOUDLY.
Vice President Joe Biden, Official Portrait 2013
Democratic principles, honesty and the rule of law have worked AGAIN.
Our democratic republic is STRONG!!
Liberty is POWERFUL!
Evil is defeated!
Our United States of America has a NEW PRESIDENT-elect!
In response, a longtime friend and colleague wrote “Not for long , the dead people and illegals that spoke will be discredited.”
My friend, the false and malicious things you wrote are not only lies, but they’re old lies – VERY OLD. One would think that you’re stuck in a time warp of some kind.
What concerns me about your outdatedness, is that the truth of what I wrote, that in this election, something happened which has NEVER BEFORE happened, which is individuals who are OFFICIAL AGENTS of the United States Government, as malign actors, abused their high office, and ACTIVELY played roles to DELIBERATELY thwart freedom, and The People’s Right To Vote.
That was done by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy through the United States Postal Service Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, November 8, 2020
Editor’s Note: The succinct summary of the entry is as follows:
PETA puts forth an idea which they call “speciesism” – that the superiority of humanity is something to be abhorred and eliminated – and to that end, they misappropriate the remarks of the late civil rights icon the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. regarding equality of humans and apply his remarks to lower animals, brute beasts.
“We are taught the Golden Rule as young children, and all major religions teach principles of nonviolence and kindness. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Ethical treatment—the Golden Rule—must be extended to all living beings: reptiles, mammals, fish, insects, birds, amphibians, and crustaceans.”
“PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview … We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of rodents, birds, and other animals who are often considered “pests” as well as cruelty to domesticated animals.”
By so doing, by holding that perspective, that humanity is no better than a bug, a mosquito, housefly, or some disease-infested vermin, a rat, venomous viper, or spineless jellyfish, they not only denigrate humanity, but the end result of such thinking – that humanity is no better than brute beasts – is that Blacks are the intellectual and moral equivalent of monkeys.
As evidence of that fact, that they make the moral and intellectual equivalency of Blacks with apes and only obliquely draw that parallel, on their website’s several pages are images of Black men and the great apes, along with other wild primates, and their discussion “seamlessly” segues into a conflation of lower primates and humans, and combine those images in conjunction with their asinine claims of “monkey slavery.”
Slavery is an exclusively human institution found nowhere else in nature.
NOWHERE.
– Ed.
PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals – is widely known to have gone off the rails a long time ago. Their crazy train took a dirt road.
By Ryan J. Reilly, Senior Justice Reporter, HuffPost
Monday, November 2, 2020, 4:45 AM CST
The Justice Department can’t take four more years of President Donald Trump.
Scores of former department officials from both political parties said that the severe damage inflicted by the president on the department and its components over the past four years will become permanent and irreversible if Trump wins a second term. The result, they said, would be a fundamental subjugation of the rule of law and the transformation of the department into an overtly political operation.
No president since Richard Nixon has had as much of a negative effect on the Justice Department as Trump. He fired one FBI director and is considering firing another. He pushed out his first attorney general and is engaging in a public campaign to pressure current Attorney General William Barr to investigate his chief political rival, Joe Biden, hinting that he might dismiss Barr if he doesn’t.
“As bad as that has been over the past four years, it would be obviously even worse over the next four years,” Greg Brower, the FBI’s former congressional liaison and a Republican appointed by President George W. Bush as Nevada’s top federal prosecutor, told HuffPost.
“I worry a great deal about what they would do with another four years in power,” former Attorney General Eric Holder told HuffPost. “People need to understand that there’s no doubt that the Department of Justice is on the ballot this year.”
A number of former U.S. attorneys who were appointed by Republican presidents ― including a man who served as both FBI and CIA director under President Ronald Reagan ― agreed. They condemned Trump, whom they called “a threat to the rule of law in our country,” and endorsed former Vice President Biden, who they said would “refocus the Justice Department on the cause of impartial justice” and help address the country’s “deep-seated societal issues.”
“Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have hammered home that justice is on the ballot in 2020,” said Julie Zebrak, a former Justice Department official turned political consultant. “Four more years of manipulating DOJ to serve the president’s personal agenda — and personal vendettas — could very well bring the department to the point of no return.”
Indeed, for many Justice Department employees who endured four years of the Trump administration, the outcome of the election will determine the future of their careers. Significant brain drain is a near certainty if Trump wins another term.
A White House spokesman did not respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
Holder said that four years of Trump had done “substantial” but recoverable harm to the Justice Department. He’s not so sure if Trump wins reelection.
“After eight years you would have such structural damage done to the department that I really worry about the ability of a new administration [in 2024] to actually repair the damage that would’ve been done after eight years under Donald Trump,” Holder said.
Uncharted Waters
A few days before the 2016 election, a journalist shot off an email to his fellow reporters on the Justice Department beat, proposing Election Day drinks. It had been an unusual few months on a beat that was usually calm in the run-up to a presidential election, in part because of policies meant to prevent the department from affecting elections.
“Once every four years, it is certain that DOJ/FBI reporters will have a quiet few weeks before Election Day,” the reporter wrote. “That promise was stolen from us.”
There was FBI Director James Comey’s highly unusual press conference on Hillary Clinton’s emails in July, followed by the discovery of emails on Anthony Weiner’s laptop, which threw the whole campaign into chaos just days before the election. Ongoing investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election had mostly faded into the background. The focus was on Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 29, 2020
GOP Texas Senator Ted Cruz, member of the Senate Commerce Committee, moments before he screamed at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey via remote hearing about Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
Once again, Ted Cruz turns in a great performance, and quite possibly may be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for the same.
But yesterday, the Asshole from Texas, aka Republican Senator Ted Cruz, made an ass out of himself.
No surprise there, eh?
Nobody likes Cruz. Recall that in 2016, former Speaker of the House, Republican John Boehner (OH-8) called him “Lucifer in the flesh.” Additional diatribes against Cruz may be found at the conclusion of this article.
Ted WILL make a run for the Presidency again, so he’s just posturing. After all, it IS election season, and even though he’s not on an election ticket, per se, he is on the ticket. And just 2 years ago (2018), Cruz just barely escaped being replaced by Democratic challenger Representative Beto O’Rourke (TX-16) – 50.9% to 48.3% of 8,371,655 ballots cast.
In fact, the entire GOP slate is on the ticket nationwide this year. And so far, it’s not looking good. It didn’t look good yesterday, either. The “optics” aren’t good, goes the saying about political appearances.
In short, Jeff Kossett describes it as the “26 words that created the Internet.”
Who is Jeff Kossett?
Jeff Kossett is Assistant Professor of Cybersecurity Law at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and is one of the nation’s foremost experts on Section 230. Regarding the law, he said, “Section 230 set the legal framework for the Internet that we know today that relies heavily on user content rather than content that companies create. Without Section 230, companies would not be willing to take so many risks.”
The law, written in 1996, modified the 1996 Communications Decency Act, is short, sweet, and to the point.
“No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”
But this hearing was pure grandstanding from the get-go.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, October 24, 2020
When in the history of our nation have you EVER heard of ANY President denigrating the FBI and other agencies of the United States government – for ANY reason whatsoever?
So, what’s the endgame for the far right?
Total anarchy & chaos, or are they actually going for an authoritarian state?
What’s the difference between “Big Government” and autocracy?
The derisive term “big government” is one used by anti-government anarchists, even though they’d NEVER call themselves that. But then again, White Supremacists don’t call themselves anti-Constitutional terrorists, either.
Frankly, I have long maintained that, contrary to the numerous assertions we’ve heard spouted, our government is NOT “too big,” but rather is TOO SMALL to be either effective, or efficient.
Think of it in restaurant terms.
Go to a 5-star Michelin restaurant, and you’d expect to find only one cook, and one wait staff… right?
OF COURSE NOT!
For such a fine dining experience, with a patronage seating of 100 or so (minus bar space), it would be REASONABLE to have AT LEAST 25, or likely even more, staff of all kinds – ranging from maître d’hôtel, to sous chef, to chef de cuisine, to line cooks, kitchen porters, to wait staff, to sommelier, to bus staff, dishwashers, and others – including bartenders, runners, housekeepers, and more.
The beginning of America’s decline began in earnest with Ronald Reagan, who, in his grandfatherly-like tones, and “aw, shucks” disarming humor, won American’s hearts, and their minds followed. That included Democrats who voted for him in almost unprecedented numbers over incumbent Democrat Jimmy Carter who introduced America to Energy Independence, Energy Conservation, Renewable Energy, and placed solar collectors/solar hot water heater panels atop the White House… which were promptly removed by the Reagan administration.
In his first Inaugural Address, “the Great Communicator,” as he was monikered, stated bluntly that “government is the problem.” It never occurred to anyone that if government was the problem, the obvious solution that problem is the elimination of it. And that’s precisely what he and the GOP set out to do. But it wouldn’t be called treason.
Of course, as a VERY skilled orator, having traveled across America on GE’s dime years earlier, he frequently gave talks that were very much sympathetic to BIG BUSINESS interests, all couched in patriotic language.
With his blessing, and encouragement, and the insidiousness of Newt Gingrich of Georgia as Speaker of the House, and their misguided fallacious “Contract With America” the GOP began to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 22, 2020
It’s a good thing that American Presidents don’t nominate weirdos or extremists for the Supreme Court.
Amy Coney Barrett as Hannibal Lector, the psychotic, psychopathic weirdo in the movie series “Silence of the Lambs.”
People who have 7 kids – adopted, or not – are certainly outside the norm.
As is forbidding the use of birth control – and that’s almost exclusively a religious matter.
And now that businesses can have religion, which god do they worship – Mammon? Was it the Commerce Clause that Jesus died for? Or, was it people?
But after all, “businesses are people, my friend.”
And since money is free speech, what’s next?
To be frank, being outside the norm is not illegal in the United States.
It’s not illegal to be a weirdo.
Goodness knows, there are plenty of them in all 50 states.
Belonging to a weird religious cult shouldn’t disqualify one for service – at least according to the Constitution, which has a renown “no religious test” clause.
I mean, we could have, and there is no legal compunction forbidding, Moonies to serve us in our government – any government, federal, state, or local – and, that’s perfectly A-okay according to the Constitution – as it should be.
People who believe the Earth is flat could serve us in government – and while there’s not a “no scientific test” clause in our Constitution, I would imagine that most reasonable people would agree that, like the Moonies, those who believe the Earth is flat are weirdos, and extremists.
People who believe in alchemy – the fraudulent and disproven notion that gold can be made from lead, various ores, or things that do not contain elemental gold – could be elected, or appointed, and serve us in our government.
Why, even those who have belonged to the Ku Klux Klan have served on the Supreme Court – Hugo Black, an Alabamian.
And the virulently infamous racist George C. Wallace was elected as Alabama’s governor FOUR times.
Revealed: Ex-members of Amy Coney Barrett faith group tell of trauma and sexual abuse
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner, in Washington, D.C.
Wednesday 21 Oct 2020, 0500 EDT
Last modified on Wednesday 21 Oct 2020, 2337 EDT
Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the supreme court has prompted former members of her secretive faith group, the People of Praise, to come forward and share stories about emotional trauma and – in at least one case – sexual abuse they claim to have suffered at the hands of members of the Christian group.
In the wake of the allegations, the Guardian has learned that the charismatic Christian organization, which is based in Indiana, has hired the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to conduct an “independent investigation” into sexual abuse claims on behalf of People of Praise.
The historic sexual abuse allegations and claims of emotional trauma do not pertain specifically to Barrett, who has been a lifelong member of the charismatic group, or her family.
But some former members who spoke to the Guardian said they were deeply concerned that too little was understood about the “community” of People of Praise ahead of Barrett’s expected confirmation by the Senate next week, after which she will hold the seat formerly held by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Two people familiar with the matter say that more than two dozen former members of the faith group, many of whom say they felt “triggered” by Barrett’s nomination, are participating in a support group to discuss how the faith group affected their lives.
“The basic premise of everything at the People of Praise was that the devil controlled everything outside of the community, and you were ‘walking out from under the umbrella of protection’ if you ever left,” said one former member who called herself Esther, who had to join the group as a child but then left the organization. “I was OK with it being in a tiny little corner of Indiana, because a lot of weird stuff happens in tiny little corners in this country. But it’s just unfathomable to me – I can’t even explain just how unfathomable it is – that you would have a supreme court justice who is a card-carrying member of this community.”
Barrett was not asked about her involvement in People of Praise during her confirmation hearings last week, and has never included her involvement with the group in Senate disclosure forms, but has in the past emphasized that her religious faith as a devout Catholic would not interfere with her impartiality.
People of Praise is rooted in the rise of charismatic Christian communities in the late 1960s and 1970s, which Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, October 21, 2020
To much chagrin, and outcry of many long-time WordPress users, the company unilaterally decided to switch to a “block editor.”
It has not gone over well.
Run atop JavaScript, “Gutenberg,” as it’s called, runs entirely in the web browser, according to the company.
The longtime, stable editor built using the WYSIWYG HTML editor TinyMCE which parlayed WordPress into a power player and preferred “provider” in the web design world, has come close to being abandoned, in lieu of something touted as “new and improved!”
It is not, and anything but.
The rollout was unceremonious.
It was almost as bad as a violently forced kiss on a first date – or, maybe even worse.
If some of the technical jargon is beyond you, not to worry, we’ll do our best to explain how this is not only applicable to you, but to all of their customer base – including the no-cost gratis accounts hosted on WordPress dot com, such as this site – and how they could have done better, and apparently, have taken a lesson from, at least for the time being.
First is Customer Service.
WordPress has been a pretty good company and enthusiastic member of the tech community, and has definitely found their niche as the practical backbone of the web design world insofar as a significant portion of the world’s major websites – some which you would immediately recognize were I to name them (Microsoft, the White House official site, the UK National Archives, Sony Music, UPS (United Parcel Service), Target, The New York Times, The Walt Disney Company, Tribune Media, Vivendi {a French multimedia company}, Toyota, the official site of the government of Sweden, Wired, Variety, Best Buy, Xerox, Etsy, Home Depot, Fortune, The New Yorker, Reuters, Skype, Yelp, Chicago Sun-Times, People, IBM, GoDaddy, etc.) – and comprise at least 37.6% of ALL websites, while 62% of the fastest growing companies do so.
WordPress has become a “Content Management System” (not to be confused with CMS – the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services of the U.S. government), which sounds all nice and knowledgeable, even “professional” – use of acronyms and abbreviations make it seem to others like you’re sophisticated. However, being plain-spoken is more admired, and reaches more people than being a jargon-using weisenheimer technogeek.
To date, WordPress has been responsive to the needs of their customers insofar as creating a usable, workable product, which is fully scalable to comport to the specific needs of each individual user. Whether BIG or small, WordPress had been responsive.
Next, is ease of use.
Artist’s rendition of what it might have looked like in Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press workshop.
WordPress’ learning curve has been short and shallow. Having emerged from the initial fray of bloggers, WordPress has emerged the clear winner. That includes among contenders like “the Great G,” also known as Google, which continues hosting their blogging service called “Blogger,” and among newcomers like Wix.com – which ostensibly, at least as it would seem, is what WordPress is working up against. Not that it’s a contender by any stretch of the imagination, but it promotes itself by claiming that “When you choose Wix, you don’t just get a drag and drop website builder. You get the whole package. Free reliable web hosting, top security, the best SEO and a dedicated support team to help you along the way.”
WordPress has long had, and continues to have, an excellent, even enviable, gratis service.
That solitary combined three-part claim – “free,” “reliable,” and “drag and drop” – has appeal. Among those who study such matters, the word “free” has continually shown itself to be a powerful and motivating word… because, everyone wants something for nothing. And in an increasingly costly world, “free” can be perceived as a significant benefit – even if it’s not all what it’s cracked up to be. And while reliability is almost taken for granted, though again, claims are not always what they’re cracked up to be.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, October 19, 2020
With the nomination and practical acceptance of Amy Coney Barrett being ramrodded through roughshod by the Republicans, it’s almost a practical assurance that the Judge from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will fill the seat vacated by the recent death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
So if she’s approved to be a Justice on the Supreme Court, it will have been done in less time than it took for her original nomination to be confirmed to the Federal judiciary – 5 months 24 days, versus 3 weeks 3 days/24 calendar days (to date), and counting.
Amy Coney Barrett at investiture to the Federal bench, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Proceeding therefrom, it now appears that the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will no longer be tilting at windmills, but instead, will be significantly tilting toward the far right side of the political spectrum – the right-wing nut job side.
So, given that Judge Barrett, whom for one year clerked for late Justice Antonin Scalia, well-known for his interpretive style on the court – which he called “originalism,” and “textualism” – we can expect more nonsensical rulings in the 40+ years to come, the time for which she could reasonably be expected to rule.
Just like Neil Gorsuch’s infamous “Frozen Trucker” case.
And just so you’ll know – not that you would know – there’s a rather telling, and disturbing side of Judge A.C. Barrett’s judicial perspective, and interpretive style.
Case in point to illustrate: Kanter v Barr – a case in which she dissented involving a man who pleaded guilty to one count of a Federal Felony – mail fraud involving Medicare.
In the court’s ruling – an “en banc” decision, involving three judges – they wrote that: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 18, 2020
Trump’s economy is SO BAD…
How bad is it?
Trump’s economy is so bad, that he has LOST MORE than was gained under his administration.
When he took the Oath of Office in January 2017, POS45 was given a THRIVING economy by his predecessor, the Black Democratic President (that’s GOT to gall POS45, don’t you know!?!) Barack Hussein Obama.
Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) from the St. Louis Federal Reserve, presented graphically data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis about our national economy.
And, just for funsies, and perspective, data from the First Quarter 2005 until Current – 2nd Quarter 2020 is shown.
And as you can see plainly, the last time the economy was performing at this level, was in the 1st Quarter 2015 – over 5 years ago.
5ive years.
That would be the next-to-last year of President Obama’s 2nd term.
Yeah.
Trump has
SQUANDERED AWAY EVERYTHING,
AND THEN SOME!
Kinda’ sounds like a Bible parable, or some such thing.
Isn’t that what he’s done historically with his casinos and their 6 associated Chapter 11 bankruptcies?
But look also at this: The sudden precipitous decline, the rapidly massive downturn in Trump’s economy is the WORST – THE WORST (he likes superlatives) – since records began being kept in 1947. Maybe even worse than the Great Depression.
But look also at this: The sudden precipitous decline, the rapidly massive downturn in Trump’s economy is the WORST – THE WORST (he likes superlatives) – since records have been kept in 1947. Maybe even worse than the Great Depression.
Trump’s economy is now at the point
where Obama’s economy was
in the 1st Quarter 2015.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, September 17, 2020
Drink decaf only?
Turns out, you’re in not-so-good company!
The Nazi party made it their official drink of the state, and forbade caffeine under Hitler.
Seriously… they did.
Read on.
As a freedom-loving people and nation, we should seriously rethink our posture on regulations.
It’s not that regulations are bad, per se – I favor regulations because they make things operate more effectively and efficiently (deregulate sports games and watch them become free-for-alls, or deregulate traffic and watch wrecks occur) – but when it comes to personal decisions and human health, we should rethink the role of regulation in making things illegal, such as cannabis (its illegality is historically a function of virulent racism, and began in the USA), tobacco (regulated by government – it was BIG BUSINESS that continuously lied to the public to increase sales), alcohol (regulated by government – religious groups once demonized it, and some still do), and other recreational substances including those which by their illegality are prohibited from being researched, and which may hold significant benefit for humanity – including psilocybin, MDMA, and others.
CBD from cannabis is the VERY FIRST medication to come from a plant in its natural state, and is used to treat intractable seizure disorder.
“Just say ‘NO!'” didn’t get that done.
It is impractical, and we simply CANNOT be a “nanny” society.
Further, the “lure of forbidden fruit” still draws people. Go figure.
The “dietary supplement” industry is HUGE, and points to a strong desire the public has for, and in maintaining their health. And yet, most would be shocked to know that the industry eschews regulation. Further, modern efforts at regulation of that industry has been a very sticky wicket.
Why?
Aside from the claims of “purity” which they make, they DO NOT certify any potency level for the products they sell, and further, they have no interest in doing so. Food and groceries are better regulated than the “dietary supplement” industry. Presently, advertising claims for such products must only state that the product is not meant to treat, or cure any disease or condition, which the FDA calls unproven, or misleading claims.
Regarding addiction, NO ONE wakes up one day and says to themselves, ‘gee… I think I want to become an addict today.’ NO ONE. Rather, addiction most comes as a by-product of an individuals inability to cope, or effectively deal with the circumstances in their life.
Further, making things illegal (such as alcohol, cannabis, etc.) has only served to INCREASE criminality, and death. In the case of cannabis, it has created global narcotrafficking enterprises – criminal cabals on a scale heretofore unimagined, which brought with them death and destruction by bullets, more than by the substances they peddled.
Heroin was once legally sold in America, and we had few instances of addiction.
Cannabis was once legal in America, and racists wanted a scapegoat, so Mexicans it was.
Even though their object of worship made it, and drank it, religious extremists took their holy writ out of context and demonized wine.
In almost every instance, in one way, or another, extremism was responsible for the bad chapters in our history.
“Just say ‘NO!'” has never worked, nor will it ever.
Why the Nazi Party Loved Decaf Coffee
by Matthew Sedacca, November 15, 2017
The modern version of your morning coffee first appeared in the 15th century, and it replaced caffeine fixes that ranged from weak, coffee-bean tea to coffee beans mixed with animal fat. For centuries, though, people who wanted to avoid caffeine jitters turned to bitter, coffee-like tangs from substitutes such as chicory. It wasn’t until 1905, in Bremen, Germany, that Ludwig Roselius, a former coffee-roaster apprentice, discovered a method for producing a tasteful, caffeine-free version of the real stuff.
Roselius’s legacy lives on in the form of waiters who carry coffee in one hand and decaf in the other. His invention occupies an odd place in the culinary landscape—rarely loved, sometimes endured, and often despised by coffee purists. But in its early years, decaf found a particularly appreciative and supportive audience: the Third Reich. As the Nazi Party assumed power, its leaders recommended decaf as a way to avoid caffeine, a poison in their eyes. More than a health campaign, decaf was part of a state policy intended to preserve a healthy Aryan population.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 14, 2020
This now-iconic image of late country music legend Johnny Cash was made at his San Quentin Prison, California concert in 1969 by photographer Jim Marshall, who had said, “John, let’s do a shot for the warden.” The photo was relatively obscure until 1998 when Cash began working with legendary producer Rick Rubin to create Cash’s American Recordings album series, which revitalized his career shortly before his death, and introduced him to a new generation of fans in several musical genres. Rubin, who produced acts such as The Beastie Boys, Slayer, Metallica, and Tom Petty, had never produced a country artist, and quickly called it a “trendy scene” after being snubbed by Nashville. So he paid $20,000 for a full page ad in Billboard magazine which featured this image, and sarcastically read “American Recordings and Johnny Cash would like to acknowledge the Nashville music establishment and country radio for your support.”
Part of the tragic irony of this coronavirus ordeal is that in addition to the modest bailouts that have been given to Americans, and small businesses, they were also to the corporate community.
The need was tremendously underestimated, and much of the benefits, such as a boost to the unemployment compensation, concluded at the end of July… but the needs and the bills just kept coming. There was no reprieve for them, including the rent, and mortgage payments.
Banksters, you know… they love to tell you how much they love mama, babies, apple pie, and the girl next door, but when it comes time for the rubber to meet the road, suddenly, they’re the enemy who’d rather give you a shiv, than the time of day. After all, they have the money – and LOTS OF IT – and you don’t, so they call the tunes. So, pull yourself up by your bootstraps.
Now, if you think about it, that’s just a bizarre, and nonsensical maxim, because well… you’re standing in your boots, and pulling on the straps is a totally useless exercise. It’s like looking for a mythological sky hook, or a snuffleupagus.
But grit, and determination, you know. That’s the American way – and all sung to Frank Sinatra’s version of “(I did it) My Way.”
The reader should infer significant sarcasm in the remarks above.
However, there is no sarcasm in the following commentary.
In this present situation in which we find ourselves, BIG BUSINESS has, once again, made out like a bandit with the handouts given to them by Congress.
In their earnest desire to make things good for the American people, Congress has seen fit to include families and individuals this go ’round in the latest state-funded bailout of the failed economic system. And, that’s a good thing.
I purposely use the word “failed,” precisely because had it not failed, it would not have exposed the weaknesses inherent in it the way it was. But now that masses of people have “suddenly” discovered that they’re just a paycheck, or two, away from total financial ruin, and homelessness, it signifies that Read the rest of this entry »
SIOUX FALLS, SD – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus. OSHA proposed a penalty of $13,494, the maximum allowed by law.
Agency: Occupational Safety & Health Administration Date: September 10, 2020 Release Number: 20-1684-NAT
With a paltry, even laughable, mere $13,494 on the line, it’s not even a good slap on the wrist. They make that in a fraction of a second of business operations.
Remember: Smithfield Foods has NOT BEEN an American company since selling out to the Chinese in 2013. Good old fashioned Corporate American Wall $treet greed sold out America and Smithfield to China.
Wan Long, RIGHT, Chairman and CEO of WH Group, formerly called Shuanghui International, shakes hands with Charles Larry Pope, President and CEO of Smithfield Foods, at a press conference of WH Group in Hong Kong, China, 14 April 2014. Two subsidiaries of Henan Shuanghui Investment and Development Co have gained access to the Russian market, after its parent company — WH Group Ltd, the world’s largest pork producer— acquired US pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc and bought a stake in Campofrio Food Group SA of Spain, the largest pan-European packaged meat products company, last year. The two Heilongjiang-based companies — Wangkui Shuanghui Beidahuang Food Co and Heilongjiang Baoquanling Shuanghui Food Industry Co — got the official nod after their production facilities and products were examined and assessed by officials from Russia’s meat products watchdog, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, in August, Shuanghui Development said on its website. To widen its import market for meat, the Russian government agreed to import meat products from five Chinese suppliers by the end of August, indicating the nation has taken a flexible strategy to balance the supply and demand relationship, while the US and its European allies are trying to squeeze the country’s trade space in the world market.
And the corporate masters are STILL selling out the people. Just read their laughable response later down. They’re actually protesting the poor token of a penalty.
Seriously. They are!
Even the right-tilting tabloid New York Daily News owned by Rupert Murdoch, has written about the fractional pittance which has been assessed upon the corporation by the OSHA.
By Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, September 12, 2020 at 10:12 PM
And Congress has the power to act. However, with Moscow Mitch misleading the Senate, there’ll nothing be done about anything the House sends to that traitorous rich bastard.
WH Group, formerly known as Shuanghui International, bought the venerable American company known for their hams since its 1936 inception in Smithfield, Virginia, for $4.7 billion in 2013. In fact, it was the region’s Native Americans who taught the Paleface settlers to the area the unique curing process they’d created well over 500 years ago, and which increased in popularity as time went on.
More than anything, it looks like the Loser in Chief is in cahoots with the Chinese.
I mean, after all, if he’s as big and bad on them as he claims to be, this fine would be 100x time amount to start with.
Yes, that’d be USD$1,349,400.
It’s HIGH TIME for a 75/25 rule of law!
Simply put, it goes like this:
75% of any businesses’ ownership MUST be American to enjoy a 25% corporate tax rate.
Presently, the Federal Corporate Tax Tate is set at 21%. Before the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the so-called “Trump tax cuts” which, true to course, benefited only the wealthy), the tax rate was 35%. I have little doubt that the law will be repealed, thus increasing the corporate tax rate.
There MUST be a punishment exacted, and penalty paid for corporations which despitefully exploit their domestic American existence!
What’s more, Congress could, and should, also enact a 60/40 rule of law, which, again, simply stated, is that for companies which are employee-owned, they must be at least 60% owned by employees – either direct, indirect (trust), or hybrid – in order to enjoy certain additional tax benefits not available to other corporate-owned businesses. By so doing, it would encourage employee ownership of businesses.
Corporate alienation and isolation from the day-to-day lives of their employees and the Average American is highly problematic, and such a rule would go a long way toward readjusting in a positive manner the lopsided and skewed income and wealth gap in the United States.
“Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), one of the most conservative members of Congress, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), one of the most liberal, have both introduced sweeping proposals to broaden employee ownership in the U.S. That surprising fact testifies to just how practical—and urgent—this idea is.”
Mr. Rosen also pointed to 2019 research by Rutgers University which found in part, that “employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) enable families to significantly increase their assets, shrinking—though not eliminating—gender and racial wealth gaps,” and wrote that “ESOP companies helped employees gain a better understanding not just of corporate financial issues—most ESOPs have some form of open book management—but also personal financial planning. Many companies offered employees an increased voice in how their work was organized, providing a level of personal agency lacking in most jobs.”
OSHA fines Smithfield Foods $13,494 for not protecting South Dakota workers from COVID-19, faces backlash from company and workers – Agweek
Written By: Jeremy Fugleberg
Sep 10th 2020 – 1pm.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined Smithfield Foods $13,494 for failing to protect employees at its Sioux Falls meatpacking plant from exposure to COVID-19, OSHA announced Thursday, Sept. 10, and both the company and the union that represents plant works are objecting to the decision.
The workplace safety agency said the Smithfield fine was the maximum allowed by law for the single violation it found at the plant, which for a time was one of the largest COVID-19 hotspots in the nation. OSHA cited the company for one violation of failing to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards that can cause death or serious harm.
A COVID-19 outbreak at the plant in March and April sickened 1,294 employees and killed four, OSHA said. It also sickened hundreds of family members and other close contacts to workers.
“Employers must quickly implement appropriate measures to protect their workers’ safety and health,” OSHA Sioux Falls Area Director Sheila Stanley said in a news release. “Employers must meet their obligations and take the necessary actions to prevent the spread of coronavirus at their worksite.”
The OSHA fine is “wholly without merit” and Smithfield Foods will contest it, said Keira Lombardo, the Virginia-based company’s executive vice president of corporate affairs and compliance. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 7, 2020
Food Fraud: How Do You Know What You Buy Is What It’s Labeled As Being?
What is it, how often, and where does it occur?
Who does it?
What’s being done about it?
Sure, you may pooh-pooh the thought, the idea, the notion, that someone, anyone (people) could be defrauded in food purchases.
And quite frankly, the reason why, is that YOU TAKE IT FOR GRANTED.
Yes, 99.99% of ALL PEOPLE in the United States TAKE FOR GRANTED THAT THEIR FOOD IS WHAT IT IS LABELED TO BE.
Milk, for example, comes from a mammal, such as a cow, or goat – NOT a plant, NOT a nut (almond) – a MAMMAL.
Horse, or donkey milk isn’t a popular item in the States. And I don’t think that I’ve ever seen, or heard of camel’s milk anywhere stateside.
But, there is NO SUCH THING as “almond milk.” It’s actually a HIGHLY PROCESSED, chemically-produced, made-in-a-chemical-laboratory concoction that’s a poor wanna-be ALMOND JUICE, or some other disgusting kind of slurry of crushed almonds that couldn’t make the cut for edible snacks.
If you want REAL FOOD, only buy REAL FOOD.
Same thing goes for the gobbledygook parading as “turkey bacon.” There’s NO SUCH THING. BACON COMES FROM THE PORK BELLY – NOT GROUND-UP, HIGHLY PROCESSED TURKEY MEAT.
“early 14c., “meat from the back and sides of a hog” (originally either fresh or cured, but especially cured), from Old French bacon, from Proto-Germanic *bakkon “back meat” (source also of Old High German bahho, Old Dutch baken “bacon”). Slang phrase bring home the bacon first recorded 1908; bacon formerly being the staple meat of the working class and the rural population (in Shakespeare bacon is a derisive term for “a rustic”).”
Chicken, beef, pork… same thing. Not only is it by law, USDA inspected to be free from diseases or defects, and for cleanliness and sanitary conditions of slaughter and preparation, it’s the world’s HIGHEST quality for those reasons.
And, believe it, or else, in some nations – such as China, or India – food is REGULARLY adulterated (contaminated and mixed with) non-food items such as cellulose (paper/wood pulp), then sold to unsuspecting consumers. And, it’s NOT illegal.
Adulterated, and purposely mislabeled food is NOT a problem with a limited scope, or occurrence, and sadly, in recent years, with the proliferation and increase in global trade, it has increased in volume, and incidents, at home, and abroad.
The United States’ food safety and health laws have historically prevented such abusive, deceptive practices from occurring. It doesn’t mean, however, that it never occurs. I have written about this subject previously.
And yet, mostly-Republican administrations (including this one) have attemptedto cut back on Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 30, 2020
Weed is popular.
Nova Scotians found that out after that Canadian island province located in the North Atlantic, legalized cannabis for adult recreational use, along with the 9 other provinces and 2 territories.
Cannabis, which Canadians nationally made 100% legal in October 2018 in every Canadian province and territory, had remained illegal for adult recreational use and largely unregulated until then.
The largely rural, Christian Catholic/Protestant, English-speaking provincial island just off the coast of the American state of Maine, has a population approaching 1 million, and demographically, the 25-44, and 45-to-64 age categories constitute the majority of the population, followed by those aged 65-and-older.
The Canadian government also found that in the 4th quarter of 2019, of all Canadian provinces, 27.5% of Nova Scotians had Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, August 26, 2020
Editor’s Note: The point of the headline of this entry is to expose what appears to be the presence of blatant hypocrisy in Falwell, and in the greater Evangelical community, if not the practical entirety of the Christian religion, in its long-standing intolerance toward, and abhorrence of same-sex attraction, and their continual denial of civil rights, and even basic human rights to that community.
By now, you’ve probably heard of, or read about, the escapades and/or exploits – sexual, and otherwise – of Jerry Falwell, Jr., the once-and-soon-to-be former President of Liberty University, the Lynchburg, VA-based private Christian school founded by his late Baptist pastor father, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Sr.
UPDATE: As the article was being written, Falwell had not resigned. By press time, he had.
Giancarlo Granda, who was befriended by Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. and wife Rebecca “Becki,” while working as a pool attendant at Fontainebleau Miami Beach, a renown luxury hotel, and was later backed by them in a business venture involving an area gay youth hostel, poses for a portrait in Washington, U.S., August 10, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
The Falwell’s relationship with Giancarlo Granda – the 29-year-old man claiming to have had 6 years of cuckolding sexual liaisons with Jerry and Becki Falwell – goes back several years, and Falwell claims that Granda was attempting to blackmail him.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, August 24, 2020
Well, well, well…
Since 2012 America’s Evangelical Protestant religious power couple, Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his wife Becki, have been sexually playing with the pool boy, with whom they later partnered in business – as well as monkey business.
In the parlance of sexual play, watching while another man has sex with your wife/partner, is called “cuckolding.”
Frankly, this event – in, and of itself – is no big deal, per se, and is certainly nothing new. By that, I mean that everybody involved was in agreement, and as Evangelicals often flout, there’s power in agreement. And frankly, no one was harmed, and everyone agreed to it. Furthermore, no criminal or civil laws were broken.
What was broken, however, was Jerry Falwell, Jr.’s trust with the private religious university he led, the general public, his followers, and those within his religious circle.
In common parlance, that’s called betrayal, and hypocrisy.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell’s wife and the evangelical leader.
Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters that the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell looked on.
Granda showed Reuters emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987. “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda said in an interview. Now 29, he described the liaisons as frequent – “multiple times per year” – and said the encounters took place at hotels in Miami and New York, and at the Falwells’ home in Virginia.
His friendship with the Falwells eventually soured, Granda told Reuters, in part because he wanted to dissolve his ties with the couple and fell into a business dispute with them.
Giancarlo Granda, who was befriended by Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr and his wife Rebecca while he was working as a pool attendant at a luxury Miami Beach hotel and was later backed by them in a business venture involving a youth hostel, poses for a portrait in Washington, U.S., August 10, 2020. To match Special Report USA-FALWELL/RELATIONSHIP REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Granda first emerged as a figure in the Falwells’ circle two years ago, when BuzzFeed News reported that the couple had befriended Granda and gone into business with him, buying a Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 23, 2020
Remember: It’ll “miraculously disappear” when the weather gets warmer, and “we totally have it under control.”
Of course, none of this is real.
It’s all just “fake news,” folks.
Nothing to see here.
Move along.
And what if, and when, it mutates?
When folks get COVID-19 -and- the seasonal influenza?
Because IT WILL HAPPEN.
There’s not just a HIGH likelihood that it will.
IT WILL HAPPEN.
Then what?
Remember ebola?
What if SARS-CoV, aka coronavirus or COVID-19, had been Ebola?
We and the world would’ve REALLY been fucked.
Given that the Current White House Occupant POS45 obliterated and practically eliminated the entire organizational infrastructure for biological terrorism and other biothreats to national security, it could happen.
It’s poised and ready to happen.
NOTE:
On July 20, 2017 Reuters reported that White House Homeland Security Adviser Thomas Bossert told the annual Aspen Security Forum that “We have not had as a country a comprehensive bio-defense strategy ever. It’s high time we had a bio-defense strategy,” and noted that retired Navy Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer was contributing to the development of the strategy as Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biothreats, National Security Council, and served in office April 2017 – May 8, 2018.
Tom Bossert, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism January 20, 2017 – April 10, 2018
Bossert noted that the Bush and Obama administrations took steps to address biological threats to National Security after Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Perhaps it’s been said before – “common sense isn’t so common anymore.”
Maybe even, at one time, or another, you’ve said as much.
Common sense, of course, is a thought process that implies a.) one is thinking, and b.) one is using process of reasoning.
And, without exception, EVERYONE thinks. Not everyone exercises good judgment.
Some take common sense for granted, while others do not.
Common sense may arise from experience, and/or education, and sometimes, experience is a harsh taskmaster – lessons learned aren’t always learned the easiest, or best way. But, it’s education nevertheless.
Point being, is that when we think, we use our highest and best faculties, which separates us and makes us unique in the animal kingdom.
So let’s quickly talk about common sense and politics – an area in which many seem to disagree, some even vehemently, and unfortunately, sometimes violently.
When we fight, we often “lose our mind,” and are motivated and actuated by feelings… which can often betray us. Yet, even in structured fighting, such as war, we employ our faculties of reason to win the victory. War, its strategies and tactics, is studied, and taught. So that very act itself demonstrates that our thinking faculties are a higher order than feeling.
Note that instead of saying “I think,” many people say, “I feel.”
That, I think, is a mistake to say that one “feels” rather than “thinks” when expressing an opinion, for it – the feeling – is something which rationally, one cannot argue against. Feelings may be pleasant, or unpleasant. And if one feels this way, or that way, it is a merely a feeling – and may be, and often is, fleeting, or passing – it is temporal, and lasts only briefly. Consider the feeling of being sad, bloated, or even gassy.
This too, shall pass.
But let’s not delve too deeply into the matter, not to become too philosophical or analytical, per se, and suffice it to say that we want to share some common sensical thoughts – ones that many, if not most, or, even all, could agree upon – in the realm of politics.
Red onions grown by Thomson International, Inc. of Bakersfield, CA have been ID’d as potentially contaminated by the Salmonella Newport infection.
Also recalled are all varieties of onions that could have come in contact with potentially contaminated red onions, due to the risk of cross-contamination.
Recalled products include red, yellow, white, and sweet yellow onions shipped nationwide from May 1, 2020 to August 1, 2020, sold under the following brand names: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, August 11, 2020
He orders the Federal Reserve Chairman to buy stocks, bonds, and Exchange Traded Funds.
Yep… buying stocks and bonds will work just perfectly, because BUSINESS!
How much sense does that make, eh?
Buying stocks in companies that could go belly-up because NO ONE is BUYING their stuff is nonsensical – it’s a non-starter, a non sequitur.
Jerome Powell, Chair, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve speaks to guests during a conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, June 4, 2019.
Then who’s left holding the bag, eh?
You, me, and the taxpayers.
Instead, the Fed should just GIVE MONEY TO PEOPLE… who in turn will SPEND IT.
And THAT is what those firms need – paying customers.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 6, 2020
“I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.”
– partial lyric from “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)” as popularized by Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, 1968
Some critics would point to the recent economic downturn caused by our nation’s inadequate response to the COVID-19 pandemic as proof positive that we should completely forego any attempts or efforts to control spread of the disease.
With cries of “I want my freedom!” and other similar remarks, of right-wing extremists, in conjunction with their attacks on states’ capitols (most notably in Wisconsin) with loaded assault rifles, and their attempts to disrupt the legislatures, are evidence, and proof positive that the “wrong wing” is purely misguided, and even
The American Industrial Production Index (IPI) “measures levels of production by the manufacturing sector, mining – including oil and gas field drilling services – and electrical and gas utilities. It also measures capacity, an estimate of the production levels that could be sustainably maintained; and capacity utilization, the ratio of actual output to capacity.”
The Federal Reserve Board (FRB) publishes the IPI in the middle of every month, and revisions to previous estimates are released at the end of every March.
In short, it is a head-on, unvarnished examination of the underlying ability of the industrial sector to meet the demands placed upon the economic infrastructure in order to continue and sustain economic growth.
If you’re really froggy, the Federal Reserve states this about the IPI, which they call the INPRO:
The Industrial Production Index (INDPRO) is an economic indicator that measures real output for all facilities located in the United States manufacturing, mining, and electric, and gas utilities (excluding those in U.S. territories).(1)
Since 1997, the Industrial Production Index has been determined from 312 individual series based on the 2007 North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS) codes. These individual series are classified in two ways (1) market groups and (2) industry groups. (1) The Board of Governors defines markets groups as products (aggregates of final products) and materials (inputs used in the manufacture of products). Consumer goods and business equipment can be examples of market groups. “Industry groups are defined as three digit NAICS industries and aggregates of these industries such as durable and nondurable manufacturing, mining, and utilities.”(1)(2)
The index is compiled on a monthly basis to bring attention to short- term changes in industrial production,. It measures movements in production output and highlights structural developments in the economy. (1) Growth in the production index from month to month is an indicator of growth in the industry.
For more information regarding the Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization index, see the explanatory notes issued by the Board of Governors.
References
(1) Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. “Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization.” Statistical release G.17; May 2013.
(1) For recent reports on market and industry groups, please visit the Board of Governors.
Now, if you’ve managed to slog through (or skip over) the preceding information, you’re in good shape to continue.
The American economy as demonstrated by the Industrial Production Index has NOT changed significantly since 1999.
Simply look at the “90” line along the vertical column, and follow it through to April 2020.
Because of President Pollyanna’s approach to governing, decline in the economy – which could have been prevented – the economy is essentially back to where it was in 1999.
Federal Reserve Economic Data, Industrial Production Index, January 1998-June 2020
Up, down, up, down… it’s like a roller coaster – until about 2015, when it hits a high in November 2014 of 106.6634, then “recovers” slightly to March 2016 at 101.4155, then increases again, until it peaks in December 2018 at 110.5516, then pegs along around 109/110, and then, in February 2020 at 109.3246, thereafter falls to 91.1991 in April 2020, where it begins to show some modest improvement through June to 97.4587.
As we all know, things don’t stay down, and once again, it’ll eventually return to elevated levels, but we don’t know exactly how long it’ll take.
Federal Reserve Economic Data, Real Disposable Personal Income (RDPI) 2010-June 2020 –– As shown here, the CARES Act provided a GENUINE and substantial economic stimulus, which is still ongoing.
And in an effort to stave off almost certain practical wholesale economic collapse, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020.
As seen in the FRED graph (Federal Reserve Economic Data), even though Real Personal Disposable Income (RDPI) has declined somewhat since significant boost to a high in April, as of June, the effects of the CARES Act were still ongoing, and have not fallen below February, or March levels – which is a good sign. It means that the economic boost WORKED by placing money in the people’s hands.
“I like your spirit of being more upbeat, more optimistic so I will offer this: why can’t you go across the aisle and say, ‘Representative Lewis, civil rights legend, would have loved it if we could do something for the totally disenfranchised in this country. No matter what, can we give a huge chunk of money to the people who are disenfranchised, to minorities who want so badly to stay in business and can’t and to people who are trying to go to college or have student loans who are minorities who are the most affected because they had the least chance in our country?’ That’s got to be something both sides can agree to.”
In reply, Madam Speaker Pelosi said,
“Yeah. That’s the problem. See, the thing is, they don’t believe in governance. They don’t believe in governance, and that requires some acts of government to do that. But just what you described is what Mr. Schumer, Chuck Schumer, is proposing that we do with some of the resources in the bill. And that – you described Chuck Schumer’s proposal exactly, in addition to the Heroes Act.
If we’re talking about how much and how long and how targeted, if we’re going to juggle some of this money, let’s focus it where it’s going to do the most good. And basically, economists tell us, spend the money, invest the money for those who need it the most, because they will spend it. It will be a stimulus or at least a stabilization of – and that’s a good thing. Consumer confidence is a good thing for the economy. You know that better than anyone.
And one of the things we want to do just before we leave on this, what we’re trying to do to help hotels, which are big employers, restaurants, which are big employers and the rest, is to lower the threshold for how someone can qualify for a second loan. Republicans have it at 50 percent.
Nydia Velázquez, our Chairman, is urging a 30 percent threshold or 30 percent of revenues, of losses from the previous year. It was based on the previous quarter – the similar quarter of the former year. Now, we’re talking about the whole year, and 30 percent rather than 50 percent, which would make, I’m told by the hospitality industry, a big difference for them. Many jobs, many entry level jobs, many union jobs, many people of color jobs, and I would hope that they would consider that.
Jim Cramer: Okay. I’m so glad you mentioned Congresswoman Velázquez, who is my Congresswoman. I think she knows small business better than anyone. I also believe that Chairman Powell would agree with that.
Speaker Pelosi, thank you for coming on Squawk on the Street.
Speaker Pelosi: My pleasure. Thank you. Always a pleasure. Thank you.
Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, succeeded Rick Scott, also a Republican
While acknowledging the state’s Unemployment Compensation system was previously aged 40 or 50 years, and therefore, by some means, inefficient, it was revamped in the last 5, or 6 years during the administration of then-Governor Rick Scott, also a Republican.
While he didn’t explicitly blame the former Governor, he left little room for speculation that Rick Scott had a hand in frustrating a system for claimants and claims upon the state’s UC system.
An earlier news item published 28 May 2020 by ABC News affiliate WFTS-TV ch28 in Tampa, identified that Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 2, 2020
Trump’s economy is so bad, that…
Before we talk about how BAD it is, first…
Let’s turn to some official agencies to answer that question.
We’ll start with information from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s Economic Data.
Here’s a picture – it’s said that they’re worth 1000 words.
The DARK GRAY is Trump’s term in office, while the white line reflects the Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP – “real” means adjusted for inflation year-to-year) – which has consistently increased since Obama’s first quarter in his first term in office.
The MEDIUM GRAY (and DARK GRAY) areas represent the extent of Trump’s Economic Losses.
TheLIGHT GRAY (at G.W. Bush’s end of term in office -and- presently) are representative of Economic Recessions.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, July 30, 2020
Herman Cain, former Godfather’s Pizza CEO & GOP presidential candidate, has died from COVID-19.
So in memory of him, let’s pause from our pizzas for a moment to remember and reflect upon what he said shortly before he died — “famous last words,” if you will.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, July 25, 2020
Richmond Correctional Center, Alexandria, LA is owned by LaSalle Corrections, headquartered in Ruston, located directly SOUTH
Actions by employees of LaSalle Corrections – a Louisiana-headquartered private prison company with operations in Texas, Arizona, Georgia, New Mexico, and extensively in the Pelican State, which runs the Richwood Correctional Center (RCC) in Alexandria in the northern part of Louisiana – have spread COVID-19, and very likely other diseases to other individuals within the company, community, state, nationally, and internationally.
Located at 180 Pine Bayou Circle, Richwood, Louisiana 71202, (ICE facility website) RCC is a medium-security, 1129-bed capacity facility leased to the U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The immigration detention center is also COVID-ravaged, and employees’ actions have likely created new diseases, and spread others – including Tuberculosis, and COVID-19 – because employees there regularly:
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, July 13, 2020
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…
Since before our nation’s founding, the framers of the Constitution had very powerful feelings about religion. Not that they were religious men and women, per se – some were, some weren’t – but that they didn’t want the government to tell them how they ought to worship, if they so chose to do.
In fact, they despised the idea so much that some folks (think “pilgrims”) traveled across an ocean in a small wooden sailboat which was little more than an over-sized primitive row-boat, to a far-away land, where literally no one knew them, just in order to escape the overbearing behavior of the ruler of the government (a king), who also just so happened to also be the head of the officially-recognized, governmentally-supported and approved state-sponsored religion – The Church of England.
Yeah.
Governmentally supported.
“Supported” as in “took tax money to give to the church” – the state-sponsored church… the one of which the king was the head – the chief priest, if you prefer.
Yeah.
THAT church.
So, they got so sick and tired of the “long arm of the law” reaching into their pockets and Read the rest of this entry »
“The suit also alleges that after conversations broke down between the band — whose members are Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and David Haywood — and the singer and their respective attorneys, White’s new counsel “delivered a draft settlement agreement that included an exorbitant monetary demand.” While the dollar figure is not mentioned in the suit, a statement concurrently issued by the band says the amount is $10 million.
““Today we are sad to share that our sincere hope to join together with Anita White in unity and common purpose has ended,” the group said in a statement. “She and her team have demanded a $10 million payment, so reluctantly we have come to the conclusion that we need to ask a court to affirm our right to continue to use the name Lady A, a trademark we have held for many years.””
The information for the story came from an Instagram post made by the trio which in part read:
“It was a stirring in our hearts and reflection on our own blindspots that led us to announce a few weeks ago that we were dropping the word ‘Antebellum’ from our name and moving forward using only the name so many of our fans already knew us by. When we learned that Ms. White had also been performing under the name Lady A, we had heartfelt discussions with her about how we can all come together and make something special and beautiful out of this moment. We never even entertained the idea that she shouldn’t also be able to use the name Lady A, and never will – today’s action doesn’t change that.
“Instead, we shared our stories, listened to each other, prayed and spent hours on the phone and text writing a song about this experience together. We felt we had been brought together for a reason and saw this as living out the calling that brought us to make this change in the first place. We’re disappointed that we won’t be able to work together with Anita for that greater purpose.
That kind of drivel – prosaic use of language such as “a stirring in our hearts,” and words such as “heartfelt,” phrases like “all come together and make something special and beautiful” – are purposely designed to pull at the emotional heartstrings of readers, and are nothing but a manipulative tool.
And for Southerners, at least – and Lady Antebellum is a musical ménage à trois of Three White Southerners – one must include religion, so it’s entirely apropos to let folks know that “we prayed.”
They just have the wrong god – mammon.
This entire ordeal stinks to high heaven of racism, and White Entitlement – it is the VERY embodiment, the quintessential substance of everything and every ideal that the Black Lives Matter movement stands for, and fights against – White Power.
It also shows Lady Antebellum’s utter lack of creativity.
A creative person could’ve announced a New Name Contest and given the three runners-up “consolation prizes” of $10,000 each, while the Grand Prize Winner – all which would be submitted and chosen by fans – a $100,000 cash prize.
But no… Lady Antebellum is not that creative.
The Three White Bitches would rather expend much more money to lawyer up and very publicly legally steal from a Black Woman.
There are a variety of names which they now ought to be called:
• Entitled White Thieves
• Three White Folks Stealing Names
• The Southern Bi-Sexual Ménage à Trois
• Three Musical Confederates
• Sorry… Not Sorry
• Three White Lives Matter More
• All White Meat: Two Men and a Woman
• We’re Richer Than You
or, the most apropos…
• Three Clueless White Southern Shitheads.
But if they really want to stay with the architectural theme, they could take:
• Ghost of Frank Lloyd Wright
• Greek Revival
• Dorian Columns
• Corinthian Scrolls
• Split-Level Singers
• Ranch-Style Songsters
• Idols of Excess
• Marble Columns
• Three Colonnades
• Spiral Staircase (that name has been used as “Spiral Starecase”)
• Cupola Singers
• Belvidere’s Belfry
Of course, another altogether unique option is:
The Band With A Racist Name
Joe Coscarelli of the New York Times wrote and confirmed the proceedings which the Nashville trio made “In the weeks that followed [the announcement made by Lady Antebellum to change their name], an apparent détente between the two parties, initially celebrated on social media by both sides, faltered when representatives for White “demanded a $10 million payment,” the band said in a statement on Wednesday. Now, the platinum-selling Nashville group has filed a lawsuit that seeks no monetary damages, but asks the court to affirm “a trademark we have held for many years.”
So apparently, the figure of $10 million came up in negotiations between Lady Antebellum and Lady A, which Lady A seemed to have proposed for use of the name “Lady A.”
The group apparently refused.
They’re only worth about $84 Million… and counting.
Ten million wouldn’t even begin to put a dent in their savings or checking accounts… or in the accounts of their corporations, or their accountants, or army of lawyers, or the numerous members of their extended entourages.
But seriously, the platinum-selling threesome has confessed being lackadaisical in their name choice, so this shenanigans is nothing but pure laziness on their part.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, July 6, 2020
Y’know… one thing which I appreciate about the Bloomberg site, is that they don’t seem to be exclusively limited to interests of business, per se.
That is, matters of business MUST, and do, involve people – as employees, and customers – and without either of those two groups of people, no business would exist.
For many years – I don’t know how many, but for a very L – O – N – G time – I have taken exception to, and disagreed with the statement that “the customer is the most important person in any business.”
From my perch in the catbird seat, I demurred, and stated that the EMPLOYEE is the most important person in any business, because a disgruntled employee can cost beaucoup bucks in lost sales/revenues. And many disgruntled employees will sink a company – regardless of who is at the helm. That’s because the adage is true, that the sailors run the ship, not the captain. And they allow the captain to do so (to lead them) by their consent – the consent of the governed. A mutiny is a very serious matter.
Point being, is that happy employees make happy customers, and happy customers buy things, and say good things about the company, and the employees.
It was only relatively recently that I learned that Sir Richard Branson – Founder of the Virgin Group, a privately-held multinational venture capitol conglomerate – says the same thing, that employees are the most important people in any business.
The irony of ironies is that despite the political differences in the many seemingly disparate voices today, is that Republicans, Democrats, and all others, want the same thing: A good job, a decent place to live, secure transportation, ability to feed themselves and their family, education for their children, and to be healthy enough to enjoy it all. Food, clothing, and shelter… those are not hard things to understand. Neither are they difficult to obtain. They’re not like the mythical “unobtainium.”
But we the people, despite what some may say otherwise, are not in a good place in this nation for the long-haul. What has happened, is that within our lifetimes, we the people have been sold a bill of false goods that somehow less is more, that the larger and more populous our nation becomes (we’re right at 330,000,000 – the third most populous on Earth, behind China and India, respectively each with over 1 BILLION more than us), the smaller the government will become, that somehow, mysteriously or magically, at some point, it will eventually disappear – because we’ll all be able to self-govern and therefore do not need external governance.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
And yet, that’s PRECISELY what “the Great Communicator” Ronald Reagan said in his first Inaugural Address immediately after he proclaimed that “government is the problem.”
“In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price.”
Now, my point is NOT to “bash Regan” per se, but to point out the obvious – which is that Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 29, 2020
Donald Trump was never serious about becoming president, and campaigned exclusively as a lark, in order to better position himself in upcoming contract negotiations with NBC.
Thus said Howard Stern at least 3 years ago.
While it may have been a topic of some minor discussion earlier – and therefore not discussed much at all – Howard Stern, radio “shock jock” and self-described “King of All Media” – has been a long-time friend of the Current White House Occupant, the Liar in Chief himself, Donald J. “DJ” Trump.
As such, when Trump told Stern his plans, Stern said he advised Trump not to run, and later, again advised him to drop out of the running to become the Republican party’s nominee.
Trump has been a guest on Stern’s eponymous “The Howard Stern Show” many, many, many times. And socially, away from the microphone, Stern and Trump have enjoyed a long-running friendly relationship. Suffice it to say, Trump and Stern are intertwined – not quite inexplicably, or even inexorably, but definitely inescapably.
With over 24 appearances over 20 years, it would be reasonable to say that Trump has some level of relationship with Stern.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Economics has long been called the “dismal science.”¹
Perhaps it’s because they either a.) Tell the truth, or b.) Warn about bad things to come. Either way, it’s hardly a French tickler, and more like a Marquis de Sade.
But, some folks don’t enjoy hearing the truth, or as the actor Jack Nicholson’s character Guantanamo Base Commander Colonel Nathan Jessup raged upon the witness stand in the 1992 motion picture “A Few Good Men,” that “You can’t handle the truth!”
Of course, we’re familiar with how that movie turned out.
Free economies are based upon consumer spending. Period. Full stop.
If consumers don’t have money, they don’t spend. That’s easy enough to understand.
And, if anything, the coronoavirus pandemic has shown up how poorly prepared this president’s administration has been, and continues to be.
Again, those aren’t “nice words” to hear or read, but they are the unvarnished truth.
To say that “the economy is improving” is a mischaracterization of enormous proportion, so much so, and to the extent that, it’s either whistling past the graveyard, or Whistler’s Mother – both of whom are dead.
The economy was “doing well” according to some estimates. Those estimates included the DJIA, the stock indices of various firms and select industries, and some hedge funds. The “essential” worker bees were just hanging on by a thread in their retail, meat processing, and low-paid food service industry jobs. And once they got sick, they were fired, and… BAMMO! The shit hit the high-speed fan.
Suddenly, there were no more “worker bees” and the economic house of cards began to collapse with each puff of wind from COVID-19 patients’ coughs.
Fortunately, Congress (as in the House of Representatives) had the wisdom and foresight to actually bail out THE PEOPLE this time, and to give a much smaller hand-out to industry. The familiar cry “Where’s MY bailout!?!” was the primary sticking point with the previous administration in the process of recovery from “the Great Recession” when Big Business and industry got practically everything their hearts desired, but the people got nothing. Literally, nothing. Bupkis. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Not even a peck on the cheek after they were screwed.
This time, The People who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 were given an extra $600 per week of Unemployment Compensation, which was set to expire July 31. Ever seeking cheap labor to fill their stores, factories and farms, the Republicans decried the matter, but agreed to go along with the plan, hoping that the administration would have a more cohesively unified plan to stop the assault of COVID-19 upon America’s lives, young and old, alike.
But as it became increasingly clear that nothing of the sort was going to happen, and that an extension of such benefits would likely become necessary because either businesses went belly-up, or couldn’t guarantee their employees’ safety on the job (as protection against COVID-19), the employees, many of whom were already at risk of serious injury from such infection, declined to return to work, and continued to draw their extra $600/week Unemployment Compensation.
But hey! A bright spot!
Facebook, Apple, Google, Amazon, and other industry monoliths were doing A-okay, and were even increasing profits! So yah… it was all sweetness and pleasantries once again for the Billionaire Class.
But The People.
Those pesky people.
Those essential sacrificial lambs of industry… what to do with them? Those who could – and still had jobs – worked from their residences. Those who, for whatever reason Read the rest of this entry »
First, it is a very dangerous precedent to write a law that not only eliminates one’s ability to make an independent, and informed decision (about that, or any other private matter), but mandates that the government tell you (or anyone) what to do in your private life. That is the essence of what is happening with this type of argument. Proponents are: 1.) Forbidding exercise of Constitutional rights and freedom to make a free-will decision, and; 2.) Essentially forcing the pregnant woman to give birth to the child.
A major reason drugs have such a negative public image, Hart asserts, is racism. He notes that after the Civil War, some Chinese railroad construction workers smoked opium and, sometimes, established “opium dens” to do so. Over time, more and more white Americans visited these dens to smoke opium too. That in turn led to broader, bigoted social fear among whites, like, for example, the sentiments captured in H.H. Kane’s 1882 report:
![[Tokelahoma] lead image](https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/676933e/2147483647/resize/1160x%3E/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F2f%2Fd6%2F8a1ac0c5448294d73e67664f69d7%2Fsectionbreak6-new.jpg "[Tokelahoma] lead image")
