"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."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, October 21, 2020
Amy Coney Barrett before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary for her nomination to the United States Supreme Court
Much has been made in recent days about Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the President’s nominee to fill the vacancy on the United States Supreme Court created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Barrett has her critics. I am one. But there are other criticisms, including of the rushed process, which I too, hold. Rushed things hardly ever have good results.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has indicated that the full Senate will most likely have a vote on Judge Barrett on Monday, 26 October 2020 – a mere 31 days since her nomination on 26 September 2020. In stark contrast, her initial nomination to the Federal judiciary took 5 months 24 days.
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has published a paper entitled “Supreme Court Appointment Process: President’s Selection of a Nominee,” (R44235) first published on October 19, 2015, and updated periodically, and most recently on September 28, 2020, which answers some essentially basic questions about the nomination process, and provides background, and historical overview for the same. The “CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of Congress.”
Regarding Judge Barrett’s Judicial “style” which she and others call “textualism,” and or “originalism,” it seems to me to be a rather bizarre way to think of the document which forms the foundation of our government, which has endured since it was written and ratified in the late 1700’s. Doubtless, the Founders, and those alive then could not begin to conceive of plucking stardust from an asteroid (which NASA recently did) to analyze, communicating instantaneously with someone on the opposite side of the globe using video teleconferencing on a hand-held device, traveling faster than the speed of sound, splitting the atom, and using laser light to communicate, so why would we begin to imagine that we should adhere to some arbitrary, or even capricious standard to interpret what it means to, or for us, today?
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot expressed it best in this brief story, why “originalism” and “textualism” are misguided rules.
CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she is preparing for when Amy Coney Barrett takes her seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. She was asked to share her thoughts Tuesday on the judge and minced no words.
Mayor Lightfoot was first asked if she views the U.S. Constitution as Judge Barrett does, as an “originalist.”
Originalists firmly believe all statements in the U.S. Constitution must be strictly interpreted based on the original understanding at the time the Constitution was adopted. They do not believe in the concept of a “Living Constitution” that can be interpreted in the context of current times.
“You ask a gay, black woman if she is an originalist? No, ma’am, I am not,” Lightfoot laughed.
“That the Constitution didn’t consider me a person in any way, shape or form because I’m a woman, because I’m black, because I’m gay? I am not an originalist. I believe in the Constitution. I believe that it is a document that the founders intended to evolve and what they did was set the framework for how our country was going to be different from any other.”
“But originalists say that, ‘Let’s go back to 1776 and whatever was there in the original language, that’s it.’ That language excluded, now, over 50 percent of the country. So, no I’m not an originalist.”
Mayor Lightfoot said she’s deeply worried about some of Judge Barrett’s stated views, for instance, being against gay marriage.
“I deeply worry about this woman’s stated views. She’s on the record on a number of different things, not the least of which is thinking that gay marriage is something that shouldn’t be countenanced. And she’s got soulmates in Justice Thomas and others, who think that the decision by the Supreme Court…should somehow be rolled back,” Lightfoot said.
“What should I tell my daughter — that somehow now my wife and I are no longer married? That we’re no longer legitimately recognized in the eyes of the law? That is dangerous, dangerous territory. And what about a woman’s right to choose? We’re gonna keep re-litigating this issue, and we’re gonna make abortion illegal, as Amy Coney Barrett thinks it should be?”
The Mayor also called Republicans “hypocrites” for pushing the Barrett nomination when they put off taking up the Merrick Garland nomination by President Obama.
“The hypocrisy is something that is a bitter pill for me to swallow,” Lightfoot said.
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 Tuesday, October 20, 2020
Perhaps by now you’ve heard of the sad and tragic news out of France, that recently, Samuel Paty, a 47-year old male teacher was brutally decapitated by a radicalized 18-year old, Russian-born male Muslim student. Though one committed the heinous act, at least 10 students have been arrested for participation in the plot. The prime suspect is a Chechen refugee.
According to Reuters, the episode began when several Muslim parents were angered earlier this month after Paty taught a mandatory “moral and civil education” class on freedom of expression, and had shown to his pupils 12 cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, which were originally published in a Danish newspaper before republication in Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical publication renown for their anti-establishment satire poking fun at the far right, and aspects of Catholicism, Judaism and Islam.
The Guardian reported that a parent of one of the students in Paty’s class had posted a response to an angry video complaining about the class. The respondent wrote: “I am a parent of a student at this college. The teacher just showed caricatures from Charlie Hebdo as part of a history lesson on freedom of expression. He asked the Muslim students to leave the classroom if they wished, out of respect … He was a great teacher. He tried to encourage the critical spirit of his students, always with respect and intelligence. This evening, I am sad, for my daughter, but also for teachers in France. Can we continue to teach without being afraid of being killed?”
The French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo recently republished for a second time the same cartoons (also seen here) the day before the beginning of a French trial of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, October 16, 2020
Trump Lost.
Joe Biden and ABC were the BIG WINNERS in Thursday night’s “split screen America” debate.
Biden’s Q & A Town Hall meeting Thursday, October 15, 2020 with voters was held in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center with George Stephanopoulos moderating. Both men, and all attendees were more than adequately distanced for public health reasons.
Meanwhile, Trump’s Town Hall was conducted outdoors at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, and was moderated by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, a Georgetown Law graduate who was distanced at least 12 feet from the President.
But it turns out NBC was played for a fool by the Manipulator in Chief.
Trump lost.
NBC lost.
After initially rejecting the Commission on Presidential Debates offer to conduct a “virtual” town hall, Trump reached out to NBC to hold the town hall style meeting on the same day and time slot as Joe Biden’s appearance in Philadelphia in a direct head-to-head viewership challenge to feed his fragile ego.
Yashar Ali, a contributor to New York Magazine and HuffPost wrote that several NBC employees were angered, and that “over a dozen NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC sources (talent and staff) and the frustration with and anger toward their employer for scheduling a town hall against Biden is palpable.”
Trump lost.
NBC lost.
NBC News agreed to put Trump before voters in a town hall style event on Thursday, October 15 – the same day as Biden’s scheduled town hall in Philadelphia – stipulating that beforehand, he must have submitted to an independent coronavirus test with the results reviewed by Dr. Anthony Fauci.
NBC said that Trump was administered a coronavirus test Tuesday by the National Institutes of Health, the results of which were reviewed by NIH Clinical Director Dr. Clifford Lane and Dr. Anthony Fauci, both who stated after reviewing the President’s medical records, that they had a high degree of confidence that the president was “not shedding infectious virus.”
But Trump’s COVID-19 test wasn’t the only thing reviewed.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 15, 2020
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the President’s nominee to be a Supreme Court Justice, has dodged the question of recusal on any potential case which might come before her which would be brought by the President on any matter pertaining to the 2020 General Election. She dodged because she replied that she would follow the law of recusal.
She said in part that, “I commit to you to fully and faithfully applying the law of recusal. … I will apply the factors that other justices have before me in determining whether the circumstances require my recusal or not. But I can’t offer a legal conclusion right now about the outcome of the decision I would reach.”
When asked about the law of recusal, she said in part that, “I can’t offer an opinion on recusal without short-circuiting the entire process.”
When specifically asked about election cases, she stated to the effect that it wasn’t a question she could answer “in the abstract.”
Obviously, she is aware of the law’s requirements, but what is concerning is if she will obey (follow) the law.
There could be an argument made that she has no interest in the case, per se, at least insofar as she was not a member of the President’s administration, nor had she done any work for him.
There are several disconcerting aspects of this matter, none of which concern her judicial temperament, nor her judicial philosophy, nor her rulings. First is that she has allowed herself to be used by the GOP and the President to force her, as their nominee, through the confirmation process in the midst of an ongoing election. Already, millions of people have voted.
Secondarily is Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s actions, in conjunction with the President’s efforts, to rush the nominee through the process. Rushed things are rarely done with high quality, or long-term thoughtfulness. Further, that “Moscow” Mitch McConnell has deliberately stalled, or “killed” well over 400 bills from the House of Representatives is prima facie evidence of his contempt for the Constitution, and legislative process. And that he has similarly refused to act upon any bill which would first, and foremost, deal with the matter of the coronavirus, aka COVID-19, and the needs of the people for their health, their needs for economic sustenance, and more, is again, hard-core evidence not merely of a lack of caring, but is an abandonment of his responsibilities to the American people, not merely to the citizens of Kentucky whose interests he is supposed to represent.
To the extent that Amy Coney Barrett participates in that wretched process, she is complicit in it all. She has, in effect, become a political tool, and is doing so knowingly.
Were she to have requested a delay of her hearings until after the election – a delay of a few mere weeks – she would likely have not garnered such opposition. For she is, in my considered estimation, more than a well-qualified jurist, and would be a good addition to the United States Supreme Court. Even 88 University of Notre Dame faculty members wrote an open letter to her, stating that it was “vital” that she “issue a public statement calling for a halt to your nomination process until after the November presidential election.”
In the letter, those faculty members also wrote in part that, “The rushed nature of your nomination process, which you certainly recognize as an exercise in raw power politics, may effectively deprive the American people of a voice in selecting the next Supreme Court justice,” and stated that “you can refuse to be party to such maneuvers. We ask that you honor the democratic process and insist the hearings be put on hold until after the voters have made their choice.”
And goodness knows, we need more legal diversity on the nation’s highest court, and I don’t mean to refer to sex, ethnicity, or any physical factor – I mean to refer to the schools of law which the nominees have attended. And as she herself has noted,
“I would be the first mother of school-age children to serve on the Court. I would be the first Justice to join the Court from the Seventh Circuit in 45 years. And I would be the only sitting Justice who didn’t attend law school at Harvard or Yale. I am confident that Notre Dame will hold its own, and maybe I could even teach them a thing or two about football.”
Would she be my pick?
Perhaps not, but again, it is the rushed nature of this event which is most exceedingly distasteful. Hypocrisy has neither a pleasing aroma, nor taste.
Finally, there are other matters concerning the Supreme Court which desperately need to be addressed, which undoubtedly will not have an opportunity to be discussed simply because of the Senate Majority Leader’s deliberately destructive tactics to “kill” legislation.
Hearings to examine the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett, of Indiana, to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. 116th Congress (2019-2020)
And so, for your benefit, here is the law of recusal to which she referred. You can, and should, read it for yourself. It’s not difficult to understand, and is straightforward, without mumbo jumbo jargon.
§455. Disqualification of justice, judge, or magistrate judge
(a) Any justice, judge, or magistrate judge of the United States shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might reasonably be questioned.
(b) He shall also disqualify himself in the following circumstances:
(1) Where he has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding;
(2) Where in private practice he served as lawyer in the matter in controversy, or a lawyer with whom he previously practiced law served during such association as a lawyer concerning the matter, or the judge or such lawyer has been a material witness concerning it;
(3) Where he has served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as Read the rest of this entry »
And then, there’s Professor Dr. Michael McDonald, PhD, of the University of Florida, who administers the United States Elections Project website which compiles early voting return statistics, and a few days ago found that over 8 million ballots had been cast, eclipsing by a factor of 10 the number of ballots cast in the last presidential election at this point in the cycle. When interviewed by Reuters on October 9, said, “We’ve never seen this many people voting so far ahead of an election. We’ve never seen this many people voting so far ahead of an election. People cast their ballots when they make up their minds, and we know that many people made up their minds long ago and already have a judgment about Trump.”
Today, the Election Project is reporting that voters have cast a total of 18,105,692 ballots in the reporting states – over double the number a few days ago – which at this point, is 13.1% of the total votes counted in the 2016 general election.
Based upon the Early Voting returns from 34 states and the District of Columbia, Professor Dr. McDonald is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 15, 2020
In this critique by an Australian directed at Australians, a former Australian government official warns about the toxic mess which the American President Donald J. Trump has created in the United States surrounding the voting process in the 50 states.
In an oblique way, it could be considered an enumeration of reasons why American voters should NOT vote for, nor support the man, nor his re-election to office. Again, it is merely a statement of fact about voting-related incidents in, and sad facts about the U.S.A. as it relates to voting, and serves as a warning to Australians to NOT make the same mistakes, and to stay AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE from such.
Face it, folks… Trump has NOT made America “great again.” But of course, the slogan “make America great again” was bad, and fatally flawed to begin with – just like his presidency – because a thing cannot be made again unless it is unmade to begin with. It’s kinda’ like your bed. It’s either made, or not, and to make it again (if it is made already) requires unmaking it.
The US electoral system is not a pretty sight. Australia should take heed.
As the US presidential election on 3 November draws near, many around the world watch on with concern and denounce the erosion of democracy and democratic values from afar.
For Australia, it should act as a poignant reminder to consider the health of our own system, where mistrust in politicians and the political system features glaringly in public sentiment.
The global flag-bearer of democracy, the US, has been engulfed in a wave of disputes regarding gerrymandering, voter purges from electoral rolls, and ugly voter suppression campaigns. Voter turnout has seldom nudged the 60% mark, which ranks among the lowest of major democratic countries in the world. [emphasis added -ed.]
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, October 13, 2020
Most polls which ask the question “Do you think America is headed in the right direction?” find that an exceeding majority of respondents answer “NO” to that very simple, straight-forward question.
Since January 2009 to today (October 13, 2020), those who believe the country is on the wrong track has ranged from a high of 76.5% to a low of 45.8%, with the majority occurring in the 60% range for most of that time, who think the country is headed in the wrong direction. That’s according to the averaged aggregate polling data collected by RealClearPolitics from a variety of polling organizations.
About the President, some have intoned sarcastically, “Poor ol’ Trump is the only President that has ever made mistakes.”
No, of course not, and it’s easy to understand the tenor and gist of such sarcasm.
Flooding by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans
I can say, have said, and will say this, however, and it is that, to date, in our nation’s history, he is the ONLY President whom has NEVER held any office of Public Trust of any kind, whatsoever – neither elected nor appointed – nor has he EVER volunteered for or with any kind of Public Service in ANY capacity with any public policy or public service-based organization. And for that reason, he is as unfit for duty as his bone spurs made him during Vietnam.
While many criticize and make political hay out of regarding a candidate’s “inexperience,” and tout that as being a strong point of benefit, there is this to consider – which I’ll explain using analogy.
Most people are employees. They have a job to do, and do it well. But they’ve never owned, nor run a company of any kind.
So it would be utterly preposterous, absurd, and even stupid, to imagine that just anyone would be able to step into Jeff Bezos’s shoes (Amazon’s Founder, President, CEO) and perform his job at least as good as he does.
We would be utter failures… just like the President is.
Another part of that problem is that the President’s “mistakes,” or “failures,” as they’re properly called, affects 330,441,455 people, and the world’s LARGEST economy.
And on that note, I’ll make this observation:
As the world’s 3rd most populous nation, to China and India, respectively, each with over 1 BILLION MORE people than we have, it is the height of absurdity and preposterousness to imagine for even a moment that somehow, with that many people and STILL GROWING, that we should somehow have a “smaller” government is not merely stupid, it is moronic.
Analogously again, it’s like imagining that you should wear smaller clothes the bigger you get.It’s nonsensical on the order of Alice in Wonderland.
VERY few people want to talk about it, and even FEWER want to hear it, but… because our elected officials Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 11, 2020
Eddie Van Halen performing at New Haven Coliseum, color-corrected image
Rock guitar god and musical innovator Eddie Van Halen (1955–2020) died recently from throat cancer which had spread to his brain, and other organs. For nearly 20 years, from the late 1970’s through the mid-1990’s, through the ascendancy to peak of the band’s popularity, he had made his mark upon the world by and through his musicianship, and a well-known penchant for “tinkering” with his equipment, much like another renown late rock god and inventor – Les Paul – whom is considered the father of multi-track recording, and of the electric guitar.
As well, the Van Halen band’s customary practices brought about significant changes to the live-performance industry in performance contracts, with the addition of “riders” to their contracts – criteria stipulating certain conditions and specifications which must be met. The band was renown for their stipulation of seemingly picayune, senseless and inane requests, such as a bowlful of M&M’s candies which had to be placed in each of their dressing rooms. While deeper within the contract a separate stipulation would require the removal of all the brown-colored M&M’s.
Bizarre as it may seem, however, David Lee Roth, former lead singer and frontman who for 10 years helped catapult the band to success with now-iconic hits and his characteristic ultra high-energy performances, then rejoining for its last 10, said there was rhyme and reason to the seeming madness. It was a test to see if the contract had been thoroughly read and honored, which was critically important because of legitimate safety concerns the band had for their own, and others’ safety and well-being, as well as for preventing costly damage to equipment.
Early in the band’s history, several members of their road crew had very nearly been fatally electrocuted because of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 8, 2020
True to form, radicalized, far right-wing political extremists are portraying Judge A.C. Barrett as a victim. The “poor, pitiful me” routine has taken hold in the GOP, Tea Party and other such ilk. Self loathing has never been more popular, it seems. But it does seem rather peculiar that it should find residence in the right, when for years we’ve been told that it is the political left who are such whiners and crybabies.
Aaaah… the political hypocrisy! You can smell the stench of its cooking all the way from the banks of the Potomac in Washington, D.C.
And the blindly vicious ambition! Its unmitigated violence permeates the miasmatic ether surrounding the city, all the way to the Chesapeake Bay, and beyond.
While “organic,” such contaminants are far from resembling a healthy backyard compost pile where grass clippings, leaves, eggshells, coffee grounds, vegetable peelings, and other such items begin their transformation process to become rich humus, fertile soil for vegetable and plant growth. Their forms, while neither ephemeral, nor impermanent, per se, are causative of other illnesses and diseases transmitted even to the 3rd and 4th generations, and beyond – all preventable – and must be guarded against by every generation.
The only difference being, is that disorders caused by those infections are preventable by conscience, not by manufacture. And the inoculation against such infection and affliction is love.
“Contrary to the impression many have of Barrett, what is most striking about her record is not the looming specter of theocracy, but her enduring opposition to what many Christians believe justice and mercy demand, presented under the aspect of originalism — an ersatz catechism, written in the pages of her judicial opinions, that fuses the political aims of the religious right with the constitutional theories of the late Antonin Scalia.”
There is NO “war” against religious faith in this nation, nor has there ever been. Neither has there ever been any alleged “war against Christmas” by our government, nor by its elected officials and administrators… like Federal judges, and other lifetime appointees. Although, it is curious how an officially non-sectarian, non-religious government sponsors a Federal holiday acknowledging a deity, thereby giving deference, homage and support to the same.
Judge Amy Coney Barrett, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
Rather, our Founders, not all of whom were religious-minded, were cognizant of others’ desires to express themselves through the practice of a privately-held conviction of faith – if they so chose – collectively and individually, according to the dictates of their conscience, and allowed to the greatest extent possible the practice of the same, without impingement upon the practices of government, and without obtruding upon others, who might, or not, agree with them. The Founders thought that aspect of individual liberty was so inherent, so inviolable, so sacrosanct to the public good, that they ensconced it, along with a few others, and made it and them First, and foremost among all others which followed.
Our fundamental foundational governing document, the Constitution, ensures and guarantees rights to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, October 5, 2020
I have maintained from Day One of the emergence of this pandemic back in late December 2019, early January 2020, that there will be a “golden thread” running through it all, and that being, is that we are unwittingly marching into the veritable “promised land” of health, which is longevity, through improved well-being. The lessons learned in this coronavirus pandemic are teaching us, by experience, what we need to know to improve human health, and by extension, longevity.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
It will, of course, emerge as a secondary by-product of treatment, and prevention, at the tertiary level. And for that, we can all be grateful.
So, while at present, we (at least the wise ones) are taking every conceivable precaution to prevent contracting the disease, there remain stubbornly stupid individuals whom insist on ignoring science (like the President and many Republicans) and the expert recommendations of those whose life work has revolved around studying infectious disease, the most notable among which is Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland.
Why Do Some People Weather Coronavirus Infection Unscathed?
One of the reasons Covid-19 has spread so swiftly around the globe is that for the first days after infection, people feel healthy. Instead of staying home in bed, they may be out and about, unknowingly passing the virus along. But in addition to these pre-symptomatic patients, the relentless silent spread of this pandemic is also facilitated by a more mysterious group of people: the so-called asymptomatics.
According to various estimates, between 20 and 45 percent of the people who get Covid-19 — and possibly more, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — sail through a coronavirus infection without realizing they ever had it. No fever or chills. No loss of smell or taste. No breathing difficulties. They don’t feel a thing.
Asymptomatic cases are not unique to Covid-19. They occur with the regular flu, and probably also featured in the 1918 pandemic, according to epidemiologist Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London. But scientists aren’t sure why certain people weather Covid-19 unscathed. “That is a tremendous mystery at this point,” says Donald Thea, an infectious disease expert at Boston University’s School of Public Health.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, September 25, 2020
The Supreme Court, and the legal profession in general, are steeped in tradition – perhaps even more so than the United States Senate.
If you’ve ever heard any of the oral arguments before the nation’s highest court, you’ve likely heard the opening remark, “Mr. Chief Justice, may it please the court.”
However, if you’ve never heard an oral argument, you’re fortunate to be living in this age, because oral arguments in the nation’s highest court are recorded and archived for posterity sake. Audio recordings of the arguments may be found Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, September 24, 2020
I hate to admit this, but I am practically at the point of saying, when it comes to so-called “anti-maskers” (who are most often Trump supporters and GOP types), and others who proudly flout and steadfastly refuse to wear any type of face mask thereby endangering the lives of others, and who deny that COVID-19 is a pernicious health threat to our nation’s people, and by extension to our national security, I am just about ready to say to them all – FUCK YOU. I hope you get it, and die. It would serve you right.
Their maliciously malignant behavior is not merely stupid, it is cruel, and inhumane.
Michael L. Parson is the 57th Governor of Missouri.
Yet, there comes a time when good will is exhausted, and there is nothing remaining for those who would otherwise need it the most. The dregs having been long drained from the bottom of the barrel of the milk of human kindness, it has become bone dry, and utterly bereft of anything but empty space – a yawning void, a catastrophic chasm of unimaginable vacuousness. Yet it was them who gleefully rejected all sound advice, and threw caution to the wind.
That’s how utterly FED UP I am with the ignorance-promoting, anti-science nut jobs who loudly bray their ignorance like a donkey does its presence. Perhaps even more so.
And just yesterday, when I read the news that Missouri’s Republican Governor Mike Parson, a virulent anti-masker, along with his wife Teresa, tested POSITIVE for COVID-19, I thought that it serves him right. There is poetic justice in this world, and it’s often tragically ironic.
However, I hasten to add this:
The sowing of confusion and chaos in this matter is the work of America’s enemies, most notably, Russia.
And sadly, the American president (yes, like it, or not, he’s America’s President), has long played friendly with totalitarian regimes, again, most notably, Russia, long before he became the Misleader of the Free World, and Liar in Chief.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, September 23, 2020
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
That oxymoronic statement is likely more moronic than oxy. And yet, we as human beings are capable of change. Change is the only constant. Sometimes, we change for the better, while at others, the worse. But change we must. Again, change is the only constant.
Change implies that a state of being exists in which either progress or regress is possible. (I have opined on that subject previously.) There is no such thing a genuine stasis. Even within the human body, stasis ulcers, also known as venous stasis ulcers, bought about by blood “pooling” – typically in the lower extremities – causes a deterioration in the character and quality of the surrounding flesh. Venous stasis ulcers develop because of venous valve malfunction, and accompanying high return pressure, and occur typically in the feet, ankles, and lower legs. In turn, swelling occurs in the extremity. If you’ve ever wondered why blood only goes in one direction, it’s because of one-way valves in the veins. When the valves malfunction, the return pressure is transmitted AWAY from the heart (venous blood circulates returning TOWARD the heart, in order to be re-oxygenated by passage through the lungs).
But again, let one thing break down, and the entire surrounding environment starts deteriorating. (I would say “goes to hell,” but some might say that’s “unprofessional.”)
Point being, is that condition itself demonstrates that change occurs, and that not all change is good.
On the other hand, positive change yields positive results, and positive change is possible.
What you’re about to read may shock you.
It did me.
For whatever reason, I long had the impression that Lincoln had always been a proponent of racial equality.
That’s not true.
However, he changed.
Exactly how, and when that change began to occur is largely unknown, but his changing opinions about slavery reflected the development of his thought on racial equity. And for that, he became a target, literally, of Southerners who sought his assassination for that reason.
They did mange to succeed in killing him following Lee’s surrender to Grant at Appomattox, in Washington, D.C. at Ford’s Theatre, through John Wilkes Booth who throughout the Civil War was a Confederate spy.
“While I had not proposed to myself on this occasion to say much on that subject, yet as the question was asked me I thought I would occupy perhaps five minutes in saying something in regard to it. I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor ofRead the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, September 22, 2020
The sorts of problems described in the story linked below could be resolved very simply by Congress, which has the authority to regulate election law, but has chosen to abdicate the responsibility, failed to exercise that right, and allowed chaos and pandemonium to ensue by allowing at least 50 different laws, rules, regulations, and more.
By establishing a National Standard Election and Uniform Voting Law which would cover ALL aspects of voting, from registration, to identification, to hours of operation and places of polls, to dates, times, and types of voting methods used, ALL those questions and more would be settled, and uniform nationwide, from state to state, and sea to shining sea.
From Maine to Minnesota, Mississippi to Maryland, Michigan to Arizona, and from Florida to Washington, Georgia to Oregon, and California to Texas to the Carolinas, and all points in between — ONE LAW to govern them all.
We would then begin to have a truly UNITED STATES!
2020 Election Faces Unprecedented Amount Of Litigation
Hundreds of lawsuits are already swirling around mail-in voting as campaigns, parties and outside groups try to sort issues both basic and technical — questions such as:
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, September 20, 2020
South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is a hypocrite, and a liar… just like his narcissistic miscreant misleader, Donald “DJ” Trump, aka POS45.
In comments lasting about 6 minutes on March 10, 2016, before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Graham said in pertinent part,
“I want you to use my words against me:
If there’s a Republican president in 2016,
and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term,
you can say ‘Lindsey Graham said,
‘Let’s let the next President,
whoever it might be,
make that nomination,”
and you could use my words against me,
and you’d be absolutely right.”
– South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, to the Senate Judiciary Committee March, 10, 2016
On Wednesday, October 3, 2018 in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg, Editor in Chief of The Atlantic, at The Atlantic Festival in Washington, D.C., Graham said in pertinent part that,
Here’s an excerpt of the pertinent part of that interview which has become part of an ad exposing Graham’s lying hypocrisy, and opposing his re-election.
Things are different now, and that instead, he will support the President’s nominee.
Here’s a recent Tweet published by him Saturday, 19 September 2020 of him attempting to explain away his twice former promises and position to adhere to his promise of not promoting a SCOTUS nominee during an election season.
As to my view of filling a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020, I’d encourage you to review these most recent statements.
And that’s but one reason why the GOP will lose the Senate, gain the White House, and strengthen their hold on the House of Representatives.
Sen. Graham’s challenge: Fill a court seat and save his own
By Meg Kinnard
Sunday, 20 September 2020
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Few members of the Republican Party have taken a political journey as long as Lindsey Graham’s, from ridiculing Donald Trump as a “race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot” to becoming one of the president’s fiercest defenders in Congress, as well as a regular golf partner.
Graham has long been known to have flexible politics, and that has served him well in South Carolina for decades. But this November may be his toughest test yet as he seeks reelection and explains to voters how, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he will push for Trump’s Supreme Court nominee on the president’s aggressive timetable, when the senator was so clearly — even defiantly — opposed to that approach as recently as two years ago, even demanding that he be called out for hypocrisy if he switched.
He switched.
“The rules have changed as far as I’m concerned,” Graham said Saturday.
It falls to Graham, as committee chairman, to vet Trump’s pick to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, September 16, 2020
The Latest: Mayor says 1 dead, 1 missing in coastal Alabama
Waves near a damaged pier at Gulf State Park after Hurricane Sally moved through, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Gulf Shores, AL. Sally made landfall Wednesday near Gulf Shores, as a Category 2 storm, pushing a surge of ocean water onto the coast and dumping torrential rain that forecasters said would cause dangerous flooding from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi and well inland in the days ahead.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
By The Associated Press
ORANGE BEACH, Alabama — The mayor of a coastal Alabama town says one person has died as a result of Hurricane Sally.
Mayor Tony Kennon of Orange Beach tells The Associated Press that the person died Wednesday. He added that one other person is missing. Kennon said no other details would be released immediately.
Sally came ashore Wednesday morning near the popular vacation destination as a major hurricane. Kennon says damage to the beach was not too bad.
Away from the beach, in neighborhoods along canals and beside the bay, damage was worse than what the city suffered in Hurricane Ivan, which hit 16 years to the day earlier.
Five corner units of Tropic Isles condominiums after Hurricane Sally moved through the area, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Orange Beach, AL. Sally made landfall Wednesday near Gulf Shores as a Category 2 storm, pushing a surge of ocean water onto the coast and dumping torrential rain that forecasters said would cause dangerous flooding from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi and well inland in the days ahead.(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
___
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s governor is warning people in the state’s hard-hit panhandle to remain vigilant as Sally heads inland, warning major river flooding could come next.
Gov. Ron DeSantis told a news conference Wednesday afternoon that Sally is dumping heavy rains as it treks inland across the Southeast. He said that is expected to cause massive flooding of several Florida Panhandle rivers in the coming days.
“So this is kind of the initial salvo, but there is going to be more that you’re going to have to contend with,” DeSantis said at an appearance at the state emergency operations center in Tallahassee.
—
MOBILE, Ala. — Rivers have begun to rise from Sally’s heavy rains, and at least eight waterways in south Alabama and the Florida Panhandle are expected to hit major flood stage by Thursday.
Some of the crests could break records, submerge bridges and flood some homes, the National Weather Service warned in a message late Wednesday.
Vehicles maneuver on a flooded road near a boat washed up near the road after Hurricane Sally moved through the area, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, in Orange Beach, AL. Sally made landfall Wednesday near Gulf Shores, AL, as a Category 2 storm, pushing a surge of ocean water onto the coast and dumping torrential rain that forecasters said would cause dangerous flooding from the Florida Panhandle to Mississippi and well inland in the days ahead. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, September 16, 2020
The mythical Trump voter, the ones who don’t regularly show up to vote at elections, are often cited as the ones who helped put Trump over the top in the 2016 General Election.
Also sometimes also called “secret,” “hidden” or “shy” Trump voters,” they’re often identified demographically as being White, largely middle-to-lower class, with only a high school education, or less.
Before the November 2016 General Election, in March that same year, the Pew Research Center did some investigation on such a matter – the occasional voters, sometimes also known as those individuals who say they voted, but didn’t – long before it was “a thing.” Here’s what they found: “16% of those who say they “definitely voted” in the 2014 midterm election have no record of voting in commercially available national voter files.”
Their work was definitely cut out for them, because as they acknowledged, “while the presence of a record of voting almost certainly means that a person voted, the absence of a record doesn’t necessarily mean they did not.” In other words, a person could be registered to vote, but for one reason or another, they may not have exercised their right to vote, or, a record of their participation in the election is not available. In election parlance, that’s called a voting mismatch – the uncertainty of knowing whether someone registered to vote did, or did not vote.
“Respondents who say they turned out to vote in a particular election is often far greater than the proportion of the population who turned out according to official turnout tallies,” and “one-size-does-not-fit-all when it comes to the best way to validate registration and turnout across U.S. states.”
Photo of the Chickamauga Battlefield from the Mathew Brady Photographs series, The Battle of Chickamauga, September 19 – 20, 1863, National Achives; https://catalog.archives.gov/id/524418 Confederate General Braxton Bragg’s Army of the Tennessee defeated forces from the Union’s Army of the Cumberland under Major General William Rosecrans in the Battle of Chickamauga in Georgia on September 19-20, 1863. However, Rosecrans’ forces were able to slip away to Chattanooga, and later relieved by forces under Ulysses S. Grant.
Worse than the Battle of Chickamauga, with 34,000 casualties in the Civil War in 1863.
And even much worse than the Battle of Gettysburg, with 51,000 casualties in 3 days of fighting.
And the Iraq War, with only 4576 deaths is but a mere pittance.
And the War in Afghanistan, where 2216 lives were lost, is exceedingly eclipsed.
• FIVE major Civil War Battles
• A Notorious World War II war crime
• Two modern wars
ALL COMBINED, it’s only 191,792.
And Trump has beat ’em all.
That’s because he always does the most in everything he’s ever done – so he says.
196,103.
That’s the cumulative total number of COVID-19 related deaths in the United States, as reported by Johns Hopkins University, as of 1023, Wednesday, 16 September 2020 .
3000.
That’s the number of people who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center twin towers, and the Pentagon.
6436.76% more have died under Trump’s watch,
than under Bush’s.
And only 16,832 more to go before we eclipse the total deaths in World War I (116,516), Vietnam War (58,209), and Korean War (36,574) combined – 211,299.
Here’s another number:
197,544.
The TOTAL number of casualties – deaths, injuries, POWs, MIAs – from the Top Ten Major Civil War Battles of:
Gettyburg Chickamauga Spotsylvania Courthouse Shiloh Stones River Antietam First Battle of Bull Run Second Battle of Bull Run Fredricksburg Cold Harbor
196,103 is today’s Trump Death Count – Wednesday, 16 September 2020,
as of the 1023 update.
Only 1441 to go.
The next macabre marker for the Trump virus is Civil War Battlefield Deaths – 204,100.
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 Friday, September 11, 2020
“American 11: We have some planes. Just stay quiet, and you’ll be okay. We are returning to the airport.”
The controller only heard something unintelligible; he did not hear the specific words “we have some planes.” The next transmission came seconds later:
“American 11: Nobody move. Everything will be okay. If you try to make any moves, you’ll endanger yourself and the airplane. Just stay quiet.”
–– excerpt from The 9/11 Commission Report
Nineteen years ago today, the United States and the world was devastated when 19 al Qaeda-backed male terrorists, at the behest and guidance of their leader Osama bin Ladin (who was later killed during the Obama administration May 2, 2011 in a raid upon his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan shortly after 0100 local time), in a coordinated effort, hijacked and deliberately flew 4 passenger jet airliners into the World Trade Center’s towers 1 and 2, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Over 3000 people were directly killed that day in those events, over 25,000 were injured, with scores of others suffering long-term health injuries, many of which have been fatal.
The weather that Tuesday morning couldn’t have been more perfect. Skies were clear up and down the entire Eastern United States and seaboard, from Maine to Mississippi – visibility was unlimited, as pilots would say – not a cloud in the sky. And then, at 0845 Eastern Time Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, September 10, 2020
Do you ever read a headline, and then desperately wade through the gobbledygook mumbo-jumbo to find the gem, or answer to the question posed very near the end of the article?
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, September 10, 2020
History is sometimes unimaginably ugly.
Especially when it concerns slavery.
By reading this, perhaps you can gain a greater understanding of how this abusive practice was effectively translated into vigilantism, and lynch mobs.
Perhaps as well, it’s easy to see the roots of the modern practice of “stop and frisk” which was used widely in New York City, most notably under then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg, then a Republican, and other such stops and detainments simply because of the individual’s skin color, or ethnicity.
Beginning in 1757 Georgia’s colonial assembly required white landowners and residents to serve as slave patrols.
Asserting that slave insurrections must be prevented, the legislature stipulated in “An Act for Establishing and Regulating of Patrols” that groups “not exceeding seven” would work in districts twelve miles square. The statute, modeled on South Carolina’s earlier patrol law, ordered white adults to ride the roads at night, stopping all slaves they encountered and making them prove that they were engaged in lawful activities. Patrollers required slaves to produce a pass, which stated their owner’s name as well as where and when they were allowed to be away from the plantation and for how long. Patrols operated in Georgia until slavery was abolished at the end of the Civil War (1861-65).
A Georgia statute ordered White adults to ride the roads at night, stopping all slaves they encountered and making them prove that they were engaged in lawful activities. Patrollers required slaves to produce a pass, which stated their owner’s name as well as where and when they were allowed to be away from the plantation and for how long. From The Underground Railroad, by William Still
Whites could hire substitutes to patrol for them; absentees were fined. Much of the burden of patrol duty fell to non-slaveholders, who often resented what they sometimes saw as service to the planter class. The Chatham County grand jury complained in the mid-1790s about the difficulty it faced in enforcing the patrol requirement. By the early nineteenth century it became necessary to pay people to perform what had been voluntary unpaid service. In 1819 Savannah‘s city watch received one dollar for every evening they served and shared in any reward for the forced return of fugitive slaves.
To disperse any nighttime meetings, patrollers visited places where slaves often gathered. Owners feared such gatherings allowed slaves to trade stolen goods for liquor and other forbidden items.
River patrols were organized in Savannah and Augusta to combat “midnight depredations” and to
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, September 7, 2020
The year 2020 has been one of black swans, to be certain.
Some would say 2016 was the precursor, when Hillary won the Popular Vote, and Trump was elected.
Who saw it coming, eh?
Certainly not the pollsters.
One man did, however, and since 1984 he has CORRECTLY predicted every Presidential Election’s outcome… including Trump’s impeachment.
More on that in a moment.
But just so we’ll understand one another, the term “black swan” in this and other such contexts (not necessarily politically related, however), is the moniker given to events that are outside the context of normalcy, or the normally-expected, are exceedingly rare, difficult to predict, may often have severe consequences, and in hindsight, often have broad acceptance that the event(s) in question were characterized as obvious.
In fact, I would suggest that many who supported the Current White House Occupant now, and then, would also consider him a “black swan” president.
His promises were fairly straight-forward (though neither drastic, nor sweeping, and have been done previously):
First: I am going to re-institute a 5-year ban on all executive branch officials lobbying the government for 5 years after they leave government service. I am going to ask Congress to pass this ban into law so that it cannot be lifted by executive order.
Second: I am going to ask Congress to institute its own 5-year ban on lobbying by former members of Congress and their staffs.
Third: I am going to expand the definition of lobbyist so we close all the loopholes that former government officials use by labeling themselves consultants and advisors when we all know they are lobbyists.
Fourth: I am going to issue a lifetime ban against senior executive branch officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
Fifth: I am going to ask Congress to pass a campaign finance reform that prevents registered foreign lobbyists from raising money in American elections.
Not only will we end our government corruption, but we will end the economic stagnation.
The promise is one thing. However… the reality is much different.
Consider these ACTUAL EVENTS of his administration which call into question the veracity of his claims, and the integrity of his administration:
• His former-Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Scott Pruitt, was living in super-cheap housing courtesy of the wife of a man who was lobbying the EPA, and the administrator Scott Pruitt.
• Trump opened the door for 281 lobbyists to work for his administration in his first three years. Former lobbyists now run four agencies, including the departments of Defense and Energy.
• A former coal lobbyist was put in charge of regulating air pollution.
• Trump fired the State Department Inspector General at the request of the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, because the IG was investigating how Pompeo used staff from the Department of State to run personal errands for him, such as picking up takeout food orders, and the family dry cleaning.
• Pompeo spoke at the Republican National Convention, live from Jerusalem, while on a taxpayer-funded trip.
• The Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security used the White House to stage a naturalization ceremony starring the president, which became a video segment for the GOP convention.
• Trump’s White House Press Office recently announced they have compiled a “very large dossier” on Washington Post writer David Fahrenthold, after he reported that “taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $900,000 since he took office.” (Remember Nixon’s “Enemies List”?)
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 Friday, September 4, 2020
Well… they did it!
Russian coronavirus vaccine – A coronavirus vaccine developed in Russia shows safety, nad causes an antibody response in small human trials, according to research published in Lancet Friday, September 4, 2020.
They have developed TWO different versions of the vaccine.
Here are pertinent excerpts from the research published in The Lancet, the world’s leading, and among the oldest, scientific and medical journal.
“We developed a heterologous COVID-19 vaccine consisting of two components, a recombinant adenovirus type 26 (rAd26) vector and a recombinant adenovirus type 5 (rAd5) vector, both carrying the gene for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike glycoprotein (rAd26-S and rAd5-S). We aimed to assess the safety and immunogenicity of two formulations (frozen and lyophilised) of this vaccine.”
“In conclusion, these data collectively show that the heterologous vaccine based on rAd26-S and rAd5-S is safe, well tolerated, and does not cause serious adverse events in healthy adult volunteers. The vaccine is highly immunogenic and induces strong humoral and cellular immune responses in 100% of healthy adult volunteers, with antibody titres in vaccinated participants higher than those in convalescent plasma. Unprecedented measures have been taken to develop a COVID-19 vaccine in Russia. Based on our own experience in developing vaccines against Ebola virus disease and MERS, the COVID-19 vaccine has been developed in a short time. Preclinical and clinical studies have been done, which has made it possible to provisionally approve the vaccine under the current Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, September 2, 2020
To which I say,
GOOD!
It’s about damn time!
Joe Kennedy III, who is the 40-year old grandson of slain Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, challenged incumbent Ed Markey for the state’s upcoming U.S. Senate seat in the Democratic primary.
Kennedy lost.
It was a landmark, a high water mark, an event of immensely significant importance.
Perhaps it even intoned cataclysmic changes ahead.
Good ones, of course.
Just like “good trouble.”
The Boston Globe characterized Kennedy’s campaign style as an “increasingly bare-knuckled offensive,” while the headlines across the world were interesting… if not telling.
Let’s examine a few of the headlines from throughout the nation, and then, we’ll move along to WHY it’s a good thing that not-so-poor little Joe P. Kennedy III lost.
Here’s also a wee bit of background to aid understanding.
Joseph Patrick Kennedy, Sr. (wearing glasses) family portrait
The Kennedy name, of course, is renown in American politics. And for perspective, Joe P. III is the grandson of the slain Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (1925-1968). And Joe P. III is named for the family progenitor, Joseph Patrick Kennedy (1888-1969) – long rumored by numerous sources to have been a bootlegger during Prohibition, which, if the sources were lying, and the claim not true, would question their motives, since the senior Kennedy has long been dead.
“If America had an aristocracy, the most titled bloodline would certainly be the Kennedys. In the past half century, one Kennedy after another has occupied nearly every political position America has to offer, including the roles of congressman, senator, ambassador, mayor, SEC chairman, state representative, city councilman, and, of course, President.
“The sustaining force behind the Kennedys reign is hardly a secret. Thanks to Joseph P. Kennedy, who made a fortune from insider trading only to later chair the SEC, the family is fabulously rich. But exactly how much is America’s first family worth? Forbes pegs the extended family’s fortune at $1 billion.
“Protected by a labyrinth of trusts, as well as tax strategies that would make Joseph P. Kennedy proud, the Kennedy fortune now spans approximately 30 family members, and includes the surnames Shriver, Lawford and the Smith. At nearly $175 million as of 2013, Caroline Kennedy is the richest descendant by far, but more modestly endowed relatives, such as Robert Shriver, who is running for Los Angeles County Supervisor, still possess assets in the tens of millions, according to public financial disclosures required of government officials.
“The bulk of the family’s wealth is held in dozens of trusts, which range in value from tens of thousands to as much as $25 million. Nearly all are managed by Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises, a family office located in New York City with assets dating back to 1927, according to Christopher Kennedy, a member of the Kennedy family who sits on the office’s board.
“Joseph P. Kennedy’s choice to place his fortune in trusts is possibly the single most critical reason why the family wealth is still around today. The most obvious benefit was to protect the fortune from the prying fingers of ne’er-do-well heirs, said Laurence Leamer, who wrote three Kennedy biographies. Trusts often prevent beneficiaries from tapping more than 10 percent of principal, said Rick Kruse, principal at Kruse and Crawford, which offers estate management advice.
“The trusts also protect the family assets from another set of prying fingers: Uncle Sam’s. By holding assets in so called “dynasty trusts,” which are passed from heir to heir for decades, if not longer, the Kennedy family fortune is largely insulated from the estate tax, Kruse said. Handled correctly, a dynasty trust could potentially maintain an un-taxable fortune indefinitely. The oldest Kennedy trust on record dates back to 1936.
“Like politics, tax savvy seems to run in the Kennedy family. The most recent example is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, August 28, 2020
All matters of politics, policy and governance aside, yes, aside, what this matter speaks to is the lack of authenticity and lack of veracity of polling techniques. And mathematically, that is problematic.
Oh, perhaps you’re not interested in math, you may say.
“He told me that they fundamentally undercounted the Trump vote;
that the Trump voter is not a voter in every single election,
that they come out for Trump,
so they’re hard to count.”
Roaches come out when you turn off the light.
Turn it on and they scatter.
Very well, then… move along, move along – there’s nothing here to see.
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 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 Thursday, August 20, 2020
Oh!
The irony!😂
During his speech, a common housefly first circled around his mouth, landed briefly on his upper lip, and then landed on Mike Bloomberg’s RIGHT eyebrow as he spoke!😜 (viewer’s LEFT)
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.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 16, 2020
“You know, the first Republican President once said, ‘While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no Administration by any extreme of wickedness or folly can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years.’
“If Mr. Lincoln could see what’s happened the last three-and-a-half years, he might hedge a little on that statement. But, with the virtues that are our legacy as a free people and with the vigilance that sustains liberty, we still have time to use our renewed compact to overcome the injuries that have been done to America these past three-and-a half years.”
Thought to be the last beardless portrait of Lincoln, this photo was made August 13, 1860 in Springfield, IL by Preston Butler, “for the portrait painter, John Henry Brown, noted for his miniatures in ivory. … ‘There are so many hard lines in his face,’ wrote Brown in his diary, ‘that it becomes a mask to the inner man. His true character only shines out when in an animated conversation, or when telling an amusing tale. … He is said to be a homely man; I do not think so.'”
Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-2004) served two terms as President of the United States 1981-1989
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, August 15, 2020
Here’s another argument for the jus soli case for citizenship, versus the jus sanguinis.
Just in the case you may not be aware of the two terms’ meaning, they are Latin literally interpreted as “law of soil,” and “law of blood,” more commonly referred to as “by soil,” and “by blood,” respectively, and refers to the principle of citizenship being obtained from the location of one’s birth, and of citizenship obtained through ancestry of one’s parents’ citizenship.
Here’s a simple explanation to further clarify:
• Under the principle of jus soli, one who is born in San Francisco, California is a citizen of that city, state, and of the United States.
• Under the principle of jus sanguinis, one who is born in San Francisco to parents of Indian and Jamaican extraction is Indian and Jamaican.
Once again, jus soli refers to “the principle that a person’s nationality at birth is determined by the place of birth,” while jus sanguinis refers to “the principle that a person’s nationality at birth is the same as that of his natural parents.”
Historically, jus sanguinis came from Roman law, whereas jus soli came from English common law.
Before proceeding further, some background is helpful for greater understanding.
Kamala Harris with her Jamaican grandmother Miss Chrishy in Browns Town Jamaica
The jus soli system, sometimes also referred to as the “birthright citizenship” system, is common in developed nations that desire to increase the number of their own citizens (population).
A few nations that use jus soli are:
• Argentina
• Barbados
• Brazil
• Canada
• Colombia
• Jamaica
• Mexico
• Pakistan
• Peru
• United States
• Uruguay
Several European nations follow the principle of jus sanguinis, which generally means that citizenship is conferred by birth, and is obtained from a parent who is already a citizen of, or naturalized in that nation. The principle of jus sanguinis is contrary to jus soli because, according to the principle, the mere fact that a person is born in a nation does not, in and of itself, confer citizenship.
Some European nations that use jus sanguinis are:
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Ireland
• Luxembourg
• Portugal
• Romania
• Spain
• United Kingdom
Some nations have a blend of the two – soli, and sanguinis – although one is typically predominate.
If a nation adheres to the “jus sanguinis” or right of blood system, the child inherits a parent’s citizenship. So, for example, if your father and mother were each from a different jus sanguinis nation and you were born in a jus soli jurisdiction, you would be able to claim citizenship in three countries.
And, as is often the case, there are exceptions to whatever rule a nation follows because of treaties with other nations, including, for example, the determination of citizenship of children born to foreign diplomats, who are recognized as being citizens of the country that sent their parents there, as is done in the United States.
As well, people born on a foreign flagship or airliner are entitled to claim citizenship in the country under whose flag the vessel was registered.
The 14th Amendment, Section 1 states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 13, 2020
Charlotta Bass (right) Progressive Party VP candidate, and Progressive Party Presidential candidate Vincent Hallinan, 1952
You’ve come a long way, baby.
Kudos to Kamala Harris on being selected by former Vice President Joe Biden to be his, and the Democratic Party’s Vice Presidential candidate. Truly, it’s a momentous moment in time.
But Senator Harris isn’t the first Black woman to have ever been a Vice Presidential pick.
Los Angeles newspaper owner and political activist Charlotta Bass (1874-1969) was.
She began her career as a conservative Republican, but by the 1940s, however, she had made a singificant political transition.
And in 1948 she supported Progressive Party candidate Henry Wallace in his unsuccessful bid for the Presidency.
Four years later, she was nominated to be the Vice Presidential nominee on the Progressive Party ticket.
She was the first African American woman to carry a political party’s nomination for the second highest office in the land.
Her acceptance speech to be the Progressive Party’s VP candidate was given at the Chicago convention of the Progressive Party on Sunday, March 30, 1952, and appears below.
I stand before you with great pride.
This is a historic moment in American political life.
Historic for myself, for my people, for all women.
For the first time in the history of this nation a political party has chosen a Negro woman for the second highest office in the land.
It is a great honor to be chosen as a pioneer. And a great responsibility. But I am strengthened by thousands on thousands of pioneers who stand by my side and look over my shoulder—those who have led the fight for freedom—those who led the fight for women’s rights—those who have been in the front line fighting for peace and justice and equality everywhere. How they must rejoice in this great understanding which here joins the cause of peace and freedom.
These pioneers, the living and the dead, men and women, black and white, give me strength and a new sense of dedication.
I shall tell you how I come to stand here. I am a Negro woman. My people came before the Mayflower. I am more concerned with what is happening to my people in my country than in pouring out money to rebuild a decadent Europe for a new war. We have lived through two wars and seen their promises turn to bitter ashes. Two Negroes were the first Americans to be decorated for bravery in France in World War I, that war that was fought to make the world safe for democracy. But when it ended, we discovered we were making Africa safe for exploitation by the very European powers whose freedom and soil we had defended. And that war was barely over when a Negro soldier, returning to his home in Georgia, was lynched almost before he could take off his uniform. That war was scarcely over before my people were stoned and shot and beaten in a dozen northern cities. The guns were hardly silenced before a reign of terror was unloosed against every minority that fought for a better life.
And then we fought another war. You know Dorie Miller, the spud peeler who came out of his galley to fight while white officers slept at Pearl Harbor. And I think of Robert Brooks, another “first Negro”, and of my own nephew. We fought a war to end fascism whose germ is German race superiority and the oppression of other peoples. A Negro soldier returned from that war—he was not even allowed to take off his uniform before he was lynched for daring to exercise his constitutional right to vote in a Democratic primary.
Yes, we fought to end Hitlerism. But less than 7 years after the end of that war, I find men who lead my government paying out my money and your money to support the rebirth of Hitlerism in Germany to make it a willing partner in another war. We thought to destroy Hitlerism—but its germ took root right here. I look about me, at my own people—at all colored peoples all over the world. I see the men who lead my government supporting oppression of the colored peoples of the earth who today reach out for the independence this nation achieved in 1776.
Yes, it is my government that supports the segregation by violence practiced by a Malan in South Africa, sends guns to maintain a bloody French rule in Indo-China, gives money to help the Dutch repress Indonesia, props up Churchill’s rule in the Middle East and over the colored peoples of Africa and Malaya. This week Churchill’s general in Malaya terrorized a whole village for refusing to act as spies for the British, charging these Malyan and Chinese villagers who enjoyed no rights and no privileges—and I quote him literally—“for failing to shoulder the responsibility of citizenship.” But neither the Malayan people—nor the African people who demonstrate on April 6—will take this terror lying down. They are fighting back.
Shall my people support a new war to create new oppressions? We want peace and we shall have freedom. We support the movement for freedom of all peoples everywhere—in Africa, in Asia, in the Middle East, and above all, here in our own country. And we will not be silenced by the rope, the gun, the lynch mob or the lynch judge. We will not be stopped by the reign of terror let loose against all who speak for peace and freedom and share of the world’s goods, a reign of terror the like of which this nation has never seen.
Postcard with a photograph of a young Charlotta Bass, c.1901-1910. The photograph may have been taken in Providence, Rhode Island, where Bass (then Charlotta Spears) lived with an older brother and worked at the Providence Watchman, an African-American newspaper. From the Charlotta Bass / California Eagle Photograph Collection, 1880-1986, Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research, Los Angeles, CA.
For 40 years I have been a working editor and publisher of the oldest Negro newspaper in the least. During those 40 years I stood Read the rest of this entry »
Geraldo Rivera told President Trump during an interview Thursday that Asian friends of say the term “China virus” has “a racial overtone.”
Geraldo Rivera
Rivera, speaking to the president on hisWTAM radio showout of Cleveland, asked Trump about his repeated use of “China virus” to refer to the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19.
“I have some Asian friends who say, you know, that it’s not very polite, that they worry that it has a racial overtone,” Rivera said.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Howard Stern, 2016
Quit now, while you’re ahead.
Sometimes, life comes to us unannounced, but not unexpectedly. At other times, we’re stupefied by what occurs… even though, perhaps, we shouldn’t be.
Our friends – the ones who tell us things we don’t often want to hear, such as telling us “NO!”, are the very ones to whom we often ought be listening.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, July 20, 2020
As of this date today, July 20, 2020, 183 days have passed since January 20, 2020 – when COVID-19 was discovered in the United States.
As of this date at 09:35:04 have been 140,563 (and counting) deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, aka COVID-19, in the United States. (Death totals in the US include confirmed and probable, in accordance with CDC guidelines as of April 14.)
Before proceeding further, we need to obtain some history for clarity, and perspective – because, you know… it’s all in how you look at things.
• January 20
First U.S. case of COVID-19 reported, a 35-year-old man in Snohomish County, Washington, who had traveled with his family to Wuhan, capital city of the Hubei Province, China.
• January 30
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the first person-to-person transmission of COVID-19 in the United States from a woman who had traveled to Wuhan, China, and returned to the USA on 13 January, whose spouse became the 6th known positive case of COVID-19 in the United States, and 1st case in Chicago, and the 2nd case in IL. Dr. Ngozi O. Ezike, MD, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health made the announcement.
(https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/chicago-coronavirus-patient-infected-spouse-in-1st-human-to-human-case-in-us-cdc/2210301/)
The second known COVID-19 related death occurred in Santa Clara County California. Following autopsy results in mid-to-late April, the Santa Clara County California Medical Examiner’s office reported on April 21 that the second known COVID-19 related death occurred in United States, the first COVID-19 related death was previously thought to have occurred in Kirkland, Washington on February 29. The NYT reported that, “The virus has an incubation period of 14 days and people who die of it are often sick for at least three weeks, so the individual who died on Feb. 6 could have been infected — and transmitting the infection to others — in early January, experts said.”
(https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/coronavirus-updates.html)
(https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-21/autopsies-reveal-first-confirmed-u-s-coronavirus-deaths-occurred-in-bay-area-in-early-february)
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, July 10, 2020
Quite a feat, eh!?!
Amidst the turmoil, cacophony, and carnage STILL being caused by COVID-19, there stands ONE SHINING EXAMPLE of EVERYTHING that was and is being DONE RIGHT!!
“Established in 1920, the Maryland Baptist Aged Home is the oldest African-American owned and operated Nursing Home in the state of Maryland. It is governed by the Board of Trustees of the United Baptist Missionary Convention. The MBAH is a non-profit 501(c)(3) 29-bed facility providing short and long term care to all residents without regard to race, color, sex, religion or national origin. Residents served by MBAH enjoy a family oriented setting. We take a proactive approach to the development and execution of individualized resident care. We provide multi-disciplinary team approach with emphasis on respect, compassion and professionalism.”
So, now with well over 3.1 million COVID-19 cases, and untold numbers of deaths STILL occurring, in the United States from infection with COVID-19, how did they do it?
Amna Nawaz: So, everyone knows the numbers, right? When you look at COVID deaths in long-term care facilities around the country, they make up some 40 percent of all COVID deaths in the nation. In Maryland, I think the number is over 60 percent. How did you beat the odds?
Rev. Derrick DeWitt: Well, I think the key was early, early mitigation, early proactive steps to make sure that this disease did not enter into our nursing home.
And one of the things that I did was, I just listened to the news around the world and how this was affecting other countries. And then, when I heard — when I heard the president say, we only had 15 cases, and he thought that, by the end of the week, it would be zero. I knew that it was time that we take action.
Amna Nawaz: I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but it sounds like you basically didn’t believe the president and took early action to lock down. Is that correct?
Rev. Derrick DeWitt: Well, that’s correct, in a sense. I mean, I think us being in an underprivileged and underserved area of Baltimore City, we have kind of gotten used to the fact that, if help is going to come, it’s probably going to come too late, so we need to be prepared to take care of ourselves.
Amna Nawaz: So, tell me a little bit about what exactly you did. When you say you acted early, what steps did you put into place back in February?
Rev. Derrick DeWitt: Well, the first thing we did, probably very end of February, 1st of March, we locked down the facility. We allowed no visitors in or out.
We knew that, if the disease was going to get into the nursing home, it was going to come from the outside. And probably it was going to be an employee that brought it in.
So, we have a very rigorous screening process when they come to work. And it’s almost an hour-to-hour detail on what you did the 12 hours or 14 hours that you weren’t at work. Who did you see? Who were you with? We Read the rest of this entry »
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 Thursday, July 2, 2020
That it has become necessary to PROTECT a United States Military Service Member from retaliation by the President and/or his administration, is substantial evidence that corruption has occurred.
“Dad, I’m sitting here today, in the U.S. Capitol talking to our elected professionals — is proof that you made the right decision 40 years ago to leave the Soviet Union. Do not worry, I will be fine for telling the truth.”
– LTC Alexander Vindman, United States Army, member of the National Security Council, opening statement before the House Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019 receiving testimony concerning President Trump’s call to Ukraine
“Our military is supposed to be the ultimate meritocracy. It is simply unprecedented and wrong for any Commander in Chief to meddle in routine military matters at all, whether or not he has a personal vendetta against a Soldier who did his patriotic duty and told the truth — a Soldier who has been recommended for promotion by his superiors because of his performance. I won’t just sit by and let it happen, and neither should any of my colleagues. This goes far beyond any single military officer, it is about protecting a merit-based system from political corruption and unlawful retaliation.”
–– Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), retired LTC U.S. Army helicopter pilot, Iraq War veteran
“I will not be lectured about what our military needs by a five-deferment draft dodger.”
–– Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), retired LTC U.S. Army helicopter pilot, Iraq War veteran, on U.S. Senate floor, January 2018
Duckworth Threatens To Block Military Nominees Unless Impeachment Witness Vindman Gets Promotion
By John Bresnahan and Marianne LeVine
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Thursday announced she’ll hold up the confirmation of more than 1,000 military promotions until Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirms that the promotion of impeachment witness Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman will move forward.
Duckworth, a retired Army officer who lost both legs because of wounds sustained in the Iraq War, said she intends to block 1,123 promotions until Esper “confirms in writing that he did not, or will not, block the expected and deserved promotion” of Vindman to colonel.
The move by the Illinois Democrat raises the stakes amid reports that the White House could nix Vindman’s promotion from a list of officers set to move up the ranks.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, July 2, 2020
John C. Calhoun…
The very name brings chills to those who hear it mentioned.
And it should.
Calhoun was not merely a segregationist, but an open and unashamed advocate of slavery.
On Monday, February 6, 1837, on the floor of the United States Senate, John C. Calhoun of South Carolina delivered a speech in which he characterized slavery as “a positive good.”
However, Senator Calhoun’s speech before the Senate is largely absent from the official record, even though there are some extant authenticating sources.
That is, the official record of the proceedings in that era was called “Congressional Globe” and as the predecessor to the modern “Congressional Record” (a verbatim document which succeeded the Globe) it is substantially different, insofar as the Globe’s contents are NOT a verbatim source (like the Record is today), and instead, are the characterizations of a recorder(s), and read much like the minutes of a meeting.
Today, in the Congressional Record, one can read the exact words spoken by any person from the floor of either chamber – House, or Senate.
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 »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 22, 2020
On June 19, 1865, U.S. Army Major General Gordon Granger, along with his command, arrived in Galveston, in the then-District of Texas, he issued General Orders No. 3, and that day read aloud the following:
“The people of Texas are informed that,
in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States,
all slaves are free.
This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves,
and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.
The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages.
They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.”
This past Friday, 19 June 2020, marked the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth, a holiday celebrated in 46 states, and the District of Columbia, commemorating the abolition of slavery which occurs annually on June 19.
The date actually refers not to the end of legal slavery in the United States, but to the gap in time after the Emancipation Proclamation, and refers to the date the U.S. Army’s Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, in the then-District of Texas and made an official proclamation of the news that Lincoln had freed slaves in the 10 secessionist rebel Confederate states through the Emancipation Proclamation (EP).
To be certain, as a societal evil, slavery was and remains despicably abhorrent, and had long been practiced by humanity throughout history. Efforts to eradicate slavery in the United States were fraught with legal difficulties, most which seriously complicated matters, and placed the status of the newly emerging and growing nation known as the United States in perilous jeopardy.
A statue depicts a man holding the state law that made Juneteenth a state holiday is shown Wednesday, June 17, 2020, in Galveston, Texas. The inscription on the statue reads “On June 19, 1865, at the close of the Civil War, U.S. Army General Gordon Granger issued an order in Galveston stating that the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation was in effect. That event, later known as “Juneteenth,” marked the end of slavery in Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
An interesting feature, is the date and timing of General Orders No. 3, which reinforced, and supported the Emancipation Proclamation.
The Emancipation Proclamation – also known as “Proclamation 95” – was initially issued by Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, June 16, 2020
For the SECOND time, Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 “dashboard” has reported a total of U.S. COVID-19 related deaths which has surpassed the total of American deaths in World War I.
Screen shot of the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 dashboard made June 16, 2020 at 5:44:47 PM Central Time, which shows 116,788 COVID-19 deaths in the United States.
The dashboard data published today – June 16, 2020 – was reported to be “last updated at” 16 June 2020 at 4:56:18PM.
The screenshot of today’s report showing 116,788 American COVID-19 deaths was made 5:44:47 PM Central Time.
However… according to that same source – Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 dashboard – the last time America’s COVID-19 death toll surpassed the total number of American deaths in World War I was on June 8, when JHU’s COVID-19 dashboard claimed 116,933 American COVID-19 deaths.
Screenshot of Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 dashboard June 8, 2020 made at 11:14:19 AM CT showing 116,993 American COVID-19 deaths.
That screen shot, which was made June 8, 2020 at 11:14:19 AM Central Time, indicated that Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Two thoughts.
1.) I am no fan of the current President.
2.) The Current White House Occupant is not only a blithering idiot, and utter incompetent, but is a dictatorially-inclined abuser and bully.
That’s why he demands “loyalty,” rather than honesty and expertise. He micromanages, and fires anyone whom has any disagreement with him – no matter how minuscule.
And to be certain, as I have maintained for years, and continue to maintain, I am not now, nor have I ever been a member of any political party. I’m a GDI – God Damn Independent.
That’s also why ALL polls relating to his job performance/approval rating during the past 4 years have ONLY briefly – March 25 – April 6 this year, and May 15 – 19 – been above 46%.
That’s 12 + 5 days = 17 days. Only 17 days out of 1618 calendar days. Expressed as a percentage, that’s 1.0506%. In 4 years 5 months 5 days, that’s only 1 day out of every 95 days has been a day in which he had the approval of more than a minority of Americans – 46% – not even a plurality.
The majority – 54% – have never approved of his performance.
Not even once.
The highest his approval rating has been is 47.4% which occurred, oddly enough, on April 1, 2020.
Most of the time, his approval rating has floated between 40% and 44%. It’s now at 42.3%, with the lowest being 37.1% on December 16, 2017. Even his beloved Fox News has found that 1207 Registered Voters who were polled May 17-20 this year overwhelmingly disapproved of him by a 10 point margin, 44 to 54.
In fact, in the totality of all polls conducted since the term of his presidency began, by well-known, highly respected, and legitimate polling organizations such as Gallup, Pew Research, Marist College, Quinnipiac University, Harvard-Harris, Reuters-Ipsos, Emerson College Polling, Monmouth University Polling Institute, etc., the OVERWHELMING and EXCEEDINGLY VAST MAJORITY of all polls conducted since the first one which was done by Reuters from the period 1/20-1/24, NONE have ever been over 3 %age points spread.
So, it’s not even close.
But moreover, the claims made about him – that he is racist, and bigoted – merit examination, and warrant genuinely serious consideration.
And it is in that vein in which we must ponder the question:
Is Donald Trump racist?
The aphorism “the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree” is apropos here, because his late father, Fred J. Trump, was a well-known racist, and was once arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in New York City. And though at the time, it was not “front-page news,” per se, the report of his arrest was a matter of record which was published in the New York Times, and is validated by now-public Census records which verify his address, which was also published in the story.
“The predication for the Klan to march, according to a flier passed around Jamaica beforehand, was that “Native-born Protestant Americans” were being “assaulted by Roman Catholic police of New York City.” “Liberty and Democracy have been trampled upon,” it continued, “when native-born Protestant Americans dare to organize to protect one flag, the American flag; one school, the public school; and one language, the English language.”
“It’s not clear from the context what role Fred Trump played in the brawl. The news article simply notes that seven men were arrested in the “near-riot of the parade,” all of whom were represented by the same lawyers.”
Fred Trump, Donald Trump’s father, was arrested at a Ku Klux Klan rally in New York City, on Memorial Day 1927. “Brawls erupted in New York led by sympathizers of the Italian fascist movement and the Ku Klux Klan. In the fascist brawl, which took place in the Bronx, two Italian men were killed by anti-fascists. In Queens, 1,000 white-robed Klansmen marched through the Jamaica neighborhood, eventually spurring an all-out brawl in which seven men were arrested. One of those arrested was Fred Trump of 175-24 Devonshire Rd. in Jamaica.”
A contemporaneous story published about the matter in the “Daily Star noted that Trump was detained “on a charge of refusing to disperse from a parade when ordered to do so.””
As well, when he was aged 27, Donald found himself – along with his father – named in a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The charge?
Racial discrimination in housing practices.
Fred Trump, as enumerated in the 1930 U.S. Census. The address listed for “Fred C. Trump” is the same address given for Fred Trump in the 1927 story of his arrest at a KKK rally in the Jamaica neighborhood of New York City.
“In October 1973, the government accused Fred and Donald Trump of violations of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 at 39 Trump-built-and managed buildings in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.
“The Trumps were drowning in evidence of systematic racial discrimination. On at least seven occasions, prospective tenants had filed complaints against the Trumps with the human rights commission, alleging racially discriminatory patterns and practices.
“Investigative journalist Wayne Barrett, writing in the Village Voice, reported that the evidence of racial discrimination against the Trumps was overwhelming.”
“During their 63 years of marriage, Fred carried on a long-term affair with his secretary, according to Burleigh [journalist Nina Burleigh in her book Golden Handcuffs: The Secret History of Trump’s Women], who writes that Fred “was such a man of habit that he took her to lunch at the same Italian place near his office in Brooklyn for years.” Trump biographer Harry Hurt wrote that Fred was nicknamed “King of Miami Beach” for his rampant philandering in South Florida back in the day. But Donald himself judged it as a strong union: “I always told my father I made more money than him but he had a very successful marriage, he really did.”“
Again, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.
Some have asserted that support of Trump among the Black/minority community is/was significant, and helped in great part to put him into the White House. There’s no evidence to support that claim.
One only need examine his administration for STRONG anecdotal evidence. Dr. Ben Carson, MD is the token Black in his administration, and serves as head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – an agency often associated and affiliated with minorities.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 8, 2020
There’s been much “water under the bridge” in the last 50 years, or so.
Like it, or not, America has changed.
And frankly, not all change is good. Not all change is for the better. And we all recognize that fact, whether we voted, and voted for Trump, or someone else.
That’s a common unifier among us all regardless of what political affiliation – if any – we may have. We know that change has come, and some of it hasn’t produced the good it was purported to bring about.
Some of the change has been oblique, some of it has been blatant, some of it may have been justified, and some of it may have been a handout, or a head on a silver platter as a political favor.
Again, not all change is good, nor has all change been good. But neither is it all bad.
Change is necessary. We change diapers on babies regularly, and (should) change politicians regularly for the same reason – when they’re full of poop, they’re stinky, and dirty, and if left in place too long, will irritate the skin, and lead to infection.
In an interview article entitled “How Much Do We Need The Police?” by Leah Donnella, published June 6, 2020 on the NPR website, she spoke with Dr. Alex S. Vitale, PhD, Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College, and is a Visiting Professor at London Southbank University. For the past 25 years, he has consulted with police departments and international human rights organizations, served on numerous boards, conducted research, and authored numerous books, scholarly articles, and articles of public interest on matters of law enforcement.
In the interview, his observations were not merely prescient, but keen, some of which were, quite frankly, obvious – although at the time, we may not have noticed what would have occurred. But after problems did begin to emerge, we did nothing.
It’s the “Frosted Lucky Charms” mindset – thinking that if we do nothing, it’ll all be “magically delicious,” or miraculously go away… like the POTUS said of COVID-19 at a New Hampshire rally, February 10, 2020 when he said in part, that, “Looks like by April, you know, in theory, when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”
And now, as the saying goes, “the chickens have come home to roost.”
The fruit borne of the changes which have been made in many matters that do NOT pertain to police, that do NOT pertain to law enforcement, that do NOT require law enforcement intervention, that are merely either civil, health, or social matters, have been unfairly and unjustly thrust upon police whom have been tasked with responding to them.
In a very real way, they’ve been unjustifiably overburdened, and have by default, commanded to do many things OUTSIDE the scope of law enforcement. It’d be like asking a groundskeeper to also be a nanny. It’s also patently and preposterously absurd.
And, I’ve been saying that what we TRULY need to reinvigorate the economy since the onset of economic woes via the novel coronavirus, aka COVID-19, began to take its toll on our nation’s economy, is a wholesale reinvestment – top to bottom – in a repair, and expansion of our nation’s economic infrastructure.
While the “bailouts” for the individual citizens was good, and some of the Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses was also good, we STILL need to do MUCH, MUCH MORE!
And there’s something else which – of necessity – must be done. And that is, to CHANGE the Income Tax structure for ALL Americans, to expand and increase the Personal and Corporate Income Tax brackets (which since about 1980 has been compressed and reduced, so that now, the net effect is a flat tax), and to increase the rates upon the rich, wealthy, and well-to-do, and to lower, or eliminate them upon the impoverished, and disabled. And that includes ELIMINATING the Income Taxes Reagan imposed upon Social Security, and the “Paris Hilton Tax Cuts.”
Such a measure WILL “pay for itself” through enhanced, and expanded economic capability and capacity, and will prepare America for the next 50 or more years.
“The cost of deteriorating infrastructure takes a toll on families’ disposable household income and impacts the quality and quantity of jobs in the U.S. economy. With deteriorating infrastructure, higher business costs will be incurred in terms of charges for services and efficiency, which will lead to higher costs incurred by households for goods and services due to the rising prices passed on by businesses.
“As a consequence, U.S. businesses will be more inefficient. As costs rise, business productivity falls, causing GDP to drop, cutting employment, and ultimately reducing personal income.
“From 2016 to 2025, each household will lose $3,400 each year in disposable income due to infrastructure deficiencies; and if not addressed, the loss will grow to an average of $5,100 annually from 2026 to 2040, resulting in cumulative losses up to almost $34,000 per household from 2016 to 2025 and almost $111,000 from 2016 to 2040 (all dollars in 2015 value).
“Over time, these impacts will also affect businesses’ ability to provide well-paying jobs, further reducing incomes. If this investment gap is not addressed throughout the nation’s infrastructure sectors by 2025, the economy is expected to lose almost $4 trillion in GDP, resulting in a loss of 2.5 million jobs in 2025.
“Moreover, workers who are employed will earn lower wages, and in the long term, many higher paying jobs in technology and other leading sectors will be replaced by jobs that fulfill needs brought on by the inefficiencies of deteriorating infrastructure.
“Closing each infrastructure investment gap is possible, and the economic consequences caused by these gaps are avoidable with investment.”
We aren’t out of the woods yet… not by a long shot. Such economic prognostication is shared by many within, and without various universities, educational institutions, economic think-tanks, governmental, and non-governmental agencies throughout this, and other nations. And economic infrastructure spending would be like putting the country on a defibrillator, and giving it steroids, all at the same time.
By Scott Paul Scott Paul is president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.
There are two discussion topics that federal policymakers should be having right now: relief and recovery. Relief, for the estimated 40 million people this pandemic has put out of work as well as the millions of others impacted by the steps taken to slow its spread. Recovery, for the day when it’s safe to return to work but the demand for goods and services is still missing.
Some economists predict many jobs will simply disappear as industries use this moment to reorganize, compounding the economic crisis our nation faces.
But, as we all know, this isn’t the first time we’ve faced an economic crisis. In the 1932 presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt decisively beat President Hoover because of the latter’s inability to revive the economy in the early years of the Great Depression. Democrats eschewed Hoover’s volunteerism and leveraged the power of government to spur an economic revival, passing a landmark domestic preference bill that the lame duck president signed – the Buy American Act of 1933 – and then cleared the way as FDR expanded the federal response to the crisis.
The banking system was reorganized. Labor protections were established in exchange for regulating industrial production levels and price coordination. Farms were Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, May 28, 2020
As I’ve pondered the often tragic events of the past several days, weeks, and months of news items concerning the deaths and abuses of men – mostly, but of women as well – of color in our country, from states as far south as Georgia, to as far north in Minnesota, I weep.
When I see, read, and hear of deaths which would otherwise be called “murder” and “assault” at the hands of law-enforcement officials, by every day citizens, retired law enforcement officers, and even mere civilians in public parks, I not only cringe, but throw up in my mouth just a little bit.
The not-so-subtle cheapening of human life, particularly of Black lives, is not merely disgusting, it is fully and completely immoral and entirely irreligious, for it is neither pietistic, and certainly not humanistic.
“The Lost Cause” title page, 1866
And when I think about how and why we got to this point, and wonder how the demonic deification of diabolical deeds, and grandiose glorification of such evil and treachery occurred, I consider “The Lost Cause” as the root cause. It is the single-most practical perpetuation of all such wickedness which continues to live and roam among us.
In a much earlier entry entitled “Terrorism In the South,” and dated October 6, 2016, I wrote about some survivors of the American Civil War, whom have been long dead.
While I confess to not being a student of the Civil War, I do take a modest passing interest in a backgrounder of some of its lesser-known facts, such as the romanticizing efforts of “The Lost Cause” which was, and remains, an attempt to ennoble the matter of slavery, its savageries, and the war by Southerners which sought to perpetuate it.
The term “Lost Cause” emerged at the end of the Civil War when Edward Pollard, editor of the Richmond Examiner, popularized it with his book The Lost Cause, which chronicled the Confederacy’s demise. The term swiftly came into common use as a reference not only to military defeat, but defeat of the “southern way of life”—a phrase that generally referred to the South of the antebellum period, when plantationslavery was still intact. Since the late nineteenth century, historians have used the term “Lost Cause” to describe a particular belief system as well as commemorative activities that occurred in the South for decades after the Civil War. Commonly held beliefs were that the war was fought over states’ rights and not slavery, that slavery was a benevolent institution that offered Christianity to African “savages,” and that the war was a just cause in the eyes of God. Commemorative activities included erecting Confederate monuments and celebrating Confederate Memorial Day.
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy; frontispiece to author Edward A. Pollard’s 1866 book The Lost Cause
When describing the Lost Cause, historians have employed the terms “myth,” “cult,” “civil religion,” “Confederate tradition,” and “celebration” to explain this southern phenomenon. Many of these terms are used interchangeably, but they all refer to a conservative movement in the postwar South that was steeped in the agrarian traditions of the Old South and that complicated efforts to create a “New South.” For diehard believers in the Lost Cause, the term New South was repugnant and implied that there was something wrong with the values and traditions of the antebellum past. For individuals devoted to the idea of the Lost Cause, the Old South still served as a model for race relations (blacks should be deferential to whites as under slavery), gender roles (women should be deferential to their fathers, brothers, and husbands), and class interactions (poor whites should defer to wealthier whites). Moreover, individuals believed that the Confederacy, which sought to preserve the southern way of life, should be respected and its heroes, as well as its heroines, should be revered. Indeed, white southerners, for whom the Lost Cause was sacred, argued that the members of the Confederate generation fought for a just cause—states’ rights—and were to be honored for their sacrifices in defense of constitutional principle.
One could think of The Lost Cause as a “We’ve always done it this way” kind of thinking – which ironically, are also “The Last Six Words of a Dying Organization.”
Nevertheless, as many historians note, photographs of individuals from that era are exceedingly rare, as are those of the more infamous individuals such as William T. “Bloody Bill” Anderson, a notoriously wicked, savagely brutal, wantonly profligate, dissolutely treacherous guerilla terrorist gang leader of Confederate mercenaries who is widely thought to have personally killed at least 52 human beings, based upon a cord he kept in his pocket, which when found upon his corpse, is reputed to have had as many number of knots in its length.
You could think of “Bloody Bill” Anderson as the “MS-13 of the Civil War.”
To describe his actions and life as reprehensibly reprobate, cravenly pusillanimous, even proliferately profligate, ignominious and pervasive is not strong enough to convey the utter depths of depravity of his darkened soul.
As a young man aged 22, he quickly became a scumbag of the First Order by making money stealing and selling horses – a type of automobile theft of the antiquated day – all along the Santa Fe Trail, as far away as New Mexico.
After “Bloody Bill” Anderson’s father’s death – he was shot in self defense by A.I. Baker, a Confederate-sympathizing judge in the Council Grove, Kansas area, after being threatened by him because the judge had issued an arrest warrant for the son for horse theft after numerous complaints by area ranchers and farmers – he doubled down and became a murdering thief, wantonly hijacking and murdering travelers, stagecoaches, United States soldiers and civilians in and around Missouri.
His loyalty was to no one but himself, and was known to have remarked that he sought to fight as a Confederate mercenary – for money, rather than for principle, or fealty.
Bloody Bill shortly became mixed up with another ne’er-do-well guerilla leader named William Clarke Quantrill around May 1863, who headed the equally infamous guerilla terrorist group Quantrill’s Raiders, to which the equally infamous criminal brother duo of Frank and Jesse James briefly belonged. They, along with Cole Younger and his brothers Jim, John and Bob Younger, another notorious criminal cabal who were also part of Quantrill’s Raiders, and following the Civil War, joined with Jesse’s brother Frank James, to rob trains.
