September 28, 2020

How much money has the Trump pResidency cost America?

This thought has been troubling me for some time.

Ever since I read that his protective Secret Service agents are required to stay in expensive Trump-owned facilities and rent pricey golf carts at taxpayer expense, I have wondered how much of our money he is blowing through. Particularly when it profits one of his properties and lines his own pockets.

Use of Air Force One and the White House for campaign purposes and for personal use. Huge tax giveaways to the rich and the corporations, some presumably with financial ties to himself and his family. The looting of protective gear including masks, leaving to shortages for medical workers on the front lines of the pandemic. Selling federal land to private interests. And how much did his gold toilet cost us?

His golf trips. His weekly trips to Mar-a-Lago. Making Secret Service agents stay at a Trump-owned property in Scotland at taxpayer expense an hour from where Trump was staying. These are likely just the tip of an iceberg of squandering public money.

I'm just citing these few examples off the top of my head. Surely skilled researchers can put together some realistic numbers. Maybe it's been done already.

The Biden-Harris campaign might want to put together some estimates, if there is enough time.

My fear is that after he is kicked or dragged out of the White House in January, and the amount of money he has cost us is finally added up and made public, we will discover that he has bankrupted our nation, landing us in debt for many years to come.

September 27, 2020

Maryland's Web-delivered ballots -- more than 110,000 have been requested -- must be hand-copied by po

I have a horrible feeling about this.

The Washington Post
By Erin Cox
September 25, 2020 at 5:39 p.m. EDT

The rush to vote from home this year left Maryland election judges with a burden that plagues no other state in the country: Ballots delivered online cannot be read by the state’s scanning machines.

To be counted, each of those ballots must instead be hand-copied by election judges onto a cardstock ballot.

And each week, more requests for those Web-delivered ballots are rolling into election offices around the state, dramatically increasing the pressure on a system built for a far different type of election.

A month ahead of the deadline, more than 111,000 people have requested Web-delivered blank ballots — nearly twice the volume of the previous election. About 924,000 voters have so far asked for ballots to be mailed to them.

More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/maryland-web-ballots-hand-copied/2020/09/23/73221310-f2bd-11ea-999c-67ff7bf6a9d2_story.html

September 24, 2020

The daring plan to save the Arctic ice with glass

BBC Future Planet
By Katya Zimmer
23rd September 2020

One of the most important, yet underappreciated, features of the Arctic sea ice is the ability of its blindingly white surfaces to reflect sunlight. For at least as long as our species has existed, the frozen seas at the top of our world have acted as a massive parasol that helps keep the planet cool and its climate stable.

Yet now, much of that ice is rapidly vanishing. Rising temperatures have locked the Arctic in a self-destructive feedback loop: the warmer it gets, the reflective white ice dissolves into darker, blue water, which absorbs more of the Sun’s warmth rather than reflecting it back into space. Warmer water accelerates melting, which means yet more absorption of heat, which drives further melting – and so on in a vicious cycle that is part of the reason why the Arctic is warming around twice as fast as the rest of the planet. This July, ice cover was as low as it had ever been at that time of the year.

As planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, some have been driven to explore desperate measures. One proposal put forward by the California-based non-profit Arctic Ice Project appears as daring as it is bizarre: to scatter a thin layer of reflective glass powder over parts of the Arctic, in an effort to protect it from the Sun’s rays and help ice grow back. “We’re trying to break [that] feedback loop and start rebuilding,” says engineer Leslie Field, an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University and chief technical officer of the organisation.

The melting of the sea ice has impacts far beyond the Arctic and its inhabitants. It will contribute to rising sea levels, and some say it’s already disrupting weather patterns around the globe. If we lose our protective white shield entirely – which some reckon could happen just decades from now – it could have the same warming effect as another 25 years of fossil fuel emissions at current rates, which would mean more intense droughts, flooding and heat waves. By rebuilding sea ice, Field hopes her approach will also restore its ancient function as a planetary air-conditioner and help counteract the effects of global warming.

More at link.

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200923-could-geoengineering-save-the-arctic-sea-ice

September 24, 2020

Here's what you can do if you're panicking over Trump trying to steal the election

Raw Story
Sarah K. Burris
September 24, 2020

If you read The Atlantic report and heard President Donald Trump announced he’ll demand they “get rid of the ballots,” you might be nervous.

...

Former Assistant Attorney General for Counterterrorism Joshua Geltzer penned a thread with ideas for what folks can do right now if you’re starting to panic and look for your passports.

“First, Electoral College reps, Members of Congress, governors, & Defense Department leadership can pledge to abide by election results regardless of any single candidate’s claims otherwise,” he explained.

In some states, electors are legally required to comply with the state’s vote, but that isn’t true for all of them. Americans should demand that their state electors pledge to abide by the vote even if the president requests otherwise.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/heres-what-you-can-do-if-youre-panicking-over-trump-trying-to-steal-the-election/

Much reassuring info at link.

September 23, 2020

We WILL kick their asses

Don't despair. Remember the BLUE WAVE of 2018?



People are exponentially more pissed than they were two years ago. And more determined than ever to boot out the bastard and his enablers.

"What? Over? Did you say 'over'? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!...

It ain't over now, 'cause when the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'." John Belushi as Bluto Blutarsky, Animal House

September 21, 2020

Trump's campaign reveals just how very little money they have left

Source: Raw Story


Sarah K. Burris
September 20, 2020

Former Vice President Joe Biden announced that his campaign brought in a massive campaign haul during the Democratic convention last month ahead of the August campaign finance filing. President Donald Trump has attempted to keep his campaign numbers hidden with a late filing, and by Sunday evening it was clear why.

Trump’s total haul for August, when he got a week’s worth of free media from the Republican convention, was just $61.7 million. The campaign spent almost all of it, $61.2 million.

The campaign still has about $900,000 in debt. His cash on hand is just $121 million in the bank.

Trump’s big donor support has dropped by 61 percent as he refuses to turnout for virtual events.


Read more: https://www.rawstory.com/2020/09/trumps-campaign-revealed-just-how-very-little-money-they-have-left/

September 19, 2020

Envelope addressed to Trump tested positive for ricin, officials say

By Devlin Barrett
September 19, 2020 at 4:30 p.m. EDT
The Washington Post

The FBI and Secret Service are investigating an envelope mailed to President Trump that tested positive for the poison ricin, officials said Saturday.

The piece of mail was apparently shipped from Canada, and a field test showed it contained ricin, according to an official familiar with the matter.

Ricin can be made from castor beans, but its effectiveness as a poison depends greatly on the care with which it is made; in some past ricin letter cases, the material was not concentrated enough to harm anyone.

The FBI’s Washington Field Office said in a statement that federal agents “are investigating a suspicious letter received at a U.S. government mail facility. At this time, there is no known threat to public safety.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/envelope-addressed-to-trump-tested-positive-for-ricin-officials-say/2020/09/19/01f681a2-fab1-11ea-be57-d00bb9bc632d_story.html

September 19, 2020

Wasn't early voting several weeks earlier in past election years?

Maybe my memory is faulty, but I thought early voting Maryland used to start in mid-October, not a few days before the election. Why is that?

I'm envious of the folks in Virginia who are already voting.

September 19, 2020

I've got a non-stop tummyache. Do you?

The worry and fear and stress have affected me so much in recent weeks that I can't stand wearing anything with a waistband.

It's not from weight gain; I've actually lost a few pounds. The stress is giving me a painful knot in the gut that won't quit.

Unfortunately I need to wear pants in order to go to the store or do yard work. But I'm going for the pants with the loosest, softest fit around the waist.

So if I should happen to bend over, and my loose pants happen to fall, and I inadvertently moon my neighbors or fellow shoppers, folks should accept this as the political message that it is.

September 19, 2020

Can the Democrats filibuster? nt