June 19, 2021

The Delta Variant Could Create "Two Americas" Of COVID, Experts Warn

The Delta Variant Could Create “Two Americas” Of COVID, Experts Warn

If you are fully vaccinated, you are most likely to be safe. But in parts of the US where few people have gotten COVID vaccine shots, the Delta variant could trigger renewed deadly surges.

Experts say we may be about to see the emergence of “two Americas” of COVID:


One with high rates of vaccination where the Delta coronavirus variant poses little threat, and the other with low levels of vaccination that will be vulnerable to renewed deadly surges.
That divide is driven in large part by partisan politics, with vaccination rates highest in liberal cities and lowest in conservative strongholds across the Deep South and in rural areas across the nation.

“I call it two COVID nations,” Peter Hotez, a vaccine researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told BuzzFeed News.

SNIP
According to a CBS News/YouGov poll published this week, only 52% of Republicans said they were partially or fully vaccinated, and 29% said they have no intention of getting a vaccine. Among Democrats, 77% said they were already vaccinated, and just 5% said they weren’t intending to get the shots.

Vaccine rollout data at the county level also shows a strong relationship to voting in the 2020 presidential election.

“Somehow we have to break this idea that allegiance to conservatism and the Republican Party has to do with not getting vaccinated,” Hotez said. “It’s really troubling.”
MORE... + Comments following the article. 👍

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/delta-variant-vaccination-covid-surges#comments

June 19, 2021

"Don't Mine At Night" - Brad Knauber

(A parody of Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night".
Minecrafters version ) 🥂

June 18, 2021

The Flood Waters of Crimea.. they're swimming after the boss's boat!!

This is just weird.

"A state of emergency is in Russian annexed Crimea including the city of Kerch. Whole streets are submerged in water in parts of the city.
In this video, Sergey Aksenov, the head of Crimea, is on a boat while employees of the Ministry of Emergency had to swim behind"

https://twitter.com/HannaLiubakova/status/1405603997860470785

June 17, 2021

Yikes. Las Vegas temps. It's only mid-June 😢

Hope the whole grid holds!!

Wonder if you can even buy a home generator anymore, IF you can actually afford one..

June 17, 2021

Biden administration to expand program admitting young Central Americans

Biden administration to expand program admitting young Central Americans
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/politics/story/2021-06-15/biden-administration-to-expand-program-admitting-central-american-children%3f_amp=true


Young Central American migrants wait in La Joya, Texas, to be taken to a Border Patrol holding area in March. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)



SNIP
The Central American Minors program, as it is known, focuses on children and youths from the so-called Northern Triangle countries of the region just south of Mexico.
The countries, which produce the majority of migrants attempting to reach the U.S. border, are a priority target for President Biden in his efforts to improve the immigration system and make it more “humane” and orderly, a task he has assigned to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris, during a recent tour of Mexico and Guatemala, repeatedly emphasized the need for legal ways for migrants to travel to and remain in the U.S., reducing the illegal, chaotic and dangerous journeys that thousands attempt to make.

Snip
The Central American Minors program had allowed parents living legally in the U.S. to petition to have their children reunited with them. And it allowed those attempting to go to the U.S. to apply and await the processing of their applications in their home countries.

Former President Trump abruptly shut down the program in 2018, stranding more than 3,000 family-reunification cases already being processed.
MORE..

June 16, 2021

Ex-Air Force civilian pleads guilty to rigging contracts in exchange for $2.3 million in bribes

https://fcced.com/ex-air-force-civilian-pleads-guilty-bribery-166211645/amp/

A former civilian with the Air Force pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges that he rigged multimillion-dollar contracts for flight simulation technology and training in exchange for $2.3 million in bribes.


Keith Alan Seguin, 55, who worked for 28 years with the 502nd Trainer Development Squadron at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, admitted he conspired with contractor David Bolduc Jr. to rig a series of contracts so a company Bolduc co-owned, QuantaDyn Corp., would land much of the work. The scheme ran between 2006 and 2018.

Seguin pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy. He also pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and making false statements for stealing items meant for fulfilling some of the contract work and selling them online or to brokers, and for not reporting the money he made in the bribery scheme to the IRS.

SNIP
As part of his plea, Seguin admitted releasing confidential government information to employees of Booz Allen Hamilton and the engineering subsidiary Booz Allen acquired so they would pass through the work to QuantaDyn. In turn, QuantaDyn paid Seguin kickbacks.

Court records allege the two larger companies charged fees of up to 10 percent for subcontracting QuantaDyn and that the two large companies profited for doing little to no work.
The government is investigating Booz Allen Hamilton and the subsidiary, though neither company nor any of its employees have been charged.
MORE..


https://twitter.com/FinCrimeEdu/status/1405190765635117065

June 16, 2021

🖕🏼 Abbott Signs Resolution asserting Texas sovereignty under the 10th Amendment

https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1404907318823817221

Molly Jong-Fast
@MollyJongFast
Why don’t you just try to get your power grid to work?


Greg Abbott
@GregAbbott_TX
I just signed a Resolution asserting Texas sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not granted to the federal government by the US Constitution.

The Resolution officially notifies the President & Congress to cease acts of encroaching upon the powers of states.
11:22 AM · Jun 15, 2021
***************

You mean like VOTERS RIGHTS & BORDER WALLS??!!!

June 15, 2021

tRump to visit Tx Border with Gov Abbott 🤮 on Wed June 30th

HARLINGEN, Texas (KVEO) — Former President Donald Trump announced that he accepted Governor Greg Abbott’s invitation to visit the Southern Border by the end of the month.

“We went from having border security that was the envy of the world to a lawless border that is now pitied around the world,” Trump stated on a social media platform.

Trump stated they plan to visit the Southern Border on Wednesday, June 30. No other information is available at this time.

On Tuesday, Abbott announced he will speak along with Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and Speaker Phelan regarding the border wall on Wednesday, June 16 in Austin.

“We went from detain-and-remove to catch-and-release. We went from having border security that was the envy of the world to a lawless border that is now pitied around the world. Biden and Harris have handed control of our border over to cartels, criminals, and coyotes. Drug dealers, MS-13 gang members, human smugglers, sex traffickers, and the criminal elements of the world now have free reign. Hospitals and schools are getting crushed and public health is being sacrificed all in service of a radical left anti-borders agenda. Our brave border agents and courageous ICE officers have been illegally stopped from doing their jobs. Our Nation is now one giant sanctuary city where even dangerous criminals are being cut loose and set free inside the U.S interior on a daily basis.”

Former President Donald Trump stated on a social media platform.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.valleycentral.com/news/former-president-trump-governor-abbott-to-visit-southern-border/amp/

************

Don't bring that fuckface here!

Would be an appropriate day for the Tx power grid to take another shit on this State.

Assholes

June 15, 2021

Democratic Senate committee to invest $10 million in voter protection ahead of midterms

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1404809808096727043

Marc E. Elias
@marceelias
🚨NEW: This may be the biggest voting rights news of the day. @DSCC to invest at least $10 million to:
✅Highlight Republican efforts to suppress the vote.
✅Support litigation in key states.
✅Fund voter protection organizers on the ground.

***********

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/06/15/politics/dscc-voter-protection-midterms/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

Democratic Senate committee to invest $10 million in voter protection ahead of midterms

The new program -- named "Defend the Vote" -- will be a three-pronged effort that will highlight Republican efforts to suppress the vote, support litigation in key states and fund voter protection organizers on the ground.

June 15, 2021

D-NY REP Carolyn Maloney Release of Jan 6,2021 Oversight Docs

Just giving credit where credit is due.
Kudos Rep Carolyn Maloney D-NY

https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/new-documents-show-trump-repeatedly-pressed-doj-to-overturn-election-results

New Documents Show Trump Repeatedly Pressed DOJ to Overturn Election Results Before Inciting Capitol Attack
Jun 15, 2021 Press Release

Ahead of Hearing on Insurrection, Oversight Committee Releases New Evidence and Seeks Transcribed Interviews with Key Officials

Washington, D.C. (June 15, 2021)— Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, released new documents showing President Trump’s efforts to pressure the Department of Justice (DOJ) to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election.
At 2:00 p.m., the Committee will hold its second hearing on the events of January 6, 2021

These documents show that President Trump tried to corrupt our nation’s chief law enforcement agency in a brazen attempt to overturn an election that he lost,” Chairwoman Maloney said.
“Those who aided or witnessed President Trump’s unlawful actions must answer the Committee’s questions about this attempted subversion of democracy. My Committee is committed to ensuring that the events leading to the violent January 6 insurrection are fully investigated.”
MORE..