Stephan: Here is some more good news from the Biden administration. Louis DeJoy, a particularly loathsome Trumpian orc who damaged the U.S. Postal Service so badly is going to be replaced. It will take a while, and several steps, but Biden is on the case.
Louis Dejoy, Trumpian orc
President Joe Biden this week took what could be the first steps necessary to replace USPS Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
In a statement on Monday, the White House explained that the president has moved to fill vacancies at the postal service’s Board of Governors, which has the power to name a new Postmaster General.
“Only the Board of Governors of the US Postal Service has the power to replace the Postmaster General,” the statement said. “The President can, however, nominate governors to fill vacancies on the board pending Senate confirmation.”
The statement noted that three vacancies are currently open on the board. Additionally, a fourth nomination would replace an existing member who is serving a hold-over year.
“President Biden’s focus is on filling these vacancies, nominating officials who reflect his commitment to the workers of the US Postal Service — who can deliver on the post office’s vital universal service obligation,” the White House added.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who was appointed during President Donald Trump’s administration, came under fire after he was accused of trying to undermine the postal […]
Stephan: If you or someone close to you has a baby, please read this and act accordingly. Clearly, there is not enough oversight and regulation of these corporations. It is very obvious that relying on the integrity of these companies is not the way to go because as this story describes no such integrity exists.
Credit: Getty
Gerber, Beech-Nut, HappyBABY and Earth’s Best Organic baby foods contain arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury.
A congressional report found many of the products made by the country’s largest commercial baby food manufacturers contain significant levels of toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury, which can endanger infant neurological development.
The report released Thursday from the House Oversight Committee’s subcommittee on economic and consumer policy found heavy metals in rice cereals, sweet potato puree, juices and sweet snack puffs made by some of the most trusted names in baby food.
Gerber, Beech-Nut, HappyBABY (made by Nurture) and Earth’s Best Organic baby foods (made by Hain Celestial Group) complied with the committee’s request to submit internal testing documents.
Campbell Soup, which sells Plum Organics baby foods, Walmart (its private brand is Parent’s Choice) and Sprout Foods declined to cooperate, according to members of the subcommittee.
The committee said the findings show the need for more stringent regulation of commercial baby food, including FDA standards for heavy metals, as well as mandatory testing for heavy metals.
Stephan: Another SR climate change prediction, unfortunately a sad one, has come to pass, as this report describes. The melting of the Himalayan glaciers is first going to cause flooding damage and death, and then leave people with inadequate water. How serious can this get? One point four billion people depend on the Himalayan hydrography, and millions within a few decades will be migrating away from where they are now, into central China and India., causing massive social disruption, and inevitable violence. This may all seem very far away, but that is not the way to see this. It is these internal migrations, and the United States is going to experience three climate change internal migrations, away from the coasts, out of the Southwest, and out of the Central states, that are going to be one of the most notable results of climate change.
People walk past a destroyed dam after a Himalayan glacier broke and crashed into the dam at Raini Chak Lata village in Chamoli district, northern state of Uttarakhand, India, February 7, 2021. Credit: Reuters/Stringer
NEW DELHI, INDIA – Around 125 people were missing in northern India after a Himalayan glacier broke and swept away a small hydroelectric dam on Sunday, with floods forcing the evacuation of villages downstream.
A wall of dust, rock and water hit as an avalanche roared down the Rishiganga valley deep in the mountains of Uttarakhand, a witness said.-
“It came very fast, there was no time to alert anyone,” Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives on the upper reaches of the river in Raini village, told Reuters by phone. “I felt that even we would be swept away.”
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said 125 people were missing but the number could rise. So far, the bodies of seven people had been recovered.
The disaster took place around 500 km (310 miles) north of New Delhi.
Uttarakhand is prone to flash floods and landslides and the disaster prompted […]
Stephan: It seems everything Trump touched as President either failed, was corrupted, or handled incompetently. It is amazing to me that so few people seem to recognize this factual reality. It is going to take years for the country to recover. Take the trade deficit as but one example proving what I am saying.
Grifter Trump
The U.S. trade deficit over the four years of President Donald Trump’s presidency soared to its highest level since 2008, despite his tough tariff tactics intended to bring it down, a new Commerce Department report showed on Friday.
The combined U.S. goods and services trade deficit increased to $679 billion in 2020, compared to $481 billion in 2016, the year before Trump took office. The trade deficit in goods alone hit $916 billion, a record high and an increase of about 21 percent from 2016.
Trump failed in one of his major trade policy goals because the U.S. trade deficit is driven more by macroeconomic factors, like how much a country spends and saves, than it is by tariffs and foreign trade practices, analysts said.
“The Trump administration never had a feasible plan for reducing the trade deficit,” explained Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “Their 2017 tax cut ensured that the U.S. as a whole would continue to spend more than it produced, hence the need for a current account […]
Toluse Olorunnipa and Michelle Ye Hee Lee, - Washington Post
Stephan: $519 million and still counting. All this resulting from the Trumpian insurrection, and now being paid for by you and me. As I read this story all I could think about is how many children with food insecurity could have been fed paid for with that money. Trump is gone but the wounds he inflicted on the country will take years to heal.
Plastic covers a statue that has what appears to be blood at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, District of Columbia on January 7, 2021. Trump supporters breached the building and damaged statues and others parts of the building. Credit: Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post
President Donald Trump’s onslaught of falsehoods about the November election misled millions of Americans, undermined faith in the electoral system, sparked a deadly riot — and has now left taxpayers with a large, and growing, bill.
The total so far: $519 million.
The costs have mounted daily as government agencies at all levels have been forced to devote public funds to respond to actions taken by Trump and his supporters, according to a Washington Post review of local, state and federal spending records, as well as interviews with government officials. The expenditures include legal fees prompted by dozens of fruitless lawsuits, enhanced security in response to death threats against poll workers, and costly repairs needed after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. That attack triggered the expensive massing of thousands of National Guard troops on […]
