A REPORT
CARD FOR PRESIDENTS
Entirely
Reader-Supported Please Go Here. Thank You.
INSIDE: A Report
Card For Presidents; Siberia Is Burning; From Our Mailbox: A Public/Private
Partnership To Reduce Gun Violence; Our Polarized Positions; Climate Change;
Community, Home & Lifestyle; Earth; Ecology; Health; Good News, Not So Good
News; News From Our Sources; Rusty’s Infamous Uncle Seamus; Our World and
Beyond; Space; Technology; Funzone: Best of the Net; Travel; Masha & the
Bear, All Creatures Great & Small; Strange But True; About Us
A REPORT CARD FOR PRESIDENTS
By Rusty Miller, editor
Hi again, from the shores of the Salish
Sea: Our hearts go out to all those
impacted by the gunsmoke and urban carnage that seems to characterize America
I’d like to
see America
I’d like to
see a report card put together by the Judiciary and the Congress, just like the
ones many Americans ~ including me ~ had growing up. Each year, on January 1, they would be
distributed to Congress, who would then grade the president. He would need to keep a certain score to
remain in office and one allowing him to seek re-election.
I’m not an
adminstration expert but my sense is that it would not take a rocket scientist
to make this one fly. And not just over
the land of the free and the home of the brave, but perhaps even where you
live.
Thanks for
the ear, gang, and have a great week
.
Rusty
Northstar editor Merritt Scott “Rusty” Miller is a
journalist, author, editor and photographer living in Seattle, Washington
Photo
courtesy of Danil Barashkov, The Siberian Times https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/russia-spikes-clouds-rain-making-12911892
By Olya
Bereza, Associate Editor
Hi Rusty:
Unfortunately
not good news for environment from Siberia , Russia Greece
Initial inaction
of authorities who hoped that like before the fire will die off itself led to
drastic results. Expecting a good rain to help is not really a proactive
position especially if the rain is not forecast. The delay caused hundred of
people to sicken with smoke which has, at this writing, extended to the Urals. Authorities described it as "Siberia is burning". https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/blogs-trending-49196949
That has taken the social media by storm and is another example of how artists
and writers can use the Net to such powerful effect.
Also the Prime
Minister Medvedev appealed to the Prosecutor General, the Investigative
Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to verify the
version of the deliberate arson of forests in Siberia in order to conceal illegal methods
of logging.
Active phase
of fighting with fire started only in the beginning of August. The forces of
the Ministry of Emergency Situations and military are used. The Ministry of
Defense of the Russian Federation
Usually firemen
first seek to contain the fire by stopping its front from spreading, while
others work to surround it and work toward the front. Despite the adventure of aircraft
firefighting, it is often not feasible and for a variety of reasons but
primarily logistic.firemen on the ground extinguish the front of the fire and
not the entire fire itself so the flame will go further, and besides, at the
same time, ground firemen i.e. soldiers and emergency responders cut off this
front.
Estimates on
social media of what it would take to extinguish the fire by air included
30,000 flights of the aircraft IL-76 ,
which carries 42 tons of water over a range of 1,000 – 2,000 km/621 – 1,243
miles, in comparison to the more the modern amphibious aircraft Be-200 which
carries 12 tons.
To collect
water and refuel, you need the appropriate airports so the aircraft will not
need to fly long distances. Seldom are
these airports conveniently located in the wilderness. Drought can also dry up sources even if they
could be accessed by air.
Secondly, the topography
of the rivers and lakes is such that it is difficult to find a platform where
the amphibian could land on the water. Collecting
water by aircraft directly from a river requires two kilometers in a straight line.
The largest
straight section of the river here is slightly more than half a kilometer. Only
helicopters could help. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory
We live on one
planet so obviously heavy fires affect not only Russia
Military and
civil operators in 38 countries have operated the IL-76 in large numbers so
offering help could be a nice gesture of good will showing understanding that
Blue Planet is our shared dormitory, even if we all used to think about our own
separate private rooms (countries). Global calls as climate change shows how
outdated is that attitude.
Olya
Northstar columnist and associate editor Olya Bereza was born in the former Soviet Union and now lives in Ukraine
FROM OUR MAILBOX
A PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP TO REDUCE GUN VIOLENCE
Laina Farhat-Holzman
A short letter
to the San Francisco Chronicle proposed a brilliant solution to our national
plague of gun violence. The writer proposed that we nation-wide mandate
liability insurance for all gun owners, as we now do for automobiles, Both are
capable of human injury, death and property damage.
All that is
needed is for our Congress to mandate liability insurance for all gun owners.
The private enterprise insurance companies might like this mandate (lucrative
for them) and such policies could be priced according to the potential damage
these weapons can cause.
Anybody who
owns a military-style rifle, an instrument capable, as we have recently seen,
of murdering hordes of people in less than one minute, would have to buy a very
expensive policy, unlike a handgun owner who can only kill one person at a
time. How many assault weapon owners who are law abiding would want to assume
this expense? We give them a choice.
In addition,
an insurer could increase the premium for anyone who used a gun in committing a
crime, a convicted spousal abuser, or someone mentally unstable, as identified
by family or coworkers. If we cannot get a Congress with enough decency to
enact a real gun control law, we could at least make it so expensive that it
might be out of reach of anyone but criminal cartels (who need to be pursued
another way). Insurance can do what our feckless lawmakers cannot do, and this
method does not run afoul of the 2nd amendment, an outdated law
that should be cashiered by our legislators if they had the guts. Personal
lethal armories are not the same as “a well-regulated militia.”
Our lawmakers
do not seem to be able to defy the National Rifle Association, even though we
now know from the Mueller Report that this organization has received Russian
financing. Putin is delighted to have Americans killing each other with such
ease, something not possible in his own authoritarian state. There, only the State
can kill peaceful demonstrators, not armed White Nationalists.
Some sensible
bipartisan legislation has already been passed by the House of
Representatives. These bills have been passed on to the Senate, where
Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to bring these bills up for a
vote! Mr. McConnell has earned his new nickname of “Moscow Mitch.”
I cannot
imagine why Congress (both House, Senate) and the President would oppose such a
capitalistic solution that could be immediately enacted as mandating insurance
coverage for all gun owners. Nobody is taking their weapon away. Nobody is
weighing in on the comparative dangerousness of weapons. We would only demand
the same sort of responsibility of lethal weapon owners as we do for automobile
drivers.
If we need to
wait for legislation requiring military-automatic weapons to be surrendered to
the authorities (nobody needs one for hunting or self-defense), it will take
decades. If we try buying back such weapons as Australia New Zealand
The non-system
we have now faces another problem that nobody seems to be recognizing. Who
pays for the hospitalization, property damage, and funerals of gun-violence
victims now? Can you imagine being shot, taken to a hospital, and then being
billed for the care? Our current non-system depends on Internet money-raising,
iffy at best.
If we leave
this to the Insurance industry to sort out, we give them a chance to redeem
themselves for their unsatisfactory public service in healthcare. People in the
midst of chemotherapy for Cancer often have to fight Insurance Companies to pay
for drugs that they need. People injured in highway accidents are sometimes
faced by unexpected draconian bills if they need helicopter transport or are
taken to an “out of network” hospital in an emergency. Not acceptable.
Hospitals,
Insurance Companies, and those injured by uninsured drivers, along with the
hundreds of victims of automatic rifle slaughters, could instead benefit from
government-mandated insurance coverage that nobody is getting now. Agree? Send
this column around.
Laina Farhat-Holzman is a historian, lecturer, and author of God's Law or Man's Law. You may contact her at Lfarhat102@aol.com or www.globalthink.net.
OUR POLARIZED POSITIONS
There’s a
current tsunami of debate on several fronts. Among these are gun violence,
right/ left politics, economic inequality, race relations, immigration,
religion and gender issues. I’m sure I’ve left a few issues out. What they seem
to have in common is that they’ve become polarized. Issues should be
discussed, debated and eventually resolved. Instead we have finger pointing,
name calling and demonizing. The trend seems to boil down to “my side is
completely right; the other side completely wrong.” It’s a feel good
position, but it solves nothing.
The reality is
that every position has some truth and some falsehood. Some positions have only
a grain of truth, such as “our immigration policy is broken.” However, you can
have a grain of truth like this mixed with a basket of total
nonsense. Even the positions we agree with are a mix of truth
and untruth. Once we really recognize this, we can actually start talking to
other people as people rather than caricatures, either mindless puppets or
devils.
At a very deep
level we are all responsible for the truth and falsehood in the world. We are
connected, and each action we take ripples out and touches others, who in turn
touch people we will never meet.
As
intelligent, responsible people we have a duty to weigh every issue and
position and decide for ourselves the degree of truth and falsehood therein,
likely the most serious activity we can undertake.
Meade
Fischer is a widely-published travel writer, ocean-class kayaker, Northern California community activist and friend of 45
years. He can be contacted at http://www.meadefischer.com
CLIMATE CHANGE
Smithsonian Scientists Are Using Ginkgo Leaves To Study Climate
Change—They Need Your Help
COMMUNITY
EARTH
ECOLOGY
HEALTH
11 Best Foods For Your Immune System
Feeling The Heat? Here’s When Fans Can Help—And When They
Don’t—According To Science
GOOD NEWS
Pro Gamers Say Guns, Not Games, Are To Blame For Shootings
VIDEO: Three New Wolf
Pups Sighted In Northeast California
When Arizona Catches Fire,
Prisoners Step Up
Smokey Bear: From Cute To Buff,
And In Between
President Bill Clinton: Reinstate The Assault Weapons Ban Now
NOT SO GOOD NEWS
Maps: A Quarter Of Humanity
Faces Looming Water Crises
NEWS FROM OUR SOURCES:
Australian Broadcasting Corporation; British
Broadcasting Corporation; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; Moscow
Times; Reuters; Sightline
Daily; The Smithsonian Magazine;
TIME magazine;
US News & World Report
According to Rusty’s Infamous Uncle
Seamus, there are lots of things to do with a dead horse besides beating
it. Robert E. Lee and Roy Rogers had
theirs stuffed.
OUR WORLD AND BEYOND
Our world is richer because she walked
among us. Toni Morrison, Seminal Author Who Stirringly Chronicled The
Black American Experience, Dies At 88
No child on this planet deserves this. This Is What It's Like For El Paso Students Returning To School
After Losing A Classmate In A Shooting
I am not a fan of these little dudes but they are a splendid example of
how something so small can have such a resonant impact. How Mosquitoes Helped Shape The Course Of Human History
SCIENCE
IN GENERAL
Why Scientists Are Making Vodka In The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
SPACE
Skywatch: What’s Happening In The Heavens In August
Something Enormous Just Smashed Into Jupiter
A Crashed Spacecraft Might Have
Put Earth's Most Indestructible Organisms On The Moon
Check Out This Cool Video Map Of Known Exoplanets
A Mountain On Ceres
A Closer Look At Io's Weird
Volcanoes
TECHNOLOGY
Russia Is Floating ANuclear Power Plant Across The ArcticThese Guys Built A Flying Saucer Thatll Actually Flies PrettyWe
BEST OF THE NET
Kidnapped As A Newborn, US Marine Meets FBI Agent Who Found Him
Baby Learning How To
Gorilla | First Year On Earth | BBC Earth
TRAVEL
DAILY
10 QUESTION TRIVIA QUIZ: This one is from
Daily Email Trivia and delivered to me in mine.
There is also an opportunity, the site, to take more quizzes on a wide
range of subjects and to engage interactively and competitively.
A superpower no longer, a resource hungry and
repressive America Canada Pacific
Northwest and it is into this crucible and forge that the
cybernetic patrol boat Testament and her crew of three men and three women are
thrust. Individuals of duty and conscience both, when they join the other side,
all Hell breaks loose. A rollicking adventure for anyone who loves the sea, a
good yarn and characters who spring to life even as Testament herself leaps the
waves. For a $4.00
Kindle Book adventure you will remember for a lifetime, please go here.
BOOKS BY FRIENDS: MEADE FISCHER
Associate editor Olya Bereza is also the children’s
novelist Holley Dovetail. This is one of several of short novels for the young
and the young at heart. To
preview and/or purchase on amazon.com, please go here.
ALL CREATURES, GREAT AND SMALL
Photo courtesy
of: https://worldmostamazingrecords.blogspot.com/2012/01/amazing-giant-panda-endangered-species.html
I have a feeling there’s an
object lesson for us in this. Fossils Reveal Why Coyotes Outlived Saber-Toothed Cats
This should have a cuteness
warning label on it. Orangutan Jungle School: Discover A School Like No Other
SHORTS
STRANGE
BUT TRUE
ABOUT US:
The
Northstar Journal ~ now approaching its twelfth year ~ is an international
general interest online weekly which, while flying no flag itself, reaches readers
in 22 countries, where it is also shared with family, friends and associates. The Northstar Journal is on FaceBook and Nextdoor.com.
It is entirely reader supported. To contribute, please
go here. If you would like to
sponsor an edition or participate in some other way, please contact us at minstrel312@aol.com
Thank you and thanks for stopping by.
Have a good week. Rusty and Olya
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