Me Too. By Geniusofdespair

I cannot even begin to count the times I have been sexually harassed at the work place or there was  inappropriate sex speak. In those days, women just ignored it.  I suppose I was a minimizer and I can't imagine what I was signaling with body language.  My most interesting incident was when I was in my 30's.

My boss had a construction crew in his office. I went in and there was a drill of some sort sitting in the middle of the room. It had an electric cord and it sat about 3 feet high. I had never seen anything like it. I looked at my boss and said: "What is that?" 

In front of the half dozen men he said: "That is your vibrator."

All eyes turned to me. I said: "That isn't my vibrator, I kick start my vibrator" and I left the room.

My Prediction is Coming True, Holy Jesus! By Geniusofdespair

On May 5, 2017 I wrote about the heat wave in New Delhi, India where temperatures that week reached 111 degrees:

Remember, no air conditioning.... When are the 1,339 billion people of India going to start migrating because of weather? That will be the beginning of chaos. Forget border walls. Expect stampedes.

Today in the New York Times they had a photo essay about Southern India's worst drought in more than a century:

 

Because the husbands cannot get the farms to work because of rising temperatures, they commit suicide.

Dropping like flies...the music greats: Good Bye Fats Domino. By Geniusofdespair

Wiki:

Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 - October 24, 2017) was an American pianist and singer-songwriter of Louisiana Creole descent. He had 35 records in the U.S. Billboard Top 40, and five of his pre-1955 records sold more than a million copies, being certified gold.

From 1955-60, he had eleven top 10 hits.

The President's Tweet Says it All: A Love Fest! By Geniusofdespair

A "love fest" of one...

This morning President 45 thought he was part of a "Love Fest" with "Standing Ovations" from his fellow Republicans (except Flake and Corker).

Democrats it is time to take some action:

If you live in Arizona or Tennessee (or if you live in any red state) you must register as a Republican.

It is the primaries stupid.

We must get the more moderate Republican in the election in States where a Democrat can't possibly win. So my suggestion is register as a Republican (Independents too --although Arizona does let idependents vote with one party of your choice) and vote in the primaries. Flake and Corker can't get past the primaries that is why these more moderate conservatives decided not to run again. I can't imagine how they could find worse candidates but they will in these States.

Only Dems being RINO's can fix this situation until they open up primaries to everyone (they never will but this subversion of the process surely will help).

Independents, you are doing a disservice to your country. Until there is a 3rd party worthy of a vote you MUST register with one of the two, and in a red state, unfortunately, it must be a Republican. You can change back after the primary. No worries.

The bonus to this is: the Republicans will waste a lot of money on sending you crap. I have changed parties a half a dozen times, I just looked at my card and was surprised to see I changed back to Democrat. I had forgotten.

Good Morning, Miami~ by gimleteye

1) The Republican Party now belongs to Donald Trump. It is to blame for creating conditions that propelled Trump to the White House: a political culture built on stirring the fears and anxieties of the American people. Slash and burn tactics gave rise to a toxin spreading through democracy.

2) From Maplight.org : A dark money organization that spent $7 million to block former President Obama’s Supreme Court pick received just three donations between 2015 and 2016, but one transaction really counted: A single $17.9 million contribution from a mystery donor.

The Judicial Crisis Network (JCN), a Washington, D.C.-based conservative nonprofit, saw its revenues explode as it ran ads thanking Republican senators who successfully prevented Merrick Garland, Obama’s pick to replace Antonin Scalia, from receiving a confirmation hearing. It also sent millions of dollars to nonprofits that worked to elect conservative state judicial candidates and attorneys general. Earlier this year, JCN spent $10 million on ads to help secure Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation.

The organization’s most recent tax return, covering July 2015 to June 2016, shows JCN’s anti-Garland spending spree was fueled by three contributions. The $17.9 million donation accounted for 96.6 percent of its revenue. Before the donation, the organization had never reported more than $6 million in revenue since its 2005 creation.

3) Trump's U.S. ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft says she believes 'both sides' of climate science."

If this doesn't go viral, explain why.

Congressional Race Miami: District 27 Financials Due October Quarter. By Geniusofdespair

It appears that even though Ros-Lehtinen isn't running she is collecting money she can...I don't know what she can do with it.

For some reason candidate Matt Haggman wasn't on the above list.

Hurricane Maria's Impacts To Puerto Rico ... by gimleteye

Remember, four days out and tracking forecasts had Hurricane Irma positioned to hit Miami. But for a brush with Cuba, we might have faced a catastrophe similar to Maria's hit on Puerto Rico.

Think how your life would be different and changed, if that had happened. Then, consider choices you make at the ballot box, as a result of an honest assessment of the Trump response in Puerto Rico.

Polluted Water Pouring into Biscayne Bay at Seminole Boat Ramp in Coconut Grove. By Geniusofdespair

I wrote about this seawall hole at the Seminole Boat Ramp at Meyers Park spewing water into Biscayne bay on April 27th. It still is pouring water but look at it now from Hurricane Irma!!! After almost 7 months, no one will tell the City of Miami where the water is coming from.  Look on the right in this video. This has been reported to DERM, no one is doing anything.

Video this week, since Hurricane Irma 24/7, watch it a couple of times:



Meanwhile Miami Beach is pumping and pumping untreated water into the Bay with their sea level rise fix (some stupid plan you have there Miami Beach) according to the article in the Miami Herald today, titled "The hurricane sent foul water from the sewers into Biscayne Bay. What happens now?":

While it’s not yet clear precisely what’s causing the problems, the likely culprit is the pollution, which over the years has caused the bay to grow less and less healthy, driving away fish and wiping out more than 23 square miles of seagrass meadows.

“You’re reducing the resiliency of the bay to withstand these types of disturbances,” Kelble said.

The NOAA team and other scientists are in the midst of performing an ecosystem assessment and expect results in the next few weeks.

This is the video from April 27th of the same area, Seminole Boat Ramp:

City Bikes Iron Man 70.3 in Downtown Miami. By Geniusofdespair

Downtown was abuzz with what looked like thousands of fit men and women participating in Iron Man 70.3 sponsored by City Bikes. Don't look for it in the sports section of the Miami Herald paper edition. There is nothing there today.  There were about 3,000 entrants in the race.

The bike portion was finishing up when I got to Bayside about 2pm with 1 or 2 stragglers arriving. The running portion was winding down,  I suppose the winners were already determined long before I got there since the race started at 7a.m.

The swimming portion:

The running segment:

Ellie Salthouse was the female winner and the male winner was Igor Amorelli-Triatleta who completed the the course in 3:59:43.

What City Bikes said about the race:

City Bikes Ironman 70.3 Miami is a triathlon competition consisting of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike and 13.1 mile run through the streets and bridges of world-renowned Miami.
Igor Amorelli (BRA) managed to take a little bit of the sting out of his 14th place finish at the IRONMAN World Championship just eight days earlier with a convincing victory in the Sunshine State. The proud Brazilian likely had higher expectations for Kona, but no doubt used his finish in Hawaii as motivation swiftly redeem himself in Miami. Amorelli exited the water with a minute deficit and reversed that into over a three-minute lead at the dismount line after the bike. The 32 year-old managed to build and hold a five-minute until four miles to go on the run when Amorelli let off the gas and cruised in for the win.
Aussie Ellie Salthouse (AUS) put in the second fastest swim, bike and runs on the day to take the win in Florida. The women's race was marked by solid performance by Angela Naeth's (CAN) who return to 70.3 racing after dealing with injuries for close to a year. Her form looked great as she clawed her way into second on the strength of a race-best run split.

There were plenty of people judging by the amount of bikes I saw in the lot, staff of City Bikes confirmed there were about 3,000 participants.  And then there were all the residual people standing around  watching like me.

The real lesson of Puerto Rico: climate change impacts will be taxpayer catastrophes ... by gimleteye

Read the Miami Herald's excellent "Why Puerto Rico Is Suffering A Month After Hurricane Maria". Whether or not you believe the hurricane had anything to do with climate change -- a phenomenon still denied by a majority of Republicans, Donald Trump, and his administration chiefs -- the catastrophic failure of public institutions to deal with its aftermath should give every American pause to wonder if the same could ever happen to the continental United States.

Think about the difference with respect to the Florida Keys, our southern neighbors who are pulling together through a rebuilding process.

The middle section of the Keys was devastated by Maria. The full faith and credit of the United States backed the quick response. Puerto Rico -- which Trump reminded us is in the middle of an ocean -- had been deeply weakened over decades by a tax base inadequate to the purpose of organizing public infrastructure.

It is the latter phenomenon that deserves attention, because climate change impacts will gradually erode the tax base in US coastal cities and then the heartland; at some point in the indeterminate future, we will not be islands but we will be Puerto Ricos.

The analogy with the Keys may seem imperfect on first glance. Compared to Puerto Rico and the population and the terrain, the Keys are tiny but functional. The electric grid is secure. The food supply system is secure. Law and order are secure. All these aspects of modern life, we take for granted, were under deep stress in Puerto Rico before the hurricane. Gradually, climate change will do the same to us.

Think about it: the city of Miami Beach is wealthy enough to afford a $500 million sewerage and roadway upgrade as a result of damage from rising seas. But all that money is not stopping the rising seas. The taxpayer investment is a band-aid. Under flood conditions, the half billion dollar investment is a recirculating pump system; taking water off streets and pushing it back into the bay, where higher tides force the waters back and underground into the streets.

What happens when ANOTHER $500 million is needed to protect Miami Beach in clear weather? And $500 million after that?

We could be the best managers in the world, living within our means, and we still would not be able to afford climate change impacts. That is the real lesson of Puerto Rico.

We are a wealthy society now, but like Puerto Rico we are living on debt; debt that is sustainable so long as our economies are secure.

Climate change throws that certainty into doubt. Why do we Americans have so much hubris as to believe that fiddling while the planet is burning will not come back, soon, to bite us hard
just like Hurricane Maria did to Puerto Rico? And to the Roman empire.

Things that should be illegal but aren't ... by gimleteye

Oh boy. The United States is in a grim fix, and no one can say it is for the lack of powerful voices calling for moral conduct, personal responsibility, or high-handed religiosity.

In American political life, a well-designed system of checks and balances should keep hypocrites from having the upper hand. There should be, as President Obama often noted, an arc of history that bends toward truth and light. With Donald Trump, we are far off that arc. (To read more, read the excellent weekly compilation by Amy Siskind, here.)

Miami plays out in this morass, importantly, through real estate transactions that use perfectly legal strategies to keep ownership concealed.

The top line story is the infiltration of Russia/ Putin in deforming free and fair elections; pushing the 2016 result to Trump.

The bottom line is the legal ability of shell corporations from Russia (and everywhere else) to influence decision-makers through real estate transactions.

Yesterday, the Miami Herald reported,

This Russian general fought the mob. Why does he own $38 million of Florida real estate?
BY NICHOLAS NEHAMAS, KEVIN G. HALL AND LILY DOBROVOLSKAYA
nnehamas@miamiherald.com
OCTOBER 20, 2017 6:00 AM

There is life after being one of Russia’s top crime fighters — and it can be very good.

Anatoly Petukhov gave up Moscow’s icy winters for the warm embrace of South Florida, where he’s amassed a $38 million portfolio of condos, office buildings and prime development sites, not to mention a 31-foot powerboat. Petukhov is part of a wave of wealthy Russian businessmen and officials washing up in Miami. The local real estate industry — always happy to take cash with few questions asked — has welcomed him since he arrived in 2010.

So how did Petukhov make his fortune?

The retired policeman, 59, refused repeated interview requests from the Miami Herald. His biography suggests he might have good reason for avoiding the spotlight: Petukhov served as a general in an elite law-enforcement unit dedicated to fighting organized crime. The task force was so corrupt — “the most criminalized structure within the police,” according to Louise Shelley, a professor at George Mason University — that it was reorganized and eventually shut down after a scandal involving its top official.

There has been plenty of press about the role of Russian money in Donald Trump's real estate empire. Eye On Miami noted a Reuters analysis of the significant number of Russian nationals who reported ownership in Trump South Florida properties and wrote at the time, "
Hiding financial assets is part of the rigged system that prevent Americans from understanding the true facts of the Trump/Russia connection."

In 2016, Miami real estate transactions were part of a limited Obama Treasury Department initiative to require disclosure -- as a test program -- of underlying ownership of limited liability corporations, frequently used to conceal the identity of owners. (At the time we called it, "the best news of 2016".)

The normalization of transactions between Russian money and undisclosed buyers and Miami real estate is central to understanding why Trump believes the Russia conspiracy to influence the 2016 election to be "FAKE". What Trump means is that it is no more illegal for a real estate developer to take advantage of Russian money, to float his developments, than it is for Facebook to allow its social media platform to be used as a campaign finance utility/ app.

Americans, irrespective of political party, should reflect on this question: do we really want to allow democracy to be spit roasted by anonymous real estate transactions and social media platforms that mix the profit motive with political power, from lowly county commissions to the highest office in the land, the White House? The characterization is true, and the answer is no.

It is well past time for Congress to lay down the law on things that should be illegal but aren't.