The top Senate Republican had a defiant response to intelligence on Russia’s alleged involvement in the election

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell raised doubts about intelligence pointing to Russia trying to help President-elect Donald Trump win the election. In a confidential briefing, McConnell reportedly expressed doubt about intelligence findings that Russia aided efforts to boost Trump, ostensibly by promoting hacked emails and documents that were damaging to the Democratic Party and its nominee, Hillary Clinton.

How to Flex Your Rights at Protests

How to Protect Your Rights (if you don’t plan to get arrested)

If you didn’t come to the protest intending to get arrested, then staying out of the way of police is a good plan. But if police can’t be avoided, remember that your rights apply just as they would any other time.

Like most police encounters, some officers will be more professional than others. But inside a loud chaotic crowd, misunderstandings can quickly turn ugly. So remember these rules:

Always be calm & cool. A bad attitude guarantees a bad outcome. If you keep your cool, chances are the officer will too.
Don’t confess to wrongdoing. Police aren’t looking for an explanation; they’re looking for evidence. Remain silent instead.
Don’t lie to cops. Cops may lie to you, but you can’t lie to them. Remain silent instead.
Cops can lie; don’t get tricked. Don’t let false threats or promises trick you into waiving your rights.
You can refuse searches. Saying “no” to searches is your constitutional right and probably your best move. Agreeing to searches hurts your case, even if police find something that isn’t yours.
Ask if you’re being detained or are free to go. Doing this shows that you’re not agreeing to the police stop. This will protect you later if you end up in court.
Don’t expose yourself. Vandalizing property or doing illegal drugs in public are easy ways to find yourself in jail. “Safety in numbers” won’t protect you.
Never touch a cop. Keep your hands to yourself. Aggressive actions will only earn you a more aggressive response.
Don’t argue; report misconduct later. If you plan to sue or complain, don’t tell the officer.

How to Flex Your Rights at Protests

A LOT Less Of Your Taxes Go To Food Stamps Than Giveaways To The Oil Industry

How would you feel if we told you that fossil fuel companies are benefitting from global subsidies of 14.5 billion dollars a day? That’s $600 million an hour; $10 million per minute; or $168,000 per second. According to a new estimate by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in the three seconds it took you to read this oil, natural gas and coal companies have made benefitted from $336,000 in global subsidies. The United States contributes $700 billion a year to these subsidies; subsidies that President Obama has asked Congress to end since he took office in 2009, but Republicans have fought him every single time. Now, how would you feel if we told you that while GOP lawmakers have refused to eliminate those expensive and harmful subsidies, they have repeatedly cut food stamps? That’s exactly what is happening and it is outrageous!

The IMF, one of the world’s most well-respected financial institutions, said the point of their paper was to give an updated picture energy subsidies at the global and regional levels. A large majority of the their 5.3 trillion dollar subsidy estimate is due to polluters not paying the costs imposed on the world’s governments for burning coal, gas and oil. Included in these costs are the harm caused by local air pollution and the global affects the fossil fuel industry has had on climate change. The IMF says that if we cut global subsidies we could reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent. In the United States that is exactly what President Obama has been saying for years.

In 2009, at the United Nations global warming summit, President Obama called for world leaders to phase out subsidies so that climate change could be addressed. In 2011, he proposed that the United States do away with them in his budget proposal; and in 2012 he did the same thing, calling the subsidies outdated and encouraging the investment into renewable energy.

Not only do these subsidies hurt the global environment by adding to climate change, but they also hurt low- and middle-income families. The IMF found that “energy subsidies are a highly inefficient way to provide support to low-income households since most of the benefits from energy subsidies are typically captured by rich households.” Basically, that money isn’t trickling down to the rest of us, like the rest of the promised Reaganomics dollars.

Republicans were outraged that the president wanted to invest in renewable energy. They have convinced their base that climate change isn’t real, even though 99 percent of the scientific community believes it is. We have lawmakersthrowing snowballs on Capitol Hill as a way to disprove science (seriously) and we have a governor who banned the term “climate change” in his state. They do this because their party is the biggest recipients of campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry, so they don’t care about the rest of us.

While the GOP fights to keep these subsidies ($700 billion) for the oil, gas, and coal industry, they continue to completely screw over the poor by cutting funding for the SNAP program. They claim that the U.S. doesn’t have enough money for the program– which accounted for a little over $74 billion of the 2014 budget. In 2013, $5 billion was slashed from the food stamp budget. That cut affected 47 million low-income American families. This year, they proposed a budget that would kick 11 million families off of the program.

This is the typical Republican policy of pandering to the rich at the expense of the poor. They don’t have any problem giving billions of dollars to rich corporations who are hurting not just the U.S., but the entire world; but they have a huge problem helping people who work two and even three jobs to support their families and still don’t have enough money for food, on top of denying our people access to healthcare. All of this because at the end of the day, the monied elite who run those corporations that are destroying our environment and starving our people have bought the Republican Party wholesale, and the GOP would rather see our nation burn than let their wealthy backers miss out on some profit.

occupydemocrats.com

 CLEANER ENERGY IS COMING TO MISSOURI AS UTILITY ANNOUNCES COAL PLANT RETIREMENTS-

Last week, Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) announced plans to reduce its coal-generating capacity by nearly 20 percent over the next six years, retiring aging units at three power plants in St. Joseph, Clinton and Sibley, Missouri that would require substantial new investments to continue operating. Read More

Scott Walker Caught On Camera: Workers The Losers If He Wins Presidency (VIDEO)

More on Walker-Jobs killer

The Fraud Behind Some Of The Most Common Prescription Drugs-  It’s remarkably easy to find blatant dishonesty in the research that supports some popular treatments: See More

When Will Fox News Fire Bill O’Reilly For Lying About Combat Duty?– See More

By Olivier Knox, Yahoo NewsApril 1, 2014 6:01 AMYahoo News

For months, the media story of how President Obama sold Obamacare to America has starred unconventional outlets like Funny or Die, unconventional pitches like this “Mom Jeans” message for Twitter, and unconventional sales reps like Kobe Bryant, Wil Wheaton, or the moms of Jonah Hill and Adam Levine.

But a look inside the Affordable Care Act’s all-out enrollment drive shows that — for all the talk about social media and unorthodox strategies — the Administration relied heavily in the final stretch on a century-old way to reach the public: Radio. More

Apr 1, 2014

Saving this democracy may mean the loss of so-called friends, being left out and often standing alone. All of these will seem meaningless when you no longer have a voice in who rules. 2013

Instead of searching for the faults in the lives of others, fix yours first. 1981

We all eat lies when our hearts are hungry-. RJ Intindola – 1985

Any attempt or movement to thwart, deny, inhibit or limit the right of citizens to vote is un-american, and thus led by anarchists. 2013
Some people constantly create storms in their and the lives of others, only to become the martyr when the rain starts. 1981
R.J. Intindola

Updates listed at bottom of main article:

1-30-2014

Concerning the snow and ice disaster in Georgia, Governor Nathan Deal, and Kasim Reed, Mayor of Atlanta, you both should be ashamed of yourselves. On various news reports all I’ve heard is excuses and passing the buck from both of you. You are both the product of a political system that hires political allies and cronies into higher positions that during public emergencies do not have the wherewithal or knowledge to take action.
Your equipment, coordination efforts and techniques are outdated to protect the people of Georgia and the Atlanta metropolitan area from two inches of snow. In 1976, I was appointed as the snow removal coordinator for the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government, in Lexington Kentucky. The cost to purchase new equipment was prohibitive so we had to develop various techniques that would be more cost effective in protecting the public from a heavy snowfall and significant icing of the roadways.
The most cost effective method and an enhanced ice melting and salt retention was pre wetting salt.  According to various studies, wetted salt is 30% more effective in melting as dry salt has a tendency to be blown off of the roadway and is not carried by the tires of various vehicles. Further, wetted salt has the following additional capabilities and advantages.
Pre-wetting salt has been used since the late 1960s.
It has several advantages:
• Reduced loss of salt from bounce and scatter.
(Savings up to 30%. See Figure 1)
• Quicker melting.
• Better salt penetration into ice and snow pack.
• Melts at a lower temperature if wetted with
other deicing chemicals
A link to the above-noted information is provided at the end of this report.

In coordination with other government agencies, the task force met frequently to ensure mutual communications, equipment and supplies were available to handle almost any wonder emergency. In 1978, the country encountered the worst winter in terms of snowfall and its history. Lexington was hit with more than 11 inches over just a few days. Although there were numerous other actions taken, prior to the snowfall, the appropriate portion of wetted salt was placed on all Interstate entrance and exit ramps and at various locations on the interstate where historically icing was more prevalent. Yes, we even knew the locations, such as on overpasses, bridges and other similar areas where ice formed more quickly and lasted longer than other areas. These areas where further treated with asphalt granules which was blended with the salt.

The same applications occurred on all major thoroughfares off of state roadways. Public safety and other various employees were provided to pound bags of the treated salt to place on their neighborhood street. Vehicles running over the wetted salt have a tendency to carry the chemically treated ingredients from one half to a full mile. Essentially, vehicles using the roadway where the salt was placed, would aid in the spreading process. While it wasn’t perfect, we were able to ensure most of the intercity and interstate highway accessibility.

Update: 1-30-2014

With all due respect to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, he has attempted to make the point that the governor or the state is responsible for the interstates and other states roads that traverse through out the entire Atlanta Metropolitan area. From my experience, the problems were primarily with the interstate roadways. In regard to the comments made by the state and the mayor’s office that the weather reports were conflicting, and having to manage through seven hurricanes during my tenure as city manager, we never took anything for granted. In emergency is something that is generally unexpected and therefore you must be prepared.

Wetted

Watch the video: