Do We Fear the Sun a Democrat and Therefore Deny It's There?

   What more evidence do you need? Those who cannot see that George Floyd's death was wrongful might as well look up at the sun and deny it is there, perhaps believing in their hearts that the sun is a Democrat. 

   There will be no just accepting the outcome of the trial with them. Bless Chauvin. He faces a lot of time in prison. Feel for him. But, what of these right-wingers who will not just accept that Chauvin killed George Floyd wrongfully? So much evidence, yet they either blame it on drugs, or fall back on saying Maxine Waters should never have weighed in on the issue.

   Or, they lament what this will mean to police all over the nation, suggesting they will become bigger targets. What should we have done -- sacrificed justice and declared Chauvin not guilty so that will not happen?

    The case was about as open-and-shut as a case could be. Two autopsies were done. Neither concluded the death was due to drugs. One, conducted for Floyd's family, attributed the death to asphyxiation or suffocation. The other, conducted by the Hennepin County medical examiner's office, attributed the death to, "cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law-enforcement subdual restraint, and neck compression."

   The medical examiner came right out and called it a homicide.

    Not to mention there was the video, showing Floyd handcuffed so he could not harm anyone, and then you get him on the ground and kneel on his neck for like nine minutes, ignoring his desperate pleas that he could not breath, ignoring bystanders pleas that you quit, ignoring an off-duty EMT officer's plea that she be allowed to help him. (She was not allowed.)

   You have the chief of police testifying that Chauvin acted in violation of department policy. 

    Yes, refuse to admit Chauvin murdered George Floyd, if you are a Republican (not all of them are that way, but many). Look up at the sun and wonder if it is Republican or Democrat before deciding if it is really there. 

   Or, rather than dealing with it, turn your wrath on Maxine Waters or Joe Biden. Did they poison the jury by declaring Chauvin guilty? How can we fathom how that affected the case? The jurors are sequestered in a hotel, strictly instructed not to listen or the watch media. That said, the case has been discussed ever since the trial began with many offering their thoughts on what they thought the outcome should be. But, when Waters and Biden came along and offered their input? Two among many who offered their opinions, and yet we point just at the them and tell them they were out of line.

(Wording changes made 4/22/21)

Let the Children and Their Parents in, all of Them

    Give us 125,000. We need no less. President Biden signed an executive order this week, holding the cap on refugees to 15,000. I do not even know if those from Mexico, Venezuela and the Northern Triangle even typically make their way here as "refugees." I do know there are 100,000 refugees in the pipeline. If we are to settle them in America, the cap can be no less.

   And, I know we have a surge at the southern border. I know many of the children are in need of being reunited with family already in the U.S. I know many have parents left behind and can see we should be inviting the parents to join them. I know at least some are probably orphans. Would we turn them away? Let all the children in. All of them -- and their parents, when their parents have lingered behind. 

   Are there other caps, those that are specific to our southern border? If an executive order is all that is needed, increase those caps. Are we too set in our bureaucratic way of doing things? Do we set hearing dates six months ahead when we can and should just process them and grant them stay in a 72-hour window right at the border? Process them in 72 hours and connect them with their relatives here, all within 72 hours. Someone will have to tell me why this cannot be done. And, they will have trouble convincing me it can't.

  I will back-step just for one thing: Do background checks on them. If some teenagers are verified to be MS-13, do not let them enter. 

Water Levels in West Could Drop to All-Time Lows

    I remember when Covid-19 was just breaking, and the projections called for so many deaths, and of how we would point to those projections only to find those who scoffed.

   Now, comes water projections for the next 24 months in the U.S. West. Water levels in Lake Powell and Lake Mead are expected dive so low the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation will declare a water shortage for the first time. Lake Mead could drop so low that it could affect power generation at Hoover Dam, and power to customers who rely on it. 

   Climate change means less snowpack. And, hotter temperatures mean more water evaporates.

   Remember, these are 24-month projections. And, perhaps the projections will brighten. Still, we should prepare.  

https://www.ksl.com/article/50149717/western-us-prepares-for-possible-1st-water-shortage-declaration

(Index -- Climate change info)

Give the Children Access to Phones so They can Call Their Families

   Of all things you should want the children being held at the border to have, access to a phone would seem to be one of the most important. If they are to be reunited to their families, phone calls to reach them are essential. 

    

   Yet, a report out of Donna, Texas, today, suggested many of the children there are not aware phones are available. The congresswoman who visited the site, and found this out, left the center encouraging supervisors to post more signage telling the children they have access to phones.

    She should not have needed to encourage the facility supervisors. They should be anxiously endeavoring to get the children united with their families. How do you do that without calling the families? U.S. Customs and Border Protection should be corrected, by President Biden, the secretary of Health and Human Service, the head of CBP or whomever. 

 

   Someone should stand up for the children. 

     

To Save Lives, Make Sodium Labeling More Comprehensive

    If we took sodium abuse as seriously as we take cigarette smoking, products with salt would come with warning labels, same as cigarettes. 

   Sodium abuse, perhaps we've just coined a new phrase. We've got drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and now . . . sodium abuse. 

   Consider that 6,500 people die of heart disease each year. Note that that is one in every four deaths. Now, it might be difficult to determine how many of those cases resulted from "sodium abuse," but a good number of those deaths due come from it. 

   So, slap a warning label on all sodium sales, same as we have on cigarettes. "Taking too much sodium or too little might be harmful to your heart." Then, spell out the goal of how much a person is to have each day. If 2,300 milligrams is the target, say so. We already place the sodium content on food labels, but help the consumer even more, when the salt content can be reduced by washing it off, by saying how much sodium remains when it is washed. If a can of tuna has 360 milligrams, by washing it off in a strainer, will that reduce it to 100 milligrams?

   And, require the labeling at fast-food and other restaurants. Require every meal to come with a sodium count total, and a breakdown for each item on the plate.

   Americans are dying because of sodium abuse. They need to be able to count how much they are getting each time they sit down to eat. Lives are in the balance -- our lives.

 

Sell a Major League Franchise to a Black Person

    Today's addition of Dwayne Wade as a minority owner of the Utah Jazz is significant, as there just are not many black owners in major league sports (NBA, NFL, and MLB).

   Michael Jordon with the Charlotte Hornets is the only Black who is a principle owner of a major league franchise. Grant Hill is a part owner of the Atlanta Hawks and Shaq O'Neal part owner of the Sacramento Kings.

   Without looking it up to make certain, the NBA may be ahead of the NFL and MLB in Black part-ownerships. (Patrick Mahomes is part-owner of MLB's Kansas City Royals).

   A voice will be out there, saying it is racist to put someone in an ownership position just because they are Black. They will point out that there are few Blacks rich enough to be majority owners. Would Oprah Winfrey buy a team? Stephen A. Smith points out that there is not only Oprah, but Robert F. Smith, and Robert Johnson. 

   I see no harm in selling a team to one of the rich Black entrepreneurs. I like the idea. 

First Unitarian Church in SLC Saved Vickey Chavez from being Deported

    A Salt Lake City church is gaining some acclaim as being a sanctuary for refugees. For three years, it took care of Vickey Chavez and her two daughters. With today's news, come news that immigration officials have now approved her appeal to stay. The senior minister, Tom Goldsmith, wrote an op-ed that appeared in the New York Times today.
    Bless the First Unitarian Church, one of the rare places where refugees can receive sanctuary. For three years, Chavez and her two children lived there, fearful of going out lest immigration officials spot her outside (they do not make apprehensions at churches as they are considered "sensitive" places, along with schools and hospitals). Had they caught her outside the church though, she would have been arrested. The three-year-old daughter, who has lived virtually her whole life inside the church, knew the significance of Biden's election. "Now we can go to Disneyland," Goldsmith quotes her as saying. 

https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/4/15/22385806/mother-from-honduras-whos-taken-sanctuary-at-salt-lake-church-3-years-can-now-leave-vicky-unitarian

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/15/opinion/biden-immigrants-sanctuary.html