The Kilauea eruption has wiped out rare sites and whole ecosystems. As the island mourns a tragedy, it also accepts the brutal cycle of nature

by Breena Kerr

In Puna, the area of Hawaii island that’s been hardest hit by the Kilauea volcano eruption, those who lived nearest to the lava flows watched the forest around their homes begin to die first. They said the fruit trees, flowers and ferns began turning brown, languishing in the noxious, sulfur-dioxide-filled air. Then the lava came. Now large swaths of formerly verdant forest has been replaced by rough and barren volcanic terrain.

“Before the eruptions, that area was probably the best forest left in the state of Hawaii,” said Patrick Hart, a biology professor at the University of Hawaii at Hilo. “There were areas where the native Ohia forest extended right up to the ocean, and you just don’t see that in the rest of Hawaii,” he said. Now it’s covered with 20 to 30ft of lava.

On Hawaii island, also known as the Big Island, lava from the weeks-long eruption of the Kilauea volcano has also paved over tide pools and coral gardens, boiled a 400-year-old lake until it evaporated and killed a number of sea creatures.

But to scientists, it’s just part of life on the state’s youngest island, where land is still being created as lava continuously reshapes the natural environment.

“From a human point of view, what’s happening is tragic,” said David Damby, a volcanologist with the United States Geological Survey (USGS). “But from the volcano’s point of view, that’s the job she does: to build new land and change the landscape. That’s the way the earth works.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/20/hawaii-volcano-eruption-kilauea-natural-wonders-destroyed-kapoho-bay

Trump had a historic victory in counties that were once a Democratic bastion – now he’s aiming to help his allies do the same

Donald Trump will go on the offensive on Wednesday. As the midterm elections approach, and amid mounting controversy over the policy of separating immigrant families at the border, the president will show up in Duluth, Minnesota.

His rally, in a seat held by a retiring Democrat, Rick Nolan, will be an opportunity for the president to tout his record in a blue-collar district he won by 15% in 2016.

North-east Minnesota was once a Democratic bastion. For decades, the ore-miners of the Iron Range counties and the steelworkers of Duluth voted for candidates like Hubert Humphrey and Paul Wellstone. But the steelworks closed and automation reduced jobs in the mines. And voters discovered Trump.

His victory was historic. In one Iron Range county, he was the first Republican presidential candidate to win since Herbert Hoover.

But in the House, voters still returned Nolan, an ardent liberal who supported single-payer healthcare and introduced a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, the supreme court decision that removed limits on corporate spending on political campaigns.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/20/midterms-trump-impact-elections-minnesota


I grew up in this state ....................and the iron ore companies sold there pits to foreign national companies based on greed and they come in many forms and a lot of them filed for bankruptcy, one only has to look at what Chile oligarch and what he wants to do near the boundary water canoe area, with the help of one traitor called Ivanka Trump, that's how its done, it is not a what democrats do, its a republican problem selling off the country and blaming democrats


http://www.taconite.org/mining-industry/mines

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArcelorMittal



And I understand that there will be protesters at this thing

A new report highlights just how frequently Oleg Deripaska's man in Washington visited the Wikileaks head.

CASEY MICHEL JUN 20, 2018, 4:21 PM

The lobbyist for a sanctioned Russian oligarch visited Julian Assange, the Wikileaks head currently holed up in London’s Ecuadorian embassy, numerous times last year.

But no one knows why.

The Guardian reported Wednesday that visitor logs at the Ecuadorian embassy show that Adam Waldman, the longtime lobbyist for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, stopped by to visit Assange a total of nine times last year, more than nearly anyone else.

Waldman’s visits bookended Trump’s 2017 inauguration, with the most recent stop by the embassy coming last November.

Neither Waldman nor Deripaska responded to the Guardian’s questions about the nature of Waldman’s visits. Assange, who recently had his Twitter access revoked by the Ecuadorian government, has also not commented.

https://thinkprogress.org/sanctioned-russian-lobbyist-meeting-with-assange-df1865627145/

Source: Think Progress

“I think ‘immediately’ is kind of open to interpretation,” his office said.

KIRA LERNER JUN 20, 2018, 4:38 PM

Two days after a federal judge overturned his documentary proof-of-citizenship law and ordered him to register eligible voters, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is openly defying the court’s order.

According to the Topeka Capital Journal, Kobach’s elections director instructed county clerks to continue demanding proof-of-citizenship from anyone registering to vote until they receive written instruction otherwise. A spokeswoman for Kobach said his office is still reviewing the 118-page ruling, which clearly finds the law unconstitutional and orders Kobach to attend six hours of legal classes for violating rules of civil procedure.

Danedri Herbert, the spokesperson for Kobach, said the judge was not clear when she instructed the secretary of state to accept voter registration applications without a document like a passport or birth certificate.

“I think ‘immediately’ is kind of open to interpretation,” Herbert said.

Read more: https://thinkprogress.org/kobach-defies-court-voter-id-72f3279dd2a0/

---

In Monday’s order, she took that discipline to a new level when she ordered him to attend additional continuing legal education classes.


I think she may find him in contempt again.................


November 2018 cannot get here fast enough

Source: Talking Points Memo

By DAVID KOENIG June 20, 2018 1:33 pm

DALLAS (AP) -- American Airlines says it asked the Trump administration not to put migrant children who have been separated from their parents on its flights.

In a statement Wednesday, American said it doesn't know whether any migrant children have been on its flights and doesn't want to profit from the current immigration policy of separating families.

American and other airlines have contracts to provide travel services to the U.S. government. American says, however, that the government doesn't provide information about the passengers or their reason for travel.

In recent days several flight attendants have gone on social media to report seeing groups of children on their flights whom they believed to be children separated from their migrant families.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/american-airlines-statement-migrant-children-flights

---

I don't think they want to have lawsuits filed against them...............because there are rules for minors being placed on airlines, and when making a reservation on minors the person dropping them off and picking them up must be approved, and if the parents of these kids, must give the airline a name of who is picking them up at there final destination and the parent must approve of this in the chain of custody.......................that is a requirement

I have updated this..........................

http://www.airsafe.com/kidsafe/kidrules.htm

Source: Talking Points Memo

By Allegra Kirkland | June 20, 2018 4:46 pm

After a months-long fight, an anti-gerrymandering initiative has officially been approved for the November ballot.

The Michigan Board of Canvassers voted 3-0 Wednesday to approve the proposal by Voters Not Politicians, a citizens group. The effort grew out of a Facebook post by local activist Katie Fahey, who urged voters frustrated by sweeping Republican victories in the 2016 election to come together to “take on gerrymandering.” The all-volunteer ballot initiative ended up securing over 425,000 signatures in 110 days.

“We look forward to being on the ballot in November, and giving voters a chance to change our current system, where politicians and lobbyists operate behind closed doors to draw district lines for partisan gain,” Fahey said in a statement on the Board of Canvassers vote. “Our polling and our volunteer signature collection and canvassing results show Michigan voters support our plan for a transparent, non-partisan, Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission.”

A final decision on the legality of the proposed initiative is still pending in state Supreme Court. A group called Citizens Protecting Michigan’s Constitution (CPMC), which is backed by the state Chamber of Commerce, sued to block the initiative in May, claiming it made so many changes to the state constitution that it should require a constitutional convention.

The initiative proposes taking map-drawing control for both congressional and state legislative districts away from lawmakers. A citizens’ commission made up of four Democrats, four Republicans and five independents randomly chosen by the secretary of state would assume control of the process.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/voters-not-politicians-anti-gerrymandering-initiative-approved-michigan-ballot

---

Does anyone know if your state electes judges or are they picked by your governor in Michigan

Source: Talking Points Memo

By Cameron Joseph | June 20, 2018 4:05 pm

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) pushed back hard on the idea that keeping border-crossing children in chain-link cages was inhumane, defending the practice in two local radio shows on Wednesday.

Cramer, who’s running against Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) in a top-tier Senate race, called the facilities “humane” during a Wednesday appearance on KTGO, a local radio station that broadcasts in the Bakken Oil Fields.

“By the way, chain link fences are around playgrounds all over America, all over North Dakota. And chain link fences allow line-of-sight visual connectivity with children and families,” he said as he discussed reversing President Trump’s policy to let families stay together at the border. “You know, there’s nothing inhumane about a chain link fence. If it is, then every ballpark in America is inhumane.”

Cramer then went on to say he supported changing the law to allow families to stay together when they enter the country illegally, and supported House Republicans’ dueling pieces of immigration legislation that are expected to receive a vote this week that would address this issue.

Read more: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/gop-senate-nom-cages-for-migrant-kids-are-humane-like-chain-link-playgrounds

---

First off asshole, your an asshole, secondly, your still an asshole




November 2018 cannot get here fast enough

Property companies advertising their proximity to Facebook’s campus are giving low-income residents a choice: pay a huge rent increase or move out

Sandra Zamora is quitting Facebook. Not because of Russian election interference, misuse of personal data or any of the social network’s other scandals.

For the 29-year-old, it’s personal: Facebook is her neighbor, and the company’s presence, she said, is wreaking havoc on her community.

Zamora is part of a group of Menlo Park tenants in four buildings facing massive rent increases from a new landlord, who is pricing out long-time residents while advertising the buildings’ proximity to Facebook’s campus. Zamora is holding out as long as she can. But she knows she will soon have to leave her home of 11 years, and she doesn’t know where she will go.

“Facebook is taking everything we have ... and giving us what? Nothing. Just pain in our lives,” said the pre-school teacher and restaurant worker, seated inside her dimly lit apartment, a mile from the company’s headquarters. “Facebook is just ruining the community.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jun/20/facebook-silicon-valley-housing-crisis-families-pushed-out


Just got my summer edition of Harper's magazine and it talks about New York, and what it is doing with housing...............the same shit

The Death of a Once Great City
The fall of New York and the urban crisis of affluence
By Kevin Baker

https://harpers.org/archive/2018/07/the-death-of-new-york-city-gentrification/

Source: The Hill

The American Medical Association (AMA) on Wednesday condemned the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has resulted in the separations of migrant families at the border.

The physicians group called on Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Attorney General Jeff Sessions to end the policy and “give priority to supporting families and protecting the health and well-being of the children within those families."

Families make the dangerous journey to the United States to seek refuge from safety concerns in their home countries, the AMA said in a statement.

“Families seeking refuge in the U.S. already endure emotional and physical stress, which is only exacerbated when they are separated from one another,” it said. “It is well known that childhood trauma and adverse childhood experiences created by inhumane treatment often create negative health impacts that can last an individual’s entire lifespan.”

Medical professionals discussed the “great harm” the policy will inflict on children and families during the AMA’s annual meeting in Chicago earlier this month.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/393173-american-medical-association-condemns-zero-tolerance-policy

---

I want to know if the AMA will rescind there donations to all of the republican assholes that like this concentration camp mentality that is now occurring......................at the southern border

Source: The Hill

BY MORGAN GSTALTER - 06/20/18 07:33 AM EDT

Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, one of the GOP's loudest critics of President Trump, renounced the party early Wednesday and announced that he will begin voting for Democrats.

Schmidt slammed Trump in a Twitter thread, saying he was leaving the party that once ended slavery.

“29 years and nine months ago I registered to vote and became a member of The Republican Party which was founded in 1854 to oppose slavery and stand for the dignity of human life,” Schmidt tweeted.



Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/news/393170-gop-strategist-denounces-party-will-vote-for-democrats

---

“This Independent voter will be aligned with the only party left in America that stands for what is right and decent and remains fidelitous to our Republic, objective truth, the rule of law and our Allies. That party is the Democratic Party,” Schmidt wrote.

Schmidt called for a blue wave to bring back Democratic majorities in the 2018 midterm elections.


Hey Steve Schmidt,, we have open arms for you and others............................thank you.....................



November 2018 cannot get here fast enough