2021 US Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Highlights.

2021 US Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill Highlights.

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Following is a bullet list of main aspects of the bipartisan infrastructure bill.  Please be advised that this list does not go into detail but offers you a quick look at what the government wishes to achieve broadly for it’s citizens.

$110 billion for roads and bridges

$40 billion specifically for the replacement, repair, and rehabilitation of bridges.

There are more than 617,000 bridges across the United States. Currently, 42% of all bridges are at least 50 years old, and 46,154, or 7.5% of the nation’s bridges, are considered structurally deficient, meaning they are in “poor” condition. 

$17.5 billion will go toward other major projects that are too large for standard funding programs.

$1 billion toward reconnecting communities that were divided by transportation projects.

The Reconnecting Communities Initiative aims to create a fund that would help cities and states rectify the damage caused by the hundreds of highways built through minority neighborhoods across the country during the middle of the 20th century.  The bipartisan infrastructure bill cut it by 95 percent.

$11 billion for traffic safety programs.  Safe Streets for All” program to help decrease the number of crashes and deaths associated with roadways and driving, particularly those involving pedestrians and cyclists.

Every year, more than 38,000 Americans die in road crashes, the leading cause of death in the US for people younger than 55. And the past four years for which records exist (2016–19) have been the deadliest for pedestrians since 1990.

$39 billion for public transit.  “repair and upgrade aging infrastructure, modernize bus and rail fleets, make stations accessible to all users, and bring transit service to new communities.”

 Its goal is to fight the vicious cycle wherein the poor quality of facilities, stations, trains, and buses causes delays, creating an unreliable transit experience that leads to declines in ridership. When ridership declines, transit agencies generate less revenue through fares, meaning they lack the funds to take on the repair and maintenance problems that led to decreased ridership in the first place.

 

$66 billion for railroads.

That will mean better Amtrak service on existing high-traffic routes (relatively speaking) like Portland–Seattle, Richmond–D.C., and Chicago–Milwaukee. It might mean new service in fast-growing regions, like between Charlotte and Atlanta or Atlanta and Nashville.

$22 billion in grants to Amtrak.

$24 billion toward modernizing the Northeast Corridor.  

$12 billion in federal-state partnership grants for intercity rail including high-speed rail.  

$5 billion for rail improvement.

$3 billion to improvements in grade crossing safety.

 

$7.5 billion for electric vehicle infrastructure.  Creates a nationwide network of chargers for electric vehicles, both along highways and within local communities.

Such a buildout potentially represents more than triple the number of charging stations in the nation at present. According to the U.S. Department of Energy there are currently about 122,000 charging ports—Level 2 and DC fast-charging connectors that could be used to charge EVs simultaneously. That’s at more than 48,000 station locations.

$2.5 billion for zero-emission buses

$2.5 billion for low-emission buses

$2.5 billion for ferries.

 

$17 billion for ports and $25 billion for airports.  This will help address backlogs for repairs, reduce the level of emissions and congestion near these areas, and help pursue low-carbon and electric technologies.

“Our ports and waterways need repair and reimagination…Modern, resilient, and sustainable port, airport, and freight infrastructure will support U.S. competitiveness by removing bottlenecks and expediting commerce and reduce the environmental impact on neighbouring communities,” 

 

$50 billion for water infrastructure.  This should make the country’s water infrastructure more resilient against the effects of climate change, such as droughts and floods, and also cyberattacks.

This is a much-needed step forward in addressing our region’s failing water infrastructure that is threatening the health of our communities,”

 

$55 billion toward clean drinking water by replacing all of the country’s lead pipes and services lines.

When a person swallows or breathes in lead particles, the body stores the toxin in the blood, bones, and tissues, where it accumulates over time. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no safe level of lead exposure. Lead is particularly harmful to children, causing reduced IQ, language development, and attention span, and increased aggression and impulsivity. In addition, prolonged exposure for both children and adults can damage the brain and nervous system, reduce fertility, and increase the risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, kidney disease, and likely even cancer.

 

$65 billion for the power grid.  This will upgrade the electrical grid, including miles of new transmission lines and investments into clean-energy projects. 

The nation’s aging transmission and distribution system needs a significant overhaul. Recent events show that the U.S. grid is woefully unprepared to handle cyberthreats and extreme weather events like heat waves or winter storms.

 

$65 billion for broadband Internet.   This will increase needed broadband access across the country by building new infrastructure. It will also support efforts to fund lower cost broadband by “requiring funding recipients to offer a low-cost affordable plan,” and create a permanent program to help low-income households have better access to broadband internet.

The “digital divide” – the persistent U.S. gap between the broadband haves and have-nots – became glaringly obvious during the pandemic as school, work and health care shifted online. Tens of millions either don’t have internet access or, if they do have access to a phone or cable company, can’t afford to pay for it.

 

$21 billion for environmental remediation.  This expenditure will clean up of brownfield and Superfund sites in communities, as well as capping orphaned gas wells and reclaiming abandoned mines.

$21 billion in funds for environmental remediation, including funds to clean up Superfund and brownfield sites, reclaim abandoned mine land, and cap orphaned gas wells. The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative—a successful program that fights invasive species, cleans up pollution, and protects the Great Lakes for future generations—will receive $1 billion in funding. The bill aims to create jobs in rural communities that have experienced underdevelopment and remediate sites that have historically affected communities of color at higher rates.

 

This investments will add, on average, about 2 million jobs per year over the coming decade.

Note:  Some politicians claim that this rather large expenditure of money is way too much.  A problem with this viewpoint is comparing this national infrastructure improvement expenditure against what the citizens of this country pay for national defense.   The 2020 national defense expenditure was $778 billion dollars.  The national infrastructure improvement money goes into making the United States a better operational business which we all live for.  We are improving where the people live, the peoples country house.  National defense is the product you think of when you wish to protect the national house.  National defense is similar to buying any home protection plan.  The USA’s importance sort of depends upon the value of the nation’s home.  Not taking care of the United States infrastructure properly, the nation house, may diminish the property value to the  citizens, as we see in many other countries typically led by authoritarian leaders who care about themselves and not the house.   We need to continually conduct home maintenance and upkeep.  National defense expenditures follows, trails, the need to maintain a properly functioning peoples’s house.

 

 

Sorces:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/bipartisan-infrastructure-deal-whats-in-bill.html

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/02/updated-fact-sheet-bipartisan-infrastructure-investment-and-jobs-act/

 

 

 

Posted:  November 7, 2021
Updated:  November 9, 2021

13 Heroic Republicans

13 Heroic Republicans

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We should all thank the following Republicans, listed below, for having independent, intelligent, compassion minds for supporting legislation that helps to improve our country from past neglect and ensure a better future for all of us.  These individuals performed a sort of heroic deed by not catering to the expected partisan tactic of Republican retrenchment.  These remarkable individuals all voted for the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, (November 2021). 

 

  • Andrew Garbarino of New York
  • Adam Kinzinger of Illinois
  • Nicole Malliotakis of New York, 
  • David B. McKinley of West Virginia, 
  • Fred Upton of Michigan, 
  • Tom Reed of New York, 
  • Chris Smith of New Jersey, 
  • Don Bacon of Nebraska, 
  • Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey, 
  • Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, 
  • Don Young of Alaska, 
  • Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania 
  • John Katko of New York 

 

Thank you, to each politician listed above, for supporting the largest transportation spending package in U.S. history!  Thanks also to the people who put these politicians into office because you are at the front line of democratic rule and it seems you performed admirably by supporting these individuals. 

 

Posted November 7, 2021

 

Manchin And Sinema Possible Intentions

Manchin And Sinema Possible Intentions

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There are two current Democrat senators, Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, who appear to be trying every avenue to thwart the Biden agenda to vastly improve the planet from climate devastation, improve the crumbling US infrastructure and improve the lives of most citizens.  Why would anyone impede this terrific positive political move forward?  Let me list some possibilities for you to consider: 

#1). Are they working for the plutocracy class to turn the United States into a fascist country by making the Democratic Party look to be a failure?

Evidence:  

#2).  Looking at the past actions of Manchin and Sinema, it seems quite clear that both are doing their best to make themselves happy, reward themselves, and not consider  how to do their paid job to better for the whole nation.  It is all about themselves and very little for the people they represent.

Manchin: 

Sinema: 

“Sinema is clearly still drunk on her own power, and maybe the power of her new best friends in private equity and in Silicon Valley that she now gets to pal around with.”

 

  • Thumbs down to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
  • Holdout for scrapping the filibuster.
  • Fails to support President Biden’s agenda.

Sinema has received “a big assist from the pharmaceutical and financial industries, whose political action committees and top executives stuffed her coffers in the middle of negotiations on Democrats’ massive infrastructure and social spending bills.” 

Summary:  It is possible that both Manchin and Sinema honest intention is to not work toward moving the United States being a fascist country but it still remains that their possible stupid actions are working toward that end.  In any case, they seem to be working toward their own self interests and not for the whole nation.

Consider What You Can Do:

  • Work toward impeaching both Manchin and Sinema.
  • Do everything to diminish the power of the plutocracy actors and organizations that have supported these two politicians.
  • Consider not doing any business within the geographical area where each senator represents their constituents.   If the voters in Manchin’s and Sinema’s political districts support politicians that work against what is best for the rest of us, then why not stop offering any personal support to people and business within those geographical areas?  Do not stay in hotels and motels in those areas.  Do not buy products that are manufactured or sold in those districts. 
  • If both Manchin and Sinema vote to support President Biden’s Build Back Better plan and it passes Congress then Score Card will remove this post.

 

 

Posted October 31, 2021

Forces Of Alleged Greed Working Against The USA.

Forces Of Alleged Greed Working Against The USA.

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If we were to measure any single politician by his or her voting record, one might come up with some sort of accurate analysis of what that person believes in, stands for, and is wiling to fight for.  There is a sort of natural self serving  division or dichotomy that politicians often exhibit, self interests vs what is best for constituents. There is the wishes for what is best for the people, who the politician represents, and then the wishes of the political donors who typically give the most financial support.  So there may be three factors, self interest, donor interests and constituent interests.  It too often occurs that what is best for the people and the nation is not what the donor class wishes to take place.  This is an often obvious conflict.  This some times explains why a particular politician supports or rejects particular legislation and it often comes down to donor support.

Joseph Manchin III, an American politician, a “Democrat” and businessman and senior United States senator from West Virginia appears to be working for the Republican Party when looking at his alleged obstruction of pending Democratic legislation in 2021.  This senator along with Kyrsten Sinema  have vastly diminished the Democratic agenda and resulting reputation of that party.  This strongly works to improve the GOP but not the American public.

Why?  What could be the reason for allegedly working for the gains and betterment of the Republican Party?

One rather obvious answer is that the political contributors for Joe Manchin tell him that this is what they want.  They definitely do not want higher corporate taxes, spending that expands the national debt, restricts their industrial sector, and anything else that is perceived as being a negative factor toward their corporate success and profits.

Look at the donor list for Joseph Manchin provided below.  Note how many businesses in the list might work for the GOP and against the Democratic Party.  His donor list favors giving to Republicans.  The smaller amount of donations to Democrats just might be to Joseph Manchin to sway his vote to give back to his self serving libertarian billionaires.

Rank

Contributor

Total

Individuals

PACs

1

Tellurian Inc (Oil & Gas; Natural Gas transmission & distribution). 62.28% to Democrats, 37.72% to Republicans

$24,750

$19,750

$5,000

2

Starkey Hearing Technologies.  Pharmaceuticals/Health Products; Medical Devices & Supplies.   0.00% to Democrats, 100.00% to Republicans

$19,900

$17,400

$2,500

3

Votesane PAC.  73.91% to GOP and 26.09% to Democrats.

$19,500

$19,500

$0

4

SV Angel LLC

$11,600

$11,600

$0

5

United Distributors

$11,600

$11,600

$0

6

Student Systems Software

$11,600

$11,600

$0

7

Continental Resources.   0.00% to Democrats, 100.00% to Republicans

$10,100

$5,100

$5,000

8

Coterra Energy

$10,000

$5,000

$5,000

9

Apollo Global Management

$10,000

$5,000

$5,000

10

Arena Energy

$10,000

$10,000

$0

11

Nacero Inc

$10,000

$10,000

$0

12

SoftBank Corp

$8,700

$8,700

$0

13

Coury Financial

$8,700

$8,700

$0

14

Crow Holdings

$8,400

$8,400

$0

15

Baker, Donelson et al.   58.88% to Democrats, 41.12% to Republicans

$8,300

$5,800

$2,500

16

National Mining Assn  14.44% to Democrats, 85.56% to Republicans

$8,000

$2,000

$6,000

17

LHC Group. 49.93% to Democrats, 50.07% to Republicans

$7,900

$2,900

$5,000

18

Akin, Gump et al   44.59% to Democrats, 54.74% to Republicans

$7,500

$6,000

$1,500

19

CBRE Group

$6,800

$6,800

$0

20

Jones Walker LLP.   23.56% to Democrats, 74.34% to Republicans

$6,500

$1,500

$5,000

Source:  https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/joe-manchin/contributors?cid=N00032838&cycle=2022

We are now agonizing over two senators who control the future of this country due to apparent past American voter ignorance.

Summary:  It is incredibly unfortunate and somewhat stupid that the American voting public apparently really screwed up the last national election by not giving President Biden a larger working congressional majority.  2020 was the big win the Democrats needed and didn’t get.  The result is that the American public now really wants the President Biden’s three-part agenda to rescue, recover, and rebuild the country to succeed.  But the American public failed to view how to best improve their future as a result of their vote.  This situation is now, today, compounded by allowing just a few politicians to wield control over the Democratic agenda.  Just a couple of alleged corrupt Democrat politicians can now work toward their own selfish ends that their GOP donors wish them to while trying to hide who is paying them off using snowball theatrics.

Possible Solution:  The American public should consider not supporting any individual and corporation that is now, or in the recent past, who has been discovered working against the Build Back Better Agenda.  Let’s send these corporations a direct message that they can no longer hide behind their paid politicians when they work against what is best for the whole nation.  Corporate greed will no longer be tolerated!

References:  How Not to Let Corporations Kill Biden’s Agenda,  Oct. 21, 2021

Related Issue:  In The Atlantic magazine, November 2021 issue there is a very good article, The Men Who Are Killing America’s Newspapers, Inside Alden Global Capital, The Secretive Hedge Fund Gutting Newsrooms and Damaging Democracy by McKay Coppins.  This article reveals how Alden Global is diminishing, eviscerating, some of this country’s best newspapers to gain monetary gain over all other considerations.   This is just one more example of powerful corporate money interests working toward ruining the United States of America.  

Summary:  In the examples above, you should can come to realize that corporate greed often times works against the values and best interests of the American people.  Currently, the United States is under attack by the forces that want to remove our Democracy and replace it with an authoritarian form of government so that the plutocracy class of people gains control.  Congress should come up with some form of protections.

 

 

Posted October 23, 2021

Republican Business Failure

Republican Business Failure

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The Republican Party has changed itself into a very difficult if not impossible political party due to it following a grossly flawed if not stupid philosophy. 

Not all Republicans have the following deficiencies, which I will list below.  Each Republican varies as to the how they accept or reject with the items listed below.

The management team of the GOP has the possible deficiencies:

  • Possessing a high enough IQ to understand future outcomes from their actions.
  • Correctly evaluating how their decisions impact the United States and their party now and in the future.
  • Understand their obligations to all citizens instead of the white minority population.  This factor alone is possibly the single most negative for the GOP and is so stupid which paints all these people as stupid. 

At the root of the GOP failure it their inferior product: 

  • Pander to white supremacy.
  • Diminish minority interests.
  • Expand the interests of white minority.
  • Pander to industrial military complex by unlimited funding and very little oversight for proposed weapon improvements and existing weapons.
  • Neo fascist propensity.
  • Control of the election process in attempts to achieve election victory for their candidates.  These controls are often times unethical if not a crime.  A list of some election controls follows from various states:
    • Geremandering
    • Voter suppression:
      • Removal of US mail in ballots.
      • Removal of US mail drop points.
      • Shortening of voting periods.
      • Require election officials to verify voters’ signatures.
      • Limit the number and location for ballot drop-boxes.
      • Eliminate the state’s permanent mail-voting list.
      •  Require voters to apply for mail ballots before each election.
      • Stop counties from automatically mailing early ballots if they do not use them often enough.
      • Remove voters from the state’s “Early Voting List” if they fail to submit an early ballot at least once every two election cycles.
      • Give partisan election observers more power to raise objections.
      • Required people offering voters assistance to stay at least 150 feet (45 m) away from polling places, an increase from the previous 100-foot (30-m) radius

Summary:  The Republican Party, when it adds voting requirements beyond what is reasonable, is violating the sovereign power that each US citizen possesses.  Each US citizen holds ownership of the United States and as such should possess extreme power and authority in the operation and regulation of the country.  No one must interfere with the individual citizen’s ownership rights to choose who will work for their interests.  This is similar to US citizens owning a company called the United States and as owners they hire the staff of the business to correctly operate it with their supreme oversight.  At no point should the business management fail to perform business operations that work against the owners of the company.

 

Posted:  September 30, 2021

iMac Problem Of Not Getting Internet.

iMac Problem Of Not Getting Internet.

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NOTE: This computer problem ONLY came about because our house has the option to connect both WiFi and Ethernet connections to our computers.  I suspect that Apple changed their recent operating system to allow for this conflict.  Both  Wi-Fi and Ethernet to be turned on at the same time into your computer.

CAUTION:  The following descriptions and solutions can be rather difficult to understand.  If my explanations are not clear to you, do NOT attempt any of these changes.  If you attempt to make any changes to any computer settings, please write each change down so you can back out if things do not work better.

I have been using iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2019) for years and began having problems after the Big Sur software was provided (11.5.2).  Over time, I noticed that my iMac was acting very slow (probably unrelated to this main issue).  Then, all of a sudden my iMac failed to connect to the Internet.  It seemed that my problem was with our Internet cable provider.  I was wrong.  A technician came to our house and spent two hours evaluating our system and thinks that the Internet signal coming into the house was just a bit too weak.  He installed an amplifier to boost the signal coming into our house.  He got my iMac to work also by switching out a 1 by 3 with a 1 by 2 cable splitter.  He also was suspicious of our Macintosh Airport Time Capsule unit not performing properly.   But, the next day my iMac failed to show an Internet signal.  What is going on?  I did some research using my cell phone while having lunch with my wife at a restaurant.   The best advice I found, that helped me pinpoint this problem, was to disconnect every device from the iMac and reboot the computer.  Then see if all those disconnected devices made the computer work.  Well, the computer did work perfectly with all those cables removed.  I then reconnected each cable, one at a time, and restarted the computer to view the result.  I found that this pinpointed the problem exactly. I found out that when I connected my Ethernet cable to my iMac, the Internet failed.   I think this was because I always use WiFi to get Internet into my iMac.  So TWO Internet signals were flowing into my iMac.  This is rather odd.  You would think that Apple would have automated this not to happen.  My wife has an iMac and has BOTH WiFi going into her computer at the same time.  But she was told by her employer IT department NOT to upgrade her system until they checked it out for bugs.  So, she is using Catalina 10.15.7.   I went to her computer and discovered that I could NOT activate WiFi and Ethernet at the same time.  The Macintosh programmers with her system had avoided this conflict problem.  So, it seems that the newer update is possibly flawed on my computer.  If this is true, then over two hours of my cable system provider was wasted as well as hours of my time.

Troubleshooting method:

I used two applications to show me if there was a problem or not on my computer screen.  These two computer programs would definitely show me failure because both show very nice large windows on my computer screen:

  1.  Airport Utility was important for showing me if we were getting the Internet cable provider signal or not.  At the top of the this display screen is a round globe, probably representing the Earth.  Just below this globe shows whether I am connected to the Internet or not.  The color dot before the word Internet is what you need to check.  Green is good WiFi connection.

 

2.  Ring Doorbell computer application was also pretty nice in that it was a go or no go revealing I had a problem or not.   This application would fail to show my Ring cameras and doorbell if my home WiFi input system failed.  I used both these empirical indicators as my test meters.  I had both these applications opened on my computer screen during all my tests.

Solutions:

  1. Unplug the Ethernet Cale going into your computer.  This is the most simple solution.  This assumes that your WiFi is working and turned ON at your computer.  It also assumes that you favor Wi-Fi over Ethernet.  If you do not get a signal into your computer, then go into the System Preferences > Network and turn that port on (explained next).
  2. The next solution is way more complicated and requires more steps to complete.  But, this system gives you more specific control, if you understand this process.  Go into your System Preferences by mouse clicking the apple logo in the top left corner of your screen.  Select System Preferences from the rather long drop down menu.  This will then show you a really large list of system operation options for you to modify.  Mouse click on the Network menu option.

Once Network is chosen, you should see all the individual signals going in and out of your computer.  In the image below, you can see that my computer had BOTH Ethernet and Wi-Fi turned on!  The solution was to turn OFF Ethernet and turn ON Wi-Fi.  It is my opinion that Apple programmers made a mistake by allowing both Ethernet and Wi-Fi to be active.  On my wife’s iMac, the programmers had solved this problem.

 

The above configuration was my problem because, as you can see BOTH Ethernet and Wi-Fi are connected!  I went into the menu and turned off Ethernet as seen in the image below.

The way you turn on and off any signal connection using this system preference is to look just below the list of connections where you will see this very small control panel at the bottom.  I enlarged this panel image below for you to identify it better.

 

The + is used to add a new signal.  (Do not use this right now)

The – is used to delete a signal source shown in the list above.  (Do not use this right now)  

The above menu item shown above is what you need to look at.

Mouse click on any signal input and this small menu item gives you the option to turn that signal OFF if it is currently ON.  It also allows you to turn that signal ON if it is currently OFF.  If Ethernet shows on the list, you can then turn it off.  I recommend that you do not remove it as you may want to turn it on some time in the future.  Make sure that WiFi is turn on if that is your favorite method for getting Internet.

OPTION: 
You can also reverse the above instructions and turn OFF WiFi and turn ON Ethernet.  It is your choice.  But, if you have my problem that the computer fails with both on, then make sure you choose one or the other.  

OPTION:
My house has both Ethernet and WiFi.  If your home system is the same BUT you have a failure with one of those systems, then go to your computer and make sure the signal system in your home that IS working is now turned on at your computer so your computer can continue to receive Internet signals.

 

 

Posted August 30, 2021