American Politics Thread V: We're Just Biden Our Time ...

[The Grand Leader]

House passes bills to protect seniors, hard-right votes against them

Just eight House Republicans voted against the Protecting Seniors from Emergency Scams Act, which requires the Federal Trade Commission to compile a report for Congress on scams targeting seniors. The bill passed 413-8, with Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Chip Roy (R-TX) voting no.

Seven of those eight, plus Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Ken Buck (R-CO), Jody Hice (R-GA), Bob Good (R-VA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Pete Sessions (R-TX) voted against a bill to create an advisory office to help monitor scams targeting seniors, which passed 396-

Nearly all of the aforementioned lawmakers were among 49 House Republicans who voted against a bill to fund the purchase of carbon monoxide detectors for low-income families, facilities for children and the elderly, and schools.

Probably because that would disallow them from campaigning to seniors.

[Postauthoritarian America]

Marjorie Taylor Greene attempts to distance from racist "Anglo-Saxon traditions" America First Caucus document

On Saturday, Greene (R-Ga.) described the document as “a staff level draft proposal from an outside group” and claimed she had not read it. She blasted the media for “taking something out of context,” but did not specify to which policies in the document she objected.

However, Greene did not deny plans to start an “America First Caucus” and ended a lengthy Twitter thread by saying she supported former president Donald Trump’s “America First agenda.”

“America First policies will save this country for all of us, our children, and ultimately the world,” Greene tweeted. Trump’s “America First” agenda was characterized by a nationalist approach to issues such as immigration, trade and foreign policy. It was criticized by Democrats and some Republicans as sometimes backing xenophobic or racist policies.

Pay no attention to the white supremacist behind the curtain. My money's on Stephen Miller.

[The Black Forrest]

Good. The less gibberish you post, the better.

Yes I agree, now you guys can chat with each other and strongly agree with each other, 100 % Percent of the time. A few of you told me guys debate, but how can you guys debate if you guys agree with each other 100 % Percent of the time, I honestly don't understand. I Am very happy at least a few of you have read my post this time. I am very happy and content.

That’s not true at all. I have posted things and have been jumped on hard by lefties.

We don’t support Biden without question. He has done things which annoy supporters and they attack him for it. He has policies people don’t like and they have attacked him for it. He isn’t moving fast enough on the camps and people attack him for it, etc., etc., etc.

That’s the difference between the Biden supporters and you. The Biden people call him the President and yet don’t support him without question.

[The Black Forrest]

House passes bills to protect seniors, hard-right votes against them

Just eight House Republicans voted against the Protecting Seniors from Emergency Scams Act, which requires the Federal Trade Commission to compile a report for Congress on scams targeting seniors. The bill passed 413-8, with Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Chip Roy (R-TX) voting no.

Seven of those eight, plus Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Ken Buck (R-CO), Jody Hice (R-GA), Bob Good (R-VA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Pete Sessions (R-TX) voted against a bill to create an advisory office to help monitor scams targeting seniors, which passed 396-

Nearly all of the aforementioned lawmakers were among 49 House Republicans who voted against a bill to fund the purchase of carbon monoxide detectors for low-income families, facilities for children and the elderly, and schools.

The Hateful Eight.

[Stellar Colonies]

You can take the train down to Florida. You can reach St Louis from Chicago I believe. I agree there should be expansion. Extension north from Chicago has been discussed for years.

I love traveling via rail. I have some great stories from traveling via Amtrak.

Beyond expanding the Amtrak network, we really need a nationwide high speed rail.

Those maps are...crazy.

Love how Chicago is the geographic spider of the web, though.

[Eahland]

If, after the whole storm fiasco, Abbot and Cruz don't both get destroyed next time they're up, I'm going to lose all faith in humanity. Or at least Texans.

We shall see. Cruz is up in 2024. Texas is changing slowly.

This isn't about the "Texas is totally going blue next time for real honest" that I've been hearing for years and have yet to actually see. It's about the very public fuckups those two (and others involved) specifically committed that clearly demonstrate that they absolutely do not care if the Texans who elected them die freezing in the dark.

[Kowani]

Possible water shortage in the West

The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on. It comes as climate change means less snowpack flows into the river and its tributaries, and hotter temperatures parch soil and cause more river water to evaporate as it streams through the drought-plagued American West.

The agency’s models project Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) for the first time in June 2021. That’s the level that prompts a shortage declaration under agreements negotiated by seven states that rely on Colorado River water: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The April projections, however, will not have binding impact. Federal officials regularly issue long-term projections but use those released each August to make decisions about how to allocate river water. If projections don’t improve by then, the Bureau of Reclamation will declare a Level 1 shortage condition. The cuts would be implemented in January.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico have voluntarily given up water under a drought contingency plan for the river signed in 2019. A shortage declaration would subject the two U.S. states to their first mandatory reductions. Both rely on the Colorado River more than any other water source, and Arizona stands to lose roughly one-third of its supply. Water agency officials say they’re confident their preparation measures, including conservation and seeking out alternative sources, would allow them to withstand cuts if the drought lingers as expected.

“The study, while significant, is not a surprise. It reflects the impacts of the dry and warm conditions across the Colorado River Basin this year, as well as the effects of a prolonged drought that has impacted the Colorado River water supply,” officials from the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Central Arizona Project said in a joint statement.

In Nevada, the agency that supplies water to most of the state has constructed “straws” to draw water from further down in Lake Mead as its levels fall. It also has created a credit system where it can bank recycled water back into the reservoir without having it count toward its allocation.

Colby Pellegrino, director of water resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, reassured customers that those preparation measures would insulate them from the effects of cuts. But she warned that more action was needed. “It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve,” Pellegrino said in a statement.

The Bureau of Reclamation also projected that Lake Mead will drop to the point they worried in the past could threaten electricity generation at Hoover Dam. The hydropower serves millions of customers in Arizona, California and Nevada.

To prepare for a future with less water, the bureau has spent 10 years replacing parts of five of the dam’s 17 turbines that rotate to generate power. Len Schilling, a dam manager with the bureau, said the addition of wide-head turbines allow the dam to operate more efficiently at lower water levels. He said the turbines will be able to generate power almost to a point called “deadpool,” when there won’t be enough water for the dam to function.

But Schilling noted that less water moving through Hoover Dam means less hydropower to go around.

“As the elevation declines at the lake, then our ability to produce power declines as well because we have less water pushing on the turbines,” he said. The hydropower costs substantially less than the energy sold on the wholesale electricity market because the government charges customers only for the cost of producing it and maintaining the dam.

Lincoln County Power District General Manager Dave Luttrell said infrastructure updates, less hydropower from Hoover Dam and supplemental power from other sources like natural gas raised costs and alarmed customers in his rural Nevada district.

“Rural economies in Arizona and Nevada live and die by the hydropower that is produced at Hoover Dam. It might not be a big deal to NV Energy,” he said of Nevada’s largest utility. “It might be a decimal point to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. But for Lincoln County, it adds huge impact.”

[The Grand Leader]

Possible water shortage in the West

The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on. It comes as climate change means less snowpack flows into the river and its tributaries, and hotter temperatures parch soil and cause more river water to evaporate as it streams through the drought-plagued American West.

The agency’s models project Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) for the first time in June 2021. That’s the level that prompts a shortage declaration under agreements negotiated by seven states that rely on Colorado River water: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The April projections, however, will not have binding impact. Federal officials regularly issue long-term projections but use those released each August to make decisions about how to allocate river water. If projections don’t improve by then, the Bureau of Reclamation will declare a Level 1 shortage condition. The cuts would be implemented in January.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico have voluntarily given up water under a drought contingency plan for the river signed in 2019. A shortage declaration would subject the two U.S. states to their first mandatory reductions. Both rely on the Colorado River more than any other water source, and Arizona stands to lose roughly one-third of its supply. Water agency officials say they’re confident their preparation measures, including conservation and seeking out alternative sources, would allow them to withstand cuts if the drought lingers as expected.

“The study, while significant, is not a surprise. It reflects the impacts of the dry and warm conditions across the Colorado River Basin this year, as well as the effects of a prolonged drought that has impacted the Colorado River water supply,” officials from the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Central Arizona Project said in a joint statement.

In Nevada, the agency that supplies water to most of the state has constructed “straws” to draw water from further down in Lake Mead as its levels fall. It also has created a credit system where it can bank recycled water back into the reservoir without having it count toward its allocation.

Colby Pellegrino, director of water resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, reassured customers that those preparation measures would insulate them from the effects of cuts. But she warned that more action was needed. “It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve,” Pellegrino said in a statement.

The Bureau of Reclamation also projected that Lake Mead will drop to the point they worried in the past could threaten electricity generation at Hoover Dam. The hydropower serves millions of customers in Arizona, California and Nevada.

To prepare for a future with less water, the bureau has spent 10 years replacing parts of five of the dam’s 17 turbines that rotate to generate power. Len Schilling, a dam manager with the bureau, said the addition of wide-head turbines allow the dam to operate more efficiently at lower water levels. He said the turbines will be able to generate power almost to a point called “deadpool,” when there won’t be enough water for the dam to function.

But Schilling noted that less water moving through Hoover Dam means less hydropower to go around.

“As the elevation declines at the lake, then our ability to produce power declines as well because we have less water pushing on the turbines,” he said. The hydropower costs substantially less than the energy sold on the wholesale electricity market because the government charges customers only for the cost of producing it and maintaining the dam.

Lincoln County Power District General Manager Dave Luttrell said infrastructure updates, less hydropower from Hoover Dam and supplemental power from other sources like natural gas raised costs and alarmed customers in his rural Nevada district.

“Rural economies in Arizona and Nevada live and die by the hydropower that is produced at Hoover Dam. It might not be a big deal to NV Energy,” he said of Nevada’s largest utility. “It might be a decimal point to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. But for Lincoln County, it adds huge impact.”

Some states have already declared state of emergency. I don't see this being a short-time thing. This may be the future now.

[Senkaku]

Possible water shortage in the West

The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on. It comes as climate change means less snowpack flows into the river and its tributaries, and hotter temperatures parch soil and cause more river water to evaporate as it streams through the drought-plagued American West.

The agency’s models project Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) for the first time in June 2021. That’s the level that prompts a shortage declaration under agreements negotiated by seven states that rely on Colorado River water: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The April projections, however, will not have binding impact. Federal officials regularly issue long-term projections but use those released each August to make decisions about how to allocate river water. If projections don’t improve by then, the Bureau of Reclamation will declare a Level 1 shortage condition. The cuts would be implemented in January.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico have voluntarily given up water under a drought contingency plan for the river signed in 2019. A shortage declaration would subject the two U.S. states to their first mandatory reductions. Both rely on the Colorado River more than any other water source, and Arizona stands to lose roughly one-third of its supply. Water agency officials say they’re confident their preparation measures, including conservation and seeking out alternative sources, would allow them to withstand cuts if the drought lingers as expected.

“The study, while significant, is not a surprise. It reflects the impacts of the dry and warm conditions across the Colorado River Basin this year, as well as the effects of a prolonged drought that has impacted the Colorado River water supply,” officials from the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Central Arizona Project said in a joint statement.

In Nevada, the agency that supplies water to most of the state has constructed “straws” to draw water from further down in Lake Mead as its levels fall. It also has created a credit system where it can bank recycled water back into the reservoir without having it count toward its allocation.

Colby Pellegrino, director of water resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, reassured customers that those preparation measures would insulate them from the effects of cuts. But she warned that more action was needed. “It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve,” Pellegrino said in a statement.

The Bureau of Reclamation also projected that Lake Mead will drop to the point they worried in the past could threaten electricity generation at Hoover Dam. The hydropower serves millions of customers in Arizona, California and Nevada.

To prepare for a future with less water, the bureau has spent 10 years replacing parts of five of the dam’s 17 turbines that rotate to generate power. Len Schilling, a dam manager with the bureau, said the addition of wide-head turbines allow the dam to operate more efficiently at lower water levels. He said the turbines will be able to generate power almost to a point called “deadpool,” when there won’t be enough water for the dam to function.

But Schilling noted that less water moving through Hoover Dam means less hydropower to go around.

“As the elevation declines at the lake, then our ability to produce power declines as well because we have less water pushing on the turbines,” he said. The hydropower costs substantially less than the energy sold on the wholesale electricity market because the government charges customers only for the cost of producing it and maintaining the dam.

Lincoln County Power District General Manager Dave Luttrell said infrastructure updates, less hydropower from Hoover Dam and supplemental power from other sources like natural gas raised costs and alarmed customers in his rural Nevada district.

“Rural economies in Arizona and Nevada live and die by the hydropower that is produced at Hoover Dam. It might not be a big deal to NV Energy,” he said of Nevada’s largest utility. “It might be a decimal point to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. But for Lincoln County, it adds huge impact.”

I spend my days and nights quietly weeping for the beautifully-manicured, emerald-green golf courses and suburban lawns of the Phoenix metropolitan area

[Kowani]

Leaked draft of a bill that top Ohio Republicans are planning to introduce to restrict voting would reportedly require 2 forms of ID for voting absentee or early, abolish absentee ballot drop boxes, limit early voting, & ban prepaid postage for absentee voting

Cleveland.com reports that Ohio Republicans are planning to introduce a major new voting restriction bill that could impose significant changes and limitations on mail voting in particular, and the progressive media group More Perfect Union obtained what it calls a leaked draft of the bill that would abolish absentee ballot drop boxes, ban prepaid postage on absentee ballots, require two forms of ID for voting absentee or early, and cut early voting availability.

Republicans haven't offered any explanation as to why they want to ban prepaid postage, though they unsuccessfully tried to do so last year. Last September, lawmakers also rejected a request by Republican Secretary of State LaRose to pay for such postage, a decision that was criticized by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine for making it harder to vote.

Republicans are also considering codifying some of LaRose's directives into law, such as one that limited counties to a single location for mail ballot drop boxes regardless of population size instead of outright banning them. Combined with a 2006 law Republicans passed to limit counties to one early voting location regardless of size, this directive means that populous Democratic-dominated urban counties such as Franklin County, which is home to the state capital of Columbus and 1.3 million residents, are placed at a disadvantage compared to residents of smaller Republican-leaning counties like Vinton County, which has just 13,000 residents but the same number of drop boxes and early voting sites.

While most of the bill appears aimed at making it harder to vote, cleveland.com reports that Republicans might include a few measures that would expand voting access. LaRose has backed giving voters the option to automatically update their registrations when they do business with the state's driver's licensing agency, though that proposal falls short of true automatic voter registration, which would cover currently unregistered voters. LaRose also expressed optimism that the bill would enable online requests for absentee ballots, even though he refused to allow this method via administrative action last year by claiming only lawmakers had that power despite a court ruling that officials could do it.

[Neanderthaland]

Possible water shortage in the West

The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on. It comes as climate change means less snowpack flows into the river and its tributaries, and hotter temperatures parch soil and cause more river water to evaporate as it streams through the drought-plagued American West.

The agency’s models project Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) for the first time in June 2021. That’s the level that prompts a shortage declaration under agreements negotiated by seven states that rely on Colorado River water: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The April projections, however, will not have binding impact. Federal officials regularly issue long-term projections but use those released each August to make decisions about how to allocate river water. If projections don’t improve by then, the Bureau of Reclamation will declare a Level 1 shortage condition. The cuts would be implemented in January.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico have voluntarily given up water under a drought contingency plan for the river signed in 2019. A shortage declaration would subject the two U.S. states to their first mandatory reductions. Both rely on the Colorado River more than any other water source, and Arizona stands to lose roughly one-third of its supply. Water agency officials say they’re confident their preparation measures, including conservation and seeking out alternative sources, would allow them to withstand cuts if the drought lingers as expected.

“The study, while significant, is not a surprise. It reflects the impacts of the dry and warm conditions across the Colorado River Basin this year, as well as the effects of a prolonged drought that has impacted the Colorado River water supply,” officials from the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Central Arizona Project said in a joint statement.

In Nevada, the agency that supplies water to most of the state has constructed “straws” to draw water from further down in Lake Mead as its levels fall. It also has created a credit system where it can bank recycled water back into the reservoir without having it count toward its allocation.

Colby Pellegrino, director of water resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, reassured customers that those preparation measures would insulate them from the effects of cuts. But she warned that more action was needed. “It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve,” Pellegrino said in a statement.

The Bureau of Reclamation also projected that Lake Mead will drop to the point they worried in the past could threaten electricity generation at Hoover Dam. The hydropower serves millions of customers in Arizona, California and Nevada.

To prepare for a future with less water, the bureau has spent 10 years replacing parts of five of the dam’s 17 turbines that rotate to generate power. Len Schilling, a dam manager with the bureau, said the addition of wide-head turbines allow the dam to operate more efficiently at lower water levels. He said the turbines will be able to generate power almost to a point called “deadpool,” when there won’t be enough water for the dam to function.

But Schilling noted that less water moving through Hoover Dam means less hydropower to go around.

“As the elevation declines at the lake, then our ability to produce power declines as well because we have less water pushing on the turbines,” he said. The hydropower costs substantially less than the energy sold on the wholesale electricity market because the government charges customers only for the cost of producing it and maintaining the dam.

Lincoln County Power District General Manager Dave Luttrell said infrastructure updates, less hydropower from Hoover Dam and supplemental power from other sources like natural gas raised costs and alarmed customers in his rural Nevada district.

“Rural economies in Arizona and Nevada live and die by the hydropower that is produced at Hoover Dam. It might not be a big deal to NV Energy,” he said of Nevada’s largest utility. “It might be a decimal point to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. But for Lincoln County, it adds huge impact.”

I spend my days and nights quietly weeping for the beautifully-manicured, emerald-green golf courses and suburban lawns of the Phoenix metropolitan area

Phoenix needs to embrace the brown. Like Santa Fe.

America has enough green lawns.

[The Black Forrest]

I spend my days and nights quietly weeping for the beautifully-manicured, emerald-green golf courses and suburban lawns of the Phoenix metropolitan area

Phoenix needs to embrace the brown. Like Santa Fe.

America has enough green lawns.

Indeed. I have reduced my lawn foot print by 1/2. Simple sun friendly plants do wonders and when somebody knows what they are doing with yard planting (mrs. Bumi) the yard has a good look to it. Lawns are basically a relic of the 50s.

[Kowani]

Cop currently on administrative leave for allegedly sexually assaulting a child shoots 3 in Austin,, he is still at-large

[Forsher]

That would be really based.

What if we just abandon war as a concept and replace it with boxing matches? Instead of risking nuclear death with russia, we could have Russian bear Vladimir putin and self-described fighting Irishman Joe Biden throw hands in the ring.

This would either be a very good idea or a very bad one.

It's certainly one way to stop Americans from electing politicians with one foot in the grave.

Beyond expanding the Amtrak network, we really need a nationwide high speed rail.

Those maps are...crazy.

Love how Chicago is the geographic spider of the web, though.

It's America's third city and it's not a (sea) coast, sort of inevitable.

Some states have already declared state of emergency. I don't see this being a short-time thing. This may be the future now.

We've technically been on water restrictions for months, possibly a year. And Auckland isn't in a desert... it's actually pretty wet here. Mind you, for most of that time it's been "technically" not something you'd notice in practice.

Obviously weather conditions are local but as the climate changes, I would expect more places to have stories like this.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Yes I agree, now you guys can chat with each other and strongly agree with each other, 100 % Percent of the time. A few of you told me guys debate, but how can you guys debate if you guys agree with each other 100 % Percent of the time, I honestly don't understand. I Am very happy at least a few of you have read my post this time. I am very happy and content.

That’s not true at all. I have posted things and have been jumped on hard by lefties.

We don’t support Biden without question. He has done things which annoy supporters and they attack him for it. He has policies people don’t like and they have attacked him for it. He isn’t moving fast enough on the camps and people attack him for it, etc., etc., etc.

That’s the difference between the Biden supporters and you. The Biden people call him the President and yet don’t support him without question.

Are most of us really Biden supporters or just really tired of Trump? I wouldn't call myself a supporter, I just couldn't take four more years of president 44.

[Neanderthaland]

That’s not true at all. I have posted things and have been jumped on hard by lefties.

We don’t support Biden without question. He has done things which annoy supporters and they attack him for it. He has policies people don’t like and they have attacked him for it. He isn’t moving fast enough on the camps and people attack him for it, etc., etc., etc.

That’s the difference between the Biden supporters and you. The Biden people call him the President and yet don’t support him without question.

Are most of us really Biden supporters or just really tired of Trump? I wouldn't call myself a supporter, I just couldn't take four more years of president 44.

Very much this. Biden is a return to a status quo I didn't like, and still don't. But I prefer my old boring dystopia to an excitingly awful one.

[Galloism]

Are most of us really Biden supporters or just really tired of Trump? I wouldn't call myself a supporter, I just couldn't take four more years of president 44.

Very much this. Biden is a return to a status quo I didn't like, and still don't. But I prefer my old boring dystopia to an excitingly awful one.

Pretty much.

[Cannot think of a name]

That’s not true at all. I have posted things and have been jumped on hard by lefties.

We don’t support Biden without question. He has done things which annoy supporters and they attack him for it. He has policies people don’t like and they have attacked him for it. He isn’t moving fast enough on the camps and people attack him for it, etc., etc., etc.

That’s the difference between the Biden supporters and you. The Biden people call him the President and yet don’t support him without question.

Are most of us really Biden supporters or just really tired of Trump? I wouldn't call myself a supporter, I just couldn't take four more years of president 44.

I'm more of a Biden well wisher. I wish he'd do thing things I like, but well...

[Cannot think of a name]

Possible water shortage in the West

The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on. It comes as climate change means less snowpack flows into the river and its tributaries, and hotter temperatures parch soil and cause more river water to evaporate as it streams through the drought-plagued American West.

The agency’s models project Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) for the first time in June 2021. That’s the level that prompts a shortage declaration under agreements negotiated by seven states that rely on Colorado River water: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The April projections, however, will not have binding impact. Federal officials regularly issue long-term projections but use those released each August to make decisions about how to allocate river water. If projections don’t improve by then, the Bureau of Reclamation will declare a Level 1 shortage condition. The cuts would be implemented in January.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico have voluntarily given up water under a drought contingency plan for the river signed in 2019. A shortage declaration would subject the two U.S. states to their first mandatory reductions. Both rely on the Colorado River more than any other water source, and Arizona stands to lose roughly one-third of its supply. Water agency officials say they’re confident their preparation measures, including conservation and seeking out alternative sources, would allow them to withstand cuts if the drought lingers as expected.

“The study, while significant, is not a surprise. It reflects the impacts of the dry and warm conditions across the Colorado River Basin this year, as well as the effects of a prolonged drought that has impacted the Colorado River water supply,” officials from the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Central Arizona Project said in a joint statement.

In Nevada, the agency that supplies water to most of the state has constructed “straws” to draw water from further down in Lake Mead as its levels fall. It also has created a credit system where it can bank recycled water back into the reservoir without having it count toward its allocation.

Colby Pellegrino, director of water resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, reassured customers that those preparation measures would insulate them from the effects of cuts. But she warned that more action was needed. “It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve,” Pellegrino said in a statement.

The Bureau of Reclamation also projected that Lake Mead will drop to the point they worried in the past could threaten electricity generation at Hoover Dam. The hydropower serves millions of customers in Arizona, California and Nevada.

To prepare for a future with less water, the bureau has spent 10 years replacing parts of five of the dam’s 17 turbines that rotate to generate power. Len Schilling, a dam manager with the bureau, said the addition of wide-head turbines allow the dam to operate more efficiently at lower water levels. He said the turbines will be able to generate power almost to a point called “deadpool,” when there won’t be enough water for the dam to function.

But Schilling noted that less water moving through Hoover Dam means less hydropower to go around.

“As the elevation declines at the lake, then our ability to produce power declines as well because we have less water pushing on the turbines,” he said. The hydropower costs substantially less than the energy sold on the wholesale electricity market because the government charges customers only for the cost of producing it and maintaining the dam.

Lincoln County Power District General Manager Dave Luttrell said infrastructure updates, less hydropower from Hoover Dam and supplemental power from other sources like natural gas raised costs and alarmed customers in his rural Nevada district.

“Rural economies in Arizona and Nevada live and die by the hydropower that is produced at Hoover Dam. It might not be a big deal to NV Energy,” he said of Nevada’s largest utility. “It might be a decimal point to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. But for Lincoln County, it adds huge impact.”

Yeah, the fact that I could count the number of rain days on my hand I could see this coming. People are all "Wooo summer is back" and I'm like "The fuck you talking about? It never left. We had a couple of weeks of not hot weather and like six days of rain.

[Borderlands of Rojava]

Are most of us really Biden supporters or just really tired of Trump? I wouldn't call myself a supporter, I just couldn't take four more years of president 44.

I'm more of a Biden well wisher. I wish he'd do thing things I like, but well...

I dont wanna sound like a centrist here but you should always wish that the president do the right thing. If the president fucks up...well...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/us/c ... dates.html

[Washington Resistance Army]

Possible water shortage in the West

The man-made lakes that store water supplying millions of people in the U.S. West and Mexico are projected to shrink to historic lows in the coming months, dropping to levels that could trigger the federal government’s first-ever official shortage declaration and prompt cuts in Arizona and Nevada.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation released 24-month projections this week forecasting that less Colorado River water will cascade down from the Rocky Mountains through Lake Powell and Lake Mead and into the arid deserts of the U.S. Southwest and the Gulf of California. Water levels in the two lakes are expected to plummet low enough for the agency to declare an official shortage for the first time, threatening the supply of Colorado River water that growing cities and farms rely on. It comes as climate change means less snowpack flows into the river and its tributaries, and hotter temperatures parch soil and cause more river water to evaporate as it streams through the drought-plagued American West.

The agency’s models project Lake Mead will fall below 1,075 feet (328 meters) for the first time in June 2021. That’s the level that prompts a shortage declaration under agreements negotiated by seven states that rely on Colorado River water: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.

The April projections, however, will not have binding impact. Federal officials regularly issue long-term projections but use those released each August to make decisions about how to allocate river water. If projections don’t improve by then, the Bureau of Reclamation will declare a Level 1 shortage condition. The cuts would be implemented in January.

Arizona, Nevada and Mexico have voluntarily given up water under a drought contingency plan for the river signed in 2019. A shortage declaration would subject the two U.S. states to their first mandatory reductions. Both rely on the Colorado River more than any other water source, and Arizona stands to lose roughly one-third of its supply. Water agency officials say they’re confident their preparation measures, including conservation and seeking out alternative sources, would allow them to withstand cuts if the drought lingers as expected.

“The study, while significant, is not a surprise. It reflects the impacts of the dry and warm conditions across the Colorado River Basin this year, as well as the effects of a prolonged drought that has impacted the Colorado River water supply,” officials from the Arizona Department of Water Resources and Central Arizona Project said in a joint statement.

In Nevada, the agency that supplies water to most of the state has constructed “straws” to draw water from further down in Lake Mead as its levels fall. It also has created a credit system where it can bank recycled water back into the reservoir without having it count toward its allocation.

Colby Pellegrino, director of water resources for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, reassured customers that those preparation measures would insulate them from the effects of cuts. But she warned that more action was needed. “It is incumbent upon all users of the Colorado River to find ways to conserve,” Pellegrino said in a statement.

The Bureau of Reclamation also projected that Lake Mead will drop to the point they worried in the past could threaten electricity generation at Hoover Dam. The hydropower serves millions of customers in Arizona, California and Nevada.

To prepare for a future with less water, the bureau has spent 10 years replacing parts of five of the dam’s 17 turbines that rotate to generate power. Len Schilling, a dam manager with the bureau, said the addition of wide-head turbines allow the dam to operate more efficiently at lower water levels. He said the turbines will be able to generate power almost to a point called “deadpool,” when there won’t be enough water for the dam to function.

But Schilling noted that less water moving through Hoover Dam means less hydropower to go around.

“As the elevation declines at the lake, then our ability to produce power declines as well because we have less water pushing on the turbines,” he said. The hydropower costs substantially less than the energy sold on the wholesale electricity market because the government charges customers only for the cost of producing it and maintaining the dam.

Lincoln County Power District General Manager Dave Luttrell said infrastructure updates, less hydropower from Hoover Dam and supplemental power from other sources like natural gas raised costs and alarmed customers in his rural Nevada district.

“Rural economies in Arizona and Nevada live and die by the hydropower that is produced at Hoover Dam. It might not be a big deal to NV Energy,” he said of Nevada’s largest utility. “It might be a decimal point to Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. But for Lincoln County, it adds huge impact.”

Some states have already declared state of emergency. I don't see this being a short-time thing. This may be the future now.

This^

Welcome to living with climate change, this is just gonna get more and more common.

[Andsed]

Some states have already declared state of emergency. I don't see this being a short-time thing. This may be the future now.

This^

Welcome to living with climate change, this is just gonna get more and more common.

Well thankfully when the flooding starts we can just purify the water and start drinking that. Silver linings everyone.

[Cannot think of a name]

I'm more of a Biden well wisher. I wish he'd do thing things I like, but well...

I dont wanna sound like a centrist here but you should always wish that the president do the right thing. If the president fucks up...well...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/27/us/c ... dates.html

There's always one in every crowd...

[Senkaku]

This^

Welcome to living with climate change, this is just gonna get more and more common.

Well thankfully when the flooding starts we can just purify the water and start drinking that. Silver linings everyone.

Southwest is looking more and more to be in for a good old-fashioned megadrought (like the one that put Chaco Canyon down), any floods they get are likely to be sudden monsoon downpours that they can't collect fast enough or store long enough.

[Kowani]

Capitol Police officials who failed to mobilize on Jan. 6 say that the memo warning that ‘Congress itself is the target’ wasn’t specific enough

Asked by the Capitol Police inspector general why they failed to heed their own intelligence unit’s dramatic and dire warning on Jan. 3 that violent protesters would be targeting the Capitol three days later, top department officials said the report wasn’t specific enough.

That Jan. 3 intelligence report literally alerted officials that “white supremacists, militia members, and others who actively promote violence” had been summoned by Donald Trump himself and could create “significantly dangerous situations for law enforcement and the general public alike” because “unlike previous post-election protests… Congress itself is the target on the 6th.” It said that organizers were urging Trump supporters to come with guns, gas masks, and body armor.

But the inspector general conducted interviews with Capitol Police officials and found what he called “a lack of consensus” among them about whether that intelligence report and others “actually indicated specific known threats.”

The officials instead pointed the inspector general to a daily update from a single analyst who apparently operated without supervision and who labeled the likelihood of civil disobedience or arrests that day by a “PRO-TRUMP group” (capitalized in the original) as “improbable.”

This new but hardly convincing explanation comes from a secret official review of the events of Jan. 6 by Capitol Police inspector general Michael A. Bolton. CBS News reporters Michael Kaplan and Cassidy McDonald broke the news about the review’s conclusion two weeks ago after obtaining a copy.

CBS reported that Bolton found that the Capitol Police “did not prepare a comprehensive, Department-wide plan for demonstrations planned for January 6, 2021.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the head of the House Administration Committee, called the review’s findings “disturbing,” and has called Bolton to testify on Thursday.

To some extent, the review bolsters what we might call the Keystone Kops defense – that Capitol Police leadership was simply too incompetent, uninformed and unprepared to respond properly.

But the threat was so obvious, so overt, and so well-publicized that incompetence alone can’t explain the failure to mobilize – especially compared to how over-enthusiastically the department deployed officers to Black Lives Matters protests that never posed any danger to the Capitol.

On Jan. 6, Capitol Police chief Steven Sund, who has since resigned, didn’t equip his frontline officers riot gear, tear gas, or any other non-lethal crowd-control weapons. Instead of establishing a defensible perimeter, he sent them out in street uniforms to man barricades made of bike racks. One officer died, and the Capitol fell to a mob.

I’ve been writing since days after the insurrection that the biggest mystery about the insurrection is why the Capitol Police — which could have stopped it — let it happen in the first place. I called on reporters to investigate the obvious possibility that Capitol Police leadership felt a kinship with the Trump mob, and either were too racist to see the threat posed by Trump supporters or looked the other way on purpose.

Since then, the mainstream media coverage has continued to skirt around this crucial question. Reporters have credulously accepted the framing of “intelligence failure” — despite that in-your-face Jan. 3 report, which pretty much laid out exactly what would happen. They have inanely focused on the non-distribution of one single Jan. 5 FBI situational report based on one single thread on one message board, rather than on the leadership shrugging off that far clearer and more direct Jan. 3 report.

They’ve barely mentioned the elephant in the room: Racism. As Rep. Cori Bush said that very night on MSNBC: “Had it been people who look like me, had it been the same amount of people, but had they been Black and brown, we wouldn’t have made it up those steps… we would have been shot, we would have been tear gassed.”

The inspector general’s report remains secret, despite requests from members of Congress to release it. The part of the review that I obtained – on condition that I not replicate it — focused on the failed threat analysis.

But to be honest, it’s not particularly edifying or compelling. Its big recommendation in this area are for more training and coordination.

It doesn’t quote any further from that terrifyingly prescient Jan. 3 memo – titled “IICD Special event Assessment 21-A-0468 v.3 Joint Session of Congress — Electoral College Vote Certification”—than the Washington Post did on Jan. 15.

That memo should be made public. Members of Congress should read it out loud.

The inspector general’s report doesn’t explain why the daily report written by a “single analyst” who has compiled it “for a number of years.. without supervisory review” conflicted so dramatically with the “finished intelligence report” from his own department.

It does note that the finding of “no specific known threats” made it into a Capitol Police “operational plan” for Jan. 6 — although officials told the inspector general that language was apparently copied and pasted from a copy of a previous document in error.

But the part of the report I saw doesn’t get into why officials weren’t more alarmed. It doesn’t address the either covert or overt role of racism. I see no sign that, to this day, anyone – not the inspector general, not congressional overseers, and certainly not journalists – has gotten hold of contemporaneous correspondence between the key players or any other evidence that would offer insight into their states of mind.

So we still don’t know why they let it happen.