Fwd: The coming nuclear war with Russia

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: John H

Ready or not we Americans are facing an imminent possibility of nuclear war.  This should not be an idle fear for this nation as forces in our national security, military and political institutions are racing headlong in an effort to both demonize Russia and to force it into an untenable corner both politically and militarily.  Russia has very clearly spelled out that it will only be pushed so far before it has no choice but to retaliate with the only military option it has to compete with the U.S. and NATO – that is nuclear weapons.  This is made clear in the two attachments to this e-mail.  The first is another excellent analysis by Jim Kavanagh (The Polemicist) which I heartedly encourage everyone to read in full.  The second by Brian Cloughley is also highly pertinent to what is now very much on our collective doorstep. 

John

Links

• Russiamania at the Boiling Point - a PDF
• Getting Ready for Nuclear War - a PDF

This is not an April Fools Joke, but it is extremely dangerous to our democracy

Fwd: Fracking and its consequences

--------- Forwarded message ---------

From: John H. 

The attached op-ed from the Washington Observer-Reporter contains more confirming information about the dilatory effects of fracking on the health of all of us living in this region.  Western Pennsylvania is now a hot-spot for many different types of cancer.  Washington and Greene Counties now have the highest incidence of air pollution in the state by a factor of almost six, most of which is directly from fracking.  It's time we begin raising our voices in protest to the powers that be in Harrisburg to get some real and effective regulations and controls in place to control this noxious pollution.  Yes, these types of controls will increase the cost of fracking production, but that is a very small price to pay for reducing the health consequences we all now have to live (and die) with.

John

Link

More swimming crisis

https://coachrickswimming.com/2018/03/29/we-need-a-saner-approach-to-swim-meets/
 The author / coach does not call the landscape a crisis, as did the other article we covered in detail last week. But, this is a new verse in the same crisis song.

Last week's conversation was published at Swim.Chttps://swim.cloh.org/2018/03/22/competitive-swimming-is-in-a-crisis-reports-swimming-world-and-wayne-goldsmith/LOH.org/

Job descriptions for summer helpers

Two Facebook Flashbacks

In 2010, from my Blackberry phone I posted. Maryland Terps Hoops graduate 8 percent. Duke more than 90. Money after graduation and debt after degree unknown.

Four years ago I was posting for a few weeks from a hospital in Dallas, while enduring two surgeries -- ruptured appendix. One of my tips then was, "Don't eat rotisserie chicken the meal before flying south."

Fwd: Progressing Into A Chin

--- Forwarded message ---------

From: info@rogersathletic.com

Progressing Into A Chin By Mike Gittleson, Mar 25, 2018 1:07:30 PM Progress into a chin or pull-up using the quick adjustable chin bar on the Pendulum Power Rack to Get Strong. Read more » Rogers Athletic   3760 West Ludington Dr.    Farwell  MI   48622   United States You received this email because you are subscribed to Get Strong Subscription from Rogers Athletic .

Fwd: Crisis in the water --- and you're invited to the Saturday Swim School this week

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Mark Rauterkus 

To: 412-public-news

Hi All, near and far!

We've got a crisis -- or a few of them -- in our future.

#1. Global engagement and fitness with kids seems to be in a decline.

A great commentary was published in Swimming World magazine about the crisis in a favorite domain of mine, competitive swimming. 

From the international to the local scene, we need to evolve our interactions with our youth and gather all the support we can muster for our communities. Wellness -- from gun violence to school safety  -- matters. We've got to step up our game in many ways.

Check out my blog post with a pointer to that article on competitive swimming and a follow-up conversation about our one-size-fits-all solution. 

https://swim.cloh.org/2018/03/22/competitive-swimming-is-in-a-crisis-reports-swimming-world-and-wayne-goldsmith/

+ + +

#2. Regional 

If you do nothing else, please click the PETITION directed at the school administrators at Eastern Michigan University who want to cut its super-successful men's swim team.

https://swim.cloh.org/2018/03/21/eastern-michigan-university-gotta-keep-its-great-swimming-and-diving-programs/

+ + +

#3 Local Invite

Adults and high school kids are able to meet me on Saturday from 8:30 am to 11:30 for the Saturday Swim School. 

Kids in middle and elementary school are able to swim from 11:30 to 1 pm. 

https://Swim.CLOH.org/saturdays/

I really want to get the former students of Swim & Water Polo from PPS Summer Dreamers back in the water and playing SKWIM.

There is no charge as this is a labor of love. 

+ + +

#4 Three different Lifeguard Classes have been offered and are filling to capacity, also a part of the Saturday Swim School. https://Guard.CLOH.org to get on the waiting list.

+ + +

#5. We're hiring both kids and adults to help with our summer activities at the pools in the city.

Apply with this google form. https://cloh.org/wp/archives/2050

Election brochure and CD Cover for Elect.Rauterkus.com

Some old materials, blast from the past. 

Candidates for PA House with Pitt connections: Josh Nelph, Jacob Pavlecic, Kareem Kandil and Sara Innamorato.

Pitt News, nice work.
Josh Nelph, Jacob Pavlecic, Kareem Kandil and Sara Innamorato.

Fwd: Two excellent articles

--------- Forwarded message ---------

From: John H

Attached are two excellent and very different articles on two critical subjects for all Americans to consider with all seriousness.  They each, in their own way, discuss 'elephant in the room' issues to which the national media give only scant attention; and, when attention is paid, it is usually focused on the wrong aspects of the issues. 

The first, by Andrew J. Bacevich, offers a telling look at The New York Times negative coverage of all things Russian to the exclusion of coverage of U.S. military and political machinations all around the globe which impacted millions and millions, unseating multiple governments and creating an unimaginable refugee crisis in many of these same areas.  If you happen to be in the Pittsburgh area on Friday evening, labor lawyer and peace activist Dan Kovalik will be discussing many of these issues in a book presentation at the UU Church of the South Hills in Mt. Lebanon, 1240 Washington Road at 7:00 p.m.  This should be an interesting and important event to attend.

The second article from my favorite alternative news site, naked capitalism, concerns what is almost certainly the greatest existential threat to humankind in all of recorded history, global climate change.  It argues that unless we begin to attack climate change from the perspective of supply limitations all of our efforts will be for naught.  This is an important and oft neglected aspect of many activists efforts on this issue.  I have to admit that while I am a long-term cynic about the prospects for stopping or even significantly limiting global climate change, I strongly believe that it is absolutely real and the dangers it poses to humankind (and most other life on the planet as well) are not at all understated and need to be addressed with all due urgency.  However, I hold serious doubts that we humans, ensconced as we are in the comforts of carbon-based energy, really will be willing to make the changes necessary to have a significant impact upon the climate.  As I occasionally do, because they are usually excellent, I have included the comments to the article.

Please do check out these two excellent articles.

  John

 Links

• On Seeing America's Wars Whole
• Why Climate Activists Must Include ..

Fwd: Two for the price of one

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John H

Two excellent articles on the politics of our time!  You won't see this information on the national news.

John

Links

• It is Us, PDF
• Time is Running Out

Fwd: Now is the time! Quake with terror.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: John H

If there ever was a time when the nation and the world should quake with terror, it is NOW, with the announcement that Trump is firing H. R. McMaster and replacing him with John Bolton.  Bolton is an absolute out and out nut case who despises diplomacy and believes whole-heartedly in forcible regime change.  He is a longtime neocon hawk who was one of the sponsors of the war on Iraq – and we know just how well that turned out – so look out Iran, North Korea and . . . Russia.  Because he will be advising and encouraging one of the most unstable and suggestable leaders ever entrusted with any high political office, nuclear war may well be on the near horizon.

 

John

Ode to Trash

Poem by Chuck Nogel of the South Side and a co-owner in the ceramic shop on East Carson Street.

Fwd: Oh those Democrats, they're so cute . . .

--------- Forwarded message ---------

From: John H

Here are two articles you might like.  The first is an interview with Noam Chomsky and the second is a follow-on from one I sent out a couple of days ago. 

John 

Links

• 
  
• https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByN94c3Pp4BpclRsUjRiR0xEU0pyeEJtbUpUYndzUXl6RHZN
• https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByN94c3Pp4BpRkF1MzQzcVdYNnVSMmhYaVpQdWNLampYSlhN

From the Pittsburgh Airport to Oakland, keep an eye out for this guy's visit. Hear he might be in town to interview and negotiate for a new job.

Let me know if anyone, perhaps an Uber driver, sees this guy around town. Pitt is on the prowl for a men's basketball coach.

TBT: Nobody is going to die, but I wanted to share this today

Three Rivers Publishers Group

Called ourselves, TRPG. We had monthly meetings, a board and huddled in the times before the internet as CD-ROMs and Laser Disks were just hitting the high-end markets.

Email blast: Crisis

Reaching out via email.

https://pairlist6.pair.net/pipermail/412-public-news/2018-March/000052.html

Time to apply for the 2018 staff for our efforts with Summer Dreamers: Swim & Water Polo Camp and more

The 2018 efforts are going to include a site at U-Prep in the afternoons with PPS Summer Dreamers Swim & Water Polo. Other help is needed on the Northside in the mornings with The Pittsburgh Project. In the evenings, swimming is going to happen at Citiparks' outdoor pool at Ammon Rec Center on Bedford Avenue and Memory Lane on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Monday evenings we expect to go to north to Moraine State Park for open water swimming.

Wednesdays, Fridays and weekends are the times we keep reserved for travel to other pools around the region.