Bits n' pieces from east, west and beyond

East, west or beyond, sooner or later events elsewhere may have a local impact.

A recent sampling:

NPR: Eight prime-time televised hearings of the Jan. 6 House Select Committee will begin June 9.

Included in the summary of evidence collected so far will be previously unseen material documenting the first nearly-successful attempted presidential coup in the nation’s 233-year history.

A federal jury has determined that Hillary Clinton’s campaign lawyer did not make a false statement to the FBI regarding Russia and ties to the 2016 election, Reuters reported.

After ignoring a subpoena, Peter Navarro, a former Donald Trump advisor, has been indicted for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 House Select Committee.

Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX) complained to Newsmax about Navarro’s jailing and Sussman’s acquittal: “If you’re a Republican, you can’t even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent…”

Business Insider noted that lying to the executive, legislative or judicial branch of the U.S. government is a felony, regardless of party affiliation.

In filing a “superseding indictment” against members of the Proud Boys, including seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, for their role in the Jan. 6 riot, the Dept. of Justice stated that the men’s purpose was to “oppose the lawful transfer of presidential powers by force.”

Retired Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe tweeted that “Seditious conspiracy is huge. [There is] no more serious federal crime short of treason.”

The recent deaths of three women at a Chicago senior nursing facility has brought into focus lack of access to air conditioning during heat waves from climate change. The facility in question had experienced interior temperatures of 102, CBS reported.

Last summer in the Pacific Northwest over a thousand people died during the heat dome, and advisories urged people without AC to go to malls or other buildings with AC.

High Country News recently reported that western Washington prisons were hard hit since they had no AC, and efforts to mitigate cell temps of up to 114 F rarely resulted in timely action.

India has 18% of the world’s population but generates only 3% of greenhouse gasses; a three-month heat wave has caused overheated birds to fall from the sky, school and work schedules have been adjusted, productivity has dropped, crop yields are down and food prices are up. About 100 people have died from the heat. The New York Times says less than 10% of India has AC.

The G-7 countries of Japan, the UK, the US, France, Italy, Canada and Germany have agreed to cut funding for overseas fossil fuel development by the end of 2022, putting an end to taxpayers funding overseas oil, gas and coal projects, and redirecting $33 billion to renewable energy projects.

Vaccine manufacturers across the planet are now geared up to mass produce C-19 vaccines, but unable to do so without a good recipe.

Big name C-19 vaccine manufacturers, citing intellectual property rights, refuse to share a recipe. The African Alliance says 78.7% of Africans have not had a C-19 vaccination.

An Alliance spokesperson said “If you have the answer to reducing death and hospitalization…and you are refusing to share with us, that tells us you are not on the side of humanity.”

So far, data on new C-19 sub-variants that are on the rise indicate that the vaccinated remain better protected against severe disease and death, according to the World Health Organization.

Ukraine-Russia headlines:

Sexual violence worsens in Ukraine; After Russian threat, U.K. says it will send Ukraine rocket launchers; Another Russian general killed in Ukraine; and Russia seeks buyers for plundered Ukraine grain, U.S. warns.

Eating crow: Ten years ago, the Seattle Times editorial board said the “fight for $15” (an hour) was bad public policy. The city adopted the rate hike anyway. Recently a Times columnist examined data and found that with

better wages the city’s income inequality is much smaller than that of similarly-sized cities.

A WalletHub report says Washington State’s economy currently is the best in the nation.

The U.S. economy is poised to grow faster than China’s for the first time since 1976, and ranks the strongest of the Group 7 democracies. The most recent job report shows 329,000 new non-farm jobs added in May, unemployment at 3.6% and a wage growth of 5% for the year.

Detracting from that: the influence on markets from the war in Ukraine, a continuation of supply chain problems (such as shipping containers costing 12 times what they did prior to C-19) and oil producers slow to respond to demands after C 19 shut-downs (while making record profits).

President Joe Biden commented in the Wall Street Journal that he ran for office because “I was tired of the so-

called trickle down economy.”

Biden noted that in 2021 the U.S. created more manufacturing jobs than in almost any year in 30 years.

Blast from the past: In the first three years after Franklin Delano Roosevelt became president during the Great Depression, gross domestic product grew by 10.86%; unemployment fell from 20% to under 10%.

FDR’s success in sidelining Big Businesses’ would-be fascist grip on politics resulted in his re-election three more times.

Historians say FDR explored fascism, and rejected it. Biden has been accused of emulating FDR.