Last night Insider.com informed me that artificial sweeteners can kill you! Like many others, I had no idea. Causing stroke, heart attack, and blood clots you definitely want to avoid this weight control aid.
Splenda contains erythritol. Derived from fermented corn it’s 70% as sweet as sugar. A Cleveland Clinic Study identified a link between increased rates of heart attack, stroke, death, and erythritol (Feb 27, 2023, News Release Cleveland Clinic).
Over 4000 study participants in both US and Europe supported the conclusion that erythritol leads to blood clots. Dr. Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic advises continued studies examining the adverse effects of artificial sweeteners, especially those involving an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Above photo Greenland Ice Sheet Melting InsideClimateNews.org Bob Berwyn
We’ve been doing a lousy job of predicting the effects of climate change on our planet.
We underestimate anticipated damage and have insufficient relief available on a national scale.
Data from NOAA.gov and the US Census tells us that 127 M/334 M or 38% of US Citizens live in coastal counties.
They are in serious danger of coastal flooding in the near future.
In 2023 New York State is leading the nation on per capita Gross Domestic Product with $87,457. MA follows with $84,651 and WA with $80,708. In comparison, FL Per Capita GDP was reported as $49,053, and TX $58,102. (reported by worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gdp-by-state).
The Great Depression of 1929-1939 was an economic apocalypse on a worldwide scale.
People were starving and homeless. The USA Work Program was created to give people paid jobs. People who joined the WPA improved public infrastructure while learning valuable skills. They built state parks, schools, and roads.
We should have a New York State work/training program that educates people, creates infrastructure, and offers paid jobs.
We are sorry that rich people in NYC’s wealthy suburbs voted against creating ADU-type housing during this climate change crisis. A work-training-infrastructure program at our state or national level can make our future much brighter.
Phys.org (The American Geophysical Union) predicts that the collapse of the Greenland Ice sheet is truly imminent.
It will raise the sea level by 23 ft when completely melted.
Let’s Plan on Preparing
Last April, Harold Warnless of the Guardian, anticipated a two-foot rise by 2040 and a 3-foot rise by 2050. I bet most people are NOT prepared for this! We must be ready by moving away from the coast and by having national and state programs that will help us maintain a healthy economy and provide self-sufficiency and adequate education and infrastructure. Let’s do better!
by Linda Kaidan
The University of Maine recently created the first bio-printed home.
To build this groundbreaking economically constructed home, they replaced concrete with wood waste material. Recycled wood waste is superior to concrete because it is an excellent insulator and is completely biodegradable! Well-designed 3-D printed homes can be built in as little as a single day. Quick construction means great cost savings and easily tested reliability. Some reports indicate that Robot constructed homes can last between 100 and 300 years!
Mighty Buidings is a well-established robotic home-building company based in California.
California, Maine, and New York all share a common problem. There is an extreme shortage of affordable homes. A great way to fight this shortage is to have local robotics driven 3 D factories employing reliable national building standards. Let’s work together to include our national talents and abilities in creating high-quality affordable homes for our citizens š
Can humans working slower be just as effective?
While robot construction of ADUS can be very time efficient we should also consider how effective even self trained humans can be in creating highly affordable living spaces The following youtube exemplifies the work of a self taught builder who created a home with bedroom, kitchen, office and shower for $15,000.
Herkimer drug thug Kim Vargas goes from success to success: after several years of harassment and drug trafficking along Pleasant Avenue, she wrapped up her stint next door by helping her son Jordan Bormann on his way to prison, charged with a class D violent felony. Jordan Bormann, 21, assaulted an elderly neighbor, sending the old veteran to Albany Medical center with a traumatic brain injury.
Vargas, the subject of many herkimerpost.com articles, enjoyed a two-and-a-half-year reign of unchecked criminality next door to us at 328 Pleasant Avenue, long a gang sanctuary and retail drug thug front.
This March makes our ninth year in Herkimer. For seven of those years, 328 Pleasant Avenue has been tenanted by a succession of low criminal types trafficking drugs and occasionally kids, and doing their inept best to force the “weak old people” from “their” street. As with all else in their wretched lives, they failed. Here’s a 328 Pleasant Avenue rogues gallery:
The Froth On the Scum Of The Earth: 328 Pleasant Avenue Rogues Gallery
Herkimer Monster Mom Kim VargasHerkimer elder-basher Jordan Bormann, unfortunate son of Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas, with vile friends on the porch of 328 Pleasant Avenue.Kim Vargas’ son Jordan Bormann assaults elderly neighbor in front of 328 Pleasant Avenue, causing traumatic brain injury. Officer Jason Crippen’s investigation found elderly neighbor guilty of the assault. Reinvestigation based on victim’s surveillance cam footage saw Bormann charged with Class D Violent Felony.Curtis Cool. Cop-coddled Herkimer drug thug and probable child trafficker ally, menacing his neighbors from driveway of 328 Pleasant Avenue.328 Pleasant Avenue’s wacky Amanda West harassing old folks on their neighboring porch.328 Pleasant Avenue’s Xavier Rowe harassing neighboring old folks.
Herkimer police officer Jason Crippen responding to Kim Vargas’ call. from 328 Pleasant Avenue. Crippen threatened one of us with arrest for using foul language in our driveway.
I’ve speculated at length as to who controls 328 Pleasant Avenue, using it as a retail drug trafficking front. The demographics of the Herkimer area are rapidly going upscale. We’ll see if they sell the place or move another set of gang scum in there. Whatever happens, there are a lot of surveillance drones around and our cameras stand ready.
Nationwide extreme weather has magnified the severe housing crisis in upstate NY. On 2/17/22 The Washington Post reported that 14.5 million dwelling units sustained property losses in the preceding 12 months. Damages totaled about $57 Million by November 17, 2022. The current US population is 333 M and there is 1 housing unit for every 2.5 people (US Census).
36.25 M people suffered damage to their homes from severe weather in a 1-year period. (36.25 M / 333 M ) or 10% of the US population in a single year!
Neither Albany, NY nor New York City have approved ADU construction. Overall it appears that little headway in ADU permitting has been achieved in New York State’s urban areas. It seems very sad that zoning is not more flexible, especially as it would help create more affordable housing, provide extra income to homeowners and stretch urban infrastructure. Let’s hope we can change some minds soon.
This pair of apprentice vandals from 333 Pleasant Avenue have been bombarding our house daily this week with ice balls. They took out a window. 333’s the former Barton Gang place, across the street from us. Joyce Barton and her crew left it with kindred spirits, who are apparently raising their kids in the Herkimer gang tradition of vandalism and harassment.
The young man who’s the principal thrower is careful to video his work–assume he’s being paid. Assume probably by neighboring drug thug and monster mom Kim Vargas, who’s upset that her son Jordan Bormann’s facing a felony prison sentence for savaging an elderly neighbor in the street.
333 Pleasant Avenue apprentice vandal joyfully breaking window with fresh iceball.333 Pleasant Avenue, Herkimer. The Joyce Bartons moved on, their trash heaped proudly. behind them.Herkimer Monster Mom Kim Vargas
Will send this on to the police. They’ll have a chat with the kids and their folks.
āOne does see so much evil in a village.” Miss Marple (Agatha Christie)
Dereliction of duty is the purposeful or accidental failure to perform an obligation without a valid excuse, especially an obligation attached to one’s job. Websters
In September, I was attacked on the sidewalk next to our home by 21-year-old Jordan Bormann, son of our neighbor, Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas. The strapping young Bormann slammed me backward onto the pavement, causing a brain injury that is slowly healing. A bit harder, he could’ve killed me or left me drooling on myself in a permanent advanced vegetative state. I’ve been exposing Kim Vargas’ drug trafficking and menacing since she moved next door several years ago.
Herkimer PD officer Jason Crippen responded to the “man down” report. In June, I filed a substantial, well-documented misconduct complaint against Crippen with his department, alleging malfeasance over a period of six years. Whatever action his department may have taken based on my complaint, Crippen was the investigating officer that day of my assault, still driving about our pastoral village, armed to the teeth.
Crippen’s report of the incident (below) , found I’d assaulted Kim Vargas, shoving her, and that her son Jordan had rightly leaped to her defense, shoving me back. Crippen stated the incident was 2nd Degree Harassment, of which I was the perpetrator. Had I not been scraped off the pavement and transported, Crippen might have charged me.
Here’s Crippen’s full report, which was reviewed and forwarded by Herkimer PD Chief Michael Jory:
Crippen based his finding of my presumed guilt upon interviews with my attacker, his mother, and two of their neighboring friends, the Snyders:
Officer Crippen’s Witnesses
Witnesses Theresa and Adam Snyder of 332 Pleasant Ave., Herkimer.9.30.22 Witness Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas, other of Jordan Bormann.9.30.22 Jordan Bormann (right; circled) with friends as they harassed us from their porch, just before Bormann attacked me.
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Crippen didn’t interview the only other person who’d supposedly been on the scene the entire time–my wife Linda Kaidan. He stated that:
Linda Kaiden (sic) was yelling, swearing, and getting in the way of medical. Kaiden was advised by officers to stay away from medical, to calm down, and allow medical to do their job. Kaiden calmed a little, but continued to yell, and make comments to officers, medical, and people at the Vargas house.
Not true. Here’s the video clip:
Kaidan only raised her voice when Kim Vargas lied to the first responding officer, who was not Crippen.
Vargas can be heard asserting that I hit her. Kaidan was there during the assault and responded indignantly to the drug thug’s lie. Despite Kaidan having witnessed the attack and having access to the two cameras that recorded it, none of the officers interviewed her or asked for footage from our obvious, 22 CCTV cameras–cameras whose footage Herkimer PD have requested in the past; cameras whose existence Crippen commented on before, in a separate video.
“You have to wonder how long this sort of murderous collusion has prevailed here in Herkimer.
Despite Crippen’s acrimonious history with me, his superiors apparently didn’t question his report and failed, in the days, to send an officer to interview Kaidan or request footage of the assault. (We get along well with most of the Herkimer PD officers.) Only when I returned from Albany Medical Center, and recovered enough to review the videos of the attack, and file a complaint, did the Herkimer police charge Jordan Bormann. Had Bormann killed me or left me in a coma, Crippen’s report would have prevailed–I’d officially have died in an incident I provoked with my good neighbors, senile dodder that I am. You have to wonder how long this sort of murderous collusion has prevailed here in Herkimer.
Lies aside, here’s what really happened:
Jordan Bormann’s charged with a Class D Violent Felony, with enhanced sentencing required due to his attacking an elder. He’s looking at 2+ years in prison and yet I’m looking at him next door on that porch, eating takeout, smoking dope and leisurely awaiting his Spring trial. (New York bail reform.)
“Case Closed,” Or Be Your Own Cop
Crippens report concludes:
Due to patrol’s knowledge of the several cameras Berry has … there were no arrests made on-scene. Case closed unless Berry brings forth evidence and/or wants to pursuit charges. JCC/240
Reporting Police Misconduct to New York’s Attorney General
If complaints to the officer’s department don’t have any good effect, your next stop is the Attorney General’s Law Enforcement Misconduct Investigative Office. Reading between the lines on their website, complaints documenting a police agency’s systemic failure to protect rise to the top of the inbox.
Qualified Immunity On Its Way Out
The doctrine of Qualified Immunity, which has long protected police nationwide from private lawsuits, is on its way out: NYC has abolished it; abolition is pending the New York Legislature. With qualified immunity gone, it becomes much easier to hold rogue police officers accountable in lower courts. And to attract an attorney on a contingency fee basis.
āNothing is so difficult as not deceiving oneself.ā ā Ludwig Wittgenstein
On November 4, members of the neighboring gang from landlord Jay Smith’s 332 Pleasant Avenue attacked my wife, Linda Kaidan, as she exited her car in our driveway after a 500-mile drive. One kept shouting “I’m gonna drag her!” before assaulting Linda in our driveway. They broke off their attack on the 68-year-old grandmother and returned to their front yard when the police arrived. Linda counted nine of them, in and around the driveway. (Not to be confused with the gang that hangs out at the gang house on the other side of us: 328 Pleasant Avenue. The gang meat puppet currently living there is Herkimer Mother of the Year Kim Vargas.)
11.4.22 Herkimer teen from 332 Pleasant Avenue attacks 68-year-old grandmother in our driveway as she exits her car.
“Those cameras don’t work at night.”
For some time now, we’ve been overhearing that our cameras don’t work at night because the little red lights aren’t always on. The little red lights are the infrared beams that illuminate the dark in the absence of enough ambient light. When there is sufficient ambient light, they don’t come on. Thus they are off. The cameras work fine.
11.4.22 This photo was taken without the use of infrared enhancement, as the gang’s porch light and the street lamp provide enough light.
The detail provided by this blind camera is more than enough for me to identify familiar faces:
11.4.22 332 Pleasant Avenue gang who supported or participated in criminal trespass and harassment of the assault on the 68-year-old grandmother. Left to right: drug thug and gang den mother Kimberly (Bormann) Vargas of 328 Pleasant Avenue. The Pirate, seen trespassing and throwing stuff prior to the assault. Teenager and frequent criminal trespasser and hate graffiti artist called “Lem” by his friends, all of whom hang out at Kim Vargas’ house. And the “Gonna drag you!” teen, who assaulted Linda Kaidan. She is most probably the sister of Kyle Stone, ace crack trafficker from 332. Not circled, but to the top of Vargas, next to the police officer: Kylee Figueroa, Joyce Barton’s daughter. The Bartons moved recently, leaving Kylee at 332 but taking their beloved dog. Bare ruined choirs: Joyce Barton moved out recently, leaving a mound of trash and daughter Kylee behind. (Their dog, they took.)
So yes, the cameras work at night. We’ve forwarded more videos to the police and expect charges to soon be filed. Of course, we’ll just keep, what was it? “Dragging,” on the blog.
On November 11th, someone spray-painted our front door with hate graffiti. Videos of previous criminal trespassing suggest it was one of the several teens who hang out at Herkimer drug thug Kim Vargasā 328 Pleasant Avenue, adjacent to our house. Surveillance videos show Vargas to very much be their den mother, providing them with food and whatever.
Vargas is the mother of 21-year-old Jordan Bormann, charged with a Class D Felony Assault on a 74-year-old neighbor, sent to Albany Medical Center on 9/30 with a brain injury.
Herkimer Monster Mom Kim Vargas
Thanks to New York bail reform, young Mr. Bormann is at home on an appearance ticket, visible to his neighboring victim (me), hanging out on Vargasā porch, eating takeout and smoking weed as he awaits trial this Spring. Confined to home, Jordan has the Lost Boys of the video to keep him company. (And Democrats wonder why they lost seats in New York.)
The hate sprayer is of the age and size of one of the criminal trespassers caught on a previous video, raiding our property from Vargases. His friends call him Lem. (video-3:26) Weāve seen Lem several times in the driveway of 326-326 Ā½ Pleasant, the house on the other side of Vargasā. As we walked by there on 11/11, he called my wife a āCrazy fucking bitch.ā He might have gone on, but I pointed to my bodycam and he shut up.
Lem – Herkimner criminal trespasser and suspected hate crime perpatrator. Often seen at Kim Vargas’ 328 Pleasant Ave.
The sturdy lad doing hate art may also be Chunky Monkey, caught on camera vandalizing one of our security lightsāa light Kim Vargas complained often and bitterly about, lighting up her drug trafficking as it did.
Video Timeline
0:01-0:41 The Hate Spraying
0:42-2:16 Previous recent criminal trespass incidents from Vargasā house.
2:17 Trespasserās friends on Vargasā porch encourage him, call him āLemā as he enters our driveway.
3:37 ā End āThe guilty flee where no one pursues.ā (Proverbs 28:1
This behavior has gone well beyond youthful hijinks and has been reported to the police and the State of New York Attorney General’s Hate Crimes Unit. No one in our family is African American, but several are Jewish. These guys aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed and may confuse a darkly-complected Ashkenazic Jew — my wife–with an African American. Not that they would know what a Jew was. But you don’t need to get your victim’s ethnicity right for it to be a hate crime. For example, I’ve overheard people expressing sympathy for “the old Jew who got beat up in the street.” My wife is Jewish; I’m Icelandic Dane. Doesn’t matter–hate’s hate.
The Herkimer Post is widely read. Lots of folks in this time of change looking for places up here to move to and invest in. If Herkimer doesn’t want the image of a racist community, it needs to track this kid down and charge him.
Things have livened up here on Herkimerās Pleasant Avenue since I survived a vicious street assault on 9/30. Formerly quiet gang-allied neighbors have grown aggressive, harassing and assaulting my wife and daughter in our driveway. A squad of them went after my daughter Alex and wife Linda on 10/24, 10/25, and 11/4. The pattern keeps repeating: one of us enters our driveway after dark, and the swarm descends from next door at 332 Pleasant Avenue, long a gang haven— trespassing, throwing stuff, menacing, and attacking a 68-year-old grandmother as she defends herself. They scatter as soon as they spot the police. It’s a miracle no one here has been injured as the gangers practice elder abuse. I went down with a brain injury when Kim Vargasā son Jordan Bormann threw me to the sidewalk and kicked me. (I was videoing his mother, drug thug Kim Vargas accosting my wife.)
“We do not retreatāretreating is how Rust Belt Herkimer became a pirate haven.
If this continues, one of us will be injured. We do not retreatāretreating is how Rust Belt Herkimer became a pirate haven. These folks arenāt the sharpest tools in the shed and may not know what a Class B Violent Felony verdict would do to their livesāthe sort of verdict young Mr. Bormann is facing. No more probation-only: itās a mandatory multiyear prison sentence. Used to be, beating up old folks in New York was a misdemeanor blood sport, just youthful hijinks. No more. And if you kill or permanently injure one of us oldsters, you wonāt be seeing the Outside for a very long time. Open Season on the elderly in New York is now closed. The Herkimer Police responded promptly. Hopefully, theyāll soon shut this dangerous game down.
The video is of all three incidents, somewhat edited. Those familiar with South Herkimer gangdom will recognize Kylee Figueroa, Joyce Bartonās daughter. (The Bartons left town about a month ago, leaving their trash and Kylee behind.) The young woman trespassing and assaulting my wife is also from 332 Pleasant, probably the colorful Kyle Stoneās younger sister. (Sheās the one shouting āIām gonna drag her!ā meaning my wife.) 10:07
Donāt know who the ball-hugging, object-throwing trespasser is.
Donāt know who the ball-hugging, object-throwing trespasser is. Probably from somewhere here on our Pleasant Avenue. (There are people still living who swear it was once pleasant.)
Sorry, I couldnāt join the fray, but am still recovering from a subdural hematoma, courtesy of Jordan Bormann. (I get to see him each day as he lounges on his motherās porch, 15 feet away, eating takeout and smoking weed. His trialās tentatively scheduled for April. Until then, he gets to lounge at home, courtesy of New York bail reform. Donāt worry, Iām protected from my violent mercurial assailant by a restraining order and his ankle monitoring device.)
Frankly, I think this is all about rage at the loss of drug and child trafficking income here in the āhood. Weāve lived here for 9 years and traffickingās never been this light. Plus, our attackers keep checking in with mother-of-the-year Kim Vargas, who may be incentivizing their behavior. The dynamics of the Mohawk Valley are rapidly changing, fueled by an influx of affluence, itself catalyzed by climate change and the chip fab construction boom.
Things are quickly changing here, hopefully for the better.
Let’s hope we can change some minds soon.
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