Tuesday, April 29, 2014

There are still threats of tornadoes. This is nothing short of a nightmare. The coastal areas of the Gulf and East Coast are still under threat. To add to the disaster is flooding. And now that the system has returned some of it's water vapor to the center of the country there is hail in Ohio.

Looking at the water vapor satellites it appears to me the Florida system will travel due north along the East Coast.

Fallin needs to be brought up on charges.


The Late George Steinbrenner's ban from baseball was about politics and money. 

Donald Sterling's ban from basketball is about racism. 

There is a big difference.

While Steinbrenner's return after three years seems more a violation because it effected the elections of a nation, the racism is about depersonalizing human beings into categories. 

I don't think Steinbrenner should have been let back into baseball, but, it was a different day. Mr. Sterling won't be back. He was admonished by an entire industry and a USA President.
This hearing is worth listening to if one wants to understand the 'political' Republican. Their questions reveal people that do not believe in the strength of the USA. They are always worried the USA is behind the eight ball. Never once do they recognize the immense size of the USA military and it's huge presence in the world.

 

U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Negotiations, Part 2 (click here)

There is no reason for any oversight to drop it's guard, however, that is different than members of a subcommittee actually believing their own fear as valid regardless the facts presented. 

The Republicans actually believe their own rhetoric. And they believe it in the face of facts. 

The U.S. Department of Defense is requesting $495.6 billion in authority for the base budget in FY 2015 in line with the Budget Control Act, or BCA, caps as revised by the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013. 

That is a half a trillion with a T dollars. 

According to a report in Jane’s Defence Weekly, (click here) the Russian Federal Treasury announced late last month that “Expenditure on National Defense” will rise from 2,101.4 billion rubles ($58.2 billion) in 2013 to 2,488.1 billion rubles in 2014. This is projected to be about 3.4 percent of Russia’s GDP but over 20 percent of government spending. Another 16.5 percent of the government budget will go to national security and law enforcement.

Granted the Ruble is disappearing into oblivion, but, the Russian military budget in 2013 wasn't even a tenth of a trillion. It was at the very best it is one-twentieth of a trillion. 

The USA has allies like the UK and France who are both permanent members of the UN Security Council and nuclear powers. The Soviet Union doesn't exist and most all Russian allies are NEEDY. 

The nuclear treaties are just as important, if not more so to Russia. Granted the treaties have to be validated and respected, but, the overall view of the USA vs Russia is hugely leveraged in the favor of The West. 

I understand the politics of military contracts and bring federal dollars into states that supply jobs, but, when it comes to making decisions regarding foreign policy in regard to military engagement the committees need to get real. 

The USA and Russia have enormous nuclear capacity and they can easily disarm without even denting either's capacity. 

The USA is not a weak nation on the cusp of falling apart. Russia, on the other hand, is somewhat less sturdy. Quite frankly, I am more than surprised the political dialogue in Russia even tolerates the current regime. 

It is just as important other political party leaders have a vision of Russia that is hopeful, open and a stronger economy, but, if the USA is going to seek war at every turn, those leaders don't have a chance to bring a new vision to the Russian people. Fear works. If the USA is a consenting partner in war mongering, the Communists will reign over those people forever. The politics in Russia is in complete disrepair compared to the times we live in. Russian political leaders have to present a far more peaceful world to the people if they are to be successful. I completely hate the idea, Vladimir Putin has modeled his domestic politics after that of Bush/Cheney. That should tell every American all they need to know about what works and what doesn't to any people. We need to move past that.

I wish Ted Cruz would use his Senate seat for something other than a paid advertisement for the Koch Brothers from the US Senate Floor.








When Ted Cruz talks about the Koch Brothers he is definitely making a paid advertisement from the Senate Floor. He received $2000.00 in the 2014 Cycle. (click here) Majority Speaker Reid did not receive a single penny from Koch Industries. Senator Cruz is in violation of ethical standards of the Senate.

Let's take a look at what occurs with Ryan's budget plans and the Aggregate Demand.

Aggregate Demand (AD) = C + I + G + (X-M) 

C = Consumers' expenditures on goods and services. 
I = Investment spending by companies on capital goods. 
G = Government expenditures on publicly provided goods and services. 
X = Exports of goods and services. 
M = Imports of goods and services. 

Instead of focusing on (C)onsumer expenditures for goods and services, Rep. Paul Ryan wants to reduce (G)overnment expenditures on publicly provided goods and services.

The Ryan Budget cuts $4.3 billion from the food stamp program. Just for example let's say the (G)overnment expenditure on publicly provided goods and services is cut in half.

Aggregate Demand (AD) = C + I + (1/2)G + (X-M)

What is going to happen to the Aggregate Demand?

The AG will fall. If the AG falls will there be loss of jobs. You betcha. If the Aggregate Demand falls will there be job growth? Absolutely not. If the Aggregate Demand falls IS THERE AN INCENTIVE for employers to increase their investment in the market place? Never.

The Ryan Budget will decrease demand in our market place, it will cost jobs and will add to a lack lust economy. The Republicans have it "W"rong.

When the Republicans talk about unemployment rates, they are CAUSING it and not stimulating growth. 

Will wages for Americans increase if there is a fall in demand? No. Will there be job losses and increases in unemployment if there is a fall in demand? Absolutely. So, there it is. The Republicans are causing the USA economy to languish in "mediocre" rather than return "vibrancy" and "robust" as adjectives.

Republicans like Cruz are deceiving the American people and their constituents. They treat them as mindless sheep that will follow him over the cliff and never regret it.

$4.3 billion will be saved in federal budget. How?

By raising the minimum wage.

The CEOs of the Fortune 500 received a 21% raise in wages since 2009.

The average current salary of those same 500 CEOs is $11.7 million per year. 

Those that work for minimum wage have not received an increase in their salary in those years. 

The average minimum wage worker last year earned $15,000. Each of those CEOs earned $15,000 on their first day of work this year by 11:30 AM. On January 2, 2014, their first day of work they earned a minimum wage earner's annual salary by 11:30 AM.  

Rep. Paul Ryan from Janesville, Wisconsin wants to save the American taxpayer save $4.3 billion to the federal budget too. But, he wants to cut food stamps while refusing to raise the minimum wage. 

Raising the minimum wage will not cost jobs to the USA economy. Why? Something called Aggregate Demand.

Aggregate demand is the demand for the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country, and is represented by this formula:

Aggregate Demand (AD) = C + I + G + (X-M) 


C = Consumers' expenditures on goods and services. 
I = Investment spending by companies on capital goods. 
G = Government expenditures on publicly provided goods and services. 
X = Exports of goods and services. 
M = Imports of goods and services. 

Just in theory to explain how it all works; let's say the minimum wage raises the consumer expenditures by twice what it is now.

(AD) = (2)C + I + G + (X-M)

What do you think? If the minimum wage increased the Aggregate Demand by two times for the expenditure of consumer goods and services would that increase demand? 

Of course it would. If demand is increased would that cost jobs?

Of course it wouldn't. If demand is increased would that increase the number of jobs to keep up with demand? 

Of course it would.

It is time to increase the minimum wage and that is not the minimum wage of CEOs either. CEOs should not earn a minimum wage, they should earn in accordance with the demand of their product. When a CEO is paid according to the demand of their product in the market, would there be earners making $15,000 per year anymore. Heck no!

Currently, 36 dead in the southeast.

I am impressed (click here) by the heroic dedication of The Weather Channel. They are cancelling previous scheduled programs to bring information to everyone. Not only that, but, they are getting feedback from viewers. The viewers are sending back pictures of the tornadoes as they touch down. I am very impressed.

The Weather Channel is asking people to take shelter and be careful about viewing these storms. But, obviously there are people that are outside the shadow of the predicted tornadoes and have taken digital pictures of them on the horizon. 

The forecasters have stated the storms are moving slower than yesterday, but, that does not mean there is less threat. Sustained presence of these tornadoes does not decrease danger. Additionally, it all adds up. The offshore vortex is stalling the system over the USA, so the advancing front will be moving slower as it makes that turn back inland.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

Constance Lambert embraces her dog after finding it alive on returning to her destroyed home in Tupelo. Photo: AP

April 30, 2014 - 3:22AM


Tupelo, Mississippi: (click here for video) After leaving a trail of death and destruction across at least six states, a series of violent storms that spawned dozens of tornadoes continued to move through the South on Tuesday morning.
It was the third day of deadly weather to rip from the Midwest through the eastern portion of the nation, bringing severe thunderstorms, fierce winds and large hail.
In all, at least 30 deaths have been reported since Sunday in a swath from Oklahoma and Iowa to Alabama and including Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee....

Evidence based assessment.

April 30, 2014 - 5:06AM

...It said (click here) it had found elements on the ocean floor consistent with material from a plane, Channel 7 reported.

"We identified chemical elements and materials that make up a Boeing 777 ... these are aluminium, titanium, copper, steel alloys and other materials," company representative Pavel Kursa said.

Images from the same area taken on March 5, three days before the plane disappeared, showed no indication of the aircraft, David Pope, another company representative, said.

GeoResonance started its search on March 10 and sent an initial report to search authorities when the missing plane's black box still had two weeks of battery power, Channel 7 said....

This is chilling. Where is the memorial to those that were wrongfully executed. And don't me they don't exist.

Sara Reardon
At least one in 25 people on death row in the United States would be exonerated if given enough time, researchers have found. The study, which used statistical methods to extrapolate from available data, is one of the first to try to quantify the rate of false convictions....
And enough resources.

Edward Snowden is a whistleblower. The USA has already admitted overreach and adjusted policies. That is constructive consent to Mr. Snowden's position.

9 Hrs Ago
Politics
Brian Feldman

According to the New York Times (click here) last summer as Edward Snowden maneuvered around the globe seeking asylum, the former NSA contractor retained a lawyer famous for handling cases involving the EspionageAct. Plato Cacheris, has been working on a plea deal that would allow Snowden to return stateside, but those talks are still in a very early stage.

Cacheris would not comment to the Times about the case, but Ben Wizner, a lawyer for the ACLU also representing Snowden said, “He would cooperate in extraordinary ways in the right circumstances. But he does not believe that the ‘felon’ label is the right word for someone whose act of conscience has revitalized democratic oversight of the intelligence community and is leading to historic reforms.”...

The USA cannot indict Mr. Snowden to the full extent of the law and hold blameless Carlyle and it's affiliates as well as those that lied to Congress at the NSA. That is victimization of a USA citizen to exoneration of those with the most responsibility.

Terms and conditions cannot be a ploy to advance settlements supported by the Israeli military.

I am quite sure President Obama has a strong policy against extremism and the violence it brings, but, he also has a strong policy against the advancement of Israeli settlements that continue to erode the Palestine Homeland. Israel cannot pick and chose which President Obama they want to cite as their ally. There are not multiple President Obamas.

By Isabel Kershner and Jodi Rudoren
April 29, 2014

...The Israeli official, (click here) who was speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the subject’s diplomatic delicacy, said that the commitment had been given to Israel during President Obama’s first term in office and that it had been restated since his re-election. The official would not specify whether the commitment had been given in writing or by the president himself.

But he insisted that the Obama administration had backed Israel’s position against negotiating or dealing with such a unity government unless Hamas accepted the principles laid down by world powers after the Islamic group won Palestinian elections in 2006: to recognize Israel’s right to exist, to renounce all violence and to accept all previous signed agreements.

Hamas continues to refuse those conditions. Taher al-Nounou, an adviser to Ismail Haniya, the group’s prime minister in Gaza, reiterated on Sunday that Hamas would not recognize Israel.

In the absence of such recognition, Washington, like Israel, has classified Hamas as a terrorist group and forbids direct dealings with it....

If Israel continues it's aggression toward the Palestinian people it risks charges of genocide of the Palestinian nation.

Obama is right to criticize Israeli settlements (click here)

...Finally, all settlements are illegal under international law. For example, U.N. Security Resolution 465 calls on Israel to “dismantle the existing settlements.” In addition, Article 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, ratified by Israel in 1951, states: “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Mr. Abrams and Mr. Sadot thus turned a blind eye to real facts and to the clear position of the international community....

It is time Israel and all it's collective power around the globe come to terms with their own abuses as well. If Israel is stating it will not deal with any connection to Hamas, it has to live up to international law and end it's own aggression against those people.

Don't back down Speaker. Please.


The heat is not abating. The sun is coming up, everyone needs to be on their toes.

UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)
April 23, 2014
1130.18z

The reason severe storms happen is to alleviate heat and return the troposphere to calm. That isn't happening and the storms are stalled.

Cities need to consider the citizen and provide areas to retreat to at the first "Tornado WARNING." Seriously. 

The people have gotten used to the idea of riding 'the edge.' They don't pay attention to Tornado WARNING anymore.  

UNISYS Water Vapor North and West Hemisphere Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)
April 29, 2014
1130.18z 

There is new water vapor coming off the equator. There is also a circulation center west of Mexico absorbing some of that water vapor. There are a few minor circulation centers, one just north of Cuba and the other over Panama. The more distribution of the heat the more a chance the storm stalled over the USA will reduce in it's heat content. 

The USA has a very high heat index in this region of Earth, so it is the first place any manifestations of heat storms will result. This isn't over. 

The reason the USA has a high heat index is because of the dense concentration of greenhouse gases. That is real and it is the truth. 
 
The Weather Channel 
Departure from Normal Highs
April 29, 2014
1200 gmt

The difference in highs is reducing so the storms are effective, it is just that the USA is so hot. There is a cold air mass in the center of the country contributing to both the instability of air turbulence at the front, but, also adds to reduce the heat of the land.

The Weather Channel
Departure from Low Temperatures
April 29, 2014
1207 gmt 

The departure from low temperatures within the storm into the negative range is occurring so resolution to cooling exists.

This cooling is due to the cold air mass, however, that air mass is due to the displacement of the polar vortex. I don't want imagine this country if the vortex weren't there. 

Deadly Tornado Outbreak Tears Through the South (click here)

I appreciate the compassion and dedication of the media in carrying these messages to the people. They need to take their safety very seriously. They need to have a strategy and follow it regardless of the temptation to do otherwise. That might mean leaving their homes to 'safe buildings' when a WATCH is called. Parents are often driven for the concern of their children. The problem in the USA, especially this area in the south is impoverishment. Their dedication to work isn't contained in understanding their safety comes first. Their work ethic doesn't include their well being so much as their next paycheck.

Francis Gonzalez stands with her three children as she surveys the damage caused by a tornado to her convenience store business on Monday, April 28, 2014, in Tupelo, Miss. Gonzalez and her kids ran into a cooler in the back of a convenience store, which also houses a Mexican restaurant, as a tornado approached Monday. . Photo: Adrian Sainz, AP 

By The Associated Press
Updated 5:36 am, Tuesday, April 29, 2014 

After the tornado (click here) pounced on Tupelo, Miss., one gas station looked as if it had been stepped on by a giant. Francis Gonzalez owns a convenience store and Mexican restaurant attached to that station. Gonzalez, her three children and two employees ducked for cover in the store's cooler shortly after a cellphone blared a tornado warning.
In the nick of time. Within seconds, the wind picked up and glass shattered. The roof over the gas pumps was reduced to aluminum shards. A nearby SUV had its windows blown out. The storefront window had a large hole in it. Debris lay everywhere.
"It took us by surprise," Gonzalez said in Spanish. Stunned by the destruction all around, she added: "My Lord, how can all this happen in just one second?"...

I guarantee you the American Red Cross is already involved with these people.

How can it happen? These are extreme low pressure systems and infrastructure cannot hold up to the rapid change in pressure from outside to inside when the funnel passes over or near it. The change in air pressure is what 'implodes' buildings. And these buildings are even brick. Normally, brick buildings hold up better than any other; that isn't happening anymore. 

People don't have a chance against these storms. They have to be underground for their best outcomes. Storm cellars have to be secured to prevent any low pressure from disturbing the space where people are at the time of the storm. The door or tunnel to the 'safe area' has to be secured to be effective. I know these low pressure systems are brief, but, there is no dealing with it. People are helpless and I can't make that more clear.

There is no dealing with a storm this intense. There just isn't. Run!

People have to begin their alertness and mobility when the "WARNING" stage is called. 

They have to be IN SHELTER when the WATCH is called.

The time from WATCH to WARNING should be spent in getting to shelter and 'waiting it out.' That method will safe lives.  

Egypt is abandoning democracy and opting for political prisoners instead.

— Authorities in Ethiopia (click here) have arrested nine journalists and bloggers and charged them with working with a foreign organization to incite public violence.

Six bloggers and three journalists were taken into police custody late last week after their houses were searched. They appeared in court Sunday morning and were informed of the charges against them: working with a foreign organization that claims to be a human rights group and agreeing to incite public violence through social media.

According to Lily Yekoye, a friend of one of the jailed journalists, friends and family are being denied access to their loved ones....


Man, oh, man; Egypt is just awash with all kinds of human rights violations, isn't it?

Last updated: 28 Apr 2014 10:31

Baher Mohamed says (click here) abandoning campaign to free him from Egypt jail would empower those who want to suppress free speech.

An Al Jazeera journalist imprisoned in Egypt has thanked the international campaign to free him and his colleagues in a letter smuggled from prison.
Baher Mohamed is one of three Al Jazeera staff held by Egyptian authorities since December.

In the letter obtained by Al Jazeera on Monday, Mohamed spoke of his "gratitude and appreciation" for the way journalists around the world has responded to his detention....

Well, looky thar, it is a green uniform. Yes, indeed, nothing like playing both ends against the middle. I think they call that corruption.
 
Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy (L) speaks with Army chief Field Marshal Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (R) during their meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence outside Moscow, Feb. 13, 2014. (photo by REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov)

As demonstrators protested outside and the State Department condemned the latest Egyptian death sentences of supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy sought Monday, April 28, to convince an elite Washington audience that Egypt is still moving toward a participatory democracy and values its relations with the United States.

But Fahmy, speaking before the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), also said that Egypt has other options, including “an emerging relationship with Russia [that] we will seek to nurture and leverage....

...Hours before Fahmy spoke, a provincial Egyptian judge sentenced the spiritual guide of the Brotherhood, Mohamed Badie, and 682 others, to death. At the same time, a Cairo court banned the activities of the April 6 Movement, a secular liberal group that helped instigate the revolt against Mubarak in 2011 and that has protested the wholesale crackdown on political freedoms in the country since Egypt’s only democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was ousted last summer....

I thought I spelled a Russki. It just had that odor.

The Trilateral Commission? That antiquated bureaucracy stil in existance?

By MICHAEL WILNER

04/29/2014 03:59

WASHINGTON -- US Secretary of State John Kerry (click here) issued a forceful statement on Monday night responding to fallout from his use of the term 'apartheid' to characterize a potential future Israeli political reality, should a two-state solution with the Palestinians fail to come to pass.

"I will not allow my commitment to Israel to be questioned by anyone, particularly for partisan, political purposes," Kerry said in the statement, issued by the State Department. "I do not believe, nor have I ever stated, publicly or privately, that Israel is an apartheid state or that it intends to become one."...

If it isn't apartheid then there has to be a word similar.

What do you call it when a country has a segregated ethnicity within it's borders that are not recognized as an independent nation. Their movement is limited. There ability to defend their own lands are gone and their children's future is uncertain.

What do you call that exactly? 

You can say what you want about Hamas, but, they still have their land without dissolution of any borders. 

I know what this is called, "Israeli Eminent Domain." There ya go, John. 

There is a group of people in Honduras with the same exact plight and this is what they said:

...We live on the Atlantic coast of Honduras. (click here) We are a mix of African descendants and indigenous peoples who came about more than 200 years ago in the island of San Vicente. Without our land, we cease to be a people. Our lands and identities are critical to our lives, our waters, our forests, our culture, our global commons, our territories. For us, the struggle for our territories and our commons and our natural resources is of primary importance to preserve ourselves as a people.

The Garífuna people, for their way of being, were declared part of the Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2004. We don’t know what that means exactly, but we suppose it implies that the state must take action to protect and preserve the Garífuna people’s identity....

The Palestinians aren't alone. There are a lot of ignorant people in this world that don't care about a people's right to exist. Take the Massi for instance.

CSQ Issue: 

East African pastoralist societies (click here) face greater threats to their way of life now, than at any other time in the recent past. With the creation of game parks, private ranches, and commercial wheat estates, Maasai herders, in particular, are fenced off and evicted from lands that were traditionally and legally theirs. Increasingly, Maasai and other pastoral group are creating their own NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and going to court against national governments to defend their land rights.

The Maasai are a population of 375,000 people who subsist mainly off their cattle, goats, and sheep in the savannas of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Never a single political entity, the Maasai are composed of 14 independent tribal groups including the Kisongo of Tanzania, and Purko, Loita, and Matapato of Kenya. Maasai share the savanna with other pastoralists including Maa-speaking Paraguyu, Samburu, and LChamus, as well as densely populated agricultural neighbors including Kikuyu, Kamba, and Luhyia in Kenya, and Pare, Samba, Chagga, and Meru in Tanzania....
East African pastoralist societies face greater threats to their way of life now, than at any other time in the recent past. With the creation of game parks, private ranches, and commercial wheat estates, Maasai herders, in particular, are fenced off and evicted from lands that were traditionally and legally theirs. Increasingly, Maasai and other pastoral group are creating their own NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and going to court against national governments to defend their land rights.
The Maasai are a population of 375,000 people who subsist mainly off their cattle, goats, and sheep in the savannas of southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Never a single political entity, the Maasai are composed of 14 independent tribal groups including the Kisongo of Tanzania, and Purko, Loita, and Matapato of Kenya. Maasai share the savanna with other pastoralists including Maa-speaking Paraguyu, Samburu, and LChamus, as well as densely populated agricultural neighbors including Kikuyu, Kamba, and Luhyia in Kenya, and Pare, Samba, Chagga, and Meru in Tanzania.
- See more at: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/ourpublications/csq/article/maasai-and-barabaig-herders-struggle-land-rights-kenya-and-tanzania#sthash.A1L5eXZE.dpuf

The problem with Palestine as a nation is the insistence by Israel the Palestinians lost their rights to land 20 years after Israel claimed it. There is still that belief that somewhere around 1967 Palestine was finished. Seriously. Speak with some of the Jewish and that is still a complaint. Supposedly there is this idea that after a generation Israel had the right to claim the land. 

The destruction of Palestine from the time Israel was first dedicated in a UN decision speaks for itself, doesn't it? 

I haven't used Internet Explorer for years. I always use Firefox. The NSA can't touch this.

DENVER — A warning for Internet users: (click here) this is a serious enough security flaw that the Department of Homeland Security is warning you to not use Internet Explorer until a fix is found.

The problem could put your personal information at risk, and give hackers access to private things like your email accounts.

With so many computer bugs out there, Internet users rely heavily on anti-virus software and patches to keep up with each new virus. This time, that’s not good enough.

Charles Tendell is a Certified Ethical Hacker with Azorian Cyber Security in Monument. He said, “Up to this point, there’s no way to stop it.”

He says this particular bug attacks people using Microsoft Explorer’s web browser to get online. “It’s kinds of an age old, you know, statement for anyone in the computer world, don’t use Internet Exploder,” he joked.

Tendell says if you’re using a different web browser, like Safari, Google Chrome or Firefox, you’re fine. But if you’re using Internet Explorer, especially if you’re still running Windows XP, you are vulnerable....

I think of this as the Bill Gates Virus. 

XP on Firefox is fine. 

With only two still missing, Washington is scaling back it's search.

By APPublished: April 28

EVERETT, Wash. — For more than five weeks, (click here) crews painstakingly sifted through mud and debris, at first searching for survivors and then for the remains of those buried by the mudslide in Washington state. On Monday, officials called off the active search, though two bodies remain entombed in the tangled pile.

At times, people dug with their bare hands, recovering 41 victims, but Steve Hadaway and Kris Regelbrugge have not been found after a hillside collapsed March 22 and swept across the small community in Oso, about an hour northeast of Seattle....