Friday, November 21, 2014

The reality of tomorrow will be here soon enough. Currently 12 dead is what I've heard.

November 21, 2014
By Jeff  Z. Klein 

Buffalo — Highways were (click here) reopened and more snow-clearing workers and equipment reached western New York on Friday as the heavy storms that buried parts of the Buffalo region this week finally relented.

But many residents remained trapped in their homes, and anxieties abounded about roof collapses, dwindling supplies and the prospect of flooding with temperatures expected to rise well above freezing early next week.

“We have gone through the worst in terms of snowfall, and now we will go about snow removal,” Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference in Cheektowaga, N.Y., one of the towns hardest hit by the storms that began on Monday night.

Mr. Cuomo addressed concerns about flooding....

Waiting for 'it to melt' is not really a good strategy. Evacuations before and in the early hours of the storm would have been a better idea. 

Safe zones in towns where municipal equipment can maintain safety for people how took shelter from the storm. It just seems to me high schools can be a good place to take shelter. They are large, have heat, parking lots and cafeterias.

I would expect animals, especially any pets, caught in the storm could be found as well. 

Immigration reform

There is no valid complaint against President Obama and any of his executive orders. 

President Obama is finishing his sixth year in office. His executive order has called for a pause in deportations of primarily families that has a history of five years. That means his administration is only responsible for any undocumented workers for one year of his presidency. Not only that, but, border security is better during his administration, he has achieved record deportations, he has decreased the numbers crossing the USA border and when it came to the children running for their lives because of drug cartels they were returned home. The USA even registered a visit from the First Lady of Honduras to identify her country's children and secure their return.

There is no case against President Obama. The graph above illustrates the mess he inherited. I think he's come a long way in his administration compared to the previous administration.

Again, the only undocumented workers in the USA given relief from this executive order have been in the USA for five years, hardly a reason for any more to come here.

It was also the First Lady of Guatemala, too.

July 30, 2014
The first lady of Guatemala (click here) has visited the Nogales facility where hundreds of child migrants from mostly Central American countries are being held.
The Arizona Daily Star reports that Rosa Leal de Pérez also visited Tucson's Greyhound bus station where many women and children suspected of crossing the U.S. border illegally are dropped off by immigration officials. The families are expected to report back to authorities within 15 days.
Leal de Pérez said she wanted to see the conditions in which children are being held. She also visited a new shelter set to open soon in Tucson.
U.S. border agents have seen a large spike in the number of unaccompanied children from Central American countries crossing the border illegally. Many of the children cross into Texas and are flown to Arizona to be processed here.
The arrival of the children across our southern border was and is a humanitarian crisis. The USA rises to the occasion of such an emergency, unlike those in the Republican party that can't seem to ADJUST to reality as it happens.
An America committed to children is a good and decent place. It is just a shame those most anxious to condemn decency and strong alliances with other nations can't get their own act together at home.

January 16, 2014
By Charles J. Dean
Two nights ago (click here) in his State of the State address to legislators Gov. Robert Bentley said this:
"Everyone in this room knows Alabama is one of the poorest states in America, where one in four children live in poverty. Nearly one million of our fellow Alabamians are dependent on Food Stamps."...

At least they aren't recruited for child soldiers or made to work in mines or experiencing death from drug cartels, but, then poverty falls in close behind any of those insults to childhood.

It occurred to me the Republican Party probably objects to minimum wage for the very same reason they want a border fence.

Ferguson, Missouri

I anticipate justice. There is no plausible reason for the death of an 18 year old unarmed black man. There just isn't. If there is not justice then the grand jury is as indoctrinated into 'the evil black man syndrome' as the police department.

That said, I expect the grand jury to uphold the justification for using overwhelming force.

To Mr. Michael Brown, Senior I thank him for his dedication and willingness to be spokesman for his son to the rest of the world. I encourage him to continue his steadfast belief in his son and his words of peace. I encourage him that considering there may be an expression of violence regardless of the outcome of the grand jury. 

The reason for such expression of violence is to realize how very threatened young black men feel in the USA. They can't seem to get away from this prescribed violence against them assigned by the racism that remains in the USA. If violence occurs, which I am hoping it will not, Michael Brown, Junior's reality is simply profoundly felt. 

I have no kind words for racism and those that practice it and adhere to it. It is still there. What reveals in any violence is the fact it is still there in an insidious way that young black men can't control regardless of how upstanding a citizen they are. We have seen it repeated over and over in the USA. And it is institutionalized. Police are a vital part of any government and to realize young black men are not safe within their own understanding of life is definitely an institutionalized hatred. The police get it from somewhere. Either police culture universally known through the country or by standards and training. Either way it is bad news for the country.

I believe Michael Brown Senior is correct in asking for peace regardless of the outcome of the grand jury. I trust him with preserving his son's legacy. I trust him with the calling for peaceful protests.

There is hope for peace and civility in the USA.

While this finding doesn't surprise me, I remind there was an original investigation among very distinguished people that allayed all concerns regarding the attacks in Benghazi. I hope this puts to rest all the insults of the Obama administration ever leveled at them.

I will say this in criticism of our media. FOX drove most of the lies and hate the country experienced. Do we have to go down the road of hate every time the USA has problems? The media should do better policing of it's own. The prime reason this incident in Libya has dragged on for years is because the right wing media had to drag then Secretary Clinton through the mud. It is time the right wing put away their pitchforks and learn to be Americans.

There exists still yet another House Select Committee convened in May. It is time to end the use of government funds for political purposes. This House Intelligence Committee was the SEVENTH investigation into the tragedy we all suffered with Benghazi. This is ridiculous. The House Select Committee is the EIGHTH investigation.

November 21, 2014
By Ken Dilanian

WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year investigation (click here) by the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee has found that the CIA and the military acted properly in responding to the 2012 attack on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, and asserted no wrongdoing by Obama administration appointees.
Debunking a series of persistent allegations hinting at dark conspiracies, the investigation of the politically charged incident determined that there was no intelligence failure, no delay in sending a CIA rescue team, no missed opportunity for a military rescue, and no evidence the CIA was covertly shipping arms from Libya to Syria.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack, intelligence about who carried it out and why was contradictory, the report found. That led Susan Rice, then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to inaccurately assert that the attack had evolved from a protest, when in fact there had been no protest. But it was intelligence analysts, not political appointees, who made the wrong call, the committee found. The report did not conclude that Rice or any other government official acted in bad faith or intentionally misled the American people....

"...as I warned the President..."

Boner took the presidency hostage in his warnings. So, let me see if I get this right. The Republicans in the House and Senate are threatening the country now that they won't pass legislation. Fine, we didn't want them to anyway."

They don't need to mess up the country more than they already did. There is nothing the President did wrong. He executed changes in laws needed to have the USA function. 

The American people don't want anyone to work together if they are incapable of governing. Over and over the Republicans have proven they can't govern. Their best political strategy for the Republicans is do nothing. Everyone gotten what they paid for. There is not a Republican in the House or Senate that wasn't purchased by Wall Street and the petroleum industry, Koch Brothers included.

The important issues are being handled by referendum. We don't need Congress. Between referendums and the President we are doing just fine.

The dangers of the climate crisis is more than snow.

November 20, 2014
By Rebecca Kreston

...According to the latest research (click here) presented this month at the annual gathering of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, rates of Chagas infection among Americans are on the rise and are presenting a growing yet unappreciated public health threat to the United States.
Researchers at Baylor University presented the results of a study of the emergence of Chagas disease in Texas which demonstrate not only a surprisingly high incidence of the parasite in the state of Texas, but also showing elevated rates of associated heart disease in afflicted individuals. The researchers found that one in every 6,500 blood donors in Texas tested positive for the parasite, a finding that grossly undermines the CDC’s national estimate that one in every 300,000 people may be infected with Chagas in this country....

The parasite was once confined to tropical regions of the world, but, with warming occurring, it's habitat is moving northward. It is adapting to new plants and animals vectors while the temperatures remain friendly.

Chagas disease, (click here) also known as American trypanosomiasis, is a potentially life-threatening illness caused by the protozoan parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi). It is found mainly in endemic areas of 21 Latin American countries , where it is mostly vector-borne transmitted to humans by contact with faeces of triatomine bugs, known as 'kissing bugs', among other names, depending on the geographical area....

Toronto Giant Panda can't enough of the snow. Takes snack of bamboo with him.


Fighting the climate crisis has become very expensive.

20 November 2014


...The UK's contribution (click here) will come from the £3.87bn budget set aside in the aid budget from 2011-2016 for helping poor countries get clean energy and adapt to climate change.
In Bangladesh for example, British cash is helping landless people living in precarious temporary sandbanks that appear for a few years in the middle of rivers.
The cash pays them to build their homes on earth platforms so their possessions are safe from flooding which is expected to get worse with climate change.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has been under pressure from critics who say the UK should spend the money helping combat the effects of extreme weather at home.
The fund was agreed because developed nations have caused the majority of global warming so far - and their CO2 emissions stay in the atmosphere for 100 years. Poor countries asked for help to adapt to climate change they have not caused.
But as greenhouse gas emissions are a global problem, rich nations acknowledge a degree of self-interest in helping developing countries to invest in clean technology....

There is no way to secure the internet.

The only thing to end invasive activities are 'secure codes.' Secure codes can be overcome time and again. Eventually, secure codes will become so long it will require a large portion of any computer memory or hard drive the computer itself will be worthless.

The USA government needs to return to a paper system and FAX machines that are not digitally connected. Returning to old methods of securing information and communication will soon be state of the art.

November 21, 2014
By Terrance McCoy

In a dark corner (click here) of the Internet, a profound violation of privacy is quietly unfolding unbeknownst to thousands of victims. A Russian-based Web site allows its users to silently flip through hundreds of lives, observe for as long they’d like, and depart for the next living room, the next gym, the next child’s bedroom. There, through the grainy lens of a hacked webcam, you’ll find a New Jersey infant sleeping in a crib, the image of an Iowa high school hallway or an Illinois convenience store clerk....

Lies matter in the USA. Lies are powerful enough to end democracy and it's practice.

The United States government is an embarrassment, but, as long as the politics works to put Republicans into office when they don't belong there it will continue.


...Snow-removal continues (click here) at Ralph Wilson Stadium, where citizens are being paid $10 an hour and getting tickets to shovel out 220,000 tons of snow. Cuomo called those efforts “impractical” and questioned whether the 1 p.m. game should be played Sunday.
As of Thursday morning,  the game was still on for 1 p.m., with the final decision whether to play or where to play resting with the NFL. Bills’ practice again was canceled, another complicating factor as the NFL weighs just what to do about this game. By early afternoon, Pro Football Talk was reporting that possible site options include Detroit, Toronto and New Jersey....
The hideousness of it all. The biggest concern coming out of Buffalo, New York is whether or not the citizens in Ralph Wilson Stadium will get the field shoveled out in time for the football game.

So long as the American media continues to quote Republicans and give them center stage nothing will be done in the USA capitol. The climate crisis is devastating across the country and the biggest problems the Republicans face today is whether or not they can find enough head wind to falsely accuse and impeach the President. This is an international disgrace. I haven't decided what national embarrassment is worse, the return of the Cold War, Great Britain's pandering for dollars or the USA and the climate crisis.

Did I say the NSA was worthless? It is. The NSA is actually asking 'pretty please' don't attack us anymore.
NSA chief warns Chinese cyber attacks could shut U.S. infrastructure (click here)

3:30 am --  By Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China and "probably one or two" other countries have the ability to invade and possibly shut down computer systems of U.S. power utilities, aviation networks and financial companies, Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the U.S. National Security Agency, said on Thursday.

Testifying to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on cyber threats, Rogers said digital attackers have been able to penetrate such systems and perform "reconnaissance" missions to determine how the networks are put together.

"What concerns us is that access, that capability, can be used by nation-states, groups or individuals to take down that capability," he said.

Rogers said China was one of the countries with that capability, but that there were others....

Did I say the government should not be relying completely on computer capacity for any reason?

It shouldn't. There is no such thing as a secure computer.

And what is Congress doing today? Making hate filled statements to run their political game on the country's dime.