Wednesday, September 30, 2015

It looks like it stabilized.

October 1, 2015
0230.19z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite

The oscillations of these systems are wicked.

Oh. The concentrations. Of, course.

In a series of public statements (click here) issued after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) assured the people of New York that the air around ground zero was safe to breathe. Unfortunately, the agency lacked authoritative information on which to base these claims, and internal agency data conflicting with this reassuring public posture were ignored. The EPA's press releases and public statements after 9/11 were vetted by then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, suggesting that the White House placed politics over science when communicating about ground zero's air quality. Tragically, the impact of this public deception continues to be felt by thousands of rescue workers now plagued by chronic and crippling lung ailments.... 

The hour long video departs from the 911 workers, BUT, the Wall Street folks had no problem getting their money for their losses, neither did the families. There was only a handful of families that filed lawsuits against the airlines for negligence of  their  passengers. I haven't kept up with that outcome. The only thing different between the families and Wall Street outcomes are lawyers. The 911 Heroes were given a title, but, no recognition of their health problems.

The article above is stated to by from "Union of Concerned Scientists." 

Potassium chloride is what the heart uses in it's metabolism.

Pflugers Arch. 2014 Feb;466(2):183-93. doi: 10.1007/s00424-013-1293-1. Epub 2013 May 15. 
Na/K pump regulation of cardiac repolarization: insights from a systems biology approach. 
Bueno-Orovio A1, Sánchez C, Pueyo E, Rodriguez B.

The sodium-potassium pump (click here) is widely recognized as the principal mechanism for active ion transport across the cellular membrane of cardiac tissue, being responsible for the creation and maintenance of the transarcolemmal sodium and potassium gradients, crucial for cardiac cell electrophysiology....

The way executions work is that potassium chloride is injected in amounts that overloads the natural mechanism of the heart and ends the ability of the cardiac muscle to pump blood.

Potassium acetate cannot be metabolized by the natural mechanisms of the heart. If that is what caused the prisoners pain and prolonged suffering, the family needs to sue.

One other thing: Potassium chloride is readily available. There are all kinds of supplies in any hospital. It's supply is plentiful and critical.

Potassium acetate (C2H3KO2)
Potassium chloride (KCl) 

The potassium chloride molecule is very simple. It is also polar. Not Arctic Ocean polar. It has an electrical charge. Below to the left is how a potassium chloride molecule bonds. Molecules bond together. But, the molecule isn't a solid in human metabolism. It is in solution and the bonding charges are available for metabolism.

Potassium acetate is a far more complicated molecule with a double bonded oxygen. It is more difficult for the human metabolism to use the acetate molecule, especially when a heart rate is at risk. The human metabolism is beautiful. It makes caring for it easy.

I'll try to find a potassium - sodium pump to realize how perfect the KCl molecule is for that purpose.

This website provides an explanation, but, sometimes I can find an animated illustration.

The Sodium-Potassium Pump (click here)

Here it is. Ignore that mess about ATP. That is about the energy budget needed for metabolism. It will distract from the working of the KCl in relation to the changing shape of the cell. Now in addition to the change in shape of the cell to dictate muscular movement, the cardiac cell is unique. There is only place where cardiac cells are found. Cardiac tissue/cells is found only in the heart and it is the muscle that contracts the pumping. So whatever makes this muscle work is the only thing that makes it work.

The prison system is grossly lacking professional staff if they are accepting potassium acetate for executions. Got it! The medical society does not participate in executions. It is a professional standard that cannot be ignored by a responsible society.

Rep. Adam Schiff (click here) is stating the Benghazi Committee is a political entity to the Republicans with pre-meditated leaks as if SOP.

There needs to be an investigation.

I admire Hillary Clinton's willingness to clear the air about Benghazi. I think she needs to consult council regarding the statements of Rep. Schiff.

Oklahoma doesn't know if it's drug protocol is legal? What a joke this state is. They don't care about the law.

Warden to medical team: "You have all the drug protocol correct, right?"

Medical Team Leader: "Gosh, gee whiz, since when is that important. I mean we just have to kill the guy."

September 30, 2015

Oklahoma's governor (click here) granted a last-minute stay of execution on Wednesday to an inmate convicted of hiring a hit man, saying the state needed time to determine if one of three drugs it planned to use complies with its court-approved procedures.
Lawyers for Richard Glossip, 52, had argued for a stay, saying they had evidence pointing to his innocence, but they were turned down by the U.S. Supreme Court minutes before the scheduled start of the execution at 3 p.m. CDT.
Republican Governor Mary Fallin ordered the stay, saying the state had received potassium acetate for use in its three-drug protocol instead of the court-approved potassium chloride....

The postponement may not be about drugs.

September 29, 2015
By Liliana Segura

...But Scott says )click here) his arrest was not really about unpaid fines or community service. “We have to take you to talk to some people,” the police told him, according to a filing with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals last week. Scott says he was brought, in handcuffs, to an interrogation room at the Claremore police station, where he saw a folder with the following words written on it: “Richard Glossip” and “Stay.”

Richard Glossip is the death-row prisoner Oklahoma has been trying to kill all year, a man who insists he is innocent. A January execution date was halted by the U.S. Supreme Court in order to consider Glossip’s challenge of the state’s lethal injection protocol. (He lost.) Earlier this month, Glossip came within hours of the gurney, only to receive a two-week stay from the Court of Criminal Appeals so that it could consider new evidence....


Pope Francis was in Kentucy? I watched the entire visit. I don't think the Pope does things covertly either.

The so called visit is besides the point. He reaches out to all people, not just Catholics. His name is Pope Francis, not "The Pope." Pope Francis would never state he opposes abortion. There is a lot to be said about that. I am going to cover it later.

The issues about the USA after the Festival of Families didn't address the issue of abortion. As a matter of fact, Pope Francis steered completely away from the aspect of religion that was politicized.

Ms. Davis can go to jail and possibly prison for breaking the law.

September 30, 2015
Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis (click here) says a private meeting with Pope Francis has inspired her -– and given her a renewed sense of purpose.
“I was crying. I had tears coming out of my eyes,” Davis said in an exclusive interview with ABC News. “I'm just a nobody, so it was really humbling to think he would want to meet or know me.”
Davis, who refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, says the private meeting occurred during the pope’s historic trip to the United States. After receiving a surprise phone call from a church official, the Kentucky county clerk says she traveled to Washington, D.C., where she and her husband Joe met the pope Sept. 24 at the Vatican Embassy....
Bush is already promoting a return to Iraq with a Sunni lead coalition. Do I hear echos of "The Axis of Evil?" Not sure. I haven't heard "boots on the ground" yet.

Bush is about status. Iraq has a history of a military that takes American provided munitions and abandoning them. That ends the discussion. There is no more USA munitions to Iraq. 

We entered Iraq in 2003. We left in 2011 on schedule. The stability of a sovereign Iraq was never in the outcome. At first assault Iraqis abandoned USA provided military hardware and they didn't run out of gas either. It wasn't as though the Iraqi military outran Daesh. Then the USA hardware and munitions was turned on the people by Daesh. There is no way the region should be exposed to that again. The fires in the region are enough to deal with.

This is the turn. It still has a strong vapor trail into the ITCZ.

September 30, 2015
2230.19z
UNISYS Water Vapor  GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

I guess the correct words is that Joaquin has created a strong vapor trail to the ITCZ.

The thing is this, the central pressures are still increasing. I would expect the opposite if this was a turn. That water vapor trail is feeding the increased velocity. 

The storm really bothers me. I don't want another Katrina. I think the coastal states need to pay attention and if it swings into the Gulf the heat will be enough to really drive the velocity.

Six hours ago the water vapor off the ITCZ was nearly absent. As of three hours ago the connection to the ITCZ showed up and in the next hour, it became profoundly incorporated into the storm velocity. I hate these climate crisis storms. They are so unpredictable, especially at low velocity.

The lady behind Donald Trump.

September 30, 2015
By Guy Trebay

Lying prone on a rug (click here) adorned with the Great Seal of the United States, the woman who might someday be first lady is wearing high-heeled sandals and a crimson bikini.

The date is February 2000. Donald J. Trump hasn’t yet thrown his hat into the ring as a Reform Party candidate, yet he’s already set in motion a machine that 15 years on will turn a voluble political maverick into the front-runner for the Republican Party presidential nomination.

The woman on the rug is Melania Knauss, a Slovene model, who at 26 is more than a quarter-century younger than her billionaire future husband. The rug is a prop in an Oval Office set mocked up in a Manhattan photo studio. Spread across two pages of the now defunct “Talk” magazine, Mr. Trump is seen in an inset close up; telescope back from the picture and what you’d see is Mr. Trump seated behind the presidential desk and at his feet his future wife, a woman striking in her beauty and docility....

She obviously is respected by her peers. This was a lot of interest to put her and the wedding dress on front page of "Vogue." I am sure she is a sophisticated person. She has to be as an international model.

I like Donald Trump and I don't mind his quirkiness.

He speaks his mind and he is right about the media. Dana Bash was just on promoting Bush. I thought she was a journalist, not a political commercial model wannabee.

It looks like Donald Trump will get his equal time. He needs to stop being upset. His opponents are making a very big deal out of it. You know. President and the nucks stuff. He might be a great deal maker, but, President Putin is often resolved to his own outcome; ie: Ukraine. It takes a cool head.

Oh, wow, he's right. McCain has no clue who he is dealing with and Assad is at least a known quantity.
Chafee is way out of line. He wants to micromanage non-profits. Wolf Blitzer did a good job in his interview.

Chafee states Ms.Richards has had salary increases of $250,000. Wolf pointed out there are other non-profits like the American Red Cross that are paid generous salaires. 

Chafee 'lost it.' He started screaming at Wolf, which was completely inappropriate, that those monies should not be paid to these organizations. He continued to scream at Wolf about the fact the monies should be used for cancer research, like wife said. 

This is a party that wants to defund Planned Parenthood while hiding a secret agenda with the DOD funding in OCO. The Republicans, especially the House, is out of control and seeks to manage what they approve of from seats in Congress. I guess they would be difficult to get a vote from; their personal priorities didn't necessarily make the cut. 

Wolf Blitzer did a really great job. Chafee needs to apologize for his behavior. What was next a punch across the table? Chafee was out of control. Every Democrat should see the interview.
It was good to hear from Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. I look forward to more statements between Foreign Minister Lavrov and Secretary Kerry.

I take it some of the personal contact between President Putin and President Obama and American soldiers and Russian soldiers in Baghdad was to INSURE there was contact without mistakes and with witnesses. I think, while unconventional, it is very smart on the part of Russia. Thank you. 

Just to add to the general understanding of sincere trust in Foreign Minister Lavrov; my favorite Russian questions during his public meetings comes when he answers questions by the Russian youth. 
 

Russia doesn't know who to trust within the Syrian government. Assad's government has been a spectacular failure.

September 13, 2015
by AFP

...The monitor, (click here) which relies on a network of civilian, military and medical sources inside Syria, said “the Russians are preventing Syrians, whether military or civilian, from entering the area where they are building the runway”.
“In recent weeks, military airplanes arrived in Hmaymeen carrying military equipment and hundreds of Russian military advisers and technicians,” the group said.
Observatory director Rami Abdul Rahman said sources also reported that Russia was enlarging the Hamadiyeh airport in Tartus province, another regime stronghold that is south of Latakia.
The airport is currently used by aircraft that spray crops with pesticide.
Russia is a staunch ally of the regime in Damascus and maintains a naval facility in Tartus province.
It has made no secret of its support for Al Assad’s government, including continuing weapons supplies, but has rejected claims of a recent military build-up inside Syria....

This movement by Russia was expected. Putin was at the United Nations to speak to President Obama. This is not a surprise to anyone.

There was a reason the negotiations of the sequestration never happened. There is slush fund for food stamps.

The Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) fund (click here) - sometimes referred to as war funds - is a separate pot of funding operated by the Department of Defense and the State Department, in addition to their "base" budgets (i.e., their regular peacetime budgets). Originally used to finance the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the OCO continues to be a source of funding for the Pentagon, with a fraction of the funds going to the State Department. 

Since the OCO fund has very little oversight and is not subject to the sequestration cuts that slashed every other part of the budget in 2013, many experts consider it a “slush fund” for the Pentagon. For example, Todd Harrison, senior fellow for defense studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, found that the Pentagon was stashing an estimated extra $20 billion worth of non-war funding in the “operation and maintenance” accounts of its proposed 2014 war budget. Even Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has recently called the OCO "a road to nowhere."...

This just goes to prove how corrupt the Republican Congress is. They don't care about the country, they care about cronies. This is called CHEATING.

Besides cheating it places power in the hands of one man, the President. The entire focus of the Republican Congress is to undermine the legislative process.

These should be viewed as ETHIC VIOLATIONS. There is no way an assault against the legislative process should go without enforcement through ethnics violations. 

It is very easy to lie to voters. It allows for Republicans to talk out of both sides of their mouth. "Oh, yeah, the F35 is a waste of money." While the reality is the F35 is still funded at the expense of taxpayers that will never see any benefits militarily. Trillion so far are wasted on this ? jet ?

The OCO Funds allows the USA to hide military activities to voters and citizens. 

There needs to be an investigation to these activities!

September 15, 2014
By David Axe

Sept. 8, would add eight F-35 stealth fighters, (click here) 21 new Apache gunship helicopters and a secretive bunker-busting bomb to the military’s arsenal.

Lawmakers approved the Pentagon’s 2014 budget in December 2013. Nine months later, the military wants to move around $2 billion from that budget to pay for things it didn’t originally ask for.
The budgetary shenanigans reflect the Pentagon’s desperation after years of automatic “sequestration” spending cuts—and also the confusing ways military officials try to justify new weapons.
Bureaucrats have proposed to “reprogram” $2 billion from the Pentagon’s 2014 war budget. The war fund—technically, the “Overseas Contingency Operations” request, or OCO—is an extra budget that the military sends to Congress every year in addition to its normal spending proposal....

Pentagon desperation may be valid considering the necessary changes required under NDAA. Regardless, this is occurring without the legislative authority to do so and it is out of sight of the citizens of the USA.

The Bunker Busters may nave gone to Israel. I do know there were some to be sent in 2015. But, otherwise, there is no public recognition of these military machines. The lousy stuff could be anywhere in the world, including Cheney's backyard.
 

My estimate falls between the British model and the American models. I think it is another Sandy, but, during the warmer month of October.

30 September 2015
0730.19z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite GOES East (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Where is the moon's influence in regard to this storm? I think we're looking at New Jersey again. I am probably wrong.

That is land fall of the eye. 

The effects of this storm has the entire east coast from North Carolina under water!!!
Secretary Carter is also a bit frustrated with the Russian initiative in Syria at this point.

There are no direct talks with the USA and Russia. There was no statement about the Arab Coalition having contact with Moscow.

Secretary Carter stated the current methodology within Syria by Russia will come back to bite them because there is no political solution in Russia's current plans. 

Let me expand on that. 

The reason Washington wants Assad to step down is to make it obvious to the Syrian people they will never have to be lead by him again. Washington believes when Assad is gone the rebels will stop their killing. It is my opinion that is a wayward idea and too simplistic.

If the Syrian people were going to come together to end the authority of Assad it would not have dissolved into anarchy and over 400 separate and unique militias. 

For as much as The West wants Assad out of leadership in Syria, to believe there would be a saintly phoenix to come from the Syrian ashes is more a Neocon dreamscape than one based in reality. 

The lack of authority in Syria has created the anarchy and the incubator for Daesh. 

Daesh is serious about their agenda. Why not? The Ba'athists face death otherwise. They saw what happened to Saddam. The real failing in all of this was the lack of intelligence by the Assad government before the Ba'athists reached a level of concentrated authority. Assad allowed the anarchy by not destroying the Ba'athists plans for his country. Assad thought there was nothing that could touch his authority. He was wrong. Very wrong and the USA had nothing to do with Daesh. Deash is the left overs of Saddam. Assad should have seen this coming. His lack of leadership drove Russia from his ports and into the Black Sea to back up the rebels in Ukraine. 

The facts of Syria are plain. There are many separate Arab minorities in Syria. It is just the way it is. Assad is Shia. The Ba'athists from Iraq began hate speech in Syria and it began to find followers. It is just that simple. As more and more support grew for the Deash Caliphate the more resolve in the people to take up arms. There are more Sunnis in Syria than Shia, but, that is primarily true throughout the Middle East, except Iraq and Iran. 

Russia got involved because the refugee movement was becoming a threat to stability throughout the region and the refugees were bringing their hate with them. 

The fact The West (John McCain) was unable to develop an authority outside of Assad is not surprising. The Syrian people were unwilling to compromise their ancestry and religion. There was never going to be an infidel that could unite them. Like it or not, Syria is stuck with Assad. The Shia of Syria cling to Assad for their place in the world. In that is an understanding about Hezbollah.  

 The Alawites are on the coastal area of Syria. Or at least they used to be. Where is Hezbollah?

Hezbollah calls Lebanon home. They lie directly between the Alawites and Israel.

Hezbollah's allegiance is to Assad. Hezbollah is a Shi'ite group. They know they are minorities that have to live under the leadership of other governments. That is true of the Shia Crescent. The Shia have to live with other leaders, but, they primarily reject them and look to Assad and Iran and now Iraq for their clues about their SAFE standing.  

Saudi Arabia has always sought good relations with Assad. Let's hope that continues. Iran has to stop it's expansionism.

War Powers Act undermined by US Congress.

I could not believe Secretary Carter knew nothing about the Marines and it's discriminatory measures against women.

It is all PR from the Neocons of Wall Street. It is PR for the upcoming elections. They want to MASCULINIZE and delegitimize "women in power." Now 2hy would that be? 

Hillary Clinton is perfectly capable of being Commander and Chief. 

Like I said, all the anti-woman propaganda by the right wing, including Fiorina, is to defeat a woman more than capable of leading the USA. 

Secretary Carter also spoke about the lack of cooperation from Congress in regard to the DOD funding. There are directions by the current majority in Congress to undermine the current military structure. John Boehner's' resignation is becoming more and more clear. 

Secretary Carter referred to two legislative measures that are vital to the function of the DOD.

The first is the "National Defense Authorization Act." (NDAA) (click here)

The other is the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016 that will fund the fiscal year 2016  for the DOD. (click here)

My understanding of the press conference regarding these measures is that the NDAA is absent of any funding and SUPPORT of long term changes in military infrastructure which have been REQUESTED for a very long time is being neglected and undermined. In those changes exists more efficient use of the USA Defense Dollar.

He also stated there is a movement by the current Congress to underfund the appropriations bill and instead place more and more funding in the OCO fund.

Now, OCO or Overseas Contingency Operations is the monies the Executive Branch of the USA uses to carry out needed operations by the military. 

Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) (click here)

Why would a Congress that has the War Powers Act fund OCO over and above the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2016? 

The only reason a Congress would SHIFT funding from a legislative measure in the Appropriations Act 2016 is to CONTINUE subversion of the people of the USA in their elections sequestering war power in the Executive Branch. The Executive Branch would then be the central war authority of the USA people. 

You'll excuse me, but, this is pre-meditated treason of our democracy.

Doesn't the First Responders Medical Program expire today?

Evidently, A Texas man knows better than to wait for Congress to act.

September 30, 2015
By Steve Campion 

La Porte, TX (KTRK) --
A La Porte firefighter plans to take off on a 420-mile run across Texas tomorrow.

Tony Constanzo said he'll start his run at the Texas State Fire Museum in Beaumont. He plans to make his way through Houston, before heading northwest to Waco, and then end in Austin. In all, he expects to run on average 38.1 miles over 11 days. Contanzo also plans to stop at nine memorials along his way including the Houston Firefighter Memorial. 

Constanzo has been a firefighter for the past 31 years. He told Eyewitness News the journey is to pay tribute to all fallen firefighters who've been killed in the line of duty.

The ultra-run is also to help kick off fundraising efforts for his newly launched "Footsteps for the Fallen" charity. The organization plans to award scholarships to children of any firefighter or paramedic in the state. 

"The race doesn't really start until around mile 80...You just want to stop. You want to quit. It hurts so bad so you have to drive past that mental block," said Constanzo. "I've lost friends unfortunately in the line of duty over the 30 plus years now so it does hit home what this organization stands for, our mission statement and what this run is all about. It's going to be very emotional. It has been already."

Constanzo will be wearing a satellite tracker during the run. To follow his progress and to learn more about "Footsteps for the Fallen," visit their website. 

Footsteps For The Fallen is a fully recognized 501c3 tax-exempt organization 

This is a noble cause and deserves attention to plan for the future, but, there are thousands in need now. Mr. Canstanzo needs a wealthy backer to start this non-profit to bring care to the thousands of 911 Heroes. But, Congress also need to act, TODAY. If only Republicans had as much passion for the American people as for their soldiers and wars.

Russia's strategy goes beyond Daesh.

March 5, 2013


Syria‘s rebels (click here) have been locked in a bloody uprising against the regime of President Bashar Assad for nearly two years. But for 27 days after it was formed last December, the Free Syrian Army’s Military Command—elected by some 550 rebel delegates and tasked with commanding and controlling the myriad groups on the ground—did not receive so much as a bullet from its Arab and Western supporters. That lack of aid threatened to crush the nascent Military Command’s credibility with the fighting men inside Syria....

500 different militia that have waxed and waned with allegiances to Daesh. I don't think so. The Free Syrian Army was only a deception to obtain munitions and war machines from the West.

President Obama wanted to form a Free Syrian Army that was vetted and trustworthy. There are all of a dozen MAYBE vetted that were reliable to the outcomes the USA had established under Bushs' occcupation of seven years.

Syria imploded into complete anarchy because of the American Neocons. 

It is amazing to listen to the American Neocon Media. The first reports of any kind in international relations immediately calls up conflict to lead to nuclear exchange. It is TONE. It is DESIGNED to attract an audience. They could not care less about the facts or even looking for the facts and lie anyway. They just lie and demand attention to satisfy their Wall Street CEOs.

I remind, the TONE worked to drive a US President to set 'red lines' that never were going to be honored. President Obama did that to shut them up. 

...headed by chief of staff Brigadier General Salim Idris, replaced the Joint Command of the Revolutionary Military Councils (which was formed less than three months prior), and shunted aside the dueling, Turkey-based so-called leaders of the Free Syrian Army, Colonel Riad al-As’aad and General Mustafa al-Sheikh, who were never more than figureheads....

Did the American Neocons actually think President Assad was going to take these men seriously? Ah, if only John McCain could get a 'toe hold' to real war again.

Here is the joke of the day: John McCain is saying on FOX News that President Assad is the leader that established Daesh. Go home to Arizona, John. Arrest some Mexicans. 

Still yet another dead black man in the USA.

He should never have been jailed for $5.05. He needed to be placed with someone as his guardian and begun outpatient treatment. My first thought is he could have received fluphenazine hydrochloride at an emergency before being released to his guardian. The purpose would be to stabilize him and begin his outpatient supervision.

The entire handling of Jamycheal Mitchell is nothing short of racism.

September 30, 2015

Jamycheal Mitchell (click here) had stopped taking his schizophrenia medication before he walked into a 7-Eleven near his family's Portsmouth, Virginia, home in April and allegedly stole a Mountain Dew, Snickers bar and Zebra Cake totaling US$5.05.
After the 24-year-old's arrest, a judge ordered him to a state psychiatric hospital to get help. But like an increasing number of the mentally ill in the US, he sat in jail for months as he waited for a bed to open.
Other inmates said Mitchell paced naked in a cell often covered in his own filth. Family members said they were told he sometimes refused to eat or take medication, and jail records show he manically yelled. He grew gaunt and by August 19 he was dead, having shed at least 16kg.
A state medical examiner has yet to issue a cause of death and police are investigating Mitchell's case, but his family and civil rights and mental health advocates are outraged that he was allowed to waste away over a US$5 offence....

Russia needs to be aware of the Kurds. They are benevolent to the peace and stability of the region.

The Disputed territories of Northern Iraq, (click here) or Disputed internal Kurdish–Iraqi boundaries, are regions defined by the article 140 of the Constitution of Iraq as being Arabised during the Baath Party rule in Iraq. Most of these regions had previously been inhabited by non-Arab minorities, most notably Kurds, and were later arabised by transferring and settling Arab tribes in those areas....

This is from Wikipedia and it states it fairly well. Baghdad Kurds should be able to provide more insight to the intelligence.

The reason Daesh is intent on northern Iraq is that it used to belong to the Ba'athists.

Now take a step back in time to the No Fly Zones of Saddam Hussein. The Ba'athists had power. Saddam was a Ba'athist. I think it was a mass grave of Kurds that was discovered. It was a grave that Saddam created. He and the Ba'athists wanted to CLEANSE the country of Shia and minority Arabs.

The North and South No Fly Zones were established by UN resolution to protect these people. It worked. Russia should know the No Fly Zones worked. The Shia and Kurds of the north and south of Iraq thrived under the No Fly Zones.

Baghdad, Iraq, April 4 — The Iraqi court (click here)  trying Saddam Hussein announced Tuesday that it had charged him with genocide, saying he sought to annihilate the Kurdish people in 1988, when the military killed at least 50,000 Kurdish civilians and destroyed 2,000 villages....

...The Kurds, who make up a fifth of Iraq's people, tried to fight back, but Mr. Hussein used chemical weapons, including mustard gas and nerve agents....

Today, the Kurds are engaged in taking back these lands from Daesh. Daesh is the same thing as the old Ba'athists by a different name. Now, Daesh has recruited from all over the world to come and fight for a supposed "Caliphate." It is nonsense. This so called war for the Caliphate is nothing more than the continued hate for minorities and Shia in the region.

Currently, the Shia of southern Iraq are the only fighters that are loyal to a goal most major powers consent to in that they concentrated their lives and worship to the south under the No Fly Zones. They had grievances against Hussein as well.

...Six other defendants also face charges. Mr. Hussein is already being tried for the torture and killings of 148 men and boys in the Shiite village of Dujail....

Since the 2003 invasion by the USA the Shia have managed to survive in the reality of "W"s tanks to destroy their mosques and holy men. The Shia of Iraq are strong people through their chronic adversity for centuries. They have the will to fight.

October 1, 2015
Irbil, Iraq (AP) " Kurdish fighters (click here) in northern Iraq drove the Islamic State group from more than 140 sq. kilometers (54 sq. miles) of territory near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and cleared part of a major highway on Wednesday.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters backed by U.S.-led airstrikes pushed the militants beyond Ghara Heights and Mount Batiwa, south of Kirkuk, and secured a stretch of a highway which connects Kirkuk to the central city of Samarra, a statement from the Kurdistan Region Security Council said.
The villages of Meziriya, Gubebe, Seda, Mohammed Khalil, Qows Kurd, Tal Ward, Khalef and Mansouria " all south of Kirkuk " were purged of militants, the statement said.
At least 10 peshmerga fighters died in the operation and another 16 were wounded, according to a senior security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief journalists. The Kurdish government said some militants were seen fleeing toward the contested town of Hawijah.
The IS group swept across northern Iraq in the summer of 2014 and currently holds roughly a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria. Kurdish fighters made significant advances against the militant group early this year, but their progress has stalled around areas the extremists view as strategic " particularly near the border....

The truth is the truth.

This is hate and imhibits the messaage of unions and minorities. When is FOX going to support labor unions?

MSNBC has been a disappointment since their withdrawal of interest in the USA's minorities, liberals and progressives.

I am going back to the radio.

February 24, 2015

Late last week, (click here) MSNBC made an unsurprising announcement: It would be canceling the low-rated afternoon shows of Ronan Farrow and Joy Reid. Less expected? The move, an MSNBC source told The Daily Beast, is part of the network’s broader push "to move away from left-wing TV."
Which: big if true! MSNBC is widely hailed and/or vilified as the liberal and/or progressive answer to Fox News. It is regularly cited, in studies and op-eds and screeds, as a core contributor to our current culture of partisanship. So what would it actually mean for MSNBC to make a break with "left-wing TV"? What does it say that a network so self-consciously styled along partisan lines has come out (or, at least, had an anonymous source come out) against partisanship?...

Yes, this is oppression and it is pre-meditated.

Russia is the only country capable to carry out efforts to stabilize the region.

Iran is an integral part of this. Alawites are Shi'ites. President Assad is a Alawite. There is only one place the Alawites exist as a majority people and that is the coastal area of Syria. Russia's long standing relationship with Syria and Iran is the only path forward in Syria.

Whether The West likes it or not, Russia is still the steadfast ally it has always been since WWII. The West doesn't have to consent, but, it does have to accept the fact Russia is capable of military actions that benefit stability.  

Why an ally? Russia could have rolled up it's sovereign borders maintained it's security and told The West to carry on without them. Russia didn't do that. Russia rose to the need for stability with the relationships it built over decades if not centuries. Russia has always been a sour reality for the USA. 

It is called "The Balance of Power."

Now, about the Non-Proliferation Treaty....

30 September 2015

...He said Moscow (click here) is interested in other nations joining its counterterrorism effort in Syria. Those willing to do so can join the intelligence sharing center in Baghdad, which Russia, Syria, Iraq and Iran established in the run-up to the operation, the president said.
He stressed that Russia is acting in accordance with international law, by dint of having an invitation from Damascus to assist Syria militarily. He said it was the only proper way to fight terrorism, referring to the US-led coalition, which is bombing IS targets in Syria uninvited and with no mandate from the UN Security Council. (Let's get one thing straight. The West has been carrying on without Russia and if it even tried to get a UN resolution Russia would have vetoed it.)

The conflict in Syria is a complex one with genuine domestic troubles at its origin, but it was greatly worsened by the intervention of foreign actors, Putin said.
Russia opposes the notion maintained by the US and its allies that Syrian President Bashar Assad has to step down for the Syrian problem to be resolved. But Moscow expects Assad to be flexible when the terrorist threat is eliminated and a political transition is needed in the country, the Russian president said.

The Alawites have a right to exist. They have been an ethnic religious minority for a long time. I may be wrong, but, if the Alawites didn't seek refugee in other areas of the Middle East their recruitment to military service would be the end of them.

The best thing that happened to the region is the USA removal of chemical weapons under the UN Resolution 2235 (2015) (click here) which contained and eliminated Syria's chemical stores. 


UN Documents for Syria (click here).


August 13, 2015
By Omar Abdullah

When 24-year-old Hussain (click here) fled his village in Syria for Mersin, Turkey, six weeks ago, it didn’t feel like a choice. Knowing that he would eventually be called for mandatory military service in the Syrian army, he packed his bags and made the dangerous journey across the border. “I did not want to join the army – this is not my battle,” he told Syria Deeply.
From the Jableh area of the country and a member of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect – a minority in Syria – Hussain is one of a growing number of Alawites who support the Syrian government but refuse to die for it. Since the uprising began in March 2011, they have paid a high price for their loyalty to Assad, prompting more to flee the country in search of security, work and education – all of which have been interrupted by the ongoing bloodshed.

This is laughable.

Iran needs to arrest Hogan Mohammed Hout as an international arms dealer and sentence him to prison for the deaths of innocent people. This type of activity indicts Iran in a proxy war with Saudi Arabia. That is outrageous.

Saudi Arabia's coalition is proving to be effective. The USA is happy to help.

September 30, 2015

Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) " 

The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen's Shiite rebels said Wednesday that it has foiled an attempt by Iran to smuggle missiles and other weapons to the rebels aboard a fishing boat bound for Yemen.
Saudi Arabia and its coalition allies fear that Iran is actively providing aid to the rebels, known as Houthis, as a way to gain a foothold on the Arabian Peninsula. Iran acknowledges providing political support to the rebels but denies arming them directly.

The weapons seizure took place early afternoon on Saturday, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) southeast of the Omani port of Salalah, according to a coalition statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The ship was carrying 18 pieces of one type of anti-tank missile and 54 of another, as well as launchers and other equipment, according to the coalition. Fourteen crew members aboard the ship have been arrested, including the captain, identified as Bakhsh Jakal.

The ship was registered to an Iranian named Hogan Mohammed Hout, licensed as a fishing vessel and was carrying papers indicating it was checked by port and customs officials in Iran's southeastern Sistan and Baluchistan province, according to the coalition....

Local economies work. I would think it would be more than evident by now.

October 1, 2015

Washington (AP) " Buoyed by strong consumer spending (click here) and steady home sales, U.S. businesses added jobs at a healthy pace in September, according to a private survey.

Payroll processor ADP says employers added 200,000 jobs this month, up from 180,000 in the previous month. August's job total was revised lower.

Americans are spending more freely and buying big-ticket items such as new cars and homes. That is offsetting weak economies overseas and the strong dollar, which are cutting into exports.

The government will issue its official jobs report for September on Friday. Economists forecast that report will show that employers added 206,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate held at 5.1 percent for the second straight month.

The ADP survey covers only private businesses and frequently diverges from the official figures.

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The only war left in Afghanistan is a CIVIL WAR between the Taliban and the Afghan government. The USA cannot and should not get involved in a civil war in Afghanistan.

The Taliban is a militia that has been thrown out of Pakistan. They have no place to go and they like being a militia rather than ridding themselves of weapons and going home to farm.

The reason the Taliban doesn't simply give up and go home is because the USA never rid the region of the poppy culture. The only sane time that exists in Afghanistan is the winter. It is too cold and miserable to carry out the drug war between the Taliban and the Haqquani network.

The other reason it is going to settle down in Afghanistan is because the USA won't be there to restock the munitions that is used to rob banks and set prisoners loose.

The place will go back to being a desolate country with wrecked military vehicles used as a playground. Sad, but, true.

Then some day one of the militia groups will become convinced they can invade Turkmenistan and they'll be sorry they crossed the boarder. Because Russia will go back to bombing the living hell out of the region. And it will be like old times before the Taliban and Russia paused long enough for the USA to attempt to tame them.

TROOPS OUT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, yeah. Be sure the USA military transports their war machines and munitions out of the country to a place like Turkey that will appreciate them and use them appropriately.

Nation Building doesn't work.

Oh, one other thing.

Since the USA found the poppy culture important to Afghanistan it might be a good idea to legalize things like heroine under the direction of doctors and health clinics that will attempt to treat the addicts. But, if the USA has QUALITY CONTROL over the drugs from Afghanistan maybe less people will die of drug overdoses in the USA. Oh, Methadone clinics? Most heroine addicts find methadone worse than heroine. The reason methadone is accepted for treatment is because the doctors and clinics have control over the quality.

If the drug cartels of Afghanistan and other places like Columbia now have legitimate control over the production of drugs, the people of the USA would be safer.

Just sayin.

The importance of the House Committee meeting today is that it has proven to be a political witch hunt.

There is no doubt about the sleazy priorities of the Republicans.

Jason Chaffetz 

To begin with he lied. He said, "I pulled this graph out of the information you provided to me." 

Lied. That is number one offense.

Then a very astute lawyer pointed out to Ms. Richards where the source of the graph came from.

The source is "Americans United for Life." That was the second lie. Jason Chaffetz never bothered to apologize to Ms. Richards about the fact this did not come out of the information she had sent him.



It became all too obvious this committee was called to meet for political purposes. Jason Chaffetz not only used the US Treasury for his political priorities, he LIED for the record.

The US House has a problem. Decent people are leaving to golf courses and family. The CROOKS in the Republican Party are staying. The committee record from today needs to be submitted for ethics review and corrective action and testimony to clear up the lies spun by Jason Chaffetz.

September 29, 2015
By Zachary Roth

During her testimony (click here) before a congressional committee Tuesday, Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards called out Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz for displaying a slide that showed a graph created by an anti-abortion group, rather than a neutral source. Richards had good reason to be skeptical of the image, which turns out to be stunningly misleading.
As part of a contentious back-and-forth in which Chaffetz repeatedly cut off Richards, the congressman displayed a slide with a graph that looked like this:...

Ms. Richards' reputation needs to be returned to her and made whole ON THE CONGRESSIONAL record so this doesn't become a snowball today or in the future!

What is really disturbing is the problems that have been made obvious by the resignation of Speaker John Boehner. He stated on news programs there are people within the House that simply stir the pot to create dissonance rather than carrying out the business of the people.

John Boehner is too much of a decent man to continue to be the Republican pinata.

It was easy to tell he was in conflict with his own values from the beginning of his Speakership. I felt bad for him, but, I didn't feel that bad I would allow his inability to call out the ethics violations of his own members that I would simply 'go along to get along.' There was always too much on the line including the country's first African American president and the work he needed to do. 

The US House has a problem and it is currently their Republican leadership. That leadership needs to be dissolved so the country can get things done. This problem is bigger than House leadership, it is the Republican party that lacks a moral center. Anything goes. Just get elected.

The Republican values they were elected on are extreme and ridiculous. The GOP needs to find some morality and loyalty to the country. There are many things that need to be done and NONE of them have to do with Planned Parenthood. 

I wish John Boehner great happiness. 

What is going on with farmland value?

September 28, 2015
By Jim Offner

A swooning agriculture sector (click here) has taken numerous swipes at Iowa’s economy in the last year — the layoffs at John Deere among them.

But, last week, farmers across Iowa — but especially in the northeastern quadrant of the state — took a shot that hit closer to home than any others: land prices.
According to the September 2015 Iowa Chapter of Realtors Land Institute’s Land Trends and Values Survey that came out Tuesday, cropland values fell 3.7 percent statewide in the last six months and 11.3 percent since the September 2014 report.

Northeast Iowa values fell harder than those in any other region in the last year — 15.1 percent on average for all tillable land....

...Factors contributing to current farmland values include: lower commodity prices, increasing interest rates, lack of stable alternative investments, cash on hand and a limited amount of land on the market, said Kyle Hansen, an auctioneer with Nevada-based Hertz Farm Management, which has nine offices, including one in Waterloo.

“Land values are closely tied to the net revenue generated by what is able to be produced; Commodity prices are still the highest factor in establishing land values,” said Hansen, chairman of the survey committee. “The farmland market has continued its downtrend since the spring of 2013, when corn and soybean prices peaked. And although farmers represent nearly 80 percent of the land buyers, the reduced land values are creating purchasing interest from non-operating landowners and investment buyers.”...
Factors contributing to current farmland values include: lower commodity prices, increasing interest rates, lack of stable alternative investments, cash on hand and a limited amount of land on the market, said Kyle Hansen, an auctioneer with Nevada-based Hertz Farm Management, which has nine offices, including one in Waterloo.
“Land values are closely tied to the net revenue generated by what is able to be produced; Commodity prices are still the highest factor in establishing land values,” said Hansen, chairman of the survey committee. “The farmland market has continued its downtrend since the spring of 2013, when corn and soybean prices peaked. And although farmers represent nearly 80 percent of the land buyers, the reduced land values are creating purchasing interest from non-operating landowners and investment buyers.”
- See more at: http://amestrib.com/news/farm-economy-takes-toll-iowa-land-values#sthash.M4GQBqOy.dpuf

A swooning agriculture sector has taken numerous swipes at Iowa’s economy in the last year — the layoffs at John Deere among them.
But, last week, farmers across Iowa — but especially in the northeastern quadrant of the state — took a shot that hit closer to home than any others: land prices.
According to the September 2015 Iowa Chapter of Realtors Land Institute’s Land Trends and Values Survey that came out Tuesday, cropland values fell 3.7 percent statewide in the last six months and 11.3 percent since the September 2014 report.
Northeast Iowa values fell harder than those in any other region in the last year — 15.1 percent on average for all tillable land.
- See more at: http://amestrib.com/news/farm-economy-takes-toll-iowa-land-values#sthash.M4GQBqOy.dpuf