Saturday, January 24, 2015

Preibus. All of them are coming out of their closet. Trump. Palin.

January 24, 2015
By Morgan Winsor

Donald Trump (click here) told a crowd of conservatives at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines Saturday he was “seriously thinking of running for [U.S.] president,” after knocking both Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney as potential candidates in 2016.
“It can’t be Mitt -- he ran and failed. He failed,” the businessman and reality-television personality said. “He chokes. Something happened to him in the last month. He had that election won.” Romney, the Republican challenger, lost to President Barack Obama, the Democratic incumbent, in 2012. “You can’t have Bush,” Trump later added. “The last thing we need is another Bush.” Jeb Bush’s father served one term (1989-1993) and his brother served two terms as president (2001-2009).
Trump told the audience of roughly 1,250 that Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, should not run a third time, and that Bush, a former Florida governor, is out of step with conservative idealogy, as demonstrated by his education and immigration policies. Both Romney and Bush have dropped hints of presidential bids, but neither men attended the Des Moines event. Bush declined the invitation, citing a scheduling conflict, according to the New York Times....

Donald Trump net worth $4 Billion (click here)

Jeb Bush
But it's a weird world (click here) in which we live where a guy worth $1.3 million is desperate to bolster his savings account. Last year, Congress for the first time became a majority millionaire; we are unsurprised, however cynical it may be, for our elected officials to both be rich and to be able to leverage their tenures in politics for even greater wealth. That's the impetus that drove Bush, it seems, sitting on the boards of six different companies at once to reel in cash as fast as possible.

Sarah Palin net worth $12 million (click here) 

Mitt Romney
According to the Romney campaign's (click here) most recent disclosure of his personal finances, he's worth between $190 and $250 million. However, those figures only include financial assets such as stocks, bonds, and cash. Presidential candidates are not required to disclose a variety of other potentially high-value holdings, including family real estate and money in certain trusts and charities.

I have to wonder if there has been an uptick of PTSD with this movie.

I was in the company of a very nice veteran that has a family and a good job. Someone mentioned "American Sniper" in a group of five adults. The veteran escalated his participation at the mention and began to demonstrate how he sat (on the floor) with his machine gun which fired hand grenades at the rate of about one per second. He further insisted a soldier had to know what he/she was doing otherwise the kick back would drive the gun into the chest of the soldier and it's use was compromised along with whom ever the gun was protecting.

January 24, 2015
By Kid Rock

As the controversy surrounding American Sniper (click here) continues to swirl, Kid Rock has offered some unkind words for Michael Moore, Blake Shelton has elaborated on a tweet he issued earlier in the week and Rolling Stone is taking heat from its readers. All along, the Clint Eastwood-directed film starring Bradley Cooper is one of the biggest box office smashes in recent memory.
American Sniper centers on the story of Navy SEAL Chris Kyle American, who’s credited with the most sniper kills in U.S. military history.
Moore and actor Seth Rogen’s recent comments about American Sniper’s glorification of the war in the Middle East created a firestorm of criticism from patriots throughout Middle America....

I don't think it is funny when a conversation turns into a demonstration of soldier performance. We were all acquaintances and I am sure some of the casual nature of the group played into his comfort in playing out his part in the war.

This must be some kind of movie to prompt veterans to act out their war days at the sheer mention of it.  

It’s not unusual for people (click here) who have experienced traumatic events to have flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive memories when something terrible happens -- like the explosions at the Boston Marathon.
Be tolerant of your nervous system: It’s having a normal reaction. Try not to get hooked to news reports, which may seem particularly compelling. Spend time with loved ones in favorite activities or outside in nature, and avoid alcohol....

The State of North Carolina is liable for $750,000 for wrongful conviction.

Forty years. For murder. A double murder. WE are lucky he is alive. North Carolina has executed 1000 people. (click here)
The entire idea of "embryo rights" is warped from proceedings outside the interest of the state. The in vitro science created scenarios whereby embryos could be coveted by parents for a variety of reasons. That is contractual law, not constitutional law. The implication in Alabama is that the state has an interest in the embryo or fetus. The only time that takes place is when there is child neglect, abuse or abandonment.

What next?

Fetal lawyers are unconstitutional. They are representing the interests of the father when the attorney has never consulted him. The potential mother's view is already established. 

The age of majority in most southern states when it comes to criminal proceedings is 16 years of age. The so called minor can make their own decisions and do not need parental oversight by the age of 16. 

The entire idea a fetus has constitutional rights is hideous that leads to oppression women due to their anatomy. 

If a society is that interested in the LACK OF FETUS' surviving the pregnancy of a woman, they can grow their own in a test tube with hired females to act as surrogates. The question in that case is, if a society can't achieve pregnancy voluntarily by couples wanting children, does the society have a right to exist beyond it's last generations. 

The fact the State of Alabama is advancing religious dogma as legitimate legal tender is at question. It reenforces oppression and violate the US Constitution. The entire idea of fetal rights is hideous and assaults habeas corpus of all women. If a state can enforce a pregnancy to term when conceived in copulation, it can enforce pregnancy through fetal transplant as well. It places an ideology of uterine domination over the very identity of a woman.

A sovereign country exists because of the will of the people as a collective, not because the powerful dictates daily outcomes of many. It is why dictatorships fall and democracy doesn't.

The Minisk agreement is worthless. The civil war in Ukraine is escalating.

The rebels are entering Ukraine from Crimea. These were suppose to be issues settled without deaths. There is no intentions by rebels to have peace. Russia signed the Minisk agreement as if it had the ability to leverage peace, but, it is not happening.

January 24, 2015 

Fifteen people were killed in shelling (click here) in the east Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Saturday, Ukraine’s interior ministry said, an attack Kiev blamed on separatist rebels and the Russian military.
A witness described the shelling to Reuters as enough to knock the paint off his house.
The deaths follow the separatists’ rejection of more peace talks and as fighting surged to its most intense in months. The United Nations said on Friday 262 had been killed in the previous nine days.

Government-held Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov, lies on a coastal route from the Russian border to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine last March.
The city council said rockets fired by rebels from long-range GRAD missile systems struck a multi-story building and caused fires to break out....

The conflict is taking on a two front offensive. Europe was a signator to the Minisk agreement, it has an interest in the disintegrating agreement..

January 24, 2015
...Its symbolic importance (click here) made the airport a key target for the separatists. After a holiday lull they began pounding again in mid-January. The Russian media soon aired footage of rebels raising their flag above the rubble, so Mr Poroshenko ordered a counter-offensive. But on January 22nd reports emerged that the airport had fallen under rebel control. Shelling continued around it and over Donetsk, with 13 people killed at a bus stop on the same day. Fighting has spread all along the front line: Debaltseve and several towns north of Luhansk have been under intense fire. In these circumstances, the Minsk peace deal struck in September seems largely notional. A summit of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France has been cancelled. In Kiev a bombastic Mr Poroshenko has promised to recapture the south-eastern region. Russia’s deputy foreign minister warned of “irreversible consequences” if Ukraine sent troops into Donetsk city.

One senior Ukrainian government official says negotiations are losing their meaning: “We sit and talk for hours about nothing.” Mr Poroshenko says 9,000 Russian troops are active inside Ukraine. Russia, as usual, denies this. Mr Poroshenko’s figure may be exaggerated, but big rebel attacks cannot happen without Kremlin support. “There is a difference between [Russia’s] political statements and reality,” one Donetsk rebel concedes...'

It would seem to be the case. Such talks are suppose end war, not direct it. If Europe is to settle these aggressions, NATO enters the picture. What amazes me is the demands of Russia to remove Star Wars satellites from their border while they escalate hostilities with former Soviet states. If Russia was sincerely interested in peace along it's borders there would be a valid and enforceable peace, not continued escalations of aggression and death. Either Moscow has control of it's military arm or it doesn't. The Russian military is basically overseeing a conflict with Ukraine, in that is the power to end the conflict as well.

How many Ukrainians are going to die before this ends? What is Moscow's estimate? Endless? Generational? 

8675 people dead from the Ebola virus.

The vigilance and treatment needs to continue until the virus has vanished. Unless the quality of life of these people improve there is always the potential for another outbreak of a different strain of the virus. Elevating the wellness of these populations is vital and it is a global concern.

January 25, 2015

...There is still no vaccine or licensed treatment, (click here) nor is it clear whether the international community has actually learned any lessons from an epidemic that killed at least 8,675 people.

"Things have changed drastically for the better " no one can deny that," said Aitor Sanchez Lacomba, Liberia country director for the International Rescue Committee. "How can we make sure that we don't have these kinds of situations in the future?"

Previous disease outbreaks, including SARS and bird flu, prompted calls to build strong health surveillance systems and to reinforce agencies like the World Health Organization....

The WHO requested a $100 million emergency fund after the swine flu and has yet to realize that goal. These funds are important. There should be a permanent fund with investment of those funds to increase in value when not in use.

The outbreak has not killed as many people as some predictions. At its height, one estimate warned that as many as 1.4 million people could become infected by mid-January if there were no additional interventions. Instead, the probable, suspected and confirmed case toll is 21,797 with 8,675 deaths....

WHO needs a better administrative staff that has a good understanding of the dynamics of disease. The best way for that to happen is for their research physicians and an administrators to be on a panel where priorities can be applied to funds to stem an outbreak. Since the WHO is a vitally important organization the lead member of any panel should be a physician with administrating qualifications. These responsibilities can't be taken lightly as they effect the global population. Simply because this was a so called insignificant economic country, it has proven exactly what negligence causes to a global community.

...WHO blamed incompetent staff and said it let bureaucratic bungles delay people and money to fight the virus. The document said the agency was hampered by budget cuts and the need to battle other diseases flaring around the world....

The legislature is one leg of the three braches of Guyana government. No president has the right to dismiss the legislature.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) " The European Union (click here) is withholding $37 million in aid slated for Guyana because the government of the South American country is operating without a Parliament.
EU officials said they will withhold the money meant to help boost the country's sugar industry and finance infrastructure works until their concerns are addressed. The EU noted in a statement late Friday that one of the functions of Guyana's National Assembly is to oversee the budget.
President Donald Ramotar temporarily suspended the opposition-controlled legislature in November to avoid a no-confidence vote.
He has called for elections in May but has not yet formally dissolved Parliament. The National Assembly could remain legally suspended for up to six months.

The withholding of $37 million in aid should get President Ramotar attention.