Thursday, January 21, 2016

There is a problem with domestic violence with American veterans. PTSD is not a benign mental health issue that can be bothersome at times

With thousands of troops now preparing to return, a new crisis may open on the domestic front. Military wife Stacy Bannerman (click here) on the husbands she’s seen transformed into domestic abusers.

"If you don't hear from me in the next 24 hours, call the police," she whispered, then hung up. My phone read 2:12 am; it was the third call in as many minutes. I tried calling back—no answer. I went back to sleep, angry at Kristi for calling in the middle of the night and scaring me with a single sentence.

The next morning I fired off an email: "I cannot, for the love of God, imagine what you were thinking when you called last night. Please tell me." Kristi and I had become battle buddies at home while our husbands were serving in Iraq in 2004-05. We had cried each time a military family member called with word of a soldier's death or suicide; we grieved at funerals and gravesites, marches and memorials. We wept with and for each another when she or I learned that our husband had been mobilized for another deployment, and again when they finally came home...

The United States of America has spent billions on the very fact we want to stop this nightmare. There was a reason and there continues to be a reason to invest in the well being of our veterans. They are not the average American and there is a lie most Americans live with that soldiers can go into battle and come home to pick up their civilian lives where they left off. That is not the case. There are real insults to the very person and personality of the American soldier. The sooner Americans get their minds wrapped around that the sooner they'll realize war is not casual and simply a reality. War has casualties. Very real casualties and some of them come home.

April 7, 2014
By Stacey Bannerman
There have been days (click here) when there are more military family members killed by their veteran on the home front than troops killed in action on the war front. March 23, 2012, was one of them. Kristy Huddleston wasn't a soldier who had already served multiple tours, or a combat veteran traumatized by war, but her husband was. That put her at a higher risk of experiencing potentially lethal domestic violence than virtually any other demographic in the nation. As Kristy lay on the kitchen floor, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the head, her 10-year-old son called 911. The murder trial of Bourne Huddleston, a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, is on the docket for April 7 in Jackson County, Oregon.

Combat veterans are responsible for almost 21 percent of domestic violence nationwide, linked to the development of post traumatic stress disorder. This is comparable to the fact that veterans alone account for 20 percent of U.S. suicides. We call the problem of veteran suicide an "epidemic," funding research, convening conferences, and creating new programs, hotlines and therapies aimed at prevention, intervention and reducing the stigma of seeking mental health care. But we don't talk about veteran intimate partner violence at all, effectively ensuring that the catastrophic consequences remain largely unacknowledged and unaddressed....
Trump is running a great campaign. He is on top of this stuff before anyone else. That is to his credit.

I like the entire topic that young man was talking about, the public lands of the USA and their protections. He is absolutely correct. The public lands are a great legacy to the USA.

"Against Trump" (click here)

Let's no pretend there is a magical sweep of larger red states by anyone other than Trump. (click here)


Ted Cruz is not an authority on JFK.

President Kennedy words were part of his being. He was honest and never presumed to be a savior to the American. He put forward his understanding of what America was all about and what he hoped for the country. People loved him. He was real. 

Those words in that speech on "The Last Word" was pure visionary. I can't believe how magnificent he was in the truth of life. He saw the future for all of us. There was a real reason the people of this country mourned for him as deeply as they did. We mourn him today. It hurts.  

I have to list to that speech again. Rhetoric disgusted him. He spoke the truth. I can't believe how much those words still resonate today. JFK would never be a Republican in the past or today.

There was only one JFK. He won't be back.
Donald Trump is not only sucking the air out of the room, he now has an assistant. Between the two of them there is no chance anyone else will be heard from.

I know I hadn't heard anyone say that, but, there is a full blown Presidential run out there now

Executive Order 13636

On February 12, 2013, (click here) President Obama signed Executive Order 13636, “Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.” The Executive Order is designed to increase the level of core capabilities for our critical infrastructure to manage cyber risk. It does this by focusing on three key areas: (1) information sharing, (2) privacy, and (3) the adoption of cybersecurity practices....

This is an example of the ongoing Executive Orders signed by President Obama in his administration. This is not the only Executive Order nor is it the first. If my memory serves me President Obama's first Executive Order regarding the Electronic White House was September 2009. This has been his project, if you will. 

It is difficult at this point to determine whether or not Hillary Clinton's emails on a private server is being scrutinized on an ongoing basis WITH a shifting baseline of the degree they are reviewed. Any Inspector General would be writing their response to a Congressional member based upon his current standards and work ethic. 

The letter from the Inspector General (who's name and political affiliation is not necessarywas dated January 2016. That is a long time ago considering Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State from 2008 thought 2012. The standards by which such electronic communication is handled and classified is very different today than when she was in office. 

The issue regarding the private server emails has to be put to bed. This is ridiculous. 

The letter dated January 2016 is completely irrelevant to email written between 2008 and 2012. The FBI is the only indicator otherwise and I already stated what I believe.

End of discussion. 

Hillary Clinton is a remarkable woman. She deserve to be in the nomination process for President. If she is nominated to run for President, she will be a great President.

This 'email thing' is nothing but sour grapes. The lady needs to move on.  

The question is whether or not it is a poltical problem. I think has to define that and speak to it when it arises.

Now FOX has an unclassified letter from the inspector general. Where is it?

No one else has this letter? 

Beck has it published: (click here)

Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon reiterated claims that “this is the same interagency dispute that has been playing out for months” and “does not change the fact that these emails were not classified at the time they were sent or received.”
“It is alarming that the intelligence community IG, working with Republicans in Congress, continues to selectively leak materials in order to resurface the same allegations and try to hurt Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign,” Fallon said.

The Clinton campaign has stated multiple times this was still the same issue in a debate between departments about classification or level of classification.

It gets us nowhere. The issues will never be validated.

It is completely unclear the brevity of the issue and whether or not the FBI is going to eventually bring charges. 

I doubt there will be charges because there were no leaks. The FBI is more interested in whether or not there were hackers that made it into the server and what information they may have taken. I think that is the best determinant of whether or not this is an issue.

People like to feel safe. If this makes them feel unsafe they may see Hillary in a poor light. But, there were no leaks to the public and the public wasn't effected. If the public was compromised that is what concerns me.

There was nothing preventing Hillary Clinton to set up a private server at the beginning of her term as Secretary. The dialogue goes on from there. The electronic White House is new. President Obama would not give up his Blackberry and the security issues went on from there. It's unfortunate this is a concern because she is a great leader and would be a great President.

Perhaps the issues pointed to by the Inspector General will be resolved and the emails will be forthcoming, but, until that happens it is speculation of a perfectly qualified candidate.

Tornado warnings in Louisiana. It is real. Take it seriously

January 21, 2016
2330.19z
UNYSIS Water Vapor Satellite of North and West Hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)


January 21, 2016
Tornado warnings (click here) and watches were issued Thursday for several parishes in southeast Louisiana and southern Mississppi.

It is pulling in a lot of air, too, noted from the wind map. (click here)


This does not provide an out for Snyder. He is still an absent landlord.

January 20, 2016
By Melissa Nana Burke
  
Washington — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (click here) admitted Tuesday it should have acted more swiftly in addressing the issues with Flint's drinking water.
An EPA spokeswoman told Reuters that the federal agency did not act fast enough in addressing the growing problem in the city.
While the federal agency worked to “repeatedly and urgently communicate the steps the state needed to take to properly treat its water, those necessary actions were not taken as quickly as they should have been,” the EPA said in a Tuesday statement.
While the situation in Flint was “unusual,” the EPA said its ability to oversee state environmental regulators’ management of the situation was “impacted by failures and resistance at the state and local levels to work with us in a forthright, transparent and proactive manner consistent with the seriousness of the risks to public health,” the statement says. “We must ensure this situation never happens again.”...

That is all known information and established law. There is nothing new to know about clean and potable water. The EPA has to take steps like redundant warnings to build their case to act over the authority of a governor.

The responsibility lies directly with Snyder and his emergency manager. The EPA is a federal authority that could have made a difference if it acted earlier and with more determined actions. This is an important fact, but, it is ancillary to the crime.

The EPA didn't start the poisoning, but, should have and could have acted quicker to end it. 
The Clinton email scandal has taken on a hideous characteristic. FOX cannot substantiate their claims. This most recent of nonsense is the third time FOX has tried to be believable. So, the way out of their predicament is to make their claims out of reach of any proof. They name an Inspector General which really isn't going to be stated here. Supposedly, this Obama appointee took the liberty to notify FOX there were SAP emails on the Clinton server.

It cannot be substantiated. It will never be substantiated until that material is declassified in 20 years. The reality is FOX has no claim to knowledge of SAP emails. It is gossip and nothing more.
Let's pretend there was every imaginable form of tippy top top secret emails on a private server that Hillary Clinton used as Secretary of State. 

That is all there is to this.

If there is an Inspector General passing out rumors, which I doubt sincerely, then there should be an investigation. This is ridiculous. An Inspector General has no loyalty to the country to pass around unsubstantiated rumors? Are these rumors not only unsubstantiated, they cannot be unsubstantiated because of there classification. So where is all this going? An Inspector General wants to play with power? Really?

Why does FOX persist? Because like good little Republican candidates they are all carrying the rhetoric now. No Republican is going to stand up and state "I don't know of any substantiated claims."

The mess is probably a drag on Hillary's campaign poll numbers, but, this has no basis in truth. 
Bernie has never said he is a socialist. He has stated he is a Democratic Socialist. Try defining that instead.
If all Neal Cavuto can do is level 'Let's Pretend' at Hillary Clinton's campaign, then there isn't anything there. Everyone is waiting for the FBI findings and decisions if it will ever become public. Other than that there isn't anything to prove about Hillary Clinton emails. The American public has been treated to the ability to read emails from a Secretary of State and that is historic.

I have always found it laughable the degree people have taken this "Let's Pretend" email scandal. It wasn't possible until she came forward with her emails. Up to the point there was knowledge of a private server none of these "Let's Pretend" existed or was entertained. There was no there there.

There were no leaks. No news agency had information about a private server. None of these talking points resulted because of leaks that supposedly would kill people. Everything Hillary Clinton had on her private server was completely secure. There were no leaks. 

Now, all of a sudden FOX "Let's Pretend" is causing all kinds of problems. It is nonsense. Everything that is stated on FOX has no validity in fact. It is also sad to realize FOX has no loyalty to this country. They are loyal to merchandising for the Murdochs.

Want a war? No problem. 

The drone leaks have nothing to do with any Clinton emails.

October 26, 2015
By Margaret Sullivan 

...New details about the Pentagon’s drone war (click here) from 2011 to early 2013 were disclosed on Thursday in classified documents published by The Intercept, a national security news website. The documents included a set of briefing slides assessing Operation Haymaker, an effort to hunt down Taliban and Qaeda militants in Afghanistan from January 2012 to February 2013.

During that period, there were 56 airstrikes that killed 35 suspects. Those strikes also killed 219 people who do not appear to have been specifically targeted but were labeled “enemy killed in action,” the documents showed....

Among the USA public it is numbers that catch their attention. It is interesting because they don't demand proof of the killing, they simply are appalled that it exists at all.

FOX talked about this and Clinton emails all in the same breath. The purpose for the discussion was obvious. 

Who empowers drug cartels?

Australia's gun buyback was launched after 35 people were shot dead during the Port Arthur massacre. Photo: Channel 10

January 21, 2016
By Patrick Hatch

America's powerful pro-gun lobby group (click here) the National Rifle Association has again taken aim at Australia's gun laws, this time targeting the buyback scheme launched in the wake of the Port Arthur massacre.
The NRA posted a video on its official YouTube page on Thursday featuring President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton discussing Australia's gun laws....

It is about time Australia gets serious over the importation of illegal drugs.

January 22, 2016
By Nick Ralston

Organised crime groups (click here) have become so successful at importing drugs into Australia that the wholesale price being paid for ice, cocaine and ecstasy has dramatically fallen in the past 18 months.
The NSW Crime Commission says the illegal drug trade remains the main source of income for organised crime in Australia and at present illicit substances are in "plentiful supply".
Fairfax Media has learned that the wholesale price paid by Australian criminal groups to import cocaine from overseas was as high as $280,000 a kilogram three years ago. Eighteen months ago it had dropped to $240,000 a kilogram and now sells below $200,000 and as low as $180,000....

All these drugs are also part of the income to terrorist groups. It should be taken very seriously and ended. The concern of course is the safety of the officers involved in discovering the drugs and ending the enterprise of the cartels.

I am sure I don't have to remind how serious the terrorist campaigns have been in the region.

As well as the two Australian ringleaders (click here) of the Bali Nine drug smuggling ring, Indonesia executed four Nigerian men, one man from Brazil and one Indonesian. A woman from the Philippines and a Frenchman were temporarily reprieved....

The murders in paradise.
 
Veloso, aged 30, from the Philippines, was arrested in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in 2010 and found to be carrying a suitcase packed with 2.2kg (5lb) of heroin. Painted in court as a knowing drugs courier, she was sentenced to death. But her supporters say that poverty had made her susceptible to people traffickers, who promised her a job as a maid in Malaysia but instead made her an unwitting drug mule.
On Tuesday the woman who recruited Veloso for that job, Maria Kristina Sergio, “voluntarily surrendered” to police in the Philippine province of Nueva Ecija. She was wanted on charges of illegal recruitment and human trafficking....

There are more arrests and imprisonments in Indonesia than any other country in the world. It is an island country and due to the ease with which organized crime could operate within that geographical reality, it doesn't happen. Indonesia finds them. 

Indonesia is so successful in ending crime and bringing criminals to the weight of law that the criminals and families are pleading to be lenient. Indonesia is not a country to allow slippage in it's laws and sentences. It is quite interesting.  

The weight of Indonesian law is a shock to those arrested and tried. They never bargained for it. 

...The NSW Crime Commission said expatriate Australians are playing a major role in bringing drugs into the country.

Former Sydney resident Hakan Ayik, an associate of the Comancheros bikie gang, operates a global drug trafficking network from his native Istanbul. Former Kings Cross identity Vaso Ulic is wanted over drug imports in Australia. He is currently based in Montenegro in the former Yugoslavia....

These people are known but remain out of reach. Why?



FOX just caught themselves in their own lie.

Earlier today FOX stated, the SAP emails were mentioned in a memo of an Inspector General. That memo was seen by Congressmen and passed on to FOX.

NOW.

Such documents are not allowed to Congressmen due to higher security clearance requirements. 

The talking point now is that the information in SAP was far more grievous than first expected.

I want an investigation.

This is a great ad. I am sure every other candidate wished they thought of it first.

Bernie's campaign needs to put together an information pack or an ad or something that is exclusively assembled by African American volunteers. The minorities in the campaign should be recognized without editorial content.

Of course President Obama is not responsible for the problems of our veterans.

I'd rather not bring Sarah Palin's son into the political arena. I sincerely want him to have peace of mind his life is not a spectacle and I hope the news media does the same.

Sarah Palin (click here).

The only reason I mentioned him in the first place is because it was really obvious he was having problems with his parents away from home.

I know she is bringing her son into the spotlight of her politics, but, that is consistent from when she was running as McCain's Vice President. She often would refer to her son serving in Iraq. 

We haven't been in Iraq since 2009 in the way we were under "W." His service in Iraq does cause problems. It is a known fact. There have been many suicides and Mr. Palin's problems are typical.

It seemed to me the Palins have a degree of stability with him and that should not be sacrificed by political involvement. He is important. He is a veteran.

But, what can be said and what should be the focus is the problems of the Veterans and what that war did to them. The country will see significant indebtness, both, medically and financially for disability claims for a long time. That is the issue. How could an American president put troops into a war theater that was illegitimate, provided a platform for the rise in terrorism and compromised the readiness of our military. When realizing the number of military compromised by that war and what that does to USA readiness, the entire venture was extremely wrong and misdirected.

Here we go. Another woman from hell.

January 21, 2016
By Jodi Guglielmi

Jada Pinkett Smith (click here) has responded to Janet Hubert's critical comments about her decision to boycott the Oscars
After the former Fresh Prince of Bel Air star called Pinkett Smith's actions "suspect," claiming she was only skipping the awards ceremony because husband Will Smith didn't get a nomination, Pinkett Smith once again spoke out to defend herself and further clarify her comments. 
"This whole Oscar controversy isn't really about the Oscars," Pinkett Smith, 44, said in a new video shared by Entertainment Tonight. "Really, in my plea to ask all communities and people of color to take back our power is so that we can use it in all sectors of our community, and right now, specifically with African-American people, we have some very serious issues that I think we as a people have to move together on."... 


There is a real issue here and Mrs. Jada Pinkett Smith has a right to bring it to the attention of the public. She is correct to do that. I am sure she feels the pain of racism more intensely because it is her husband, but, she is absolutely correct to do it.

Will Smith is a great actor. It is a curiosity as to why he isn't more recognized for his work.

He was nominated twice for an Oscar. 2001 for Training Day and 2006 for King of Scotland.

When looking at Will Smith's achievement to date the Oscar nominations and wins are very lacking. In nearly every category of award in Hollywood and otherwise he has an interesting track record. Enviable even. But, when it comes to the Oscars, he is a blip on the screen.

This is exactly the problem.

January 21, 2016
By Detroit Free Press

Dennis Muchmore, (click here) Snyder's former chief of staff, writes an e-mail to the governor dated Sept. 25, 2015, claiming that some in Flint were turning the issue of children's exposure to lead into "a political football." He said the real responsibility for the water crisis rested with the county, city and KWA. "I can't figure out why the state is responsible except that Dillon did make the ultimate decision so we're not able to avoid the subject."

Snyder is incompetent to carry out the laws of Michigan and the fact children were having elevated lead levels in their blood is proof. Snyder has to leave that level of power.

When a sitting Governor becomes mired in politics while children are being poisoned, he is incompetent. There isn't anything else to say. If his Chief of Staff is nothing more than a political watchdog, what good is it?

The lead detection should have occurred long before it showed up in children.

Look, the reason children are tested for lead levels is because it is a method of proving and finding the source in their environment. No one expects an entire group of children to have lead levels.

The idea a water source is where the culprit is, was never suppose to exist. Lead in paint, somewhere in old housing, possibly playgrounds once used as commercial sites of business or land that children venture into that were never intended to be a playground is what people expect to find, but, water was never suppose to prove to be the source.

This is very bad news. Children are tested to be sure they are safe from lead exposure because it does such damage. These are decisions society made a long time ago. No child is suppose to grow up with any source of lead exposure. At the very most there may be a child here or a child there, but, never an entire group. 

Snyder and his staff are completely indictable in these findings. They substituted SOCIAL AND LEGAL NORMS for their own financial standards. This is complete dismantling of Michigan and federal laws. 

This is very serious and reaches right into the political standards of his administration over and above the laws of Michigan and this country. 
No one is accusing Republicans for a leak. It is the right wing media and their conspiracy expertise that is the issue here. The information being put out as fact without any real evidence is the problem. It is the media in the right wing universe playing with political fate. That is the truth. Get angry if you want, it is just too bad.

There should have never been a debate over who is responsible. There should have been action the moment the water turned into poison.

January 20, 2016
By Evan Osnos

Last July, (click here) after more than a year of public complaints about the drinking water in Flint, Michigan—water so pungent and foamy that a local pastor had stopped using it for baptisms—reporters were calling the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. The response from the department was of limited urgency. In an internal e-mail to colleagues, a spokeswoman, Karen Tommasulo, wrote, “Apparently it’s going to be a thing now.”...

The emails prove all that was on the mind of Michigan government was politics. No one took responsibility to end the danger. That is the issue.

What was Mr. Snyder thinking would come out of this emails? He was the highest form of Michigan government, the Executive Branch if you will. He had all the power to end the nightmare before it became a nightmare. He did nothing. Absolutely nothing.

This was an entire year plus. This is endangering the public, First take control of the problem and then run the investigation to find out who allowed such horrible threats to people and their children.

I'll put it this way. It should never have happened. The water causing this problem should have been tested before it ever was allowed to enter the Flint water pipes. It should have been tested immediately after it entered the Flint water pipes. The water should have been tested regularly for quality anyway. Where are those records. I want to see the records for the last two years of Flint's water department and their quality testing. 
That is interesting dialogue from the Right Wing:

...She (the Attorney General) was very WEAK on gun laws. 

...She is the voice of the President. So, when she spoke to the committee she was making the words of the President known.

A mindless woman leading the Justice Department. Perhaps that is the state of affairs of conservative women, ya think? They simply and mindlessly follow their Husbands voice and commands.

Who was it Shelby? That was amazing to hear. 

And don't question Shelby. Don't be outraged at the idea of the AG being a mindless woman unable to discern the country's laws.

Shelby is god today. Bully for him.

Here is an interesting example:

February 14, 2015
......Lynch, (click here) the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, negotiated a settlement in December 2012 with HSBC bank employees who were accused of funneling millions of dollars to terrorist organizations and Mexican drug cartels.
Her decision to let them walk away without criminal prosecution sparked inquiry from Sen. David VItter, R-La., and a host of questions Friday.
Lynch, nominated by President Obama to replace Eric Holder as attorney general, is already facing a rocky reception in the Senate, which won’t vote on her confirmation until March at the earliest....
A Senator uses information about a prosecution of a financial institution to bring outrage to her nomination hearing. He never takes ownership of it except to raise political outrage.

The case was about money laundering. The actual members of the drug cartel were not part of the prosecution. But, did that stop Vitter from attempting to discredit Ms. Lynch. No, everything a political game in the committees of the House and Senate.

Everyone is worried about the storms in the USA.

January 22, 2016
Washington (AP) " People (click here) throughout the eastern United States readied themselves heavy snowstorms that could bring blocked roads, power outages and canceled flights from the Appalachian Mountains to Philadelphia and maybe farther north.
The National Weather Service said in a statement Wednesday that up to 16 inches (40 centimeters) of snow could come down between Friday night and Sunday morning in the region.
Mitchell Gaines of the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said people should be prepared for strong winds, heavy, wet snow and power outages....

There are two days of demonstrations in Moldova. It borders Ukraine and is of interest to their national security.

January 22, 2016


Chisinau, Moldova (AP) " Thousands (click here) of people held an anti-government protest Thursday in the Moldovan capital, a day after the legislature approved a new pro-European government.
Protesters gathered outside government offices and Parliament in Chisinau to protest Prime Minister Pavel Filip, the former technology minister and ex-candy factory manager, who presented his Cabinet of politicians and specialists to President Nicolae Timofti late Wednesday.
It was the second straight day of protests. Scuffles broke out Wednesday between police and the protesters who stormed the Parliament, injuring 15 people, including nine police officers. On Thursday, protesters blocked a main artery in the capital as they staged a peaceful protest. Demonstrators shouted "Down with the government! We are the people!" and "Early elections!"
Moldova has been mired in political instability since 2014. Last year, Moldova had five prime ministers and there were weeks of protests about $1.5 billion that went missing from three banks prior to the country's November 2014 parliamentary election....