Friday, September 29, 2017

The trials may be dragging on, but, the fact Snyder is getting away with murder is an issue of morale in more than the state government.

September 23, 2017
By Paul Egan

Mackinac Island — Criminal charges (click here) against state employees arising from the Flint drinking water crisis are taking too long to get through the justice system and are hurting state employee morale, retention and hiring, Gov. Rick Snyder said Saturday.

Speaking to reporters at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, Snyder said the charges Attorney General Bill Schuette has brought against 15 people — who include seven current state employees — are having "a major impact on state employee morale."

"I've actually had people tell me they took retirement or people didn't want to take a job because of this environment," he said.

"They were charged how many months ago and what has happened?" Snyder asked. "It's been well over a year," and "what has it done to your life in the meantime?"

"All of us have an expectation our justice system works faster than that."...

Snyder should have resigned over the events in Flint. That didn't happen and the employees are the scapegoats to his reckless leadership.

September 23, 2017
By Jonathan Oosting

Mackinac Island — Michigan (click here) is losing state employees because their peers are facing prosecution by Attorney General Bill Schuette in a nearly two-year probe of the Flint water crisis, Gov. Rick Snyder said Saturday.

Snyder, speaking with reporters at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, defended Michigan Health and Human Services Department Director Nick Lyon and questioned the speed of other cases he said has damaged state employee morale.

Schuette and Special Prosecutor Todd Flood have charged or reached plea deals with 15 former state and Flint officials in connection with the lead contamination of Flint’s drinking water and a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that killed 12 and sickened another 79 individuals in the Flint area.

“We’ve lost people that have left state government because they don’t want to have that hanging over their head,” Snyder said. “I’ve had people tell me they’ve had retirements or people deciding they didn’t want to take a job because of this environment.”...
            

Ignoring the fact this is Syria, THE OSPREY is not fit for service anywhere!

How many of those terrible planes are still in the air? They are mostly Marine aircraft right? There better not be anymore on order or back order. They all belong in a scrap heap.


September 29, 2017
By Ryan Browne

A US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (click here) has crashed in Syria, two US military officials told CNN Friday.

The US-led coalition, Operation Inherent Resolve, issued a statement Friday, confirming the crash of an Osprey but not specifying the location of the incident, merely saying it took place in "the Middle East."

The statement also said that two US service members were injured in the landing but added that the injuries were "non-life threatening" and said that they have both been released from a medical treatment facility.

The coalition said the cause of the incident is being investigated but one US military official told CNN that it was not due to enemy activity, describing it as a hard landing.

Another official said the aircraft was heavily damaged in the landing and is currently considered non salvageable for military use....

The blasted plane is a flying disaster.

June 5, 2009
By David Hambling

An unfortunate incident last month (click here) when a MV-22 Osprey was damaged in a grass fire is just the latest indication that the tilt-rotor's fearsomely hot exhaust can cause real problems; it can even damage ships' decks.

Eagle-eyed Osprey-watcher Springbored noticed some differences between the Marine Corps explanation of the event and the coverage on a local news channel in North Carolina, where the incident occurred.

In the official version, the aircraft landed due to mechanical problems at 7 pm in Holly Shelter Game Land in Pender County, NC. When it was preparing to take off, the heat from the exhaust ignited the grass underneath it.

“The grass fire was quickly extinguished by the crew chief, but caused an undetermined amount of heat damage to the aircraft exterior,” according to a rather bland Corps statement....

Assad still doesn't know who the enemy is.

September 29, 2017
By Kareem Shaheen

Renewed bombing (click here) of hospitals in Syria’s six-year civil war by forces loyal to the government of Bashar al-Assad has sparked strong condemnations by human rights groups and despair among local doctors, who have accused the international community of ignoring attacks on medical facilities.

Doctors said four hospitals had been hit over the past week in Idlib, a rebel-controlled province bordering Turkey, and Hama, the scene of recent fighting despite a months-long ceasefire brokered by Ankara and Moscow.

A fifth hospital in Idlib was damaged on Friday afternoon after a nearby residential building was bombed, killing 14 people, local sources said.

“It is demonstrably evident that hospitals are not safe from bombings in Idlib at the moment, and this is outrageous,” said Brice de le Vingne, the director of operations at Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which provides support to one of the hospitals that were hit in recent days....

Retribution after the Kurdish vote to secede is not a good idea. Starting a civil war will fuel insurgency and lead to the rise of opposition leaders.

The voice in the audio sounded (click here) much like previous recordings of the reclusive Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who has only appeared in public once.


A member of Peshmerga forces (click here) shows his ink-stained finger during Kurds independence referendum in Sheikh Amir village, Iraq September 25, 2017.
I told you so. Long time ago. I told you so. Long before there was a Manafort, I stated the artificial borders of Iraq would not survive. This should have been anticipated and planned. Instead, it is a mess.


September 29, 2017
By Rudaw

Erbil, Kurdistan Region – The Iraqi-imposed ban (click here) on international flights to and from the Kurdistan Region will not affect military aircraft, the chief of Erbil International airport told reporters on Friday, just hours before the ban came into effect.

Talar Faeq said Erbil airport has always been under the supervision of Iraqi civil aviation and has fully complied with all requirements and instructions from the Iraqi authorities.



“We do not understand yet what are the things the airport has not implemented,” Faeq said, noting that Iraqi authorities have failed to point out any irregularities.

She said civil aviation is meant to be an independent institution, not dragged into political matters.

“Why this issue came out only now?” she asked.
Iraq’s defense ministry has denied that they have deployed forces to take control of border gates between the Kurdistan Region and neighbouring countries.

A statement published by Iraq’s Joint of Command, however, hinted that such a plan is in place....

Iran has plenty of oil for southern Iraq. There better not be any attempts to begin another stupid war! International jets are flying in and out of the Kurdish region. This requires diplomacy. I find it very interesting, considering this is the Kurds, Turkey is actually landing it's passenger jets. That is amazing.


September 28, 2017
By Ari Khalidi


Erbil, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) - The national flag carrier of Turkey, (click here) Turkish Airlines, on Wednesday announced it is to resume its flights to and out of the Kurdistan Region's airports, despite a ban the Iraqi federal authorities imposed this week.

The airline's statement came the same day Turkey's Consulate General in the Kurdish capital of Erbil warned that Turkish Airlines, Pegasus, and AtlasGlobal were to halt flights by Friday 18:00 local time.

“All our scheduled flights to the two cities of Erbil and Sulaimania will be carried out as planned,” the airline said, reported Anadolu news Agency.

The privately-owned Pegasus airline stated they were in talks with the Turkish Civil Aviation Authority regarding their flights to Sulaimania and Erbil.

"We will be posting news of any further announcements regarding these flights on our website," a press release read....

Undated picture shows a general view of the Erbil International Airport, Erbil, Kurdistan Region

This is still important and Anbar is still suffering. The death of Daesh is the most important battle for Iraq.

September 26, 2017
By Christopher Woody

The formal end (click here) of the fight against ISIS in Mosul in July was heralded as a triumph, wresting Iraq's second-biggest city away from the terrorist group after nine months of intense and destructive fighting.

But ISIS has held on to pockets of territory in Iraq.

On August 19, Iraqi forces launched an assault on ISIS in Tal Afar, a town west of Mosul. By the end of the month, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi was again declaring victory.

While the town of Tal Afar is much smaller than Mosul, they were both urban environments. The ISIS-held territory that remains — around Hawija in north-central Iraq and in western Anbar province — are more rural areas....

It is really about the money, isn't it Ms. DeVos?

July 3, 2016
By Juliet Eilperin

Last month, (click here) Vice President Biden penned a searing letter to the victim in a notorious Stanford University rape case. “I am filled with furious anger,” he wrote, “both that this happened to you and that our culture is still so broken.”

Biden’s letter encapsulated the national outrage that erupted when the woman’s attacker was sentenced to just six months in county jail. It was also a sharp reminder that one of the Obama administration’s most ardent policy initiatives has been a concerted campaign to end the scourge of sexual assault on college campuses.

According to White House officials, top members of the administration — including the president, the vice president, their wives and members of the Cabinet — will not visit institutions whose leaders they consider insufficiently serious about pursuing sexual-assault allegations and punishing perpetrators. Biden said in an interview that he would like the federal government to “take away their money” if a college or university fails to change its ways....

The statistics on Sexual Assault on USA College Campuses aren't accurate enough to support the idea the attacker is a victim of the woman that reports the CRIME.


September 22, 2017
By Maria Danilova


Washington — The Trump administration (click here) on Friday scrapped Obama-era guidance on investigating campus sexual assault, replacing it with new interim instructions allowing universities to decide which standard of evidence to use when handling complaints.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has said the Obama rules were unfairly skewed against the students accused of assault....

Where are the facts that have just turned back women's rights by five decades? I suppose the best example of the danger women face from the Trump administration when it comes to sexual assault is the President himself. Isn't that right Ms. DeVos? Any crotch grabbing in the halls of the Cabinet? I suppose it is a back-handed compliment in some circles.

September 21, 2017
By Nora Caplan-Bricker

...This stymied, (click here) vaguely apologetic sentiment appears so often in the report that it becomes a refrain. Across the 27 schools, the rate of students who reported nonconsensual sexual contact involving force or incapacitation (as opposed to coercion or lack of affirmative consent, two other categories the researchers used) varied from 13 percent to 30 percent. For undergraduates, private universities had a higher rate than public ones (25.3 percent versus 22.8 percent); for graduate and professional students, that trend was reversed. Don’t ask why....

I am looking forward to the report about this incident, an embassy and housing able to protect it's staff.


I don't understand how, with Guantanamo Naval Base right there, no one ever picked up this issue before now. I am also wondering how many Cubans are suffering similar symptoms as our diplomats.

September 29, 2017
By Nora Gamez Torres

The United States (click here) will withdraw most of its staff from its embassy in Havana following mysterious sonic attacks that have caused several health problems to about 20 diplomats, a U.S. government source confirmed to El Nuevo Herald on Friday.

The U.S. government has ordered 60 percent of its staff removed from the diplomatic headquarters in Havana. Additionally, it will issue an alert recommending to the Americans not to travel to the island due to the attacks.

The issuance of visas in Havana was also suspended indefinitely.
The measures, first reported by the Associated Press, seek to protect diplomats and their families from what Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called a “attacks on the health” of diplomatic staff in Havana....                   

Just to add perspective in the year 2017.

School Library Journal (click here) is the premiere publication for librarians and information specialists who work with children and teens. A source of quality journalism and reviews for more than 60 years, SLJ produces award-winning features and news coverage on: literacy, best practices, technology, education policy and other issues of interest to the school library and greater educator community. We evaluate a broad range of resources, from books and digital content to databases, in 6000+ reviews published annually....

Original video content (click here) from School Library Journal’s editors, bloggers, and partners.

Ted Geisel has raised his ugly head again.

I doubt this White House was aware of the dark side of Dr. Seuss; otherwise known as, Ted Geisel in his private life. Whoever helped the First Lady make the selection of Dr. Seuss books should apologize to Ms. Trump, for the lack of sensitivity required in today's world when it comes to racism and education.

I like the First Lady. She is an autonomous and independent woman as well as being married to a socially inflammatory man that has serious questions to his own sensitivity to racism. But, I would not hold her responsible for every book chosen for each school they were sent. I think the gesture was genuine and not intended to hurt anyone.


Ted Geisel at his drawing board.

After his book (click here) The Cat in the Hat burst upon the scene in 1957 Dr. Seuss became a household name deeply ingrained in our collective experience. No one who has grown up in the last 50 years can imagine their childhood without the wonderfully zany images and poetically comic verses of Theodor Seuss Geisel, writing under the pseudonym Dr. Seuss....

...While children and adults worldwide know about the extraordinary creativity of Dr. Seuss, most people don’t realize that many of his ideas came from his years growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts. So many of the scenes he’s most known probably came from buildings or parks or other locations he knew as a child....


The dark side of Geisel was not at all childish and rarely discussed.

The Japanese man (click here) portrayed in this political cartoon, also by Dr. Seuss, has the same characteristics of a pig-nose, glasses, slanted eyes, etc. that were used to distinguish Emperor Hirohito. The repetition of these characteristics on all Japanese portrayed in Dr. Seuss’s cartoons also fuels the loss of the individuality of the Japanese people. In the cartoon above, Dr. Seuss goes as far as to use the caption “Wipe That Sneer Off His Face” to call upon the characteristic “sneer” he uses in his caricatures of the Japanese. It calls Americans to act against the sneer, to “wipe it off” the Japanese man’s face by buying war bonds....

Librarians are suppose to be experts on the books they house and care for as well as the patrons that frequent a library.


September 29, 2017


Cambridge, Mass. – A librarian (click here) at the Cambridgeport Elementary School in Massachusetts is facing backlash for declining a shipment of books from first lady Melania Trump.
The school's librarian, Liz Phipps Soeiro, wrote a lengthy editorial for the Horn Book's Family Reading blog explaining why her school does not need the books.
The librarian's school was among one from each state chosen to receive 10 Dr. Seuss books from the first lady for National Read a Book Day. But the librarian penned a letter for a blog saying her school has "plenty of resources" and doesn't need the books. She called Dr. Seuss "a bit of a cliche."...
Ms. Liz Soeiro is correct in pointing out to the First Lady the troubling issues surrounding books within her library. There is an issue with this decision that can be pursued in regard to censorship, however, these are children's books and their experience should be free of ill placed values.

Every library in the country has a right to stock books that will bring readers and enthusiasts to be a part of the community. The Dr. Suess books, given today's climate in attempting to erase racism, are best stored in a special section reserved for adults for the purpose of understanding the influence or lack there of, by the author.

Personally, I never found any of the Dr. Suess books interesting or entertaining to read to my children. I found them distortions of the joy meant to be a child. I find the same sort of mess exists today with all that 'thing' affiliated with "The Night Before Halloween." (click here for "Rotten Tomatoes" rating)

I believe a child should be lovable and their reality full of joy and query. It is wrong to taint a child's reality with recreational racism or any such influence that may exist, even by implication.

The question here is would I find the library Ms. Soeiro oversees as SAFE for my child's learning and enjoyment? I would say, "Yes." Anyone that can be not only interested in the book, but, the author and his or her influence in society is a librarian valued above all. 

I thank Ms. Soeiro for her thoughtful letter to express what she perceives as a danger to her readers, but, also the thoughtful expression of the community, in hiring her.

I wish the First Lady and her son a very good day.

"...people are dying story." is a tragic news story. The media addresses these issues to bring resolve, not information.

The response to the territories of the USA is and was horrible. According to CNN yesterday there were significant supplies at the docks in San Juan with no way to distribute them because there were no trucks or truck drivers. Evidently, any chance of notifying any truck drivers on the island was impossible because there was no wide spread island communication. 

Elaine Duke needs to put a stopper in her enthusiasm for horrendous and tragic news. She needs to put on her Homeland Security uniform and GET DOWN THERE! It is far better to be on the ground with necessary personnel to direct efforts than to sit in DC in an air conditioned office and GUESS at the outcomes of relief efforts.

September 29, 2017
By Louis Nelson

The mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, (click here) lashed out at acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke's comment that the Hurricane Maria relief efforts are a "good news story," saying that in reality, it's a "people are dying story."

Speaking outside the White House on Thursday, Duke said that she was “very satisfied” with efforts to aid Puerto Rico in the wake of Maria, which devastated the island and has created a humanitarian crisis. Duke said “it is really a good news story,” an assessment that San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz scoffed at....

A real and good news story. Elaine Duke is a member of a presidential cabinet that does not even recognize the Climate Crisis. This expression of satisfaction with 'reality news' is not only negligent, but, a human rights violation. Why doesn't everyone just sit back and count the dead and dying instead of actually acting to protect people from THEIR PARTY'S HUGE, DANGEROUS AND DEADLY MISTAKES?!?

Acting to ignore real danger to the American people is not a competent administration. The Climate Crisis and it's aftermath is real danger to the American people.