Wednesday, November 29, 2017

President Obama will receive warm welcomes from foreign leaders, but, he won't a tranquilizer.

I think President Obama is in an enviable position to bring America's best face to foreign leaders, but, I doubt he will be able to change their point of view. He can bring insight and opinions, but, world leaders are quite aware of their reality.

November 28, 2017

Now a private citizen, (click here) former President Barack Obama re-emerged on the global stage Tuesday as he opened a three-country tour that includes meetings with the leaders of China and India, just as President Trump courts those same world powers.

During a five-day trip, Obama will mix paid speeches with foreign leader meetings and even a town hall event for young people, the signature event that Obama became known for around the world during his eight years in office. He'll finish the trip in France, where he'll give one of several speeches planned during the trip.

The tour continues a longstanding tradition of former U.S. presidents traveling overseas after leaving office, especially as they work to attract donations and other support for their foundations, libraries and presidential centers. But Obama's trip may garner particular attention, given that many foreign countries are still uncertain about Mr. Trump's foreign policy and may look to his predecessor to help explain America's current direction.

"Barack Obama is the great explainer to the rest of the world of what the heck is going on in America," said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University. "He's a calming influence in a world that's teetering on frenzy right now. Obama arrives and it reminds them of old-style diplomacy and the dignity of statesmanship."...

Who installed the button?

30 November 2017

Sacked US Today host Matt Lauer (click here) has been accused of sexual harassment by three women, as horrifying details of his alleged misbehaviour come to light.

Variety spoke with a number of his accusers, reporting that the ousted breakfast host had a secret button installed under the desk in his office, which was in a secluded space.

The button allegedly meant he could lock the door from the inside without getting up.

"It allowed him to welcome female employees and initiate inappropriate contact while knowing nobody could walk in on him, according to two women who were sexually harassed by Lauer," Variety reports....

Women need to continue their demand for work that is safe from their male peers. It would seem this idiocy is so rampant there is no stopping it.

...Lauer was one of the highest paid news anchors in the world - and in March it was revealed he paid $13m for a high country station in New Zealand's South Island on the shore of Lake Hawea....

He is going to need it. Soon, he will be a man without a country that will give him a job. This degree of assault, so well planned, is criminal.

Then again, it is only criminal unless one is wealthy and gets whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

I congratulate Prime Minister May on asserting her view on these exploitative videos.

No country knows better the dangers and threats of terrorism. But, the United Kingdom has been more successful than not in finding threats and ending them.

Conversations about exploitative videos is propaganda. It is political propaganda sought to instill hate. Hate is as much an enemy as any terrorist if nations of people start pointing fingers at each other.

These particular videos are intended to instill hate. They are brought forward by White Supremacists looking to continue a foothold on a political platform engaged for the purpose of destroying an American democracy that is comprised of honest, hard working and a diverse nation of people.

All faiths carrying forward belief in peace are welcome to the USA. Muslim Americans line the streets of the USA and are welcome to contribute to the varied ethnic blanket that covers the USA. We are not a country that hates. We are a country that believes in the potential of all people determined to live a good quality of life. Muslim Americans are among those people. These videos are intended to instill hate and victimize innocent people.

Fear and hate walk hand in hand many times. Prime Minister May is stating the obvious, there is no room in this world for such hate mongering film. What follows such videos is fear. Fear can cripple people within their own lives, even though a real threat does not exist.

Since the advent to Daesh the world has grown closer together in many ways and is determined to end such terrorism. These videos are simply trying to reignite the fear of the past and translate it into a political movement that will follow through with plans to end diversity in the USA and elsewhere. Here again, we must stand together to end the hate these videos propagate and continue the path of peace for all generations.

I have to apologize to Prime Minister May. It would seem as though Ms. Huckabee - Sanders is as estranged from good and moral values than most of the administration she represents. She knows, when making statements, these are videos promulgated by White Supremacists. She has no decency in her character. 

November 29, 2017

Donald Trump (click here) has retweeted three inflammatory videos from a British far-right group.

The first tweet from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, claims to show a Muslim migrant attacking a man on crutches.

This was followed by two more videos of people Ms Fransen claims to be Muslim.

Responding to Mr Trump's posts, UK Prime Minister Theresa May's official spokesman said it was "wrong for the president to have done this".

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Mrs May and other world leaders knew that "these are real threats that we have to talk about".

"Whether it's a real video, the threat is real," she said....         

This is absolutely disgusting and nothing but pure greed because there is a loop hole in protecting national parks for all generations.

There are more than 40 national parks (click here) around the U.S. in which the federal government owns the surface but not the rights to the minerals underneath. Congressman Paul Gosar of Arizona recently introduced legislation that would repeal a rule designed to provide reasonable safeguards from private oil and gas development within national parks. His hope is that the previous administration’s final efforts to improve those safeguards will be rolled back, revoking the National Park Service’s new authorities over oil & gas drilling and leaving them unable to enact any similar regulations or new safety standards unless Congress explicitly authorizes them to – and we know how unlikely that is.

Our National Parks are celebrated worldwide, and we assume that our representatives want to keep them in pristine shape for generations to come – given that 86% of Americans of all stripes want to keep them free of oil and gas drilling. Just not Congressman Gosar, who’s received almost $250,000 from oil and gas interests in his last four election campaigns....


I think it says it all. Gosar is a Catholic in name only.


October 6, 2016
By Jesse Andreozzi

Apparently (click here) the recent rash of devastating floods, wildfires and rising temperatures in the Southwest isn’t enough for Arizona congressman Paul Gosar to believe in climate change. By now, you’ve probably heard that Gosar, a Catholic Republican, boycotted Pope Francis’ historic address to a joint session of Congress on Sept. 24, where the Pontiff discussed the issue of global warming.

“If the Pope plans to spend the majority of his time advocating for flawed climate change policies,” Gosar said in a September statement on TownHall.com, “then I will not attend.”

Gosar insisted the Pope should turn his focus to challenging governments to address “persecution...enslavement, belittlement, and rape of Christian women and children,” and of course “intentionally planned genocide of unborn children by Planned Parenthood.”

Planned genocide. Right....

Gosar is a selective Catholic that decides if the Holy Father is right or wrong.

September 29, 2017
By Steve Hanley

...Heat is one factor (click here) that will make Phoenix less hospitable to human habitation in the foreseeable future. “It’s currently the fastest warming big city in the US,” meteorologist and former Arizona native Eric Holthaus tells Vice. A study by Climate Central finds that Phoenix will likely be three to five degrees hotter in the summer months by 2050. The average number of 100 degree days will increase from 40 a year today to more than 132 a year. To put that in some perspective, New York City currently experiences two 100 degree days a year. Climate Central expects that number to increase to 15 a year by 2050.

In 2015, 85 Phoenix Maricopa County residents died from causes associated with the heat. In 2016, 130 did so. Arizona State University climatologist David Hondula tells Vice that those deaths cannot be directly tied to climate change, but he warns that increasing temperatures will require Phoenix, which is located within the county, to step up its game when it comes to “social service programs, homeless shelters, the opioid epidemic,” and other “intermediating factors. If we’re not paying attention to those at the same time we’re keeping an eye on the thermometers, we might really miss some drivers and some threat magnifiers.”

Heat is not the only factor making the Phoenix area less hospitable to humans. Hondula says that lack of water could be more of a problem than rising temperatures. “As much as 20 percent of the river could dry up by 2050,” he says. The majority of the drinking water for the area comes from the Colorado River — the same source that much of southern California depends on....

June 20, 2016
By Barclay

...A deadly heat wave (click here) that is sweeping across the southwest has already claimed the lives of 4 hikers in Arizona after Phoenix recorded its 5th highest temperature ever at 118°F on Sunday.

NWS Phoenix is calling for temperatures to rise to 122°F!

Sunday’s record high temperatures claimed 3 hikers while Saturday was responsible for 1 heat-related fatality. While hiking on the Peralta Trail in Pinal County, a 25 year-old man fell victim to heat related illness reports NBC News. Sunday’s deaths included 3 hikers in Maricopa and Pima Counties....