Monday, June 25, 2018

It appears WW III has begun.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has more ambition than sense. His ambitions to expand the borders of Israel is destabilizing and if there was any possibility Syria would stop violence, it is gone as of Tuesday. The tensions in the region has been increased unilaterally by Israel.

Even the Palestinians of Gaza wanted a full war to put an end to their circumstances. They wanted to fight Israel for their lives. The Gaza Palestinians have been sending balloons and the like over the Israel border to explode and set agricultural land on fire to the sum of over a million dollar loss.

This is what Kushner has been going to Israel about, the supposed Peace Plan for Israel that is actually a plan to displace the Palestinians while Israel claimed Palestinian lands as an expansion of it's borders.

So, it started. Of course, it is a noble cause for the Golan Heights. Isn't everything Israel capable of doing noble?

Major powers need to extinguish this aggression before it gets out of hand. Forget about Trump, right now he is encouraging the aggression and waiting his turn to join in.

Bolton is another wacko. He would go to war with mice if they stole the cheese out of his mousetraps.

June 26, 2018

Syrian state media (click here) said early on Tuesday that two Israeli missiles struck near Damascus International Airport, without adding any details.

In a report in the early hours of Tuesday, Syria’s state news agency said “two Israeli missiles came down near Damascus international airport”.

The head of monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, also told AFP that “the Israeli missiles hit arms depots for Hezbollah near the airport”.

He said the air strike took place at 1:00 am local time “without causing huge explosions” even though they hit the weapons stores.

The observatory added that the Syrian air defence “failed to intercept the missiles”....                    

Libya appears to be leveling off power between two authorities.

General Haftar (click here)

As the civil war in Libya rages on, Prof. Giancarlo Elia Valori discusses the Libyan General's strategic ties with the Russian Federation, as well as the support he receives from neighboring African states and key actors in Europe and the Gulf....

Libya has been in limbo as of late. President Obama backed the government in Tripoli, but, East Libya has been chaotic at best; until this: 

Marshal Khalifa Haftar was supposed to be somewhere in Europe in a hospital on his death bed, but, that was debunked and now it appears that he has lead a successful takeover of the oil industry in that area of Libya.

If this holds up, that would mean there are two viable authorities in Libya. That may sound like bad news for most, but, it isn't. If Marshal Haftar is in control of East Libya, that means the other militias are defeated and any remnants are now under his control and quite possibly absorbed by his military.

The United Nations recognizes the government in Tripoli and it is stable, but, that Tripoli authority has not been able to secure Benghazi from vicious militias supposedly affiliated with al Qaeda and/or Daesh. Eastern Libya is mostly centered around Benghazi.

If one recalls the reason Quadaffi met his demise was because of his military's attack on Benghazi. The ability of Tripoli to bring Benghazi securely under its authority has been difficult to impossible for a while now. The reason has been the terrorist element in Benghazi. But, evidently, Haftar did it.

Haftar should approach the United Nations with details of his victory and welcomed as a man who tamed Benghazi and defeated Daesh and al Qaeda. If that is the reality. Haftar should come forward with details about the stability of Benghazi and East Libya. If he is successful in maintaining order then he is a real asset to Libya and perhaps that stability should be a priority before Haftar is considered an enemy of the country of Libya. Stability is paramount. If Benghazi has been rid of terrorists, that is a real victory for the people in the region of Libya.

I would encourage optimism and openness to Marshal Kalifa Haftar. He has achieved the impossible.

June 26, 2018

Marshal Khalifa Haftar (click here) announced on Monday the handover of oil installations under the control of his self-styled army to an administration that rivals Libya’s UN-backed government, after retaking them from militias.

The strongman’s announcement came just hours after his Libyan National Army said it had driven a rival militia out of the country’s oil crescent and regained “full control” of the area.

Libya has been wracked by chaos since the 2011 armed uprising that toppled and killed long-time dictator Moamer Kadhafi, with two rival authorities vying for control.

Haftar supports an administration based in the east of the country.

A UN-backed unity government based in Tripoli has struggled to assert its authority outside the west....
June 25, 2018
By Randy Krehbiel

Tulsa County Election Board officials (click here) said Monday that early in-person voting and absentee ballot requests suggest turnout for the primary elections that conclude Tuesday could top 50 percent.

That translates into about 170,000 votes, or nearly three times as many as in the 2014 statewide primary and more then even the 2016 presidential primary.

"The people who've been around here awhile say we've been way busier than normal for mid-term elections, that it's been closer to a presidential-year election," said Tulsa County Election Board Secretary Gwen Freeman....

It sounds as though Paul Manafort needs emotional support.

Northern Neck Regional Jail
3908 Richmond Rd.
Warsaw, VA 22572

Above is the address where Paul Manafort lives. He can receive mail at that address. He is having a really difficult time settling in until his trial and he is assigned to a federal prison.

I will caution those that want to calm and support Paul Manafort, the jail management read all the materials received by the inmates.

Paul Manafort is not receiving support from his Republican friends because they are only interested in the potential of becoming a million/billionaire with 501(c)4. Paul Manafort, as a prisoner, will not be eligible for any non-profit fundraising.

Quite surprised actually, that the "Fat Man" in the White House hasn't been to visit his former campaign manager. Uncaring to say the least.

Here this guy comes to work to elect a US President and now because of some deep criminal content in his life, the "Fat Man" abandons him. Go figure.

Even when Manafort's Ukraine/Russian connection was made, Paul Manafort was marginalized, but, not fired. He resigned. Why? Would Putin be offended if Trump fired Manafort?

Well, we have come a long way and Mr. Manafort needs emotional support to accept his new life behind bars. It is something that every new inmate goes through. Obviously, other than his lawyers, no one is coming to support Manafort. A visit from the "Fat Man" in the White House would be nice. They were very close at one time.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

We already have a space force. Every manned jet or rocket has a pilot.  Space is already weaponized by Ronald Reagan. 

The backlogs in the immigration courts exist because there aren't enough courts. All that is part of a comprehensive immigration policy.

There is no such thing as Due Process without representation unless that is waved as most mass murders have done.

The border crossers are not invading the USA. They come unarmed and unable to formulate a conspiracy to invade. They are CAUGHT crossing the border. That is not an invasion.

When Pope Francis stood at the Mexican side of the border with the USA it was not because the Catholic Church lacked investment in the people. Actually, the Holy Roman Catholic Church is well invested to assisting the border crossers.

The "Fat Man" in the White House can stop the idiocy of what he states at the border. So far Pope Francis has not brought a balance sheet to the statements he makes about "human need" being encountered at the USA southern border. If the "Fat Man" in the White House doesn't end his hate speech I would expect Pope Francis will call his bluff.


Catholic Extension (click here) has a long history of providing crucial support to El Paso and the other Catholic dioceses at the U.S.-Mexico border. Catholics make up 80 percent of the total population in the territory of the El Paso diocese—the third highest percentage in the country.
Adjusted for inflation, Catholic Extension has provided a total of more than $122 million to help U.S. dioceses along the U.S.-Mexico border with the building and repair of churches, the education and formation of priests and other leaders, and various ministries. In the El Paso Diocese alone, Catholic Extension has funded projects totaling more than $18 million.

Catholic Extension has had a special focus on the dioceses in Texas throughout its history. The three U.S. dioceses with the highest percentage of Catholics—Brownsville, Laredo and El Paso—are all Texas border dioceses. Of all the states that Catholic Extension has supported over the years, Texas has received by far the most funding. And within Texas, the Diocese of El Paso has received funding for the greatest number of projects. Click the links and watch the videos below to learn more about how Catholic Extension is strengthening the Catholic Church in this area of the country....

"Strong Man" persona is about military hardware sales more than war. Trump has ignored Russian sanctions passed by Congress. He is not enforcing them and the US Congress does nothing.

There is also content in one article that says Russia will purchase USA military armaments from other countries. This give Russia the edge to remain competitive.

March 12, 2018

The United States (click here) remains the world's top weapons seller, accounting for 34 percent of global arms sales over the past five years, a new study shows.

Russia was the second-largest exporter with about 20 percent of all global arms deliveries, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported on March 11 in its latest overview of global weapons transfers.

The U.S. share of arms sales is up from 30 percent recorded in the 2008-12 period, SIPRI said.

"Based on deals signed during the Obama administration, U.S. arms deliveries in 2013–17 reached their highest level since the late 1990s,’ said Aude Fleurant, director of the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Program.

"These deals and further major contracts signed in 2017 will ensure that the U.S.A. remains the largest arms exporter in the coming years," she added.

U.S. arms went to at least 98 countries, with a large portion of U.S. exports consisting of combat and transport aircraft, SIPRI said.

The research group said Russia exported weapons to 47 countries as well as to rebel forces in eastern Ukraine, where Moscow-backed separatists are fighting the central government in

Kyiv. Overall, Russian arms sales fell 7 percent from the previous five-year period.

France was the third-largest exporter with a 6.7 percent share, followed by Germany and China.

SIPRI said it uses a five-year cycle to evaluate global arms sales to even out abnormalities caused by any one big weapons order during a specific year....

Bolton and Pompeo are meeting with Russians to organize a trip for "Fat Man" Trump. It could well be to convince Russia to stand down from invasions by Israel and the USA into Syria and possibly Iran.

Basically, "Fat Man" Trump is trading sanctions for land. Oh, of course, it is all in the name of peace with North Korea. 

June 25, 2018

U.S. national security adviser John Bolton (click here) is heading to Europe on a trip that will also take him to Moscow amid expectations he will clear the way for a July meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bolton is scheduled to first meet with U.S. allies on June 25-26 in London and Rome before traveling on June 27 to the Russian capital, where a spokesman has said he would "discuss a potential meeting" between Trump and Putin.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Bolton will hold talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov during his Moscow visit.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a television interview over the weekend that Trump was likely to meet Putin "in the not-too-distant future."

The location of such a meeting has not been set, although officials have said it could take place in Vienna....

Don't take my word for it:

November 29, 2017


The Global Military Infrastructure and Logistics Market (click here) is estimated to value $39.05 billion in 2015 and expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.47% during the forecast period to reach $42 billion by 2020....

Turkey just saw the re-election of a dictator and he is violating Russian sanctions and purchasing missiles from Russia. Get this, Turkey as a NATO member is purchasing missiles that are supposed to take down American F-35.

Huh?

Either it is about a new alliance with Russia and the missiles will prevent "Fat Man" Trump from simply dropping munitions all over the Mideast as he did in Syria and/or this is about the Kurds.


3 April 2018

Russian President Vladimir Putin (click here) pressed ahead Tuesday with the $2.5 billion sale of S-400 anti-air missiles to Turkey in a deal reached over the objections of the U.S. and other NATO allies.

"A priority task in the sphere of military technical cooperation is the implementation of the contract for supplies of S-400 Triumf missile systems to Turkey," Putin said at the start of a two-day visit to Turkey, according to the Russian news agency TASS....

Then there is good old fashion bribery. Turkey will purchase missiles that take down American F-35 jets for a nuclear submarine facility 

...On Tuesday, Putin joined Erdogan in Ankara, where they remotely signaled the start of the construction of a Russian-built, $20 billion nuclear power plant on the Mediterranean coast at Akkuyu. (Akkuyu is on the Mediterranian near Syria where the Russians have traditionally held a naval installation.)

Putin said the plant, to be built by the Russian nuclear energy agency Rosatom (click here), has a tentative start-up date in 2023 "to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey. We agreed with my dear friend [Erdogan] to do everything necessary to achieve that goal."...

A Russian nuclear plant within NATO and in the Mediterranean Sea. Amazing. This is expansion of nuclear powers. It needs to be inspected by the IAEA and found to be within the guidelines of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Nuclear facilities are real money to an economy and Russia desperately needs an economy. But, "W" did the same thing in India. Rather than pushing alternative energies which is cheaper and within international laws and moving toward peace and a benevolent Earth climate; "W" opted to sell nuclear technology to countries like India that can't afford it. Everytime a country can't afford the technology it is purchasing, the people are deprived of quality of life.

Americans must separate themselves from supporting the inhumane and genocidal treatment of asylum seekers at the USA border.

The idea "Fat Man" Trump's favorability is improving doesn't seem to prove out.

"Real Clear Politics" (click here)

June 19, 2018
By Ina Fried

More than 100 Microsoft workers (click here) signed an open letter calling for the company to sever its ties with Immigration and Customs Enforcement over the agency's family separation policy.

Why it matters: Microsoft said in a January blog post it was "proud" of the work it was doing with ICE. The company said Monday it was "dismayed' by the family separation practices but defended its work with the agency. CEO Satya Nadella has not commented directly on the move, which has drawn condemnation from the CEOs of Apple, Google, Facebook and many other tech companies.

An odd paradox in defining this moment in politics: The more President Trump does, says and tweets outrageous things, the more his critics go bananas and the better he does in the polls. 

The big picture: Our parallel universes are spinning farther apart. The coverage (and much of the reality) is a White House in chaos, and an erratic president improvising as his own policy adviser, chief of staff, comms director and tweeter-in-chief....

Stem cells cures doggy dementia.

First thought to be adaptive behavior from being a therapy dog, but, as time wore on it appeared to be a sincere dementia settling in to Fiona Gibbs dearly loved dog, Leo.

Leo recovered from the dementia with the stem cell treatment.

23 June 2018
By Julie Power


Therapy dog Leo (click here) appeared happy to be patted and stroked by nursing home residents with dementia until he started showing symptoms eerily similar to theirs.
Leo would forget where his food bowl was located or he'd wait at the wrong door when the door bell rang, said his owner Fiona Gibbs of Pymble. Initially the family thought the behaviour was cute.
Then Leo "became scarily aggressive" and didn't recognise Mrs Gibbs or the family's five children.
"At one stage, we were almost defending ourselves with brooms. He was like a rabid dog," she said.
Now, three years later, Leo, a Pomapoo (a mix of pomeranian and poodle), is back to his normal placid self after a stem cell transplant appears to have reversed his canine cognitive dysfunction or dementia. This success is giving researchers hope of finding a cure for human dementia....

It would seem as thought President "Fat Man" Trump can't run anything right.

"I told you so."

What is a 15 year old boy so afraid of that he ran away from the internment camp of the USA?

June 24, 2018
By Gabe Gutierraz


A 15-year-old boy (click here) ran away from a Texas shelter for migrant children, police said Sunday. The boy is now in Mexico, according to a source with direct knowledge of the incident.
The boy ran from Casa Padre, a child care facility in Brownsville, on Saturday, and was in conversations to be reunited with a man whom he called his father, the source said.
Details about the man, such as if he had already been living in the United States and for how long, weren't immediately clear. There had been a discrepancy in a DNA test, and before they could be sorted out, the child ran away, according to the source....

The "Fat Man" in the White House is now violating USA law again, continuing his "Flip-Flop" on lawful immigration due to asylum. Children are never to be refused asylum when they are not escorted by a parent or relative.

"Fat Man" Trump just won't give up the idea of genocide, will he? Deporting people seeking asylum only to have them return to be killed in their own country is genocide. Separating children from their parents is also genocide.

June 25, 2018
By Dara Lind

On Saturday night, (click here) the Trump administration finally announced its plan for reuniting the 2,053 families who are still separated thanks to President Donald Trump’s “zero-tolerance” prosecution policy: The administration will reunite children with their parents — in order to deport them both.

Over weeks of chaos and confusion, it became clear that the various departments and agencies involved in family separation — chiefly the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which handles immigration enforcement, and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which takes separated kids reclassified as “unaccompanied alien children” into custody — were so badly coordinated that it was nearly impossible for parents and immigration attorneys to locate children.

The Trump administration is promising to fix that — but only in some circumstances....

"Fat Man" Trump is using coercion to create impossible decisions by parents that have left their homeland countries seeking asylum. Another violation of ethics and/or the law. Intimidation in the USA is against the law, especially when it imperils someone's life.

The beautiful thing about "Capture and Release" is that it never puts children or their families in peril. The risks they are taking are their own, but, if they are seeking asylum there will be court documents that say such things. So, their presence in the USA is legal and backed by the federal government.

The process works with Capture and Release and the federal government gets out of the way of "Due Process."

My understanding is that "Fat Man" Trump is using the monies from the US Treasury set aside to apprehend drug cartel members transporting heroine and other drugs, for his immoral interment camps. I thought "Fat Man" Trump stated the drug overdose crisis (click here) was real and a national emergency. So, now, Americans suffering from PRESCRIPTION drugs and others that are suicidal no longer are important so the "Fat Man" can have his campaign issue for November 2018 elections. Doesn't the "Fat Man" in the White House know he is not allowed to carry out political dogma from the US Treasury budget?  ANOTHER ETHICS VIOLATION AND IT MAY EVEN BE CRIMINAL TO DIVERT DEDICATED FEDERAL FUNDS.

DO NOT INCINERATE!

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

China, along with other countries, are already sending space junk into orbit in the way of satellites, etc.

I strongly suggest China assess the amount of plastic waste that belongs to it and what percentage belongs to other countries. 

China should not incinerate any of the plastic trashed dumped within it's country, it should compact the darn stuff, put as much as can in a rocket and launch toward the sun. The rest will take care of itself. If China cannot accept full responsibility to send the plastic trash into the sun, then bill the countries that advantage of China when it naively welcomed foreign plastic trash into the country.


June 20, 2018
By Shoshana Wodinsky


China’s recent crackdown (click here) on the import of plastic waste will result in millions of tons of displaced plastic trash, according to new research. The ban will force countries like the US to find new ways to deal with their own trash.
On December 31st, 2017, China put a halt to a lot of the plastic waste that foreign countries like the US sent to its shores for disposal. To calculate the impact of that ban, researchers at the University of Georgia looked at how much plastic waste China imported from 1988 to 2016. They then used that information to calculate that by 2030, the ban might leave 111 million metric tons of plastic trash with nowhere to go, according to a study published today in Science Advances.
Since 1988, nearly half of the planet’s plastic trash — like single-use soda bottles, food wrappers, and plastic bags — has been sent to China, where the material is recycled to make more plastic goods. The 2017 ban, however, has left countries like the US scrambling for what to do with all the extra plastic waste. In the US, a lot of it is already piling up in landfills, according to The New York Times. Today’s study is the first one to tally what the consequences of China’s trash ban will be. It also highlights the need for countries that have traditionally exported their plastic waste to rethink how they dispose of it....

"Good Night, Moon"

The waxing gibbous

11.8 days old moon

90.5 percent lit

May 1, 2018
By Dr. Tony Phillips

May 1, 2018:  Sunspots (click here) are becoming scarce. Very scarce. So far in 2018 the sun has been blank almost 60% of the time, with whole weeks going by without sunspots. Today’s sun, shown here in an image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, is typical of the featureless solar disk:...

The fact that sunspots are vanishing comes as no surprise. Forecasters have been saying for years that this would happen as the current solar cycle (“solar cycle 24”) comes to an end. The surprise is how fast.
“Solar cycle 24 is declining more quickly than forecast,” announced NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center on April 26th. This plot shows observed sunspot numbers in blue vs. the official forecast in red:...
“The smoothed, predicted sunspot number for April-May 2018 is about 15,” says NOAA. “However, the actual monthly values have been [significantly] lower.”
“Official” forecasts of the solar cycle come from NOAA’s Solar Cycle Prediction Panel–a group of experts from NOAA, NASA, the US Air Force, universities and other research organizations. They have been convening at intervals since 1989 to predict the timing and intensity of Solar Max. The problem is, no one really knows how to predict the solar cycle. The most recent iteration of the panel in 2006-2008 compared 54 different methods ranging from empirical extrapolations of historical data to cutting-edge supercomputer models of the sun’s magnetic dynamo. None fully described what is happening now....