Monday, January 06, 2020

Where to begin to understand the Climate Crisis in Australia.

This is the areas on fires in Australia. (click here)

This might sound like a scoulding but what did everyone expect both in the USA's California and in Australia when there is no comprehensive climate crisis policy? The only solace to anyone alive are scientists who can say, "We told you so." That RIGHT in stating every effort to PREVENT the climate crisis is not a reason for in action now that the reality is upon the world.

13 September 2019


Australia (click here) is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, resulting in desperate water shortages across large parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland. Dams in some parts of western NSW have all but dried up, with rainfall levels through the winter in the lowest 10% of historical records in some areas.
The crisis in the far west of the state became unavoidable after the mass fish kills along the lower Darling River last summer, but now much bigger towns closer to the coast, including Dubbo, are also running out of water.
Residents of three distinct areas talked to Guardian Australia about the state of their towns under extreme stress from water shortages, expressing anxiety about their future but also determination to keep communities alive....

8 November 2019

NSW and Queensland bushfires: two dead and 100 homes destroyed (click here)

At least 100 homes have been destroyed in the New South Wales bushfires, with two people dead and seven unaccounted for.

More than 35 people were injured, including 16 firefighters, and 81 fires were still burning throughout the state as of Saturday afternoon....

The land has reached the point of the complete absence of water because of DECADES of a climate crisis. There was a tipping point in California and now in Australia due to the dryness of an entire planet.

The water has to be returned to the land and it is most likely it will have to come from the oceans in order to reverse the lack of water vapor. How the oceans? I have stated this before over and over, desalination plants will have to return moisture to the land and ultimately when the land is moist enough it will return to the air.

There are greenhouse gas levels that have to be dealt with, carbon dioxide and methane. The permission of these gases in growing presence in Earth's atmospheric troposphere is barbaric. The ALLOWANCE of these gases at these levels and growing levels is completely opposed to the decades of scientific research, reporting and advocacy.

Scientists can go to work to return water to the land, at great expense I might add, but, if the levels of greenhouse gases doesn't come down, all of that effort will be thwarted.

The West has to adopt significant policy and laws to match to reduce the levels of greenhouse gases. The view of energy will change and must change. Restoration of moisture to land has to begin, but, it has to be met with laws that will uphold the priority of a "normal troposphere" and not one with deadly consequences to human activity. Human activity has to reflect the morality the climate crisis demands.

Global CH4 levels of ridiculous. (click here)  Currently 1863.6 PPB as of August 2019.

The fight is not over Congerssman Lewis. The country is with you.

January 6, 2020
By Stacy M. Brown

Two Nashville Police officers (click here) carry John Lewis after he refused to obey orders during a protest at Herschel’s Tic Toc restaurant in Nashville in 1962.

Millions adore Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) (click here) for his selfless and lifelong dedication to civil and equal rights.

Some idolize Lewis like a rock star, while most revere him as an icon.

It is why presidents, politicians, members of Congress, and everyday people have taken time this week to pay tribute to the 79-year-old, 17-term congressman, who announced that he’s battling Stage 4 pancreatic cancer.

If there’s one thing I love about Rep. John Lewis, it’s his incomparable will to fight,” former President Barack Obama wrote on his official Twitter account....

January 6, 2020
By Lynn Elber

Los Angeles - Alex Trebek has a message of support for (click here) Congressman John Lewis as both fight pancreatic cancer.

We’re starting a new year, and let’s see if we can’t both complete the year as pancreatic cancer survivors,” Trebek said when asked what he would tell Lewis. He noted they’re the same age, 79.

The Georgia Democrat and veteran civil rights leader announced his diagnosis of advanced cancer in late December. In making his announcement, Lewis made clear that he has no plans to step aside and said, “I have a fighting chance.’’

Trebek made his illness public last March and has shared his progress and setbacks.

The “Jeopardy!” host struck a resolute but realistic tone in discussing the disease, including its toll, during during last month’s taping of a prime-time special, “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time,” with top contestants Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter and James Holzhauer, The contest begins airing Tuesday on ABC....

Last night, the Golden Globe Awards and today the Harvey Weinstein trial.


Leading up the trial those surrounding Harvey Weinstein still lived in complete denial of his problems. How is it that an entire industry allowed a very wealthy producer to sexually assault their starring ladies? How did that happen? That is still a question no one is answering.

January 6, 2020
By Irin Carmon

As New York prepared (click here) to publish this week’s look at the coming trial of Harvey Weinstein, along with a portfolio of women who have made allegations against him, I reached out to his current publicist, Juda Engelmayer, for comment. After some back and forth, Engelmayer sent me a 57-page PowerPoint presentation, dated December 2, entitled “The Proper Narrative for Addressing the Harvey Weinstein Case.”

The document presents oppo research about Weinstein’s accusers, including text messages and photographs, with the goal of vindicating him in the press. (The email from Engelmayer said only “just for your review”; at no point did we ever put any part of our communication off the record.) Asked about its authorship, Engelmayer said it had been written by “a research team prior to me.” The document also refers to “the detailed refutations we have described in this meeting.” What meeting and with whom? “The meeting is really any room in which these slides were presented,” Engelmeyer replied mysteriously. “Stakeholders of various sorts.” I’ve since become aware of an earlier version dated this past July....

There are many women, not just a few, that have reported the disgusting culture of Weinstein and now there are charges on the other coast of the USA.

January 6, 2019
By Richard Winton and James Queally

Harvey Weinstein has been charged with four counts of sexual assault (click here) in Los Angeles County, deepening the legal peril faced by the fallen Hollywood mogul as his trial on similar charges in New York City is set to begin this month.

The charges stem from accusations brought by a pair of women who say Weinstein attacked them in hotels in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills in 2013, Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacy said during a downtown news conference Monday morning.

“We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then commit crimes against them,” Lacey said in a statement. “I want to commend the victims who have come forward and bravely recounted what happened to them.”

Weinstein has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. Donna Rotunno, his defense attorney in the New York case, declined to comment on the Los Angeles County case. His lawyers in Southern California could not immediately be reached for comment....

What is so upsetting is the fact women, even today, are still being treated as second class citizens. These women are held in high esteem in our society. They are adored by millions. Teenage girls try to mimic their charisma. What do they get in return? A silent industry exploiting them for their sexual attractiveness which nations of women emulate in their day to day lives.

It is absolutely the most disgusting reality ever to grace the lives of women, but, "hey, we are used to it."

I will say this, it seems as though Weinstein had Trump's act beat.

It is a mess. Trump is creating refugees out of people once believed to be a stable presence to the region and CREATES TENSIONS. IT IS A MESS !!!!!!!!


Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan June 28, 2019 (photo credit: SPUTNIK/MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/KREMLIN VIA REUTERS)December 26, 2019
By Tzvi Joffre

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan June 28, 2019

American and Russian troops (click here) brawled in Tell Tamer in northeast Syria on Wednesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Russian forces were present in the area at the same time as US troops and when the two parties met it devolved into a fist fight, "due to their presence in the same area," according to SOHR.

The American troops were in the area with an interpreter to get to know the opinions of local residents. According to SOHR, all the people described the US forces as traitors.

Tell Tamer was one of the cities that US troops withdrew from after a decision by President Donald Trump. Syrian troops entered the town after the Syrian government reached an agreement with the Kurdish-led forces controlling the region to deploy into the area to counter an attack by Turkey. Residents of the Christian community in Tell Tamer are threatened by Turkish-backed Syrian militias who caused many Christians to flee towns near the Turkish border after the US withdrawal.

Let me make this extremely clear as to the impetus of the deaths of Iranian generals. IT WAS COMPLETELY OUT OF THE PICTURE!

Less than one month ago the USA was leaving the Middle East. 

HELLO!

There is no way any additional actions by the USA to escalate any conflict was expected. There was nothing in the ACTIONS of Trump's White House to indicate there was going to be additional anything by the USA.

ADDITIONALLY, there was every expectation other foreign military presence would move into the areas once occupied by USA forces, including the military of Iraq. There was every expectation that Iranian General Soleimani was going to become a greater presence in the region. THAT FACT was known when Trump decided to pull troops out of Iraq.

Russia moved into Raqqa (click here). Everyone should know Raqqa was the Daesh capital. The reason Russia moved their troops into Raqqa is because the USA was abandoning any presence there and it was the first place Daesh would seek to re-establish it's forces.

None of these troop movements and/or presence of leadership was a surprise and was expected to help stabilize the region while Trump was leaving. Just that simple. When a significant military presence is removed from a region it is an absolute decision. This is not a ping pong game! The presence of Daesh is life and death to the people of the region. The idea an Iranian General, who particularly dislikes the USA, was going to demand the entire mess Trump was dealing was to end is not surprising. What is surprising is Trump's idea of political pawns, namely Iranian generals that conveniently died before his impeachment trial.

The sudden and unannounced reversal of Trump's decision not only shocked many, but, changed the perceived posture of the USA when it comes to it's military presence. One day it is out of a region and within the next 24 hours all that changes. That is not the way the USA handles it's military deployments. There is no knee jerk reactions when it comes to military involvement anywhere in the world, but, Trump is the exception and he has no excuse.

AN OPPORTUNITY to kill Iranian generals is appropriate for the Middle East? That's the rhetoric regarding this mess? I don't think so.

December 9, 2019

Moscow - Russian forces have entered Raqqa, (click here) the former de facto capital of the Islamic State caliphate, in one of the starkest examples yet of how Moscow has filled the vacuum created by President Donald Trump’s decision to pull U.S. forces from northern Syria.

Russian troops were shown in footage on the defense ministry’s Zvezda TV channel shaking hands with Syrian children and unloading humanitarian aid bundles with the slogan “Russia is with you” from the back of trucks.

Raqqa was captured two years ago by U.S. troops and their Kurdish-led Syrian allies in the biggest victory of Washington’s campaign against Islamic State in Syria. But since Trump abruptly ordered a pull-out in October, Moscow has swiftly advanced into territory where U.S. troops had operated.

Russia is a close battlefield ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government, which was invited by the Kurds into territory they controlled after Trump pulled his forces out of the way of a Turkish assault against Kurdish-held areas....

As president, Trump is a very dangerous ally. His unpredictable administration is a gross concern.

There is simply nothing Trump can say that will reverse the ill effects of his administration. Are the American people to believe the UK can't be trusted with classified information and potential movement of the USA military? If Trump even tries to imply allies can't be trusted, he is lying. Our allies SHARE an entire military operation with NATO. There is no way Trump's actions can be condoned or repeated.

As it is, every USA ally has to watch their backs wondering when and how Iranian retribution will occur. The entire action by the Trump administration is destabilizing.

January 6, 2020
By Mark Landler

Boris Johnson (click here) and his girlfriend are spending a week in Mustique and he is expected to register the holiday as a gift, it emerged yesterday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (click here) was on the Caribbean island of Mustique, still basking in the glow of his recent election victory, when the news came last Friday that President Trump had ordered the killing of a powerful Iranian general — without tipping off, let alone consulting, his British ally.

The British government was livid about the lack of notice, according to current and former officials, particularly because there are about 400 British troops deployed in Iraq, and Britain has historically been more closely aligned with the United States on combat operations there than any other country.

But Mr. Johnson held his tongue until Sunday evening, after he returned to London. Even then, he issued a carefully worded four-paragraph statement that said he would not “lament” the killing of the general, Qassim Suleimani, warned Iran against reprisals and said nothing about Mr. Trump’s action.

It was a circumspect reaction for a politician not known for his circumspection, and it underscored Mr. Johnson’s dilemma as he confronts what is arguably the first foreign policy crisis of the post-Brexit era....

The US Senate must allow witnesses to give testimony at the Senate Impeachment Hearing.

No one knows what Former Ambassador Bolton will say in his testimony, but, the country has a right to hear it. This impeachment is based on lawlessness by Donald J. Trump and not because anyone hates him. The USA Constitution demands the actions the US House took and it is up to the US Senate to allow for a fair trial. Witnesses must be allowed considering developments by the courts since the House impeachment took place. It is outrageous to think the former ambassador can't provide answer to questions that most Americans are concerned about.

January 6, 2020
By Kylie Atwood, Jeremy Herb and Manu Raju

Former White House national security adviser John Bolton (click here) said Monday he is willing to testify — if he is subpoenaed — in the Senate's impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.

Bolton issued a statement Monday after the courts did not rule whether he would be compelled to testify during the House's impeachment proceedings, saying he was trying to meet his "obligations both as a citizen and as former national security adviser."

"Accordingly, since my testimony is once again at issue, I have had to resolve the serious competing issues as best I could, based on careful consideration and study," Bolton said. "I have concluded that, if the Senate issues a subpoena for my testimony, I am prepared to testify."

Bolton is potentially a crucial witness, as he had firsthand knowledge of many of the events that formed the House's impeachment of the President over his dealings with Ukraine. The House sought his testimony but ultimately never subpoenaed Bolton, and Democrats withdrew their subpoena for his former deputy after it was challenged in court, as Democrats wanted to move forward with their impeachment probe and not wait for the court's decision....

Speaker Pelosi is correct in that the attack on Iranian generals that caused their deaths is disproportionate and Congress must act to limit Trump’s powers to conduct war against Iran.

No one is saying Iran is a friend to the USA, but, Trump’s foreign policy is endangering American lives. He has no foreign policy. He has no policy that is predictable. The only actions that can be predicted is his hatred. The deaths of Iranian generals was shocking to everyone. That is not policy that is abuse of the powers of the presidency and endangers the USA. There is no way Trump can justify his decisions.

The USA has allies and a handful of people at Maralogo decided to escalate international hostilities. Excuse me? Because there is no immediate response to Trump’s actions doesn’t mean it is not coming, it shows the unexpected nature of the Trump administration. That reality alone changes the international assessment of the USA. Before the actions by Trump the Middle East was a tinderbox, Trump has now changed the flashpoint internationally in response to the USA.

Congress must act to limit Trump’s war powers with Iran. This is a president that was pulling out USA troops out of the region, other powers were going to take up that gap for real world reasons, namely Deash. There is no way Trump did anything to stabilize this region of the world. No way. Trump needs to be limited in his unpredictable nature with Iran. His hatred is completely obvious and he indulges it using USA assets.