Solitary confinement in jails and prisons is a huge issue. I think addressing children is prudent and easily assailed.

The prevalence of first crime, then incarceration rate and then the quality of prison life and whether or not solitary is used as torture followed by sentencing protocols accompanied by community resources is the dynamic that is involved. Overlying all this is how well a society provides quality of life in communities that will DETER crime.

The top seven in both crime rates and incarceration rates are Southern States, The quality of life within these states speaks loudly to this reality. I might point to the fact Florida is in the top seven in both instances.

There is approximately 140 State prisons in Florida. That does not count the local and county jails or the federal prisons. That is a whole lot of prisons. As of 2013 the population of Florida is estimated at 19.5 million people. It's minority populations are higher than the rest of the country which dictates state government policy in bilingual outreach and it's effectiveness in the health and well being of it's minorities.

A little bit odd is that at the age of 25 years older there are less BS degrees in the state than the average in the entire country. Florida has some incredible state universities with a large number of college and community colleges. There is no reason why they should be behind the USA in number of BS graduates in the state. Additionally, there is no ready information as to the breakdown of minority BS graduates. 

There is this: 

30 Best U.S. Non-HBCU (HBCU means Historically Black Colleges and Universities) Schools for Minorities (click here) 

by Matthew Lynch 
May 27, 2013

Across the country, institutions of higher learning are starting to look more like the general population. In the 2010-2011 school year, three times as many minority students received bachelor’s degrees compared to the 1990-1991 school year.  Back then, minorities only represented 13 percent of bachelor degree earners; today, that number has jumped to nearly one-fourth of total degree recipients.

I’ve written about the Top 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities and included schools that are growing in diversity. I’d like to expand that idea to include non-HBCUs that have excellent programs in place for minority students. I used several factors to create this list: percentage of minority students enrolled, freshman retention rates, graduation rate gaps and general graduation rates (particularly over six years)....

27. Florida State University
Tallahassee: The six year graduation rate is 72.7 and 74.1 for Black and White students, respectively. As a state school, tuition is affordable for residents ($212 per credit hour for full time) and Florida students can also take advantage of tuition breaks through the Bright Futures program that tracks academic progress and community involvement during high school.

Compare that performance to that of Number 1 to decide how much of an effort is actually put forward. University of San Francisco is probably among the most diverse universities in the country.

1.   University of San Francisco: With a 40 percent minority population, the graduation rates for all demographics are impressive. The school graduates 74 percent of Hispanic students, 51 percent of Black students, 71 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander students and 61 percent of White students. Though the private school has pricey tuition ($33,500 for both in and out-of-state students), 59 percent of students receive grants from the university. The total grant aid received by the student body from all sources is nearly $55 million.

To take this one step further. Forbes has the University of San Francisco ranked 12th of 20 in the most diverse. Those finishing ahead of it are mostly California Universities. But, the aspect of SUCCESS of minority members of our society sometimes relies on 'support systems' available to their success.

Student to Faculty Ratio 23:1

Total Cost - $31,366 (For out-of-state students living on campus)
In State Tuition and Fees - $3,762
Out of State Tuition and Fees - $13,932 

1.1% of the student enrollment is involved in Varsity Athletics.

SAT Composite Range 880-1120 (SAT composite includes only Critical Reading and Math.)

This is a fairly good rage. If universities are going to have a higher minority graduation rate, it first has to have a range of admission data where they live. 

What do I mean by that?

As a student is educated from their earliest years they are exposed to RESOURCES and if the classroom is not speaking their language they become more and more disadvantaged. I hesitate to invoke 'so called efficiency' in grouping minority education of any young person into single language classrooms. That only enforces the language BARRIER and does not dispel it for any student including those speaking English. How is an English speaking student going to work with others that are bilingual or more in the work environment? Acceptance of diversity has to begin at the earliest of ages.

How does that relate to Solitary Confinement? What ethnicities are the most incarcerated in the USA? 

Realize the median income in Florida is $47,309 in the years 2008-2012. That is below the average USA median income of $53,046. That is 10.8 percent lower due somewhat to larger retirement community. However, that retirement community as it ages needs care. That means there is a far larger opportunity for health care workers in Florida which should bring median incomes up and not force it down unless those workers are receiving minimum wage.

Lower median incomes brings suspicion of minority populations and sure enough there is 3.5 percent more African Americans in Florida than that national average and 6.3 percent more Hispanics. 

So, what do we have here? Florida has a far larger population of minorities than the rest of the country because Florida is ranked 4th in population. It also has an exorbitant number of state prisons and a diminished effort with the eduction that will raise their minorities to the level of Bachelor's degree. 

I didn't pick Florida, it picked me. I just followed the trail. Here it is.

By Julie Ebenstein
Staff Attorney
Voting Rights Project
ACLU at 3:59pm 
03/13/2013

...Currently, the sad state of affairs in Florida (click here) serves as a prime example of the U.S.’s poor human rights record on solitary confinement.

Florida’s state prison population is the third largest in the United States, with a higher incarceration rate than any country in Central or South America. Florida incarcerates 100,272 people in its 60 state prisons and supervises almost 115,000 offenders on community supervision. Florida sends  more young people under age 18 to adult state prisons than any other state in the nation. 

Prisoners held in solitary confinement in Florida state prisons can be there for months on end. They are detained in nearly complete isolation, entitled to leave their cell three times per week to take a shower, and, only after thirty days, an additional three hours per week to exercise. Children in state prison may be subjected to solitary confinement and endure long periods without exercise, educational instruction, contact with their families or any rehabilitative programs and services. 

Although children and mentally ill prisoners are particularly susceptible to the devastating physical and psychological effects of total isolation, they are dramatically overrepresented in solitary confinement. Neither Florida law nor its correctional regulations applies solitary confinement any differently to children or those who are seriously mentally ill, as compared to other prisoners, demonstrating a willful blindness to the particular vulnerability of these populations. In recognition of these practices, international bodies are increasingly investigating the treatment of incarcerated juveniles in the U.S. 
 
The systemic isolation of vulnerable prisoners bucks the emerging consensus that extended solitary confinement violates the international prohibition on cruel and inhumane treatment. By reporting on solitary confinement in the Americas, the IACHR will have an opportunity to shine a light on how the U.S. has deviated from international human rights norms....

Now, consider the level of victimization of the electorate from at the very least the year 2000 and explain to me why those afflicted with these social conditions can't achieve enough representations in that state to change their circumstances.

If a population of people cannot solve their problems, what is going to happen? 

Crime and then the downward spiral begins.

Recidivism rates at this point in crime history in the USA isn't really valid because sentencing has changed in non-violent crime. Those statistics won't settle out for some time.

The drug sentencing standards didn't work at all. The acceptance of one time illegal substances will result in different paradigms. 

In order to measure recidivism a prisoner first has to serve his or her time before they are released off probation and considered fully engaged as an independent citizen. One of the studies that I rarely see is the relationship between voting rights and recidivism. The only time the USA Constitution states a citizen loses their voting rights is when they are prisoners. In many states those that are released for serving the time for their crimes aren't given their voting rights back at all. 

If I were to change the voting rights of released prisoners, I'd start with the newly released that were victimized by excessive sentences. I'd want to know what their time in prison has done to their lives and ability to cope in the real world. Also, do they understand what making election decision means to their best interests and a life of building wealth in a meaningful way.

Currently, the recidivism is about 33% in the USA which are based in older statistics. Smaller states higher and larger states lower. Louisiana has the highest recidivism rate of 43 percent. 

The rate of recidivism has historically increased as time goes on, first year released the lowest, second higher and third highest. The first year is recognition of their recent experience, but, by the third year they have realized there is little to no option for them and return to the prison system. 

There is also this doggedly high recidivism rate of 65% that existed within 'the sentencing phase.' It seemed to me the most hopeless period is after the verdict and before entering prison. Why not commit crime then?

There appears to be a low resistence to that 'tipping point' of hopelessness within some populations in the USA. Hopelessness is due to long term stress that relates to opportunity and upward movement to solve problems.

The more stress within a paradigm of hopelessness, the quicker that reality of life will take hold and resolve to decision making that promotes crime.

end 

As of 2012, Roshen Corporation was ranked 18th in the "Candy Industry Top 100" list of world's largest confectionery companies

It exports to Russia (stopped in July 2013), Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the United States, Canada, Germany and Israel. 

20 March 2014 
Last updated at 11:03 ET 

Russian authorities (click here) have taken over a Ukrainian-owned sweet factory in the southern Russian city of Lipetsk, Ukraine's government says.

Russian riot police moved in on the Roshen factory and halted production on Wednesday, the finance and economic ministries said.

A spokesperson for the firm confirmed the "plant is closed".

Roshen is controlled by Ukrainian businessman and pro-European MP Petro Poroshenko.

He is planning to stand in May's presidential elections. (He is currenlty leading in the polls in the Ukraine. This is proof Russia is seeking every form of leverage available to them to effect the elections. There is also indication with the reality within the country whether the May elections will be considered legitimate. The current Interim President may continue in that capacity after the May elections if this interference continues.) 

Ukraine's finance and economic ministries said Russian authorities had shown no documentation giving them the right "to burst on to the company's property and halt production".

Alexander Zolotarev, press spokesman for Roshen CIS, said the Lipetsk plant closed after police arrived and sent all the workers home....

Solitary? Okay. I think it may very well be a problem.

posted by M Caulfield
September 27, 2013

An unbelievably (click here) widespread practice exists of placing children in solitary confinement (regularly referred to as “protective custody”), often for minor offenses. Solitary confinement has been shown to cause severe pain and psychological damage, and because of the vulnerability, and specific needs of adolescents, solitary confinement can be a particularly cruel and harmful practice when applied to them....

I caution those seeking the dissemination of solitary to distinguish the USA from Iran. It is not the same thing, except, for the fact individuals are 'at risk' of death.

There are places in the USA prison system whereby solitary is considered a safe haven from the general prison population where gangs rule 'the yard.' 

My opinion, is that "Solitary Watch" is more than appropriate. An organization of citizens that regularly visit those in solitary to perform one task, "Habeas Corpus." Resources of such an organization can be quickly abused if the 'case' of the prison were to become the focus and would defeat the purpose. 

This is the way I see it progressing. In visits to those in solitary, the abuses and neglect and potential deaths would build a case against the ability of the system to use this form of punishment. I am quite confident prisoners are considered secured and not 'a problem' so they are neglected by guards and the system.

Solitary has a rather ugly history. So, the argument begins with it's lack of legitimate use in securing danger people. Solitary is suppose to secure the general population from dangerous prisoners and not the other way around. It is suppose to provide hypervigilance of prisoners on 'suicide watch.' The argument can be made 'suicide watch' is not the responsibility of prison guards so much as medical personnel.

If the opposition to this form of incarceration is to be opposed it needs to base itself in fact, good analogies, records that can be validated, accountable witnesses and victims, families that support them and a well organized effort to move the problem to the public's attention without alienating the public as a dangerous movement.

March 27, 2014 
By James Ridgeway
 
At a time when New York State (click here) is winning praise for removing vulnerable people from solitary confinement in its prisons, the case of Mark Gizewski offers a sobering counterpoint.

Although he suffers from extreme physical disabilities and lives with constant pain, Gizewski has been in and out of solitary confinement for various prison rule violations. Now, he is suing the state in federal court, asserting that he has suffered medical neglect and physical abuse while held in New York’s prison system....

Here it is. It was advertized on "ABC Family" today. This is what is going to happen to our public school students.

 

 K12 (click here)

Here it is the future of public education. If a child doesn't make it into a charter school he or she can sit at home and peak in while hoping to wait for another lottery to actually have classmates.

When the public school infrastructure has finally failed due to lack of funding and investment, this is what will be left.

Education: A Chance for Every Child (click here)
 
Parents are responsible for the education of their children. We do not believe in a one size fits all approach to education and support providing broad education choices to parents and children at the State and local level. Maintaining American preeminence requires a world-class system of education, with high standards, in which all students can reach their potential. Today’s education reform movement calls for accountability at every stage of schooling. It affirms higher expectations for all students and rejects the crippling bigotry of low expectations. It recognizes the wisdom of State and local control of our schools, and it wisely sees consumer rights in education – choice – as the most important driving force for renewing our schools.

Crippling bigotry of low expectations. Really? Minority parents don't love their children enough to expect them to achieve? I am sure the GOP will get them straightened out, huh? Learn to standard or go to reform school. Right? "We'll make 'em learn." Nothing like being incarcerated all your life.

Education is much more than schooling. It is the whole range of activities by which families and communities transmit to a younger generation, not just knowledge and skills, but ethical and behavioral norms and traditions. It is the handing over of a personal and cultural identity. That is why education choice has expanded so vigorously. It is also why American education has, for the last several decades, been the focus of constant controversy, as centralizing forces outside the family and community have sought to remake education in order to remake America. They have not succeeded, but they have done immense damage.

Personal and cultural identity. Really? Education by computer is going to supply all that. Wow. How convenient. Evangelism by profiteers.

April 30, 2010 (click here)
Source:
Diatribune and Daily Kos, March, 30, 2007
Title: “Bush Profiteers Collect Billions From NCLB”
Author: Mandevilla
Researchers: Alan Scher and Sam Burchard
Faculty Evaluator: Karen Grady, PhD

The architect of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), President Bush’s first senior education advisor, Sandy Kress, has turned the program, which has consistently proven disastrous in the realm of education, into a huge success in the realm of corporate profiteering. After ushering NCLB through the US House of Representatives in 2001 with no public hearings, Kress went from lawmaker—turning on spigots of federal funds—to lobbyist, tapping into those billions of dollars in federal funds for private investors well connected to the Bush administration.

A statute that once promised equal access to public education to millions of American children now instead promises billions of dollars in profits to corporate clients through dubious processes of testing and assessment and “supplemental educational services.” NCLB—the Business Roundtable’s revision of Lyndon Johnson’s Education and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)—created a “high stakes testing” system through which the private sector could siphon federal education funds. The result has been windfall corporate profit. What was once a cottage industry has become a corporate giant. “Millions of dollars are being spent,” says Jack Jennings, director of the Center on Education Policy, “and nobody knows what’s happening.”

The wedding of big business and education benefits not only the interests of the Business Roundtable, a consortium of over 300 CEOs, but countless Bush family loyalists. Sandy Kress, chief architect of NCLB; Harold McGraw III, textbook publisher; Bill Bennett, former Reagan education secretary; and Neil Bush, the president’s youngest brother, have all cashed in on the Roundtable’s successful national implementation of “outcome-based education.” NCLB’s mandated system of state standards, state tests, and school sanctions has together transformed our public school system into a for-profit frenzy....

Earth Hour (click here)

8:30 PM - 9:30 PM
 

By Michelle Manchir Tribune reporter

10:49 a.m. CDT, March 29, 2014

Chicagoans (click here) are being urged to power down tonight in honor of Earth Hour, called one of the largest global environmental events.
Earth Hour calls on residents, businesses and governments to switch off non-essential lights and other electronic items for an hour beginning at 8:30 p.m. Saturday to raise awareness about climate change.
This year Chicago has been named the 2014 U.S. Earth Hour City Capital by the event's organizing group, the World Wildlife Fund. Chicago will receive a $30,000 grant from the conservation organization to kick-start a solar purchase program for residents, according to the WWF website....

Geraldo Rivera on O'Reilly tonight was incredible. I agree completely with his statements. I sincerely mean that. It appears he has done some analysis and was not the least bit interested in throwing hubris around.

I also believe O'Reilly made a racist statement about him, but, you were gracious enough to let it slide. O'Reilly owes Mr. Rivera an apology. It would not hurt Bill O'Reilly to learn respect of others matters. It was racist. It wasn't chummy joking or anything else. It was racist.

Mr. O'Reilly has lost the ability to be a journalist. He is now a WWF persona and evidently his new tilt is being a racist. If he was dedicated to being a journalist he would have invited Congresswoman Lee to his show to dissolve the slanderous language and explore her words and point of view as well. But, if she had a real point to make it might actually mean the right wing rant is nothing but racist lies.

Mr. O'Reilly is correct, he has every right to be a racist in the USA and say racist things as he said on his program tonight.

Paulson was in office from July 10, 2006 – January 20, 2009. That was 176 days in 2006. 365 days in 2007. 366 days in 2008 because it was leap year. And 20 days in January 2009.

That is a total of 927 days in office. With 70 trips to China that means he was there about every 13 days. He was commuting.

The trip from Washington, DC to Beijing, China non-stop is 13 hours and 53 minutes. That means former Secretary Paulson traveled 27 hours and 46 minutes round trip. That is one full day, 3 hours and 46 minutes.

So, the 13 days now gets whittled down to less than 12 days and then there is the time in China.  I never saw a picture during the time he was Secretary of the Treasury of him walking the Great Wall of China. 

Previous to Paulson taking office in 2006, the Treasury Secretary was John Snow. The financial community was going nuts. The banks knew they were in trouble and they knew Snow could not do anything to help them. His policies didn't address the new indulgences post deregulation under Bush, mortgage backed securities, derivatives and swaps. Wall Street bearly had a clue yet alone John Snow. 

I remember the headlines in 2006, there was a lot of pressure on Snow to resign and he did. When Bush chose Paulson to replace Snow the financial community was happy. It was strongly believed "Hank" Paulson was the man to turn everything around. 

Needless to say, Hank Paulson perhaps knew slightly more than Snow as to how to stop the markets from imploding, so he turned instead to China and building a new empire.

Lehman Brothers was the first to implode and declare bankruptcy in 2008 and everyone was laughing. This long standing investment bank was crumbling into chump change. They were full of hubris. The housing collapse started in 2007, but, the consumers of the USA Dream had no clue until the end of 2008. 

In reflection, when Paulson was confirmed into office in 2006 the reason the financial community was happy because they could count on Hank to find a way to bail them out. All I can say is that Jamie Dimon never needed the help, but, then he wasn't Secretary of the Treasury nor was he asked. I have to wonder if Dimon became Secretary of the Treasury what the bailout would look like if it occurred at all.

Those that live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Secretary Paulson was in office for two years.

He make seventy trips to China out of the US Budget.

Then realize the seat in his office rarely got warm and oversaw the Great Recession. 

Today, the former Secretary Paulson has a new investment bank in China. Now you tell me why he became Secretary of the Treasury in the first place. 

Where was former Secretary Paulson in December after the global economic collapse?

By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: December 5, 2008 

BEIJING — There was an agreement (click here) to make it easier for foreign banks to trade bonds in China. There were memorandums on energy conservation. And there was the creation of a formal partnership to encourage a Kansas town shattered by a tornado to share green reconstruction methods with an earthquake-devastated city in Sichuan Province.

For Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., the two days of economic dialogue with Chinese officials that ended Friday produced a modest stream of achievements, including pledges by both nations to spend $20 billion to help finance trade in developing countries.

Even if the marquee economic conference that Mr. Paulson helped establish in 2006 was supposed to be more about big ideas and less about deliverables, the pressure to come up with tangible successes has been hard to resist.

This year was no exception, and the jointly issued “fact sheet” listed five pages of agreements on issues like forest management, food safety, plug-in hybrid cars and offshore wind farms....

The Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., left, met the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, while in Beijing for economic talks.

December of 2008 Paulson, who was on his way out of office in Janaury, was on the USA's dime and holding economic talks with China. Like. What?

I wasn't designed. I was born according to my genetics.

The dialogue by Fischer is oppressive and victimizing. I don't care that he doesn't care about what other people think, because that only validates how completely ostracizing he is of many other cultures, including those in the USA.

How to be a Tool of the Petroleum Industry 101.

By Michael Hawthorne  

Tribune reporter

7:06 a.m. CDT, March 28, 2014

BP today (click here) more than doubled its maximum estimate of how much crude oil spilled into Lake Michigan earlier this week from its Whiting refinery in Northwest Indiana.

In a statement, the company said a malfunction in a new distillation unit forced up to 39 barrels or 1,638 gallons of oil into the lake just across the Illinois border. A day earlier, the company had estimated that 18 barrels at most had been spilled.

BP said it based its latest estimate on the amount of oil collected by vacuum trucks and absorbent booms, along with an inventory of the waxy balls of oil that cleanup crews scoured from a beach on BP’s property. Strong winds appear to have pushed most of the oil toward a shallow cove between the refinery and an ArcelorMittal steel mill....

The BP Whiting Refinery in Whiting, In. (Photo courtesy of the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana)

The nation's largest in-land refinery that has Canadian crude piped in from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada. 

Some of the most toxic sludge in the world is now running into Lake Michigan.

CHICAGO (October 19, 2009) (click here) - The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued an objection to the operating permit for BP North America’s refinery in Whiting, IN that will require the Indiana Department of Environmental Management to rewrite the permit. The decision is a victory for the citizens and environmental groups who petitioned EPA to object to the permit in August 2008 on the grounds that it did not accurately account for the large increases in dangerous air pollution that would be caused by BP’s expansion of the refinery. The petition was submitted by Environmental Law & Policy Center, Hoosier Environmental Council, Natural Resources Defense Council, Save the Dunes Council, Sierra Club, Susan Eleuterio and Tom Tsourlis....

May 24, 2012
By Michael Hawthorne
Chicago Tribune reporter

In a move that promises cleaner air (click here) throughout the Chicago area, BP on Wednesday agreed to spend more than $400 million to settle legal complaints about chronic pollution problems at the oil company's sprawling refinery in northwest Indiana.

Steps that BP committed to take at its Whiting refinery, the nation's sixth-largest, will significantly reduce emissions of lung-damaging soot and other noxious air pollution. The deal also sets a precedent for other oil companies as the industry overhauls refineries nationwide....

By RICK CALLAHAN

The Associated Press

June 14, 2013 11:22PM

An environmental group (click here) that helped push BP PLC to a multimillion-dollar settlement last year over air emissions at its Northwest Indiana oil refinery says the sprawling complex’s revised wastewater permit falls short of what’s needed to protect Lake Michigan’s waters.

BP’s Whiting refinery is nearing completion of a $3.8 billion expansion that will make it a top processor of heavy crude oil extracted from Canada’s tar sand deposits.

Environmental groups have raised concerns that the project, set for completion later this year, will result in worsened pollution in the area and warn that tar sands oil contains elevated levels of impurities....

Here are the responsible parties:

Indiana environmental officials approved a permit allowing BP to discharge higher amounts of pollution into the lake, pressure from the public and Chicago area politicians, forced BP to back away from the higher amounts. 

It is another North Carolina: "Dump Here."

IDEM Office of Water Quality: Permits on Notice (click here)
  
Voted YES on scheduling permitting for new oil refinieries (click here)

Voting YES would allow floor debate on H.R.5254, the Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act, which provides for the following:

The EPA, upon the request of a state governor, shall provide scheduling and financial assistance relevant to consideration of federal refinery authorizations. 

The President shall designate at least three closed military installations as potentially suitable for the construction of a refinery. 

BP is really racking up the environmental failures, aren't they? Another "Too Big to Fail." Texas refinery, Gulf spill and now this. Pence received a quarter million from the energy sector for his Governor's race. However, his largest donors were individuals with deep pockets, not the Middle Class.

Every time there is a BP crisis, it upticks it's rhetoric promising to INVEST more. It's primary strategy IS "Too Big Too Fail." When the Texas explosion occurred BP promised to spend billions to improve the refinery. BP buys it's place in the world and then disregards the rules. 

According to the most recent report about New Jersey Bridgegate is interoffice relationship.

The report reflects a relationship between Mr. Stepien and Ms. Kelly after she assumed Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor of New Jersey.

...Kelly relied heavily on him during this transition....

That statement implies Ms. Kelly was somewhat incompetant in her position and acted as a surrogate to Mr. Stepien. In other words, Mr. Stepien never stopped being Deputy Chief of Staff while also running the political campaign for Governor.  Who knows? But, if the love relationship is true and then Ms. Kelly ended the relationship, the implications are that after the re-election she took a 'big decision' on her own to abrasively rub her former lover's nose in it.

Mar. 27, 2014, 12:20 PM
Brett LoGiurato

...Kelly had become Deputy Chief of Staff, (click here) assuming the post left vacant by her predecessor, Stepien, who had departed in April 2013 to run the Governor’s re-election campaign. Because Stepien was her "benefactor," Kelly relied heavily on him during this transition. And at some point after Stepien’s departure to run the campaign, Kelly and Stepien became personally involved, although, by early August 2013, their personal relationship had cooled, apparently at Stepien’s choice, and they largely stopped speaking....

The theme of abrasive personality about Stepien somewhat carries through if indeed his former lover was going to 'stick it' to his ego.  

January 18, 2014
By JEFF PILLETS and MELISSA HAYES
STAFF WRITERS

Republicans (click here) who worked closely with Chris Christie’s former campaign manager say Bill Stepien is a world-class political operative, a numbers geek and ground-game guru who knows how to get the vote out.

“He came into our campaign in the summer of 2008 when we were at a low point and in a matter of weeks helped turn it around,” said Steve Schmidt, who directed John McCain’s presidential campaign. “He knows his craft. He has common sense, and he gets things done.”

But Stepien was also seen by some Republicans as abrasive, imperious and quick to act against party members he considered wayward...

No matter the truth or dynamics about the relationship between the two, the report brings new perceptions to the public understanding it didn't have before. No one was saying anything about a former love relationship and I don't know what that means either. Did no one sincerely know until this report was published or did the absence of this reality serve a different purpose?

I would expect at least the tabloids wandering into the territory of "...resigned Christi officials were also former lovers...." 

January 18, 2014

By JEFF PILLETS and MELISSA HAYES

STAFF WRITERS

- See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/two-sides-of-former-christie-campaign-guru-bill-stepien-highly-effective-but-personally-abrasive-1.646850#sthash.EPQXS3ys.dpuf

Republicans who worked closely with Chris Christie’s former campaign manager say Bill Stepien is a world-class political operative, a numbers geek and ground-game guru who knows how to get the vote out.

“He came into our campaign in the summer of 2008 when we were at a low point and in a matter of weeks helped turn it around,” said Steve Schmidt, who directed John McCain’s presidential campaign. “He knows his craft. He has common sense, and he gets things done.”

But Stepien was also seen by some Republicans as abrasive, imperious and quick to act against party members he considered wayward. - See more at: http://www.northjersey.com/news/nj-state-news/two-sides-of-former-christie-campaign-guru-bill-stepien-highly-effective-but-personally-abrasive-1.646850#sthash.EPQXS3ys.dpuf

California is not tornado ally.

TRENTON, Mo. -
At least four homes have been damaged in northwest Missouri as violent weather packing high winds, funnel clouds and at least one tornado swept across the state.

POSTED: 09:14 PM CDT Mar 27, 2014 

Hail and heavy rain (click here) also pelted parts of the state beginning Thursday afternoon, but no injuries were reported by early evening.
A trained spotter for the National Weather Service reported a tornado on the ground for six miles in the Trenton area of northwest Missouri's Grundy County. Emergency management said a house near Tindall lost its roof, and a road and bridge barn in the town was heavily damaged.
In nearby Daviess County, emergency management said high winds damaged two homes in Jameson and a mobile home in Winston.
Tornado sirens blared in parts of central Missouri as the storms moved eastward....

4:47 PM PDT Mar 27, 2014

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —The National Weather Service (click here) has confirmed a Roseville neighborhood was hit by a tornado on Wednesday evening -- and preliminary reports show it's an EF-0, but still on the higher end, with strong winds ripping through the area.

An EF-0 is classified by wind speeds of 65 to 85 mph.
Glenn County experienced official EF-0s, as well. Some minor damage has been reported southwest of Chico.

The morning kicked off with showers, and then the clouds broke. Rain, thunderstorms and funnel clouds were reported well into the evening hours....

A storm cloud at Pleasant Grove Boulevard in Roseville (March 26, 2014) Alan Blaich/KCRA

Congratulations Chris on your new baby. Everyone is happy for you.

This so called debate was a shouting match to GAIN CONTROL with the woman shouting louder than Chris. This loud mouth is being considered a victory by the Right Wing extremists. That is type. The GOP isn't about policy, it is about politics.

The political rhetoric enforced by this woman is then bought into by the pundits, passed to the electorate as 'the path to victory.' The political dialogue of the GOP is so dysfunctional it has no basis in policy. Then their electorate wonders why the government doesn't work for them. It has no basis in governing. 

How many pinocchios did she get on this thing?  

Republicans are very combative in their language and demeanor. Not a civilized bone in their body. This is victory by volume alone, I would think this is a learning experience to prevent this mess.

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG  and ROBERT PEAR

 MARCH 27, 2014

 

...But in Connecticut, (click here) a smoothly functioning website, run by competent managers, has successfully enrolled so many patients that officials are offering to sell their expertise to states like Maryland, which is struggling to sign people up for coverage.

The disparities reveal a stark truth about the Affordable Care Act: With the first open enrollment period set to end Monday, six months after its troubled online exchanges opened for business, the program widely known as Obamacare looks less like a sweeping federal overhaul than a collection of individual ventures playing out unevenly, state to state, in the laboratories of democracy.

The White House said on Thursday that more than six million people have signed up for private plans, a significant political milestone for the Obama administration. Independent analysts estimate that an additional 3.5 million Americans are newly insured under Medicaid — figures the law’s backers hail as a success....

The enrollment numbers are a real victory for the Democrats, especially when considering the obstruction TACTICS of the Republicans in the federal and state governments.

The only method of oppressing the citizen this time by the GOP was to, excuse the analogy, cut off the new laws legs and then telling it to walk. So, the idea any outreach to EMPOWER the citizens was going to work was a dreamscape given the rhetoric AND actions by the Republicans. But, it has proven to be far more than a dreamscape. The goals are being met. The federal internet site was never suppose to be relied on so heavily. They did it against impossible odds.

Well done. 

Oh, yes, the word was 'oppress the citizens.' Just look across the spectrum of the American public and tell me the GOP dogma actually results in policy that works. Where? Housing? It was used as a wealth tool for Wall Street and their bailouts and quantitative easing. Food security? It wasn't until the Obama Administration did the FDA finally have their teeth back and then to address hunger they cut food stamps and school lunch programs. Where in the GOP rhetoric is there actually policy and governing? Not. Destroy government and seek to destroy public infrastructure so occasional million/billionaires can 'make a buck.' Dear God, we had bridges collapsing because of cuts in government spending for decades.  

My comments about 'the woman' is sexist? Not from what I am hearing from Republicans, it fits right in. She must like it. I just thought she should feel at home.

I think of near border Russian troops similar to the Right Wing Propaganda media of the USA. It brings pressure.

It is aggressive to effect the political balance of the Ukraine. By the way, the uniforms of post soviet states are basically the same of that of Russians. Why?

That uniform for the post soviet states is about 20 years in need of updating. I hope their 'dress uniforms' at least reflect the sovereign nation where they belong.

But, besides being a sizable invasion force, they are putting pressure on the citizens of the Ukraine. Putin is denying there is a troop build up. He seems to be misinformed which might be signs of a destabilizing Russia and burgeoning on a coup. If the Kremlin has no clue about their military forces, that is not a good sign. 

Russian forces on patrol close to the Crimean city of Simferopol, on March 5, 2014 (AFP Photo/Alexey Kravtsov)

Washington (AFP) - Nearly 100,000 Russian (click here) forces have massed on Ukraine's border, a top Ukrainian defense official told an American audience Thursday, giving a number far higher than US military estimates.

"Almost 100,000 soldiers are stationed on the borders of Ukraine and in the direction ... of Kharkiv, Donetsk, " Andriy Parubiy, chairman of Ukraine's national security council, said via a webcast from Kiev.

"Russian troops are not in Crimea only, they are along all Ukrainian borders. They're in the south, they're in the east and in the north," Parubiy said.

After its intervention in the Crimean peninsula, Russia is plotting to foment separatist sentiment elsewhere and Kiev fears a possible incursion in the country's east, he told the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank....

Bangedesh is a riverine country. It basically is one large delta.

A relatively small country (click here) along the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh is nearly surrounded by India and has been shaped by it. Between 40 and 50 million years ago, India collided with Eurasia, elevating the Himalaya. Eroded by wind and water, the newly uplifted land shed sediments, which now cover almost all of Bangladesh. Tectonic activity also deformed rock layers in eastern Bangladesh.
On November 9, 2011, clear skies allowed the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite an unobstructed view of Bangladesh. This natural-color image shows all of that country, as well as parts of India, Burma (Myanmar), and the Bay of Bengal. Included in the scene are the Sundarbans of the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta.

The Geological Survey of Bangladesh explains that most of the sediments covering the country are geologically young—deposted in the last 10,000 years. Deltaic silt and sand and mangrove forests dominate the southwestern part of the country. Sand and gravel cover the northwestern parts. Northeastern Bangladesh is covered by a combination of clay, peat, gravel, and sand....

Their plight is not going to end soon. As a matter of fact they will not be able to reclaim land for generations if at all. The erosion process will not reverse even if the area suddenly becomes drought. The land is washing away into the sea.

The people displaced and living in severe conditions must be considered Climate Crisis Refugees clinging to life. If people are living in boats they are refugees. India has a large population already, but, it may be the one country closest to identity of these people. These circumstances will not change. The people have to move away from the water and onto higher elevations. This is permanently flooding lands.

The conditions they are living in are completely unhealthy. They are used to thinking about the Ganges as a holy place. It is not alien for them to believe they are with a holy state. The Ganges River is very long and flows through higher elevations. The people need to adjust to their reality. The spiritual leaders of India are compassionate and able to address people in a meaningful way.

By GARDINER HARRIS

MARCH 28, 2014

Bangladesh, (click here) with its low elevation and severe tropical storms, is among the countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change, though it has contributed little to the emissions that are driving it. Credit Kadir van Lohuizen for The New York Times 

As a side note, this is the habitat of the Bengal Tiger. It is already endangered. There has been increases in the population of the tigers simply because poaching has been contained.

These people are best helped by settling within cities where they can learn a trade and make a living for their families. In some ways, this plight has been a gift from god masked by tragic loss of their land. They can maintain their culture and add flavor to their chosen new residential areas.

Their children can have better outcomes by attending schools that will provide better opportunity. Their current circumstances are victimizing their children with no real path for their future. 

The global community can come together around the definition of what exactly a Climate Crisis Refugee is and how best to address it.