Daesh leader terrorist was once a prisoner in Iraq in 2004.

Here is his mug shot.

February 18, 2015
By Hunter Walker
 
...The records come from time Baghdadi (click here) spent in US Army custody in Iraq. They were released through a Freedom of Information Act request. In these files, Baghdadi was identified by his birth name, Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Al Badry.

 There have been conflicting reports about the time Baghdadi spent as a US detainee. These files identify his "capture date" as Feb. 4, 2004 and the date of his "release in place" as Dec. 8, 2004. According to the records, Baghdadi was captured in Fallujah and held at multiple prison facilities including Camp Bucca and Camp Adder. 

In the book "ISIS: Inside The Army of Terror," Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan relay an account of Baghdadi's capture from ISIS expert Dr. Hisham al-Hashimi. In the interview, al-Hashimi said Baghdadi was captured by US military intelligence while visiting a friend in Fallujah named Nessayif Numan Nessayif....

It is designed for athelets. The average person may like it, but, the ingredients really demand athletes to burn through it.

The Monster Energy logo is widely recognized among major beverages and at sponsored events. The impactful design is composed of a vibrant large green (or blue) ″M″ on field of black. The ″M″ is stylized in such a way as to imply that it is formed by the claws of a monster ripping through the can.

Maybe burn is a bad word to state along side of the M claw.

The first person I think of when looking at the ingredients of M(onster) energy drink is Michael Phelps.

He used at least 10,000 calories per day when he was fit and winning metals. Michael Phelps would probably drink several a day and never completely satisfy his metabolic demand.

There is just no comparison when disputing any aspect of Monster energy drink. There are athletes in the USA that are not Olympic medalists, but, run the Boston Marathon that find these drinks helpful. It is activity that burns calories. The more active a person is the more calories they burn and the less they have to worry about a diet. They simply eat and go about life. 

And for those in our society that are complete morons, ginseng is non-alcoholic. As is Monster Energy Drink. Monster Energy Drink has heritage ingredients.

9 July 2015
By Michael S. Rosenwald

The long tradition (click here) of ginseng-hunting in the United States can be traced from Daniel Boone, the folk hero frontiersman, to Glenn Miller, a retired concrete inspector.
Ginseng, a medicinal herb, has become a hot energy-drink ingredient and a trendy remedy for all sorts of maladies. Miller, carrying his $2 ginseng-hunting permit, typically finds the leafy plant in Maryland's Savage River State Forest on steep, shady slopes and digs up the gnarly roots with a long screwdriver.
"Once in a while out there, you run into a bear," said Miller, who lives in Lonaconing, a tiny western Maryland town. "Last year, I ran into an old female, and two cubs walked up to me. That's always exciting. Of course, occasionally you run into a rattlesnake."...
 

The Taliban left Pakistan for it's lack of influence in recent years.

February 18, 2015

KABUL, Afghanistan — The number of civilians killed or wounded (click here) in fighting in Afghanistan climbed by 22 percent in 2014 to reach the highest level in five years as foreign troops concluded their combat mission, the U.N. said in an annual report released Wednesday.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented 10,548 civilian casualties in 2014, the highest number in a single year since 2009. They include 3,699 civilian deaths, up 25 percent from 2013.
The U.N. says the Taliban and other insurgents were responsible for 72 percent of all civilian casualties, with government forces and foreign troops responsible for just 14 percent....

The Afghanistan government needs to work toward a resistance to this problem. The Taliban is not an ethnicity. It is a militia. There doesn't have to be any acceptance of a return to violence among the people of Afghanistan.

Inflaming the problems in the Middle East is not helping. The religious leaders have published a letter to end the faux images Daesh portrays as righteous examples of the Muslim faith. It is obvious The West needs a few Muslim scholars of it's own.

February 17, 2015
By Tony Ortega 

In September, Nihad Awad, (click here) the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), held a press conference in Washington and, flanked by other Muslim figures, announced that 120 Muslim scholars had produced an 18-page open letter, written in Arabic, to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
An English translation of the document is a tough slog. As Awad said at the time, “This letter is not meant for a liberal audience.” He even admitted that mainstream Muslims might find it difficult to read.
The letter is an extended exegesis, heavily salted with quotes from the Koran and the Hadith, arguing point by point about the nature of jihad, the slaughtering of innocents, the taking of slaves, and other not-so-savory elements of the distant past — and in the past they should remain, the text argues. It makes the case not only that ISIS was wrong to commit horrific acts of violence in modern times, but that it was interpreting Islamic law incorrectly to justify such acts....

The Boston Globe gets it. Will the Obama Administration?

October 9, 2014
By Zeba Kahn

The militants who are killing civilians, (click here) raping and forcing captured women into sexual slavery, and beheading foreigners in Iraq and Syria are known by several names: the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS; the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL; and, more recently, the Islamic State, or IS. French officials recently declared that that country would stop using any of those names and instead refer to the group as “Daesh.”
The Obama Administration should switch to this nomenclature, too, because how we talk about this group is central to defeating them....

The sky isn't actually falling.

February 18, 2015
 
DAKAR, Senegal — The U.S. military (click here) is launching its annual training exercise with armies from across Africa this week in Chad, as the countries of the region battle a growing threat from the Nigerian Islamic extremist group Boko Haram.
Some 1,300 participants from 28 countries are joining in the Flintlock exercise that lasts until March 9. It includes counter-terrorism forces not only from the U.S. but from other Western countries and a number of African militaries including several of the armies who have pledged to support Nigeria in its battle against the jihadists.
The annual exercise first began in 2006 in part to counter the rise of al-Qaida-linked militants in the Sahel region. Now the most imminent danger to regional security is Boko Haram, which killed at least 10,000 people in Nigeria last year and is now staging cross-border attacks in Cameroon, Niger and Chad....

Go, Warren, Go !!!

February 17, 2015

by Noah Buhayar and Zain Shauk

(Bloomberg) -- Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc.(click here) exited a $3.7 billion investment in Exxon Mobil Corp. amid a slump in oil prices.
Crude has fallen by about half since June as U.S. production surged and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries resisted output cuts. The decline has ravaged oil company profits and forced major producers and drillers to slash spending and fire thousands of workers.
Berkshire has “not really had the hot hand in energy,” Fadel Gheit, an analyst for Oppenheimer & Co. in New York, said in a phone interview. “The whole energy sector obviously is now traded in completely different circumstances than they were only a year ago.... 

Just a little over extended, huh? There will be an income tax break this year. The real picture though is that for decades oil was the gift that kept giving. So, the investment many, many years ago paid off for a long time. 

February 16, 2015
By John Kemp

...The number of rigs drilling for oil in the United Statesdeclined by another 84 last week, (click here) according to oil field services company Baker Hughes.
The oil-directed rig count has now fallen by a total of 553, or 34 percent, since early October, the fastest decline since 1986.
Some analysts have questioned whether the decline in rig counts will really result in a slowdown in oil output.
The most basic lower rigs, those with the lowest horsepower and depth ratings, capable only of drilling vertically, are likely to be idled first, leaving more powerful units with horizontal capability still working.
And drilling will pull back from speculative frontier areas to concentrate on the most productive parts of well-established plays to maximise new output per well drilled.
But however the data is analysed a broad-based slowdown in drilling is now occurring across the entire U.S. shale sector.

Even get the feeling as though oil was never really manged so much as exploited?

...BROAD SLOWDOWN
In two of the Big Three shale plays, Williston and Permian basins, the number of rigs drilling for oil has fallen by 34 percent, exactly in line with the national average.
Only the Eagle Ford play, where the rig count is down 28 percent, shows a slightly smaller-than-average percentage decline....
In terms of rig capability, the number of vertical rigs is down by 43 percent and the number of directional rigs is down by almost 41 percent. (Directional rigs can drill slanted wells but not fully horizontal ones.)...

Is there no end to the brutality of Daesh?

February 18, 2015

United Nations: Iraq’s ambassador (click here) to the United Nations asked the UN Security Council on Tuesday to look at allegations that Daesh is using organ harvesting as a way to finance its operations.

Ambassador Mohammad Al Hakim told reporters that in the past few weeks, bodies with surgical incisions and missing kidneys or other body parts have been found in shallow mass graves.

“We have bodies. Come and examine them,” he said. “It is clear they are missing certain parts.”

He also said a dozen doctors have been “executed” in Mosul for refusing to participate in organ harvesting....

They are heretics. They have no regard for life at all, except perhaps their own. Executions, child soldiers and now organ harvests. They are real men alright, we just don't know what god they worship.

The Syrian rebels have a chance to end the reign of Daesh if a joint governance of Assad and rebel leaders can proceed. It would be in the best interest of both Assad's people and the rebels to come together to end Daesh in their lands. 

Please stop turning these beautiful cities into rubble. Destruction and killing is not the answer. Return the happiness of people, their market places and safe passage to their holy sites. 

A general view shows damaged buildings along a deserted street and an area controlled by forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad, as seen from a rebel-controlled area at the Bab al-Nasr frontline in Aleppo, Feb. 10, 2015.

February 18, 2015
After nearly fours years of sustained and bloody fighting, (click here) there may finally be the slightest glimmer of hope for the remaining citizens who still cling to life in the ruined ancient city of Aleppo. According to Steffan de Mistura, the United Nations Envoy to Syria, the regime of President Bashar Al Assad has given an indication that it may be prepared for a ceasefire in and around the city for a period of six weeks.

While the talk of a ceasefire is still very tentative, it is the first positive sign to emerge from Syria in months that some relief may be on the way and there is at least a glimmer of hope that humanitarian relief can be delivered to Aleppo.

The freezing of hostilities will be a temporary respite from the constant artillery barrages and barrel bombs that have killed thousands and brought the citadel city to ruins. De Mistura is briefing the Security Council in a closed session, but so far, there is no indication of when the suspension of air strikes will begin. In all of the darkness that has embraced Syria, there is at least a ray of light... 

The reason a joint governing authority is important in Syria is because of the vast diversity of religious interest. If either were to govern alone there is a strong possibility ethnic cleansing could take place.

It is time for Assad and the rebels leaders to end their hostilities and bring back their control to the lands of Syria. The fact Daesh has focused now on Libya might be the best indication they fear the potential of the joint governance of Syria. Basically, the Ba'athists are still on the run. Their focus on Libya is the strongest evidence yet that they are not accepted within the people and seek the weakest areas of north Africa and the Middle East as their own. The only aspect of Daesh that keeps them in power is their brutality of the people falling under their power. There is no love of this regime.

Australians do not see executions as justice.

February 18, 2015

The Indonesian government (click here) has warned it does not respond to threats, after Prime Minister Tony Abbott reminded the country it had provided $1 billion in aid after the 2004 tsunami.
"Threats are not part of diplomatic language," Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told reporters. "And from what I know no one responds well to threats."
Earlier Mr Abbott said Australia would let Indonesia know in "absolutely unambiguous terms that we feel grievously let down" if the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran proceeded....

The requests by Australia are not threats. The Australians would no more end aid to those effected by the tragedy of 2004 than they would carry out an execution in the malicious deaths in Bali.

There are sincere differences in how the two countries define justice for intention deaths.

...Abbott's comments marked the Australian government's strongest response to the planned executions to date.
He said a short delay in Chan and Sukumaran's planned executions was an "encouraging straw in the wind" but was no sign of clemency and warned there would be consequences if the pair are killed.
"We will be making our displeasure known, we will be letting Indonesia know in absolutely unambiguous terms that we will feel grievously let down," he said.
"I would say to the Indonesian people and to the Indonesian government, we in Australia are always there to help you and we hope that you might reciprocate in this way at this time," he pleaded.
"We can't just ignore this kind of thing," he added.

Western unity to fight extremism globally.

"Our campaign to prevent people around the world from being radicalized to violence is ultimately a battle for hearts and minds."

February 17, 2015
By Barak Obama

...In the face of this challenge, (click here) we must stand united internationally and here at home. We know that military force alone cannot solve this problem. Nor can we simply take out terrorists who kill innocent civilians. We also have to confront the violent extremists — the propagandists, recruiters and enablers — who may not directly engage in terrorist acts themselves, but who radicalize, recruit and incite others to do so.

This week, we'll take an important step forward as governments, civil society groups and community leaders from more than 60 nations gather in Washington for a global summit on countering violent extremism. Our focus will be on empowering local communities....

From "The Muslim Times."

Two Hundred Verses about Compassionate Living in the Quran (click here) 

February 18, 2015
Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times

As only the Islamophobes, who hate Islam or those Muslims, who want to enforce Shariah Law, of their imagination, by hook or crook, make headlines, the compassionate teachings of the Holy Quran are lost to the ordinary, non-Muslim observer.
The Holy Quran talks about One God and one human family.
Here, I want to stress the Quranic message of compassion, love and kindness by cataloging, as many verses, as I can, realizing that it can never be an exhaustive list as other readers will continue to find new ideas of mercy and grace in other verses of the Holy Quran.
I will count the verses, in this post, as I go along....

One of the problems that are not identified by modern day Muslim leaders is the application of the Quran to the times in which people live. There is no war to fight anymore. There are no hostages to take. The world as it exists today is not leaning to destroying the Muslim faith.

The Quran, no differently than the Bible was written by scholars in very different times. The years of the Quran was a struggle for survival and recognition of the faith. That is no longer in question. The world we all live in today is one of acceptance. 

The extremists like to paint a picture of struggle and war simply because they misinterpret the intention of the writings within the Quran. If Mohammad was alive today he would praise the degree in which the Muslim faith existed and the peace most of these nations of people strive to maintain. He would be abhorred by the violence of those seeking to kill in his name and in the name of God.

Every holy book can be turned into a battle plan. After September 11, 2001 the holy men and women in the USA found the strength they needed within the teachings of their holy books. It was a time of need for the people to be strong and at the ready to defend their land. That is a simple illustration of the words of holy text to bring to modern day society. Little did the USA ever expect such hatred to be leveled at it from individuals misinterpreting their religious teachings. 

There are leaders within the Muslim faith that can "teach the lessons" in the Quran that can be applied to modern Islam. The war for acceptance is over. The nations of people within the Muslim faith today can find peace if they long for it. Tolerance is also in the teachings of the Quran that can be found in the passages in this article written by Zia H Shah. 

For as long as I have been writing on this blog I have witnessed great brotherhood among all Mideastern leaders. They have come together many times to solve the problems of their people and their region. They are great leaders and they realize the world today is very different than the time of their holy scholars. 

I look forward to the results of this new alliance of scholars to uphold the peace of nations.

Well kept secret.

February 18, 2015

Scientists (click here) believe they may have found the strongest natural material known to man, one that could be copied to make the cars, boats and planes of the future - the teeth of the humble limpet.

Researchers at the University of Portsmouth examined the mechanics of limpet teeth by pulling them apart all the way down to the level of the atom. They found the teeth of the snail-like creatures, common to shorelines and rock pools around the world, is potentially stronger than what was previously thought to be the strongest biological material, the silk of a spider.

Scientists believe the structure could be reproduced in high-performance engineering, such as racing cars and in boat hulls.

"Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration for structures that have excellent mechanical properties," said Professor Asa Barber, who led the study....

Previous to this investigation of Limpet teeth, the strongest design in nature was spider silk. The picture to the right are the spinnerets of a spider as they produce silk. And of course, silk is a protein.

By Tom Harris
...Scientists (click here) don't know exactly how spiders form silk, but they do have a basic idea of the spinning process. Spiders have special glands that secrete silk proteins (made up of chains of amino acids), which are dissolved in a water-based solution. The spider pushes the liquid solution through long ducts, leading to microscopic spigots on the spider's spinnerets. Spiders typically have two or three spinneret pairs, located at the rear of the abdomen....

Now we know for sure, Russians is having financial problems.

February 18, 2015

HELSINKI (AP) " Danish brewer Carlsberg (click here) says its profit nose-dived in the fourth quarter due to slumping sales in the key Russian and eastern European markets.
Net profit was 168 million kroner ($25.2 million), compared with 1.1 billion kroner in the same period last year.
The Copenhagen-based company said Wednesday that revenue fell to 14.3 billion kroner from 15.2 billion kroner a year ago.
Carlsberg expects sales in western Europe and Asia to continue develop positively, while currency devaluation both in Russia and Ukraine will put "significant pressure" on its performance this year.
The company owns a range of brands across the world, including Baltika Breweries in Russia....

Feeling the heat of "W," Jeb is his own man.

February 19, 2015

CHICAGO (AP) " Prospective White House (click here) candidate Jeb Bush plans to note he is different from his former president brother George W. Bush in a Chicago speech about U.S. foreign policy.
In excerpts released ahead of the midday speech, Bush answers a question he faces repeatedly in closed-door fundraisers as he marches toward an increasingly likely 2016 Republican presidential bid: What makes you different from your former president father and, more recently, brother, George W. Bush?
Bush says he's "lucky" to have a father, George H. W. Bush, and brother who have shaped America's foreign policy from the Oval Office, but recognizes that "my views will often be held up in comparison to theirs."
But Bush says he's his "own man," and that his views are shaped by his own thinking and experiences.

Jeb in Chicago? It must be like running against President Obama. Next thing you know he'll be in Hawaii.

Pre-emption is a real problem for the USA. The politics are toxic to this country and the lead up to another illegal invasion.

I'll tell you something. The war mongers still engaging their Dreamscape of "Let's kill Muslims," hate those people. They hate them because they can't get them to been to USA will. Why else kill them. Their response to the real world is exactly the same as those they hate. They have no answers to a continuing problem in Islam than kill everyone that don't comply to USA standards.

The reason the Ba'athists were still plotting to overthrow the governments in the Middle East is because they were ostracized and killed at the will of the USA military. 

One would think taking the USA out of the picture would be the best resolve to any strategy. One illegal war isn't enough, huh?

The USA has an obligation to support allies. End of discussion. 

Peter King did not say, "Don't fight Hitler." OMG.

There have been no snubs of Netanyahu. He continues to move into Palestinian territory, that is serious. That is not something a USA President wants from an Israeli Prime Minister.

There are conflicting reports coming out of Ukraine.

February 18, 2015
(Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (click here) said on Wednesday a ceasefire agreed between pro-Russian separatists and government troops in eastern Ukraine was almost entirely in place with the exception of the strategic town of Debaltseve.

"The ceasefire is being observed along practically the entire frontline and in a few regions there is a readiness - at least the militia announced it publicly - to withdraw heavy weapons. The exception is the Debaltseve 'cauldron'," Lavrov told a news conference....

In some reports there is vicious fighting in Debaltseve and in other reports, President Poroshenko has ordered the withdrawal of Ukraine troops.

It is a shame really. The fighting is in eastern Ukraine. These towns were wonderful and now they are rubble.  

There is still oil everywhere.

February 18, 2015
 
MOUNT CARBON, W.Va. - Fires burned (click here) for hours yesterday after a train carrying 109 tankers of crude oil derailed in a snowstorm alongside a West Virginia creek, sending fireballs into the sky and threatening the nearby water supply.
Hundreds of families were evacuated and two water treatment plants were shut down after dozens of the cars left the tracks and 19 caught fire Monday afternoon, creating shuddering explosions and intense heat....

This West Virginia disaster, no different than others, occurs in stages. The first stage is the naphtha that exploded. It burns off quickly, but, what is left behind is the oil. Oil burns and doesn't explode, so it's still burning.

The real question is when are the people of West Virginia going to have their water sources without pollution and contamination? 

If West Virginia Senators and House members want a real life challenge they need to pay attention to the people in West Virgina. 

Damn, usually when the press gets scared the Congress and White House bends to their will. What has gone "W"rong this time?

The Neocon Press has another two years before there is a Bush in office, you want to move on from your vocabulary problem of "ISIS?"

It is the same damn people, too. Amazing. I have to wonder how they celebrate President's Day.

February 18, 2015
By Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italy pressed (click here) for swifter action Wednesday by the United Nations to find a political solution to Libya's rapidly deteriorating security situation.
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, speaking in Parliament, urged the world to "quicken its pace before it is too late."
Egypt this week launched airstrikes in neighboring Libya after the Islamic State group posted a video of the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians there.
Hours before a U.N. Security Council emergency meeting, Gentiloni said the United Nations must "double its efforts" to promote political dialogue among Libyans, who are divided among competing militias, Islamist factions and tribal rivalries....

The UN can begin by pointing out the average longevity of men is far shorter than women in Libya. But, who cares about that, let's just kill them all.

According to the latest WHO data published in April 2011 life expectancy in Libya is: Male 58.1, female 74.1 and total life expectancy is 65.1 which gives Libya a World Life Expectancy ranking of 136. You can see the top 20 causes of death data and rankings for Libya by clicking on the links below or select the full country health profile at the bottom of the page. 

The fact is obvious. Women don't carry guns. NATO doesn't have to beat ISIS because that is a cultural problem and killing them will only increase the problem. NATO has to defend Europe and I think they have that figured out.

February 18, 2015
By David Wroe
The military head of NATO (click here) has confirmed the alliance hopes Australia will remain in Afghanistan - including militarily - beyond the current withdrawal date of the end of 2016.
NATO military committee chairman General Knud Bartels has also told Fairfax Media in a wide-ranging interview that it will take "decades" to defeat Islamic extremism in the Middle East.
"Engaging ISIL and defeating ISIL and putting in place sustainable government institutions across the whole range of the [Middle East] area will take a long time," he said, using the acronym for the Islamic State terror group.
Asked to quantify it, he said "decades"....

The boots on the ground in Syria are being provided an opportunity to call in military air strikes. The tone of the self-righteous Neocon is always, "OMG, the President is an idiot and doesn't even know there is a war that has to be fought." They don't even read their own propaganda in the Wall Street Journal.

February 17, 2015
by Rob Crilly
  The US and Turkey (click here) have reached a tentative deal to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels, according to officials from both countries, amid reports that commanders will be given authority to call in air strikes.

The Pentagon has previously said it was planning to send more than 400 troops, including special forces, to work with opposition forces at sites outside Syria.

At the same time The Wall Street Journal reported that some rebels will be equipped with pick-up trucks modified with mounted machine guns as well as radios for calling in US airstrikes - an approach modelled on that used to successful effect by Kurdish forces in Kobane last month.

American and Turkish officials said an agreement on training fighters on Turkish soil would be signed within days....

There is no Halls of Congress they are on vacation.

The mixture is higher than 50/50 naphtha.

Why? Because it is winter in North Dakota and Canada and in order to have the consistency of the tar correct to flow into oil cars the producer had to add more and more and more naptha until it ran like water to be sure it would load for transportation.

New oil cars regardless of their valued purpose it's going to hold up to that degree of heat and/or force of explosion. There is no vehicle that is impervious to explosion with such chemicals. The problem is not the railroad, it is the manufacturer that loads a substance that is for the most part is naphtha and highly explosive. What I am wonder is, what did the temperature change between North Dakota and West Virginia do to the mixture as well as the oil cars. Expansion and contraction or vice versa. There was a leak somewhere.

No degree of modification will change the tragic outcomes to the oil from North Dakota.

The reason the Texas oil industry has only occasional mishaps like exploding refineries (BP) is because the oil is near the refineries.

I covered all this before. The reason the oil is coming to ports in Texas is because if it is shipped internationally as everyone knows it will for tax advantages. So the idea the tar sands oil. which is 50/50 naphtha, will ever be modified enough to be safe is nonsense. It is a highly explosive mixture and is not crude oil. Not even close. Molecularly they are two different compounds. 

I know this stuff better than I know my own name. This explosion problem is a long term problem so long as the oil is being transported across the country, be it rails or otherwise. This is highly explosive stuff and Trans Canada wants to leverage taxes in their favor before they ship the lousy junk by tanker to the rest of the world.  

This is a long term problem as long as the federal government allows this to happen and no one in Congress is going to do anything about it. The US Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration has to stop the cross country movement of oil from Canada. This is Canadian oil that needs a Canadian solution.

I don't find it at all reasonable to smile with moments of hope that the folks in ND will modify the mixture as if nothing is ever going to happen again. It will happen again and again. This is a volatile mixture and is made to travel over thousands of miles to leverage taxes. This Canadian product is nonsense and a burden to the USA. The clean up costs from any of these explosions needs to be sent to TransCanada to pay for the damages they are causing to US railroads as well as emergency services and clean up and repairs and inspections. 

That distance on the map from ND to Texas is as the crow flies, that is not where the rails are running. The longer the distance from extraction to refinery INCREASE the opportunity for disaster. It won't change.

The Obama White House has to end this circus and forbid the Naphtha laden oil in the country. 

Naphtha is an explosive chemical. 

Chemical Stability: (click here) coniditions to avoid aire and explosion hazards are serious when this product is exposed to heat or flame. Keep away from heat, sparks or open flame.

Does anyone ever stop to realize how completely stupid that statement is in relation to safety? To prevent tragedy with these chemicals one has to be able to predict SPARKS. Right.

Why did the BP Deepwater Horizon occur? Because the petroleum industry has OCD in regard to safety? Heck no. The only OCD the petroleum industry has is making money. 

The oil industry doesn't even play the odds with safety. They completely disregard it. BP had an oil refinery explosion killing employees. A few years later the BP Deepwater Horizon exploded at it's well head.

This is a successful company? No. It is one that has a product worth incredible amounts of money to cover up all the mistakes, injuries and deaths.

...Fatalities (click here) for the industry jumped from 112 in 2011 to 138 in 2012, a 23 percent increase and the largest number of deaths of oil and gas workers since the current data series for the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) began in 2003. The bureau reported an oil and gas fatality rate of 24.2 deaths per 100,000 workers. That's higher than the 21.2 reported by the notoriously dangerous agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector...

And if this impresses anyone as tragedy and an industry out of control, the rates in the North Sea is worse. Now, an industry that sees paying life insurance to families as an operating expense has little respect for any safety at all. The cities along the transportation routes can forget the idea tragedy will never happen. It will happen and no different than with the BP disaster, the federal laws will enforce payment for the damage, but, also as with the BP Disaster the USA laws become meaningless to these companies as they play and play with the legal system.

In order to end the danger to any American city, the oil needs to be refined near it's origins. That goes for North Dakota, too. There should be a law which prohibits long distance transportation of chemicals including oil, methane of any other by product of oil refineries. 

When this explosion happened and killed those people, I guarantee you the company had no idea what the report was stating as the problem. The CEO simply paid fines, insurance policies and said, "So, we need new heat exchangers, right?" 

This is an industry that hires USA inspectors so there are less inspectors to make their rounds. There is no other reason why the petroleum industry hires USA inspectors into their employ. If the petroleum industry actually hired inspectors to better safety margins and maintain their rigs to the highest standard possible, I'd think it was great. But, that isn't why they hire them. 

They hire them out of the government to minimize the inspections. Maintaining a rig in perfect condition is too expensive and requires time. It slows down the drilling if repairs are necessary. Why was the CEO from BP on the Deepwater Horizon? To check the inspection logs? Heck, no. He was there to push the drilling regardless of whatever safety margins were breached. 

 

Heck, Boston, 95 inches of snow is interesting, but. northwest lower Michigan had 244 inches (over 20 feet) by the end of the season about the time everyone had to send in their taxes on April 15, 2015. See what you have to look forward to yet.

We are having a milder winter this year. This was the first year long time residents can remember there was no snow on Christmas. The entire month of December was green.

Yep. 

Oh, yeah, the 244 inches is twice the norm. 

As if the snow wasn't enough, spring came and the flooding was a disaster to an entire neighborhood near the river.

More of the police state.

This was written in an e-mail today to me from an older white guy.

" ...Right now,anyone that resists arrest is in for a bad day! I am all yes sir and no sir."

The subject line of the e-mail was "Grins a plenty." People are afraid of the police and are developing behaviors to reduce their risk of death.

February 17, 2015
By Olivia Laughland

About 10 years ago, (click here) Antonio Zambrano-Montes arrived in Pasco, Washington, in pursuit of what his family simply describes as “a better future”. He left behind a village in the municipality of De Aquila in the southern Mexican state of Michoacan. It was reportedly a place with no roads and no shops to buy clothes, where residents would travel by horse and cart to the next town to buy basic provisions and most worked as farm labourers.
He brought with him his wife and two daughters to the city of around 70, 000 people, in America’s north-west....

The 35-year-old Washington orchard worker who was born in Mexico was shot dead at 5pm on Tuesday after he was found throwing rocks – one described as "softball sized" – at vehicles on a busy intersection in Pasco. Police said that after "low-level force" failed to bring him under control and the deployment of a Taser had "no effect", officers fired on the suspect after his "threatening behaviour" continued.

The Administrative Procedure Act

It is Texas. It is because the Republicans are letting Homeland Security fall into dissolution.

..."arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law."

There is only one way to end the Executive Authority through the courts. What the Republicans are doing, as well as this judge, is nothing short of bloodless coup against the US Constitution.

February 17, 2015
By Jonathan H. Adler

...Although (click here) the court sided with the states, the court did not declare the substance of the policy itself unlawful — at least not yet.  According to the lengthy ruling by Judge Andrew Hanen, the administration failed to comply with the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act.... 

Moving against the APA is gutting the powers of the Executive Branch. Texas has radical courts, that is already known. When looking across the spectrum of Republican politics, it is the Texas legislature, governor and judiciary that becomes creative with words to attempt to undo the federal laws passed under the Obama's Legislature.

The US House is assuming it can be the Executive Branch. It is carrying out legislation that is unconstitutional to take away power from the Executive Branch, including addressing Congress by foreign dignitaries. It is a US House lead coup. There is no other word for it.  

Arbitrary and capricious comes into play when the President pulls a rabbit out of his/her hat. The executive order comes out of nowhere and creates law that is a surprise. What would be a good example? Let's say the President hates dogs and orders the country to remove dogs to shelters for euthanasia. That is how out of line the Congress and this Texas judge has acted to destroy Executive Branch authority.

February 17, 2015
By Michael A. Memoli and Lisa Mascaro
 
After six weeks in session and 139 roll call votes (click here) in a House and Senate that feature some of the largest Republican majorities in generations, one of the most telling statistics from the new Congress is this: President Obama's veto threats outnumber the bills Congress has been able to send him.
When Republicans swept into power last November, they promised a new era of productivity and discipline that would break four years of gridlock. "America's New Congress," they called it.
But far from striking a bold contrast with the last two terms of stalemate, congressional Republicans have quickly run into familiar obstacles, including partisan paralysis and party infighting.
Friday, as members of Congress rushed to leave town on a bitterly cold morning, Republicans celebrated their most visible accomplishment to date: sending the Keystone XL pipeline bill to Obama's desk for his expected veto....

There are several articles in the country today about the complete break down of the federal government. This Congress is extraordinarily adverse to governing. 

The Republicans pander to their financial backers. That is a fact. The Kochs are purchasing the services of the House and Senate. It is written all over the stalemate of the Legislative and Executive Branches.

It doesn't matter if the President is including health care and education in his Executive Order. It is the TRADITION to treat the undocumented with care that most Americans have. The issue of health care is a public health problem. 

It is also not permitted by law to allow a child waste their lives in a hollow existence. The USA has always educated the children of the undocumented simply because it provides a better understanding of this country. The best example was the previous Executive Order allowing room for the "Dreamers." The Dreamers were born or brought to the USA at a very early age and have grown up within the USA and educated here. The standard of 'caring' for the Undocumented and their children has been status quo for decades.

The country's health is determined by individual participation in health care and vaccines. This is nothing the President is doing out of the ordinary. Currently there is a measles outbreak as well as other communicable diseases, because, American parents opted out of vaccines. It is in the best interest of the country to vaccinate and treat disease with anyone in our borders. 

This is a legal definition of "public health." This is listed on WHO, but, it is a standard and not an opinion.

Public health (click here) refers to all organized measures (whether public or private) to prevent disease, promote health, and prolong life among the population as a whole. Its activities aim to provide conditions in which people can be healthy and focus on entire populations, not on individual patients or diseases. Thus, public health is concerned with the total system and not only the eradication of a particular disease. The three main public health functions are:...

Public Schools:

...“There is a compact (click here) that exists between a community and its public school. It is a promise that the school will teach every child that passes through its doors—poor children, affluent children, children with disabilities and children who show great academic promise. The common public school is required to teach the easy to teach and the difficult to teach. The common public school is there for the student with strong parent advocates and for the child who is, for all practical purposes, alone....

The nature of the work of the Undocumented enters into the school attendance of their children. The Undocumented workers are in the field very long hours, leaving the child(ren) home without supervision during that time. 

If the USA were to place Social Service workers in these circumstances the children would be viewed as neglected. The neglected children would be placed in Foster homes. Once in Foster homes the children would be required to attend school anyway. Therefore, the children are left with their families and provided a public school education they would have received in Foster care.

It is unrealistic ICE would be able to find and deport every family in the USA. There has been testimony to that fact before federal Congressional committees. 

President Obama did not assign any status the Undocumented don't already enjoy as if a citizen. President Obama is upholding a long standing status quo while federal officers do necessary work that actually applies to national security. The undocumented, nor their children, have proven to be anything but a necessary element of our economy.