Donald Trump

He is touching a sentiment. I do not believe his enthusiasm and the content of the message will become old for Americans.

I consider that good news. Perhaps others don't remember the USA under Bill Clinton. We were attacked under Clinton, but, it resulted in trials and prison and not war.

There is another America that was abandoned in 2001 when there was a change in administration. We had a more peaceful America. We were the greatest country of all time. 2001 changed that and I am not talking simply about the attacks of September of that year. 

Fashion took on a really estranging focus. There was an introduction to 'Christiana' during those years. It was the beginning of the religious emphasis and a turn from the public domain. There was an intolerance that developed after 2001. An intolerance to anything in the USA that did not have the stamp of 'god' in some form or another. There was a rise in orthodoxy. 

The country got strange. About 47 or 48 percent of the USA population was estranged from being mainstream. The cronyism was incredible and the Republicans ran rough shod over ethnics and decency when it came to protecting the USA from elaborate deception. Our pets were under attack from pet food. The fracking took on a national agenda when Cheney's energy committee attempted to destroy the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.  

Everyone was wealthy or on their way to become wealthy. Owning two houses was nothing. Three was better. One for the city, one for the country and one for rental when not enjoyed at the shore by the family. The country lost it's middle class tone.

The USA does want to reclaim itself. Donald Trump is not far from the heart of this country as it was before we were demoralized and redefined. I do believe he loves the USA and remembers when the USA was engaged in happiness rather than ultimate productivity that left people a label called the working poor.

Donald Trump said the other day, "Let's have the election today." He means that. He is somewhat bored by the routine of politics. He is going to burn himself out if he doesn't take a few days off soon. He really wants this. To some extent he minds me of me. When Earth was headed into an impossible warming trend I decided I'd sit at a computer and carry the message myself. I was right, wasn't I? I remember the statement by one of the news agencies saying the issue of climate change has developed far more quickly than most issues do. I consider that a compliment. 

So, when it comes to 'getting things done' most Americans understand that. They are disappointed in their government for what is almost 16 years. The USA started 2001 with a treasury surplus and now look at us. The people want their country back and nothing short of that will be acceptable. 

He is a character. But, he is definitely looking for a return of the USA as it was, not as a vision to more disappointment. Life in the USA has become bizarre and unjust. Since when does the USA stagnate and lose it's credit rating? Since when is shutting down the government even conceivable? 

Donald Trump didn't find an opportunity when he decided to run for president, he found his own disappointment in the political party. Now. Tell me he is alone. There is absolutely no one else in the USA disappointed in the Republican Party. I would not lay real money on that bet.

The NRA should be a partner in reforming gun laws to end these killings.

The advocacy of Alison's father should begin with an investigation into the deaths of Alison and Adam Ward. At the conclusion of a thorough investigation, present it to the public.

This is the front page of WDBJ 7 (click here).

When the SBI of Virginia starts their investigation, they should consider including the FBI in gathering information. This is a hate crime.

All changes in public, private and government paradigms begins with the facts. The victims of the shootings in the USA need to form a coalition to lobby Washington for federal laws. They should hold regular conferences to move gun legislation forward. I would think computer programs can provide for the meetings of all the organizations attempting to achieve the same goal, namely, to end the gun violence and gun deaths in the USA. 

The gun organizations can form this coalition and provide a stronger base to launch their initiative. A coalition can have a mission statement that binds them together. They don't have to travel more than once a year or quarterly.

If there are enough states that pass gun legislation to prevent this tragedy, a constitutional amendment can happen. It takes 26 states to pass a constitutional amendment. There is a super majority in the US House and Senate to write the amendment and place it for vote on state ballots.

I don't know why the NRA should not be part of a solution. It is the NRA that is always out front to point out mental health as a reason for the shootings. Certainly the NRA has a method to end such heinous killings.

If the NRA is convinced mental health is the only problem, then the NRA should come forward in any investigation to provide vital information about their findings and effective methods to end the deaths. If the NRA is convinced a mental health data base would end all these killings, then they should be instrumental in funding such a computer center. 

The NRA and other gun organizations can be part of a coalition in a non-voting capacity. I would include everyone. I would include media representatives as well. The idea is to bring all the parties/stakeholders to a common meeting place to bring their facts and solutions. The coalition should be all inclusive delineated between voting and non-voting members. But, bringing everyone together should move a SOLUTION to common ground.

There should be no naysayers. No one knows the potential outcome from such an effort. 

There is no reason why any organization should give up their identity or fund raising status. As a matter of fact, the coalition should remain without funding to maintain the integrity and clout of each member organization. Each organization can carry their own expenses.

There should be an effort, a sincere effort, by everyone to bring about an end to these killings. There should be no objection.

The new coalition should have an organizing committee of victim families that come from the organizations of which they belong. This is not a public organization, it is more or less a private task force to bring the best of all organizations to bear in lobbying Washington, DC. The organizing committee can send invitation to all parties to belong to the coalition. The victim's families have to be the center of the organization so it's mission doesn't get derailed from it's organizing purpose.

It is a volunteer organization and the members may already be financially compensated by the people they represent. ie: The NRA have a staff. That staff is already paid for their capacity. This is simply adding capacity by their involvement. And if one gun organization doesn't show interest then another one will. A majority of Americans want to see change in gun laws, it is time to bring down the walls and grow common ground to facilitate that change. All organizations should be willing and motivated to bring such an organization into existence to end the violence. There are no excuses. Ending danger in the USA also adds to tourism and economic security.

"In Kind" donations from businesses such as meeting places and/or computer software that facilitates meetings can be the mainstay of the new coalition. All that needs to happen is for family members to call each other and begin the ball rolling.  

Four hurricanes along the ITCZ.

August 28, 2015
1330.18z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of north and west Hemsphere (click here for 12 hour loop - Thank you.)

There is a fifth developing southeast of the Gulf of California. There is a lot of heat driving these storms. 

7 12.10 -121.00 08/28/09Z - - TROPICAL DEPRESSION
14 13.90 -143.10 08/27/23Z 80 982 HURRICANE
131A 17.20 -170.10 08/28/02Z 60 990 TROPICAL STORM
14A 18.80 -69.80 08/28/12Z - - TROPICAL DEPRESSION 

Four storms are all oscillating within 8 degrees latitude of each other. Now imagine one storm carrying all that water vapor and energy. The potential of any one of these storms accelerating is possible while the others dissipate.

That is the reality of oscillation in 2015. As one storm dissipates because of lack of water vapor at Earth's surface, even over the ocean, the unresolved energy is returned to the troposphere. That additional energy will be transferred to another storm with enough water vapor content to accommodate it. If any of the remaining storms haven't tapped into enough water vapor content to accept the additional heat energy there will be another rotation center manifested along the ICTZ.

Of the four named storms, Ericka in the Caribbean Sea has the most available water vapor and has a path that will continue to provide water vapor consistently

Why not over the Pacific? Because water vapor is water vapor and has a higher tolerance to accept heat. There is more room for water vapor molecules to oscillate with the 'space' between molecules of 'vapor.' Simply because the Pacific is water doesn't mean it has water vapor readily available to accommodate the 'transfer' of heat energy/calories. It takes much more energy to change water to vapor than simply transfer heat to existing water vapor. 

The image (click here) to the right is a cube of ice. As the temperature is increased by the learner the wider the space between the molecules polar covalent bonding.

It is the properties of water that allows it to accept heat. As the molecules accept heat they move farther apart. It takes significant energy to move water from ice to liquid.

Below is the heat requirement to cause a 'PHASE CHANGE' in water. Changing ice to liquid water takes far less energy than moving water to vapor (steam). So, when it comes to global warming and the conditions of weather, transferring heat into existing water vapor is easier than changing a molecule of liquid water to water vapor. 

In order for ocean water to become water vapor requires moving the temperature of the water to 100 degrees Celsius. That would mean the oceans are boiling.

The water vapor over the oceans, regardless, of the temperature isn't going to cause the oceans to boil and become water vapor. When hurricanes inject heat into the oceans the temperature than is incorporated into a large number of molecules and ocean temperatures increase.

The graph to the right illustrates the increasing temperature of surface sea water of Earth. This is real and accurate information (click here).

The idea water vapor over ocean water causes increased vaporization of the oceans is silly. There can be some water vapor created of surface sea water, but, never enough to transfer heat energy of Earth.

The dynamics of the current weather (weather and not climate) patterns is based in heat transfer and enabled by the physics of water.

Producing gentically indentical horns in a lab.

August 27, 2015
By Sarah Buhr

There’s a startup called Pembient(click here) that is 3D printing rhinoceros horns in a lab on the far edge of San Francisco. These are not horns that look like rhino horns. These are genetically identical rhino horns, according to the startup. Pembient just didn’t need a rhino in order to make them.
That’s good news for the very few rhinoceroses around the world. There are only five northern white rhinos left, and the Western black rhinoceros, which was thought to be extinct in 2006, is now officially extinct.
Poachers have been killing off these big, beautiful free-roaming mammals – nearly wiping them off the face of the planet forever – just to rip out their horns. The horns are used as daggers in Yemen, and in traditional Chinese medicine it is believed that the rhino horn has healing powers....

This technology is an extension of species protections.

Until yesterday (click here) there were six journalists killed in the USA between the years 1992 to 2015. The motives behind the deaths were investigated and decided. The deaths were related to the journalists work. Yesterday set a new standard for journalists working in the USA. Revenge is a new definition.

Of the six journalists killed there is one with an unconfirmed motive.

James Edwin Richards, Neighborhood News 
October 18, 2000, in California, USA

August 28, 2015
By Evan Hoopfer

Bill Hughes walked toward a room in the Tennessee Aquarium that looked like a supply closet.
"Guess you want to see the little monsters," he said, swinging open the door.
Inside is a wall of tanks containing different types of turtles. Two of the tanks contain five baby Beal's-eyed turtles that were born in mid-July, each about the size of a half dollar. In all the accredited facilities of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums in the U.S., there are only 20 Beal's-eyed turtles.
And they're all at the Tennessee Aquarium....

The USA has the most endangered species on Earth. That is not a form of praise either.

August 27, 2015
by Alicia Graef 

Hawaii’s monk seals (click here) have become one of the most endangered marine mammals on the planet, but this week they got a boost with an announcement from the government that their protected habitat will be exponentially expanded in an effort to help them recover.

Monk seals were first listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) in 1976, but despite protection their numbers have continued to decline since the 1950s. Today, there are only an estimated 1,100 left in the wild whose numbers are believed to be dropping at a rate of 3 percent every year.
They face the many of the usual threats marine life including limited food, entanglement, pollution, disease and development, which could be made worse as climate change continues to alter their environment and beaches they rely on to give birth....

We need "Conservation Rangers" in Indonesia to protect rare species.

August 26, 2015
By Jack Martinez

In a news conference (click here) yesterday, the Cincinnati Zoo officially announced plans to relocate an endangered Sumatran rhinoceros to Indonesia, according to an NPR report.

Terri Roth, the director of the zoo’s Center for Conservation & Research of Endangered Wildlife, told Newsweek that the news conference would let zoo guests and members know about the plans to relocate the rhino, named Harapan, so that they can visit him one last time. Zoo officials have obtained import permits from the Indonesian government, but await approval from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 

Harapan is the only remaining member of his species currently living outside of Southeast Asia. The species is critically endangered, with fewer than 100 individuals estimated in the wild. As Newsweek reported last week, scientists now believe that the species is extinct in Malaysia, and only survives in Indonesia. Its habitat is threatened by development, and poachers hunt the animals for their horns....

It is foolish to send a critically endangered species to the wild unless there is reassurances of his safety. There should have been a breeding program even if it meant bringing a member of the opposite sex to the zoo.

...In recognition of the difficulty of protecting wild populations, (click here) in 1984 the IUCN/SSC Asian Rhino Specialist Group recommended that a captive breeding programme be developed, thus establishing a dual approach to Sumatran rhino conservation: protecting wild populations through the RPUs and running a breeding programme at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary (SRS) within a semi-natural environment in Way Kambas National Park....

Given the ruthlessness of poachers to entice protected species out of protected habitat there needs to be Conservation Rangers assigned to these habitats.  

...In June 2012, Sumatran rhino calf Andatu was born making history as the first Sumatran rhino birth at a breeding centre in Indonesia.

Can Katrina happen again?

Climate Central (click here) has a rather good tool to understand sea level rise and the risk to coastal cities. 

The map to the left is found under "Surging Seas: Sea Level Rise (click here)

There are some alarming realities that are examined by this tool. As an example New Orleans is only six feet above current sea level. This website provides significant information regarding sea level rise and the danger to more than 3000 US coastal cities.

Superstorm Sandy provided an understanding of the storms since Katrina. The storms since 2005 have flooding capacity even when their central pressures and wind speed is not dangerous. 

Superstorm Sandy was a large storm in diameter and circumference. It was the size of the storm that carried enormous storm surge, not high velocity winds pushing a large storm surge. The storm surge with Superstorm Sandy was caused by the size of the wave and not the height of the storm surge. 

Said differently, Superstorm Sandy has much larger surface area that delivered flood waters over a short length of time. It was the large surface area of the storm surge that flooded the New Jersey - New York coastal area. It was similar to a saturation of the land. As the high water level came ashore it quickly saturated the coastal area and the water didn't stop 'washing ashore.' The shoreline received more water that piled on top of the water delivered before it.

Katrina and Superstorm Sandy have similar appearance to their aftermath, but, have very different physics. Katrina's surge was calculated to be 20 feet high while the Superstrom Sandy surge was wide and low. Katrina dumped water, but, Superstorm Sandy arrived like a railroad train delivering water that inundated the region. 

The physics of Katrina are not the storms of post Katrina. Superstorm Sandy is the profile of the storms post Katrina. Katrina cannot happen again, however, the danger to coastal cities still exists because of the continued capacity of large surface area storms such as Superstorm Sandy.

The change in state laws regarding guns is working. It is decreasing the demand and making gun sales a bad use of inventory.

Guns for Sale (click here) - Squires Bingham Model 20 -- Semi Auto 22 LR Semi Auto Clip Feed Kmart Corp

Kmart stop selling ammunition after their brand was used at Columbine.

August 26, 2015
By Daniel Kreps

...According to Quartz, Lundberg downplayed the stoppage of assault rifle sales, noting, "This happens to get more attention because of what the product is. The decision was completely based on what customers are buying and what they want." Walmart had already been in the process of phasing out high-powered firearms like AR-15 and modern sporting rifles, and they'll discontinue stocking modular sniper rifles (MSRs) in the coming weeks. The retail chain had long stopped selling handguns and high-capacity magazines.

While Walmart calls the move a business decision, the country's biggest firearms dealer pulling their most dangerous weapons comes at a time where the debate over strengthening gun control measures and lessening gun violence continues to divide Americans and political parties.

It can be you tomorrow!

That is not an exaggeration.

There is no predicting gun violence in the USA. 

I don't want to hear, "OMG, the news media this time, we'll never hear the end of it." 

What was that? 

According to "Gun Violence Archives" there are 11 gun deaths on August 27, 2015. (click here) There is also 12 injured today.

The last 72 hours in the USA (click here)

The story untold.

Ivor van Heerden (click here) was haunted by the knowledge that a major hurricane would devastate New Orleans. He is deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, and since 2001, he has led a team studying the public health impacts of hurricanes on the city. Photo credit: © WGBH Educational Foundation

"A slow-moving Category 3 hurricane or larger will flood the city. There will be between 17 and 20 feet of standing water, and New Orleans as we now know it will no longer exist."
—Ivor van Heerden, October 29, 2004

Those lost during Katrina should be alive today. '

The pump system existing today that won't let New Orleans to be underwater again; could have been built previous to the deaths of Katrina. The US government knew exactly what was going to happen when "The Big One" hit. It was a matter of IF, it was a matter of WHEN. The federal government wouldn't spend the money to protect the people of the Ninth Ward. No matter who advocated for these people, the government wouldn't spend the money.

The hopelessness became so clear to New Orleans, it was Mayor Ray Nagin that told the people to put axes in their attics. It was those very axes that saved lives. The people hacked through their roof and climbed out to cry for help. The US government could have saved lives and property if they acted as soon as the danger was known. The cost at that time would have been infinitely less.

Yes, indeed. Projects to save lives are never funded while cronies such as the petroleum industry receives subsides. That is where the priority of serving the people lies. The people are the votes while the US Treasury belongs to Wall Street.

Winner: (click here)
The “J” Award, the highest Department of the Army journalism honor, 2000 and 2003. 

Authorization: The New Orleans District Riverside is an unofficial publication authorized under the provisions of AR 360-1. Views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Corps of Engineers or the Department of the Army. Comics reprinted by permission of United Features.  

Submissions:
Articles and story ideas are welcome; publication depends on the general interest as judged by the editor. Direct queries to the editor by calling (504) 862-2201 or e-mailing amanda.s.jones@mvn02.usace.army.mil. 

Circulation: 2,150 copies per issue.

The Port of New Orleans (click here) and surrounding areas were closed Sunday after a barge collided with a tow boat, causing oil to spill into the Mississippi River. The boats were located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans when the collision occurred, and investigators are trying to determine what happened. Luckily no one was injured and the area’s drinking water supply is safe, but officials were forced to shut down 65 miles of the Mississippi River while crews worked to clean the spill. By Sunday afternoon, a line of vessels had formed, waiting to get up and down the river while the cleanup was underway.
August 6, 2015
By Ryan Alexander 

...We set out to document the federal tax rate of oil and gas industry (click here) leaders because we knew the claim made by the American Petroleum Institute – that the industry pays an income tax rate of 44.3 percent – is misleading. The claim is misleading because the institute uses it in the context of reforming the federal tax code, but the figure includes all foreign, state and local taxes, as well as federal. When we looked at the financial statements of 20 of the largest oil and gas companies, we found this group paid an average federal tax rate of 24 percent on its U.S. income.... 

...What was surprising, though, was the extent to which these companies were able to delay or defer the payment of the federal taxes they accrued. Most of the companies in our study deferred more than they actually paid. When the deferred taxes are subtracted from the amount these 20 companies owe, their average “current” tax rate drops to 11.7 percent. The independent oil and gas companies in the bottom half of our list, excluding the ones that recorded losses for the period, deferred almost all of the federal income taxes they accrued during the last five years, reporting an average current tax rate of just 3.7 percent....

...Deferral of taxes functions a lot like interest free loans – companies that get to defer taxes simply choose to use that money for something other than paying that tax obligation, instead putting the obligation off into the future. And, in turn, that deferral increases the size and cost of the federal debt....

... The oil and gas industry maintained their special deal even through the 1986 reform of the tax code, the last time it was overhauled. Let’s hope when Congress gets to comprehensive reform this time these outdated, special breaks for the profitable oil and gas industry are left on the chopping block. 

The story untold.

Ivor van Heerden (click here) was haunted by the knowledge that a major hurricane would devastate New Orleans. He is deputy director of the Louisiana State University Hurricane Center, and since 2001, he has led a team studying the public health impacts of hurricanes on the city. Photo credit: © WGBH Educational Foundation

"A slow-moving Category 3 hurricane or larger will flood the city. There will be between 17 and 20 feet of standing water, and New Orleans as we now know it will no longer exist."
—Ivor van Heerden, October 29, 2004

Those lost during Katrina should be alive today. '

The pump system existing today that won't let New Orleans to be underwater again; could have been built previous to the deaths of Katrina. The US government knew exactly what was going to happen when "The Big One" hit. It was a matter of IF, it was a matter of WHEN. The federal government wouldn't spend the money to protect the people of the Ninth Ward. No matter who advocated for these people, the government wouldn't spend the money.

The hopelessness became so clear to New Orleans, it was Mayor Ray Nagin that told the people to put axes in their attics. It was those very axes that saved lives. The people hacked through their roof and climbed out to cry for help. The US government could have saved lives and property if they acted as soon as the danger was known. The cost at that time would have been infinitely less.

Yes, indeed. Projects to save lives are never funded while cronies such as the petroleum industry receives subsides. That is where the priority of serving the people lies. The people are the votes while the US Treasury belongs to Wall Street.

Winner: (click here)
The “J” Award, the highest Department of the Army journalism honor, 2000 and 2003. 

Authorization: The New Orleans District Riverside is an unofficial publication authorized under the provisions of AR 360-1. Views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the Corps of Engineers or the Department of the Army. Comics reprinted by permission of United Features.  

Submissions:
Articles and story ideas are welcome; publication depends on the general interest as judged by the editor. Direct queries to the editor by calling (504) 862-2201 or e-mailing amanda.s.jones@mvn02.usace.army.mil. 

Circulation: 2,150 copies per issue.

The Port of New Orleans (click here) and surrounding areas were closed Sunday after a barge collided with a tow boat, causing oil to spill into the Mississippi River. The boats were located between Baton Rouge and New Orleans when the collision occurred, and investigators are trying to determine what happened. Luckily no one was injured and the area’s drinking water supply is safe, but officials were forced to shut down 65 miles of the Mississippi River while crews worked to clean the spill. By Sunday afternoon, a line of vessels had formed, waiting to get up and down the river while the cleanup was underway.
August 6, 2015
By Ryan Alexander 

...We set out to document the federal tax rate of oil and gas industry (click here) leaders because we knew the claim made by the American Petroleum Institute – that the industry pays an income tax rate of 44.3 percent – is misleading. The claim is misleading because the institute uses it in the context of reforming the federal tax code, but the figure includes all foreign, state and local taxes, as well as federal. When we looked at the financial statements of 20 of the largest oil and gas companies, we found this group paid an average federal tax rate of 24 percent on its U.S. income....

I wouldn't challenge Donald Trump about his faith.

(RNS)  Donald Trump, (click here) the New York rich guy/reality television star/conservative news commentator/real estate mogul/hair disaster, announced he will run for the Republican Party nomination for president of the United States on Tuesday (June 16). To the Faith Fact Machine!

My father was a very faithful Catholic. He couldn't recite the Bible either. If Donald Trump was running for President of the Presbyterian Congress, I'd be worried about his ability to recite passages from memory. I am confident the next time he appears before a large group of people he'll be carrying his Bible and not the New York Times.

1. He’s a Presbyterian.

“First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens, is where I went to church,” he told Christian Broadcasting Network in 2012. “I’m a Protestant, I’m a Presbyterian. And you know I’ve had a good relationship with the church over the years. I think religion is a wonderful thing. I think my religion is a wonderful religion.” Other famous Presbyterians who have run for the highest office and won include Andrew Jackson, Dwight D. Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan (who grew up in the Disciples of Christ but joined the Presbyterian Church).  Trump has also been a member of Marble Collegiate Church, a Reformed Church in America congregation and once the pulpit of Norman Vincent Peale, author of the mega-best-seller “The Power of Positive Thinking.”
Bonus faith fact: Trump’s paternal grandmother’s maiden name was “Christ....

... In the lead-up to the 2012 presidential election, Trump told Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly that there is a “Muslim problem.” “I don’t notice Swedish people knocking down the World Trade Center,” Trump said, and then moved on to the so-called Ground Zero mosque. “I came out very strongly against the mosque being built virtually across the street.”...

...In the same 2012 CBN interview, Trump said fans often send him Bibles and he keeps every one of them “in a very nice place.” “There’s no way I would ever throw anything, to do anything negative to a Bible,” Trump said. “I would have a fear of doing something other than very positive, so actually I store them and keep them and sometimes give them away to other people but I do get sent a lot of Bibles and I like that. I think that’s great.”...

I find his views on bibles and faith very main stream and rather middle class actually.

...“Not only do I have Jewish grandchildren I have a Jewish daughter and I am very honored by that,” he told The Jewish Voice.

Both Senator Sanders and the former Secretary Clinton have the Jewish faith within their lives. These two very fine Democrats probably carry similar views regarding the Iran agreement.

Bernard "Bernie" Sanders (click here) is a Jewish American politician and the current junior Senator from Vermont. He is married to Jane O'Meara Sanders; they have four children. 

I think it's okay to talk to candidates about their faith, but, to question their faithfulness isn't the best way to find out they are moral and good people. Faith and spirituality is personal. 

If someone is deliberately deceiving people about faith and god, (ie: John Oliver's exposure of 'perpetual exemption') that is a different issue, but, I don't see that level of deception with any of the current candidates. 

She 'get's it.'

Just thought I'd remind Americans about her depth of knowledge regarding the decisions she will make as President.

I think she is fine. The Republicans are chronically degrading women. She has a right to be annoyed.

I think she is great. I have always thought she is a great woman. She wants to defend women and return rights and esteem to them. There isn't anything wrong with that and if she is passionate about that issue, then we all should be grateful. The men that love women should be grateful, too. Men who love women should want their wives, girlfriends, fiancee, daughters and grand daughters to be held in esteem by granting them the right to carry out their own decisions and having financial equity to garner a successful life and retirement.

When women were demanding equal right before they were burning bras and holding demonstrations. They mattered. Their vote mattered. Women need a strong and passionate leader that inspires them and moves them to action. Hillary Clinton has been passionate about women and children most, if not all, her professional life. I trust her to bring women to the same camp as she and not alienate them. Women need to feel passionate again rather than accepting their second class citizenship the Republicans want to assign them.

August 27, 2015
By Samantha Lachman

...At a campaign event in (click here) Cleveland, Clinton criticized former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. She pointed out that Rubio said he wouldn't support exceptions to an abortion ban for victims of rape and incest, that Bush said Planned Parenthood should be defunded and that Kasich banned state funds from going toward rape crisis centers because they sometimes refer women to abortion clinics. 
"Now extreme views on women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don't want to live in the modern world, but it's a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States," she said. "Yet they espouse out-of-date, out-of-touch policies. They are dead wrong for 21st-century America. We are going forward; we are not going back." 
She added that she would like Republicans to recognize "the mom who caught her breast cancer early because she was able to get a screening for cancer or the teenager who didn't get pregnant because she has access to contraception." 
Republicans immediately seized on Clinton's remarks, suggesting that they were inappropriate. 
“For Hillary Clinton to equate her political opponents to terrorists is a new low for her flailing campaign. She should apologize immediately for her inflammatory rhetoric,” Republican National Committee Press Secretary Allison Moore said in a statement....

One of the reasons Republicans feel comfortable in removing federal support for women's health clinics is because they have witnessed some Planned Parenthood clinics earning money in supplying products such as fetal tissue. So, when they make their defunding rants as if a radical idea, they are simply throwing Planned Parenthood clinics into the world of Private Non-Profits or at least they believe so. 

It is convenient for Republicans to appear to remove funding from Planned Parenthood as if it is going to destroy any clinic performing abortions. That isn't why they are stating that. They know there is a product within the clinics that can create an income so they don't need government funding. That is all it is. The clinics will continue to exist and practice and provide health care for women, but, it will be through private funding as well as sales of their products. Private non-profits such as Bloomberg Family Foundation will continue to keep women health clinics open. 

Just a word more. Republicans want to change Medicare and Social Security while they deny women laws that insure their pay equity. The Republicans want to make many, many changes to entitlements. The entitlements our retired rely on are always under attack by Republicans. Yet, Republicans won't do anything about the working poor or improving the minimum wage. 

I find it very interesting that Democrats want to uphold the entitlements with fairly simple adjustments to extend their viability for a significant period of time into the future. The Democrats realize retirement with SSI and Medicare at the center of quality of life means Americans have to earn more in their working years to have a comfortable retirement. It is the Democrats that see the 'real world' and not a fantasy of million-billionaires.

Mr. Personality Plus. And reading newspapers to his audience. I thought that was a great idea.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

By Chuck Goudie

 

LASALLE COUNTY, Ill. (WLS) --

The ABC7 I-Team (click here) has learned of an unusual security breach at the LaSalle Nuclear Plant, southwest of Chicago. Federal authorities are investigating how two guns from the plant's security arsenal went missing.

Employees at the LaSalle Nuclear Plant were informed recently of a security incident but given few details. The I-Team has confirmed that the incident involved guns gone missing. Such an occurrence usually raises concern but at a nuclear power plant, considered a prime terrorist target, guns stolen from within the plant are especially troubling. Now federal investigators and the LaSalle County Sheriff's Department are both involved in trying to figure out what happened.

The missing guns are Sig Sauer 9 millimeter pistols, a popular model with law enforcement.

A spokesperson for Exelon, which owns and operates the nuclear plant, says they were training weapons stolen on July 27.

Officials with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission call it a "discrepancy of equipment" that came up "during license inventory.: The plant reported the problem to federal authorities and to the LaSalle County Sheriff.

Two inspectors from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission are posted full-time at this plant. The security breach is considered serious enough that NRC officials say a senior inspector was sent to LaSalle to coordinate the missing weapons case....

While two journalists lie dead there was hostage taking in a US school.

PHILIPPI, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia preacher, (click here) a teacher and police helped persuade a 14-year-old boy to free 27 fellow students he held at gunpoint in a high school classroom Tuesday, a standoff that ended without a single shot fired, authorities and the pastor said.

No one was hurt in the hostage-taking drama that rocked Philip Barbour High School on the ninth day of the school year in the small Appalachian town of Philippi, home to about 3,000 people some 115 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Ultimately, the boy's pastor convinced the boy to drop the gun and walk away. The pastor said his daughter is a senior at the school, and she had recently stepped in when she saw the boy being bullied.

Guns are the way the people of the USA settle ill will. Guns are the definitive method of revenge for injustice. It is called anarchy, it just doesn't feel that way because most Americans don't own guns.

"He's a child who's been bullied to the point where he just snapped," said Pastor Howard Swick with Haven of Hope Ministry in Philippi. "And I'm watching this 14-year-old child with a gun, crying. He looked completely hopeless and didn't know what to do, and realized he had taken this farther than he had ever wanted to go. He didn't know how to retreat."

After 1 p.m. Tuesday, the boy pointed his pistol at a history teacher and her students during a tense 45 minutes holed up in the classroom....

Oh, it isn't anarchy? 

Hm.

Does a day go by there isn't gun violence in the USA? When 30 thousand people die every year in a country because of gun violence it is called anarchy.

By Henry K. Lee
San Francisco Chronicle

BERKELEY, Calif. — The loaded gun, badge and ammunition taken from a car (click here) at a popular East Bay shoreline park belonged to the UC Berkeley police chief, authorities said Monday.
Margo Bennett, head of the campus police force, lost her gun, police badge, ammunition, department-issued laptop, iPad, cell phone and diamond ring when her unmarked Ford Escape was broken into while it was parked near the Mudpuppy’s dog grooming business at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline in Richmond, officials said.
Bennett had gone for a jog before work Friday morning and returned about 8:15 a.m. to find her left rear window smashed, according to university officials and Carolyn Jones, spokeswoman for the East Bay Regional Park District, which manages the shoreline.
Bennett joined the UC Berkeley Police Department as a captain in 2002 and was named chief two years ago.... 

August 26, 2015
By Dan Diamond

...1. Gun-related deaths in America (click here) wildly outpace our peer nations
More than 32,000 people per year are killed by guns in the United States — at least.
The total number’s incomplete because some gun-related deaths are left out of CDC statistics, Adrienne LaFrance wrote at The Atlantic earlier this year. That’s partly because of privacy concerns, the mystery over some police-related shooting data … and the political consequences of taking on the gun lobby, LaFrance points out.
Notably, the CDC has avoided some research into gun-related injury, and the Washington Post suggests that “fear and funding shortfalls” are to blame....

2. More people now die by guns than by cars (click here)
For decades, the most dangerous piece of machinery was an automobile.
But now, it’s a gun.
That’s according to LaFrance’s article and a Center for American Progress report from 2014 that looked specifically at the mounting burden of gun deaths among young Americans....

The deaths of Alison and Adam is really hitting home with the American media.

If the talk shows are going to discuss gun availability then please make it an honest conversation. CNN had two pro-gun folks debate the issue of guns. Really? If life can't be respected in a debate or conversation then don't do it. Thank you.

August 27, 2015
By ABC News

The father of a Virginia-based reporter slain (click here) during a live television segment Wednesday says he hopes to find purpose in his daughter’s death by pushing for stronger mental health screenings for prospective gun owners.

“I’m not going to let this issue drop,” Andy Parker said during an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly. “We’ve got to do something about crazy people getting guns.”

Parker’s daughter Alison, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were killed in the shooting. The victims worked together at WDBJ, a CBS affiliate serving the Roanoke-Lynchburg, Virginia, television market. A former reporter at the station, Vester Lee Flanagan II – known professionally as Bryce Williams – allegedly shot the co-workers. He later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

“I’ve been alternating between the shock and the grief of it,” Andy Parker told Fox News. “I’ve been holding up I guess OK, but I’ve been crying my eyes out all day long. It’s gone back and forth, and now it’s … the anger is starting to creep in there, because this should not happen. It shouldn’t have happened to someone like Alison."...

What is it going to take to legislate for the protection of citizens, a loss in every family? 

The reaction from family of the dead is always the same, "What was I thinking when I opposed gun regulations?" It doesn't matter where the shooting has taken place or who was the victim, the family always wants to end the gun violence in the USA.

Oh here we go, Mayor Bowers wants everyone to pray and believe in god. Right. 

Since when has CNN gotten to be ludicrous? 

Well, they are holding the next debate. It should be interesting for all the wrong reasons. I'd really prefer CNN not bring up gun violence, regulation and/or gun control, it won't go well.