This is an interesting triangle. The graphs are "Rig Counts."

The graph above is the International Rig Counts of Baker Hughes. Supposedly the more rigs in any count the more the company is worth.

More recent rig counts. (click here) The pages can be opened without copying them. The documents are Excel or Word. 

This is the Word Document of Baker Huges (click here) archived history of rig counts dating back to 1975.

Below are the statistics on rig counts from current activity. Call me crazy, but, this doesn't look good at all. If Halliburton thinks it is going to save itself from bankruptcy, it might want to reconsider such an idea. This seems a little desperate. Halliburton is attempting to own it's own operating rigs so it's service industry doesn't tank.

Halliburton wants to buy out Baker Hughes, but, it doesn't seem to have enough cash flow in the year 2015. But, also, in order for Halliburton to buy out Baker Hughes it has to comply with anti-trust provisions as well.

Above Graphs (click here).

So.

Along come GE.

This is a paragraph that explains Jeffery Immelt's plan for buying significant amounts of Halliburton assets. I don't blame him, the financial sector is somewhat unstable after China devalued it's currency.

September 11, 2015
By James Langford

..."Over time, (click here) there has been significant interest from premier investment firms in acquiring GE Asset Management, reflecting its reputation and attractiveness to others," Immelt said in a statement on Thursday. "As we continue to transform GE to focus on our industrial core, now is the right time to explore such a sale."
Selling most of GE Capital, which Immelt announced earlier this year, will allow the company to escape stricter regulatory requirements imposed when the Treasury designated the business as a non-bank systemically important financial institution.
The SIFI label is intended to provide additional safeguards against a financial crisis like the one in 2008 and 2009 when heightened risk at GE Capital cost the parent company its top credit rating and forced Immelt to cut GE's dividend.
The GE Asset Management unit manages portfolios for global clients, and the vast majority of its holdings are in publicly traded stocks and bonds in areas including the U.S., Europe, Canada and China. The remainder includes near-cash investments, hedge funds and private equities....

And also:

September 15, 2015
By James Passeri

GE, which Bloomberg reported on Tuesday (click here) is making a bid for the Halliburton assets, is likely to have competition from private equity firms and industrial rivals. Even at lower valuations, completing the deal would expand the company's reach in the Middle East and Africa, where Halliburton's brand is well established.
"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Hallead said in a phone interview. "It took Halliburton 50 years to build them, and you don't just walk into a Middle East or African country and hold up a shingle for them. You cannot replicate the deal you are getting with these assets."
The asset divestitures Halliburton must make include a drill bits business as well as directional drilling services. A cementing business -- which was included in the $7.5 billion revenue estimate -- has yet to come to the auction block, further reducing the potential value, Hallead said.
Now that GE has won approval for its acquisition of Alstom's energy businesses, valued at 12.5 billion euros or about $14 billion at current exchange rates, "it's highly probable that they're in talks for some of the Halliburton-Baker Hughes assets," Christopher Glynn, an analyst with Oppenheimer & Co., said in a phone interview.


And there is this:

December 9, 2015
By Amanda Schiavo 

New York (The Street) -- Shares of Halliburton (HAL - Get Report) (click here) are rising by 5.16% to $38.14 on Wednesday afternoon, following a Bloomberg report suggesting the oilfield services company is in advanced talks with General Electric (GE) to sell the conglomerate its drill bits and drilling services divisions.
Halliburton is divesting as many assets as it can in order to win antitrust approval for its proposed $35 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes (BHI).
"We're making good progress with our divestitures with respect to the first tranche, which is our drilling services and drill bit assets," Halliburton CFO Christian Garcia said at an energy investor conference on Wednesday, Bloomberg noted....

The company that brought the American people the Iraq War, Dick Cheney and electrocution of American soldiers in Iraq as a new method of personal hygiene, is now making a list for Santa Clause. I've never witnessed such deal making in my life with the numbers that are here. If I were GE I'd wait for both Halliburton and Baker Hughes to go bankrupt and then purchase the assets of both for a song and a dance. 

If Imelt plays his cards right Halliburton and Baker Hughes will be paying GE to take their assets along with a check from Dick Cheney for playing with exotic financial interests and being over extended on his margin call.

These hearings are too sensitive to ever display them.

The hearing today regarding the man that killed many and injured many more at a Planned Parenthood clinic was very disturbing. He said something like this, "I will not take any psychotropic drugs and be hung over like the man at Aurora." It is my opinion he is interested in killing and does so with an understanding of what he will mimic to make it happen. Evidently he saw a redeeming quality and was sympathetic to the killer in Aurora. Unbelievable.

The lawyers for Planned Parenthood have to refuse any public committee venues/meeting. People will die when Congressmen put a woman on display to ridicule. That behavior to ridicule a woman is for the jerks just like that voter that is now a murderer.

Ms. Richards should never have to address the public or government again in a way that victimizes her personally. It is out of the question. Planned Parenthood needs to find a person that answers all questions through venues that are not open to the public, but, with occasional public statements to the media.

The person that has to handle Planned Parenthood's media contacts needs to be a significant male figure that can impress on the country how safe the clinics are due to the good work of the men within Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood's media contact has to hold the line on all ideas it is a weak infrastructure of greedy women. 

As to those videos; they should have been taken down as soon as they went up and held for evidence until they were investigated. If ever life is important to the Congress than prove it by protecting the lives of existing Americans.  

The display of controversial videos brought about a moralizing jerk that sees himself as a hero. "I saw what they were doing in that clinic." He isn't that crazy no matter what his defense is offering as a reason to state he is incompetent to stand trial. He knows exactly what he did and he knows that he is on trial and is capable of warping reality to fit his hatred. There is no reason he can't stand trial, but, next time put a gag in mouth or put him back in his cell.

He recognized the authority of the officer sitting behind him even if it were for a few minutes. He isn't crazy. He's murderer and he was simply looking for a reason. 

Republicans are a bad joke to US democracy, values and morals.

Senator Murkowski has her sportsman hat on to allow hunting, fishing and shooting on federal lands. And she is concerned LAZY bureaucrats are leaving public lands closed and ignoring the public. The so called lazy bureaucrats should speak very loudly  about her insults and attempt to control land use to it's best outcomes for wildlife as well as citizens.

This is a joke. These are the fees of all the public lands except in Utah and California.
There needs to be fees to insure processing of a filmmaker's intent is known. The application is as important as the fee. The application will spark an assessment to the land condition and whether or not the intended use will destroy or harm the public lands. This is ridiculous.

I guarantee you if this was private concerns receiving these monies they wouldn't be touch, but, because the USA Treasury is receiving it, it has to be destroyed and more than likely the application process. There are already cuts all out agencies have to absorb and this is still more to prevent law enforcement of our lands and wildlife.

Evidently, states have the right to ask for higher fees because of the maintenance of public lands. The public lands should not enter into a bargain between State and Federal governments. These are federal lands that benefit the public. The idea federal lands are to be granted to states because a state wants to drill where there is no drilling permitted now is outrageous.

This bill attacks the sovereign nature of existing laws such as Tribal rights. endangered species status and water rights including those provision of the Clean Water Act. This bill to provide the dispersal of federal lands to the states will seek to end opposition by the State Department in regard to the Keystone XL. It is amazing the degree Republicans will go to kiss the 'behind' of the petroleum industry.

Oh, you say that all nonsense. Let me provide an example.

The State of North Carolina has no threatened species of plants at all. NONE.  Yet a native tree recognized by NC, the Long Leaf Pine, is used as a symbol of NC. It is the state tree. There is an organization that deals with the scarcity of this pine tree and it is treasured by the entire southeast which is unique to that area of the country. If NC is given any federal land there will be clear cutting and forget about the protections of wild African Violets that are visited by college students regularly as a plant that instructs understandings that are important.

If federal lands fall into the ownership of the states, they will be ravaged for cronies.

Range: The historic range of the longleaf pine (click here) once extended from southeastern Virginia to Florida, west through Louisiana to east Texas. Today, the trees are only found within small patches of this range.

Long leaf pine forests where they do exist provides for an entirely unique ecosystem including the vitality of endangered species of flora and fauna. If the State of North Carolina is given control of federal lands, theses forests will disappear without a doubt because of course 'it will create jobs.' For the land that remains with these forests it might provide clear cutting for about a week and then those loggers will be looking for work all over again.

The America's Longleaf Restoration Initiative (ALRI) (click here) is a collaborative effort of multiple public and private sector partners that actively supports range-wide efforts to restore and conserve longleaf pine ecosystems. The vision of the partners involved in the ALRI is to have functional, viable longleaf pine ecosystems with the full spectrum of ecological, economic and social values inspired through the voluntary involvement of motivated organizations and individuals....

Republicans don't value life, they value Wall Street.

The management of water quality currently enjoyed because of federal workers will be lost of the lands fall into the hands such as the extremists in North Carolina. I am sure NC is salivating already.

This is the bill Cornyn is speaking about on the US Senate Floor.

"The student success Act" (click here) I am not going to read this, but, educators and interested parties certainly should.

Senator Inhofe is an ignoramus. He is an old world ignoramus.

He wished everyone in Paris a good time at their PARTY but reassured his constituents nothing would be binding in the USA.

When I say ignoramus, I mean ignoramus.

There are represented at the Climate Summit 200 leaders of countries. It is the largest meeting the UN has ever experienced to move the climate crisis along. I apologize to all at Paris for having such an ignoramus as US Senator Inhofe.

200 leaders of vitally important countries on Earth.

I guarantee you being in Paris these days is not a party. I thank all the participating countries for the dedication to this purpose in the face of heinous attacks against humanity.

December 9, 2015

By AFP

"Of course I'm surprised," (click here) told reporters outside his home in Bischheim, a suburb of the northeastern city Strasbourg.
Had he known his son was planning to take part in the jihadist rampage that killed 130 people in total, "I would have killed him myself beforehand," he said.
Mohamed-Aggad said he was aware his son had travelled to Syria in 2013 with a group of youths from the Strasbourg area, "but not that he had returned".
"The last time I saw him was two years ago when he left. I have no words, I only found out this morning. I have to pull myself together."
Foued Mohamed-Aggad was the last of the three Bataclan assailants to be identified, all of them French....

US Senator Inhofe's attitude is stupid and dangerous. Stating that is generous to my opinion of him. I can only insult Senator Inhofe because he is about as hideous a man that grows up in the USA.

Since I would never expect an apology from an ignoramus, I don't expect one from him. He thinks my insults are a compliment, but, he is so completely wrong about his lousy attitude it cannot be ignored.

The California Drought is entrenched. I thought it was receding, but, according to this assessment the drought is spreading east again.

This is December 1, 2015 assessment and there should be the assessment of December 8, 2015 published by December 10, 2015.

I would ask the climate scientists in California to assess the effectiveness in rationing water. I know people believe sacrificing their lawns to save water is a good idea. I know the cost of water is expensive these days. But, the climate scientists of California need to decide if dry and dead lawns actually adds to the negative feedback loop we are realizing with a warming climate. Lawns and trees help mitigate drought. The breathing of plants of CO2 and the water vapor released by those plants during its breathing process. Water vapor can be fruitless if it drifts to other levels of altitude. But, maintaining lawns and trees is a form of restoration of the biosphere. I think California needs one more look to it's best outcomes.

Stop criminalizing citizens of conscience.

The FBI's Comey states all Botnets are bad and should be taken down as they occur. Sounds right to me.

But, the interesting aspect of his testimony today is about encryption services. Some companies that have encryption services receive a judicial warrant for information and the company disables it's ability to comply. That is criminal content. When the FBI reduces it's moment to moment surveillance or meta data accumulation and instead uses the FISA Court or any other court to provide a lawful measure of obtaining information and the company changes it's encryption to sabotage the FBI, that is assisting a potential terrorist. That is criminal. 

I think the FBI has to pursue real life consequences already in place to those that seek to sabotage law enforcement. 

I don't understand why sabotage of FBI warrants is tolerated. Why is that even considered a valid business model? If the murders of San Bernardino could have been detected and stopped because cooperation and upholding privacy rights in the use of the FISA count is sabotaged, that is assisting terrorists and lone wolves. The FISA courts protect privacy rights. The USA has to have a method of validating dangerous individuals to support an arrest or subpoena. That is our justice system.

Dying in a mass killing has the potential for every American. It seems to me the FBI has the correct focus. 

I realize there is a parallel universe that speaks to government and it's overreaching, unlawful behavior and corruption. But, there needs to be a moral point where a benevolent parallel universe DECIDES it needs to be a moral part of the USA's justice system. I don't think sabotaging the FBI and the FISA Court is important to continue to advocate for the people of any country. I do so in the open as an example of the strength of the First Amendment of the USA. I state my thoughts in a heartbeat and am not concerned if that is insulting or otherwise.

Sabotaging a federal national security agency is unlawful. If a community is concerned about wrongful behavior of federal agencies and compromise of civil rights beyond the point of cooperation then there should be punitive measures. I don't want my telecom company to compromise my safety by sabotaging the FBI to obtain information lawfully. That is something every American should find as reprehensible conduct.

I haven't noticed the FBI carrying out mass killings, so I think they are on the right path and should be viewed as legitimate and lawful to make requests. You'll excuse me, but, sabotaging the FBI is hubris. No one should joyful the FBI has been undone by contributing to the ability of an idiot to carry out a mass killing.

Additionally, the FBI was embarrassed with the murders in San Bernardino when statements by the murderers were found in open chat rooms or message boards. The agencies aren't perfect, but, if cooperation increases the longevity of Americans I suggest it needs to be accommodated.

What I find compelling is the lack of concern for those that carry out their own research to head off the attack on civilians of any country. This Senate judicial panel has a singular concern in being sure everything is done within government agencies that can be done. But, the committee grossly neglects the methods of benevolent activities although considered illegal that people of conscience carry out at there own legal peril. Someone needs to correct that. I think the Senate judicial committee needs to be written to in their error of people of conscience or sued for the lack of opportunity this committee has extended to all parties involved in keeping citizens of any country safe. Basically, the FBI and CIA should be interested in allowing such segments of society to conduct their intelligence gathering.

The benevolent people involved in information gathering to stop violence of any country has to be recognized by the US government so they can continue their work without relinquishing their capacity to act. I think that is important and if the US government won't provide such platforms for what would be considered lay people, then they are unhelpful. Most of these individuals/groups conduct their information gathering anonymously. That capacity to be anonymous needs to be upheld when the US government recognizes their legitimate right to exist.

December 8, 2015
By Holly Ellyatt 
Activist hacking group Anonymous (click here) have declared this Friday, December 11, a "trolling day" against the so-called terrorist group Islamic State (ISIS) as part of its cyber campaign against the militant Islamist group.
In an online message, Anonymous asked people to mock ISIS, or "Daesh" as it is also known in the West (a derogatory term for the group) online as part of its "Operation ISIS" campaign.
"We ask you to show your support and help against ISIS by joining us and trolling them // do not think you have to be part of Anonymous, anyone can do this and does not require special skills."
"We ask you to take part of this on Facebook // Twitter // Instagram // Youtube //In the "Real World," the post on file-sharing website Ghostbin added....

These people are benevolent to the best outcomes of innocent people. There is no reason to inhibit them, ridicule them or incarcerate them.

They are handsome children. Adorable. Obviously loved.

 I can't imagine what it feels like to have saved your older brother. Very brave boys.

December 8, 2015
Dubai: It is the stuff miracles are made of. (click here) The life of a seven-year-old Emirati boy, Zayed Al Hammadi, was saved by the stem cells donated by his three-year-old brother Mohammad.
Both Zayed and Mohammad, sons of Nouh Al Hammadi, live with their family in Al Ruwais, Abu Dhabi.
Zayed was diagnosed with beta thalassaemia major, a severe form of an inherited blood disorder that requires regular transfusions. His condition was deteriorating fast and the family were given their last chance of hope thanks to the storage of Mohammad’s umbilical cord blood. His cord blood had been harvested and stored with CryoSave Arabia at his birth.
At present, stem cell transplant is the only known cure for beta thalassaemia major....

The first lesson to owning and using a gun for self-defense is the ability to be shot with your own gun.

December 6, 2015

Beirut: Decades of reckless arms trading (click here) and the poorly regulated flow of weapons into Iraq have contributed to Daesh’s accumulation of a “vast and varied” arsenal which is being used to commit war crimes on a massive scale in Iraq and Syria, an international rights group said Tuesday.
Amnesty International’s report, based on expert analysis of verified videos and images, says most of the extremist group’s weapons, ammunition and equipment were looted from the Iraqi army. It says the weapons were manufactured and designed in more than two dozen countries, including Russia, China, the US and EU states.
Daesh swept across Iraq in the summer of 2014, capturing the second largest city, Mosul, and taking weapons left behind by fleeing Iraqi security forces, including US-supplied arms and military vehicles. The extremist group has also snatched arms from Syrian forces after capturing military bases there.
“The vast and varied weaponry being used by the armed group ...[Daesh] is a textbook case of how reckless arms trading fuels atrocities on a massive scale,” said Amnesty researcher Patrick Wilcken.
“Poor regulation and lack of oversight of the immense arms flows into Iraq going back decades have given Daesh and other armed groups a bonanza of unprecedented access to firepower,” he said....

All this free stuff with an income of $80 million per month.

...Amnesty said the range and scope of the group’s arsenal reflects decades of “irresponsible” arms transfers to Iraq. It also faulted a lack of oversight following the 2003 invasion, when the United State spent billions of dollars arming and training Iraqi security forces. “Lax controls over military stockpiles and endemic corruption by successive Iraqi governments have added to the problem,” it said....

Who needs a weapons contract with the USA Congress, when everything required to kill at will can be looted from weapons in Iraq. It is why Daesh takes over a town. The same goes for the Taliban. They can rob banks, loot arms stores and gather groceries if need be.

...It said most of the conventional weapons being used by Daesh fighters date from the 1970s to the 1990s, when Iraq was engaged in a massive military buildup ahead of and during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war....

It would appear Grover Norquist needs to ask the Syrians to recognize his tax pledge.

...On Monday, analysis firm IHS said that Daesh is pulling in some $80 million (Dh293.6 million) a month, mainly from levies and confiscations, but is struggling financially as strikes hit its oil infrastructure,... 

Aden is a very important city to peace talks.

Aden also saw the car bomb that killed Maj. Gen. Jaafar Mohammad Saad and his six bodyguards. It is obvious the attack on the General was to disrupt the peace process.

December 8, 2015
Aden: Warring factions in Yemen (click here) are preparing to observe a week-long truce from December 15 while UN-mediated peace talks take place in Switzerland, Yemen’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
“An agreement on a ceasefire between the government and the putschists should enter into force on December 15 with the start of negotiations,” Abdul Malak Al Mekhlafi said.
A source in the cabinet of Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi said the truce would last seven days, as specified in a letter sent by Hadi to the UN Security Council.
“I informed the coalition’s leadership that we intend to start a ceasefire for 7 days, from December 15th to 21st, in conjunction with the consultations,” Hadi said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
“It will be renewed automatically in case of compliance from the other side,” Hadi said.

December 10, 2015
At least eight people (click here) have been killed in heavy fighting at the airport in the Afghan city of Kandahar, reports say.
The Taliban said it carried out the attack at the heavily fortified airport late on Tuesday.
The airport compound houses the joint Nato and Afghan military headquarters.
"Several insurgents" had carried out the attack, the provincial governor's spokesman Samim Khopalwaq told AFP.
 .................................................................................

December  9, 2015
Moody Air Force Base, Ga. (AP) — Officials say two male Afghan nationals (click here) being trained at an Air Force base in Georgia have gone missing.
In a news release issued Tuesday night, base officials said the two students didn't report on Monday to "their regular maintenance training" with the 81st Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force base, located near Valdosta, about 230 miles south of Atlanta.
The release notes that the two men have been at Moody since February 2015 and "were screened prior to their arrival in the United States more than a year ago."
The release adds that federal authorities are searching for the students, who have been training "alongside American counterparts for the entirety of 2015 and do not pose any apparent threat."
AJC.com reports that the 81st Fighter Squadron was reactivated in January to train Afghan airmen....

Harry Reid,

Senator Cruz is using the power within the US Senate to carry on a bogus committee that denies the climate crisis. There needs to be ethic complaints filed because Cruz is using the US Senate Committee for political purposes. I am sure he wasn't alone in this bogus use of voter's tax payments.

Thank you in advance for your interest.

There is no time to waste. Urgency cannot be understated.

Companies need to convert any greenhouse gas emitting energies to renewable sources as soon as possible. Countries need to adopt alternative energies as well. 

China makes some of the most inexpensive solar panels globally; its cost to replace fossil fuels with renewable energies should be easier than most other countries.

This problem should have been solved half a century ago by identifying renewable energies and automobiles with drastically reduced CO2 emissions. It is not 1960s anymore and the urgency has never been greater. Not to appear ungrateful, but, time is of the essence. No more waiting. The very citizens in countries need relief from this monsterous climate.

December 8, 2015
By Stanley Reed

Paris — Unilever. Total. Bank of America. Patagonia. Ikea. (click here) Some of the world’s largest companies — and brands — announced their commitment on Tuesday to cutting carbon emissions and participating in practices that would support sustainable energy.
Speaking at The New York Times Energy for Tomorrow conference, being held in concurrence with the international climate talks outside Paris, executives from a number of companies said they accepted the need to help reduce the carbon dioxide emissions blamed for global warming.
Also, representatives of the Chinese government, the world’s No. 1 carbon emitter, released new climate goals that called for a substantial buildup of alternative energy sources like wind and solar. 
To be sure, the executives were self-selective, agreeing to appear on panels because of their interest in embracing climate goals, which are being intensely discussed by representatives of 195 countries at a converted airplane hangar north of Paris in Le Bourget. The deadline for a deal is Friday....

In recognizing the fact violent attacks on Americans are multitier for the deaths the killer(s) seek, Governors should put the National Guard on alert when one occurs. It just seems to me the larger assault on emergency responders and/or a disabling bomb threat called into a hospital, the killers are measuring the response and it's limit in order to exploit those limits. Given the threats by terrorist groups against the USA there could be a larger problem hidden within the initial attack.

I would expect leaders of the global community would plan for such blossoming of attacks in a country. If a mass killing occurs there is every reason to believe there are more innocent people in the plans of terrorists. While police can handle most if not all of the danger lone wolf attacks, there may be a larger picture that might overwhelm that capacity.

At the point where the National Guard in the USA would actually be deployed it would be nothing short of declaring a police state. That would be the discretion of others, but, I think those scenarios are a matter of preparedness as well as the drills first responders practice on a regular basis..

Homeland Security should provide workshops for Governors that would place them in a scenario where the National Guard would be deployed and a police state is possible. I just think the USA can't be too careful considering the danger that played out in San Bernardino.

Hello? The GOP actually has a problem with Donald Trump. Really?

I am sure the other candidates are upset because they didn't think about it first, but, politically Donald Trump can be ranked among the greats of the GOP.

Thursday, August 10, 2006
Green Bay, Wisconsin (CNN) -- President Bush (click here) said Thursday that an uncovered British terror plot to blow up planes flying to the United States was further proof "that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists."
Bush made a brief statement on the tarmac of the airport in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he traveled to tour a local factory and to attend a Republican fundraiser.
British authorities arrested at least 21 people suspected of planning to use liquid explosives to destroy as many as 10 jetliners. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the suspects were in the final stages of the plot. (Full Story)
"This country is safer than it was prior to 9/11," Bush said. "We've taken a lot of measures to protect the American people. But obviously we still aren't completely safe, because there are people that still plot and people who want to harm us for what we believe in."
Bush's use of the term "Islamic fascists" was criticized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"We believe that this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islamic Muslims with fascism," the council's Executive Director Nihad Awad said at a Washington press conference....

Some good advise and advocacy would be nice. It just seems to me Spike Lee has the very same problem independent filmmakers can identify with. Perhaps Spike Lee should be making the rounds at international film festivals. It would be the place for people to wade into the film's content in a venue where controversy is welcome.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel does not ahve to worry about Chicago's reputation, economy or tourism from "Chiraq" when the public is more scared of the reality of it's police department.

Chiraq may have a movie to its name, but, it doesn't have a theater to play it. (click here)

"Chiraq" is a film, but, this is Chicago.

December 8, 2015
By Mitch Smith

Chicago — The Chicago police, (click here) facing almost daily protests and a newly announced Justice Department investigation, released footage Monday night showing a 38-year-old black man being shocked by a Taser and dragged down a hallway by officers in 2012...

The man, Philip Coleman, later died at a hospital. A county medical examiner noted trauma on Mr. Coleman’s body, but said his death had been caused by an allergic reaction to a medication given at the hospital. A lawyer for the Coleman family said he believed the repeated shocks contributed to Mr. Coleman’s death.

The officers’ treatment of Mr. Coleman, a college graduate whose family said he was having mental health problems, received a withering rebuke from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose handling of other police use-of-force cases has prompted calls for his resignation, and who has announced a series of policy changes and personnel moves in recent days as pressure mounted....

Pope Francis opens the Holy Year of Mercy jubilee.

Pope Francis opens the Holy Door to inaugurate the Jubilee Year of Mercy in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 8. (CNS photo/Alessandro Bianchi, Reuters)

December 8, 2015
By Joshua J. McElwee

Vatican City

Pope Francis (click here) has launched his yearlong push for a global Catholic church of mercy and forgiveness, starting the Jubilee year focused on the subject by opening the holy door at St. Peter’s Basilica and calling for a church that always puts mercy before judgment.
In a solemn Mass attended by tens of thousands in a chilly St. Peter’s Square and marked by an unusually high security presence, the pontiff also praised the work of the Second Vatican Council and said the newly-opened Jubilee "compels us not to neglect the spirit which emerged" from that event.
"This Extraordinary Holy Year is itself a gift of grace," Francis said during the homily at the Mass. "To enter through the Holy Door means to rediscover the deepness of the mercy of the Father who welcomes all and goes out to meet everyone personally."
"How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we affirm that sins are punished by his judgment before putting first that they are forgiven by his mercy!" the pope exhorted.
"It is truly so," he said. "We have to put mercy before judgment, and in every case God’s judgment will always be in the light of his mercy."...

The screening practices of the federal government has to be extended to address the new threat of Daesh.

Leading the U.S. government’s consolidated (click here) approach to terrorism watchlisting/screening.

That’s what the Terrorist Screening Center, or TSC, is all about. Born out of the events of 9/11 and created in 2003, the TSC maintains the U.S. government’s consolidated Terrorist Watchlist—a single database of identifying information about those known or reasonably suspected of being involved in terrorist activity.

By supporting the ability of front-line screening agencies to positively identify known or suspected terrorists trying to obtain visas, enter the country, board aircraft, or engage in other activity, the consolidated Terrorist Watchlist is one of the most effective counterterrorism tools for the U.S. government.

Anyone with known contact with any Internet Daesh must be considered dangerous and included in screening practices. No exceptions.

Daesh is an international criminal organization with all the characteristics, including the sale of natural resources to support it's existence.

Where The West is losing its ability to combat domestic terrorism is allowing religious extremists validity in the face of their leaders stating where legitimate claims to Islam exists.

The leaders of any religion are most focused on the individuals standing and their right to living a life within the faith. When international criminals such as found in the organization Daesh claim to own the rightful place of religion while defaming other leadership, then their claim is lost to extremism and treason.

Legitimate leaders of religion come to The West to celebrate with their members. Recently, Pope Francis came to the USA and was joined by other religious leadership in a common ceremony intended to bring the faithful to an understanding of God's many faces. When someone like Pope Francis makes an effort to unite all faiths in recognition of a common God, that can't be ignored.

The efforts by Daesh is to dissolve that unity among faiths to protect their members from violence against one faith over another is simply wrong. Allowing Daesh an identity that stands for mass killings is to undermine every other faith on Earth, including Muslim.

Daesh is a criminal organization of Saddam Ba'athists. That is the proper identity of the extremist group and applies to those that join them.

The ideology of ABSOLUTE SPEECH is defeating the very constitutionality of it. We do not allow citizens to yell fire in an enclosed space that would result in stampedes and injuries and death. But, infiltration of Daesh to corrupt the values of young Muslims, is not met with any form of criminal control. 

Daesh is corrupting members of the Muslim faith in The West and there is no movement against it. The West is overstating it's values to Freedom of Speech when it allows a challenge to it's sovereign right to exist.

Internet sites that promote death as a way to hijacking democracies have to be shut down. Governments must stand with the leaders of Islam who promote peace and personal freedoms and safety, otherwise, such leaders become meaningless.

Daesh is a terrorist organization of Saddam Ba'athists. Contact with these criminals equate to deaths of citizens. If a country can't protect it's citizens from criminal organizations that recruit for the purpose of overthrowing governments then why bother recognizing sovereignty and allow anarchy to reign. There are countries in the world that are not equipped to handle extremists and will fall to this level of religious pressure.

The World Court can hold judicial case in absentia for any criminal identified as promoting the death of innocent people. That should be exercised to let the global community find such individuals and return them for the criminals they are.

This capacity of the World Court has been used before and sometimes within the country itself:

Amman, Jordan, Feb. 15 (AP) — A court on Wednesday (click here) sentenced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the insurgent group in Iraq that calls itself Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, and eight other men to death for plotting chemical attacks against sites in Jordan, including the United States Embassy....

I strongly suggest The West declare international terrorist by name and make it known those taking measures within that capacity to join and increase power of such criminals will be viewed as a direct threat to the sovereignty of a country and will be remanded to the World Court for processing.

If any country in the world has a right to measure and carry out extremism it is France. These violent attacks by individuals that claim they are Daesh or "Doing it for Syria" are criminals and they desire mass killings to bring about worship of their faux god.

In Saudi Arabia individuals that practice alliance with al Qaeda are found out and listed in an official capacity with their arrests to follow the publication of the list. This practice limits the listing as well to 30 or so citizens. The listing in recent times of small numbers of citizens only proves it's effectiveness. These individuals are put through remedial programs which can easily be considered 'de programming.' Saudi Arabia now has the challenge to find members of Daesh within it's society and will probably do so considering the hatred realized in these people.

Saudi Arabia is a monarchy where such decisions are far more simple than constitutional behavior of a Western Constitution, but, the basics are the same and can include Due Process.

The American family of Rizwan needs to speak out to their understanding of his household and how this happened.

His older brother must be heartbroken over the entire idea of striking at the heart of domestic peace. The attack by Rizwan and his wife speaks to the covert nature of their extremism. It is a concern and should serve every country to realize the very covert nature of this particular violence of Internet Daesh. At the same instance just because a brother is a US veteran does not mean his brother is a patriot.

This is interesting. I'll go so far as to say Daesh radicalization is capable of turning a patriot into a madman. I am sure Raheel loved his brother and admired his service to the USA, but, that changed with influence of extremism. I think the entanglements of religious extreme needs to be understood in this case. The trail may lead to a young woman confounded by freedom and access to weapons after being raised by an extremism elsewhere.

December 8, 2015
By Edward McAllister and Yasmeen Abutaleb

One brother (click here) liked to party and chase girls. After high school, moved by what he saw as his patriotic duty, he enlisted in the Navy and received two medals recognizing his contributions to "the global war on terror."

The other was deeply religious and became increasingly intolerant, ultimately nursing a growing hatred that led him, along with his wife, to open fire on a San Bernardino holiday party last week, in what law enforcement officials have termed a terrorist attack.

Syed Raheel Farook and his younger brother Syed Rizwan Farook grew up in the same house, attended the same high school two years apart and, as teenagers, often socialized in the same groups. But as they grew older their paths diverged....

It appears the difference revolves around their taste in women. Raheel was no different than his American peers while Rizwan rejected his peers.

...Rizwan is now dead, gunned down by police in Southern California after joining with his wife in killing 14 people and injuring 21. Raheel is alive and left to wonder what went wrong....

...But those who knew the brothers say that by high school, their differences were apparent and growing.

"Most people here go to mosque to please their parents," said Shakib Ahmed, who attended mosque with the Farooks.

Raheel, the older brother, was that kind of kid, he said. He went to Friday prayers, but he also liked to drink and had a girlfriend in high school who wasn't Muslim.

Rizwan was quieter and more serious - and far more religious. Only with his older brother, friends said, did they see Rizwan lose his temper.

"He was nice to everyone else, but he was kind of the dominating type. He would yell at his brother," Ahmed said....

Every American has the right to practice their religion on a regular basis as the pillars demand, but, it strongly seems as though devotion to Islam can estrange a person from their society. There has to be something here that defines 'a danger' to young Muslims when their world excludes the very culture they grow up in within The West.

I remember bin Laden stating Americans are nothing more than playboys. That is a problem because his holiness bin Laden is someone that stands for a schism within the faith. We have witnessed people stating this form of Islam is a cult as PRACTICED before within Islam. You'll excuse me but calling Daesh a cult rather than identifying them as Saddam Ba'athists seeking to live a full life rather than be apprehended to face a jury is more the reality.

Those calling Daesh a cult is legitimizing it's existence. It is a mistake to give any type of legitimate standing, even in the case of a cult, to international criminals hiding from the wrath of a global community while they encourage death as a reasonable response to a religion of peace found with Muslims.

There needs to be a hearing at the World Court to bring criminal status to Baghdadi and his cohorts. There needs to be tangible evidence to provide as proof of the determination of the criminal status of the Saddam Ba'athists now at large and hiding quite possibly in Turkey or other countries.

It should be assumed and brought to reality those entertaining this particular brand of violence need to be counted as a criminal as well. I don't see why Europe, in their constitutional laws, has to entertain radicals as an amusement and appearing as cartoons. Radicals that defend Daesh as a legitimate cult to power are nothing more than treasonists. When young Muslims get the message radicalization means prison and quite possibly death, they might even reject the Internet Daesh.

Australia has had this problem for a while now. Why allow it as a religious exemption of freedom of expression. That is nonsense. Extremism that preaches death as a pillar of their faith are treasonist. That has to be regarded as important when young people get on the net and entertain Internet Daesh as a legitimate religion. I don't think any country has to entertain hate speech that manifests as violence against others by hiding behind religious precepts. Muslim leaders are coming out stating violence against others is not within the faith. Back them up. Right now it is all talk with no action.

The 1965 killings are no joke. I can understand how people get upset.

December 8, 2015
The Jakarta Police have banned (click here) a reading and discussion of a drama script titled "Family Album: #50years1965" at the Jakarta Theater Festival (FTJ) that was scheduled to take place at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM), Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.

The police said they issued the prohibition because of fears of trouble from opponents of the event.

Letter No. B/19811/XII/2015/Datro states that the police refused to issue a permit as a result of pressure from a group calling itself the Jakarta Theater Family Who Cares for the Jakarta Theater Festival, which had previously informed the police about its plans to hold a rally in protest at the event.

FTJ project officer Malhamang Zamzam questioned the ban, saying such a move was difficult to understand. "It's weird because street rallies are common and we also have right to free speech. If the event fails because of the rally, that's OK. But if it's a result of a prohibition, I can't understand that," said Zamzam as quoted by Tempo.co on Tuesday.

According to Zamzam, there might have been some fear among the opponents who considered the drama script to relate to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), while in fact the activity would only be a historical drama script-writing workshop that referred to archives or studies, led by 10 scriptwriters....

The Jakarta police are rightfully concerned about the people who are upset. The police have a right to measure potential threats to stability. It is difficult to believe any person in Jakarta wants to relive this event. I would be surprised if the history of a country is used to raise militancy within it's borders by Internet Daesh. This is simply an effort by the Jakarta police to contain violence before it begins. I think it is a reasonable decision.

In the course of little more than five months (click here) from late 1965 to early 1966, anti-communist Indonesians killed about half a million of their fellow citizens. Nearly all the victims were associated with Indonesia's Left, especially with the Communist Party (PKI) that had risen to unprecedented national prominence under President Sukarno's Guided Democracy. The massacres were presided over and often coordinated or carried out by anti-communist sections of the Indonesian army, but they also engaged wider elements of Indonesian society - both people who had reason to fear communist power and people who wanted to establish clear anti-communist credentials in troubled times.

The killings followed a coup which took place in Jakarta on the morning of 1 October 1965 in which six senior army generals were killed and a revolutionary council was formed, seizing power from Sukarno. For the whole of the New Order period, Indonesian authorities portrayed these events as a communist grab for power, which was to be followed by the wholesale slaughter of their opponents. Sceptics, by contrast, doubted the PKI's involvement and even wondered whether the coup might have been a 'black' operation by conservative forces, intended to compromise the Party. Recent research, especially by John Roosa, who writes for this issue, has shown that the PKI leadership was closely involved in the coup, but that the aims of the operation were far more limited than a seizure of power....

The Jakarta Police have banned a reading and discussion of a drama script titled "Family Album: #50years1965" at the Jakarta Theater Festival (FTJ) that was scheduled to take place at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM), Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.

The police said they issued the prohibition because of fears of trouble from opponents of the event.

Letter No. B/19811/XII/2015/Datro states that the police refused to issue a permit as a result of pressure from a group calling itself the Jakarta Theater Family Who Cares for the Jakarta Theater Festival, which had previously informed the police about its plans to hold a rally in protest at the event.

FTJ project officer Malhamang Zamzam questioned the ban, saying such a move was difficult to understand. "It's weird because street rallies are common and we also have right to free speech. If the event fails because of the rally, that's OK. But if it's a result of a prohibition, I can't understand that," said Zamzam as quoted by Tempo.co on Tuesday.

According to Zamzam, there might have been some fear among the opponents who considered the drama script to relate to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), while in fact the activity would only be a historical drama script-writing workshop that referred to archives or studies, led by 10 scriptwriters. - See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/08/jakarta-police-ban-discussion-1965-drama.html#sthash.ujGGS9gL.dpuf