The truth is, 2005 was Peak Oil and now the truth is recent history.

April 8, 2015
By Matt Egan

Crude oil prices nose dived (click here) to around $50 a barrel, after peaking at $107 last June. In response, companies have taken an ax to their spending budgets and have cut jobs in the previously-robust energy industry.
Since June, American companies have disclosed 51,747 job cuts directly attributed to falling oil prices, according to data provided exclusively to CNNMoney by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which closely tracks U.S. companies.
The vast majority of the layoffs -- 47,610 -- have been announced this year as oil prices have struggled to climb back up from the depths.
"This industry has always been subject to boom and bust," said John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas....

Who was right? McConnell or Cuomo? There is a truth about the climate crisis and it is there to point to when everyone is ready.

Recognize the leaders, their resolve and their bravery.

It is easy to be a McConnell and fall for the 'easy way out.' It is quite something different to be a strong leader with vision and purpose. It is easy to get the uninformed voter turnout that are scared of losing jobs to fossil fuel industries, but, it is resolved leadership that brings the permanency of climate friendly energy and jobs. Change is a good thing. Change brings opportunity. That is a fact.

January 26, 2015
By Scott Waldman


Albany—After ending the possibility of fracking (click here) in the Southern Tier, Governor Andrew Cuomo offered the region some modest economic development incentives in his annual budget proposal.
Last month, when Cuomo banned natural gas drilling in New York, which industry officials said could have brought billions of dollars in investment to the Southern Tier, he said he would explore other industries for the region. In his budget address last week, he announced more than $50 million in investments for clean energy, agriculture and the renewable wood products industry in the Southern Tier. That's on top of his pressuring the state casino siting board to reopen bidding for a casino there.
Cuomo said his $20 million clean energy competition, to be called 76West, will help revitalize the Southern Tier. The competition will encourage companies to compete for funding, technical assistance and other services, according to the proposal which is vague and void of specifics. It presumably will be connected to Binghamton University's new $70 million Smart Energy Research and Development Facility, which is under construction.
“Let’s invite companies, internationally, to bring their best ideas to the Southern Tier,” Cuomo said. “We will take the best ideas in clean energy companies, we will invest in them if they site and grow in the Southern Tier.”

Validate the authority that speaks the truth.

We all were children once with others looking out for our health and safety, our learning and our future.

..Prior to his appointment, (click here) Vilsack served two terms as the Governor of Iowa, in the Iowa State Senate and as the mayor of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Vilsack was born into an orphanage and adopted in 1951. After graduating Hamilton College and Albany Law School in New York, he moved to Mt. Pleasant, his wife Christie's hometown, where he practiced law. The Vilsacks have two adult sons and two daughters-in-law - Doug, married to Janet; and Jess, married to Kate. They also have four grandchildren.

Secretary Vilsack sets policy. He is known and is respected among the professionals he leads.

December 9, 2015
By David Jackson

Washington - Unless the warming of the earth is slowed, (click here) it will damage the quantity, quality and delivery of food across the world, perhaps generating hunger and conflict, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told USA TODAY in an interview Wednesday.
As diplomats in Paris try to forge a global climate change agreement, the Obama administration is seeking to sell proposed carbon reductions by stressing their benefits to the food supply — and the risks of inaction.
"The reality is that hungry people are not happy people," Vilsack said. "And that is going to increase unrest and it's going to increase instability in a variety of places around the world."
Amid modern-day worries about terrorism and global security, Vilsack said that prospective scarcities of food and water "would be a much more serious security situation than we have even today."
The risks in the United State are more economic, said the former Iowa governor who has been secretary of Agriculture throughout the Obama administration. "The price of food may increase," he said, "which will put greater strain on families that are struggling economically, greater strain on our nutrition assistance programs."...

It is only rhetoric. Why validate it. Let the powerful fall from power because of it.

USA Senate Majority Leader, Senator McConnell states, "Climate deal will mean job losses and rate hikes."

Can everyone agree this is nothing but Republican Rhetoric? Okay? It is meaningless. Certainly McConnell has power to effect US policy, but, this is rhetoric. What good is a leader that holds power and sets USA policy backed by nothing. Will USA policy achieve anything of substance with empty values of rhetoric? 

The climate movement has to focus on building its' clarity and power. That is going to happen with clear educational standards with valid publication. 

"Storms of My Grandchildren" (click here) Check the public libraries to borrow a copy. 

December 27, 2009
By Susan Salter Reynolds
 
...Most scientists (click here) rarely experience the luxury of certainty. But we expect them to speak with authority. We expect them to make impossible predictions and judge them on their accuracy. Even more, we expect them to stay above or at least outside public debates. In "Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity," James Hansen gives us the opportunity to watch a scientist who is sick of silence and compromise; a scientist at the breaking point -- the point at which he is willing to sacrifice his credibility to make a stand to avert disaster, to offer up the fruits of four-plus decades of inquiry and ingenuity just in case he might change the course of history.

Hansen is often called the father of global warming. He was the creator, more than 30 years ago, of one of the first climate models, Model Zero, which he used to make a series of accurate predictions about climate change in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. He was invited to the White House; he has testified before Congress; he is the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies....

His first grandchild is a reason that James Hansen wants to warn about climate change. (Makiko Sato / Bloomsbury USA / Walker and Co.)


As Dr. Hansen has stated the next generation and the generation after that has a great deal of interest in the actions we take now. It is the truth tellers and those that actually love the generations that follow that have center stage. We must continue to drive the interest in the truth by expressing the love of our generations to follow.


...We start with climate diagnostics (click here) — people are usually most interested in climate change itself. But cause-and-effect analysis requires also data on climate forcings (which drive climate change) and feedbacks (which amplify or diminish climate change)....

The climate agreement has strengthens. Transparency requires strong opinions as part of it.

Dr. James Hansen (click here) is a very important man and that hasn't changed. It is vital all the scientists involved with climate, stay involved with climate. 

It is important that educators all over the world decide on the standards of degree programs in Climate Science. I would think Dr. Hansen of Columbia and Dr. Fields of Stanford should begin a movement to achieve the excellence for the next generation of scientists. They will need to be resolved to zero greenhouse gas emissions to the per-industrialist standards and how to get there.

In the spirit of transparency, Dr. Hansen's opinion on the new agreement is accepted. 

186 countries with submitted climate goals to be reviewed in five years is not a minor achievement. The agreement has a lot of promise. It provides an important platform to bring stronger understanding of what efforts make a difference, what doesn't and what makes it worse. Kindly consider the brevity of those priorities.

13 December 2015
By Oliver Milman

...Asked about Hansen’s comments by ABC, (click here) in an interview broadcast on Sunday, Kerry, who led US negotiators in Paris, said he disagreed.
“Look, I have great respect for Jim Hansen and I was there in 1988 when he first warned everybody climate change was happening,” the secretary of state said.
“But with all due respect to him, I understand the criticisms of the agreement because it doesn’t have a mandatory scheme and it doesn’t have a compliance enforcement mechanism. That’s true.
“But we have 186 countries, for the first time in history, all submitting independent plans that they have laid down, which are real, for reducing emissions.
“And what it does, in my judgment, more than anything else, there is a uniform standard of transparency. And therefore, we will know what everybody is doing.
“The result will be a very clear signal to the marketplace of the world that people are moving into low carbon, no carbon, alternative renewable energy. And I think it’s going to create millions of jobs, enormous new investment in R&D [research and development], and that R&D is going to produce the solutions, not government.”...

It's Sunday Night

"Out Of Time" by the Rolling Stones (click here for official website)

You don't know what's going on
You've been away for far too long
You can't come back and think you are still mine
You're out of touch, my baby
My poor discarded baby
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
You are all left out
Out of there without a doubt
Cause baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
You thought you were a clever girl
Giving up your social whirl
But you can't come back and be the first in line, on no
You're obsolete my baby
My poor old-fashioned baby
I said baby, baby, baby you're out of time
Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
Yes, you are left out
Out of there without a doubt
Cause baby, baby, baby, you're out of time

"The end is in sight. (click here) Let us now finish the job," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told delegates at the two-week meetings. "The whole world is watching. Billions of people are relying on your wisdom."

Update at 1:18 p.m. ET: The Meeting Has Begun

After hours of delays, Fabius begins the evening's proceedings in France.
The event then turned to correcting errors in the documents, as well as differences between translations.

Update at 12:50 p.m. ET: U.S. Supports Deal; Meeting Still Pending

With delays slowing the start of the meeting, we're hearing word that U.S. climate envoy Todd Stern says the United States will agree to the deal. Stern spoke to reporters as delegates entered the main gathering hall.
The Like Minded Group of Developing Countries — China, India, Saudi Arabia, and others — has said through a spokesman that they're "happy" with the deal, the BBC reports.

The Proposal is done (click here)

Benjamin Crump has picked up the African American experience where Martin Luther King, Jr. left off with his assassination.

For whatever reason Attorney Benjamin Crump has set his path on justice for African Americans where most litigators leave off.

He came to the forefront of the African American struggle when Trayvon Martin was murdered. I thought for as wonderful he was then we would never see him again in a high profile case. He must have felt defeated when Trayvon's murderer went free. 

Every time there is a defeat for justice, especially in minority communities, it can be devastating. I have watched him invest in the efforts to raise America's minorities above doubt to fight the good fight. He has recruited many other African American attorneys and it seems as though the number marching the legal fight is endless. 

Rape, be it Caucasian or minority is nearly an impossible case to win. I applaud him for his demands for justice in the face of profound racism and oppression of the truth. I admire him.  

Jannie Ligons, (click here) left, one of the victims of sexual assault by former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw, smiles as attorney Benjamin Crump holds up her arm during a news conference in Oklahoma City, Friday, Dec. 11, 2015. Ligons, whose report launched the police investigation into Holtzclaw, said he picked the wrong lady to stop that night. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki) 


December 11, 2015
By Matt Sedensky and Sean Murphy

Oklahoma City (AP) — The rape convictions (click here) that could put a fired Oklahoma City police officer behind bars for life are vindication for some of the women he targeted, and also a reminder of how difficult it is to achieve justice in such cases.
Most victims never report sexual assaults, and those who accused ex-officer Daniel Holtzclaw were even more vulnerable as poor black women, many with checkered histories of crime and addiction.
A grandmother's bravery in telling her story made all the difference this time. After Holtzclaw pulled her over, forced her to expose herself and perform oral sex, she filed a complaint that triggered a search for other victims.
In this case at least, it changed a narrative all too common in sex crimes: The jury found him guilty of rape.
"I didn't do anything wrong," the grandmother said Friday, showing her face on camera and revealing her name as Jannie Ligons. "So all I can say is, I was innocent and he just picked the wrong lady to stop that night."...

Boeing has a new jet.

December 12, 2015
By Julie Johnson

Boeing's latest 737 (click here) airliner is gliding through development with little notice, and that may be the plane's strongest selling point.
Even the customary fanfare accompanying a new plane's public debut has been muted. While the 737 Max's rollout is being celebrated Tuesday in private ceremonies outside Seattle, the first plane actually slipped out of a Boeing factory to the paint shop on Nov. 30, meeting to the day a timeline set four years ago....

August 21, 2015

A video has captured (click here) the exact moment a lightning bolt hit a plane while on a runway in Atlanta.
The Delta Airlines Boeing 737-900ER was to be queuing for take-off when the bolt of lightning hits the top of the plane near the tail.
According to Jack Perkins, who shot the video, said his plane was grounded because of the severe weather and he took the footage to show his wife just how bad conditions were when the strike happened.
The plane was carrying 111 customers and six crew when the lightning bolt hit, according to Global News.
However, thanks to some clever engineering, any damage to the aircraft or injury to passengers and crew was avoided.


It's competition is the Airbus A320.

Okay, I've had enough of the agonizing over Donald Trump.

HE HAS THE NUMBERS!

There is no story here. 

The numbers for the Republican Debates tell the story. 

Donald Trump has had a following for a long time. He has been proving his leadership for years. There is an entire segment of people that have confidence in his decision making. 

Statistics for polls are based on a 'pool of people' representative of the Republican base. 

SO.

Donald Trump is an outlier. The only thing that he has to worry about is making himself about his direction of this leadership in complicated government situations. He has to draw in his existing base which is much bigger than anyone else. His base knows how they feel about him from years of leadership, but, they have to decide how they feel about him in the presidency.

NOW. Can we please move on to other issues that actually matter and haven't already been decided?

I hope everyone has been evacuated from this storms path. It will be pushing a huge storm surge.

40' to 45' waves (click here)

5 hours ago
By Renee Duff

A potent storm (click here) that will cross the Aleutian Islands of Alaska this weekend could become the strongest recorded storm to impact the region.
This storm comes a little over a year after ex-Super Typhoon Nuri became the most powerful system on record to cross Dutch Harbor, Alaska, which is located in the Aleutian Islands, with a central low pressure of 924 millibars (27.29 inches of Hg).
The intensity of a storm is measured by the central pressure, with lower pressure equating ...

That is a very low central pressure and the storm already looks well formed with a very condensed central 'eye.'

Fishermen and women need to moor the boats and ships with safety. With this storm surge there will probably be ripped from their moorings....

Female polar bear, body index 1, on very open drift ice in Hinlopen Stretet, Svalbard, July 26, 2015. (Kerstin Langenberger)  

60-80% of polar bears are in Canada (click here)

Ministers and other leaders from the five polar bear range states met in Moscow for the first International Forum on Polar Bear conservation. The leaders made significant commitments to address issues of polar bear habitat, research and trade. This event was supported by WWF.

One of the reasons people are so concerend about Deash is because the Ba'athists have capacity.

17 October 2014
Iraqi pilots (click here) who have joined the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group operating in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets, the opposition UK-based Syrian Observatory said on Friday.
“It was the first time the militant group had taken to the air,” it added.
ISIL has been flying the planes over the captured al-Jarrah Syrian military airport east of Aleppo, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, citing witnesses in Syria’s northern Aleppo province.
“They have trainers, Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein,” he said.
“People saw the flights, they went up many times from the airport and they are flying in the skies outside the airport and coming back.”...

I have absolutely no doubt Turkey is paying attention of who is within it's borders and who is attempting to cross the border shared with Syria. The government of Turkey should be concerned about it's borders. For a very long time Turkey should be concerned about it's borders. For a very long time Turkey wasn't intereted in that border except for PKK movements.

A lone American airman that was listed on the no fly list shows up within Turkey's borders and may have been moving toward Syria's border should expect to be approached by the Turkish government. If he thought he could just waltz into Turkey and move about with immunity he was very mistaken.

This was completely obvious that Mr. Long would be met with concern by the government of Turkey. 

The governments of the world are fully aware Daesh would like to obtain an air force and preferably one with nuclear capacity or to drop barrel bombs to match the capacity of the Syrian military.

There is someone in Turkey who would be more than willing to hear from Mr. Long.
   
Ambassador John R. Bass. John Bass (click here) was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 17, 2014 as the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey. A career Senior Foreign Service officer, he served as Executive Secretary from 2012 to 2014, and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia from 2009 to 2012.

It is not right to judge Justice Scalia on one statement during a hearing of the Court.

The only way anyone could criticize Justice Scalia of racism is to examine his writing and find consistency.

Grutter v. Bollinger (click here)

No. In a 5-4 opinion delivered by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the Court held that the Equal Protection Clause does not prohibit the Law School's narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body. The Court reasoned that, because the Law School conducts highly individualized review of each applicant, no acceptance or rejection is based automatically on a variable such as race and that this process ensures that all factors that may contribute to diversity are meaningfully considered alongside race. Justice O'Connor wrote, "in the context of its individualized inquiry into the possible diversity contributions of all applicants, the Law School's race-conscious admissions program does not unduly harm nonminority applicants."

In Grutter v. Bollinger, Justice Scalia voted with the minority of judges.

But in City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson, (click here) Justice Scalia voted with the majority.

I think it is important fairness is carried out in any claim of racism. If people believe racism has been a trend for him, then the words spoken recently validates that finding. However, if Justice Scalia is inconsistent in his writings then the disturbing statement only indicates a personality specialty of Justice Scalia to gain attention or wake the audience up in the courtroom.

The Congressional three day notification law is unconstitutional. It is overreaching into the Executive Branch and conflicts with separation of powers. There is no other reason for the three day notice except to define the Executive Branch as an untrustworthy/impugned branch of government. This overreaching is typical of the Republican majority in the House and Senate.

The reason President Obama have signed the legislation is because this Congress chronically practices brinkmanship.

Mudslides and landslides usually follow after rain soaks droughted soil. That is the case even after the sun comes out. The land is disrupted and will need to settle after the rain.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee (click here) declared a drought emergency across three regions including key agricultural hubs of the U.S. Northwest State on Friday, citing near record low snowpack levels ahead of the spring runoff.

Watersheds on the Olympic Peninsula, east side of the central Cascade Mountains including Yakima and Wenatchee, and Walla Walla region, which are vital to apple and wine production, will be hit hardest with drought conditions, the governor’s office said.

April 17, 2015
Seattle - This is the first time in a decade (click here) Washington's governor has declared a drought. Friday he announced new drought areas, which means 44 percent of the state is now in drought. We have had plenty of rain this year, but, the Department of Ecology says that's not the problem; the issue is snowpack.

"This year we're at 100 percent rainfall but only 24 percent snowpack, and that makes a big difference," explains Maia Bellon, the director of the state Department of Ecology.

We decided to explore the issue at Olympia's farmers market, where produce is in abundance on a gorgeous Friday afternoon; that sounds like good news. The bad news is it will likely be short-lived. An abundantly warm and dry winter means crops are maturing early, so this feast will likely be followed by a critical famine.

We've calculated that we will have the lowest river flows in the state of Washington that we've had in the last 64 years," Bellon tell us....

December 10, 2015
Seattle - Gov. Jay Inslee (click here) declared a state of emergency in Washington on Wednesday after days of heavy rain caused rivers to rise, flooding and landslides across the west part of the state. Multiple river remained under a flood warning.
The heavy rain and flooding have claimed the lives of two people in Oregon. A 60 year old southeast Portland woman died early Wednesday morning after a tree fell onto her house. The woman was in bed sleeping when the 30 inch diameter tree fell and nearly sheared the house in two. The woman's husband and brother, who were also in the house, were not hurt.
One person drowned and another was rescued after they drove their car into high water near Clatskanie, Ore.
A man pulled himself out of the vehicle as it sand and called for help. A neighbor saw him standing on the car and flagged down officials, who were able to rescue him. A water rescue crew towed the vehicle, which was submerged in about 12 feet of water, out...

Below:

As Washington state and the Pacific Northwest are hit with heavy rain and flood risks, a surging Snoqualmie Falls is captured in aerial footage. VPC

The Republicans are synchronizing their politics on the House and Senate floors with media events

Bowe Bregdahl went missing June 30, 2009. He was the only American listed as an MIA in the Afghanistan war. The US Congress had years of notification, not just three days.

One might ask Congressmen what they want a live or dead American after three days when it was leaked?

Minority Leaders Reid and Pelosi can now add this to their complaints of ethical issues with Republicans. They are using media events to time their political agenda. A political agenda that has no basis in the facts.

Check the Congressional calendar and match it with media events. There are probably many more. The committee regarding Planned Parenthood was a media event for the Republicans. It was handled incompetently and there are dead and injured Americans to prove it. Republicans stop at nothing to have influence.

Don't take my word for it, NBC is reporting the same thing.

December 10, 2015
By Erik Ortiz
..."I'm going, 'Good grief, (click here) I'm in over my head,'" Bergdahl says in the premiere episode of "Serial's" second season, recounting how he walked away from his military base in June 2009.
"Suddenly, it really starts to sink in that I really did something bad. Or, not bad, but I really did something serious."...

This is again the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats care about the people, while Republicans care about their wallets and wealthy political donors. 

December 10, 2015
By Steven Johnson 

U.S. Army (click here) Private Bowe Bergdahl watches as one of his captors displays his identity tag to the camera at an unknown location in Afghanistan, July 19, 2009. Photo by Reuters TV

Season up, servers down. (click here)
That appeared to be the case briefly Thursday morning when the first episode of the second season of the hit podcast “Serial” (click here) was posted without advance fanfare on the show’s website.
As has been widely speculated, the episode deals with the travails of former U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, charged with deserting the Army in Afghanistan in June 2009. For the first time in the media, Bergdahl tells his own story, a complicated tale that morphed from a missing persons case into a returning soldier story into a political lightning rod.
The episode, available at serialpodcast.org and through other channels, puts the Bergdahl story in context, including a quote from presidential candidate Donald Trump saying, “In the old days deserters were shot."

Attempts to access the episode on the show’s website in its first hours, across several devices, were at first rebuffed, suggesting massive interest. But that situation didn’t last and the website soon delivered the episode smoothly.
The episode begins with excerpts from Bergdahl’s 25 taped hours of conversation with screenwriter Mark Boal, one of the filmmakers behind “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” Their essence is that Bergdahl thinks of himself, first, as a whistleblower hoping to alert higher-ups to leadership he considered “dangerous."...

Generosity is spent well in this simple economic dynamic.

Rhode Island kids raise money for K.I.N.D. (click here)

These are not the Rhode Island heroes to the left, it is an African school.

This has been a great program that brings local economies to matter in Africa. 

The charity also provides for donations to a girl(s) tuition to complete school. 

Kindly consider the K.I.N.D. Fund (Kids In Need of Desks) as a means to buy a gift for a person that has everything. I have purchased desks for holiday gifts. UNICEF sends a message to the recipient of the gift to explain the rewards of such acts of compassion. Everyone loved the idea and were satisfied the gift they received went to a noble cause. 

Who would think simply supplying desks to children would make such a difference, but, it does.