Here it is, 42 percent. It appears to be from 2014.

By Robert G. Yetman, Jr., Managing Editor, The James L. Paris Report

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, (click here) from which we all receive the “official” number each month, unemployment in America is at 5.3 percent (as of May), which is a relatively decisive drop from the 6.1 percent mark at which the BLS declared the level to sit in May of 2014. However, the unemployment rate has become very much a function of the eye of the beholder…and it all depends, it seems, on just what prism through which the beholder is looking....

Who knew? The brilliant man behind these figures states there is mystery in the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A, ha. Politicians cannot be trusted with our hearts and facts about why we are suffering so much on a day to day basis.

For example, let’s talk briefly about the difference between U-3 and U-6 unemployment rates....

Defund the Secretary of Labor!

The government (click here) reports today that unemployment is officially at 5.3 percent in May, down from 6.1 percent in May of last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor. Former Reagan administration Budget Director, David Stockman, says the real unemployment rate in the United States is now about 42.9 percent. Could our real unemployment rate really be that high?...

'I doubt this study will be find itself to the national presidential debates.

The difference between the two candidates when it comes to funding is obvious. However, a candidate for the presidency has to take their funding seriously. Hillary Clinton believes in her leadership for the USA. Realizing that, she would have been foolish to toss out her methods of fund raising. Why would she sabotage herself in hopes she could meet Senator Sanders abilities.

She is correct to run on the funding she finds.

She has to make it clear her fundraising will not cause favoritism in her service to the country. Bernie Sanders does not have to do that. He has little to no conflict of interest.

This issue is important because the country has seen the status quo at work that left so many without homes, hope or even a job. The country doesn't want it anymore. Bernie Sanders is the new model for candidacy. 

What Senator Sanders has proven is, that if a candidate devotes their political career to serving the people it will carry him all the way to a bid for the presidency.

Senator Bernie Sanders is a phenomena few could duplicate. This is Senator Sanders life time federal funding. From 1989 to present. He runs on small cash donors. Amazing. This is home for him. He knew when he embarked on the presidency he was going to receive the monies for his campaign. He is unique and amazing. It must feel great to know voters clamor to his side with donations they can afford and as a result he serves them exclusively.

Hillary Clinton is a former Secretary of State (click here) and former Democratic senator for New York. The wife of former President Bill Clinton, she was a 2008 candidate for her party's presidential nomination. She lost that race to a relative newcomer on the scene, fellow Sen. Barack Obama, during a contentious primary season -- but went on to lead the State Department for the entirety of his first term.

Real Clear Politics

The three candidates (click here) pulled in voters with the narrowing field. Donald Trump and John Kasich appears to have met a plateau while Ted Cruz hasn't met one yet.

In 2012, the woman voter determined the elections. (click here)

What is the one country with nuclear weapons and plenty of them that pose a real threat to the world?

Pakistan.

Where did Osama bin Laden live?

If India decides to develop a nuclear weapon, what is the chance Pakistan will ever deweaponize from nucks?

The seismic activity in Pakistan alone is scary. I'm waiting for another Chernobyl.

The United Nations Security Council needs to have a sincere discussion with Secretary Kerry, India and Pakistan.

This was Secretary Kerry two days ago. INDIA IS NOT ONE OF THE PERMANENT MEMBERS, but, hey they are strategic to Russia and China.

March 31, 2016

Kerry said Mr. Obama has called (click here) the relationship with India a defining relationship of this century, and there are many reasons for that.

India has an important role to play in responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons and materials, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington where he will attend the two-day Nuclear Security Summit.

“India has a long record of being a leader, of being responsible, and it is particularly important right now at a time when we see some choices being made in the region that may accelerate possible arms construction, which we have serious questions about,” Mr. Kerry said as he met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

“India has a very important role to play with respect to responsible stewardship of nuclear weapons and nuclear materials,” Mr. Kerry said on Wednesday, adding that the U.S. has raised these issues with various partners in the region.

Someone want to explain this because it is definitely outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The very treaty the Iran agreement is built on.

If the media doesn't want to talk about nukes in an honest way, then don't talk about them at all!

Republicans and I don't care who it is, drool over nuclear weapons. It is a part of their political ideology.

The "W" administration had exactly the same view, "There are so many countries with nuclear capacity, it will happen." Same thing. Same idea. 

"W" went on foreign trips to places like India and proliferated nuclear power.

February 13, 2015
By Amitai Etzioni

...The U.S. long (click here) considered India to be the leader of the non-aligned camp and held that it was tilting toward the USSR and, later, toward Russia. India purchased most of its weapons from Russia, and it had a pseudo-socialist economic regime. The U.S. tilted toward Pakistan throughout the Cold War and in the years that followed. However, following the rise of China, the George W. Bush administration decided to lure India into the West’s camp and draw on it to help contain China. Bush therefore offered India civil nuclear technology and access to uranium, the fuel it needed for nuclear power reactors. The Indian government agreed to sign a 123 Agreement (or the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement), but the deal ran into considerable opposition within India. Hence the resulting impasse, which Obama has now helped resolve....

Okay, talking heads can stop the lies now. The fact is that Donald Trump is well studied of the "W" administration. 

Where were the appauling statements during the time of "W" and Darth Vadar. You know the man who outed Valerie Plame.

Don't tell me Donald Trump is new, he very much is not!

There has been a long held belief by the Cheney's of the world, a ground war between Europe and Russia included ground level nucks.

Has so much generational change occurred that no one understands Republican stance on nuclear war? During the entire "W" administration there were media talks about the power of a nuclear bomb wasn't all that. CNN portrayed the nuclear explosion in Japan was not complete destruction and people lived through it. They showed all kinds of bodies and their injuries, but, the fact they survived was emphasized.

There is no ignorance here with Trump. This has been standard dialogue with Republicans.

Now. I want to hear how the media is going to discuss the idea of "limited nuclear war" with Republicans vs. a global peace with Democrats. Who in the Democratic party actually sees global peace as a potential?

The anti-Trump movement is about the candidate and NOT the antiquated ideologies of the Establishment Republican Party. As a matter of fact the knee jerk reaction to Donald Trump's success to date has been to use large amounts of money to defeat him. Why? He is emulating every Republican ideology for as long as the Republican Party existed post Lincoln. The fact is the establishment Republican is afraid of Donald Trump because he might actually improve the circumstances of the impoverished Red States and OMG it is going to hack into their profit structure and then what will the rest of their family do for an income.

May 9, 1990

By Melissa Healy

Calgary, Canada — Defense Secretary Dick Cheney (click here) warned Tuesday that in spite of political changes that have caused the "demise" of the Warsaw Pact as a military threat, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization should not renounce the first use of nuclear weapons in a European ground war.

Speaking to reporters on the way to a meeting of NATO's Nuclear Planning Group here, Cheney said, "I would not give . . . up" the threat to initiate a nuclear war in Europe.

Cheney's comments come less than a week after President Bush called for negotiations to reduce or eliminate short-range, ground-launched nuclear weapons in Europe and announced that the United States will discontinue the modernization of such weapons. His remarks also are the first indication of the Bush Administration's position on one of the most politically charged issues that the NATO alliance faces.

Cheney and his NATO counterparts gathered here to begin discussions today on the alliance's future nuclear needs and policies. The 14 NATO defense ministers who take part in the alliance's Nuclear Planning Group are expected to order a sweeping review designed to guide arms negotiations and modernization plans....

What is the purpose besides depriving the front runner of his nomination. What will come of it? Confusion and decent?

 March 22, 2016
By Leigh Ann Caldwell

Efforts to derail (click here) the momentum of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump have been financed by a small number of Republican donors. Just two families have financed nearly two-thirds - 62 percent - of the total efforts by two of the main organizations attempting to stop the nomination of Trump.
The Ricketts family, who own the Chicago Cubs, and the Stephens family, Arkansas based investors, have given a total of $8.25 million in January and February to two super PACs this year, according to the latest filings to the Federal Election Committee.
Our Principles PAC has collected $7.78 million dollars since its inception in January. Of that, $5 million, or 64 percent, is from Joe and Marlene Ricketts, owners of the Chicago Cubs and founders of TD Ameritrade...

The Kochs are thinking about joining the anti-Trump movement. It is a corrupt set of values. Why should a few families have the power to direct a political party in the USA? 

I still say this supposed movement to stop Donald Trump from realizing his goals of winning the nomination is nothing but corruption and speaks to the wayward values of the establishment Republicans. 

It is all about control for the wealth.

In 1995 Joe Ricketts (click here) merged his Nebraska-based discount stock brokerage with a small online trading firm to form Ameritrade, and took it public two years later. In 2006, Ricketts led AmeritradeA to acquire TD Waterhouse for $1.7 billion, and renamed the company TD Ameritrade. Ricketts stepped down as chairman in 2008; he and his family own just under 12% of the company and his son Todd sits on the board....

It is all corruption by the wealthy. There is not 47 percent here and they want to keep it that way. The question is, who is hijacking the Republican Party and it's process to the convention?

About Stevens (click here)

It is private money, but, it isn't money in a private market and exclusive interests. The anti-Trump CAPITALISTS are scared of losing a dime or two. The are the equivalent of Romney and Bain Capital.

I never thought I'd be on the same side with Sarah Palin, but, these guys need to be stopped. They could not care less about the little guy who is holding on to a dream with Donald Trump. 

Donald Trump is not making money, he has dedicated himself to an honest fight. Ricketts and Stevens are nothing but corruption and power leveraging. The circumstances of the people standing with Trump won't change and it needs to change. Even the Democrats would agree these folks need a break.

Elon Musk is the genius behind the machines.

I have a suggestion for him. For the people that have believed in Tesla's vision there should be a special offer to make them happy. 

Lease the cars Tesla already has produced. Find as reasonable a lease price as can be found and lease the current Tesla on the road today to ONLY those that have invested in the future in waiting for the Model 3.

It is an exclusive offer. It is designed to maintain liquidity in the company going forward as well as a solid base interested in the Model 3. When the Model 3 is ready the consumers can purchase their Model 3 and Tesla receives their rentals back and can sell them as Pre-Owned. 

It is only a suggestion. I hope Space X solves it's problems with a landing platform at sea. It is a tricky model. Landing on fluid is a real accomplishment.

April 1, 2016
by Michael Hiltzik

With his vrauvura introduction (click here) of the Tesla Motors Model 3 on Thursday, company founder Elon Musk cemented his reputation as the business world's most outstanding showman since Steve Jobs.
 Musk had auto industry experts, investment analysts and would-be buyers of the $35,000 electric vehicle slavering over the car's design and specs — and the company's future —in part by announcing that as of Friday, at least 180,000 potential customers already had plunked down deposits of $1,000 each to reserve the car.
Tesla shares, which may rank as Musk's most creative product, opened Friday at $244.82, up 6.5% from Thursday's close (though it had given up about half of that gain by midday). Friday's action followed a mind-bending 60% run-up dating back to Feb. 10, when Tesla posted a disappointing loss but Musk somehow charmed investors into accepting his promise of profits to come soon and his optimism about the coming unveiling of the Model 3.
They should all take a deep breath....


continued...

Just to note...

...Donald Trump is winning with Republican Hispanics because of his tax plan.

Preparedness for the USA fire season should be organized today, not when it begins.

April 1, 2016
By Peter Hannam

...Sydney broke a slew of records last month, (click here) including the highest average minimum temperatures and seven nights when the mercury stayed above 22 degrees (71.6 F)....

The danger of heat is best understood in the cooling rates and coolest temperatures in the course of a day. The daytime temperatures can be high, but, if the nighttime temperatures are cool, the following day's infrared temperatures has a longer time to reach dangerous increases.

...A spell of wetter weather in the second half of the month meant the city's daytime temperatures came in only fourth-highest for March. The city, though, broke records for the most days in a row of 24, 25, 26 and 27 degrees "reflecting a prolonged period of warmth in coastal NSW", the bureau said.

The abnormal heat is hardly a one-month wonder. The October-March period in Sydney has been two degrees warmer than average for maximum temperatures, making it the hottest such period in more than 150 years of records, Acacia Pepler, a climatologist at the bureau, said....

These temperatures in Sydney are instructive. Sydney is a city. Cities are heat islands. The fact Sydney's coolest temperatures were still high provides a window to what can be expected as the direct solar rays reach into the USA's cities and towns.

Water vapor mitigates heat. With drier air comes higher temperatures.

Drier air is it's own concern because people feel less heat with less water vapor. Hydration in high heat is important, regardless of humidity.

The latest hypothetical vocabulary word at FOX is SCIF. It is about security in areas of a building such as the President's office. There are no conclusions at FOX that matters because the email issue is not occurring in isolation from interaction with federal security authorities.

Simply stated, (click here) a SCIF is a U.S. Government accredited facility where Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) can be stored, discussed or electronically processed. Primarily Government and government-related contractors that require high security have the need for SCIFs. The areas of concern and special attention typically include physical security and hardening, acoustics controls, visual controls, access control, electronic and TEMPEST security....

...All telephone, electrical power, security systems, data and emergency systems equipment must be dedicated to and contained within the SCIF. Any utility that enters the SCIF should terminate in the SCIF and not traverse through the space. Where the conduit for any of these systems penetrate the SCIF perimeter, they must be treated to minimize the chance of compromise....

A SCIF is not sterile of all forms of communication; nothing in the security is perfect. The definition of the purpose of a SCIF ends doubt about her innocence simply because every effort has to MINIMIZE any threat to security. She and her staff met with federal security specialists and sought to minimize any threat of leaks, etc.

Unless things have changed since March 22, 2016, experts state there is little chance for charges regarding State Department emails.

March 22, 2016

By the AP
Washington — Asked earlier this month (click here) whether she'd be indicted over her use of a private email server as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton responded, "It's not going to happen."
Though Republicans characterized her response as hubris, several legal experts interviewed by The Associated Press agreed with the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The relatively few laws that govern the handling of classified materials were generally written to cover spies, leakers and those who illegally retain such information, such as at home. Though the view is not unanimous, several lawyers who specialize in this area said it's a stretch to apply existing statutes to a former cabinet secretary whose communication of sensitive materials was with aides — not a national enemy....

There are several renditions of the charges waiting for Hillary Clinton while she is running for the presidential nominee for the Democrats. The latest email talks state the former Secretary used her Blackberry in classified areas such as her office at the State Department.

There were meetings with security specialists by the Secretary and her staff with the federal government by the Clinton State Department Office. She wanted to use her Blackberry no different than President Obama. It is understandable with President Obama using his Blackberry, his Cabinet would be using the same technology in communications for work purposes. 

The final experts are the FBI and judges that may be reviewing the investigation. It is stated there are many FBI employees working on this issue so it is likely it will be finalized soon. What underlies this election issue for Hillary Clinton is the fact there were no leaks of her material. The idea her communications were not secure is all imagineering at this point. 

Hypotheticals don't count in criminal investigations. And the fact she and her staff met with federal security personnel places any negligent charges on the extremes of possibility. She and the staff knew they were handling important material and took it seriously enough to consult with federal authorities. I just don't see any problems at this time.

For the sake of argument, let's say there is a change of negligence, does that end her candidacy. I think not. She and any member of her staff are still facing due process. I doubt any due process will end by the conventions or even November. The Democrats need to decide if a due process problem would factor into her run for the presidency into November. Who's Vice President?

The Pro-Life/Anti-Abortion Movement lies about prison of women.

There is an entry on this blog from yesterday proving the Pro-Life movement NOW CURRENTLY TODAY imprisons pregnant women under the guise of drug control that would effect the fetus or baby.

The idea Donald Trump doesn't know his constituents is a lie. He knows them completely and while the Pro-Life Movement came out to criticize him, it was only due to the fact they lie and hide their true agenda.

Pro-Life wants a fetus to have more rights than the pregnant woman. Locking women in prison while pregnant supposedly to benefit the fetus is such a lie. The pregnant woman gets no pre-natal care and no rehabilitation for drug abuse that can not only end the abuse for the duration of the pregnancy, but, will provide for healthy and hopeful motherhood.

THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT WANTS TO CHARGE WOMEN WHO GETS AN ABORTION WITH MURDER. That is a fact and that is what Donald Trump understood and spoke to in his interview.

The woman in Wisconsin imprisoned for a positive blood test or a urine test for controlled drugs is not a drug issue, it is a pregnancy issue. She was imprisoned because she was pregnant not because she was charged with drug use with a court date for a hearing. She was placed in prison because she talked to a doctor about her pregnancy and the fact she only recently stopped her drug abuse. If she wasn't pregnant she would not be in the doctor's office.

Pro-Life is lying to the electorate. They hide their agenda. Kindly get that right. They want women in prison for having an abortion. As far as Pro-Life is concerned if the doctors are imprisoned then it is all the better.

Look at what they have done in Texas. Sure they closed clinics, but, now a doctor willing to perform abortions has to have admitting privileges to a hospital. That isn't making it easier for women to obtain care when they have an unwanted pregnancy. It makes it more difficult and increases the cost for the actual abortion as well as the travel time and expense and probably a hotel room over night before returning home.

Don't ever believe the Pro-Life/Anti-abortion Movement is finished in rolling back legal abortions to 20 weeks. They are long from finished with it.

Donald Trump was spot on when he states he would consider punishment for the woman. He knows his constituency and the method of punishment would have to be determined when his bill was entered in Congress.

And this is no joke. There are real women with lives and the Pro-Life Movement has no problem with destroying their lives with prison time.

The complete arrogance of the Pro-Life bitches is unbelievable. But, I suppose if they are investing huge amounts of money to have Congressmen pass exactly that kind of legislation, they need to be a bitch.

They should try a quilting bee rather than instigating trouble in other women's lives

What happens to a woman when they want an abortion after 20 weeks? Is the country that ignorant to realize women are seeking abortions anyway? Today, even under legal abortions up to 20 weeks. They are seeking abortions anyway. I am quite sure there are statistics in health records in the USA that have women deaths due to complications of illegal abortions.

The heat trapping gases of Earth. Carbon dioxide is the naturally abundant greenhouse gas.

Carbon dioxide a colorless, odorless and incombustable gas. It is a compound derived by two elements carbon and oxygen. 

The chemical symbol is:

There is only one molecule of carbon to two molecules of oxygen. The subscript number 2 indicates there are two molecules of oxygen. 

Carbon dioxide is a necessary gas for Earth as is every greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide is extremely stable and does not dissipate for a very long time. 

That is a desirable quality for Earth as it supports a temperature on Earth that allows life to exist. The problem enters when there is an over abundance of CO2 and the heat trapping quality of CO2 grows with added CO2 to an atmosphere already warm and in support of the life on Earth. 

Kindly consider Earth was doing very well all by itself in supporting life on a comfortably warm planet. It didn't need any help. Earth for millions of years supplied it's own warmth in greenhouse gases that allowed evolution of plants and animals. Earth was an incubator to life just the way it existed. Perfect. 

It was the use of coal, coke, oil and natural gas beginning in the late 1800s during the Industrial Revolution that shifted the natural balance of Earth.

There are all kinds of weird things said about the natural world and carbon dioxide emissions and how there is more CO2 in the natural world than in any burning of fossil fuels. That is true by the way. Carbon dioxide emissions in the natural world are higher than burning fossil fuels, but, remember before the greenhouse gas imbalance began plants and animals, including people, supplied the need for global warming. One plant and one animal could not impose a warming layer of greenhouse gases. It took a population of flora and fauna to enjoy the balance of Earth's warmth. 

Greenhouse gases do break down over time, so if there were little symbiosis between life on Earth with the necessary gases to keep the planet warm, there would be no life on Earth. When one finally takes the time to realize what is happening with Earth as a planet full of life it gets to be very interesting. Very interesting. 

No one finds the idea that animals exhale carbon dioxide and plants primarily exhale oxygen an interesting thought?

Does the knowledge to the breakdown of greenhouse gases in the atmospheres worry anyone? No? 

Okay then.

Will Ted Cruz get through the Republican primaries without the electorate knows the truth about his sexual affairs and his citizen status?

March 28, 2016
By Melissa Cronin 

...Ted Cruz thought Donald Trump (click here) was the biggest roadblock on his journey to the White House, but RadarOnline.com has learned he’s now facing an even more terrifying threat: This afternoon, an individual purporting to be a representative of the hacker group Anonymous posted a disturbing Twitter video that threatens to expose ‘very dirty secrets’ including information about Cruz ‘visiting prostitutes!’
“Your lying during this presidential campaign has gotten out of control,” the chilling video begins.
A voice alleges, “You have committed voter fraud to steal votes that do not belong to you … The fraud you have committed against Mr. [Ben] Carson will not be tolerated.”
“Anonymous will not let this go without repercussions or consequences,” the video states. “We will not sit and watch the citizens of America fall for it any longer.”...

Donald Trump reveals the underbelly of the Republican agenda.

The right wing agenda of the extremists is already in play. Donald Trump knows his base. Women are jailed because of fetal protection laws. Give them an inch and they take a mile. Where is everyone? Pretending this doesn't exist and it's precedent is very dangerous.

Sentencing a pregnant woman to drug rehab and a parole officer is safer for the fetus. Prison is no place for a pregnant woman. 

April 22, 2016
By Janet Reitman

The anti-abortion movement (click here) is ramping up a new strategy: Sending pregnant mothers who have used drugs and alcohol to jail.

Tammy Loertscher had no idea that seeking a pregnancy test would ultimately put her in jail. That, though, is what happened last summer to the blond 29-year-old nursing aide from Medford, Wisconsin, who, after confirming her pregnancy at a local health clinic, admitted to her doctor that she'd recently stopped using methamphetamines and pot. According to a sworn statement she later filed in a civil suit, Loertscher had been struggling for more than a decade with a severe thyroid condition that, if untreated, left her lethargic and depressed. In February 2014, she quit her job during a bout of depression, which meant she could no longer afford the expensive blood tests doctors required to continue to prescribe her medication. To manage her worsening symptoms, she'd briefly self-medicated with meth and the occasional hit of weed to soothe her anxiety and give her some energy. It helped for a while, she says, "but ultimately the depression would take over and it just became a big cycle."...

I am quite certain a pregnant woman will lose the baby, once born and have a very difficult life with a jail sentence. That is what a woman gets for being honest with a concern for her baby in Wisconsin.

...Though she was not afforded legal representation, Loertscher's 14-week-old fetus was given a lawyer, known as a guardian ad litem. This court-appointed official represented the fetus's interests during two hearings that resulted in Loertscher being incarcerated for refusing to enter drug treatment. "It seemed so crazy — I was like, 'I'm not using anymore because I don't want to hurt my child!' " she recalls....

She stated she cleaned herself up and didn't need rehab. That statement needs to be reflected in a blood test. Where there is evidence there is still a drug testing positive the woman/girl needs to be in rehab until testing negative. But, to destroy her life is not a good idea.

She also needed medication for a thyroid disorder. Lacking appropriate hormones also effects the pregnancy. She needed support not prison. Single women are among the populations frequently found in poverty. There should have been referrals to social work as well as a parole officer that could follow her blood work until she was clear of all drug levels. Drugs don't necessarily clear out of the body simply because it was stopped.

She couldn't afford a lawyer, but, the fetus was assigned one. Amazing. This law acts in one direction and that is to treat the pregnant woman as incompetent and the baby as a harvest.

...Nonetheless, she spent 18 days in jail — including 24 hours in solitary confinement, according to her sworn statement. She says she was given no prenatal care. At one point, she alleges, a guard even threatened to taser her after she refused to submit to a urine test. Finally, she found a public defender who negotiated her release....

If she didn't want an abortion before her jailing, she'll want one while she is there. 

May 14, 2012
By Adam Liptak 

Washington— There have been many hundreds of varied rulings (click here) in the lower courts on when the use of Taser stun guns by the police amounts to excessive force, and sooner or later the Supreme Court will have to bring order to this area of the law. Next week, the justices are scheduled to decide whether to hear an appeal from three Seattle police officers who say they are worried about the future of what they call “a useful pain technique.”

The case involves Malaika Brooks, who was seven months pregnant and driving her 11-year-old son to school in Seattle when she was pulled over for speeding. The police say she was going 32 miles per hour in a school zone; the speed limit was 20....

Keep police away from confrontation when there is a simple traffic infraction. Why would a cop want a woman to step out of her car with her nine year old in it? The entire situation with the police is a disaster.

There are too much interaction written into the law. A person has a right to refuse to sign a citation if they believe they are not guilty. The cops and people should be interacting less over traffic infractions. 

The average American is not a lawyer and cannot be expected to understand what comprises guilt and innocence. The average American dreads being stopped by police. That has been true for a long time, but, with the extremes that occur in the past few years, there is a fear of bodily harm or worse. They don't want to go to jail and should not be exposed to a police officer with the potential to escalate an interaction. 

Americans have rights and it is called Due Process. In 2016 there are few Americans that do not fear police. There is something wrong and legislatures in states and federal government need to redirect to use technology to record a license plate and description and filling it with the police department without contact with the driver. If it is a stolen car the license will show up. If there is a different driver than the owner, I am sure the owner won't want to pay the ticket or have points on their license and will provide the person driving the vehicle at the time.

Technology is the undisputed facts in these cases and no one can say they weren't violating the law with the evidence it provides. There are too many problems between police and citizens to put them together in the same space over a simple traffic violation.

...In the months that followed, Ms. Brooks gave birth to a healthy baby girl; was convicted of refusing to sign the ticket, a misdemeanor, but not of resisting arrest; and sued the officers who three times caused her intense pain and left her with permanent scars....

The infant was healthy at the time of birth, that doesn't mean the child was not effected by the three applications of a stun gun. This is an absolute outrage.

 

...The officers won a split decision in October from a 10-member panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco. The majority said the officers had used excessive force but nonetheless could not be sued because the law on the question was not clear in 2004, when the incident took place. While the ruling left the three officers in the clear, it did put them and their colleagues on notice that some future uses of Tasers would cross a constitutional line and amount to excessive force.... 

...Michael F. Williams, a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis, which represents Ms. Brooks, said the criminal justice system would endure even if the police were barred from delivering thousands of volts of electricity into the body of a pregnant woman who refused to sign a piece of paper.

“The officers are trying to defend inexcusable conduct,” he said. “They inflicted enormous pain on a woman who was especially vulnerable over what was essentially a traffic violation.”

Demands to sign a piece of paper is unconstitutional and can be interpreted as a sign of guilt. 

The Great Barrier Reef is experiencing exceptional stress due to the climate crisis. It needs the protections of UNESCO.

March 30, 2016
By Brad Plummer

The scientists (click here) who study the Great Barrier Reef are shocked and horrified by what they're seeing right now.
Unusually warm ocean temperatures in the Pacific Ocean — driven by global warming and a powerful El Niño — have fueled the worst coral bleaching event ever seen along the northern third of Australia's famous reef. Researchers who have recently ventured into this region say the once-vibrant ecosystem is now a ghastly tableau, filled with pale-white corals that are at risk of dying off:
Coral reefs are often called he rain forests of the ocean - they cover just 0.01 percent of the world's sea floor, but they're home to 25 percent of marine fish species. They're popular spots for divers and tourists, but they also sustain food for half a billion people and protect shorelines from storms. And they're just plain lovely...

The Great Barrier Reef has served Earth as a carbon sink and now it is stressed to maintain that status. It needs the protections of UNESCO (click here).

Aerial surveys of more than 500 coral reefs (click here) from Cairns to Papua New Guinea reveal that the most pristine section of the Great Barrier Reef is currently experiencing the worst, mass bleaching event in its history, with the overwhelming majority of reefs being ranked in the most severe bleaching category.

“This has been the saddest research trip of my life,” says Prof. Terry Hughes, convenor of the National Coral Bleaching Taskforce. “Almost without exception, every reef we flew across showed consistently high levels of bleaching, from the reef slope right up onto the top of the reef. We flew for 4000km in the most pristine parts of the Great Barrier Reef and saw only four reefs that had no bleaching. The severity is much greater than in earlier bleaching events in 2002 or 1998.”...