Washington beltway Republicans have linked arms with Governor Snyder and Michigan Republicans.

Lump everything into a Supreme Court hearing and tie up the funding for Louisiana flooding FOREVER! The City of Flint can join the lawsuit and bring it all under scrutiny.

September 21, 2016
By Kelsey Snell

Democrats believe (click here) they have finally found the leverage they need to force Republicans to approve funding to address the water crisis in Flint, Mich.: historic flooding in Louisiana.

Democrats are pushing for a Senate-passed aid package for Flint to be linked to flood relief funds in a stop-gap spending bill that would prevent a government shutdown at the end of the month. Republicans say they want to give the House more time to consider passing funding for Flint, but Democrats have refused to sign off on the spending bill until the issue is resolved.

“We have been trying to fund Flint for I think it’s eight months now,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday. “People in Flint are still drinking water out of bottles. They still have children who are sick with lead poisoning. And the Republicans have refused to do anything.”

Flint aid has emerged as one of the final sticking points as negotiators continue to bicker over the remaining details of the stop-gap spending bill, which would keep the government funded through Dec. 9 and also provide more than $1 billion to combat the Zika virus. Party leaders also continue to clash over whether the United States should give up control of a non-profit that governs the internet domain system and make it easier for the Export-Import Bank to approve more deals. But the stand-off over aid for Flint is proving to be among the hardest issues to resolve....

Put a Democrat into office and receive justice in the way of actual help. Sometimes voting your best self-interest means looking to the Democratic Party for REAL and SUSTAINABLE change.

This is not a joke or a campaign issue so much as one of survival and justice. We live in a country that is suppose to solve problems through a democratic process. Lately, that democratic process is stalled for everything from Flint Clean Water to Supreme Court Nominees. When are the American people going to wake up to a day when the work of the government actually gets done?

Every pipe in Flint needs to be replaced. Let me state that again.

Every pipe in Flint, Michigan needs to be replaced. Why? Because of Governor Snyder. There is no other reason. Before he turned the Flint River into a drinking water source there were no problems with the pipes in Flint, Michigan. EVERY PIPE including those in homes. EVERY PIPE. 

I don't want this happening to me or my family. I don't want government to find purpose in denying judicial review of a lawsuit filed by a mayor responsible for lives in her town and I don't want a Congress that doesn't know it's job! It is time to realize the Democrats get the job done while Republicans deny they have a job to do.

September 22, 2016
By Editorial Staff of the Detroit News

All that stands between Flint (click here) and the federal funds it needs to push ahead the rebuilding of its tainted water system is approval by the House of an aid bill that has already sailed through the Senate. That chamber should move the package quickly, and help Flint put its water crisis in the past.
The legislation would send $100 million to Flint for its water infrastructure. While that’s not enough money to fully replace all of the city’s water lines, it would certainly help remove those most responsible for leeching lead into the water supply and complete other needed upgrades of the system.
The key piece of the package, negotiated by Michigan’s Democratic Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, provides an additional $100 million to the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
As written, the money is only available to communities that have received a federal emergency declaration from the president due to high levels of lead in their water supply. Currently, only Flint meets that requirement....

Amazing. Let's get the criminal cases going and end the pain of the State of Michigan with an incompetent governor.

September 20, 2016
By Monique Judge

The city of Flint, Mich., (click here) will not be able to file a lawsuit against the state of Michigan over the drinking-water crisis unless the state says it’s OK.

The Detroit Free Press reports that the five-member Receivership Transition Advisory Board, appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder, changed the rules under which Flint is governed so that the city cannot file a lawsuit without first getting approval from the state-appointed board.

Stated plainly, Flint will be unable to sue the state unless the state of Michigan approves the lawsuit first.

In March, Flint Mayor Karen Weaver filed a notice of intent to sue the state of Michigan in the Court of Claims in case the city decided to sue the state over lead contamination in the city’s water supply. Weaver and other city officials had no actual plans to file the suit, but because of a court rule that allows only 180 days to file the notice or lose the right to sue, city officials filed the notice on March 24, which was the 180th day.

State officials were upset about the notice and called for Flint to withdraw it. When that didn’t happen, the state used the Receivership Transition Advisory Board to put a stop to the threat....

Tesla is not a threat to the car industry in Michigan or anywhere else. It is a speciality market.

September 22, 2016
By Brent Snavely and Frank Witsil

Electric automaker Tesla (click here) filed a lawsuit today against state officials, escalating its multi-year battle to sell vehicles directly to consumers in Michigan.
The California automaker named Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, and Gov. Rick Snyder in its lawsuit filed in in federal court.
Tesla's action is part of an escalating conflict that is playing out nationwide – through legislatures, regulatory agencies and the courts – between the upstart The Palo Alto, Calif.-based automaker and dealers associations as states to sort out whether Tesla should be allowed to sell directly to customers....

They are killed if they don't carry a gun and they are killed when they do. That is the issue.

African American men are not safe in the USA. If they carry a gun they are automatic targets. If they don't carry a gun they are targets anyway. What do you suppose comes next?

African American men can carry a gun legally no different than their white men. But. Do they dare?

The issue is real. Denial of the dilemma African American men find themselves in is only adding to the problem.

September 23, 2016
By Michael Mathers

The loud crack of a gunshot (click here) startled protesters as they hurled objects and clashed with riot police in Charlotte, North Carolina, where racial tensions soared a day after a black man was killed by officers.

By the end of the day, Governor Pat McCrory had declared a state of emergency in the city, saying he was activating the National Guard and Highway Patrol officers to assist local law enforcement.

One man near the centre of yesterday's confrontation was on life support after being shot by another civilian, the city said in a tweet, reversing an earlier statement that the man had died....

I hope the civilian was apprehended for attempted murder of an unarmed demonstrator.

The unrest turned violent after a peaceful vigil to mark the previous day's shooting death of African-American Keith Scott at the hands of Charlotte police.
It was the latest in a long series of controversial police killings of black men - including that of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday - which have inflamed tensions in several United States cities, and sparked a national debate about race and whether Americans can come together to reduce police brutality....

Ice is Earth's thermostat. I never underestimated it.

September 23, 2016

Rapidly melting Greenland (click here) may be shedding its ice even faster than anyone suspected, new research suggests.
A study just out in the journal Science Advances finds that previous studies may have underestimated the current rate of mass loss on the Greenland ice sheet by about 18 billion tonnes per year.
Generally, scientists estimate ice loss in Greenland (and elsewhere around the world) using data from satellites. But the new study suggests these satellite studies may have included some incorrect assumptions, causing them to miscalculate the amount of mass actually disappearing from the ice sheet each year.
The assertion revolves around a concept known as "glacial isostatic adjustment", or the tendency of land to bounce back after a large weight of ice has been removed from it. Over the past 25,000 years, since the last great Ice Age, the planet's surface has been slowly springing back into place....

Ice is ice is ice is ice. It melts at below 0 degrees Celsius or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melting ice is like peeling back an onion. When one layer is gone the next layer is exposed to heat. And before you know it the ice is no more.

This is very bad news. American farmers are losing their pollinators.

By Reuters

...Named (click here) for the conspicuous reddish blotch on its abdomen, the rusty patched bumble bee — or Bombus affinis, as it is known to scientists — has plunged in abundance and distribution by more than 90 percent since the late 1990s, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The agency attributes the decline to a number of factors, including disease, pesticides, climate change and habitat loss.

Bumble bees, as distinguished from domesticated honey bees, are essential pollinators of wildflowers and about a third of U.S. crops, from blueberries to tomatoes, said Sarina Jepsen of the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, which petitioned the government for protection of the insect.

Bumble bees’ annual economic value to farms is estimated at $3.5 billion, according to experts....

The USA hasn't learned it's lesson from Iraq. The rest of the world has.

The global community has to accept Assad as the legitimate leader of the Alawites. The Alawites are a unique ethnic group in Syria that have always lived there. 

September 20, 2016
By Jimmy Carter

The announcement (click here) this month of a new cease-fire agreement in Syria is good news. But a lack of trust among the Syrian belligerents and their foreign supporters means this agreement, like the one that came before it, is vulnerable to collapse.

It is already showing severe signs of strain. Over the weekend, the United States accidentally bombed Syrian government troops. On Monday, the Syrian military declared it would no longer respect the deal, resumed airstrikes on Aleppo, and even a humanitarian aid convoy was bombed.

Still, there is reason for hope. If Russia and the United States were willing to come far enough in their negotiations to reach this deal, these setbacks can be overcome. The targeting of the humanitarian convoy, a war crime, should serve as an added impetus for the United States and Russia to recommit to the cease-fire. The two parties were well aware of the difficulties as they spent a month negotiating the cease-fire’s terms.

The agreement can be salvaged if all sides unite, for now, around a simple and undeniably important goal: Stop the killing. It may be more likely than it sounds....

Stop the killing is a directive few people are interested in when it comes to Syria. An enforceable ceasefire ended because of the deaths of Syrian soldiers. The USA didn't honor the ceasefire it had agreed to.

Where was the failure of the ceasefire the USA was suppose to honor. Where in the US chain of command did someone decide it was okay to kill people in Syria? Who didn't get the memo?

The war in Iraq was a complete disaster. It created a faux government and military infrastructure. No one respects any aggressive actions by the USA anymore. There has been a change in the standing of the USA in the global community. The American press might exploit the bombing of a warehouse serving humanitarian needs, but, then it is not the entire truth, that is whitewashing of a truth that needs to be told.

In a ceasefire, "Oops," is a very big deal. During ceasefires, there is movement of military units and people and goods. All that movement is garnered by intelligence for the country and acted on when the ceasefire is over. "Oops" is a really lousy thing that ends the ceasefire before it was intended and all that movement is compromised at that very second. 

The USA killed Syrian soldiers. THAT is what needs to be contended with. Additionally, Assad saw the actions against his troops and retaliated. Now, a valuable warehouse of humanitarian aid, vehicles and people are gone. Why is the UN staging humanitarian anything, including precious lives, inside a war zone?

There are many questions that need answers and not just any populous answer; the truth would be preferable.

Legislative bodies comprising the people's interest are not prosecutors.

Since 2010 the use of congressional committees have taken on a tone of prosecution. The legislative committees have no power NOR the qualifications to prosecute anything.

If facts arise that have a potential for being criminal then a special prosecutor is named.

Legislative committees hold hearings regularly to bring issues before the agency involved and to find answers. If among those answers is composition of legislation then new bills or amendments are written in committee and eventually voted to move to the floor of the Senate or the House for a vote into law that then goes to the President for signature.

Legislative committees do not prosecute.

The Justice Department prosecutes and if it is believed there is conflict of interest a special prosecutor is assigned.

To carry out an impeachment of a qualified and dedicated person of the government there needs to be a special prosecutor to bring where exactly the law was broken. If the special prosecutor's report meets the standard of impeachment then the process begins.

Congressional committees are not supposed to be henchmen for the purpose of their politics. It disrupts the function of the government and removes very qualified people that have consented to service for the government. The politics alone is enough for a highly qualified person to leave their position or never accept it in the first place.

In the case of the IRS, there were refusals of non-profit designation on both sides of the aisle. The Republicans like to say they are the sole victims to the denials of the non-profit requests in question. This was not a hunt for Republican non-profits.

There is no reason to prosecute. 

It is not unusual for non-profits to go through lengthy approval processes. Understand such processes do not stand in the way of the organization's purpose. The organizations can start acting like non-profits the day they mail the forms to the IRS. THE DATE STAMP ON THE ENVELOPE is the only proof any non-profit needs to begin to act as a non-profit. The government assumes the application is prepared legally and fees included. The government does not refuse a non-profit status simply because an organization is a Republican organization. 

There may be reasons to reject an application, but, if lies are part of that it is illegal and there can be penalties imposed. So, the IRS expects all applications to be forthright and truthful as those preparing the application do not want to suffer penalties.

That said, the committee of the organization that prepared the application should review the rejection closely and adjust it's subsequent submission to meet the standards pointed out in the denial letter.

The IRS is not out to be punitive to non-profits. The non-profits often do good and necessary work in the USA.

Let me state this: There have been incredible organizations that have met the standard of non-profit without question. Why should any other organization be allowed to destroy that standard and/or slip through the approval process because it makes a lot of noise.

This is still going on?

i want budgets set at the beginning of any Congressional investigation. The committee will then have to live within that budget. The only way to add additional funding to a Congressional investigation is to PROVE there is a solid reason to continue. These are all witch hunts and reduce the efficiency of the department in question. Staff has to accommodate requests by the investigation and set their own work aside. Agencies can be crippled by these Congressional investigations. Enough.

There needs to be certain ETHICAL criteria set to even begin investigations. 

September 21, 2016
By Lynnley Brown

Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen (click here) expressed regret Wednesday that the agency failed to preserve all the information congressional investigators sought in a 2014 probe of the agency, but told federal lawmakers it would be “improper” to impeach him.

During a hearing expected to be dominated by sharp partisan exchanges, Koskinen, 77, sought to persuade members of the House Judiciary Committee to stave off an impeachment drive by the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus. Koskinen’s appearance was arranged last week; congressional leaders promised the hearing after Freedom Caucus members backed off their demands for an immediate impeachment floor vote.

Representative John Conyers, the Michigan Democrat who serves as the Judiciary panel’s ranking member, decried “partisan attacks” that he said were cloaked in an impeachment process that he said was “doomed to fail” because of a lack of evidence of wrongdoing. Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, said Congress has a “duty to serve as a check on the other branches, including against corruption and abuse.”|

“That is why this committee has scheduled this hearing today,” Goodlatte said....

The current armory, completed in 1958, has housed Engineer, Air Defense, Combat Service Support, and Infantry units.

September 20, 2016
By Jason Meisner

Sitting in a car outside the Joliet Armory last year, (click here) then-National Guard specialistHasan Edmonds stroked his chin and calmly sipped a soda as he described how a terror plot on the base would be most effective if higher-ranking soldiers were killed first.

"The first person to take the reins is going to be the first sergeant," Edmonds said to his cousin, Jonas, and another man as the three staked out the armory in March 2015. "And then if he steps off, it's gonna be the company commander. That's the head. Kill the head, body follows...See the stripes, take the shot."

Edmonds went on to describe in a matter-of-fact tone the layout of the building and where soldiers would be lining up for drills. He assured his accomplices that none of the victims would be armed and most would have their cell phones off, so warnings of the attack would be slow to spread. He even suggested a gunman position himself near a particular exit to ambush fleeing soldiers....

There was a 48 hour ceasefire. Where do these attacks fall, within or outside of the ceasefire?

18 September 2016

The US and Russia (click here) agreed to extend the cessation of hostilities in Syria for another 48 hours. So far both parties are content with the implementation of the temporary ceasefire which has been in force since Monday....

...The Russian Foreign Ministry meanwhile noted that the during the phonecall, Lavrov stressed that the US should stick to its promise on the urgent dissociation of the US-backed rebels in Syria from Al-Nusra Front terrorists and “those groups who have basically merged with this branch of Al-Qaeda.”

The Russian General Staff on Wednesday also called for the extension of the ceasefire while outlining violations of it.

"In accordance with the Russian-US agreements, the existing 48-hour ceasefire is expiring today at 7pm [Moscow time – 16:00 GMT]. We note that recently the cessation of hostilities was observed in full. As of this morning the overall number of violations by the militants has reached 60,” Russian General Staff official Viktor Poznikhir said on Wednesday.

He added that Russia understands the necessity of the full implementation of the agreements reached, and that it is “in favor of extending the ceasefire across Syria for another 48 hours.”...

Reuters / Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Damaged Red Cross (click here) and Red Crescent medical supplies lie inside a warehouse after an airstrike on the rebel-held Urm al-Kubra town, western Aleppo city, Syria September 20, 2016.

This is a no brainer. This is rebel held land. There was a ceasefire. It was over and the attack came to end the aid moving into rebel held territory.

I want to know one thing.

Just one thing.

When is the USA going to withdraw from backing rebels so the civil war ENDS

Even after the attack on the UN convoy, there were diplomats scrambling to extend the ceasefire. There was no agreement on the ceasefire at the time of the attack. 

The ceasefire didn't accomplish anything, except, to tell either the Syrian government or Daesh or other groups where the warehouse is. The ceasefire set up a target (the warehouse) that could be destroyed when the ceasefire ended.

The USA needs to leave Syria. 

NOW!

Tell John McCain to go home!

September 15, 2015
By Bassem Mroue and Jamey Keaton

Beirut (AP) — The United Nations (click here) faces "a problem" in shipping humanitarian aid into Syria, the U.N. envoy for the war-torn country said Thursday, pinning the blame on the lack of authorization from Bashar Assad's government that has even disappointed Russia, the Syrian president's key backer.

Staffan de Mistura said a U.S.-Russia-brokered cease-fire deal agreed on last week has largely reduced the violence since it came into effect on Monday, but the humanitarian aid flow that was expected to follow has not materialized.

De Mistura said 40 aid trucks are ready to move and that the U.N. would prioritize delivery to the embattled, rebel-held eastern neighborhoods of the northern city of Aleppo.

However, the Syrian government has not provided needed "facilitation letters," or permits, to allow for the start of the convoys, de Mistura said. He said the government had agreed on Sept. 6 — before the cease-fire deal was inked — to allow aid into five areas, but the authorizations still haven't come....

The problem in Syria is the proxy war no one discusses. One government is better than anarchy and civil war.

The politics of The West is completely wrong. Stop making Syria a political discussion. It is not solving the problems.

September 10, 2016
By Olga Razumovskaya

MOSCOW—Russia on Thursday (click here) said it is airlifting military cargo and humanitarian aid to Syria, amid U.S. concern that Moscow is stepping up its military support of the Middle East nation’s embattled president.

“The planes the Russian Federation is sending to Syria are carrying military items, in accordance with the contracts we have, and humanitarian aid,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a televised news conference. “Depending on what cargo the plane is carrying, we request the proper clearance, in full accordance with international law.”

U.S. military officials have expressed concern in recent days that Russia is building up its forces in Syria and possibly taking a more active role in propping up President Bashar al-Assad against rebel forces.

Russia has denied its forces are participating directly in military operations on Syrian territory.

Responding to a question about whether Russian forces were engaged in combat, Mr. Lavrov said: “There are Russian servicemen in Syria, they have been there for many years.”...

The United Nations with a balanced committee needs to conduct an independent investigation.

September 20, 2016

The US has said it holds Russia (click here) responsible for a deadly attack on an aid convoy near the Syrian city of Aleppo on Monday.

The White House has called it an "enormous humanitarian tragedy".

Meanwhile, US officials have told the BBC that two Russian war planes were responsible for the attack.

Russia strongly denies involvement of its own or Syrian planes, and says the incident was caused by fire on the ground and not by an air strike.

"There are no craters and the exterior of the vehicles do not have the kind of damage consistent with blasts caused by bombs dropped from the air," a statement from the defence ministry said.

And the country's foreign ministry spokeswoman said the US government had "no facts" to support its claim, adding: "We have nothing to do with this situation."...

This is the real ground game for the Republicans, isn't it?

It doesn't matter the candidate, it is the Supreme Court Republicans are voting for this November. It doesn't matter if the nuclear war games are on and the USA enters an ill conceived war in the Middle East again, just so long as the Republicans own the Supreme Court.

September 19, 2016
By Noah Feldman

If Hillary Clinton wins in November, (click here) will the lame-duck Republican Senate confirm Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court? Last week, Clinton said she would look for diversity and wouldn’t feel bound to renominate Garland, which in theory should give Republican senators more reason to confirm Garland, before Clinton can nominate a more liberal candidate.

Yet a careful analysis of Republican senators’ incentives in the case of a Democratic win in November points the other way. If Republicans lose the presidency, the party will enter an intense period of self-reflection and disarray. And if they also lose the Senate, the disarray will be greater still.

Under those conditions, it seems most likely that Republican senators wouldn’t want the final act of their majority session to be acquiescence to the judicial candidate nominated by President Barack Obama. Instead, looking to future primary challenges, they’ll have reason to reject Garland by denying him a vote -- even if that may lead to a more liberal Supreme Court in the long run....

The election has dynamics most didn't expect with the polls of "likely voters."

Hillary Clinton needs to have a good debate. In 2008, the first debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney saw significant movement of polls after the first debate. Hillary Clinton needs to have a good debate.

It is stated in the New York Post that African American voters have moved by up to 20 percentage points to the Donald Trump column. No other poll is reporting that.

If the black vote is coming into view as one that can change the electoral map there are several interesting issues to consider. If Donald Trump registers a movement of African American voters the Republicans reason for voter ID and erasing voting rolls changes. It may be in a Republican interest to defeat voter IDs and enforce the current voter rolls.

The battleground states have entered the race as decisive voters. The Dems know where their weak spots are and need to reinforce their ground game in those areas. 

This could be an interesting vote in November and perhaps all the gaming that occurred in Republican politics before will disappear. 

NBC News/Survey Monkey is the only poll showing one third Hispanics voting for Donald Trump. The other polls show Donald Trump well below the average GOP interest in those voters.

September 18, 2016

By Mary Kay Linge

...But now, (click here)) less than a week before the crucial first debate of this presidential race — and as a terrorism bombing investigation continues in New York and New Jersey — a viable route has emerged for the Republican nominee, according to the latest NPR Battleground Map.

About a dozen battleground states have gotten closer with some key ones showing Trump leading for the first time. Hillary Clinton retains the advantage, but it's a far more precarious lead for the Democrat than at any time in this presidential race.

Trump's movement comes as many pollsters have switched to "likely voter" models, which try to predict the electorate based on factors like enthusiasm and past voting records. That alone may be responsible for most of the tightening, but it also follows a less-disastrous month of campaigning for Trump than the stretch immediately following the party conventions, which saw his fight with the Khan family, whose son, a Muslim American, was an Army captain killed in Iraq. Trump also began running his first major round of campaign ads in key states in recent weeks....                

19 September 2016

New York: Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif (click here) said on Monday that Saudi Arabia has welcomed 2.5 million Syrians since the beginning of the crisis.
Speaking at a UN meeting ahead of his General Assembly address the crown prince said, in addition to these 2.5 million, the Kingdom has provided full support to the countries that are hosting Syrian refugees.
With respect to the Kingdom’s efforts in providing humanitarian assistance, Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia has given around $139 billion over the past four decades.
The crown prince also said the Kingdom is offering free education to around 285,000 Yemeni students.

Saudi Arabia is finding them.

18 September 2016
By Mohammed al-Sulami

Jeddah: Security agencies (click here) have foiled four terror plots that were in advanced stages of planning.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said on Monday that 17 suspects had been arrested, one of them a Saudi woman.

Fourteen of the suspects were Saudis, and the others a Yemeni, a Palestinian and an Egyptian.

The 17 were part of three separate cells linked to Daesh.

According to the ministry, they were planning to target scholars, security forces, and oil and military facilities.

The security operations resulted in the seizure of high explosive devices, including sticky bombs; explosive belts ready for detonation, metal pipes used as explosive devices, automatic weapons, silencers, live ammunition and a sum of money exceeding SR600,000....

#Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif with Assistant to US President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism

The planned attacks mention the year 1437. That is the Islamic year. If I understand the Islamic calendar correctly, there is a difference due to the emergence of Mohammad. He began his teachings after Jesus Christ began his. Mohammad's beginnings is just shy of 600 years AD.

If one accepts violence in the USA is linked to radicalization it will serve two purposes; to protect those that fully embrace the USA as their homeland and defends it and it will provide reason to continue surveillance.

I think the experience with the Tsarnaev Brothers proves radicalization is real and the FBI cannot possibly maintain surveillance of all those that are radicalized and return to the USA. It was my opinion then and it is the same today; when a person is suspected of radicalization they are a risk and it is the local investigators that have the greatest interest in continued collection of intelligence. It is the local professionals that may very well be more successful after the FBI has completed their process.

Saudi Arabia is a smaller country than the USA. Saudi Arabia is 830,000 square miles and the USA is 3.806 million square miles. The population of Saudi Arabia is 28.83 million people and the population of the USA is 318.9 million people. One USA federal agency cannot possibly be as accurate the Saudi Arabia security forces.

When the area and population of the USA is broken down into states and cities the possibility (statistically) of finding a needle in a hay stake becomes much easier.

Local authorities working with the FBI will add to the number of eyes and ears and minds working to protect Americans.

Statistically, radicalization is turning up in the history of those that kill.

September 19, 2016
By N. R, Kleinfield

...At this point, (click here) little is known of Mr. Rahami’s ideology or politics, or whether he has any connections to foreign terrorist organizations. He used to wear Western-style clothing, and customers said he gave little indication of his heritage.

Around four years ago, though, Mr. Rahami disappeared for a while. Mr. Jones said that one of the younger Rahami brothers told him that he had gone to Afghanistan. When he returned, some patrons noticed a certain transformation. He grew a beard and exchanged his typical wardrobe of T-shirts and sweatpants for traditional Muslim robes. He began to pray in the back of the store.

His previous genial bearing turned more stern.

“It’s like he was a completely different person,” Mr. Jones said. “He got serious and completely closed off.”

Andre Almeida, 24, who lives nearby and eats at the chicken restaurant once or twice each week, said he found the change quite striking but was hesitant to reach any conclusions....

The USA has a power paradigm to solve within communities of faith. Prayer is the answer in the USA, not violence. The attackers don't trust prayer.

The angry people in the USA break down into those that used guns and those that used bombs. There are quite a few in recent years.

Get this:

I was reading about the Fort Myers' shooting of the teen nightclub:

July 29, 2016

...The shooter or shooters have not been arrested. (click here)

Fort Myers interim police Chief Dennis Eads told local media on Friday that at least of the wounded survivors have withdrawn their complaints, which might make it more difficult for police to investigate.

"I just would like to know what the thought is, why, they would not want to try and prosecute a person that could have very easily killed them," Eads told local media.

At least two of the injured, both 14, remain in the hospital.

I think that is strange. It is not just one person who withdrew their complaints. Being wounded is acceptable in the USA. Did the victims know the shooter? A peer?

The cases also breakdown along domestic terrorists with and without contact with war torn areas of the world. Those with contact of foreign countries where war is a long term problem are fairly young in their late teens and early twenties, ie: Tamerlan and Dzhokhar  Tsarnaev. The younger Tsarnaev brother is sentenced to death and is in US Marshall custody until the death sentence date is established.

Nadal Hasan is the exception to the killers, he was 39 when he killed at Fort Hood.

For those that were devoted to Islam this was a presentation by Hasan during his time with the USA military.

These writing by Hasan date back to before 2009 when he killed. Daesh, while organizing since 2003 with the invasion into Iraq, didn't declare a caliphate until 2014. The point is Hasan was stating a caliphate/islamic state was a priority to the religion long before 2014. 

I think the precepts set down by Hasan in the research he presented to the USA military establishment is an aspect migrants, refugees and those seeking citizenship have to face as a potential hurdle to citizenship. 

Hasan and the other killers of islamic extremism in the USA that have citizen status need to be examined for any evidence of divided loyalties. Early manhood is a problem for them when facing their new country with their religious freedom. Here in the USA, religious freedom has no question. Why are these young Americans so conflicted between the laws of the country, the value of human life and ancient precepts of a religion they are free to practice? I strongly believe these precepts that place young men in conflict with their citizenship and laws is the basis of many of these killings.

I believe there is also 'a guilt' about living and living a good life while not completely knowing or understanding the pain of living within their families still living overseas or their former homeland. There is something about the conflict of islamic precepts vs their comfort and freedom in the USA driving these attacks, be they bombs or bullets. There is a common basis for the violence and I think Hasan got it right while being caught up in his own moral dilemma as a Palestinian.

"Good Night, Moon"

The waning gibbous

17.4 day old moon

92.3 percent lit

"Astronomy Photographer of the Year: Our Moon" (click here)

18 September 2016

The award winning entries in the Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2016 competition in the category ‘Our Moon’.

The winners of the competition’s nine categories and two special prizes were announced on Thursday 15th September at a special award ceremony at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. A free exhibition featuring the winning images is now open at the Observatory’s Astronomy Centre.

Winner: From Maurolycus to Moretus by Jordi Delpeix Borrell...