If there wasn't a truck into a holiday market in Europe, this story would never make the USA papers.

This is a fireworks factory. Terrorists? Are you kidding?

There is no report of a truck ramming the building. Where is the next major natural gas leak? Oh, silly me, the entire world of fracking is a major natural gas leak.

December 20, 2016
By the AP

A powerful chain-reaction explosion (click here) ripped through Mexico's best-known fireworks market on the northern outskirts of the capital Tuesday, killing at least 29 people, injuring scores more and sending a huge plume of charcoal-grey smoke billowing into the sky.

Video of the blast showed a dramatic staccato of rockets exploding in flashes of light, levelling the open-air San Pablito Market in Tultepec in Mexico State as it bustled with shoppers stocking up on fireworks to celebrate Christmas and New Year's.

Vendors' stands were reduced to piles of rubble, ash, and charred metal. It was the third devastating explosion and fire to ravage the market since 2005 and officials still have not said what caused this latest blast.

Crescencia Francisco Garcia said she was in the middle of the grid of stalls along with a few hundred others when the thunderous explosions began. She froze, reflexively looked up at the sky and then took off running through the smoke once she realized everyone was doing so. As she ran she saw people with burns and cuts, and lots of blood....

Who committed suicide?

There is too much lassitude in the market to be confident about it.

Twenty five percent of the increase in the DOW after the election has to with the value of Goldman Sachs.

First explain what that is all about as it is directly related to the White House post election because it points to false confidence to INSIDER TRADING with all the Goldman Sachs appointees.

This is not the only article that speaks to this corruption. This fact Goldman Sachs is embedded into the Trump administration and the market reaction proves a very high level of corruption is expected. The markets don't care if people go to jail ultimately or that Goldman Sachs pays fines. The market only realizes the rise of stock and where in the bubble to exit for the maximum return on the money invested.

The increase in the market price for Goldman Sachs indicates two things;

- the market expects insider trading to increase value of Goldman Sachs
- the Goldman Sachs stock price is heavily dependent on government involvement

The Goldman Sachs stock is worthless without involvement in governments around the world. When looking at the structure of government anywhere there is a sure bet there is a Goldman Sachs employee, ? former employee ?, involved somewhere. 

The wager is on the Goldman Sachs stock and not the stocks they invest in. Goldman Sachs model for investing is highly flawed. They make market predictions and stocks to buy and sell from day to day. The influence of Goldman Sachs is a faux confidence.

December 20, 2016
By Sam Sachs

Pesident-elect Donald Trump (click here) has yet to provide tangible assurances that he won’t use the presidency to boost his personal profits. Meanwhile, one major American bank, which doesn’t’ have to provide such assurances, is already cashing in “big league” on Trump’s win last month–an event followed by high-profile government appointments for executives of the firm.

Wall Street behemoth Goldman Sachs has seen its stock prices ascend by 33 percent since Election Day, and is responsible for the lion’s share of the gains on the Dow Jones Industrial Average over that time.

As The Hill noted on Tuesday, Goldman alone accounted for nearly a quarter of the 1,700 points the Dow has climbed since Trump’s election. The Dow is an index of stock prices from 30 major American companies.

Markets have reacted favorably to the ascendance of a billionaire real estate mogul and businessman to the White House. And Trump’s appointments of notable bankers, businessmen, and billionaires lent credence to the hopeful thinking coming from corporate America—particularly at Goldman....

Dow Jones over the past month.

Goldman Sachs over the past month.

The corruption is obvious and when Goldman Sach's stock is considered at the top of the bubble there will be just as many sales as purchases today. There goes the market again and there will be some lame excuse scapegoating the USA and it's citizens and the market needs a bailout.

Do you realize the numbers of morons involved in the Dow. This is gambling on inside information. It is pure speculation. Donald Trump's role in the Dow's profits is highly skeptical. The market sees Goldman Sachs inside the White House and invoking decisions, they don't see the highly turbulent "President Trump Stock." It is moronic and speaks to the lack of sincere insight in the markets. The markets have become dependent on free money and plenty of it.

The markets received an increase in Fed rates and now the markets are counting on corruption to turn profits. Do you realize how completely dysfunctional the markets are?

The Trump presidency is a parallel to the "W" presidency. "W"s presidency poured huge amounts of money into the construction sector. The national debt and deficit grew mercilessly during "W" in order create buoyancy and faux confidence.

There was a real reason for the crash of 2008. The investors of the markets these days are sheep to the corruption. The number of Goldman Sachs employees in the US government is inside influence and insider information. There is nothing else it can be called.

Trump is a fool for expertise. He reminds of the Chinese.

The Trump administration is an existential threat.

I think this entire administration is measurable and an existential threat. The USA can't fight the world and invokes many strategies to protect the American people.

Christmas Day of 1991 the Soviet flag no longer had a sovereign country to represent. That is a victory for the free world. No one wants to destroy Russia to simply destroy Russia, but, a weaker country is the goal of USA policies.

The equation is real simple, Russia promoted Trump into the White House with the help of Comey who cost Hillary Clinton over 4 percentage points in the matter of 4 days. Trump gets the Oval Office and places the CEO of Exxon in the Secretary of State position. The Secretary of State will facilitate oil exploration and profits at every corner of the globe, especially in the Russia waters of the Arctic Ocean. (I might point out Dutch Royal Shell already determined there is no measurable PROFIT drilling the Arctic Ocean.) But, the USA Secretary of State under Donald Trump will provide for new oil revenue (profit or loss it is still cash flow revenue) to Russia. That strengthens Russia for the first time in not quite a generation (20 years) since the dissolve of the Soviet Union. That is treason. 

Donald Trump with every appointee announced is slowly but assuredly committing treason against the USA. The actual acts that are measurable just haven't occurred yet.

Donald Trump is providing new revenue to Russia after it assisted in electing him only to turn his back on NATO at the same time. If that isn't treason, then I don't know what is.

November 3, 2016

By Charles M. Blow

There are only a handful of days until Election Day (click here) and an end to this phase of a nation’s — and the world’s — ebb and flow of anxiety. The day after the votes are cast and counted that anxiety will either dissipate or become a fixed feature. Which of these it will be is very much in flux.

While Hillary Clinton still maintains a lead in the polls and a built-in advantage on the electoral map, recent polls suggest that Donald Trump is closing the gap. There are now plausible — however improbable — electoral map routes to victory for him.

I leave it to others to make predictions about how all this will play out, but I feel that I must say again, and until the last minute and with my last breath: America, are you (expletive) kidding?!

I simply cannot wrap my head around how others with level heads and sound minds can even consider Trump for president of this country and leader of the free world. The logic simply escapes me....

The Republicans have an interesting sprinkling of right wing enthusiasts, even in it's leadership. 

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), (click here) the House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he spoke at a gathering hosted by white nationalist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002, thrusting a racial controversy into House Republican ranks days before the party assumes control of both congressional chambers. The 48-year-old Scalise, who ascended to the House GOP’s third-ranking post earlier this year, confirmed that he once appeared at a convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization. That organization, founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, has been called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. “Beyond hosting a website, whitecivilrights.com, and staging an occasional conference, EURO is a paper tiger, serving primarily as a vehicle to publicize Duke’s writing and sell his books,” the SPLC writes on its Web site.

When Trump won the White House he needed to have experts that could carry the burden, so his choices are assured to be experts, but, also loyal to him and no one else. There is no one in government in their right minds that would want to be involved with the Trump experts.

Trump reached into the corruption barrel of monkeys and turned them loose as partners to right wingers waiting for the chance to rule the roost. He is overthrowing in the government. He calls it ideology. Is everyone going to actually wait until it is obvious before the investigation begins? I hope not because the 'character' of this administration is obvious and I am writing this now because it is so obvious. It would seem there are journalists calling the alarm, no different than Paul Revere.

The investigation needs to begin now.

December 20, 2016
By Matthew Rozsa

It appears that President-elect Donald Trump’s (click here) decision to appoint a conspiracy theorist as his national security adviser isn’t sitting well with many National Security Council staffers.

A disproportionately high number of junior-level civil servants working for the NSC are considering leaving their jobs due to Trump’s selection of retired Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn as his national security adviser, according to a Sunday report in The Guardian. The British newspaper spoke with current and former NSC officials and pinned the number of potentially exiting staffers at roughly 400. As one official put it: “Career people are looking to get out and go back to their agencies and pressure is being put on them to get them to stay. There is concern there will be a half-empty NSC by the time the new administration arrives, which no one wants.”...

Finally, the responsibility is finding the true perpetrators.

There ultimately is one person more responsible than any other and that is Governor Rick Snyder. How horrible this has been for anyone who cared.

The Emergency Manager law was rescinded by THE VOTE and the one man responsible for the deaths and injury to the people of Flint cancelled the will of the people of Michigan and reinstated it.

The Emergency Manager Law as it existed under Rick Snyder is very different than the original Emergency Manager Law used by past Governors to assist with cities facing problems with funding and primarily for education. The Emergency Manager under Snyder and the majority Republican legislature allowed horrible acts that lead to these deaths and injury.

This is what happens when a law violates the rights of the individual in the USA. This is Republican Hubris at nearly it's worst. Liberty and Freedom can be measured and it begins with the REGULATIONS that protect human life above any amount of money needed to return a balance sheet to function.

There were better answers than a hideous law that robbed the elected mayor and council of it's function to protect the lives of the citizens that voted. There are real reasons why local power is important. Local power provides for a city's economy, education of it's children and protections that insures the lives of it's citizens. Local power is real and this is an example of what occurs when it is discarded as 'inefficient.' Really? Inefficient? I guess that is the difference between Americans that believe life comes first and wealth comes further down the line in priorities.

Death and injury is what happens when life is given a back seat to wealth. What do you value?

December 20, 2016

Flint, MI -- Two former emergency managers (click here) appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to run the city are among four defendants charged today with crimes related to the Flint water crisis.

Darnell Earley, who served as Flint emergency manager at the time the city changed its water source to the Flint River in April 2014, was charged Tuesday, Dec. 20, in Genesee District Court.

Also charged were former emergency manager Jerry Ambrose; Howard Croft, former Department of Public Works director; and Daugherty Johnson, former utilities administrator for the city....

The beginning of winter, the longest night of the year.

In 2016, the Moon today is in a Waning Gibbous Phase. This is the first phase after the Full Moon occurs.

In 2016, the winter solstice begins at:

Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 10:44 UTC (Universal Time Coordinated other wise known as Greenwich Mean Time) It occurs five hours before current time of the east coast of the USA.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 5:44 am EST

Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 4:44 am CST

Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 3:44 am MST

Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 2:44 am PST

Ever since people first noticed the changing length of the days, the longest night of the year has been a special time marked by celebration. Ancient cultures around the world, from Rome to China to the Americas, developed customs and rituals designed to welcome the return of the sun and the beginning of the march towards summer’s light and warmth. Some are still celebrated today, while many of the traditions we now associate with such winter holidays as Hanukkah and Christmas can be traced back to these ancient solstice celebrations. In the Northern Hemisphere, the winter solstice falls on December 21 or 22, while the longest night of the year in the Southern Hemisphere is June 20 or 21.

Saturnalia (click here)

Western culture owes many of the traditional midwinter celebrations—including those of Christmas—to this ancient Roman solstice celebration dedicated to the Saturn, the god of agriculture and time....

...St. Lucia’s Day

This traditional festival of lights in Scandinavia honors St. Lucia, one of the earliest Christian martyrs, but was incorporated with earlier Norse solstice traditions after many Norsemen converted to Christianity around 1000 A.D....

...Dong Zhi

The Chinese celebration of the winter solstice, Dong Zhi (which means “Winter Arrives”) welcomes the return of longer days and the corresponding increase in positive energy in the year to come....

...Shab-e Yalda

On the longest night of the year, Iranians all over the world celebrate the triumph of Mithra, the Sun God, over darkness in the ancient festival of Shab-e Yalda (which translates to “Night of Birth”)....

...Inti Raymi

In Peru, like the rest of the Southern Hemisphere, the winter solstice is celebrated in June. The Inti Raymi (Quechua for “sun festival”), which takes place on the solstice, is dedicated to honoring Inti, the sun god....

...Shalako – Zuni Indians

For the Zuni, one of the Native American Pueblo peoples in western New Mexico, the winter solstice signifies the beginning of the year, and is marked with a ceremonial dance called Shalako....

... Soyal

Like the Zuni, the Hopi of northern Arizona are believed to be among the descendants of the mysterious Anasazi people, ancient Native Americans who flourished beginning in 200 B.C. (As the Anasazi left no written records, we can only speculate about their winter solstice rites, but the placement of stones and structures in their ruins, such as New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon, indicate they certainly took a keen interest in the sun’s movement.) In the Hopi solstice celebration of Soyal, the Sun Chief takes on the duties of the Zuni Pekwin, announcing the setting of the sun on the solstice....

...Toji

In Japan, the winter solstice is less a festival than a traditional practice centered around starting the new year with health and good luck. It’s a particularly sacred time of the year for farmers, who welcome the return of a sun that will nurture their crops after the long, cold winter....

Secretary Tom Perez is right for the leadership of the DNC.

The Democratic Party is about labor and the American Dream. Tom Perez is good for the DNC.

I am about labor and always have been. That is the focus of the DNC. President Obama put more Americans back to work than any other president in history. He believes in the talent of the American worker and so does Perez.

The Democratic Party needs someone at the top of leadership that will provide a party that wins and does so in support of the American worker. 

Labor leaders are tough. They know they are holding the lives of American families in their hands and they take it seriously. I'll back labor every time. There is no doubt unions are the answer to a stable and thriving Middle Class. The facts back that statement. The USA economy is as great as it is today because of the Middle Class. The unions support that Middle Class and someone like Tom Perez knows the facts and 'gets it.'

December 19, 2016
By Alex Seitz-Wald

The International Association of Firefighters, (click here) the main union representing American firefighters, has placed itself on a collision course with the AFL-CIO in the race for the next chairman of the Democratic National Committee, deciding to back Labor Secretary Tom Perez over Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison.

The Democratic leadership contest has taken on unusual significance in the wake of Hillary Clinton's devastating loss last month, dividing the labor movement between two Democrats whom it has long seen as allies.

The AFL-CIO, a federation of 55 unions that includes the IAFF, endorsed Ellison just before Perez entered the race last week, despite protests from IAFF President Harold Schaitberger and others.

In a statement, Schaitberger praised Perez as a "a tireless advocate for civil and human rights" who can transcend what the union president called "a narrow focus on identity and cultural politics that alienated" some longtime Democrats from the party....

Don't blow this off as something Washington, DC will absorb. This is not the Monroe presidency. Monroe didn't have nukes. From FDR going forward is the only timeline that matters and when looking for a parallel university it is "W" all over again.

Lies cannot be the truth. Wars should not reflect populous priorities to facilitate lies and danger to other people.

I am waiting for the "Axis of Evil" speech that includes Africa.

When examining the timeline from FDR forward there were dearly few USA presidents that sought to end this genocidal weapon. There are a few that haven't and used the USA military capacity to deserve respect. "W" never talked about peace.

It is "W" all over again. The media loves violence. Here we go again. There hasn't been 24 hours since the attacks in Europe and the film loops are hot stuff.

This occurred in Europe. NATO is vital to the security of Europe. That is what should be discussed and how Trump has attacked the NATO Alliance.

I could not agree more...

...the increase in hate crimes in the country is testament to it. "W" and Cheney galvanized the permission to lie as if truth. Iraq was a huge lie. The idea Trump could top or even what to top that lie, just to prove to everyone the power he holds is all too tempting to him.

Trump has a narcissistic value to his life. He chronically wants to show one upmanship to everything. It doesn't matter what it is, if there is a challenge to the understanding he is in any way inferior to others; he has a drive to prove them wrong. He has NO sense of humor. Got that? He has no sense of humor. He has a sense of entitlement. 

Lies, by nature, serve the ego. Lace that with the power of money or should I say the promise of money and people will follow. The followers are the concern. A narcissist in this case admires his own ability to control masses of people. The rallies are proof of that. Trump's behavior before the election and now are not different, EXCEPT, the rallies now will garner more supporters because he is a winner. The rallies are intended to build more followers than he had before. It is a worry and not a political worry. It is all too easy to call any difference with anyone simply politics.

As much as it would be nice to have someone to agree with from time to time, I don't think it is wise or even possible. His estrangement of so many from solid American values is all to clear and too potent considering his agenda. The followers are willing to suffer for his ideology, already.

Russia is backing him. I think Mitch McConnell is competent enough to guide the country away from such agendas. McConnell is not stupid. I don't trust Ryan, he is nothing more than putty.

Trump's eager acceptance of a White Supremacist in the White House is outrageous for all the right reasons, yet, he views it as diversity. Hideous. Add to that he will not expose his income tax returns and other materials, the American people no nothing about his passions.

December 19. 2016
By Robert Reich

Donald Trump (click here) has just finished the last of his nine post-election “thank you tour” rallies. Why did he do them? And why is he planning further rallies after he becomes president?

One clue is that Trump conducted them only in the states he won. And most attendees appeared to have voted for him—overwhelmingly white, and many wearing Trump hats and T-shirts. When warm-up speakers asked how many had previously attended a Trump rally, most hands went up.

A second clue is that rather than urge followers to bury the hatchet, Trump wound them up.

“It’s a movement,” he said in Mobile, playfully telling the crowd that in the run-up to the election, “You people were vicious, violent, screaming, ‘Where’s the wall?’ ‘We want the wall!’ Screaming, ‘Prison!’ ‘Prison!’ ‘Lock her up!’ I mean, you were going crazy. You were nasty and mean and vicious.” He called his followers “wild beasts.”...

If the roads can't be cleared, then close them.

I think Baltimore was lucky, this has the potential to be far worse than it was. Tankers of flammable liquid? They should be parked  until the roads were safe again. Tow trucks don't explode. Tow them off the road if the drivers don't comply.

The trucks should not have been dispatched in the first place. The clean up would be not be as costly if it didn't happen at all.

Drivers of trucks and cars want to arrive alive.

2 Dead, Dozens Hurt In Icy, Multi-Vehicle Crash on I-95

Baltimore (WJZ) — A crash involving dozens of and a tractor-trailer (click here) shut down Interstate 95 in South Baltimore Saturday morning. Emergency Management calls this the worst accident in Baltimore’s recent history, considering the sheer number of people involved.

Maryland Department of Transportation says 67 vehicles and one tanker were involved in the crash near the exit for Washington Boulevard on I-95 North just before 5 a.m. Authorities say the tanker went off the bridge and fell down to the street below.

At least two people were killed and dozens were injured in the icy pileup–at least seven of those seriously.

Roads are now open, but cleanup is still far from over.

Let the infighting begin.

December 19, 2016
By Reuters

A Koch Industries-funded report (click here) warned on Friday U.S. gasoline prices would rise if Congress passed a Republican proposal to adjust U.S. corporate tax rates to favor exports over imports, escalating a lobbying battle over the measure.

The report by energy consultant Philip Verleger surfaced a week after the private conglomerate, controlled by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, predicted the Republican measure called "border adjustability" would devastate the economy.

The actions are unusual for the Koch brothers, who spend heavily in elections to support Republicans and conservative policies. They are part of the early lobbying salvo by a range of industries that hope to eliminate the measure as President-elect Donald Trump and the Republicans in Congress edge toward agreement on a tax reform agenda for 2017.

Analysts said the specter of higher gasoline prices could prove embarrassing for Trump, who supports the energy sector and has nominated prominent industry advocates to top cabinet positions, including Exxon Mobil Chief Executive Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State....

In case Democrats and Independents were wrapped up in some kind of masochistic analysis, they missed an important fact; Republican unity ain't all that. I really am jealous of the fact, someone was able to gather the "Good 'ole boys' club" for a family portrait.

Ya did hear about Murdoch's new marriage, right? (click here)

The naked truth of the GOP. It is still the establishment vs the terrorists.

March 20, 2015
By Frank Rich

In mid-July of 2015, (click here) a month after Donald Trump announced his presidential run, I joined a gaggle of political junkies in a clubby bar four blocks from the White House to hear a legendary campaign strategist expound on the race ahead. Our guest’s long résumé included service to Mitt Romney and two generations of Bushes. Not speaking for attribution, and not having signed on to any 2016 campaign, he could talk freely. The nomination was Jeb Bush’s to lose, he said. Scott Walker, the union-busting Wisconsin governor then considered something of a favorite, had no chance because he was just “too stupid.” And Trump? Please! Trump represented every ugly element that was dragging down the GOP in presidential elections. But our guy wasn’t fazed. The good thing about Trump, he said, is that he would finally “gather together all the people we want to lose” and march them off the Republican reservation — though to what location remained undisclosed....

These are human rights violations committed by the police no matter where they came from.

Many of these protesters are Native American Indians protecting their water supply. This is the first recognition that police came from outside the North Dakota jurisdiction to act against the Native Americans.

Police watch over dozens of protesters in frigid waters of a creek as remnants of pepper spray waft over over the crowd last month near Cannon Ball, N.D.

December 19, 2016
By George Hesselberg

The 17 Wisconsin State Patrol officers (click here) sent to the protests over the Dakota Access oil pipeline in October believe they should drop the use of name tags in favor of badge numbers to protect privacy, employ a videographer or body cameras, and upgrade helmets and protective vests.

The troopers’ suggestions, which also included setting some physical requirements and finding more comfortable footwear, come in a report assessing the unit’s response in the Oct. 9-15 deployment in North Dakota.

The State Patrol’s “Mobile Field Force” was joined by smaller groups of two to 13 deputies from four county sheriff’s offices, including Dane County.4

There were 43 officers from Wisconsin....

Sincere sympathies to the Russian people. There is no way to guard from such a well orchestrated assassination.

This was very well organized. It is a worry. This is a police officer. He was off duty. The only measure that could have been taken is for the the police department to provide assignments expected at the museum. In that is the idea someone from the museum and/or in cooperation with a Russian representative takes a roll call, if you will, to determine who was assigned and who was not. 

What bothers me is how this police officer was recruited into this violence? Was he known to be a radical sympathizer? Such people are dangerous in several ways. This obviously was a sad reality at his ability to migrate into a museum to kill. Also, he is a police officer. He could be carrying out covert activity to facilitate attacks by looking the other way to such activity. He is a very big worry. He has official capacity he could use to cause deaths in several ways.

Not to increase the prowess of this one man, but, there has been an attack in Germany within the same hour as this occurred. Such reality leads me more strongly into questioning how this man was recruited into violence.

December 19. 2016
By Tuvan Gumrukcu and Umit Bektas

The Russian ambassador (click here) to Turkey was shot in the back and killed as he gave a speech at an Ankara art gallery on Monday by an off-duty police officer who shouted "Don't forget Aleppo" and "Allahu Akbar" as he opened fire.

The Russian foreign ministry confirmed the death of envoy Andrei Karlov, calling it a "terrorist act". Relations between Moscow and Ankara have long been strained over the conflict in Syria, with the two support opposing sides in the war.

Russia is an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its air strikes helped Syrian forces end rebel resistance last week in the northern city of Aleppo. Turkey, which seeks Assad's ouster, has been repairing ties with Moscow after shooting down a Russian warplane over Syria last year....

"The Independent" is reporting the gunman was saying "We die in Alleppo, you die here." (click here) 

I do not believe this assassin acted due to a failed coop. It obviously is linked directly to Syria. 

This is not a time to criticize Russia for it's support of President Assad. Any hope of divisiveness lends itself to strengthen Daesh. This should be an obvious outcome to the ability of Daesh to carry out it's charismatic movement in Turkey and in Europe generally. The world has resolved to stand together to end this murderous regime and that should be part of the reality here as well. 

My understanding is that buses have been moved to near Syria or within Syria to accept refugees. That should go forward in peace to prove to Daesh they have no right to kill in a world that values life.

This is not a NATO plot. This is a sympathizer with Daesh. The idea this police officer was recruited and became a willing assassin is more than a worry; it speaks to the ability of Daesh to enlist people from all walks of life. Police officers are investigated before they are provided such level of trust. How did Daesh receive loyalty from this man? This should not be politicized as it will lead to false information and ultimately to have all of this happen again!

The Clinton campaign did not run a bad campaign; they ran the campaign available to them.

December 19, 2016
By Leah Barkoukis

Bill Clinton (click here) still can’t accept that his wife lost the election to Donald Trump. But rather than acknowledging she ran a bad campaign, set up a private email server while secretary of state, and ignored places like Wisconsin and Michigan, Clinton placed the blame squarely on FBI Director James Comey.

"James Comey cost her the election," Clinton told the editor of the Bedford-Pound Ridge Record Review after running into him at a local bookstore in a Westchester town....

Russia definitely had a deliberate effect on the elections. There is motivation for Russia to conduct hostile attacks against Hillary Clinton in the way of hacking computers and passing it to Wikileaks. Assange didn't want Hillary Clinton in office either, so the circle is complete.

However, even with all the poison in the politics of the USA this year, the final act that caused the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC campaigns to lose the election was Comey's nonsense announcement about Weiner's laptop. There was no purpose to Comey's announcement. He only walked it back days later. By then, the damage was done and it not only effected Hillary Clinton, it effected the down ballot elections as well. It was palpable.

Why is this important? Because it clearly demonstrates a FBI Director that has little concern for the people. He played with the countries politics. Match that with a man in the Oval Office that could not care less to hear anything from the intelligence agencies and what is left is anarchy. There is every indication the USA intelligence agencies will be autonomous agents of the country.

Comey knew what he was doing. If it is determined that Comey was witless in his position at the top of the domestic security agency, then he is incompetent and needs to be removed. His agency personnel is best to speak to that. That is a congressional committee behind closed doors. The investigation has to be conducted. It is obvious.

Those that voted for Trump expect enormous spending, including a trillion dollar stimulus that reaches back in time to favor cronies. Trump also wants to build a wall at the USA southern border and begin policing that removes the Undocumented from their USA homes. Based in the fact Trump is not willing to receive daily intelligence briefings there is no justification for his wall, vigilantism or a policing no different than the SS. Yes, the Schutzstaffe who went door to door to remove specific ethnicities to concentration camps.

It is blatantly wrong to carry out construction of any kind that is meant to be punitive based in racism and hatred. The same goes for the Trump SS.

China's "Global Times" is correct and Mr. Trump should be treated as a novice by domestic and international authorities.

There is sincere danger in PRETENDING Donald Trump is nothing short of unprepared to lead the USA. I sincerely believe anyone voting for him did not expect this level of deceit. Donald Trump is walking away from any, if not all, his campaign promises. The fact is the American people do not know who he is and won't until he starts his administration and we witness a run away White House that facilitates extremism in the Congress. 

Vice President Pence is no different. He is an extremist with a religious biased agenda.

Neither of these men should be in the Executive Branch of the USA government. Their extremist agenda speaks eons to the reckless power now in their hands. It would be ludicrous to expect this administration to act responsibly or even educated to the dynamics of governing. They are populist extremists that carry values into office foreign to the well being of the American people and to it's allies.

December 19, 2016
By Jason Silverstein

Surprise surprise: (click here) China’s state-run newspapers are not in love with Donald Trump.

An editorial Monday in the Community Party-controlled Global Times blasted the President-elect of the United States as a man with “no sense of how to lead a superpower.

”The scathing piece arrived after Trump’s series of shakeups with American-Chinese relations — including a typo-tinged tweet from the weekend.

“Trump is not behaving as a president who will become master of the White House in a month,” the editorial said.                    

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

November 17, 2016
By Kelly Bostian

A Hillary Christmas (click here) would have been crazy, a repeat of Obama 2008 — on steroids — but the Trump Christmas season is quite reasonable, though some of that calm may be attributed to a decline in oil production.

That’s the story from gun shops around Tulsa this Christmas season, where the focus seems to have shifted from last year’s panic purchases of AR-style rifles and ammo, which people feared might soon be banned or highly regulated, to more practical purchases aimed at concealed carry and home defense.

“It hasn’t dropped off, from what we can tell, but the election was right before the holiday season, and it’s always busy,” said Sports World manager Chris Floyd. “It has shifted more toward these, though,” he added motioning to glass cases filled with handguns....

"Good Night, Moon"

The waning gibbous

20.2 days old

69.1 lit

December 18, 2016
By Brinke Guthrie

It seems that Nancy Carlson (click here) of Inverness, Illinois spent $995 to buy a small, rather innocuous looking “lunar sample return bag” at an auction held by the U.S. Marshals Service. No problem there, right? Go shopping, place the winning bid, pay the amount, have a nice day. Ah, but there’s more to the story than meets the eye.

Houston, we do indeed have a problem.

According to the website collectSPACE.com, the bag came to be at the auction after it was “forfeited along with other artifacts found in the home of Max Ary, a former curator convicted in 2006 of stealing and selling space artifacts that belonged to the Cosmosphere space museum in Hutchinson, Kansas.” Ary spent two years in prison and was fined $132,000....

Mark your calendars for 2017.

The history of the chemical industry is long, but, rather dangerous. Regulation is necessary and enforcement is vital. Whether industrialists want to realize it or not, the fines and lawsuits companies pay do make an impression and protects Americans from future blundering by industry.

There is a safer chemistry to look toward in the 21st Century and it is called "Green Chemistry." 

The larger the population anywhere on Earth, the more space is demanded for living lives. That means space on Earth is at a premium and growing more and more precious as the heating of Earth's troposphere continues to force people into areas where water and food can be found.

When thinking about green chemistry, the less dangerous our world is the less problems we carry forward to our health systems, etc. Reflect on the penalties alone to companies that were reckless in their production of their products. Would it not be better to clearly think through danger? Wouldn't it be better to actually respect LD50s (lethal dose to 50 percent of the population) in research of health? The USA has to once again value life and it's potential.

Looking at Japan, despite all of the poor choices in energy; it is a model for any country when it comes to valuing space and air space while preserving the natural world. Japan is a remarkable country with great resilience to population pressures. They build up and keep the foot print of human dwellings to a minimum, while people are happy with the size of their dwelling. Cities are where it is happening. Be part of it in Japan.

And the highways in the USA cannot not continue to expand horizontally. Highways in the USA need to expand vertically. Major cities in the USA have been doing exactly that for a long time. Perhaps the best known stacked highways is Los Angeles. 

The future and population growth on Earth demands better use of resources and better answers for our time and better devotion to preserving the natural world. The human race has to be more accommodating to nature. There are reasons for reverence for our common home. Our common home has to take priority. 

I want to add a quick note about the "Flint River Water Project." I stated on Friday I would begin writing the work, but, that doesn't mean it will be immediately published. I fully expect to look at the work I compiled and realize there are holes in the information. I hope there isn't, but, the initial work of any project that is sincerely conducted for a purpose usually results in closing of information to be sure it flows. Continuity through a written work is important. Frequently, the more information reviewed the bigger the picture becomes and reveals the best way forward. I had no intention of deceiving anyone to think it would be published tonight. Sorry if anyone was disappointed. The Friday landmark is notice to the progress of the project. I will clearly state when I expect to publish the work I am doing. It will be logical and will probably be constructed over weekly printings. I think that makes for easier reading and absorption of information. I did say this was going to be a lengthy project and it is proving to be so.

Until later.

The indignity of that Polar Bear alone should shame the American people.

"Polar Bears' Path to Decline Runs Through an Alaskan Town" (click here)

by Erica Good

Kaktovik, Alaska — Come fall, (click here) polar bears are everywhere around this Arctic village, dozing on sand spits, roughhousing in the shallows, padding down the beach with cubs in tow and attracting hundreds of tourists who travel long distances to see them.

At night, the bears steal into town, making it dangerous to walk outside without a firearm or bear spray. They leave only reluctantly, chased off by the polar bear patrol with firecracker shells and spotlights.

On the surface, these bears might not seem like members of a species facing possible extinction....

Thank you for writing this article. It is very important there is no shifting baseline.

The scientists evaluating the Oklahoma seismicity were looking at a quake deceleration that FITS THE OMORI LAW.

"A generalized Omori law for earthquake after shock decay."

By Robert Shcherbakov, Donald L. Turcotte and John B. Rundle

An Agu Journal, 12 June 2004

Abstract (click here)

[1] Earthquake aftershock sequences have been found to approximately satisfy three empirical scaling relations: i) the Gutenberg-Richter frequency-magnitude scaling, ii) Båth's law for the difference in the magnitude of a mainshock and its largest aftershock, and iii) the modified Omori's law for the temporal decay of aftershock rates. The three laws are incorporated to give a generalized Omori's law for aftershock decay rates that depend on several parameters specific for each given seismogenic region. It is shown that the characteristic time c, first introduced in the modified Omori's law, is no longer a constant but scales with a lower magnitude cutoff and a mainshock magnitude. The generalized Omori's law is tested against earthquake catalogs for the aftershock sequences of the Landers, Northridge, Hector Mine, and San Simeon earthquakes....

These laws of physics that have been studied repeatedly to validate the law of aftershocks do not apply to the Oklahoma quakes even with lower levels of water injected into the rock. The Oklahoma quakes are induced by human activity and are different than quakes that happen because of the Earth's many pressure to it's plate system. The induced quakes are outside the definition of ordinary physics. The Omori law does not apply.

NO MATTER HOW MUCH THE CORRUPT ADMINISTRATION OF DONALD TRUMP SHUFFLES THE PAPERS, THE REALITY AND FACTS WILL DISPUTE EVERY ASPECT OF THEIR MANIPULATIONS.