I think that is short sighted.

The New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof, who conducted the interview in front of thousands at a Lincoln Center theater, asked if Syria policy had been the biggest mistake of the Obama administration.

Clinton reiterated that in 2012, she and the then CIA director, David Petraeus, had devised a plan to arm rebels, but it was rejected.

“I thought we should have done more at that point,” she said.

She noted that most of the civilian deaths came because of airstrikes and argued that more could still be done to stop Assad’s airforce and protect civilians.

“I really believe we should have and still should take out his airfields and prevent him from being able to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them,” said Clinton.

Here again Americans believe God is on their side and therefore can accomplish the impossible.

"W" was the same way with Iraq. He expected to be cheered by the Iraqi people as a liberator. That is all American arrogance.

What if, instead of arming rebels, the USA brokered an agreement that any leader of the rebellion would be given amnesty from retribution by Assad? What would happen? Why is war always the best answer? It is actually no answer in the Middle East.

If Assad was guaranteed his position as president of Syria there would be no reason for war. His position has always been to place strategic militias throughout the region, including Lebanon. It sincerely is the only method of security for the Shia Crescent. UNLESS. Peace was brokered with enough incentive it would be permanent. The Late Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah was doing exactly that. He would meet with Assad and they would discuss the day and the stability of the region. 

Everyone remembers Beirut and the horrible violence decades ago. For the most part it ended. It took strong Lebanese leadership, but, the Beirut of yesterday is no longer. It is possible. I think Hillary Clinton didn't take the time to realize the strength of peace within the region. Guns are too easy and please the politics of the American people.

US Congressional indifference. Is it misogyny or Trump politics or both?

...The former secretary of state explained that she believed Russian’s interference was “the weaponization of information” in the form of “a thousand agents, bots and trolls” and that an independent, non-partisan investigation was needed.

“I’m hopeful Congress will pull together and realize because of the success the Kremlin feels it had, they’re not going to go away,” she said....

What lead up to the failure of the Ukraine treaty?

Hillary has every right to be upset about Russia. I would love for her to write a book on her experience with Russia across her years in government. I am sure she would open eyes.

I think Lavrov really wanted the reset between the USA and Russia. There was no reason for it not to work. I am sure there were private talks that set parameters to the reset after the public relations campaign. We should know. What happened? We wanted to work with Russia and not escalate a nuclear posture.

Democratic ideology? Sure. But, it is based in global aspirations by other countries as well in the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Treaties are suppose to mean something. The United Nations is suppose to mean something. I sincerely believe Putin took license to move into Ukraine because the USA was aggressive in it's oil hunger by invading Iraq. The permission was there after "W" went outside the operations of the UN Security Council and their inspectors.

He saw the handwriting on the wall. The UN was finding nothing. There was less and less reason to invade Iraq. "W" wanted the goal of Rumsfeld's Cabal. They weren't going to be stopped, hence, why would Putin oppose the USA invasion. It was a new rule in the aspirations of countries with a strong military. "Go ahead, who is going to stop you?" China the same way with it's military presence on meaningless islands to expand it's borders further into the Pacific. Same thing.

Vietnam quakes with the reality of having China claim the water and mineral rights on their common ocean border. Same thing.

It was a feel good moment. Russia and the USA shaking hands, smiling and starting anew with the hopes of reviving old ideals and securing long time hopes. Indeed, what could have been better? Was Russia hoping to lull the USA into political amnesia after a reset? I don't think we know why it failed so much as that it failed.

misogyny

 a hatred of women

Misogyny may be distinguished from the closely related word sexism, which signifies discrimination based on sex (although it most frequently refers to discrimination against women) and also carries the meaning “behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex.”

Misogyny refers specifically to a hatred of women. The word is formed from the Greek roots misein (“to hate”) and gynē (“woman”). Each of these roots can be found in other English words, both common and obscure. Gynē helped to form gynecologist and androgynous, and misein can be found in such words as misoneism (“a hatred, fear, or intolerance of innovation or change”) and misandry (“a hatred of men”).

Hatred of women can manifest itself in a civil society as oppression and stereotyping. Stereotyping is oppression. Stereotyping provides boundaries of behavior.

Yes, in 2017. I betcha you thought a burka would be on the list of stereotyping and oppression. No.

7 April 2017
A Canadian province (click here) has scrapped the dress code which requires female employees to wear high heels.

The government of British Columbia (BC) says the requirement is discriminatory as well as being a health and safety issue because they are dangerous.

It says that high heel wearers face a risk of physical injury from slipping or falling as well as possible damage to the feet, legs and back.

Footwear should be designed to allow workers to operate safely, it says.

The announcement of the ban comes after a provincial Green party politician in March introduced a bill in the BC legislature aimed at preventing employers from setting gender-based footwear requirements....

Take a good look at that picture. Is it oppressive? You betcha. She is required to be at least as sexy as the local exotic dancer pole. Understated if measuring against stripper shoes, but, oppressive just the same.

Yes, yes there are seams on those hosiery. 

Why oppressive? There is the obvious safety issue. Anyone ever fall off stripper shoes? Not a pretty sight. Nothing like having everyone gawking at your panty hose and thong or boy cut panties as you fell off your shoes. The image of that one woman against the rest of the office creates a very hostile environment, wouldn't you say? Right? Everyone has that image of Hazel on the floor with her panties showing as her skirt wasn't tight enough to hide them in case the worst happened with the stripper shoes.

Just stay there a minute with Hazel the up and coming girl friday that can do anything asked of her, even dance backwards on heels. Why is it women's fashion dictates they have to try to be as tall as men?

Fashion? I don't know. Men never spice up their work place wardrobe. Nah, even the skinny suit is not the same signature as stripper shoes.

Time to move on.

I have my differences with her as well. No one can deny she is a great woman.

She states she believes military action is needed in Syria. I disagree. She tends to be too much of a hawk.

6 April 2017

By Amber Jamieson

In her first interview (click here) since losing the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton said misogyny had played a role in her election loss.

Clinton “spends a lot of time wrestling” with the fact that 53% of white women voted for Trump and the impact of her gender on her loss, she said at the Women in the World summit.

“Certainly misogyny played a role,” she said.

In a wide-ranging interview, Clinton also called for US intervention in Syria, spoke about how being an ambitious woman had turned her into “Typhoid Mary”, and called for a bipartisan investigation into Russian interference in the election.

Clinton called on politicians on both sides to “start acting like patriotic Americans” by investigating Russian involvement in the election.

“What was done to us was an act of aggression and it was carried out by a foreign power under the control of someone who has a deep desire to dominate Europe and to send us into a tailspin,” Clinton said at the Women in the World summit. “What Putin wanted to do was sow distrust and confusion as well as influence our election.”...                    

Hillary

Isn't she great. She is incredible. There aren't words in some ways to express the immense admiration I have for her.

This is not a 15 minute structure. I think of Hillary as open to any form of communication without exception. That also includes using strength through our military.

I want to write about Hillary tonight. She deserves the attention over and above any priority I had for tonight. She was very brave to come forward and speak about her mistreatment as a candidate for President of the USA. I think I've made it clear that is how I see it. I see her as being mistreated. 

Osama bin Laden is dead.

There is a reason Assad has power and it has nothing to do with Russia.

The people he protects and favor him fear ethnic cleansing.

What does that mean? There is no peace, there are only lulls and truces and potential peace agreements with power sharing governments. There is strong reason to believe a power sharing government would work, but, who controls the military in Syria?

There is no way forward in Syria that is simple. Kill Assad and there are others like him.

No USA President has the answer. The answer comes from the people themselves. "The White Helmets" is a great hope, but, bombing hospitals has become a strategy to demoralize them and the people they save.

There needs to be a new strategy for the rescued people. It has to be covert to continue to build strength between different ethnicity to form a nation that is a melting pot. There will always be two separate religious structures in Syria; the Sunnies and Shia and the many, many denominations of ethnicity within those religious ethnics.

I can sympathize with President Trump about dead children, dead babies and the desire to be their hero/champion. There is no answer for them. More bombs and aggression only begets more bombs and aggression. Give the babies and their families refugee status. 

There is a limited argument about migrating Daesh. That occurred in Europe. We know that. They came through the Greek Islands. The sympathy occurred for those hate filled migrant men because Europe witnessed a drowned child wash ashore. Sympathies can be dangerous in a world without answers.

Daesh is similiar to al Qaeda in that they seek psychological warfare as well as randomized killing of citizens of civilized countries.

Question: "Is the election of Donald Trump, for all his good intentions, due to a country undermined by al Qaeda?" When is the "OMG, Osama but in a different body" SYNDROME going to end?

I sincerely question the Americans that hate their government AND those Americans diverse from them! I oppose White Supremacy as a strategy that satisfies the movement of al Qaeda!

In the USA, the refugee/migrant experience is very different regarding mass killings. In the USA, we are seeing children of immigrants with dual citizen status become violent as a resolve to their CONFLICTED IDENTITIES. The USA hasn't even officially identified the problem and until that occurs and is documented the answers won't be available and the USA society remains at danger.

The Iraq War served a political agenda. Ignoring the real problem with our own Americans with dual citizen status serves a political agenda.

Americans are fools for playing politics with their own danger rather than demanding answers!

President Obama is completely correct. Syria can't be done on the cheap as Trump conducted.

...Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu (click here) described Trump’s decision to retaliate as welcome, but not enough.
“If this intervention is limited only to an air base, if it does not continue and if we don’t remove the regime from heading Syria, then this would remain a cosmetic intervention,” he said....

Basically, it is another Iraq, but, worse. The USA would have to wage a war of no consequence to the USA, against a sitting president and it's ally Russia. Syria is not solvable. START THERE!
Americans always believe they can conduct a war and then put it in a box and tie it with a bow. NOT.
Are right wingers so devoted to their politics of death and violence they are willing to place their country, military and soldiers on the line to conduct a forever war in Syria?

Fools!

There is only one genetic Assad.

The strike in Syria was not about national security, It had no basis and very little effect.

1. President Trump (click here) is sitting at the narrow end of the table

2. Rex W. Tillerson, secretary of state

3. Stephen K. Bannon, chief strategist

4. Stephen Miller, senior adviser
5. Michael Anton, adviser on national security

6. Dina Powell, deputy national security adviser

7. Gary D. Cohn, chief economic adviser

8. Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, national security adviser

9. Reince Priebus, chief of staff

10. Joseph Hagin, deputy chief of staff

11. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser

12. Steven T. Mnuchin is the Treasury secretary

13. Wilbur L. Ross is the commerce secretary

14. Sean Spicer, press secretary

"The Masters of the Universe"

Where's the popcorn?

Ready for "Sunday Morning?" There are more press people in the room than military. I can't ignore the presence of economic personnel. This is ridiculous. Economics of Wall Street are being calculated while the missiles drop? Cheney all over again. The USA invaded Iraq on March 19-20 and Halliburton was on the ground on the 21st.

Joe Biden, (click here) vice president of the United States, 

Barack Obama, forty-forth president of the United States

Marshall B. Webb (seated at the head of the table, with a laptop) is a United States Air Force major general who served as Assistant Commanding General of the Joint Special Operations Command during the raid.

Mike Mullen (standing, wearing a tie), a career naval officer,

Tom Donilon (standing, arms folded) was President Obama’s National Security Advisor 

Bill Daley (standing, with jacket) was the White House Chief of Staff for President Obama from January 2011 to 2012.

Denis McDonough (seated) Deputy National Security Adviser.

Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State 

Audrey Tomason (standing, furthest in back), director for counterterrorism

John Brennan (standing, wearing gray), director of the Central Intelligence Agency

James Clapper (standing, wearing tie) the Director of National Intelligence

Robert Gates (seated) Secretary of Defense

Obama actually accomplished something, Trump didn't. Trump made it worse. Moscow is tightening up their relationship with Syria. Twenty people counted as dead so far, no specifics as to who they are.

April 8, 2017
By Louisa Loveluck

...Although American officials predicted (click here) that the strikes would result in a major shift of Assad’s calculus, they appeared to be symbolic in practice. Within 24 hours of the attack, monitoring groups reported that jets were taking off from the bombed Shayrat air base once again, this time to bomb Islamic State positions.

There were also reports of Syrian government and Russian airstrikes across the provinces of Damascus, Aleppo, Idlib and Daraa, all killing civilians. However, there were no reports of further use of chemical weapons.

“The American strikes did nothing for us. They can still commit massacres at anytime,” said Majed Khattab, speaking by phone from Khan Sheikhoun. “No one here can sleep properly, people are really afraid.”...

March 31, 2017
By Brianna Provenzano

According to court documents released (click here) on Tuesday, the state of Michigan will set aside $97 million over the next three years to replace the lead-ridden water lines that currently service at least 18,000 homes in beleaguered Flint....

..."For the first time, there will be an enforceable commitment to get the lead pipes out of the ground," Dimple Chaudhary, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement obtained by Reuters. "The people of Flint are owed at least this much."

Below are the statistics on the horrors the city has faced since the ordeal began in 2015 — and what plans to move forward will look like.

100,000

Approximate population of Flint, a majority black city in Michigan about 70 miles northeast of Detroit.

41.2%

The percentage of Flint residents that live below the federal poverty line.

13,000

Highest levels of lead, in parts per billion (ppb) found in samples of Flint's water. The EPA's limit is 15 ppb.

19 

Times more corrosive the Flint River is than Lake Huron, which previously supplied Flint's water.

514

Number of Flint residents to sign a class action complaint against the EPA for negligence in April 2016.

539

The number of days Flint's water was considered "toxic and highly corrosive," according to that complaint.

18

Months that Flint city officials went knowing about the potentially toxic water residents were using, but not acting on it.

9,000

The number of Flint children ages six and under who were exposed to toxic lead levels.

$97 million

The amount of money the state of Michigan will set aside over the next several years to finally replace Flint's water lines.

I think President Trump has put the USA in a very dangerous place. We are now a target more than ever.

Updated at 3:15 p.m. ET on April 7 (click here)

President Trump came into office promising big disruptive changes in the way America defined its role in the world. American foreign policy would no longer be aspirational — it would be transactional. "What's in it for us?" would guide the new "America First" approach. Human rights? Downgraded. America as an idea, a beacon of freedom to tired, huddled masses? Been there, done that. Promoting democratic values as a way to strengthen America's own economic and national security? Nope. Trump just didn't see the connection. But as the new president is finding out, things happen. Chemical weapons are used. And the world's greatest superpower has to respond....

All the opining can go on and should, but, there is a brand new reality after 50 Tomahawk missiles hit their targets; the USA is now a target without a doubt by every country on Earth.

There is just no doubt there has been a global shift to the way the USA is now viewed. First "W" and his illegal war into Iraq and now another President willing to kill when the country is not a direct threat to the USA. Obama targeted terrorists and there were some very questionable incidents including the deaths and injuries of people in Afghanistan in a hospital.

The USA is not trustworthy on an international basis. The profile has changed and the question remains, "When will there be a pre-emptive nuclear strike to end life in the USA?" Look, the people voted him in and now Russia is on it's defenses deciding what happens not just in Syria, but, globally.

I watched Putin pacify "W" on a fishing trip to Kennebunkport. Then Tony Blair walking in lock step with "W" to prevent complete tragedy in the Middle East.

I have seen Obama side step President Medvedev in regard to interceptor missiles in Europe. He also opted to withhold sincere NATO or perhaps simply the USA intervention with Ukraine, even when Crimea was taken due to a lack of a national military in Ukraine. The USA and NATO had a reason to launch into a war with Russia. Russia broke a treaty over a completely disarmed country that surrendered it's nuclear weapons to INSURE peace for their country and people.

There is ONE THING every nuclear nation has to have to be a successful nuclear nation and that is transparency to war intentions; hence; the United Nations Security Council. Just previous to the launch of 50 Tomahawk missiles into Syria to target President Assad and his military, Russia was speaking at the UN Security Council to introduce a Resolution. Resolutions are the way countries begin to measure potential peaceful outcomes to conflict.

President Trump is JUST "W"RONG. There is no good way of saying it. The unannounced attack into Syria, a country that is not a threat to the USA, was knee jerk, populous, political and stupid.

Every country, including China and Russia and most probably France and Great Britain are reassessing as I write this the potential to end the Superpower status of the USA. I sincerely believe there are plans probably dating back to "W" to end life in the USA. It can be done. Superpower status was suppose to bring about peace, not unrelenting war and death. The misuse of the USA military in the recent past cannot be ignored nor should it be. The American people need to stand up to Trump and demand his resignation to remove the idiocy that was witnessed yesterday. This is NOT a man that can control his emotions enough to bring a proposal to the US Congress yet alone the United Nations.

There are American troops in Syria, aid workers, allies and Tomahawk weapons were released without warning? This is NUTS!

The nuclear era of the world has to be over and now!

Syria is a tragedy that was a long time in the making. The hatred of ethnic vs ethnic in Syria is not a new scenario. To believe, even for a minute, that 50 Tomahawk missiles were going to solve a problem that has existed for millennia is grossly incompetent and as witnessed extremely dangerous.

No President has the right to sit in the Oval Office and pass judgement on other countries to launch missiles to end a conflict because of campaign rhetoric. It is highly questionable that Trump is even within the 90 days of US military intervention by the Executive Branch of the USA Government! 

And then there is the global economic collapse of 2008 and a heating planet. The USA is not a country that can be reliably committed to minimalist intervention and protections of people of another country or even it's own! 

It is called a local economy and a citizenship of conscience.

March 28, 2017
By Sarah Roebuck

Traverse City, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU)-- Traverse City (click here) has been named the 'Strongest Town'.

In a bracket-style contest with 15 other communities throughout the nation, Traverse City was named the winner of the 501(c)3 non-profit organization, 'Strongest Town'.

The contest came down to Guelph, Ontario and Traverse City.

According to the organization, Strong Towns, the 'Strongest Town" contest is about showcasing towns that are doing their best to be strong, that have the building blocks in place to be strong towns today and in the future....

...Throughout the month of March, Strong Towns says readers and listeners vote match-ups between the 16 towns based on a variety of assessment tools, including podcast interviews, photos and essays.

The winner of the competition gets a free Curbside Chat in their town, plus signed copies of the organization's books, Thoughts on Building Strong Towns, Volumes I and II, and a certificate proclaiming their town is the strongest.

According to the organization's website, "the mission of Strong Towns is to support a model of development that allows America's cities, towns and neighborhoods to become financially strong and resilient."

"Real Clear Politics and FiveThirtyEight have Trump's approval ratings at 40.2 as of today and 40.4 as of yesterday.

The 10/9/12, 2:30 PM entry is from Mr. Trump's own twitter account.

Trump acted prematurely. Putin had called for a UN Security Council resolution regarding the chemical attack. Putin was speaking in Sochi at the time Trump delivered weapon attack into Syria. During his talk he stated the USA needs to stop blaming Russia regarding chemical attack if it didn't want the same. There were steps to take before such an attack. Trump is going to set the world on fire. There are steps to take LONG BEFORE missles are released. 50 surface to surface missiles. What is the destructive force of Tomahawks? Casualties. China and Russia should not over react, but, continue at the UN condemning such aggression without global consent. "W" was frustrated with the process, too. What a mess this is!
How does Russia feel about Trump now?

The Tomahawk was used in Libya. 90 were deployed to disarm the Qaddafi air war. The missiles are precision guided and collateral damage can be minimized.

Donald Trump's Presidential Job Approval Ratings (click here)

	Approval rating	Dates
	%
Most recent weekly average	38	Mar 27-Apr 2, 2017
Term average to date	41	Jan 20, 2017-present
High point, weekly average	45	Jan 20-29, 2017
Low point, weekly average	38	Mar 27-Apr 2, 2017
High point, three-day average	46	twice; last on Jan 23-25, 2017
Low point, three-day average	35	Mar 26-28, 2017

You know when problems such as Syria arises; the USA is not under attack and whether Populous Trump likes it or not he has NO authority to do ANYTHING except defend the sovereign USA. Such acts  require input by the US Congress.

What bothers me is that at the time the bombs were falling Tillerson was stating Assad had no future in Syria. Did we just declare war on Assad? Such a war opens weaknesses for Assad. That interprets into strength for Assad's enemies including Daesh.

Trump has caused a power void and Daesh is probably exploiting it already.

Plainly, the USA has no dog in this fight. Such aggression require a REASONABLE time frame with weapons deployment as the last resort. If Putin closes Russia's diplomatic corp from its previous mission  we are looking at the return of "The Cold War" at the very least.

Russia is citing their own sources to deny the chemical weapons attack in Syria.

We have witnessed attacks on hospitals in order to demoralize the rescue efforts. Attacking unarmed rescue workers in a war zone is an international crime.

April 5, 2017
By Jeffery Marcus

The Russian government (click here) has sharply contested accounts by witnesses and international leaders of a chemical attack that killed more than 100 people in northern Syria on Tuesday. Here’s what the available evidence tells us about the reliability of Russia’s account....

...There is no evidence that online video and photographs were fabricated. The images showed that scores of people, including children, died on Tuesday in Khan Sheikhun, in northern Syria, suffering symptoms consistent with having breathed in some sort of nerve agent, like sarin. Rescue workers and survivors described these symptoms as well....

According to AlJazeera there is confirmed use of chemical weapons. Second guessing authority can't go on forever. Sooner or later someone needs to recognize the scientists involved with these chemicals and their control even at storage facilities. If an investigation finds a crime has been committed, then it has been committed.

Any undermining of the United Nations for the purpose of Wall Street profits carry out permission for atrocities because perpetrators never are stopped.

April 6, 2017

Autopsy results (click here) have revealed that chemical weapons were used in an attack which killed more than 80 people in Syria's Idlib province, according to Turkey's justice minister.

Thirty-two victims of Tuesday's attack were brought to Turkey where three subsequently died.

"Autopsies were carried out on three of the bodies after they were brought from Idlib. The results of the autopsy confirms that chemical weapons were used," Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said, quoted by state-run Anadolu news agency.

"This scientific investigation also confirms that Assad used chemical weapons," Bozdag added, without giving further details....

The Kurds have made incredible progress into Syria. Daesh has been relegated to lines in the sand.

The USA is debating entering Syria, BUT, please don't kill the Kurds. It happens all the time. As soon as NATO moves into Syria, Turkey ends up killing Kurds.

Daesh is held up in cities. They are using human shields to protect them. Wow. 

Peshmerga of Rojava during a conference in Iraqi Kurdistan.

February 25, 2017

Kurdish officials (click here) rejected statements of Anas al-Abdah, the President of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces, who suggested that the Rojava Peshmerga forces are part of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).

“At the beginning of formation of the Rojava Peshmerga, the main goal was to train them to return to Syrian Kurdistan and to defend the region, but because of problems with the PYD they failed to reach a deal,” Zara Salih, a senior Yekiti politician told ARA News.

However, Salih said there was also no deal with the Syrian coalition. “The Peshmergas are not part of the FSA and they will never go to other areas [than Kurdistan]. The only possible solution is that the US guarantees both the Rojava Peshmerga and YPG [People’s Protection Units] to protect Syria’s Kurdish region and fight ISIS and other terrorist groups,” Salih said....

In my reading I have never found the Pestmerga forces to be part of any Free Syrian Army. The Kurds are autonomous. Turkey needs to end it's hatred and desire for ethnic cleansing of the Kurds. Kurds are not the enemy.

“The Rojava Peshmergas are not part of Turkey’s or the Syrian coalition’s agendas,” he said.

There needs to be a clear understanding that killing Kurds in addressing any issues with Daesh is as much a war crime as other atrocities in Syria.

...Not a single coalition soldier (click here) died in Kurdistan during the Iraq war, nor has a single foreigner been kidnapped in the areas administered by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). With the cooperation of citizens, the Kurdistan Region’s security forces have kept the area safe and stable. Security responsibility was formally transferred from the Multinational Forces to the KRG in May 2007....

...The Kurdistan Region has international airports in Erbil and Slemani, with direct flights to and from Europe and the Middle East. A new international airport is under construction in Duhok.

The majority of people in the Kurdistan Region are Sunni Muslims, mainly of the Shafi’i School. Some Muslims in the Region follow Sufi orders.

There are also a large number of Christians of different churches, such as Syrian Catholic, Syrian Orthodox, and Assyrian Church of the East, Armenian, and Catholic Chaldean.

A religion that is practiced only in Kurdistan is Yezidism, which has tens of thousands of adherents. The Kaka'i faith is also practiced in the Kurdistan Region.

The Kurdistan Regional Government protects people’s freedom to practice their religion and promotes inter-faith tolerance.

Thousands of Christian families have fled violence and threats in other parts of Iraq and found refuge in the Kurdistan Region.

For further reading about religion in Kurdistan, see the book Kurdistan Land of God, bilingual in English and German, by Francois-Xavier Lovat.

They need to be sent to a wildlife preserve until it can be determine if they can survive in the wild.

6 April 2017
By Christina Russo and Adam Cruise

Last year (click here) more than 30 young elephants were captured from the wild in Zimbabwe and flown by plane to China. The elephants – some reported to be as young as three – were dispersed to a number of zoos throughout the country, including the Shanghai Wild Animal Park, the Beijing Wildlife Park and the Hangzhou Safari Park, according to conservationists.

But what are their lives like now?

This week, 12 of the calves went on show at the Shanghai park. The Weibo page for the zoo says their average age is four. The photos there were reviewed by Yolanda Pretorius, vice-chair of the Elephant Specialist Advisory Group of South Africa, who commented: “Overall their body condition seems to be slightly below average but it does not look as if they are starving. One of the elephants has temporal gland secretions and I am not sure whether this is a good or bad sign. In the wild, elephants mostly secrete from their temporal glands when they get excited.”...

Democrats should have done this last year.

These nominations are too important. The Democrats broke tradition when the GOP obstructed judges nominated by President Obama to the court. There is a little too much sense of tradition in the Democrats to permit the Republicans to carry out a travesty in obstructing perfectly qualified nominations to the Supreme Court. 

Merrick Garland worked all his life toward fulfilling the demands of the US courts and he was qualified. The entire obstruction by the Republicans was based in politics and nothing more. The court is at two extremes when it comes to their votes. It isn't good for the country. The Democrats came all the way to instilling the Nuclear Option at every other level of judicial nomination, they should have taken the Supreme Court.

April 4, 2017
By Stephen B. Presser

The coming battle (click here) over the confirmation of Neil Gorsuch as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court is ostensibly about whether the nominee is in the "mainstream" of American constitutional jurisprudence.

The American Bar Association, a group that is not known for leaning to the right in recent years, has bestowed its highest rating of "well-qualified" on Gorsuch, and, from some parts of the academy and even the higher reaches of former Democrat administrations, Gorsuch has been lauded as a judge of exceptional even-handedness, intelligence and wit. And yet, it is now clear that the Democrats in the Senate will mount a filibuster against the nomination, the first time this has ever been done for purely partisan reasons....

The current extremist administration in the White House likes to think of the USA Constitution as it was in 1776. That takes the idea of tradition too. I sincerely believe the friendly, bipartisan nature of the US Senate is over. I firmly believe it died with the Late Robert Byrd. During the "W" years he was able to draw on the strengths of the US Constitution and persuade both parties to see the way forward. As of today the US Senate no longer has dignity so much as blatant power.

The United States of America's governance is far more important than political agendas.

August 6, 2017

By Karoun Demirgian

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) (click here) temporarily recused himself Thursday from all matters related to the committee’s ongoing probe into Russian interference in the presidential election, as House investigators look into ethics charges against him.

The House Ethics Committee released a statement Thursday saying it had “determined to investigate” allegations that “Nunes may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information, in violation of House Rules, law, regulations, or other standards of conduct.”

Nunes denied the charges as “entirely false and politically motivated,” blaming “several leftwing activist groups” for filing complaints with the Office of Congressional Ethics. Nunes said his recusal — which only applies to the committee’s Russia investigation — would be in effect while the House Ethics Committee looks into the matter, noting that he had asked to speak with that committee “at the earliest possible opportunity in order to expedite the dismissal of these false claims.”

In the meantime, Nunes said, Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-Tex.) will take the lead on the Russia investigation, with assistance from Reps. Thomas J. Rooney (R-Fla.) and Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) — who also sits on the Ethics Committee....

The allogations about Nunes may be partisan, but, truthful. Democrats are getting used to being the "heavies" when protecting the country.

...The ethics committee (click here) has multiple ways it can open an investigation into a member of Congress -- either through a complaint, a resolution of the House, referral from the Office of Congressional Ethics or a decision by the committee members to investigate one of their colleagues.

Based on the laws cited in the Ethics Committee's public statement, the members of the committee decided on their own to investigate Nunes, citing the panel's investigatory authority over "certain unauthorized disclosures of intelligence."

Nunes blames "several left-wing activist groups" for filing "entirely false and politically motivated" accusations against him, but it's unclear to whom he's referring.

"The Committee is aware of public allegations that Representative Devin Nunes may have made unauthorized disclosures of classified information, in violation of House Rules, law, regulations, or other standards of conduct," said House Ethics Chairwoman Susan Brooks, an Indiana Republican....

There is concrete proof about Nunes involvement. The question is not such much ethics as law. I suppose the US House has to settle for an ethnics investigation given the fact Trump's AG is not carrying out issues of law, so much as politics.

March 28, 2017
By Ryan Lizza

...The evidence is now clear (click here) that the White House and Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, have worked together to halt what was previously billed as a sweeping investigation of Russian interference in last year’s election. “We’ve been frozen,” Jim Himes, a Democratic representative from Connecticut who is a member of the Committee, said.

The freeze started after last Monday’s hearing, where James Comey, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, revealed that the F.B.I. has been investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia since last July. Comey also said that there was no evidence to support Trump’s tweets about being wiretapped.

Today, the House panel was scheduled to hear from three top officials who had served under the Obama Administration: Sally Yates, the former Deputy Attorney General, who briefly served as acting Attorney General, before being fired by President Trump; John Brennan, the former head of the C.I.A.; and James Clapper, the former director of national intelligence. But last week Nunes cancelled today’s hearing.....