O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all of us command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

French Version

Ô Canada!
O Canada!

Terre de nos aïeux,
Land of our ancestors

Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Glorious deeds circle your brow

Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
For your arm knows how to wield the sword

Il sait porter la croix!
Your arm knows how to carry the cross;

Ton histoire est une épopée
Your history is an epic

Des plus brillants exploits.
Of brilliant deeds

Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
And your valour steeped in faith

Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Will protect our homes and our rights,

Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Will protect our homes and our rights.

Unofficial bilingual version

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all of us command.
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Arrest Trump and get it over with. He loves Russia more than the USA.

Is the word traitor too strong? I don't think so.

At a time when many Americans are taking a deep sigh that the Mueller investigation is turning up the Russian bad guys and girls, Trump is defending them. Trump needs to reflect on the fact he asked Russia to find emails deleted from the Clinton server after they were scoured by Clinton's attorneys for official content that needed to be included in the USA archives of the State Department.

Trump is not an innocent by-stander. He invoked Russia's assistance.

If one recalls the FBI was already looking for the emails when they took possession of the server.

February 18, 2018

Amid President Donald Trump's blistering tweetstorm (click here) Sunday morning after special counsel Robert Mueller announced a fresh round of indictments on Friday, several prominent Democrats and Republicans had some tough words for the president.

Trump's lengthy string of tweets included support for the conspiracy theory that the Russia investigation distracted the FBI from tips about the Florida shooter, claims that he never said Russia hadn't meddled in the election (he did), and attacks on Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, whom Trump called "the leakin' monster of no control."

The president also reiterated a point he has made after nearly every revelation in the Russia probe — that despite the mounting indictments in the investigation, there is still no evidence against him, and that the probe vindicates him....

..."person of murderous zeal"... It could be a real diagnosis in the USA.

February 16, 2018

...Harun's lawyers (click here) had asked Cogan to impose less than a life sentence, but Cogan said Friday that Harun was a "person of murderous zeal" who had to be imprisoned to protect the public....

I think those are great words and could easily apply to Cruz as well.

In yet another killing of a small group of American soldiers, they were used for ISIS propaganda purposes. When no one could make sense of the murders, the USA military forgot what ruthless Daesh will go to in recruiting footmen.

January 24, 2018
By Ellen Mitchell

The U.S. military (click here) is reviewing images posted on social media purportedly showing dead American soldiers from the Oct. 4 ambush in Niger....

...The video, broadcast by ISIS in Mali (click here) on its attack on the US Special Force in Niger, lasted more than 10 minutes, including scenes of a screaming wounded soldier, in addition to the bodies of three other dead American soldiers....

Why does the propaganda video still exist? Why isn't the TWEETER already arrested? Has the USA no relationship with other countries to end all Daesh propaganda?

TAKE THE DAMN SHIT OFF THE NET. I MEAN ALL OF IT! Don't tell me it can't be done. There are professionals in the USA capable of making the world a safer place by tracking down and removing the propaganda while giving the ID information to the intelligence agencies and/or the military!

DO IT! They can probably track high school assassins, too, with greater accuracy than a hotline!

Finally, some sanity regarding Turkey and the Kurds; enough of the killing fields with Kurds. The Kurds have a right to defend themselves and Turkey has a really difficult time stating they are some of their best allies.

Defending the Kurds might be the only thing Tom Bossert has said that makes sense so far; he defended the pardoning of Arpaio. That was a mistake. Silence is better than words when the presidency is used for politics and not national security.

January 26, 2018
By Murat Yetkin

In the White House readout on Jan. 24, (click here) there was an important sentence regarding United States President Donald Trump’s telephone call with Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan. Turkish presidential sources have not denied that sentence.

The sentence was: “He [Trump] urged Turkey to exercise caution and to avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces.”

Shortly before Trump arrived in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum on Jan. 25, his Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert repeated those words in a rather straightforward manner. Bossert said it would be “a terrible outcome if Turkish troops clashed with the proxy forces that we have all been relying on to defeat ISIS, especially if there are U.S. advisers in the region.”

The “proxy forces” referred to by Bossert are the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Syrian Kurdish militia that forms the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which the U.S. Central Command uses as ground troops to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) despite objections from its NATO ally Turkey. Ankara has objected to fighting one terrorist organization, ISIL, with the help of another, the YPG, not least because it sees the YPG as having links with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the U.S has designated as a terrorist organization.

Bossert also warned Turkey by saying “there would be grave consequences to any miscalculation and escalation” and told Ankara to be “mindful” and “withdraw from Afrin.”...

When targeting terrorist groups, as if they stood alone and were the real problem, may I suggest learning from the growth of Hezbolla.

Hezbollah was cut off from it's usual duty of protecting the Alawites in the eastern coastal border of Syria. In response to it's isolation, Hezbollah did not disappear into the vapors, it regrouped and began a drug trade to the rival of none. That drug trade was then used to arm itself and become autonomous from Assad and Iran.

When Turkey practices ethnic terror against the Kurds it is providing a real reason for the Kurds to rethink it's alliances. I don't believe that is a wise choice on the part of Turkey.

The only terrorists that have an automatic death sentence in the Middle East is Daesh. I rather have other groups be considered survivors of past misdirected policy and a solution be found for them.

I think the so called USA "List of Terrorist Organizations" be reviewed for the role these groups played with Daesh and realize their strength AND REASON they fought for their survival. Their victories were our victories and they need to be considered as a stabilizing force in the Middle East and not a destabilizing force. This needs to be done before a stupid list turns into a Middle East war that few will survive.

No one is sacrificing Israel, it is securing it when solutions for survivors are found. I want no ethnic cleansing in the Middle East and that especially includes the Kurds. The Shi'ites are a minority population and religion and need a permanent place, including, pilgramages.

There is no reason for a big investigation and/or review in the shooting in FLORIDA, we have seen this before.

The problem is the same today as it was in Boston and with September 11, 2001; there is no dissemination of information to lower level authorities. That was supposed to be cured with all the legislation after 911, but, evidently if there is a shortage of personnel at the federal level it isn't going to be passed onto anyone.

While President Trump is tweeting, he might try tweeting law enforcement with information about potential violence in the cities or towns when it is received. As a matter of fact, Trump could set up his own hotline to disseminate information when Americans "See something or say something."

The FBI needs to pass on information received IMMEDIATELY, if not sooner, to the police authority in towns or cities that will be effected by violence. New York City and Boston learned they needed to be self-sufficient after their attacks on innocent people. New York City even has it's own international authority. Granted New York City has more resources than Parkland, Florida which is why it is important the FBI pass on information AS IT RECEIVES IT to local authorities. 

That is the issue with the FBI. If Americans are to be safe however, the large gun population in the USA has to be addressed. 

Cruz took all of twelve seconds to end and imperil the lives of so many. 12 seconds. What is everyone thinking? I know what the NRA is thinking, they believe every American, including children at the age of 5 should be armed. You want to know what that will get you? It will get you a country so armed it can't move without someone dropping dead. "Is that person getting ready to shoot someone?" "Is that a gun I see drawn at that other person?" If every American were armed, there would be massive deaths daily in the USA, but, then again maybe that is how the White Supremacists want it.

February 18, 2018

President Trump tweeted (click here) late Saturday that he is "very sad" the FBI missed the possible warning signs about Florida shooting suspect and the they are "spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion." He also added "there is no collusion" and the FBI should "get back to the basics and make us all proud!"...

....Attorney General Jeff Sessions later ordered a review of the Justice Department's processes in the wake of the shooting. Sessions on Friday called the shooting a "tragic consequence" of the FBI's failures, and said it's clear the agency missed warning signs.

The review will examine what went wrong and how the agency responded. Sessions said it may include "possible consultation with family members, mental health officials, school officials and local law enforcement." 

As for the Russia investigation, Mr. Trump and Republicans have long sought to discredit the FBI's handling of it. On Friday, Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 13 Russian nationals for trying to influence the 2016 election. Mr. Trump indicated Friday the indictment vindicated him, saying it showed "no collusion!"...

This is how Russia President Putin has lead? A Russia that seeks to undermine governments rather than compete with them. Russia needs a new focus on peace and it's prosperity.

February 17, 2018

By Doug Stanlin

President Trump's national security adviser (click here) said Saturday that Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections is beyond dispute, marking a sharp reversal of the president's frequent dismissal of alleged Russian cyber-meddling as a "hoax."

H.R. McMaster was speaking at an international conference in Munich in response to a question from a Russian delegate.

He spoke shortly after an appearance at the same gathering by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who had dismissed as "just claptrap" allegations of Russian meddling found in U.S. indictments handed down Friday.

Referring to the indictment of 13 Russians, McMaster said that “with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now incontrovertible” of Russia cyber-meddling.

McMaster's sharp accusations were the most pointed from a high White House official regarding charges of Russian interference in the  2016 elections....

The findings thus far in the Mueller investigation have been stunning. All the FBI ever wanted was cooperation from Americans and what it got were lies and deceptions. Why?

When General Flynn lied to the FBI, what was the point? The FBI wanted the truth to lead to these indictments and all the General could do is lie and provide cover for Russians. I am a bit disillusioned by a former General of the USA military that would allow this attack on the USA by a foreign government. Why were all these people lying?

Money is that important? Money like Americans never saw before the Russians pretended to like the USA. There are 13 Russians and three Russian businesses indicted. This is not a minor issue, they were attempting to effect elections so they had controlling influence over the policies of the USA. Why? Why would any American turn to a foreign government to allow influence over the outcomes of an election? At the very least I would expect there to be threats from Russia against those that lied to enforce the influence. 

If Americans can't protect their own country and are available for bribes and influence, where are we in this world? Money controls the loyalty of Americans to their own country? What has happened to the USA and its election processes? It is profound insight the Mueller investigation has revealed. An election is not a game of chance. Elections are supposed to be the American people's voice, not that of a foreign government.

And the idea Russia was this deeply involved and lied about is astounding. I do not believe for one minute, for one second, that Vladimir Putin did not know about the election tampering. One of the Russian internet companies is directly tied to the Kremlin. Vladimir Putin absolutely did have involvement. The KGB is his speciality. Putin's KGB style is on everything. The strategy to overthrow the USA government by Russia was organized, the players knew their mission, they participated willingly, Wikileaks was harnessed to provide the suspicion to erode the reputation of former Secretary Clinton and most of all there were Trump campaign officials with knowledge of the players. The charges against the Russians and the Russian companies are conspiracy, identity theft, failing to register as foreign agents, and violating laws that limit the use of foreign money in U.S. elections. 

The identity theft really bothers me. That particular indictment is one that exceeds attempting influence of an election as a foreign power. The Russians actually stole American identities to provide a legitimate face on the lies that would drive voters in the direction of a candidate easily influenced by Russian power and money. I believe Donald Trump is likeable to Russia, it's leaders, it's people (My understanding is Trump is a populous figure in Russia. Trump would appreciate that flattery and power.) and I believe he likes it and likes the idea of being involved with Russia for greater wealth to his personal holdings and that of his family. Whether Russia's affiliation with Trump would hold sway with Israel is something to be concerned about as well.

Money and it's power to influence Americans when it comes to their sovereign rights to a freely elected government needs to be taken seriously. There needs to be campaign reform which will protect the people from such strategies, from foreign governments and Plutocratic ideologues.

Also to be noted in the Mueller investigation is an American that succumbed to the power of money:

...Richard Pinedo, who ran a business called Auction Essistance that helped people "circumvent the security features of large online digital payment companies," had set up bank accounts using stolen identities. Pinedo agreed to plead guilty to the charge and cooperate with investigators....

Americans should know their political landscape better than this to succumb to the ravages of Russian espionage and influence. The Jill Stein campaign also received influence from the Russians. She was sitting at the same table with Flynn during the RT celebration attended by Vladimir Putin. That puts Putin in the same room, at the same table as the influence the Mueller investigation has exposed. What is everyone thinking?

This was most interesting as well: 

...Prosecutors said the Russians continued their efforts to divide Americans even after the election concluded.

After Trump won, Rosenstein said, the Russian operatives organized competing rallies in New York on the same day both supporting and opposing him. 

By the end of 2017, however, as Mueller's investigation intensified, the Russians learned that they had been exposed. "We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues," one of them, Irina Kaverzina, wrote in an email to a relative. Mueller's investigators obtained a copy of the email. 

In it, she boasted: "I created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people."...

After Trump was declared the winner of the 2016 elections, the Russians wanted to continue their control realizing they could control Trump's response to issues through electorate pressure. Trump's Twitter Account is actually a method of cooperating with the Russians when maintaining control of his ongoing campaigning.

The control the Russians wanted was far reaching, including down-ballot outcomes and elections of future Congressional races.

If there are no sincere facts to back up political dogma that influences the electorate, it should be disregarded. The USA DEMOCRACY was being undermined and the American people failed impressively to the influence of a foreign government.

The US intelligence agencies did their jobs, they warned Americans about Russian influence, but, the momentum created by the lies was so great it even overshadowed the words of the intelligence agencies. The agencies are the caretakers of our democracy and they lost the power of their voice to the people.

Do the Russian people actually want a KGB government or do they want a government that can lead to compete on a global stage where peace and prosperity reign?

The indictments are impressive and important and I congratulate the Mueller team in seeking the truth and putting it before the people.

The USA is in 5th place.

If anything, Governor Rick Snyder inhibited any and all responses to Flint, Michigan's health emergency.

Governor Snyder demanded the Emergency Managers to move against any spending that Flint, Michigan could not afford. The idea raw river water would be introduced to the people of Flint is unconscionable. The river has a very long history of pollution, toxic pollution (click here).

Snyder never spoke with the people of Flint or even went to view the river before pushing the Emergency Managers to move against the best interests of the Flint residents. Where Rich Snyder really loses his credibility is to realize the gross neglect of the simplest of details. There were no major effort that needed to take place to realize the Flint River was not an option for drinking water to anything living.

February 15, 2018
By Leonard N. Fleming and Karen Bouffard

The picture to the left is actually of the surface waters of Flint River.

Gov. Rick Snyder (click here) is partly to blame for the Flint water crisis for failing to ensure a rigorous investigation by state agencies and for not declaring an emergency sooner, according to a new report from the University of Michigan.

The declaration from UM’s School of Public Health also casts criticism on the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality for failing to “notify the public of Legionnaires’ disease outbreak and refusing to cooperate with (the Genesee County Health Department)’s investigation.”

The report — funded by the Bethesda, Maryland-based de Beaumont Foundation, five UM public health lawyers and the Network for Public Health Law — said the governor “bears significant legal responsibility” for his role over the state agencies in charge of protecting public health.

“The governor had adequate legal authority to intervene by demanding more information from agency directors, reorganizing agencies to assure availability of appropriate expertise where needed, ordering state agencies to respond, or ultimately firing ineffective agency heads,” the report stated. “But he abjured, either due to ignorance or willful neglect of duty.”...

To the right is the location of the Mott Dam. It is the purple symbol. 

The C.S. Mott Dam just 5 miles (8 km) downstream and west of Genesee forms C S Mott Lake and was completed in 1972 for recreational use. Local attractions along the lake include Crossroads Village, Stepping Stone Falls, and the riverboat Genesee Belle.




Flint is a city in Genesee County, Michigan.

"Eat Safe Fish Guide" (click here) 

The pages to the left and below are from the "Eat Safe Fish Guide." The guide tells consumers how much fish is safe to eat from the Flint River in a single month.

Carp and Walleye upstream of the Mott Dam (on the Flint River) can be eaten four times a month. But, the fish downstream of the Mott Dam, namely Carp, Large Mouth Bass and Small Mouth Bass,  can be eaten very carefully, like, really limited or only six times a year.

The fish in most of the Michigan rivers have limits on how often they can be consumed and how much. 

One might ask, "What's the deal with this rationing of fish caught in the Flint River?" 

Well. 

There are toxins in the river such as PCBs, PFOS (“perfluorooctanesulfonic acid”), and Mercury; or; Mercury in combination with PCBs.

The State of Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services publishes this document. 

The point is the Flint River has been and is still polluted. There has been no real remediation for the pollution. The reason the fish are edible by humans at all is because the DOSES of fish is limited to reduce the danger to those that fish the Flint River.

Now, don't get me wrong there is a big difference between fishing the Flint River with the idea of "catch and release" and eating the fish from the Flint River. Heck, "catch and release" can happen all the time so long as a person wears gloves and washes their hands regularly. Just regular soap, anti-bacterial isn't necessary to avoid the toxins. 

Rich Snyder had and has volumes of information within the very State of Michigan libraries and departments to detail the dangers of drinking Flint River water. There is no excuse. He is guilty of every aspect of crime regarding the Flint River. 

Another number of high school students in the USA dead, huh?

February 14, 2018
By Connie Ogle, Nicholas Nehamas and David Ovalle

He preened with guns and knives on social media, (click here) bragged about shooting rats with his BB gun and got kicked out of school — in part because he had brought bullets in his backpack, according to one classmate. He was later expelled for still-undisclosed disciplinary reasons.

The portrait of Nikolas Cruz, suspected of fatally shooting 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and wounding 15 others at his former school, is a troubled teen with few friends and an obsessive interest in weapons. Administrators considered him enough of a potential threat that one teacher said a warning was emailed last year against allowing him on the campus with a backpack...

There seems to be an identity issue among these high school killers. The Columbine murderers were member of "The Black Trenchcoat Mafia." Dylan Roof was an avowed White Supremacist and evidently so is Nicholas Cruz. I suppose the young men need to find their masculinity and motivation somewhere, they are unable to justify it themselves.

That seems to be the difference between mass murderers that hunt down innocent people to maim and kill and these murdering idiots.

In realizing that there is a very strong case to remove symbols of hate and antisemitism from the American landscape.

To critic the media at this time is to remind the country that this is the 18th school shooting in the USA according to Bloomberg's political group that reports this mess on a regular basis. I think it was the Washington Post that criticized the Bloomberg Group that three of their accountings occurred either by a single suicide whereby the man was on an abandoned school property and/or other parameters that made the entries more truthiness and not fact. The Washington Post is very set on revealing the truth of any media reporting and that is very important, however, do a few listings mean the accounting in total should be considered in error? I don't think so.

I don't consider any of the reporting, extraneous or not, within the Bloomberg group unimportant. There are dead people, primarily Americans, they occurred in affiliation with an education property and it should be scrutinized. Absolutely. Child murderers could be rehearsing for an actual attack.

The Huffington Post is stating Cruz ties to White Supremacist was loose and nearly unimportant. Really? I don't think so.

White Supremacists are self-avowed and with that comes the understanding if they say they then they are.

I might point to an interest paradigm related to the Roof murders and those in Florida. Both young men were very casual about their plans. Roof was so cold blooded he sat among his victims inside a church for bible study. After he killed nine people, he simply went about his business and was only apprehended when a woman saw him walking down her street.

The very same cold-blooded paradigm occurred in Florida, only this time it was the murderer of children called the police to brag about it and left the scene without a scratch.

It is my opinion, Roof and Cruz were coached. I don't care if they ever attended a Clan meeting, they were coached. They were brought along, even if just the internet, and then turned loose when the time was right for them. I strongly believe Cruz is a mimic of Roof. I also believe men that align any aspect of their identity to White Supremacy are a danger within this country and this goes back decades, SO WHAT IS THE PROBLEM already. If a person is affiliated with an extremist group that is known to be dangerous, receives coaching to murder in any way possible then the White Supremacists are a definite danger to the people of the USA and need to be handled to remove any potential to weapons. The Second Amendment of the USA Constitution does not allow for mass murderers, especially of children, to roam free in the name of the First Amendment.

I disagree strongly that Cruz was mentally ill. If Donald Trump wants to say White Supremacists in general are mentally ill, then keep the guns out of their hands.

I might add, it was the Russians that were the first to arm their soldiers with automatic weapons. The Kalashnikov rifle. That rifle is now a menace to the entire world in the many versions that exist today. It is time the Small Arms Treaty mean something.

Now as to the Russians in Syria. It is related to the Mueller Investigation in a very interesting way.

February 15, 2018
By Maria Tsvetkova

Moscow (Reuters) - About 300 men working (click here) for a Kremlin-linked Russian private military firm were either killed or injured in Syria last week, according to three sources familiar with the matter....

The reporting ranges from 80 dead men to this report of 300 dead Russians. Evidently, Putin has engaged in growing his own Russian Blackwater or whatever Eric Prince is calling his Goons these days.

I have yet to read an accounting of any USA soldiers dead in this confrontation between REGULAR American troops and this private force of Russians. I will assume the Americans walked away unscathed at the moment. 

If one recalls, one of the ambitions of Eric Prince in donating enormous amounts of money to Trump's campaign is to be able to have access to Russia and other countries to train more Good Squads. Prince is the brother of the Education Secretary, what's her name. Let's just imagine for a moment that happened under Trump and this confrontation occurred. What does anyone think would have happened?

Eric Prince is former USA military and has his own "al Qaeda like" training facility.

...Trump transition (click here) told The Intercept that Prince has been advising the team on matters related to intelligence and defense, including weighing in on candidates for the Defense and State departments. The official asked not to be identified because of a transition policy prohibiting discussion of confidential deliberations....

...“Waiting for the numbers to come in last night. It was well worth the wait!!!! #PresidentTrump2016.” Prince’s sister, billionaire Betsy DeVos, is Trump’s nominee for education secretary and Prince (and his mother) gave large sums of money to a Trump Super PAC.

In July, Prince told Trump’s senior adviser and white supremacist Steve Bannon, at the time head of Breitbart News, that the Trump administration should recreate a version of the Phoenix Program, the CIA assassination ring that operated during the Vietnam War, to fight ISIS. ....

My mistake, I gave Betsy too much credit for her age, she is Prince's mother, evidently.

But, at any rate, Eric Prince liked money so much he  was willing to speak to a known White Supremacist Steve Bannon. So, we have to assume the White Supremacists in the USA are advised on military tactics by the likes of Eric Prince. I think that is called treason.

But, to underscore the Russian deaths, if they had received training from Eric Prince how many would be dead if any and what would be the body count of American soldiers in this encounter. 

Putin pulled Russian fighting forces from Syria and gave these mercenaries a place under the guise of the Kremlin and turned them loose in Syria. It is easy for a Russian President to register mercenary deaths than Russian soldier deaths among the voting Russia public. Needless, to say, the Russian leadership outside the usual folks are not happy that any Russian is dead in Syria when they understood their troops were home.

Slightly changing direction, I want a full PUBLIC accounting of OCO Funds.

February 15, 2018
By Ben Brimelow

A simmering conflict (click here) between Israel and Iran in Syria could have erupted into another regional war were it not for the intervention of Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to an Israeli investigative journalist.

On Saturday, an Israeli air force helicopter shot down what Israel says was an Iranian dronelaunched from the Tiyas Military Airbase in central Syria by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The drone was shot down a minute and a half after entering Israeli airspace, the investigative journalist, Ronen Bergman, wrote in an op-ed article in The New York Times this week....

Given the extremism of leadership in Israel right now, and the fact Jarrod Kushner advocates those positions from the inner circle of the White House, I want to know where the OCO Funds are going.

If Putin didn't step in with Bibi Netanyahu the global community might be looking at a re-ignited Syria without a return of refugees. That said, the fact Putin is in the middle of this mess, only tells me Assad is reinforced in which ever manner necessary by Russia. Is there a concern for Israel, regardless? Maybe. Is Israel facing a confrontation with Iran? I would think that was minimized by Putin, but, there is no way to know for sure that the Ayatollah is obeying every Russia command.

The thing is this: The Shia Crescent extend throughout Syria. It is one of the reasons Syria obtained a destabilizing force after the initial drought drove farmers into the cities. It didn't take long or much force to push Syria into a civil war due to the high diversity of Shia and Sunni in the borders of Syria. There is still borders to Syria, right?

If Netanyahu decides that Russia and Iran are a threat, that won't stop him and if Trump is having a spending spree of OCO Funds to support Netanyahu then the USA and Russia are in a full scale SOMETHING. 

I strongly suggest before these issues get out of hand, President Putin begin a strong campaign for a peace initiative to return the refugees to their homeland and a UN resolution to establish borders that provide a space for everyone. I suggest the Shia Crescent be dissolved and land dedicated to the Shia be provided to prevent further violence. The land for the Shia is already eroded with drought and war, there is no good land in Syria. All the land will have to be rehabilitated and may very well require harnessing dams for flood control and at the same time providing a source of irrigation.

At any rate, if the USA soldiers are in Syria, I have to wonder why. See, Israel under extreme leadership is expansionists and it would be highly advisable for Trump to be moving borders when refugees have not been provided their homelands and way of a return to farming.

While on the topic of mental health...

...this is an unscientific observation, in that, among a small population of homeless people, men are acquiring a schizophrenia.

This population is well cared for by a Methodist ministry. There are no direct medical services available with this ministry. The schizophrenic appearance of the two men in particular occurred over the past year and the outbreak began about six months into the knowledge of their homelessness.

These two men are slight in build, not tiny, but, smaller in stature than other men in the group. There are women in the group and they have not manifested any schizophrenic behaviors.

Height and weight are important for any of these adults. But, in the wild where the homeless live, either the wilderness and/or city streets, men that are smaller than others have problems with assault. It is difficult to say whether these two men were assaulted without detailed conversations. Yes, they are still capable of rational conversations then confronted with same.

The ministry that protects these people will find men come into their open door kitchen for a meal that have been assaulted with bruises about their face, missing belongings and lost eyeglasses. These two men were never observed to have that occur, according to the minister and volunteers.

The behavior leading up to that intrusive schizophrenic behavior begins with isolation to protect from assault. These two men when spoken to are well spoken and able to construct an understanding of social issues when told. There is a television with a news channel playing on most days when there are meals available.

Both these men are somewhere between 35 and 45 and can take care of their personal needs. Even today with such behaviors manifesting they are able to find shelter and food. They do not have relationships and some of the larger men do.

After they isolate, they become silent and far less social and then the behaviors begin. The longer the behaviors are tolerated the quicker they return even after a very sane conversation. The behaviors are a retreat for safety. At least that is my belief.

There needs to be more extensive research conducted through ministries that care for the homeless to provide additional services such as support personal speaking to those with such ACQUIRED behaviors. My concern is that the survival of particular men without PTSD necessarily will become more and more difficult the longer they are homeless. The behaviors become a part of their personality without a challenge to them. When that occurs, my fear, is they will become unemployable and have far worse circumstances than being homeless. 

I think there MAY also be a fear of authority when homeless that will drive these behaviors.

These are acquired behaviors and pretend behaviors. This, so far is exclusive to these men and there is no such behaviors among the women who may or may not be attended to by a man/men.

Good news out of Russia, the people are concerned about the loss of Russian lives in Syria.

Russian leaders outside the usual folks are speaking up and want accountability. This is refreshing. One of the aspects of the OCO (Overseas Contingency Operations) funds that concerns Americans a great deal is the idea the president has a private military operation. That is not acceptable. It is why the US Congress is lawfully required to commit to any war after 90 days of any use of the US military. 

It would seem as though Russians are viewing the involvement in Syria the same way. I had thought there was an annoucement as well that Russia was leaving Syria (click here), with Turkey entering the fight. With this new confrontation between the USA and Russia forces all kinds of questions arise and it presents a much larger problem, in that, how far is a confrontation going to go with two major powers? 

February 13, 2018

By Ivan Nechepurenko

...And some individual Russians (click here) have begun speaking out. Aleksandr Ionov, a Russian businessman working in Syria offering security and other services, said he estimated after conversations with associates in several private military organizations that more than 200 Russians might have been killed.

Mr. Ionov said not all those killed were Russian: Some of the paid fighters came from other countries that were once part of the Soviet Union. “More than 200 is the current estimate, we cannot know the exact number yet, but most of them were Russian,” he said in a telephone interview.

Mr. Ionov said he was speaking out because he wanted any Russians who were killed to be officially recognized for their sacrifice.

“The truth has to be told,” he said. “If people died, then this should be recognized and respects should be paid to people who fought against terrorists.”

He called on the government to give a fuller version of events, adding, “People are outraged because they want to know the truth.”

Mr. Ionov was not the only one speaking out about Russian fatalities. Aleksandr Averin, a member of the Other Russia nationalist party, confirmed that Kirill Ananiev, a party member who left for Syria about a year ago, had been killed in the airstrike, noting that there were other “substantial losses....   

This isn't good. The White House is blatantly protecting itself with misinformation while there is testimony happening in Congress. That is more than an oops.

Sarah, get a clue. Trump is not a good boss if he is CYAing all the time, demands loyalty and allows professionals to be unprofessional with minimally ethics violations.

February 14, 2018
By Aaron Blake

The White House (click here) is flailing with the Rob Porter scandal right now. And Tuesday afternoon laid that bare.

Press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was peppered with questions after FBI Director Christopher A. Wray earlier in the day seemed to contradict the White House’s timeline. But while her answers might have explained what Wray said, they conflict with what the White House said previously.

In Wray’s testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, he said the FBI had closed its handling of Porter’s background investigation for a security clearance in January. Wray said: “What I can tell you is that the FBI submitted a partial report on the investigation in question in March, and then a completed background investigation in late July; that, soon thereafter, we received request for follow-up inquiry, and we did the follow-up and provided that information in November; and that we administratively closed the file in January.”...

Intelligence agency offices need to assess any holes in security and close them. Get out the concrete barriers and don't think twice.

My first instinct is to worry about mimics. Other than that, this attack is among the most stupid attacks I've ever seen. You mean there is still something left of the vehicle? I think the NSA saw this coming and decided it would fail, so why turn out the big guns.

What did they think they were doing? The driver survived it, huh? That was compassionate. But, there is always intelligence to gather when attackers are taken alive.

What went on? The vehicle's frame appears bent. It was obviously rammed in the middle. So what was the chase like? Do tell.

February 14, 2018
By Doug Stanlin

Authorities are investigating (click here) a possible shooting Wednesday near the entrance to the super-secret National Security Agency in Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., according to media reports. One suspect was reportedly in custody.

Video from the scene showed a black SUV with bullet holes in the windshield crashed into barriers near the NSA gate. 

WBAL reports that three people were wounded in the incident and a suspect was apparently in custody. WBAL also reports that none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening....

This is the suspect? This is it? My, oh, my. What could have prompted such hatred? Well, the protections work. The security has been challenged and it can now be assessed. The attack is making the agencies better as I write this.

Computer balloting is not secure.

September 17, 2017
By Pam Fessler

One of the public's unanswered questions (click here) about Russia's attempts to break into election systems last year was which states were targeted. On Friday, states found out.

The Department of Homeland Security said earlier this year that it had evidence of Russian activity in 21 states, but it failed to inform individual states whether they were among those targeted. Instead, DHS authorities say they told those who had "ownership" of the systems — which in some cases were private vendors or local election offices....

Americans also know they can trust the FBI. I rather the mechanical voting machines. They were clean and accurate and easy to use. What could be better?

I think the 'fear factor' in American elections can be handled as well. The intelligence services spoke to the electorate before the 2016 elections about the issues concerning Russian involvement in the election, but, the underlying momentum overpowered those warnings. I think it prudent the intelligence agencies have a better relationship with the electorate, including, an announcement about their activities linked to the change in momentum of the Clinton campaign by James Comey.

There needs to be standards set and carried out at least weekly for national security issues during elections. These standards should result in minimally a weekly announcement. These announcements should come from a national security person and carried by all media networks. If there is weekly propaganda, it can be diffused and RETURNED to the facts stated by the agencies. It is important Americans have good information going into the voting booth, (as well as a voting booth that is secure and works) and not inflammatory information. I think most Americans would want that. 

September 19, 2017

...According to the FBI, as many as 39 states had their election systems scanned or targeted by Russia. There's no evidence of votes changed. But given the stakes, some state agencies that run elections are trying to curb any further interference prior to mid-term elections in November.

Their tool of choice: Ensuring systems can't be hacked, and if they are, making those breaches immediately obvious. To do this, some are taking the unusual move of rewinding the technological dial, debating measures that would add paper ballots — similar to how many Americans voted before electronic voting started to become widespread in the 1980s. 

A week ago Virginia announced it would no longer use touch-screen-only voting machines after a hack-a-thon in Las Vegas showed how easily they could be breached.

States with electronic-only voting machines want to add a paper back-up that would mandate, for every electronic ballot cast, creation of a paper version that could be counted, and presumably, not easily altered. ...