Let is be said that Scotland inspired these massive changes to energy.

October 21, 2021
By Michelle Lewis

The UK’s Hornsea Two offshore wind farm, (click here) soon to be the world’s largest when it’s completed next year, just achieved a couple of major construction milestones.

The first wind turbine was installed in May at Hornsea Two, which is 55 miles (89 kilometers) northeast of Grimsby, in Yorkshire.

Danish wind giant Ørsted’s 1.3 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm will feature 165 Siemens Gamesa 8.4 megawatt (MW) wind turbines, an offshore substation, and a reactive compensation station.

Now Hornsea Two has achieved two major milestones. First, all of the wind turbine foundations are now installed, which means it’s ready for the final third of wind turbines to be put in place. Most of the blades were manufactured at the Siemens Gamesa factory in Hull.

Also, the offshore substation is complete:

What is now the world’s largest AC offshore substation weighs around 8,000 metric tons.

The Reactive Compensation Station (RCS) will also be lifted into place soon. An RCS is required because of cable length, so it will compensate for reactive power losses in order to ensure power transmission efficiency. Both the offshore substation and the RCS were built in and transported by sea from the Sembcorp Marine facility in Singapore.

Once Hornsea Two becomes fully operational in 2022, it will be the largest operating wind farm in the world, outsizing its sister project, the 1.2 GW Hornsea One. It will supply power to more than 1.3 million homes in the UK.

But its superlative status will be temporary, because it will be dethroned by the 4.8 GW Dogger Bank, also off Yorkshire in the UK, once it’s completed in 2026, as well as other global projects in the pipeline....

Oh, it can't be done without fossil fuels still playing a big part? "W"RONG!

All the experiments are in and human beings win when they abandon fossil fuels and embrace alternative energies.

Renewables met 97% of Scotland's electricity demand in 2020

...Onshore wind delivers about 70% of capacity, (click here) followed by hydro and offshore wind as Scotland's main sources of renewable power....

To CNN's point about the potential to rely on such inventions and technology as foolish.

CNN is correct. Realizing such technology can make countries like the reluctant USA lazy about climate.

Earth's climate crisis is real. It is effecting the troposphere, but, also the stratosphere and COLLECTIVELY every country on Earth MUST apply strong moral principles to their national policies or we are looking at a homogenized atmosphere that no longer supports life. 

The thing about Earth is that it is real reluctant itself to change. It likes to remain stable and an ice planet, but, what is also true about Earth is that once it reaches a tipping point, it is all over and the physics of this planet change permanently until all the effects that brought on the tipping point disappear.

You see, Earth is reluctant to change BACK to it's benevolent form even after the tipping point. Or, better said, once the tipping point occurs Earth's physics will favor stability no matter the harm being caused to the support of life. Earth is a planet and not a process of daily living and certainly not a mass of financial capital that can be maneuvered and manipulated. There is no bear or bull market that can guarantee Earth's cooperation in maintaining life.

Earth has a balance and if that balance is seriously disturbed by changes in it's atmospheres, the show is over. 

CNN is correct in recognizing something politicians can lob onto and state they are just as Green as any other Greenie on the planet. That would be tragic politics. Earth requries life to maintain life. It requires forests and grasslands and all sorts of diverse life adding and removing chemical content of it's atmospheres. Earth exists to support life until that life turns Earth on it's head.

There is room for every aspect of climate science.

What I find fascinating about this technology is not so much someone discovered it, but, where it was discovered. Iceland is a volcanic island and it's primary source of energy is geothermal.

When I was there to visit, I stayed in a hotel in Reykjavik. After unpacking and reading to go out on my first visit to everything climate in Iceland, I noticed there was no blanket on the bed and none in the closet or in any of the draws. So, I did what every self-respecting Westerner would do and called to the front desk. The clerk told me I was welcome to turn up the heat in the room until I was comfortable because it was hot water in the pipes in the space by the windows that warmed the room. No blankets were necessary, it was all geothermal energy and it was all free heat. Yes, I was there during the winter and I took a walk to the town's public pools where folks were in bathing suits in the coldest part of winter. 

A trip to the Blue Lagoon (click here) was fascinating. Besides the volcanic mud that turns skin to silky soft in a matter of minutes, I was in hot water and it was snowing on my head. I would not have given up the experience for love nor money.

But, as to Iceland. They are what one might call cosmopolitan. They take in all the world's activities and relish live at it's fullest. So, when the climate became an issue, regardless of it's lousy Alcoa Smelters that chose the island country because it had no rank in the Kyoto Protocols, Iceland gets involved. So, here we are at COP 26 and what is a possiblity, CO2 extraction by an island country without any cares as to greenhouse gas emissions.

IT IS CALLED A NATIONAL CONSCIENCE.

The USA used to have one, but, it lost it when it decided declaring war on innocent people regardless it's lousy dictator was a noble cause. "W"rong! This climate crisis and the depth of morality shown by countries like Iceland is noble. And, it is not a cause, it is a matter of life or death.

October 20, 2021
By Ivana Kottasova

Hellisheiðarvirkjun, Iceland - The windswept valleys (click here) surrounding the Hengill volcano in southwestern Iceland are dotted with hot springs and steam vents. Hikers from all over the world come here to witness its breath-taking scenery. Even the sheep are photogenic in the soft Nordic light.

Right in the middle of all that natural beauty sits a towering metal structure resembling four giant Lego bricks, with two rows of six whirring fans running across each one. It's a contraption that looks truly futuristic, like something straight out of a sci-fi film.

Humans have emitted so much carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere that machines like this are being used to literally suck the gas back out, like giant vacuum cleaners, in an attempt to slow the climate crisis and prevent some of its most devastating consequences.

The Orca plant — its name derived from the Icelandic word for energy — is what is known as a "direct air carbon capture facility," and its creator and operator, Swiss firm Climeworks, say it's the world's largest....

It works. Don't let the children catch their fingers in it because it might hurt.

October 19, 2021
By Tibi Puiu

The number of wind turbines (click here)  across the world has grown exponentially thanks to plummeting costs. By now, people have grown accustomed to huge wind turbine farms that dot some landscapes, either onshore or offshore. But unlike solar panels, residential wind turbines are less affordable and accessible, being seen as too cumbersome and wind-dependent, and this is most evident in urban areas. You’ll be hard-pressed to find wind turbines in Manhattan, whereas rooftop solar installations abound.

It’s this predicament that inspired designer and entrepreneur Joe Doucet to fill the gap in our renewable energy generation toolkit with an out-of-the-box solution: rather than harnessing the wind with huge blades suspended on tall towers, Doucet invented a flat wind turbine that can be incorporated into walls.

The turbine wall is made up of a grid of square panes that spin along 25 axes. The first prototype consists of 25 wind turbine generators that are already commercially available, which are attached to 25 corresponding vertical rods with square panels attached alongside them to capture wind pressure....

10 percent is all the grasslands left on Earth.

October 22, 2021
By Lauren Kent

Rochester, England - Forests have long been celebrated (click here) as the natural heroes in the fight against the climate crisis. They are so good at absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, a consortium of environmental groups are calling on the world to plant one trillion trees over the next decade.

But while we are looking up at the treetops for climate solutions, some campaigners are urging the world to look down, where another answer lies -- right under our feet.

Forests, peatlands, deserts and tundra can all absorb and hold stocks of carbon-dioxide (CO2). Of all the carbon held in land-based ecosystems, around 34% can be found in grasslands, data from the World Resources Institute show. That's not much less than the 39% held in forests.

"Whether you look at the Serengeti, the Cerrado in Brazil, whether you look at what's left of the prairies in North America or the steppes of Mongolia -- every single one of our major, iconic grassland habitats is under threat at the moment," Ian Dunn, chief executive of the British conservation organization Plantlife, told CNN.

There's also plenty of it in the United Kingdom, which will host world leaders and climate negotiators in just over a week at the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland. Among several items on the agenda is how to protect forests and plant more trees to help slash global emissions.

But Plantlife, among other groups, is campaigning for grasslands to be protected at an international level and part of any deal that emerges in Glasgow....

June 6, 2019

By Kaitlin Sullivan

Global cleanups pull plastic from oceans (click here) and pledge drives guard rainforests, but grasslands get very little love. Only 5 percent of Earth’s remaining meadows are preserved, making them the least-protected biome.

Humans have already destroyed more than 90 percent of the planet’s grass, most of it to produce our food: Grazing alone takes up one-quarter of all land. What’s left is fragile because grasslands’ seasonality makes them vulnerable to climatic changes in precipitation and temperature. This is what remains....

Former Secretary John Kerry got something wrong. He stated the worst of the climate crisis will hit small countries the hardest.

The climate crisis is not regional. It is going to hit every human being on Earth with the same devastating impact. The loss of this ice is universal. There is no regional effect, it is definitely global.

Let me remind those that read this blog, that France was one of the earlist countries to be hit with the power and devastation of Earth's warming.

10 October 2003

By Shaoni Bhattacharya

At least 35,000 people died (click here) as a result of the record heatwave that scorched Europe in August 2003, says an environmental think tank.

The Earth Policy Institute (EPI), based in Washington DC, warns that such deaths are likely to increase, as “even more extreme weather events lie ahead”....

That was 35,000 people in ONE CLIMATE EVENT. Those people were in "The West" and not Africa or some other impoverished nation. There is no discrimination by Earth's climate. It's going to get you if these priorities are not moved along by 2030 and in place.

Not to diminish any losses of people in any country, but, this climate event killed more Western citizens than any storm or flooding or tornado or massive wildfires as witnessed in Australia and California. The only other major event that dwarfed this was the 50,000 deaths in Russia due to wildfires. But, this wasn't fire, it was heat and people literally died of in their homes not realizing what the heat was doing to them.

October 18, 2021

By Stephanie Pappas

A huge hole opened in the Arctic's oldest, thickest ice in May 2020, (click here) a new study revealed. Scientists previously thought that this area of ice was the Arctic's most stable, but the giant rift signals that the ancient ice is vulnerable to melt.

The polynya, or area of open water, is the first ever observed north of Ellesmere Island. But in their report on the hole in the ice, published in August in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers deduced from old satellite data that similar polynyas may have opened in 1988 and 2004.

"North of Ellesmere Island it's hard to move the ice around or melt it just because it's thick, and there's quite a bit of it," study lead author Kent Moore, an Arctic researcher at the University of Toronto-Mississauga, said in a statement. "So, we generally haven't seen polynyas form in that region before....

Really is a shame about that car.

October 24, 2021

One of the Bay Area’s biggest storms of the year (click here) was pounding the Bay Area on Sunday, with drenching rain and powerful wind gusts expected to slam the region through Monday. While the “bomb cyclone” affecting parts of Northern California and the Pacific Northwest was not directly over the Bay Area, power outages, downed trees and localized flooding were widespread due to the Category 5 atmospheric river. Evacuation orders were issued in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties due to debris flow danger in the CZU burn scar area, with flash flood and debris flow warnings in place for the Dixie and Caldor burn scars....

The Financial Stability Oversight Council. Right. And all it takes to sink financial stability is to elect people like Donald John Trump.

If this council wants to sincerely address financial stability in the USA, they need to embrace the climate crisis in it's reality and end the dangers of greenhouse gases aggressively.

October 22, 2021

...An interagency panel of financial regulators (click here) on Thursday approved a series of recommendations meant to help the federal government identify and fend off climate-related risks to the financial system.

The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) (click here) on Thursday issued a long-awaited report on the ways climate change and the societal response to it can pose risks across the financial sector.

The report does not order member agencies to take any direct regulatory action, nor does it call for mobilizing the financial sector against the fossil fuel industry. Instead, the FSOC report lays out a series of steps regulators should take to help the U.S. match other nations with stronger climate finance regimes.

Who else is on board?: FSOC also includes the leaders of the Federal Reserve Board, Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Housing Finance Agency, and National Credit Union Administration, along with an independent member with insurance industry experience.

All FSOC members voted to recommend the report except for FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams, a Trump appointee who abstained from the voting but expressed a general concern with the financial impact of climate change. McWilliams is one of two Trump appointed FSOC members - including Fed Chair Jerome Powell - but is the sole Republican on the FDIC board.

While some FSOC member agencies have already begun accounting for climate risks, the report marked a breakthrough moment of relative agreement among financial regulators, who had long ignored such issues until President Biden's election....

I am grateful for a Democratic administration this year, especiallly.

October 22, 2021
By Ciara Nugent

The stakes at COP26, the U.N. climate summit (click here) that begins Nov. 1 in Glasgow, couldn’t be higher. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry has called the summit the world’s “last best hope” to avoid the worst consequences of climate change. Over two weeks, some 20,000 delegates representing 195 countries will try to resolve significant differences on how the world should cut its greenhouse gas emissions, with the aim to “keep 1.5°C alive.” That is, to meet the Paris Agreement’s target of limiting global average temperature rise to 1.5°C over the preindustrial era by 2050, after which point climate change will likely reach catastrophic proportions.

But the hope already seems to be fading among politicians and campaigners, with a week still to go before delegates step foot inside Glasgow’s Scottish Event Campus. Political obstacles to success at the conference are mounting. Many world leaders of major emitters are declining to attend. Developing countries face major costs and barriers to participate. The U.K.’s COVID-19 transmission rates are near an all-time high. And there are doubts over preparation for the summit; according to The Guardian, a group of major COP26 sponsors recently wrote to organizers condemning the event as “mismanaged” and “very last minute,” blaming “very inexperienced” civil servants for the problems.

Officials are already tamping down expectations for the COP26 outcome. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told the AP that “there will be a gap” between countries’ emissions commitments at the summit and the reductions needed to reach the Paris agreement’s goals. British prime minister Boris Johnson, normally an enthusiastic booster, conceded this week that negotiations will be “extremely tough.” Last month he said that there is only a “six in 10 chance” that rich countries will fulfill their promises on climate aid.

“It’s been definitely more challenging from the outset than any other COP,” says Yamide Dagnet, climate negotiations director at the World Resources Institute and a former E.U. COP negotiator. “Securing the outcome is going to be the most challenging of any COP [in over a decade].”...

The floods in this region of the world were catastrophic. Entire chunks of towns were washed away.

The floods were disabling.

October 24, 2021
By Rachel Elbaum and Andy Eckardt

Three months after historic floods hit Dernau, swaths of the German village are still in ruins.

Ahrweiler, Germany — Layers of dried mud on sidewalks, (click here) concrete roads turned to gravel and time-worn stone bridges washed away. Three months after this summer’s catastrophic floods in Germany’s Ahrweiler region, there are reminders everywhere of the destruction they wrought.

The deluge, which was preceded by three consecutive summers of drought, has brought a new urgency for many to find climate change solutions — and that has impacted Germany’s politics, too.

In last month’s federal election, the environmentalist Green Party had its best results yet, winning nearly 15 percent of the vote, and trailing just behind the two largest parties.

Unlike in the United States where the issue is still subject to debate, global warming is a key concern in Germany that voters increasingly expect politicians to address.

Its prominence in the election was no surprise to architect Florian Trummer, 65, whose hometown of Antweiler was hit by the floods. He officially joined the Green Party two months ago after a lifetime of swing voting....

The patterns are all part of the evidence that brings countries together to end the blight on Earth by greenhouse gases produced by industries that care little for people regardless of the fact that people are their bottom line. It is time for regulations that work to end deadly trends in climate. Would we neglect the quality of food we eat? Then why neglect the soils that grow it? 

Figure 1 (click here) shows observed trends in mean annual river flood discharge in medium and large catchments in Europe over the period 1960–2010. The analysis is based on the European Flood Database, which is the most complete database on flooding available for Europe so far [i]. The figure and the underlying analysis shows that climate change has both increased and decreased river floods in Europe....

How many times does it have to be said before they finally "get it?" 63 years of FACTS and the build up of CO2 has changed for the worse.

The increase in emissions of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, was 28 percent higher after 1990 than the rate of build up before 1990.

From 310 ppm to 350 ppm took 32 years, but, from 350 ppm to 400 ppm took only  25 years.

Governance leaders in the world see the emissions as a long term issue that should not effect immediate governance. The rate of decline of the Earth's troposphere is increasing. It has never been a long term problem, it has always been an immediate problem.

If this were a long term problem until it ain't. 

What are ya goin' to do then, anyway?

The climate crisis is a moral and not an economic issue. If economies were all that was at stake, it wouldn't be an issue at all.

The Six Americas on climate.

Ah, ha! People are walking away from the multi-million $$$$ settlement.

October 21, 2021
By Sara Powers

Flint - A $641 million settlement (click here) with people affected by Flint’s lead-contaminated water was reduced by $15 million Wednesday after a judge agreed that a hospital could cut its pledge.

McLaren Health will pay $5 million instead of $20 million. It had the right to drop out completely if not enough claimants signed up for its share of the settlement.

Flint managers appointed by then-Gov. Rick Snyder and regulators in his administration allowed the city to use the Flint River in 2014-15 without treating the water to reduce corrosion. As a result, lead in old pipes broke off and flowed through taps.

Separately, experts have blamed the river water for an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease, which led to at least 12 deaths in the Flint area. They believe there wasn’t enough chlorine in the water to fight off bacteria....

McLaren tried to be a part of the BIG POT OF MONEY to get away with it's role in the Flint Water Crisis deaths. Some would say that is a harsh statement, but, it appears to be the truth. The families of those that died are not happy with McLaren and rightfully so. We don't know all of what they know and we certainly don't know and understand their loss. 

But, here it is, the slow dissolving of the settlement. Some of it is surviving for now, but, as the onion peels away there will be more people rethinking their participation of the settlement. 

No surprise here. Senator Sinema is owned by corporate interests. She and Manchin need to be primaried.

So, it is okay to spend the money on developing computer chip manufacturing, but, not okay to tax high earning individuals or companies or investment firms to pay the bill. She doesn't understand she is kissing the butts of her donors rather than governing?

Sinema's donor pool. (click here)

The money came in when she needed it, too. That is somewhat traumatizing. One is running for the US Senate and doesn't get donations until the very instant in the campaign when it is most dearly needed. Makes an impression on people. This glut of money in 2018 screams of LET'S CORRUPT THE NEW SENATOR. GET HER STARTED RIGHT.

Well, looky thar. The top contributor is Goldman Sachs. Indeed.

Okay. Is this corruption? You betcha. When a US Senator is a hold out and her direct actions point to tax leniency of her donor pool, that is CORRUPTION!

Sinema might want to start raising money for her campaigns every year rather than wishing and hoping someone on a white horse comes along to rescue her campaign. Making campaign stops with donors and constituents during the off years provides for a clear understanding there are good relations between the US Senator and all her people, including those that vote her in or out of office.

Running marathons can be very glamorous, but, they don't pay the bills when campaigning starts.

US Senator Sinema, no different than Joe Manchin, are corrupt in their votes when FACTS are before them that points to dangerous climate conditions for Americans in backing the coal industry and protecting Wall Street by eliminting long over due tax hikes.

You can point right to it. There is ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT about either of these Senators that they are ADVERSELY VOTING against the people and for corporate interests. Even in the face of facts they are foolishly signing on to FACTUAL BLINDNESS.

Factual Blindness is a quality stemming from looking the other way. It is a deficit in MORALITY AND ETHICS. No US Senators cannot cherry pick their information so it sooths the savage beast of corruption, they are required to look at the entire picture and realize the dangers that lie in those very corrupt votes AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF THE USA.

Shame on both of them. The people of the USA need the child tax credit to maintain their momentum to owning their own homes and raising their children into the same opportunity so many Americans have had. There is not one program on the Biden agenda that is overdue, quite the contrary, they have been NEGLECTED for the same reason Sinema can't seem to get our of her own way and provide much needed relief for hard working families.

When the people of Arizona go to vote in the primaries where she is going to be a candidate, they will remember, her corporate donors got what they wanted, but, the people didn't and they are hurting because of it. 

It is time in this country that CORRUPTION IS RIPPED OUT BY THE ROOTS.

California’s incoming storms

In some ways the enormous storm headed for the northwest US including California is welcome, however, it should also be viewed as dangerous. Besides the rain and wind, after such a prolonged drought, there are profound chances of landslides. USGS should be assessing known areas that could result in landslides after severe drought. Residents in areas in question should be given shelter elsewhere known to be safe until any danger has passed. Roads can also be involved. The entire superstorm should be viewed with complete caution.

Please stop turning American headlines into tabloid trash.

 I undetstand that Trump is defaming Late Secretary Powell. That is quite enough. Donald John Trump is an insult to the American landscape. While the Late Secretary Powell was a proud son to this democracy, Trump is an abject failure. It is time the media stop capitalizing on the name Trump, including his wayward children. 

Thank you.

There are monies for domestic manufacturing in the bills that won't pass in Congress.

September 28, 2021
By Nicole Goodkind

The relatively quiet cabinet role typically (click here) involves what Raimondo describes as piling “a bunch of CEOs on planes” to fly around the world and promote trade missions and U.S. exports. But in a preview of her Tuesday speech at the Economic Club of Washington where she outlined her agenda and advocate for President Joe Biden’s $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package, the former Rhode Island governor said that she had plans to expand her office to focus largely on revitalizing the domestic economy....

...In June, the Senate took a significant step toward alleviating the problem by passing the U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA), which directed $52 billion in federal investments to the Commerce Department for the domestic semiconductor research, design, and manufacturing provisions—and another $10 billion to set up a supply chain resiliency fund and office under Raimondo. The House has yet to pass the bill, and Raimondo will set off on a tour across the country this fall, pushing for action.

While there’s no denying that COVID outbreaks hurt chip manufacturing, the majority of the shortage stems from a lack of preparedness, said Raimondo. “Today's chip supply was determined years ago. We better get this bill passed through the House so we can get to work, because fundamentally, we need more capacity, and the investments we started to make today will determine our capacity two to six years from now,” she said....

China is not a reliable trading partner. It wants to annihilate our democracy. It is becoming aggressive with Tiawan and could destroy the economic structure there.

...China is a net importer of semiconductors, largely from the U.S. The country imported $350 billion in chips in 2020, an increase of 14.6% from 2019. But recent trade tension under President Trump has damaged the long standing relationship and spurred China to begin accelerating and prioritizing its own chip-making programs. 

Raimondo also outlined plans to work with Congress to push a bill giving $10 billion to the commerce department to create regional tech hubs or “nodes of innovation around the country outside of Silicon Valley, New York, Austin, and Texas.” 

While Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and China invest billions annually in their semiconductor industries, the federal government has been slow to provide R&D funding and funding for domestic production....

One of the ways the USA promotes peace is economic viability that enhances the economy of the USA while doing the same with the other country. If a war breaks out between China and Taiwan, forget about the semiconductor imports by the USA. President's Biden's $3.5 trillion budget would move this along.

None of the funds in the $3.5 trillion budget are minor and unconsequential spending. It is all vital to our future. Hard to believe there are monies that won't benefit the people of West Virginia and Arizona.

October 16, 2021

By Katie Schoolov

As the world grapples with an ongoing chip shortage, (click here) a quiet giant among chipmakers has committed to investing $100 billion over three years to ramp up production.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company may not be a household name, but with a market value of over $550 billion, it’s one of the world’s 10 most valuable companies. Now, it’s leveraging its considerable resources to bring the world’s most advanced chip manufacturing back to U.S. soil.

CNBC got an exclusive tour of the $12 billion fabrication plant, or fab, outside Phoenix, Arizona, where TSMC will start making 5-nanometer chips in 2024. The company says it will produce 20,000 wafers each month....

The Federal Government needs to come in on a case that is a matter of national security.

This case is outrageous and relies on the First Amendment to allow a Chicago student to build an 'alternative' ISIS for all his friends to sign on to. 

October 18, 2021

Chicago - A former Chicago college student (click here) was convicted Monday of attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group.

Thomas Osadzinski, 22, designed a computer code to help IS bypass programs designed to block the group’s propaganda, prosecutors said. The former DePaul University student, who was born in a Chicago suburb, was living in the city when he was arrested in 2019 during an FBI sting. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

His attorney, Joshua Herman, said during closing arguments that the case centered on the right to free speech and that Osadzinski had the right to watch and share the videos.

“Liking ISIS is not illegal,” Herman said in court....

Actually, it is illegal to like ISIS.

During the height of the Iraq uprising of ISIS (Daesh) any citizen of Western countries were considered enemy combatants. This student is no different than those that sought to support Daesh in leaving their countries and joining with a highly deadly ideology.

We assisted in fighting a war against Daesh that ended their terrorist reign and genocide. There is no way a student or USA citizen that practices genocide and war for an ideology or so called religious fervor, will be allowed to construct outreach for recruitment under any supposedly different ideology.

There is a limit of freedom of speech and this is one of those limits. He is a threat to national security.

November 14, 2015

By Patrick Garrity

When French President Francois Hollande (click here) addressed the nation Saturday in the aftermath of the Paris massacre, he vowed that France "will be unforgiving with the barbarians from Daesh."...

I am very sorry to hear of the death of Former Secretary Colin Powell. He was bigger than life. Deepest sympathies to his family, colleagues and friends.

No storm here.

Taking the evening off.

Thank you for your interest.

Interpol did really good work on this.

It would be to the benefit of Maduro to continue talks with the opposition. It is the only way forward for his control of the country.

October 17, 2021

By Joshua Goodman

Venezuela’s government said Saturday (click here) it would halt negotiations with its opponents in retaliation for the extradition to the U.S. of a close ally of President Nicolás Maduro who prosecutors believe could be the most significant witness ever about corruption in the South American country.

Jorge Rodríguez, who has been heading the government’s delegation, said his team wouldn’t travel to Mexico City for the next scheduled round of negotiations.

The announcement capped a tumultuous day that saw businessman Alex Saab placed on a U.S.-bound plane in Cape Verde after a 16-month fight by Maduro and his allies, including Russia, who consider the Colombian-born businessman a Venezuelan diplomat.

A few hours after news of Saab’s extradition blew up Venezuelan social media, six American oil executives held on house arrest were taken back to jail by security forces — a sign that relations between Washington and Caracas could be upended after months of quiet diplomacy since Joe Biden entered the White House. Families of the men known as the Citgo 6 — for the Houston subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company where they worked — expressed frustration with both governments.

“The fact that Mr. Saab is in the U.S. before my father is a disgrace,” said Cristina Vadell, whose father, Tomeu Vadell, is among the Americans serving out long sentences on what the U.S. government considers trumped-up charges....

To understand the level of money laundering carried out by Saab is to understand the extent to which he was supporting hostile activities in the Western Hemisphere, including Hezbollah. Mr. Saab has much to discuss with the USA government.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

...Saab is set to make his first court appearance on Monday, (click here) October 18 in a court in the state of Florida, the department said in a statement.

The agency also expressed its “gratitude to the Government of Cape Verde for its assistance and perseverance with this complex case and admiration for the professionalism of Cabo Verde’s judicial system.”

Saab and his business partner Alvaro Pulido are charged in the US with running a network that exploited food aid that was meant for Venezuela, an oil rich nation grappling with an acute economic crisis....

There is every reason to believe that Saab will talk about his criminal networking and the issue of corruption in relation to the Venezulean people. Maduro's administration thrives on corrupt practices, including, money laundering and drugs.

...Recent nationwide shortages of gasoline (click here) have added to the complexity of the crisis in Venezuela. Despite having the largest reserves of petroleum in the world, the state-owned oil enterprise, Petroleós de Venezuela (PDVSA), cannot refine its heavy crude due to mismanagement and corruption, leading to mass shortages and pent-up demand. In April 2020, the Maduro regime turned to Iran to partner in helping fix the oil refineries on the Paraguana peninsula, and to provide much-needed fuel to Venezuela. The newly minted oil minister, Tareck El Aissami, and the regime’s special envoy to Iran, Lebanese-Colombian businessman Alex Saab, seemingly worked out a gold-for-gas deal with Tehran.

Shortly after, in a period of a month and a half, the Iranian airline, Mahan Air, flew seventeen flights and the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) sailed five tankers from Iran to Venezuela to provide parts from China, Iranian technicians, and approximately 1.5 million barrels of gasoline to the fuel-starved Maduro regime. Months later, the refineries on the Paraguana peninsula still do not operate, and Venezuela is once again facing fuel shortages. But, according to Bloomberg, the Islamic Republic received almost half a billion dollars’ worth (nine tons) of gold bars as payment...