July 15, 2014
By Carol Rosenberg
crosenberg@MiamiHerald.com
 

In the first known rebellion (click here) against Guantánamo’s force-feeding policy, a Navy medical officer recently refused to continue managing tube-feedings of prison hunger strikers and was reassigned to “alternative duties.” 

A prison camp spokesman, Navy Capt. Tom Gresback, would not provide precise details but said Monday night that the episode had “no impact to medical support operations at the base.”

“There was a recent instance of a medical provider not willing to carry out the enteral feeding of a detainee,” he said in an email. “The matter is in the hands of the individual’s leadership.” 

Word of the refusal reached the outside world last week in a call from prisoner Abu Wael Dhiab to attorney Cori Crider of the London-based legal defense group Reprieve. Dhiab, a hunger striker, described how a nurse in the Navy medical corps abruptly refused to “force-feed us” sometime before the Fourth of July — and disappeared from detention center duty.

Crider called the male nurse the first known U.S. military conscience objector of the 18-month-long hunger strike in the prison camps, and said his dissent took “real courage ... none of us should underestimate how hard that has been.”
Dhiab, 43, is challenging Guantánamo force-feeding policy in federal court. A Syrian who was cleared for transfer from Guantánamo in 2010 but who can’t be repatriated because of unrest in his homeland, has been an on-again, off-again hunger striker to protest his indefinite detention....

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/15/4237720/navy-nurse-refuses-to-force-feed.html#storylink=cpy

There is plenty to worry about in West Africa other than civil distrubances.

July 16, 2014
DAKAR/HAVANA - The death toll (click here) from the world's worst ever Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 603 since February, with at least 68 deaths reported from three countries in the region in the last week alone, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday.
WHO said there were 85 new cases between July 8-12, highlighting continued high levels of transmission. International and local medics were struggling to get access to communities as many people feared outsiders were spreading rather than fighting Ebola.

"It's very difficult for us to get into communities where there is hostility to outsiders," WHO spokesman Dan Epstein told a news briefing in Geneva. "We still face rumours, and suspicion and hostility ... People are isolated, they're afraid, they're scared."
Sierra Leone recorded the highest number of deaths, which include confirmed, probable and suspect cases of Ebola, with 52. Liberia reported 13 and Guinea 3, according to the WHO figures....

34.2111° N, 77.7986° W

July 15, 2014
2315.17z
UNISYS Goes East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Five and a half hours of thunder with some rain at times, occasional lightning. The lightning usually came in twos with fire engines being heard afterward.

The thunder would crescendo and then abate to nearly nothing, then it would begin again.

The truce never had a chance and now Israel believes it is more justified than ever.

It was never a proper ceasefire. The Palestinians never abated and there are questions to any agreement being recognized by them at all.

I was sorry to hear about a death in Israel, but, I was also sorry to hear how families are being lost in Palestine. The Palestinians believe in their battle as much as Israel believes in its.

2 hours ago (click here)

Israel will "continue and intensify" air strikes on Gaza after a ceasefire proposed by Egypt failed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned.
The deal was accepted by Israel but Hamas, which controls Gaza, has not responded officially to the initiative. Its military wing rejected it.
Palestinian officials say Israeli raids have now killed 194 people. On Tuesday, Israel reported its first fatality.
Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen reports.

July 15, 2014
0030.20z
UNISYS GOES East Water Vapor Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

There are two circulations centers off the Atlantic coastline. The surf was high today. It will be interesting when the cold meets the circulation centers.
 
July 14, 2014
weather.com
Severe thunderstorms will threaten (click here) multiple regions of the country over the next couple of days from the East to the Southern Plains to the Front Range of the Rockies.
At least 80 million Americans are in the risk zone, though only a fraction of that population will personally witness severe weather due to the spotty nature of these storms.
The strong cold front bringing the polar air invasion into the Midwest will become the focus for severe thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday as the front pushes south and catches up to a weaker front responsible for most of Sunday's severe weather in the Ohio Valley and Northeast. Damaging straight-line winds and local flash flooding will be the main concerns in the East and Midwest....

A fighting force has to have loyalty. The only loyalty remaining in Iraq is along ethnic/religious lines. It's over in Iraq.

The Kurds have their first sovereign borders. I think Syria has a real problem with ISIS and I can't think of any better country to handle it. 

In order for the USA to even consider an invasion into the area, it would require NATO commitment with a full scale invasion with intentions to kill and slaughter 100s of thousands of people. There is no loyalty in the ranks of the Iraq forces and they would slaughter American troops (Green on Blue attacks). 

Enough. It is time the Middle East settle it's own problems. 

July 13, 2014
By Eric Schmitt and Michael R. Gordon
 
WASHINGTON — A classified military assessment (click here) of Iraq’s security forces concludes that many units are so deeply infiltrated by either Sunni extremist informants or Shiite personnel backed by Iran that any Americans assigned to advise Baghdad’s forces could face risks to their safety, according to United States officials.

The report concludes that only about half of Iraq’s operational units are capable enough for American commandos to advise them if the White House decides to help roll back the advances made by Sunni militants in northern and western Iraq over the past month.

Adding to the administration’s dilemma is the assessment’s conclusion that Iraqi forces loyal to Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki are now heavily dependent on Shiite militias — many of which were trained in Iran — as well as on advisers from Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force....

July 9, 2014
By Chisaki Watanabe and Finbarr Flynn

Deutsche Bank (click here) plans to lend about $US1 billion ($1.06 billion) for Japanese solar projects, joining Goldman Sachs in funding cleaner energy as the government struggles to restart nuclear power plants after the Fukushima disaster.
The bank is ready to provide financing for three to six projects in the next 12 to 18 months, said Hans Van Der Sande, director of Deutsche Bank's structured products group at its Tokyo branch. The Frankfurt-based lender agreed last month to provide a 11.1 billion yen ($116 million) loan for a solar power project on a former golf course north of Tokyo to be operated by a unit of Spain's Gestamp Renewables Corp.
Japan may add the most solar power capacity in the world this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, as a two- year-old incentive program attracted investors including Goldman Sachs. Even so, renewable energy accounts for less than 11 per cent of its total production, compared with 31 per cent in Germany, leaving the nation reliant on fuel imports after the closure of all of its atomic reactors and contributing to 23 straight months of trade deficits.
"Every time a country implements these very, very attractive standards you have a gold rush and that gold rush started two years ago," Van Der Sande said in an interview. "Now the water is kind of pulling back, smaller people are leaving and the real players are staying."
Deutsche Bank declined to disclose the interest rates for the solar loans. The average new lending rate in Japan was a record-low 0.779 per cent in May, according to central bank data. Average interest margins on dollar lending in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan were 2.35 percentage points so far in 2014, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Israelis need to stop killing Palestinians. It isn't solving anything.

July 15, 2014
The Egyptian government (click here) on Monday evening proposed a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip, according to which the two sides would end “hostilities” as of 9 a.m.on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is to convene the security cabinet early Tuesday morning to discuss the proposal. 

Diplomatic officials said that Netanyahu was expected to encourage the other seven members of the security cabinet to accept the proposal, which would return the situation in Gaza to what it was before Operation Protective Edge began a week ago. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Economy Minister are expected to oppose the proposal in the security cabinet, but are unlikely to be able to prevent the forum from accepting it.

Some 48 hours after the cease fire goes into effect, Egypt is to convene representatives of both Israel and Hamas for further negotiations.
One diplomatic official said that the cease fire would be returned to what it was last Sunday, but “with Hamas much weaker."...

I do not believe Hamas is weaker. That is nothing but 'feel good' propaganda. The fact is Hamas is building better and stronger missiles right in Gaza. Israel brought it on themselves. Either Israel realizes the resolve of the people in Gaza is to end this conflict or never end it at all and needs to get real about a lasting peace.

The technology in Gaza is no longer a joke, is it? The Katyusha rockets were like throwing stones at Israel. That isn't the case anymore. Israelis may actually be looking at a real reason to end violence this time. If they don't and don't agree to Palestinian borders with the withdrawal of settlements, this may escalate and cost Israel more than it bargained for.

Until now, Israel had the upper hand. It would seem with this increased technology in Gaza the power structure is shifting. It is time to end the violence with the Palestinians, decide on permanent borders and remove settlements.

Palestine is no joke anymore, is it?

Deadly Hail Storm Batters Beachgoers in Siberia

Apologies.

Traveling.

I want to continue this conversation.

Until later...

July 13, 2014

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has led tens of thousands of people in St. Peter's Square in unannounced, silent prayer for an end to the warfare in the Mideast.
Francis called for insistent prayers for peace in the Holy Land during his Sunday window appearance to pilgrims and tourists.
He said he didn't consider "in vain" the June 8 peace prayer gathering he hosted at the Vatican attended by the Israeli and Palestinian presidents.
Francis, who made a Mideast pilgrimage in May, urged people to avoid concluding that "violence and hatred win out over dialogue and reconciliation."
Last week, Israel widened its air assault on the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers, and militant rockets have targeted Israel. Francis lamented the recent "tragic events."

Neil Diamond - Pretty Amazing Grace

"Pretty Amazing Grace" by Neil Diamond  (click here for official site)

Pretty amazing grace is what You showed me
Pretty amazing grace is who You are
I was an empty vessel
You filled me up inside
And with amazing grace restored my pride
Pretty amazing grace is how You saved me
And with amazing grace reclaimed my heart
Love in the midst of chaos
Calm in the heat of war
Showed with amazing grace what love was for
You forgave my insensitivity
And my attempt to then mislead You
You stood beside a wretch like me
Your pretty amazing grace was all I needed.
Stumbled inside the doorway of Your chapel
Humbled in God by everything I found
Beauty and love surround me
Freed me from what I fear
Ask for amazing grace and You appear
You overcame my loss of hope and faith
Gave me a truth I could belive in
You led me to a higher place
Showed Your amazing grace
When grace was what I needed

Look in a mirror I see Your reflection
Open a book You live on every page
I fall and You're there to lift me
Share every road I climb
And with amazing grace You ease my mind

Came to You with empty pockets first
When I returned I was rich man
Didn't believe love could quench my thirst
But with amazing grace You showed me that it can

In Your amazing grace I had a vision
From that amazing place I came to be
Into the night I wandered
Wandering aimlessly
Found Your amazing grace to comfort me.

Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing

You overcame my loss of hope and faith,
Gave me a truth I could believe in.
You led me to that higher place
Showed me that love and truth and hope and grace were all I needed.

Haslam has a $4 million re-election bank.

July 9, 2014
By Brian Gravers
Cleveland Daily Banner

...Gov. Bill Haslam paid an early morning visit to Bradley County Tuesday as he works toward winning a second term as Tennessee’s top official.

“As governor, (click here) you deal with everything from prisons to building roads to educating 4-year-olds to educating PhD students to mental health issues,” Haslam said. “There’s a lot of different things you deal with and I personally love that aspect of the job.”...

It seems as though when Haslam talks about mental health it only matters when attempting to pin the problem of gun violence in other places than the number of guns in the country. 

To those that finally realizes that, "I told you so." I told you so a long time ago. It is the number of guns in the country and welcome to the slippery slope.

Recently the Governor arrested a new mother and jailed her because of information the state received from her medical records. The baby and she are now separated.

This action has very broad constitutional implications. It opens Pandora's Box and is a very slippery slope.

Medical records are suppose to be confidential and inaccessible to anyone without permission of the person who is the subject of those records. There have been extensive expansion of electronic records in the country and even GOP members are racking in profits from companies conducting such services. Combine that with this law and the entire national electronic record and otherwise becomes accessible no different than Metadata.

The answer to mental health problems is not exposure to the prison system. That is adverse to any mental health problem. Those with mental health problems have adverse outcomes in the prison system in the USA. As the USA reassesses it's prison system it is seeking to make far less victims of those that run into legal trouble in their lives. This law by Haslam reverses that tend.

Women need their children and children need their parents. While these circumstances warranted placing the baby in foster care (which has it's own problems) it should not have required the mother to be jailed. It is a punishment too far. There are many options for those found in possess of substances and under the influence. It is those options that fall under the classification of mental health of which comes to bear in these circumstances. 

Governor Haslam has obviously been practicing hubris and not governance. He has, as of now, caused all Americans more alarm over their privacy. He should not be re-elected as he could not handle the responsibility of governance the first time.

Remembering dead Ukrainian children 

July 12, 2014
...Organizers (click here) said the choice of venue was symbolic: the Fontaine des Innocents - the oldest Renaissance monument that used to stand just outside the walls of the largest cemetery in Paris, the Cimeti·re des Saint-Innocents, which was believed to be a cemetery for the 'innocent souls' of children. Participants had flags of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics, Russia, Ukrainian and French flags, and the rainbow flag of the peace movement.

"Regrettably, the mass media are silent about the tragedy in Odessa, about the death of children in Slavyansk and other eastern Ukrainian cities. These facts are unknown," said Georgy Shepelev, one of the organizers of the action. "We want to draw public attention to this problem."

"Money and humanitarian aid raising campaigns were organized during the action. "Each new day take more and more lives," activists said, TASS reports.

"We must do our best to have truce be finally reached in Ukraine’s eastern regions."...

It is said Russia has established control at three border crossings with Ukraine. It is time for Russia to become serious about the purpose of those crossings and begin meaningful trade relations with Ukraine. Otherwise, those crossings are nothing more than attempts to leverage power. I doubt President Putin is interested in playing games with the economic future of either country.

I think the the EU is focusing on those that are seeking separatism in the face of a Ukraine Constitution. I believe these sanctions may be the most meaningful yet.

12 July 2014

By Chris Johnston
Alexander Borodai, (click here) leader of Donetsk 'republic', and 10 others face travel bans and asset freezes as clashes continue in east

The European Union has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the Ukrainian separatist leader Alexander Borodai and 10 other rebels as residents of Donetsk flee amid fears of further attacks on the rebel stronghold.

The news came as Ukraine scrambled jet fighters to strike at rebel positions early on Saturday after separatists resumed missile attacks on government forces near the frontier with Russia.

The EU said Borodai was "responsible for the separatist 'governmental' activities of the so-called 'government of the Donetsk People's Republic'".

The 41-year-old Russian citizen claimed in May that he was a political adviser who helped in Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea in March and then moved to eastern Ukraine to help separatists there. He denied any links to Moscow....

One might recall Russia did call for the end of elections in eastern Ukraine. It was people like Mr. Borodai that found greater meaning in ignoring both the Ukraine government and that of Russia. That is a separatist movement that is a danger to both countries.

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_07_12/Rally-in-memory-of-children-killed-during-punitive-operation-in-Ukraines-southeast-held-in-Paris-6392/

Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_07_12/Rally-in-memory-of-children-killed-during-punitive-operation-in-Ukraines-southeast-held-in-Paris-6392/

What kind of democracy does the USA want?

Do we want one that works or one that allows political hubris to rule above function?

The 9-0 decision regarding recess appointments was moronic. It simply played into some ancient idea of Congressional Recess for the benefit of "Stare decisis."

For most of President Obama's terms in office, the RNC has been hanging on to remnants of power to insure their ability to be elected.

The filibuster. Recesses. They were used in most egregious methods which hobbled our democracy and made the Executive Branch stunted.

It was no small task the USA recovered from the 2008 global economic collapse. Much of what succeeded was due to the 111th Congress and the administrative decisions within the Obama Administration. I hate to think what kind of condition the USA would be experiencing if the collapse came with a 112th or 113th Congress. 

Obstruction was used to play footsie for the financial sector and if it wasn't for President Obama pushing the envelope we would still be in limbo. I congratulate him for making the tough decisions. Those decisions were made in full recognition of REALITY. The decisions by the 9-0 Court were made while disregarding the country and only blindly looking at the ideological USA. 

I think most everyone lost sight of purpose a recess appoint serves. It is to continue to keep the government functioning when Congress is unable. Congress was completely unable to carry out simple tasks of appointments to the Executive Branch. The vacancies existed far longer than was at all reasonable. There was every reason for the Executive Branch to appoint people to administrative positions when Congress lost it's purpose due to severe partisanship. 

Just because a political party is desperate doesn't mean the government doesn't function within the Executive Branch. It was ridiculous and then again the American people are poorly served by the Supreme Court.

We live in a world that moves quicker than the speed of light sometimes and our government has to be able to function.

When a court backs dysfunction in the USA it should be everyone's worry.

I agree, President Obama needs to go forward with what he knows is right and just.

July 11, 2014
By the NYTimes Editorial Board

...This is not a question of religious freedom. (click here) It is a question of whether to allow religion to be used as an excuse to discriminate in employment against a particular group of people. Many states already have laws protecting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender workers. There is no such federal law, so the presidential order (promised but not yet produced) would extend those rules to companies that receive federal contracts in states without those kinds of anti-bias laws, protecting millions more people....

There is a small minority of Christians that believe gender identity is a choice. Unfortunately, they are wealthy and have found a way to make power serve their purpose. There are signs of this highly destructive religion on many places around the world. They have found a way to pay for the power they enjoy without having a member as a representative in any government. 

Sexual identity is not a choice. Sexual preference can be, but, then no different than any bedroom antics of any home anywhere. The idea that a religion can misconstrue the Bible's recordings to facilitate their own form of hatred is one matter. But, to have that hatred transcend societies globally through power brokering and political manipulation of economies is quiet something different. 

Evangelical christians have become very dangerous people. They were tolerated for a sincerely long time in the USA without any concern, but, when power brokers realized the USA Constitution and democracy could be lent to bending in an arch of power to make the Evangelicals 'call to duty' real, the rest is history.

The current headwinds of justice in the USA is very strong. There are members of the Supreme Court full of their own hubris and 'ideas' about their roles and the place of the US Constitution in today's society. The recent decisions by the court are troubling. They should NOT lend themselves to a greater power or understanding than what was obvious in the responses by the court. This is not at all a great court with decisions of astounding intellect. Not even close.

For any American to expect another to be judge and jury on a person's soul is more than arrogant. I can't speak for the good Pope, but, he also has indicated he cannot make those decisions. The relationship between god and person is uniquely individual. It is not channeled through a emperor or queen.

Employment is necessary in the USA. It is a capitalist based society. To actually have anyone in this country believe they should have the power over a man or woman's work choice or career choice and actually load the dice against them even when the most prepared candidate is LGBT is unthinkable. Such discrimination is hate based, it seeks to ride a religious hubris unlike the Christians that are humble and do not seek to judge others.

I don't know when this monster of a religion will be departing this Earth, I hope it is soon. They are always asking and expecting Armageddon. For everyone's sake I hope their Armageddon comes swiftly and justly and leaves the rest of us alone. But, until that happens, we, as a society, have to make clear choices about our society and it's content. We cannot afford to be mistaken for a hate monger and should dispell their presence in which ever form or voice it takes.

President Obama has been paid a great deal of disrespect by the US House Speaker within the last few days. President Obama never earned any of it and all to frequently measured his response to what might be racism or bigotry. To say he is a good sport is putting it mildly.

President Obama needs to one more time shake off the disrespect exhibited and go forward for the benevolence of the country he leads. He is a great President, unfortunately, his time in office has come at a really lousy time for the two party system. I trust him today, no different than the first day of office and expect him to lead no differently.

The Lancet (click here) publishes a Series of reviews dedicated to the health of Americans, with contributions from leading health experts at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), from the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The Series describes some of the major health challenges facing the United States, including chronic and infectious diseases, injuries and accidents, and outlines how opportunities provided by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) could improve public health. The Series also evaluates health spending in the US (currently the highest in the world per capita), by comparison with other high-spending OECD countries.

Improving health in the USA: progress and challenges (click here)

Harold W Jaffe, Thomas R Frieden

The Lancet, Volume 384, Issue 9937, Pages 3 - 5, 5 July 2014

doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61032-1

Published Online: 03 July 2014

Prevention of chronic disease (click here)  in the 21st century: elimination of the leading preventable causes of premature death and disability in the USA

Pavlov's Response

The Israelis call the house and/or drop a concussion bomb and the Palestinians are suppose to exhibit a pre-programmed response by running from the area to save their lives. 

The legitimacy of Israel's so called humanitarian approach to dropping bombs holds no water.

Israel is throwing around language as if it's suppose to make Palestinians the 'bad people.'

By Lucy Westcott

Filed: 7/10/14 at 1:06 PM  

Updated: 7/10/14 at 1:10 PM

Warning tactics used by the Israel Defense Forces to apparently avoid civilian casualties in Gaza have been captured on camera. In a video published on LiveLeak, an IDF aircraft fires a loud, nonlethal bomb (It is a concussion bomb.) on a building to alert residents that they’re in the area of a target, allowing them to leave quickly.
But in the video below, people scurry onto the roof of the building, acting as a human shield to prevent weapons from being dropped on them. And it looks as if it worked: Upon seeing people moving onto the roof, the IDF aircraft appears to forgo the strike....

We already know the handy work of a concussion bomb. It creates confusion and disorientation for a period of time sometimes up to 5 minutes. Using concussion bombs isn't going to act to the benevolence of the people in the area. This article features a video of how people react to concussion bombs.

In the video it is stated people are running to the top of the building as human shields. They are voluntarily putting themselves between the bombs and their building. That is not Hamas holding anyone as a human shield.
There were many, many people effected by that one concussion bomb. They were running in all directions. 

The Palestinians are not that stupid to believe they are human shields. They are obviously martyrs, though.

Gaza is not that big an area. I imagine there are many places to run and certainly no place in particular to call a 'bomb shelter.' The Palestinians don't have the benefits as the Israelis do to shelters and interceptor missiles. 

Israel is wrong in every aspect of the word. All the international attention brings self-righteous reasons to kill more Palestinians.