Pope Francis is trying to keep a world of Roman Catholics alive and the guns are a huge part of the problem.

June 13, 2016
By Cassandra Vinograd

Pope Francis (click here) on Monday lashed out at the "brazen" freedom with which weapons circulate in the world when compared with numerous obstacles to distributing aid.

His remarks at a United Nations World Food Program event came one day after the bloodbath in an Orlando nightclub ranked as the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Francis told the audience it was a "strange paradox" that aid and food are obstructed by barriers including political decisions and skewed ideology but "weaponry is not."...

I wish President Obama spoke this fervently during his administration, but, wouldn't be safe if he did.

Racism is real in the USA and everyone knows President Obama was under threat during his entire presidency. 

I think he is a great leader and he is respected internationally. He has been able to do the impossible. The global community is embracing the same goal in removing Daesh from the Earth. No one else could have done it. President Obama did because over his entire presidency he built relationships. Leaders trusted him enough to hear his message and the strategy to end the violence and return the middle east to peace.

Partnerships between the FBI and cities can work.

It is unfortunate unarmed black men are gunned down to have videos to release. I don't call a 3 inch knife a weapon. People carry pocket knives all the time and it is not called a weapon. At least White People carry pocket knives. I suppose it is only Black People that carry weapons 3 inches long.

Sixteen bullets in 13 seconds over a three inch pocket knife.

I suppose there were dangers for police officers after this incident.

June 14, 2016

By Stacy St. Clair, Todd Lightly and David Heinzmann

The FBI warned the Chicago Police Department (click here) that officers' lives could be in danger with the release of the Laquan McDonald video, according to documents released late Monday night by the city.

In a Nov. 24 email sent just hours before the city made public the video of a white police officer shooting and killing the black 17-year-old, an FBI agent said that a confidential informant — who had provided reliable information in the past — reported plans to ambush officers in retaliation for the teen's death.

"Violent rhetoric is high," the FBI wrote. "Due to the recent media spotlight on officer-involved deaths of minorities, there is a lot of anger in the neighborhood served by the Chicago Police Department."
While no known attacks took place following the video's release, the informant said gang members planned to set up outside the 14th District headquarters on the West Side and the Homan Square building, a police facility that has served as the setting for numerous police misconduct allegations in recent years. The informant said gang members intended to wait for police employees to exit and walk toward their cars — a time when the officers wouldn't be wearing protective gear or bulletproof vests....

I wish Hugh Hewitt would get real hair rather than that silver rug is glues to his head.

February 2, 2016
By Bill Cotterell
Florida's prisons system (click here) is struggling with serious staffing and budget shortfall, according to the head of the Department of Corrections, who told a state legislative committee on Monday she plans to seek an additional $51 million this year to address long-neglected needs.
The agency, which had a budget of some $2.2 billion last year, has been under fire for months because of inmate deaths and “whistleblower” accounts of a violent culture behind the walls.
Former Corrections Department Secretary Michael Crews last week told the Miami Herald he had tried for years to persuade Republican Governor Rick Scott that the prison system was so badly run-down and understaffed that inmates and employees were not safe. Scott forced him out late last year....

June 10, 2016
By Mary Ellen Klas and Julie K. Brown

Tallahassee — Inmates jumped a corrections officer (click here) and took over two dorms for several hours during a late-night riot at Franklin Correctional Institution in North Florida on Thursday, the third disturbance at the prison since January. 

About 300 inmates stormed two housing dorms, using makeshift tools to drill through a concrete and brick wall, and smash bathroom fixtures, televisions, ceiling fans, toilets and sprinkler systems, destroying nearly everything in the dorms, officials with the Florida Department of Corrections and sources confirmed.

It's not clear how long the uprising lasted, but an FDC spokesman said the incident was eventually brought under control and there were no serious injuries....

Crimes fund terrorism, domestically and internationally.

Homeland Security is NOT stating these are terror suspects. I am using this as an example. But, terror networks cannot survive in the world without crime. That includes the Taliban that rob banks and kill indiscriminately to demand recognition as powerful by innocent citizens.

June 10, 2016
By David Rose

WANTED IN FEDERAL WAY — (click here)
A guaranteed $1,000 reward is yours if you can help bag the ‘Bad Eye Bandit.’
He’s a serial bank robber believed to be behind six heists since the start of the year — four of them in Federal Way.
“He’s always wearing a wig of some sort and also earlier in the year, the January and February robberies, he would be seen often time with a patch over his eye and some witnesses reported the patch being very dirty and crusty, also maybe a scarring on his neck that possibly he’d been burned by something. When he doesn’t have the patch on his eye witnesses will say that the right eye still appears to be injured, twitchy,” says Cathy Schrock with Federal Way Police.
Surveillance video shows him robbing a bank in Federal Way last month. No eye patch that time, just the wig and a pair of sunglasses hanging off his shirt. He showed the teller a demand note, patiently waited for her to hand him the cash, then took off....

The Texas GOP "Victory Fund" needs a new chairperson. Conflict of interest. It may be litigable.

The Bush Power Machine in Texas doesn't know when to step aside due to conflict of interest. Typical.

13 June 2016
By Neil M. McCabe

The chairman (click here) of the 2016 Texas GOP Victory Fund told a newspaper in the state’s capital he is not supporting the party’s presumptive nominee Donald J. Trump.

“I, along with others, are not in a position to endorse at this time because of concerns about his rhetoric and his inability to create a campaign that brings people together,” saidTexas Land Commissioner George P. Bush told the Austin-American Statesman.

The son of former GOP candidate and former Florida governor John E. “Jeb” Bush and the nephew of President George W. Bush and the grandson of President George H.W. Bush told the paper he has no plan to endorse Trump—unless the New York City developer changes to his liking....

June 13, 2016
By Don Bauder

What could be called "Jeb Bush's Follies" in Florida (click here) is getting worse. Sanford-Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute is considering leaving Lake Nona, near Orlando. A subsidy orgy began in 2003 when San Diego's Scripps Research Institute got a $500 million handout to set up an operation in Palm Beach County.

Two other San Diego-based research institutes joined Scripps in Florida with fat subsidies in hand: Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (near Orlando) and Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies (Port St. Lucie.). But as the Readerreported, Florida was shelling out more than $1 billion per created job — a staggering sum.

In May of this year, Orlando media were reporting that Sanford-Burnham was getting ready to depart Florida. So the state decided to throw good money after bad: the University of Florida would take over Sanford-Burnham. But that will cost $3.7 million per year, according to the Orlando Business Journal. On June 9, the University of Florida Educational Policy & Strategic Initiatives committee said it was in "positive discussions" with the State Department of Economic Opportunity and governor Rick Scott's office....

Donald Trump's Psy-Ops in full swing.

June 13, 2016
By James Lewis

We've argued from the beginning (click here) that Trump is conducting a brilliant psy-war strategy against the enemy media* like the New York Times. 

It's really brilliant, because it's double-barreled.

Let's call it Trump's double-barreled shotgun strategy.  Today we can we see how he is implementing it, day by day. 

Trump's generalship is fabulous.  He has probably used his DBS strategy before in his showbiz and business careers.  I don't know.  But you can watch it evolve from day to day. 

You decide if his DBS strategy works.  I think it's George Patton against the Panzer Brigades....

Public Education Finances; 2014 (click here) 



































Typical Republican never say die attitude. Sanford-Burnham is moving on and an Op-Ed shows up. Needless to say, "JEB!" is not vying for Secretary of Education in the Trump Administration.

He has a lucrative foundation that can be at risk if his policies fail.

June 13, 2016
By Jeb Bush

As another school year ends (click here) and another $620 billion has been spent, it is a good time to consider the state of education in America. Despite our spending more on education than almost any other industrialized nation in the world, wide achievement gaps remain. More than a million students languish on waiting lists for the chance to escape failing schools. And according to a recent study by The Education Trust, only 8 percent of U.S. high-school graduates are truly college or career ready....

Police Commission Bratton is correct, the USA Congress is not going to do anything. The Republicans are locked down for the November elections and are practicing hubris 24/7, ie: McCrory and the prayerful Republicans that are making "Death Prayers" to kill/die of President Obama.

The states and possibly cities and towns will have to pass laws to protect their people. Local economies and local government, ie: Boston.

The local authorities have to open up the detectives ability of investigate any suspicious activity. The detectives have authority because they work directly for the FBI when the facts arise. This is all constitutional. A person can be held for 48 hours without being charged. Use every advantage offered by the system. There is also Immigration laws.

USE THEM and don't let politics effect the outcome. Local people are to be safe and know they are safe. There will be mistakes made, but, the bigger mistake ends up in dead Americans.

If the law enforcement needs role models there are people like Police Commissioner Bratton. Respect people that are unarmed. Practice good police science. The local authorities can have their own "Most Wanted." The laws have to be addressed to allow the system work. 

Newspapers need to expand their circulations. If the industry is selling more papers or computer access the prices can come down as the subscription grows.

Local citizens will need information and they will need the 'moral police' on the beat.

There is a balance here and it needs to exist. As the balance of dueling authorities grows 'the system' will become obvious and more stable than before. People should be safe, they pay for it. The citizen is the person responsible for 'the system' and they have a right to be protected by it. 

President Obama has been an incredible leader to this country. There is every reason to be proud of him and his accomplishes both at home and abroad. The dysfunctional Congress has a hand in this and people need to remember that. The interstate federal laws are very important. The movement of drugs and guns has to end. Laws to secure this country away from the drug economy has to be established.

There is no reason why the gun violence continues in this country. The gunmen involved in this have too much access to empower their goals. These people are not crazy. The gunman from Colorado even ACTED to appear crazy and he is sound of mind and body. 

Enough of this and we have the power to change the odds in the communities across the USA.

June 13, 2016
By Kevin Quealy and Margot Sangar-Katz

The mass shooting in Orlando (click here) on Sunday was appalling in scale: 49 killed in a single attack. But it’s not unusual for dozens of Americans to be killed by guns in a single day.

Gun homicides are a common cause of death in the United States, killing about as many people as car crashes (not counting van, truck, motorcycle or bus accidents). Some cases command our attention more than others, of course. Counting mass shootings that make headlines and the thousands of Americans murdered one or a few at a time, gunshot homicides totaled 8,124 in 2014, according to the F.B.I.

This level of violence makes the United States an extreme outlier when measured against the experience of other advanced countries....

The US House just adjourned about 20 minutes ago. They will convene tomorrow at 10:00 AM for debate.

WHAT IS THERE TO DEBATE?

June 13, 2016
By Sean Breslin

Bonnaroo Music Festival Endures 65-Minute Severe Weather Delay (click here).

Severe weather halted the music for more than an hour Saturday night at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee.

The festival's organizers decided to shut down all four stages at about 8:35 p.m. Saturday night as the storms approached, the Tennessean reported. Bonnaroo organizers said in a statement that the decision was made because they wanted to keep fans safe from dangerous weather.

"Based on information from Weather Data Technologies, our independent weather partner, we made the decision to inform patrons of impending severe weather with lightning and instruct them to leave Centeroo and take shelter," the statement read....

June 13, 2016
By Becky Elliot

A dangerous, multiple-day severe weather (click here) event will continue to unfold across the part of the central United States into midweek.

Following the first significant heat wave of the season across the Plains and Mississippi Valley, hot conditions and high humidity will give way to downpours and powerful thunderstorms across a large portion of the region.

The greatest threat from the storms will be from damaging wind gusts and large hail. However, a small number of storms could produce a tornado and flash flooding.

"The storms can disrupt daily activities and impact travel in the region," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Andy Mussoline....

The American LGBTQ community is magnificent.

They were magnificent when HIV/AIDS broke out. They were magnificent with the quilt demonstration of the affliction on them by this disease. 

There were magnificent when President Obama opened the issue of "Don't Ask,Don't Tell." I might remind the USA military LGBTQ personnel take shore leave, too.

The community will get on top of this and let the country know what it takes to end this violence.

I can relate to this conservative blogger, but, kindly take care of yourselves. We know how wonderful all of you are. Please take care of yourselves. 

America has ever reason to be proud of this community and support them in ways they needs us. They are Americans. They are citizens. That is the only thing anyone needs to know.

June 13, 2016

In the wake of Sunday’s terrorist massacre (click here) at a homosexual nightclub in Orlando, Florida, a prominent conservative blogger is announcing to the public that he is “gay.”

Jim Hoft, who runs the Gateway Pundit, made the disclosure in a post titled, “After the Pulse Club Massacre, It’s Time for Gays to Come Home to Republican Party.”

“Like most gay Americans, I don’t wear my sexuality on my sleeve,” Hoft said. “I go about my daily business. I try not to harm anyone. I love my family. I love my friends. I love my country. I’ve been a conservative activist for years. But today I’m coming out as a conservative gay activist.”

He added: “In the past few years I’ve built one of the most prominent conservative websites in America. I created the Gateway Pundit because I wanted to speak the truth. I wanted to expose the wickedness of the left. I was raised to love my country. Today I serve my country by defending her from the socialist onslaught. But last night at least 49 gays were slaughtered at an Orlando club.”...

At the beginning of President Obama's first term he pushed for the development of "Green Chemistry."

Green chemistry (click here) is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous substances. EPA's efforts to speed the adoption of this revolutionary and diverse discipline have led to significant environmental benefits, innovation and a strengthened economy. A Pike Research Report from 2011 concluded that green chemicals will save industry $65.5 billion by 2020.

The Obama Administration has made the USA safer with funding for this program.

The US Justice Department needs to act on the death threat made by David Perdue.

Georgia Senator David Perdue (R — of course) publicly offered a prayer for the death of President Obama.

Everyone knows this is to build hate of President Obama so some sad lost sheep in Georgia finally carries out the Senator's wish.

The US Justice Department needs to stop turning the other cheek and act to protect the President while recognizing lawbreakers as they appear this election season.

I have a request of the genius inventors of the world.

Dance Clubs can be hectic and dark.

There has to be a specific sound tracing that can be programmed into a clubs lighting computer. There would have to be sound sensors in the club. But, if the sensors pick up the sound of the guns within that sound band the computer would automatically throw the lights on and surprise the gunman to throw him off long enough so people can escape.

It could be said the darkness is better, but, is it? If people were oriented to the safety switch and what to do, where the exists are OR a concrete safe room where the computers are kept by design it might save lives. It is worth the venture.

Donald Trump has a winning argument, except, it is looking at people under a microscope.

There is a problem with first generation born in the USA and there is a cluster within the middle east ethnicities. There is no denying that. They are within identifiable mass shootings including the shooter at Ford Hood. I am sure President Obama and the First Lady remembers that service. It was early in his presidency. 

There needs to be a task force to sort through the issues facing people born in this country with parents grateful to be alive. The parents of this first generation rightfully talk about why they left their homelands to find safety and a way of life that included their children. But, these children are easy to radicalize as adults. The percentages are small, but, very lethal. 

Adam Lanza is not a first generation American. He is the person that breaks the mold that Mr. Trump spells out. I don't care if Mr. Trump wants to make a truthful argument for tougher scrutiny. That isn't the point. It is when looking at this demographic of people that commit mass murder they are a very small minority.

THERE IS ONLY ONE FACTOR IN ALL THE MASS SHOOTINGS.

The AR-15.

I just want Americans to stop dying for the wrong reasons. Longevity is important.

Militarization of the police wouldn't be necessary if they weren't in a war zone with AR-15's at any given time among the American people.

No one is taking helmets away from people or police officers. It is a false narrative. Kevlar (click here) is available on the open market and any police officer can purchase it without a great deal of cost. There is no removing protective head gear. There isn't anything special about it. It can be purchased at any time.

Police want the guns off the street.

This young officer in this article below is called police out of control. It didn't take an angry young man with a vengeance for whatever reason; it took a self-righteous officer with a Daddy in power to kill an unarmed man.

There are two issues here. The guns in the American neighborhoods and police out of control. One does not justify the other. The Prosecutor probably thought looking at the body cam was going to be routine, but, at least he followed his ethnics and carried out a check to be sure this was just routine. What did the prosecutor find? Wrongful death of an unarmed man. It wasn't illegal to be drunk in a hotel room. What did they do in Arizona; demand to look at the check in journal at the hotel's front desk? Just an educated guess.

March 17, 2016
Daniel Shaver may have had a few drinks (click here) in him when he was ordered out of his Arizona hotel room at gunpoint by a group of six screaming police officers last January.
The Mesa police officers were barking all kinds of orders; each one with a different demand, telling him to get down on his hands and knees and crawl towards them, to place his hands over his head, to sit on the floor and cross his legs in front of him.
The traveling businessman was trying to comply, but he was confused by their contradictory demands. The fact that he had been drinking with friends that evening did not help.
“Please don’t shoot me,” Shaver reportedly pleaded as he lifted his hands up, then down again.
But then one cop did, shooting him five times with an AR-15 rifle inscribed with the  words “You’re Fucked.”
It was Philip “Mitch” Braisford’s personal gun, which he had personally inscribed, and it offered a glimpse into his personality.
Naturally, the 25-year-old Mesa police officer claimed he was in fear for his life, which was enough for internal affairs to find no wrongdoing on his part; the same investigative unit where his father had recently retired from as a lieutenant after working 19 years in the department....

Kindly listen to John Olivers, America's latest champion, words of strength. Well done.

June 13, 2016
By Ryan Reed

John Oliver (click here) opened Sunday's episode of Last Week Tonight with a heartbroken statement about the Orlando shooting – the deadliest mass shooting in American history – which left at least 50 dead and 53 injured....

Sign the petition and don't stop signing until we end this danger on our American streets.

This is what I wrote: Stop the availability of the war guns on our American streets. 

Petitioning Republicans in Congress
By the Daily Kos

...When Republicans (click here) disagree with advances in women’s rights, LGBT rights, or civil rights, they don’t just offer their thoughts and prayers, they push legislation. In just the last year, Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures across the country have worked to make abortion impossible to access, to discriminate against LGBT people, and to take away voting rights. At the same time, they have aggressively pushed the NRA’s agenda to weaken gun laws, from campus carry to permitless carry to stand your ground. 

In 2014 alone, the gun lobby spent over $30 million on political advertising and lobbying to influence legislators in Congress and state capitals across the country. If Republicans really want to protect Americans, they need to break their blind allegiance to the NRA and pass gun control legislation....

Tell Newt Gingrich to shut up, he is fomenting hate. No one is scared of calling an emergency number in the USA because they are afraid of being called a Islamophobic. 911 operators don't do that and if neighbors have ill words between each other, that is a very, very local issue.

FOX Forked Tongue, "We all have to stand together. The enemy is not within. And this is all the fault of President Obama and Hillary Clinton." Interpretation: "Vote Republican and go to war."

Brit Hume, thank you.

There is no country in the world that condones this violence. The entire world embraced each other to stop Deash within their borders. This is our struggle. We are not at odds with any other country due to the violence. 

The Governor that practices hate speech with bathroom priviledges are playing the terrorist card today.

The gunman traveled about 120 miles (click here) and about 2 hours, maybe less to carry out the murder of 50 people while maiming another 53. Murderers such as this have access to any community in the country.

June 12, 2016

Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (click here) has ordered American and state flags on state property lowered to half-staff through sunset on Thursday in memory of those killed in the Orlando nightclub shootings.
Police say a gunman killed at least 50 people in the worst mass shooting in American history.
McCrory calls the shootings a tragedy that should never happen in America and those that were killed were "innocent victims of an inexcusable act of violence."...

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas has apologized for tweeting, "You reap what you so." shortly after the killings in Florida. Evidently that is true. When people sew hate they achieve it in the ultimate act. Victory by proxy.

The USA needs gun laws.

This is really good work by the New York Times. Thank you.

It's the guns. They were legally purchased in the USA. These people don't have to go through any difficulty to obtain deadly weapons that cut down citizens of the USA in a matter of seconds.

Now.

Ask yourself where and how many of these guns are on the streets of the USA? I can imagine a lot. So far it is only one gunman.

The people crying about their guns being protected before American lives are sitting in jail after they simply walked into federal land and took over. I am grateful there was no one else in the park at the time. These are the gun they carry, too.

June 12, 2016
By Larry Buchanan, Josh Keller, Richard A. Oppel, Jr. and Daniel Victor

The vast majority of guns (click here) used in 16 recent mass shootings, including two guns believed to be used in the Orlando attack, were bought legally and with a federal background check. At least eight gunmen had criminal histories or documented mental health problems that did not prevent them from obtaining their weapons....

The Guardian wrote this after Sandy Hook. Everyone knows it is the guns, but, guns are a political icon now. How foolish is it to make a deadly weapon become a political icon.

17 December 2016
By Simon Rogers, Rob Grant and Sean Anderson

The AR15 rifle (click here) used in the Newtown massacre is becoming one of America's most popular firearms. How many are there?...

...We don't know how many have been sold, so we have to estimate how many are manufactured each year. A number of manufacturers now predominantly make AR15-style rifles - so if we can work out how many rifles each makes each year and how many are exported, we can get close to a final number....


"Estimating Firearms Traffic Across the US - Mexican Border"
By Topher McDougal, David A. Shirk, Robert Muggah and John H. Patterson
...The volume of firearms crossing the U.S.-Mexican border (click here) is higher than previously assumed: 253,000 firearms (between 106,700 and 426,729) were purchased annually to be trafficked over 2010-2012. this number is starkly higher than the 88,000 firearms (between 35,597 and 152,142) trafficked in 1997-1999, during the federal assault Weapons Ban (aWB);...