March 31, 2017
By Brianna Provenzano

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

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

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

100,000

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

41.2%

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

13,000

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

19 

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

514

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

539

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

18

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

9,000

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

$97 million

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 28, 2017
By Sarah Roebuck

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

April 5, 2017
By Jeffery Marcus

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

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

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

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

April 6, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peshmerga of Rojava during a conference in Iraqi Kurdistan.

February 25, 2017

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

6 April 2017
By Christina Russo and Adam Cruise

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

But what are their lives like now?

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

Democrats should have done this last year.

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

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

April 4, 2017
By Stephen B. Presser

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

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

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

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

August 6, 2017

By Karoun Demirgian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

March 28, 2017
By Ryan Lizza

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

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

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

In lock step with third world dictators.

Attacking contraception is not solving a problem, it is making it worse. Ending contraception creates 'the baby maker environment' when women cannot be a dependable employee whether married or not. This is hostile toward women and sets them up for failure.

Marriages will fail when Trump achieves his goal of no abortion and no contraception. There were reasons for prostitutes at the temples in the days gone by.

April 4, 2017
By Megan Burbank

Right on the heels (click here) of his facetious choice to dedicate the month of April to sexual assault awareness (yeah, right), Donald Trump, who lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2,864,974 votes, has revoked US funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which provides... birth control.

The Trump administration informed Congress on Monday that it had terminated United States funding for the United Nations Population Fund, the world’s leading provider of family planning services, including contraception, to women in at least 155 countries.

The United States is one of the top donor nations to the United Nations, and the denial of funding was one of President Trump’s biggest moves yet to reduce financing for family planning.

This almost escaped my notice entirely when it came on NPR this morning, because I heard "UN organization" and assumed it was linked to the global gag rule, which bans US funding for global NGOs that provide abortion services. The Obama administration struck down that rule, but Donald "Friend to Women" Trump reinstated it almost immediately after taking office....

We already know lack of contraception leads to large families and poverty.

St. Petersburg is so far west it is almost a European attack and should be scrutinized by NATO.

April 5, 2017
By Ilyq Arkhipov

The bomb (click here) that killed 14 in the St. Petersburg subway Monday capped the worst start of a year for terrorism inside Russia since December 2013, according to data from a Moscow analytical group, suggesting the lull seen in recent years could be coming to an end.

“The increase in terrorist activity that we started to see already in 2016 is gathering momentum in 2017,” said Grigory Shvedov, head of Caucasian Knot, which has been collecting the data since 2010 and will present the latest findings on Thursday in Moscow. “The increase of violence in the North Caucasus and growing effectiveness of militants results both from them returning from Syria and the fact that many extremists aren’t going there at all and are staying in Russia.”

About 4,000 militants from Russia are still fighting with Islamic State in Syria, according to government data. Russian leaders have warned of the risk the militants will return to stage attacks at home. In December 2015, President Vladimir Putin said his military would destroy them in Syria to stop that from happening....

Although, there is this:

1 April 2017

Akhmed Balkarov, Ruslan Kipshiev, and Ruslan Zhugov, (click here) accused in the case of an attempt to create a caliphate in Kabardino-Balkaria, have retracted at the trial their confessions and claimed that they made them under torture, to which they were subjected after being detained by law enforcers....

In August 2016, in Rostov-on-Don, the court started consideration of the case against ten residents of Kabardino-Balkaria. According to the investigators, all 10 defendants of the criminal case were members of an illegal armed formation (IAF), whose goal was to change the constitutional system and establish a caliphate with a Sharia form of government in Kabardino-Balkaria.

...Defendant Ruslan Kipshiev has refused to testify. He has claimed that he does not admit his guilt in any part, that he "did not give such a confession and did not sign it on his own will."

Timur Lakunov, an advocate of Ruslan Kipshiev, has requested the Court to read out two interrogation protocols in which his client stated that he did not admit his guilt and called the earlier confession made "under the influence of law enforcers." "Even if I wanted to change the constitutional order, I could not do that," the defendant allegedly states in the document.

Ruslan Zhugov has also claimed that he pleads not guilty....

Daesh is a global charismatic movement and this is more proof. Below is a very well done assessment of Daesh.

27 November 2017

What I find most interesting about the picture to the right are the long beards.

Reminds me of Phil, that manly look. "I am man, you are woman. Ugha, Ugha."

The organization "Islamic State" (click here) was created on October 15, 2006, as a result of the merger of 11 radical Sunni groupings. At the same time, they adopted a draft "Constitution" entitled "Notice to Mankind about Birth of Islamic State". Until 2013, its name was "Islamic State of Iraq" (ISI). The organization set a target to capture the Sunni part of Iraq and turn it into a militarized Islamic Sunni state, as soon as the forces of the international coalition led by the USA, left Iraq.

On April 9, 2013, the grouping named "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL) was formed with the aim to establish an Islamic Emirate in the territory of Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The Levant is a historical region in the eastern Mediterranean, which covers the territory of Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey and Cyprus.

Starting June 2014, ISIL launched an attack on several areas of Northern Iraq by organizing a large-scale offensive in Sunni provinces. By October 2014, ISIL occupied one-third of Iraq.

The terrorist organization is made up of the militants who once fought against US forces during their stay in Iraq, and against the forces of the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria.

By September 2014, according to the estimates of the CIA (US Central Intelligence Agency), the membership of the grouping reached some 20,000-31,500 persons. The IS troops include Mujahideens from 80 countries, including France, UK, Germany, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, USA, Canada and Russia....

There is an infographics (click here) zero victims of terrorism in the rebel regions of Russia.

2010-2015, (click here)
based on its own data and open sources information. By clicking each figure, you can see distribution of casualties in the center of the circle, divided by categories such as security forces, militants, and civilians.

Russia is providing open source information? Interesting.

Why should Ukraine allow a contestant to a program when her citizenship is based in a country that violated international law?

Russia has chosen a sympathetic figure to compete in a contest conducted in Ukraine. Russia has violated international law, invaded a sovereign country and armed rebels resulting in the deaths of innocent people aboard a commercial jet.

I am sure Ukraine's decision to bar Yulia Samoilova came with great discussion and will be used by Russia for propaganda enforcing nationalism. What the Russian people won't hear is how many people have died since Russia broke the treaty with Ukraine, Europe and the USA.

Nothing to fear thought, Russia's new best friend Donald Trump can probably find a spot on "Russia has talent." That is after he produces the show. I hear producing "Celebrity Apprentice" isn't enough for him.

April 4, 2017

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (click here) advocates the  Ukrainian decision to bar Russia’s 2017 Eurovision contestant Yulia Samoilova from entering Ukraine because she violated the rules of entry to occupied Crimea.

“Ukraine allows trips to Crimea solely across the administrative border of Kherson region. Any other way violates the Ukrainian laws and entails sanctions. The Russian side is fully aware of that; these requirements are the same for everyone,” Poroshenko told a press conference after negotiations with Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis in Riga on April 4.

According to the Ukrainian president, the Russian side knows about such rules and took this decision deliberately, counting on provocation....

Add to the Trump impeachment list, violation of treaty with Europe and Ukraine by look the other way in an invisible handshake with Putin.

March 3, 2016
By Nick Cumming Bruce

Geneva — The United Nations (click here) said on Thursday that 236 civilians were killed in conflict-related violence in Ukraine in the 12-month period to mid-February, and it estimated that at least 9,160 had died since the conflict started in April 2014....

It matters! Even though it does not matter to Ms. Samoilova and Russia.

One has to wonder if Tom Bossert was simply finished with work or just doing a really lousy job while completely distracted from securing the homeland.

President Trump needs to decide who he trusts within the US Senate to assist with national security recommendations, including Homeland Security. I am sure Senator McCain and those on the intelligence committee such as Senator Feinstein (for a bipartisan dialogue) would be more than willing to suggest nominees.

April 5, 2017
By Jennifer Jacobs

President Donald Trump (click here) reorganized his National Security Council on Wednesday, removing his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, and downgrading the role of his Homeland Security Adviser, Tom Bossert, according to a person familiar with the decision and a regulatory filing....

While loyalists are comforting they don't have the best perspective if simply trying to please constituents. I am confident Jared Kushner has his hands full. There is always Governor Chris Christy for any cabinet position.

November 30, 2013

...Data shows emerging trends (click here) towards growth in cyber insurance purchases, demonstrating that the market no longer represents a discretionary investment, but is maturing into a mandatory approach to cyber mitigation. Catherine Mulligan, the senior vice president of the Management Solutions Group and Specialty Products at Zurich Insurance stressed that the previously existing gap between risk managers and executives in how cyber threats are perceived has been closed, allowing for support across the board for cyber insurance within companies....

It is going to be interesting how cyber insurance companies face the new cash cow in companies owning Americans' information for sale. 

Private militias should never be allowed to transport weapons into any region.

The landmark Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), (click here) regulating the international trade in conventional arms – from small arms to battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships – entered into force on 24 December 2014.

If they are contracted by a government to assist with a justified conflict, the government needs to procure and distribute all arms into any region. These militias can cause ethnic wars for the sake of profit. It should never be allowed.

There is enough problem with sovereign countries that believe their moral obligation lies with the death of others.

MORALITY is not spelled d-e-a-t-h.

June 29, 2017
By Louis Charbonneau 

A U.N. Security Council committee (click here) has published a report on Iranian sanctions violations, including shipments of weapons to Syria in breach of a U.N. ban on weapons exports by the Islamic Republic.

The Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which the United States, European Union and their allies suspect is at the heart of a weapons program. Iran rejects the allegation and refuses to halt what it says is a peaceful energy program.

The report appeared on the committee website on Thursday, diplomats told Reuters on Friday. The report, which Reuters reported on last month, said that Syria remains the top destination for Iranian arms shipments.

Iran, like Russia, is one of Syria's few allies as it presses ahead with a 16-month-old assault on opposition forces determined to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Western diplomats said they were pleased the report was made public. Initially they said they feared Russia would block it as it did last year's report on Iran, which has yet to be made public due to Russian objections....

There have been 26 dead Americans because of tornadoes to date in 2017.

April 4, 2017

By Faith Eberts

Following several rounds of damaging storms early this week, (click here) a new storm will bring the threat of severe weather back to the eastern United States.

The first severe weather associated with the new storm will erupt over the Central states in portions of Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri Tuesday afternoon and evening.

The storms will roughly parallel the Interstate-44 corridor from Oklahoma City to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Joplin and Springfield, Missouri....

Five of those deaths occurred with this storm. The danger is not abating. This current storm took about 24 hours to form into a vortex. In this satellite image it is easy to discern the extent of the reach of the current northern spring hemisphere as the entire ITCZ is disrupted with water vapor pulled into higher latitudes to fuel the vortexes.

4 April 2017
0130.20z
UNISYS water vapor satellite of the north and west hemisphere (12 hour loop please see below)

As the first vortex moves offshore of North America there is a second one already formed over the Midwest which took all of about 12 hours.

4 April 2017
1330.18z
UNISYS water vapor satellite of north and west hemisphere ( click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

April 3, 2017
By Chris Dolce

The tornado death toll for 2017 (click here) has risen to 26 after an EF1 that destroyed a mobile home and killed two people in Breaux Bridge, Lousiana, Sunday morning.

Most of the fatalities from tornadoes so far this year occurred during a Jan. 21-22 outbreak that killed 20 people in the South. The other four additional tornado-related deaths were in Illinois and Missouri on Feb. 28....