Travis Randall (click here) walks through the debris-strewn yard of his parent's home in Hickman, Neb., Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, after it was struck by a tornado. Powerful storms crawled into the Midwest on Friday, dumping heavy snow in South Dakota, spawning a tornado in Nebraska and threatening dangerous thunderstorms from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. Photo: Nati Harnik 

By M. Alex Johnson
Staff Writer
NBC News

Multiple tornadoes — one of them a mile wide (click here) — struck Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota on Friday, injuring up to 15 people and causing significant damage, meteorologists and local authorities said.

The Weather Channel counted 17 reports of tornadoes across the three states. The National Weather Service reported late Friday that it had confirmed six of the reports — four of them in Iowa.

The injuries were reported in Wayne, Neb., where a tornado hit about 5:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET). Providence Medical Center said it was treating seven "walking wounded" and seven others who were injured in auto accidents. A trauma patient was being treated at a second hospital, it said....

This is the vortex, exactly one hour ago.

UNISYS Water Vapor US Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)
October 5, 2013
0130:19z

Below is the time of the tornadoes:

The Weather Channel
October 5, 2013
0315:15 gmt


It has a water vapor source off the Equator. It gained velocity from it. The vortex is mixing the two air masses at the border between the two increasing turbulence.

 

The Immigration Community needs to regain momentum. 150 cities is no joke.

By David Iaconangelo 
Oct 04, 2013 02:34 PM EDT

...As immigrant reform lingers (click here) on the backburner of the Congressional agenda amid a government shutdown, this weekend may see one of the largest-ever rallies to be put on by advocates of a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration system with a path to citizenship for the undocumented.  October 5 marks what organizers from a coalition of labor, faith and civil rights groups have dubbed the "National Day of Dignity and Respect", or "the beginning of the immigration rights movement's escalation to bring reform across the finish line this year."  Organizers say they expect marches in over 150 cities across the country....

The Global Recovery can't wait forever, Europe needs to resolve these issues.

Published time: October 04, 2013 22:12

The United States (click here) has no choice but to delay negotiations over a major free trade deal with countries in the European Union because of the partial federal government shutdown, the Obama administration has said.

Michael Froman, a US trade representative working within an agency of the same name (USTR), phoned European Union Trade Commissioner Karel Del Gucht Friday to inform the Belgian politician that US officials would not be taking a scheduled trip to Brussels next week to discuss future plans. 

Washington and the EU were expected to meet for the second time on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, according to Reuters. The agreement will become the world’s largest free-trade deal if it is signed when the shutdown is lifted.  

Over 800,000 US government workers are temporarily out of work after negotiations over the federal budget ground to a halt in Washington earlier this week. More employees are likely to be placed on unpaid leave as the conflict drags on. Major government contractors, including Lockheed Martin, have begun announcing their own furloughs as the impact reverberates....

Transatlantic Trading Power (click here)
February 21, 2013

...The pact aims to not only to eliminate import duties and tariffs that currently exist between the U.S. and EU, but also to reshape global regulations governing products like cars, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The goal is to set the global standard for product safety and protection of intellectual property. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has estimated that eliminating trans-Atlantic tariffs would boost trade between the U.S. and E.U. (now worth about $1 trillion) by more than $120 billion within five years....

I dont' believe this is desperate. This is the right thing to do. I would be grateful if the House passed the bill. It would be the decent thing to do.

UPDATE: 1:13 p.m.—With Debt-Ceiling Deadline Fast Approaching, Boehner May Be Getting Desperate (click here)

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has told colleagues that he is dead-set on preventing the government from defaulting on its bills, a risk that becomes reality when the debt ceiling is reached on Oct. 17, reports The New York Times. One House Republican said Boehner is willing to violate what's called the Hastert Rule, which keeps any measure that doesn't have a majority of Republican votes off the floor, to avoid federal default. (By Marina Koren)

The sanctions, in my opinion, have been successful to bring a leader to Iran such as President Rouhani.

The purpose of Iranian sanctions were to bring about pressure on the people and leadership as well. I believe both have answered in electing President Rouhani.

....We stand in opposition to any form of war against Iran. (click here) We believe that with recent, unprecedented sanctions, war has already started. The United States has imposed crippling economic sanctions against Iran and maintains threats of a military attack. We firmly believe that de-escalating an arms race in the Middle East should begin with nuclear disarmament for all nations in the region and with good faith efforts towards nuclear disarmament globally....

While I sincerely understand Israel's concerns. In all reasonable response to sanctions, the people of Iran have given us a President that sincerely has expressed the desire to recognize an alternative called peace.

By Steve Inskeep
October 4, 2013

...When we settled into the interview, (click here) Netanyahu picked up the book that he had brought along, which he held up in more than one of his interviews Thursday. This book was authored by Hassan Rouhani, the new president of Iran, who had written about his past experience as Iran's nuclear negotiator. When Rouhani was in charge of the nuclear file from 2003 to 2005, he made some progress in his talks with the West, but only temporary progress, even as Iran continued its nuclear development. Netanyahu took that book as a confession of Rouhani's duplicitousness. "He's an open book," Netanyahu said, "and we have the book!"...

I know the leaders we are now looking at in negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program we have seen before and with suspicion to their true meaning in acquiring time over results. But, that was before the past President of Iran took such a radical stand due to actions by the USA in the "Axis of Evil Speech" and the invasion into Iraq. These are two huge events that caused great shifts in nations perceiving a great threat by the USA. There is some fault to be borne by past USA policy to the extremism we witnessed with Iran during the time of Ahmadinejad.

I ask those still concerned about the 'sincerity' of the Iranians regarding it's nuclear program, what are we suppose to expect from the Iranian people before some sanctions are lifted in recognition of THEIR EFFORTS to move peace forward. What are we to expect of them? They have given us a leader to their nation willing to seek paths to peace and nuclear non-proliferation. We have to recognize this incredible change in leadership otherwise why would they continue on that path?

The Middle East has to be a place where peace and prosperity takes higher regard than any war. This continued sense of danger has to be dissolved and people allowed to return to their homes and lives to relieve nations of the burden of the displaced.

The Iranian people deserve economic relief in their day to day lives in recognition of their decisions in wisely seeking leaders that will bring about renewed hope. It is they I am most concerned with and it is their well being that has to take place in recognition of their recent elections. We have to respond in turn to them. There is still a path to honor between all these nations yet to be realized and some of the most harsh economic sanctions and military sanctions are still justified, but, not the sanctions felt most by the people of Iran. They deserve relief. They did their part. We, in turn, must to something for them to cause them to realize they have provided valuable partners to sincere movements of regional security.

Government shutdown a threat to national security. I thought Israel was a high priority for Repuglicans. Look like their money supersedes the protections to Israel.

State Department Official says US Government Shutdown hampering Iran Sanctions (click here)

Reuters

October 4, 2013

The US government shutdown has hampered Washington's ability to enforce punitive measures on Iran's nuclear program, he head US negotiator with Iran said Thursday.

The lack of funding and government workers has curtailed American abilities to enforce substantive pressure on Tehran, said Wendy Sherman, under secretary of state for political affairs....

...Six major powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - will meet Iran's new negotiating team in Geneva on Oct. 15-16 to discuss its nuclear program.

The United States and its allies have imposed extensive sanctions against Iran, including a US law that forced buyers of Iranian crude to sharply cut their purchases, because of Tehran's failure to address their concerns about the nuclear program....

The current State Department information on sanctions. I think most Americans find the idea abstract because it is never clearly stated what sanctions are and are not.

...Acting both (click here) through the United Nations Security Council and regional or national authorities, the United States, the member states of the European Union, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Canada, Australia, Norway, Switzerland, and others have put in place a strong, inter-locking matrix of sanctions measures relating to Iran's nuclear, missile, energy, shipping, transportation, and financial sectors.

These measures are designed: (1) to block the transfer of weapons, components, technology, and dual-use items to Iran’s prohibited nuclear and missile programs; (2) to target select sectors of the Iranian economy relevant to its proliferation activities; and (3) to induce Iran to engage constructively, through discussions with the United States, China, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Russia in the “E3+3 process,” to fulfill its nonproliferation obligations....

Besides the State Department the Treasury Department administers asset and trade restrictions.

Sanctions Programs and Country Information (click here)

OFAC administers a number of different sanctions programs. The sanctions can be either comprehensive or selective, using the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals.

Iran Sactions

Non-proliferation Sanctions

Syria Sanctions

Counter Terrorism Sanctions 

Counter Narcotics Sanctions

Cuba Sanctions

Other Sanctions Programs and Country Information

It is a cold cruel world out there with Repuglicans placing sanctions against the American people, but, they still aren't as bad as the drug cartels. At least not yet.

North Carolina continues to victimize and oppress those engaged in Freedom of Speech

The North Carolina government is attempting to disrupt "Right to Assemble."

A protestor is handcuffed during a "Moral Monday" event at the North Carolina General Assembly (WTVD Photo)

Updated at 10:38 AM today

WAKE COUNTY -- The first group of protesters arrested during this year's mass protests at North Carolina's legislature is having its day in court....

...More than 930 people were arrested during the 2013 legislative session, which saw North Carolina take a sharp rightward turn as Republicans exerted control over the General Assembly and the governor's mansion for the first time in more than a century.

Only about two dozen protesters have taken Wake District Attorney Colon Willougby up on his offer of deferring prosecution in exchange for community service.

They haven't done anything wrong, why should they perform community service?

The little tin god doesn't believe there should be protests about his DECREES in Raleigh, NC. This is the first time Pope has had authoritarian rule to benefit his particular type of hated.


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- The top man in the state Republican Party (click here) is taking aim at the NAACP and other groups on the left for using inflammatory language in recent weeks, and at the media for not reporting it that way.

N.C. GOP chairman Claude Pope is not happy with the tone at recent protests, or the media's coverage of them....

I thought the Gulf Storm was named Jerry. My mistake, The Weather Center hadn't named it yesterday. Their folly.

UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)
October 4, 2013
1730:18z

I hadn't realized I was way ahead of The Weather Center Or Hurricane Center or whatever it's called these days when government doesn't give a hoot about people.

It's outer bands are already reaching Florida's west coast. The center is skipping right along, isn't it? Karen, is it? Skipping right along. 

UNISYS Infrared Satellite of Southeast USA (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)
October 4, 2013
1740:18z

It will be a soaker. The winds are 45 mph and central pressure of 1003 and steady over the last 9 hours. It was down to 999 millibars and could return to that, but, the winds probably won't get above 55 mph. People need to pay attention in low lying areas and cities all along the coast need to open temporary shelters until the flooding stops.

Karen may eventually move into the central part of the country, but, won't be a problem to the east coast. Flooding is the primary concern and please don't take it lightly.

Thank you for your kind attention.

October 4, 2013
1715 gmt
The Weather Channel Current Temperatures

Tornado front.

82 Fahrenheit in Oklahoma and 41 in Colorado. Wow.

Oklahoma City to Denver is about 500 miles. That is a huge change in temperature in a short distance.

I stated years ago, on this blog after I had done research when the Texas children were murdered by their mother, it is hormone levels that need to be addressed in Postpartum Depression and Psychosis. I still believe that and while some depression is handled well with medications, Postpartum depression is more hormone related.

October 4, 2013

By Joey Scarborough, Erik Badia and Corky Seimaszko

...Carey (click here) lost her job as a dental hygienist last year after patients complained that 

her treatment was too rough. And a recent court case hinted that she may 

have fallen on hard times.

The condo association of the building where she lived, Woodside Green 

Association, sued Carey in December.

Court documents were not immediately available, but the New Haven Register 

reported the suit related to unpaid fees on her condo.

Carey reportedly took a $237,616 mortgage on the condo in September 2009 

and, according to the newspaper, had allegedly failed to pay fees in their 

entirety since August 2010. The condo board said she also owed an additional 

$1,759.

The matter was settled Feb. 1....

Miriam Carey was in trouble and she didn't have a sufficient support system to CURE her from her depression. Postpartum depression has proven to be curable in nearly all cases when hormone treatment is applied to increase the opportunity to wellness. There will be patients with co-diagnosis with residual effects that need to be managed medically, but, hormone balance in the case of these women has proven to be successful, even more so than traditional medicines. 

Now we have an incident where a woman didn't have to die and I still question that outcome and an infant without a mother.


By Ann Hepperman'
August 14, 2011 6:34 AM

Maria Bruno knew something (click here) was really wrong when she put her newborn son, Nicolas, down for a nap and then was too afraid to pick him up.

"I was experiencing anger and rage, and I had suicidal thoughts," she says. 
In her desperation, she called her midwife and said, "'I don't know what's wrong, but I can't take care of the baby, and I'm miserable all of the time.'"

Her midwife asked what was wrong. Did she have thoughts of hurting herself? "I just laughed," Bruno says. "I said, 'All the time.'"

After childbirth, most new moms will experience some form of the "baby blues." For some women, those feelings persist and turn into postpartum depression – a serious condition that can lead to hospitalization and more.

On Monday, a University of North Carolina hospital in Chapel Hill will open the country's first free-standing perinatal psychiatry unit. It's hoped the new clinic and those that follow may prevent Bruno's experience from happening to other mothers....

The USA no longer has a definition of PREVENTION within it's culture. The question the American media NEEDS to be asking is how could this tragedy have been PREVENTED. Not defended from, but, PREVENTED.

There is a huge difference in preventing tragedy and defending from it. 

What could we as a society have done to prevent the tragedy that happened in Washington, DC yesterday? When the country begins to actually seek to prevent such violence it might even RETURN to a quality nation and one deserving of admiration.

The difference between prevention and defending is ALLOWING the danger to exist in the first place and placing priorities on all lives and not just the selected lives of importance. 

The Female Suspect's life was important. It was important to prevent such a state of behavior for her safety, the future of her child and the people injured yesterday.

What is sincerely sad, is the American media and the people don't appreciate that and consider these words as bizarre and abnormal and radical. 

Have a better day.

Mika, you have it wrong. The baby was harmed, it no longer has a mother and no one cares to understand why, but, only that the woman is dead and breath a sigh of relief.

THE BABY WAS HARMED! 

NO MOTHER!  

Typical of the American media, they have to get the enemy right. In this case I don't believe they did. 

A rational woman working as a dental hygenist acts in bizarre and unpredictable ways and she is the enemy. Strange set of values. No one asks, what drove her to being bizarre and irrational? Like, post partum depression or psychosis. The only thing that matters is she is dead and the world is a better place without her. I know of at least one child that will believe differently, but, hey women and children are important to the American society even if they die in bizarre and violent ways.

Guns solve all ills in the USA. So long as the gun shooter gets the enemy right and they are dead when the dust settles Americans are safe in their beds at night. Don't solve problems, don't understand the people and their lives, simply pull a gun and all is right with the world. 

Why wasn't she in treatment? No insurance? I can think of a million questions, but, guns take care of everything. Does anyone in the American media ever stop to realize how dangerous this culture has become? We never ask why she is dead, only happy she is? Man, that ain't a world I want to live in. That is extremely dangerous, but, it sells right?

I would love to see outrage over her death. She didn't deserve to die. 

This is how a police state establishes itself. There is no buffer zone for safety anymore when a person finds themselves out of control. Guns are everywhere and the authorities only seek to end potential danger. There is no margin of error in American behavior anymore. 

I think the USA is simply a violent country. It just spends time and money believing and pretending it isn't as dangerous to a citizen's life as it is. A faux front.  

Today, Americans are more scared of each other than yesterday. Their problems are not solved and they have a federal government controlled by an  elected minority of idiots. That is a First World country? Not in my definition. 

My sympathies to the woman's family. Does anyone in the media know her name? I can only find a description of "Female Suspect."

The American people are the enemy from dependency to desperation over life itself; the American people are the enemy. I think we are still allowed to breath the air without a permit.

This is the current state of affairs in the USA. An armed camp.

A woman emotionally out of control is dead. I take it the child is still alive? What was wrong with the baby? Was the child sick? No one cares about that. Was she on WIC? She was probably suicidal. 

The reaction is interesting. A runaway driver is enemy number one and the law enforcement couldn't stop the car. The car wasn't loaded with dynamite. No one cares about what was going on with this woman's life because the Repuglicans can't govern, they only see a wild movie ride and a suicide bomber.  That is what citizens in the USA are now; the enemy. We are all suppose to grab our guns and head to DC to end the government; infant and all. Amazing.

...In this case, (click here) family and friends seemed particularly dismayed to learn that 34-year-old Miriam Carey was the woman who rammed her car into a barricade with a 1-year-old believed to be her daughter in the vehicle, then fled toward the U.S. Capitol, where she was fatally shot by police. The dental hygienist from Stamford, Conn. had no history of violence, wasn't interested in politics, and had no known reason to be in D.C. "I would never in a million years believe that she would do something like this," said Dr. Steven Oken, her boss of eight years. "It's the furthest thing from anything I would think she would do, especially with her child in the car. I am floored that it would be her."...

Two officers are injured. That happens when people are in the way of a speeding car. I hope they recover without incident. A child no longer his it's mother, but, hey that is the price we pay for the fear filled society we call the best in the world. Not. Image is everything, huh? Wall Street was under the impression the USA was the pinnacle of success and today the indexes are falling. I guess those that have don't understand 'the state of being' of the have nots in the USA, otherwise, they might see it differently. 

The people in the USA are primarily passive. They lose children to gun violence and their sanity to the lack of day to day security in their lives. The nation would be hard pressed to rebel against the government. The real danger to the world is not the people of the USA, it is however, the USA military and the bozos that are paid to govern.

When women commit suicide they usually use passive methods. This is probably one of them. Americans tend to make a big splash in many instances, so here we are.

These are road spikes and if they were laid between barriers around the Capital building it would help contain the rash of injuries and gun fire. But, who expects all those security experts to actually think for a living.

Yes, indeed, I here Europe and Canada are nice places for a vacation. Nova Scotia is beautiful. Did you know Canada has rainforests? It's true. This picture is one of them. They aren't tropical rainforests, they are temperate rainforests. That  is Hemlock by the way in case Americans are looking for innovative ways of dying. Dying seems to be a national past time these days. Best part is the national media makes it a spectator sport. Shame I missed all the excitement yesterday. I was at the library. If I waited for the country be become 'normal' to do what I love to do, I'd never leave the television room. Free terror 24/7 and cortisol levels to match. Is it safe yet?

Wait, wait, I hear birds chirping. There are still some alive. No nuclear winter yet. Ah, another day in paradise.