$1 trillion budget for nuclear missile system refit in 2016 budget.

Rep. John Geramendi's (click here) amendment to the 2016 budget was defeated on majority vote and was postponed on a roll call vote.

His statements were not about Iran, he stated the USA, Russia and China are engaged in a new nuclear arms race and one that is very dangerous with very short awareness of a hair trigger response. He is exceptionally worried and we need to pay attention. He stated there needs to be refocus on non-proliferation.

Evidently, the W80 nuclear warhead is a designed to be deployed on cruise missiles. That technology and stealth technology can bring a nuclear missile to the USA shores before it can be detected by radar. 

Volume 5, Issue 3, January 14, 2014 (click here)

The United States plans to spend at least $355 billion to maintain and rebuild its nuclear arsenal over the next decade, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). Over the next 30 years, the bill could add up to $1 trillion, according to another independent estimate....

Rep. Geramendi states we are headed down the rat hole.

He stated there is nuclear capacity repeated four times in different technology.

Stealth jets, cruise missiles, navy submarines and the silos in the Midwest. He made an analogy to the years of "Duck and Cover" when he spoke. He states the arms race is unnecessary and Russia and China are attempting to match us. "Do we cause this? We are certainly a part of it. Where is the money for education? We are pushing the spending of over a trillion dollars and it is unnecessary." He questions about the spending as opposed to clean up facilities.

U.S. Nuclear Weapon “Pit” Production Options for Congress (click here)

Congressional Research Service

Summary

A “pit” is the plutonium core of a nuclear weapon. Until 1989, the Rocky Flats Plant (CO) mass-produced pits. Since then, the United States has made at most 11 pits per year (ppy). U.S. policyis to maintain existing nuclear weapons. To do this, the Department of Defense states that it needs the Department of Energy (DOE), which maintains U.S. nuclear weapons, to produce 50-80 ppy by 2030. While some argue that few if any new pits are needed, at least for decades, this report focuses on options to reach 80 ppy....

It is about individual Congresspersons and their coveted spending. There are 'jobs' mentioned with much of this spending. It needs to be reviewed by the United Nations for violations in the Non-Proliferation Agreement of which the USA is a member. It is very possible the US spending is way out of line by the US House. Mr. Geramendi is opposed to the level of the danger of the new technologies being entertained by the USA. There is escalation of the nuclear interests of the USA while they completely neglect the conventional needs of the military and domestic programs for the poor and children of the USA.

April 8, 2015
By Kris Osborn

National Harbor, Md. — Engineers with the U.S. Navy (click here) have finished drawing up specs for a future class of nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines, officials said.
The technical details, known as ship specification documents, will set the stage for engineering work and eventually construction of ships in the so-called Ohio Replacement Program being developed by General Dynamics Corp.’s Electric Boat unit.
Consisting of three volumes, each with hundreds of pages, the documents detail the configuration, design and technical requirements for the next-generation boat, the first of which is slated to begin construction in 2021 and enter the fleet in 2031, Navy and company officials said....

The United Nations might ask members of the USA Congress to speak to the General Assembly and explain why the USA is increasing the danger in the world rather than at least limiting it or reducing it.

MOX fuel (click here) was first used in a thermal reactor in 1963, but did not come into commercial use until the 1980s. So far about 2000 tonnes of MOX fuel has been fabricated and loaded into power reactors. In 2006 about 180 tonnes of MOX fuel was loaded into over 30 reactors (mostly PWR) in Europe....

A MOX fuel facility was also discussed on the US House floor. 2016 is a Presidential election year. The discussion the United Nations can add to the global dialogue regarding the Non-Proliferation Treaty can be vital. If this runaway train of the USA can be brought to a halt, the elections can serve as a very good platform for a different role for the USA.

The USA should not be seeking to violate the Non-Proliferation Treaty for the sake of jobs. The spending for these programs are out of control, each project adding danger to the balance of power in the world. We all know the more monies spent on the military is less money to be spent on domestic programs. Neither Russia or China should be sacrificing their domestic economy for the sake of returning to the Cold War and nuclear prolifeation. 

The UN is not the place to divulge secrets, but, in this day and age with one country hacking into another country's computers the sincere secrets are in question. Let's say both Russia and China have the knowledge of the USA's plans for expanding it's nuclear weapons program. If all three permanent members are constructing these weapons beyond imagination to the precipice of danger; it is grossly negligent to ignore the danger and allow it to grow.

If Rep. Geramundi is correct, the 'brink of nuclear war' is brought down to minutes and far too late to respond adequately to prevent any escalation to destroying human life globally.

The USA is out of control in their military budget for the sake of jobs, especially where it spends on nuclear weapon technology. The USA conventional military is grossly out of repair and need new ships at the very least. When is the world going to not just ask 'pretty please' to stop the nuclear danger to life on Earth?

Russia and China are emerging economies, this is no time for them to be entering into a Cold War with the USA simply because some Congressperson needs jobs in their district. This is insane.

The least police are required to perform with suspects is sometimes referred to as "Ordinary Care."

Ordinary care is the care that an average reasonable man exercises to prevent harm to the person or property of others and failure to exercise which when under a duty to do so constitutes actionable negligence on the part of one causing such harm. 

That is a definition from Merrium-Webster. The Baltimore police officers did not perform ordinary care to protect Mr. Gray from being harmed in the van. He went into the van alive and he came out dead. There isn't anything else to say. At the very least this is negligent homicide. If there was deliberate steering of the van to inflict harm it then falls into a higher degree of murder.

The Washington Post has to print a retraction.

April 29, 2015
By Peter Hermann

...The prisoner, who is currently in jail, (click here) was separated from Gray by a metal partition and could not see him. His statement is contained in an application for a search warrant, which is sealed by the court. The Post was given the document under the condition that the prisoner not be named because the person who provided it feared for the inmate’s safety....

According to what the other person arrested that shared a van with Mr. Gray states he heard a noise lasting four seconds that could have been Mr. Gray pounding his head on the van. Four seconds is not a concerted effort to kill or maim one's self.  The other person arrested is not currently in jail.

He clarified his statement to Baltimore homicide while interviewed on television by a journalist. 

Mr. Freddy Gray's Death

The Baltimore Police Department already stated in a news conference early on, he was not buckled into the van. Mr. Gray was riding in the vans without seat belts.

The negligence is through the roof. Then take into account this is not the first negligent death. If there were actions by the police to facilitate an unsafe ride besides the seat belts makes it premeditated.

If the person in the next van compartment might hear his body banging against the sides of the van. A dead man has no muscle tone.

Allahu akbar! Amazing. I thought they revived the child. The baby was alive the entire time.

The men call out "Allahu akbar" several times during the rescue. Gives me chills. She moves spontaneously while have buried in rubble. I don't know if any of the men even would know CPR.

0.85 °C change in global temperature since the industrial revolution is an enormous change.

Question: How much heat does it take to raise Earth by one degree centigrade? 

Answer: A lot. 

When Earth heats it is not a minor event, it effects the global balance of heat distribution. 


Alaskan Tundra (click here)
Global warming is at it again, heating up one of America’s most prized natural possessions at an alarming rate- the breathtaking Alaskan Tundra. Rising temperatures are melting the permafrost, not only destroying the unique ecosystem but also acting as a super boost for global warming in other parts of the planet. The heat is on (no pun intended) for a solution, as we may be seeing more tropical tundra in the future. 

The Climate Crisis first evaporates the snow into water vapor used to mitigate global heat. Then it removes the water vapor from the actual soil. That does not happen overnight. Drought is a long term emergency. This level of drought is catastrophic to the biotic content.

28 April 2015 

If climate change was a game, (click here) we'd have racked up quite a score. A fresh study suggests that humans are responsible for a hefty number of today's extreme hot days and rainstorms.

Weather extremes, such as a Russian heatwave in 2010 and a drought in Texas in 2011, have been blamed on climate change before – but the attribution of individual events to it is still hotly debated.

So Erich Fischer and Reto Knutti at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, Switzerland, took a bird's-eye view of how human activity is changing the planet. Using 25 different climate models, they calculated how the odds of unusual events – such as a 1-in-100 day temperature high or a 1-in-10,000 day rainfall event – have changed with the rise in global temperatures.

Their results show that global warming of 0.85 °C since the industrial revolution has had a powerful effect. Climate change is now responsible for 75 per cent of our extreme highs in temperature and 18 per cent of extreme rainfall, according to the data. The rarer a particular event, the more likely that warming is the cause, they say....

How to charge Hillary Clinton as a public enemy; AKA as Karl Rove needs to get a life.

Let's see if I get this right.

Joe Scarborough states the newspapers he is reading states The Clinton Foundation received a huge donation from Algeria and then Algeria was removed from the terror list.

It was proved that was a lie because the only way to remove a country from the terror list involves a process with Congress. 

The truth is more than likely any monies received by The Clinton Foundation are matching funds met with private donors. Those monies will be turned back into the country with greater capacity and an expertise from the Foundation to make it happen. 

Moving countries forward is complicated and often is more about building better international relationships. The State Department can't have the same expertise as The Clinton Foundation. The Foundation has much more time and freedom to help countries understand how they have to create a more productive infrastructure including legislation. 

So, The Clinton Foundation is a uniquely qualified to provide necessary services to change the trajectory of an entire country of people. Their processes to achieve those goals is as complicated as the Former President and the Former Secretary themselves. Otherwise anyone could do this. We have already noted a unique demand by an international community and the people of the USA to shun retirement and engage a foundation that can continue to carry out his directives.

So, now that the Republicans have been proved liars to the idea of freelancing terrorists and their supports; the Clintons now are acting on Human Rights Statistics in their negligence of protecting the USA. 

Excuse me.

The 'descriptive' words to insight anger in the Public Court to defame Hillary is again a 'designer use of any law international or domestic.' The result is obvious. In both cases the Republicans are seeking to leverage "Hate of Hillary" as the most slippery candidate in the field.

This needs to end and the Republicans have issues to address. What are they afraid of is more the correct 'descriptive' words in the equation.

From 2001, "Racially Biased Policing."

American policing is facing a tremendous challenge (click here) —a wide spread perception that the police are routinely guilty of bias in how they treat racial minorities. This comes at a time when crime rates have fallen almost everywhere in recent years, and when the police might otherwise be celebrating their contribution to reducing crime and creating safe communities. Instead, the police find themselves baffled and defensive.

Racial and ethnic minorities constitute a substantial and growing segment of the U.S. population. Strength is in diversity, and we look to minority communities to participate fully in all aspects of society. Police are now looking to the public for partnerships and collaborative problem-solving solutions to community ills. If substantial segments of the community are the victims of police bias, or even perceive that they are, the likelihood of success is dim....

This is not going away until it DOES go away. Below is a report about Body Worn Video Cameras from 2012. Police Unions do not necessary like video cameras. Guess why.

For many police executives, (click here) the biggest challenge is not deciding whether to adopt one particular technology but rather finding the right mix of technologies for a given jurisdiction based on its crime problems, funding levels, and other factors. Finding the best mix of technologies, however, must begin with a thorough understanding of each type of technology. Police leaders who have deployed body-worn cameras

say there are many benefits associated with the devices

.

They note that body-worn cameras are useful for documenting evidence; officer training; preventing and resolving complaints brought by members of the public; and strengthening police transparency, performance, and accountability.

In addition, given that police now operate in a world in which anyone with a cell phone camera can record video footage of a police encounter, body-worn cameras help police departments ensure events are also captured from an officer’s perspective

.

Scott Greenwood of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said at the September 2013 conference:

The average interaction between an officer and a citizen in an urban area is already recorded in multiple ways The citizen may record it on his phone. If there is some conflict happening, one or more witnesses may record it. Often there are fixed security cameras nearby that capture the interaction.

So the thing that makes the most sense—if you really want accountability both for your officers and for the people they interact with—is to also have video from the officer’s perspective.

Let's end this mess right now. 

WAS THE VAN Freddy Gray was placed in by police PADDED to protect those arrested?

The officer that spoke on national television about the investigation did not allow any information of value to be known by the public and he clearly stated, "We are not going to discuss the inside of the van because it could cause conjecture." 

It is not conjecture, no protective lining of vans where 'the arrested' are placed means there are built in excuses for police that kill. 

At no point in time should a prisoner be in danger for his or her life when arrested. When the police have custody that means there is value placed on their lives no matter what it takes. 

Human rights are civil rights. If a person is dead that is a violation of human rights. If dead people are allowed to be overlooked then Due Process is gone and deadly force becomes the law and not the law itself.

People are tired of the studies and invesigations. This is getting ridiculous.

Police culture in the USA is perverted and when the people try to correct it's trajectory it is never implemented or followed up.

 

On July 24, 2012, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Oclick here) announced a plan to overhaul the New Orleans Police Department that was broader in

scope and more detailed than any other consent decree the DOJ had issued since it was given the authority 18 years earlier to investigate local police departments.

 

The 2012 New Orleans consent decree is expected to last at least five years and cost more than $11 million, though the agreement likely will

take longer and cost more to carry out, if recent patterns of DOJ involvement with local law enforcement agencies are any indication.

The shape and substance of recently issued consent decrees, in Seattle as well as New Orleans, share little resemblance to the first one the DOJ obtained involving a major metropolitan police force....

It would seem as though suicides in Baltimore happen under the veil of secrecy.

August 5, 2014
By Christie Lleto

BALTIMORE (WJZ)–How did a wanted man (click here) with a violent past get a gun into Baltimore’s southwest police district? The man committed suicide just one room away from officers.
Christie Ileto has the latest on the security questions being raised.
Undetected and unobserved. A suspect was taken into custody and able to cloak a high-caliber gun into a police station before allegedly fatally shooting himself inside.
“I heard, like, a big book and I just thought it was anything,” said resident Damontre McLeod.
But the pillar of safety became a crime scene Tuesday....

This is more or less the same stuff witnessed across the country where a suspect in custody with hands cuffed behind his back took a police gun away from the officer and shot himself. How long is this line of secrecy going to continue in this country?

Police killing unarmed citizens are not part of the public contract or public trust. Police culture is not only sick, it is blatantly dangerous and deadly.

The reason this police culture is tolerated is because there is no choice. The police strong arm the governing councils along with unions that protect these dangerous members. 

There always is the National Guard. I have less problem with the language of the Guard since that is the vocabulary of the military. They have been a valuable addition to a city that cannot discern who the enemy sincerely is. 

Freddie Gray committed suicide? Is that what the Baltimore authorities are saying?

I demand an investigation of every suicide that has occurred in Baltimore custody.

The children involved in any demonstrations and arrests need only one decision.

Self identified members of the Crips and Bloods pose in Baltimore, Maryland on April 28, 2015. Victoria Bekiempis/Newsweek 

...Mugga (click here) added that the Crips, Bloods and Black Guerrilla Family had not made any plan to injure police officers, despite reports from the Baltimore Police Department that there was a “credible threat” against officers due to the unification of the three gangs.  "The way everyone looks at the Blood and Crips; it's not the way it is," he said. "You really gotta live in this lifestyle, to live in our shoes, to understand how we live. Its not how everyone portrays us to be.”...

The police have already inflamed the situation by accusing gangs for the unrest. It was a lie.

The children arrested do not need records to destroy their future and end up as gang members for life. The children only have to be remanded to their parents and a fine of $10.00 has to be paid by the parents. Close the book on this and negate any record by making it a summons no greater than a parking fine.

Currently children under 18 years old are being abused by police with shackles. They don't need the lesson. The fact of the matter is the shackles are on the wrong people.

That is all that has to be done.  

Every government and police official has called a mother dearly concerned for her only son "Hero Mom." It is time all mothers and fathers or guardians (sometimes grandparents or siblings, etc.) have the same chance to be heroes to their children.

This mom is being called "mother of the year" after cameras captured her snatching her son from a Freddie Gray protest in Baltimore and scolding him for his behavior. Gray died in police custody from a severe spinal cord injury. VPC

April 29, 2015
By Marisol Bello
 
...Now, the single mother of six children (click here) is facing some backlash on social media for beating her son in such a public manner.
"Hypocrisy of the law, she should be arrested for assault, battery and child abuse," said one tweet by a user identified as @cotrial.
Others questioned why anyone would condone or celebrate her actions....

Those that comment about the actions of a very upset mother doesn't understand what a beating actually is. That isn't it.

This is a Baltimore Police Van and the sentiment of the community.

Go, figure.

Young men want to become old men. That is basically the entire theme nationwide to the police violence that kills unarmed and helpless citizens.


By M. Alex Johnson and Jon Schuppe

Dozens of people arrested (click here for video) in violent demonstrations this week in Baltimore were being released early Wednesday evening because police were unable to complete their paperwork in time, the state public defender's office said.

The 101 detainees began walking free without charges about the same time that Baltimore police announced that their report into the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died in police custody this month, wouldn't be made public Friday.

Police Commissioner Anthony Batts had set a deadline of Friday to file the report with state investigators. Capt. Eric Kowalczyk said late Wednesday afternoon that the report would remain closed to protect the integrity of the inquiry.... 

The baseball game is hideous. The game should have been held with children and their teachers in the stands. I mean what is that mess they did today?

The withholding of evidence from the public by the Baltimore police and Maryland State Attorney is absolutely astounding. Why is the State Attorney compounding the egregious silence regarding the death of Freddie Gray and others? Maybe it is 'the others' that is the problem. 

"We will be here until the threat of violence ends." Is that the violence against the people as well? 

I am left to be confused about where exactly the fiduciary relationship between police and citizens actually is defined. It is not defined as most citizens expect it to be.  

April 29, 2015
By Ed Payne and Sid Sidner

Ferguson, Missouri (CNN)At least three people were shot (click here) in separate incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, on late Tuesday and early Wednesday as hundreds of demonstrators gathered in support of protests in Baltimore, a city spokesman said.

Two people were shot in the neck and another was shot in the leg, spokesman Jeff Small said. There is a suspect in custody in the latter case: a 20-year-old male from St. Louis County.

The two victims shot in the neck were hospitalized, Small said.

"Police are having a difficult time investigating because of the rocks being thrown at them," he said. "At this point police are not sure if the (shootings are) linked to the protest or not."

St. Louis Alderman Antonio French posted video on his Twitter account. Multiple gunshots can be heard as people flee in panic.

Violence has returned to Ferguson. Citizens hospitalized. I suppose that is progress.

I tell you what, let's just blame it all on "Grand Theft Auto - Celebrity Edition."(click here)

Rep. Jackson Lee is offering an amendment that will extend funding for treatment to veterans that still remain ineligible.

Amazing.

Who knew there were still veterans outside of reach of the American people to care and cure them.

Republicans won't allow closure of Gitmo.

There is also an amendment submitted by Rep. Nadler to close Gitmo. He states the camp has been unable to proceed with trials at all. He wants to transfer the existing detainees to USA facilities to conduct trials and allow proper disposition of the prisoners.

I remind, Gitmo is a POW camp. The idea this is to remain open forever is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. There are terrorists held now in prisons on the US mainland before Gitmo has become a political icon to the Republicans.

Rep. Dent is opposing the amendment. Is everything the Republicans using for political dialogue designed to alienate the USA from long standing law and international treaties?

Bush created this problem at Gitmo. He removed the USA from the Geneva Conventions in order to invade Iraq. One of the reasons Gitmo remains open is to insure the corruption by Bush and Cheney stays in place to prevent accusations of human rights violations at Gitmo in torture.

By maintaining the corruption at Gitmo election after election it appears to dilute the responsibility of the corruption to subsequent administrations as a necessity to the sovereign duty of the DOD to protect the country.

In the face of that reality, the DOD camp needs to be closed and all detainees transferred to the US mainland for trial and disposition to end the corruption of our military and it's sovereign purpose.

Republicans are seeking to pass corruption of law while the country is focused on the egrigious treatment of a US minority. A minority that were historically slaves.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen is being treated with obscurity regarding a particular paragraph in the budget scam.

He is on the floor right now and if the Republicans continue to corrupt the parliamentary procedure the budget will have to be litigated to return law back to law. 

It is about the first paragraph of Title IV. He is stating there is many problems with the budget process. The problems are to perform end runs around a long standing clarification of the law to end schemes.

1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act (click here)

We are back to "OCO Funds" and the spending of $550 million for overseas military bases. 

The Republicans are striking Title IV of the Budget Law paragraph by paragraph. The are destroying long standing budgetary law that controls corruption of the process. 

The act has been amended several times, including provisions in the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990, and the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. The original 1974 legislation, however, remains the basic blueprint for budget procedures today. 

The DOD, according to Rep. Van Hollen, is stating the war accounts (OCO) is not suppose to be used as a slush fund which is exactly what the Republicans are attempting to do. The OCO funds were never suppose to be used for free lance funding by either Congress or the President. The OCO funds needs to return to proper balance of it's legislated use.

Page 62 of the Budgetary Act is the section being exploited. The OCO funds began to exploition under Bush. It is a slush fund with ever growing use outside the parameters of the "War Powers Act." 

Camp Lemonnier (click here) is the primary base of operations for U.S. Africa Command in the Horn of Africa. 

The proposed spending is to be carried in the 2016 Budget and made available until 2020. It is a slush fund. 

While the country is engaged in concern, as it should, regarding the deaths of African American members that are citizens of this country, the Republicans are seeking to pass legislation that is nothing but pure corruption.

That is typical of the Republicans. They are always exploiting the country's attention and where it is to either exploit in support of the country's attention or hide it. It is a method for manipulating the political environment of the electorate. This is at the very least ethics violations and needs to be conducted as such.

7000 millionaires paid no income tax in 2011.

An article in "Business Insider" breaks down the people in the USA most able to pay taxes and they pay none.


It contains a number of interesting factoids,(click here) including the following:

7,000 people made more than $1 million but paid no income tax. 

22,000 people made between $500,000 and $1 million but paid no income tax. 

81,000 people made between $200,000 and $500,000 but paid no income tax. 

381,000 people made between $100,000 and $200,000 but paid no income tax.

And 

45% of the country makes less than $30,000 per year.

Of those

30% of the country makes less than $20,000 per year.

Of those

15% of the country makes less than $10,000 per year.

There needs to be a law whereby when the USA military budget receives more money, the same funding is included in domestic spending.

April 28, 2015
By Bob Kinzel

VPR News (click here) has learned from several sources that Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will announce his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on Thursday.
Sanders will release a short statement on that day and then hold a major campaign kickoff in Vermont in several weeks.
Sanders' entry into the Democratic race ensures that Hillary Clinton will face a challenge to win the support of the liberal wing of the party.
Sanders' basic message will be that the middle class in America has been decimated in the past two decades while wealthy people and corporations have flourished.
His opposition to a proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal (T.P.P.) shows how he plans to frame this key issue of his campaign....

The Cocker belligernace lives on in the face of obvious need in the country.

On Wednesday morning, (click here) it’s all quiet there now, save the noise of passing traffic. And on the stop sign that had become a makeshift memorial, the balloons have all deflated.

Once again Republicans are divided due to Tea Party extremists. Senator Corker rather spend federal monies on war than on desperately needed domestic programs, including infrastructure.

After the traumatic events in Baltimore the streets are quiet, but, a solitary memorial remains.

April 28, 2015
A Republican U.S. senator (click here) said he is holding up his party’s budget proposal in Congress because a provision intended to cut spending isn’t strong enough.

Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee told reporters Tuesday he was withholding support for releasing the unified House-Senate budget plan. The proposal would have to be unveiled Tuesday to meet House leaders’ goal of adopting it Thursday.
Corker told reporters he wants the budget to “rid itself of a lot of the gimmicks that have been used in the past to actually spend a lot more money than people think we are spending.”...

A thirty year journalist to Baltimore knows the problems that lead to the horrific death of Freddie Gray.

Superstorm Sandy received a $602 billion after the state of emergency, there needs to be a post emergency relief for the Freddie Gray neighborhood. 

April 28, 2015
By Michael A Fletcher

It was only a matter of time before Baltimore exploded.
In the more than three decades I have called this city home, Baltimore has been a combustible mix of poverty, crime, and hopelessness, uncomfortably juxtaposed against rich history, friendly people, venerable institutions and pockets of old-money affluence.
The two Baltimores have mostly gone unreconciled. The violence that followed Freddie Gray’s funeral Monday, with roaming gangs looting stores and igniting fires, demands that something be done....



...The non-binding budget proposal is intended to reach balance in nine years. It sets out the Republican Party’s priorities by calling for more than $5 trillion in spending cuts and no net tax increases. It raises defense spending in 2016 by boosting a war funds account far above President Barack Obama’s request.

The proposal also would allow Republicans to bypass Democrats and send Obama legislation to revise, though not repeal, his landmark health-care law. The administration has said the 2010 Affordable Care Act has extended coverage to 16.4 million previously uninsured Americans.

Both chambers adopted their own versions of a budget plan last month and conferees have been working out the differences....

The Republicans hate the US Constitution. There is a mechanism in the constitution which provides for votes, including all the Congress men and women. This is a hideous Congress and the Speaker resigned his authority years ago.

...House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers has been fighting to remove that provision from the final budget. The Kentucky Republican said in an interview that it would make his job of passing annual spending bills too difficult....

Speaker Bohner has no backbone. He needs to dissolve the Hastert Rule and pass the budget. To allow Corker a divisive vote is nothing more than a chronic political campaign. Corker can't be this stupid, can he? Maybe he needs a lie detector test to find out for sure.


...Corker can hold up the budget agreement because all 12 Senate Republican conferees’ votes are needed to approve it in the case of opposition by all 10 Democrats and independents....

Corker is using his position in the US House for a chronic political campaign. He has ethics violations. It is time for the Speaker to lead.

Well done, Baltimore.

Thank you, National Guard.

Good night.

If mayors need advise for improvement of their cities they can look US Senator Booker.

I realize Senator Booker has a lot to do in DC, but, he is looking to change sentencing guidelines. He was very successful in Newark, New Jersey and it didn't take a lifetime to do it. Newark is a different city today. Baltimore needs to move to a place where young black men are not killed and face a judge for anything they have done wrong. 

CURRENTLY, BALTIMORE DOES PRACTICE DUE PROCESS. That is a problem. 

We are witnessing a great people of Baltimore. We know they exist and we knew they existed before. I am pleased the mood of the city is far more improved from yesterday. There is every reason to believe the citizens of Baltimore have reclaimed their streets. I hope any one who disregards the importance of a neighborhood are taking a lesson from these citizens and their children.

I have heard a great deal today from those same people. It is right for the mayor to make example of the community's response. Absolutely. There are sincere problems. Young men are being killed by Baltimore cops. The community, even children, are complaining about the blight they suffer. The mayor needs to have regular Town Halls with this community. But, the deaths are heinous and have to stop. They are young men hidden behind the walls of a police van and exposed to violence that kills them. ENOUGH! 

Senators Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, both D-N.J., will be meeting New York’s U.S. Senators and others to discuss flood insurance complaints after superstorm Sandy during the first meeting of the Sandy Task Force Tuesday afternoon.(Photo: Staff photo/Nicole Guadiano)

April 28, 2015

By Russ Zimmer

Inadequate payouts (click here) from their flood insurance provider is a common complaint among those whose homes were inundated by the storm's surge. Sandy victims who felt wronged by their providers — whose plans are underwritten by the NFIP — got a major boost when evidence surfaced of a potentially widespread and highly questionable practice of changing a key insurance document without justification.
New Jersey's U.S. Senators Menendez and Cory Booker and their counterparts in New York, Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, all Democrats, are pledging to examine those issues and others in their roles as members of the Sandy Task Force, which also includes Craig Fugate, the head of FEMA....

Civil Rights are unfamiliar to the students in Baltimore.

If there is a lack of understanding by students regarding the civil rights movement there needs to be curriculum to speak to those realities. Why isn't that being covered in a history course. I am sure the school system can purchase the film Selma to keep in the library so teachers have access to it. 

There is no hard and fast rule that peaceful protests have to be boring. I think appropriate music is a good idea.

FOX News is reporting in their online article the looting is continuing as the National Guard troops arrive. Will the media please police itself. Thank you.

MSNBC states while there are a few minor issues (Which probably occurs anyway.) Baltimore has been very peaceful. It can't be both. I find the statement looting is continuing a very inflammatory statement. I think everyone in the media can recognize an inflammatory statement. Kindly help out the commmunity and report the truth. They often rely on the news media to understand their own community, especially now.

Thank you.

April 28, 2015
By Jena McGregor

Just a few months (click here) into his tenure as governor of Maryland, Larry Hogan (R) is tasked with leading his state through the riots that erupted in Baltimore on Monday. Another leader working to help quell the violence in the city is also very new to her job: Linda Singh, who is in charge of the Maryland National Guard that was called in by Hogan. She just took over the role at the end of February.

As the state's adjutant general — and the first African American and first woman to hold that role in Maryland— Singh is responsible for operations of the Maryland Military Department. She serves as a member of Hogan's cabinet and as an adviser to the governor....

All Green on Blue attacks were not Afghanistan soldiers.

The military doesn't end their search for justice until it is resolved.

Sergeant First Class Randy Johnson died of his wounds after the IED detonated near his vehicle in Iraq.

April 28, 2015

A British cab driver (click here) behind a “deadly” terror campaign against US troops in Iraq was caught after seven years of painstaking work to identify his fingerprints on roadside bombs, a court heard. 

Anis Abid Sardar is accused of being part of an insurgency cell who targeted US forces in 2007 with a bombing campaign that left one US soldier dead. 

In an “unusual trial”, Sardar was only arrested in London last year after the US authorities “painstakingly” matched his fingerprints to those found on devices recovered in the years after the Iraq war, Woolwich Crown Court heard. It is believed to be the first trial of its kind to be heard in the UK....

These communities are among the USA's most impoverished, kindly work with city governments to move them forward.

The Senior Center in Baltimore went up in flames. 

How many from the community were employed for that project?

When a public project is started in any city in the USA, there should be workers from the community hired to learn and grow competencies that will provide an income into the future. When the community is solicited to hire for the project offer them sport t-shirts for every completed application for submission to the contractor. It would be really great if the contractor was from the community, but, I would expect that to happen in time after the first workers obtain their competencies and learn how to apply for bids on projects. 

Where the application asks for any criminal record, submit it and ask for character references to mitigate the damage in reputation accumulated by a society that didn't invest as they should. 

I am sorry to hear CVS, which has medi-clinics, was burned to the ground. I wish that didn't happen. Please do not let this deter any more interest in these communities. Medical clinics are important. I hope in such challenged neighborhoods CVS has the executive insight to not sell beer, wine and cigarettes. I think CVS went cigarette free, right? So, they are moving in the right direction. I would think Baltimore would be interested in compensating the businesses that were effected by the mayhem following the death of Freddie Gray. Baltimore has a lot of reflection and policy to write that limits the free lancing justice of their police officers. I doubt businesses appreciate this type of death at the hands of police either. 

...In Maryland, (click here) we have decided to implement the Medicaid expansion.
Research just published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that expanded Medicaid coverage for low-income adults translates into a 6.1 percent reduction in mortality.  This research adds to a large body of evidence showing that insurance is associated with reduced mortality.  Saving lives is a compelling reason to move forward. Our Governor Martin O’Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown have placed a high priority on expanding coverage to hundreds of thousands of Maryland families and children since taking office....

Baltimore should be providing Medicaid expansion to these communities. Where an individual may not qualify for benefits, but, have medical needs about potential health concerns, the city needs to consider how to best address those fears.

City employment should reflect the demographics of the people. There needs to be supportive services to employees struggling with job performance. Some want to work, but, are demoralized (sometimes all their lives) to carry out that capacity. "Never give up" is a good 'quality assurance' for any city employee. There are rehab policies in most jobs in the country when alcohol or drugs are a part of their daily lives. However, having the money and insurance to allow for days away from work is a huge hurdle. Facilitating competency can be as complex as the individual. Hopefully, the employees have families as concerned for them as the city would be. 

The beautiful aspect of these communities is their loyalty to each other and their ability to communicate understandings about life. "Life Coaches" are the elites way of improving their job performance, that can be available to stressed communities through their leaders that have a proven track record of trust and movement toward the future well being of all that comprise that community. Frequently, that means employing church leaders to contract for mentoring services.