I have a wish for the average car driver.

I want people to adapt a behavior when they are pulled to the side of the road.

Be open to the fact you may have done something wrong. 

Stop the personal interests in the car including turning off the radio and/or the CD player. Close the mobile phone. Put aside the cigarettes. Don't eat or drink. Don't make the police officer talk over the noise in your car. Tell others in the car to stop any noise and show respect for the fact there is a police officer at the window or otherwise. Give complete attention to the officer.

Be prepared to easily reach for the driver's license, car registration and proof of insurance and hand it to the officer with pride. You do your best to obey the law and these documents are the beginning of that proof.

I would prefer a paper copy of any documents. Leave the cell phone for emergencies.

When the officer comes to the window, be it woman or man, state this: "Officer I am sorry. I had no idea I did something wrong." When requested hand over the documents. 

Practice this statement at home:  

 "Officer I am sorry. I had no idea I did something wrong."

 "Officer I am sorry. I had no idea I did something wrong."

 "Officer I am sorry. I had no idea I did something wrong."

DON'T ARGUE. There is no reason to argue with a police officer. They have very little power in their job the way it is and arguing is perceived as disrespect and next comes the taser or gun or both. Don't argue. Leave that for the courtroom.

Be patient. When the officer brings the citation to sign, refuse if you like. It is okay not to sign anything without the advise of an attorney. Simply state, "I rather not sign anything without the advice of an attorney." Simple. To the point, it is within your rights. The officer will provide a copy of the citation to you anyway and there will be a time and date to appear in court.

Practice this at home:

"I rather not sign anything without the advice of an attorney."

"I rather not sign anything without the advice of an attorney."

"I rather not sign anything without the advice of an attorney."

Accept the citation as if a business transaction with an officer simply doing  his job. 

After the officer presents you with a citation or warning (hopefully your apology will place you in a better judgement by the officer, but, maybe not) ask if you can proceed back onto the highway. OR Wait until the officer pulls away and then pull SAFELY back onto the road. If a driver waits until the officer has pulled away there is no chance to get another citation. But, the point here is to be sure you understand you are dismissed from the transaction by either verbal statement releasing you or by witnessing the officer driving off.

I want everyone to be safe. And there is a 100 percent chance you didn't learn to drive or traffic etiquette from my Dad. 

Please be safe.

Please be safe.

Please be safe. 

When police practice to 'the letter of the law,' it creates a very narrow path for citizens to walk without bumping into violations. That is not good police work. Good police work is about serving and protecting human beings that aren't robots or briefed on the law. There is a problem here and I am not sure what it is exactly, but, police are harassing citizens to achieve a bigger picture. At any rate, the practice as noted in this film of Sandra's interaction is testament to a policing system gone bad. This level of policing is a danger to any citizen, not just African Americans; but; I betcha they fall into the dragnet more often than not.

A couple of other thoughts.

African Americans, being of lower income, will have irrational decisions to make. It is not a matter of fixing the broken tail light, so much "Can I afford to fix the tail light?" And considering what it takes to fix a broken taillight these days, that is a sincere problem for lower income people. The courts don't take that into consideration when processing a citation. They don't ask for proof of income to know if a person can afford the ticket.

AND.

The police officer may have a supervisor that processes dash-cam videos to decide about performance on the job. If the officer's supervisor is citing the officer for missing a lane change without signalling, the path of behavior for citizens gets smaller and smaller.  

I don't think there are police unions in Texas, but, it is the responsibility of police unions to assist the officer to a 'good' and/or 'reasonable' practice. There is no doubt the video starts with harassment of a woman already upset at missing her turn signal when she pulled to the slow lane. Sander's life was not in danger until she stopped for the police lights nor was she a problem/danger to other drivers on that road that day and time. 

I also believe those that released this video included the previous stop to influence those watching the video of Sandra. 

There is a lot of ethical issues going on within the police forces in the USA, including the use of grand juries and the like. The standards need to be reviewed. What might look good on paper isn't carried out well in practice.

Is Sandra's arrest racism? It depends. African Americans are usually lower income and can't necessarily pursue a lawyer to mitigate citations with the prosecutor. 

However, racism will clearly be a claim if there are a disproportionate number of African Americans that make payment to or come before the court on a regular basis. I would not expect citation numbers of African Americans be different to the demographics of the region.

African Americans aren't necessarily going to have bail either which creates greater income in the long run when fines are stacked on top of fines for non-payment or otherwise. 

If a person is issued a warning for a minor violation in the law it begins a recorded history that is an investment over time. The next time that person is stopped there won't be a warning anymore. The foundation to financial exploitation of people begins in a compassionate and logical manner. 

"Don't give 'em a reason." 

The practice of law to the letter is abusive and promotes exploitation. He isn't applying good practice, he practices victimization. 

It is the way I see it and it might be far more systemic than just this instance. 

This was a sport for this police officer.

From the initial interaction with Sandra the police officer started to escalate the peril to her. He came to her passenger side door while passing her right rear tail light to check it for breakage. But, he asked her "Is there something wrong?" Of course there was something wrong. She was pulled to the side of the road for a traffic violation. That is something wrong. He did not begin this interaction with a business like demeanor so much as judgmental.

He also had stopped a car only a short time before to issue a warning. He told her to be sure to get the car registration through the cell phone from her father. That is none of his business. If the driver couldn't pull the registration or insurance card up on the cell phone then he either issues a ticket or a warning. He doesn't have to give advice or irritate the circumstances any further. He made the determination all that was necessary was to issue a warning. His job is over. He has no business talking to a driver about that driver's father or their cell phone. 

This guy really bothers me. He is over stepping his authority from the beginning and then continues it through an extended conversation. He wants something from the interaction beyond his original purpose. I don't what it is he is looking for, but, he perceives a future for the driver from a simple mistake of signaling a lane change. This should interaction should not have even started. When she moved to the right hand lane she was a threat to no one, not even herself. There really was no reason to bother her. 

Something else bothered me. He simply did a u-turn and began a patrol down the same road. Is this his purpose in life? Is this all he does on one day a month, patrol this road looking for citations to write? is this an income thing to the city? His method of policing bothers me. I would not expect a police officer to turn around on the same road unless he was chasing down money. Is there an income from the citations on this road and/or this officer on a regular basis? There isn't much traffic. The odds of running into a lot of problems with traffic is slim with the number of cars on that road.

But, that doesn't really lend itself directly to Sandra's death. The police officer aggravated the interaction and was looking for a reason. A reason for what is anyone's guess, but, we know where it went and how he treated a woman he stopped for a lane change. 

Wait a minute. He has an agenda. Why write a ticket when his monthly quota can be satisfied with a situation that results in an arrest with multiple charges? 

This is more than a sport for him, it is an occupation. He made it happen, she did nothing irrational or out of character. He took license with her status. All he has to do is convince the dash cam and microphone he had no choice but to the escalation. He had someone admittedly upset and he simply took it further.

Ben Carson and Ted Cruz have the best approach to Donald Trump's campaign.

Donald Trump is not in this race frivolously. He made a decision. He looked at the country he loves, where his family lives and where his empire was launched and he made a decision. It was motivated for only one reason and that was because he wants to save the American people further suffering in an economy that doesn't respect them.

July 21, 2015
By Rachel Weiner

Retired neurosurgeon (click here) and presidential candidate Ben Carson said Tuesday that he thinks the focus on Donald Trump's recent incendiary comments is "petty" and that the real estate mogul has no reason to drop out of the 2016 race.

"For us to get caught up in a controversy of well, 'What did Donald Trump mean when he said that?' -- It just seems so petty to me," Carson told reporters after speaking to a group of teenage Republicans in Arlington, Va....

The Republican Party members move into campaigns to raise money. Donald Trump has no problem with money. This is him. He is sacrificing a lot and he has taken on the entire Republican media circus and a country completely confused about him and he is standing his own ground on such an onslaught.

Ben Carson and Ted Cruz sees what Donald Trump is and represents. They respect the fact this is a sacrifice Donald Trump is taking on and they respect him for the fighter he is. They can accept Donald Trump's campaign for it's content and determination. I think that is far better place for everyone including Donald Trump. 

He is a respectable man to many, many Americans. They have watched him make and break a potential industry leader in his weekly contest of wits. They can respect that in him. They believe they know him and he is expecting to make a serious impression on this political season. Candidates from all political stripes should pay attention. Riding rough shod over the American people might work for Republicans, but, it isn't going to work with Donald Trump.

Candidates have to be more than sensitive to the violence surrounding African Americans in the USA.

There is an urgency to this American problem. People are dying.

Candidates need to put forward policies that will address minority issues. Currently, the community is self-policing the deaths and abuse of their minority members. The community has very serious lawyers working to bring justice from the violence to the people. But, the respect and change the community is looking for is still lacking.

My suggestion is for any interested candidate meet with representatives of "Black Lives Matter."  They have ideas and their attorneys certainly are well versed in the law and how more protections are needed. This is not just a social issue. It is the basis of their lives. Parents tutor their young men behind closed doors about the dangers of being a black man. That reality goes back decades with the testimony of former AG Holder and President Obama himself.

July 20, 2015
By Carrie Dann

Hillary Clinton (click here) said Monday that "everyone in this country should stand firmly behind" the idea that "black lives matter," just days after two of her Democratic rivals faced protests about racial justice at a liberal conference in Phoenix, Arizona.
In a Facebook chat, Clinton was asked by a Washington Post reporter what she would have said to the activists at Netroots Nation, which the former Secretary of State declined to attend.
"Black lives matter. Everyone in this country should stand firmly behind that," she replied. "We need to acknowledge some hard truths about race and justice in this country, and one of those hard truths is that that racial inequality is not merely a symptom of economic inequality. Black people across America still experience racism every day."... 

Equality under the law is a different issue, but, removing abuse and hate that results in a person's death has been engrained in our society and it needs to be addressed. I am sure these magnificent Americans have clear ideas. They may be looking for the best solution and that will be up to the candidates for president to articulate it.

The Natinoal Review is engaging in anti-semitism.

US Senator Sanders loves his country. He is above reproach as a person interested in harming the country or the people of this country. Senator Sanders has no agenda of his own for his run for the presidency of the USA; he pursues an agenda the middle class needs to regain it's standing in our economy.

July 21 2015
By Sophia Tesfaye

National Review’s “roving correspondent” (click here) Kevin Williamson equated Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ platform to the political ideology of the Nazi Party.

Williamson drew the comparison in a National Review column published on July 6 and adapted for National Review Online this week. Williamson describes Sanders as a “weirdo socialist from Soviet Beninjerristan” and dismissively refers to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as “Herself.” Williamson attends a Sanders rally in Iowa and quickly mocks Sanders supporters as “kids play-acting at politics” before accusing the campaign of planting volunteers in the audience to gin up support. “You get the feeling that after a beer or three one of these characters is going to slip up and let out a “comrade.”...

I don't find it amusing that an ethnicity of a candidate can be attacked for political points. Perhaps the National Review hasn't realized there are laws that inhibit speech so the "N Word" is eliminated from promoting hate. We have an African American president and the lest we can do as a country is eliminate the hate speech of the past that has been painful to some Americans. I expect that degree of sensitivity provided for Senator Sanders as well.

There are people in positions of power within this government that believe in the same profound message of Senator Sanders. They are just as upset as he is and they are just as dedicated to revitalizing the middle class. They aren't necessarily Jewish. I'd like to see the National Review write an article making their potent nastiness for those folks.  

There is absolutely no reason for any journalist or any media source to resort to ethnic identity of a candidate. It isn't productive and has one purpose of creating hate as the basis of rejection.

The National Review should know that media power in the USA is very powerful. The American people take media very seriously. They rely on good information to form opinions. When hate speech enters the political dialogue it is very potent and results are reverberated throughout the population and effects more than a candidate so much as a community. 

So.

Enough.

Donald Trump has made a lot of friends during his life. He is liked.

Jul 20, 2015, 1:31 PM ET 
By John Santucci

With all the fire coming at Donald Trump (click here) since his comments this weekend against Sen. John McCain – one of the leaders of New York’s Vietnam Veterans Plaza tells ABC News Trump “has not been a bad guy to us.” 

Vincent McGowan, who has been with the organization since its inception in 1983 and currently sits on its board, says that if it wasn’t for Trump, the project in lower Manhattan would have never happened. 

McGowan says the property downtown was gifted to the veterans by the Koch administration but they had no money. Trump committed $1M in a matching fund and they “couldn’t have built it without him.” 

Trump Saturday suggested McCain, who was beaten and tortured as he was held captive as a POW in Vietnam for 5 ½ years, was only a war hero "because he was captured." 

"He's a war hero because he was captured," Trump said the Family Leadership Council summit in Iowa. "I like people who weren’t captured."...

Senator Sanders' message to American is spot on.

The graph is from the new study, but, it clearly illustrates There has been a LOSS in labor's wages over a seven year span in 80 percent of the population.

July 21, 2015

By Teresa Tritch

...The new paper (click here) takes a detailed look at compensation from 2007 to 2014. The main findings:

• For the bottom 80 percent of civilian workers, real hourly compensation fell or stagnated over the period.
• The median worker’s wages fell by 4 percent over the period, while compensation fell by nearly 2 percent.
• For lower income workers, compensation fell by more than wages; from the median to the 80^th percentile, wages fell faster than compensation. Either way, the result is lost economic ground for the vast majority of Americans amid widening inequality.

Even among the top 20 percent of workers, only those at the highest reaches of the income scale show consistently healthy gains in wages and compensation....

Comparing the two charts for the eighty percent of civilian workers (-3 wages + 1.5 compensation) and private industry, the government civilian workers fared overall about the same private industry (-2.5 wages + 1 compensation ). The real comparison belongs in the lower percentages of workers. They didn't do well.

This is the study (click here).  

The compensation is sometimes invisible to workers though. They may or may not be able to benefit from those measures of compensation.

The middle class in the USA supports the economy. The higher incomes don't really contribute to the economy in significant ways. They might purchase boats that can be claimed as a second residence, but, those are specialty economies and are a far smaller percentage of the USA economy. 

The middle class is where so many bankruptcies occur because of medical costs. The investment into health care insurance will remove the middle class ability to purchase and keep a house that is mortgaged. The medical insurance laws support the growth of long term wealth and should be maintained. If the health care costs are being supported by the employer that is important.  Where these benefits are converted into a portion of the employees pay, that will impact the over all economy if it is done in large measure. The benefits (compensation) an employer states are a portion of the employees wages will effect their tax burden and may exclude some from other tax deductions such as child care or Earned Income Credit. 

Employer compensation should not be viewed as wages. The compensation is a difficult picture when considered wages, because it would then be subject to overtime and that gets difficult for those that do the payroll and income tax reporting.

Additionally, if any union shops are burdened with reporting compensation as income that increases the burden of the members to the one percent or so they pay in wages. It gets very messy and simply is not a good idea. 

This is not the way to address US infrastructure. This legislation assails state's rights.

July 21, 2015

By The Editorial Board

Last month the House passed an appropriations bill (click here) that would put bigger trucks with overworked drivers behind the wheel on the nation’s highways. If that weren’t irresponsible enough, the Senate is now considering legislation that would allow trucking companies to hire 18-year-old drivers for interstate routes and undermine safety on roads and railroads in numerous other ways.

American infrastructure is old and I already know it is not up to heavier trucks. There is a lot that goes into determining weight limits for trucks including speed limits, bridge limits and engineered turning in road tilt. 

The reason 21 is the age for interstate commerce is because state regulations are different. The age of 21 also guarantees the driver has a few years of experience before driving interstate.

Even by the low standards of the current Congress, these bills are egregious examples of faithfully saying yes to everything industry wants, in this case the transportation companies. The Senate is expected to take up its disingenuously named Comprehensive Transportation and Consumer Protection Act of 2015 this week as part of a larger transportation package that reauthorizes federal agencies and programs....

Idaho tried to cover up this episode in failing infrastructure by stating the Washington bridge was unique and not built well enough to avoid such an accident. They lied. Idaho has horrible transportation infrastructure. Now, with these measures Congress is going to swear to it.

January 21, 2015
By Zach Kyle

In May 2013, (click here) a semitrailer from Alberta was crossing a bridge on Interstate 5 near Mount Vernon, Wash., when the top of the truck nicked the overhead beams of the four-lane, steel-truss bridge. The first of the bridge's four sections buckled, then collapsed 25 feet into the Skagit River, taking three vehicles and their drivers with it.

Built in 1955, the bridge was rated "functionally obsolete" on the National Bridge Inventory in 2013, meaning it was "no longer by design functionally adequate for its task." Its collapse drew attention to the fact that the Mount Vernon bridge was in no worse shape than many others in the nation.

Idaho has 453 such bridges. And it has 406 more designated as "structurally deficient," meaning at least one component is in poor condition, such as the deck, support beams or girders. Neither condition is necessarily worse than the other, and picking between the two can be a judgment call for highway engineers....

The state of Washington will probably lose the lawsuit since the weakest aspect to the accident was the bridge.

A $17 million lawsuit has been filed by the Washington State Department of Transportation to recover costs related to the Skagit River bridge collapse.

February 2, 2015
Olympia, Washington

A $17 million lawsuit (click here) has been filed by the Washington State Department of Transportation to recover costs related to the 2013  Skagit River bridge collapse.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Skagit County Superior Court, according to a news release from the agency. It names four parties as responsible: the truck driver whose oversized truck hit the bridge; the driver's employer; the pilot car driver; and the owner of the metal shed being transported.

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/01/21/3602252_troubled-bridges-over-idaho-waters.html?rh=1#storylink=cp...

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/01/21/3602252_troubled-bridges-over-idaho-waters.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

The mayor and council of every city, town and village are the best observers and reporters of their infrastructure. Citizen participation. Ask the electorate.

I think of infrastructure in this way:

"It all has to work or nothing will work."

If the trains and over the road transportation is more stable and without incident with a change of hours then everything has to follow. If transportation infrastructure works best in early morning hours then a shift in 'working hour infrastructure' has to change.

The one work environment that works well with a time change is Wall Street, so the financial networks won't care. They might even prefer it.

Theory: The weakest infrastructure link in the chain may be the one that sets the trend. The country has to decide how interconnected it is to each other that effects the economy.

Infrastructure may also include hours of work by this time next year. Daylight Savings Time may be a really bad idea next year.

July 21, 2015
1415 gmt
The Weather Channel Current Temperatures

Temperatures at 8 AM to 9AM at not too bad yet, right? I suppose it is how folks see 80 degree heat. I see it as liveable and that is why I don't see it as hot. But, there are predictions today for triple digit temperatures. Think infrastructure, too.

There will be as much as 10 to 15 degree heat change in a matter of hours. That means there will be wicked movement in expansion plates. The expansion plates might be able to handle it, but, the concrete it is connected to might not. The metal and concrete will both be expanding and at different rates in short periods of time. 

With triple digit heat, the rails and sidewalks fall under concern. I know no one wants to hear this, but, sooner or later this society has to consider moving work hours to earlier or later in the day. That's right, in the dark. Earlier is better simply because the heating hasn't taken place yet.

Towing has to be paid, they aren't volunteers. Car insurance should cover it.

July 19, 2015
By Kate Larson

Some drivers (click here) who were forced to abandon their cars on a Southern California freeway on Friday when a brush fire jumped lanes and set cars ablaze say they're frustrated over the towing bills they've received.

Owners said they have been charged as much as $650 for towing services they were forced to accept. Some drivers said the California Highway Patrol did not give them any choice about who towed their cars....

Major interstates are closed due to California weather.

I don't like the way this sounds. This is I-10. It is a main line infrastructure for the economy of southern California. The base, better said foundation, of this bridge  didn't do it's job. The areas of any Interstate that have received significant rain and flooding has to be assessed for potential to collapse. That is not just southern California, it is the entire country where flooding and strong winds and rain has occurred.

This occurrence is a warning. 

We lucked out on this one. 

Considering where the collapse occurred, it looks like erosion. The side of the bridge can be noted in the right side of the picture.

Part of a bridge collapsed on the 10 Freeway in Riverside County, trapping the driver and forcing the closure of both sides of the highway on Sunday, July 19, 2015. Photo credit: Courtesy of KMIR


Check for erosion that is sometimes called 'scour.' The land under the supports has to be solid. If the supports are in good condition and the land underneath is solid and the bridge still collapsed, then take a look at the bridge laws and whether or not the added torrential rain provided too much for the weight limits. It might be that part of rain preparation means removing one land of traffic over these spans to reduce the chance of exceeding the bridge laws when torrential rains occur. Water is heavy.

July 20, 2015

An elevated section of Interstate 10 collapsed (click here) Sunday amid heavy rains in a remote desert area of California, cutting off traffic between the state and Arizona and leaving a driver injured.

The Tex Wash bridge in Desert Center, which carries the eastbound interstate about 15 feet above a normally dry wash west of the Arizona state line, snapped and washed away in flooding water below, the California Highway Patrol said....

Will Tom Brady actually see a four game suspension?

July 20, 2015
By Eric Wilbur

...We forgot one thing though; The NFL bows to nobody. (click here)

Did it really matter that Major League Baseball was on its All-Star break last week? The NFL can and will squeeze exposure from whatever topic Goodell deems fit, ESPYs be damned. What does he care that that there’s an open date on the docket? 

As far as the NFL is concerned, they’re all open. 

And, yes, he is wearing his wedding ring.

And so, only nine days shy of the Patriots opening training camp in Foxborough, we’re left with a palpable uncertainty surrounding the defending Super Bowl MVP. If Goodell does the unthinkable and wipes Brady’s suspension clean, the Deflategate saga — now at 183 days and counting — is, once and for all, mercifully, over. Besides living on in the late-night TV jokes, and Marshall Faulk’s commentary on NFL Network, of course... 

Feburary 2012: (click here) That time Gisele exposed Tom Brady for not being a demigod.
“My husband cannot fucking throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time. I can’t believe they dropped the ball so many times,” Gisele said after the Patriots’ extremely rough loss in Super Bowl XLVI. “You have to catch the ball when you’re supposed to catch ball.”

Senator Sanders is a force to contend with and he is sincere. There are disappointed liberals in the country.

I think most liberal Democrats and Progressives are disappointed in some issues that persist past the Obama Administration. Senator Sanders has decided to carry the flag on those issues. He is sincere and he is often successful.

July 20, 2015
By David Weigel

PHOENIX — First came the People for Bernie reception, (click here) held by Occupy Wall Street veterans, at a club modeled after a Venetian estate. One night later came the We Want Bernie party, hosted by Progressive Democrats of America in a low-key taqueria.
And on the third day, Bernie Sanders himself appeared — and named what many of the liberal activists who gathered here for a conference last week consider the original sin of the Obama presidency.
“Today, the largest six financial institutions in this country have assets of some $10 trillion, equivalent to 60 percent of the GDP of America,” the senator from Vermont told a crowd of 11,000. “After we bailed them out, because they were ‘too big to fail,’ most of them are now a lot bigger than they were before.”...

Donald Trump is learning how fickle the Republican voter can be.

Perhaps he needs to run an ad to overcome the political status he is receiving. But, I do believe Senator McCain isn't interested in an apology. Senator McCain stated he believes Donald Trump needs to apologize to the country's military members. 

Voters respect apologies and this is an important understanding when it comes to the military. These women and men put their lives on the line for this country and to a degree they are above any criticism. However, there are individuals that have been prosecuted for wrongful deaths in both Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Today in 2015, the American people are careful to focus on the individual soldier and not the entire US military. There have been problems between the American civilian authority and the US military. All those issues receive scrutiny and are corrected. But, just the same the Republicans will never admit their wars have been primarily illegal and immoral and it might be there are candidates that recognize that.

July 20, 2015
By Dan Balz and Peyton M. Craighill

Businessman Donald Trump (click here) surged into the lead for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, with almost twice the support of his closest rival, just as he ignited a new controversy after making disparaging remarks about Sen. John McCain’s Vietnam War service, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Support for Trump fell sharply on the one night that voters were surveyed following those comments. Telephone interviewing for the poll began Thursday, and most calls were completed before the news about the remarks was widely reported....

The issue of keeping USA citizens known to be radicalized out of the country and the requirement to send illegal immigrants with criminal records and charges to ICE needs to be included in Immigration Reform Bill. It is all a part of the immigration issue.

The basis of detaining citizens radicalized as jihadists is treason. A trial will have to ensue and the citizen found innocent or guilty. But, it is a law that is based in constitutional due process and it will stand the test of any lawsuits.

The individuals that are USA citizens defecting to jihadist regimes can ultimately be jailed for treason. It is not a permanent detainee status.

The USA is a member of the non-proliferation treaty.

If Congress resists the negotiated agreement it will be in violation of the NPT. The agreement already passed the United Nations. Stalling in the USA is about politics. The Republicans (including presidential candidate Lindsay Graham) have openly stated they want the next President elected in 2016 to handle the agreement. It is nonsense.

The U.N. Security Council endorsed the historic Iran nuclear deal on Monday. Now, world leaders — notably in the U.S. and Iran — must garner enough support for the agreement at home.

Seth Wenig/AP 

July 20, 2015

By Peter Kenyon

 The U.N. Security Council (click here) endorsed a historic nuclear deal with Iran on Monday, and it immediately drew complaints from hard-liners in Tehran as well as from lawmakers — particularly Republicans — in the U.S.
The agreement, negotiated with Iran and the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, sharply restricts Iran's nuclear program for the next decade or more in return for relief from painful economic sanctions.
But the agreement still has to pass muster in world capitals, most notably in Tehran and Washington, D.C. Here's a look at how American and Iranian officials are selling this very complex and controversial deal to their domestic audiences.... 

It would appear Jordon is seeing greater stability in the region with this agreement.

July 20, 2015
By JT

AMMAN — Jordan on Monday (click here) welcomed the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the P5+1 powers, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Jordan’s permanent representative at the United Nations, Dina Kawar, said in remarks at a UN Security Council meeting that Jordan welcomes the deal on the Iranian nuclear issue, which took months of negotiations involving China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the EU to reach an agreement. 

Jordan has constantly supported a diplomatic and peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, and thus it backs support any step taken to enhance regional and international security and stability, especially in light of the recent crises facing the region, Kawar said. 

She said that the Kingdom hopes the deal will increase trust between the Middle East’s countries and be the beginning of a comprehensive dialogue directed over regional controversies.

Kawar said Jordan hopes that the envisioned dialogue becomes the first step to end the arms race in the Middle East and totally clear it from all kinds of weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear arsenals....

The Council is composed of 15 Members: (click here)

• five permanent members: China, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States,
• and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly (with end of term date):
  • Angola (2016)
  • Chad (2015)
  • Chile (2015)
  • Jordan (2015)
  • Lithuania (2015)
  • Malaysia (2016)
  • New Zealand (2016)
  • Nigeria (2015)
  • Spain (2016)
  • Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) (2016)

Personal e-mail accounts work better than government emails. They don't wire each other like the State Department does.

posted on: Monday, July 20, 2015

Legislative Activity (click here)

House Appropriations Panel Approves Homeland Security Spending Bill, Scrutinizes “Sanctuary City” Policies

This week, the House Appropriations Committee approved its FY 2016 spending bill funding homeland security programs. The measure provides $39.3 billion in discretionary funding for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), $337 million below the amount enacted for FY 2015 and $2 billion less than the President’s request.

Debate over sanctuary cities dominated the Committee’s debate of the DHS measure. House appropriators adopted three Republican-led amendments responding to the death of a San Francisco woman shot by an immigrant in the US illegally. One measure adopted along party lines would block sanctuary cities from receiving certain homeland security funding grants, including those related to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Democrats criticized the amendment as limiting the ability of these cities to receive funding to fight natural disasters or to prevent terrorist attacks. Members of both parties supported a manager’s amendment containing provisions that would increase funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Criminal Alien and Fugitive Operations programs, to boost support for enforcement....

The problem is larger than the occasional immigrant, it is about gangs. The House Committee needs to get the mayors and their law enforcement leadership on record.

The shooter in Chattanooga was radicalized in Jordan. Why was he allowed back into the country?

Australia would not allow these people back into the country. We know what is going on when these men travel to the Middle East. Why aren't they detained outside the country?

After Kate Steinle's parents states they did not want to politicize her death are due in Washington for testimony today.

Get this though:

January 29, 2015
By Evan Sernoffsky

...With her three children just feet away, (click here) Maria Lourdes Soza — known to loved ones as Lourdes — was slain Tuesday afternoon by an errant bullet fired from one of two vehicles that sped by the family’s duplex in the Bayview neighborhood. It was one of the most shocking killings in a violent start to the year in the city....

In January 2015 there was an identical "stray bullet" death in San Francisco.

...Police were investigating Wednesday whether Lourdes Soza’s death was linked to the arrival, just minutes later, of a blood-soaked woman at a nearby restaurant. The woman, who had been shot, reported that a dead man — identified later as 38-year-old Donte Glenn — was inside a bullet-riddled Infiniti SUV outside....

Street Gangs.

February 8, 2015
By Max Cherney

For decades,(click here) San Francisco enjoyed a reputation for welcoming outsiders: hippies, gay people, assorted weirdos who went West in search of freedom and ended up at the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Now, thanks to a tech-fueled cash bonanza, it's increasingly a city of clean lines and affluence, home to ultra-rich Silicon Valley barons and vagrants of the digital era David Talbot calls "Stanford assholes." But despite the new tech bubble, rising property values, and hipster enclaves, the city's underworld—and the gangs that fuel it—are still rollicking along, often right next door to the new money. 

Judging by the number of security guards Mark Zuckerberg has hired to protect his $10 million mansion, Facebook's boss probably had some idea that the rapidly gentrifying Mission District can (still) be a dangerous place. By sheer volume of reported incidents, the neighborhood remains the second most risky place in town, closely following South of Market (SoMa), where many tech startups rub elbows with homeless shelters and mental illness treatment centers....
  
streetgangs.com has a list of 38 gangs in San Francisco (click here)

San Francisco mayor and leadership of law enforcement need to be in DC to give testimony to violence in the city. The problem is more wide spread than simply one man and one bullet.

July 20, 2015
 

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) --

The family of a woman (click here) who was fatally shot at Pier 14 in San Francisco will be in Washington, D.C. to push for immigration policy reform on Tuesday.

Kate Steinle's parents and her brother will testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee to address "sanctuary city" policies that restrict public employees from asking about an individual's immigration status.

The Steinle family also plans to meet with elected officials throughout the week.

Francisco Sanchez, a five-time deportee, has pleaded not guilty to Steinle's murder, but told ABC7 News he did fire the shot that killed her.

Steinle's brother Brad released a statement saying: "It's time for those in power to come together and agree on a policy that is good for our country and keeps Americans safe."...

The requests by ICE should be respected. ICE isn't asking for every Undocumented, they are focusing on those breaking the law to remove them from the country. Funding can't be pulled without first receiving testimony from the cities to be effected.

July 20, 2015
By Erica Werner

WASHINGTON -- The House (click here) will take up a bill this week blocking funding for so-called "sanctuary cities" that resist turning over immigrants to federal authorities.

The move follows the shooting death of a woman in San Francisco this month, allegedly by an immigrant with a criminal record and without legal status.

San Francisco authorities had released the man despite a request from federal officials to keep him in custody.

That was in line with a practice by San Francisco and other jurisdictions that have begun refusing to cooperate with federal immigration orders amid concerns over their legality and their impact on immigrant communities.

The bill by Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter of California would block certain federal grants to cities that don't honor federal immigration requests.

A similar proposal has been advanced in the Senate, but it's unclear how far it will go....

Where did the gun come from? How does an agent for the USA simply have his gun stolen?