One of the reasons people are so concerend about Deash is because the Ba'athists have capacity.

17 October 2014
Iraqi pilots (click here) who have joined the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) terrorist group operating in Syria are training members of the group to fly in three captured fighter jets, the opposition UK-based Syrian Observatory said on Friday.
“It was the first time the militant group had taken to the air,” it added.
ISIL has been flying the planes over the captured al-Jarrah Syrian military airport east of Aleppo, said Rami Abdulrahman, who runs the Observatory, citing witnesses in Syria’s northern Aleppo province.
“They have trainers, Iraqi officers who were pilots before for (former Iraqi president) Saddam Hussein,” he said.
“People saw the flights, they went up many times from the airport and they are flying in the skies outside the airport and coming back.”...

I have absolutely no doubt Turkey is paying attention of who is within it's borders and who is attempting to cross the border shared with Syria. The government of Turkey should be concerned about it's borders. For a very long time Turkey should be concerned about it's borders. For a very long time Turkey wasn't intereted in that border except for PKK movements.

A lone American airman that was listed on the no fly list shows up within Turkey's borders and may have been moving toward Syria's border should expect to be approached by the Turkish government. If he thought he could just waltz into Turkey and move about with immunity he was very mistaken.

This was completely obvious that Mr. Long would be met with concern by the government of Turkey. 

The governments of the world are fully aware Daesh would like to obtain an air force and preferably one with nuclear capacity or to drop barrel bombs to match the capacity of the Syrian military.

There is someone in Turkey who would be more than willing to hear from Mr. Long.
   
Ambassador John R. Bass. John Bass (click here) was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on September 17, 2014 as the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey. A career Senior Foreign Service officer, he served as Executive Secretary from 2012 to 2014, and U.S. Ambassador to Georgia from 2009 to 2012.

It is not right to judge Justice Scalia on one statement during a hearing of the Court.

The only way anyone could criticize Justice Scalia of racism is to examine his writing and find consistency.

Grutter v. Bollinger (click here)

No. In a 5-4 opinion delivered by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the Court held that the Equal Protection Clause does not prohibit the Law School's narrowly tailored use of race in admissions decisions to further a compelling interest in obtaining the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body. The Court reasoned that, because the Law School conducts highly individualized review of each applicant, no acceptance or rejection is based automatically on a variable such as race and that this process ensures that all factors that may contribute to diversity are meaningfully considered alongside race. Justice O'Connor wrote, "in the context of its individualized inquiry into the possible diversity contributions of all applicants, the Law School's race-conscious admissions program does not unduly harm nonminority applicants."

In Grutter v. Bollinger, Justice Scalia voted with the minority of judges.

But in City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson, (click here) Justice Scalia voted with the majority.

I think it is important fairness is carried out in any claim of racism. If people believe racism has been a trend for him, then the words spoken recently validates that finding. However, if Justice Scalia is inconsistent in his writings then the disturbing statement only indicates a personality specialty of Justice Scalia to gain attention or wake the audience up in the courtroom.

The Congressional three day notification law is unconstitutional. It is overreaching into the Executive Branch and conflicts with separation of powers. There is no other reason for the three day notice except to define the Executive Branch as an untrustworthy/impugned branch of government. This overreaching is typical of the Republican majority in the House and Senate.

The reason President Obama have signed the legislation is because this Congress chronically practices brinkmanship.

Mudslides and landslides usually follow after rain soaks droughted soil. That is the case even after the sun comes out. The land is disrupted and will need to settle after the rain.

Washington state Governor Jay Inslee (click here) declared a drought emergency across three regions including key agricultural hubs of the U.S. Northwest State on Friday, citing near record low snowpack levels ahead of the spring runoff.

Watersheds on the Olympic Peninsula, east side of the central Cascade Mountains including Yakima and Wenatchee, and Walla Walla region, which are vital to apple and wine production, will be hit hardest with drought conditions, the governor’s office said.

April 17, 2015
Seattle - This is the first time in a decade (click here) Washington's governor has declared a drought. Friday he announced new drought areas, which means 44 percent of the state is now in drought. We have had plenty of rain this year, but, the Department of Ecology says that's not the problem; the issue is snowpack.

"This year we're at 100 percent rainfall but only 24 percent snowpack, and that makes a big difference," explains Maia Bellon, the director of the state Department of Ecology.

We decided to explore the issue at Olympia's farmers market, where produce is in abundance on a gorgeous Friday afternoon; that sounds like good news. The bad news is it will likely be short-lived. An abundantly warm and dry winter means crops are maturing early, so this feast will likely be followed by a critical famine.

We've calculated that we will have the lowest river flows in the state of Washington that we've had in the last 64 years," Bellon tell us....

December 10, 2015
Seattle - Gov. Jay Inslee (click here) declared a state of emergency in Washington on Wednesday after days of heavy rain caused rivers to rise, flooding and landslides across the west part of the state. Multiple river remained under a flood warning.
The heavy rain and flooding have claimed the lives of two people in Oregon. A 60 year old southeast Portland woman died early Wednesday morning after a tree fell onto her house. The woman was in bed sleeping when the 30 inch diameter tree fell and nearly sheared the house in two. The woman's husband and brother, who were also in the house, were not hurt.
One person drowned and another was rescued after they drove their car into high water near Clatskanie, Ore.
A man pulled himself out of the vehicle as it sand and called for help. A neighbor saw him standing on the car and flagged down officials, who were able to rescue him. A water rescue crew towed the vehicle, which was submerged in about 12 feet of water, out...

Below:

As Washington state and the Pacific Northwest are hit with heavy rain and flood risks, a surging Snoqualmie Falls is captured in aerial footage. VPC

The Republicans are synchronizing their politics on the House and Senate floors with media events

Bowe Bregdahl went missing June 30, 2009. He was the only American listed as an MIA in the Afghanistan war. The US Congress had years of notification, not just three days.

One might ask Congressmen what they want a live or dead American after three days when it was leaked?

Minority Leaders Reid and Pelosi can now add this to their complaints of ethical issues with Republicans. They are using media events to time their political agenda. A political agenda that has no basis in the facts.

Check the Congressional calendar and match it with media events. There are probably many more. The committee regarding Planned Parenthood was a media event for the Republicans. It was handled incompetently and there are dead and injured Americans to prove it. Republicans stop at nothing to have influence.

Don't take my word for it, NBC is reporting the same thing.

December 10, 2015
By Erik Ortiz
..."I'm going, 'Good grief, (click here) I'm in over my head,'" Bergdahl says in the premiere episode of "Serial's" second season, recounting how he walked away from his military base in June 2009.
"Suddenly, it really starts to sink in that I really did something bad. Or, not bad, but I really did something serious."...

This is again the difference between Republicans and Democrats. Democrats care about the people, while Republicans care about their wallets and wealthy political donors. 

December 10, 2015
By Steven Johnson 

U.S. Army (click here) Private Bowe Bergdahl watches as one of his captors displays his identity tag to the camera at an unknown location in Afghanistan, July 19, 2009. Photo by Reuters TV

Season up, servers down. (click here)
That appeared to be the case briefly Thursday morning when the first episode of the second season of the hit podcast “Serial” (click here) was posted without advance fanfare on the show’s website.
As has been widely speculated, the episode deals with the travails of former U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, charged with deserting the Army in Afghanistan in June 2009. For the first time in the media, Bergdahl tells his own story, a complicated tale that morphed from a missing persons case into a returning soldier story into a political lightning rod.
The episode, available at serialpodcast.org and through other channels, puts the Bergdahl story in context, including a quote from presidential candidate Donald Trump saying, “In the old days deserters were shot."

Attempts to access the episode on the show’s website in its first hours, across several devices, were at first rebuffed, suggesting massive interest. But that situation didn’t last and the website soon delivered the episode smoothly.
The episode begins with excerpts from Bergdahl’s 25 taped hours of conversation with screenwriter Mark Boal, one of the filmmakers behind “The Hurt Locker” and “Zero Dark Thirty.” Their essence is that Bergdahl thinks of himself, first, as a whistleblower hoping to alert higher-ups to leadership he considered “dangerous."...

Generosity is spent well in this simple economic dynamic.

Rhode Island kids raise money for K.I.N.D. (click here)

These are not the Rhode Island heroes to the left, it is an African school.

This has been a great program that brings local economies to matter in Africa. 

The charity also provides for donations to a girl(s) tuition to complete school. 

Kindly consider the K.I.N.D. Fund (Kids In Need of Desks) as a means to buy a gift for a person that has everything. I have purchased desks for holiday gifts. UNICEF sends a message to the recipient of the gift to explain the rewards of such acts of compassion. Everyone loved the idea and were satisfied the gift they received went to a noble cause. 

Who would think simply supplying desks to children would make such a difference, but, it does.