The USA was committed once before in ending CFC emissions. We can do it again.

People cannot be expected to freeze in the winter cold or bake in the summer heat, so the sources of greenhouse gases have to be eliminated. There is simply so much that can be expected of people voluntarily moving against greenhouse gas emissions. They cannot do it alone. The government has to move to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions. 

This reporting proves the point. People can conserve to bring down emissions, but, ultimately it is the source of GHG emissions that has to change to end the pollution.

The climate crisis is real and unrelenting. Reductions in GHG occur in two ways, ending emissions and growing carbon sinks. We cannot fail. It is a promise to our children. We need to end the negative feedback loop. 

The Paris Climate Agreement is a global initiative. Countries staking claims to development are entitled to that development, however, we already know the perils of using fossil fuels. The Third World is the most important place to end antiquated burning of fossil fuels and forests and must be helped to develop Earth friendly energy. Simply seeking development out of poverty is not an excuse for polluting. There are better ways forward. 

The climate crisis is taking it's greatest damage to the Third World. Why develop these countries to perpetuate that trend? It makes no sense.

December 3, 2008
By AP

Washington — The amount of U.S. greenhouse gases (click here) flowing into the atmosphere, mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, increased last year by 1.4 percent after a decline in 2006, the Energy Department reported Wednesday.
The report said carbon dioxide, the leading pollution linked to global warming, rose by 1.3 percent in 2007 as people used more coal, oil and natural gas because of a colder winter and more electricity during a warmer summer. Half of the country's electricity is generated by coal-burning power plants.
A shortage of hydropower also contributed to an increase in the demand for fossil fuels, said the department's Energy Information Administration.
The EIA said that in 2007 the United States produced 8 billion tons of greenhouse gases, compared to 7.9 billion in 2006. The tonnage, presented in terms of "carbon dioxide equivalent" also includes methane, nitrous oxides and a number of lesser greenhouse gases, although carbon dioxide accounted for nearly 83 percent of the releases....

I am sure the methane leak in California which is growing in it's contact with more and more people will present itself as one of the greatest dangers to climate this year. That entire facility should have been condemned and permanently sealed from causing such danger again.

The methane is explosive and is a respiratory irritant and danger as well as a GHG. What is everyone thinking?

The efficacy of the Paris Agreement must be scrutinized to eliminate any corruption to outcomes. It is just that important.

Article 8 

1. The information submitted under Article 7 by each Party included in Annex I shall be reviewed by expert review teams pursuant to the relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties and in accordance with guidelines adopted for this purpose by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol under paragraph 4 below. The information submitted under Article 7, paragraph 1, by each Party included in Annex I shall be reviewed as part of the annual compilation and accounting of emissions inventories and assigned amounts. Additionally, the information submitted under Article 7, paragraph 2, by each Party included in Annex I shall be reviewed as part of the review of communications. 

2. Expert review teams shall be coordinated by the secretariat and shall be composed of experts selected from those nominated by Parties to the Convention and, as appropriate, by intergovernmental organizations, in accordance with guidance provided for this purpose by the Conference of the Parties. 

3. The review process shall provide a thorough and comprehensive technical assessment of all aspects of the implementation by a Party of this Protocol. The expert review teams shall prepare a report to the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol, assessing the implementation of the commitments of the Party and identifying any potential problems in, and factors influencing, the fulfilment of commitments. Such reports shall be circulated by the secretariat to all Parties to the Convention. The secretariat shall list those questions of implementation indicated in such reports for further consideration by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol. 

4. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall adopt at its first session, and review periodically thereafter, guidelines for the review of implementation of this Protocol by expert review teams taking into account the relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties. 

5. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall, with the assistance of the Subsidiary Body for Implementation and, as appropriate, the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, consider: 

 (a) The information submitted by Parties under Article 7 and the reports of the expert reviews thereon conducted under this Article; and

 (b) Those questions of implementation listed by the secretariat under paragraph 3 above, as well as any questions raised by Parties. 

6. Pursuant to its consideration of the information referred to in paragraph 5 above, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall take decisions on any matter required for the implementation of this Protocol. 

All protocols have to be reviewed for efficacy.

There can be no cherry picking of facts. There has to be a comprehensive view of the reductions. There have been strategies to dismiss the climate crisis. The compliance to reductions of GHG (greenhouse gases) must take place and it must be known.

Washington  (January 20, 2015)– Today the World Resources Institute (click here) unveiled new guidance for companies to measure emissions from purchased electricity. The first major update to the GHG Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standard responds to the rapid growth of renewable energy and other major shifts in the electricity market. The GHG Protocol Scope 2 Guidance provides a consistent, transparent way for companies to show how different types of electricity purchases count toward their emissions targets, and will inform corporate decisions on what kind of energy should power their business.

Mauna Loa Laboratories (click here) already continuously records gases in the troposphere. There is no reason to have misinformation.

“Currently, companies consume half of all electricity produced so any solution for reducing global emissions has to address the electricity sector,” said Mary Sotos, Associate, World Resources Institute and lead author. “This guidance will let companies know exactly how their energy choices count toward their emissions goals. By providing rigorous reporting methods, the Guidance gives a clear incentive for companies to demand low-carbon electricity.”

Four years in the making, the Scope 2 Guidance was developed in consultation with over 200 representatives from companies, electric utilities, government agencies, academics, industry associations and civil society groups in 23 countries. The report offers case studies of 12 companies that have already used the new guidance, including Mars, Facebook, Google, and EDF Energy. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been part of the process and supports the new guidance....

Article 7 

1. Each Party included in Annex I shall incorporate in its annual inventory of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, submitted in accordance with the relevant decisions of the Conference of the Parties, the necessary supplementary information for the purposes of ensuring compliance with Article 3, to be determined in accordance with paragraph 4 below. 

The report below is from 1991 and begins to list greenhouse gases, their sources and Earth's sinks.

There have been (click here) no major changes in our understanding of greenhouse gases since the 1990 Scientific Assessment for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 1990). While most of the key uncertainties identified in IPCC (1990) remain unresolved, there have been a number of important advances....

2. Each Party included in Annex I shall incorporate in its national communication, submitted under Article 12 of the Convention, the supplementary information necessary to demonstrate compliance with its commitments under this Protocol, to be determined in accordance with paragraph 4 below. 

I think that is an important aspect to the Montreal Protocol that needs to be repeated with greenhouse gases. The American people were involved in defeating the climate crisis while it's government pretended it didn't exist. In the case of an American commitment to the Paris Agreement, the advances in satisfying the goals need to be made public annual to the people of the USA and all other countries around the world. Earth is a collective effort. Others have a right know where it is succeeding and failing and WHY.

3. Each Party included in Annex I shall submit the information required under paragraph 1 above annually, beginning with the first inventory due under the Convention for the first year of the commitment period after this Protocol has entered into force for that Party. Each such Party shall submit the information required under paragraph 2 above as part of the first national communication due under the Convention after this Protocol has entered into force for it and after the adoption of guidelines as provided for in paragraph 4 below. The frequency of subsequent submission of information required under this Article shall be determined by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol, taking into account any timetable for the submission of national communications decided upon by the Conference of the Parties. 

The IPCC, the Executive Committee of the Paris Agreement need a cyber resource to link efforts to reporting and results.

4. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall adopt at its first session, and review periodically thereafter, guidelines for the preparation of the information required under this Article, taking into account guidelines for the preparation of national communications by Parties included in Annex I adopted by the Conference of the Parties. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall also, prior to the first commitment period, decide upon modalities for the accounting of assigned amounts.

Leonardo DiCaprio is every bit the environmentalist as Michael Jackson was.

These men do not simply sign on for a movement because it adds to their bottom line. They don't need a movement to add to their fame or their fortune. They sign on because they see the reality and it is unconscionable to look the other way.

Leonardo DiCaprio is involved with Russia's effort to protect tigers. He made a rather dangerous plane flight, because of the weather, into Russia to appear at a meeting regarding the tigers. No one has to question his resolve, it is absolute.

January 31, 2016

By Nancy Dillon and Nicolel Hensley

Canada and South America’s breathtaking backdrops (click here) in “The Revenant” gave its award-winning star, Leonardo DiCaprio, a “terrifying” up close and personal look at climate change.

Record-breaking temperatures linked to climate change are the new normal for residents forced to endure their changing environment, the actor learned while filming the movie in locations that included Mexico, Argentina, British Columbia and Alberta. 

“We shot at high altitudes in Calgary, and weather conditions were unprecedented," DiCaprio, 41, said Saturday, speaking backstage at the SAG Awards in Los Angeles.

"The locals had told us they’d never had weather extremes like that since they’ve lived there,” he added. “And you realize that 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history, December was the hottest, you know, December in recorded history.” 

Article 6 

1. For the purpose of meeting its commitments under Article 3, any Party included in Annex I may transfer to, or acquire from, any other such Party emission reduction units resulting from projects aimed at reducing anthropogenic emissions by sources or enhancing anthropogenic removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in any sector of the economy, provided that: 

 (a) Any such project has the approval of the Parties involved; 

 (b) Any such project provides a reduction in emissions by sources, or an enhancement of removals by sinks, that is additional to any that would otherwise occur; 

(c) It does not acquire any emission reduction units if it is not in compliance with its obligations under Articles 5 and 7; and 

 (d) The acquisition of emission reduction units shall be supplemental to domestic actions for the purposes of meeting commitments under Article 3. 

2. The Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol may, at its first session or as soon as practicable thereafter, further elaborate guidelines for the implementation of this Article, including for verification and reporting. 

3. A Party included in Annex I may authorize legal entities to participate, under its responsibility, in actions leading to the generation, transfer or acquisition under this Article of emission reduction units. 

4. If a question of implementation by a Party included in Annex I of the requirements referred to in this Article is identified in accordance with the relevant provisions of Article 8, transfers and acquisitions of emission reduction units may continue to be made after the question has been identified, provided that any such units may not be used by a Party to meet its commitments under Article 3 until any issue of compliance is resolved.

Pope Francis and one fifth of the population of Earth have never been more vital.

January 28, 2016

By Nathan Schneider

...After a few hours in the streets, (click here) we could hear each other's tired voices wondering what it might take for real change to happen. Things would have to get worse in certain places—drier droughts in California, maybe, or more catastrophic hurricanes in New York City. A few thousand of us, dressed in blue, made that point visible the next day by clogging up traffic near Wall Street, likening ourselves to a flood of rising seawater.

The COP 21 summit in Paris last year seemed to corroborate the overall story. That dismal number, 21, marked the number of years that the world's leaders had failed to take seriously the rising temperatures, the worsening storms, and the droughts feeding geopolitical mayhem in places like South Sudan and Syria. After 21 years, at least, things had started to become bad enough. Even the Pentagon and Michael Bloomberg were voicing worry about how the climate crisis would affect their business-as-usual. The negotiations in Paris produced a deal, though one inadequate to prevent many of the catastrophes that computer models predict. Once again, it seems that things will have to get worse before they can get better.

Things? What things, and whose? Worse for whom, and better for whom? In times like these it's hard not to see that there is apocalypse in the air, but the question that really matters is what kind. That’s the trouble; that's the scam. There are many kinds of apocalypse stories. One can wait for the climate apocalypse to come, or one can see that it is happening already, especially in the pockets and places far from centers of power, where people live closest to the earth. These people are already on the brink. Things can get worse before they get better, but who says that they must?... 

Article 5 

1. Each Party included in Annex I shall have in place, no later than one year prior to the start of the first commitment period, a national system for the estimation of anthropogenic emissions by source and removals by (carbon) sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol. (The Montreal Protocol involved the ozone layer and the dangerous CFCs. It wasn't as if the world never had success in controlling gas emissions.) Guidelines for such national systems, which shall incorporate the methodologies specified in paragraph 2 below, shall be decided upon by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol at its first session. 

The definitions to the left are found in an online Google Book. (click here)

Environmental Management for Sustained Development, 2nd Edition 

2. Methodologies for estimating anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol shall be those accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties at its third session. Where such methodologies are not used, appropriate adjustments shall be applied according to methodologies agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol at its first session. Based on the work of, inter alia, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and advice provided by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall regularly review and, as appropriate, revise such methodologies and adjustments, taking fully into account any relevant decisions by the Conference of the Parties. Any revision to methodologies or adjustments shall be used only for the purposes of ascertaining compliance with commitments under Article 3 in respect of any commitment period adopted subsequent to that revision. 

3. The global warming potentials used to calculate the carbon dioxide equivalence of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases listed in Annex A shall be those accepted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties at its third session. Based on the work of, inter alia, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and advice provided by the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice, the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to this Protocol shall regularly review and, as appropriate, revise the global warming potential of each such greenhouse gas, taking fully into account any relevant decisions by the Conference of the Parties. Any revision to a global warming potential shall apply only to commitments under Article 3 in respect of any commitment period adopted subsequent to that revision. 

A decade later with the USA raging an illegal and immoral war in Iraq while blaming China for high carbon emissions, Russia was ablaze.

While the people of the USA took on the climate crisis as they could, the government never saw anything except it's corrupt goals of pandering to the petroleum industry and other fossil fuel interests.

On Sunday April 12 Khakassia, (click here) a Russian federal republic around 2,100 miles east of Moscow, went up in flames. Squalls fanned a number of small fires, creating a conflagration that swiftly spread to some 40 settlements, killing 30 people. More than 600 required medical attention and almost 5,000 people were left homeless. An emergency situation has been declared for the region.

Seven other regions have found themselves in a similar situation. Small fires are being extinguished all over the country, from south western Siberia's Kuzbass region to the Moscow suburbs. According to official data, forest fires already extend over more than 100,000 hectares. Gregory Kuskin, head of Greenpeace Russia's fire prevention project, says the figures probably underestimate the true situation as fires in open areas are categorized not as fires but as inflamed heaths and are not included in the general statistics.

"The burned settlements in Khakassia and Zabakail are not the results of forest fires but of those that take place in the open territories," explains Kuskin. "They are not registered as fires and this is why it is difficult to estimate the dimension of the disaster. A similar situation can occur in [the Far East's] Khabarovsk Territory, where local officials have said that they are starting the large-scale burning of grass, as well as in the European parts of Russia."...

5. In the event of failure by the Parties to such an agreement to achieve their total combined level of emission reductions, each Party to that agreement shall be responsible for its own level of emissions set out in the agreement. 

The Kyoto Protocol was an international agreement by which all ratifying countries communicated with each other to assure the CO2 levels would never exceed agreed levels. Should the bottom line commitment fail each participating country would still seek to achieve it's own goal commitment.

In the new Paris Agreement nearly every country on Earth is committed. That is new. Now, the petroleum industry cannot simply take their greed to a country that is a non-participant. The entire of Earth is pulling in the same direction for the same result.

6. If Parties acting jointly do so in th in the event of failure to achieve the total combined level of emission reductions, framework of, and together with, a regional economic integration organization which is itself a Party to this Protocol, each member State of that regional economic integration organization individually, and together with the regional economic integration organization acting in accordance with Article 24, shall,  be responsible for its level of emissions as notified in accordance with this Article.

I remember this day like it was yesterday.

It is more than interesting to realize the dependency of Russia on it's oil, but, it made the tough decision and sought to protect it's wide ranging wildness.

Friday, 22 October 2004
By Nick Paton Walsh

The Russian parliament (click here) yesterday voted to ratify the Kyoto treaty, bringing the international climate change protocol to within months of coming into effect.

The lower house of the parliament, or duma, yesterday voted 334-73 to approve the treaty. This means that the protocol's 126 signatories have eight years to cut their emissions of six greenhouse gases to 5.2% below their 1990 levels.

The treaty needs 55 industrialised nations, representing 55% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, to sign it before it can come into effect.

The United States, responsible for 36% of emissions in 1990, and Australia, have already refused to sign up to the measure, meaning Russia had to ratify the treaty to save it from collapse. The move will be seen as a sign that Moscow is keen to curry favour with Brussels after the bruising attacks on human rights abuses by the EU in recent months.

The bill now has to pass through the more pliant upper house of parliament, the federation council, and then be signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, the bill's main advocate. The parliament, where the pro-Putin United Russia party commands a two-thirds majority, was perhaps the only possible impediment to the bill becoming law. The treaty will come into effect 90 days after it is ratified by Russia.

Mr Putin prevaricated over the bill, saying that Russia would only sign it if it was in the national interest and suggesting it would need modifying. His key adviser on the issue, Andrei Illarionov, made Russia's vital ratification of the pact seem unlikely when he described it as an "economic Auschwitz", insisting it would cripple Russian economic development.

However Mr Putin publicly announced he would ratify the treaty after a meeting with EU officials in May, on the same day as the EU dropped its objections to Russia joining the World Trade Organisation....

Starting with Article 4 of the Kyoto Protocol.

Article 4 

1. Any Parties included in Annex I that have reached an agreement to fulfil their commitments under Article 3 jointly, shall be deemed to have met those commitments provided that their total combined aggregate anthropogenic carbon dioxide equivalent emissions of the greenhouse gases listed in Annex A do not exceed their assigned amounts calculated pursuant to their quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments inscribed in Annex B and in accordance with the provisions of Article 3. The respective emission level allocated to each of the Parties to the agreement shall be set out in that agreement. 

The articles and annex mentioned will be read in order as they appear in the document. Kyoto Protocol was an ambitious attempt to bring balance back to Earth's troposphere. Part of the reason Kyoto Protocol was unable to contribute the full weight of the carbon emissions reductions within it's plan is because the USA government ignored the danger and Russia was late coming to ratify it.

2. The Parties to any such agreement shall notify the secretariat of the terms of the agreement on the date of deposit of their instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval of this Protocol, or accession thereto. The secretariat shall in turn inform the Parties and signatories to the Convention of the terms of the agreement. 

Kyoto Protocol was never litigated at the World Court for it's importance and the cooperation of the USA in stemming the dangerous greenhouse gases it was dumping into the troposphere. The USA was always a leader to the outcomes of such efforts, but, this time it showed the corrupt nature of it's government and indulgence of the US petroleum industry.

3. Any such agreement shall remain in operation for the duration of the commitment period specified in Article 3, paragraph 7. 

4. If Parties acting jointly do so in the framework of, and together with, a regional economic integration organization, any alteration in the composition of the organization after adoption of this Protocol shall not affect existing commitments under this Protocol. Any alteration in the composition of the organization shall only apply for the purposes of those commitments under Article 3 that are adopted subsequent to that alteration....

Ethiopia needs a biotic restoration plan as well as continued food supplies.

It's Sunday Night

January 31, 2016
By Paul Schemm and Elias Meseret

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — The U.S. has boosted its emergency food aid (click here) o Ethiopia by nearly $100 million to combat one of the worst droughts in decades, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Sunday.

The aid is urgently needed to head off a humanitarian disaster brought on by the El Nino climate phenomenon that has affected seasonal rains, USAID administrator Gayle Smith said.

“The funding for this is not where it needs to be and we are up against very tight timelines,” she said at a briefing during the annual African Union summit, which ended Sunday. “This is the worst El Nino in history and it has affected the African continent in particular, most dramatically in Ethiopia where 11 million people have been affected.”

On Sunday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Ethiopia’s Ziway-Dugda region, one of the areas hit by drought, where he was welcomed by thousands of residents in the streets of Ogolcho, the biggest town there. Ban visited a food distribution center, and met with farmers and relief workers.

“This challenge may last some time. With the continued and concerted effort, I think we can overcome. And I (am) very much moved to have seen how hard the people are working,” Ban said....

Michael Jackson was a huge environmentalist. He wrote this song.

"Earth Song" by Michael Jackson (click here for official website)

What about sunrise
What about rain
What about all the things that you said
We were to gain
What about killing fields
Is there a time
What about all the things
That you said were yours and mine

Did you ever stop to notice
All the blood we've shed before
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, these weeping shores

Ah, ooh
Ah, ooh

What have we done to the world
Look what we've done
What about all the peace
That you pledge your only son

What about flowering fields
Is there a time
What about all the dreams
That you said was yours and mine

Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying earth, these weeping shores

Ah, ooh
Ah, ooh

I used to dream
I used to glance beyond the stars
Now I don't know where we are
Although I know we've drifted far

Ah, ooh
Ah, ooh
Ah, ooh
Ah, ooh

Hey, what about yesterday
(What about us)
What about the seas
(What about us)
The heavens are falling down
(What about us)
I can't even breathe
(What about us)

What about apathy
(What about us)
Burnt despite our pleas
(What about us)
What about the holy land
(What about it)
Torn apart by creed
(What about us)

Where did we go wrong
(Oo, oo)
Someone tell me why
(What about us)

What about babies
(What about it)
What about the days
(What about us)
What about all their joy
Do we give a damn

Is there hope for the microcephalic child?

This is Alexander Tsiaras (click here for official website).

In the June 1992 issue of "Life" magazine is an article written by Alexander Tsiaras about a new technology that corrects the misshapen heads of infants and toddlers. The title of the article is, "The Breakthrough."

I am trying to find the exact article online  and I'll explain my thinking about the microcephalic children from the Zeka virus and any other reason they exist.

The issue is below (click here). I own an original copy that came through a subscription, so I won't be purchasing this online. But, I'll have to go to the PUBLIC library to use the scanner. 

The article in Life by the good doctor is also discussed in a TED Talk in 2012, The pictures he uses in his presentation are the exact pictures presented in the Life magazine article. It is interesting this particular issue has a front cover called "If Women Ran America." But, the article inside is about very young children with misshapen heads.

Microcephalic children are born with small skulls and brains, however, while I was reviewing the article in Life magazine it reminded me both the skull and brain grows in size with the child. My thoughts are this. I don't believe there has ever been an effort to carry out changes in skull size to these children. I also don't believe there has been research to the growth of the brain IF the skull size were larger than trapped in a small cranium. I know the genetics dictate a different understanding in conventional medicine. But, if there is anyone on Earth that could render optimism for the outcome of these infants and young children it would be Alexander Tsiaras. He should at least be tapped for an opinion. 

Engineering a protection for an elephant's tusk.

January 28, 2016
...Under Dr. Pillay’s guidance, (click here) zoo staff placed layer after layer of carbon fiber on the tusk, surrounding the crack. Under typical industrial solutions, they would have painted each layer with an epoxy to create a good bond. “That would be too time-consuming for working with a live animal,” Sim said. Instead they used a vacuum pump to suck the epoxy out of a bucket and then inject it into the carbon fibers, which quickly absorbed the materials and in just three minutes created a hard, strong, impermeable shell....

Toledo Zoo has a new polar bear.

January 28, 2016
By Alexandra Mester

...The zoo (click here) announced today that a polar bear cub was born Dec. 3 to 16-year-old mama bear Crystal. The cub still is secluded in an off-exhibit den with its mother, so its gender is unknown and a name has not yet been chosen....

28 January 2016

San Diego Zoo (click here) is one of three international zoos to join an international program to revive stocks of one of the world's most endangered insects; the Lord Howe Island Stick Insects.
To begin the program, the zoo's Director of Invertebrates Paige Howarth is taking 300 eggs in her carry-on luggage on a flight from Melbourne to LA.
The eggs' trans-Pacific flight marks the latest chapter in a breathtaking story that has seen the insects discovered on a remote and perilous rocky outcrop in the Pacific in 2001 and since then nurtured back into existence with many hair-raising twists and turns along the way.
Paige joins RN Drive with Melbourne Zoo keeper Rohan Cleave, who has overseen a breeding program that started with a single breeding pair and today numbers 13,000 insects.

You can say, "Violence against Muslims is exactly what Daesh wants forever, but, it isn't the people's issue."

The people of Sweden didn't ask danger to enter their country, it was sent there by an ideology of death. You can ask people to be neutral regarding today's influx of migrants/refugees, but, it doesn't change the way people feel. 

It is not unusual for the right wing of any European society to be the first to act against foreign migration. They simply are dedicated to protecting their place on Earth. 

Those sincerely concerned for their safety, the sovereignty of their country and the culture that defines the borders between countries of Europe; asking for compassion and patience may be far too much for most to express. Deaths and threats of death provides automatic impatience in a country that has realized it's long and hard fought for stability and prosperity across generations.

30 January 2016

A gang of up to a hundred black-clad masked men (click here) marched in central Stockholm on Friday evening, singling out and beating up immigrants, and handing out leaflets threatening further violent attacks against unaccompanied refugee youth....

...After the attack the Swedish Resistance Movement, a neo-Nazi group, issued a statement claiming that the groups had “cleaned up criminal immigrants from North Africa that are housed in the area around the central station”. 

There have been other black quarterbacks, but, not in more than at least two decades.

The stance in the picture proves there was admiration of his athletic ability. He was valued.

I have to wonder what happened and why there aren't more black quarterbacks today when the racists lines were broken so long ago. Certainly, it isn't because of lack of talent.

1921 was an interesting time for America. WWI had ended about two years before and WWII would not take hold for another 20 years.

We know in years of war in the past there was a rise in minority and women athletes. Football may have been popular, but, it hardly had the social standing that the NFL enjoys today. If odd participants, such as minorities and women, were available for the amusement of the people of the USA they were brought on to mainstream arenas. Let's put it this way, in 1921 Yankee Stadium in the Bronx has purchased the land for it's stadium.

Five years ago, (click here) I wrote a five part series detailing the history of the black quarterback. With February being Black History Month and Super Bowl XLVII marking the 25th anniversary of Doug Williams becoming the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl, I figured it was worth another trip down memory lane.

The history of black quarterbacks in professional football is complicated. As recently as 2007, the New York Giants had never had a black quarterback throw even a single pass. On the other hand, as far back as 1921, Frederick Douglass “Fritz” Pollard not only quarterbacked the Akron Pros, but was also the first black head coach in NFL history.  A year earlier, Pollard and Bobby Marshall were the first two black players in professional football history and helped the Pros win the championship in the NFL’s inaugural season. The Pros ran the single-wing, and Pollard was the player lined up behind the center who received the snaps. At the time the forward pass was practically outlawed, so Pollard barely resembles the modern quarterback outside of the fact that he threw a few touchdown passes during his career....

Recent decades has resulted in a popularity contest in the sports industry. February 7, 2016 at 6:30 PM Americans will tune into the 50th Super Bowl. The first Super Bowl as originally called a World Championship Game on January 15, 1967. Something happened to football between the year of 1921 and 1967 and racism would remove the African American from the most popular position on a football team. Certainly, ticket purchases focus on the quarterback.

It has taken a long time to return a minority to the LEADER of a football team and I find it more than interesting it is concurrently with a minority leader in the White House.

Racism had resurgence and as popular topics are nothing more than a shifting baseline, it would be an enforceable racism, even as the laws of the USA were promoting equality. It has been a long time to wait for equality among a popular sport, but, it has finally arrived.

When Cam Newton takes to the field in February he will be the very first Black Quarterback to lead a team as their quarterback in a Super Bowl. The take home message is be happy the racism is pealing away, but, it has taken a very, very long time to find a way out of the resurgence of bigotry and racism.

Enjoy the game. What bothers me personally, is that Cam is a cutie and I have never prepared collard greens. Okay, okay, the grits I've made were the instant grits.

While most see an attack against Hillary Clinton, I see something more.

I see the issues of the down ballot elections. These down ballot elections is where Congress is most corrupt with Republican rhetoric and crony loyalties. These are issue that matter to the presidential candidate, but, also to those we want to have win in the down ballot.

The corruption is real.

The video is tampered with in some areas, but, it is best to listen through it.

This statistic shows (click here) the leading AIDS drugs worldwide based on revenue from 2009 to 2014. In 2009, GlaxoSmithKline's Combivir generated a revenue of 663 million U.S. dollars. However, this revenue decreased to under 200 million U.S. dollars in 2013.

The word is out, stop trying to kill Dr. Sam. You guys got no class. No class at all. Not even ethical content. But, given the fact life doesn't matter to Big Pharma it is more an issue of ego than professional standards. I consider obscene profit an ego issue. Just can't get enough.

30 November 2015

...That represents compounded (click here) annual growth of 10 per cent between 2005 and 2009. The US was the biggest market, booking $7.7bn in antiretroviral sales last year. France was the largest of the European markets, with sales of $1.1bn, while Japan was the smallest overall. In terms of patients, the number of people living with HIV across the seven major markets went from 1.4 million in 2001 to 1.8 million in 2009, with further increases expected in the coming decade. The US is forecast to hold on to first place, with Datamonitor expecting it to account for 60 per cent of sales across the seven markets in 2019. Japan is forecast to remain the smallest....

In case Big Pharma was confused as to how to manufacture the vaccines? It is called a compounding pharmacy.

A new pipeline in Flint, Michigan is a BOND ISSUE. The people have to vote on it. It is a local vote during the next election. The people can be instructed by their mayor and council in how to proceed as the democracy in Flint has been dismantled.

Where is the federal government in this? Snyder needs to be arrested for his contempt of the people of Flint.

4000 ppb of lead in the Flint water. The filters are worthless. WHERE IS OBAMA!

A 12 year old girl is killed by a constable's bullet and the father is charged with her death.

It was backward justice by the prosecutor. The constable should have disarmed the anger and walked away rather than put a child's life at stake. The constable wasn't defending his life from a 12 year old child. This is completely horrible. Now process servers are protected when they kill kids.

January 29, 2016
By Deborah Hastings

...Meyer allegedly raised (click here) the loaded weapon and pointed it at Steele's chest as the two argued.

“The constable was there the day before to remind them that the next day was the day they had to be out,” family member Hope Cordas Rohde told INSIDE EDITION after the shooting. “Don had an arsenal of weapons and he had them ready. He wasn’t going to pay,” she said.

Perry County District Attorney Andrew Bender has said the constable acted in self-defense and will not be charged in the shooting. The officer has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

By law, Meyer was not allowed to possess firearms because he had previously been involuntarily committed to a psychiatric facility, authorities said. Constables who responded to the shooting said they confiscated five weapons at Meyer's home.

Ciara's family blames her father for her death and they support the district attorney's decison to prosecute him for homicide....

It seems landlords in Perry County, Pennsylvania get their evictions even if the occupants have to be carried out in body bags.

Therefore, what? More propaganda about how the country has been sold down the river by Secretary Clinton?

There were no laws in 2008 regarding email servers. She did nothing wrong. The hate filled political environment is on a witch hunt.

She'll have some backlash to deal with and that is not justice at all, but, it is politics. She simply has to continue to achieve a relationship with the American people. They trusted her once with high approval rates. She has to recapture that and lead. This is all old propaganda and lies. She should not have to deal with it anymore. I am glad it's over.

January 29, 2016
By Evan Halper

The private email server Hillary Clinton (click here) used while secretary of State reemerged as a liability for her presidential run, as the State Department acknowledged Friday that 22 messages stored on the server contain top secret information.

Clinton has long denied any of the messages that went through the unprotected server in her home contained highly sensitive material. The State Department said none of the messages were marked top secret at the time they were sent -- although it is looking into whether they should have been.

The administration refused to discuss the contents of the messages, which it acknowledged hours before the latest batch of about 1,000 pages of Clinton email is to be disclosed publicly. The messages marked top secret are being excluded from the disclosure....

December 1, 2014

Washington, DC…(click here) On November 26th, President Barack Obama signed into law H.R. 1233, the Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014. This new law modernizes records management by focusing more directly on electronic records, and complements efforts by the National Archives and the Office of Management and Budget to implement the President’s 2011 Memorandum on Managing Government Records....

February 1, 2013
By Sarah Parnass

The woman (click here) who once went head-to-head with President Obama before becoming a pivotal member of his cabinet is poised to return to the private sector after more than three decades in the public eye.

Outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who steps down from her post at the State Department today, leaves behind a legacy of 31 years of public service.

The Senate quickly confirmed Obama's nominee to replace her -- one of its own, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. -- Tuesday. The president had chosen him last December to take Clinton's place. Clinton has spent the past couple of months helping Kerry move into the post so she could bow out....

Donald Trump stood up for his rights. FOX paid for it.

Early Nielsen ratings (click here) how that Thursday night's Fox News debate was the second-lowest rated debate of the primary season, according to a CNN report.

Without Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump participating, the debate got an 8.4 Nielsen rating, according to the report. 
That's better than the previous debate hosted by Fox Business Network, which got a 7.4 Nielsen rating. But that was a strong number for Fox Business Network, which is less widely available than Fox News and CNN.
Thursday's rating would be much smaller than the 15.9 Nielsen rating for the first GOP debate hosted by Fox News in August....

Flint cannot live forever on bottled water!

Flint not only needs it's own water authority, it needs it's own recycling business.

How many flats of water does it take to fill a bathtub?

January 29, 2016
By Robert Allen

FLINT, Mich. — As a big, blue garbage truck (click here) combs a neighborhood on Flint's east side, Arnold Brown points to a blue recycling bin outside a corner house.
"These people ... They never, never recycled," said the operations supervisor with the city.
As the city's water crisis has forced people to drink from plastic water bottles instead of from the tap, such bins have become increasingly visible. The one on Avon Street a few blocks north of I-69 is full, with some brown paper bags on top.
"This is a new culture," said Brown, who's been involved with waste removal for 20 years — most of which, curbside recycling wasn't an option....

Are all Republicans primadonnas?

They should take a lesson from Donald Trump. He lives in his jet. It seems more economical than anything else being done.

January 28, 2016
By Michelle Conlin

...There were stays at boutique hotels (click here) featuring rooftop pools, private soirees at members-only, jacket-and-tie clubs and fundraisers at the Four Seasons, the St. Regis and the Mandarin Oriental.

In the world of Jeb Bush, the campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination has at times been a whirl of private planes and high-end affairs, according to the federal filings of Bush’s campaign and his Super PAC, Right to Rise, which can raise unlimited funds for Bush as long as it does not coordinate directly with him.

It is not unusual for U.S. presidential candidates to fly private or even sometimes stay in luxury hotels. But some disgruntled donors say they are unhappy with Bush's large outlays, which also include big spending on staff and tens of millions of dollars in ad buys.

Eleven of 16 major donors contacted by Reuters questioned whether it was money well spent, especially given how the one-time frontrunner has stumbled badly in the polls and is now facing questions about whether he should withdraw from the race....