This is exceptional ocean foam.

A man filming (click here) with a GoPro is repeatedly submerged by huge waves of foam whipped up by storms at Coolangattal.

Coolangattal is on the furthest eastern shore of Australia. So it receives strong ocean currents regularly, but, for that ocean to generate that amount of foam means there is a significant storm offshore.

Once you’ve hit Coolangatta (click here) and her neighbouring Greenmount Beach you’re at the end of Queensland’s Gold Coast as we know it. Duranbah and Tweed Heads sit around the corner, but technically that’s New South Wales. Technicalities aside, visitors flock to the border town of Coolangatta for its change of pace....

Severe weather is occurring in Australia and New Zealand.

New Zealand's weather has improved today with the worst happening yesterday. Australia is expecting severe weather for at least 48 more hours (click here).

There is commentary made in this film loop about a man in his backyard being swept away. That is part of the point I was making about sea level rise in China. As the oceans are gaining more water and it is accompanied by wind, the waters of the oceans can back fill rivers and tributaries to increase the danger inland. The wind will make the back fill temporary for as long as the wind continues, but, what exists of any back fill on a calm ocean day will be there for a long time.

Part of the reason China may be placing border markers in the Yellow Sea is due to the fact in time the current Chinese coastal borders may disappear under ocean water. There is real concern for the size of the back fill in the Yellow River and the Yangtze Rivers. Historically, The rivers of China did over flow their banks to take wetlands under water as well. China is a country of more than 1 million people, some will become climate refugees.

I am not stating China's border markers are only to counter land inundation, there are reasons beyond that as well. But, the idea China will lose their coastal boundaries is valid. Historically it is true.  I know that for a fact. I did research in 2009 regarding ancient rice and a lost civilization of China called, I called the "Qingliangang Culture Collapse." (click here for one of the article I read with fascination to this culture and ancient rice) According to the sparse information I found (although could not be dismissed as valid) within 5000 years ago along the Lower Yangtze River Qingliangang culture existed and was found through archaeological excavation. There was solid information along the Yangtze.

The culture disappeared due to sustaining high water. That does not mean the people perished. It may be the people migrated to higher land, but, would abandon their culture in the process to be a part of another.

Sea level rise is a serious problem, not simply a flooding event. Sea level rise also involves currents.

The media needs to be careful. The DNC states Hillary Clinton will not have enough delegates until she receives the super delegates officially at the convention.

This decision by the Associated Press to declaring Hillary Clinton may be correct, but, it is not official until the Democratic National Convention. This news is circulating through the global press already.

The TPP can't happen fast enough for New Zealand.

June 7, 2016
By Tamsyn Parker

New Zealand is sitting (click here) on a half-a-trillion-dollar debt bomb and Kiwis are increasingly treating their houses like cash machines, piling on the debt as they watch the value of their properties soar.

Reserve Bank figures show household debt, excluding investment property, has risen 23 per cent in the past five years to $163.4 billion. Incomes have risen only 11.5 per cent.

Households are now carrying a debt level that is equivalent to 162 per cent of their annual disposable income - higher than the level reached before the global financial crisis...

I think the Associated Press is extrapolating into tomorrow. It is realistic, not completely tentative. I didn't find the exact article stating Hillary Clinton has secured the Democratic nomination, but, it does make sense. To state she is out of reach of the nomination is not realistic. She will win enough delegates tomorrow to cross the finish line. Not to say Bernie Sanders will have a poor showing, that is not expected, but, the reality is Hillary Clinton will finish her run tomorrow.

The Associated Press is probably looking at polls and they show enough voters lining up with her nomination.

Ashley Peacock of New Zealand is having his human rights violated for five years already.

June 7, 2016

Ashley Peacock (click here) loves animals and the outdoors. But for the last five years he has been locked in an isolated mental health unit, allowed out for just 90 minutes a day. Experts warn it's a breach of human rights and his family are desperate to see him free....

...But today he was listless. Once the carrot was gone the men trudged the 400 metres back to the hospital grounds.

His father said goodbye. Ashley was taken inside a white block building. The door was locked behind him.

It has been five years, five months, and three weeks since Ashley was put in seclusion.

He is allowed outdoors for just 90 minutes a day....

Donald Trump is welcome to comment about his business affiliations for now, but, should he be elected to the presidency, there won't be anymore commenting. There must be someone he plans to hand this off to, why isn't he doing it for the meantime?

Snow melt. The Andes mountains have lost the past 31 years of snow accumulation.

June 6, 2016
By Aimee Ortiz

Two local men (click here) may have solved the mystery of a flight that crashed into the Andes mountains 31 years ago.

According to a blog post written by Dan Futrell, of Cambridge, he and Isaac Stoner, of Somerville, have located the missing “black boxes” from Eastern Airlines Flight 980, a Boeing 727 that was flying from Paraguay to Florida on Jan. 1, 1985, when it crashed into Mount Illimani, Bolivia’s second-highest point. All 29 people on board died.

Nine months later, the search for Flight 980’s wreckage had investigators searching “the snowy peaks and ragged crevices of the Andes” with little found more than bits of the aircraft and some passenger cabin items....

June 6, 2016
By Barak Ravid

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (click here) received $40,000 in 2001 from Arnaut Mimran, a French tycoon on trial for fraud, a statement by the Prime Minister's Office on Monday said.
Mimran, who is the key suspect in a massive fraud case in France, told a Paris court that he gave 1 million euros to Netanyahu’s election campaign, a claim Netanyahu denies.
"The claim that Arnaut Mimran donated a million euros to Mr. Netanyahu's election campaign is a baseless lie," the statement issued on Monday said. "There was no contribution to Netanyahu's election campaign....

June 6, 2016

...The allegation (click here) has received widespread attention in Israel, with the country's attorney-general examining Mimran's testimony.

"The claim that Arnaud Mimran contributed €1m to the election campaign of Mr Netanyahu is a baseless lie," a statement from the prime minister's office said.

"There was no contribution by Mimran to Netanyahu's election campaign.

"In August 2001, when Mr Netanyahu was a private citizen, Mimran contributed $40,000 to the fund for public activities for Mr Netanyahu, which included media appearances and numerous educational campaigns abroad in favour of Israel, and made in accordance with the law."

In an earlier statement, Netanyahu's office said that "Mr Mimran, who is on trial for fraud in the range of several hundreds of millions of dollars, is trying to divert attention by means of another fraud" by accusing the prime minister.

An Israeli justice ministry spokeswoman said Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit had ordered an examination of Mimran's testimony "immediately after he became aware of it"....

...For every $12.00 in military spending only $1.00 is released for international aid....

Michael Douglas, UN Messenger of Peace (click here)

How many peace initiatives does the world need? The military spending is overwhelming to any peace initiative.

Greed with an indifference to life is at work within the military industry.

United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (click here)

The SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) (click here) database on military expenditure covers 172 countries and contains consistent data for the period since 1988. Data for the most recent 10-year period are published in the SIPRI Yearbook. Data from 1988 is available in the SIPRI military expenditure database on-line. SIPRI provides the only long-term, historically consistent series of military expenditure data with global coverage available. SIPRI military expenditure data are based on a variety of open sources which are processed to achieve consistent time series and are as far as possible in accordance with the SIPRI definition of military expenditure. See also Sources and methods (click here) for SIPRI data on military expenditure....

From sources and methods:

...The choice of base year (the year in whose prices the data are expressed) also has a significant impact on cross-country comparisons of expenditure data because different national currencies vary against the dollar in different ways. For the current edition of the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, the base year has been updated to 2014. Between 2014 and 2015, the US$ has gone up against the currencies of several important major spenders, including the Euro, the Russian rouble and the Japanese Yen, as well as most other currencies. This means that figures for most other countries' military expenditure expressed in current (2015) US$ is significantly lower than when they are expressed in constant (2014) US$. As a result, the world total in current US$, of $1676 billion ($1.676 trillion US), is significantly lower than the figure in constant (2014) US$, of $1773 billion ($1.773 trillion US)....

$1.676 trillion US buys a lot of food, CLEAN water, housing, clothing and schools armed with school books. 

When elected government officials decide nuclear weapons are important they are unleashing guaranteed death.

I know this is splitting hairs, but, much of foreign policy is exactly that to create the incentive to move forward toward peace. The USA military policy is not suppose to be about KILLING. Killing occurs while disarming and ending a regime that is unworthy to the USA national defense. The USA military is suppose to be about national defense, not being the only global superpower that can initiate war without any opposition.

The idea that the USA military is not about killing, is it's application to it's bullets. "Full Metal Jacket" (click here) is a bullet that has higher impact to end the enemies advance without extensive tissue damage.

The USA military is suppose to design weapons that will end conflict, not kill. The nuclear arsenal is in opposition of that directive.

6 June 2016
By Catch Team

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi (click here) visits Washington - his fourth visit there since he took over as PM two years - India may finally be declared as a member of Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).Italy has been opposing India's membership bid. However, with the recent Supreme Court decision in the marines' case, Rome may ease its stand.

The US has been actively lobbying for India's membership to this club since 2008 (Bush. He acted to entangle India in a nuclear web. Obama didn't take office until 2009.), when the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granted an exemption to India. Since 2008, India has also been an unilateral adherent to MTCR.

The exemption was given during the previous Manmohan Singh regime, because of growing Indo-US relations (the nuclear deal was signed in 2008), India's clean non-proliferation record and tight export control, unlike Pakistan....
...According to its website, the MTCR (click here) is an 'initiative to address the increasing proliferation of nuclear weapons by addressing the most destabilising delivery system for such weapons'.
The MTCR seeks to limit the risks of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by controlling the export of goods and technologies that could make a contribution to delivery systems (other than manned aircraft) for such weapons.
In this context, the regime places particular focus on rockets and unmanned aerial vehicles capable of delivering a payload of at least 500 kg to a range of at least 300 km and on equipment, software, and technology for such systems.

Currently, there are 34 countries who are members of the MTCR, many of whom are key manufacturers of missiles in the world....

Mr. Mian states the USA has undeclared fissile nuclear material that could produce thousands of weapons.

The USA undeclared fissile nuclear material destabilizes any movement to non-proliferation. C-Span2 is hosting initiatives to non-proliferation. There was a rather elegant speaker from Japan who is also a social worker there, that stated (my words) "Now is the time to capture the non-proliferation movement and remove these very wrongful bombs. They are not bombs for national security, they are weapons of murder." 

Zia Mian (click here) directs the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia, at the Program on Science and Global Security. His research and teaching focuses on nuclear weapons and nuclear energy policy, especially in Pakistan and India, and on issues of nuclear disarmament and peace. Previously, he has taught at Yale University and Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and worked at the Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge (Mass.), and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad....

Mr. Mian is co-author to this book:

Harold A. Feiveson is Senior Research Policy Scientist in the Program on Global Security at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.
Alexander Glaser is Assistant Professor in the Woodrow Wilson School and in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University.
Zia Mian is Research Scientist and Director of the Project on Peace and Security in South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson School.
Frank N. von Hippel is Senior Research Physicist and Professor of Public and International Affairs Emeritus in at the Woodrow Wilson School. Von Hippel is a former Assistant Director for National Security in the White House Office of Science and Technology.

No American General is going to derail the non-proliferation movement and the goal of peace without nuclear weapons.

“Elimination of these nuclear materials is not only key but also possible. This valuable and timely book shows us how.”
—Mohamed ElBaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 1997–2009

Mr. Mian stated today, "...follow the fissile material and the politics will follow."

Achieving nuclear disarmament, (click here) stopping nuclear proliferation, and preventing nuclear terrorism are among the most critical challenges facing the world today.

Unmaking the Bomb proposes a new approach to reaching these long-held goals. Rather than considering them as separate issues, the authors—physicists and experts on nuclear security—argue that all three of these goals can be understood and realized together if we focus on the production, stockpiling, and disposal of plutonium and highly enriched uranium—the fissile materials that are the key ingredients used to make nuclear weapons....

Laziness resulting in sloppy prosecution defined as incompetence.

June 6, 2016
By The New York Times Editorial Board

...Among the most serious prosecutorial violations (click here) is the withholding of evidence that could help a defendant prove his or her innocence or get a reduced sentence — a practice so widespread that one federal judge called it an “epidemic.” Under the 1963 landmark Supreme Court case Brady v. Maryland, prosecutors are required to turn over any exculpatory evidence to a defendant that could materially affect a verdict or sentence. Yet in many district attorneys’ offices, the Brady rule is considered nothing more than a suggestion, with prosecutors routinely holding back such evidence to win their cases.

Nowhere is this situation worse than in Louisiana, where prosecutors seem to believe they are unconstrained by the Constitution.

This month, the Supreme Court will consider the latest challenge to prosecutorial misconduct in Louisiana in the case of David Brown, who was one of five men charged in the 1999 murder of a prison guard. Mr. Brown said he did not commit the murder, but he was convicted and sentenced to death anyway. Only later did his lawyers discover that prosecutors had withheld the transcript of an interview with another prisoner directly implicating two other men — and only those men — in the murder.
This is about as blatant a Brady violation as can be found, and the judge who presided over Mr. Brown’s trial agreed, throwing out his death penalty and ordering a new sentencing. But the Louisiana Supreme Court reversed that decision, ruling that the new evidence would not have made a difference in the jury’s sentence....      

The river needs to be secured as a safe zone for citizens and prevent safe retreat of Daesh. It sounds like much more needs to be done in Fallujah.

The deaths of Iraqi citizens in Fallujah are being reported by those that have already escaped to become refugees. The reports are that 50 thousand Iraqi citizens are being used as human shields and are being shot when they attempt to leave the city. No Iraqi forces should be leaving a fight that is succeeding and will end the brutal regime of Daesh.

June 6, 2016

By AFP

Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group (click here) is shooting and killing civilians who try to flee Fallujah, a city besieged by Iraqi forces, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Sunday.

"Reports from families that NRC has been in touch with describe that civilians trying to cross the Euphrates River in order to flee the fighting are being targeted by armed opposition groups," the organisation said in a statement.

NRC runs the camps in the town of Amriyat al-Fallujah to which most of the civilians who have fled areas around the besieged jihadist bastion are being housed.

"An unidentified number of civilians have been shot and killed trying to cross the river," NRC said.

One of the only ways for civilians to try to leave the centre of Fallujah, which is littered with booby traps and roadside bombs, is to sneak out by river....

Daesh is shooting at fleeing citizens from Fallujah.

Fallujah is not yet secured. The Iraqi military should not be leaving the combined forces with a successful campaign to save the lives of Iraqi citizens in Fallujah. The USA advisers seem to be causing weakness in the resolve and not a combined strength. The Iraqis need to work together, not divide into factions.

The one problem Iraqi forces faced while the USA occupied Iraq was the inability to HOLD the land once insurgents were removed. I think McCain called it "Wack a Mole." This is happening all over again and it isn't the Iraqi forces that is the problem; it is the American advisers.

June 6, 2016
By Ahmed Rasheed, Saif Hameed and Isabel Coles

An Iraqi Shi'ite militia leader (click here) accused government forces of "betrayal" as a split emerged between the Iranian-backed paramilitaries and the army over tactics for fighting Islamic State.
The head of the largest militia, Hadi al-Amiri, criticized the army for moving an armored brigade to the Makhmour area near Mosul - Islamic State's capital in northern Iraq - while the battle to dislodge the militants from Falluja, their stronghold near Baghdad, is still underway.
"Unfortunately there is an absence of precise planning for the military operations," said Amiri, who leads the Badr Organisation. "I believe that sending a large number of armored vehicles and assets to Makhmour, under the pretext of the Mosul battle, is a betrayal of the battle for Falluja," he told Al-Sumaria TV on Sunday.
Badr Organisation is the largest component of the Popular Mobilisation, a militia grouping which has been fighting alongside the Iraqi army at Falluja, with government units also receiving air support from the U.S.-led coalition.
Amiri also accused the Iraqi authorities of deciding to move the forces to Makhmour, which lies around 60 km (40 miles) south of Mosul, under pressure from the United States....

Ukraine is fighting terrorism.

June 6, 2016
By AP
Ukraine's intelligence agency SBU (click here) said on Monday it has thwarted a plot to attack the European Championship in France by arresting a Frenchman who wanted to cross from Ukraine into the European Union with an array of weaponry.
The SBU said it had followed the man since December and allowed him to purchase five machine guns, two rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons before he was arrested on the border between Ukraine and Poland last month.
"The Ukrainian Security Service has managed to foil a series of 15 terrorist attacks which were planned to target France before and during the European football championships," Vasyl Hrytsak, the security agency's chief, told national television.
The SBU did not identify the man but said he wanted to protest against his government's migration policies and the spread of Islam. It said he planned attacks on bridges, railways and other pieces of infrastructure for Euro 2016 that will be held in France.... 

The refusal to pass Immigration Reform is Donald Trump's cue.

When Mitch McConnell or Paul Ryan implies they want more Latinos as constituents, it is not Donald Trump's dialogue they need to change they need to pass immigration reform.

The US Congress already has the power to change the dialogue and a President more than willing to sign Immigration Reform. It is time the Republicans work for a living rather than just carry out a forever campaign. They do receive pay above minimum wage and have no union to bargain for them, so they need to act NOW!

June 6, 2016
By Nick Gass

The feud between Donald Trump (click here) and MSNBC's "Morning Joe" kicked up several notches Monday morning, days after the presumptive Republican nominee remarked that Indiana-born Judge Gonzalo Curiel's Mexican heritage presents a conflict of interest in his ability to preside over lawsuits related to his Trump University business because he is "building a wall."

Trump then told CBS' "Face the Nation" in another interview aired Sunday that the same principle might apply to a Muslim judge due to his call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration. "I'm talking about common sense, OK? He's somebody, he's proud of his heritage, and I think that's great that he's proud of his heritage."...

May 25, 2016

By Darrel Rowland

A federal court ruling Tuesday (click here) declaring Ohio GOP lawmakers' voting restrictions unconstitutional could easily wind up before the U.S. Supreme Court — and generate a 4-4 split decision, a voting-rights expert says.

With high-stakes voting cases also working their way through courts in such states as Texas, North Carolina and Wisconsin, "There is sorely a need for clarification" of how the U.S. Constitution and the 1965 Voting Rights Act should be applied, said Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California at Irvine.

But with the high court operating down one member, the status of election law could remain fractured among conflicting federal appeals court rulings for the 2016 presidential election, he said....

American local economies rock!

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

Let's see. What gave me the biggest laugh this week? Oh, yeah, Walmart's warehouse drones.

June 2, 2016
By Anne D'innocenzio

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (click here) is testing drones that it says will help it manage its warehouse inventory more efficiently, and which it said Thursday could be rolled out in the next six to nine months across its distribution centers.
The move is another sign of how the nation's largest retailer is seeking to compete against online leader Amazon.com, which is testing drones to deliver packages.
During a media tour Thursday at a distribution center, Wal-Mart offered a peek at a drone that flies around the massive center, captures images in real time and flags the misplaced items. The drone takes 30 pictures per second....

That alone wasn't what made me laugh. First there was the Walmart thing, then came the jobs report. It isn't the fact that new jobs feel in May, it is that Wall Street reacts to the jobs market. I thought jobs were irrelevant to Wall Street. Jobs are on the wrong side of the balance sheet.

June 5, 2016
By Jeffery Bartash

The U.S. economy is expanding faster (click here) than it did earlier in the year, but a jolt out of the blue from a weak jobs report in May calls into question whether the pickup in growth can last.

The number of new jobs created last month totaled just 38,000, the smallest gain since 2010. Even if a major strike at Verizon that kept almost 40,000 people out of work is set aside, hiring was unusually soft.

The U.S. had been averaging more than 200,000 new jobs a month since 2014 until a recent slowdown since March that’ seen hiring taper off to a 116,000 range. That’s the worst three-month stretch in four years....

The entire issue is, "Why does Wall Street care about job growth?" Wall Street doesn't really like people, especially American people because they take a share of the monies paid for a product. The cheaper the labor the better Wall Street likes it. So, what is the big deal with jobs numbers in the USA?

Could it be I am exceedingly correct about local economies? Could it be that Wall Street CEOs don't at all know what they are doing? On one hand they cut jobs and salaries to employees while expecting a good jobs report to dictate the well being of the financial markets. 

So, let me get this right. Amazon and Walmart are competing for the reduced cost of maintaining accurate warehouse inventory records by instituting drones. Drones are an expensive investments, but, in the long run they pay off. So, drones cut down on labor costs for greater profitability to make stockholders happy or in the case of Walmart, the family happy. 

But, on the other hand when assessing the jobs market and it is fallen Wall Street is unhappy about that. So, Wall Street rids itself of employees and at the same time is worried about the lack of job growth. Some kind of dim wit if you ask me. Walmart and Amazon should be asking themselves how many jobs they added to the growth rate of the USA?

In order to have job growth there has to be jobs return to the USA such as GM's return to Flint, Michigan or ending the domination of drones in direct sale places like Amazon or merchandisers like Walmart.

As a side note, the drop in jobs is not due to the lack of economy, the local economies seem to be fine. But, the jobs market dropped in anticipation of the rate hike. 

...Still, almost everyone acknowledges companies are not hiring as fast as they did in the past few years.

What next, then? Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen is set to deliver a major speech on Monday in which most observers believe she will scale back expectations for an increase in interest rates this summer. Before the May jobs report, Wall Street was penciling in a rate increase by July....

The Federal Reserve needs to go ahead with the rate hike, the damage to jobs is already done. This is just an example of the draconian methods of Wall Street. In thinking it has to pay more for borrowed monies, it isn't reining in borrowing, it is eliminating employees. Wall Street is again shooting itself in the foot. It is keeping the borrowing with higher rates but ends employment to balance it out on a spread sheet. Those CEO bonuses must be difficult to turn away from even when it means carrying out good business practices that provides growth and increase sales. 

When does this mess end? I am livid Wall Street can pull a stunt like this and dictate to the Federal Reserve.

I laughed for many reasons, but, mostly because I was so very correct in my economic view of the American local economies.

"Good Night, Moon"

New Moon 

1.2 days old

1.5 percent lit

Children can factually state they received less sleep during the full moon and are not up to attending school.

May 12, 2016
By Jonnalyn Carter

The full moon (click here) has been related to different kinds of superstition and bad sleeping habits for children. Hence, a team of international research team conducted a study to see if moon phases affect the sleep pattern of the kids.

Moon Phases And Children

According to Psych Central News, the researchers investigated if the moon phases make any distinctions in children's everyday doings and the result is none. They believed that children are more prone to behavioral changes and they need more sleep compared to adults.

 "We considered that performing this research on children would be particularly more relevant," Dr. Jean-Philippe Chaput, from the Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Canada said. To prove the authenticity of the claim, a group of researchers examined 5,812 children from different continents.

The study published in Frontiers in Pediatrics lasted for 28 months, which corresponded to the same time of moon phases. It goes from a full moon, half moon and new moon.

The Negative Effect Of Moon Phases

However, the only negative effect of the full moon in children's sleep is its brightness that can come into their rooms especially if their curtains didn't fully cover their windows. "[S]leep duration was 1 percent shorter at full moon compared to the new moon," the researchers revealed, Tech Times reported.

Moon phases may just result in five minutes lesser sleep that really didn't affect the kids' behavior. The researchers explained that their study has a "solid evidence" that the connection of moon phases to children's sleeping habit and behavior didn't really coincide by looking to the public health's standpoint....