She was a journalist with dignity and grace. She will be missed.

I thought it was odd she was not involve with this election.  I did look for her only she never showed up.

She had an incredible life.

November 14, 2016
By Sam Roberts

Gwen Ifill, (click here) a groundbreaking journalist who covered the White House, Congress and national campaigns during three decades for The Washington Post, The New York Times, NBC and, most prominently, PBS, died on Monday at a hospice in Washington. She was 61.

The cause was complications of uterine cancer, her brother Roberto said.

In a distinguished career, Ms. Ifill was in the forefront of a journalism vanguard as a black woman in a field dominated by white men....

She always gave back. 

June 9, 2015
By Corrinne Segal

This April, (click here) Gwen Ifill received a letter that began: “Dear Ms. Ifill, I hope you remember me, but if you do not, my name is Sophie Sabin.” That letter became a catalyst to an inspirational moment for hundreds of middle school students in Newark, New Jersey, today.

Sophie admired Ifill for years as a middle school student at Philip’s Academy Charter School in Newark. “She was a role model for who I wanted to be,” she said.

Sophie first “met” Ifill in April 2014 in a Skype interview for PBS NewsHour’s Student Reporting Labs while she was an eighth-grade student participating in the program at Philip’s Academy. One of her first questions for Ifill: why would she take the time to give an interview to a middle school student? Ifill said: “It’s because I once was you.”

That line stuck with Sophie, and that summer Student Reporting Labs selected her as a Student Reporting Lab All-Star, giving her the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., and meet Ifill face-to-face....

Rudy Giuliani is not qualified for DOD. He may work well enough in the Secretary of State office.

...Upon leaving office, (click here) he founded the consulting firm, Giuliani Partners, which advises clients such as Mexico City on security and crime reduction. In 2005, Giuliani also added his name to what is now Bracewell & Giuliani law firm, known for representing the oil industry and financial sector, and for its handling of cases related to homeland security and energy policy. Giuliani has been a steadfast supporter of the Iraq war and the troop surge.

If he was in the Secretary of State office, first on his agenda would be to convince Canada to put the KXL pipeline. It would be good if he would remove himself from serving his previous clients to prevent corruption to the office. That is something every member of the Trump administration should consider paramount to having the American people trust them. Republicans are famous for crony politics and they should step away from it as soon as they accept their positions in government.

Expertise is expertise and very different than lies that are obvious government giveaways to private concerns.

Replacing pandering with dignity might be a refreshing change for DC.

There is a lot of talk about a lot of things.

November 14, 2016
By Elise Viebeck and Lisa Rein

There’s been a lot of talk (click here) since Friday about President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to give his three eldest children formal positions on his transition team.

Readers have wondered: Is the decision legal? Is it ethical? Does it signal Trump’s intention to involve his children in his administration? And what does it mean that Trump’s children have transition roles just as they are poised to take over the family business?...

To begin I like Donald Trump's family. I think they are well meaning in their support of their father. I find the tight loving circle his children bring to his life a reassurance to a man that has interests all over the world. Life can become very diffuse in such a life. That hasn't happened with Donald Trump and he should be congratulated for the father he is to his children.

If his children are being religated to a life inside an executive branch of the USA government, they should do so with caution. Donald Trump will not want to become insulated from the reality of many staffers and QUALIFIED cabinet members. There is a pitfall waiting for the Trump family if they are too protective of their father and too involved in decision making. What if Trump Child A makes a huge error in decision advocacy. It is easy to do at the top of the USA government if one is not within their expertise and well informed. Such an error would seriously divide the family and cause conflict with any re-election bid. The Trump family is not the Clinton family. They just aren't. No, apologies, just the way it is. Waging war from Trump Tower with grounds keepers at their golf courses is not the same as negotiating agreements and policy from the Oval Office.

I can understand completely if Donald Trump's children feel protective of their father. They have worked intricately in the family business for a long time. That relationship is difficult to place at a distance at such a rapid and extreme time of change in the family dynamics.

I strongly suggest, if the Trump Adult Children want a life in the government to consider applying for one and/or becoming a candidate for office themselves. It is important Donald Trump trust qualified strangers. He needs those strangers. The country is going to need those individuals to do the best job they can in helping to lead this land. 

I am sure the country will come to embrace Barron Trump no differently than the Obama daughters. I would expect the country to come to be admiring of the Trump Adult Children and their lives of accomplishment. I am sure the new First Lady will lead a valiant purpose in this country no different than any other First Lady that contributes their own expertise to enhance the image of the country.

But, as to the roles the Trump Adult Children will pay, I sincerely believe they will find themselves just as challenged within the Trump Organization as in Washington, DC. They have to let their father trust others they have never met and may never meet. It is the way the USA operates.

This is a reporting (click here) organization that ranks charity.

The Clinton Foundation uses $2.00 to every $100 to raise funds.

The Republicans want to destroy the Democrats and their unions. That is a fact. So, why not destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton because it feels so good.

It is not the Democratic Party's fault that Republicans are simpletons and deal in the viseral aspects of politics and policy.

What decent US President would actually come out and state about Saddam Hussein, "He wanted to kill my Dad." or whatever it was he said. That is some of the craziest stuff anyone could say about a war that was killing American sons and daughters. The Axis of Evil is back if Trump puts John Bolton in his administration. That nuts. Seriously nuts.

Russia and Assad are allies.

Questions?

None?

In shock?

The tabloid journalist comes to life. If people are told lies long enough, it becomes the reality.

Add to that the fact most Republicans rely on The Heritiage Foundation to think for them.

...Within the overarching need (click here) for a U.S. comprehensive strategy, Russia poses four distinct, but related problems for U.S. policy:

• First, Putin’s Russia is a regime that combines a lack of respect for political, civil, and economic rights with a dysfunctional economy.
• Second and most dangerous for the United States, Russia poses a series of worldwide strategic and diplomatic challenges, including buildup of its nuclear arsenal and military.
• Third, Russia poses threats to discrete U.S. friends, allies, and interests around the world.
• Fourth, Russia’s cooperation with bad actors and its increasing tendency to play a spoiler role pose another set of threats.

This report addresses all four problems in turn after setting out the comprehensive strategy on which the U.S. should base its response....

The Axis of Evil is back.

May 6, 2002
By the Honorable John R. Bolton

Thank you for asking me here to the Heritage Foundation. (click here) I'm pleased to be able to speak to you today about the Bush Administration's efforts to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The spread of weapons of mass destruction to state sponsors of terrorism and terrorist groups is, in my estimation, the gravest security threat we now face. States engaging in this behavior--some of them parties to international treaties prohibiting such activities--must be held accountable and must know that only by renouncing terrorism and verifiably forsaking WMD can they rejoin the community of nations....

Good-bye Ukraine and who is going to be calling the defense of the allies in NATO?

November 14, 2016
By Elise Viebeck, Jerry Markon and Karen DeYoung

President-elect Donald Trump (click here) and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed in a telephone conversation Monday that relations between their countries were “unsatisfactory” and vowed to work together to improve them, the Kremlin said in a statement....

If the Trump Organization has broke laws with sanctions with Russia and Cuba, the charges should be filed soon or not at all. This is a complete disruption of international law and order. The Russian sanctions were ordered because Russia blatantly moved against an international treaty with Ukraine, Germany, the USA and Russia. The reason for the treaty was to allow the orderly and peaceful removal of nuclear weapons accumulated by the USSR housed in Ukraine. 

Trumps chummy relationship with Russia is a threat to the global security. 

Now. Americans should be afraid. Very afraid.

Why was Comey so intent on destroying the election of Hillary Clinton? And I suppose Russia and the USA will usher in a new concept called peace. Russia is going to assign peace between it and the USA while the Russian people are isolated into their own internet and otherwise. There are more questions than there are answers.

November 14, 2016
By Jeffery Burt, James Hitch, Peter Pettibone and Thomas Shillinglaw

There are few higher foreign policy priorities (click here) for the new Trump Administration than addressing the highly disruptive and potentially catastrophic conflict brewing sinisterly in Ukraine. The annexation of Crimea, as well as Russia’s continuing military initiatives in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region, represent egregious violations of international law. These actions have had a devastating impact on U.S.-Russian relations which have reverted to Cold War levels, undermining all constructive discourse.

Trump’s election campaign promised that, as President, he would initiate an entirely new approach to Russia, and deal with Putin and his inner circle by relying on his negotiating skills honed during his career in business. We believe that now is the time for Trump to take advantage of the opening afforded by his stunning election, and to approach Putin with a game changing proposal to deescalate the Ukrainian crisis, as well as to lay the foundation for a constructive program of reconciliation between the United States and Russia. The alternative — a continuation of the current policy — will only lead to further destabilizing rhetoric, a costly and dangerous arms build-up on both sides, and escalating military confrontations between NATO members and Russia.

President Obama has no place in mentoring Doanld Trump. Absolutely not.

I think global leaders are perfectly capable of making themselves known to Donald Trump. He will never deliver the dissolution of NAFTA and CAFTA. There is a chance the USA will abandon TPP and TiPP, but, to think all is going to be wonderful and manufacturing in the USA will be in full bloom again as long ago is being a fool for a slick politician. It will never happen.

Below is a picture of Mr. Trumps new boss. And with an alcoholic as a chief advisor, the White House will be rendered useless. Congress will run the country only needing a signature of the President.

The executive orders when and if benevolent will receive welcome, but, the only thing that will be achieved is more deportations, the loss of our DACA citizens and a fence that will never serve the purpose it was built for.

November 14, 2016

Chinese President Xi Jinping listens to French Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault during their meeting in Beijing, China, on October 31, 2016.

Beijing - Chinese President Xi Jinping (click here) reaffirmed the importance of relations with the United States in a phone conversation with President-elect Donald Trumpon Monday, opening communication with a politician who had been strongly critical of China during his campaign.

State media reported that Xi congratulated Trump on his election and said cooperation was the “only correct choice” for China and the U.S., the world’s two biggest economies.

“At present, there is an important opportunity and huge potential in China-U.S. cooperation,” Xi told Trump, according to the reports....

President Obama is traveling to reassure allies and friends. I don't think that is the best message. Trump needs to prove himself as an ally before he is greeted as one.

President Obama now has a new title, "Mentor and Chief." Really?

November 14, 2016
By Gregory Korte

...Obama departs for what might be described as a humility tour. (click here)

His visits to Greece, Germany and Peru this week will deal with a wide range of American issues abroad — all of them cast in a new light by one big development back home: the election of Donald Trump.

"Of course, the Europeans are all mouths agape. How did this happen? What does it mean?" said Kurt Volker, the former U.S. permanent representative to NATO in the Bush and Obama administrations who spent election night in Berlin.

The forces that helped elect Trump — anxiety about trade, terrorism and migration — are some of the same forces roiling Europe. "I think it will be a topic on Obama's trip: All of our countries are going though this surge of anti-establishment populism," Volker said.

When Obama was the president elect, he often reminded people that the United States only has "one president at a time." And while White House aides say he'll be "running through the tape" until Jan. 20, they also acknowledged that Trump's election looms over the agenda....

I actually think the USA can manufactuer far better products than the industries right now by China. I strongly suggest Wall Street rethink their idea of global markets that victimize human beings while they bank role the misery.

But, that isn't going to be the policies that result in Washington, DC. Trump owes Chinese banks a cool billion US. He has a branch of the Bank of China housed in one of his buildings. Trump is worse than the USA's national debt, he won't even be able to entertain a change in policy with China. China owns him.

Right wing America actually thought they were going to FINALLY achieve all they wanted from previous Republican administrations? Think again.

With that reality, what was his purpose in running for President?

14 November 2016
By Tom Phillips

US president-elect Donald Trump (cllick here) would be a “naive” fool to launch an all-out trade war against China, a Communist party-controlled newspaper has claimed.

During the acrimonious race for the White House Trump repeatedly lashed out at China, vowing to punish Beijing with “defensive” 45% tariffs on Chinese imports and to officially declare it a currency manipulator....

There are at least 100 faults in this region of New Zealand that is known.

The November 13, 2016 M 7.8 earthquake (click here) in North Canterbury, New Zealand, occurred as the result of shallow oblique-reverse faulting on or near the boundary between the Pacific and Australia plates in South Island, New Zealand. At the location of this earthquake, the Pacific plate moves to the west-southwest with respect to the Australia plate at a rate of approximately 40 mm/yr. The epicenter of the earthquake is about 30-45 km south-southeast of the main surface expression of the plate boundary in the region—the Hope Fault, part of the Marlborough Fault system that connects a subduction zone (the Hikurangi Trough) to the primary plate boundary in the South Island—the Alpine Fault....

The Pacific and Australian plates are enormous and very heavy. Movement along faults this size is not at all a matter of control. These plates will continue to move and cause danger to life in New Zealand.

If these quakes were a matter of a far smaller fault the rebuilding would never be in question, but, that is not the issue as it presents itself.

Kiwis are wonderful people. They deserve and need peace of mind for themseles and their children. To expect their love of their country and their homes without question is foolishness. The people of this region have experienced danger for years now and is approaching a decade. That is half a generation. What are the children learning about their world that will cause them adverse outcomes to their lives.

New Zealand is an absolutely beautiful country, but, that needs to be balanced with the tectonic activity effecting the people. New Zeland will continue to be a much admired country with some of the beautiful places on Earth, but, there needs to be a far more sober approach to communities and their future in such violently unstable land.

The first major earthquake in this active region caused no deaths even with such high rickter numbers. That speaks to the expertise of the New Zealand people and thier awareness of their land. The city did exceptionally well in that first quake, but, the region has rattled apart. The New Zealanders need to apply reason to their expertise and protect their children and their future.

The USA and Australia need to participate in moving people to safety in New Zealand.

There are going to be areas along this region that will never be stable again. The people of New Zealand have to have reassurance they can live a sustainable future rather than one that requires continuing danger and rebuilding. To ask the people of this region to remain loyal to rebuilding is a human rights violation as far as I am concerned. Fearing the very land under one's feet is not a healthy population of any country.

November 14, 2016
By Conrad Heine

“Here we go again” (click here) was possibly the first reaction of many New Zealanders when the top of the country’s South Island was struck by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake just after midnight (local time) in the early hours of Nov. 14. The human toll—two, at time of writing—paled in comparison to the 185 who died in the earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand’s second-largest city, in February 2011. But there was still, said prime minister John Key, “utter devastation,” including smashed highways and railway lines across, and significant damage to towns. Kaikoura (population 3,740), famed more for whale-watching tourism than seismic events, was cut off....

This deadly trend in New Zealand is not over. This earthquake is a result of the many other earthquakes before it. The New Zealand people may need immigration status in Australia. I would suggest any movement of people be based in families and not individuals.

This is long sustained damage. The country has resources, but, with repeated quakes those resources will become depleted. New Zealand's government needs to look realistically at the recent past, today and what occurred since the first severe Christchurch earthquake. I do believe the USGS would state the idea of rebuilding in quake zones is something that needs to be considered differently and/or abandoned.

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster 

"Okeydoke"

Steve Bannan looks like an Alcoholic and should be treated as same. He offers no dignity to Americans.

"That’s why there are some unintended consequences of the women’s liberation movement. That, in fact, the women that would lead this country would be pro-family, they would have husbands, they would love their children. They wouldn’t be a bunch of dykes that came from the Seven Sisters schools up in New England. That drives the left insane and that’s why they hate these women."

This is a statement of hate against women. Why would anyone ever tolerate such a hateful person in the USA? There are two standards with such men; to love the women that love him and to hate in the most vile way women who don't. This is all the old world of the old, white man. There are no surprises here.

"Good Night, Moon"

Full moon

14.2 days old

99.6 percent lit

November 12, 2016
By Jessica Orwig

The most spectacular supermoon (click here) of the 21st century, so far, is happening early next week.
It's an event worth remembering since there won't be another supermoon like it for the next 18 years. So, get your cameras ready and follow the advice of NASA's lead photographer Bill Ingalls:

"Don't make the mistake of photographing the moon by itself with no reference to anything. Instead, think of how to make the image creative — that means tying it into some land-based object. It can be a local landmark or anything to give your photo a sense of place," Ingalls said....

...Supermoons take place when the moon's closest approach to Earth coincides with a full moon. This can only happen four to six times within a single year.
At exactly 6:23 am EST on Monday, November 14 the full moon will be just 221,524 miles from Earth. That's about 30,000 miles closer than when Apollo 11 launched to the moon on July 16, 1969....