The Standing Rock community in North Dakota face deadly conditions.

The North Dakota Governor has issued an evacuation order for the encampment. The Governor is not issuing orders for police to enforce the order. The order was issued to protect lives. The storm may become so deadly there will be no access for food and water. The encampment needs to move to a safe location for the moment.

November 28, 2016
By Chris Dolce, Brian Donegan, Jonathan Erdman and Linda Lam

Winter Storm Blanche (click here) will continue to bring snow and strong winds to the northern Plains during the first half of this week, leading to poor visibility and dangerous travel conditions at times. Blanche will also spread wintry weather to interior portions of New England, beginning Tuesday....

This evacuation order is no different than one issued for hurricane evacuation. There won't be police to enforce the order. The Standing Rock community needs to be sure they are secure with food and water as well as fuel for some type of warmth or leave the encampment for the time access to emergency services remain in question.

28 November 2016
By Julia Carrie Wong and Sam Levin

Citing concerns about “harsh winter conditions” (click here) and the North Dakota Disaster Act of 1985, Dalrymple said on Monday that all persons at the camp are “ordered to leave the evacuation area immediately, and are further ordered not to return to the evacuation area”.

But Cecily Fong, spokeswoman for the North Dakota department of emergency services said, “We will not be using law enforcement or national guard to enforce the order.”

The 1985 law allows the governor to “direct and compel” evacuations “from any stricken or threatened area” in the event of natural or manmade disasters.

Thousands of Native American and environmental activists have gathered at the encampment, which is on Army Corps land just north of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and close to the site where the Dakota Access pipeline is slated to cross under the Missouri river....

This is probably the definitive example of foreign relations benefiting Wall Street.

November 28, 2016

By Adam Shell

Some investors (click here) are betting on better economic ties between the U.S. and Cuba after the death of long-time Cuban leader Fidel Castro, pushing up shares of a fund with the ticker symbol CUBA that would benefit from a resumption of trade between the two countries.

The nearly 11% jump Monday of closed-end fund Herzfeld Caribbean Basin Fund (CUBA) comes despite tough talk from president-elect Donald Trump that suggests a continuation of the chilly relationship between the two countries.

The rally signals hope that Fidel Castro’s death will pave the way for better U.S. - Cuba relations and create opportunity for U.S. companies....                   

This is what occurs when a single military is successful in securing LAND. People flee to the liberated area.

War is about stability. Iraq is proof that nation building doesn't work. Assad and Russia, regardless of their status with The West, are able to take land and secure it to allow people to find a safe haven.

For humanitarian groups that want every single innocent life saved, it is sometimes inconvenient for the war and the end of deaths by the enemy, in this case, Daesh.

Those decisions sometimes have to be made. It isn't exactly about human rights, it is about numbers. The numbers of people that will live after the battle. If conducting a battle will liberate land for the people to live rather than die under enemy rule, that has to be the best choice of all very bad options.

28 November 2016
By Zouher Al-Shimale

Sakhur, Aleppo, Syria - The sound of bombs and gunfire (click here) is close and unrelenting as the refugees pick their way through the rubble littering the streets. Laden with suitcases, they arrive in the Sakhur district of Aleppo from areas to the north now engulfed in fighting, only to find yet more violence.

Others have already decided this district of eastern Aleppo is a place where they can no longer hide - amid the chaos on the streets, long-time residents are moving out as others move in, trying to beat the rapid advance of pro-government forces as they inflict defeat after defeat on the rebels who have held this area since 2012.

Civilians have begun to flee the onslaught in their thousands - 10,000 are said to have crossed into either government or Kurdish held areas over the weekend. The tide of humanity shows no sign of relenting. But no one knows where or when this will end - they are simply running...

Wack-A-Mole

While the Syrian government marched to a victory in northeast Syria, Israel faced Deash at it's border in Golan Heights.

Israel recognizes Russia as a friend. I believe there is trade between the two countries.

Today, whether intended or not Israel assisted the Syrian government to contain the Daesh members. The attack at Israel's border provided a reason to go further to end the potential to a larger threat. 

This is the problem in trying to eliminate Daesh. There is no real central command. There is no real strategy. There are only brutal soldiers with permission to kill at any cost to protect the Caliph al Baghdadi. In that diffuse structure is a great deal of cowardly priorities that puts escaping the war to live to fight another day as a high priority.

The Syrian government needs to realize what Israel did today to protect it's border and the unintended consequence was to limit the place where Daesh can move to continue the civil war in Syria. Israel did that today. Israel deserves respect for it's moral content and the stability it brings to the region. The Syrian government has to appreciate it's neighbor. Through mutual respect a deeper understanding can begin to end the chronic tensions with the Palestinians. Peace has to be a priority and today was a good example why the countries of the Middle East have to have mutual respect for the purpose of stability for it's people.

November 28, 2016
By Israel Today Staff

Israeli soldiers operating along the border (click here) between Israel and Syria on Sunday came under attack from terrorists affiliated with ISIS.

The soldiers were conducting a mission in the buffer zone between the two countries, but still inside Israeli territory, when they came under small arms and mortar fire.

Israel Air Force aircraft quickly responded, destroying a pick-up truck with a mounted machine gun and its four passengers.

“It was a short exchange, but it was productive,” said IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Peter Lerner.

Later that night, Israeli aircraft bombed a facility in Syria that had been used as a base of operations by ISIS....

Romney won't break ethics as a cabinet officer, but, Guiliani would.

It is completely obvious why Trump would choose a corruptible politician in Guiliani, rather than asking a former Massachusetts governor.

Romney never stepped over the line and passed the infamous health plan. Romney doesn't have ethical issues while serving in government. But as a hedge fund manager, only held garage sales, absconded with pension funds and put Americans in unemployment lines.

Come to think of it, Romney would be a better Secretary of State for Trump. Romney holds some of Trump's sincerest love of money before any other aspects of his life. Everyone knows Trump expects any cabinet officer to conduct business when his blind trust family member seeks help from any American embassy. So, given Romney's expertise in greed and Trump's desire for more business, it could be workable. Guiliani doesn't know anything about offshoring like Romney does.

November 25, 2016

By Kathleen Parker

More than anything else, (click here) Trump is a pragmatist and a businessman. Operative question: What works? As he begins to organize his board of directors, otherwise known as the Cabinet, he’s surely aware that Romney, of those rumored to be under consideration, would be most effective on the world stage.

The pragmatist, by definition, is unemotional about such decisions. That Romney may not be Trump’s cup of tea on any number of fronts, including the impossibility of the two settling in for some “locker room talk,” the presidency confers a broader view of the world, not to mention the burden of all that follows.

What would not work is Rudy Giuliani. Not only does the man formerly known as “America’s mayor” act like he may have plunged his finger into a live socket but his outspokenness in defense of Trump has often seemed like the mad ranting of a man angry at the moon.

We still love 9/11 Rudy, but that Rudy seems to be missing. Even if he were present, the fellow who performs best in a crisis isn’t necessarily the one who performs best in preventing a crisis.

By stark contrast, Romney would help relax tensions abroad as well as at home. He has international credibility and a sophisticated understanding of complex global relationships. Remember, it was Romney who, during his final debate with President Obama in 2012, pointed to Russia as our greatest geopolitical foe....

Hm. Russia may be a deal breaker for Romney.

It is a tough choice for Trump.       

November 28, 2016

By Tasha Moro

Cannon Ball, ND —Today, (click here) the Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC-formerly Red Owl), an initiative of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), filed suit in US District Court against Morton County, Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirschmeier, and other law enforcement agencies for using excessive force against peaceful Water Protectors on the night of November 20, 2016.

The class action suit, filed on behalf of persons who were injured on the night of November 20 and early morning of November 21, seeks an immediate injunction preventing the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement from using impact munitions such as rubber bullets and lead-filled “beanbags,” water cannons and hoses, explosive teargas grenades and other chemical agents against protesters.

Beginning on the evening of November 20, officers from the Morton County Sheriff’s Department and assisting agencies confronted peaceful Water Protectors at a bridge near the Standing Rock protest camp and within the boundaries of Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires, or Great Sioux Nation) treaty lands. Without giving any warnings or opportunity to disperse, officers fired on them with highly dangerous munitions, chemical agents, a water cannon and hoses in freezing weather. More than 200 Water Protectors were injured.

“The Morton County Sheriff’s office not only violates the constitutional rights of peaceful protesters, but their actions highlight the long history of abuse against Indigenous peoples,” said Brandy Toelupe, WPLC lawyer. “From the beginning, governments have used their latest technologies to take land and resources from Native nations and oppress Indigenous peoples. Sheriff Kirchmeier’s actions make it clear that nothing has changed,” she added....

...The complaint describes the excessive force with which the nine class representatives were met while peacefully protesting. Five are Native, including two members of the Lakota Nation. 

Vanessa Dundon of the Navajo Nation was hit in the eye with a tear gas canister that was shot by police directly at the crowd of Water Protectors. 

Jade Kalikolehuaokakalani Wool had two grenades blow up near her head, knocking her down, burning her face and sending shrapnel into it, and causing her to be hospitalized. 

Crystal Wilson was shot with a water cannon, tear gassed and shot with a munition. 

David Demo was filming police when, without warning, they shot him with a water cannon and then in the hand with a munition. He was hospitalized with broken bones and was told he would need reconstructive surgery. 

Gary Dullknife III saw a Water Protector knocked to the ground by a water cannon. As police sprayed her on the ground, he tried to move her away. He was shot in the chest, stomach and leg by impact munitions. 

Mariah Marie Bruce was peacefully protesting when police sprayed her with water cannons. She was then hit in the genitals with a grenade, and was hospitalized. 

Frank Finan was taking pictures when he was shot in the abdomen and knocked to the ground by a rubber bullet. 

Israel Hoagland–Lynn tried to help two people who had been shot with water cannons and rubber bullets and was shot in the back of his head by an impact munition. He lost consciousness, was hospitalized, and needed 17 staples for a head wound. 

Noah Michael Treanor, while praying, was shot by the water hoses or cannon. Once on the ground, he was shot in the head by an impact munition. Bleeding badly, he was hospitalized....

The long forgotten scandals of the Giuliani administration. Guiliani does play self-serving games with power.

24 May 2002
By Bill Vann

...In further cyber conversation (click here)) (by Guiliani) with the man from the Midwest, Harding confided that he would like to “move to a conservative, all-white state like Idaho,” and referred to African-American college students as “stupid monkeys.”

The HDC, the agency that Harding led, was supposed to provide low-interest loans for the building of affordable housing for New York’s predominantly black and Hispanic low-income population.

Harding, 38, was a college dropout with no experience in either housing or finance when Giuliani tapped him for the post in 1998. He was, however, the son of Ray Harding, the politically influential head of the Liberal Party, who had helped elect the Republican mayor twice by placing him on the Liberal ticket.

“Russell Harding has done an excellent job for this administration,” Giuliani declared when asked about the blatant patronage appointment. “This new job is something that he will do, I’m sure, with exceptional skill and ability. I don’t hire people because of their father, and I don’t hold anybody’s father against them either.”

A second Harding son, Robert, was picked as the city’s budget director and was later promoted to deputy mayor.

Details of Russell Harding’s spending spree first appeared in an article by Village Voice columnist Tom Robbins, who obtained expense records after filing freedom of information requests. The records showed that the bulk of the quarter-of-a-million in city money went to pay for trips taken by Harding and Luke Cusack, a close friend whom he hired as the agency’s senior vice president.

"Thunderstorm Asthma," but, this number of people experiencing it is unheard of.

November 28, 2016

By Paul Douglas

I thought I had seen everything. I was wrong. (click here)

6 people are dead, thousands temporarily hospitalized when moisture within a thunderstorm hitting Melbourne, Australia combined with pollen to trigger severe asthma attacks. A third of patients who suffered these attacks reported never having asthma before. The storm broke up grass pollen into tinier fragments, penetrating deep inside people's lungs. These events are rare, but similar cases of thunderstorm asthma have been reported in Britain, Italy, Canada and the USA.

Natural and man-made pollutants lead to twice as many premature deaths in the USA as auto accidents; over 70,000/year. People suffering from COPD and asthma are most at risk. Some of the most severe cases of air pollution strike in late fall, when warm air aloft can trap bad air near the ground....

The southern hemisphere is currently moving into the summer season as of December 1st.

Anyone with lung disease, which is what asthma is, should ask the physician for any type of protection from such attacks. I am dead serious. They do it in China for dense pollution.

The reason this can be an issue as in Melbourne is because plants have heavier pollen counts with dense CO2 content of the troposphere.

The public needs to be educated to this potential to empower them to talk to their doctors and their children's pediatrician. I doubt if most physicians in the USA have ever heard of "Thunderstorm Asthma."

The journal article below is from March 2002. That is how long and even longer investigative scientists have known the adverse outcomes of the climate crisis. The knowledge started at the time of Henry Ford's invention of the car and became an activist issue in the 1960s. POLITICS of the petroleum industry has caused greed to outweigh facts.

Production of allergenic pollen (click here) by ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifloria L.) is increased in CO2 enriched atmospheres

Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology; Volume 88, March 2002, pp: 79-82

Authors: Peter Wayne, PhD.; Susannah Foster, BS; John Connolly, PhD.; Fakhri Bazzaz, PhD.; Paul Epstein, MD

...Results

A doubling of the atmospheric CO2 concentration stimulated ragweed-pollen production by 61% (P= 0.005)

Conclusions

These results suggest that there may be significant increases in exposure to allergenic pollen under the present scenarios of global warming. Further studies may enable public health groups to more accurately evaluate the future risks of hay fever and respiratory diseases (eg, asthma) exacerbated by allergenic pollen, and to develop strategies to mitigate them.

It is somewhat comforting to know Donald Trump will not get away with lies.

The problem is the electorate does not necessary agree with the truth. That has been the case with right wing voters. They have their own allegiance and it isn't necessarily within the definition of the truth. So, when Trump is lying, it is with purpose. That is scary. Is the purpose of the presidency to validate the truth with the American people or is it to keep false allegiances and propagate lies for political gain?

Christiane Amanpour is an Iranian American and has been dedicated to serving the American viewer with educated content. She has been wildly successful in her career. It is very refreshing to know there are leaders in the journalist community that can enforce the moral ethics of the profession. 

I especially appreciated her comment about "Post Values World." Part of what I strongly believe and is the reason I demand the opportunity for "The American Dream" and a living wage is because there is obvious oppression of Americans within the plutocratic domination of our federal system, including the Supreme Court and "Citizen's United."

Between the welfare to work program that places people in a horrible place in the USA and unable to even reach for their birthright of upward mobility and the plutocratic values taking over the USA; our country is in real trouble. Donald Trump will not improve the circumstances of Americans as evidenced by his so called stimulus plan. It seems to me every corrupt individual in the right wing is latching on to him to run game on the country. I count on the esteem of journalists such as Christiane Amanpour to protect the values of the American people, truth telling and finding sincere justice.

November 26, 2016

By News Corpse

This week CNN's chief international correspondent, (click here) Christiane Amanpour, received the Burton Benjamin Memorial Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists. It is awarded at the International Press Freedom Awards for "extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom. Her acceptance speech was an inspiring appeal to "recommit to robust, fact-based reporting" in the Age of Trump.

Right from the start Amanpour addressed the serious challenge posed by Donald Trump's rancid rhetoric. She recognized the risks created by a candidate whose words literally incited violence toward reporters:

"I never thought in a million years that I'd be standing up here, after all the times I've participated in this ceremony, appealing, really, for the freedom and safety of American journalists at home."

That is indeed a sobering realization on the current state of media relations as practiced by Trump and his campaign. Even so, Amanpour expressed optimism that after the election Trump would moderate his hostility toward the press. Unfortunately, he did no such thing:...

Is the North Carolina vote on the up and up?

The complaint is taken serious enough to delay the seating of the county board of commissioners.

November 28, 2016
By Tim Buckland

...Anderson's protest alleges voter fraud, (click here) claiming that absentee ballots may have been cast by a third party group.

In his protest, Anderson claims the group, called the Bladen County Improvement Association PAC, "appears to have directly paid individuals to witness dozens of absentee ballots and even to fill in those ballots, including by handwriting the name of a write-in candidate for local office."

He also alleges to have witnessed a person entering the New Hanover County Senior Center, which was one of the county's five one-stop early voting sites, between the hours of 1 a.m. and 3 a.m. on "multiple nights."

He further claimed that his requests to personally inspect absentee ballots was denied and that he believed the fraud he is alleging "would cast doubt on the outcome of any number of elections up and down the ballot, including the historically close race for Governor....

Did I hear that the perpetrator was Somali?

November 28, 2016
By The Columbus Dispatch

...OSU President Michael Drake (click here) said training by university personnel kept things from being worse.

"We live in an unstable world unfortunately," he said. 

Drake and others spoke outside Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center.

Wexner Medical Center treated five patients: two were stabbed, two were hit by the car and one who hid after the attack and just arrived. The last victim's injuries were being assessed.

Two victims with lacerations were taken to OhioHealth Grant Medical Center. Two victims who were struck by the car were taken to OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital....

This may or may not mean anything, but, in the UK a year or more ago a police officer had his legs crushed and then killed by stabbing. I find the coincidence odd.

Sorry to hear such sorrow considering the students were returning from a holiday.

I know this won't go over well, but, in this incident there weren't multiples dead from a military style weapon. The causalities were far less in the face of such violence.  

I think Judge Gergel is wise in ordering a standby counsel to maintain the integrity of the trial.

If Dylan Roof decides half way through the trial he is unable to represent himself, the trial is still intact and will move forward. There will be no returning to a new trial. At the point Dylan Roof decides he can no longer represent himself, the standby lawyer can take over and even recall witnesses and dispute evidence.

November 28, 2016
By Sam Tyson

Charleston, S.C. (WCIV) — Wearing his prison uniform, (click here) Dylann Roof spoke to Judge Gergel Monday morning and filed a motion to represent himself.

Judge Richard Gergel stated the crimes Dylann Roof is charged with and his potential punishment, going through process of making sure Roof understands he's giving up his rights by defending himself.

Roof told the court he is capable of filing objections, motions, and handling witness questioning. He said he's ready to go with jury selection.

After conceding that a standby counsel be present, Gergel said Roof has made a clear waiver of his rights and has the ability to self-represent....

The voting is over, yet Trump continues to act as a real jerk.

Dignity has been removed from Trump's dictionary.

November 28, 2016

US President-elect Donald Trump (click here) has asserted he won the popular vote on 8 November "if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally".

The Republican, who won the all-important electoral college count, offered no evidence to back his claim.

It comes after the camp of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton said it would support a vote recount in Wisconsin initiated by a Green Party candidate.

Mrs Clinton won about two million votes more than Mr Trump in the popular vote....

...Is there any evidence of illegal votes?

Donald Trump offered no evidence himself.

Self-styled is a good description of the Trump regime. It seems to be the motto for any support of Trump.

Claim was started by self-styled conservative voter fraud specialist Greg Phillips who tweeted "Number of non-citizen votes exceeds 3 million"

Mr Phillips declined to release any evidence

His tweets were picked up by right-wing websites like Infowars.com, which has made false claims in the past

Fact-checking website Snopes.com says there is "zero evidence" that "illegal aliens" voted in election....

The deeper the elections of 2016 are examined the more curious the presidential vote becomes. Why wasn't there overwhelming numbers of popular vote for Mr. Trump?

October 19, 2016

By Shane Goldmacher

...Tom Bonier, CEO of TargetSmart, (click here) said national registration now stands at 200,081,377 voters.

The figure means more than 50 million new people have registered to vote in the past eight years. Only 146.3 million were registered as recently as 2008, when then-Sen. Barack Obama first won the White House — a remarkable 33 percent surge in the electorate during a single presidency....

Fifty million new registered (click here) voters, yet the turnout is lower?

There are pressures at work with the electorate that is artifically suppressing the vote, including the monkey business with Voter ID and limiting times voters can vote. 

I think this is important. The outcome to the elections is being tampered with and that reality is an important reality.

The overall vote count is not in so it is difficult to state where the vote was suppressed and where it was not. I believe when the final statistics are recorded the American will be surprised at the results and it's analysis.

Pure foolishness kills a Russian chest master.

November 28, 2016

Russian chess champion Yuri Yeliseyev, 20, (click here) has died after apparently plunging from a balcony on the 12th floor of a Moscow apartment block.

A fellow chess grandmaster, Daniil Dubov, said Yeliseyev had been trying to reach another balcony but slipped.

Yeliseyev reportedly practised parkour, an urban challenge which involves climbing or leaping across roofs, fences or other man-made obstacles.

He became world junior chess champion in 2012 and was a grandmaster aged 17.

He won the Moscow Open 2016 chess tournament and ranked 42nd among Russian grandmasters. His world ranking was 212....

...The origins of parkour.

Takes its name from phrase "parcours du combattant", the military obstacle course training devised by French physical educationalist Georges Hebert (1875-1957)

Modern parkour was popularised by French actor and stuntman David Belle - his video "Speed Air Man" played a large part in popularising the sport

Practitioners of parkour are often known as traceurs....

"Morning Papers" 

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

The seismic activity continues in New Zealand.

November 28, 2016

The eruptions (click here) at about 04:30 local time (15:30 GMT Sunday) woke people living in Ohinemutu, on New Zealand's North Island.

Reports said the water reached heights of between seven and 30m (23-98ft).

The area is known for geothermal activity, but the exact location and magnitude of the geyser are unusual....

...The last such event in a similar spot was in the 1960s, and the last significant eruptions nearby - about a kilometre away - were in 2000 and 2001, said Mr Scott.

But the wider area is known for geothermal activity, drawing tourists to what Visit Rotorua describes as "its spouting geysers, bubbling mud pools and colourful sinter terraces".

"Ever since we have had written records there have been accounts of these steam-driven eruptions occurring. Today's event was similar to many in the past. It wasn't very large as these events go," Mr Scott said, noting that when locals drilled for steam decades ago, there were two or three such events a year.

One geyser in the region did however spurt back to life for the first time in decades last year....

"Good Night, Moon"

The new moon

28.3 day old moon

1.6 percent lit

There is nothing wrong with dreams, but, everyone wants a "Shake 'n' Bake" atmosphere for any other planet that seems  within reach of liquid hydrogen (click here). What happens when space explorers run out of liquid hydrogen? Every planet and planetoid has a gravity. What happens when space explorers run out of liquid hydrogen as they seek the next inhabitable planet in the next solar system?

November 27, 2016
By Amy Shira-Teitel

"Could We Create A Livable Atmosphere on the Moon?" (click here)

For many years, scientists thought the moon had no atmosphere at all. Turns out that's not quite the case. The moon has a very thin atmosphere, called an exosphere, that's about 100 trillion times less dense than our own life-giving blanket of gases.

There are two main components to maintaining a decent atmosphere. You need enough gravity to keep everything in place. But you also need a kind of planetary force field to keep the solar wind at bay. Happily, Earth has both. Sadly, the moon has neither....