17 March 2017
By Matthew Acton

Dictator Kim Jong-un's troops are riddled with STDs.

The powerful drug is legal and cheap (click here) in the secretive country and used to treat a variety of health problems.

North Korea prostitutes are trying to stave off the nation’s sexually transmitted disease epidemic with OPIUM.

The hermit nation has a raging clap problem due to hordes of Kim Jong-un’s sex-starved soldiers spreading the disease when on leave.

They pay impoverished women with small amounts of money or food for unprotected sex as condoms are scarce.

A defector revealed: “There are many women engaging in prostitution.

“There are more who don’t consider chastity or honour as being worth anything in the face of hunger.

“Opium is supposed to prevent STDs. Opium is not considered illegal in North Korea,” she explains...

Mar 16, 2017

Reuters reports that An Oklahoma Republican state senator who campaigned as a champion of family values was charged with felony prostitution on Thursday after authorities found him in a motel room with a teenage boy, the Cleveland County District's office said. Ralph Shortey, 35, was charged with three felony counts including engaging in child prostitution, the office said. Shortey, who has served since 2010, has not spoken to media about the incident. According to an arrest affidavit, police found Shortey and a 17-year-old male, who was not named, in a motel room in Moore, south of Oklahoma City, on March 9.

Child prostitution charges (click here) have been filed against Oklahoma Sen. Ralph Shortey, a member of President Trump’s state leadership team, after he was found with an underage boy in a motel room, authorities said Thursday....

This is a nightmare.

A North Korean soldier (click here) tried to take a photo through a window while US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited a facility in the village of Panmunjom, which separates the two Koreas.

I don't care if the North Korean soldier was sending the pictures to his Aunt Tilley, it should not have happened. This is NOT security, national or otherwise!

March 18, 2017
By David E. Sanger

Seoul — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (click here) ruled out on Friday opening any negotiation with North Korea to freeze its nuclear and missile programs and said for the first time that the Trump administration might be forced to take preemptive action “if they elevate the threat of their weapons program” to an unacceptable level.

Tillerson’s comments in Seoul, a day before he travels to Beijing to meet Chinese leaders, explicitly rejected any return to the bargaining table in an effort to buy time by halting North Korea’s accelerating testing program....

There should be no strong arm tactics at the United Nations.

There should be no threats or hostage taking as with Mr. Khalaf. She is a respected diplomat and dedicated to her work. Israel has taken some very extreme positions in regard to Palestine since the election of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Those changes noted by diplomats should be recorded and made part of the permanent record on human rights.

March 17, 2017

By Rick Gladstone and Somini Sengupta

The top official of a United Nations commission (click here) that published a report describing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as apartheid quit on Friday, saying the organization’s leader insisted that she withdraw it. The report provoked outrage from Israel and the United States.

The official, Rima Khalaf, a Jordanian diplomat who is executive secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, defended the report. Her resignation, barely two days after publication, punctuated the polarized politics of the Israeli-Palestinian impasse.

Ms. Khalaf’s resignation also reflected the pressure from the Trump administration on her boss, Secretary General António Guterres. President Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki R. Haley, has assailed what she and Israeli officials regard as a strong anti-Israel bias at the organization.

“When someone issues a false and defamatory report in the name of the U.N., it is appropriate that the person resign,” Ms. Haley said in response to Ms. Khalaf’s resignation. She praised Mr. Guterres for his “decision to distance his good office from it.”...

For the USA to throw it's weight around as if a bad school boy is humiliating. It shows there is no respect for the work of important people. Ms. Khalaf is an important person. I have no doubt she will be recruited into work elsewhere.

What should have occurred that didn't is for the USA and Israel to REGISTER THEIR OBJECTS with clarifying language so the permanent record is correct. Threatening to do horrible things to others and countries is not in the UN Charter as part of the diplomatic realm. It is called being civilized.

Mr. Guterres is relatively new to the job and will no doubt review all the chaos and send out letters to the leaders of the USA and Israel inviting them to participate in a civil engagement of the facts. I would expect the United Nations to engage Ms. Khalaf's work and permit other countries to register their understanding of the FACTS. Those facts should include a submission from the Palestinians as well.

March 17, 2017

By Tovah Lavaroff

Russia on Friday summoned Israeli Ambassador Gary Koren (click here) to justify Israel’s air strike in Syria at a target near the city of Palmyra.

According to Channel 2 the strike hit close to Russian troops. The Foreign Ministry confirmed Koren’s meeting with the Russians, just one day after the ambassador presented his credentials, but did not expand on its content.

Israel and Russia have a mechanism by which to coordinate military activity so as not to create a diplomatic crisis.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Moscow on March 9 for one day to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the dangers to Israel from Hezbollah and Iran in Syria.

On Friday, Netanyahu said of the air strike: “Our policy is very consistent. When we detect attempts to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah and we have the intelligence and feasibility to carry out an operation, we will work to prevent it.

This is how we acted and how we will continue to act. Our determination is strong and the proof that is that we are operating. Everyone should take this into account. Everyone.”...

I am afraid I have to agree with President Putin this time. It has been Israel's policy to intercept supplies on their way to Hezbollah. This is not an unusual activity for Israel. However, given the recent wind change in Syria and a reduction in violence, any such airstrikes risks an increase in violence. President Putin has military engagement within Syria. This could have ended differently and Israel never bothered to give a consideration to that fact. Where would be then if this escalated?

In defense of Israel; it has proven in the past it can strike with precision. That is what this airstrike appeared to be. According to reports I read there were no Israeli citizens injured or otherwise and the missiles fired from Syria were stopped by Israeli interceptors. 

As I stated, this could have ended differently, although any Israeli military official would argue otherwise. 

Other parties should have been aware. Israel, no doubt, acted because it did not want leaks or interference in carrying out their mission. 

At this point, all parties should meet at the United Nations Security Council to record all the information from all sides, including Russia and Syria. The reports should be recorded for the permanent record. I would like to know the posture of the USA military when this occurred in Syria.

From the Brennan Center for Justice:

"Countering Violent Extremism"
By Faiza Patel, Meghan Koushik

Executive Summary (click here)

President Donald Trump’s animosity towards Muslims is well documented. During his campaign, he often expressed suspicions about American Muslims, called for greater surveillance of their mosques and communities, and refused to rule out forced registration of Muslims in government databases. Within a week of taking office, he fulfilled his campaign promise to institute a "Muslim ban," issuing an executive order temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States and halting the Syrian refugee program. Two federal courts halted implementation of the order, relying in part on his calling for a ban on Muslims entering the country. Trump transition officials have also signaled the administration's intent to target American Muslims in other ways. They have floated the idea of renaming the Department of Homeland Security's Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) program “Countering Radical Islam or Countering Violent Jihad,” to make clear it will target only American Muslims. Reports suggest that such a change is imminent. New DHS Secretary John Kelly is conducting a review of the program which will determine its final contours. Four groups previously awarded over $2.2 million in federal dollars to work on CVE projects aimed at Muslim communities worried by the new administration's statements have stated that they will decline the funds, and others may follow suit.

Regardless of whether CVE is called Countering Violent Islam or not, the programs initiated under this rubric by the Obama administration — while couched in neutral terms — have, in practice, focused almost exclusively on American Muslim communities. This is despite the fact that empirical data shows that violence from far right movements results in at least as many fatalities in the U.S. as attacks inspired by Al Qaeda or the Islamic State....

The question bears brevity, in that the right wing is now in the White House and the fact they are violent and controlling should be of concern to every American. What happens now that the most violent faction in the USA is now in the Oval Office?

The National Guard turned on the students of Kent State. Get ready.

The peace and civil rights movements within the USA have always been the most non-violent methods of "Freedom of Speech" and there are always deaths within the ranks of civilians.

There were snipers on rooftops with Bush.

The deaths do not happen in the beginning....they always happen after society (The Silent Majority) is demented by the media.

DONATE WHAT YOU CAN TO PUBLIC RADIO!

The White Supremacist President of the USA has now attacked the character of President Barak Obama, the first minority president of the USA. 

Think about the symbolism globally that takes. The USA is not the only people Trump is prompting.

March 17, 2017
By Michael Price

In case you’re wondering, (click here) microwaves can’t take pictures of you. For starters, they don’t have cameras. But—and I can’t believe I’m writing this—Kellyanne Conway earlier this week was right to raise concerns about the security of “smart” devices connected to the Internet, even if it was an attempt to distract from President Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that President Obama had “wiretapped” Trump Tower.

Had Conway said she was worried about her dishwasher instead of her microwave, she might’ve been on to something. Back in 2012, a Wired headline read, “CIA Chief: We’ll Spy On You Through Your Dishwasher,” describing the clandestine agency’s very real plans to hack the “Internet of Things.” And as we now know, the CIA did find a way to turn Samsung “smart” TVs into covert listening devices....

Americans believe in "FAIRNESS." Fairness America Style is under attack by the Trump administration. These words by Conway (a woman and soft target) are crying about fairness that she does not deserve.

Conway is attempting to move the Russian issue to a back burner to replace it with surveillance of a candidate that had not received the benefit of a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) hearing. That taps directly into the American underlying anger with surveillance by the government.

Americans can and should listen with better ears. They not only have to listen to words, they have to listen to their gut. What are those words causing when hearing them? DO NOT become robots to propaganda.

Tapper's interview would go on to state the issue with Russia and President Obama are two different issues. That is true. Russia is a national security issue and any UNAUTHORIZED SPYING by the USA government on a citizen is about privacy and personal safety and security.

I wish someone would ask the question, "Can the President of the USA give an order as Commander and Chief to spy on an or many Americans?" 

Ringling Brothers has a new elephant in the room, "The Greatest Bad Ass that Ever Lived."

March 16, 2017
By Barbara Morrill

… the complete elimination (click here) of the $3 billion Community Development Block Grant program, which funds popular programs like Meals on Wheels, housing assistance and other community assistance efforts.

Commentor:

..."When you start looking at places that we reduce spending, one of the questions we asked was can we really continue to ask a coal miner in West Virginia or a single mom in Detroit to pay for these programs? The answer was no,” Mulvaney said Thursday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “We can ask them to pay for defense, and we will, but we can’t ask them to continue to pay for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”

Freedom of Speech is under attack. Why not simply state what this is? Public radio takes a beating every time there is an pathological president in the White House. They never want to be 'found out' by non-stakeholders. Public radio, unless threatened with it's existence is a non-stakeholder in DC's money game. they exist on matching grants FROM LISTENER donations. That means pubic radio actually has a following that demands that form of information and focus.

Wow, there is actually radio with a conscience.

So to review in order to provide a "more perfect union" we the rest of the USA should pay for coal mining companies dumping into streams and rivers and for the health care of their employees that they are poisoning and killing with black lung disease but should completely abandon the elderly by eviscerating Meals on Wheels and the single mom in Detroit, her child should not get any of the benefits of PBS and the childhood education programs so that child can be excluded from dreaming of becoming a scientist researching how to stop diseases for example....

See, the thing about national defense is that WE DON'T NEED IT ANYMORE!

16 March 2017
By Diana Olick

Republicans and Democrats (click here) alike have cut ribbons at community centers, neighborhood rehabilitation projects and affordable housing developments — and for the past 42 years those initiatives have been supported by the Community Development Block Grant Program.

Now, President Donald Trump wants to wipe out the program, according to the budget proposal released Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget. The program's current year funding is $3 billion.

"The Federal Government has spent over $150 billion on this block grant since its inception in 1974, but the program is not well-targeted to the poorest populations and has not demonstrated results," the budget proposal says. "The Budget devolves community and economic development activities to the State and local level, and redirects Federal resources to other activities."...

WE DO NOT NEED THE BUDGET FOR NATIONAL DEFENSE ANYMORE!

October 5, 2015
By Christopher Ingraham

It's tough to know exactly how many guns (click here) we have in the United States. Most estimates of the number of guns in the U.S. use federal tallies of the firearms manufactured, imported and exported by U.S. gunmakers. A 2012 Congressional Research Service report published exactly one month before the Sandy Hook school shooting put the number of civilian firearms at 242 million in 1996, 259 million in 2000, and 310 million as of 2009.

If that 310 million number is correct, it means that the first year of Barack Obama's presidency was an inflection point: It marked the first time that the number of firearms in circulation surpassed the total U.S. population.

Data on gun manufacturing from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives now goes through 2013. If we were to update the CRS numbers with the most recent data, we'd get a chart that looks something like this:

Adding up new guns and imports and subtracting gun exports, in 2013 there would have been roughly 357 million firearms in the U.S. — 40 million more guns than people. This is just an estimate. These numbers are blind to firearms that enter and exit the country illegally, and to guns that break down, or are lost or destroyed....

When the USA has completely ended it's funding of the USA military because the people have shown a strong willingness to return to the original US Constitution and have their own militias, there will be no reason for a national defense. People from around the globe already know you enter the USA AT YOUR OWN RISK!

As a register vote, YOU JUST HAVE TO GO THERE. We don't need a national defense budget anymore!

Let's see: $18.96 trillion / $639 million = 29.67 years to pay off the national debt.

The best part is that it eliminates OCO funds for nearly 30 years!

Discretionary Spending doesn't have to be touched.

Shhhhhh.....

Peace might actually break out of hiding!

Trump's one hundred days.

17 March 2017
By Reuters

A man who scaled the White House fence last week (click here) was on the property’s grounds for 16 minutes before he was detained, the US secret service said in a statement on Friday. 

The man hopped a 5ft fence near the US treasury department, which is located next to the White House, then climbed an 8ft vehicle gate and a shorter fence near the south-east corner of the East Wing of the White House grounds before he was caught, the secret service said....

...Tran told federal agents that he was a friend of the president and had an appointment, according to court documents. He was carrying two cans of mace, a US passport, a computer and one of Trump’s books, authorities said.

Trump commended the secret service for doing a “fantastic job” apprehending Tran.

Tran was released with no bail on Monday and returned to California, where he must submit to GPS monitoring until his next hearing in Washington.

7000 miles away, a little less than one third the circumference of Earth, there was a different wall to consider.

Does Tillerson carry "geologicals" with him? Just curious.

I have to wonder if he will be another executive to continue to transact business while in office. Paulson was in China more than DC during his two years. He now owns a financial company in China.

The American people need to remember when voting people into office, the USA government has vast resources that can be called up to serve the occupants of the Executive Branch at the time. See, these so called former executives are occupants. They have absolutely no clue about government and occupy a space they don't have to pay for OR as they see it, PAID PLENTY IN TAXES FOR. That space has value beyond it's salary and personal health benefits, etc. That space has enormous value to people normally out of power to GET THEIR HANDS ON IT. 

17 March 2017
By Tom Phillips
   
Rex Tillerson signs a wall of the dining facility on Camp Bonifas during his South Korea visit.

Donald Trump (click here) took his latest online swipe at China’s leaders as his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, flew into Beijing to finalise plans for a high-stakes summit designed to soothe tensions after months of bad blood and uncertainty.
Trump is expected to host Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach on 6-7 April for an informal “no necktie” encounter similar to the 2013 Sunnylands summit between Barack Obama and the Communist party chief.... 

US denies that Rex Tillerson was too tired to attend South Korea meetings (click here)

INTRODUCTION (click here) 

This digitally compiled maps include geology, geologic provinces, and oil and gas fields of the Asia Pacific Region. The map is part of a worldwide series of maps on CD-ROM released by the U.S. Geological Survey's World Energy Project. The goal of the project is to assess the undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources of the world and report these results by the year 2000. For data management purposes, the world was divided into eight energy regions corresponding approximately to the economic regions of the world as defined by the U.S.Department of State. The Asia Pacific Region (Region 3) includes Australia, Brunei, Cambodia,

The People's Republic of China, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, North and South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Caledonia (For "McHale's Navy" tv series aficionados; there actually is a "New Cadedonia) , New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand, Vanuatu, and Vietnam....

Oh, yeah, the online maps? Just click on the region/city or interest and the expertise of the USGS is revealed. You know it would be really interesting if the USGS plotted earthquake frequency on those maps, too.

Why plot earthquake frequency on oil and gas maps?

Well, at least Secretary of State Rex Tillerson can provide a complete picture of the cost of oil exploration, drilling and rock fragmentation.