Can it be agreed that police killed Mr. Sterling? I think that is clear.

May 3, 2017
By Mark Berman and Wesley Lowery

...2. Some things were kept out of the report (click here) — but not kept secret

The Justice Department says that “particularly sensitive facts and evidence” are not being disclosed to maintain the integrity of a forthcoming state investigation.

However, attorneys for Sterling’s family announced at a news conference that federal investigators told them that Salamoni, before the shooting — when the officer first drew his gun and pointed it at Sterling’s head — told Sterling, “I’m going to kill you.”

That detail, which Sterling’s family’s attorney say was drawn from still-unreleased audio and video of the interaction, could be a factor in whether state prosecutors bring charges.

“It shows Officer Salamoni’s mindframe,” Chris Stewart, the lead attorney for the Sterling family, said in an interview. “He was just out there raging, to put a gun to someone’s head who isn’t doing anything. They weren’t wrestling or fighting yet.”

An attorney for Salamoni declined to discuss whether the officer made the threat....

The question is why was Mr. Sterling killed. This is not about his crime. Crimes are suppose to be tried in a court of law and not decided on the street by police officers. That is the problem in the Philippines and should be a real concern when it happens in the USA.

A gun is not a restraining device. That is something that occurs all to often. The gun is drawn and used inappropriately. In the case of Mr. Sterling it is completely obvious the gun was used inappropriately. A gun of a police officer should never be used to threaten a citizen to lie still. The job of the police officer, or in this case officers, is to restrain the suspect and arrest him. Guns are not a restraining device. There was absolutely no indication Mr. Sterling was anything but restrained. 

If Mr. Sterling was proving to be a problem to get into hand cuffs then the police have a microphone (in the case of most police departments) on their shoulder so BACK UP can be called. A gun is not a restraining device.

There is no reason for a police officer to shoot anyone if they are unarmed OR have been disarmed.

There is every reason to believe if a police officer is holding a gun to the head of someone restrained, especially with the fear of police running through the African American Community today, the suspect will struggle more in an attempt to get away.

I profoundly believe the federal authorities are dead "W"rong. The officer deliberately shot Mr. Sterling while he was adequately restrained. If an officer can remove his hand to find his gun, open the safety and kill a man; he could have called for back up from his shoulder microphone.

In the years of "W" we saw a new police procedure called, "barrage of bullets." Now, police are being exonerated for killing a man in cold blood and carrying out their own justice on the street.

The Trump White House is telling those that oppose the Republican ? health care ? bill to write amendments.

It is a strategy to get Republican legislators to "shut up and put up." If enough Republicans get their amendments through to pass the bill then the bill goes to the Senate. The Senate will modify it and there will be reconciliation.

There are no guarantees the best amendments will pass. Rep. Upton can place an amendment before the Congress and it won't pass necessarily. That means Upton won't vote for the bill, but, that doesn't mean the bill dies if his colleagues will vote for it because their amendments passed. There will probably be conflicting amendments passed just so the bill will pass. It will be a mess by the time it reaches the Senate. Who knows what the House or Senate will really pass as in the way of law. 

May 3, 2017
By Alan Fram

Washington — Michigan's Fred Upton, (click here) a respected moderate Republican lawmaker who had announced his opposition to the party’s health care bill said Tuesday he’s crafting an amendment with the backing of GOP leaders that could gain crucial support for the languishing measure.

Upton, R-St. Joseph, said the proposal would provide $8 billion over five years to help people with pre-existing medical conditions pay their costly insurance premiums. It comes with many party moderates opposing the high-priority legislation, even as GOP leaders press holdouts to back it and push it through the House before the chamber begins a week-long recess scheduled to start Friday.

Upton described the plan to the Associated Press late Tuesday, hours after he revealed he was opposing the bill because it weakened insurance protections President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul provides people with pre-existing illnesses. Republicans want to repeal much of that 2010 law....

The Upton proposal would provide $8 billion over five years. Then what? The assistance with coverage payments will end? The illnesses these folks suffer from won't end.

That is $1.6 billion per year. Is that necessary and/or sufficient. 

The Republicans need to run their mess through the GAO and get the facts straight.

Now it is back to killing civilians. There were three American soldiers injured, but, also 25 innocent civilians wounded.

That is a messed up MRAP. It did it's job, though. Tires or tracks would have met the same end. The turrets take care of the flat tires. I hate war.

Perhaps announcing the expected arrival of a convoy will provide a chance to clear traffic and people and prevent a chance for suicide bombers. Yes?

I think that is the right thing to do. I realize how unannounced arrivals can be viewed as a safer method, however, this clearly illustrates there is no such thing as an unannounced arrival. I would think that obvious.

There is no way of taming a government infrastructure if there are leaks, especially when the American presence is minimal and not part of the day to day activity of a government. In this case, the announced arrival brings with it an understanding of danger. In that, the procedure that brings these military machines into a civilian area is important enough. Clearing the area while procedures are carried out is far more safer in my opinion.

I think it was really poor insight and planning. Someone is getting lazy. The attack on the unarmed Afghan military should have been a clue to the increased hatred in the country. Someone is desperately trying to disrupt whatever peace exists in Afghanistan. 

IT IS NOT SAFE FOR AMERICANS ANYMORE! And from the looks of it, anyone else for that matter.

I would expect any supplies that were to be off loaded would be done so by Americans AFTER they checked the area as if a war zone and under attack. Americans need to carry out their activity in plain sight and with respect for the lives of civilians.

I thought the USA military was suppose to be good at urban warfare.

May 3, 2017
By Mujib Mashal and Fahim Abed

Kabul, Afghanistan — At least eight Afghan civilians (click here) were killed and three American soldiers wounded on Wednesday when a suicide bomber attacked an American military convoy during the morning rush hour in Kabul, officials said.

The explosion happened around the corner from one of the entrances of the heavily guarded United States Embassy at the center of the Afghan capital, as a convoy of American soldiers passed through.

Najib Danish, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry, said eight Afghans were killed and 25 wounded in the car bombing.

“All of them were civilians,” Mr. Danish said....

CNN is correct.

May 2, 2017
By Tara Golshan

...Donald Trump’s (click here) presidential campaign is revisiting a cherished pastime, picking a fight with the “fake news station” CNN.

On Tuesday morning, the president’s campaign blasted out an email denouncing CNN for refusing to run a Trump advertisement on the president’s first 100 days in office — a mark Trump hit on April 29. “FAKE NEWS STATION REFUSES TO RUN AD HIGHLIGHTING THE PRESIDENT'S FIRST 100 DAYS,” the email read.

“It is absolutely shameful to see the media blocking the positive message that President Trump is trying to share with the country,” Michael Glassner, the Trump campaign’s executive director, said in a statement. “It's clear that CNN is trying to silence our voice and censor our free speech because it doesn't fit their narrative."...

Unless the Federal Trade Commission has become as corrupt as the Trump campaign there is still a law requiring "Truth in advertising." All media in the USA should follow that policy without exception.

When consumers see or hear an advertisement, (click here) whether it’s on the Internet, radio or television, or anywhere else, federal law says that ad must be truthful, not misleading, and, when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence. The Federal Trade Commission enforces these truth-in-advertising laws, and it applies the same standards no matter where an ad appears – in newspapers and magazines, online, in the mail, or on billboards or buses. The FTC looks especially closely at advertising claims that can affect consumers’ health or their pocketbooks – claims about food, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, alcohol, and tobacco and on conduct related to high-tech products and the Internet. The FTC also monitors and writes reports about ad industry practices regarding the marketing of alcohol and tobacco....

CNN is just as much a consumer of advertising than any other American. I would think they would have more interest in getting paid regardless of the ad, but, there are still shreds of decency left in the USA and this is one of them. 

The dream of fools.

This is the top of the world where currents converge and change with every minute that passes in a day. Where the sun heats currents in summer and makes them cold in winter.

As global warming (click here) melts sea ice across the Arctic, shipping routes once thought impossible — including directly over the North Pole — may open up by midcentury. But high costs may keep the new routes from being used right away.

There is a lot of water turbulence in the Arctic Ocean. I don't really see a  Super Panamax doing well. There will be a lot of free floating tennis shoes for those with that inclination.

But, the loss of life when ships lose their buoyancy as cargo slips and shifts will bring the world to a different resolve than today. That is the way of the world, learn the hard way, ie: global warming. Capitalism. It has no restraint, only greed to be tamed with reality.

The Groundhog never said there would be an option beyond six weeks.

May 3, 2017
8:00 AM EST
Intellicast Current Temperature Map (click here)

February 2, 2017

...According (click here) to the Groundhog Club's records, the various incarnations of Punxsutawney Phil have predicted 103 forecasts of more winter and 17 early springs. (There are nine years without any records, and even the Punxsutawney Area Chamber of Commerce, which keeps track of these things, doesn't know what happened to Phil during those years.) Data from the Stormfax Almanac's data shows that Phil's six-week prognostications have been correct about 39 percent of the time....

This is a real time satellite view of the USA water vapor cover. The hot air mass and cold air mass are mixing at the larger area of Kansas and Missouri.

3 May 2017
1130.18z 
Unisys Water Vapor Satellite of USA (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Noted in the loop is rapid movement of the Arctic air flow. 

When air warms it takes up more space. The troposphere is a somewhat limited capacity so that air expansion happens within a somewhat closed envelope of air. More air, less space, movement is exaggerated and more dangerous.

May 3, 2017
1130.18z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the north and west hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

It was a wedge tornado a mile wide. There was dearly little space to run to except underground.

This article is from "The Weather Channel." They do a great job at educating people and attempting to keep them safe. The survivors in this story followed their instincts. They were right. Their fear served them well.

May 2, 2017

By Sean Breslin

...Stevenson admitted she began to panic, (click here) stuck in an unfamiliar town with no idea where to go. She left the freeway on Exit 528 and stopped at the first building she saw off the exit – I-20 Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. The building was under construction for a planned expansion, and there were a few dozen vehicles for sale in the parking lot. In a matter of minutes, many of those cars would be pulverized and sent flying onto I-20.

"I headed toward the dealership thinking it was a gas station. I was so scared and didn't know what to do, but I saw the headlights of the other car that survived the tornado with me," Stevenson told weather.com. "Their headlights were like a beacon and they may have saved my life. I pulled in right behind the other car before wedging myself between the heavy scissor lift and the wall."

Knowing her only chance to survive would be if the car stayed on the ground, Stevenson got as low to the floor of her Honda Civic as she could and stayed on the phone with Zach. As she repeatedly yelled "I love you" into the phone, debris flew through the car and just above her head. The decision to get onto the floor of the vehicle saved her life....

May 2, 2017

By Scott Sistek

As former Lake Stevens resident Benjamin Jurkovich (click here) was deciding where to storm chase last weekend in the Midwest, he played a hunch and decided to head into eastern Texas.

He ended up being front and center to a mile-wide tornado that claimed the lives of five people and caused tremendous damage in Canton, Texas.

As he neared the town, already two relatively weak (by Texas) tornadoes had touched down in the vicinity, but then the major tornado would strike a short time later.

"I began heading southwest out of Canton to intercept," Jurkovich said. "The area I’d been tracking earlier was just to my northwest. A new area had formed to the southwest though, and was heading directly towards me and Canton, Texas."

He said he drove north to get out of that cell's way and then assessed the situation. It was a good decision....

                         

This is classic F-3 tornado damage.

My sincere sympathy to the families of those that were lost.

The reason these homes were not completely lost is because their walls are brick, otherwise, they would have been destroyed beyond recognition. Even with walls destroyed it is still an F3. I don't recognize the Enhanced Fajita Scale because it was created for insurance companies to cheat residents of their insurance monies. There is no such thing as a partial F3 tornado.