World Environment Day 2017 (click here)

Google not only has an incredible display today, but, the loyalty and work is highly notable. I especially thought their monitoring of the fisheries was a great humanitarian work. People will directly benefit from that one aspect of Google's dedication alone.

Thank you, Google.

After some thought and preparation, a lecture.

5 June 2017

Bob Dylan (click here) has delivered his Nobel lecture, the only requirement to claim the money that comes with his prize for literature, the Swedish Academy confirmed on Monday.

“The speech is extraordinary and, as one might expect, eloquent. Now that the lecture has been delivered, the Dylan adventure is coming to a close,” Sara Danius, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, which awards the prize, wrote in a blog post.

In the speech, sent to the academy with an audio link in which Dylan reads it aloud, the enigmatic rock star reflects on the possible links between his lyrics and literature.

“When I first received this Nobel prize for literature, I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to literature,” Dylan said.

He then cited musicians who inspired him – including Buddy Holly, whose music “changed my life” and made him want to write songs when he was a teenager – and the classic novels that made a big impression on him, including Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front and The Odyssey.

Dylan is the first songwriter to win the prestigious Nobel prize for literature.

The lecture can take nearly any form – including a short speech, a performance, a video broadcast or even a song – and must be held within six months of 10 December, the date of the Nobel prize ceremony and the anniversary of the death of the prize’s founder Alfred Nobel.

Dylan will be able to claim the 8m kronor (€819,000 / $923,000) that comes with the prize.

He was honoured “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” the Academy said when it announced Dylan as the winner in October....

At least two of the murderers in London lived there for some time and one was a British citizen.

June 5, 2017
By Griff Witte and Karla Adam

London — Police on Monday (click here) named two of the three attackers who killed seven people during a rampage through central London, saying that both had lived only miles away from the scene of the carnage and that one had been on the radar of security services.

London’s Metropolitan Police identified the assailants as 27-year-old Khuram Shazad Butt, a British citizen who was born in Pakistan, and 30-year-old Rachid Redouane, who had claimed to be Moroccan and Libyan. 

Both lived in the Barking area of east London, only a half-hour’s drive from London Bridge and Borough Market — the two adjacent areas where victims were targeted Saturday night. Police did not identify the third attacker, saying efforts to confirm his identity are ongoing.

One of the attackers had been investigated in 2015, but police said they had no warning of a plot and the investigation had been dropped to a lower priority. 

“Khuram Shazad Butt was known to the police and MI5,” police said in a statement, referring to Britain’s main domestic intelligence agency. “However, there was no intelligence to suggest that this attack was being planned and the investigation had been prioritized accordingly. The other named man, Rachid Redouane, was not known.”...

"The Daily Mail" describes young men radicalized for their own identity as they resided in London.

- One of the London Bridge terrorists who killed seven was left 'traumatised' at the age of 12 by death of father.
- Killer was also involved in a car accident outside his east London home when he was around eight years old 

- Family friends said he 'became radicalised' in 2013 at a conservative mosque and 'tried to convert children'

- Arsenal supporter 'slipped through the security services' net' despite being reported to police twice

5 June 2017

By Jake Willis Simons

One of the Borough Market (click here) terror attackers was left traumatised at the age of 12 by the death of his father, MailOnline can reveal. 

The killer, 27, (According to the Washington Post, the 27-year-old is Khuram Shazad Butt) whose name is not being released on police advice but who is known as 'Abz', had also been run over outside his house in East London when he was around eight years old.

Neighbours said his father 'brought the children up well' and that his loss had a profound effect on the youngster, paving the way for his extremism.

He later became radicalised and had an arranged marriage which produced two children.

The new details come as it emerged the killer:

• 'Slipped through the security service net' despite being reported to police twice for extremism,...

This occurred in Boston as well. What is it about police work that is dismissing a potential killer?

Texas had achieved the highest mortality rate of maternal deaths in the developed world.

20 August 2016
By Dianne Depra

Researchers (click here) have discovered that maternal deaths have nearly doubled in Texas, but data also showed that the problem is prevalent across the United States.

In a study to be published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers report that 148 women in Texas died in 2012 due to pregnancy-related causes, up from 2010's 72 deaths. Additionally, the overall maternal death rate in the state jumped from 18 deaths for every 100,000 births in 2006 to 36 for every 100,000 births in 2014.

"It's a tragedy and it really is an embarrassment. This is a problem we should be able to address and fix," said Dr. Daniel Grossman from the University of Texas at Austin's Texas Policy Evaluation Project.

While the rise in maternal deaths in Texas coincided with the state slashing its family planning budget, researchers did not identify that as the cause for the spike. Actually, no one is sure why the problem is as prevalent as it is.

arah Wheat, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas spokesperson, has pointed out that family planning clinics are entry points for women accessing the health care system. With family planning clinics closed because of the budget cuts, women may be delayed in receiving the care they and their baby need to thrive....

Further analysis of the study related deaths due to lack of health care access and insurance. African Americans are disproportionately impoverished.

5 June 2017
By Alexandra Lozovschi

...In addition, (click here) the 2016 study uncovered black women are disproportionately affected, being more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth. Although this ethnic group accounts for only 11 percent of births, black mothers make up 28 percent of pregnancy-linked fatalities.

These findings are consistent with a Vox analysis of the data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The investigation, conducted in the same year, underlined the U.S. maternal death rate doubled since 1987, while decreasing in majority of other countries.

The 2016 Vox analysis also stated black mothers have a triple risk of dying during childbirth compared with white mothers....

"Poverty Rate by Race and Ethnicity" (click here) (Time frame 2015)

White - 9 %
Black - 24%
Hispanic - 21%
Other - 14%

Other includes Asians, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, American Indians, Aleutians, Eskimos and persons of "Two or More Races". These groups have been combined due to their small populations in many states which prevent meaningful statistical analyses of the groups individually.

US Total 14% poverty rate.

Governance, real governance, looks at the entire picture of government policy and decides where changes can realistically be made and does so to improve the outcome of the people while in respect to tax rates, etc.

Texas rejected the Medicaid Expansion which would have provided the state with over $100 billion in federal monies over the next 10 years. Texas' rejection of help through the Medicaid expansion is obvious.

White - 8%
Black - 23%
Hispanic - 21%
Other - 14%
Overall - 15%

My sincerest sympathies to family and friends of the victims, but, this has nothing to do with a travel ban.

This is work place violence. This is an American killing Americans. It is not a new phenomena and by demanding a travel ban it takes attention away from the real problem facing Americans.

June 5, 2017
By David Harris and Michael Williams

Five employees (click here) were killed in a shooting at Fiamma, a business on North Forsyth Road near Hanging Moss Road near Orlando, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office reported this morning.

The shooter — a former “disgruntled employee” who was fired in April — then killed himself, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.

“Sad day for us once again here in Orange County. … Hearts and prayers go out to family of the victims,” Demings said.

Four people — three males and a female — were dead at the scene, and another male victim died at the hospital, Demings said. Seven other people inside the business were not injured....

John Mohammad was an American and former military.


(left) Over course of several months, John Allen Muhammad (born John Allen Williams) unleashed his assault primarily on the D.C area, killing 10 people and injuring over 14 others.

Seung-Hui Cho was a second generation immigrant from South Korea. His family had worried about mental health all during his childhood. The guns Cho used were not controlled and he killed innocent people. He had been in the country since the age of 8 suffering from mental illness. I do not believe he was on medication at the time of the murders.

(right) Student Seung-Hi Co shot and killed 32 people on Virginia Tech's campus in 2007. The mass murder ended when he turned the gun and shot himself in the head.

An American White Supremacist shot and killed three police officers because he wanted to.

(left) April 4, 2009, Richard Poplawski shot and killed three police officers in Pittsburgh, Pa. Poplawski is said to have white supremacist ties as well as anti-government views. Some say he also feared gun laws and President Obama.


A mentally ill American was able to obtain guns, believed in lucid dreams (of which he kept a journal), and hated his Democratic Congresswoman.

(right) On January 8, 2011, Jared Lee Loughner shot U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and eighteen others during a supermarket parking lot meeting called "Congress on Your Corner" in Tucson, AZ. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, Loughner was found unfit to stand trial and was given life in prison for the murders of six people.

James Holmes is an American that decided, as Batman, he had a license to kill. He obtained guns, munitions in incredible numbers, bobby trapped his apartment with explosives to kill police (he knew he would be identified and the authorities would come for him) and killed innocent Americans as they sought some entertainment.

(left) James Eagan Holmes opened fire on a movie theater in Aurora, CO on July 20, 2012. Holmes killed 12 people and at least 70 people were injured on the scene. In 2015, Holmes was given 12 life sentences in addition to 3,318 years in prison.

Wade Michael Page is a American white supremacist that decided he would kill innocent people while they practiced their religion. Page is a former Army Veteran.

(right) Shooter Wade Michael Page attacked a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin on August 5, 2012. Page killed six people and wounded four others before taking his own life. Page had ties to white supremacist groups and neo-Nazis.

Aaron Alexis, an former American Navy man, woke up one day and decided he would kill more Americans.

(left) On September 16, 2013, Aaron Alexis killed 12 people and injured three others when he opened fire on the Washington Navy Yard in DC. The shootout ended when Alexis was killed police. According to the FBI, Alexis was under "the delusional belief that he was being controlled or influenced by extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves."

Eric Frein is an American that had an affection for playing Russian soldiers in Serbia, etc. He had a love of guns from the time in high school. He was on the FBI "Most Wanted" list while he hid from capture for 48 days in the wilderness. 

(right) Eric Frein killed  two state troopers at the Blooming Grove Barracks in Pennsylvania on September 12, 2014. He is said to have anti-government views and an affinity for Russian communism.

Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr., an American White Supremacist and Neo-nazi, killed three innocent people in a hate crime in a Jewish community center. The dead were a grandfather, William Corporon, 69 years old and his 14 year old grandson, Reat Griffin Underwood and a woman, Terri LaManno age 53 a mother. Miller was a member of the Carolina Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in Robeson County, North Carolina.


(left) Neo-Nazi Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr. attacked a Jewish community center and retirement community on April 13, 2014, killing three people. It was later found that none of Miller's victims actually identified as Jewish. Miller was sentenced to death in 2015.

Two Americans affiliated with "The Bundy Ranch" took their hatred of the USA government to a new level and killed two Los Vegas police officers after being kicked off the illegally occupied Bundy Ranch land. Can't pick your family, but, evidently you can choose your friends.

(right) American married couple Jarad and Amanda Miller killed two Las Vegas police officers on June 8, 2014 resulting in a shoot out between the couple and the police. Jarad Miller was shot by the police and Amanda Miller committed suicide thereafter. The couple is said to have held extreme anti-government views.

At the age of 26 this American, Chris Harper-Mercer, a quiet man with few words for neighbors failed the USA army in five weeks while he still lived with mother. He decided killing was at least an identity and killed ten people at his college then committed suicide.

(left) On October 1, 2015, Chris Harper-Mercer went on a shooting spree at his college killing 10 people (including himself) and injured over seven other people. A clearly troubled individual, Harper-Mercer is said to have had anti-religious and white supremacist views.

This time a 21 year old white supremacist took the lives of nine people at one of the most sacred African American churches in the country. And he didn't make a grand entrance. No, nothing like that, he simply watched them prayed and talked to them about their lessons and then simply stood up and killed them. In cold blood even after he was in their living presence. Has hatred ever run so deep.

(right above) This mass shooting took place at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Charleston, South Carolina on June 17, 2015. Nine people were killed during a prayer service at the church. Later, Dylann Roof confessed to committing the shooting to start a "race war."

An American Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. decided the day after Thanksgiving he would act on his anti-abortion identity and kill some people. Politics wasn't enough he had to make it real.

(left) Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. is accused of opening fire on a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs, CO on November 27, 2015. One policeman and two civilians were killed and nine other people were injured. During initial trial proceedings, Dear openly expressed anti-abortion views which could be interpreted as motive for the attack.

These people are all Americans. They are a few examples of the sickness that is part of the American landscape, called hate. There was only one that ever had his feet on foreign soil as a child. All these men decided their identity was tied up in a faulty male value in hate. That is all these men had in common, hate. Some had mental health problems and others simply wanted to kill for reasons of hate. 

THERE IS NOTHING about these killers that spells Travel Ban ANYWHERE! While the White House plays with ideas of hate, the Americans that follow him are diluted to think he is right.

There is a specific exception in US firearms law that permits a non-immigrant alien to purchase and possess provided they have a hunting license issued to them from the State they are a resident of and as long as all other Federal and State laws are followed on firearms ownership.

In case the US Congress doesn't get it, Trump is not practicing US Foreign policy for the national defense, he is conducting business throughout the legislation and Cabinet. He is good for business, but, US Foreign policy is sacrificed. The USA national defense is compromised. When Trump's Congress and Cabinet are finished the USA and its allies will be hemmed in by Putin.

Just as a reminder, the USA petroleum industry was given freedom to export any US petroleum resources.

Trump is bailing out his company by proxy and welcoming any other Wall Street company to do the same. When sanctions were raised for Venezuela as a possible strategy, Goldman Sachs raced to exclusive business investment. After Goldman moved into Venezuela some opinion media began to back off sanctions and state the Venezulian government fall of its own problems.

See, Plutocrats are anarchists so long as they are safe on their ivory towers. We saw this under "W" with Halliburton and no bid contracts and avoidance of fines, etc. Egotistical CEOs think they can solve every world problem if given a chance. It has never worked, China is a prime example and the list is long, including, Nigeria, Equator, Bangladesh, India, etc. 

China finally has a business prowess that is producing a middle class after exploitation for so long. But, if Wall Street was the answer it would have been US policy a long time ago.

The Republicans are fools for there own rhetoric. Elections come first, then the country. McConnell will scream Democrats from morning to night and never address the country's foreign policy. It works to keep him in office, but, the condition of the people and the country are sacrificed. 

I want my country back, intact and protecting it's public lands and resources. No more petroleum exports.

Republicans are afraid to be off message.