Any excuse is a good excuse. Russia is raiding Chechnya. It is looking for rebels and terrorists.

This is what nationalism does. There has to be some entity to blame for the effects of sanctions. Why not the gays and while at it let's round up the rebels and terrorists and call them gay.

The President of the Philippines got a phone call from the USA's President, this could be interesting on a global basis.

Pursuing peace rather than irritating the entire human race about differences is a far better path. President Putin needs to investigate these assertions.

Russia is an enormous country and the powers that rule locally can take on it's own persona. We have seen this before in Chechnya with soldiers making shame an issue with women in the streets. But, with the intensification of religious enthusiasm rising, this could be a very sad outcome no one in Moscow expected.

I fully expect improvement with this issue. This is a human rights violation. It needs to stop. If there are deaths, that needs to be reported to the international community.

President Putin needs to redefine what loyalty to Russia actually is and it doesn't mean Russian against Russian. I am sure there are many in Moscow, in the eastern region of Russia, surprised at these reports. There are many, not a few and there is every expectation there are much more torture taking place.

17 October 1917
By Sarah Rainsford

Six months after reports emerged (click here) that gay men were being detained illegally and tortured in the Russian republic of Chechnya, a young man has spoken publicly for the first time about his ordeal.

Maxim Lapunov has described being held for 12 days in a blood-soaked cell, beaten with sticks, threatened and humiliated by police.

But despite reporting what he endured to the authorities, his lawyer says no proper investigation has been conducted.

Mr Lapunov, who is 30 and from Siberia, had been working and living in Chechnya for two years when he alleges he was grabbed and dragged into a car one night in March by two men he didn't know....         

There is a serpent in the Atlantic Ocean. I honestly didn't think things could get much worse.

October 17, 2017
1030.17z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

It was a real mistake to have a hurricane hit Ireland. It is a vortex unlike any before. Never saw such a thing before. What have we done?

Similar to a tornado, there are storms within the storm.

October 17, 2017
1130.18z 
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite of the north and west hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

October 17, 2017
1130.18z 
Water Vapor GOES West Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Hawaii has been having rain and wind over the past week. Ireland is not at all ready for hurricanes.

The north Atlantic has never been like this before. Earth's revenge against abuse is wind and plenty of it.

17 October 2017

Two men and a woman (click here) have been killed as the remnants of Hurricane Ophelia hit the British Isles.

As hurricane-force gusts battered the Republic of Ireland, one woman and a man died in separate incidents when trees fell on their cars.

A second man died in a chainsaw accident while attempting to remove a tree felled by the storm.

Thousands of homes and businesses lost power in Northern Ireland and Wales, along with 360,000 in the Republic.

The power company Northern Ireland Electricity said 15,000 households in the province should prepare to spend Monday night without power.

Police in Scotland say the storm has hit Dumfries and Galloway and it is forecast to continue over the region into the evening.

And in Cumbria, police in Barrow closed roads around Barrow AFC's stadium after wind damaged its roof....