Wildfires and extreme drought.

The deepest of sympathies to the families and friends of the brave men lost in Arizona yesterday battling an inferno. 

Sympathies to the people of Arizona who feel the loss profoundly. 

This image from Current Large Incidents July 02, 2013 (click here)

The Yarnell Hill fire was the inferno that killed those very talented men yesterday. It is the red dot on the map.

This is the drought map of Arizona as of June 25, 2013.

The fire is drought related. Anyone can see that.

This fire is not a matter of fuel ready to start such a blaze. The fuel source is not litter on the floor of a forest. The fuel source is high grass/grasslands. This is a Climate Crisis fire due to the high ignition rate and intense heat.

...Fourteen of the men were in their 20s (click here) ....

...At least 400 firefighters were battling the fire at midday Monday, said Mary Rasmussen of the Southwest Area Incident Management Team. She said crews would focus on the eastern flank of the fire, where structures in Yarnell and Peeple’s Valley were threatened. She said efforts to determine why the firefighters died would continue....

...The low humidity, type of fuel, topography and northwest direction of the wind was feeding the and pushing it up the hill toward the communities, Reichling said....

I am not at the site of the fire. But, placing priorities on saving structures is not necessarily the best result in extinguishing the fire in an expeditious manner. The best way to end the destruction of structures is to extinguish the fires and necessarily triage the event.

The physics of fires is fairly straight forward. Grasslands burn quick, as opposed to trees. Fast burning fuel will create an inferno far faster than a forest fire will. The higher the temperature of the fire the more it will create it's own winds that will fan the fire into hotter and hotter trends. The idea is to end the blaze, not simply stop structures from burning. Wildfires are different from structure fires. 

The best strategy of any wildfire is to smother the fire and end any more fuel from igniting as soon as possible.

...Juliann Ashcraft said she found out her firefighter husband, Andrew, was among the dead by watching the news with her four children....

This should not have happened. The families should have been notified first so there was support for them before the information was released to the public. All the public HAS TO KNOW is to evacuate with early warnings expecting the possibility.

I apologize for pointing to political dysfunction, but, this has to stop. We could go on repeatedly being grateful for bravery. I prefer people alive and not dead.

...Brewer said in a statement that “it will forever ring as one of our state’s darkest, most devastating days.

“It will forever remind us of the constant peril our firefighters selflessly face protecting us. We can never repay these nineteen men and their families for their service and the ultimate sacrifice they made on our behalf. We can, however, offer them our deepest, eternal debt of gratitude.”

The governor ordered state flags to be flown at half-staff on Wednesday....

We could go on fighting fires caused by drought and lose more people and more structures if elected officials like Governor Jan Brewer doesn't stop playing politics with our people, land, natural resources and the state of the Climate.

The heat is remaining somewhat static/stable due to the increased velocity of the east Pacific tropical storm.

July 1, 2013
01:00 GMT (08:00 PM EST)
The Weather Channel Actual High Temperature Map

The tropical storm in the east Pacific has increased in velocity. It has been at 60 knots per hour. 

Nothing yet in the Atlantic. 

The central pressure of the Pacific storm has dropped to 994 and it may be reorganizing to increase it's velocity again. 

The turbulence I mentioned yesterday at Isla de la Juventud of Cuba is increasing. It is finding a water vapor trail that extends up the east coast of the USA with it's origins just south of Santa Cruz, Mexico. It is promising to be a somewhat reliable water vapor trail in which we might actually see more near shore storms develop that will dissipate some of this terrestrial heat.

That is good for people in the short term, but, in the long run that is still heating oceans relentlessly that increase the heating of the troposphere. 

 
July 2, 2013
15:00:18z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

On the left of the image, south of the Baha Peninsula of Mexico is Tropical Storm Dalila.

It may be the near shore turbulence near Santa Cruz will increase it's velocity and central circulation system, too. In best outcomes there will be three near shore circulation systems to mitigate the terrestrial heat. 

The majority of cyber attacks in the USA do not have government targets.

Government facilities are about 8% of the cyber attacks. The primary target are energy facilities. 

More lies, to fuel more fear. We don't have problems with cyber capability into our government facilities. Attempts? Sure, but, actual effect on the functioning of our government? No.

Of these attacks, 53% targeted the energy sector, followed by the manufacturing sector, which reported 17% of the incidents....

The jargon used with the cyber industry gets the attention more so than that actual threat to infrastructure. Brute force, malicious, etc. Remember when I stated there is a dreamscape whereby a CEO of Big Oil can operate an entire underwater oil field drilling operation from a beach chair? Well here it is and we as Americans are suppose to worry about that on behalf of an industry we don't even want anymore. 
 
...“The recent report by the DHS ICS-CERT is further proof that malicious actors see the energy sector as a target that is ripe with opportunity and one that is still quite susceptible to being exploited,” Kee told Softpedia in a mailed statement.

“The report notes that the first half of 2013 yielded 200 brute-force cyberattacks, surpassing 2012’s total of 198 attacks. Although attacks on major gas and electric systems are nothing new to those in the industry, these facts serve as evidence that low-level criminals, all the way up to state-sponsored groups see the value in compromising our nation’s critical infrastructure,” she added.

“This is no longer just speculative noise that causes fear uncertainty and doubt (FUD),” Kee said....

How cute, FUD, fear, uncertainty and doubt.

If the energy grid is not secure than take it offline. Really simple solution. Put EMPLOYEES back to work to keep the air conditioners running.

The NEW USA National Security arrangement is a HOAX.

"...It comes a substitute really for putting spies into locations which is lengthy and costly and has questionable results."..." This allows them to not only spy, but, also disrupt...It is political, economic and military..."

Cyberspace is the land of make believe and now our national security is suppose to depend on it. This is a very ripe area for fraud in government. If the American people believe "Curveball" was a plant to start wars, imagine the engineering of information that can occur here.

This bull-oney is primarily Wall Street. It is a waste of taxpayer monies and the time of Homeland Security. The USA military has their own capacity. We don't need this and we certainly don't need it in our intelligence community.
 

"Sorry" is not good enough anymore.

Clapper is old world. Basically, "All the President's Men" comes to mind. We don't need this level of deceit within the Obama Administration.

This is not the first time he has played footsie with lies. He significantly lied about Iraq stating all the WMD was transported to Syria to avoid detection. That was a convenient lie since Syria has it's own chemical weapon plant. I want my dignity back to assure Americans they have a reliable government that does not escalate tensions and bring about wars.

July 1, 2013
By Dan Roberts
 
...The US director of national intelligence, (click here) James Clapper, has attempted to head off criticism that he lied to Congress over the extent of government surveillance on American citizens, with a letter to senators in which he apologised for giving “erroneous” information.

Two weeks after telling NBC news that he gave the “least untruthful answer possible” at a hearing in March, Clapper wrote to the Senate intelligence committee to correct his response to a question about whether the National Security Agency “collected data on millions of Americans”.

During the orginal hearing on 12 March, Clapper answered “no, sir,” to a question by Senator Ron Wyden. It emerged later that Wyden had given him 24 hours notice of the question, and after the session ended, offered him an opportunity to correct it, which was declined....

Mr. Clapper can go work for Carlyle, they'll love him. But, he needs to leave the government. He seeks power and not policy. When the power is discovered he states there is a necessity for the policy. He is not needed in his position anymore. National Security is not about lying and cover ups; it is about FACTS, trust of allies and respect for the abilities of the government to overcome problems that detect threats to the people of the USA. 

Hiding in the cloak closet in order to carry out missions of security is not where the USA needs to be. It needs effective policies of cooperation and verification. Interpol is a perfectly credible security organization the USA has and can continue to work with to thwart threats to our democracy. No more lies and cover ups. I don't want to hear how Mr. Clapper has turned a new leaf. That leaf was supposed to have happened a long time ago and it has proven to be still yet another lie.

The USA once had a national pride that lead the world.

Even thinking about slaughtering horses as a food product was not realistic in the USA. Now, since so many believe China is the next best thing since sliced bread our values have plummeted to all time lows.

Anything that 'turns a buck' goes in the USA. That wasn't the case at one time. The great American promise about the practice of capitalism within our democracy was that "We would not do just anything for a buck." Supposedly, Americans had a dignity they afforded themselves in the face of capitalism principles. That has vanished. Nearly vanished. Prostitution is still frowned on, but, I have a feeling it will be making a come back.

It has vanished right along with the right to privacy and self-determination. The right to a good and decent life, the American Dream and a good education. 

Now all that matters are desperate means to supply a service or product for money no matter what it is.

Don't even try to equate this to some kind of morality that save babies, although it is safe to say this anti-woman movement in the Right Wing is about capturing women in a net of poverty that serves the economic growth engine of the Right Wing, "A Third World Nation Within a First." 

This movement to demoralize the USA is completely disgusting. The horse slaughter houses are not even allowed to sell their product in the USA, but, I guarantee it will get there some way or another. I am quite confident the US House is hard at work on it already.

If horse meat is not good enough for the USA diet, then why are these abominations in this country? We don't value it enough to eat it BUT for the sake of capitalism we'll sell it to the world.

We are demanding racehorses to be drug free. I suppose that is in anticipation of their final disposition.

There is a movement in the USA and it stems from the Right Wing Political machine to demoralize this nation into acceptance of a strain of poverty to insure there is more money at the top for whatever perverse idea comes next to control the wealth. This movement is an affront to dignity and the rights of the people of this nation. It seeks to victimize the victim and deprive people of education and purpose. I find it the most low level value system in this country and it needs to stop.

A real step forward for vegetarians.

It is so wonderful to see the USA moving forward in diet variety. 

Don't gallop past one, they might make a mistake. 

Yes, indeed, another great day in America. We can say we officially belong as part of the Third World. 

Horses are not wild game. Next thing you know there will be cleaning out dog pounds regularly. There are no limits in the USA anymore. This deterioration of dignity and higher values of the USA will give a new name to "Cat Food."

Today, the Department of Agriculture is giving the green light to two additional states, Missouri and Iowa, in addition to New Mexico last week, for horse slaughterhouses

June 28, 2013

In the wake (click here) of important victories for horses, we are dismayed to learn that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today approved an application for horse slaughter inspections at Valley Meat Company LLC in Roswell, New Mexico, and will issue horse slaughter permits in Missouri and Iowa on Monday. 

The inherent cruelty of horse slaughter is reason enough for our government to prevent this practice, but the dangers to consumers, the clear public opposition to slaughtering our horses for foreign diners, and the harm we know this will cause our communities make this a reckless and hazardous move by the USDA....

"Soft bigotry" is covert for the real thing.

Why are minorities struggling? Wealth. Real bigotry has caused sincere loss of opportunity in the lives of minorities in the USA.

The hardest hit members of our country in 2008 were minorities. The very people that are suppose to be effected by "soft bigotry" actually thought they has a piece of the American Dream when it was snatched away from them.

They bought into the promise. They actually believed they had a shot at building wealth in their lives. A home is the first place an American seeks to build security for their lives and their future. 

Gone.

So much for 'soft bigotry.' Those words are simply excuses for the real thing and the lack of political will for the corrupt to face their own shortcomings.

A neighborhood watch captain is on trail for Second Degree Murder.

The entire disaster called gun rights in Florida is out of control. 

The guns.

The laws.

The hubris. 

They are all out of control and now people are facing off in circumstances they believe are correct in the actions they take. 

This is outrageous and directly a fault of the lack of governance in Florida.

The conversation Mr. Snowden started will not likely stop anytime soon.

As a matter of fact I would expect the conversation to begin again with a new National Security Adviser. She hasn't spoken to the media and I am confident filling the shoes of Tom Donilon is not a simple one. I am sure she is busy. 

The revelations of Mr. Snowden has caused not simply uproar in the USA in some quarters, but, has begun an international reaction that has yet to be realized.

Former Ambassador Rice has started as National Security Adviser today. She probably took the lead over the weekend, but, her first official day was today.

Elspeth Reeve

11:55 AM ET

 

When President Obama referred (click here) to Edward Snowden as a "hacker," it might have been meant as an insult, but it was accurate. While National Security Agency officials have been referring to Snowden as a "systems administrator" — which makes him sound like an unimportant office drone, an "IT guy," as many have called him — he was actually an "infrastructure analyst," he told The Guardian. That means he was a kind of hacker, but he wasn't hacking the NSA, The New York Times's Scott Shane and David E. Sanger explain. He was hacking the world for the NSA. It's one of the many ways NSA and Obama administration officials have shaded the truth in the wake of Snowden's revelations. Here are some other little untruths, and at least one whopper:...

This is not a minor offer from President Putin of Russia. It is not likely he will repeat it.

Mr. Snowden should take this offer seriously and begin his life over. He is young with a promising future. 

He will have a life there. As a matter of fact Moscow can be a very exciting city.

But, the future he has in the USA is very dim and limited. All President Putin asks is for Mr. Snowden to stop exhibiting hostility toward the USA. That is not an unreasonable a request. I would not ignore the President of Russia. 

Families can travel to Russia. The future is not a terrible reality. There will be a learning curve, but, it won't be different than Ecuador or Iceland or Hong Kong. Mr. Snowden needs to put his conscience to rest and realize he has done all he can to educate the people of his homeland. He needs to turn a page in his life and get on with it.

Republicans need to abandon their corrupt funding sources. Currently, their cronies are Un-American and Anti-Constitutionalists.

State Senator Wendy Davis is a sweetheart. She is willing to carry justice on her shoulders. She is noble.

To be completely frank, this is getting disgusting. Perry and his peers in other states are able to get away with their political pandering because they are assaulting the rights of women and those unable to afford lawyers and lobbyists. It is called taking advantage of the disadvantaged.

These laws are a waste of taxpayers monies. They are unconstitutional, we all know it, the legislators know it and they do it for their political cronies that will dump lots of money into their coffers.

Roe v Wade is about women. It is not about babies. Roe v Wade has saved the lives of women. When these laws make it to the Supreme Court it will be found insufficient in protecting women's lives. In order to save a woman's life there has to be ACCESS to the clinics to obtain an abortion. These laws seek to close clinics and that is immoral and Un-American.

Abortions are vital aspects of a woman's life. A uterus are a management problem that falls square in the middle of a woman's survival. Uteri are very vascular and can be a dangerous organ and threat to a woman's life if there is an emergency with hormone levels, genetic defects of a fetus, spontaneous abortions, cancer and sometimes plain old dysfunction of an organ that just doesn't behave itself. 

There is no equivalent in a man's life. There just isn't. Women know the perils of being a woman and it is up to them to protect and save their own lives. There is no prediction to the health needs of a woman. Abortions have to be available. This is an issue between a woman and her physician. No one else should even be in the picture. 

It is very odd to hear Republicans defame President Obama and denigrate the Affordable Care Act stating it will diminish the quality of care in the USA, only to have the same Republicans deny women their right to a life free of burdens to obtain care. If these laws aren't death panels against women, I don't know what is.

These laws are wrong and I don't know what we would do without women like State Senator Wendy Davis.

Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis at an abortion-rights rally in Austin on Monday. (click here)

July 1, 2013
By Emily Deruy

...A lot more than the loss of abortion options for the women of Texas. Republican Gov. Rick Perry says he's fighting to protect the lives of unborn children, but he stands to hurt living, breathing Texans in the process.

Both men and women, particularly low-income minorities who are more likely to lack health insurance and medical-care options, rely on the "abortion clinics" for services like contraception, STD testing and even cancer screenings. One in four women in the state are uninsured.
"That is part of the concern that's getting drowned out in the abortions versus pro-life soundbite," Texas Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D) said during a Monday phone interview. 

Right now, Texas has more than 40 clinics that not only perform abortions but also offer birth control and condoms. All but a handful will be prohibited from operating under the proposed bill. Those that could remain open are in a few urban areas, which would leave rural women with few options....

Amnesty International is not including the Climate Crisis in their annual reports of human rights abuses.

Amnesty International needs to partner with the IPCC to report on the progress countries are taking to improve the Climate Crisis.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment mapped out a strategy for important protections of rainforest and natural resources to provide an economy to nations with sensitive assets such as carbon sinks. It would be a good place to start for several reasons.

The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (click here)
 
The Millennimum Ecosystem Assessment was widely received globally as a scientific basis to develop economies that were benevolent and worthy of the dignity of peoples living on Earth.

Currently, there are droughts, wildfires, crop failures, loss of potable water sources, outbreaks of disease, The Sixth Extinction, melting ice caps and icefields all of which relate to hunger, famine and imperiled humanity.

The First World has to respond to the global impacts of their societies causing hardship among people that have done nothing wrong or caused them any hardship. 

There is currently sea level rise where people no longer have land to live on. Land is a requirement for people to carry out their lives. These are serious issues with dire consequences. It is not just enough to report the human rights abuses of governments of their people, there is also the responsibility of a climate able to sustain them. When governments slash and burn their forests or allow biotic deterioration that is as much a human rights problem as any jail or prison.

The IPCC and Dr. Chris Field (click here) knows the dynamics and knows the work there needs to be to save people from themselves.

Currently, there are nations in Africa where subsistence farming doesn't support the families depending on it. The land is unable to provide for them. The problem is more the lack of a First World directive to change the economy from subsistence to manufacturing, crafts persons, exportable goods and services.

Subsistence farming will wane in the face of economic productivity of products and services. Africa needs to manufacture their own medications, preserve the land for tourism, seek to produce items and participate in a global economy. Subsistence farming is not possible in growing populations. It provides for some while leaving many in poverty and outside the ability to participate.

The Climate Crisis is a huge issue and needs to be included as a human rights abuse when governments seek to avoid their responsibility rather than embrace it.

Let's make something really clear here. The USA under Bush developed an abominal human rights record.

I didn't make this stuff up. This has been the case for over a decade now. These international opinions do matter and they are felt by citizens serving this country in sensitive areas of our government. Those people have a conscience.

The USA has not conducted it's national security in a responsible way when one realizes such significant breaches in clearance have occurred. When the actions of a country drive the conscience of those pledged to protect it's secrets it is vitally important the USA act in ways of responsible leadership that reflect the values of the nation. 

Brut power has never been the USA forte.' We don't live in this world alone. 

Forty-three men (click here) were executed during the year, and concerns about cruel prison conditions continued. Scores of detainees remained in indefinite military detention at Guantánamo. Pre-trial proceedings continued in six cases in which the administration was intending to seek the death penalty following trials by military commission. Use of lethal force in the counter-terrorism context continued to raise serious concerns, as did continuing reports of the use of excessive force in domestic law enforcement.

Counter-terror and security

Detentions at Guantánamo
At the end of 2012, nearly three years after President Obama's deadline for closure of the Guantánamo detention facility, 166 men were still held at the base, the vast majority without charge or criminal trial....'

John Bolton was the pride of the Bush White House. His idea of effective leadership within the United Nations was to seek to change the way things were done. He made people scramble to seek shelter in numbers against the USA.

...Bolton (click here) often equates diplomacy with weakness and indecisiveness, and has suggested Israel should consider attacking Iran with nuclear weapons....

Impunity

The absence of accountability for crimes under international law committed under the administration of President George W. Bush in relation to the CIA's programme of secret detention was further entrenched....

Use of lethal force

The USA's “targeted killing” of terrorism suspects, including in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, particularly through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles, continued during the year. Available information, limited by secrecy, indicated that US policy permitted extrajudicial executions in violation of international human rights law under the USA's theory of a “global war” against al-Qa'ida and associated groups.

Excessive use of force

At least 42 people across 20 states died after being struck by police Tasers, bringing the total number of such deaths since 2001 to 540. Tasers have been listed as a cause or contributory factor in more than 60 deaths. Most of those who died after being struck with a Taser were not armed and did not appear to pose a serious threat when the Taser was deployed....

Prison conditions

Incarceration rates remained at historically high levels....

The USA courts continue to act AGAINST the legislative bodies in the USA. The legislatures are practicing politics and not governance for short term gain to satisfy their crony political allies. The USA Constitution continues to prove to be the best ally of the people of nation.

Children's rights

In June, in Miller v. Alabama, the US Supreme Court outlawed mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for offenders who were under 18 years old at the time of the crime. The ruling came two years after the Court prohibited life imprisonment without parole for non-homicide crimes by under-18s.

In July, Terry Branstad, Governor of Iowa, responded to the Miller v. Alabama decision by commuting 38 life without parole sentences being served in Iowa by inmates convicted of first degree murder committed when they were under 18, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 60 years. Any mitigating evidence that was not considered at the time of the trial due to the automatic imposition of the life without parole sentence, was again neglected in the Governor's blanket commutation.

Migrants' rights

In June, the US Supreme Court struck down key parts of an Arizona immigration law, including a provision that made it a state crime for irregular migrants to seek or hold a job. However, the Court upheld a section requiring state law enforcement officials to check the immigration status of individuals they suspect of being in the country illegally, despite criticism from human rights groups that this would encourage “racial profiling”– that is, targeting individuals solely on account of their appearance or racial or ethnic origin. Following the ruling, federal courts upheld similar legislation in Alabama and Georgia....

Right to health

In June, the US Supreme Court upheld The Affordable Health Care Act, passed in 2010, which would expand health care coverage by 2014 to more than 30 million people in the USA who lack medical insurance. While a number of the law's provisions addressed barriers to obtaining quality maternal health care, such as preventing insurance companies from charging women more for health coverage, gaps and obstacles remained.
The Maternal Health Accountability Act remained before Congress at the end of the year.

Women's rights

Legislation outlawing the shackling of women prisoners at all stages of pregnancy was passed in California in October. This was the first such law in the USA.
In June, legislation came into effect in Virginia requiring women to undergo an ultrasound before having an abortion.
Congress failed to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which includes provisions to address the high levels of violence against Indigenous women and to provide protection and services for survivors of domestic violence.
Reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which would protect the thousands of individuals trafficked into the USA every year, remained stalled in Congress at the end of 2012.

Death penalty

Forty-three prisoners – all of them men – were executed in the USA during the year, all by lethal injection. Fifteen of the executions were carried out in Texas. By the end of 2012, Texas accounted for 492 of the 1,320 executions in the USA since 1976, when the US Supreme Court approved new capital laws....

The Nobel. President Obama needs to pay attention to someone whom might be a colleague in the future.

Army Pfc Bradley Manning is escorted into a courthouse at Fort Meade on the third day of his court martial. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP
Peace (click here) is more than simply the absence of war; it is the active creation of something better. Alfred Nobel recognized this when he created alongside those for chemistry, literature, medicine and physics, an annual prize for outstanding contributions in peace. Nobel's foresight is a reminder to us all that peace must be created, maintained, and advanced, and it is indeed possible for one individual to have an extraordinary impact. For this year's prize, I have chosen to nominate US Army Pfc Bradley Manning, for I can think of no one more deserving. His incredible disclosure of secret documents to Wikileaks helped end the Iraq War, and may have helped prevent further conflicts elsewhere....

July 1, 2013

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — Prosecutors (click here) at the court-martial of an Army private at Fort Meade remain focused on the more than 250,000 State Department diplomatic cables he gave to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.
The trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning enters its fifth week Monday at the Army installation near Baltimore. Manning is charged with aiding the enemy and 20 other offenses.
He admits leaking the cables while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq but denies stealing them. Manning says reading cables on a classified computer network was part of his job. He says he sent them to WikiLeaks to expose secret deals and hypocrisy by American diplomats.
A State Department official says at least 117 of the cables contained classified information potentially harmful to national security.

Someone needs to give these Whistle Blowers safe haven. They are witnesses.

This is so completely ridiculous. Germany and the EU are allies. It was Germany that first warned about Atta BEFORE the attacks.

Where does anyone believe this memo came from? The CIA issued this memo to Former President Bush. This is the memo Senator Feinstein persisted in demanding Former Vice President Cheney pay attention to because the timeline was three months. Cheney stated they could not get to it for six months. Cheney completely disregarded the burgeoning danger because he was more interested in his energy committee than the nation.

There needs to be a consortium of nations handling these investigations. This is sovereignty issue. The USA has no business exploring the infrastructure of Germany. They are allies. Like what? The USA is appropriating funding for this? In Germany? I don't think so. This is just asserting power to simply asset power.

A screenshot of the Boundless Informant tool released by Edward Snowden shows Germany in orange, representing the most spied upon country in the EU.
June 10, 2013
BRUSSELS, June 10 (UPI) -- While the United States (click here) spies on all European Union nations, it spies on Germany the most, say papers supplied by a former employee of the top U.S. spy agency.
The rankings of what EU nations are snooped on, and how much, can be seen in a color-coded map of covert National Security Agency surveillance activities, EUObserver.com reported Monday.
Nations subject to the least spying activities are shaded green; those with the most red.
All EU members are various shades of green on the map. Germany is orange.
The map, called Boundless Informant, is among documents released by Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee and NSA contractor who says he is the person who this month leaked information about the U.S. metadata collection program known as PRISM.
About 3 billion pieces of metadata information were collected in a 30-day period, the map shows. That data includes calls made, location of the phone, time of the call and duration.
A handbook for the map says it uses "big data technology" to "produce near real-time business intelligence."
Boundless Informant "allows users to select a country on a map and view the metadata volume and select the details about the collection against that country," the handbook adds.

By Harriet Torry
July 1, 2013
 

...Chancellor Angela Merkel's government (click here) on Monday demanded clarity from the U.S. over allegations that the National Security Agency spied on European Union institutions, saying that if true they would constitute an unacceptable breach of trust between the close partners.

Seeking clarification on the matter, the foreign ministry has called the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Philip Murphy, for a meeting later Monday, a spokesman for the ministry said....

July 1, 2013
Active Fire Map (click here)

The entire region is the balance. There are many fires in the West and Alaska.

It would be a mistake to bring firefighters in from surrounding states, they may be needed where they are. If more firefighters are coming in to assist they should come in from east of the Mississippi.

Residents throughout these states have to be aware of very dry conditions to prevent any opportunity for fires. These fires are where the severest temperatures are being experienced.

US Drought Monitor (click here)
June 25, 2013

It is the drougth. It has been sustained and severe. The entire region where there is a severe to exceptional rating is at risk.

This is June 25th, there will be another later in the week, but, it will not have changed that much.

Tropical Storm Dalila has picked up some velocity. It is up to 40 knots per hour. It's central pressure is 1001 millibars and with any luck it will continue to build, but, it's a lethargic system right now.

July 1, 2013
1030:17z
UNISYS Water Vapor satellite of West and North Hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Isla de la Juventud of Cuba has a small turbulence. It might pick up in velocity. It is forming over an island with sea spray so it might have an autonomous water vapor source to begin it's spin.



There was very marginal improvement in temperatures yesterday due to the marginal increase in velocity of the East Pacific tropical storm.

HOWEVER, the heat is moving east at a very significant pace.


June 28, 2013
The Weather Channel Actual High Map

The heat will bring 'drying' conditions, especially in newly recovered areas of drought. Drought is a long term emergency. It lasts and lasts and lasts and just because the drought has broken and there is now rain doesn't mean the land, forests and buildings have completely recovered the resistance to prevent ignition.

There is a second large incident fire near the Yarnell Hill fire. The entire region is in question.

Burnt Area:

6,767 Acres (click here)

Location:

Yavapai County, AZ (7 miles NW of Prescott, AZ)

Cause:

Human

Incident Team Type:

IMT Type 3

Team Leader:

Dave Ramirez

Containment Status:

96% contained

Expected Containment:

30-JUN-13

Fuels:

Heavy timber transitions to dense brush Extreme 6911000.00 90PRIM

Here we go. High temperatures and droughted forests. Infernos. You could melt a battleship.

The fire is estimated to be about 9000 acres and there is no public report from the National Interagency Fire Center.

The area has to be evacuated of people and crew. The fire is not dependable in it's character. It is too dry THROUGHOUT and there is no containing anything.

The fire is creating it's own winds and environmental conditions. It is not predictable. A perimeter has to be set up at a significant distance to actually put a dent in it. 

If a fire creates it's own wind and the entire area is dry as a bone, the sparks are guaranteed to fly in directions and set their own backfires. That doesn't mean a fire crew doesn't set up a perimeter.

By Jackee Coe, Laurie Merrill and Michelle Ye Hee Lee The Republic

Mon Jul 1, 2013 12:11 AM

 

Arizona forestry(click here) officials confirmed Sunday night that 19 firefighters have died in the Yarnell Hill Fire that has ripped through half of the town, sent residents to Prescott for safety and given the state its biggest ever wildfire firefighter tragedy.

“It’s a dark day,” said Mike Reichling, Arizona State Forestry Division spokesman.

Reichling said the 19 firefighters were found in an area that also had 19 fire shelters deployed. Some of those found were inside a shelter, which is typically used as a last resort to withstand the fire as it blows over. Some of the crew members were found outside the shelters....

"Morning Papers - It's Origins" (click here)

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

"Good Night, Moon"

Waning Crescent

23 days old

40.8% Full

Don't forget "Independence Day" is this week.

Some night sky sights for June 28 – July 6 (click here)

by Alan M. MacRobert

 

...Thursday, July 4 Watching the fireworks tonight? As you're waiting for them to begin, point out to people some sky sights. The two brightest stars of summer, Vega and Arcturus, are high overhead toward the east and southwest, respectively. Far below Arcturus are the planet Saturn and, to its lower right, Spica. Nearly that high in the southeast is the orange-red supergiant Antares, amid fainter stars of upper Scorpius....