This bill seeks to effect labor unions to prevent job actions.

These attempts to dissolve union authority are state rights issues. They are unconstitutional. If union officials and their membership want to add enhancements to their contracts for labor strikes, then offer to service ships with time sensitive cargo to the extent that exists within a ships manifest.

March 12, 2015
By Chris Kirkhan

The short-term economic impact (click here) of the recent labor standoff at West Coast ports will be small, according to a new economic forecast, but the ports face a long-term struggle to remain competitive in the rapidly changing realm of global trade.
Many businesses in California, particularly those tied to agriculture, suffered from missed orders and produce spoiling on docks. But many other shipments were simply delayed rather than lost entirely, according to the quarterly UCLA Anderson Forecast.
The report estimates that backlogs during the labor dispute between shipping companies and dock workers — resolved late last month — will cause slightly slower economic growth in the state for the first three months.
"We're talking about tenths of a percent — very small stuff," said Jerry Nickelsburg, a senior economist with the Anderson Forecast who specialized in the California economy. "California is a $2.2-trillion economy, so it's hard to get any big numbers based on a relatively short labor dispute."...

The NLRB can always be tapped to carry out disputes with such laws, too. Such a law was have little to no effect on domestic economics. The USA imports devastating amounts of products, so to increase purchases of USA domestic products is a good thing.

The Nation’s (click here) international trade deficit in goods and services decreased to $40.8 billion in September from $48.0 billion in August (revised), as exports increased and imports decreased.

The public loses every time.

When Republicans practice brinkmanship learned from the leaders of North Korea, the public always loses and Wall Street wins. Think about it.

In a time when elections are run with 95 percent use of an elected officials time, their real job is postponed and it is convenient for brinkmanship. There needs to be a law that monitors the amount of time elected officials spend in campaigning after their election. Such a law can be adapted to requirements under state or local election laws.

Call it "The Clock In - Clock Out Law." 

Mr. Rubio would have a difficult time justifying his re-election. Noted: Senator Bernie Sanders is within the Senate Chamber for every vote that I have noted. It is possible to hold campaign rallies and be responsible to constituents.

The salaries of federal elected officials is significant paid for by Americans. It demands a higher degree of participation than FIVE percent of their time.

I suggest included in the "Clock In - Clock Out" law a reduction in annual salaries for the amount of paid time not accrued in representation time as owned to the electorate. 

NO WORK - NO PAY 

Such a law does not have to be a federal law to apply to federal representatives. The and local authorities are responsible for filing deadlines and what that encompasses. 

The US Congress is proposing to sell the strategic oil reserve to pay for transporation legislation. It is foolishness.

November 17, 2015
By NYT Editorial Board 

...While Congress wrestles (click here) with the money, this much is clear: America’s transportation system is badly in need of repair and investment. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation’s railways and bridges a “C+” grade and its roads and transit systems a “D” in a 2013 report. The Transportation Department estimates that 10 percent of bridges are structurally deficient.

In a speech in September, Anthony Foxx, the transportation secretary, said that the government must spend $400 billion over the next six years just to maintain the current transportation system; to improve the system would take an additional $78 billion. Yet the House passed a bill this month that budgets only $325 billion for six years. Lawmakers could have easily come up with more money had they been willing to raise the 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gasoline tax, which was last increased in 1993. But members of Congress were determined not to raise the tax ahead of an election year....

If the USA has an emergency our strategic reserve will be depleted to begin with. The proposed law currently in conference committee doesn't even cover the needed infrastructure improvements. The conference committee is operating under Republican brinkmanship. They have waited for the last minute to move a bill forward that short changes Americans safety and sell our strategic reserve. The is a Republican majority. Take a good look.

I fully expect Democratic candidates for President will speak to this travesty called Republican governance. 

The law includes a bypass on truck driver rest and sleep requirements. And they want to add enormous train like trailer combinations besides. This is a Wall Street bill and not one of the people of this country. This provision alone will cause traffic and highway deaths. State legislatures will have to address this immediately to be sure truck drivers are not falling asleep with three 48 foot trailers behind them. 

Bridge Laws that help insure the infrastructure of the USA will be dissolved with 'train truck and trailer combinations.' Our infrastructure is old and constructed under decades old formulas and laws. This danger is real.

How add three long 80,000 pound trailers across the bridge. Then add a truck and three trailers across every lane of a bridge and the weight rolling over our highways are killer laws.

One tractor alone is pulling 240,000 pounds. Now, add four lanes and two trucks more north and two moving south; they pass each other on the bridge that is a total of 920,000 over a bridge span of 44 feet to 52 feet wide and a length of 148 feet long. That is ridiculous. There is danger to the public that is undeniable.
   
In Figure 1(A), (click here) the stress on bridge members as the longer truck rolls across is much less than that caused by the short vehicle in Figure 1(B), even though both trucks have the same total weight and individual axle weights. The weight of the longer vehicle is spread out, while the shorter vehicle has all of the weight concentrated on a small area.

Add to that the weight of the bridge itself and the supports under the bridge is under enormous stress. The span is under stress and the supports are as well. These roads and bridges are not safe under this conference bill.

The Democrats in Red States should be pushing the reality that Republicans pass bills that endanger voters' lives. Public safety in infrastructure should be a vital position by Democratic statesmen and women in every level of governance. Voters are capable of understanding the danger and translating it into false loyalty to Wall Street principles. Red State voters are willing to accept death in earning a living within their definition of longevity. This is hideous and Americans should expect the best of governance NOT hideous ideas of acceptable dangers.

All Americans need to realize how they spend their time traveling to see the beauty of America. When federal mandates are sacrificed for state preferences the danger to all Americans take a very different picture. What is to protect New Yorkers from gross mismanagement of the public safety in Texas. It is ridiculous and should be considered when traveling including gun laws.

The system spawning a tornado outbreak in four USA states was refueld with water vapor from Hudson Bay.

November 18, 201502.30.19z
 UNISYS Enhanced Infrared north and west hemisphere satellite

This is new and unbelievable. (click here for 12 hour loop)

There is such a thing as lake effect, but, this is unprecedented from my point of view. That is enormous water displacement to the upper troposphere.

November 18, 2015
13.30.18z
UNISYS water vapor satellite of north and west hemisphere (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

Currently it appears to be limited to an inland bay. The evaporation of fresh water out of ocean salt water is more taxing in calories. But, this Hudson Bay incident has to be viewed as a very important sign of the urgency of reducing greenhouse gases in the troposphere.  


November 18, 2015
13.30.18z UNISYS enhanced infrared GOES East satellite (click here for 12 hour loop - thank you)

I do this everyday, this posting has nothing to do with up coming climate conference. While this is vitally important to note, this has nothing to do with the upcoming meeting.

Now, getting back to the question, the presence of non-volatile compounds dissolved in seawater have a tendancy to lower the vapour pressure. That is, the less of the water will evaporate off at a given temperature, because the non-volatile dissolved solids (salts) in seawater are strongly ionic and have a tendancy to 'hold onto' the water in the liquid. The net effect is that a higher temperature will be reached before the vapour pressure of sea water equals the surrounding atmospheric pressure (1 atm). This increase in boiling point temperature over that of pure water is called the Boiling Point Elevation (BPE) of sea water (at that temperature and salinity, S).

There needs to be a determination of the loss of surface water (in vapor) to the upper troposphere and the stratosphere compared to what is returned to Earth's surface.

The difference in temperature between fresh water and sea water can be very small increments while the boiling point remains whole degrees differences (ie 1.0 in contrast to 0.1),

The water vapor leaving is probably in excess to the water vapor returning. Upper troposphere has the habit to return in hail events and huge events such as the tornado outbreak, but, once the water vapor enters the tropopause it is lost to return. 

This seems rather simplistic, but, a very simple monitoring can be conducted locally as well as NASA's assessment of atmospheric interaction. I'll get some pictures. This is important for local farmers.

This is a rain gauge. It doesn't get easier than this. It has to be placed in the open where rain falls. Do not place it under eaves of houses or under a canopy. There are rain gauges that can be a standing application rather than a hanging application simply because it can be blown at angles during accompanying wind that will effect the amount of rain collected.

To the left is an evaporation pan. It is created for scientific use because the bottom and sides of the pan are molded for accuracy of the contents in the pan. Yes, a regular pot can be used in an open space, but, it will not be as accurate as an evaporation pan designed for scientific measurements. 

Local agricultural agents can help a great deal in setting up such a personal monitoring stations. The measurement of the evaporation pan is best if made with a very thin tape measure normally found in hardware stores.The thinner the measuring tape the more accurate the measure. 

Those are minimal requirements to set up a personal rain measuring stations. They can be fun and there are central reporting stations that can be provided by the same agricultural agent.

Today in the USA there are citizens that have very extended records back to 50 years or more. Those folks are definitely important for those that study these issues. Americans are very resourceful and well educated people. They are capable of understanding complex issues and reporting from a personal rain station is just one of them.  

Germany thinks there is deception to increase the public's fear.

November 19, 2015
Patrick Donahue and Rainer Buergin

Berlin: A Syrian passport (click here) found next to a suicide bomber in the Paris terror attacks may have been planted, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.

Reports that the identity in the passport may have been registered in several countries along the so-called Balkan route raise the suspicion that it could be a deliberate attempt to implicate refugees and "make people feel unsafe", Mr de Maiziere.

"There are indications that this was a planted lead, but it still can't be ruled out that this was indeed an IS terrorist posing as a refugee," he told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday, referring to Islamic State, which France blames for organising the violence.

        Any link between France's worst terror attack since World War II and Europe's refugee crisis would raise the stakes for German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she defends her open-door policy for asylum seekers in Germany's debate over immigration and security.

French prosecutors have said the remains of an assailant who attacked the Stade de France stadium during a soccer game between France and Germany matched the fingerprints of an individual registered by Greek authorities as an asylum seeker in October....

The tail wagging the dog.

Republicans make the huge mistake, which can be interpreted as hostile, of USING their position to practice politics. It is seen everywhere Republicans hold office. The hostility to the US Constitution is in unison. It is a political strategy and not a professional one. The unity these political positions are taken is indictable all by itself.

If Republicans want to be legitimate they need to simply state, "As President I will..."

Using political office to obstruct government processes and instead practice politics is impeachable. It is abuse of power. It is ridiculous to watch Republicans retreat to their constituents on a daily if not minute to minute basis. That is not leadership. Why would they expect to be elected or re-elected?

I think parties opposing existing incumbents have an obligation to expose the potential to impeachment and recall as part of their campaigns.

Republicans are political cowards.

Meet a graduate of the USA's resettlement program.

June 22, 2004
By Lynda Richardson

...Mr. Tran, a bookish 25-year-old (click here) with a slight frame who was born in Vietnam, achieved both goals -- and did he ever -- after growing up in crowded refugee camps in Thailand. At age 19, he arrived in New York with his family, carrying only clothing and 287 prized books. He barely spoke English but found a full-time job at Wankel's and studied full time at Hunter College.
     

He recently graduated summa cum laude, with a 3.96 grade point average, receiving an unusual standing ovation from fellow graduates at Hunter, a public college where he stood out even among other first-generation immigrants for whom unbridled optimism and energy are common. Mr. Tran stood rigid, awestruck, on the stage of Radio City Music Hall, responding with a timid wave to his boss, Katherine Wankel, who cheered and jumped up and down in the audience. Mr. Tran heads to Harvard this fall to study for a doctorate in sociology and social policy financed by intensely competitive scholarships. 

At Wankel's Hardware, on Third Avenue near 88th Street, Mr. Tran has attracted a steady stream of customers and strangers, some almost in tears, who have heard of his odyssey on National Public Radio and in local news reports. He still asks himself what he did to deserve this. 

''I didn't have much expectation, much ambition, to be painfully honest,'' he said. ''I simply try my best to do any task given me.''...

The GOP has a hideous idea of security. It is non-existant today. It is all hubris.

November 17, 2015
By Eleanor Mueller

...But the last straw didn't come until August 2012. (click here) Ali's wife — Aaminah — had just given birth in a Damascus hospital, and they had left the baby in the maternity ward out of fear their own neighborhood was unsafe. Then, a week later, they received the news — the worst any parents could imagine.
The hospital had been attacked, the target of a government airstrike. The doctors had fled for their lives, and the building had collapsed. Their newborn son — their beautiful baby boy — had suffocated in the wreckage and died.
"We buried him, and we decided to leave," Ali said through an interpreter.
They are among the 1,850 or so Syrians who have relocated to the United States since the conflict began. More are expected, or were, until Friday's terrorist attacks in Paris. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility, and one of the dead attackers had a Syrian passport near his body....

November 17, 2015
By Jim Dwyer

...Then again, there is Wankel’s, (click here) a family-owned hardware store that opened on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in the 19th century. For decades, it has hired people who came to the United States fleeing violence and persecution.

“People coming from really bad situations, trying to make a better life in America,” said Sean Wankel, 32, vice president of Wankel’s. “Or a life.”...

Office of Refugee Resettlement (click here)

Bitcoin a focus of national security.

A spokesperson for India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), (click here) its top law enforcement agency, has revealed bitcoin and digital currencies will be an area of focus during an upcoming conference organized by Interpol to be held in India.
Running from 17th to 19th November, the sixth-annual Global Focal Point Conference on Asset Recovery will more broadly focus on fighting corruption and financial crime....

Interpol has been focused on the danger to national security and the use of Bitcoin for illegal trade.

The raid in France reminds me of the raids in Boston. They are successful. The raids are removing dangerous people from French society. It is impressive the success French intelligence has  in narrowing the search for terrorists.

November 17, 2015
By Shawn Logan

...Police said Shirdon left Calgary in 2014 to join Isis in Syria. (click here)
According to the Interpol notice, Shirdon is wanted for leaving Canada to join a terrorist group, as well as participating in and instructing others to join a terrorist group.
Shirdon’s wanted under a so-called “Red Notice,” used for those wanted by national jurisdictions for prosecution.
In September, Mounties laid terrorism charges in absentia against Shirdon, accusing him of being involved in combat, fundraising and spreading propaganda for the brutal terrorist group.
Shirdon, whose uncle was once prime minister of Somalia, was reported killed last August, but resurfaced a month later on social media.
Calgary has seen at least four other former residents — Damian Claremont, Salman Ashrafi and brothers Colin and Gregory Gordon — reported killed fighting for ISIS.