"Trees" by twenty one pilots (click here for official website)

 

I know
Where you stand
Silent
In the trees
And that's
Where I am
Silent
In the trees

 

Why won't you speak?
Where I happen to be
Silent
In the trees
Standing cowardly

 

I can feel your breath
I can feel my death
I want to know you
I want to see
I want to say
Hello
Hello
Hello
Hello

I know
 

Where you stand
Silent
In the trees
And that's
Where I am
Silent
In the trees

 

Why won't you speak?
Where I happen to be
Silent
In the trees
Standing cowardly

 

I can feel your breath
I can feel my death
I want to know you
I want to see
I want to say Hello
Hello
Hello
Hello

Not funny. USA Navy has the right to shoot down incoming missiles regardless the country.

The USA Navy is not shackled by the Commander and Chief to respond to incoming missiles or any other hostile actions. There is a fine line between defense or retaliation. Every USA military unit or ship is completely within their power to defend themselves.

Make no mistake. Every USA asset deployed at home or abroad can defend itself. Iran hasn't seen that side of the USA Navy. They have seen the disarming of Libya. There were some attempts by terrorists to completely disable the USA Navy with the damage to the USS Cole, however, the middle east should not take the USA Navy for granted when playing with it's 'safe travel' through the region in international and/or allied waters.

January 10, 2016
By Will Dunham

The U.S. Navy (click here) released black-and-white video on Saturday it said was taken by an American helicopter showing an Iranian Revolutionary Guards vessel firing unguided rockets on Dec. 26 near warships including the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran on Dec. 31 denied that its Revolutionary Guards vessels had launched the rockets as the United States claimed, with a Revolutionary Guards spokesman saying the "false" accusation was "akin to psychological warfare."

The U.S. Navy said the infrared radar footage showed an Iranian "fast inshore attack craft" launching several rockets on Dec. 26 "in close proximity" to the Truman, the guided missile destroyer USS Bulkeley, the French naval frigate FS Provence and commercial ships in the busy waterway.

The dispute underscored the ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran despite last year's international agreement to curb Iran's nuclear program....

I would not fire across a USA Navy ship. I would expect USA aircraft to be aloft from here forward while traversing waters where this level of threat (be it accident or intended) has been demonstrated. The 23 minutes of notification to Iranian missile launch was not a mistake. It is all brinkmanship at the same time North Korea has a questionable nuclear exercise that came with no notice.

Most of the so called facts Americans believe about guns are actually myths.

There needs to be a blog entitled "The Stolen Gun." 

The NRA and gun rights groups make a very big deal about the fact criminals can get guns. According to these groups, the criminals are able to buy stolen guns or steal them.

So, where are all these legally owned guns that are now stolen? Because, my understanding is that Americans own guns for self-protection. An example is; if there is a home invasion the guns in the house will protect those asleep prior to the front door being broken down. So, if these guns are so vital to the safety of Americans where do they come from? 

I would think anyone owning a gun would treat it like a driver's license and carry it with them all the time or keep it in a wallet so it doesn't get lost over night while asleep. I want to know how these guns are being stolen, because, according to the gun rights groups that doesn't happen; what happens is gun carrying Americans are having their lives saved, due to their concealed carry permit.

"How criminals get guns" (click here)

by Dan Noyes

Ask a cop on the beat how criminals get guns and you're likely to hear this hard boiled response: "They steal them." But this street wisdom is wrong, according to one frustrated Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) agent who is tired of battling this popular misconception. An expert on crime gun patterns, ATF agent Jay Wachtel says that most guns used in crimes are not stolen out of private gun owners' homes and cars. "Stolen guns account for only about 10% to 15% of guns used in crimes," Wachtel said. Because when they want guns they want them immediately the wait is usually too long for a weapon to be stolen and find its way to a criminal....

...Wachtel says one of the most common ways criminals get guns is through straw purchase sales. A straw purchase occurs when someone who may not legally acquire a firearm, or who wants to do so anonymously, has a companion buy it on their behalf....

Monarch butterflies and oyamel trees are intricately linked.

...But after trekking (click here) across an entire continent for an answer, it was a team led by Canadian zoologists led by Fred Urquhart that final tracked the resting place of the butterflies as they made their migratory journeys south....

What has been discovered over decades is the importance of an evergreen tree, the oyamel fir tree.

21 December 2015
By Janet Marinelli

For as long as anyone can remember, (click here) monarch butterflies have arrived in Mexico's Trans-Volcanic Belt in late October, when the locals begin to celebrate Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. Families fill their homes with marigolds, eat skull-shaped sweets and place candles on graves to guide the souls of departed loved ones home. According to
traditional belief, the brilliant orange butterflies are the spirits of ancestors returning to earth to visit....

The oyamel fir forests of Mexico (click here) are remnants of boreal forests that advanced south with periods of glaciation. When the glaciers retreated, they were left as high elevation survivors, existing as isolated islands at 2400-3600 meters (7,800 – 11,700 feet). Several hundred million Monarch Butterflies spend the winter clinging to Oyamel Fir trees on a cluster of these mountaintops of the Transverse Neo-Volcanic Mountain range of Central Mexico. Waxy pine and oyamel needles shelter the monarchs, protecting them from moisture. When the butterflies become wet and temperatures drop to below freezing, millions of butterflies perish....

Butterfly watching is as widely popular as bird watching. There is an economic component to these events in nature. The great thing about butterflies is they don't bite or peck.

Species name: Danaus plexippus

The other great part about being either a bird or butterfly watcher is an information book never gets old. Species are species and don't require updates.

"Handbook for Butterfly Watchers" (click here)
June 26, 1992
 By Robert Michael Pyle

Some people fish and some people hunt, but, there is no difference between sports involving nature; it's interesting, peaceful and fun. Bird and Butterfly watchers are different than fishers and hunters in that their accomplishment is a LIST of observed species.

To many, making a list is something one does when doing grocery shopping or striving to be a successful Santa; but, lists are very prestigious filled with respect and status. It is the same status as any other trophy.

Robert Michael Pyle on Facebook (click here)

 








Butterflies and moths are pollinators, too.

Thousands of people (click here) travel abroad each year looking for butterflies and moths. Eco-tours bring valuable income to many European countries and developing countries around the world (e.g. the valley of the butterflies in Rhodes and the Monarch roost in Mexico).

Every butterfly and moth has developed its own suite of chemicals to deter predators and parasites, find a mate, and overcome the chemical defences of its host plant. Each of these chemicals has a potential value and could be exploited economically.  For example, powerful antibiotics have been found in the Meadow Brown, one of our commonest and most widespread species.

We celebrate the Monarch Butterfly today, but, it's popular status protects so many more species. 

Wikipedia (click here) put together a rather interesting migration map.

There is no excuse for the lack of content in the Republican response to the State of the Union.

The speech is released early to the press so they understand the content. The Republicans are just lazy and want to take the opportunity to play politics and promise more obstruction of governance.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016 (click here)

Mayor Jim Kenney doesn't want to provide the status of a soldier for Allah to a common criminal with a STOLEN gun.

I think the Mayor is correct. There is the idea 'out there' somehow any jerk can dress in a white robe and pretend they have a real reason to kill for Allah. I think the Mayor has a very interesting response to this ATTEMPTED MURDER. To call a killer a person acting on behalf of God is simply wrong. God of any religion is not a common criminal acting out.

There is a sincere criminal element in all this so called religious movement for a caliphate. The men in Syria are criminals and there were criminals long before they escaped to Syria from Iraq. They are the men that carried out human rights abuses for Saddam. That criminal element is carried through in all it's actions. These men claiming to be acting to uphold the integrity of God are common criminals or in the case of the Ba'athists, international criminals. 

What are people thinking? Innocent people are being sucked into plans of criminals to pretend to be sent on a godly purpose to a caliphate. That is insane. They are Daesh, not some vernacular of a holy caliphate.

It must be a real trip to find oneself with a criminal record that is somehow transformed into a 'special status' with Allah. The Mayor is correct; there are criminals dressed up in robes and stating they have a real case as a soldier for God. That is nonsense and is equivalent to a Halloween costume. 

When watching the video it is nothing but a small miracle the officer was able to leave the petrol car and actually chase and wound the shooter. He is an amazing man. I am sure he'll be receiving metals once he is recuperated.  Perhaps he has insight regarding his circumstances in those SECONDS that allowed him to live through it. I think all officers need bullet proof vests and bullet proof glass in their cruisers.

There was a time in the USA when police patrolled together. That should be a mandate in these years of violence and uncertainty.

A country is grateful for officers like him. He didn't put his life first. Not at all. He put his responsibility to the city of people he swore to protect. He was more worried about the people that might still be attacked by a criminal with a stolen gun and found the will to chase the lousy SOB.

STOLEN GUN. So, it would appear there are so many guns on the street in the USA there are plenty to be stolen as well. Who did he steal it from, the local drug dealer?

January 8, 2016
By West Philadelphia (WPVI) 

...Mayor Jim Kenney (click here) said the shooting had nothing to do with "being a Muslim or the Islamic faith."

Officials also say the gun used in the crime, a 9mm Glock 17, had been stolen from a police officer's home in 2013, but it's not clear how it ended up in Archer's hand. That officer had been disciplined, Ross said.

The shooting happened 11:40 p.m. on Thursday.

...Police say the suspect fired a total of 13 shots, three of which hit Hartnett in the arm.

Despite being seriously wounded, Hartnett got out of his car, chased the suspect and returned fire, wounding his attacker in the buttocks, police said. Other officers chased Archer and apprehended him.

Ross called it "absolutely amazing" that Harnett survived. "It's nothing short of miraculous and we're thankful for that," he said....

El Chapo needs to be extradicted to the USA for trial.

 I congratulate the government of Mexico in it's dedication to protect the people. El Chapo is responsible for a drug cartel that has killed thousands of innocent people in Mexico.

...But on Friday, (click here) nearly six months after his escape, Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the Mexican drug lord known as El Chapo, was captured again after a fierce gun battle near the coast in his home state, Sinaloa, Mexican officials said. “Mission accomplished: We have him,” President Enrique Peña Nieto announced.

The arrest ended one of the most extensive manhunts undertaken by the government, involving every law enforcement agency in the country and help from the United States.... 

...The government said late Friday that it had been watching a home in Los Mochis for more than a month when law enforcement officers finally saw movement on Thursday. Officials said that during the ensuing raid, Mr. Guzmán managed to slip away through the sewers, and then he surfaced, stole a car and was apprehended. The authorities took him to a hotel to wait for backup.

The capture of the drug lord concludes a deeply embarrassing chapter for the government of Mr. Peña Nieto, which has been waylaid by a series of security and corruption scandals that reached their low point with Mr. Guzmán’s daring escape....

...With operations that span much of Mexico, his organization has specialized in smuggling tons of drugs into the United States through vast networks of tunnels deep beneath the border. His success has made him among the richest drug dealers in history: Forbes magazine estimated his net worth at close to $1 billion....

He might HAVE BEEN worth $1 billion US, but, Mexico has the right to confiscate every dollar of that money. It is blood money. Thousands of Mexicans have died due to the viciousness of the drug cartel, that money is not his and it never was.

I find it insulting and disgusting that Forbes even reports his worth. What has Forbes become a secret admirer of organized crime? 

Political pressure by the gun lobby supports right wing extremist groups.

If the militias in the USA were proven to be criminals, the gun lobby would not have a reason to sell military style weapons. The struggle to remove dangerous guns from USA streets would be over. Right? The only reason the organized militias exist is because of some odd belief the USA government is going to take away their guns and enter into some sort of dictatorship.

The militia groups and the NRA and other gun lobby organizations are silent partners in gun violence in the USA.

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Rep. Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, signed a letter last year asking President Obama to reopen the extremism office at the Department of Homeland Security.

January 9, 2016
By Ron Nixon

...Although the F.B.I. (click here) has primary responsibility for countering terrorism, the D.H.S. conducts analysis and intelligence gathering, and tries to spot troubling trends.

Representative Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, who last year signed a letter with 15 lawmakers asking President Obama to reopen the extremism office at homeland security and update the 2009 report, agreed with Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Ellison said the killing of nine people at a black church in Charleston, S.C., by Dylann Roof, the 21-year-old accused shooter who said he planned to “start a race war,” along with the current standoff in Oregon, show why the government needs to scrutinize the growth of antigovernment groups.

“The Department of Homeland Security needs to deal with Muslim extremists, but don’t ignore every other kind of threat,” Mr. Ellison said.

Citing data from a 2013 report produced by the United States Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center, Mr. Ellison noted that, “Right-wing extremists have launched an average of 330 attacks a year and killed about 250 people between 2002 and 2011. These are dangerous people.”...

The right wing extremists tried desperately to put "The Southern Poverty Law Center" out of business. It does invaluable work and no different than Planned Parenthood it is targeted for right wing political agendas.

What happens when militias overwhelm the National Guard?

January 4, 2016

In its annual count of militias,  (click here) released today, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) identified 276 militia groups – up from 202 in 2014, a 37 percent increase.

The number represents a renewal of growth after several years of declines. The movement grew explosively after President Obama was elected, from 42 groups in 2008 to a peak of 334 in 2011 before declining in recent years....

In addition to the militias, there are 784 active hate groups that see a confluence between prison and home.

February 10, 2014
By Keith Coffman

A neo-Nazi parolee murdered Colorado's prison chief (click here) last year after forcing a pizza delivery man whom he kidnapped and later killed to record a message denouncing the prison system, federal prosecutors said in a court filing released on Monday.
The disclosure is the first time authorities have publicly stated that ex-convict Evan Spencer Ebel killed the head of the Colorado Department of Corrections, Tom Clements, and 27-year-old pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon.
Previously, investigators stopped short of calling Ebel the trigger man in the two murders, saying only that the weapon used to kill the two men matched the handgun Ebel used when he was killed in shootout with Texas police days after the murders.
The existence of the audiotape surfaced in the case of Stevie Vigil, a Denver-area woman who pleaded guilty to buying a 9mm handgun for Ebel, an ex-convict who skipped out on his parole days before the murders in March.
Clements, 58, was gunned down at his home in Monument, Colorado, about 45 miles south of Denver.
"Ebel rang the doorbell and shot and killed Clements when he answered the door," prosecutors said....

Ebel should never had possessed a gun, but, there was another party involved sympathetic to his reasons and assisted in breaking the law. The same was true of Adam Lanza in Sandy Hook. Background checks would not have stopped those murders. If the guns aren't on the shelf they can't be purchased by people willing to circumvent the law for an expression of love.

As much as right wing gun groups such as the NRA exist, they are making up reasons to keep  gun sales high. The NRA assaults the sovereign rights of the USA and backs sales regardless of the outcome of that weapons on the streets of the USA.

No list of those with mental health illnesses will prevent anyone to supply them with weapons. There is only one way to end this level of violence in the USA and that is to limit the dangerous guns from our country. It worked before, it will work again.

A good guy with a gun doesn't always stop the bad guy with the gun.

December 21, 2012
By Josh Levin 

In today’s NRA press conference, (click here) the group’s executive vice president Wayne LaPierre called for “armed security in every school”:

LaPierre is right—it’s possible that an armed guard could have stopped Adam Lanza. But is it likely? Consider the case of Columbine High School.

On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher at Columbine. On the scene that day was Neil Gardner, an armed sheriff’s deputy who had been policing the school for almost two years. 

As a CNN report describes, Gardner was eating lunch when he got a call from a custodian that he was needed in the school’s back parking lot. A few minutes later, he encountered Harris and the two exchanged gunfire. Harris was not hit and ran back inside the school. At that point, “Gardner called for additional units to respond to the south parking lot of Columbine High School. … While he was on the radio calling for assistance, five other Jefferson County deputies already were on their way, arriving only minutes after the first report of a ‘female down’ at Columbine High School.” Later, Gardner saw Harris again, through a broken window. Once again, he fired. Once again, he didn’t hit him.... 

Officer Gardner responded as he should have, but, he was alone with two young men in the building with very different style guns than he was carrying and with pipe bombs, luckily that didn't ignite.

Look at this footage and tell me if Officer Gardner was in the room that it would have ended the assault. Probably not, but, some students might have been able to get out of the library.

Let me add this, did the Columbine killers know there was an armed sheriff's deputy in the school? Sure they did. Why did they choose the library during lunch hour to begin their assault? These young men weren't stupid. We know they had plans to continue their assault after they killed everyone at Columbine. They didn't expect to die. They had plans to hijack a jet.

The additional law enforcement was already on their way to Columbine because at least one of the survivors of those attacked used his mobile phone to call for help.

The arguments of the NRA are 'sucker punches.' If there was only a "Good Guy with a Gun" it would stop the "Bad Guy with a Gun." That is a cigarette commercial telling the audience smoking doesn't cause cancer. There was a good guy with a gun at Columbine doing his job well and acting in defense of the students and teachers. So, what does the NRA want, an armed detachment to guard every school?

So, let's say a woman has been the victim of sexual assualt and only feels safe with a gun on her person or in her purse.

April 9, 2015
By Nathan J. Robinson

...Over the past year, (click here) new studies and media reports have documented America’s extraordinary number of child-involved shootings. These occur when a child happens upon a gun, or is left alone with one, and ends up shooting themselves or another person. Such disasters result in hundreds of child fatalities and have made American children nine times more likely to die in gun accidents than children anywhere else in the developed world. These deaths pose a massive challenge for the NRA. They demonstrate fairly conclusively that guns cannot be both safe and ubiquitous; the inevitable consequence of widespread gun ownership is a never-ending series of tragedies involving children. But, desperate to insist there’s nothing wrong, the NRA has proved itself totally incapable of responding to the problem....

President Obama's response to audience participation during the Anderson Cooper Town Hall regarding guns in the USA, was spot on.

The answer to sexual assault is not conceal carry and bring guns into a family's home, but, to return to a place of feeling safe again. Sexual assault does not happen everyday. Women can protect themselves in many ways including being aware of their circumstances before walking alone.

A woman can recuperate from sexual assault emotionally and cognitively, but, they can't bring back a child killed accidentally with a gun. 

The "fears" Americans have are real, but, their answer to those fears are not realistic. Guns are not the answer.

This is not a reply to President Obama's town hall. It was a discussion raised to bring reality to real life fears.

March 3, 2015

Move over #TheDress, (click here) there’s a new debate packing heat: should college students be able to bring their guns to school?

While the carrying of concealed firearms on campus is banned in 41 states by law or university policy, this year lawmakers in some states are preparing legislation that would give college students the option of carrying a concealed weapon on campus. Those include Indiana, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming, according to The New York Times...

...But the argument raises another point: who’s to stop a potential assailant from bringing a gun to campus as well?
When it comes to preventing sexual assault, the notion of allowing concealed weapons at universities simply misses the mark.
Alexandra Brodsky, Yale Law Student and co-founder of Know Your IX, a student-driven national campaign to end sexual violence, agrees.
“Guns won’t stop campus rape violence. In fact, they will put more students at risk. The evidence is extensive and definitive — the mere presence of a gun in an abusive situation has been shown to increase fatality by 500%.”...

I attended an assault prevention class on campus for four days, two weekends in a row. The first lesson taught is that any weapons a woman is carrying, be it gun or knife can ultimately be used against them as the assailant is most always stronger.

A woman is far better off using her body and leverage moves to end assault. The best defense is to scream and run at first opportunity. It took four days across two weekends to be educated about the best weapon in the world and that was my own body.

The issue of rape can be very cloudy as well. 

There are three main considerations (click here) in judging whether or not a sexual act is consensual 

Are the participants old enough to consent?

Did both participants agree to take part?

Do both people have the capacity to consent? States also define who has the mental and legal capacity to consent. Those with diminished capacity — for example, some people with disabilities, some elderly people and people who have been drugged or are unconscious — may not have the legal ability to agree to have sex.

Views and opinions change during the first two months of life on campus. 

The first two months of college (click here) comes with new classes, new friends, a new campus—and new ideas about sexual assault.
“In general, we see agreement with healthy attitudes and behaviors tend to drop in a lot of students after they’ve gone on campus,” says Dr. Dan Zapp, director of research for EverFi, an education technology company.
Zapp and the EverFi team surveyed more than 280,000 students twice: once before college and again four to six weeks into the school year.
Before going to school, participants tended to strongly agree with statements such as, “A victim of sexual assault should never be blamed,” or “I genuinely feel sorry for victims of sexual abuse”, Zapp explains. When they arrive on campus, there’s a “rapid shift” and their beliefs are much less black-and-white.
“Students who think they totally understand these situations and these issues—what consent is—see it’s more complex,” Zapp says. “There are unique social situations and factors we add in, like alcohol, that introduce these gray areas.”...

FEMA delivered some bottled water before the December holidays.

December 16, 2015
By J. Navarra

...On Tuesday, (click here) FEMA sent 28,000 liters of bottled water in two trucks to the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. The water will be distributed to centers handling food, soup kitchens for example and shelters that are thirsty for water.
Cassie Ringsdorf, FEMA spokeswoman released a statement regarding the warehoused available commodities:
As a part of our normal commodities management process, FEMA periodically offers commodities nearing the end of their shelf-life to eligible non-profits for donation. These donations are not done, 'on-request,' but are a part of our normal strategy to maintain our stockpiles for use in emergencies....

Currently those supplies are completely depleted according to the charities that have distributed them.

Flint is a city of at least 100,000 people. While those 28 thousand liters of bottled water was exceptionally helpful, there isn't anymore. My understanding is there are two FEMA representatives on their way to Flint. Thank you for that. I am fairly confident FEMA believed they had supplied enough water for a short run and the State of Michigan would have time to establish a safe and perpetual supply from then forward. That perpetual supply has not happened. 

If the Governor of Michigan can't get his mind around this emergency, perhaps, FEMA employees can provide a consultation so the people of Flint no longer suffer from the malicious actions of the Governor and Emergency Manager to cut the cities costs of operation AT ANY COST to even human life.

Thank you. Someone heard our plea. The people of Flint, Michigan are great people. They were the backbone of the USA economy for many decades. The believed in the middle class and stood for the dignity of 'work' as a means of living. Flint, Michigan is one of those cities that the country should never turn it's back on. That city taught the rest of the country the value of work and the rewards of demanding respect to build a middle class. 

Someone needs to be sure the people effected by this lead poisoning are living happy and healthy lives for a long time. This is a crime. It sincerely is a crime for many, many reasons. 

Flint, Michigan doesn't need more hardship, they need answers.

Thank you, FEMA.

There is no such thing as unconstitutiaonl union dues.

 

I really hate morons. Labor law is a contract established through a democratic process called a vote. Unions introduce themselves to potential members and outline what they can do to help labor. In doing so it wins an election and BY MAJORITY it is decided the union will represent the labor through contract law. In that understanding is the FACT unions provide SERVICES to all the labor and not just those that voted "Yes." So, the contract states all of the labor of an establishment is receiving the same pay and benefits established by participation of the majority, hence, non-members that could have voted no will benefit from the contracts as well. In that is an understanding there is partial costs sustained and hence the less amount of dues paid.

There are costs affiliated with carrying benefits for non-members within a union shop. The union elected by MAJORITY is allowed to recuperate those costs according to the contract.

This has to be the 365th veto this year, isn't it? One for every day of the year.

January 8, 2016
By Darlene Superville

Washington — Protecting his signature domestic achievement, (click here) President Barack Obama on Friday vetoed Republican-inspired legislation to repeal his health care law, saying to do so "would reverse the significant progress we have made in improving health care in America."
Republican lawmakers have pushed many repeal measures since 2010, when Obama signed the health care program into law. This bill was the first one to make it through Congress and reach his desk.
Republicans have argued that the law is costly and doesn't work.
In his veto message to Congress, Obama disagreed. Obama said the Affordable Care Act includes fairer rules and stronger consumer protections "that have made health care coverage more affordable, more attainable and more patient-centered. And it is working."...

Trump is correct, the government has become a joke.

January 6, 2016

Bay Area Lyme Foundation (click here), a leading nonprofit funder of innovative Lyme disease research in the US, last month released its roster of 2015 research grant recipients. Collectively these researchers received $1.5 million from the Foundation for research related to Lyme disease, a growing epidemic with more than 329,000 reported new cases each year according to the CDC. The organization also highlights the exponential increase in donations to the Foundation in 2015, including more than $6 million that will go directly to support research over the next few years, and announced the addition of Duke University cancer researcher/physician and Lyme survivor Neil Spector, MD to its Scientific Advisory Board....

This is the second demand for monies from Non-Profit Foundations. This increase is outrageous.

I have not found the bill online. This announcement was probably released to tease out opposition to such a raise in taxation of Foundation funding. "W" changed the non-profit definition/status of Foundation to drain their asset value to their missions.

This is the very definition I have given before in that any elected Republican looks to sources of RESERVE CASH in the USA economy in order for Grover Norquest's pledge is safe in that there were no taxes raised on the taxpayer. This draw on CASH into the USA economy is nothing short of robbing the poor to pay the wealthy.

January 8, 2016
By Janet Lorin

A U.S. Congressman (click here) is floating an idea that’s likely to find opposition from the wealthiest colleges: devote 25 percent of a school’s annual endowment income for financial aid or lose tax-exempt status.

Almost 100 endowments with assets of more than $1 billion would be required to give that percentage to lower college costs for middle and low-income students, according to a draft congressional bill provided to Bloomberg. If they didn’t comply for three consecutive years, they could lose their nonprofit status.

The bill, aimed at addressing the skyrocketing cost of college, is expected to be introduced during the congressional session that began this month and could undergo changes in the meantime, said Representative Tom Reed, a New York Republican who is sponsoring the proposal. No co-sponsors are attached to the proposal....

This proposal in the US Congress has the audacity to demand higher amounts of a foundation's treasury to fund HIGHER EDUCATION. 

Unbelievable. This TAXATION on foundations is under the radar and isn't regularly visited.

Make no mistake this is taxation on foundations. Under the "W" years non-profit corporations were required to payout at least 5 percent of their value every year to fund their causes.

What is the 5 percent payout requirement? (click here)

The purpose behind the minimum payout requirement is to prevent foundations from simply receiving gifts, investing the assets and never spending any funds on charitable purposes. The basic rule can be stated simply, but its calculation is complex: Each year every private foundation must make eligible charitable expenditures that equal or exceed approximately 5 percent of the value of its endowment. The word "payout" while convenient is somewhat misleading and is not used in the Tax Code section that creates the rule. The word "payout" suggests grants or contributions paid out to other charities. Although these grants normally make up more than 93 percent of the expenditures of most foundations, many other expenses can also qualify in meeting the minimum payout requirement. In short, the 5 percent payout rule need not be satisfied solely with grants....

The new 5 percent tax on foundations was to increase circulating capital in the USA economy to paint a better economic picture. 

So, why don't we put it out there, if such draconian laws were passed The Clinton Foundation would come under scrutiny for their spending. It won't stop with the Clinton Foundation. ALL non-profit foundations will be effected and drained of valuable equity leaving them even more vulnerable to Wall Street's ups and downs. 

Most significant foundations invest in Wall Street to grow their value. Much of the FOUNDATION monies of non-profit foundations are invested monies across America. Those monies are ALREADY at work to grow the USA economy, not just in financial investment, but, in real benefits to carry out investigation of better medications, supporting other non-profit foundations that care for children and women's health. 

Taking 25 percent out of non-profit foundations is a direct attack on the poor when they receive benefits from these foundations to protect their health and otherwise. How many homes will "Habitat for Humanity" be able to build if this 25 percent tax is passed by the US Congress.

This is a common strategy by Republicans. Real tax cuts that helped the economy was when the FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act : Social Security)  taxation rate was cut with the Democratic majority of 2008 following the 2008 economic collapse. The tax cut worked and was a great help to a recovering economy shedding jobs at 100 thousands per week.

The "W" hump (click here) was caused by an illegitimate economy. The consumer was bathing in a false sense of wealth. They were borrowing monies from their primary residence to purchase multiple residences as investments. The housing collapse beginning in 2007 was a direct result of a false sense of wealth beginning in 2002 and 2003. 

But, to realize the lost jobs were real, the cut in FICA under Obama stopped the economic disaster. It would not have stopped if there wasn't a money infusion to the Middle Class, the economic giant of the USA.  

When examining the "W" economy, one has to realize the implementation of taxes leveraged by changing the definition of a non-profit as an example, was draining any and all money resources/reserves to drive an economy. The entire "W" economy can best be defined as "Draconian" with absolutely no real change of wealth equity among the middle class and the poor.

This is not good governance. It will deplete reserves of foundations and cause their failure. Realize how these non-profits were effected in 2008, with perhaps the best example is the Harvard Endowment. Their losses were considerable and needed a reassessment of their funds and investments to decide their spending while still maintaining the integrity of the funds. An entire housing complex had to be abandoned after the 2008 economic collapse. Wall Street will feel these foundations taxes because it will have a direct depletion of foundation investments.

September 10, 2009

Harvard Management Company (HMC) reported today that the University’s endowment was valued at $26.0 billion as of June 30—29.5 percent less than the record $36.9 billion reported for the prior fiscal year. That result reflects a negative 27.3 percent investment return on endowment assets after expenses and fees; plus capital gifts received during the year (total giving, reported on September 10, was $602 million, down just 8 percent from fiscal year 2008, but the portion directed to endowment has not yet been disclosed); minus the distribution of somewhat more than $1.6 billion from the endowment to support University operations during the year. The latter figure is surprising: it represents an increase over the funds distributed in fiscal year 2008. Details presumably will be forthcoming with the autumn publication of the University’s annual financial report—but the planned reduction in endowment distributions in the current and next fiscal years is driving cost-cutting throughout Harvard...

That was a $10.9 billion US lost out of the Harvard Endowment. A similar loss occurred with the USA's SSI fund.

Realize that Harvard carries some of the best genetic research on Earth. Harvard was the first to begin genetic research with old stocks to prove no matter how hard the US government under a Republican can make research impossible, it is never going to end.

The USA is very lucky to have these magnificent foundations that function to improve our quality of life. If the Republican Congress wanted to increase monies used in the economy annually, then change it from 5 percent to 6 percent; not 25 percent. 25 percent would result in an initial dump of money into the USA economy in 2016, only to tank in 2017. It is a ridiculous idea and Americans need to end the draconian economics of the GOP.

Europe needs to pay attention.

January 8, 2016
By VOA News

Two refugees from Iraq (click here) have been arrested on terrorism-related charges by U.S. federal authorities, prompting renewed criticism of a White House plan to accept thousands of refugees from war-torn parts of the Middle East.
Both men were Palestinians from Iraq who have been in the U.S. for several years, according to U.S. officials. The men may have been in contact with each other, but do not appear to have been planning any attacks in the U.S., the officials said.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 23-year-old Aws Mohammed Younis Al-Jayab was arrested Thursday in Sacramento, California, where he was charged with making false statements involving international terrorism.
Al-Jayab came to the U.S. from Syria in 2012 as a refugee. He is accused of lying to authorities about his travels to Syria, where according to social media postings, he fought with extremist groups, including Ansar al-Islam....

These men were both from Palestine, were accepted as refuges, where in the country for years, carried the same belief system and never conspired to carry out violence together.

The American Dream is not the focus of these men. Freedom in European countries is not the focus of the refugee men coming as refugees and migrants. It sometimes takes a few years of employment and democratic opportunity including government programs to help them thrive as refugees before their extremist agenda's are served. 

Refugees coming to democratic countries all to frequently, after a few years, declare violence on someone.

"You can take the man out of a war front, but, you'll never take the war front out of the man."

This is reality. I refuse to be blind to the facts and the danger to pretend all refugees are benign entities within our borders.
  

I don't fully understand what "Leading from behind" means, but, it appears to be working

January 8, 2016

...IS does not tolerate any dissent (click here) and imposes brutal punishments, often carried out in public.
The UK-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and the activist group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently reported the incident.
Lena al-Qasem had reportedly told her son that the US-led military alliance fighting IS would "wipe out" the group, and tried to convince him to leave the city with her.
Her son is then said to have informed the group of her comment, and they ordered her killed.
Ali Saqr is reported to have shot her outside the post office where she worked, in front of hundreds of people.
IS, a jihadist group which follows its own extreme version of Sunni Islam, took over large parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
Since then the group has killed more than 2,000 people for reasons including homosexuality, and for the alleged practice of magic and apostasy, according to the SOHR.

I second that.

December 4, 2015
The Editorial Board of the NY Times.

...It is a moral outrage and a national disgrace (click here) that civilians can legally purchase weapons designed specifically to kill people with brutal speed and efficiency. These are weapons of war, barely modified and deliberately marketed as tools of macho vigilantism and even insurrection. America’s elected leaders offer prayers for gun victims and then, callously and without fear of consequence, reject the most basic restrictions on weapons of mass killing, as they did on Thursday. They distract us with arguments about the word terrorism. Let’s be clear: These spree killings are all, in their own ways, acts of terrorism....

President Obama wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times regarding our responsibility in gun violence.

January 7, 2016
By Barak Obama

The epidemic of gun violence (click here) in our country is a crisis. Gun deaths and injuries constitute one of the greatest threats to public health and to the safety of the American people. Every year, more than 30,000 Americans have their lives cut short by guns. Suicides. Domestic violence. Gang shootouts. Accidents. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have lost brothers and sisters, or buried their own children. We’re the only advanced nation on earth that sees this kind of mass violence with this frequency.

A national crisis like this demands a national response. Reducing gun violence will be hard. It’s clear that common-sense gun reform won’t happen during this Congress. It won’t happen during my presidency. Still, there are steps we can take now to save lives. And all of us — at every level of government, in the private sector and as citizens — have to do our part.

We all have a responsibility....

What Americans are owning the danger of our country's gun violence? 

There was a time in the USA when simply exposing the widespread violence was enough to bring concern for every life in the country, but, that time is passed, the USA is in a very odd mood. The country is following it's instincts rather than facing the real problem. There are too many guns on the street. The killers within our country are using gun laws to kill. The most stark reality of that are the deaths in "Mother Emanuel." (click here)

Americans are being played for fools. They are given false information regarding gun violence and believe if they own guns they are safe. That is not the case.

The murderer at "Mother Emanuel" carried a philosophy of hate as his life belief system. He was an extremist and studied where and how he could obtain guns and ammunition to successfully kill dearly wonderful people belonging to the church including Rev. Pinckney, the church's pastor.

The American people need to realize how their political scheme to arm themselves is counter to what is best for the country. The American people need to realize mass shootings are conducted with military style weapons that were once removed from the "for sale shelf" in gun stores. 

The killers in San Bernardino used guns that were once illegal in the USA. Their modifications were and are still illegal, yet they occurred. Mail order and internet sales are outrageous to realize they facilitate mass shootings. 

I think of gun modification equipment no different than drug paraphernalia. It is all illegal, but, there is a subversive gun culture that serves mass killers the best. There are dearly few people with guns locked into their bedroom side table that own these extreme guns. 

There are significant measures to take to end the gun violence in the USA and every one of those measures should be pursued. I don't want the blood of innocent Americans on my hands.

One of the worst offenses in the subversive gun culture of the USA is the ease with which guns are transported across state lines. There is no end to gun supplies to our larger cities. The east coast has the I-95 corridor of gun sales. It is very real. Along with the gun culture sales is drug transportation as well. The two make for the most dangerous trends in modern American life. The guns facilitate the movement of drugs. The addiction rate of drugs in the USA has been and continues to grow. 

We, as a country, need to have a productive conversation regarding what works and what does not work when it comes to gun violence and drug addiction including the transportation of them. Guns do not stand alone as a concern, it is the profession of organized crime that comes with them. 

There are drugs that enter every border of the USA. It is an international issue. Guns owned for self-defense isn't the issue. The issue is the extremes of the USA gun laws that facilitate a drug/gun economy. There will be considerable danger to Americans as long as there are dangerous weapons such as the military style guns within easy reach. 

Americans have to realize dangerous guns come with a price to our society and it has to stop. The price are deaths of dearly innocent people that represent the values of this USA democracy. It is not a state's rights issue when there is interstate transportation. Americans have to come to conclusions about what is going to end these mass killings. 

Think about it. Take responsibility.