It is called regulations.

April 12, 2017

By Cari Nierenberg

New York residents (click here) have benefited from rules that ban trans fat in restaurants: Rates of heart attack and stroke have dropped in New York counties where such bans have been enacted, a new study suggests.

Researchers found that starting three years after the effort to restrict the use of trans fats in eating establishments was introduced, the New York counties with these restrictions experienced a 6.2 percent reduction in hospital admissions for heart attacks and strokes, compared with New York counties without similar restrictions. 

This translates to 43 fewer heart attacks and strokes per 100,000 adult residents (ages 25 and older) in the New York counties with trans fat restrictions, according to the study published online today (April 12) in the journal JAMA Cardiology. [9 Disgusting Things That the FDA Allows in Your Food]...

I betcha the Snack Food Association and the Fast Food Industry are happy today. The future of the FDA under Trump is in a precarious state. Trump announced the plans to cut many employees from the federal government. It will slow the government and with agencies like the FDA it will increase a backlog that will cause hardship among Americans.

We live in a world where discovery that improves quality of life occurs at a rapid pace with well funded research. The Trump administration will return the USA to the dark ages of ignorance.

June 16, 2015
By Jen Christensen

...In 2007, New York City (click here) adopted a regulation that banned trans fat from restaurants, but some restaurants were already ahead of the legal changes.

Companies like McDonald's had stopped cooking their french fries in trans fat more than a decade ago. Their online menus say all their fried food is free of trans fat. Chick-fil-A removed all artificial trans fat from its menu in 2008.

Before it became a popular ingredient in processed and fast foods, trans fat was introduced into the American diet as early as 1911 in the form of shortening or hydrogenated vegetable oil, used for cooking and making pies.

Partially hydrogenated oil is formed when hydrogen is added to liquid oils to make solid fats, like shortening and margarine. It also increases the shelf life of food and enhances flavors.

American dietary guidelines recommended Americans keep their trans fat consumption "as low as possible."

Dr. Steven Nissen, the chair of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, praised the FDA for its "bold courage" and said it "deserves a lot of credit" for taking this "enormously important" move....

During the "W" years the USA added enormous numbers of private contractors for the security industry. After 911, "W" helped his lagging economics by throwing large amounts of money into a huge security industry. Trump doesn't want to end private industry attached to the federal government, he wants to shut down the federal government and throw everything into the private sector.

April 11, 2017
By John Fritze

...Asked specifically (click here) about the impact on Montgomery and Prince George's counties, home to the highest concentration of federal workers in the state, OMB director Mick Mulvaney said the administration would not be dissuaded by what he described as the concern of "special interest" groups....

The attack on federal employees involves race as well.

June 13, 2011
By Ed O'Keefe

The federal government employs (click here) a higher percentage of minorities when compared with the national workforce but is still employing a smaller percentage of Hispanics, according to a new government study.

The percentage of women in federal offices also dropped slightly year-to-year, according to the annual report on equal opportunity recruitment published Friday by the Office of Personnel Management.

In 2010, the percentage of minority federal workers grew 5 percent in 2010 to 647,588 employees, an increase of about 31,100 workers from the previous year. Minorities represent 33.8 percent of the federal workforce; just under 18 percent are black, 8 percent are Hispanic, 5.6 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 1.8 percent American Indian/Alaska Native and less than 1 percent are classified as “Non-Hispanic/Multiracial.”

Whites make up 66.2 percent of federal workers, the report said....

The employees that have been employed by the federal government and nearing retirement should be given an incentive by the federal government to move on. The private sector does it and the federal government should do exactly the same thing.

I don't know what kind of fiscal numbers Trump is looking at, but, simply throwing federal workers out on the street without a consideration to their length and dedication to service is cruel. The draw down of the number of employees needs to be systematically and without disrespect to minority employees. 

The world of the "Hippie" has come of age.

By Michelle Rindels, Megan Messerly and Riley Snyder

After voters authorized recreational marijuana in November, (click here) Nevada lawmakers are discussing a raft of legislation to fill in the details of the new environment.

Here are some key themes running through 23 marijuana-related bills this session, and how they overlap with one another:

Marijuana taxation policy and ways to spend new revenue: SB181, SB302, SB341, SB379, AB463, SB487, SB508.

Easing or eliminating punishments for marijuana use: SB228, AB259, SB329, AB345, SB351, SB374, SB378, SB396, AB422.

Ensuring safe use of marijuana: AB135, SB166, SB277, SB329, SB344, SB378.

Reorganizing the regulatory environment around medical and recreational marijuana: SB302, SB329, SB375, AB422.

Marijuana research and economic development: SB236, SB329, SB341, SB396, SB416....                 

OMG, they are real.

April 12, 2017

By Kaila Hale-Stern

Hey, remember back (click here) in the halcyon days when Mitt Romney seemed like a bad Republican contender for President and he blundered by suggesting he had “binders full of women” candidates to hire? Remember when the Republican Presidential candidate got laughed at for trying too hard to hire women instead of publicly bragging about assaulting women, then winning the election?

I remember too. It seems so much like a dream. Anyway, it appears that Mittens wasn’t exaggerating. The binders were real, and The Boston Globe has them.

Per The Washington Post, reporters at The Boston Globe are in possession of Romney’s binders, which exist in the actual world and not merely in the land of make believe, as we suspected at the time. Need a refresher on that happened in 2012, when America was a more innocent place and Donald Trump simply a many-times-bankrupt businessman and celebrity judge on his own reality show?...

There is absolutely no reason to give up NATO and the safety of Ukraine in order to achieve a working relationship with Russia in the Middle East. President Obama already established that relationship. It should be continued. Introducing American troops to Syria is not required.

Nothing has changed with Russia and Trump. I am waiting for the installation of ExxonMobil to replace Gazprom as the Russian national petroleum company.

Dropping bombs on Syria was a campaign promise and "I am better than Obama." The 59 Tomahawk missiles were Trump politics with his constituency.

I think Eric Trump and not the press secretary says it all. Trump accuses Russia of a cover-up regarding chemical weapons in Syria, the cover-up is not just a method of Russia. This 'stage' Trump has set is one of the Master and not the Apprentice.

April 11, 2017
By Peter Baker

Washington — A week ago, (click here) President Trump was accused of being a tool for the Russians, an unwitting agent of influence, so full of admiration that he defended President Vladimir V. Putin against critics who called him a killer.

Now, Mr. Trump is in a diplomatic clash with Mr. Putin’s Russia, his administration accusing Moscow of trying to cover up a Syrian chemical weapons attack on civilians and his secretary of state delivering us-or-them ultimatums.

Even in a presidency marked by unpredictability, the head-spinning shift from coziness to confrontation has left Washington and other capitals with a case of geopolitical whiplash. The prospects of improving Russian-American relations were already slim given the atmosphere of suspicion stemming from Kremlin meddling in last year’s election, but the détente once envisioned by Mr. Trump has instead deteriorated into the latest cold war.

For Mr. Trump’s camp, the abrupt turnaround simply proved how false the conspiracy narrative was from the start. “If there was anything that Syria did, it was to validate the fact that there is no Russia tie,” said Eric Trump, the president’s son....

Trump acted autonomously and impatiently, no differently than "W" did with the UN regarding Iraq. It was important to his personal political aspirations and that of his cabal.

When Republicans buy into hate and financial ambition one can be sure there is an ego linked to decision making.

April 7, 2017
By Conor Friedersdorf

...If the United States (click here) is to increase our use of military force in Syria, we should follow the Constitution and seek the proper authorization from Congress. President Trump should make his case in front of the American people and allow their elected representatives to debate the benefits and risks of further Middle East intervention to our national security interests....

...“If Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution means anything, it means that the president must obtain congressional approval before taking us to war against a sovereign nation that has not attacked the U.S. or its allies and is not threatening to attack the U.S. or its allies,” declared National Review’s David French, who served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps during the Iraq War....

There is a huge difference between Syria and Iraq and that is the ability to commit genocide of small unique communities of ethnics. The USA Tomahawk missiles can wipe out genetics off the Earth forever. There is no way to know if Assad has already committed such genocide with his barrel bombs and yet validated gas strikes with all the death and destruction that has occurred. But, Assad has a redeeming fact, he is an ethnic minority and wants to protect those people more than life itself.

I might add, it is that uniqueness about al-Assad and his family's leadership that Vladimir Putin likes. Putin is in a very different place than the USA generals that struggle to come up with a real strategy for Syria and the Middle East for that matter. Russia likes stable states and in that exists Bashar al-Assad.

We saw such an ethnic community with the Yazidis and Obama's intervention to save them. I might add, this rescue occurred after a man in the USA fought to get the attention of President Obama to address the extreme danger the Yazidis community faced. There was NO USA general or strategist that called those dire circumstances to President Obama.

The Shia Crescent has always been classified as a terrorist group here and a terrorist group there because to identify the 'entire' of the Shia Crescent as a sovereign unto itself completely dispells USA policy. Basically, the USA has not got an idea of what they are doing when they engage in war in the Middle East. It has the "W"rong model for the Middle East. WWIII is the only expertise and the only excuse for killing at random in the Middle East for the USA.

Putin is the answer to the violence in Syria. Unfortunately that is true. Advocating for him to take a strategy to the UN Security Council that creates a power sharing government while ending the civil war is the best place for the USA. We need to advocate the end of Daesh and coordinate with Russia in the Middle East to succeed.

Sorry that doesn't fit the politics of Neocons. Too bad.

This is the article I read about Israel taking care of Syrians.

April 9, 2017
By Rachel Avraham

Over the weekend, (click here) 7 wounded Syrians arrived in Israel in critical condition among them a 2-year-old child. Israeli soldiers provided medical care and evacuated them to hospitals in Northern Israel.... 

...Among the wounded was a 2-year-old girl, who was critically injured in the head. Due to the immediate need to be evacuated to a hospital, the girl was evacuated together with her mother by helicopter. The rest of the wounded were evacuated to nearby hospitals in the northern part of the country....

There is always some kind of nonsense occurring at Israel's borders. Closing the access from the Sinai is necessary. Unfortunately. After the border was closed some Sinai militants fired rockets across the border. There were injuries. That is status quo.

10/4/2017
By Elad Benari

Israel updated its warning against travel (click here) to the Sinai Peninsula on Sunday, calling on Israelis already visiting to leave immediately.
The warning came after two church bombings, one in the city of Tanta and the other in Alexandria, killed at least 43 people, with the Islamic State (ISIS) group claiming responsibility.
"The fatal terrorist attacks which took place today reflect once again the terror capability of the Islamic State," the Israeli government anti-terror bureau said in a statement quoted by AFP.
"In light of the gravity of the threat, the anti-terror bureau advises Israelis currently in the Sinai to leave immediately and return to Israel," it added....

Destroying 20 Syrian aircraft is not all that.

Syria has missiles, by the way. Syria is not Iraq. It is an armed country, Iraq was disarmed of all missiles, except, Scud missiles that were only allowed to strike up to it's sovereign borders.

...The Syrian air force had some 365-385 combat aircraft (click here) when the fighting started. It is not clear how many are now active but a rough estimate is probably about 50 percent with very low sustainability against an active air attack, limited pilot training, and low daily sorties generation rates. It had no modern air defense fighters and operational readiness standards have almost certainly degraded. Syrian holdings of air defense fighters included 85 aircraft with aging avionics and which are very vulnerable to both IAF and U.S. fighters, air-to-air missiles, and air combat systems like the AWACs. These include: 50 obsolescent MiG-23MF/ML/UM Flogger, 35 export versions of the MiG-29A/U Fulcrum with limited computer and radar capabilities for look-shoot down and long range BVR combat. According to the IISS, a large number of these systems were not operational before the civil war: 30 MiG-25 Foxbats and 2 MiG-25U Foxbats....

If Syria states if there are more missile strikes, it means it. It may pick US military targets in the Mediterranean Sea. That is why Syria is an ally of Russia. Russia has a naval base there. The USA has naval vessels in Italy. This is not funny. Syria is not a joke.

April 7, 2017

Moscow: Russia's military Friday (click here) said a U.S. strike on a regime air base in Syria was ineffective but announced Syrian air defenses would be strengthened to shield the country's key infrastructure.

"To protect Syria's most sensitive infrastructure, a complex of measures will be implemented in the near future to strengthen and improve the effectiveness of the Syrian armed forces' air defense system," defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

He added the strike had had an "extremely low" military impact, and fewer than half of the 59 reported U.S. missiles had actually found their target.

"Only 23 missiles reached the Syrian airbase," he said....

It seems to me Mr. Spicer is composing an Iraq War 2.0 story line. No one is speaking the truth. Israel has received refugees from Syria. They were very ill, including, children. Those refugees are being medically treated in Israel's hospitals by Israel's doctors. The media should be following the progress of those refugees. 

If I remember the reports correctly the refugees were survivors of gas exposure. These incidents should be included in the record at the UN Security Council.

Thank you Israel for the humanitarian effort.

This is an outrage!

This illegal shooting took place with an Opelika, Alabama (click here). Sessions is an Alabama native with no particular interest in proper police work. At one point one officer states to another, "So you stopped to protect him." (camera stop 7:21) Really?

This is the kind of treatment the American people have to look forward to with Sessions in the AG office.

April 4, 2017
By Jefferson Morley

It was no surprise when Attorney General Jeff Session (click here) announced his decision Monday to curb the Justice Department office which investigates and sometimes sues local police department for “a pattern or practice” of unconstitutional law enforcement....

 

The Full Pink Moon happens early morning on Tuesday at 2:08 am EST.

April 5, 2017

By Marcus Schneck

The Full Pink Moon (click here) will rise on Tuesday, April 11, but don't expect to see any unusual coloring on the lunar surface.

The full moon of April is the Pink Moon because that's one of the names given to it by Native Americans.

And, the name is more about an event right here on Earth than anything in the heavens. The full moon of April tends to occur as the pink flowers of wild ground phlox comes into bloom. It's one of the first wildflowers to bloom in the spring....

Phlox are perennials (click here) and a favorite choice among wildflowers. These plants sport many star-shaped, colorful flowers when in bloom. Because there are so many varieties, you can find a type of phlox for almost any garden. Phlox make great ground cover, and you can compliment them with other varieties of ground cover. They are easy to care for and low maintenance. Add some phlox to any bouquet for some nice fragrance....                        

The bleaching of Great Barrier Reef corals doubles in one year.

April 10, 2017
By Eoghan MacGuire

...Coral bleaching occurs (click here) when abnormal environmental conditions — such as heightened sea temperatures — push corals to expel tiny photosynthetic algae causing them to turn white.

The damage was recorded by the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, which carried out separate studies over the past two years.

Its 2016 survey found the top third of the reef had experienced the most intense bleaching. But research completed last week recorded more damage along the 1,400 mile long reef's middle third....

April 10, 2017

By Russ Mitchell and Tracey Lien

For months, Tesla stock’s been on a bull run. (click here)

Now, it’s a stampede.

On Monday, investors sent the electric car maker’s market value into entirely new territory, briefly ripping past General Motors in market value, putting Tesla in first place among U.S. automakers.

It also raises the stakes for the company as it prepares to begin assembling its highly anticipated mass-market electric sedan, the Model 3, which is scheduled for release this summer or fall, or perhaps later. The propulsive rise in the company’s stock — up more than 70% since December — amps up the pressure on Tesla and its visionary chief executive, Elon Musk, to deliver near-flawless performance....

Careers/Jobs at Tesla (click here)

May 3, 2016

By Fred Lambert

As Tesla (click here) is looking to almost double its annual vehicle production every year for the next few years, it has to significantly increase its headcount, which currently stands at just over 15,000 employees. Now Tesla is reportedly set to go on a hiring spree this weekend to hire “hundreds” of “production assembly associates” at a “massive” job fair in Fremont, California, according to job listings.

Tesla recently confirmed that it is currently working on increasing its production plans to minimize the wait for the Model 3 following the storm of reservations it received for the $35,000 all-electric sedan – approaching 400,000 cars as of the latest update....

"The Highest Paying Jobs at Tesla Ranked by Salary" (click here)

The return to accessible college is happening. Congratulations Governor Cuomo. He did it. He actually did it.

April 10, 2017

By Mary Emily O'Hara

New York (click here) will be the only state in the country to offer universal public college tuition coverage for working- and middle-class residents after the program was included in the budget package approved Sunday night.

The state's Excelsior Scholarship program will be rolled out in tiers over the next three years, starting with full coverage of four-year college tuition this fall for students whose families make less than $100,000.

The income cap will increase to $110,000 in 2018 and $125,000 in 2019.

While states like California and Georgia have comprehensive grant and scholarship programs for four-year college as well, New York's is the nation's only truly universal program — with no requirements other than residency and income, and no caps on the amount of residents who can receive full tuition.

"With this budget, New York has the nation's first accessible college program. It's a different model," said Governor Andrew Cuomo Saturday in a statement. "Today, college is what high school was—it should always be an option even if you can't afford it."...

Alert, US Senator Bernie Sanders, it is happening!

The dragnet for Russian hackers is seeing results. They will probably run home to Mother Russia now to prevent extradition.

Ransomware? He was breaking the law and intimidating people for money. He is an international criminal regardless his activity.

April 10, 2017

...Pyotr Levashov (click here) was held in Barcelona on Friday and is remanded in custody.

Spanish police said Mr Levashov controlled a botnet called Kelihos, hacking information and installing malicious software in hundreds of thousands of computers.

The arrest was part of a "complex inquiry carried out in collaboration with the FBI", police said.

Mr Levashov is subject to a US international arrest warrant and a Spanish court will hear whether he can be extradited.

Much of his alleged activity involved ransomware - blocking a computer's access to certain information and demanding a ransom for its release.

Mr Levashov's wife Maria told Russian broadcaster RT that the arrest had been made in connection with allegations that Russians had hacked the US presidential election.

She said Spanish police had told her the arrest was in connection with "a virus which appears to have been created by my husband and is linked to [Donald] Trump's victory".

However, Agence France-Presse news agency quoted a source close to the matter in Washington as saying that Mr Levashov's detention was "not tied to anything involving allegations of Russian interference with the US election"....                  

No Palace intrigue here. Trump is rarely in the White House.

April 10, 2017
By Stephen A. Crockett, Jr.

...He’s been in office less than three months (click here) and he can’t stop vacationing; in fact, according to The Independent, President TrumPutin spent some $24 million vacationing in his first 10 weeks, which is about as much as President Barack Obama spent in two years....

...To put that in perspective, Obama averaged around $12.1 million a year during his presidency, or about $97 million during his two terms. If President TrumPutin keeps vacationing at this rate, he will surpass Obama’s eight-year total in a mere 10 months. But kids don’t need the Public Broadcasting Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency is being cut off at the knees. You would think, with this much vacationing, he’d at least have a decent tan....

No wonder he sends war machines into Syria; the PDB isn't making it to the golf course.

Indeed, Trump can't claim to be living in public housing. There aren't golf courses like that anywhere near public housing that I know of.

ANOTHER oil pipeline leak in Alabama. When is Bentley out of there?

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley (click here) speaks to the media during a news conference, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016, in Hoover, Ala. Bentley issued a state of emergency in Alabama after a pipeline spill near Helena, Ala. Gas prices spiked and drivers found "out of service" bags covering pumps as the gas shortage in the South rolled into the work week, raising fears that the disruptions could become more widespread. 

Sorry, the article is today, the speech was September 19, 2016. I can't believe Bentley is still there. He must not have any job offers.

April 10, 2017
By Katie Serena and Sophia Tesfaye

More than one year after the Alabama Republican Assembly called for Republican Governor Robert Bentley’s resignation, impeachment hearings against the governor began on Monday in the Alabama State House.

The embattled 74-year-old GOP governor has pledged to stay in office as the impeachment hearings — the first of its kind in Alabama history — kick off this week.

“I have done nothing illegal,” Bentley said at a press conference at the capitol on Friday. “If the people want to know if I misused state resources, the answer is simply no, I have not.”...

No one looking for a lobbyist, huh? That is about the only thing anyone will remotely think Bentley is qualified for, but, the Republicans in DC will probably bolt the door to avoid him.

September 16, 2016

Residents of the communities (click here) nearest to the site of a Shelby County pipeline leak that has released more than 250,000 gallons of gas into the environment say they are worried about the potential for the gas to cause damage to their health and homes.

Hours after Gov. Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency for Alabama on Thursday, multiple neighbors of the William R. Ireland Sr. Cahaba River Wildlife Management Area told AL.com that they worry that the gas leak could have direct impacts on their lives.

Billy McDanal owns a house on a 3.5-acre piece of land less than 500 yards from the edge of the Wildlife Management Area in the Fox Valley Highlands subdivision in the small community of Maylene. He and his son have hunted, hiked and ridden four-wheelers throughout the management area and its surroundings for over a decade....

Then two weeks later.

Helena, Ala. - Alpharetta-based Colonial Pipeline (click here) has shut down its main line at a site in Alabama after an explosion.

Investigators say the explosion hit around 3:30 p.m. Monday after machinery hit the pipeline in Shelby County, Alabama.

One person died and at least five others were injured in the blast.

Channel 2's Aaron Diamant is as close to the scene of the blast as authorities will allow. He reports a massive response underway as crew work to put out the fire a day after the explosion.

Channel 2's Jim Strickland obtained internal information from Colonial Pipeline showing one pipeline has resumed operations as of midnight. That pipeline contains diesel, jet fuel and home heating oil....

That is why when I first looked at "Slate" and the title to the picture was state of emergency, I thought, AGAIN!

If Bentley resigns he may still be able to collect his pension and won't be homeless standing on the corner with a tin cup.

Another tragedy in San Bernardino. I am sorry to hear there are more teacher dead.

All to often Americans are watching reports of school children in a line following a police officer to be sure they are safe from someone with a lousy gun.

April 10, 2017

Two adults (click here) were killed and two students were injured Monday morning at an elementary school in San Bernardino in what officials are describing as a murder-suicide.

The students were taken to a local hospital, where they were listed in critical condition, said San Bernardino police Lt. Mike Madden. The male gunman, whose identity was not released, shot and killed a female instructor before he turned the weapon on himself and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to police.

The teacher is believed to be the spouse or girlfriend of the gunman, according to San Bernardino Unified School District spokeswoman Maria Garcia.

“We believe this to be a murder-suicide,” San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan tweeted. “Happened in a class room. Two students have been transported to the hospital.”...

What the heck?

There are too many guns on the street and it is becoming the method of choice in idiot rampages like this.

...“I was in my class and my teacher was teaching us a lesson, and then I heard three gun shots. My teacher told us to get on the ground. Then we started hearing sirens,” the third-grader said....

Oh, yeah, he learned a lesson alright.

...Jaidyn said once he and his classmates were outside on a soccer field, they were planning to walk to Cajon High School, but he spotted his mother and she scooped him up and took him home....

...Zamudio, the father of a 6-year-old in second grade at North Park, said he lives nearby and heard helicopters overhead. He rushed to the school when his sister called saying there had been a school shooting.

“I came because they said it was safer, more isolated. But I guess it’s not that way,” said Zamudio, who recently moved to the area from Highland....

Sincerest sympathies to those in Sweden who have perished and the loss of wonderful people in Egypt.

April 10, 2017

Members of Sweden's royal family and politicians attended the ceremony in Stockholm

Sweden's prime minister (click here) has told the families of the victims of Friday's truck attack they are not alone, after the country held a minute of silence.

Stefan Lofven said all of Sweden's thoughts were with them following a ceremony outside Stockholm City Hall, also attended by the mayor and most of the Swedish royal family.

Four people died and 15 were injured when a hijacked truck was driven into a department store in central Stockholm.

An Uzbek man, 39, is the main suspect.

Uzbeks have been involved with terror long before Daesh. Many Uzbeks practice the Muslim faith, but, to state this is unique because of Daesh is wrong. Daesh is an excuse for killing regardless of the history of such men carrying out atrocities.

Addressing those affected by the attack, Mr Lofven added: "You are not alone, we are thinking of you. All of Sweden stands with you."

Police have not released the identities of the victims, but said they were:...

Uzbeks were terrorists long before Daesh. The organization is "Hizb ut-Tahrir." The other and more common name for the organization is HT. HT had the corner of Calphate long before it became fashionable in Syria. Uzbeks are in prison because they are violent extremists. Their clerks are occasionally jailed as well. They have a bad attitude and they sometimes face religious oppression 

"Google Books" has a publication on line that is free and would help to understand HT for those that care to. "Guide to Islamist Movements" (click here)

If my memory services me well, I think Uzbeks were involved with the Beslan school. The so called mastermind was Chechen, Shamil Basayev. Basayev was an Islamist. He no longer breaths.

But, when I hear there are Uzbeks involved in any terror attack I think of HT long before Daesh.

12 February 2015
By William Scates Frances

Another day, (click here) another Islamic State (Isis) meme. This one is a rather well done mimicry of the pamphlet style of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Its title reads “Hizb ut-Ta’khir” – translated roughly as the “party of delay” – and its bold headline reads “Establishing the Khilafah since 1953”.

Beneath, the disclaimer reads: “I know, we have got nowhere so far, but we have lots of conferences and heaps of flags and are really good at sitting in cafes …”

This is not the first meme about Hizb ut-Tahrir to be spread around the oft deleted and resurrected pro-Isis Twitter handles. The Dawlah twittersphere (Dawlah meaning “state”, shorthand for Islamic State) is full of them, all of a similar theme, all targeting Hizb ut-Tahrir....

All the wackos have turned themselves loose in the name of demented faiths estranged from the sincerely devoted Muslims.

09.04.2017

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis (click here for audio) condemned the terror attack on a Coptic church dedicated to St. George – Mar Girgis – in the city of Tanta, north of Cairo, which killed upward of two dozen people and injured nearly 60 others.

“[W]e pray for the victims claimed this [Sunday] morning,” Pope Francis said in remarks to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to pray the Angelus with him following Palm Sunday Mass, during which news of the attack - the first of two on Coptic targets Sunday, occurred.

“To my dear brother, His Holiness Pope Tawadros II,” Pope Francis continued,  “to the Coptic Church and to all the dear Egyptian nation I express my deep condolences. I pray for the dead and the injured, and I am close in spirit to the family members [of the deceased and injured] and to the entire community.”

Pope Francis went on to pray, “May the Lord convert the hearts of the people who are sowing terror, violence and death, and also the hearts of those who make and traffic weapons.”

Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Cairo at the end of this month.

The United States should offer to assist with security for his visit to Egypt. He is a man of great faith. He openly loves the people and he will not be deterred. The USA needs to accept the fact when it bombs others there is retaliation within the Muslim world.

It wasn't only Christians that died on Palm Sunday; there were men of a different faith that perished as well.

April 10, 2017
By Bethan McKernan

55-year-old (click here) Nagwa Abdel-Aleem was one of three officers to lose their lives in Palm Sunday bombings claimed by Isis.

Egyptians have been paying their respects to a woman police officer who died when she stopped an Isis suicide bomber from entering a
Coptic Church in Alexandria.

At least 44 people were killed in two bombings targeting Egypt’s Christian minority on Sunday - the first at St George's Church in Tanta, about 60 miles (100 kilometres) north of Cairo, followed by the explosion during Mass at Alexandria’s Saint Mark’s Cathedral.

Nagwa Abdel-Aleem, 55, was guarding the entrance to the church when the suicide bomber attempted to pass her security check. Unable to proceed any further, he detonated the bomb at the main gate. It is thought the attacker's primary target was Pope Tawadros II, who had left the site a few minutes earlier.