Rex Tillerson has too much integrity to simply spread rumors for the sake of spreading rumors. He is also very aware of laws and their impact after managing an international petroleum company. Laws were second nature to the CEO.
December 8, 2018
...The biting words came after Tillerson, (click here) in an appearance at a charity event in Houston, said their relationship soured over Trump's repeated demands that Tillerson do things that were illegal.
"So often, the president would say, 'Here's what I want you to do, and here's how I want you to do it,' " Tillerson said at a fundraiser for the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, in his first public remarks about his truncated tenure since he was let go in March.
"And I would have to say to him, 'Mr President, I understand what you want to do. But you can't do it that way. It violates the law,' " he said.
As if to confirm how toxic their interactions had become, Trump praised Tillerson's successor, Mike Pompeo, and dismissed the abilities of Tillerson, who ran Exxon Mobil before stepping down to work for Trump....
In defense of Twitter, I doubt seriously the inventors ever intended it as a tool for politics. Twitter serves many people globally when nothing else is available. It has a noble purpose, it is just that politics seems to have tainted it's purpose.
But, I think Secretary Tillerson is correct in stating not so many words, Americans need to get serious about their country and not act on emotions of the moment. Some take history of the country too far and others simply like an alternate reality. Few seem to want to take the time to understand a subject before they render an opinion.
...saying Trump was elected using modern-day tools to tap into strong emotions, he added, "I will be honest with you. It troubles me that the American people seem to want to know so little about issues that they are satisfied with 128 characters.
"I don't want that to come across as a criticism of him. It's really a concern I have about us as Americans, and us as a society, and us as citizens."...
Friday, December 07, 2018
Trump's administration is practicing Extinction standards at US Fish and Wildlife for the purpose of profits and wealth taking.
By Coral Davenport
Washington — The Trump administration (click here) on Thursday detailed its plan to open nine million acres to drilling and mining by stripping away protections for the sage grouse, an imperiled ground-nesting bird that oil companies have long considered an obstacle to some of the richest deposits in the American West.
In one stroke, the action would open more land to drilling than any other step the administration has taken, environmental policy experts said. It drew immediate criticism from environmentalists while energy-industry representatives praised the move, saying that the earlier policy represented an overreach of federal authority.
“This is millions and millions of acres of Western land that stretch across the spine of this nation,” said Bobby McEnaney, an expert in Western land use at the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group. “With this single action, the administration is saying: This landscape doesn’t matter. This species doesn’t matter. Oil and gas matter.”
Kathleen Sgamma, president of the Western Energy Alliance, an association of independent oil and gas companies based in Denver, said in an email, “These plans will conserve the sage grouse without needlessly stifling economic activity.”...
In reviewing the report (click here) there is absolutely no evidence of a rebounding species.
The sample sizes from either 1965-2015 and 2005-2015 show a declining species number due to habitat loss. The reporting shows either a 2% to 2.1% decline every one of those years stated leading to approximately 66% drop in populations up to 2015. Sorry, but, no species short of an ant will rebound to a successful number of birds in three years.
The Trump Administration will cause the extinction of the Sage Grouse if it continues along this path.
Once extinct, who care then?
If the METHODOLOGY differs from state to state then there are reasons for it to differ. Trump is trying to say that since the methods of different then the information is faulty. "W"rong. There is no top down method that will work for every state in the country. California is different from Wyoming and they are different from Nevada.
The green color in the picture is historical territory of the grouse and it is diminished by at least 50%. The "scattered" appearance in the above map also indicates within the existing range there are disruptions that allows for continuity. So, the sage grouse is declining because OF THE EXISTING RANGE REMAINING there are significant areas of FRAGMENTATION. That fragmentation impacts on the bird and causes it to lose numbers needed to rebound.
Making claim that the existing REMAINING habitat can be FRAGMENTED MORE is pure idiocy and makes no sense at all. How is a species with fragmented and diminished quality and quantity of habitat going to rebound with more of the same?
A dearly loved late uncle would have stated, "Trump has no scruples."
My late father would have called him a shyster. Both would have been correct.
December 6, 2018
By Dan Alexander
On the day Donald Trump became president (click here) of the United States, while inauguration festivities were still in full swing, he officially launched his 2020 reelection campaign. Donations poured in from more than 50,000 people across the country. But according to the latest federal filings, Trump still has not donated a penny of his own, while his businesses continued to charge the campaign for hotels, food, rent and legal consulting. That means the richest president in American history has turned $1.1 million from donors across the country into revenue for himself....
...Then there are the payments flowing into Trump Plaza LLC, a Trump-owned entity that has taken in $42,000 of campaign money since November 2017. Although federal filings list the purpose of those payments as “rent,” it is difficult to tell what the campaign is actually renting. Trump Plaza LLC controls a retail space, garage and two brownstones near Third Avenue in New York City. The retail space at Trump Plaza shows no signs of campaign activity, and a non-Trump company seems to sub-lease the garage from Trump Plaza LLC—leaving just the two brownstones. But they are not open to the public, making it difficult to see who the tenants are, and whether they include the president’s campaign....
December 6, 2018
By Dan Alexander
On the day Donald Trump became president (click here) of the United States, while inauguration festivities were still in full swing, he officially launched his 2020 reelection campaign. Donations poured in from more than 50,000 people across the country. But according to the latest federal filings, Trump still has not donated a penny of his own, while his businesses continued to charge the campaign for hotels, food, rent and legal consulting. That means the richest president in American history has turned $1.1 million from donors across the country into revenue for himself....
...Then there are the payments flowing into Trump Plaza LLC, a Trump-owned entity that has taken in $42,000 of campaign money since November 2017. Although federal filings list the purpose of those payments as “rent,” it is difficult to tell what the campaign is actually renting. Trump Plaza LLC controls a retail space, garage and two brownstones near Third Avenue in New York City. The retail space at Trump Plaza shows no signs of campaign activity, and a non-Trump company seems to sub-lease the garage from Trump Plaza LLC—leaving just the two brownstones. But they are not open to the public, making it difficult to see who the tenants are, and whether they include the president’s campaign....
Thursday, December 06, 2018
Fairwell. The reaction by America was surprising to some. George H. W. Bush as a decent man.
By Camila Domonoske
Former president George H.W. Bush (click here) was remembered by his grandson as gracious, decent and humble, as he received his final public memorial ceremony at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston on Thursday. The funeral came after several days of remembrance in the nation's capital.
Bush died last week at the age of 94. He will be buried in a private ceremony on Thursday afternoon.
On Wednesday, the former president received a state funeral at Washington National Cathedral in the nation's capital, with all five living presidents in attendance.
His casket then traveled to Texas, where it lay in repose at St. Martin's Episcopal Church on Wednesday night. About 12,000 people came to view the casket, Houston Public Media reports. The member station spoke to several mourners:
"Denton Ragland said he worked on Bush's presidential campaign in 1988, and that he's gotten more emotional about Bush's death than he expected.
" 'He's an enduring example of what we should all strive for in our personal lives and the life of our country,' he said, choking up....
Don't hold your breath to have the south reform it's politics. It is corrupt as ever.
By Amy Gardner and Beth Reinhard
Bladenboro — When GOP Rep. Robert Pittenger (click here) lost his primary by a narrow margin in May, he suspected something was amiss.
The congressman turned to a group of friends and family who had gathered with him on election night at a steakhouse near Charlotte and blamed the “ballot stuffers in Bladen,” according to three people at the gathering.
Pittenger’s concern stemmed from the vote tallies in rural Bladen County, where his challenger, a pastor from the Charlotte suburbs named Mark Harris, had won 437 absentee mail-in votes. Pittenger, a three-term incumbent, had received just 17.
In the days immediately after the race, aides to Pittenger told the executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party and a regional political director for the National Republican Congressional Committee that they believed fraud had occurred, according to people familiar with their discussions....
While tampering with legitimate ballots has nothing to do with Voter ID, Raleigh Republicans like to lie about the fact their bill will protect from such mishandling. That is not the case. Deliberate mishandling of legitimately filed votes is NOT an issue of Voter ID, it is an issue for criminal intent in fixing an election through mishandling of votes.
Putting Voter ID on a state constitution stills allow for review by the courts and declaring it unconstitutional.
December 6, 2018
By Lynn Bonner
Raleigh - A bill requiring North Carolina voters (click here) show photo identification before casting ballots at the polls beginning next year won final approval in the state Senate.
The voter ID bill that now goes to Gov. Roy Cooper for his signature was approved as scrutiny of possible election fraud in the 9th Congressional District intensifies. The investigation is focused on mishandling of absentee ballots....
...Voter ID is a long-held Republican goal. A 2013 voter ID law in North Carolina was struck down in federal court in 2016. Republicans this year put a constitutional amendment for voter ID on the ballot. It passed with about 55 percent of the vote.
Opponents have traveled to Raleigh to speak against and protest the bill. Protesters sang and carried signs in the rotunda outside the gallery soon after the 25-7 vote to approve the bill with little debate.
Cooper said last week there was no need for photo ID, and called it “wrong for our state.” He did not say whether he would veto legislation.
An audit of 4.8 million votes cast in the 2016 election found one instance of in-person voter impersonation that could have been prevented by photo identification....
How cool is this story?
7 December 2018
By Fiona Stocker
Australia (click here) is a nation built on beer. When Port Jackson, the site around which the city of Sydney sprang up, was settled in the late 1700s, the people there were hungry not just for food, but for a steady supply of ale and other types of liquor.
Foundering off Tasmania’s treacherous north coast near the aptly named Preservation Island, the Sydney Cove ground to a halt on a sandbank and sank slowly while the crew salvaged what they could. Artefacts from excavations of the survivors’ camp indicate that this included some of the beer.
Two hundred and twenty years later, I was standing below the ship’s towering rudder, the centrepiece of the Sydney Cove shipwreck exhibition at the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania. The ship may have failed to steer its course to Sydney, but the remaining beer survived for around 200 years on the icy seabed. In the 1990s it was recovered from the wreck during excavations led by Mike Nash, a marine archaeologist with the Australian Historic Shipwrecks Team, and sent to the museum in Launceston for preservation. And now the beer is back, renewed and re-brewed courtesy of a partnership between the museum and Australian brewing company James Squire....
It is a national security issue. Unless, a country is an ally of the USA they shouldn't be installing cloud technology meant to be impenetrable.
What was she taking home to China? Interesting she should try to make her exit of North America through Canada. Perhaps the heat in the USA was getting to obvious.
There is no human rights violation to Ms. Meng Wanzhou. China and Russia don't worry about leasing space to run it's hijacking of USA intelligence. The biggest complaint by the Techy Sector is internet spying and stealing their technology. That is what this is all about. The question is how much and what did she steal and was she acting as a spy for her company or her government or both?
NATO should demand the USA limit the degree in which communist countries are allowed to participate in the USA economy. The US uses that clout for sanctions, but, to some extent when foreign companies of countries like China treat the USA's democracy as a toy, there needs to be an end to that abuse.
December 6, 2019
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (click here) says his government had no involvement in the arrest of a top executive from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.
Meng Wanzhou was detained at Vancouver airport on Saturday on an extradition request from the US.
China has demanded her release, calling the arrest a human rights violation.
The charges have not been made public. Huawei said it was "not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms Meng".
She faces a bail hearing on Friday.
Earlier reports suggested the arrest could be related to a US investigation into a possible violation of sanctions against Iran.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton declined to comment on this when questioned by journalists....
There is no human rights violation to Ms. Meng Wanzhou. China and Russia don't worry about leasing space to run it's hijacking of USA intelligence. The biggest complaint by the Techy Sector is internet spying and stealing their technology. That is what this is all about. The question is how much and what did she steal and was she acting as a spy for her company or her government or both?
NATO should demand the USA limit the degree in which communist countries are allowed to participate in the USA economy. The US uses that clout for sanctions, but, to some extent when foreign companies of countries like China treat the USA's democracy as a toy, there needs to be an end to that abuse.
December 6, 2019
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (click here) says his government had no involvement in the arrest of a top executive from Chinese telecoms giant Huawei.
Meng Wanzhou was detained at Vancouver airport on Saturday on an extradition request from the US.
China has demanded her release, calling the arrest a human rights violation.
The charges have not been made public. Huawei said it was "not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms Meng".
She faces a bail hearing on Friday.
Earlier reports suggested the arrest could be related to a US investigation into a possible violation of sanctions against Iran.
US National Security Adviser John Bolton declined to comment on this when questioned by journalists....
Huawei United States (click here)
Facing the future, (click here) Promoting the “All Cloud” Strategy to Enable Digital Transformation
Facing the future, (click here) Promoting the “All Cloud” Strategy to Enable Digital Transformation
Update about jet crash.
December 6, 2018
The United States Marine Corps (click here) confirms that two Marines have been found. One is in fair condition and the other has been declared deceased by competent medical personnel.
The search and rescue operations continue for the remaining five U.S. Marines who were aboard the KC-130 Hercules and F/A-18 Hornet involved in a mishap about 200 miles off of the coast of Japan around 2:00 a.m. Dec. 6.
The aircraft were conducting routine training and aerial refueling was a part of the training; as to what was taking place when the mishap occurred, that is under investigation.
U.S. 7th Fleet is supporting ongoing search and rescue efforts with a Navy P-8A Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft flying out of Kadena Air Force Base, along with assistance from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and the Japanese Coast Guard. We are thankful for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's, the Japanese Coast Guard's, and the U.S. 7th Fleet's efforts as they continue to respond to the search and rescue operation.
We will provide additional information as it becomes available.
Media can contact the III Marine Expeditionary Force media desk at IIIMEFMEDIA@usmc.mil.
December 6, 2018
Toronto - Canadian authorities (click here) said Wednesday that they have arrested the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies, who is facing extradition to the United States.
Justice Department spokesman Ian McLeod said Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday. He said Meng is sought for extradition by the U.S.
McLeod said a publication ban had been imposed in the case and he could not provide any further details. The ban was sought by Meng, who has a bail hearing Friday, he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese tech giant Huawei violated sanctions on Iran....
December 6, 2018
New York — A federal jury (click here) convicted a Hong Kong businessman Wednesday of bribing the presidents of two African nations to secure oil rights for a Chinese energy conglomerate, a case that stretched from the halls of the United Nations and highlighted the often blurry line between nongovernmental organizations and private enterprise.
Dr. Chi Ping Patrick Ho was found guilty of seven of eight counts, including conspiracy, money laundering and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a case that involved several former presidents of the United Nations General Assembly.
Ho's attorneys did not dispute that he made the payments, including $2 million secreted in gift boxes delivered to the president of Chad in 2014. But they insisted the transactions were charitable donations intended to foster goodwill in Chad and Uganda and expand the business of CEFC China Energy .
Ho, 69, showed little emotion after the verdict was announced. He addressed reporters briefly in Cantonese as he left the courtroom, saying the outcome had been "expected."...
Toronto - Canadian authorities (click here) said Wednesday that they have arrested the chief financial officer of China's Huawei Technologies, who is facing extradition to the United States.
Justice Department spokesman Ian McLeod said Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Saturday. He said Meng is sought for extradition by the U.S.
McLeod said a publication ban had been imposed in the case and he could not provide any further details. The ban was sought by Meng, who has a bail hearing Friday, he said.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that U.S. authorities are investigating whether Chinese tech giant Huawei violated sanctions on Iran....
December 6, 2018
New York — A federal jury (click here) convicted a Hong Kong businessman Wednesday of bribing the presidents of two African nations to secure oil rights for a Chinese energy conglomerate, a case that stretched from the halls of the United Nations and highlighted the often blurry line between nongovernmental organizations and private enterprise.
Dr. Chi Ping Patrick Ho was found guilty of seven of eight counts, including conspiracy, money laundering and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in a case that involved several former presidents of the United Nations General Assembly.
Ho's attorneys did not dispute that he made the payments, including $2 million secreted in gift boxes delivered to the president of Chad in 2014. But they insisted the transactions were charitable donations intended to foster goodwill in Chad and Uganda and expand the business of CEFC China Energy .
Ho, 69, showed little emotion after the verdict was announced. He addressed reporters briefly in Cantonese as he left the courtroom, saying the outcome had been "expected."...
December 6, 2018
Dallas — A U.S. Border Patrol agent (click here) has been charged with capital murder after telling investigators he killed four sex workers whom he considered worthless and that he thought he was performing a service for his Texas border hometown, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said he will seek the death penalty if Juan David Ortiz is found guilty in the September slayings.
"The scheme in this case, from Ortiz's own words, was to clean up the streets of Laredo by targeting this community of individuals who he perceived to be disposable, that no one would miss and that he did not give value to," Alaniz said at a news conference. Ortiz, 35, thought he was doing his civic service by killing the women, the prosecutor said.
A suspect can be charged with capital murder if he is suspected in more than one killing in the same scheme with an overarching motive, Alaniz said. Three of the women were shot to death and one died of blunt force trauma....
Dallas — A U.S. Border Patrol agent (click here) has been charged with capital murder after telling investigators he killed four sex workers whom he considered worthless and that he thought he was performing a service for his Texas border hometown, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said he will seek the death penalty if Juan David Ortiz is found guilty in the September slayings.
"The scheme in this case, from Ortiz's own words, was to clean up the streets of Laredo by targeting this community of individuals who he perceived to be disposable, that no one would miss and that he did not give value to," Alaniz said at a news conference. Ortiz, 35, thought he was doing his civic service by killing the women, the prosecutor said.
A suspect can be charged with capital murder if he is suspected in more than one killing in the same scheme with an overarching motive, Alaniz said. Three of the women were shot to death and one died of blunt force trauma....
Wednesday, December 05, 2018
There may have been an explosion without a chance of a rescue operation.
December 6, 2018
Search and rescue operations are underway.
The aircraft are a KC-130 refuelling plane and an F/A-18 Hornet fighter jet.
US Marines tweeted: "Search and rescue operations continue for a KC-130 and an F/A-18 that were involved in a mishap off of the coast of Japan around 2:00 a.m. Dec. 6."...
Tuesday, December 04, 2018
I patriot lying in state.
By Calvin Woodward, Lauri Kellman and Ashraf Khalil
Washington — The nation’s capital (click here) embraced George H.W. Bush in death Monday with solemn ceremony and high tributes to his service and decency, as the remains of the 41st president took their place in the Capitol rotunda for three days of mourning and praise by the political elite and everyday citizens alike.
With Bush’s casket atop the Lincoln Catafalque, first used for Abraham Lincoln’s 1865 funeral, dignitaries came forward to honor the Texan whose efforts for his country extended three quarters of a century from World War II through his final years as an advocate for volunteerism and relief for people displaced by natural disaster....
December 4, 2018
By Nancy Clanton
Former President George W. Bush (click here) will eulogize his father, former President George H.W. Bush, during Wednesday’s state funeral.
Outside of the late president’s son eulogizing him, three other men will speak on the life of the 41st president Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral.
Here’s a little background on each of the three men, Brian Mulroney, Alan Simpson and Jon Meacham, speaking at Bush’s funeral Wednesday....
Democrats need to work extra hard to win and keep the confidence of independents.
Independents are Americans that carry specific views. What is important to them should be important to Democrats.
When they are scanning the horizon for their next best option, they are also making decisions that will be mostly disappointing to them. They need to have Democrats address their point of view and the topics important to them without handing them rhetoric.
I believe they are disillusioned about their democracy and that is dangerous.
August 2, 2018
By Sam Baker
Americans (click here) don’t trust Republicans or President Trump to bring down drug prices, according to our latest Axios/SurveyMonkey poll. But what stands out isn't just that they don't do well — it's that they come in third, behind the Democrats and "neither."
By the numbers: Asked who they trust the most on the issue, the top three vote-getters were: Democrats (35%), neither party (30%), and then Trump and the Republicans (27%). That's fueled by Democrats and Republicans voting for their team while independents are deeply cynical about both parties.
There’s always a partisan split in any political poll, but man, this is more of a partisan Grand Canyon.
- Just 2% of Republicans said they trust Democrats to lower drug prices.
- Just 1% of Democrats said they trust Republicans.
- Independents don’t like anyone — 72% said they don’t trust either party on this issue.
The poll also found that Americans specifically don't have confidence in Trump's plan to lower drug prices, as we reported this weekend....
When they are scanning the horizon for their next best option, they are also making decisions that will be mostly disappointing to them. They need to have Democrats address their point of view and the topics important to them without handing them rhetoric.
I believe they are disillusioned about their democracy and that is dangerous.
August 2, 2018By Sam Baker
Americans (click here) don’t trust Republicans or President Trump to bring down drug prices, according to our latest Axios/SurveyMonkey poll. But what stands out isn't just that they don't do well — it's that they come in third, behind the Democrats and "neither."
By the numbers: Asked who they trust the most on the issue, the top three vote-getters were: Democrats (35%), neither party (30%), and then Trump and the Republicans (27%). That's fueled by Democrats and Republicans voting for their team while independents are deeply cynical about both parties.
There’s always a partisan split in any political poll, but man, this is more of a partisan Grand Canyon.
- Just 2% of Republicans said they trust Democrats to lower drug prices.
- Just 1% of Democrats said they trust Republicans.
- Independents don’t like anyone — 72% said they don’t trust either party on this issue.
The poll also found that Americans specifically don't have confidence in Trump's plan to lower drug prices, as we reported this weekend....
Monday, December 03, 2018
I think every President stands on their own accomplishments. President George H. W. Bush was an incredible diplomatic leader.
This chronicle of President Bush's final journey is from New Zealand. He made a rather incredible impact on the global community which he liked to call, "The Family of Nations." He held that idea as a way of stating every country could have the same opportunities for it's people as the USA. He never gave up on the hope someday peace would also bring an economic advantage to every country welcoming it. I think I know what he would be saying about some of today's global events.
3 December 2018
Former US President George H.W. Bush looks out of the cab of Union Pacific locomotive 4141 at its 2005 unveiling in College Station, Texas.
...Bush's body (click here) will be transported by a motorcade Monday morning from a Houston funeral home to Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, a Texas Air National Guard base. The casket will be loaded onto a plane during a departure ceremony and flown to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Relatives accompanying the casket will include his sons, former President George W. Bush and Neil Bush, with members of their immediate families. The rest of the Bush family is expected to be at Joint Base Andrews when the body arrives.
In Washington, Bush will lie in state in the rotunda of the US Capitol tomorrow and Wednesday. His casket will be transported by motorcade on Thursday to the National Cathedral, where a state funeral will be held at 5am NZT.
US President Donald Trump has indicated that he and first lady Melania Trump will attend the state funeral. Trump has said he plans to designate Thursday as a national day of mourning....
3 December 2018
Former US President George H.W. Bush looks out of the cab of Union Pacific locomotive 4141 at its 2005 unveiling in College Station, Texas.
...Bush's body (click here) will be transported by a motorcade Monday morning from a Houston funeral home to Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, a Texas Air National Guard base. The casket will be loaded onto a plane during a departure ceremony and flown to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Relatives accompanying the casket will include his sons, former President George W. Bush and Neil Bush, with members of their immediate families. The rest of the Bush family is expected to be at Joint Base Andrews when the body arrives.
In Washington, Bush will lie in state in the rotunda of the US Capitol tomorrow and Wednesday. His casket will be transported by motorcade on Thursday to the National Cathedral, where a state funeral will be held at 5am NZT.
US President Donald Trump has indicated that he and first lady Melania Trump will attend the state funeral. Trump has said he plans to designate Thursday as a national day of mourning....
The extremists.
I've seen protests in France and most of the time for excellent reasons, but, this is pure destruction for the sake of destruction.
3 December 2018
By John Lichfield
...On Saturday, the gilets jaunes (click here) – or a large, violent fringe of the wider, peaceful “yellow vest” movement – took evident joy in smashing up the grandest and wealthiest parts of the French capital. Appeals on social media, where the movement began a month ago, are calling for another assault on Paris this weekend.
How can a movement that began a month ago with broadly peaceful protests against high fuel prices have generated such vicious enmity towards not just President Macron but the entire French political system? Some French commentators have suggested that the yellow vests should be rebranded “yellow shirts” – a fascist rabble. This is dangerous and misleading talk, for now....
They want to overthrow the government. They aren't interested in protests for change to make life better. They want the French government to end. Who is behind all this?
24 November 2018
By Kim Willsher
Police have used teargas (click here) and water cannon against fuel tax protesters in Paris after violent clashes erupted on the Champs Élysées.
Thousands of demonstrators from all over France massed on the famous boulevard on Saturday to express their anger at the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his government. But what was supposed to be a peaceful protest by the gilets jaunes (yellow jackets) movement degenerated rapidly.
On one side, protesters reportedly infiltrated by far-right extremists and casseurs (rioters and hooligans) tore up paving stones and hurled them and other missiles at police before building barricades that they set alight. On the other, police used teargas, pepper spray, water cannon and bulldozers to clear the road....
We live in increasingly strange times when jumping to conclusions only powers the extremists and anarchists. The way I see it, the extremists saw a chance to take a moral issue and enslave it for their own purposes.
3 December 2018
By John Lichfield
...On Saturday, the gilets jaunes (click here) – or a large, violent fringe of the wider, peaceful “yellow vest” movement – took evident joy in smashing up the grandest and wealthiest parts of the French capital. Appeals on social media, where the movement began a month ago, are calling for another assault on Paris this weekend.
How can a movement that began a month ago with broadly peaceful protests against high fuel prices have generated such vicious enmity towards not just President Macron but the entire French political system? Some French commentators have suggested that the yellow vests should be rebranded “yellow shirts” – a fascist rabble. This is dangerous and misleading talk, for now....
They want to overthrow the government. They aren't interested in protests for change to make life better. They want the French government to end. Who is behind all this?
24 November 2018
By Kim Willsher
Police have used teargas (click here) and water cannon against fuel tax protesters in Paris after violent clashes erupted on the Champs Élysées.
Thousands of demonstrators from all over France massed on the famous boulevard on Saturday to express their anger at the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and his government. But what was supposed to be a peaceful protest by the gilets jaunes (yellow jackets) movement degenerated rapidly.
On one side, protesters reportedly infiltrated by far-right extremists and casseurs (rioters and hooligans) tore up paving stones and hurled them and other missiles at police before building barricades that they set alight. On the other, police used teargas, pepper spray, water cannon and bulldozers to clear the road....
We live in increasingly strange times when jumping to conclusions only powers the extremists and anarchists. The way I see it, the extremists saw a chance to take a moral issue and enslave it for their own purposes.
Sunday, December 02, 2018
It is called deregulation.
November 23, 2018
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The State Land Office has set a record for its monthly oil and gas lease sale, generating more than $43 million for public schools and other trust land beneficiaries as the oil boom continues in New Mexico.
The November sale represents the highest single-month yield in the agency’s history. The previous record of just over $30 million was set in July 2017.
Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn said in a statement issued Tuesday that he was expecting a good month but was surprised by the outcome. He said it will help with the goal of generating $1 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.
The State Land Office, one of the most powerful agencies in New Mexico, oversees oil and gas drilling, renewable energy projects and other development on millions of acres of state trust land. Revenues from the monthly oil and gas lease sales and other activities help to fund public schools, higher education, hospitals, the state penitentiary and infrastructure projects.
In all, 35 tracts covering more than 12 square miles (32 square kilometers) were up for bid this month in Lea, Chaves and McKinley counties. All but one tract was leased and another ended up being withdrawn....
Allocation by New Mexico for educational materials - $10,385,518.00 (click here)
How does a state have a $40.3 million as a budget gap with an income of $43 million in sales of oil leases?
March 14, 2018
By Sylvia Ulloa
New Mexico school districts (click here) that had hoped to put a little more cushion in their budgets managed to persuade a sympathetic Legislature, but couldn’t get it past the governor’s veto pen.
When she signed the 2018-2019 budget on March 7, Gov. Susana Martinez struck a line through $5 million state lawmakers had set aside to repay some school districts whose cash accounts had been swept by $40. 3 million to help fill a large budget gap in 2017.
Martinez had called the cash accounts of school districts “slush funds.” State superintendents — who drove to the capital en masse during the session to lobby lawmakers for repayment — call them reserve accounts that are used to make large payments like annual insurance, as well as extras like giving teachers stipends to take students to science camp.
School leaders said during testimony in Santa Fe that taking the cash out of their accounts had hurt their ability to deal with unexpected expenses....
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The State Land Office has set a record for its monthly oil and gas lease sale, generating more than $43 million for public schools and other trust land beneficiaries as the oil boom continues in New Mexico.
The November sale represents the highest single-month yield in the agency’s history. The previous record of just over $30 million was set in July 2017.
Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn said in a statement issued Tuesday that he was expecting a good month but was surprised by the outcome. He said it will help with the goal of generating $1 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.
The State Land Office, one of the most powerful agencies in New Mexico, oversees oil and gas drilling, renewable energy projects and other development on millions of acres of state trust land. Revenues from the monthly oil and gas lease sales and other activities help to fund public schools, higher education, hospitals, the state penitentiary and infrastructure projects.
In all, 35 tracts covering more than 12 square miles (32 square kilometers) were up for bid this month in Lea, Chaves and McKinley counties. All but one tract was leased and another ended up being withdrawn....
Allocation by New Mexico for educational materials - $10,385,518.00 (click here)
How does a state have a $40.3 million as a budget gap with an income of $43 million in sales of oil leases?
March 14, 2018
By Sylvia Ulloa
New Mexico school districts (click here) that had hoped to put a little more cushion in their budgets managed to persuade a sympathetic Legislature, but couldn’t get it past the governor’s veto pen.
When she signed the 2018-2019 budget on March 7, Gov. Susana Martinez struck a line through $5 million state lawmakers had set aside to repay some school districts whose cash accounts had been swept by $40. 3 million to help fill a large budget gap in 2017.
Martinez had called the cash accounts of school districts “slush funds.” State superintendents — who drove to the capital en masse during the session to lobby lawmakers for repayment — call them reserve accounts that are used to make large payments like annual insurance, as well as extras like giving teachers stipends to take students to science camp.
School leaders said during testimony in Santa Fe that taking the cash out of their accounts had hurt their ability to deal with unexpected expenses....
Lessons in Bipartisanship: the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
By Travis Madsen
Director, Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Campaign
Twenty-seven years ago today (November 15, 1990), President George H.W. Bush, backed by a supermajority of Congress, improved the Clean Air Act. The new law was one of the most significant steps the nation has ever taken to protect public health and the environment. Looking back on it today, we can clearly see that when our leaders work together across party lines to cut pollution and protect public health, we all win.
The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act were designed to curb four major threats to both the environment and the health of millions of Americans: acid rain, urban smog, toxic air pollution and the hole in the Earth’s ozone layer. 27 years later, we have made massive progress on all four fronts...
....And we are facing an even more serious air pollution problem — climate change. Not only is climate change making air pollution worse (Exhibit A: this summer’s terrible fire season and heat waves), but it poses its own far-reaching threats to our health and well-being and the future of communities across the nation. Already, global warming pollution is acidifying the ocean, driving extreme storms, fueling drought and floods and causing the oceans to rise. These changes pose serious threats to our safety, our homes and businesses, our food and water supplies, and the natural ecosystems upon which we depend....
...Pres. George H.W. Bush negotiated the landmark climate treaty that underpins the Paris Climate Agreement — the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change — in 1992. The president said at the time that the United States “fully intends to be the world’s preeminent leader in protecting the global environment.” The Senate then ratified the treaty, which. Sen. McConnell called “a fine agreement,” according to The Hill....
Richard Nixon passed landmark legislation e National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), The Clean Air Act amendments of 1970, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act amendments and The Clean Act. President Geoge H. W. Bush continued that legacy and recognized the difficult mission facing the country in regard to the Climate Crisis.
I wish his family solace. May he rest in peace.
The blog will continue with Slovakia next Sunday.
Saturday, December 01, 2018
December 1, 2018Dubai - Iran’s navy on Saturday launched a domestically made destroyer, which state media said has radar-evading stealth properties, as tensions rise with arch-enemy, the United States.
In a ceremony carried live on state television, the Sahand destroyer — which can sustain voyages lasting five months without resupply — joined Iran’s regular navy at a base in Bandar Abbas on the Gulf.
The Sahand has a flight deck for helicopters, torpedo launchers, anti-aircraft and anti-ship guns, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and electronic warfare capabilities, state television reported....
...Iran launched its first locally made destroyer in 2010 as part of a program to revamp its navy equipment which dates from before the 1979 Islamic revolution and is mostly U.S.-made.
Iran has developed a large domestic arms industry in the face of international sanctions and embargoes that have barred it from importing many weapons.
Separately, a naval commander said Sahand may be among warships that Iran plans to send on a mission to Venezuela soon.
“Among our plans in the near future is to send two or three vessels with special helicopters to Venezuela in South America on a mission that could last five months,” Iran’s deputy navy commander, Rear-Admiral Touraj Hassani Moqaddam, told the semi-official news agency Mehr....
There is no such thing as playing fair anymore. Russia is intent on destroying the civilized world. Russia and Cuba has filed an alliance under the new President. Either hold the President of Cuba and Putin responsible for human rights violations AND MEAN IT or suffer the consequences.
The technology they use to permanently damage diplomats and who knows who else, generals and congress persons next, is indiscriminate in it's use. The technology harms all forms of life. I think it is microwave.
The USA has sound technology, but, rarely deploys it because of it's unknown consequences that may be permanent. But, there is no reason to not give the Chinese, Russians and Cubans a taste of their own medicine. That means the USA and Canada will deploy the technology within the USA and Canadian borders against diplomats that are supposed to be immune to such tactics.
Get real or visit the Hague and start dragging these people before the tribunals.
November 29, 2018
By Anna Mehler Paperny
Toronto - Canada’s government (click here) is reviewing its diplomatic presence in Cuba, officials said on Thursday, after another staff member developed the same mysterious health problems that first began affecting diplomats last year.
Canadian and U.S. diplomats in Havana first began complaining of dizziness, headaches and nausea in the spring of 2017. The United States reduced embassy staffing in Cuba from more than 50 to a maximum of 18, after more than two dozen personnel developed unusual illnesses.
Another Canadian diplomat showed symptoms over the summer, government officials said in a telephone briefing. Tests confirmed the person suffered from the same health issues that had affected a dozen other Canadian staff, spouses and their children, officials said....
Not that I am interested in victimizing doctors, but, this is ridiculous. Their country deploys technology to permanently injure diplomats while they cry "slavery" to the USA Courts. If the settlement is achieved from Brazil, the monies should be forwarded to the USA and Canadian treasuries to pay for the doctor bills of those effected by Cuban war technology.
The USA and Canada need to file sanctions against Cuba and then proceed to collect any monies available to pay for the permanent physical damage Cuba and Russia has caused to their diplomatic corps.
Russia doesn't want the USA and Canada in Cuba because it wants to build military bases there now that there is a new president.
November 29, 2018
By Andres Oppenheimer
The scandal surrounding the 15,000 Cuban doctors (click here) who have been working as virtual slaves in Brazil is growing: Some of them filed a lawsuit in Miami against the Washington-based Pan American Health Organization (PAHO.)
The lawsuit, filed Friday, claims that the regional health organization not only supervised the program, but pocketed $75 million of its funds. Meanwhile, the doctors were receiving less than 10 percent of their salaries.
Sam Dubbin, a Miami attorney representing at least four Cuban doctors who defected in Brazil, told me that the lawsuit alleges that PAHO, an agency of the U.N. World Health Organization, supervised and profited from an illegal scheme under which the Cuban doctors had to work in conditions that violate U.S. and international forced labor laws....
November 28, 2018
By Mac Margolis
When the Cuban government (click here) gave the word earlier this month to recall the more than 8,000 physicians it deployed in Brazil, the media, physicians and public health wonks were alarmed. What would become of the patients the expatriate doctors had been tending in parts of the country where public services were already precarious at best and the only folks in white were Pentecostal pastors.
That the exodus was triggered by yet another outburst by intemperate right-wing President-elect Jair Bolsonaro only aggravated the worries. Bolsonaro not only offended Cuba by accusing it of promoting slave labor — keeping some 70 percent of the contracted doctor’s fees while barring their families from joining them in Brazil — he also had no fallback plan for the services they rendered. Millions of poor patients would be left unassisted, it was said, so inviting a public health disaster. “This is a sad day for Brazilian health and foreign policy,” former health minister Alexandre Padilha lamented....
...As it happened, Cuba was taking bows with a tip of someone else’s beret. For decades, the governments of Fidel and Raul Castro could deliver medical services pro bono thanks largely to life-support from Havana’s erstwhile foreign sponsor, the Soviet Union....
There is plenty of money floating around between Russia and Cuba to pay for the doctor bills for all the diplomats and their families and pets for the rest of their lives, while curtailing the ability of Cuba to grow into a military threat to the USA.
...Cuba’s medical internationalism raked in some $9.6 billion on average annually from 2011 to 2016, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) estimated last year. According to Vidal, better than three-quarters of that bounty came from just two markets: Brazil and Venezuela....
...Dubbin cited several documents, including an audit of the Mais Medicos program by Brazil’s Supreme Accountability Office, a congressional agency similar to the General Accounting Office in the United States, as showing that over the past five years, Brazil paid about $1.5 billion to PAHO for the program. Of that money, PAHO paid $1.3 billion to Cuba, and kept $75 million for itself. Cuba, in turn, paid the Cuban doctors in Brazil about $125 million, Dubbin said....
The country pauses at the loss of the Late President George H. W. Bush.
Sincerest of sympathies to the Bush family. I am sure he will be dearly missed.I think history will treat the forty-first President well. He was a war hero. There were many reasons to endear George H. W. Bush to a distinguished place in history.
The presidency is only aspect of this great American. I always believed him to be a kind man. He was once a diplomat and that showed through in his public life. He knew his stuff.
November 30, 2018
By Scott Horsley
George H.W. Bush (click here) was the definition of establishment success: Yale graduate. Prosperous business career. Forty-first president of the United States.
But to one admittedly biased observer, the elder Bush has always been shortchanged.
"As a result of him being a one-term president, historians hadn't paid much attention to him," George W. Bush told NPR in a 2014 interview. He called his father "one of the greatest one-term presidents in the nation's history."George Herbert Walker Bush died Friday at the age of 94....
Saudi Arabia and Russia have agreed on many issues, including investment. That is why Putin is so excited. (click here for news article - thank you)
...While some world leaders distanced themselves from the Saudi crown prince accused of ordering the assassination of a journalist, and from Russian President Vladimir Putin. But those two men appeared happy to see each other at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Putin clasped each other's hands and smiled widely as they greeted each other Friday. The greeting quickly gained traction on Twitter....
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Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid Al-Falih (click here) will meet with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak during the summit to discuss an oil output in 2019, the Russian news agency RIA reported. Novak also said that Russia's 2019 oil output is expected to be at the same level as this year but could be adjusted, depending on a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC members. Producer group OPEC and its allies are meeting in Vienna next week to discuss oil production.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Putin clasped each other's hands and smiled widely as they greeted each other Friday. The greeting quickly gained traction on Twitter....
................................
Saudi Arabia's energy minister Khalid Al-Falih (click here) will meet with his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak during the summit to discuss an oil output in 2019, the Russian news agency RIA reported. Novak also said that Russia's 2019 oil output is expected to be at the same level as this year but could be adjusted, depending on a deal between OPEC and non-OPEC members. Producer group OPEC and its allies are meeting in Vienna next week to discuss oil production.
Saudi Arabia pushes for “quiet cut.” A few weeks ago, rumors floated of a potential aggressive production cut at the upcoming OPEC+ meeting, perhaps as large as 1.4 million barrels per day. However, that now looks unlikely, as President Trump has simultaneously protected Saudi Arabia from international outrage over the Khashoggi murder, at the same time that he has pressured them into keeping oil prices low. Russia is also not keen on a large production cut. That leaves Saudi Arabia looking for a “quiet cut,” which would mean taking production back down to previously agreed upon production limit – around 10 mb/d, down from the current 11 mb/d.
They also share an interest in a space (click here) and nuclear (click here) programs. The Crowned Prince has promised to bring money to Russia. They are probably the only two countries that actually have admiration for the other.
They also share an interest in a space (click here) and nuclear (click here) programs. The Crowned Prince has promised to bring money to Russia. They are probably the only two countries that actually have admiration for the other.
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