You are not going to believe this one.

I am traveling in the southeast after the hurricane. The Trump voters are nice people and they believe he is bipartisan because he takes on both Republicans and Democrats. It doesn't matter he won't sign much-needed legislation with bipartisan votes. 

Strange and unsophisticated Americans. Nice, but, out of touch with reality. One woman said, "What is the Mueller investigation?" There is a year to go and there is a lot of ground work to do, too.

They are disconnected from media. No television, newspapers or radio. They are busy meeting for bible study, Revelations Chapter 16 is the one I sat in on. I had to provide insight that I considered Chapter 16 a cleansing. They are waiting for the frogs and darkening of the sun. No lie. These are not the backwoods of Mississippi. They use their cell phones for keeping up with each other and the kids.

A spiritual bible study leader believes China is nothing but heathens for generations with no exposure to the bible. No lie. It is amazing the degree these Americans are out of touch with modern society. They are mired in old-time Christianity and believe the Jews missed the boat by waiting for a second Messiah.

There hasn't been any diplomat in recent USA history that allows such dense religious bigotry to be a part of foreign policy. It is bad. There is no leadership. Everyone should be ashamed in allowing such ignorance and bigotry in this country. We have always been a country of inclusion and outreach, not isolation.

The minority candidates Senators Harris and Booker and Former Secretary Castro get it right about criminal justice reform and the disparity in our communities when it comes to correcting the path of racism. 

Having people of color in government is vital to removing racism from the USA and providing role models and inspiration to children. These three candidates are dedicated to excellence. They are magnificent leaders already and prepared to do more. We need them to do more, much more.

They have great character and incredible records, I hope all Americans including the African American community are taking a better look at their candidacy tonight.

Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are spot on in regard to the international standard and profile of the USA. There were 23 Senators that voted against the Iraq War. Senator Sanders is one of them. I don’t want to get into Bush and Cheney’s itchy trigger finger on Iraq but they announced their invasion while the UN inspectors were on the ground and had only hours to evacuate their teams before the invasion started on March 19-20, 2003.

Venezuela and Maduro’s war crimes is mostly about Russia and it’s victimization if the country and people of Venezuela. If Maduro is committing war crimes than so is Vladimir Putin.

Venezuela fell into economic ruin because of the price of oil. Russia took advantage of a weakened country and set up a nuclear military platform and Trump allowed. It has been at least months since I stated the Russian presence in Venezuela would be detrimental to the people and the country and the USA and I have been proved correct.

How is FARC doing?

I don’t want to hear anymore nonsense about fearing the NRA and how the states don’t have control over the safety of their citizens. The reddest of red states in the past month has confiscated guns in Dallas because murder rates are OUT OF CONTROL. The US Supreme Court has already said the federal and state governments can control weapons sold to private owners. The lies of the gun lobby have to stop. There is no slippery slope of gun regulation. CEO’s are clamoring for gun regulation  across this country. It is time to stand up for gun regulation and safe streets in the USA. Safe streets are constitutional in the USA.

And the same CEOs better put their money where there mouth is!

Medicare for All will never receive overwhelming support because it scare people.

Americans can’t support it because they never have experienced free health care EXCEPT in the military. “Tricare” is the USA military GOVERNMENT MANAGED health care. I would think if the military government managed health care works, what is there to be afraid of?

Traveling

I have friends and family in places that were affected by Dorian. I will be traveling this week and next to visit them. If I can I will be reviewing the events of the day, it is silly to say I will be commenting anyway because it is a joke a minute with Trump's administration.

BUT, I intend to continue the reading of the report by the Special Counsel to completion when I return regardless of the events of the day. I think it is very important to record it on this blog. 

Until then I wish everyone well.

Later.

Enough is enough.

Where are the two hospital ships, the USNS Mercy (T-AH-19) and USNS Comfort (T-AH-20)?

The USA Army Corp is needed in Grand Bahamas and the Abaco Islands to at the very least setup storage facilities for food and water or UN Straws for clean water and hospital facilities.

No doubt there are overwhelming numbers of dead. I am sure the governments involved will decide after a time how best to handle that, but, THE LIVING NEED HELP NOW.

The UN has to move against Trump in some way. Start writing letters that will ultimately be carried to the Hague. He has to know the international conventions, treaties and laws he is breaking and the peril he faces as an individual. The USA governing bodies in the House and Senate needs to be put on notice as well, especially, Mr. McConnell.

I might point out this is more than human rights abuses. These islanders have no place to go with a storm bearing down on them. There are unique people, both genetic and cultures. The world is losing people in ways that should never be allowed. These are small populations of people, large losses of lives could bring about genetic catastrophe.

The USA is in the same hemisphere and has ways of helping no other country can match, even allies.

In the USA, advocay groups and individuals can begin or continue a process within the United Nations regarding human rights violations and issues of genocide.

Laurel Krause (click here), the sister of Allison, successfully carried out a tribunal about the Kent State Shootings. The tribunal was registered with the United Nations. It can be done. An organization I founded helped fund her endeavors. For the curious, it is a PRIVATE non-profit. There is no 501(c or d). I in no way accept money for any of my interests. There are people that want to see justice in the face of THE TRUTH. Non-violent justice. Is there any other kind?

I cannot imagine Laural, who founded a non-profit in her sister's name would turn away anyone that wants to know how such tribunals can be conducted SUCCESSFULLY. She is an amazing person.

Trumpism is costing a lot of money to local economies.

I was out doing errands for about two hours. Every time I got in the car to drive, there was a police officer, in different vehicles somewhere nearby either in front or behind me or coming and going in the opposite lane. I live in small town America. The cities and towns are stepping up police patrols because of the frequent and violent killings and the costs will result in the postponement of schools to be built and other projects slated for improvement.

Former Representative and Governor Mark Sanford can run rings around Trump. He understands governance and the priorities that secure the USA.

I think anyone running against Donald Trump is smarter and better.

William "Bill" Weld was a great Governor for Massachusetts for six years. His education credentials are very impressive;  University of Oxford, Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Middlesex School, Harvard College, University College.

The cities and small towns of this country can't continue to do this. It will destroy their financial integrity and for those already in financial trouble, it will compromise their ability to serve the people in all aspects except essential services.

People are scared and have every right to be. There are too many guns on the street.

This is what a Republican dictatorship looks like. It is very dangerous.

It is sheer stupidity to oppress the facts of science. The agency should sue the president for dictating processes that do not serve the people. The dangers of this administration cannot be understated.

September 8, 2019
By Kevin Fitzpatrick

Donald Trump’s sharpie-gate refuses to blow over. (click here) In addition to the president’s seeming determination to keep his Alabama gaffe in the news cycle, another wrinkle emerged Saturday: the same National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that publicly chastised the National Weather Service in Birmingham for refuting President Trump apparently ordered its own employees not to contradict him.

According to The Washington Post, an agency-wide NOAA directive made the rounds on September 1, hours after President Trump included Alabama in a tweet warning states in the path of Hurricane Dorian. After the NWS office in Birmingham corrected Trump’s warning to specify that “Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian,” not only did the NOAA release a public statement that the “Birmingham National Weather Service’s Sunday morning tweet spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time,” but behind the scenes staff were reportedly directed to “only stick with official National Hurricane Center forecasts if questions arise from some national level social media posts which hit the news this afternoon,” as well not to “provide any opinion.”...

I demand the agency live up to it's mission. NOAA better not substitute "Trump Bullshit" over the facts. The Agency will be sued if it submits to Trump's dictatorship of it's mission and it's facts!

It will be amazing to see cruise ships crashing against the rocks and sinking due to turbulent seas when Trump dictates his political priorities to the message of agencies assigned the safety of the people.

NOAA is an agency that enriches life through science. (click here) Our reach goes from the surface of the sun to the depths of the ocean floor as we work to keep the public informed of the changing environment around them.

From daily weather forecasts, severe storm warnings, and climate monitoring to fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce, NOAA’s products and services support economic vitality and affect more than one-third of America’s gross domestic product. NOAA’s dedicated scientists use cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation to provide citizens, planners, emergency managers and other decision makers with reliable information they need when they need it....

Dan McCready has the moral high ground. He treats every voter with high regard and understands the esteem of a democracy that values "The Vote."

September 8, 2019
By John Henderson

Ninth District congressional candidate Dan McCready (click here) is not letting President Donald Trump’s visit to Fayetteville on Monday go unanswered.

Hours before Trump is expected to make a campaign stop at the Crown Expo Center to rally for McCready’s opponent, Dan Bishop, the Democratic candidate has planned a campaign event downtown.

On Monday, from noon to 1 p.m., McCready, a Marine Corps veteran, will join veterans and military families to conduct a canvass of downtown in “Operation Get Out the Vote.”

The group will meet at the N.C. Veterans Park before breaking into small groups to walk along Hay Street, as well as go door-to-door to meet potential voters, a press release from the campaign said.

McCready, the owner of a solar energy business, is in a tight race for District 9 seat. Bishop, a Republican, is a lawyer and former Mecklenburg county commissioner from Charlotte. The district runs along the state line from Charlotte in the western half of the state to Fayetteville and Bladen County in the east....             

This is the McCain family (out of uniform) at the Republican National Convention. She is an amazing person. She has always been available to the country and it always reeks of USA purpose and morality.

August 21, 2019

By Alisa Wiersema

Nearly a year (click here) after her husband's death, Cindy McCain said the current Republican Party is "not the party of Abraham Lincoln ... nor the party of Ronald Reagan."

In an interview with ABC's Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl, McCain spoke about the legacy her late husband, Sen. John McCain, left in American politics, and focused on his willingness to work across the aisle. A year later, McCain said she doesn't see anyone picking up and carrying the mantle of staunch bipartisanship the way her husband did.

"That was a tough torch to carry and, as John said, there were many lonely days because he always said what was on his mind," she told Karl....

The all too familiar message of "No Hate." She is great.       

"Morning Papers"

The Rooster

"Okeydoke"

Afghan roosters have a hard life, they have to fight other roosters to stay alive. These animal fights are very popular with men in Afghanistan. 

Bolton is wrong. There is no path to peace without the Taliban. The alternative is to turn Afghanistan into Iraq and put 100's of thousands of USA troops into the country and fight for regime change. 

Don't forget, Bush abandoned Afghanistan for Iraq. That is why the USA is still there. The Taliban reconstituted in Pakistan during the years of the Iraq war. The difference in the theater in Afghanistan is the defeat of Al Qaeda, the new presence of a Daesh minority, the lack of alliance support, a democratic political party, a National Assembly of the People and greater tensions with Iran. Those tensions with Iran because of Trump's desire for a Middle East war, complicates the possibility for peace in Afghanistan.

Before the retaliation of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban. It was a military dictatorship. It wasn't really a centralized dictatorship, the control over the people was local, more or less Taliban militias and oppression of the people into a national religious regime. That is also a valid point, the geography and weather of Afghanistan itself dictate local control. There were a lot of corrupt militias, including Haqqani that controlled and still control the Poppy Culture.

The current National Assembly is liked by the people and is successful in passing laws and carrying some degree of enforcement. Afghanistan is better today for the sacrifice of the USA, but, it is time for peace in the region. The region certainly doesn't need Iran at war either.

It has been the priority of every Afghanistan leader to bring the USA and Iran to a peace of some sorts to insure democratic survival. Bush turned down the offer, Obama gathered with other Western countries to seek and pass the Iran Deal, but, Trump blew it. There has to be peaceful cooperation with Iran to insure the region doesn't launch into complete chaos AGAIN.

As a matter of fact, peaceful cooperation with Iran is a very important national security issue, unless, Trump and Netanyahu want Daesh back again.

September 8, 2019
By Michael Safi

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, watches as an army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Sgt 1st Class Elis Barreto Ortiz at Dover air force base, Delaware.

Donald Trump says he has cancelled secret peace talks (click here) on Afghanistan scheduled for Sunday that would have brought him face to face with Taliban leaders at Camp David, the presidential retreat in the hills of Maryland state – with the Islamist militant group warning on Sunday that the snub meant more American lives would be lost.

The US president made the remarkable claim in a series of tweets on Saturday evening declaring he had “called off” the negotiations after the Taliban claimed responsibility for a blast in Kabul that killed 12 people including a US soldier on Thursday.

“What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position?” Trump wrote, accusing Taliban leaders of trying to build leverage ahead of Sunday’s talks.

“If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don’t have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway.”...

"Good Night, Moon"

Waxing Gibbous

10,2 days old

78.5 percent lit

August 19, 2019
by Thomas Kika

In discussing the benefits of agency’s forthcoming Space Launch System (SLS), (click here)  NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine affirmed that the same technology being developed to return humanity to the moon will also allow for a mission to Mars. The SLS technology is being developed at facilities in Louisiana and Alabama, where Bridenstine recently visited to meet with workers.

“This rocket will send astronauts aboard our Orion spacecraft to the Gateway under the Artemis program,” Bridenstine said of SLS. “Our new deep space transportation system is the backbone for lunar surface exploration and will pave the way for human exploration of Mars.” 

Bridenstine claims that the SLS would represent that most powerful rocket in the world once completed. The SLS is part of NASA’s ongoing “Artemis” project, which aims to put astronauts on the Moon for the first time since 1972 and establish a permanent presence on the lunar surface. Part of this presence will be the “Lunar Gateway,” a refueling and docking station, which will serve as a waypoint for a future mission to Mars. The station will also include a habitation module, which NASA will develop with commercial partners.

The plan for Artemis is to demonstrate launch capabilities by 2022 and to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024.

In New York State the Maple - Basswood forests have no animal indicator species. That doesn't mean protections for wildlife are not important. There are understory and herbaceous indicator species for this forest and I will begin to discuss them next week.

France

People are saying this is the very first time France has experienced deaths from a heat wave, that is not the case.

The climate crisis struck in 2003 and took the lives of 14,802 people. 

France rarely had heat-wave before 2003. There was little air conditioning in many cottages that had thick walls to cool the living space in the summer and maintain the heat inside in the winter. Those thick walls heated up from the outside to the inside in the summer of 2003. People died of heat related deaths in their own homes.

The climate crisis is upon us and if we don't address this now, the years ahead will be devastating in the effects of weather and people will die. They may even die of water shortages. 

The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a matter of survival and already people around the world are losing the fight.

This assault on life has to end and it has to end now. This is not politics, but, the leaders of democratic countries MUST address greenhouse gas emissions and plan for changes in energy and transportation. The future does not belong to the older generations. The future belongs to the young adults and their children. It is time to make way for them and secure a planet free of deadly weather. Enough. The young people and their children MUST have a safe and happy future.

It is not just hot, it is weather that kills. This is the climate crisis and the Amazon Rainforest is a carbon sink!

September 8, 2019
By Ron Brackett

More than 1,500 people died in France (click here) during summer heat waves that set record high temperatures in many parts of Europe, the country's health minister said Sunday.

Agnes Buzyn, speaking on France Inter radio Sunday, said the figure was more than 1,000 deaths above the annual average for the time of the year, according to the Associated Press.

She said there were 18 days of recorded heat waves in France this year during June and July.

France set a new national high temperature during a heat wave June 25-30 when temperatures soared to 114.6 degrees Fahrenheit at Gallargues-le-Montueux in Gard, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On July 25, Paris' maximum temperature soared to 108.7 degrees Fahrenheit. The July 2019 average temperature for France was 73.4 F or 4 degrees above average, NOAA said.

Buzyn said a public relations campaign about the dangers of heat saved many lives in France this summer. She also noted that the 1,500 deaths this year were far fewer than in a heat wave in 2003 that claimed 15,000 lives.

"We have succeeded — thanks to prevention, thanks to workable messages the French population heeded — to reduce fatalities by a factor of 10," she said.

In addition to France, the heat wave this past June shattered record high temperatures in seven other European nations, including Germany....

The Bird of New York State is the Eastern Bluebird. Protect it.

January 24, 2019
By M L Nestel

Death litters the base of the sky-mirroring Time Warner Center. (click here) Dozens of badly damaged songbirds bash into its panes and disappear when they meet Charlie Alamo's broom and dustbin.

"I've seen a lot of dead birds here," he told Newsweek last year.

Collecting chirpless birds has become part of the 43-year-old maintenance worker's routine at the Columbus Circle high-rise.

"Some of the birds just have the head left," he said while pointing toward the peregrine falcons nested above. Alamo's seen them routinely mutilate songbirds as snacks while also controlling the block's pigeon and squirrel populations.

Summer mornings must prove deceptive for the warblers and woodcocks here, because that's when Alamo says he collects most of the downed prey.

"I love birds," he said. "It's heartbreaking to see that."...

...At a stoplight on Tenth Avenue during a sunny afternoon drive, New York State Assemblywoman Deborah Glick winced at the laser glare off the looming Hudson Yards construction site.

That blinding moment compelled Glick to stop the proliferation bird-killing glass buildings. "We're seeing too many glass towers that seem to be the main focus of architects," she said.

Glick, who represents some bird-collision hot spots in both Lower Manhattan and Greenwich Village, last year introduced a bill that called for every building construction project in New York City to establish "bird collision deterrent safety measures" and use "bird-safe building materials and design features."

Its measures call for premium materials such as ultraviolet treated or fritted glass (the near-invisible porcelain ball patterns that birds can detect) when applied from the ground level to 50 feet high, where most collisions occur. Screens or netting are other makeshift ways to cut down on "one of the largest threats to bird populations in New York City."

"The reality is birds are dying," Glick said. "Bats are dying. Bees are dying. People are becoming aware of these things -- especially young people and the future is going to be in humans making things that are less damaging to the natural world."...

The vibrant colors and soft, (click here) musical warbles of the Eastern Bluebird are a welcome sight on a cold, snowy day. Bluebirds have long been considered harbingers of spring, and their willingness to nest in open, human-modified habitats makes them popular among birders and non-birders alike.

The female has the duller colors. It protects her and her nest.

Yes, the Northern Red Oak has green leaves during the spring and summer. 

This picture (click here)  is of a tree in Central Park, New York City. It is the second most common tree in Central Park.

It is all about money. Boycotts of Brazilian products must go forward.

It is not the world's problem that Brazil undereducates it's' people so all they believe they are qualified to do is slash and burn farming. Yet, the world has inherited this hideously ridiculous paradigm that is destroying the vitally important rainforest. 

Money is all they understand and is all they WANT to understand. On one hand the man in the video states that he is not educated enough to do anything but slash and burn farming and in the next breath states he has wisdom that the rainforest burns every year for it's own health. It can't be both. He is either stupid or understands the value of the rainforest. I don't think he cares about the value of the rainforest. Here again greed is at work over any form of humanity.

September 6, 2019
By Megan Cerullo

Swedish fashion retailer H&M (click here) says it will stop purchasing leather from Brazil to distance itself from the cattle farming and pasture-clearing that is believed to be fueling the fires burning the Amazon rainforest.

"Due to the severe fires in the Brazilian part of the Amazon rainforest, and the connections to cattle production, we have decided to place a temporary ban on leather from Brazil," the company said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch.

The world's second-largest clothing retailer reiterated that the ban is temporary, and will remain in effect until "there are credible assurance systems in place to verify that the leather does not contribute to environmental harm in the Amazon."

"The vast majority" of the fashion group's leather is sourced from Europe, the company noted. 

H&M joins VF Corp., which owns Timberland, Vans, North Face and other shoe and apparel brands, in halting leather purchases from Brazil until suppliers show it's not connected to widespread deforestation. VF, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, made its announcement last week....                 

This is a newly grown acorn on a Northern Red Oak. The color of red can be noted in the twig with leaf stems nearby.

The acorn is considered to be egg-shaped, but, I think that is debatable. It is 5/8 inch to 1-1/8 inch long. It has a cap that is reddish-brown. The cap has tightly over lapping scales.

This paper discusses acorn development which is rather interesting when realizing if one is going to cut down trees, there needs to be acorns to grow new trees. This is everything you wanted to know about acorn development but were afraid to ask.

Northern red oak begins flowering at approximately age 25 (click here) but doesn’t reach maximum flower production until age 50 - 200 years. Flowers are incomplete and imperfect. Incomplete flowers lack one or more of the four basic floral parts such as petals, sepals, carpels and stamens (Raven et al. 1992). An imperfect flower contains only stamens or carpels but not both. Each oak flower contains either male or female structures. Northern red oak is monoecious (Sander 1990, Raven et al. 1992) which means that both the staminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers occur upon the same tree. Cecich (1992) reported research by Irgens-Moller (1955) that the genus Quercus is capable of self fertilizing, but that Jovanovic et al. (1971) could not reproduce the same results....

The Washington State DNR wants citizens to realize the dangers of a Cascadian earthquake. It is serious.

August 27, 2019

The Washington state Department of Natural Resources (click here) on Tuesday, Aug. 27, released simulated models of what a large tsunami caused by a Cascadia earthquake would look like and how waves could impact local communities, including Bellingham.

“We know tsunamis will hit our state. It’s a question of when, not if, which means we need to prepare now. Our hope is that these stark videos drive home the need for communities to take action to become more secure and resilient,” Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz said in a release announcing the videos.

According to the release, DNR scientists developed the simulation videos to show what tsunamis triggered by a 9.0 earthquake on the Cascadia Subduction Zone might look like — showing the estimated height and speed of waves when they reach communities minutes after the quake....