Saturday, February 13, 2016

I am afraid one day I'll wake up to find Christchurch, New Zealand has disappeared into the ocean.

"The whole Boardwalk shook like crazy and plates started smashing in the cafe next door." Photo / Sarah Holliman

February 14, 2016
A 5.7 magnitude quake (click here) struck Christchurch at 1.13pm and was felt as far north as Wellington.
A cliff has collapsed in Sumner
• Shelves have fallen in homes, shops and libraries but so far no reports of serious injuries or damage.
• Riccarton Mall, Northlands Mall, Ballantynes and Colombo Mall have been evacuated.
• Spark is urging people to text or use data where possible to stop phone lines overloading.
• Police say at least 450 homes are without power
Aftershocks are continuing


It is offshore and not along the trench.. The land mass in the picture below right isn't accurate. The land in this area is far smaller in miles from east to west then most other areas of New Zealand. There are also two bays and open water along that area. It is by far the weakest area of New Zealand when it comes to land stability. New Zealand is not that far from the Emerald Fracture Zone. Movement at the fracture zone could prompt a weaker area to quake. The fracture zone is just south of the Campbell Plateau.


Nearby Cities
  1. 17km (11mi) ENE of Christchurch, New Zealand
  2. 21km (13mi) SE of Kaiapoi, New Zealand
  3. 162km (101mi) NE of Timaru, New Zealand
  4. 229km (142mi) NE of Oamaru, New Zealand
  5. 293km (182mi) SSW of Wellington, New Zealan

This is very sad. Sympathy to the family and friends.


Will we ever know what happened?

June 26, 2015
By Jennifer Senior

In September of 2013, (click here) I interviewed Antonin Scalia for this magazine. He spoke memorably of many things — his belief in the Devil in particular — but the line that remains with me these 21 months later, the one I remember with precise grammatical accuracy and the wistful tone in which it was spoken, is this, in which he refers to himself in the third person: “Maybe the world is spinning toward a wider acceptance of homosexual rights, and here’s Scalia, standing athwart it.”...

People are talking about the open seat on the Supreme Court already? 

That isn't right. The man isn't even cold.

I don't want to hear it. President Obama has an obligation to return function to the Supreme Court. His nominee needs to be able to defend the Executive Branch and the Executive Branch agencies. He needs to do that soon.

Honestly!

There is no guarantee to any political balance on the court. Their decisions should not be political anyway. I am sure Justice Scalia would agree with that. No one knows what is going to happen in November and not one will be guaranteed any balance. President Obama has to forward with his third nomination to the Supreme Court. 

Mitch McConnell is corrupt. His immediate reaction about postponing a nomination is completely corrupt. Witness, America, the irreverence and corruption of the Republican Party.

I am to hear he died. That is a loss for the country. 

Doing penance, Ms. Reid?

Jeb Bush says Florida is safer with more guns and more concealed carry. 

Really?


Joy Reid stands there with a cheeky smile and accolades. Ms. Reid were you accused of causing decension which victimizes police? How deep does bigotry run against African Americans at MSNBC? Reverend Al is gone or should I say practically and now Joy Reid believes Bush's statements don't need a reality check. 

Shame on everyone.

We know Jeb Bush is a liar no different than any other Bush who believes the Oval Office is their entitlement as is war. He has changed direction throughout these primaries and pre-primaries that he is causing his own hurricane.



October 17, 2016
A Florida man convicted of first-degree murder (click here) for shooting a teenager to death over loud music was sentenced to life without parole Friday. Michael Dunn, 47, was convicted of killing Jordan Davis, 17, in November 2012 after he shot into a SUV of four teenagers 10 times when an argument broke out over loud music coming from the teens' vehicle. Dunn was sentenced to an additional 90 years in prison for three attempted murder convictions and another 15 years for firing into an occupied vehicle. “Our justice system works. This case demonstrates that our justice system does work,” said Judge Russell Healey at the sentencing....

What JEB! should be saying is Florida is safer for white folks when there are more guns, concealed carry and white entitlement.

April 21, 2013
By Eric Barton


...Murders by firearms (click here) have increased dramatically in the state since 2000, when there were 499 gun murders, according to data from Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Gun murders have since climbed 38 percent — with 691 murders committed with guns in 2011.
Only partial numbers are available for 2012, but from January to June, there were 479 murders in Florida — 358 of them committed with a gun. That’s an 8 percent increase in gun murders compared to the same period in 2011....
Interesting year, 2000, especially in Florida. 

Oh, yeah, that hurricane? It was class one hurricane when it crossed Florida. Katrina. Katrina hardly blew it's nose over Florida. The former Governor claims he SURVIVED multiple hurricanes and storms or whatever he said; but; to say the words Climate Crisis is at least a venial sin.

Brother Bush? He lied to everyone, too. But, it wasn't evident until he took office and within eight months he allowed the attacks on Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Too bad the jet in Pennsylvania didn't make it to Congress, huh? All those empty offices would have to be filled and what a field day Republicans could have had.

Liar, liar, pants on fire.

You'll excuse me, I have to go shopping.

Ask the refugees if they will consent to be on film and let Americans see who exactly is coming to the country.

February 13, 2016
By Jordain Carney

Senate Republicans (click here) are raising concerns that the Obama administration is preparing to interview a "surge" of Syrian refugees, as part of the vetting process to potentially allow some to be admitted into the United States. 
A handful of Senate Republicans said Friday that the Judiciary Committee has learned that the administration is sending officials to Jordan to interview thousands of candidates for the U.S. refugee resettlement program.
"The Administration’s refusal to suspend or even slow the pace of such refugee processing is particularly disturbing when reports abound of [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria] terrorists intentionally inserting themselves into the Syrian refugee stream," the senators wrote in a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Secretary of State John Kerry. 
The senators added that according to what the committee has been told, the administration is sending between 200-300 officials to Jordan for at least 45 days....

The names of refugees and where they are located doesn't have to be disclosed. I think with all the violence affiliated with migrants, especially in Paris, it is only right to provide some insight to the people vetted and the vetting process. Europe should be so lucky as to have the option of vetting people that have come to their borders for safe haven. Europe doesn't have that luxury.

Europe has been forced to take whoever comes across their borders without vetting them. That has already proven to put Parisians in danger for their lives. That cannot be ignored. There is real danger of violence in some of these young men that come seeking safe haven. Their reason for coming to Paris was never benign. And the migrant coming to kill people had a cell in Paris waiting for him. This is not a minor issue.

But, the one way to understand the care taken with refugees to the USA is to put it on film. The State Department needs a good documentarian, quite frankly. I am sure the vetting process may also turn up questionable folks. That should be known, too.