Monday, June 20, 2016

Firefighters (click here) in the air and on the ground work to control a fire that broke out in Duarte. Daniel Medina, 14, helps load his family\'s car with important belongings as flames crested the ridgeline near his house. 

4:30 p.m.
Tawni Atencio was on the way to basketball practice with her mother when her stepfather called and told them they had to evacuate their home northeast of Los Angeles because of a wildfire.
The 17-year-old Atencio says her mom turned the car around Monday and drove straight to their home in Bradbury, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
They went back to get family photos, their two dogs, clothes, and their five cars and a boat.
Atencio says the flames were just a couple miles from their home and were making the house hot despite air-conditioning.
The teenager says the fire is crazy and scary but also that it was "kind of cool" watching helicopters drop retardant on the blaze.



Atencio says she's at a friend's house in Long Beach, California while her family finishes evacuations...

The fact people are dead from heat exposure and not American residents doesn't change anything.

June 20, 2016
Current Large Incidents (click here)

Phoenix (click here) " The Latest on the extreme heat baking the Southwest (all times local):
5:50 p.m.
Authorities say a man who died and another who is missing after going for a hike in Arizona were from Germany and were in the state for a conference at a resort.
The men were in a group of three who went hiking Sunday on a trail outside the Tucson resort. One of the men is recovering, while 57-year-old Stefan Guenster was found dead.
The third man, 33-year-old Marcus Turowski, was still missing Monday.
Authorities didn't release their hometowns.
The Pima County Sheriff's Department says it likely would end its search at sundown Monday and resume Tuesday.
Tucson hit a record high of 115 degrees Sunday as a heatwave took over parts of the Southwest....

The United States of America must keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, but, domestically and abroad.

There is no reason for the USA to take a backseat to the safety of it's citizens at home or when they are in other lands.

The fact is very, very clear. When the Assault Weapons Ban was sunset by George W. Bush the straw purchasers took 50 percent more assault weapons into Mexico. The USA gun lobbyists are killing Mexicans in their own borders.

There are international conventions to end the free flow of weapons into the hands of those that kill indiscriminately to enforce their own particular idea of law. There is absolutely no reason for Daesh in Syria or Libya to exist or the drug cartels of Mexico. There is no reason for it. NONE!

We have our answers domestically.

June 20, 2016
By Lawrence Murley

The U.S. Supreme Court (click here) on Monday left in place gun control laws in New York and Connecticut that ban military-style assault weapons like the one used in last week's massacre at an Orlando nightclub, rejecting a legal challenge by gun rights advocates.
The court's action underlined its reluctance to insert itself into the simmering national debate on gun control. The Supreme Court issued important rulings in gun cases in 2008 and 2010 but has not taken up a major firearms case since.
The justices declined to hear an appeal of an October ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld laws prohibiting semiautomatic weapons and large capacity magazines in the two northeastern states....

The interstate travel of assault weapons will continue because of the lack of a cohesive interstate law to prevent such migration of very dangerous weapons.

The USA has never been more divided. We literally have states that care about D the people and good governance of guns and those that don't. It is up to the people to make choices to vacation or live in states with excellence of governance of guns or live and vacation in states that are far more dangerous. It is the choice, liberty if you will, of the people to determine their safety margin in life.

The US House and Senate are completely incompetent.

Here is a little reality about the "mind speak" of the NRA. France has plenty civilian guns and those guns did nothing to prevent or end the violent deaths in Paris. DID NOTHING!

The estimated total number of guns (both licit and illicit) held by civilians in France is 19,000,000.

The estimated rate of private gun ownership (both licit and illicit) in France is 31.2 firearms per 100 people.

In a comparison of the number of privately owned guns in 178 countries, France ranked at No. 5.

In a comparison of the rate of private gun ownership in 178 countries, France ranked at No. 12.

Boston:

Sean Collier, 26, an MIT campus police officer, was fatally shot in his patrol car April 18th by the Boston bombers. The three killed by the explosions were 29-year-old Krystle Campbell (left), 8-year-old Martin Richard (center) and 23-year-old Lu Lingzi (right).

The police officer was shot dead by the deadly international criminals. I came to the conclusion the bombers were indeed international criminals. One had traveled abroad to validate his extremism and radicalization. The other young brother simply followed his brother's example of a great and appropriate warrior for the people of the Chechnya.

The suspects in Monday's deadly Boston Marathon explosions (click here) and the Thursday night murder of a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are two brothers from a former Soviet republic who were in the United States legally for years, and lived together in a Cambridge, Mass., apartment....

...NPR's Joe Shapiro interviewed a woman in Toronto who said she's the aunt of the two suspects. She said the boys grew up in Kyrgyzstan and spent a year in Chechnya, 1994....

Why do these people get the idea these violent acts will change the way Americans view such violence. Americans will never capitulate to terrorists. But, the NRA is making the point terrorists don't need guns to kill.

Okay. But, there were three dead civilians from pressure cooker bombs, not 51. The police officer was gunned down. In case the gun lobbyists didn't notice. Do gun lobbyists include the deaths of police officers in their statistics? They should.

It is pretty bad when I have to reach into the tragedy of Americans to diffuse the NRA's propaganda. But, with apologies to all the victims and their families, I had to stop the NRA from comparing apples to oranges. Americans need to understand the truth, not a manipulated picture that will compromise their safety. 

Be safe. Be smart. Plan ahead to decide where one resides and plays.
Years ago road construction workers stated their work day at night time. The politics was for the convenience of the commuter. That was and is a lie. The reason was the heat and the workers ability to conduct themselves in their jobs. 

The modern world needs to begin to address a work day and make it a work night. 

The downside of such change is the increased energy demand that is new to the nighttime lifestyle. That is why we need alternative energies in far larger measure than we have today. 

Turbines don't stop turning when the sun sets. Solar batteries don't lose their charge simply because the sun won't be available for a few nighttime hours. On the other hand, the energy demand may be less considering the need for air conditioning to live will be far less than today.

Decisions have to be made to invoke movement of an entire country that won't like it because their circadian rhythms are out of sync.

STRESS. Besides the heat related deaths, there will be increased deaths due to the very stress people will have when life takes on new paradigms.

Americans are dying, huh? Yes? "I told you so."

Eventually, when a piece of bread is placed in an oven, it will become toast. Even 120 degree Fahrenheit oven.

I strongly suggest all these heat victims receive a through autopsy. The information has to be garnered to the condition of their blood, organs and skin.

Body chemistry, osmolality, every conceivable test not normally conducted. The body overheated SLOWLY, this is far, far different than deaths in a household fire.

20 June 2016
0700
Current temperatures (click here)

June 19, 2016
By Vivian Padilla


Anthem, AZ - The Phoenix Fire Department(click here) says a woman rescued after she stopped breathing while hiking up the Desert Vista Trail has died. 
Calls came in about a woman who was having heat-related issues about a mile up the trail around 9 a.m. Officials say that bystanders started CPR on the 28-year-old woman, who is an avid hiker and personal trainer, after she stopped breathing while mountain biking.

Phoenix Fire Department Capt. Larry Subveri said the woman and friends started mountain biking at 6 a.m. and they had water on them. However, around 9 a.m. she became exhausted. The woman did not have a pulse and stopped breathing, and that's when both of her friends, who are doctors, started CPR on her....

CPR won't help if the blood is too thick to circulate. It may be the best IV solution to hang on these victims may be Ringers Lactate with boluses of D10. They are extremely dehydrated more than likely with devastated electrolytes. There is probably extreme movement of large molecules such as magnesium, calcium and glucose. The body will use every method possible to survive, even shutting down the kidneys to prevent potassium depletion. The heart operates on the sodium potassium pump. What was the sincere cause of death (ORGAN FAILURE or NOT?) other than heat stroke and dehydration.

"Father's Day" at the national parks.

June 19, 2016
By Gregory Korte

Washington — President Obama (click here) has a lot of official reasons for visiting Yosemite this weekend: It's the centennial year of the National Park Service, he's highlighting policy proposals to invest more in public spaces, and he's encouraging more Americans to visit national parks.

But there's another, more personal reason for the president's visit: It's Father's Day.

"This has to be the perfect way to spend Father's Day, and Father's Day weekend," Obama said Saturday at Yosemite's picturesque Half Dome rock formation. "Just look at this scene. You can't capture this on an Ipad or a flat screen, or even an oil painting. You have to come in and breathe it in yourself."...

White House letter to Stephen Mather after the President signed the Organic Act creating the National Park Service on August 25, 1916.

By the Act of March 1, 1872, (click here) Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming "as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people" and placed it "under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior." The founding of Yellowstone National Park began a worldwide national park movement. Today more than 100 nations contain some 1,200 national parks or equivalent preserves.

In the years following the establishment of Yellowstone, the United States authorized additional national parks and monuments, many of them carved from the federal lands of the West. These, also, were administered by the Department of the Interior, while other monuments and natural and historical areas were administered by the War Department and the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture. No single agency provided unified management of the varied federal parklands....

January 27, 2016

America’s National Parks: Record Number of Visitors in 2015 (click here)

WASHINGTON – More than 305 million people visited national parks in 2015, eclipsing the all-time visitation record that the National Park Service saw in the previous year. The unofficial visitation numbers for 2015 were announced by National Park Service Director Jonathan B. Jarvis, as the National Park Service (NPS) is celebrating its centennial year....

..."The increase in Congressional appropriations comes at a critical time for the National Park Service and will help us to serve the growing number of visitors,"Jarvis said. "We look forward to continuing to work with Congress as it considers additional legislation in support of the National Park Service Centennial, which would further improve the national parks by encouraging philanthropy and volunteerism, while also allowing us to improve visitor services and connect with a new generation of national park visitors."

By the Numbers: Unofficially, the NPS recorded more than 305 million visits during 2015. That is an increase of more than 12 million visits, and more than four percent, over the 2014 figure of 292.8 million visits. About 365 of 409 parks in the national park system record visitation numbers. The NPS has recorded more than 13 billion visits to parks since park managers began counting visitors in 1904, some 12 years before the NPS was created. Official statistics including the most-visited parks of the national park system and the most-visited national parks will be released in late February.

Statistics below are from "Yosemite National Park" alone: (click here) The US National Parks support local economies. These statistics were from 2009. THAT YEAR WAS 2009. It was the first year of President Obama's first year in his first term. It was a time in our country's history when the USA had to turn around a devastated economy. The National Parks served as a place for many to continue to have a vacation in difficult financial times. The National Parks are valuable to the quality of life of Americans. It is a great time to celebrate the National Parks in President Obama's last year in office in his second term.

9% of visitors were international visitors. With 9% each from Germany, Korea, Taiwan, United Kindgom.

11% of the respondents identified themselves as Hispanic, and 11% as Asian. Of those Asian visitors, the most well-represented races were Chinese (24%) and Japanese (22%).

The median group expenditure in the park and the surrounding 50-mile area was $490.

Assad is not going anywhere. Russia needs to keep active diplomatic relations with him to end any cruelty.

Since when does the US State Department declare war? I go away for a few days and this is what goes on. Disgusting. There is no authority to fill the vacuum in Syria except Assad. The opposition has disintegrated again, hasn't it? That is why Russia placed Assad back in authority, there is no other authority. 

Has everyone gone half crazy? It isn't enough the USA destroyed Iraq and now it is going to destroy Syria all over again? I don't think so! 

Other than the USA led air strikes it is my understanding Syria is still under a cease fire. Is that not the case?

There is an entire Congress that wants to sue Saudi Arabia, too, but, that doesn't make it right. Honestly.

The USA does not decide winners and losers in civil wars anymore. Removing chemical weapons from Syria was the right thing to do for all parties involved. Russia has to provide better munitions to end the use of barrel bombs. Barrel Bombs? Really?

President Assad has to lead an entire country to accept peace and the difference of faiths in Syria. The diversity of the people in Syria are magnificent. There is no other country in the world with such diverse ethnicities and religious denominations of Muslim. Denominations, right? Did I get that right? I don't know if Muslims think of their diversity as denominations or not. The Christians do. You know there are all kinds of variety, Methodist, Lutheran and all that kind of diversity in the Protestant denominations. And then there are the Greek Catholics and the Roman Catholics and stuff like that. I never thought perhaps the Muslims might consider their diversity similar to denominations as other faiths do. I just didn't want to offend anyone.

But, Syria should be a very proud country. The global community has to get rid of the poison in it's borders that is Daesh. That is the common goal. The US State department should remember the COMMON GOAL GLOBALLY TO END DAESH'S CHARISMATIC INFLUENCE. Too much for ya? Huh? It is easier to kill people, right?

"You are all fired!"

June 16, 2016
By Mark Landler

Washington — More than 50 State Department diplomats (click here) have signed an internal memo sharply critical of the Obama administration’s policy in Syria, urging the United States to carry out military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad to stop its persistent violations of a cease-fire in the country’s five-year-old civil war.
The memo, a draft of which was provided to The New York Times by a State Department official, says American policy has been “overwhelmed” by the unrelenting violence in Syria. It calls for “a judicious use of stand-off and air weapons, which would undergird and drive a more focused and hard-nosed U.S.-led diplomatic process.”
Such a step would represent a radical shift in the administration’s approach to the civil war in Syria, and there is little evidence that President Obama has plans to change course. Mr. Obama has emphasized the military campaign against the Islamic State over efforts to dislodge Mr. Assad. Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, have all but collapsed....