Wednesday, June 29, 2016

I am not a robot.


No one ever stands up to the US Chamber of Commerce, except, the American Middle Class.

June 29, 2016
By Nick Corasaniti

Bangor, Me. — Pressing his staunch (click here) opposition to trade deals, Donald J. Trump escalated his attacks on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, saying it was “totally controlled by the special interest groups.”
“They’re a special interest that wants to have the deals that they want to have,” he told a packed arena at a rally here, to whoops and cheers. “They want to have T.P.P., the Trans-Pacific Partnership, one of the worst deals, and it’ll be the worst deal since Nafta.”
The remarks criticizing the Chamber were yet another manifestation of the divide between the Republican economic orthodoxy that embraces all trade, and the nationalistic anti-trade policies Mr. Trump laid out in a major speech Tuesday in a Pittsburgh suburb.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is often a strong ally of Republican candidates, spending more than $35 million in the 2014 midterms in support of them. But it has also been sharply critical of Mr. Trump’s views on trade, and has frequently posted articles critical of him on its blog, including one Tuesday night on its website titled, “The 2013 Trump Was a Lot Better on Trade Than the 2016 Version.”...

Senator Bernie Sanders, they are playing your song.

June 10, 2016
By J.D. Foster

...The minimum wage debate (click here) is misplaced as part of the income inequality debate simply because raising the minimum wage by $1 an hour, for example, adds about $2,000 to the pre-tax income of those few full-time minimum wage adult workers. (Most minimum wage earners are either teenagers or are working part-time). A $2,000 increase would make a difference to the worker, assuming he or she still has a job, but it doesn’t do much for income inequality when stacked against the incomes of those at the very top of the income scale.
In addition to the standard and correct arguments against a minimum wage hike – hurts small businesses and raises unemployment especially among marginal workers and teenagers – policy makes should consider two other facets of the minimum wage issue. 
First, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics 21 states plus the District of Columbia, including five of the seven most populous states, already have minimum wages well above the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. Thirteen of these states raised their minimum wages at the start of the year. The converse is that 29 states have chosen not to raise their minimum wage rates above the federal rate....

I have a really strong suggestion about this investigation. FORGET IT!

Give the $3.4 million to the Flint mayor for it's pipes and INDICT SNYDER. This is not rocket science.

June 28, 2016
By David Eggert

Lansing, Mich. (AP) — Michigan's attorney general (click here) on Tuesday asked to spend $3.4 million more on a criminal and civil probe into Flint's water crisis, which would more than triple the funding for his team of nearly two dozen outside lawyers and investigators.
For nearly 18 months, the impoverished, predominantly black city of nearly 100,000 residents used the Flint River as a way to save money, a decision that was made while under state emergency management. But lead was released from aging pipes and fixtures as improperly treated river water flowed into homes and businesses, and elevated levels of the toxin were discovered in children in Flint, which is about 55 miles north of Detroit
Independent experts have also suggested a link between the river and a deadly Legionnaires' disease outbreak....

Barrow, Alaska Observatory is one of the outposts of Mauna Loa Observatories. They measure the gases of Earth's troposphere.

There are five such observatories and are often the authority the global community turns to in measuring CO2.

Scripps Oceanography has a list of all the observatories (click here).

Historically there were four. Barrow, Alaska; Mauna Loa, Hawaii; America Samoa and the South Pole Station.

Barrow, Alaska Observatory (BRW), (click here) established in 1973, is located on the northern most point of the United States. It is about 8 km northeast of the village of Barrow and has a prevailing east-northeast wind off the Beaufort Sea. In addition, the National Weather Service (NWS) maintains a weather observing facility in Barrow. Although the measurements at Barrow are made over open tundra, there are large lagoons and a number of lakes in the vicinity, and the Arctic Ocean is less than 3 km northwest of the site. Because of its proximity to these bodies of water and the fact that the prevailing winds are off the Beaufort Sea, BRW is perhaps best characterized as having an Arctic maritime climate affected by variations of weather and sea ice conditions in the Central Arctic.

All In traveled to the northernmost city in the country, (click here) Barrow, Alaska, to see how a community that depends on the disappearing arctic ice is handling the rapidly changing climate and to see how scientists in Barrow are monitoring the leading causes of climate change.

This map shows the value of Barrow, Alaska. It is vital to the information it has gathered for decades. It is very sad to realize the people are upset with their home. They and the land have served the USA well in lending their climate to our knowledge.

The mayor should make a lobbying effort to the US Congress to move the city inland. It is only right the people are happy and safe. They are a great people with incredible tradition.

I think the infrastructure can be moved which would cut down on the cost. The observatory can remain. But, we can also open a new one closer to a relocated Barrow.

Globalization is an issue for November.

June 28,, 2016
By Bernie Sanders

Surprise, surprise. (click here) Workers in Britain, many of whom have seen a decline in their standard of living while the very rich in their country have become much richer, have turned their backs on the European Union and a globalized economy that is failing them and their children.
And it’s not just the British who are suffering. That increasingly globalized economy, established and maintained by the world’s economic elite, is failing people everywhere. Incredibly, the wealthiest 62 people on this planet own as much wealth as the bottom half of the world’s population — around 3.6 billion people. The top 1 percent now owns more wealth than the whole of the bottom 99 percent. The very, very rich enjoy unimaginable luxury while billions of people endure abject poverty, unemployment, and inadequate health care, education, housing and drinking water.
Could this rejection of the current form of the global economy happen in the United States? You bet it could....
...Despite major increases in productivity, the median male worker in America today is making $726 dollars less than he did in 1973, while the median female worker is making $1,154 less than she did in 2007, after adjusting for inflation....

Why Istanbul?

It is a regional threat.

Daesh crossed Turkey from Syria (according to reports of 35 members of Daesh crossing into Turkey from Syria) to the one place that is a threat to the region. It is a dare to start a larger war with Daesh to draw more fighters.

The anti-Daesh forces are very weak. They have to be stood up by stronger forces. The USA is not welcome to that region, except, by Turkey. Russia has a right to bring about a resolution on behalf of Syria because they are allies. 

Russia could draw a strategy for the region that would bring an end to this disaster that remains from the Iraq War. It would have to be covert, overwhelming and sudden. The end of Daesh has to be immediate and complete. A lot of people will die in Syria.

The global community has to answer the question of how best to end Daesh in Syria. Ending Daesh in Syria will not end the charismatic Daesh.

If the global community comes to the conclusion Daesh in Syria has to be destroyed, there is no going back and every human rights group has to ignore the final outcome.

Once again, USA intelligence doesn't "get it."

The question is not whether to fight a war or not, the question is how does the international community fight 'an idea.'

Daesh has a charismatic movement that PERMEATES a country's security defenses. Isn't Orlando enough proof of that?

June 29, 2016
By Natalie Johnson

CIA Director John Brennan (click here) said that the suicide bombings in Istanbul, Turkey bore the signs of ISIS and should serve as a warning to Americans that the terrorist group is aiming to carry out similar attacks in the U.S.
“I’d be surprised if [ISIS] is not trying to carry out that kind of attack in the United States,” Brennan told Yahoo News Tuesday evening.
Although no organization has claimed responsibility for the bombings at Istanbul
Ataturk Airport Tuesday night, Brennan said the method of attack fits the profile of the terror group.
Three suicide attackers wearing explosive vests opened fire and blew themselves up in the airport’s arrival hall and a nearby parking lot, killing 41 people and wounding 239. The coordinated massacre echoed the ISIS bombings at Brussels Airport three months earlier....

The current leader in Syria is President Assad. He was legitimately elected. The rebel groups have not coalesced around a common leader. There is currently a ceasefire that appears to be holding with the Assad forces. But, there is movement by Daesh against the rebel forces.

June 29, 2016

US-backed Syrian rebels (click here) say they are closing in on a town on the border with Iraq held by so-called Islamic State.

The New Syrian Army (NSA) said it had captured a number of IS positions on the outskirts of Albu Kamal, after overrunning a nearby military airport.

However, a raid into the town launched at dawn is reported to have been repelled by militants.

The offensive, which began on Tuesday, is aimed at cutting a key route between IS-controlled areas in Syria and Iraq.

The NSA said it was co-ordinating the assault with Iraqi government forces, who were advancing on the border from the other side....

Eight hours later:

June 29, 2016
By Suleiman al-Khalidi and Tom Perry

"The news is not good. (click here) I can say our troops were trapped and suffered many casualties and several fighters were captured and even weapons were taken," he said.
A spokesman of the New Syria Army, Muzahem al Saloum, confirmed the group's fighters had retreated. "We have withdrawn to the outlying desert and the first stage of the campaign has ended," Saloum told Reuters.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said the New Syria Army had been driven entirely from the province of Deir al-Zor, where Al-Bukamal is located....

The USA is not going to be standing up a rebel force in Syria that cannot maintain their own loyalties.

There is an answer. President Assad needs to speak to the UN Security Council via 'conference screen' and ask for a UN Resolution with neighbors that brings this to an end. Russia needs to sponsor a strategy with Syria's Assad.

Who put two trains on the same track and why did it happen. Texas has a history warping train tracks.

June 29, 2016

Three missing crew members (click here) from the two freight trains that collided head-on in the Texas Panhandle are presumed dead, the Texas Department of Public Safety said Wednesday.

Emergency personnel at the scene of Tuesday's collision about 25 miles northeast of Amarillo have moved to a recovery operation, DPS Sgt. Dan Buesing said. Each train had a two-member crew. One man jumped in the moments before the crash and remained hospitalized Wednesday with injuries that are not considered life-threatening.



The two BNSF Railway freight trains were on the same track when they collided, triggering a fireball and causing containers and cars to tumble onto one another in a pileup. The wreckage continued to smolder early Wednesday as crews worked to remove the charred, twisted box cars from the tracks...

The article to the right is from 1998. (click here) Bangor Daily News, August 3, 1998.

It was as recent as 2011 that Texas faced exploding sidewalks (click here), melting and warping train rails, the Fisher Reservoir was red with soil falling into the water contaminating it and Texas agriculture failed completely.

There is a real chance whoever put two trains on the same track did so while realizing other rails were not available. I doubt sincerely anyone did this deliberately, although law enforcement needs to investigate, but there could be a real problem with the railroads. Freight companies should consider sending their freight to more northern ports.

Where are the maintenance logs?

Financially stressed airlines will cut corners with lower numbers of employees. Airlines should not be in business if they are on life support. American Airlines plans to fly to Cuba this fall and is offering help with visas. Fuel costs aren't high and the major airlines are still charging for baggage. Maybe American Airlines needs to take an honest look at the upper management pay scale.
June 29, 2016
American Airlines (click here) says their maintenance team is inspecting an airplane that caught fire as it prepared to take off from the Seattle airport, but there was no immediate word on the cause.
Spokesman Ross Feinstein says flames were reported coming out of the auxiliary power unit in the rear of the aircraft while it was leaving the gate Wednesday.
The Airbus A320 carrying 151 passengers and six crew members was heading to Philadelphia. No one was injured, and none of the passengers was evacuated.
The aircraft taxied back to the gate under its own power. Feinstein says the airline apologized to the passengers for the inconvenience....

According to the CEO of American the industry is flush with money and will never have problems again. Good thing, but, he really should end fires on his aircraft if that is the case.

June 14, 2016
By Brian Sumers

The U.S. airline industry (click here) has been so transformed in the past five years that the nation’s largest carriers may never again report annual losses, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told investors recently.
“My personal view is that you won’t see losses in the industry at all,” said Parker, speaking June 8 at American’s annual meeting. “We have gotten to the point where we like other businesses will have good years and bad years, but the bad years will not be cataclysmic. They will just be less good than the good years.”
Parker has long been optimistic, believing airline consolidation has turned Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines and American into formidable, sustainable businesses that can weather economic downturns. He even argues American and its competitors can withstand an increase in fuel prices, something they struggled with in 2008, when oil prices jumped unexpectedly.
To illustrate his point, Parker compared American’s 2005 to 2015. In both years, he said, the price of oil cost roughly $55 per barrel. Also in both years, U.S airlines had just about the same number of seats in the marketplace. But in 2005, the overall U.S. economy was growing more rapidly than today, measured by gross domestic product....

Miami Gardens, Florida is looking like a profound gangland haven.

Where is the SBI and the FBI? Three sons in a single household has been shot and the father is moving because of it.


June 28, 2016
By Amanda Batchelor

Miami Gardens, Florida - Police Chief Antonio Brooklen (click here) tackled a man Tuesday at a BrandsMart USA store after the man attempted to use a fraudulent credit card to buy an Apple computer worth nearly $2,500, authorities said.
Police said Alvaro Miranda-Acosta, 26, was trying to buy a $2,449 Mac using a Citibank credit card under the name Alvaro Miller-Miranda at the BrandsMart USA at 4320 NW 167th St.... 


Dade-County police seized $24 million in cash at a suspected dealer of marijuana. What the heck goes on?

There is a study that came out stating Miami is the worst city in the country to live. I believe it.

Cuts in federal funding has cast out hundreds of people into homelessness alone, the educational system is stressed and hospitals are feeling the pinch, too. We know Scott already cut women's health care by the walk through at Starbucks. 

           

The people of United Kingdom need a proud voice to their concerns. It is important.

Great Britain has sincere sovereign concerns regarding their relationship with the European Union. Prime Minister Cameron stated he was rather proud of bringing about some British parliamentary procedure while he was President of the EU.

Cameron is in full recognition of the people to their referendum to terminate ties with the European Union. But, some of the side effects of the referendum is resulting in alarming consequences. Hatred of immigrants and people less popular in British society have taken shape. I believe there is some sincere fear among the people in regard to the exploitation of their democracy.

Great Britain is a smaller country in the world. They have a commanding percentage of the global GDP in relation to the population. It is easy to say, regardless of the rumblings of financial stability by farmers and others, it is a very wealthy country.

That said, the people are finding concern with issues outside of their normal lives. They are concerned about diluting their society and losing their culture. Long standing Brits have become intolerant of openness and accepting others into their country.

If Great Britain is a microcosm of democracy, it pays to look at the people and whether or not they believe in actuality that their culture and heritage to their children are at risk. Recognizing the concerns and fears, outside of political hacks, should be known in a naitonal dialogue.

The people of the United Kingdom are important to all of us. They need to be understood and not simply dismissed as politics. This decision, from the sounds of it's current leaders, is about more than politics.

North Carolina needs to realize it's current government majority are extremists. They nothing to offer the people of North Carolina except setting the clocks back 100 years.

June 29, 2016
By Emma Margolin

Seeking to placate a multitude of critics (click here) across the country -- chief among them, the National Basketball Association -- North Carolina lawmakers have drafted legislation intended to walk back parts of its controversial law, House Bill 2, a measure widely viewed as discriminatory toward transgender Americans.
Among the proposed changes to the law frequently derided as the "bathroom bill" -- so named for its requirement that people use government building bathrooms matching the sex listed on their birth certificates -- the new measure apparently aims to address concerns over the fact that transgender people often have a difficult time amending their birth certificates to reflect the gender with which they identify....

There is a lot of activity in controversial areas of American life when the public is distracted by such traumatic events as happened in Turkey. Now, is not the time to ignore the extremist legislatures such as North Carolina.

..."This proposal does nothing to protect LGBT people in North Carolina," said Chris Brook, legal director of the ACLU of North Carolina, in a statement. "Instead, it doubles down on discrimination. The only way to stop the damage caused by HB2 is to fully repeal it once and for all."...

Republicans have an agenda and aren't interested in any more security for the USA or at all interested in the needs of the Turkish people. They are more worried about Brexit and poor Wall Street than any other issue of the day.

Haloed Paul Ryan wants an immediate Free Trade Deal with the UK. Amazing. Wall Street and only Wall Street.


June 28, 2016
By Megan Cassella

House Speaker Paul Ryan (click here) is calling for the United States to pursue a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom once it has formally separated from the European Union, saying discussions should begin now in order to ease concerns and ensure a “smooth trade relationship.”

That partnership should be pursued in parallel to the United States’ negotiations with the European Union on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and would be easier to work out than that agreement, Ryan’s office said today, pointing to comments he made Friday in interviews with Wisconsin media.


“We need to emphasize that they are our indispensable ally,” Ryan told Milwaukee’s WISN radio. “We have a special relationship, and I think that does mean we should have a trade agreement with … Great Britain.”...


For McConnell, it is obstructionist politics and only obstructionist politics. He is even obstructing his own party. For McConnell's image, it is closed fist power. McConnell, "Turkey, what turkey?" And then his first public statement over twitter is about the turkey that he states Donald Trump is.
June 29, 2016
By Mark Hensch

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) (click here) says Donald Trump is still not yet a credible presidential candidate.
“Trump clearly needs to change in my opinion to win the general election,” McConnell told Time Warner Cable News on Tuesday.
“My hope is he’s beginning to pivot and become what I would call a more serious and credible candidate for the highest office in the land,” he added.
“At the moment, though, I hear you saying he does not meet that threshold,” the reporter said.
“He’s getting closer, he’s getting closer,” McConnell responded.

McConnell, who has endorsed Trump, advised the presumptive GOP presidential nominee to focus on staying on message.

“We need to emphasize that they are our indispensable ally,” Ryan told Milwaukee’s WISN radio. “We have a special relationship, and I think that does mean we should have a trade agreement with … Great Britain.”
Brexit is about sovereign power. The EU met today without the Brits. The financial markets acted as if Daesh had surprisingly couped the British government. I think not. The markets are completely out of control and are being handled with "kid gloves" by The Fed. It is time the bloated markets stopped being considered the definition of economic strength. It is all nonsense.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame guitarist performed on "Hound Dog," "Heartbreak Hotel," "Blue Suede Shoes" and dozens more Presley classics.

June 28, 2016
By Daniel Kreps

Scotty Moore, (click hereElvis Presley's longtime guitarist and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, died Tuesday at his home in Nashville, the Commercial Appeal reports. No cause of death was provided, but Moore had been in poor health in recent months. He was 84. Karen Fontana, the wife of Presley drummer D.J. Fontana, also confirmed Moore's death to Rolling Stone....

The halls of Wall Street are lined with idiots over paid for their ? talent ?

They bankrupt the world didn't they?

Brexit is completely meaningless in the markets!

June 29, 2016
By Patrick Graham
European and Asian stock markets (click here) built on a recovery from the shattering aftermath of last week's Brexit vote on Wednesday as investors wagered central banks would ultimately ride to the rescue with more stimulus.
UK and European banks, a center of concern since Britain shocked global financial markets on Friday by voting to leave the European Union, were broadly higher, extending a recovery from two days of trading which knocked almost 40 percent off Barclays and RBS.
Sterling and the euro, the other big victims on Friday and Monday, gained around 0.4 percent respectively against the dollar. That put the pound 2 cents off Monday's 31-year lows after falling some 18 cents from Thursday night.
Stock markets in Frankfurt, Paris and London all gained more than 1.5 percent in early deals .FTEU3 while the pan-European index of major banks was up 3 percent. .SX7E
Traders say the better mood was part the result of a swing in expectations towards easier monetary policy over the next six months, and part hopes that Britain will remain closely integrated with Europe whatever deal is done....

Everyone of the pictures show people that are painfully thin.

What is the economic status of Turkey? The poverty rate?

Family members (click here) of victims cry outside the Forensic Medical Center in Istanbul, Wednesday, June 29, 2016. Suicide attackers killed dozens and wounded more than 140 at Istanbul's busy Ataturk Airport late Tuesday, the latest in a series of bombings to strike Turkey in recent months. Turkish officials said the massacre was most likely the work of the Islamic State group. Turkish authorities have banned distribution of images relating to the Ataturk airport attack within Turkey.

Turkey has a problem with domestic terrorists. Perhaps there is a reason. It has been a puzzle as to why Turkey never bothered to secure it's border with Syria. Did the government want their own citizens to leave?

Rural poverty (click here) has declined in the Republic of Turkey over the past ten years, but extreme disparities of income and poverty levels persist across the country. In poor rural areas, family size is nearly twice the national average, adult literacy rates are far lower than the national average, there are fewer doctors, agricultural production per capita is lower, and fewer women are among the employed.

I thank the Associated Press for the photos. They are enlightening as well as beautifully emotional.

Ahead of the UN Human Rights Council May 2010 (click here) Universal Periodic Review of Turkey, Forum 18 News Service has found that the country continues to see serious violations of international human rights standards on freedom of religion or belief. A long-standing crucially important issue, with many implications, is that Turkey has not legally recognized religious communities in their own right as independent communities with full legal status - such as the right to own places of worship and the legal protection religious communities normally have in states under the rule of law. Additionally, the most dangerous threat to individuals exercising freedom of religion or belief has been a series of violent attacks and murders on those perceived as threats; in recent years the victims have been Christians. Turkish citizens have argued to Forum 18 that the protection of the right of all to freedom of religion or belief, as laid down in the international human rights standards which Turkey is party to, should be the standard used by the authorities in all affected fields. They also argue that the authorities [must] act against the intolerance fuelling violent attacks and murders....

How did Daesh know there were no arrivals to their regime? Or did they know and not care? Suicide bombers are suicide bombers even when a victim.

Turkey has been a member of NATO for a very long time. The USA has valued them as a strategic partner as well. The animosity between Asia and the USA has to end. Tensions in the Pacific is insane. Those tensions can be a catalyst to the domestic terrorists. The relationships between major powers has to be friendly and willing to stand together against violence. They should summit and end the tensions by signing a joint statement. The five nuclear powers need to begin pressure to end nuclear proliferation and that is one place they can agree and sign a joint statement.

Turkey has to celebrate it's citizens and end any religious bigotry in the country. I can't believe such hatred is allowed by NATO countries.

The physical status of the Turkish people is alarming. They need relief and that should start with food and medical needs, including pediatricians.

Turkey needs to strengthen it's economic ties with Russia. They need each other.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article86577067.html#storylink=cpy