Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Every state in the USA HAVE TO follow California's example and pass aggressive climate legislation.

August 24, 2016
By Chris Megerian

...One measure, (click here) Senate Bill 32 from Sen. Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills), would extend and expand California's target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The current goal is to hit 1990 levels by 2020; the new proposal would require the state to reduce emissions by another 40% by 2030. 
Pavley, who is retiring from the Legislature this year because of term limits, said "this is a great way for me to spend my last week in the Legislature.”
The second measure, Assembly Bill 197 from Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), includes a mix of proposals to increase legislative oversight of state regulators and focus their attention on disadvantaged communities.
Those issues have been emotionally charged for lawmakers, and assuaging their concerns was key to piecing together enough votes for the legislation this year. 
Garcia said it was important to “make sure all communities of California are benefiting from our climate change policy.”...

August 24, 2016
Temperature Departure (from normal) (click here)

There is an enormous air mass moving from the Artic dipping almost to Hawaii. The early evidence to the temperatures are noted in the "Intellicast" map of "Temperature Departure" to the left.
The movement can be seen clearly on the Unisys water vapor image below.


August 24, 2016
In order for there to be quid pro quo Bill and Hillary Clinton had to profit from their agreements. That never happened. The salaries for Bill and Hillary Clinton was ZERO annually. There was nothing for them to gain from the Clinton Foundation.


August 24, 2016
By Mike Levine


Hillary Clinton (click here) is expected to receive her first classified briefing as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee this weekend at an FBI facility in White Plains, a New York City suburb, according to sources with knowledge of the plans.
This comes one week after her main rival, Donald Trump, received his first classified briefing as the Republican Party’s nominee.
Trump took two top advisers to his briefing: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, a former Defense Intelligence Agency director who has become an outspoken and sometimes controversial supporter of Trump.
But Clinton may not take any advisers to her planned briefing Saturday at the FBI’s White Plains facility, which is a satellite office of the bureau’s New York field office, ABC News has learned....

Heather McGhee was absolutely wonderful on C-Span.

August 24, 2016
By Colby Itkowitz

...McGhee (click here) told him that people of all races and backgrounds hold such prejudices, some unconsciously, so for him to be able to say it outright, was “one of the most powerful things that we can do right now in this moment in our history.”
Then she offered him some ideas for how he could begin to allay those fears. She urged him to get to know black families, to not form opinions about people of color from the evening news, to join a black church (if he’s religious), to read the rich history of the African American community and to start conversations within his own community about race...

          

Hatred is on the loose. First the mother was hit by his car and then he shot the adult son.

August 24, 2016
By Samantha Vicent and Arianna Pickard

Tulsa County prosecutors (click here) on Tuesday filed first-degree murder and hate crime charges against a man accused of fatally shooting his next-door neighbor this month after years of reportedly escalating ethnic-based harassment against him and his family.
Stanley Majors, 61, is accused of shooting 37-year-old Lebanese-American Khalid Jabara on Aug. 12 on Jabara’s front porch, in the 9300 block of South 85th East Avenue. Majors was also charged Tuesday with felony possession of a firearm after former conviction of a felony, a misdemeanor count of malicious intimidation and harassment, and a misdemeanor count of threatening a violent act.
“Under Oklahoma law a person is presumed innocent until a judge or jury determines otherwise. The death of Khalid Jabara is tragic and our sympathies are with his family,” District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler said in a news release Tuesday afternoon.
The intimidation or harassment misdemeanor count alleges that Majors — between July 1, 2013, and Aug. 12 of this year — “unlawfully, maliciously, willfully, wrongfully and intentionally, and without justifiable or excusable cause, by maliciously and with specific intent to intimidate and harass because of race, color, religion, ancestry and national origin,” threatened to harm Khalid Jabara’s mother, Haifa Jabara, and her family, including Khalid....

Sincerest sympathy to Italy. People are still being found under the rubble.




August 24, 2016
By Elisabetta Povoledo

...The authorities said (click here) the quake was comparable in intensity to one in 2009 in the Abruzzo region of central Italy that killed more than 300 people.

Towns in three regions — Umbria, Lazio and Marche — were devastated by the quake, which could be felt as far away as Bologna in the north and Naples in the south. The deaths appeared to be concentrated in four communities: at least 86 in the towns of Amatrice and Accumoli, in Lazio, and at least 32 deaths in Marche, in the village of Arquata del Tronto and the hamlet of Pescara del Tronto....


Italy has many mountains. Mountains add weight to the land. There are land areas that are not mountainous, but, they are a short distance to the Mediterranean Sea. The sea has no form and is in fact fluid adding instability to any shoreline. So when the weight of the mountains imposes against the land areas, there are earthquakes. Christchurch, New Zealand has the same phenomena.


There is always the chance the "Po Basin" (click here) added to the instability, especially given the petroleum siphoned out of that basin. 

I suppose that is a question the Italian geologists will have to investigate. Any movement within the "piggyback basin" might cause destabilization of the weight of the mountain and it's balance with the land.


President Erdogan finally learned what sovereignty is.

When Russia has to defend Turkey's borders to protect their tourists there is something very wrong with the Turkish government.

Istanbul — Turkey mounted (click here) its largest military effort yet in the Syrian conflict on Wednesday, sending tanks, warplanes and special operations forces over the border and clearing the way for a Syrian rebel force to capture an important Islamic State stronghold in Syria.

The operation, a significant escalation of Turkey’s role in the fight against the Islamic State, appeared to be making quick progress. By evening, rebel troops declared they had taken control of the town, Jarabulus, and its surroundings, with only one soldier killed, the semi-official Anadolu News Agency reported. No Turkish troops died.

Daesh is a terrorist organization. It is not a sovereign country. When Turkey carries out it's military attacks against Daesh it is securing it's borders since Syria is unable to stabilize it's own governance. If this had been done years ago we may not have seen the carnage that transpired during that time.

Numerous fighters posted photographs and videos of themselves online with the green, black and white flag adopted by the Syrian opposition as they walked through what appeared to be empty streets, passing buildings still flying the flag of the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.

"...We must end this...."

Earlier, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. signaled support for the goals of the operation — clearing Islamic State militants from their last major stronghold on the border and rolling back recent advances by Syrian Kurdish militias, which Turkey considers its primary enemy.

Daesh has no real way of reconstituting except for foreign warriors crossing borders into Syria. The reason the terrorist organization was able to carry out atrocities in the first place and appear to be a caliphate was because it killed legitimate soldiers and stole their tanks and munitions. The caliphate then attempted to be engaged in the trade of oil, but, they had no real ability to produce weapons. 

Daesh will continue to fail as there are more and more advances on their territory and running away to chaotic Libya is simply fugitives avoiding their just end. It is important the global community stand together to end even a hint of Daesh anywhere. I doubt the terrorists will allow themselves to be captured for trial, but, if that is the case The Hague awaits them.

Mr. Biden had traveled to the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Wednesday to meet with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a time of high tensions between the two countries after the failed coup in Turkey last month. But the timing of the joint offensive and some strong words of support from Mr. Biden seemed to show an easing of the strains....