Monday, February 05, 2018

It is time for the Iranian government to end the revolution and allow modern day a place in Iran.

February 5, 2018
By Eliza Mackintosh

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (click here) has waded into a highly charged debate over the country's mandatory hijab law, abruptly releasing a three-year-old report suggesting that nearly half of Iranians were opposed to the government dictating what women should wear.

The release of the report on Sunday by the Iranian Center for Strategic Studies -- a research arm of the President's office -- came just days after 29 people were arrested by police in the capital Tehran for their involvement in protests against the headscarf law.

Women across Iran have been removing their hijabs in public to protest Iran's strict Islamic dress code in recent weeks. The movement gained momentum amid a wave of anti-government demonstrations late last year, sparked by concerns over rising living costs and a stagnant economy....

Arguing with an Iranian study about Iranian people should not be tolerated. The people want a quality of life and women want fashion. This opens an entirely new economic area for development. Women's fashion is a large part of many economies. Iran is holding on to a past that saw the change from imperialism. The people want more than a theocracy can provide, they want to be part of the larger world. Iran should drop using "fashion police" to ruin the enthusiasm of Iranian women for self-expression.

Congress needs to address a growing problem. The Flu.

The truth is the Flu Shot this year is marginally helpful. The vaccine is effective in approximately 10 percent of the cases, because, the virus has mutated and is resistant to the vaccine.

The only path that is effective is to break the communicable transmission of the virus. That means when a child isn't feeling well, they stay home to prevent his or her classmates from contracting the virus.

There is also the social time children have these days. It is a very nice growing up environment our children have these days when they set up "play dates." However, parents have to be 'the heavy' and cancel these days together when children aren't feeling well.

There are all sorts of communication measures between parents and teacher to be sure class assignments are not missed.

Public awareness is important, in English, Spanish and other languages to be sure all American are safe.

February 2, 2018
By Kim Printer

Sixteen more children (click here) have died in a flu season that's recorded 53 child deaths and has seen hospitalization rates at their highest in nearly a decade, federal health officials said Friday.

“This is a very difficult season,” said Anne Schuchat, acting director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Weeks after officials hoped the epidemic might have peaked, it is instead going strong, with illnesses widespread in 48 states and flu activity high in 42 states and the District of Columbia, as of the last full week of January. 

"There’s lots of flu occurring simultaneously across most of the U.S.,” said Dan Jernigan, director of the CDC’s influenza division. That coast-to-coast onslaught “is an unusual pattern for flu in the U.S.”...

"The Hush Up Club" finally released the Democrats memo. No more silence about anything.

Congratulations to the US House. Nice. This should have been a joint effort from the beginning if there were sincere problems with any investigation. The meaning of a unilateral effort to curtail investigations will never be well received. And, one member of the other party is not bipartisan.

If the White House doesn't release the Democratic Memo in as short a period of time as the Republican Memo that is called abuse of power. 

February 5, 2018
By Patricia Zengerie

Washington (Reuters) - A U.S. House of Representatives (click here) committee voted unanimously on Monday to approve the release of a classified document that Democrats say will rebut a contentious Republican memo alleging FBI bias against President Donald Trump.

The vote will send the 10-page Democratic memo to the White House as soon as Monday night, giving Trump until Friday to decide whether to allow its release.

If he declines, after approving the release of the Republican memo despite strong objections by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it could set up an angry dispute pitting the White House and many of Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress against Democrats, law enforcement and intelligence agencies....

If no one else says it, then I will. There is a very distinct pattern to the indexes when there is a significant down turn.

The slide of the Great Depression did not happen in one day. The markets will probably continue to react in this manner.

I do suppose everyone has seen the slide of the value of the US dollar over the past year, right? I don't see anyone fixing that. Am I missing something?

The graph belongs to the Wall Street collapse known as The Great Depression. Bloomberg stated the losses today to the wealthiest was about half a trillion. It isn't just under 5 percent. Those are dollars and cents. Those wealthy people include the Koch Brothers that want to own the world.

See. my heart is not breaking, nor am I worried. The country has been magnificently moving to local control over local economies. They have gotten so good at it, the Trump Congress has attacked small businesses within the so called Tax Reform Law. Mnuchin or whatever his name is, can shove it where the sun don't shine. There is such a thing as cash and carry economy, too. Go ahead, collect your taxes.

I think Warren Buffet is great. He is the smartest guy in the world when it comes to the financial sector. Where have the largest numbers of job losses taking place in the USA since Trump took office? Don't know? The financial sector. Thousands. No one pays attention to where the economy really takes place, huh?

February 2, 2018

The fortunes of the world’s 500-richest (click here) people dropped by $68.5 billion Friday as equity markets swooned with investor worries about the pace of interest rate hikes in the U.S. Warren Buffett led the declines, shedding $3.3 billion to end the day at No. 3 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with $90.1 billion. Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest person with $119.6 billion, led the 67 billionaires whose fortunes increased Friday, adding $3.2 billion....

February 5, 2018
By Matthew DiLallo

Shares of ExxonMobil Corporation (click here) (NYSE: XOM) are getting pounded again on Monday and were down 6% at 3:15 p.m. EST. Today's drop follows a similar fall last Friday, which was the stock's worst day since 2011 ...

It must be Christmas. You Bubbas don't know what seething hatred is yet!

Everyone is losing money today. There is no safe investment to park the money. Local economies are always strong, especially the way they are highly diversified in the years since 2008.


The chart shows a steadily increasing inflation rate. The rate significantly increased in January 2017. If that was a single line graph it would be consistently rising over the past 24 months. In the days of QE, it was stated "...sooner or later..." Wall Street will have to pay for free money.



When Jeep provided $2000 bonuses to their employees, it could have been to combat inflation at the consumer level.

With inflation creeping higher and higher the USA dollar has fallen dramatically over the past year. With the US Dollar falling in value, that means "asset capital" is not worth the same as when it was assessed. The inflation is not stopping. 







The cryptocurrencies are falling precipitously, too. There is basically a selloff of these digital currencies.



Carter Page is no babe in the woods.

With so many federal employees retiring and leaving the government under this administration, has anyone asked for a FOIA request for "exit interviews?" That might be interesting reading. If nothing else there should be interest by Congressional committees, including the intelligence community.

Page admitted he was involved with the Russians while advising a potential president of the USA. All this with the knowledge the Russians were acting to influence the outcomes of the 2016 elections in favor of Donald Trump. What else needs to be known? That activity with Russia regarding the Trump election campaign are pervasive. This is not an occasional, "Oops, we hired the wrong guy;" this "Russian thing" pervaded Trump's campaign.

November 7, 2017
By Artin Afkhami

Last Thursday, (click here) Carter Page testified before a closed-door session of the House Intelligence Committee for more than five hours, admitting that he met with Russian officials while traveling to Moscow in July 2016. Page’s admission represents a reversal of his consistent denials over the past year. This timeline delineates key events in Carter Page’s connections to Russia before, during, and after the Trump campaign.

2004 to 2007. According to Page’s biography on the website of Global Energy Capital, his venture capital firm, he served as a vice president at the Merrill Lynch office in Moscow and remained there for three years. The bio adds that Page served as an adviser “on key transactions for Gazprom, RAO UES and others.” Page told Bloomberg News in March 2016 that he advised Russian energy giant Gazprom as it was buying a stake in a lucrative Russian Far East oil and gas project called Sakhalin II....

Sincerest sympathies to the families and friends of the victims of the latest train crash.

February 5, 2018
By Darren Simon

Sunday's train collision in South Carolina (click here) was the fourth fatal incident involving an Amtrak train since the start of December.

The circumstances surrounding each crash vary; in two cases, vehicles appear to have driven around the lowered arm at a train crossing. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating three of the collisions, including Sunday's.

Here is what we know about the fatal incidents:

South Carolina

...Amtrak Train 91 was heading southbound and should have continued straight along the tracks, but the rail switch had been manually set to send the train onto the rail siding, where the CSX train was parked, NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said Sunday.

"Key to that investigation is learning why that switch was lined that way," Sumwalt said.

Sumwalt said the crash could have been avoided if positive train control or PTC technology, which can automatically slow down a speeding train, had been in place.

Virginia

An Amtrak train carrying Congressional members, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, to a Republican retreat in West Virginia struck a garbage truck near Charlottesville, Virginia on Wednesday, killing at least one person.

Investigators looking into the crash are focusing on the actions of the driver of the truck, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN....

...North Carolina

Eugene Lyons, a pastor, and his wife, Dorothy, were killed in Nash County, North Carolina, when an Amtrak train hit their SUV on January 14, CNN affiliate WNCN reported. Both were in their 60s. It appears the SUV had driven around the lowered crossing arm, WNCN reported.

Whitakers police told the station a witness confirmed Dorothy Lyons was driving. Police didn't know then why she drove around the crossing arm.

The couple couldn't get out of the way in time to avoid the train, which was traveling about 55 miles per hour, the station reported. Both died at the scene....

Washington state

The Amtrak Cascades Train 501 derailed near DuPont in Washington on December 18 and hurtled over an overpass onto Interstate 5, killing three people on its inaugural journey from Seattle, Washington to Portland, Oregon.

The locomotive engineer told the NTSB the train was traveling at about 80 miles per hour as it passed milepost 15.5 on the route, the NTSB said. He told the investigators he had planned to start braking about a mile before an upcoming curve with a 30-mph speed restriction at milepost 19.8, the agency said.

The engineer said he saw mileposts 16 and 17, but did not recall seeing milepost 18 or the 30-mph advance speed sign two miles before the curve, the NTSB said....

Two of these accidents could have been prevented with positive train control, the other two should be a stronger awareness of the public to the laws reinforcing rail crossings.

Trains aren't going away anytime soon. In Ohio, near Toledo, there are many trains travelling through populated areas. As a matter of fact, the little town of Oregon, Ohio have three different train crossings. Yet, the incidents of these accidents are occurring where the occasional train comes through an area. The public needs to be reminded of the benevolence of trains and also the danger of disobeying laws that govern the crossings where trains, cars and trucks share the same space.




How is it that women are not interviewed regarding their safety in international competition as part of their qualifying for competition?

International athletic committees are fairly good at finding cheating. They need to add to their investigation into athletic fitness any potential exploitation of their sexuality along the way. That means men and women.

A form of interview needs to be developed that allows athletes to express sexual exploitation by anyone in their careers. I don't care if it is financial exploitation, sexual demands or exploitation or simply a false face to an international name and reputation; athletes need to be important enough to care about without damaging any of their ability to win in sports. This is ridiculous. There was a sexual predator within reach in international venues.

Sexual exploitation is one of the most dangerous crimes in the world. Every physician knows that. It is why in the USA in routine physical exams annually, ask about a person's safety within the home, yet, these women were being exploited and convinced they had to remain silent in order to succeed.

The international rules committees, regardless of the sport, has to develop a method and milieu that is conducive to truth-telling. It should be viewed as a venue where athletic performance is enhanced by the lack of assault upon athletes regardless the form it takes. It is the least we can do to ensure men and women are safe and having the life they desire. It can be done and the development of foolproof reporting without retribution on the athlete is important.

It simply astounds me the extent sexual exploitation of women in the USA pervades any sense of who we are as people. Women have been so very silent to this exploitation it boggles the mind how very pervasive 'the silent culture' existed. It has to continue to end and women have to be reassured no matter their circumstances that truth-telling is not a career ending event.

February 5, 2018


Charlotte, Mich. - Days of emotional testimony (click here) in two Michigan courtrooms are wrapping up with a final sentence for former sports doctor Larry Nassar, whose serial sexual abuse of girls and young women has shaken Michigan State University and elite sports associations.

Nassar, 54, is returning to court Monday in Eaton County, Michigan. He listened to dozens of victims for two days last week and was almost attacked by a man whose three daughters said they were molested.

No more victims are expected to speak Monday. Court begins at 9 a.m. Watch it live here on ClickOnDetroit.

Here's how it's expected go: 
  1. Prosecutor will speak
  2. Defense attorney will speak
  3. Nassar could speak
  4. Judge will speak 
  5. Judge will sentence Nassar
Nassar pleaded guilty to penetrating girls with ungloved hands when they sought treatment for injuries at Twistars, a gymnastics club that was run by a 2012 U.S. Olympic coach. Nassar already has been sentenced to 40 to 175 years in prison in another county and is starting his time behind bars with a 60-year federal term for child pornography crimes. He worked for Michigan State and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians.... 

"Good Night, Moon"

The waning gibbous

19.7 day old moon

74.5 percent lit

A fast-moving asteroid (click here) will make a close flyby of Earth this Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 4), but it poses no risk of hitting our planet, according to NASA.
The asteroid, called 2002 AJ129, will make its closest approach to Earth at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT), and will be about 2.6 million miles (4.2 million kilometers) from our planet at its closest point, NASA officials said. It's traveling at a breathtaking speed of about 76,000 mph (122,310 km/h), faster than most near-Earth asteroids, theyadded....

And the Eagles won the Superbowl. I betcha Philadelphia is happy tonight, especially since this is their first title. (click here) Nice.

This is USA Bank Stadium about 2 hours before the kick off. What was the actual attendance like this year? There is mention about the increased capacity of 73,000 at the stadium, but, little mention to the actual attendance. I am not interested in ticket sales with "get in price" up to $3100 per ticket before everyone knew the game was rigged.

I am assuming Mr. Goodell will be resigning soon.