Associated Press in Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, Oct. 17, 2014
Resembling a small space shuttle, the X-37B landed in southern California after a 674 days in orbit on a secret mission
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Associated Press in Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, Oct. 17, 2014
Resembling a small space shuttle, the X-37B landed in southern California after a 674 days in orbit on a secret mission
By Jodi Rudoren, New York Times, Oct. b16, 2014
....“I cannot see the future here,” he said, without a touch of irony at the idea that an Israeli Jew was looking for a better life in Germany. “The middle class in Israel is going down. We feel it in our flesh.”....
From Stu Rothenberg:
But if the GOP fails to capture the Senate this year, 2016 could turn into an unmitigated disaster for the party. And for that reason, Republicans are under extremely heavy pressure to take back the Senate in November.
This is a close look at the failure of the Republicans to take back the Senate in the last few cycles. Also what it will mean if they can't do it again this year.
Let us hope that they fail again. Who would of thought the Mitch McConnell would be in a tight fight for his seat. They are certainly not doing all that well this time with all the money that has been spent.
You may not believe in the supernatural, but it’s still a certifiable fact. Your tax dollars are paying for ghosts.
Turkey says there is no "deal" to allow US use of Turkish military bases, hours after the Obama administration announced there was a deal. It seems no one (except Joe Biden) in NATO, the US government, the White House, the US mainstream media, the US Congress or the Pentagon knows and/or admits that ISIS is a proxy army of Turkey, and Turkey is trying to make the US the ISIS air force in the fight against Syria's President Assad.
All part of Turkey's quest to gain control of the destiny of Syria. Of course, with the second largest Army in NATO, Turkey could remove Assad themselves, but it would be messy, so they prefer ISIS to do it with US help.
Paul Krugman, who has been a critic of the President, feel that he will be one of the most consequential presidents we have had. He has done a lot more then what he has been given credit for.
Yes, Obama has a low approval rating compared with earlier presidents. But there are a number of reasons to believe that presidential approval doesn't mean the same thing that it used to: There is much more party-sorting (in which Republicans never, ever have a good word for a Democratic president, and vice versa), the public is negative on politicians in general, and so on. Obviously the midterm election hasn't happened yet, but in a year when Republicans have a huge structural advantage – Democrats are defending a disproportionate number of Senate seats in deep-red states – most analyses suggest that control of the Senate is in doubt, with Democrats doing considerably better than they were supposed to. This isn't what you'd expect to see if a failing president were dragging his party down.
Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/in-defense-of-obama-20141008#ixzz3G0hiBZmd
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook
There has been an unusual amount of cases of this viruses this year. There is one cluster of out break in Colorado that has effected kids with paralysis.
While I was reading up on this because I wanted to know the symptoms to watch for, Fox was blaming the kids coming over the border for brining it is this country. The crazies on talk radio is calling it and Ebola a secrete terrorist attack.
EV D68 was isolated in the late 1960's in a California out break. This is Enterovirus season that runs from late summer into early fall. Only this year it has been the really nasty one. Several children have died from it in this country.
Assad has his own proxy army Shiite Hezbollah, Turkey has its own anti-Assad proxy army Sunni ISIS! ISIS also has the benefit that it kills Kurds! Now if the US would only put boots on the ground to topple Assad, Erdogran would be laughing all the way to Damascus where he would install a crony to run Syria.
(1) Turkey trades ISIS oil, (2) has had open borders for ISIS recruits, (3) hasn't fired one bullet at them or vice versa, and (4) won't lift a finger for Kobani.....yet the geniuses at NATO (and the Obama administration excepting Biden) believe Erdogran is a partner in the anti-ISIS fight and send NATO Patriot Missile batteries to Turkey !
By Jonathan Martin, New York Times, Oct. 7/8,2014
Democratic candidates — even those in states like Virginia that the president carried in 2008 and 2012 — do not want President Obama to campaign for them.
By Shane Harris, ForeignPolicy.com, Oct. 8, 2014
Insiders and administration officials tell Foreign Policy that efforts to free Americans held by the Islamic State are uncoordinated, inconsistent, and crippled by bureaucratic infighting.
Twenty years on from the Rwandan genocide, This World reveals evidence that challenges the accepted story of one of the most horrifying events of the late 20th century. The current president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, has long been portrayed as the man who brought an end to the killing and rescued his country from oblivion. Now there are increasing questions about the role of Kagame's Rwandan Patriotic Front forces in the dark days of 1994 and in the 20 years since.
A survey by National Nurses United of some 400 nurses in more than 200 hospitals in 25 states found that more than half (60 percent) said their hospital is not prepared to handle patients with Ebola, and more than 80 percent said their hospital has not communicated to them any policy regarding potential admission of patients infected by Ebola.
Another 30 percent said their hospital has insufficient supplies of eye protection and fluid-resistant gowns.
"If there are protocols in place, the nurses are not hearing them and the nurses are the ones who are exposed," said RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, which serves as both a union and a professional association for U.S. nurses.
By Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal, Oct. 2, 2014
The Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda's official branch in Syria, continues to use hostages in its custody as bartering chips in its negotiations with the Lebanese government [....] Al Nusrah's propaganda explaining its hostage campaign has focused on the influence of Iran and Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group, in Lebanon and Syria. In particular, Al Nusrah is trying to incite Sunnis in Lebanon to rise up against the Shiite forces by portraying them as the aggressors. Al Nusrah says the families of the hostages should blame the Iranian axis for the executions of their sons [....]
Americans [...] often don’t understand the passionate, burning desire that many people around the world have to see us cut down to size. In accordance with a sort-of “enemy of my enemy is my friend” principle, those people generally learn and draw inspiration from one another. For a perfect example, look no further than today’s Wall Street Journal article on how Russia’s recent actions are playing in China, where people have taken a shine to the man they dub “Putin the Great”:
Books on Mr. Putin have been flying off shelves since the crisis in Ukraine began, far outselling those on other world leaders, sales staff say. One book, “Putin Biography: He is Born for Russia,” made the list of top 10 nonfiction best sellers at the Beijing News newspaper in September.
China’s fascination with Mr. Putin is more than literary, marking a shift in the post-Cold War order and in Chinese politics. After decades of mutual suspicion—and one short border conflict—Beijing and Moscow are drawing closer as they simultaneously challenge the U.S.-led security architecture that has prevailed since the Soviet collapse, diplomats and analysts say.
The former rivals for leadership of the Communist world also increasingly share a brand of anti-Western nationalism that could color President Xi Jinping‘s view of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Beijing accuses Western governments of stirring unrest there, much as Mr. Putin blamed the West for the pro-democracy protests in Kiev that began late last year. [...]
The Pew Research Center says China is one of the few countries where popular support for Russia has risen since Moscow’s confrontation with the West over Ukraine—rising to 66% in July from 47% a year earlier.
Putin is inspiring hard liners, anti-democrats and anti-Americans everywhere, much as Mussolini inspired others with the hope that the British lion had lost its teeth. Soon Japan and Germany, much more serious powers (and, frankly, much uglier regimes) set out to follow the trail blazed by Il Duce, who invaded Ethiopia in defiance of Britain and the League of Nations.
Washington has not yet found an effective way to counter Putin’s gambit in Ukraine that hasn’t been discredited by history (the British and the League tried weak sanctions and moral lectures against Italy when it attacked Ethiopia). China’s admiration for Putin points to grim times ahead for the world — the stakes in American foreign policy are getting higher by the day, but there is precious little sign that Washington has woken up to the dimensions of the problems we face.
Texas Ebola victim's NEPHEW was the first to notify CDC, as patient got worse 3 days after his first visit to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Anthony Fauci, NIH, “It is regrettable that there wasn’t the connecting of the dots"......the woman who was hosting Mr. Duncan in Dallas told CNN on Thursday that she had brought him to the hospital the first time and twice told hospital workers he had been in Liberia.....Mr. Duncan’s nephew said that even after his uncle was rushed to the hospital three days after his initial visit, vomiting and gravely ill, he did not feel they were acting with enough urgency and called federal authorities himself to alert them to the situation. “I called C.D.C. to get some actions taken because I was concerned for his life and he was not getting the appropriate care,” the nephew......“And I feared that other people might get infected if he was not taken care of.”.....
Vox, Sept. 30, 2014
Credit where credit is due: drones are pretty good at journalism. The video above was shot by an unmanned drone carrying a video camera, and presents a unique perspective on the scale of the protests taking place in Hong Kong....
Iran’s judiciary this month sentenced former First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi to jail time for undisclosed corruption charges [....] His conviction was in part made necessary because of the narrative woven by Hassan Rouhani's new administration that the economic ills it inherited (5.4% growth and 44% year-on-year inflation) were due to unprecedented corruption under Ahmadinejad. It's Ahmadinejad's people who should be blamed for the bitter medicine Iran must swallow, such as subsidy reform and austerity. “Sanctions were a grave injustice to our nation,” Rouhani said in April. “Due to this pressure and injustice, both our nation and the world sustained losses. Unfortunately, a small minority benefited from the sanctions.”[ ....]
By Loveday Morris, Washington Post, Sept. 28, 2014
[....] a new weapon has been unleashed in this country devastated by Islamist militant violence — comedy. A new 30-part satirical series, “State of Myths,” which started airing on Iraqi state television Saturday, aims to expose the true nature of the Islamic State extremist organization — through slapstick and puns [....]
By David Hearst, The World Post, Sept. 28, 2014
[....] While all eyes are on Syria and Iraq, another intervention is taking place in Yemen. The coalition involved here is more of an understanding than a military pact, but it is proving to be just as effective. That Iran should be backing a small Shi'a tribe in the north of Yemen called the Houthis comes as little surprise. The lightning takeover by the Houthis of the capital Sana'a has been applauded by Iranian politicians. [....]
So far, this is business as usual in Yemen. The surprise is to hear how closely involved Saudi Arabia and its ally the United Arab Emirates were in the Houthi advance and how it reached a de facto understanding with their biggest regional rival, Iran. In November last year I first reported Saudi contacts with their old enemies the Houthis [....]
By Stephanie Ennis, BBC Monitoring, 25 Sept., 2014
Russia is the target of a global plot orchestrated by the United States and involving fighters from the self-styled Islamic State (IS) and nationalist Ukrainian troops - that is the latest conspiracy theory broadcast on Russian state TV. "America is everywhere, the West is everywhere, Nato is everywhere. Everything is organised against Russia," the veteran Russian nationalist MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky railed during a talk show on Channel One, Russia's most popular TV station.
There was a "certain link", he hinted, between Ukrainian troops "raiding our western regions" and IS, which he said was being armed by the US.
Joining the studio discussion by video link, pro-Moscow Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov alleged that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was a "CIA employee" [....]
Sticky weather: the normal gentle curve of the jet stream is forced into becoming steeper and slower, causing hot or cold weather to "stick" for longer periods than normal
The rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change may be to blame for more frequent prolonged spells of extreme weather in Europe, Asia and North America, such as heat waves, freezing temperatures or storms.
By Karen Zraick, New York Times, Sept. 25/26, 2014
When fighter jets from the United Arab Emirates took part in airstrikes against the Islamic State in Syria on Monday night, the mission was led by a woman, the country’s ambassador to the United States said Thursday morning.
The pilot, Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri, was among the first women to graduate from the Emirates’ air force academy after it began to admit women, and became the nation’s first female fighter pilot [....]
India's first mission to Mars has successfully entered orbit, at a cost of about $74M (cf. NASA's Maven mission at $671M, although the two missions have different objectives).
I, for one, am very happy to welcome another nation to the list that have now sent missions to Mars!