September 23, 2017


News and Views


DONALD TRUMP AGAIN PRAISES VIOLENCE. READ THIS ARTICLE.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-to-nfl-owners-fire-players-who-kneel-during-national-anthem/
CBS/AP September 23, 2017, 7:50 AM
Trump to NFL owners: Fire players who kneel during national anthem

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- President Trump has some advice for National Football League owners: Fire players who kneel during the national anthem. He's also encouraging fans to walk out in protest.

And the president is bemoaning what he describes as a decline in violence in the sport.

"They're ruining the game," he said during a political rally in Alabama on Friday night that veered beyond politics.

Several athletes, including a handful of NFL players, have refused to stand during "The Star-Spangled Banner" to protest of the treatment of blacks by police. Quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started the trend last year when he played for the San Francisco 49ers, hasn't been signed by an NFL team for this season.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell released a statement Saturday morning in response to Mr. Trump's comments.

"Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities," Goodell said.

Tom Brady: "I wonder what the next 10 years will bring"
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Tom Brady: "I wonder what the next 10 years will bring"

Mr. Trump, who once owned the New Jersey Generals of the U.S. Football League, says those players are disrespecting the American flag and deserve to lose their jobs.

"That's a total disrespect of our heritage. That's a total disrespect of everything that we stand for," Mr. Trump said, encouraging owners to act.

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, you'd say, 'Get that son of a b---- off the field right now. Out! He's fired," Mr. Trump said to loud applause.

Mr. Trump also predicted that any owner who followed the presidential encouragement would become "the most popular person in this country" -- at least for a week.

The NFL Players Association reacted to Mr. Trump's comments Saturday morning in a statement.

"We will never back down. We no longer can afford to stick to sports," executive director DeMaurice Smith said. "This union ... will never back down when it comes to constitutional rights of our players as citizens as well as their safety as men in a game that exposes them to great risks."

Mr. Trump, who was in Alabama campaigning for Sen. Luther Strange, also blamed a drop in NFL ratings on the nation's interest in "yours truly" as well as what he contended was a decline in violence in the game.

He said players are being thrown out for aggressive tackles, and it's "not the same game."

Over the past several seasons, the NFL and college football have increased penalties and enforcement for illegal hits to the head and for hitting defenseless players. A July report on 202 former football players found evidence of a debilitating brain disease linked to repeated head blows in nearly all of them. The league has agreed to pay $1 billion to retired players who claimed it misled them about the concussion dangers of playing football.

Is Hurricane Irma to blame for week one of NFL ratings?
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Is Hurricane Irma to blame for week one of NFL ratings?
During his campaign, Mr. Trump often expressed nostalgia for the "old days" -- claiming, for example, that protesters at his rallies would have been carried out on stretchers back then. He recently suggested police officers should be rougher with criminals and shouldn't protect their heads when pushing them into squad cars.

It's also not the first time he's raised the kneeling issue. Earlier this year he took credit for the fact that Kaepernick hadn't been signed.

Television ratings for the NFL have been slipping since the beginning of the 2016 season. The league and observers have blamed a combination of factors, including competing coverage of last year's presidential election, more viewers dropping cable television, fans' discomfort with the reports of head trauma and the anthem protests.

Ratings have been down even more in the early 2017 season, though broadcasters and the league have blamed the hurricanes that hit Florida and Texas. Still, the NFL remains by far the most popular televised sport in the United States.

Mr. Trump said the anthem protest was the top reason NFL viewership had waned.

"You know what's hurting the game?" he asked. "When people like yourselves turn on television and you see those people taking the knee when they're playing our great national anthem," he said.

Mr. Trump encouraged his supporters to pick up and leave the stadium next time they spot a player failing to stand.

"I guarantee things will stop," he said.


But he also lamented that the NFL is ruining the sport by preventing violence with penalties.

"They're ruining the game. They're ruining the game. That's what they want to do," he added. "They want to hit. They want to hit! It is hurting the game."


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nfl-commissioner-roger-goodell-responds-to-trumps-divisive-attack/
By KATHRYN WATSON CBS NEWS September 23, 2017, 10:57 AM
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell calls Trump's comments "divisive"

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Saturday responded to President Trump's Friday night monologue attacking the NFL and players who kneel in protest during the national anthem, saying the president's "divisive comments" reveal an "unfortunate lack of respect" for the NFL and contributions players make to their communities.

Goodell issued the statement after Mr. Trump spent a portion of his 83-minute speech at a rally for U.S. Senate candidate Luther Strange on Friday night bashing the NFL for allowing games to be less violent, and urging them to fire players like Colin Kaepernick who refuse to stand for the national anthem.

"The NFL and our players are at our best when we help create a sense of unity in our country and our culture," Goodell said in a statement. "There is no better example than the amazing response from our clubs and players to the terrible natural disasters we've experienced over the last month. Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities."

The NFL Players Association, a union for NFL players, responded that they "no longer can afford to stick to sports."

"We will never back down," executive director DeMaurice Smith said in a statement. "We no longer can afford to stick to sports."

Smith said the union "will never back down when it comes to the constitutional rights" of their players and their safety in a "game that exposes them to great risks."

NFL players also took to Twitter Friday night to respond to the president's tirade against the NFL.

Cincinnati Bengals safety George Iloka tweeted he "can't take anything our celebrity in chief says seriously."

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George Iloka ✔ @George_iloka
I can’t take anything our Celebrity in Chief says seriously. He’s a real life clown/troll 🤡
10:41 PM - Sep 22, 2017
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"Trump stay in your place ... Football have nothing to do with u smh," Washington Redskins linebacker Zach Brown tweeted.

Mr. Trump said disrespecting the flag merits firing.

"Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, 'Get that son of a b---- off the field right now. Out. He's fired. He's fired!" he said.

But he also lamented that the NFL is ruining the sport by preventing violence with penalties.

"They're ruining the game. They're ruining the game. That's what they want to do," he added. "They want to hit. They want to hit! It is hurting the game."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Kathryn Watson
Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital.



ON ANOTHER TRUMP FEUD WITH THE NFL, SEE THE FOLLOWING LEBRON JAMES ARTICLE. TRUMP, UNFORTUNATELY, IS USUALLY UNABLE TO KEEP HIS MIND ON PRESIDENTIAL MATERIAL LONG ENOUGH AND OFTEN ENOUGH. HE SPOILS SERIOUS SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS WITH OFF THE CUFF UTTERANCES AND PROCLAIMS HIS DISINVITATION OF A FOOTBALL PLAYER AS A MAJOR PUBLIC POLICY COUP. THAT KIND OF THING IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY SENATOR BIDEN DIDN’T BECOME THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR PRESIDENT, EXCEPT THAT BIDEN ISN’T BEST DESCRIBED AS “HOSTILE MAN.” THE OTHER REASON BIDEN DIDN’T GET THE NOMINATION IS THAT OBAMA HAD IT WRAPPED UP FROM THE START (JUST LIKE HILLARY AND BERNIE). PERSONALLY, I LIKE BIDEN AND WOULD VOTE FOR HIM WITH NO QUALMS. OBAMA, WISELY AND WITH HIS INNATE GOOD WILL, APPOINTED HIM AS VICE PRESIDENT. IF ONLY HILLARY HAD DONE THAT WITH BERNIE!

SO, OKAY, TRUMP’S A BIG SPORTS FAN. FINE. MANY PEOPLE ARE. HIS PERSONAL PIQUES SHOULD NOT BE GIVEN OUT IN NEWS CONFERENCES, HOWEVER. IT TAKES AWAY FROM THE RESPECT THAT I WANT THE PRESIDENCY TO HOLD, AS DO ALL THOSE MALICIOUS AND RIDICULOUS TWEETS. IT MAKES ME AND THE WHOLE WORLD DISTRUST HIS MENTAL STABILITY. TO MAKE THOSE COMMENTS OCCASIONALLY IS ONE THING, BUT TO BE IN THE NEWS DAILY FOR INCIDENT AFTER INCIDENT IS DAMAGING TO OUR IMAGE AS A NATION. WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THAT.

MEANWHILE, LEBRON JAMES HAS BESTED HIM IN TWITTER FLAIR: “U BUM @STEPHENCURRY30 ALREADY SAID HE AIN'T GOING! SO THEREFORE AIN'T NO INVITE. GOING TO WHITE HOUSE WAS A GREAT HONOR UNTIL YOU SHOWED UP!” GO, LEBRON! AND FROM ANOTHER ESTEEMED PLAYER CHRIS PAUL COMES, “WITH EVERYTHING THAT'S GOING ON IN OUR COUNTRY, WHY ARE YOU FOCUSED ON WHO'S KNEELING AND VISITING THE WHITE HOUSE??? #STAYINYOLANE.” THEN, LAST BUT NOT LEAST, FROM KOBE BRYANT: "A #POTUS [WHOSE] NAME ALONE CREATES DIVISION AND ANGER. [WHOSE] WORDS INSPIRE DISSENSION AND HATRED CAN'T POSSIBLY 'MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.'"

WE NEED TO KEEP OUR EYES ON THE PRIZE. WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT, WHEN WE ARE GREAT, IS OUR GREAT GENEROSITY AND FAIRNESS. LET’S FOCUS ON THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND – JUST LIKE THE ADMONISHMENTS OF JESUS – PUT THEM INTO ACTIVE PLAY IN OUR LIVES. VOTING FOR FASCISTS ISN’T DOING THAT, AND IS DESTROYING AMERICA.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lebron-james-steph-curry-donald-trump-white-house-visit/
By JUSTIN CARISSIMO CBS NEWS September 23, 2017, 12:06 PM
LeBron James defends Stephen Curry amid feud with Trump over White House visit

Photograph -- LeBron James at Quicken Loans Arena on May 23, 2017 in Cleveland, Ohio. GREGORY SHAMUS / GETTY

LeBron James is defending Stephen Curry after President Trump said he withdrew the Golden State Warriors star's invitation to the White House.

In a Saturday morning tweet, the Cleveland Cavaliers star called the president a "bum" and reminded followers that Curry didn't want to go to the White House to meet with Mr. Trump in the first place.

"U bum [Curry] already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!" he wrote.

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LeBron James ✔ @KingJames
U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!
11:17 AM - Sep 23, 2017
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It's a tradition for professional and collegiate sports teams to visit the White House after winning championships. But Curry said Friday that he didn't want to attend, saying he hoped to "inspire some change when it comes to what we tolerate in this country and what is accepted and what we turn a blind eye to."

Mr. Trump took to Twitter Saturday morning to rescind the invitation: "Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team. Stephen Curry is hesitating, therefore invitation is withdrawn!"

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Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Going to the White House is considered a great honor for a championship team.Stephen Curry is hesitating,therefore invitation is withdrawn!
8:45 AM - Sep 23, 2017
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Houston Rockets point guard Chris Paul also criticized the president on Twitter: "With everything that's going on in our country, why are YOU focused on who's kneeling and visiting the White House??? #StayInYoLane."

He added, "And I doubt he's man enough to call any of those players a son of a b---h to their face."

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Chris Paul ✔ @CP3
With everything that's going on in our country, why are YOU focused on who's kneeling and visiting the White House??? #StayInYoLane
12:08 PM - Sep 23, 2017
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Chris Paul ✔ @CP3
And I doubt he's man enough to call any of those players a son of a bitch to their face...
12:10 PM - Sep 23, 2017
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Retired Los Angeles Laker star Kobe Bryant also criticized the president on Twitter: "A #POTUS [whose] name alone creates division and anger. [Whose] words inspire dissension and hatred can't possibly 'Make America Great Again.'"

A #POTUS who's name alone creates division and anger. Who's words inspire dissension and hatred can't possibly "Make America Great Again"

— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) September 23, 2017
Attacking professional sports teams has become a theme for Mr. Trump, who encouraged NFL team owners to fire players who protest the national anthem. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell responded Saturday morning.

"Divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect for the NFL, our great game and all of our players, and a failure to understand the overwhelming force for good our clubs and players represent in our communities," Goodell said in a statement.



SOME POINTED PUBLIC COMMENTS ON YET ANOTHER STORY FROM YAHOO ON TRUMP’S LATEST SPORTS OPINIONS AFTER HE DEFENDS HIMSELF BY REPEATING HIMSELF:

[https://sports.yahoo.com/trump-doubles-firing-national-anthem-protesters-185922061.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=ecd5e8af-dc90-3332-9efb-d522bf6b8dfa&.tsrc=notification-brknews]


G8 minutes ago
Controversial President. I cannot wait for the next election to see a better candidate from both parties

Sam10 minutes ago
If only republicans got this worked up about nazis!!

CorinthianLeather9 minutes ago
This great Country deserves to have its president show his tax returns...

GERALDG10 minutes ago
Five time draft dodger

Bruce H9 minutes ago
Whether you agree with them or not their right to do this is protected by the 1st Amendment of Free Speach.

General Bone Spur9 minutes ago
MAGA =Morons Are Governing America

alex11 minutes ago
Who the heel do this idiot thinks he is? So he would rather praise traitors who fly confederate flags than those who protest the hypocrisy of people like him?

Cruisin' Along9 minutes ago
In other words, Trump doubles down against the constitution which allows freedom of expression. A player kneeling is not the same as, for instance, promoting violence during rallies (Trump), and other far more critical issues, like trying pass a health care bill that will be a huge money grab for the rich and leave many without healthcare.


I CHOSE GERHARD, HERE, AS HAVING THE BEST COMMENT FROM THE RIGHT. I DO TOTALLY DISAGREE WITH HIM, HOWEVER. IT’S THE OLD “I’M THE BOSS,” ARGUMENT SET UP AS A VIRTUE RATHER THAN AN ABUSE OF POWER. I WONDER IF THAT HAS BEEN ADJUDICATED SUFFICIENTLY TO SEE WHETHER OR NOT IT WILL REMAIN AN UNQUESTIONED PREROGATIVE IN THE WORLD OF WORK. I’M ONE OF THOSE WHO DEEPLY WANTS THE LIONS AND THE LAMBS TO LIE DOWN TOGETHER, BUT IN REAL LIFE, THAT DEPENDS A LOT ON HOW THE LIONS BEHAVE, AND HOW DISGRUNTLED THE LAMBS ARE FEELING. IT’S AN ONGOING POWER STRUGGLE THAT NEEDS BADLY TO BE REFOUGHT RIGHT NOW, WITH NEW BASIC RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. I'M IN FAVOR OF A PARTIAL AND SELECTIVE REWRITE OF THE CONSTITUTION ANYWAY. SET THAT DOCUMENT UP AS HOLY WRIT IS NOT THE WAY WE SHOULD VIEW IT. IT NEEDS TO BE UPDATED PERIODICALLY, NOT TO CUT OUT THE HUMANITY AND INCREASE THE EMPHASIS ON THE POWER ELITES, BUT TO PROTECT THOSE ASPECTS THAT RELATE TO "THE COMMON MAN." I'M READING (SLOWLY) A REALLY GREAT BOOK BY ROBERT REICH FROM 2015. REICH, MANY OF YOU WILL REMEMBER, WAS SECRETARY OF LABOR UNDER BILL CLINTON. HIS WEBSITE IS ROBERTREICH.ORG.?

Gerhard19 minutes ago
There is no constitutional right to protest on the companies dime. Indeed companies can fire you for conduct even off the companies time. So it is high time the press woke up to reality in the USA. If your employer wants to fire you for protesting, s/he certainly can. I find this rather funny because I could swear I read a ton of articles about people getting fired for being exposed at being at the altp-right rally in Virginia and if I recall correctly the media was cheering those firings. I guess they just have a double standard when it comes to the constitution.



NOW, ON TO THE NEXT SUBJECT. WHATEVER TRUMP MAY THINK HIS SPEECH AT THE UN IS, HE SHOULDN’T CONSTRUE IT AS “DIPLOMACY.” DIPLOMACY IS NOT A PRESAGE TO A POSSIBLE MILITARY INVASION OF ANOTHER NATION, OR WORSE THE IDIOTIC USE OF SOMETHING LIKE ATOMIC POWER IN WARFARE. WE’VE DONE THAT ALREADY, AND THE EVILS THAT HAVE ENSUED FROM THAT DECISION ARE STILL WITH US TODAY. WE DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE DAMAGE TO GENES IN JAPAN FROM RADIATION DAMAGE.

RIGHT NOW, THE LEADERS OF BOTH COUNTRIES ARE INDEED “LIKE DOGS BARKING.” IT COULD BECOME A DEADLY REALITY AT ANY TIME, HOWEVER. I DID NOT PICK UP THE MOMENT TO MOMENT DISCUSSION IN THE UN, BUT THAT IS AVAILABLE AT THE END ON THIS NEWS WEBSITE, SHOULD YOU WANT TO READ IT.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-united-nations-general-assembly-live-updates/
By KATHRYN WATSON CBS NEWS September 23, 2017, 12:55 PM
North Korean foreign minister says Trump is on a "suicide mission"

Photograph -- North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho addresses the 72nd session of the United Nations General assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 23, 2017. / JEWEL SAMAD / AFP/GETTY IMAGES

North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho said President Trump is the only person "on a suicide mission," one that is making "our rocket's visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more."

In a fiery speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York Saturday, Ri responded to a string of threats from Mr. Trump throughout the week -- particularly Mr. Trump's threat to "totally destroy" North Korea if the U.S. is "forced to defend itself or its allies." Mr. Trump has said "rocket man" Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader, is on a "suicide mission," but Ri said "none other than Trump himself is on a suicide mission."

"Due to his lacking of basic common knowledge and proper sentiment, he tried to insult the supreme dignity of my country by referring it to a rocket," Ri said. "By doing so however, he committed an irreversible mistake of making our rocket's visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more."

Will North Korea test a hydrogen bomb?
Play VIDEO
Will North Korea test a hydrogen bomb?

Ri also called the president a "mentally deranged person full of megalomania," reflecting comments from Kim earlier this week, when Kim called Mr. Trump a "mentally deranged U.S. dotard."

The North Korean diplomat claimed the North Korean regime possesses a hydrogen bomb that can be coupled with an intercontinental ballistic missile, and is prepared to use its latest technology if needed. Ri on Friday threatened to test a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.

"Trump might not have been aware what is uttered from his mouth, but we will make sure that he bears consequences far beyond his words, far beyond the scope of what he can handle even if he is ready to do so," Ri said.

Ri insisted it is the U.S., not North Korea, that poses an international threat.

"The U.S. claims that the DPRK's possession of H-bomb and ICBM constitutes a global threat, even at the U.N. arena," Ri said, using the acronym for the country. "But such claim is a big lie which is just tantamount to the notorious big lie faked up by the U.S. in 2003 about the existence of weapons in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction in order to invade that country."

Ri tried to argue that nuclear muscle power isn't the DPRK's first option. North Korea, he said, also only intends to target countries that join forces with the U.S.

"The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a responsible nuclear weapons state," Ri said. "We will take preventative measures by merciless preemptive action unless the U.S. and its vessel forces show any sign of operating a decapitating operation on our headquarters or military attack against our country. However, we do not have any intention at all to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against the countries that do not join in the U.S. military actions against the DPRK."

Moments before Ri was set to speak, U.S. Air Force bombers flew in international airspace east of North Korea. The Pentagon said it's the furthest north any U.S. fighters have flown in the 21st Century.

Mr. Trump has only escalated his comments about North Korea this week.

On Friday, Mr. Trump issued an executive order targeting countries that trade with North Korea. At a Friday night rally for Republican U.S. Senate contender Luther Strange in Alabama, Mr. Trump derided "little rocket man" -- his new favorite term for Kim -- and emphasized that North Korea would be dealt with. Earlier in the day, the president tweeted that he Kim is a "madman" who will be "tested like never before."

Follow below for live updates from the speech earlier.



WATCH THIS VIDEO AND READ THE ARTICLE; THEN CONSIDER ASKING CONGRESS FOR A FEDERALLY FUNDED WARNING SYSTEM OF SENSORS LIKE MEXICO HAS. READ THE ARTICLE. THAT WOULD FIT RIGHT IN WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP’S INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN FOR THE US, AND INSTEAD OF BEING SIMPLY “PORK BARREL SPENDING,” IT IS REALLY NEEDED; AND YET, THE LAST PARAGRAPH HERE SAYS “THE TRUMP BUDGET FOR 2017 ACTUALLY ZEROS OUT FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE WEST COAST EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS." REPUBLICAN THINKING SO OFTEN GOES ALONG THESE LINES – FOLLOW THE WEALTHY IN YOUR COMMUNITIES AND DO WHAT THEY WANT. REMEMBER THE “BRIDGE TO NOWHERE?”

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/why-doesnt-us-have-earthquake-early-warning-system/
CBS NEWS September 23, 2017, 2:20 PM
Will it take a disaster for the U.S. to get an earthquake warning system?

Tuesday's deadly earthquake in Mexico killed more than 300 people, but the death toll could have been higher without the country's seismic warning system. It sends an alert to people miles away from the quake's epicenter precious seconds before the ground starts to shake.

While other nations have implemented similar systems, so far the U.S. has not -- at least not fully -- despite our seismically active West Coast. Derek Thompson, senior editor at The Atlantic, joined "CBS This Morning: Saturday" to discuss how the early warnings work and why the U.S. has yet to adopt the technology.

In addition to Mexico, countries like Japan, China, Taiwan and Turkey all have early detection programs in place.

"All of these countries developed their early warning systems after catastrophe. So after the '85 Mexico earthquake killed thousands of people, after the '95 Kobe earthquake in Japan killed thousands of people, after the 2008 China earthquake killed up to 90,000 people. So it seems as if these countries need a crisis, a catastrophe before they put together the system," Thompson said

Funding cuts puts earthquake warning system at risk
Play VIDEO
Funding cuts puts earthquake warning system at risk

The sensors are placed along a fault line and when waves trigger the sensor, a message is sent out to people miles away before the shock waves reach them.

"The telecommunications move much, much faster than the earthquake, so the text outruns the shaking. So you can get seconds of warning but maybe even minutes of warning," Thompson said.

The most advanced systems can even tell you how long it will be until the earthquake's waves reach you.

"They'll tell you where the epicenter is, what the magnitude is, what the intensity is, the amount of shaking, but then they'll even show you a kind of radar of the shaking approaching you," Thompson said.

The U.S. has spent years developing a seismic early warning system the West Coast, but President Trump's 2017 budget would cancel the program's funding before its planned rollout in 2018.

"We're in a period where people don't want necessarily to act to prevent catastrophes until they happen. This is a story not just of the U.S. but of the world. These early warning systems were built after the catastrophes happened," Thompson said. "So one of the terrible things, one of the sadder things right now is that as you're seeing the benefit of these early systems all over the world, the Trump budget for 2017 actually zeros out further development of the West Coast early warning systems."


THERE’S A SOMEWHAT STRANGE JACKSONVILLE FL NEWS STORY TONIGHT, 9/22/17. I’M CHECKING IT OUT. THIS LOOKS A LOT LIKE ANOTHER DRIVING WHILE BLACK INCIDENT, ONLY I PREDICT THE POLICE WILL APOLOGIZE OVER THIS ONE BEFORE THE WEEK IS OUT.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/investigations/jso-body-camera-captures-confrontation-with-city-council-members
INVESTIGATIONS
JSO body camera captures confrontation with Council members
Councilwoman accuses officers of racial profiling after colleague pulled over
By Jim Piggott - Reporter, Joy Purdy - 5:30, 6:30 & 11 p.m. anchor
Posted: 5:56 PM, September 22, 2017
Updated: 10:15 PM, September 22, 2017

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - A confrontation between two Jacksonville City Council members and police during a traffic stop Monday night was captured on an officer's body camera video.

Councilman Reggie Gaffney was pulled over on suspicion of driving with a stolen license plate while heading home from a City Council meeting, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Police said officers were randomly running tags in the area, which is a common practice.

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During the stop, Councilwoman Katrina Brown drove up and can be heard in the body camera video accusing the officers involved of racial profiling.

The News4Jax I-TEAM has learned that Gaffney reported his plate stolen last year, but he told police during Monday's incident that he forgot he did that.

The video, provided to News4Jax by a source, is the first look we've seen at JSO body camera footage. It was recorded from another source and was not provided directly from the sheriff's office, but it shows what happened during the confrontation.

Several officers pulled Gaffney over Monday night on the Northside.

In the video, Gaffney can be seen getting out of the car and asking the officers, “Do you know who I am?” He then tells them he knows nothing about a stolen license plate.

“I did not report it stolen,” he says.

The police report provided by JSO for the traffic stop said that when the officer ran Gaffney's tag, it came back that Gaffney had reported it stolen in March 2016, after he had received tickets from red-light cameras.

Gaffney told News4Jax he had no idea why he was being pulled over, and he was scared to death.

“Let me tell you what a scary (situation) -- now I feel like most Afro-Americans feel,” Gaffney said. “I was intimidated like anyone else. I got two police stopping me for no reason, and the first thing they said is, 'You’re driving with a stolen tag.'”

While Gaffney was being questioned during the stop, Brown pulled up.

The video shows her arguing with police, claiming the stop was simply racial profiling.

“She was not with me. She was in her own car. I think she said she noticed they were following me, because we all live on the Northside of town,” Gaffney said. “That’s what she felt like. I’m not going to expound on what she said.”

Police said they were not profiling Gaffney but were completing routine checks.

Officers showed Gaffney the report he filed, saying the tag had been stolen, and Gaffney said that he forgot about filing the report. Gaffney said the tag was later returned, but he never reported the update to police.

Gaffney said he has not filed a complaint about the stop, but it was something he will never forget.

He said he understands why many residents on the Northside are afraid of police.

“I can see why lots of blacks are afraid of police,” Gaffney said. “When we get stopped, the first thing that comes to mind, no matter what we did, is why are they so aggressive?”

WATCH: Crime analyst breaks down body cam video

After watching the video, News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said, based on his 20 years of police work, Gaffney's reaction is questionable.

"People don't often call police, reporting their tag stolen. So I would think that once the officer says that it was reported stolen, it would spark his memory," Smith said.

Gaffney said the whole experiencing was intimidating. But Smith said, watching the video, he sees it differently.

"He doesn't appear to be intimidated because he seems to be more aggressive, verbally, than the officers are," Smith said.

The Sheriff's Office released a statement, saying, “The official footage of the traffic stop will be reviewed to determine if all actions of the officers conformed to our policies and procedures.”

Copyright 2017 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved.



THE RIGHTIST REPUBLICANS TRIED AGAIN TO KNOCK OUT THE ACA, AND MCCAIN AGAIN IS STANDING UP AGAINST THEM. HE’S A MAN WHO WILL CHAMPION ISSUES THAT MATTER. I’M REALLY GLAD HE’S IN THE SENATE. I HOPE HIS CANCER IS STOPPED IN ITS’ TRACKS SOON.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mccain-comes-out-against-gop-health-care-bill-n803911
POLITICS SEP 22 2017, 5:22 PM ET
McCain Comes Out Against GOP Health Care Bill
by LEIGH ANN CALDWELL

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain announced on Friday that he'll vote against the Graham-Cassidy Republican health care bill, putting the future of the legislation in peril.

McCain complained about the process, criticizing the lack of debate and committee time for legislation that would remake the country's health care system.

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John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain
I cannot in good conscience vote for Graham-Cassidy. A bill impacting so many lives deserves a bipartisan approach. http://bit.ly/2xtEuvz
2:06 PM - Sep 22, 2017
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"Committees of jurisdiction should mark up legislation with input from all committee members, and send their bill to the floor for debate and amendment," McCain said in a statement.

"That is the only way we might achieve bipartisan consensus on lasting reform, without which a policy that affects one-fifth of our economy and every single American family will be subject to reversal with every change of administration and congressional majority."

McCain was one of three votes that helped to sink the Republican effort in late July, just days after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He criticized the closed-door process then, too.

McCain Comes Out Against GOP Health Care Bill, Putting Plan in Peril Play Facebook Twitter Embed
McCain Comes Out Against GOP Health Care Bill, Putting Plan in Peril 1:48

McCain’s surprise Friday afternoon announcement, coupled with statements of opposition by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., means Republicans can’t lose another vote as only two Republicans can defect in order for the legislation to pass. All eyes now turn to GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, both of whom recently voted against the so-called "skinny repeal" bill and say they are undecided on the latest measure.

McCain's opposition goes against one of his closest confidantes, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has been championing this latest effort.

"I take no pleasure in announcing my opposition. Far From it," McCain wrote in a statement. "The bill’s authors are my dear friends, and I think the world of them. I know they are acting consistently with their beliefs and sense of what is best for the country. So am I."

Graham tweeted his reaction to McCain's decision, saying that he supports his friend but that he still thinks his legislation is the best option to repeal Obamacare.

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Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC
My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes but respect for how he’s lived his life and the person he is.
3:12 PM - Sep 22, 2017
3,921 3,921 Replies 3,754 3,754 Retweets 27,733 27,733 likes

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Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC
Replying to @LindseyGrahamSC
I’m excited about solutions we have found in Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson. We press on.
3:16 PM - Sep 22, 2017
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Cassidy said he's "disappointed" by McCain's decision.

"I am disappointed that Senator John McCain is not voting to repeal and replace Obamacare. But, as long as there are families being penalized because they can’t afford insurance costing $30,000 to $40,000 a year, I will continue to work for those families," Cassidy wrote in a statement.

"President Trump and I firmly believe the Graham-Cassidy bill is the right bill, at the right time to repeal and replace Obamacare," Vice President Mike Pence told a crowd gathered in Anderson, Indiana, where he was promoting tax reform.

"It’s time for every member of the Republican majority to keep their word to the American people,” Pence added, reminding that Republicans were "not elected to save Obamacare, they were elected to repeal and replace it."

McCain was praised, however, by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

"John McCain shows the same courage in Congress that he showed when he was a naval aviator. I have assured Senator McCain that as soon as repeal is off the table, we Democrats are intent on resuming the bipartisan process," Schumer said.

Play The Reasoning Behind McCain's Opposition To Graham-Cassidy Facebook Twitter Embed
The Reasoning Behind McCain's Opposition To Graham-Cassidy 0:59
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he intends to put the bill on the floor next week. But he might choose not to if he doesn't have 50 votes.

The last-ditch effort to partially repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act gained steam last week when Graham and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., introduced the text of their legislation and sent it to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for an analysis.

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who has attacked Cassidy three nights in a row this week, tweeted his thanks to McCain shortly after the announcement.

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Jimmy Kimmel ✔ @jimmykimmel
Thank you @SenJohnMcCain for being a hero again and again and now AGAIN
2:02 PM - Sep 22, 2017
3,814 3,814 Replies 26,684 26,684 Retweets 104,532 104,532 likes
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RELATED: Kimmel urges defeat of GOP health care bill

The Graham-Cassidy legislation has been sharply criticized by Democrats, health care experts and the health care industry, including the insurance industry. Studies have shown that states will lose upwards of $200 billion dollars of health care funding, millions fewer will be covered, and the changes would severely disrupt the health care market.

Graham-Cassidy would cut the Medicaid program by ending the Obamacare expansion, which insured an additional 17 million Americans, by 2020. It would also change the funding formula for Medicaid to be based on population instead of need. And it would provide a chunk of money to states to implement their own Medicaid program, known as a block-grant.

Image: Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham talk while walking to a meeting on Capitol Hill
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., left, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talk while walking to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 13, 2017. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP file

In addition, the bill would get rid of the mandate to purchase health insurance and end the subsidies that helps people purchase coverage. It would also take money given to the states that expanded Medicaid and the money for subsidies and give it to states to implement . . . .

WASHINGTON — Sen. John McCain announced on Friday that he'll vote against the Graham-Cassidy Republican health care bill, putting the future of the legislation in peril.

McCain complained about the process, criticizing the lack of debate and committee time for legislation that would remake the country's health care system.

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John McCain ✔ @SenJohnMcCain
I cannot in good conscience vote for Graham-Cassidy. A bill impacting so many lives deserves a bipartisan approach. http://bit.ly/2xtEuvz
2:06 PM - Sep 22, 2017
31,401 31,401 Replies 43,833 43,833 Retweets 140,720 140,720 likes


"Committees of jurisdiction should mark up legislation with input from all committee members, and send their bill to the floor for debate and amendment," McCain said in a statement.

"That is the only way we might achieve bipartisan consensus on lasting reform, without which a policy that affects one-fifth of our economy and every single American family will be subject to reversal with every change of administration and congressional majority."

McCain was one of three votes that helped to sink the Republican effort in late July, just days after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer. He criticized the closed-door process then, too.

McCain Comes Out Against GOP Health Care Bill, Putting Plan in Peril Play Facebook Twitter Embed
McCain Comes Out Against GOP Health Care Bill, Putting Plan in Peril 1:48

McCain’s surprise Friday afternoon announcement, coupled with statements of opposition by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., means Republicans can’t lose another vote as only two Republicans can defect in order for the legislation to pass. All eyes now turn to GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, both of whom recently voted against the so-called "skinny repeal" bill and say they are undecided on the latest measure.

McCain's opposition goes against one of his closest confidantes, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has been championing this latest effort.

"I take no pleasure in announcing my opposition. Far From it," McCain wrote in a statement. "The bill’s authors are my dear friends, and I think the world of them. I know they are acting consistently with their beliefs and sense of what is best for the country. So am I."

Graham tweeted his reaction to McCain's decision, saying that he supports his friend but that he still thinks his legislation is the best option to repeal Obamacare.

Follow
Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC
My friendship with @SenJohnMcCain is not based on how he votes but respect for how he’s lived his life and the person he is.
3:12 PM - Sep 22, 2017
3,921 3,921 Replies 3,754 3,754 Retweets 27,733 27,733 likes

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Lindsey Graham ✔ @LindseyGrahamSC
Replying to @LindseyGrahamSC
I’m excited about solutions we have found in Graham-Cassidy-Heller-Johnson. We press on.
3:16 PM - Sep 22, 2017
666 666 Replies 104 104 Retweets 306 306 likes

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Cassidy said he's "disappointed" by McCain's decision.

"I am disappointed that Senator John McCain is not voting to repeal and replace Obamacare. But, as long as there are families being penalized because they can’t afford insurance costing $30,000 to $40,000 a year, I will continue to work for those families," Cassidy wrote in a statement.

"President Trump and I firmly believe the Graham-Cassidy bill is the right bill, at the right time to repeal and replace Obamacare," Vice President Mike Pence told a crowd gathered in Anderson, Indiana, where he was promoting tax reform.

"It’s time for every member of the Republican majority to keep their word to the American people,” Pence added, reminding that Republicans were "not elected to save Obamacare, they were elected to repeal and replace it."

McCain was praised, however, by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

"John McCain shows the same courage in Congress that he showed when he was a naval aviator. I have assured Senator McCain that as soon as repeal is off the table, we Democrats are intent on resuming the bipartisan process," Schumer said.

Play The Reasoning Behind McCain's Opposition To Graham-Cassidy Facebook Twitter Embed
The Reasoning Behind McCain's Opposition To Graham-Cassidy 0:59

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he intends to put the bill on the floor next week. But he might choose not to if he doesn't have 50 votes.

The last-ditch effort to partially repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act gained steam last week when Graham and Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., introduced the text of their legislation and sent it to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office for an analysis.

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel, who has attacked Cassidy three nights in a row this week, tweeted his thanks to McCain shortly after the announcement.

Follow
Jimmy Kimmel ✔ @jimmykimmel
Thank you @SenJohnMcCain for being a hero again and again and now AGAIN
2:02 PM - Sep 22, 2017
3,814 3,814 Replies 26,684 26,684 Retweets 104,532 104,532 likes

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RELATED: Kimmel urges defeat of GOP health care bill

The Graham-Cassidy legislation has been sharply criticized by Democrats, health care experts and the health care industry, including the insurance industry. Studies have shown that states will lose upwards of $200 billion dollars of health care funding, millions fewer will be covered, and the changes would severely disrupt the health care market.

Graham-Cassidy would cut the Medicaid program by ending the Obamacare expansion, which insured an additional 17 million Americans, by 2020. It would also change the funding formula for Medicaid to be based on population instead of need. And it would provide a chunk of money to states to implement their own Medicaid program, known as a block-grant.

Image: Bill Cassidy and Lindsey Graham talk while walking to a meeting on Capitol Hill
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., left, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., talk while walking to a meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on July 13, 2017. Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP file

In addition, the bill would get rid of the mandate to purchase health insurance and end the subsidies that helps people purchase coverage. It would also take money given to the states that expanded Medicaid and the money for subsidies and give it to states to implement their own health system. In doing so it would allow states to undercut protections for people with pre-existing conditions, likely causing their insurance premiums to rise.

Republicans have only until September 30 before the legislation expires that allows them to try and pass it with a simple majority, forcing the rushed timeline on a bill that was introduced just days ago.

Anxious for a legislative victory, President Donald Trump has been publicly pressuring congressional Republicans to repeal Obamacare.

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Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
Rand Paul, or whoever votes against Hcare Bill, will forever (future political campaigns) be known as "the Republican who saved ObamaCare."
6:19 AM - Sep 22, 2017
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Trump's attacks weren't enough to convince McCain and haven't been enough yet to convince Paul, either. Collins told the Portland Press Herald on Friday that she's leaning toward voting against the measure. Her concerns are plenty, including the bill's impact on pre-existing conditions, defunding of Planned Parenthood and the legislative process.

Murkowski said she also has concerns with the fast-moving process and that she wants to know how the legislation will impact Alaska, a rural state with a large Medicaid population and expensive health care.

Leigh Ann Caldwell LEIGH ANN CALDWELL TWITTER
CONTRIBUTOR ALI VITALI


THIS IS A GOOD DETAILED UPDATE ARTICLE ON THE CRISIS THAT CONTINUES IN PUERTO RICO. IT'S HARD LIVING ON A SMALL ISLAND, AND IS GOING TO GET HARDER AS THE WORLD TEMPERATURE RISES. HOT WATER MEANS STRONG STORMS. I SUPPOSE THAT IS WHY THE PACIFIC HURRICANE, OR TYPHOON, IS FEARED TO SUCH A DEGREE.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-precarious-situation-hurricane-recovery-begins-n803926
NEWS SEP 22 2017, 11:14 PM ET
Puerto Rico Attempts Recovery Amid Escalating Crisis and Dam Failure
by SUZANNE GAMBOA

WASHINGTON — After almost a year of working to pull itself from what was considered a fiscal death spiral, Puerto Rico finds itself in a vortex of a humanitarian crisis wrought by Hurricane Maria.

The island is grappling with massive destruction and near total loss of power, flooded towns and reports of fatalities. And though the storm had long departed, the tragedy and hardship continued Friday when the National Weather Service warned that a key dam northwest of San Juan was in danger of failing.

The National Weather Service in San Juan said the northwestern communities of Isabela, Quebradillas and the surrounding areas were in danger. The approximately 70,000 people who live in the area were warned to seek higher ground immediately, as the failure of the 345-yard dam threatened to create flash flooding downstream on the Rio Guajataca.

In the town of Toa Baja alone, eight people have drowned, the town's mayor Benardo "Betito" Marzquez told NBC News. The mayor confirmed that some 4,000 people have been rescued from flood waters, but the town 30 miles west of San Juan remains without power and cell phone communication and had yet to receive adequate amounts of relief supplies of food or potable water.

Hurricane Ravaged Puerto Rico Begins Slow Recovery
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Hurricane Ravaged Puerto Rico Begins Slow Recovery 2:03
Residents appear to be in a state of shock, even as waters have begun to recede. The National Guard is in the town, along with search and rescue teams from Virginia and Florida.

On Friday the island's main newspaper, El Nuevo Día was reporting bridge collapses, overflowing rivers, evacuations and some landslides in parts of the island.

Before Maria hit, Puerto Rico already was considered in crisis, hanging on by the fingertips to a cliff, but getting some gripping. Now some fear the hurricane

has sent the island into free fall and they are wondering if there’s an adequate safety net to stop it.

“This is a particularly devastating hurricane at a particularly weak moment,” Rep. Luis Gutiérrez said Thursday in a Chicago meeting with the city's Puerto Rican community, organized to help.

Health and safety are always concerns after such a disaster, but Puerto Rico must try to address those with the island largely devoid of electrical power and with a severely damaged communication system.

RELATED: Mainland Families Desperately Await Word from Puerto Rico

"The infrastructure of Puerto Rico is so weak that it’s going to take a really long time (to recover). This is not like the electricity going out in the city of Chicago. The infrastructure has already been so debilitated and there have been so many years of lack of continuing support for that infrastructure," Gutiérrez said.

Image: Aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
View of the damage caused by Hurricane Maria when it passed through San Juan, Puerto Rico, 21 September 2017. EPA/Jorge J. Muniz Jorge J. Muniz / EPA
There are immediate needs of making sure hospitals can continue to run on generators, which require fuel that is in demand. It's unknown how many people are trapped in homes that can’t get to a hospital or need some kind of health aid, such as a nebulizer, medication or assistance with getting around.

“My mother-in-law is being taken care of at home. She needs care 24/7, including air conditioning. She’s bed-ridden and on oxygen. How long can you support gasoline generators? They have one, but they have to fill it every day,” said Edwin Melendez, the director of Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York. “It’s not like these things are gas free. How do you get the gas?”

Image: Aftermath of Hurricane Maria
An older couple wait to be evacuated from their home by Emergency personnel in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, 21 September 2017. EPA/Thais Llorca Thais Llorca / EPA
Jaime Pla, president of the Puerto Rico Hospital Association, told NBC News that hospitals have been able to operate normally for the past 48 hours because they have been on generator power.

“The issue we’re going to have is accessibility to diesel,” said Pla, adding that most generators operate on diesel tanks that last between three to five days.

Pla said that islanders who use medical equipment on a daily basis, but have no power, should first try to go to a nearby shelter that has electricity, noting that hospitals have been at capacity since before the storm. He added however that anyone who has a medical emergency should not hesitate to go to a hospital.

WASHINGTON — After almost a year of working to pull itself from what was considered a fiscal death spiral, Puerto Rico finds itself in a vortex of a humanitarian crisis wrought by Hurricane Maria.

The island is grappling with massive destruction and near total loss of power, flooded towns and reports of fatalities. And though the storm had long departed, the tragedy and hardship continued Friday when the National Weather Service warned that a key dam northwest of San Juan was in danger of failing.

The National Weather Service in San Juan said the northwestern communities of Isabela, Quebradillas and the surrounding areas were in danger. The approximately 70,000 people who live in the area were warned to seek higher ground immediately, as the failure of the 345-yard dam threatened to create flash flooding downstream on the Rio Guajataca.

In the town of Toa Baja alone, eight people have drowned, the town's mayor Benardo "Betito" Marzquez told NBC News. The mayor confirmed that some 4,000 people have been rescued from flood waters, but the town 30 miles west of San Juan remains without power and cell phone communication and had yet to receive adequate amounts of relief supplies of food or potable water.

Hurricane Ravaged Puerto Rico Begins Slow Recovery Play Facebook Twitter Embed
Hurricane Ravaged Puerto Rico Begins Slow Recovery 2:03
Residents appear to be in a state of shock, even as waters have begun to recede. The National Guard is in the town, along with search and rescue teams from Virginia and Florida.

On Friday the island's main newspaper, El Nuevo Día was reporting bridge collapses, overflowing rivers, evacuations and some landslides in parts of the island.

Before Maria hit, Puerto Rico already was considered in crisis, hanging on by the fingertips to a cliff, but getting some gripping. Now some fear the hurricane has sent the island into free fall and they are wondering if there’s an adequate safety net to stop it.

“This is a particularly devastating hurricane at a particularly weak moment,” Rep. Luis Gutiérrez said Thursday in a Chicago meeting with the city's Puerto Rican community, organized to help.

Health and safety are always concerns after such a disaster, but Puerto Rico must try to address those with the island largely devoid of electrical power and with a severely damaged communication system.

RELATED: Mainland Families Desperately Await Word from Puerto Rico

"The infrastructure of Puerto Rico is so weak that it’s going to take a really long time (to recover). This is not like the electricity going out in the city of Chicago. The infrastructure has already been so debilitated and there have been so many years of lack of continuing support for that infrastructure," Gutiérrez said.

Image: Aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico
View of the damage caused by Hurricane Maria when it passed through San Juan, Puerto Rico, 21 September 2017. EPA/Jorge J. Muniz Jorge J. Muniz / EPA
There are immediate needs of making sure hospitals can continue to run on generators, which require fuel that is in demand. It's unknown how many people are trapped in homes that can’t get to a hospital or need some kind of health aid, such as a nebulizer, medication or assistance with getting around.

“My mother-in-law is being taken care of at home. She needs care 24/7, including air conditioning. She’s bed-ridden and on oxygen. How long can you support gasoline generators? They have one, but they have to fill it every day,” said Edwin Melendez, the director of Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College, City University of New York. “It’s not like these things are gas free. How do you get the gas?”

Image: Aftermath of Hurricane Maria
An older couple wait to be evacuated from their home by Emergency personnel in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, 21 September 2017. EPA/Thais Llorca Thais Llorca / EPA
Jaime Pla, president of the Puerto Rico Hospital Association, told NBC News that hospitals have been able to operate normally for the past 48 hours because they have been on generator power.

“The issue we’re going to have is accessibility to diesel,” said Pla, adding that most generators operate on diesel tanks that last between three to five days.

Pla said that islanders who use medical equipment on a daily basis, but have no power, should first try to go to a nearby shelter that has electricity, noting that hospitals have been at capacity since before the storm. He added however that anyone who has a medical emergency should not hesitate to go to a hospital.

Image: PUERTORICO-CARIBBEAN-WEATHER-HURRICANE
A destroyed house lays flooded in Catano town, in Juana Matos, Puerto Rico, on September 21, 2017, following Hurricane Maria. / AFP PHOTO / HECTOR RETAMALHECTOR RETAMAL/AFP/Getty Images HECTOR RETAMAL / AFP - Getty Images

Pla said he was still concerned about islanders who were having trouble getting around. Downed trees and power lines have made roads impassable in places and there are concerns about rural regions and what effect the relentless rains had on dirt roads.

“The hurricane has been nothing short of a major disaster,” Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló told MSNBC Friday.

All of this comes after Puerto Rico's medical system already was strained as doctors have been leaving the island because of the economic crisis, as NBC News reported last month.

RELATED: Puerto Ricans Venture Out to Face Hurricane Maria's Devastation

Gutiérrez also noted that the island has a largely older population because many of its young people have left find work on the mainland.

Caribbean News reported that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, is flying in cargo planes loaded with water, food, generators and temporary shelters.

Heartbreak in Puerto Rico: 'We Don't Have Anything' Play Facebook Twitter Embed
Heartbreak in Puerto Rico: 'We Don't Have Anything' 1:27

Mike Hyland, senior vice president of engineering services at the American Public Power Association based in Arlington, Va. said his organization was preparing to send a team into Puerto Rico when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo offered to bring them in on the plane he’d chartered in New York.

They accepted the offer, which allowed them to get the team in sooner than they thought they would.

The team includes helicopters and drone pilots. The drones will be used to scan the countryside to help assess the damage. Hyland spoke more optimistically about prospects for restoring Puerto Rico’s electricity.

“I would point to (Hurricane) Irma, how well Puerto Rico did … they were serving 96 percent in five or six days. To me that seems okay,” he said. But nothing will be certain until a damage assessment is complete. As soon as the team arrives, their task will be similar to surveying every electric system structure in the state of Connecticut, Hyland said.

“Our job is to get the lights back on,” he said.

Follow NBC Latino on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-says-more-north-korea-sanctions-are-coming/
CBS NEWS September 21, 2017, 12:21 PM
Trump announces new executive order targeting those who trade with North Korea

President Trump announced he has just signed a new executive order that "significantly expands our authority to target individual companies, and financial institutions that facilitate trade with North Korea."

The announcement came at a lunch with South Korean President Moon Jae-In and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The order, which aims to cut off sources of revenue that fund North Korea's nuclear and weapons programs, comes in response to North Korea's repeated missile and nuclear tests. It targets any individual or entity that trades goods, services or technology with the North.

Mr. Trump also praised a new action taken by China's central bank to demand that other banks stop doing business with the North. "This just happened," Mr. Trump said.

He also complained that the U.S. has been working on the "problem" of North Korea for 25 years, "and has done nothing." Tolerance for this "must end now," he declared, reiterating that sanctions would be imposed against any bank that knowingly facilitates trade with North Korea.

Though the U.S. and China have moved to squeeze the North financially, and Mr. Trump this week threatened the destruction of North Korea if it attacks the U.S. or its allies, he may not have ruled out diplomacy. When a reporter shouted a question about whether dialogue with North Korea was still possible, Mr. Trump responded, "Why not?"

"We will put more sanctions on North Korea," Mr. Trump had told reporters during a meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the UN Thursday.

Soon after, when he sat down with South Korean President Moon Jae-In, Mr. Trump said, "We're making a lot of progress in a lot of different ways. Stay tuned, stay tuned." He noted that he would be having lunch with Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

While Mr. Trump promised to fix a trade deal he says "has been so good" for South Korea, compared to the U.S., he told reporters that his meeting with Moon would focus on military issues and North Korea.

President Trump delivers first remarks at United Nations
Play VIDEO
President Trump delivers first remarks at United Nations

Moon praised the president for his "very strong speech" before the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday, and he called North Korea's provocations "extremely deplorable," a comment that Mr. Trump seized upon.

"I'm happy you used the word 'deplorable,'" he said to Moon. "That's been a very lucky word for me and many millions of people," he joked, a likely reference to the way Hillary Clinton sized up Mr. Trump's supporters during the presidential campaign.

"You could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables," Clinton said during a fundraiser in New York in September, 2016. It was a statement she later said she regretted making, but she doesn't think "that was determinative," she told CBS News' Jane Pauley recently.


I TAKE JOY IN THIS NEXT ARTICLE. THE HERO WHO TOOK DOWN A YOUNG STUDENT GUNMAN WAS NOT A GUY! SHE IS PRETTY, TOO. WAY TO GO!!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/teacher-takes-down-gunman-illinois-high-school/
CBS NEWS September 21, 2017, 10:15 AM
Teacher hailed as hero for taking down gunman at Illinois high school

A teacher took down a gunman inside an Illinois high school after he opened fire in the school's cafeteria on Wednesday. Police say Angela McQueen's quick response saved lives. A 16-year-old student was shot and later released from the hospital, and the suspect, who the police said was a student, is in custody.

The shooter, whose identity was being withheld since he is a minor, acted alone at Mattoon High School. As students there return for classes Thursday morning, they'll find their belongings exactly how they left them as they dropped everything when shots rang out, reports CBS News' Tony Dokoupil.

More than 100 police officers raced toward the chaos at Mattoon High School just after 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Students and faculty running for safety reported a shooter in the school's cafeteria.

"It was one of the scariest things that could happen," said Braeton Davis, one of the students in the cafeteria when another student opened fire. His knuckles were grazed in the shooting.

"That's when I looked left, and I saw the person holding the gun, and then they fired three to five more shots," Davis said.

A second student was struck by as many as two gunshots but survived.

"If that teacher had not responded as quickly as they had, I think the situation would've been a lot different," said Mattoon police chief Jeff Branson.

"He still had his finger on the trigger, and it was flying up and hitting the ceiling," said Alexis Perry, who saw the confrontation unfold.

Even after overwhelming the shooter, Anna Morton watched as McQueen continued checking on others.

"She was walking around and making sure everything was OK. And I went up and gave her a hug and thanked her because she could have– that could have been a lot worse and she made it to where it wasn't," Morton said.

This is reportedly the fifth shooting to strike a central Illinois high school in just the past four weeks.


THE FOLLOWING IS A VIDEO OF THE SHOOTER HIMSELF ACTING OUT THE SHOOTINGS, REHEARSING, OR JUST PLAYING TO THE CAMERA IS HARD TO SAY, BUT HE WAS OBVIOUSLY PROUD OF THEM. IT'S ODD THAT A STRING OF SCHOOL SHOOTINGS HAS OCCURRED OVER THE LAST MONTH. IS THERE A LINK? PROBABLY SO, BECAUSE THAT GOES BEYOND COINCIDENCE, UNLESS THAT IS A VERY, VERY "TOUGH NEIGHBORHOOD."

https://www.cbsnews.com/videos/new-details-emerge-about-history-of-wash-high-school-shooter/
New details emerge about history of Wash. high school shooter
SEPTEMBER 14, 2017, 6:42 PM| A student accused of opening fire at his high school near Spokane, Washington, had previously posted online videos of himself acting out shootings. In Wednesday's attack, one classmate was killed. Three other students are in stable condition. Mireya Villarreal reports from Rockford, Washington.



https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-responds-to-trump-threat-to-totally-destroy-it-if-provoked/
CBS/AP September 21, 2017, 6:46 AM
North Korea responds to Trump’s threat to "totally destroy” it if provoked

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea's foreign minister has described President Donald Trump's threat to destroy his country as "the sound of a dog barking."

The comments are the North's first response to Trump's debut speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, during which he vowed to "totally destroy North Korea" if provoked. Trump also called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "Rocket man."

The North's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho told reporters in New York late Wednesday that "It would be a dog's dream if he intended to scare us with the sound of a dog barking."

Trump offers harsh words for N. Korea and Iran at first U.N. address
Play VIDEO
Trump offers harsh words for N. Korea and Iran at first U.N. address
South Korean TV footage also showed Ri saying he feels "sorry for his aides" when he was asked about Trump's "Rocket man" comments. Ri was to give a speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Friday, according to Yonhap news agency.

Trump has unleashed many strong statements on North Korea including his August warning the North will be met with "fire and fury." The North has responded by a slew of weapons tests and warlike and often-mocking rhetoric against Trump. A top North Korean general called Trump's "fire and fury" threats "a load of nonsense" let out by "a guy bereft of reason."

The rhetorical battle came as outside experts say North Korea is getting closer to achieve its long-stated goal of building nuclear-armed missiles capable hitting anywhere in the U.S. mainland.

Also on Thursday, China issued a warning about escalating tensions.

"We call on all parties to be calmer than calm and not let the situation escalate out of control," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, according to the Reuters news agency.

Earlier this month, North Korea conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test to date and it was subsequently slapped with fresh, tough U.N. sanctions. North Korea later fired a ballistic missile over Japan and the U.S. military flew powerful bombers and stealth fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula and near Japan in a show of force against the North.



THIS IS ANOTHER "SICK AND SAD" STORY OF PARENTS WHO, FOR WHATEVER REASON, KILL THEIR OWN CHILDREN.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cops-dad-strangled-young-sons-as-wife-slept-set-home-ablaze/
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP September 21, 2017, 11:11 AM
Cops: Dad strangled young sons as wife slept, set home ablaze

Photograph -- The Bloomington, Ill. home where police say a father strangled his two young children as his wife slept, and then set the home on fire WMBD

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Authorities in Bloomington, Illinois, say a 33-year-old man hid his family's cellphones, killed his two children and intentionally set a house fire before hanging himself.

Police on Wednesday identified the man as Eric Ringenberg. Officials identified the two boys only by their initials, 2-year-old CR and infant brother, RR.

The Pantagraph in Bloomington reports the mother, 32-year-old Pamela Ringenberg, was hospitalized for smoke inhalation after Tuesday morning's fire. Autopsies showed the children died from strangulation via ligature.

Police say home surveillance cameras show Eric Ringenberg putting the cellphones in a kitchen cabinet, then intentionally starting a fire in the basement after the children were killed.

The father then hanged himself.

The two children and the father were all found dead in the home's basement, reports CBS affiliate WMBD.

The cameras also show Pamela Ringenberg awaking to the sound of the smoke alarm and frantically searching for her family and cellphone to call for help. She was unable to find them.

She eventually fled the home and sought help from neighbors.

The video shows Eric Ringenberg acted alone in killing the children and starting the fire, the station reports.

The year's most shocking crimes
59 Photos
The year's most shocking crimes



THIS IS THE RATIONALE FOR THOSE WHO REFUSE TO GIVE AID BECAUSE THEY "DON'T WANT TO GET INVOLVED." OF COURSE, IT'S ALL COWARDICE NONETHELESS. THOUGH THERE MAY BE CONSEQUENCES, A TRUE HERO WILL TAKE ACTION. I WILL SAY, THOUGH, THAT JUST BECAUSE THIS ROBBER MAY SUE THE COURAGEOUS GOOD GUY DOESN'T MEAN THAT HE WILL WIN. SOME PEOPLE IN THE USA MAKE A DECENT LIVING BY FILING FRIVOLOUS LAWSUITS ONE AFTER ANOTHER. THAT'S ONE OF THE FAVORITE DIRTY TRICKS THAT THE BIZARRE AND HOSTILE GROUP OF "BELIEVERS" CALLED "SOVEREIGN CITIZENS" SPEND THEIR TIME DOING.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/suspected-starbucks-armed-robber-may-sue-man-who-overpowered-him/
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS NEWS September 21, 2017, 1:17 PM
Suspected Starbucks armed robber may sue man who overpowered him

FRESNO, Calif. – A man police call a Good Samaritan may face a lawsuit after injuring the alleged robber he thwarted, reports CBS affiliate KGPE.

In July, Fresno Police say 30-year old Ryan Flores used a gun and tried to rob a Starbucks. Cregg Jerri, 58, stepped in to stop the crime, and the two got into a fight. Both men were hurt, but the Flores family said their son suffered 17 stab and slash wounds and plans on suing Jerri for excessive force.

Flores is currently in jail facing a felony attempted robbery charge. His mother, Pamela Chimienti, said the family does not condone what he allegedly did, but she said Flores should not have been attacked the way he was.

Surveillance video from the Starbucks shows a man wearing a Transformers mask pull out a gun, a knife, and a bag, and demand money from the barista. Investigators have identified the suspect as Flores. In the video, Jerri is seen coming from behind Flores and hitting him with a chair. A fight ensues and investigators said Jerri was stabbed in the neck during the struggle, but managed to wrestle away the knife and stab Flores several times.

starbucks.gif
An alleged armed robbery attempt was thwarted when a man hit the suspect with a chair and eventually overpowered him KGPE
Chief Jerry Dyer calls Jerri a hero. But Chimienti said her son is a victim too.

"He has 17 total stab wounds, lacerations, and defensive wounds," said Chimienti.

Chimienti said Jerri used excessive force when trying to stop her son from allegedly robbing the Starbucks.

"The guy, in my opinion, went from a Good Samaritan to a vigilante," Chimienti said. "Stabbing somebody that many times, it doesn't take that many stab wounds to get somebody to succumb to you."

Now, Chimienti said her son plans on filing a lawsuit against Jerri for that alleged excessive force.

Dyer said, "To say that Cregg Jerri is going to be sued for intervening in an armed robbery and being stabbed in the neck. That is ludicrous!"

Dyer says Jerri feared for his life, and said that's apparent in the video. Jerri does not face any criminal charges.


ONE MORE CASE OF A POORLY TRAINED COP CAUSING SENSELESS GRIEF. THE PROBLEM IS THAT WITH NO OVERSIGHT TO SPEAK OF, POLICE HAVE IN SOME CASES UNLIMITED POWER. THAT NEEDS TO STOP. THEY WOULD THINK TWICE IF THEY WERE BEING PROPERLY PUNISHED FOR THOSE INCIDENTS. IF A BYSTANDER TELLS YOU, AS HE DID IN THIS CASE, THAT THE MAN CAN'T HEAR OR IS AUTISTIC OR ANY SIMILAR THING, BELIEVE HIM. CALL 911 FOR MEDICS TO COME AND GET HIM. DON'T EVEN TRY TO ARREST HIM.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/neighbors-say-deaf-man-killed-by-oklahoma-police-couldnt-speak-communicated-with-hands/
By CRIMESIDER STAFF CBS/AP September 21, 2017, 12:40 PM
Neighbors say deaf man killed by Okla. police couldn't speak, communicated with hands

Photograph -- Magdiel Sanchez was shot and killed by Oklahoma City police KWTV

OKLAHOMA CITY - A man who saw Oklahoma City police officers open fire on his deaf neighbor says the neighbor was developmentally disabled and also didn't speak.

Julio Rayos tells The Oklahoman that 35-year-old Magdiel Sanchez mainly communicated through hand movements. He says he believes Sanchez became frustrated trying to tell the officers what was going on.

Sanchez was carrying what officers described as a pipe and wasn't obeying the officers' commands before one shot him with a gun and the other with a Taser on Tuesday night, police Capt. Bo Mathews said at a news conference. He said witnesses were yelling "he can't hear you" before the officers fired, but they didn't hear them.

Rayos told the newspaper, however, that he thinks the officers heard him.

"I believe they did hear me because one of them turned around and looked at me," he said.

Sanchez, who had no apparent criminal history, died at the scene. The officer who fired the gun, Sgt. Chris Barnes, has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.

"I thought they could haven taken care of it a different way," said Rayos. "Me personally I could have probably taken care of it myself."

Mathews said the officers were investigating a reported hit-and-run at around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. He said a witness told Lt. Matthew Lindsey the address where the vehicle responsible for the hit-and-run had gone, and that Sanchez was on the porch holding what police initially described as a stick but later called a metal pipe when Lindsey arrived. Sanchez's father, who was allegedly driving the hit-and-run vehicle, said Sanchez wasn't in the vehicle when he struck something and drove off. It wasn't a person that was struck.

CBS affiliate KWTV reports that witnesses say the pipe Sanchez was holding was not a weapon but a stick he walked with and that he was using hand motions to communicate with the officers.

"In those situations, very volatile situations, you have a weapon out, you can get what they call tunnel vision, or you can really lock in to just the person that has the weapon that'd be the threat against you," Mathews said. "I don't know exactly what the officers were thinking at that point."

Jolie Guebara, who lives two houses from the shooting scene, told The Associated Press that she heard five or six gunshots before she looked outside and saw the police.

"He always had a stick that he would walk around with, because there's a lot of stray dogs," Guebara said.

Guebara said Sanchez, whose name she didn't know, wrote notes to communicate with her and her husband when he would occasionally stop and visit if they were outside.


ANOTHER REPUBLICAN SAYS SOMETHING TOTALLY INEXPLICABLE. HO, HUM!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-candidate-roy-moore-talks-about-racial-divide-between-reds-and-yellows/
CBS/AP September 18, 2017, 5:46 PM
Senate candidate Roy Moore talks about racial divide between "reds and yellows"

FILE - In this Aug. 8, 2016, file photo, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore speaks to the media during a news conference in Montgomery, Ala. Moore was suspended for the rest of his term over his actions regarding same-sex marriage in the state. BRYNN ANDERSON / AP

Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore made an odd comment about strife between "reds and yellows" recently, apparently about Native Americans and Asians, although it's not clear what he was talking about.

"Now we have blacks and whites fighting, reds and yellows fighting, Democrats and Republicans fighting, men and women fighting," Moore said in video that was given to The Hill by a Republican monitoring the race. "What's going to unite us? What's going to bring us back together? A president? A Congress? No. It's going to be God."

Moore is running against incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, also a Republican, in the GOP runoff election on Sept. 26. The winner of the runoff will face former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee, in the special election on Dec. 12.

After then-Senator Jeff Sessions vacated the seat when he became attorney general, Strange was named to the Senate seat.

Moore was the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court but was removed twice -- once for defying a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments' monument from the state judicial building. Then, after he was elected again, a judicial discipline panel permanently suspended Moore last year, ruling that he had urged probate judges to deny marriage licenses to gay couples in defiance of the federal courts.

Mr. Trump has endorsed Strange, and on Saturday, he'll travel to Alabama to campaign for him.



VIDEOS FROM MSNBC, ONE OF MICHAEL MOORE AND RACHEL MADDOW

http://www.msnbc.com/all-in/watch/michael-moore-donald-trump-outsmarted-us-all-1047066179983
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 9/14/17
Michael Moore: 'Donald Trump outsmarted us all'
10 months after the election of Donald Trump, Michael Moore offers his assessment on the state of the resistance and the continuing danger of President Trump. Duration: 6:05


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/20/17
Following the path from Manafort to Mueller's investigation
Rachel Maddow shows how a small story about an obscure change in the Republican Party platform was the first indication of a bigger story that will lead to a full blown federal investigation and Robert Mueller asking the White House for 13 kinds of documents. Duration: 21:48


TRUMP TWEETS A (FAKE) CLIP OF TRUMP HITTING A GOLF BALL, WHICH THEN HITS HILLARY CLINTON IN THE BACK, KNOCKING HER FORWARD. WHAT FUN!

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/watch/-this-is-wrong-president-retweets-golf-ball-animation-1048859715648
MORNING JOE 9/18/17
President Trump retweets golf ball hitting Hillary Clinton
Over the weekend, the president shared a tweet from a fan that showed a doctored video of Trump swinging a golf club and a golf ball hitting Hillary Clinton in the back. The panel discusses. Duration: 4:35



http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/15/17
Pence, up to his neck in Russia scandal, losing press secretary
Rachel Maddow looks at the growing list of White House departures, adding Mike Pence's press secretary to the list, and noting the striking number of lies Pence has told about aspects of the Trump Russia scandal. Duration: 16:25


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/15/17
Kushner, Bannon joined Flynn for nuke plant meeting: Buzzfeed
Anthony Cormier, investigative reporter for Buzzfeed, talks with Rachel Maddow about new reporting that Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon attended a meeting with Mike Flynn and the King of Jordan to discuss a nuclear power plant deal during the Trump tran... Duration: 8:20


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
Sessions, McCabe call Nunes' bluff on threatening letter
09/15/17 09:52PM
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 9/15/17
Sessions, McCabe call Nunes' bluff on threatening letter
Rachel Maddow reviews Rep. Devin Nunes' struggle with controversy as head of the House Intelligence Committee and notes that the deadline he set for Jeff Sessions and Andrew McCabe to produce documents has passed despite a threat of contempt from Nunes. Duration: 4:04


http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc-news/watch/world-leaders-are-discrediting-trump-s-tweets-1048512067643
9/17/17
World Leaders Are Discrediting Trump's Tweets
After President Trump refers to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as "Rocket Man" in a tweet, MSNBC's Alex Witt and guests examine how world leaders are perceiving his published messages. Duration: 3:13


A REALLY FASCINATING NEW SCIENTIST ARTICLE SHEDDING LIGHT ON HOW FOSSIL FUEL COMBINES WITH THE ATMOSPHERE IN A NEWLY DISCOVERED WAY.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23531442-300-lightning-storms-triggered-by-exhaust-from-cargo-ships/?utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=ILC&utm_campaign=webpush&cmpid=ILC%257CNSNS%257C2016-GLOBAL-webpush-lightning-storms
NEWS & TECHNOLOGY 19 September 2017
Lightning storms triggered by exhaust from cargo ships
By Lakshmi Supriya

Photograph -- Storms ahead
Matt Mawson/Getty

SHIPS spewing soot into the pristine ocean air are causing extra lightning strikes along busy maritime routes. It is a bizarre example of how human activities can change the weather.

When Joel Thornton at the University of Washington in Seattle and his colleagues looked at records of lightning strikes between 2005 and 2016 from the World Wide Lightning Location Network, they noticed there were significantly more strikes in certain regions of the east Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, compared with the surrounding areas. Unusually, they occurred along two straight lines in the open ocean, which coincided with two of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. Along these paths there were twice as many lightning strikes as in nearby areas.

“We were quite sure the ships had to be involved,” says Thornton. But they still had to eliminate other factors that influence storm intensity, such as wind speeds and temperatures.

Once these had been ruled out, the team concluded that aerosols from the ships’ engine exhausts were the culprit. Aerosol particles act as seeds, around which water vapour condenses into cloud droplets. In clean air there aren’t many seeds, so the cloud drops quickly grow and fall as rain.

But when there are a lot of seeds, like over busy shipping routes, a greater number of small cloud drops form. Since these are light, they rise up high into the atmosphere and freeze, creating clouds rich in ice.

It is this that leads to more intense thunderstorms: lightning only occurs if clouds are electrically charged, and this only happens if there are lots of ice crystals.

A key giveaway that aerosols were behind the effect was that the lightning was most pronounced at times of the year when powerful atmospheric convection currents form that can carry the aerosol particles high into the sky (Geophysical Research Letters, doi.org/cc7b).

Although lightning activity is higher over the shipping lanes, the amount of rainfall is no different to nearby regions.

While the study provides clear evidence that aerosol particles affect the development and intensity of storms, Thornton says it cannot be directly generalised to the air above land because there are other factors that need to be taken into account.

“Understanding this anthropogenic effect can help us predict future climate,” says Orit Altaratz Stollar of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

The study shows how the changes we make to the atmosphere affect clouds and even the development of stormy weather. Thornton also suggests that the pollution we have released over the last few hundred years may have affected storms and lightning in many places, creating lightning where there was none.

This article appeared in print under the headline “Cargo ships trigger lightning storms”




THIS IS THE MOST COMPLETE LIST I'VE SEEN OF HATE GROUPS, AND PHOTOS OF THEM. IN THIS TIME OF NATIONAL DANGER, THESE PHOTOS WILL HELP US TO HAVE A GOOD FEEL FOR WHAT IS INVOLVED IN THE RIGHTIST WORLD.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/hate-groups-in-america/
Hate groups in America
Photographs 1 though 28

1: Neo-Nazi rally in Los Angeles
Hate groups base their existence on shared antipathy or hostility toward people of different races, religions, genders, national origins or sexual identities. That's according to the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

There are hundreds of organized hate groups in the U.S. This a look at some of the most active ones.

CREDIT: David McNew/Getty Images

2: Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan is the oldest American hate group and has splintered into dozens of white supremacist organizations that are often at odds with each other.

The Klan primarily targets black Americans, but also attacks Jews, immigrants and the LGBTQ community.

CREDIT: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images

3: Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
Formed in 2012, the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan describe themselves as a "non-violent pro-white civil rights movement." Many of their beliefs and rituals mirror those of the original KKK.

According to their website, only "native-born white American Citizen(s)" are allowed to join.

CREDIT: Mike Stewart/AP

4: Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan
The Confederate White Knights also espouse many of the same beliefs and traditions of the KKK.

The group operates in Maryland, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, New Jersey, South Carolina and Virginia.

CREDIT: Alex Wong/Getty Images

5: Neo-Nazis
Neo-Nazis' prime targets are Jewish people, and they practice a dedication to all things having to do with Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany.

They also target racial minorities, the LGBTQ community and sometimes Christians.

CREDIT: Kathy Willens/AP

6: Neo-Nazi National Alliance
At its peak popularity, the Neo-Nazi National Alliance was considered one of the most dangerous hate groups in America due to the group's genocidal ideology.

The National Alliance calls for the eradication of Jewish people and non-white races.

CREDIT: Mike Theiler/AFP/Getty Images

7: Neo-Nazi: National Socialist Movement
The National Socialist Movement (NSM) is one of the largest neo-Nazi groups in the United States and is known for over-the-top anti-Jewish and racist protests.

CREDIT: David McNew / Getty Images

8: Neo-Nazi: American Nazi Party
The American Nazi Party embraces Adolf Hitler's beliefs. David Duke was a member before he established the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

CREDIT: Getty Images

9. Neo-Nazi: Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations was once a unifier of white supremacists. It held an annual world congress on its Idaho compound until the 1990s.

CREDIT: Jerome Pollos/Getty Images

10. White nationalists
White nationalists believe that white people should maintain a majority and power in countries like the U.S. White supremacists and white separatists also fall under this category, but are more explicit in their belief that the white race is superior to other races.

CREDIT: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

11. White nationalist: American Freedom Party
The American Freedom Party is a political party which was established by skinheads. It aims to deport immigrants and establish all-white leadership in the United States.

CREDIT: Southern Poverty Law Center

12. White Nationalist Traditionalist Workers Party
The White Nationalist Traditionalist Workers Party argues that nations should be racially pure. They are anti-Jewish.

Here, Matthew Heinbach, the founder of the Traditionalist Youth Network, shouts during a bond hearing for James Alex Fields, Jr., who is accused of ramming his car into a crowd and killing a woman during a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.

CREDIT: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

13. White nationalist: Golden Dawn
Golden Dawn is a ultranationalist, anti-immigrant and openly racist political party in Greece.

The party has an organized following in Astoria, New York, which has a substantial Greek population.

CREDIT: AFP/Getty Images

14. White nationalist: Identity Evropa
Identity Evropa is a white supremacist organization that recruits and spreads their beliefs via fliers and posters.

CREDIT: Scott Olson/Getty Images

15. White nationalist: Alt-right
The so-called alt-right embraces racism, white nationalism, anti-Semitism and populism, and is frequently hostile towards women and members of the LGBTQ community.

CREDIT: Amy Osborne/AFP/Getty Images

16. Anti-Muslim groups
Anti-Muslim groups cropped up in the U.S. after the 9/11 attacks.

In this photo, a member of an anti-government and anti-Islam militia group takes part in a field training exercise in July 2017.

CREDIT: Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images

17. Anti-Muslim: Security Force III%
Members of Security Force III%, also known as "three-percenters," describe themselves as "patriotic men and women who will uphold the Constitution, [and] defend themselves and the states we are present in, from all enemies foreign and domestic."

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, considers the Georgia state chapter an anti-Muslim hate group.

CREDIT: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

18. Anti-Muslim: American Freedom Defense Initiative
The American Freedom Defense Initiative is an anti-Muslim, pro-Israel organization known for its Islamophobic ad campaigns.

CREDIT: Karen Bleier / AFP/Getty Images

19. Bureau on American Islamic Relations
"B.A.I.R. (Bureau of American Islamic Relations) is an organization that stands in opposition (on all levels) of C.A.I.R. (and other Islamic organizations)," the organization says on its Facebook page.

CREDIT: John Moore/Getty Images

20. Racist skinheads
Racist skinheads are an often violent white supremacist category known for shaved heads and racist tattoos.

CREDIT: David McNew/Getty Images

21. Racist skinheads: Vinlanders Social Club
Vinlanders Social Club espouse racist beliefs but also partake in heavy drinking and brawling at their gatherings.

CREDIT: Southern Poverty Law Center

22. Racist skinheads: Keystone United
Some members of Keystone United have been convicted of violent crimes. The group often sponsors white-power picnics and music festivals.

CREDIT: Southern Poverty Law Center

23. Black separatists
Black separatists are anti-white and often anti-Semitic. They oppose interracial marriage.

CREDIT: Southern Poverty Law Center

24. Anti-LGBTQ
Fringe groups like the Westboro Baptist Church, seen here, that partake in vulgar name-calling, spreading lies and personal attacks against LGBTQ people and their families and supporters are considered hate groups.

CREDIT: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

25. Neo-Confederates
Neo-Confederate groups promote racist beliefs and white separatism and celebrate the Southern Confederacy.

CREDIT: Southern Poverty Law Center

26. Christian Identity movement
Christian Identity groups believe white Christian people are favored by God. The group believes that Jewish people are descendants of Satan and that non-whites are soulless.

CREDIT: Southern Poverty Law Center

27. Anti-immigrant
Anti-immigrant hate groups go far beyond criticizing U.S. immigration policy, but also promote white supremacist or anti-Hispanic views, harass foreign-born people and their supporters, and distribute anti-immigration propaganda. Some believe Mexico is secretly plotting to "reconquer" the American Southwest.

This photo shows a march by the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR), identified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

CREDIT: Southern Poverty Law Center



THIS ISN’T JUST ANOTHER BERNIE SANDERS ARTICLE, BUT ONE WHICH PRIES GENTLY INTO HIS PERSONAL LIFE. I HOPE HE THINKS IT’S GENTLE. IT ALSO GIVES INTERESTING INFO ON WEALTH TODAY. JUST WHO ARE THE 1% -- THE BILLIONAIRES? NYET, IT IS SOME OF US, THE BERNIE FANS. NOT ME, UNFORTUNATELY, BUT A FAIRLY MODESTLY WEALTHY GROUP ARE INCLUDED. $389,436 TO $1.15 MILLION ARE THE FIGURES GIVEN FOR THE WHOLE 1% RANGE. THAT’S WHY WHEN SOME OF US LIBS GIVE THE KEY FIGURE, THEY SAY “THE RICHEST 1 TENTH OF A PERCENT.” THAT’S THE PROTO-BILLIONAIRES, I WOULD IMAGINE. I AM PERSONALLY GLAD TO SEE THAT HE IS IN THE FAIRLY WIDE RANGE OF THE 1%. HE IS BRILLIANT, ENLIGHTENED, CARING, SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS, RATHER HUMBLE ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, THE KIND OF FIGHTER THAT I WANT ON MY TEAM, AND INDEFATIGABLE. GO BERNIE. YOU DESERVE YOUR MONEY.

FOR OTHERS IN CONGRESS AND THE SENATE, GO TO HTTPS://BALLOTPEDIA.ORG/NET_WORTH_OF_UNITED_STATES_SENATORS_AND_REPRESENTATIVES. PS, THIS DOESN’T INCLUDE UNDER THE TABLE DEALS OF ALL KINDS, I’M SURE.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/06/bernie-sanders-made-over-1-million-last-year-and-has-joined-the-1-percent.html
Bernie Sanders made more than $1 million last year—here's how much it takes to be in the top 1%
Kathleen Elkins | @kathleen_elk 8:15 AM ET Wed, 7 June 2017

Photograph -- Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a campaign event on the campus of Indiana University, Getty Images

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders had a surprisingly good financial year in 2016. While the Democratic socialist was warning against the concentration of wealth in the hands of "the top 1 percent," he was also joining their ranks.

Though his annual income of $200,000 still makes him one of the least wealthy senators, "the former Democratic presidential candidate made some $858,750 off book royalties alone last year," Newsweek reports. "Combined with his Senate salary, he likely cleared $1 million in earnings."

That would place Sanders — whose website says that "the issue of wealth and income inequality is the great moral issue of our time, it is the great economic issue of our time, and it is the great political issue of our time" — in the unusual position of being among the top 1 percent of earners in the U.S.

Here's a look at the richest earners in the US and UK

Just how much do you have to pull in to join the champion of the working class in the 1 percent club?

According to a 2013 Economic Policy Institute report, "a family needs an income of $389,436." In affluent metropolitan areas, however, the threshold is much higher. In New York City, for example, you need an annual income of $672,795 to be in the 1 percent. In San Francisco, it's $785,946.

Keep in mind that these numbers just represent the threshold — the average income of the top 1 percent nationwide is $1.15 million.

People in the rest of the nation, on the other hand, earn an average of $45,567 a year. That means, in 2013, "the top 1 percent of families earned 25.3 times as much income as the bottom 99 percent," the EPI reports.