Oh, its in the upper 20's today as the sun made its showing behind the same overcast we had yesterday. But those weather experts we tolerate up here say were due some snow tonight. Poor guys and gals are lucky to break a 50-50 point in forecasting up here in Alaska. Too large, too many winds from a dozen directions, sea monsters and flying saucers, sudden hurricanes that should be called typhoons and not to forget the occasional Sharknado....halibutnado? I've watched all three of the Sharknado films and I can say I enjoyed Star Wars and the Hobbit series at an improval rating of times 200 over the shark flicks. But at 5 a.m. movies are hard to find that you haven't seen already on Netflix. A sign of the times when you can find Netflix in the computer dictionary. I'm watching the old series, "Emergency" right now, about two Paramedic in Los Angeles in the early 1970's. Love the vehicles, old style of clothes and early actors. Yesterday I saw a 16 year old John Travolta have one line. This was several yrs before Welcome Back Kotter series made him a TV Star and so-called babe magnet. I know a lot of the areas they film in from being brought up down there and know these places have all become strip malls, housing and industrial parks. Wide open places are gone! Gone is the rabbit, the coyote and most of the NRA classes for youthful hunters. By the time I was 11 I knew what end the bullet came out and which end to use over my older brother's head. We had a nice .22 hunting rifle, a few blood stains on the butt and I often hid it from my brother. When my mom wasn't around, she was working full-time, he was of the type who would just love shooting me and calling it a hunting accident. Oh, the stories I could tell and the scars I can show...I could have my own soap opera.
In today's news: From Moscow News- Russia's Interior Department steps up and tells their government and the world that their earlier report of how the Sochi Olympics had cost $1.3 billion was slightly off, but in fact had actually cost Russia $19 Billion and they had borrowed from various Russian federal departments to pay the bills. Russia did not make a profit on the Olympics, countries rarely do, but the political problems with neighboring governments and interior troubles brought their nightmares to be known by the world. Sochi will not be a well remembered Olympics.
Russia's new anti-smoking campaign has a new poster out which display our President Obama. Now don't go thinking this is a peaceful gesture, this is far from it. It displays our dear president smoking a cigarette and the wording relates how both the smoking of same and the man are killers. Nice, right? I'd like that one of a shirtless Putin riding a horse, or maybe the one of him leading a band of Harley riders- the man's man. But although we know who and what he is, the posters don't call him that. We're Americans we don't insult people who are white and supposedly Christian. No matter the thousands of people they have ordered killed. White is right, right? Actually I'm sort of a hairy graying tan, now toothless with extra skin flapping about in the breeze. I don't think I'd make anyone's poster child. Oh yeah, the photo of me in my book....it's about 20 yrs old. Sorry.
Japan News: Canada set to standardize a common alphabet for their approx 60,000 Inuit People from the Pacific Northwest provinces. Currently these people use at least 9 alphabets (writing forms) and verbal dialects. So, linguists and Inuit Regional Representatives are to meet very soon in Ottawa to begin this lengthy process. (In some of these villages, the elders still do not or will not use English and their old dialects are dying off with them. The saddest part is the loss of tribal history and old stories that was passed down by word of mouth, instead of being written.)
Global Times-China: Beijing blames the United States for "Militarizing" the South China Seas. China says it has "No Plans" to pursue using the Nansha Islands for a military purpose, dismissing the US accusations and blaming the US for raising tensions in that area. But China continues to bring military hardware out on to these islands, plus continues to build its own islands- large enough to install runways on them to provide a better war footing in the event China does go to war over ownership for the South China Seas. For now China, Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam, along with the Philippines, claim ownership, with China claiming the largest area.
Global Times- Europol (Similar to Interpol) warns that at least 5,000 ISIL-trained Jihadists could be in Europe. ( I find it interesting that IS could have a force of such size and if they so, would send them outside their established war zone when they are in need of them to maintain their so-called balance of power in Syria. 500 maybe, but 5,000 sounds like propaganda. But that's just me.)
Washington Free Beacon: Your tax dollars at work- Secretary John Kerry traveled to Hollywood, California to meet with a dozen Hollywood Executives, at a special location in Universal Studios. The reason- He wanted to solicit advice on how to defeat radical Islam.. When asked about it, Kerry replied, "Good to hear their perspectives and ideas on how to counter #Daesh Narrative." ( At least one of those guys had to jest about sending Arnold or Bruce Willis in to save the day.. I mean I would, right when the conversation dried up and someone reminded Kerry of his old Vietnam days.)
Jerusalem Post: ( I believe our Lord weeps when His people, be they be Catholic or Jew, fight and degrade one another, and how he may feel over the current issue in Palestine versus Israel and the current Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, releases a paper entitled the "Commission for Justice and Peace" that all too clearly sides with the Palestinians in their current issues against the State of Israel. God the Father is a healer and from what limited access I can see, it appears this Catholic leaders is being used by the spiritual enemy and the Muslims as a propaganda tool.) Recently the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries, which are very senior clerics of Israel, of which Patriarch Twal is the Catholic Ordinary, released this "Commission" letter in which he blames Israel for the violent situation between Palestine and Israel. He refers to it as "Inhumane", calling the Israeli settlements as "The Siege of Gaza", and points out military abuse, saying it is "arbitrary" and "humiliating the Palestinians". In reference to the recent upsurge of suicidal attacks by Muslims crossing the border with bombs and armed only with knives, his words were "Today the situation has become a new intifada in which Palestinians plunge to their death out of despair, caused by a life full of frustration, humiliation and insecurity, with no hope at all." To this the Israeli Foreign Ministry replied- "It is a great shame that senior [clergy] in the church are accusing the victim instead of the aggressor. ( The Muslims outside Palestine have done little to help the people, except to help them make war on Israel. They have refused to donate any of their desert land to provide a home for their fellow Muslims. No, the principal here is to take away from the Jew and have the world turn against them. To isolate them for the next war, which they hope to win this time. But it appears this one cleric has forgotten how the BOOK goes and how it ends. Maybe I should send him a copy of my book, A Coming Storm... the whole unpublished trilogy. Where all the Christians join together, with the Jews to follow the Lamb of God and destroy a common enemy.)
China Daily News- Most Hospitals in the Beijing area now use the advance booking method for non-emergency conditions, but a new oddity has made a showing. Hospital ticket scalpers, who now purchase appointment tickets and sell them at a profit. New York Triads probably shipped their local scalpers off to Beijing, finding a new trade to add to baseball and basketball games, besides Broadway shows and concerts. ( I have to wonder if these dudes stand out front the hospital, looking for pigeons and speaking with a New York twang to their Chinese.)
Although China prohibited the use of non-recyclable plastic bags in retail outlets 7 years ago, supermarkets and retail stores are still using the bags and even getting away with charging the customer for the usage of same. (Odd, Beijing remains one of the highest polluting cities in the world and they cannot enforce this law.)
St. Petersburg News-Russia: Andre Piontkovsky, a Russian political analyst, well known for his hard stance against the Kremlin and President Putin, has made a speedy departure from his home country in fear of possible persecution. His last article, "The Bomb The Is Ready To Explode", reportedly carried "signs" of extremism, which might have led the government to suspect Andre of ties with the Chechnya leadership. He covered his sudden disappearance by saying he was in need of long term medical care that could only be found in the western world. ( I suspect, he wished to escape Russian medical care in the form of an executioner's axe. Funny how Russian or the former East Germans escape to Europe, England or the home of Mickey Mouse, while "Traitorous" Americans flee to the waiting arms of Mother Russia. I wonder if he likes his very cold apartment, in a massive building, where all those promises he was offered didn't quite pan out. How do we know this? He hopes to come back. Russia will let him, they've got all they want out of him. I work hard to forgive such people as this, a daily task when I remember them, but how many of you remember the story of the Man Who Hated His Country...maybe I have the title wrong. But he was being tried for a serious crime during the conclusion of the country's first wars and he screamed out how he hated his country so and wished he never had to liver here. So the judge sentenced him to life aboard an American ship with orders he would never be allowed to touch American soil and he would be buried at sea. After a few years he became extremely homesick and I suspect this is what has happened to Snowden. The promises of wine, women and song, riches galore, probably meant little once they had ranged him out of all the secrets. Who knows, maybe he learned a secret or two off the Russian geeks.)
BBC: ( Story paraphrased to make it shorter) In the Village of Clausnitz, a small community south of Dresden, Germany, a bus load of migrants, refugees from the Syrian conflict, was arriving. This was the first busload for the newly assigned asylum house and 100 people of the village were out to greet them. But this crowd was not well-wishers, they wanted these migrants out and they far outnumbered the small contingent of police officers sent out to oversee the safe arrival. To make things worse, two of the older teens in the back of the bus had already picked up obscene western hand gestures and were busily challenging the locals by "flipping" them off. As the crowd attempted to mob the entrance to the bus, the limited number police squad forced their way through and physically removed the migrants through the crowd and into the shelter. Complaints were made against the police after films tried to show police brutality against the migrants, but an investigation by senior officials showed the officers had done what was needed to save the migrants from being beaten by the locals in an attempt to drive them away. There was not enough officers to separate the crowd and the migrants were too frightened to budge. So, they were dragged to the house and the new visitors were grateful. Still, the locals are not happy to have the refugees in their town and a few more officers might prove needful. A lot more are coming to Germany, based on the promises of Chancellor Merkel.
BBC- Fraud in Turkey? (paraphrased) Reporters find out how Turkey, largest home for the Syrian refugees, is illegally deporting refugees back into the wars zones, while promising the European Union to stem the flow of migrants and collecting $3.3 Billion for doing same. But that fee is contingent on the refugees having improved conditions, so more feel they can stay and not be forced to return. NOT to be deported back, some of them reportedly beaten severely by Turkish guards, where a good number of these people will be killed by one faction or another in the Syrian War. Amnesty International has found scores of people, possibly hundreds, refugees and asylum seekers who've been sent back. Many of them seriously abused by the Turkish Guards and some of the people have just disappeared after leaving the camps for the trips back into the dangerous war zones. It appears Turkey is pocketing a sizable fund from the European Union for not doing its agreed upon job and it very could be doing a similar job at the other end, selling men off to the other factions who are in need of troops. Mewn to put in the trenches- often referred to as "cannon fodder".
That's the news. Now I must admit, you may not be getting the best reporting from my end at least at 5 a.m. , but I will do my best to bring you some stories you may not be seeing in your local papers or hearing on your nightly news. So, how many of you notice there seems to be a continuous news blackout in reference to Japan's nuclear waste problem of early last year. Now if any of you have seen a news story where this problem was stopped, tanks sealed, reactors crushed or buried under a mountain of cement and 14-22 tons of waste no longer leaking into the ocean, the blind healed and Godzilla shrimp slain by small boy with a Red Ryder BB Gun, I'd be interested. Far as I know the waste is still coming, the area of contamination on land is widening out and the sea floor is nasty looking. All the dead critters are being blamed on warming of the earth and yes, this last year we really got warm fast. Now we have this strange slime or growth in the ocean, but no one even WANTS to mention it could've been caused by a nuclear accident. That could caused a raving panic and all the fish would starting running two and fro....what direction is "fro"? Sure, I believe them when they run Official Federal NOA tests to verify how clean the ocean is. Unfortunately, I've learned how smooth the government works in their attempts to pull the wool over the public's eyes. Sure, we won in Vietnam...but it was 200 North Vietnamese soldiers on my base watching me march between them in a single file to have my name check off for leaving the base two days late in violation of the peace accord. Those 200 took over our best service living quarters and we left as defeated foes. Not a day the 22 of us will ever forget. Even outnumbered 10 to 1, I think we could've taken them. Besides, they looked more frightened then we were, poor souls. I heard a rumor the new quarters were all booby trapped...Hey, I wasn't a Christian back then.....enough said. Beer stories for the VA. Taken to the Lord long ago.
But there has been a lot of events I have witnessed or reviewed good evidence of that was never provided to Joe Citizen, so if you hear anything about this Japan Sea Bottom Project I'd be interested. I know the land there is going cheap, but realtors are hard to find. Might be a good location for a theme park, run it on nuclear power- for free. Be a great place for those thrill seekers to visit.... I'm leaving you now, time for a donut. BILL