Yup, this has been a very strange winter. 38-yrs ago when I arrived in Fairbanks for my upcoming tour of duty at Eielson Air Force Base, it was 62-degrees colder than today, here in Moose Pass. I still remember that day because it was a 22-mile ride to the base and only the driver's heater was working in the 29-pax bus. Iced up windows, freezing troops, who like me arrived in their Class A Uniform- no winter coat. It was 3-days before we had our winter gear issued and by next week the temp had dropped below minus 60. I didn't see anything colder until the next February, when the Temp hit bottom at minus 82 degrees and held there for a week. I was fortunate enough to see a real 100 degree cold snap that winter. We came to work early in the morning at plus 40 degrees, snow melting and streets becoming treacherous, thinking it might be the start of an early spring. Nope! By 4:30 p.m. or 16:30 hours, the temp dropped to minus 60 degrees. You could actually hear crackling sounds in the air and understood why it was called a cold snap. But long before this I had fallen in love with Alaska and nothing was going to get me to leave. The military tried when I reached the halfway point in my service- 10 years, but I fought hard to stay and God heard my prayers and provided a great job as a police officer. Interestingly enough God actually provided us with all my jobs. I was hired at two departments I had never applied at and they hired me over the phone. This was crazy, but we learned He often worked like this in our life. Mona and I , plus our kids saw a lot of Alaska and met some really great people.
Now to some news:
Washington Free Beacon: Pentagon released a report today to Congress concerning North Korea fielding new road-mobile and submarines cable of launching missiles.
White House has rejected a New Trade Bill as it is too Pro-Israel. Portion of the legislation would strengthen US-Israel economic relationship.
Catholic News:
Vatican announces "No, Bishops are not being told to cover up abuse."
Russian Herald:
Russian Prime Minister Medvedev has "Warned of the possibility of a permanent or 'World War', if a resolution on Syrian conflict is not found and Arab and US ground forces get involved".
Moscow Times:
Russian students demonstrate at several Russian universities, call on the UN to the agression of President Obama and prosecute him for the "thousands of lives he has taken".
Russia's top investigator see's the U.S. hand in Russia's Economic crisis.
China Daily:
China has stopped approving the licensing of new coal mines in a move to stop the pollution.
Chicago Stock Exchange is reported to be now in the hands a Chinese group.
Speigel Press- Germany:
Chancellor Merkel of Germany at a disadvantage with Turkey over the immigrant problem and has now caused a split un the European Union into two camps. Opponents to her refugee policies behave as if Germany is on the verge of a collapse. Opponents now shrugging their shoulders as Germany moves forward to curb asylum seeker's rights.
Greece is now worried the EU may choose to close the border along the Balkan, which could cause Greece to be "overwhelmed by migrants".
Japan Times:
New Study- A person's risk of depression or becoming addicted to smoking may be inflenced by DNA inherited from neanderthals. ( It appears they've dug up some poor guys grave to test this, so why didn't they test a teenager, a live one, to see if they might be prone to depression that could possibly lead to a mass shooting spree. It is now becoming apparent the boys who caused the Columbine murders hid their depression from their parents. Some test might have helped. )
Remember my little blip of a story concerning that major natural gas leak in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles. It reportedly was leaking for 16 weeks and still no firm number on the amount leaked, but it has been finally capped and now awaits a cement plug. Thousands of people were finally evacuated, but that was weeks into the leak. No telling how many people become sickened by the gas the costs involved. From the lack of news it seems the company was trying to get away with silence. It may have been the foreign papers that broke the story, but where was FEMA. Makes one wonder what would've happened had a winter lightening storm hit the gas. An odd comment- I was thrown out of my bed in the 1971 San Fernando 7. something quake. We lived some 30 miles away.
Gatestone Institute from 2/5 and 2/12/16:
Facebook threatens to remove free speech articles and "improper" usage of words that might be considered racist or in any way harmful speech to another person, from their site. Gatestone has noticed that in several incident their articles have been completely removed. Gatestone reminds with a statement, "Sinister reality of a society in which expression of majority opinion is being turned into a crime has already seen across Europe." Reports of "Last week came reports of Dutch citizens being visited by police and warned about posting anti-mass imigration sentiments on social media." If you remove our rights to free speech and our frustration can quickly turn to acts of violence. A brick through a window can become a shotgun in the hands of an angry person. Yes, we should be responsible for what comes out of our mouths and one can learn to vent or partake in a debate without being harmful in one's speech. Our intelligence is on display by the words we utter. Think about what you are going to say before those words escape. They never can be returned.
Sweden opened its borders and homes to 163 , 000 asylum seekers from Syria and outlining desert area because of the desert war, where it is now reported the IS is now using chemical weapons. President Assad used Chemical early in his war to remain in power, killing thousands of people. Since Sweden allowed the refugees to enter their country the citizens have become victim to an upsurge of violent street crimes. Rape, assaults and murder are being reported and these also involved young Muslim teenagers raping and murdering female Swede ladies working in the Asylum houses or owners of the homes being offered up for asylum. But once Sweden implemented increased tightened border controls betwen Sweden and Denmark on 1/1/16, crimes have decreased.
In closing today I wanted to address the upcoming arrival of Pope Francis at our southern border with Northern Mexico- real soon. Now the news people estimate, based on figures supplied by their counterparts in Mexico, there would be between 200,000 to 250,000 people in attendance as the Pope prays at the border. Another 50-60,000 people will be in attendance on our side to watch Pope Francis. Now I am not Catholic, I fallow their daily news because they, the Catholics, surround the globe and often carry news that is not carried elsewhere. I've come to respect this Pope, but I am happy in my Christian walk.
Any how, can you just imagine the possibility of 250-300,000 people standing extremely close to our southern border. This is an army and the best ever opportunity for terrorists to make their move. Imagine a dozen or so extremists getting a crowd fired up and driving them across the border like a herd of Mustangs. Within minutes our Border Police are looking at a tsunami of angry poor people.
Now our army will be ready with a good sized force, helicopters and jets on standby with pilots just waiting for the go ahead. But how do you shoot at weaponless people, some even related to the American citizens on our side of the border. The wall has not been built that can stand-off thaqt kind of crowd.
I have no answer, no ideas presently, but killing innocent people is not the way and using chemicals can cause its own degree of fatalities. Then you possibly have the after effects for the soldiers and pilots who fired on the unarmed. We're still paying for that from the Vietnam War. and that ended in 1973.
Now I sincerely hope nothing happens and everyone stays on their sides. But I believe this would be a terrorists dream to get his soldiers across to vanish in the desert. I've been in that desert and this is very possible to vanish in less than a minute. The Apache taught are soldiers how to do it and I suspect its taught in Terrorist 101 class. A lot of desert sand over there in the Biblical lands.
Well, all for now. Hope your day has been fruitful and you can enjoy the weekend and Valentine's Day. Remember that, guys!
Bye, BILL