Firefighters rescue 130 trapped in snow on California highways, snowcats carried stranded to area Church where Red Cross administered aid, 150-200 cars towed-LA Times

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12/31/14, "Winter storm strands drivers in Southern California mountains," LA Times, Joseph Serna and Nicole Charky

"Up to 200 cars were towed and more than 130 people rescued after a blustery winter storm stranded motorists on Southern California’s steep, icy mountain roads, officials said Wednesday.

At one point, about 300 cars were stuck on Highways 330 and 18 in Big Bear as snow began piling up from the storm, said California Highway Patrol Officer Marcelo Llerena. Between 150 and 200 cars were towed off the road and will have be picked up later by their owners, he said.

San Bernardino County firefighters, meanwhile, were busy rescuing more than 130 people who were trapped in about a foot of snow along Highway 138, which winds through the San Bernardino Mountains between Crestline and Silverwood Lake, said county fire department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez.

Firefighters worked to free the trapped drivers and check for injuries, completing the rescue operation at about 3 a.m. Wednesday, she said. No serious crashes or medical emergencies were reported, and 50 people were transported to First Baptist Church in Crestline, where Red Cross workers providing supplies and assistance, officials said.

Nearly all of State Route 38 -- from Forest Falls Boulevard in Forest Falls to Big Bear Dam -- was closed late Tuesday as vehicles became stranded in the snow.

The cold storm from Canada has brought heavy winds and several inches of snow across Southern California.

Wind advisories were implemented across the Southland, with gusts up to 70 mph predicted in mountain passes from Ventura to Orange and Riverside counties. Fremont Canyon in Orange County saw winds up to 57 mph, while Malibu Hills saw gusts up to 70 mph."

--------------------------------

12/30/14, "More than 130 stranded by snow in San Bernardino Mountains," LA Times, Matt Hamilton

"San Bernardino fire crews are preparing to rescue more than 130 motorists stranded in about a foot of snow, officials said late Tuesday.

The drivers were stuck on a section of Highway 138 that winds through the San Bernardino Mountains between Crestline and Silverwood Lake, said San Bernardino County Fire Department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez.

“Everyone is OK,” Martinez said. “But we need to get those people out of there as quickly as we can.”

Three snowcats were en route to carry the stranded motorists to a church, where ambulances will in turn transport them to a shelter, Martinez said."...

[Ed. note: What about separation of church and state?]

(continuing): "Drivers across the San Bernardino Mountains encountered difficulty with the arrival of white powder, with the California Highway Patrol reporting calls of stranded motorists for much of the night.

The southbound 15 Freeway in Hesperia was closed just before 9 p.m. because of several cars stuck in the snow, said CalTrans spokeswoman Terri Kasinga.

Nearly all of State Route 38 -- from Forest Falls Boulevard in Forest Falls to Big Bear Dam -- was closed as vehicles became stranded in the snow.

Kasinga cautioned that drivers on the 15 Freeway should be prepared for traffic breaks and intermittent closures. Alternatively, she advised staying put, if possible....

The cold storm from Canada has brought heavy winds and several inches of snow across Southern California.

The National Weather Service forecast snow across the region to as low as 2,000 feet above sea level.

The Antelope Valley and San Gabriel Mountains were expected to see a dusting, while higher elevations in Los Angeles County were expected to see up to 5 inches.

Strong winds were reported from Ventura down to the southern reaches of Orange County. Fremont Canyon in Orange County saw winds up to 57 mph, while Malibu Hills saw gusts up to 70 mph.

National Weather Service meteorologist Greg Martin said the strong winds would continue through Wednesday morning but drop off in the late afternoon. The snow and light rain are expected to move out by late Wednesday.

“When things clear out, it should get colder,” Martin said.

The Antelope and San Luis Obispo valleys could see lows between 12 and 20 degrees Wednesday night, while the flats of Los Angeles and Ventura counties will see lows from the 20s and to the low 30s." via IceAgeNow.info

Image: "A driver puts chains of his vehicle Tuesday before heading to his home in Forest Falls. (Rick Sforza / AP)"
 
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72.5% of US is under 32F. Average temperature across US is 25.6F, 12/31/14-Weatherbell

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12/31/14, Temperature map of 48 US states, Weatherbell

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97% of scientists agree, roads in Algeria blocked with snow due to government lack of preparedness. Algerians protest tragic consequences of gov. lack of attention to snow-El Bilad

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12/30/14, "Snow emergency occurs in several states," elbilad.net, Algeria, Albulad.nt, google translation from Arabic

"Dozens of roads severed and collapses of buildings and facilities."
 .

"Snow brought heavy rains that swept through 25 states across the nation, a state of emergency, over the past 48 hours, paralyzed traffic in more than 220 road nationally and Olaúaa and municipal, which has necessitated the intervention of public authorities to evacuate the affected people and decryption isolation. In contrast, the General Directorate of Civil Protection called that counted yesterday 5 dead and dozens injured as a result of extreme weather, citizens and families, "to reduce and abolish unnecessary movements during these days because of deteriorating weather conditions."

 
Thousands of people out in the villages and Madacher yesterday both Ahras market and ڤalma and El Tarf, Skikda, Khanshalah, to protest in the streets against the local authorities ''left them to their fate on their own after snow blocked all catering outlets with food and Energetic ", as the population rose up against power outages as occurred in the municipality of El Eulma Annaba, where protesters did not hesitate to close the municipal headquarters to protest the situation tragic. And an authorized source from the National Gendarmerie reported that snowfall in the last hours leading to interruption number of national and state roads across the national territory are behind a wave of protests by citizens that have been controlled by units of this security apparatus. And cause precipitation continued snow in Tizi Ouzou in cutting the national road No. 15 link between Tizi Ouzou and Bouira Strait Tirordh municipality Iferhounène National Road No. 33, the link between Tizi Ouzou and Bouira near the old stadium to Mount Tikjda Municipality White Bomahdi. As snow accumulation led to cut state levels Road No. 253 link between this state and the state of Bejaia level Tezit village in the municipality of Eliltn. Official toll and added that the snow caused in Blida in cutting the national road No. 64 link between Medea and Blida at a high level engraved municipality Bougherra, the same situation in Medea with traffic crashes on the level of the National Road No. 64 link between Medea and Blida, 12 kilometers to the level of the circuit Municipal Baath.
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Authorities are calling on citizens to cancel non-essential movements.

 
As snow accumulation led to cut the national road No. 15 link between Bouira and Tizi Ouzou Strait Tirordh Aghbalou municipality as well as the National Road No. 30 link between Bouira and Tizi Ouzou, in a place called Tizi Lincoln mayor Sharig National Road No. 33, which are linked Petkjdh. According to the same source, the snow caused the disruption of traffic in the Sidi Bel Abbes on National Road No. 13 link between Telagh and Daye."...Image of snow clearing from El Bilad.
via IceAgeNow.info

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======================= 

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From IceAgeNow.info:
.

"http://www.elbilad.net/article/detail?id=28005

Thanks to Argiris Diamantis for this link

“Today I found this news item from Algeria on the internet,” says Argiris.

“Although translate.google.com is not working perfectly while translating from Arab to English, I understand that there have been massive protests by angry civilians who blame their government for not helping them enough during heavy snowfall. 

“This is in line with what mister Felix predicted. This kind of news is always hard to find in English language and the warm bias MSM do not publish it. But Google-searching with the use of Arab keywords in recent news items I could find it. 

“In this so-called “hottest year ever” it would be a good thing if more people were informed about what is happening in the real world.”"



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Chicago Tribune Editorial Board: GOP Whip Steve Scalise should step down from leadership position. Chicago Cubs minor league team knew more than Scalise

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Chicago Cubs minor league team Iowa Cubs knew more than Scalise.

12/20/14, "Scalise should step down from GOP leadership," Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

"Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, says he made an innocent mistake in speaking to a white supremacist conference in 2002. How was he to know that the European-American Unity and Rights Organization (EURO) was a collection of racists and neo-Nazis?

"For anyone to suggest that I was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous," says Scalise, who was a state representative at the time. "I spoke to any group that called, and there were a lot of groups calling." Why, he even spoke to the League of Women Voters, even though its "a pretty liberal group." Scalise says he lacked the staff to vet organizations like EURO and "was without the advantages of a tool like Google" because "those tools weren't available back then."

Tuesday, Speaker John Boehner admitted Scalise "made an error in judgment, and he was right to acknowledge it was wrong and inappropriate." But Boehner said he "has my full confidence as our whip" and would remain in that position.

That's not good enough. Peter Wehner, who has been an adviser to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign and an aide to President George W. Bush, said the obvious on Twitter: "The party of Lincoln shouldn't have as its #3 a keynoter at a white supremacist convention." Scalise needs to step down from his leadership post, or House Republicans need to remove him.

His denials are pretty hard to believe. In the first place, Google and other search engines were widely used in 2002. The nature of the group was apparent even to the minor-league Iowa Cubs. In town to play the New Orleans Zephyrs, they decided to stay at a different hotel because of the nature of the gathering at the suburban Best Western Landmark — which publicly disassociated itself from EURO.

In the second, Scalise didn't need the Internet to know what he was dealing with. Former Ku Klux Klan leader and Louisiana state legislator David Duke, who founded EURO, says Scalise was invited by Duke's campaign manager, Kenny Knight. "Kenny knew Scalise, Scalise knew Kenny," Duke told The Washington Post. "They were friendly."

Knight says Scalise accepted the invitation because they were neighbors. "Steve knew who I was, but I don't think he held it against me," he told The New Orleans Times-Picayune.

It's pretty clear that Scalise saw some potential political benefit from hobnobbing with a crowd of hard-core bigots. In 1999, he had tried to appeal to Duke's supporters by indicating he shared many of their concerns: "The voters in this district are smart enough to realize that they need to get behind someone who not only believes in the issues they care about, but also can get elected. Duke has proven that he can't get elected, and that's the first and most important thing."

Electability was not, and is not, the most important thing about David Duke. His anti-Semitic, white supremacist beliefs are. Scalise probably doesn't share those views: Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-La., who is black, said, "I don't think Steve Scalise has a racist bone in his body." In 2004, when Duke was considering a race for an open House seat long held by the GOP, Scalise said, "David Duke is an embarrassment to our district, and his message of hate only serves to divide us."

But that didn't stop him from accepting a 2008 campaign contribution from Knight. The trouble with Scalise is not that he is a racist. It's that he is more than willing to indulge white bigots and their sentiments when it suits his political needs.

By playing footsie with this group, Scalise has disqualified himself from a position of leadership in a party that needs to do a better job of understanding and addressing the suspicions it arouses among many minority Americans." via Free Rep.
 
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Pope Francis Errs in Linking Church to Green Movement. Aside from his views being inaccurate, they'll make the poor even poorer-IBD Editorial

.
12/29/14, "Pope Francis Errs In Linking Church To Green Movement," IBD Editorial

"Pope Francis' recent leftist statements should trouble Catholics and non-Catholics alike, but even more disturbing are the pope's latest declarations on the dramatic action needed to fight climate change.

The Vatican apparently now has been infiltrated by followers of a radical green movement that is, at its core, anti-Christian, anti-people, anti-poor and anti-development. The basic tenets of Catholicism — the sanctity of human life and the value of all souls — are detested by the modern pagan environmentalists who worship the created, but not the creator.

At its core, Big Green believes that too many human beings are the basic global problem. [***] People, according to this view, are resource destroyers. Climate change, they say, is due to the overpopulation of Mother Earth.

The head of the Catholic Church should denounce — not praise — such anti-human thinking. It violates Pope John Paul II's famous letter reminding us that creative human beings are a resource, not a curse.

Instead, the pope unwittingly has linked arms with the people who have provided finance, intellectual credibility and applause for radical and immoral population-control policies including eugenics, millions of forced abortions and sterilizations, and one-child policies, all in the name of "saving the planet."

Francis is reportedly preparing a lengthy encyclical message for early 2015 to the world's 1.2 billion Catholics on the need for decisive action on climate change. He may even be preparing a U.N. speech on the topic.

Earlier this year, he said: "The monopolizing of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth. Climate change, the loss of biodiversity and deforestation are already showing their devastating effects in the great cataclysms we witness."

The science behind this is bunk. As we've documented repeatedly, there is no scientific basis for the claims that the planet has been hit with more severe weather events over the last decade or that we are witnessing "great cataclysms" above the historical norm.

The number of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, typhoons, monsoons, earthquakes, floods, freezes and so on is not on the rise, according to the best scientific evidence available. Not only are natural disasters no more prevalent today than 100 years ago, but deaths and damage to communities from catastrophic weather events have dropped greatly as wealth and incomes have risen.

The church has missed the vital connection between increased economic development — thanks to human ingenuity and free-market capitalism — and humanity's ability to overcome the sometimes random and ravaging effects of nature.

Death rates, especially for children in the poorest areas of Africa, South America and Asia, fall because people can leave "the land of (their) birth," thanks to higher incomes and transportation.

What climate-change action will the Vatican endorse? Almost all the leading anti-climate-change initiatives endorsed by the Green Movement — cap and trade, carbon taxes, regulations against using abundant fossil fuels — are merely regressive taxes that hurt the poor the most.

What is the ethical and moral basis for going to poor villages and telling those living at subsistence levels that they have an obligation to save the planet by staying poor and using less energy? Cheap and affordable electric power is the best antidote for extreme poverty, disease, malnutrition and human deprivation. It should be celebrated.

Ironically, the pope in separate declarations has spoken out about the immorality of "income and wealth inequality" and "trickle-down economics." The radical climate change agenda he has made peace with would make the poor poorer and income inequality worse.
 
We'd like to hear the pope say this: The science on global cooling, global warming, climate change — or whatever the left calls it these days — is unsettled at best.

But if climate change is a threat, the best response is not to empower heavy-handed and incompetent command-and-control governments to fight it, but let free people use their wealth, technology, ingenuity and creativity to solve it. If the corrupt U.N. or Greenpeace is our salvation, we're all doomed.

Francis recently declared we should be wary of putting a "crude and naïve trust in those wielding economic power," a clear slap at capitalism. But surely it's more true of those "wielding economic power" in government.

We would remind Francis that the greatest acts of barbarism and the most villainous violations of basic human rights in history — slavery, the Holocaust, China's one-child policy, Stalinism, Pol Pot's killing fields, Mao's starvation of millions, and on and on —have been perpetrated by the statists.

Most of these acts of death and destruction were defended in the name of some greater and grandiose planetary cause — Marxism.

The Church's mission is to save souls. Free people and free enterprise should be left to fix what ails the planet." via Climate Depot

=========================

***Club of Rome, page 75: "The common enemy of humanity is man."

1991, From1993 ed.: "The First Global Revolution," A Report by the Council of the Club of Rome, Alexander King and Bertrand Schneider

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"We came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like, would fit the bill....The real enemy then is humanity itself."...

9/3/1991, "The First Global Revolution: A Report by the Council of The Club of Rome Paperback – September 3, 1991, by Alexander King (Author), Bertrand Schneider (Author)" 
..
===================

Comment: If the Pope wants to help the poor, he should call for the UN to be closed down. Billions of no strings US taxpayer dollars are given to the UN yearly. UN parasites and their equatorial dictator pals get richer while the world's poorest become poorer and more desperate especially in Africa.

=======================

Added: In my experience, Catholics can be sold anything if it's packaged as caring and compassion. Catholics believe they're engaging in holy "creation care" by signing on with the $2 billion dollar a day radical green agenda. NY Cardinal Dolan is a vocal Green, cites Pope Francis, and endorsed the Sept. 2014 so-called climate march:
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9/16/14, "People’s Climate March," Archdiocese of New York blog

"You can find more information at https://franciscanaction.org/article/fan-participates-peoples-climate-march and at http://peoplesclimate.org/faith/"

----------------------------
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Comment: I have several relatives who consider themselves serious Catholics. The most important expression of their Catholic faith is adherence to the radical left agenda.
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=================

P.S. Isn't IBD pals with Boehner and McConnell? They've shepherded this AGW thing for decades into the $2 billion dollar a day industry it is today. Each has daily access to microphones and could tell the truth in one or two sentences but won't. It's too big to fail. They just say, "I'm not a scientist."

====================

Citation for $2 billion a day global warming industry:

12/5/14, "India contests UN report on climate financing," financialexpress.com, PTI, Lima, Peru

“Finance for climate action flowing globally stood at USD 650 billion annually in 2011-2012, and possibly higher,” the report said."...

==================

"The George H.W. Bush administration signed the UNFCCC in Rio on June 12, 1992, and the U.S. Senate ratified it unanimously shortly thereafter, on October 15, 1992."...

12/3/14, "Finance for Climate Action Flowing Globally," UNFCCC PRESS RELEASE, COMPILED ON BEHALF OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, Lima, Peru

"Hundreds of billions of dollars of climate finance may now be flowing across the globe annually according to a landmark assessment presented today to governments meeting in Lima, Peru at the UN Climate Convention meeting.

The assessment – which includes a summary and recommendations by the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance and a technical report by experts – is the first of assessment reports that puts together information and data on financial flows supporting emission reductions and adaptation within countries and via international support.

The assessment puts the lower range of global total climate finance flows at $340 billion a year for the period 2011-2012, with the upper end at $650 billion, and possibly higher.

• Support from developed countries to developing countries amounted to between $35 and $50 billion annually, with multilateral development banks (MDBs), climate-related Official development Assistance (ODA) and other official flows (OOF) representing significant shares of resources channeled through public institutions

• Funding through dedicated multilateral climate funds – including UNFCCC funds ($ 0,6 billion) – represented smaller shares during the same period, and do not include the recent pledges for the Green Climate Fund amounting to nearly $10 billion.

The assessment notes that the exact amounts of global totals could be higher due to the complexity of defining climate finance, the myriad of ways in which governments and organizations channel funding, and data gaps and limitations – particularly for adaptation and energy efficiency.  

In addition, the assessment attributes different levels of confidence to different sub-flows, with data on global total climate flows being relatively uncertain, in part due to the fact that most data reflect finance commitments rather than disbursements, and the associated definitional issues.... 

The assessment also recognizes the need for understanding the impacts of climate finance associated with emissions reductions and activities to boost resilience to climate change....

Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC, said: “Finance will be a crucial key for achieving the internationally-agreed goal of keeping a global temperature rise under 2 degrees C and sparing people and the planet from dangerous climate change”.

“Understanding how much is flowing from public and private sources, how much is leveraging further investments and how much is getting to vulnerable countries and communities including for adaptation is not easy, but vital for ensuring we are adequately financing a global transformation,” she said."...

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Historic US CO2 partner Communist China now blocks Gmail, has tightened all censorship in past two years, runs 'world's most sophisticated internet censorship system'-AFP

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12/29/14, "China blocks access to Gmail in 'internet sovereignty' drive," AFP, Beijing via Khaleej Times (UAE)

"Analysts say China operates the world's most extensive and sophisticated Internet censorship system and routinely blocks foreign websites."

"China has blocked the last remaining way to access Google’s popular e-mail service, experts said on Monday, as authorities work to establish “Internet sovereignty” by controlling what enters the country via the web.

Gmail, the world’s biggest e-mail service, has been largely inaccessible from within China since the run-up to the 25th anniversary in June of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

But users could still access the service by using third-party mail applications, rather than the webpage.

“But they have blocked those ways of accessing,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei, a Beijing-based firm that tracks Chinese media and the Internet.

“I think this is pretty confirmed. It is now already four, five days, so this is real,” he said.

Analysts say China operates the world’s most extensive and sophisticated Internet censorship system and routinely blocks foreign websites.

“There is an increasingly aggressive attitude towards what they (Beijing) call ‘Internet sovereignty’ and they are confident about talking about Internet censorship in positive terms,” Goldkorn added.
.
“The past two years have seen a consistent tightening of all kinds of censorship on the Internet and media.”

A graph showing Internet traffic from China accessing Gmail dropped sharply on Friday, according to Google’s Transparency Report, and has not returned to normal levels.
.
“We’ve checked and there’s nothing wrong on our end,” a Singapore-based spokesman for Google told AFP.

Internet users in China were irate on Monday, with many spewing vitriol on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging service.

“The reason for blocking of Gmail domestically is political problems... it reflects the grim situation facing the political environment,” one user said....

China tightly controls the Internet, and only a fraction of its online population of 632 million can circumvent government restrictions.

Controls include the blocking of foreign websites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube using a system known as the “Great Firewall”, as well as routinely deleting content the ruling Communist Party deems offensive."



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Fearing execution by Islamists, UK Palace Royal Guards withdrawn from high profile posts. Police officers told not to wear uniforms to and from work since Islamists might attack them-UK Daily Mail

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"Last month, police chiefs warned officers not to wear their uniforms to and from work as Islamic terrorists were looking to target officers."...

12/28/14, "Retreating of the Queen's Guard: End of an era as palace sentries fall back in face of mounting fears of new 'lone wolf' terrorist attack," UK Daily Mail, by Abul Yaher, Mark Nicol

"Security chiefs have taken the dramatic step of withdrawing Royal Guards from their high-profile posts outside palaces amid mounting fears of ‘lone wolf’ terrorist attacks.

Elite soldiers of the Queen's Guard have pulled back from public positions at many landmarks in response to possible threats from Islamic extremists.

For the first time since the height of the IRA’s terror campaign, the soldiers are also no longer allowed on sentry duty alone, and are now accompanied by armed police.

The move to more secure positions behind gates or railings is a direct response to attacks such as the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby and the killing of a sentry by a lone gunman at the Canadian Parliament two months ago.

But the measures have been described as a ‘retreat’ for the Guards, known the world over for their bearskin caps....

At Clarence House, the official residence of Prince Charles, the guardsmen who used to stand in front of the gates on The Mall, a public road, have now been relocated, along with their sentry boxes, behind metal gates. 

Tourists, who love to pose with the Guards, can now barely see them. Police officers confirmed changes had been made for security reasons.

At St James’s Palace, the London home of Princess Anne and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, two Guardsmen used to perform sentry duties beneath its famous clock tower on Pall Mall. 

These guards and their sentry boxes have now been moved into a secluded courtyard inside the perimeter, leaving no visible presence at the clock tower gate....

One Guards insider said: ‘We’re fully in favour as if an attack on a sentry can happen in Canada it can happen here. By moving behind the railings we’ve got a chance to respond, most likely saving lives.

‘The changes were introduced in response to the Canadian attack and because there’s been a sharp rise in people armed with mobile phones trying to wind up the sentries and make them lose their temper.’...

Last month, police chiefs warned officers not to wear their uniforms to and from work as Islamic terrorists were looking to target officers....

Guardsmen carry rifles equipped with bayonets but as a rule their rifles are not loaded with live ammunition. 

The Guardsmen may carry up to six rounds in a belt pouch and may load their rifles in event of a terrorist attack, but that would take valuable time."...

Image: "Elite soldiers of the Queen's Guard have pulled back from pubic positions at many landmarks in response to possible threats from Islamic extremists," UK Daily Mail

===========

 

 

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Greenland Ice Sheet surface mass as of Dec. 28, 2014 is ahead of mean, DMI

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12/28/14, "Current Surface Mass Budget of the Greenland Ice Sheet," DMI.dk.en

"The accumulated surface mass balance from September 1st to now (blue line, Gt) and the season 2011-12 (red) which had very high summer melt in Greenland. For comparison, the mean curve from the period 1990-2011 is shown (dark grey). The same calendar day in each of the 22 years (in the period 1990-2011) will have its own value. These differences from year to year are illustrated by the light grey band. For each calendar day, however, the lowest and highest values of the 22 years have been left out."...



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Barry Goldwater was pro-choice, Hillary Clinton campaigned for him in 1964-NY Times 2006 interview with Goldwater granddaughter

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8/27/2006, "Goldwater Girl," NY Times Magazine, Interview by Deborah Solomon

"Q: Your grandfather, Barry Goldwater, was both adored and vilified during his lifetime as the rightest of the right-wing senators. Yet your new documentary, "Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater,“ which will be shown on HBO starting Sept. 18, rehabilitates him as a kind of liberal compared with today’s conservatives. 

That was part of the reason I thought a film could be done about him.

He emerges as a complex figure — a half-Jewish cowboy from Phoenix who believed the government should stay out of our hair. He thought gays should be allowed in the military and was also pro-choice.
 
My mom had an abortion in the mid-50’s, before she had me. She was in college, and she wanted to finish and get a degree and not have a child then. Barry felt it was a woman’s right to make that choice. 

On the other hand, what does it say about the current state of American politics if Barry Goldwater is held up as a model of social enlightenment? Many people considered him a bigot because he voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 
 
That was a wart on his career, and he knew it. He was the furthest thing from a bigot there was. 

In the film, you manage to assemble a chorus of mostly admiring Democrats — Al Franken, Ted Kennedy, James Carville and Hillary Clinton, who actually campaigned for your grandfather
in 1964, when he ran against Lyndon Johnson for president. 
 
Hillary was a Goldwater girl. Isn’t that hysterical? She passed out cookies and lemonade at his campaign functions.

Ben Bradlee calls your grandfather “an unsung hero of Watergate.”
 
Barry didn’t go to Nixon’s funeral. He ended up feeling that Nixon really cheated the country and lied to the country, and that was something you just didn’t do in Barry’s book. You don’t lie. 

It’s odd to see so many East Coast people praising your grandfather when he famously said that the U.S. might be better off “if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea.”

What you saw is what you got from him.

Are you a Republican?

No, I’m an independent. My mom is an independent, because she has always been supportive of initiatives in women’s rights, and so am I. The Republican Party has shifted so far away from the center that I don’t know if I can get over there.

Did you try to interview President Bush for the film?

No.

Where was Bill Clinton?

He said, “You’re interviewing my wife, you don’t need to interview me.”

I was surprised you left out William Buckley, who probably did as much as Goldwater to shape conservative ideals in this country.

My co-producer, Tani Cohen, and I just had so many people who were of the same genre. We were trying to get different voices.

It would have been interesting to compare the Buckley and Goldwater styles of conservatism.

It’s the white bucks vs. the cowboy boots. Argyle socks vs. no socks and Birkenstocks.

Buckley, no doubt, is read more, as the founder of National Review. You don’t hear too much anymore about your grandfather’s “Conscience of a Conservative,” which was a huge best seller in 1960.

It is going to be reissued by Princeton University Press. The book is the first in Princeton’s series of classic works of American politics.

Did you always want to be a filmmaker?

I never set out to be a filmmaker. I wanted to tell a story. It’s a big thing to do when you don’t have the background to do it, but I was blessed to have HBO on board from an early stage. They were our partners on this, 50-50.

How large was your budget?

A little over $750,000, closer to $800,000. I tried to raise my half, and then I realized I would have to give up too much creative control, so I just put it up myself.

How do you have that much money?

I don’t. Barry was not materialistic. We were not the Rockefellers, so I refinanced my house to come up with the money.

Do you plan to do another documentary?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. I don’t have enough interesting family members to allow me to do a boxed set."

======================

Comment: From actress Yvonne DeCarlo's IMDB bio page under Trivia:

"In 1963 and 1964, De Carlo joined fellow actresses Joan Caulfield, Ruth Hussey, Marie Windsor, Laraine Day, Virginia Mayo, and Maidie Norman, in making appearances on behalf of U.S. Senator Barry M. Goldwater, the Republican nominee in the campaign against U.S. President Lyndon Johnson."

While looking for substantiation about Hollywood figures who supported Goldwater, I came across the information that he was always pro-choice which I hadn't known. It's been a great misfortune for the country that the conservative agenda and The Republican Party have become identified with the notion that all abortions must be banned. When Reagan was president, it seemed every time he spoke he brought up abortion. It made me sick. I voted for John Anderson in 1980 rather than Reagan. 



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De facto head of GOP and Democrats and Communist soul mate, US Chamber of Commerce Pres. Tom Donahue, visited Cuba in May 2014, met with Cuban Foreign Min., spoke at Havana University-Reuters

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5/27/14, "U.S. business leader praises growth of free enterprise in Cuba," Reuters, Daniel Trotta, Havana

"The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce praised the growth of free enterprise in Cuba upon his arrival in Havana Tuesday at the start of a three-day visit that was criticized by a leading supporter of the U.S. embargo in Washington. 
 
Chamber President Thomas Donohue has long opposed the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba as an impediment to free enterprise for American companies that want to do business in the communist-ruled country.

Now that free market reforms in recent years under Cuban President Raul Castro have created a class of small-business owners and private cooperatives and the government is courting foreign investment, Donohue has returned for the first time in 15 years.

"I'm here because of the evidence that we're seeing in Cuba of an extraordinary expansion of free enterprise, the reduction in government jobs, and more private hiring, all of which is moving in the right direction," said Donohue, whose chamber is an influential lobbying group that bills itself as the world’s largest business organization.

"As you know the chamber for years has been opposed to the sanctions as they are used," he told reporters shortly after his arrival and before he met with Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez.

Earlier this month an unprecedented group of 44 policy reform advocates and former U.S. officials signed a letter urging the White House to expand licensed travel for all Americans to Cuba and seek to promote the island's fledgling private sector. In February a public opinion poll found a strong majority of Americans favor loosening Cuba sanctions.

But in Washington, New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez expressed serious concern about the chamber's trip, fearing it would strengthen a government that "jails foreign business leaders without justification, violates international labor standards and denies its citizens their basic rights."

"Such conditions hardly seem an attractive opportunity for any responsible business leader," said Menendez, a leading Cuban-American voice for maintaining strict economic sanctions on the one-party state.

Donohue and a dozen others including a representative of U.S. commodities company Cargill [CARG.UL] planned to visit a private auto repair cooperative and the special development zone in the port of Mariel. Donohue was due to give a speech at Havana University on Thursday just before departing.

It was not known whether he would meet with Raul Castro, who ushered in the reforms after taking over for his ailing brother Fidel in 2008.

Donohue declined to say whether he expected any U.S. policy change toward Cuba, which Washington has sought to undermine and isolate since the island's 1959 revolution took it down the path of communism."

Image: "U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Donohue arrives at Cuba's foreign ministry in Havana May 27, 2014. Credit: Reuters/Enrique De La Osa"
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Deals Tom Donahue gets if any won't be the result of free enterprise. Insider crony deals with governments are the opposite of free enterprise:

12/19/14, "Castro daughter: US 'dreaming' if they think Cuba will return to capitalism"
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"Cuba almost always demands a controlling stake, which has discouraged some companies from elsewhere in the world from investing. Imports to Cuba are administered by state holding companies."...
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12/19/14, "Castro daughter: US 'dreaming' if they think Cuba will return to capitalism," UK Telegraph, by Telegraph Video, video source APTN

"The daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro said on Thursday the United States "must be dreaming" if it thinks Cuba will return to capitalism after both countries agreed to normalise diplomatic relations."
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"Speaking in Havana, Mariela Castro, said the island nation would not return "to being a servile country to hegemonic interests of the most powerful financial groups in the US". 

US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday the US is re-establishing long-broken diplomatic relations with Cuba - a historic shift that could revitalise the flow of money and people across the narrow waters that separate the two nations. 
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Cubans welcomed Wednesday's announcement with optimism and a measure of caution, especially among officials in the Castro Government. 
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The shift in US-Cuba policy was the culmination of 18 months of secret talks between both countries that included a series of meetings in Canada and the personal involvement of Pope Francis."

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12/19/14, "Cuba not returning to capitalism despite U.S. deal: Castro's daughter," Reuters, Havana, by Rosa Tania Valdés
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"Cuba will defend its socialist principles and will not return to capitalism just because it has agreed a detente with the United States, the daughter of President Raul Castro said, dispelling any notion that U.S. companies would be free to roll into Cuba.

"The people of Cuba don't want to return to capitalism," Mariela Castro, a member of parliament, told Reuters on Friday.

Cuba and the United States on Wednesday agreed to end more than five decades of animosity and re-establish full diplomatic relations. U.S. President Barack Obama also said he intends to remove some sanctions against Cuba and work with the U.S. Congress to end the economic embargo.

But even if all U.S. barriers to Cuba were lifted, any U.S. companies would still need permission from Cuba's communist government to do business on the Caribbean island.

"We've been at this 56 years and...we love saying that we are a country in revolution, trying to create socialism, and we form part of a single party called the Communist Party," Mariela Castro said.

Under Cuba's foreign investment law, overseas companies are welcome but need to negotiate agreements with Cuban state companies or the government to do business. 

Cuba almost always demands a controlling stake, which has discouraged some companies from elsewhere in the world from investing. 

Imports to Cuba are administered by state holding companies, meaning that U.S. companies would not be able to simply find a buyer and ship goods in.

"Sometimes people say Fidel is hard-headed, that the Cuban leaders are hard-headed, but experience has taught us something important, that we should never give in on our principles," Castro said outside parliament during a break in Friday's session."

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Comment: "Small business owners" and a so-called Cuban "fledgling private sector"? Right. What chance would they have against a battery of insider Wall St. lobbyists and cronies?

16.7F on Christmas night in UK, many cars abandoned in snow. Extra rail passengers Saturday caused temporary closing of London station. Per UK Met Office, 'Level 3 amber cold weather alert' and 'yellow warning of snow'-UK Independent

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3/20/2000, "Snowfalls are now just a thing of the past...Children just aren't going to know what snow is." Independent UK, Charles Onians."According to Dr David Viner, a senior research scientist at the climatic research unit (CRU) of the University of East Anglia, within a few years winter snowfall will become "a very rare and exciting event".
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12/27/14, "UK weather: Travel chaos continues as King's Cross train delays add to snow on roads," UK Independent, Lizzie Dearden

"Drivers were wading along snow-covered motorways to recover their abandoned cars this morning as rail passengers faced delays and cancellations across the country.

The worst of the snow is over, according to the Met Office, but it will be slow to melt in near freezing temperatures and there is a warning for ice over much of the UK.

Anyone hoping to avoid the wintry conditions on roads today was faced with chaos on parts of the rail network, with trains to and from King's Cross in London cancelled all day because of overrunning engineering works.

Shuttle buses were taking passengers to Finsbury Park, where amended services were due to run north to Leeds, Newcastle and Scotland.

But huge numbers of extra passengers flooding into the north London station forced it to be  temporarily closed because of overcrowding on Saturday morning, with travellers comparing it to a "war zone". Tickets are being made valid on Sunday and Monday because of the inconvenience.

Signalling problems near Southampton were causing delays and cancellations on South West Trains between Salisbury, Romsey, Portsmouth and Fareham.

Fallen trees brought down by high winds overnight were affecting services through Basingstoke, Hastings and Tunbridge Wells, while over-running engineering works between London Paddington and Hayes were delaying services on routes to Oxford, Cardiff and Exeter.

People were hit by trains in Northampton and Gowerton, in Wales, also causing temporary line closures.

Last night saw roads in Yorkshire grind to a halt in heavy snowfall, as many motorists chose to abandoned their stuck vehicles in Sheffield after queuing for up to four hours
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Many drivers became marooned by heavy snow in Yorkshire, Chesterfield and the Peak District, where the RAC said people were experiencing “big problems”.

“We are rescuing people who are bogged down in snow there," a spokesperson said. That seems to be the biggest area of problems in the UK. We are seeing higher volumes of calls than we would usually get on a Saturday this time of year. Some motorists are abandoning their vehicles."

Liverpool's John Lennon Airport and Leeds Bradford International in Yorkshire closed while their runways were cleared of snow as a band of wintry weather crossed the country from Merseyside and north Wales through the Midlands and Yorkshire.

Both airports were reporting arrivals and departures resumed as normal on Saturday morning but delays were still being reported at Manchester Airport. Leek, near the Peak District in Staffordshire, saw the worst of the snow with 10cm (4 in), the Met Office said, with Cranwell in Lincolnshire also seeing 7cm (3 in).

Police warned of hazardous conditions last night, especially in Staffordshire and Cheshire, with several roads made impassable....Leicestershire Police warned of snow causing disruption in the north of the county, urging people to only travel if "absolutely necessary" and to avoid the A1, where large vehicles were stuck.

Snow had been predicted to fall in parts of north Wales, the North West and the Midlands, with a Met Office Level Three amber cold weather alert in place and a yellow warning of snow across a large swathe of the UK since yesterday morning....

The snow made conditions difficult for some of yesterday's football matches, including in the West Midlands as West Bromwich Albion lost 3-1 to Manchester City in a game played in a blizzard at The Hawthorns.

The Met Office had earlier said there was a 90 per cent chance of severe cold, ice or snow in parts of England between this afternoon and New Year's Eve.

An area including Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, the Midlands, East Anglia, the North West, Yorkshire and as far south east as London and Kent has been put on a separate yellow alert for snow.

Christmas night was the coldest of the year so far, with minus 8.5C (16.7F) recorded at Braemar in Aberdeenshire.

Temperatures could also drop as low as minus 10C (14F) in some places at the start of next week as the cloud and wet weather gives way to clearer skies.

A spokesperson for the Department for Transport said: "As winter weather grips some areas of the country we would advise people intending to travel to check weather and local conditions before they set out."...

Top image: "Some drivers stuck in queues for four hours and two airports forced to close," UK Independent

Second image: "Referee Mark Clattenburg during the Premier League football match between Manchester City and West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns in the Midlands, Reuters/Toby Melville"




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