#people are worried about the chaos israel making another 'big move' would be but like??

[dj-tak0wasa]

tell us why. tell us what they renamed the hall to. say her fucking name. Hind Rajab. include the fact that she was a 6 year old riddled with bullets in a vehicle that she and her family were hoping to escape in.

(article)

#israel is a terrorist state #free palestine #palestine will be free #they also caled the protests 'pro-hamas' instead of pro palestine #theyre mentioning jewish students getting punched yelled at and spit at but what about the students who are bleeding onto the pavement? #those who have snipers focused on them? #i love living in america (lie) #people are worried about the chaos israel making another 'big move' would be but like?? #imagine all of this chaos. everything going on at the university. #and multiply it tenfold #and then keep doing so #just because the churches schools shelters and hospitals aren't in your country doesn't mean they're of any less worth. they're all gone

[tivaholic4]

NCIS High School: Chapter Eleven:

The game ended after the overtime quarter (Which means the teams were tied in the fourth quarter and need to determine a winner so they added another quarter to the game.) The score was 68-66. Michael Franks Washington beating Washington High by two points. The people in the stands were screaming and jumping on the bleachers. They had finally beaten their rival. Tony looked around the stands and locked eyes with Ziva. She was smiling brightly at the scoreboard and of the chaos going around the gym. She was looking around at the excitement that was spreading around this room. She locked eyes with Tony and her smile became brighter. He moved over to the bleachers and saw Ziva, Abby, and McGee as well as his parents standing and cheering for his school and their basketball team.

After 10 minutes, things finally started to settle down. Tony and his team moved to the locker room where they all cheered after their win against their big rival. Tony got pats on the back from most of his teammates. He hurriedly gathered his things and changed and left the locker room. As he walked into the hallway he saw Ziva, Abby, and Tim, along with his parents, waiting for him, leaning against the wall talking. He locked eyes with Ziva and started making his way over to her. Um them. As he was walking, a hand grabbed his shoulder and wouldn’t let go. He turned around to see Jeanne standing there with a smile on her face and batting her eyelashes. He yanked his shoulder away from her and started walking towards Ziva and his family again. Her hand gripped his shoulder once more. He turned around, ready to tell her off.

“What do you want, Jeanne?” His voice was filled with venom. Something that Jeanne seemed to ignore.

“Wanna join me at the Sacks’ house for the after-game party? I’m sure we’ll have lots of fun.” Tony gave her a look of hatred. He knocked her hand off his shoulder once more and looked at her.

“Leave me alone, Jeanne. And don’t touch me ever again.” With that, he turned around and walked to Ziva again. Jeanne didn’t make another attempt at him. As he saw Ziva, his glare made its way into a smile. She was sending a glare over in Jeanne’s direction. Something that made his heart flutter. She was jealous. He liked that she was protective of him. He didn't know how much, but he was very protective of her too.

He walked over and his dad gave him a pat on the back. Tony had scored 46 of the 68 points tonight. People would say that it was skill, but in reality, it was the fact that Ziva was there and he wanted to impress her.

“Did you see the look on Jacobs' face when you scored that three-pointer? Looked like he was about to shit himself.” Gibbs laughed. Jenny lightly slapped him in the arm, as they were in a public place and it wasn’t just the family and Abby. There was a beautiful girl standing close to Tony. She assumed that this was Ziva.

“Hi. I’m Jenny Gibbs. Tony’s mother. Excuse my husband, he’s normally a functional mute. At least, until it comes to sports.” Gibbs smirked. Ziva smiled at the love that she could see between the two adults.

“It is very nice to meet you. I am Ziva.” She went to shake their hands which they accepted happily. Gibbs turned to look at her and noticed she looked like someone that he knew. Ziva saw this and turned her head to the side and squinted her eyebrows together. Gibbs. She had heard her father say many things about this man. Manly how stubborn and addicted to coffee he was.

“Gibbs? As in Leroy Jethro Gibbs?” Ziva hesitantly asked, not wanting to seem creepy. Gibbs nodded his head slightly. The family around them could only watch the interaction.

“My father has told me many things about you. Mainly good as you have a strong work ethic. Something my father greatly appreciated when working with you.” Then it clicked for Gibbs and he raised his head to her.

“Eli David was your father?” Ziva nodded.

“Yes sir.” Ziva had always been polite. Something her mother practically branded her into at a young age. She would always say “Nobody will respect you if you don’t show some respect and manners yourself.” It was always something that Ziva took to heart as she believed her mother to be correct.

Gibbs looked at her within hidden emotion. He had heard that Eli David’s remaining family had moved to the U.S. He didn’t expect his oldest son to become smitten with his oldest daughter. He knew how much of a hard-ass Eli was, especially when it came to his family.

“I’m sorry for loss.” Ziva nodded her head, a silent thank you.

“Enough sadness! Let’s go get some ice cream!” Abby yelled. She hated it when people were sad and it seemed like Ziva really didn’t want to have this conversation. Everybody agreed and they made their way out to their separate vehicles. Tony drove his 1969 Mustang and offered Ziva a ride to the ice cream parlor. Tim drove with Abby in his 1970 Audi, something that they always did as they were very close friends and her hot rod was always causing problems. Gibbs and Jenny drove in Gibbs’ Ford F250 as the company charger was normally for too and from work.

Tony and Ziva climbed into the mustang and followed Jenny and Gibbs with Tim and Abby behind them. They made it to Presidential Scoops (actually a real place in Washington D.C.) and went inside. There were many people crowded into the little building that was the ice cream parlor. Many noticed Tony and his varsity jacket and patted him on the back for his job well done in their game tonight. He said thanks but went right back to his conversation with Ziva about some things that she was confused about from the game.

“How hard do you have to hit someone for it to be a foul?” She asked, not wanting Tony to be hurt in this game he found so enjoyable. Tony shrugged.

“Honestly not that hard. If somebody from the other team practically touches you that’s a foul. Sometimes it can be a charge foul, you know where they actually try to hurt you.” Ziva nodded. She had seen one instance when that had happened tonight. Somebody totally nailed Jackson and was called to the free-throw line. The other player was on the bench for the rest of the game.

“So that is why he was on the bench the rest of the game?”

“Well, he had five fouls which means that he couldn’t play in the game anymore.” Ziva’s mouth formed an O shape as she got what he was saying. They ordered their ice cream. Tony got strawberry and Ziva got mint chocolate chip. It was no Berry Mango Madness but it would do. It was actually very good. She turned around and saw that Abby had gotten chocolate and Tim had gotten peanut butter. Surprisingly, there was a coffee flavor that they served, which of course Gibbs got. Jenny got orange sherbert. They all moved to a table outside of the parlor as all the seats had been taken. Many others must have had the same idea as they did as the parlor only became more crowded. They all ate their ice cream together and talked about the game. Ziva’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She didn’t want to take it out of her pocket, not wanting to be rude, but she wondered if it was her mother. She reached behind her and grabbed a hold of her phone and unlocked the screen. It was her mother.

Ima: Where are you, Ziva? You said you would be home after school. It is 8 PM.

Ziva wanted to smack herself on the forehead. How could she forget to tell her mother where she was and what she was doing? But more importantly, who she was with. Ever since Ari was killed, she had been very protective and Ziva and Tali. Not wanting anything to happen to her daughters. When Tali died, she upd the anney, and Ziva had finally reasoned with her to stop hounding her. Even though she knew her mother was just scared for Ziva to be out and about, it was interfering with Ziva’s freedom. She was finally away from the burden of Israel and looked forward to the countless opportunities to be free in this country.

Ziva: I am sorry, Ima. Tony had a basketball game today and he wanted me to come. I met his parents after and we are eating ice cream not too far from the house.

She knew that her mother didn’t trust people and she was surprised that she actually took a liking to Tony so early. I guess that ran in the family as she was quite smitten with him herself. Her mother’s reply came back as fast as she could type.

Ima: I do not want you out too late tonight. We still have boxes to unpack. You still need to get your room situated.

Her mother never liked messes. Especially nowadays. She would clean every Saturday and sometimes every Wednesday when Eli had a drunken fit some nights, and she would fight to put him to bed. Something Ziva was very glad would not happen now. Yes, she missed her father, but he never acted like a father to her only like a sperm donor. He had always shown Tali that side of affection, but when it came to her, it had always vanished as soon as he saw her. She didn’t know what she did to make that spark leave his eyes. She had always tried to please him, but it would go to no avail. Eventually, she had given up seeing as it wasn’t worth her time when all he did was turn his nose up at her.

Ziva: I will be home soon, Ima.

Ima: Will you need me to pick you up?

She looked up and saw that Tony was looking at her with a smile on his face.

“I can take you home. Tell her not to worry her pretty little head about it.” Ziva smiled and let out a chuckle. No doubt this was some of his charm.

Ziva: No. Tony said that he will bring me home.

Ima: Okay. Be careful. I love you, Zivaleh.

Ziva smiled.

Ziva: Love you too, Ima.

Her mother was all that she had left now. She loved her very deeply and knew that her mother felt the same. Just because they moved here from bad experiences, didn’t mean that they had to dwell on them any longer. They had a fresh start and Ziva planned on taking that. Especially with the man, she was sitting next too.

#NCIS #Ziva David #Tony DiNozzo #Leroy Jethro Gibbs #Tim McGee #Abby Sciuto #Jenny Shepard #Donald Mallard #Jimmy Palmer #Eventually Breena Slater

[newstfionline]

Saturday, November 28, 2020

Inching toward exit (Reuters) U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he will leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, the closest he has come to conceding the Nov. 3 election, even as he repeated claims of massive voter fraud. Speaking to reporters on the Thanksgiving holiday, Republican Trump said if Democrat Biden—who is due to be sworn in on Jan. 20—is formally declared the winner by the Electoral College, he will depart the White House. Asked if he would leave the White House if the Electoral College votes for Biden, Trump said: “Certainly I will. Certainly I will. And you know that.”

Schools struggle to stay open as quarantines sideline staff (AP) The infection of a single cafeteria worker was all it took to close classrooms in the small Lowellville school district in northeastern Ohio, forcing at least two weeks of remote learning. Not only did the worker who tested positive for the coronavirus need to quarantine, but so did the entire cafeteria staff and most of the transportation crew, because some employees work on both. The district of about 500 students sharing one building had resumed in-person instruction with masks and social distancing and avoided any student infections. But without enough substitute workers, administrators had no choice but to temporarily abandon classroom operations and meal services. “It boils down to the staff,” Lowellville Superintendent Geno Thomas said. “If you can’t staff a school, you have to bring it to remote.” Around the country, contact tracing and isolation protocols are sidelining school employees and closing school buildings. The staffing challenges force students out of classrooms, even in districts where officials say the health risks of in-person learning are manageable. And the absences add to the strain from a wave of early retirements and leaves taken by employees worried about health risks.

Pandemic pushes Peru's vital peasant farmers to the brink (AP) Under a punishing Andean sun, Nazario Quispe digs his plow into the soil where he is growing dozens of different potato varieties—uncertain when he will be able to afford the seeds and supplies to sow them again. Farmers like Quispe are responsible for the food that lands on 70% of Peruvian dinner tables, officials say, but months of pandemic lockdown and a souring economy have left many bankrupt and questioning whether to plant again. “If my savings dry up, how will I sustain myself?” asked Quispe, a father of five who grows 150 types of the tuber native to Peru from the Sacred Valley highlands. Across this South American nation an estimated 7 million peasants like the 51-year-old Quispe toil small plots of land to feed their families and earn a living. Strict quarantines early in the pandemic made transporting beans, potatoes and other crops to markets difficult. Prices plummeted as demand dropped. Official data shows the price for potatoes dropped at least 30% between March and July.

Brexit goes down to the wire: EU and UK say big differences remain (Reuters) The European Union and Britain said on Friday there were still substantial differences over a Brexit trade deal as the EU chief negotiator prepared to travel to London in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a tumultuous finale to the five-year Brexit crisis. With just five weeks left until the United Kingdom finally exits the EU’s orbit on Dec. 31, both sides are calling on the other to compromise on the three main issues of contention—fishing, state aid and how to resolve any future disputes. The two sides will shortly resume face-to-face negotiations after they had to be suspended last week when one of EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier’s team tested positive for COVID-19.

Police brutality in Paris (AFP) Three police officers were suspended following the release of footage that shows a brutal beating of a black music producer in his studio in Paris. The incident comes amid protests against police brutality in France, just days after another video showing the violent dismantling of a migrant camp shocked the country—and the government’s push to restrict filming police.

E.U. Border Agency Accused of Covering Up Migrant Pushback in Greece (NYT) Mounting evidence indicates that the European Union’s border agency has been complicit in Greece’s illegal practice of pushing back migrants to Turkey, according to documents obtained by The New York Times and interviews with officials. In at least one case, Frontex, as the E.U. border agency is known, is accused of having helped cover up the violations, when a crew said it was discouraged by agency officials from reporting that they had seen the Greek authorities setting a boatload of migrants adrift in Turkish waters. It has fueled suspicions that the agency, newly boosted in its role as upholder of the rule of law at E.U. borders, is not just sporadically aware of such abuses, but that it plays a role in concealing them. “We are seeing an erosion of the rule of law at the E.U. borders which is willful,” said Gerald Knaus, a migration expert. “This is deeply worrying because it is eroding the refugee convention on the continent on which it was created.” Refugee arrivals to the European Union peaked five years ago and have dropped drastically since, but thousands of asylum seekers, many fleeing the wars in Afghanistan and Syria, still attempt the crossing.

S. Korea agency says N. Korea executed people, shut capital (AP) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea and locked down the capital, Pyongyang, as part of frantic efforts to guard against the coronavirus and its economic damage, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Friday. Kim’s government also ordered diplomats overseas to refrain from any acts that could provoke the United States because it is worried about President-elect Joe Biden’s expected new approach toward North Korea, lawmakers told reporters after attending a private briefing by the National Intelligence Service. North Korea has maintained that it hasn’t found a single coronavirus case on its soil, a claim disputed by outside experts, although it says it is making all-out efforts to prevent the virus’s spread. A major outbreak could have dire consequences because the North’s health care system remains crippled and suffers from a chronic lack of medical supplies.

China slaps tariffs of up to 212% on Australian wine imports (CNN) Australian winemakers have been dealt a huge blow from China as tensions continue to spiral between the two countries. Chinese regulators announced Friday that they would impose heavy tariffs on Australian wines after finding preliminary evidence of dumping. Starting Saturday, China will begin slapping duties of between 107.1% and 212.1% on Australian wine imports, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement. The move places yet another hurdle in front of Australian businesses as relations worsen between Canberra and Beijing. Australia has upset China this year by calling for an investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Beijing later targeted Canberra over trade, namely by suspending some imports of beef and slapping heavy tariffs on barley.

Lawmakers throw pig guts, punches on Taiwan parliament floor (AP) Lawmakers in Taiwan got into a fist fight and threw pig guts at each other Friday over a soon-to-be enacted policy that would allow imports of U.S. pork and beef. Premier Su Tseng-chang was due to give a regularly scheduled policy report to lawmakers on Friday morning about the pork policy when opposition party lawmakers from the Nationalist party, also known as the KMT, blocked his attempt to speak by dumping bags of pig organs. Legislators from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party attempted to stop them, resulting in chaos and an exchange of punches. President Tsai Ing-wen’s administration lifted a longstanding ban on imports of U.S. pork and beef in August, in a move seen as one of the first steps toward possibly negotiating a bilateral trade agreement with the U.S. The ban is due to be lifted in January. That decision has met with fierce opposition, both from the KMT and individual citizens.

Israel Army Preparing in Case U.S. Strikes Iran, Axios Says (Bloomberg) Israel’s government instructed the military to prepare for a possible U.S. strike against Iran during the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term, Axios reported, citing unidentified Israeli officials. The instructions were given because officials anticipate “a very sensitive period” prior to the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, and not because of any intelligence or assessment that the U.S. will order an attack, the report said. The New York Times reported earlier this month that Trump asked his top aides whether he could take action against Iran’s main nuclear site. According to the report, senior advisers including Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence dissuaded him, but he might still be looking at ways to strike Iranian assets and allies.

Iran scientist linked to military nuclear program killed (AP) An Iranian scientist named by the West as the leader of the Islamic Republic’s disbanded military nuclear program was killed Friday in an ambush on the outskirts of Tehran, authorities said. Iran’s foreign minister alleged the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh bore “serious indications” of an Israeli role, but did not elaborate. Israel, long suspected of killing several Iranian nuclear scientists a decade ago, declined to immediately comment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once told the public to “remember that name” when talking about Fakhrizadeh. The killing risks further raising tensions across the Mideast, nearly a year after Iran and the U.S. stood on the brink of war when an American drone strike killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad. It comes just as President-elect Joe Biden stands poised to be inaugurated in January and will likely complicate his efforts to return America to a pact aimed at ensuring Iran does not have enough highly enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

Ethiopians flee Tigray capital in fear of imminent assault (AP) People continued to flee the capital of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region in fear of an imminent assault after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said the army had been ordered to move in for the “final phase” of an offensive to arrest the defiant regional leaders. Fighting reportedly remained well outside Mekele, a densely populated city of a half-million people who had been warned by the Ethiopian government of “no mercy” if they didn’t separate themselves from the Tigray leaders in time. Abiy on Thursday told residents to stay indoors and disarm as the army, with tanks, was given the order to move in. His government has vowed to protect civilians. Food and other supplies are running out in the Tigray region of 6 million people.

#headlines #news

[theconservativebrief]

Remember when the possibility of nuclear war seemed remote? The fact that it doesn’t anymore shows how quickly threats to humanity can change and how important they are to pay attention to.

The Global Challenges Foundation, which works to reduce the global problems that threaten humanity, compiles an annual report on global catastrophic risks. The group released the 2018 edition in September, and the litany is harrowing: Chemical warfare, supervolcanic eruptions, asteroid collisions, and the looming effects of climate change threaten to cause everything from civilizational collapse to human extinction.

Some of these risks sound like science fiction, but so did weapons of mass destruction and climate change 100 years ago. As Allan Dafoe and Anders Sandberg of the Future of Humanity Institute write, our brains aren’t good at thinking about catastrophic risk because they either “completely neglect or massively overweight” things that are low probability. So the report, overseen by a team at GCF but with each section written by leading experts, combines historical evidence and scientific data to determine the biggest threats.

The good news for us is that scientists think the world will be habitable for at least a few hundred million more years. The bad news is there’s a lot that could change that. The risk of the threats highlighted in the report actually causing mass casualties are still small, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important to pay attention to — especially when the worst-case scenario means human extinction.

Here’s what should be keeping you up at night and what, realistically, might cause humans to go the way of dinosaurs.

A nuclear detonation from one of today’s more powerful weapons would cause a fatality rate of 80 to 95 percent in the blast zone stretching out to a radius of 4 kilometers — although “severe damage” could reach six times as far.

But it isn’t just the immediate deaths we need to worry about — it’s the nuclear winter. This is when the clouds of dust and smoke released shroud the planet and block out the sun, causing temperatures to drop, possibly for years. If 4,000 nuclear weapons were detonated — a possibility in the event of all-out nuclear war between the US and Russia, which hold the vast majority of the world’s stockpile — an untold number of people would be killed, and temperatures could drop by 8 degrees Celsius over four to five years. Humans wouldn’t be able to grow food; chaos and violence would ensue.

A big worry here is the arsenal of nukes. While numbers have fallen over several decades, the United States and Russia have just under 7,000 warheads each, the largest collections in the world. The UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, and Israel all have nuclear weapons.

Hundreds of nuclear weapons are ready to be released within minutes, a troubling fact considering that the biggest threat of nuclear war may be an accident or miscommunication. A few times since the 1960s, Russian officers (and, in 1995, the president) narrowly decided not to launch a nuclear weapon in response to what they’d later find out were false alarms.

Unlike nuclear weapons, which require complex engineering, biological and chemical warfare can be developed at a relatively low cost and with relatively attainable materials.

In the past few years, the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in the civil war that has ravaged the country. These chemical attacks using sarin and chlorine have appalled the international community, and underscored the damage chemical weapons can do. Weaponized toxic chemicals could do tremendous harm to a localized target — say, if the toxins were released into the air or into the water supply.

Biological weapons represent a greater catastrophic threat. Advances in synthetic biology have made very real the possibility of malicious actors creating harmful pathogens for weaponization — or innocent researchers accidentally releasing a lethal infectious bug out into the world. In the event of a fast-moving pandemic, the world would be pretty vulnerable.

A United Nations panel of scientists released a report last week saying that we only have 12 years to keep global warming to moderate levels.

Projections of the effects of climate change vary depending on how much the Earth warms (usually modeled on an increase of 1 to 3 degree Celsius). None of the scenarios look good.

At best, we’re looking at more frequent and severe tropical cyclones. Midrange predictions include the loss of the majority of global agricultural land and freshwater sources, with major coastal cities like New York and Mumbai ending up underwater. At worst, human civilization would come to an end.

Even if current global commitments to reduce carbon emissions are kept, there is a one-third chance of the Earth’s temperature increasing by 3°C, which would cause most of Florida and Bangladesh to drown.

Catastrophic climate change is also not something we’re dedicating nearly enough attention to. The author of this section in the report, Dr. Leena Srivastava, the acting director of general at the Energy and Resources Institute, points out that we’ve put enough time and resources into airplane safety that only 27 planes crash a year. But “if dying in a flight accident was as likely as a 3°C global temperature increase, then the number of people dying in airplanes every year would be 15 [million].”

A tree killed by rising saltwater is seen beyond a mud flat at dawn on the east shore of the Salton Sea on October 22, 2005. across the lake from Salton City, California. David McNew/Getty Images

Ecosystems are the delicate community of living organisms, like humans and animals, interacting with their nonliving environment, like air and water. Ecosystems can recover from a certain amount of impact from humans, like temperature increases or habitat loss, but there’s a tipping point at which they can’t — and according to the report, we might be reaching that tipping point.

Lake Chad in West Africa is an example of ecological collapse. Sixty years of drought, overuse of water, and the impacts of climate change have reduced the lake by 90 percent. Its massive reduction has adversely affected the livelihoods of more than 40 million people in Chad, Nigeria, Niger, and Cameroon that depend on it.

Scholars believe this moment in history constitutes a new geological era, called the Anthropocene. In this new era, humans are the primary change agents, rapidly degrading what makes the planet habitable, intensifying greenhouse gas concentration, and damaging the health of marine ecosystems.

Twice in modern history, plagues have swept across the world, killing an estimated 15 percent of the population in a few decades. They occurred way back in the fifth and 14th centuries, respectively — but there is a serious risk that a new infectious disease could cause another outbreak, especially with today’s urban and mobile global population.

Luckily, deadly diseases with the capacity to spread globally are rare. But they do happen — a century ago, the Spanish flu killed more than 50 million people. Outbreaks of SARS and Ebola in recent years also ring alarm bells.

Antibiotics, our greatest defense against disease, are becoming less effective as some strains of bacteria become resistant to them. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are responsible for an estimated 700,000 annual deaths. If we don’t develop new advances against antibiotic resistance, that number is estimated to reach 10 million by 2050.

Asteroids are rocks that revolve around the sun and that occasionally collide with the Earth. An asteroid large enough to cause a global catastrophe hits Earth every 120,000 years, scientists estimate. It’s likely what killed the dinosaurs, and if an asteroid even one-tenth the size of the one that caused their extinction hit Earth today, the results would be devastating. Scientists estimate it could release enough particles to block the sun for months and cause a famine killing hundreds of millions.

NASA announced in 2011 that it had mapped more than 90 percent of objects in space larger than 1 kilometer in diameter, and that none of them are likely to hit Earth. But there’s still a lot we don’t know about smaller objects that, while unlikely to cause a global catastrophe, could have a big enough local impact to disrupt social and economic systems.

Onlookers and media gather as lava from a Kilauea volcano fissure erupts in Leilani Estates, on Hawaii’s Big Island, on May 26, 2018. Mario Tama/Getty Images

A supervolcanic explosion 74,000 years ago ejected so much debris into the atmosphere that scientists believe it caused the Earth to cool by several degrees Celsius. Some experts believe this caused the greatest mass plant and animal extinction in human history, bringing the species to the brink of extinction.

How likely is that to happen today? It’s hard to say since we don’t have much to compare it to, but data suggests a supervolcanic eruption occurs on average every 17,000 years. If that’s true, then we’re overdue — the last one we know of was 26,500 years ago in New Zealand.

We don’t have a way to anticipate eruptions more than a few weeks or months in advance, and we don’t really have any way to reduce the likelihood of eruption right now, but scientists are monitoring several areas of risk, including Yellowstone in the US.

There’s a dramatic option for stopping, or even reversing, rising global temperatures, but it comes with significant possible risk.

Solar geoengineering would reflect light and heat away from Earth and back into space by injecting aerosols into the stratosphere, the second layer of Earth’s atmosphere. For now, it only exists in computer models, but the first experiment is being planned by Harvard researchers.

Solar geoengineering is one of two emerging technologies that could manipulate the atmosphere and reduce climate risk. The other is directly removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which doesn’t currently exist on a big enough scale.

If solar geoengineering were deployed, it would affect the entire atmosphere and be humanity’s largest-ever global endeavor. While it is the only known technique that could stop rising temperatures, there’s still a lot we don’t know, including whether it could destabilize local and global climate or ecosystems. Manipulation on this scale without understanding the effects could turn out to be catastrophic for the human race. The technology could also be cheap enough (as low as $10 billion a year) that it could be wielded by one country or a wealthy individual, introducing the possibility of reckless use.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is progressing rapidly. Surveyed scientists estimate, on average, that there is a 50 percent chance of AI being able to perform most tasks as well as, or better than, humans by 2050, with at least a 5 percent chance of surpassing human intelligence a couple of years after that.

There’s a common misconception that the risk of AI is that it will become malevolent. The bigger concern is that it will become too good at its job. As the report says: “If you ask an obedient, intelligent car to take you to the airport as fast as possible, it might get you there chased by helicopters and covered in vomit, doing not what you wanted but literally what you asked for.”

The implications become much more frightening when you consider AI weapons in the hands of the wrong person, or an AI arms race leading to an AI war.

It wasn’t that long ago that climate change and nuclear warfare were largely unheard of. Today, they’re risks we’ve already seen the devastating effects of — and that we worry could get much worse. Because of this, there’s a possibility that we haven’t even conceived of what is most likely to kill us.

Sign up for the Future Perfect newsletter. Twice a week, you’ll get a roundup of ideas and solutions for tackling our biggest challenges: improving public health, decreasing human and animal suffering, easing catastrophic risks, and — to put it simply — getting better at doing good.

Original Source -> 10 ways the world is most likely to end, explained by scientists

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

[newagesispage]

                                                                          February 2017

 PAGE RIB

*****Dale Jr. married Amy Reimann on New Year’s Eve and Delta lost his luggage. Jr. does not seem too happy about the Muslim ban. He tweeted that his family immigrated from Germany in the 1700’s to escape religious prosecution. America is created by immigrants.

*****I know of a local church who is trying to get some of their mission workers back to their families because they are stranded in other countries.

*****Did Lance Armstrong or other racers use motors on their bikes?

*****The Michigan department of natural resources is offering a million bucks if you can keep the Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes.

*****Oprah is joining 60 minutes.

*****Caterpillar is moving senior executives and about 300 employees to Chicago. Their earnings have dropped more each year since 2012.

***** Megyn Kelly is out at Fox and in at NBC. Greta Van Sustern is now on MSNBC. George Will has been let go. Is Fox falling apart?

*****A New York man started a fight in an eatery with Jamie Foxx and his friends.

*****Janet Jackson had a baby with Wissam Alman that they named Eissa.

*****Four days after the inauguration, Israel approved the construction of 2,500 new homes in Jewish settlements in the West bank.

*****Hooray for the NHL and its 100 years!!

*****Ray Davies received a knighthood.

*****TNT’s Major Crime is back on Feb.22.

*****An updated ‘Archie’ called Riverdale is back and his parents are played by Molly Ringwald and Luke Perry.

*****There are reports that Trump will cancel funding for the National endowment for the arts and privatize the corporation for Public Broadcasting.

*****Dylan Roof was sentenced to death for the Charleston massacre.

*****The North Dakota legislature has introduced house bill 1203 aimed at protesters. It states that if a driver runs over someone on the highway and it wasn’t “on purpose” that they won’t be held accountable. The language does not specify protesters, it could apply to a child running across the street. It gives a pass to careless drivers and hot heads. The DAPL protesters are outraged.

*****Glad to see Norm back on The Middle. Also.. his book, Based on a true story, is one of the best I have read. Thanks Norm!!

*****The Baseball hall of fame announced the 2017 inductees: Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines Sr.. Ivan Rodriguez, Bud Selig and John Schuerholz.

*****Thought it would be Green Bay and Pittsburgh but it looks like the Super bowl will be Atlanta vs. New England.

*****Saw an interview with La. senator Bill Cassidy.  He did not make a lot of sense, I wonder if he is ok? I mean, I wonder if he is mentally stable? Of course I say the same thing about our new President. Anybody else and their family would be checking him in for a mental evaluation.

*****Days alert: We have a new actress for the role of Jade.  Glad Eric and Anna are back. Carrie and Austin still seem like the perfect couple. More Abe!! I miss Phillip!!

*****Thanks for the giggle by turning Hollywood into Hollyweed.

*****A new BBC documentary brings us evidence that a coal fire on the Titanic may have helped the ship go down even faster. A 30 year researcher tells us a fire in the boiler room damaged the hull long before it hit the iceberg.  So the real culprits could be Fire and ice and criminal negligence. This had been reported at the time but has resurfaced because a collection of photographs. They were found in an attic by a descendent of a director of the Belfast based company, Harland and Wolff. There was a 30 foot long diagonal black mark on the hulls front starboard side near where the ice hit in a photo taken before the Titanic ever left the shipyard. Some seem to think this isn’t important but others think the mark was caused by fire and is a revelation.

*****The Coywolf is gaining ground in your cities. I think I saw one the other day too.

*****SNL suspended writer Katie Rich for tweeting a tasteless joke about Barron Trump.

*****Look for Ted Levine as the preacher in the thriller, Bottom of the world with Jena Malone.

*****Check out learn the address.org. Listen to some great speakers or leave your mark.

*****Tim Kaine told Capitol Hill about what it was like to be part of the fake news. He commented that a 4th grader would have trouble believing the stories so how can a possible National Security advisor?

*****Usain Bolt was stripped of a gold medal.

*****The Wall Street Journal tells us more than 150 financial institutions hold IOU’s from Donald Trump.

*****Gospel singer and radio show host of Bridging the gap, Kim Burrell , has been taken off the air in Houston. She was to perform on Ellen but due to anti -gay comments she made, her performance was cancelled. She was to perform with Pharrell who still appeared but distanced himself saying, ”I love her but there is no room for any kind of prejudice in 2017.”

*****C’mon while they still can.. could we have a Walton’s or Dr. Quinn movie? This country needs some good old fashioned family love. Dolly can’t do it alone.

*****Assange = Putin puppet

*****Who the fuck is Bo Bice?

*****Charles Manson was rushed to the hospital at the beginning of January. Some reports said that the 82 year old was to undergo surgery for serious gastrointestinal bleeding but officials would not comment.

*****There are only 7000 cheetahs left.

*****Illinois still has no budget.

*****Wow! So scientists now say that we have an organ, the mesentery, that they previously thought ‘a group of structures connecting the intestine to the abdomen.’

*****The Golden Globes started off with a teleprompter malfunction for Jimmy Fallon.  We did not see much of him after that. The highlight of the evening had to be Meryl Streep and her fabulous speech about the election. People often poo poo the liberal Hollywood agenda when receiving awards but this was the first time all night that the crowd was silent and really listened. The ladies in the room looked so proud as she made her way to the stage for her Cecil B. DeMille award. She made such a perfect point about Trump and about supporting good journalism. We are gonna need that! Go Meryl! ***Other highlights were Donald Glover who got best actor and best show, Atlanta awards. He so deserves them. I was jumping up and down! Glover has also signed a new deal with FX to develop new projects. Atlanta won’t be back until 2018! I was so hopeful for Bob Odenkirk or Matthew Rhees to win but Billy Bob Thornton nabbed it. At least he mentioned Mr. O and Thornton pretended a funny feud.  It was a win for Sarah Paulson and Casey Affleck!  It seems that Julia Louis and her winning days may finally be over. Viola Davis won!! Gosling (who gave a great speech too) and Stone and La La Land won big, breaking records. *** There seemed to be some controversy about Fences and Hidden Figures with Jenna Bush.***While presenting for animated film, Kristen Wiig and Steve Carell  took their banter all the way until the room was silence. Beautiful! Best dressed were Kerry Washington, Mandy Moore, Sofia Vergara, Janelle Monae, Questlove, Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Kristen Bell , Ruth Nega and Laura Dern. Worst dresses for me were Felicity Jones and Zoe Saldano, Riley keiou, Nicole Kidman and Carrie Underwood. It seemed a surprise to see Brad Pitt and Leo Dicaprio.  Why was this Chrisley dude on the after show?? Did he dis Nancy Grace?***The stranger things kids seemed to be the belles of the ball. They seemed to have fun meeting everyone they came to see when the commercials were on.

*****The Jeff Macdonald case is back in the spotlight. The Green Beret officer is still trying to get out.

*****It looks again, like the left has been pussies to the republican bullies. During the election, Obama and his team wondered if lashing out about the Russian cyber problem would be adding to the chaos. We always worry about how it looks and we try to bend over backwards to do the right thing. While we are doing that, they just bulldoze over everything and everyone and people applaud it. We were looking for Putin to interfere in the actual votes but he was more interested in psychological warfare.  Voters seemed to be looking for any reason to not vote for Hillary while Russia and the Trump lies kept coming. It is not surprising that Comey was so against not releasing this Russian interference. He turns right around and keeps bringing up the’ damn e mails.’ Funny he said nothing about the file that Russia had on Trump. Why does this guy have a job? He is always in the middle of some dirty business. We now know that Trump and his team were already talking to Russia during the election.  BTW.. Is it worrisome that Trump was given a brief about this file but did not seem to know of it for days because he did not read it??

*****Is the new President doing some advertising for L.L. Bean?

*****Trump waited longer than any other president elect to hold an official press conference. It happened right when all his nominees were getting questioned. It took the spotlight off the bizarro world picks he made. Didn’t he always moan about Obama not holding press conferences? The crowd was filled with his own people to applaud his words.  Trump and his family looked a bit queasy on Jan. 11, 2017. His announcer is spouting about lies before the racist even takes the podium. They had piles of files to make a point. If we read them what would they really say? There was a lot of venom (like the first 20 minutes) spewed at reporters. They built a whole campaign on fake news but now they seem to be against it. He calls CNN “fake news” and then the BBC, ”that’s another beauty.” Hmm. Jake Tapper hit back that CNN did not report any uncorroborated news. And Trump is still talking smack about Hil and now about how wonderful and elegant inauguration day will be, anything to keep from the real issues. We now know the inauguration was not all he built it up to be. He tells us that reporters are the only ones that want to see his tax returns. WRONG!!  The bulk of this press conference was his lawyer telling us about his business affairs. He is going to give money made from foreign dignitaries at his hotels to the U. S. treasury. Ok. What about all the rest of it? You still have your name on buildings and you own the shit. There is still no resolution to various conflicts and his business ethics. Since then lawsuits have been brought by ethics lawyers against Trump. The press conference ended with the lovely thought that if his sons do a bad job running his biz, he will say “you’re fired.” What??

*****Ivanka is going to be a “modern day first daughter” who will be an integral part of the administration.

*****Seeing Laurence Fishburne on The Daily show call Trump ‘45’ gave me great inspiration. I have noticed that Joy Behar, Triumph the insult comic dog, myself and most everyone I know has so much trouble even saying ‘President Trump’. So I think in my next columns I will start to call him scary clown 45. To me it sums him up pretty good. I want to laugh, to cry and I’m downright scared for our country.

*****Shulkin , the current under secretary, has been picked to run the Veteran’s affairs department.

*****It was wonderful to see Joe Biden get the Presidental Medal of Freedom with distinction.

*****The bees have been added to the endangered species list.

*****The White house remembered Holocaust day without mentioning the Jewish people. Standard holocaust deniers in the White House, I guess. Reince Priebus who made the rounds at the Sunday morning shows this weekend made no apologies. He did agree that many Jews suffered . I think it is their mantra to never apologize.

*****Diane Sawyer takes on the ‘new reality’ on 20/20. She follows Americans who work 2 or 3 jobs with no safety nets or savings accountants. There is a boom in third shift child care. I am a little shocked that so many people are just waking up to this. It is business as usual for a big chunk of society, Most of the people I have known in my life have always lived this way. This really shows just how little people look to their fellow man to help or inquire of their plight. Oh, people are out there that have always had big hearts. But it seems like these ‘forgotten ‘ Americans ‘ don’t realize that a lot of us were always ‘forgotten’. It will never get better as long as people keep worrying about their own wallets. We need to work together. I do not understand what they mean when they want to make America great again. With some simple research we can see that unemployment is down, homelessness is down, wages are up, emergency room visits are down and crime is down. There is bad, always will be but America is pretty great. Until the top of the food chains spread it around, we are doomed to repeat things that forget some of us. Unfortunately, those very souls are in charge for now.

*****In the confirmation hearings of the rich, old Trump picks, it was great to see Diane Feinstein hit them hard right out f the box. She immediately asks about human trafficking and abortion. Jeff sessions tells us that Roe v. wade “one of the worst, most erroneous decisions made by the supreme court ever.” Al Franken seemed to really get under his skin. Do they not see that abortion rates are the lowest they have been since ’73? With better health care and access to better reproductive education we have gotten better and more widespread use of birth control. The Pope is trying to do his part by letting Catholic charities give out condoms despite many upset that it goes against religious teachings. Sessions was confirmed.  **Rex Tillerson says the climate change studies are inconclusive. Elizabeth Warren was grilling Tom Price since he just kept going round and round and never really answering the questions.**Scott Pruitt is nominated for the EPA. He always sides with the corporate polluters, always working against the EPA.

*****They say the Wall will be a minimum of 15 to 25 billion to construct. The border is 3000 Km. long. This does not even take into account future maintenance and employees. The border towns do not seem too happy. Making it harder for people to legally cross the border is not the answer. They rely on customers that cross the border to buy their goods. Mexico is the 3rd largest trade partner of the U.S. and according to NAFTA and the WHO, Mexico can retaliate. After 9-11, the auto industry supply flow through North America from Canada to Mexico was disrupted. Do we remember the chaos that ensued?  Sanctuary cities (except Miami) are not happy but should not be threatened with funding yanked. Former Mexican President Vincente Fox says he agrees that they should withdraw from NAFTA if this happens. 20% tariffs will cause prices to go up. Current President Nieto, though not terribly popular says they will not pay for this fucking wall. Lindsey Graham is pushing back to make sure we have Corona and tequila at a decent price.

*****The SAG awards went out just before January was over. There were many shout outs to Trump and speeches about acceptance. Julia Louis was the first to win and talked of her Father, an immigrant. Sarah Paulson asked for donations to the ACLU. The most emotional speech came from Mahershala Ali who talked about being at odds with his Mother about faith but that they worked it out. Other winners included Orange is the new black, William H. Macy, Viola Davis, Bryan Cranston, John Lithgow, Denzel Washington, Emma Stone, Hidden Figures and the cast of Stranger things which seemed to be the favorite. Dolly Parton was there to give Lily Tomlin the lifetime achievement award. Jane Fonda was supposed to be there but had taken ill. The Lily montage really showed an array of so many characters that is rare even for an actor’s montage. I thought the worst dressed were Nicole Kidman, Julie Bowen, Salma Hayek and Michelle Dockery. Best dressed were Michelle Williams, Emma Stone, Sofia Vergara, Gina Rodriguez, Taraji P. Henson, Mahershala Ali and Janelle Monet.

*****Meet the Press is 70 years old. Tom Brokaw has been with NBC for 50 years.

*****We have a newly discovered primate species called the Skywalker hoolock gibbon.

*****Sky arts cancelled the urban myths show about the Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, Marlon Brando drive.

*****Criminal Minds won a People’s choice award and Jane Lynch is back this month!!

*****Marshawn Lynch made a great cameo on Brooklyn 99.

*****Scientists now believe the appendix does have a purpose. It may protect beneficial bacteria living in the gut.

*****Thank you EW for your awesome cover story on Sarandon and Lange as Davis and Crawford. The first television ad left much to be desired but Ryan Murphy has to shock I suppose. I could not believe that set designers even recovered the bedroom furniture and the piano from the original  ‘Baby Jane’ production Anyway, so excited about FEUD! Can’t wait!

*****The Tick is back.

*****Go Portland!! They have America’s first non- profit pub. You order a drink, a meal and which charity you want to support. I want to go to there. We need more of this. Those involved in the highlighted charities each month come a few times to work and tell the customers about their charity. One of those was the wayfinding Academy, a new Portland college. Exnovo Brewery is another non profit on the same wavelength.  We must have more of this in Trump’s America.

*****A new book out by Brad Meltzer called I am Jim Henson looks great.

*****Hey Rev. Pat Conroy: Isn’t the notion of opening a house session with a prayer outdated?

*****I am loving The Young Pope on HBO with Jude Law, James Cromwell and Diane Keaton. I like the contrast between the large, empty Vatican rooms and the long dialogue .

*****HBO is bringing us Big Little Lies with Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern and Reese Witherspoon.

*****People are alive because of the affordable care act. If the republicans wouldn’t have eliminated the risk corridor, insurance companies would not have dropped out.

*****Weird Al is coming out with a boxed set of his best.

*****Excited about the film ‘Newness’ with Danny Huston and Matthew Gray Gubler.

*****Richard Carpenter has sued Universal music for 2 million because he feels that he and his sister Karen’s estate are owed royalties.

*****Ok.. so I never really see Dateline but do appreciate Keith Morrison’s voice and the sly little things he says.  I caught a good one. They told us that the victim was pretty and there were always men around. Keith’s response: “But now she’s dead!” He was also quite wide eyed with the discussion about autoerotic asphyxiation.

*****Tom Hanks was hosting on NPR for Pete Sagal on Wait Wait don’t tell me!

*****Charmed is coming back with a prequel.

*****Biloxi, Mississippi does not celebrate MLK day.

*****Steve Harvey is a HUD consultant?

*****Georgia’s John Lewis does not recognize Trump as a legitimate President. He and many other Dem’s avoided the inauguration. The only real downside is that Russia is getting what they want. They love us squabbling amongst ourselves. It is a lot of ‘look over here while we are busy fucking you over here’. Trump is using the same play book. He is freaking about the size of the crowds at the inauguration. He puts the White House press secretary Sean Spicer out there on his first day to lie about the crowd size. CNN did not put this out live. They wanted to see what he said first , very shrewd. This might be the new normal. The press keeps asking Ms. Conway about it while we should be talking more about the women marching for their rights. I mean, talk about crowds, the women’s march had unprecedented crowds. My favorite shirt was the monster face of Trump with the American horror story logo on it. I think we need some of those knock down –blow up clowns that we played with as children only with Trumps face on them. They hit back with ‘oh they thought it would rain’ or ‘the Nielsen ratings were good.’ It is a tricky biz: Do we call him out on his ridiculous lies and blathering ? To ignore him could be dangerous but we will never get straight, coherent answers from these people. We have to put them at the bottom of the news but keep a close eye on what they are doing. Will the press be kicked out of the White House? Should they opt out on their own if they are only going to be told lies? Perhaps the Trump team just wants us to change the channel when Ms. Conway is being ridiculous so nobody is watching real news. It isn’t even spin or political speak any more, it is psychotic, blatant lies. Integrity matters.

*****Trump won’t have a lot of D.C. friends.. The map around Washington gets bluer and bluer every election cycle. The oval office is a bit frightening when you see Andrew Jackson looking on.

*****The right wants us to move on from this election. Everybody did give him a chance and every time he lets us down again. Did they let go of the birther movement? Should we forget the hateful things Trump says and continues to say? Should we thank him when we can no longer go to the doctor? He is trying to get the EPA to shut up, to keep them away from the press or social media.

*****It’s always sunny in Philadelphia and wolf cola are back! But are they trying to get taken off the air. They have always been so clever but they have been relying a bit too much on gross this season.

*****The constitution states that it is illegal for a President to not give up ownership of his business.

*****The Ringling Brothers circus is over after 146 years.

*****Liz Cheney is on board with Trump in supporting ‘enhanced interrogation.’

*****Independent lens on PBS did another riveting episode. They did a wonderful job of following Bill Genovese as he re discovers his sister, Kitty’ murder. I remember the case often in the news as I was growing up. It seemed that every other detective show did their interpretation. The murder of Kitty Genovese became a national talking point after a NY times article proclaimed that 38 onlookers did nothing. The truth had never really been known and we discover that much of what we thought we knew was wrong. After 50 years we will probably never know the whole story but the case still fascinates.

*****Seth Meyers and Mike O’Brien are working on a pilot for NBC called Deadline Reports about a high school biology teacher.

*****Stephen Colbert will host the 2017 Emmy’s. Do they even look anywhere but late night tv for hosts anymore?

*****Michael Moore is proposing a Taxes March on April 15. Yes.. Let’s see those fucking taxes.

*****The Oscar noms came out for the broadcast on Feb. 26. Wow.. nothing for Annette Benning!? But hooray for Viggo Mortenson and Michael Shannon. Hail, Caesar got a production design nod. Hmmm.

*****This Cobi fella seems pretty talented.

*****1984 from George Orwell is the top seller on Amazon.

*****So good to see Brendan Fraser making the rounds again. He is in the Affair. I think he will age like Chris Walken: a little nerdy, a little quirky, a great actor.

*****Aaron Rodgers Father is talking. He says “fame can change things.’ It seems the family does not attend Packer games.

*****Is Elizabeth Warren already looking into impeachment?

*****The inauguration: There was a lot of flap beforehand about performers. Ambassadorships were being offered to agents to get big names. Jennifer Holiday had not even agreed to be there. She had performed for 4 other Presidents. When it was announced that she would play for Trump’s inauguration, she did not quite seem to get it but that is no excuse for bullying.** All the Trump wives were there. **Ron Reagan Jr. reported that the 16 minute American carnage speech was a ‘Steve Bannon production’. It was full of darkness and bullying. **The crowd was still yelling “lock her up.” Climate change and healthcare is off the White House website. ** A couple hundred people were arrested. ** An executive order was signed to ease the burden as they repeal Obamacare? ** They filed a motion in Texas to postpone the voter ID case that has been shameful in its discrimination. They released no announcement about it, of course. It is only the beginning.**John Gore was named to head the civil rights division. He is the lawyer who defended the anti trans bathroom law and he is big on redistricting. ** Hillary Clinton was there, talk about the bigger man.**There was controversy about the inaugural cake because someone from the Trump staff ordered a replica of Obama’s cake that had been made by Duff. The cake shop used this time was asked to make a Styrofoam cake with 1 real piece for cutting. The owner said they do not refuse service to anyone because of their sexual orientation or political leanings so they did it. She and her employees decided to donate the money to charity. They gave it to the Human rights campaign who believe that Trump is unfit for the presidency.

*****Lisa Madigan is fighting against the shady practices of student loans.

*****Why are there missile launchers at the DAPL?

*****IT is the Year of the Rooster!!

*****Howard Dean is calling out the democratic leaders to do more.

*****Trump reorganized the National Security council. He stuck Steve Bannon in there and put the Director of National Intelligence and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on sort of a need to know basis. These are person who should be indispensable.

*****Trump may be letting go of the torture bone with some convincing by Gen. Mattis. Perhaps this will be one that he finally lets go of.

*****Rutland Vermont has hundreds of jobs available and are welcoming refugees. Well, they were until our fearless leader decided to ban people from 7 Muslim countries from coming into this country. And why would Iraq even be in this lineup? As of this writing, I am looking at CNN and watching the protests that are happening at JFK and all over the country. There was a stay put in place by a judge but Priebus later said they apologize for nothing and that there was no chaos. How do they say things with a straight face? Why are they so fucking scared of people that don’t look like them? They should be scared of themselves, most serial killers are white men! Should we ship them out?? Justin Trudeau says Canada will welcome those fleeing prosecution. CEO’s are weighing in from ETSY to Box on how despicable this all is. Even Dick Cheney stated that this is “against everything we stand for.” With all the protests and anger that is flaring, I would think that police and employees at airports etc. are going to be sick of all the extra stress and angst that Trump is causing them. All I can figure is that the President, his cohorts and supporters are terribly miserable folks. They seem to want to make the rest us unhappy as well. This administration seems to want to pull big government into everything. I was under the impression that they were against that sort of thing. Unfortunately, the law seems to be on Trumps side. Precedent gives the President sweeping power as to whom he lets in this country because of national security. Giuliani told a reporter that Trump asked him how he could do a legal Muslim ban and I guess this is what they came up with. Congressman Seth Moulton said in a statement that the ban made him “ashamed Trump is our President. His policies literally put our troops’ lives at risk. There is nothing in his executive order that improves the vetting process.”

*****San Francisco is suing Trump over his executive order about sanctuary cities.

*****ISIS is already using this ban against us.

*****The New Orleans Jazz fest welcomes Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, Alabama Shakes, Snoop Dogg and The Roots to name a few.

*****Bounce tv hosted the Trumpet awards.

*****Aimee Mann has a new LP, ‘Mental Illness”. She will be touring America to promote her very acoustic new music inspired by folk rock of the 60’s and 70’s.

****Trump has nominated Judge Neal M. Gorsuch for the Supreme Court. His mother, Anne was part of the Reagan administration.

*****Al Franken in 2020!

*****RIP William Peter Blatty, the Ft. Lauderdale victims, Kevin Holt, Yanni “John” Alexis Mardas, Tommy Allsup, Miguel Ferrer , Geoff Nicholls,  Barbara Hale, John Hurt, Mary Tyler Moore and Margaret Jean Lipinski

[newstfionline]

Daily Life in Jerusalem? ‘Difficult’ and ‘Intense’ for Arab and Jew

By David M. Halbfinger, NY Times, Dec. 9, 2017

JERUSALEM--This is a tense city on a good day.

You feel it behind the wheel: The traffic signals turn red and yellow to alert a coming green. Hesitate a half-second before accelerating? A honking horn. Schoolgirls gesture at motorists as they step into a crosswalk, fingertips bunched and faces scowling: Will you wait, or what?

You see it in the crowding: Overstuffed apartments spilling onto one another, in teeming Palestinian neighborhoods, and in ghetto-like ultra-Orthodox enclaves, a few blocks apart on either side of the Green Line, the pre-1967 boundary with the West Bank.

You hear it in the way people talk--“The Arabs,” “The Jews”--about people with whom they have been sentenced to share a tiny patch of soil atop a ridge with no strategic value, over which the world has been battling for thousands of years, and negotiating on and off for decades, with no end in sight.

The world knows Jerusalem by the Old City and its Golden Dome, its ancient wall from the time of Herod, its Holy Sepulcher, its rough-hewed stones flattered by brilliant sunlight.

But Jerusalem is not just its postcard vistas. A pilgrimage is not the same as living here. The day-in, day-out friction can be draining. And when the conflict bubbles up, even natives can question why they persist.

“We all believe there’s something sacred in this city, but it’s too difficult,” said Tomer Aser, 35, who lives in Beit Hanina, in East Jerusalem. “You feel like you’re living in jail here. The people are so tense. And you feel yourself separated: You have to be with either the Israeli community or the Arab community. There’s no difference--we’re one country--but it’s Israeli Arabs, or Palestinians, or Israeli Jews.”

For Jerusalemites, stress is something to learn to live with. It builds up, day by day, culminating in the release and rest of the Sabbath--a one-day weekend that religious Jews build their lives around, and secular Jews and Arabs make the most of.

And the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, too, builds up a longer-term pressure, one that periodically threatens to burst out in episodes of violence.

With President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital roiling the West Bank and Gaza, the city was braced for its most serious flare-up in months, if not years. But no one was sure how bad it would get.

A ride on the Jerusalem Light Rail on Friday morning gave a taste of what that uncertainty can feel like.

The Red Line--the city’s only line, so far--begins in West Jerusalem at Mount Herzl, a monument to Israel’s origins, home of Yad Vashem and of Israel’s national and military cemeteries.

It runs all the way to the Arab East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Shuafat and Beit Hanina before ending in bustling Pisgat Ze’ev, one of several Jewish settlements built to encircle East Jerusalem on territory seized in 1967.

The light rail is a leveler, a modern convenience and conveyance, with efficient service, pleasant views--and visible security. A British student was stabbed to death on the line in April.

The line is not used by Arabs nearly as much as by Jews. After a Shuafat teenager was kidnapped near a light-rail station, tortured and killed by a group of Israelis in 2014, Palestinian protesters attacked the transit line as a symbol of the Israeli occupation.

On Friday morning, religious Jews prayed as they rode, two girls in school uniforms giggled, and an older Arab man clutched two bags of groceries and stared straight ahead.

“Nobody really wants to hate each other,” said Jane Aharon, a property manager originally from Seattle, who moved to Israel in 2003 and to Jerusalem in 2009. “But it’s intense.”

She added: “Things can happen around you.”

Intensity is not always bad. The light rail wends its way down Jaffa Street past the Mahane Yehuda market, where Friday mornings are helter-skelter with shoppers battling for challah and olives, for fresh fish and pomegranate seeds, all on deadline: The stores will close in a few hours, most of them until Sunday.

Shlomo Fitusi, a welder, 69, slowly makes his way through the thicket of shoppers on a bicycle, with kosher wine hanging from the handlebars in a bag.

He is a member of Chabad Lubavitch, a Hasidic sect, who lives near the Old City, and says he rises at 3 every morning and makes his way to the Western Wall by 4. He lived in France for a time but returned 14 years ago. “There’s nothing to do abroad,” he said. He added, with messianic fervor: “And soon Jerusalem will be the capital of the whole world.”

While this pride in the city is common, scratch the surface of nearly any Jerusalemite, and grievances will come pouring out.

The rail line makes a few more curves and reaches the Damascus Gate station, where in a parking lot for buses, Jamil Rajbi, 54, a driver, finishes praying and rolls up his fringed mat.

He lives in Silwan, an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem where Jewish settlers have begun buying up homes. One moved in next door. People throw rocks at the settlers’ cars, but the rocks now bounce off protective nets and onto Mr. Rajbi’s cars.

He said his community wanted to buy the house back and turn it into a kindergarten, but the new residents have refused to sell. “They drive us crazy,” he said.

At Damascus Gate, a phalanx of cameras are waiting to see what will happen when Muslims emerge from noontime prayers at Al Aqsa Mosque, in the sacred compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.

Inside the Old City, the Arab market is just as lively and cacophonous as the Jewish one, with vendors yelling to be heard about their strawberries, smartphone covers and sweatshirts. Prayers have ended, and a sea of people stream out. Their faces are upbeat.

Nabil al-Hejerasi, 65, says the message from the clerics was “to be patient, not to worry what other people say. The truth will come one day.”

An importer, Mr. Hejerasi lived in Minnesota for many years, but moved back to Jerusalem a decade ago. “Everybody loves home,” he said, adding that he cannot imagine being buried anywhere else. “You want to die at home.”

But he said it was not easy being back. “People are stubborn,” he said. “They don’t travel much, and their brain is working in one way. They only see close to their nose. Life is tough here for both sides, until peace comes.”

Down an alley leading farther into the Muslim Quarter, a noise wells up. Jewish settlers on a rooftop have thrown eggs at the Arabs below.

Suddenly a stampede: Three Israeli border police officers in riot helmets sprint by, chasing someone. A moment later the chase is ended. As the officers catch their breath, a woman curses them in Arabic; one of the officers returns the slur, adding, “Move along.”

But strife does not exist only between Jews and Arabs in Jerusalem.

Back on the light rail, Rina Pure, who grew up in Acre, on the Israeli coast, said she bought her apartment in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem years ago, “but now half the people are religious,” and it was getting to be too much for her to stay. She plans to join her daughter in Tel Aviv--one more in an exodus of secular Jews from the Holy City since the 1980s.

Ms. Pure said she still loved the city, speaking of it in the feminine, as in the sacred Jewish texts: “She’s beautiful. I love the atmosphere, the inspiration, the architecture. She’s unique. She’s the only one. She’s interesting. The people are good,” she said. “But I’m tired of it.”

It is well into the afternoon now, and the trains have stopped running in advance of the Sabbath. A taxi will have to suffice for the return trip.

“I’ve been driving for 18 years,” says Muhammad Ziada, 39. He says he has many Jewish friends, goes to their weddings, attends their relatives’ funerals, as they do for his.

“But there’s a big religion problem in Jerusalem,” he said. “It’s a city of racism. Once there’s a little bit of balagan”--chaos--“between Jews and Arabs, Jews won’t go in my taxi, and Arabs won’t go to the mall. And if I go into a religious neighborhood and they find out I’m Arab, they’ll stone my car.”

Mr. Ziada drives past a vacant property he says his family owns, but where he says the Israeli authorities have barred him from building. He refuses to sell.

“There will never be peace here,” Mr. Ziada says. But he does not lay blame. “If they take all the Arabs away, the Jews would eat each other. And the same thing with us.”

#Israel #Jerusalem #life in Jerusalem