Full of...

The defense ministers of Sweden and Denmark say they would boost their military cooperation to counter the threat of Russian military buildup, cyberattacks and false news.

Peter Hultqvist and Claus Hjort Frederiksen said in a joint statement titled "Russian fake news: A danger to our countries" that misinformation from Russia made their nations "increasingly unsafe."

They would increase hybrid warfare cooperation, but stopped short of giving details.

The two ministers from the neighboring Scandinavian countries cited an increased presence of Russian military vessels in the nearby Baltic Sea region, which has also seen several reports of airspace violations by Russian military aircraft.

Russian Fake News is the new face of warfare.   The Media may be participating unwillingly.  Just a thought.

Front...*

Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar, saying it had broken promises to them about Gulf security.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have accused Qatar of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood,  a terrorist organization, accused of destabilizing their close ally Egypt.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE are big supporters of Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad, an ally of Iran.

In Libya, Qatar has backed some Islamist groups. UAE and Egypt had been involved in air strikes against Libyan Islamist groups.

In late 2011 Saudi Arabia pushed for Gulf Cooperation Council members to unite "as a single entity" in a bid to join the group of six monarchies into a united front against Iran and the instability caused by that year's Arab uprisings.

However, the GCC, which also includes Kuwait and Oman, appears more divided.

Add Israel, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iran to the mix and you can see where the money is coming from and the killing is going to.

Secretary of State is going to the Middle East to create a front against ISIL, or looking for a needle in a haystack.      Just a thought.   Posted 8/31/2015  

Force-Fullness...*

It's well-established that women often encounter a different set of expectations in the workplace. A new research has put a dollar figure on gender bias in the office.

A study conducted by corporate consultancy found that a woman's "perceived competence" fell 35 percent and her "perceived deserved compensation" dropped $15,088 when she spoke angrily or forcefully, Fast Company first reported.

The research featured male and female actors reading from different scripts and with varying levels of forcefulness. An observer assessed their worth and competence based on these interactions.

   

"In short, speaking forcefully creates a social backlash."  "That backlash is amplified for women and can adversely affect an individual's career and prove costly to an organization's effectiveness. [cnbc].

On the other hand it could be the same for men if the Manager is of the opposite sex. Some managers may consider a comment, a challenge or a forceful suggestion as a challenge and a threat to their positions.

Some perceive anything to be a challenge and a threat. Acting on it can simply destabilize own position unnecessarily.   Just a thought.

Stagnation...*

The steep decline in union membership in recent decades has had an outsize effect on the American workforce, a new study says.  The report argues the dwindling influence of unions is a significant but often ignored reason for wage stagnation. 

A study authored by Washington University a research scientist at Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy.

The fatter paychecks of union workers creates a more competitive labor market that forces nonunion companies to lift wages to prevent employees from jumping ship. And unions often establish labor-friendly policies that generally promote fairness in pay, benefits and worker treatment, according to the report.

The gains were not limited to nonunion workers at risk of joining unions, the study says. When those workers received raises, their higher-level supervisors who couldn't join unions also saw sharper pay increases to maintain salary hierarchies, the paper says.

But the losses engendered by shrinking union participation are most pronounced for nonunion private-sector male workers who lack a Bachelor's degree. 

Many politicians use the "anti-Union" stand knowing that they are hurting the little people. 
Enron and Arthur Anderson [Non Union companies] disintegrated in 2 months while GM is still viable.   Just a thought.  

الإنسانية

 العزيزة مس ليليان ، لم يسعدني شيئا بقدر ما شاهدته اليوم حتى تصورت إني أحلم بجنة الإنسانية التي أتخيلها دائما حتى رأيتها اليوم حقيقة رائعة ، فالعناية بالضعفاء من أطفال وأيتام وعجزة ، بنين وبنات ، رجال ونساء ، تتجلى هنا بكل ما في معاني الإنسانية من قوة ، فشكرا لمس ليليان ولجميع العاملين بهذه المؤسسة 

الرئيس اللواء أركان حرب محمد نجيب

وكتب لها عبد الناصر:
( أكتب لك شاكرا وأريد أن أخبرك إن عملك مع الأيتام يقدره كل مواطن في هذا البلد وأتمنى لك استمرارية النجاح في خدمتك الإجتماعية )

Reap...

The U.S.-led coalition said it may strike a convoy of IS militants that evacuated the Lebanon border headed toward eastern Syria under an agreement brokered by Hezbollah.

Coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon said the coalition has already struck a small bridge and punched a crater in a road to keep them from moving further east toward the border with Iraq.

The evacuation agreement had already angered many Iraqis, who accused Syria and Lebanon's Hezbollah of dumping the militants on the Iraqi border rather than eradicating them.

Lebanese troops launched an attack against IS, while Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters launched a simultaneous offensive from the Syrian side of the border. The militants agreed to a cease-fire over the weekend once they had been squeezed into a small area along the frontier.

Reaping the love you sow.   Just a thought.

Harvee...

The Heart of some...

Ribbon...

The foreign ministers of Russia and the United Arab Emirates urged North Korea to stop its provocations and obey United Nations resolutions.

But what was left unsaid between the two ministers was their own diplomatic and commercial ties to North Korea, with the UAE in particular home to thousands of its workers whose wages help Pyongyang avoid international sanctions.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is visiting the UAE as part of a three Gulf Arab nation tour over the ongoing diplomatic crisis involving Qatar, avoided discussing that dispute. He instead focused in part on North Korea.

USA enacted new sanctions against Russia and North Korea. We need to work with other for peace. War didn't get us a peaceful existance.

My Vision...

One Bite...

The case against Steven Barnes in the rape and murder of a 16-year-old girl seemed circumstantial, at best.  Two hairs that looked like the victim's; some dirt on a truck like that taken from the crime scene; a pattern on the bumper that resembled a design on the victim's popular brand of jeans, and that was enough.

He spent the next 20 years in prison before DNA testing exonerated him, becoming one of hundreds of people convicted in whole or in part on forensic science that has come under fire during the past decade.

Some of that science, analysis of bite marks, latent fingerprints, firearms identification, burn patterns in arson investigations, footwear patterns and tire treads, was once considered sound, but is now being denounced by some lawyers and scientists who say it has not been studied enough to prove its reliability and in some cases has led to wrongful convictions.

Two reports by scientific boards have sharply criticized the use of such forensic evidence, and universities that teach it are moving away from visual analysis  essentially, eyeballing it and toward more precise biometric tools.  Hope we use it right.   Just a thought.

Scheme...

German prosecutors have charged a man accused of bombing Borussia Dortmund's team bus in April with attempted murder.  Prosecutors said they filed the indictment at the city's state court.

The 28-year-old suspect, who has been identified only as Sergej W. in line with German privacy laws, is charged with 28 counts of attempted murder, two counts of bodily harm and setting off an explosion.

Dortmund defender Marc Bartra and a police officer were injured in triple blasts as the bus headed to the soccer team's stadium for a Champions League game.

Investigators have said the suspect took a five-figure loan to bet that the club's shares would drop, then bombed the bus in an attack he tried to disguise as Islamic terrorism in a scheme to net millions.

Pathetic...

Success...

Pummeled...

Problem...

Bickering...

    

Sunday School...

Dega's...*

A nine-year-old girl accidentally shot her gun instructor dead with an Uzi. She pulled the trigger of an automatic gun and the recoil sent the gun over her head, shooting the instructor. 

The shocking recording, taken by the girl's parents and released by police, shows the instructor standing closely next to the girl when the gun recoiled as she fired on full automatic mode.

It is crazy to put that gun into a little girl's hands. Many own guns, trained in various safety classes, competed etc., but this is a child for God's sake.   Just a thought.

Storm...

Deport...

A woman accused of beating and starving a woman she brought from China to work as a nanny in Minnesota will be deported after she spends a year in jail.

Authorities said the 58-year-old nanny was found wandering in the street in July 2016, battered and malnourished. She weighed less than 90 pounds, had several broken bones and bruises and on her face. She told police she fled Huang's home after being threatened with a kitchen knife.

The woman was treated well when she worked for Huang in China but the abuse began after they immigrated to Minnesota, court documents said. Investigators said she was forced to work up to 18 hours a day doing child care, cooking and cleaning, for less than $2 per hour.   Huang lived in Woodbury, a suburb of St. Paul.

Lili Huang, 36, pleaded guilty to charges of forced labor and third-degree assault. She was sentenced  to a year and a day in jail. U.S. District Judge David S. Doty also ordered her to forfeit her home and pay nearly $100,000 in restitution. Losing money, that hurts!!!

Crash...

A U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter crashed off the southern coast of Yemen while training its crew, leaving one service member missing, five others were rescued, officials said.

Central Command "this was a routine training event specifically for U.S. military personnel."

Yemen, located on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, is the Arab world's poorest country and is engulfed in a yearslong civil war.

The war pits Shiite rebels known as Houthis and their allies against a Saudi-led coalition backing the country's internationally recognized government. The U.S. has provided targeting and logistical support to the Saudi-led coalition.

Yemen is also home to what the U.S. considers the most dangerous branch of the al-Qaida terror network. U.S. special forces backed with Emirati troops launched a raid in Yemen in January under President Donald Trump that killed a U.S. Navy SEAL and 30 other people.  

Harvey...

Skin Crawled...

A new Memoir for Hillary..... What if?

Gu-Ru...

The conviction of the flashy guru of a hugely popular religious sect on charges of raping two female followers has set off violent riots by followers across much of north India.
More than two dozen people have died. Buses, trains and buildings have been set on fire.

The guru calls himself Saint Dr., is the embodiment of God on earth.  Over a 100,000 trekked to gather around the courtroom in the northern town of Panchkula.

He's facing other criminal investigations as well. There's an ongoing trial over the murder of a journalist. ....

He promotes vegetarianism, campaigns against drug addiction and holds massive blood donation camps.  He has started a film franchise in which he stars as the "Messenger of God," or MSG, with divine powers to save the world. The sect  runs schools, colleges and hospitals.

He enjoys the highest level of state security in addition to his own personal bodyguards.

Becloud...

A popular German news magazine depicting U.S. President Donald Trump draped in the American flag while giving a stiff-armed Nazi salute.
This is drawing sharp criticism from a prominent Jewish group and others.

Stern magazine's illustration is part of a cover story headlined "Sein Kampf," which translates as "His Struggle" and is a play on Adolf Hitler's infamous "Mein Kampf."

Germans must surely know that by misappropriating" Nazi symbols "they belittle and becloud" past crimes.   

Communication...

Four U.S. military service members who were part of Vice President Mike Pence's communications team have been reassigned after bringing women back to their hotel in Panama without registering them, U.S. officials have confirmed. The incident happened around the time that Pence was visiting the Central American nation.

The three Army soldiers and Air Force airman were reassigned pending an investigation into why they did not register the women into a secure area as required by security protocols, according to officials.  

The agency is staffed by military communications specialists who secure communications networks for the Vice President during domestic and overseas travel.

And they did...  Just a thought.

Menu...

Treatment...*

Tired...

We have to talk......

Chance...

Massachusetts lottery officials identified a 53-year-old health care worker who lives in Chicopee as the winner of more than $750 million in a Powerball drawing, the largest prize for a single ticket-holder in the contest's history.

The woman, Mavis Wanczyk, appeared at an afternoon news conference to claim her prize.

"I wanted to get this over and done with, and then everyone would leave me alone," 

Fat Chance....  

Face...

Valerie Mahaffey (born June 16, 1953)^[1] is an American character actress and producer. She won an Emmy Award for her work on Northern Exposure. She later won fame through her portrayal of extroverted and friendly but ultimately insane women on the television shows Wings, Desperate Housewives and Devious Maids.

Best facial expression I ever seen as she moves from happy to psycho in no time.

As of late 1980's, Mahaffey began acting in television comedies, like Newhart, Cheers, and Seinfeld. From 1992–93, she starred in the short-lived NBC sitcom The Powers That Be. She played Tracy Milford in the 1995 film National Lampoon's Senior Trip and Jan Kempster in the 1997 film Jungle 2 Jungle. In 1999, she had a recurring role on ER.  .....

Milk...*

Dairy labels can be confusing by an endless array of product labels claiming various issues.  The FDA stated that dairy products and meat from BST-treated cows are safe for human consumption.

The Council of the European Union (EU) decided to definitively ban possible use of recombinant bovine somatotrophin (rBST) in the European Union.

Some claims can't be supported such as
Hormone-free, the claim is misleading since all dairy products contain hormones.

No hormones added  This label may also be misleading because the FDA requires that all commercially available fluid milk sold must be fortified with Vitamin D.

Made without the use of synthetic or artificial hormones  All milk has hormones in it.

All Natural  —  According to the FDA, these terms may be used on fluid milk products as long as they don’t contain any artificial ingredients or added colors and flavors. 

Our farmers pledge not to use artificial growth hormones.

Milk from cows not treated with rBST

No Hormones added, No Antibiotics.

So which to choose?... You be the judge.   Just a thought.

Some...

Retract...

Story...

Wish...

  

Free Agent...

Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem as a protest against........ and is now without a team.  The free agent once played in the Super Bowl but hasn't been signed by any football club.

Some critics say it's about his ability as a player. Others say he should have stood for the anthem.

The NAACP sent a letter to NFL commissioner about the situation, saying it's "no sheer coincidence" Kaepernick is unsigned.  

Protest anything you want, but not standing for the National anthem is not a protest.  

Realism...

Donald Trump will declare an end to nation building if elected president, replacing it with what aides described as “foreign policy realism” focused on destroying the Islamic State group and other extremist organizations.

In Ohio, Trump will argue that the United States needs to work with anyone who shares that mission, regardless of other ideological and strategic disagreements. Any country that wants to work with the U.S. to defeat “radical Islamic terrorism” will be a U.S. ally, he is expected to say.
August 15, 2016 PBS.

We are not nation-building again. We are killing terrorists.”  President Trump announced an aggressive new approach to the 16-year-long war in Afghanistan. The speech included eight uses of the word “attack,” and only one use of “freedom” and “democracy.” Trump promised to bring more direct force, including American soldiers, to the unforgiving mountains and deserts of Central Asia.

Let us not break fragile countries and try to rebuild it. Not going to work.  

The Dream...*

Despite a deluge of warnings many Americans are still woefully unprepared to leave the workforce. A little more than a third don't have a savings strategy.
Half of households are not putting away enough to maintain their current lifestyle after retirement, according to the latest National Retirement Risk Index.

Deep down, we know we should be putting something in our 401(k)s, but the benefits are just so far out there, that it's not real to people."

People are living longer, so they need more. Rates of returns have fallen, so they need a bigger pile." The rise of self-directed plans such as 401(k)s, and worries about the future of Social Security, have also put more of the burden of saving on the consumer.

Cutting back gives you more room to save now, and can mean you'll need less income in retirement. Strategies might be big, such as downsizing to a smaller house, switching vehicles or right-sizing a smartphone plan.     Just a thought.

Resist...

Can we resist starting a new....

Journey...

As the special United States envoy for Afghanistan, Mr. James Dobbins was responsible for finding and installing a successor to the Taliban after they were toppled in 2001. During the 1990's, Mr. Dobbins hop-scotched from one trouble spot to another as he served as special envoy to Kosovo, Bosnia, Haiti and Somalia. 

But the Bush administration has such disdain for anything associated with former President Bill Clinton that it largely ignored useful lessons from recent United States peacekeeping operations.  

"Iraq in 2003 looks more like Yugoslavia in 1996 than Germany and Japan in 1945," Mr. Dobbins says. "What they have not done is look to the models worked out in the 1990's for sharing the burden and allowing others to participate in the management of the enterprise."

Bush, to his credit, admits as much in his memoir. 
“The task turned out to be even more daunting than I anticipated,” he writes.  Part of the difficulty lay simply in the massive complexity of the task. 

“Democracy is a journey that requires a nation to build governing institutions such as courts of law, security forces, an education system, a free press, and a vibrant civil society.” 

It is tempting to say that this should not have been a surprise to an Administration whose National Security Advisor had a PhD in Political Science, but the truth is that academics and practitioners have been captivated by a simplistic and naïve notion of how poor, oppressive countries become rich, free ones for decades-from the “modernization theory” of the 1950s to the “Washington Consensus” of the 1990s.
In addition to ignorance, there may also be disdain for poor people's desire.