Media, Obama, Sharpton, Cartoon

California water wars: Man vs. fish (and the fish are winning)

“If You Give A Mouse a Cookie”… well, you know what happens.  Chaos.  
It reminds me of what happens when you give a little power to a federal agency.  It’ll run amuck and do its best to ruin lives and livelihoods.      
Take the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which was given a little power under the Endangered Species Act.  It decided a three-inch translucent fish called the Delta smelt needed protecting.  So the agency went about inflicting economic and agricultural disaster by shutting off the water valves to some 25 million Californians. 

The Endangered Species Act does not give the government unfettered power to protect species, whatever the cost.  The human and economic impact on society must be always be weighed.  But the feds seem to have glossed over that part.

Some of the most fertile farmland in the world began to dry up.  The nation’s bread basket, the San Joaquin Valley, evolved into a veritable “dust bowl” evocative of John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath”.  Thousands of jobs were lost, and billions in agricultural revenue vanished.  Food prices rose.  Thirsty residents of central and southern California were deprived of their main drinking and household water source.  The prospect of water rationing is now quite real.   
Where did all the water go?  This is the truly stupefying part of the story. It was diverted away from the people who need it, and emptied into the Pacific Ocean. Call me crazy, but wasting a precious resource like fresh water is not only irrational, it’s insane. Which, I realize, is endemic in government.    
There is plenty of water for both people and crops, mind you. Over the decades, the state has constructed an elaborate and ingenious complex of dams, reservoirs, canals and aqueducts.Water flows from the mountains into a vast delta controlled by dykes and levees.  From there, the water is both stored and distributed.  Two-thirds of Californians get their water from this source.  Moreover, water spinning turbines provide abundant electricity for the state.  It is a system that has worked superbly since the early 1900’s.   
Enter environmentalists and government regulators –a dangerous combination, to be sure.  Armed with dubious evidence, they determined that the pumping stations which push the water were harming the smelt population.  Forget that the pumps have been running for more than half a century and the tiny minnows are still around.  Forget that shutting down the pumps spells economic and human catastrophe for tens of millions of people who subsist on this water.  The Fish and Wildlife Service forced the water supply to be cut off.   
During a trip to California recently, I was able to see for myself some of the devastated farmland.  What were once rich fields of fruit, vegetables, grain and other agriculture products is now dry, fallowed land.  The hardship on the affected communities has depressed the state’s economy.  
People are starving for water.  The same water which is being dumped recklessly into the sea.  Think of parched people stranded on a boat while the captain jettisons potable water overboard.  Mutiny?  You bet.          
But wait, President Obama to the rescue.  During a visit to California he pronounced a bold and novel solution.  A government bailout.  Naturally.  
He wants to throw around $ 160 million dollars of taxpayer money to help out thirsty residents.  That, of course, is his solution for everything.  Toss money at a problem.  No real plan.  No long-term strategy.  Just give money to farmers who can’t farm their withered land.  
“It’s a Band-Aid solution –a sop to deflect attention from the real issues”, lawyer Damian Schiff of the Pacific Legal Foundation told me.  As counsel for farmers, he has filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to intervene. 
I grew up in California. It is an arid climate. Droughts are common and cyclical. But residents survived and flourished thanks to the brilliant water systems devised over the course of a century.  That is, until environmentalists started whining about the smelt.  Their lawsuits, together with the actions of the Fish and Wildlife Service, have given a tiny bait fish supremacy over humans.  It’s man versus fish.  And the fish are winning.   
Those who blame man-made global warming for California’s current water woes are beyond naïve.  It’s a man-made calamity, all right, caused by the men and women at a federal agency who seem to care more about minnows than the health and welfare of the people they serve.  They have also conveniently misread or misinterpreted the law.                    
The Endangered Species Act does not give the government unfettered power to protect species, whatever the cost.  The human and economic impact on society must be always be weighed.  But the feds seem to have glossed over that part.
Congress specifically wrote such a protection into the law so as to avoid the kind of disastrous consequences Californians are now experiencing.  Congress knew that if you give a federal agency vast power, with no constraints, it would pursue its agenda zealously and unintelligently.   
 “If You Give A Moose a Muffin”… well, you know.

Ferguson protests continue leading to mall closures, arrests

Protesters forced three large malls in St. Louis to close their doors on one of the busiest shopping days of the year Friday, as other protests were held nationwide to protest a grand jury's recent decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson, who shot and killed teenager Michael Brown.
The protests were organized on Twitter and other social media platforms using the hashtags #NotOneDime, #Blacklivesmatter and #Stlblackfriday, MyFox2Now.com reported.
Several stores lowered their security doors or locked entrances as at least 200 protesters sprawled onto the floor while chanting, "Stop shopping and join the movement," at the Galleria mall in Richmond Heights a few miles south of Ferguson, Missouri, where Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Brown, who was unarmed, in August.
The action prompted authorities to close the mall for about an hour Friday afternoon, while a similar protest of about 50 people had the same effect at West County Mall in nearby Des Peres. It didn't appear that any arrests were made. Later Friday, the appearance of several dozen demonstrators led to the early closing of the Chesterfield Mall.
Small business owners told MyFox2Now.com that the protests were hurting them financially on a day they count on to make money.
Cell phone case salesman Abdullah Noman held out as long as he could, telling MyFox2Now.com, “Basically we’re losing a lot of business...I think we’re going to leave in a minute if we stay like that.”
Protests continued in Ferguson during the night leading to the arrests of 15 people for disturbing the peace and impeding flow of traffic. Two others were arrested with resisting arrest and the other with assault.
This stemmed after group of 100 protests marched down West Florissant Avenue in front of Ferguson’s police and fire departments.
The demonstrators began to chant, block traffic and stopping in front of businesses.
"I served my country. I spent four years in the Army, and I feel like that's not what I served my country for," said Ebonie Tyse, 26, of St. Louis as National Guard trucks and police cruisers roamed the street in front of her. "I served my country for justice for everyone. Not because of what color, what age, what gender or anything," she said
The protests, along with demonstrations in Chicago, New York, Seattle and northern California -- where protesters chained themselves to trains -- were among the largest in the country on Black Friday.
"We want to really let the world know that it is no longer business as usual," Chenjerai Kumanyika, an assistant professor at Clemson University in South Carolina, said at a rally at a Wal-Mart in Manchester, another St. Louis suburb.
Monday night's announcement that Wilson, who is white, wouldn't be indicted for fatally shooting Brown, who was black, prompted violent protests that resulted in about a dozen buildings and some cars being burned. Dozens of people were arrested.
The rallies have been ongoing but have grown more peaceful this week, as protesters turn their attention to disrupting commerce.
Mindy Elledge, who runs a watch kiosk at the Galleria, said it was working.
"I think people are afraid to come here," Elledge said. "With the protests going on, you never know when or where they're going to happen."
In northern California, more than a dozen people were arrested after about 125 protesters wearing T-shirts that read "Black Lives Matter" interrupted train service from Oakland to San Francisco, with some chaining themselves to trains. Dozens of people in Seattle blocked streets, and police said some protesters also apparently chained doors shut at the nearby Pacific Place shopping center.
In Chicago, about 200 people gathered near the city's popular Magnificent Mile shopping district, where Kristiana Colon, 28, called Friday "a day of awareness and engagement." She's a member of the Let Us Breathe Collective, which has been taking supplies such as gas masks to protesters in Ferguson.
"We want them to think twice before spending that dollar today," she said of shoppers. "As long as black lives are put second to materialism, there will be no peace."
Malcolm London, a leader in the Black Youth Project 100, which has been organizing Chicago protests, said the group was also trying to rally support for other issues, such as more transparency from Chicago police.
"We are not indicting a man. We are indicting a system," London told the crowd.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Pentagon prepares for more detainee releases from Guantanamo Bay

The Pentagon is preparing to transfer more detainees from Guantanamo Bay in coming weeks despite continued Republican opposition, according to defense and congressional officials.
The Wall Street Journal reports that, after five detainees were transferred last week, there will be another round in December, but defense officials refused to disclose further information on their numbers or nationalities.
Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, complained at a recent hearing of an increase in notifications by the administration to lawmakers on coming transfers from the detainment facility.
President Obama promised since before he took office that he would close the controversial detention center, a move that has been opposed by many Republicans.
The transfers come shortly after the announcement of the resignation of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was criticized by administration officials who spoke to The Wall Street Journal for moving too slowly to certify detainees for release.
Senior officials at the White House are impatient as the president’s term in office draws nearer to its end with the promise of the closure of Guantanamo unfulfilled, according to the Wall Street Journal.
House and Senate negotiators are debating whether to revise the rules governing transfers as a part of this year’s defense authorization bill, which sets Pentagon policy. The House version of the measure has proposed much stricter restrictions on transfers.
The House proposed its restrictions in the wake of the Obama administration’s decision to move five Taliban detainees out of the camp as part of the deal to secure the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who was held in Pakistan by a militant group.

Egyptian court dismisses charges against Hosni Mubarak

CAIRO –  An Egyptian court on Saturday dismissed murder charges against former President Hosni Mubarak in connection with the killing of hundreds of protesters in the 2011 uprising that ended his nearly three-decade rule, citing the "inadmissibility" of the case due to a technicality.
The ruling marks another major setback for the young activists who spearheaded the Arab Spring-inspired uprising nearly four years ago -- many of whom are now in jail or have withdrawn from politics. It will likely reinforce the perception that Mubarak's autocratic state remains in place, albeit led by a new president, former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
Saturday's verdict concludes Mubarak's retrial along with his two sons, his security chief and six top security commanders, who were all acquitted. Also acquitted was wealthy businessman Hussein Salem, a longtime Mubarak friend tried in absentia.
Mubarak, 86, was also acquitted of corruption charges that he faced along with his sons Alaa and Gamal -- his one-time heir apparent -- over a statute of limitations. The case involves their purchase from Salem of luxury villas in a Red Sea resort at a vastly discounted price, something that the prosecution had said amounted to bribery. The two sons face a separate trial on charges of insider trading.
All rulings can be appealed.
It was not immediately clear whether Mubarak would now walk free since he is serving a three-year jail term for corruption charges he was convicted of in May. He has been in detention since April 2011, but it is unclear if the past 3 1/2 years will be considered as time served.
"There is no justice for the poor," said Ramadan Ahmed, whose son Mohammed was shot dead in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria during the uprising. "This is Mubarak's law!"
Nearly 900 protesters were killed in the 18-day uprising that ended when Mubarak stepped down on Feb. 11, handing over power to the military. The trial, however, was concerned only with the killing of 239 protesters, whose names were cited in the charges sheet.
The early days of the protests were marked by fierce street battles between the demonstrators and both police and government supporters. Vehicles plowed into crowds, and bricks and stones were hurled from the rooftops of buildings onto demonstrators gathered in Cairo's Tahrir Square. At one point, men on camels and horses galloped into the square and beat protesters with batons and whips.
Nearly 170 police officers and security officials put on trial in connection to the killings since 2011 have either been acquitted for lack of evidence or because they were found to have acted in self-defense. Some received short, suspended sentences.
Mubarak was greeted by jubilant well-wishers when he was helicoptered back from court to the Nile-side military hospital where he has been staying. A television interviewer reached him by telephone and asked whether he had ordered the killing of protesters.
"I did not do anything at all," Mubarak replied.
Mubarak was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2012 on charges related to the killing of protesters, but the verdict was overturned on appeal the following year.
He has spent virtually all the time since he was detained in hospitals due to poor health. On Saturday, he was brought to the defendants' cage on a gurney. He wore dark glasses, a navy blue tie and a matching cardigan.
Presiding judge Mahmoud al-Rashidi said the dismissal of the charges did not absolve Mubarak of the corruption and "feebleness" of the latter years of his 29-year rule and praised the 2011 uprising, saying that its goals -- freedom, bread and social justice -- were legitimate.
Al-Rashidi said Mubarak, like any other human, erred at times and suggested that his old age should have spared him a criminal trial. He also cited Mubarak's long years in public service and what he called the enshrinement of "constitutional legitimacy" following the ouster of Mubarak's successor, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.
Mubarak was a career military pilot who led the air force during Egypt's last war against Israel in 1973. He was made vice president in the mid-1970s and assumed the highest office in 1981 following the assassination of Anwar Sadat.
"To rule for or against him after he has become old will be left to history and the Judge of Judges, the Righteous and the Justice (God) who will question him about his rule," said the judge.
The reaction to the verdicts was muted, after the judge threatened to jail anyone attending Saturday's 45-minute hearing if they interrupted the proceedings. After the trial was adjourned the courtroom broke into cheers and applause.
Morsi, the Islamist who succeeded Mubarak, is also detained and faces a slew of charges, including some related to the killing of protesters, which could see him sentenced to death. He was elected in Egypt's first democratic presidential election in 2012 but was overthrown by el-Sissi a year later amid massive protests calling for his resignation.
Since then the government has launched a sweeping crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood group and other supporters, killing hundreds and jailing thousands. It has also jailed scores of secular activists, including some of the leaders of the 2011 uprising, for violating a draconian law regulating street protests that was adopted a year ago.

Should Obama take a cue from Australia on immigration?

Stand For Justice Cartoon

US-backed Syria rebels make new push south of Damascus

 

Syrian rebels backed by the United States are making their biggest gains yet south of the capital Damascus, capturing a string of towns from government forces and aiming to carve out a swath of territory leading to the doorstep of President Bashar Assad's seat of power.
The advances appear to be a rare visible success story from efforts by the U.S. and its allies to train and arm moderate rebel fighters.
The rebel forces are believed to include fighters who graduated from a nearly 2-year-old CIA training program based in Syria's southern neighbor Jordan. The group known as the Friends of Syria, including Jordan, France the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, are backing the rebels with money and weapons, said Gen. Ibrahim Jbawi, the spokesman for the Free Syrian Army's southern front.
The gains are a contrast to northern Syria, where U.S.-backed rebels are collapsing in the face of an assault by Islamic militants. Notably, in the south, the rebels are working together with fighters from al-Qaida's Syria branch, whose battle-hardened militants have helped them gain the momentum against government forces. The cooperation points to the difficulty in American efforts to build up "moderate" factions while isolating militants.
"The goal is to reach the capital ... because there is no way to bring down the regime without reaching Damascus," said Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist in Daraa.
But few are under the illusion that the offensive in the south can loosen Assad's grip on power in the near future. The Syrian leader has benefited from the U.S.-led coalition's war against the Islamic State group, which has had the side effect of freeing up Assad's forces to focus on more moderate rebels elsewhere in the country. Government forces have seized several key areas around the capital.
Rebels in the south say they hope the new push will be just enough to pressure Assad to negotiate a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Jbawi said the international support for the assault "is not enough to let the rebels win the battle militarily. They are backing (us) to pressure Bashar Assad's regime to bring him to the negotiating table."
The Islamic State group's onslaught in Syria and Iraq has given greater urgency to international efforts to find some sort of solution for Syria's conflict, which has killed more than 200,000 people and displaced millions. Previous attempts and two rounds of peace talks in Switzerland earlier this year failed to make any progress as each side remained convinced it can win the war militarily.
The U.N. envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has now proposed local cease-fires starting with the northern city of Aleppo as a building block for a wider solution — an idea that Assad has said is "worth studying."
Speaking by telephone, Jbawi said 54 rebel factions consisting of 30,000 fighters are taking part in the battles in southern Syria. Activists say that Jordan is also facilitating the rebels' push by arming some rebels and allowing them to cross freely to and from the country.
The rebel offensive gained momentum two months ago, leading to the capture of much of the Quneitra region bordering Syria's Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, as well as large areas in the southern province of Daraa on the border with Jordan.
These included the town of Nawa and the Harra hill, a strategic hill where Syrian troops had stationed monitoring equipment because of its proximity to Israeli army positions in the Golan. The hill, one of the highest in Daraa province, also overlooks a main road that rebels use.
More recently, the fighting has been concentrated in and around the contested village of Sheikh Maskeen and the nearby Brigade 82 base, one of the main government units in the province. If the rebels capture the village and the base they will be then able to threaten the Damascus-Daraa highway, a main lifeline for government forces.
The rebel offensive could eventually link opposition fighters' positions in Daraa and Quneitra with Damascus' rebel-held Ghouta suburbs.
"The military objective is to secure lines of communication and to put pressure on the capital," said Faysal Itani, a resident fellow at the Atlantic Council.
However, despite the rebel advance, Assad's forces remain strong in the area, holding bases in critical locations that the rebels will find difficult to capture, he said.
Daraa-based activist Ibrahim Hariri said that while government forces collapsed in some parts of the province, they still hold much of the city of Daraa and control the Daraa-Damascus highway, "the spine of the province."
"The regime always has a very big force in Daraa because it is close to the front with Israel," Hariri said. "Any attempt to reach Damascus will not be an easy mission."