Massachusetts EPA Wants To Bring Rattlesnakes Onto Reservoir Land

FILE-- In this September 2013 handout file photograph from the Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation, a dirt and stone road leads to Mount Zion Island, at rear, at the Quabbin Reservoir in Petersham, Massachusetts. A plan by the state to start a colony of venomous timber rattlesnakes on the off-limits island in MassachusettsÕ largest drinking water supply is under fire. 

(Clif Read/The Mass. Dept. of Conservation and Recreation via AP)

[From article]
The commonwealth wants to “reintroduce” poisonous rattlesnakes to Massachusetts — what could possibly go wrong?
Perhaps you’ve heard about this plan, to turn Mount Zion Island in the Quabbin Reservoir into a sanctuary for timber rattlers. The question is, why? First of all, plenty of venomous vipers continue to slither around the state, and not just in their natural habitat on Beacon Hill.
Second, this “island” is a peninsula, with a causeway to the mainland.
Not to worry, though, we are assured by the state’s hack-
infested Department of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA).
Mount Zion is large enough,” the state lectures us on its website, “that the snakes would have little motivation to leave.”

So now they’re experts on the “motivations” of serpents. But wait, there’s more.

“The snakes will have radio transmitters to provide MassWildlife with important information about rattlesnake behavior.”
That’s great, they’re giving them radios. My show is broadcast on at least three stations that reach the Quabbin. I can 
always use more listeners.
Who’s responsible for this crackpot scheme, you ask. Well, the guy whose name is on the website is Tom French, assistant director of MassWildlife. He makes $105,000 a year. His boss is George Peterson, the commissioner of Fisheries and Wildlife, a former GOP state rep making $129,000 a year.
[. . .]



Suppose you’re enjoying a walk through the woods on a fine summer afternoon. 
Suddenly you hear that unmistakable rattling sound coming from a pile of leaves. You look down and see the coiled serpent, its fangs out. What is the first word that comes to your mind?
Probably two — “Holy bleep!” But that’s the wrong answer, 
according to French’s posting on the EEA website. He describes the rattler as “fascinating” and, my favorite, “persecuted.”
Persecuted is not a word often used to describe poisonous snakes. Usually “persecuted”
refers to someone — customarily a mammal, with two legs — who is “subject to hostility … 
especially because of their race or political or religious beliefs.”
So are timber rattlers “persecuted” because of their political beliefs? What, are they holding a rally for Donald Trump? That’s a … fascinating question.
This persecution, by the way, started around the time of 
“European settlement.” In other words, the reptiles are victims. They deserve reparations.
[. . .]



The local fishermen dutifully trudge in to complain that after the first snake bite, and there will be one, the bureaucrats will close the entire reservoir. As 
always, though, the pencil pushers and the Sierra Club and the rest know better than the people who actually live there.
The opponents are getting 
nowhere because they’re trying to raise common-sense 
objections. As they should know, rational arguments no longer count when you’re confronting the government.
[. . .]
In 2007, a guy in Dracut was trimming weeds in his backyard when one of the mild, persecuted, fascinating rattlers suddenly struck. The viper’s victim spent two days in the hospital in 
Lowell.
And now the hacks want to breed more of these poisonous reptiles. Professional courtesy, I guess you could call it.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/howie_carr/2016/03/carr_a_snake_oil_scheme_for_serpents

Carr: A snake oil scheme for serpents
Howie Carr

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Boston Herald

Wi-Fi Based Computer Health Devices, Cars, Can Be Hacked To Cause Death

[From article]
Researcher Marie Moe woke up after emergency surgery in 2011 with a new pacemaker to correct a heart condition. What she didn't realize at the time was that the lifesaving device in her chest exposed her to a completely different kind of threat.
The pacemaker keeping her alive has wireless connectivity capabilities — a detail her doctors didn't tell her — meaning it could be hacked.
Moe was understandably disturbed that it never occurred to her doctors to tell her that her device had wireless capability, and they had not considered the security implications.
"They really had not thought about the pacemaker security at all," she said.
Vulnerabilities like Moe's are moving quickly from the rare to the extremely common.
[. . .]
Frustrated with her doctors and the manufacturer of her pacemaker, Moe has turned her life's work into finding out more on behalf of all patients.
She has testified in front of the FDA and worked with grassroots organization I Am The Cavalry to develop a Hippocratic Oath for Connected Devices. Her goal is to force transparency into an industry where doctors are uninformed, code is proprietary and third-party access limited.
[. . .]
"It's about time hospitals started worrying about computer viruses, not just ordinary germs," said Moe.
"That's what we have to look at today, to invest in the area to make sure we are solving those problems today, not four years from now when the problem is too heavy to be solved," said Google vice president, security and privacy Gerhard Eschelbeck at the RSA Conference on Tuesday.
[. . .]
Of course, it's not just medical devices that pose a threat. Well-publicized car hacks by researchers have shown just how easy it is for hackers to take remote control of certain car models.
[. . .]
The average GM car has 30 computers, all built by different partners and suppliers. (For example, a car stereo system may be integrated with Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.)
[. . .]
Of course, when weighing the adoption of connected devices, it's important to take into account the risks and potential rewards, said John Stewart, senior vice president, chief security and trust officer at Cisco.
"For the most part, all of this is going to be beneficial more than it's going to be endangering and risky," said Stewart. "This security conference has a tendency to think the whole world's going to melt down by tomorrow. [But] We're still here 20 years after we thought it was going to meltdown 20 years ago."

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/04/how-the-internet-of-things-could-be-fatal.html

How the 'Internet of Things' could be fatal
Harriet Taylor | @Harri8t
March 4, 2016

Recognizing Dangers To United States

[From article]
Because the GOP race has now turned into naked mud-wrestling, with conservative pundits being whipped up by their liberal bosses (like the Washington Post) to jump on Trump with hobnailed boots, all reasoned discourse is out the window for now.
[. . .]
Fact 1. Obama and the hard left are deadly foreign toxins imported into the American body politic, pumped into us by the remnants of the hard left that seemed to be defeated after 1990 due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Instead of accepting its loss, the Stalinoid left went underground, as it always does when its members are identified and defeated. They infiltrated American universities, the media, the true civil rights movement, the liberal churches, on and on, and took them over.
[. . .]
Fact 2. Obama, Hillary, Bernie, and their kind show us that the virus has survived in the shadows, while we have dropped our guard. The hard left now dominates the Democrats and their one-party media.
Fact 3. The hard left here and in Europe has built a malignant power axis with jihad, which rose to global prominence with OPEC around 1970. OPEC regimes are primitive jihad-preaching despotisms, which paid for 9/11/01 (all the mass killers were jihadist followers of Saudi Wahhabism).
We are still at war with them, or rather, they have always been at war with the infidels (us). Sometimes jihad goes into remission, as it did for fifty years in Turkey after Ataturk drove the Ottoman priesthood out of power in the 1920s. But then the current Islamofascist despot, Recep Erdoğan, was put into power at the insistence of the European Union (!) and supported by Obama (!), thereby showing the Left-Jihad Axis for all the world to see. Erdoğan supports ISIS, buys its stolen oil from Iraq (which ISIS controls today), and sells it to Europe.
Fact 4. Obama, Hillary, and Jarrett are in close alliance with our enemies, jihad and the hard left, after penetrating the Democratic Party and therefore the one-party media.
That is a summary of today's deadliest threat to America and Western civilization. No exaggeration. The evidence is all over the web, including American Thinker. Read the evidence, and judge for yourself.
Point 1. The Left-Jihadist Axis is the single most important strategic fact today. Bar none. Even Putin is not necessarily our biggest enemy; he has said that he wants to be our ally in the Jihad War.
Point 2. Today's GOP mud fight has to be seen in light of the much greater strategic threat. This is common sense, and it's also basic military doctrine. You deal with the biggest threat first, and never let it out of your sight.
Point 3. This is also why the Left-Jihad Axis will do anything to confuse, deny, distract, deceive, blame, throw sand in our eyes, sabotage, infiltrate, and if necessary resort to violence to force you to take your eyes off their strategic threat. War is deception, and Marxism and jihad (as well as Sun Tzu) agree that deception can destroy an enemy (us) at minimal cost.
What does all this have to do with Trump? Well, look at the poll numbers, and the betting market. Trump is favored to win the GOP nomination at this moment and to win the U.S. presidency after that. Nobody knows the future with certainty. Trump might not win. I might like Cruz better than Trump. But strategically, at this time, Trump has the odds on his side. It's reality. If the evidence changes, we change our strategy also. We want to win, and American survival is more important than any single candidate.
Because we must act strategically above all, and because the strategic war pits the Jihad-Left Axis against Western and American civilization, we have to prioritize our objectives.
We can summarize the state of the Left-Jihad war against us in one sentence: Trump is unquestionably better than Obama. Trump isn't necessarily better than another GOP candidate. But Obama and Obamanism are the strategic enemy.
Forget that Obama is supposedly not in the game this cycle. The fact is that all the Obamanoids are still our strategic enemies. Hillary is running only because she made arrangements with Obama, or she would have been destroyed by media assassination by now. Bernie Sanders is an old war horse who would not be in the race without the agreement of his radical buddies on the ex-Stalinist left. Right now the Obama left are in disarray, because they can't dislodge Hillary, even though they want to run a much stronger candidate, like Liz "Fauxcahontas" or even Bloomberg. The goal is to drive Obama's program through, and damn the constitutional torpedoes.
So it's all about Obamanism, which equals jihad + hard Left.
Strategic Goal 1. The highest objective for pro-Americans is therefore to defeat Obamanism in this election cycle, and to keep defeating and defeating it, until it is driven back into its viral hidey-holes.
Strategic Goal 2. To accomplish Goal 1, we must elect as many pro-Americans as possible. Other heights of the culture, like the schools, the media, and entertainment, must also be contested and won. Once elected, politicians have to stay true to their word or be recalled by their voters.
Strategic Goal 3. Like it or not, the current state of play shows that Trump is a "good enough" choice. No, he's not General Patton, but he's miles better than the Waffen SS. This is war, whether you like it or not. Like Lincoln, we need a general who will fight. I think Trump and Cruz will fight the real strategic enemy. Maybe some of the other candidates will, too – I can't tell right now.
The bottom line is that Trumpism is better than Obamanism. The enormous threat to our beloved country and Constitution is Obamanism, with or without Obama. Hillary is an Obama clone. So is Bernie, along with Fauxcahontas and Bloomberg.
The GOP mud fight is a distraction. It's meant to take your eyes off the ball. Don't fall for it. Remember our strategic priorities, first, last, and always.
This is George Patton and the Third Army again. Ignore static enemy strong points. Instead, go right around them and strike at Hitler's bunker, just as fast as possible.
Never allow yourself to be distracted by the enemy media. Never lose the initiative. Keep them reeling.
Never fall for fake attacks and false fronts.
Don't forget that the enemy media are always against us. Don't try reason, because they don't do that. You reason with them; they pull out a rhetorical pistol, and you're dead.
Never respond to provocations alone.
Go for the heart of the enemy and destroy it. Use Alinsky against Alinsky.
Don't give in to the temptation to be nice. The enemy is not nice, but lethal.
Listen to the language they use, if you doubt this: they use the language of rage and violence. Assassinating Trump and Cruz is common talk on the other side. They are too cowardly to do that (we hope), but it's in their dreams.
We need to destroy the Left-Jihad Axis, peacefully, of course. This is a political and culture war. If our side wins, the outcome will always remain short of violence, because we do not follow an aggressive war doctrine. Both jihad and Marxism do exactly that. If we win, we will have peace. If they win, there is no telling what might happen. The historical precedents suggest bloody war if they win.
Stay focused on strategy, strategy, and more strategy. This is a time when tactics without strategy are doomed to fail. The enemy has made this the battleground. They chose the rules of engagement, and we have to either respond effectively or lose.
Which one do you want?
If you want to fight, you must pick the strongest candidate on our side and go all out to win. If he wins and turns tail, we raise Hell.
Semper fi.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/03/obamanism_is_the_real_enemy.html

March 3, 2016
Obamanism Is the Real Enemy
By James Lewis

What If Donald Trump Continues Exposing The Naked Emperor?

[From article]
The advice-seeker, “Democrat daughter,” is worried about her late 50-ish mother’s sudden infatuation with Trump (“my man Donald”). While Mom always shunned politics, she had now totally fallen for Donald, especially his anti-immigration message.
[. . .]
And, from the can’t-make-this-stuff-up department, suggests that this sudden political fervor warrants a frank mother-daughter talk and visiting a doctor for a complete medical check-up, particularly since the “sudden crush” might be brain tumor related. The column then concludes by hoping that “Mom’s man” soon craters for the sake of Mom and the country.” All and all, the problem is the Mother’s problem, a psychological disturbance with a possible lethal underlying physical cause. All shades of Soviet and Cuban policies of sending dissidents to psychiatric wards.
[. . .]
A GOP political consultant, without a scintilla of evidence opined, “There are a lot of folks who are, to be charitable, into white identity politics, and to be uncharitable are outright racists, who are supporting Trump.” For some Trump resembles George Wallace’s 1968 presidential run targeting down market whites angry over being singled out for racial social engineering.
There is no current GOP candidate for the presidency possessing this power to animate the once politically indifferent while being able to transform the public agenda. Nobody is even close. Moreover, the media attention he attracts would require only a brief off-the cuff aside to push the once forbidden into the public forum. It is these powers that terrify the establishment -- the mainstream media, the corporate elite, the RNC and the DNC and all others who embrace the status quo. The Donald -- not the faux socialist Bernie Sanders-- is today’s genuine radical presidential aspirant, the uncontrollable bull in the china shop of taboos, and elites clearly sense his power.
[. . .]
And if gender and race questions were insufficient to stir the pot, how about asking Trump about requiring recent immigrants to become assimilated Americans. That is, should America end multiculturalism and bilingualism?
This hardly ends the list of topics carefully avoided in today’s PC don’t-offend-anybody atmosphere and Donald’s responses to any of these will certainly draw intense media attention.
[. . .]
All in all, the arrival of Trump may be the long awaited moment when somebody finally stands up to the PC bullies who insist that any opposition to their ideas can only exemplify hate
[. . .]
Trump would, of course, be condemned as a racist, a white supremacist who was waging war on minorities etc. etc. But, as with his past forays into speaking bluntly, his poll numbers would again go north. The unwashed are on the march. Trump speaks not for the silent majority; he is the champion of the silenced majority. This is truly terrifying for today’s establishment gatekeepers.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2015/09/why_trump_terrifies_the_establishment.html

September 16, 2015
Why Trump Terrifies the Establishment
By Robert Weissberg

Dangers of Artificial Intelligence Research to Humans

Science research run amok, as at the Broad Institute at MIT investigating how the mind works, is an issue I raised with a research scientist. I asked "What if scientists learned how to completely control the mind?" Someone always comes along to use new technology for evil purposes. He said "You can't stop it." If he is right the same conclusion applies to AI research. Researcher scientists are so intent on learning everything they can, they cannot be stopped. In a portion of a painting by Pieter The Elder Brueghel, called The Blind Leading The Blind, he shows how close to oblivion scientists lead us in their never ending search to know.  

The Blind Leading The Blind

[From article]
Artificial intelligence has the potential to be as dangerous to mankind as nuclear weapons, a leading pioneer of the technology has claimed.
Professor Stuart Russell, a computer scientist who has lead research on artificial intelligence, fears humanity might be 'driving off a cliff' with the rapid development of AI.
He fears the technology could too easily be exploited for use by the military in weapons, putting them under the control of AI systems.
Professor Russell, who is a researcher at the University of California in Berkeley and the Centre for the study of Existential Risk at Cambridge University, compared the development of AI to the work that was done to develop nuclear weapons.
[. . .]
In an interview with the journal Science for a special edition on Artificial Intelligence, [Professor Stephen Hawking] said: 'From the beginning, the primary interest in nuclear technology was the "inexhaustible supply of energy".
'The possibility of weapons was also obvious. I think there is a reasonable analogy between unlimited amounts of energy and unlimited amounts of intelligence.
'Both seem wonderful until one thinks of the possible risks.
[. . .]
Professor Russell, however, cautions that this unchecked development of technology can be dangerous if the consequences are not fully explored and regulation put in place.
[. . .]
'To those who say, well, we may never get to human-level or superintelligent AI, I would reply: It's like driving straight toward a cliff and saying, 'Let's hope I run out of gas soon!'
In April Professor Russell raised concerns at a United Nations meeting in Geneva over the dangers of putting military drones and weapons under the control of AI systems.
He joins a growing number of experts who have warned that scenarios like those seen in films from Terminator, AI and 2001: A Space Odyssey are not beyond the realms of possibility.
[. . .]
Professor Russell said computer scienitsts needed to modify the goals of their research to ensure human values and objectives remain central to the development of AI technology.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3165356/Artificial-Intelligence-dangerous-NUCLEAR-WEAPONS-AI-pioneer-warns-smart-computers-doom-mankind.html

'Artificial Intelligence is as dangerous as NUCLEAR WEAPONS': AI pioneer warns smart computers could doom mankind
Expert warns advances in AI mirrors research that led to nuclear weapons
He says AI systems could have objectives misaligned with human values
Companies and the military could allow this to get a technological edge
He urges the AI community to put human values at the centre of their work
By RICHARD GRAY FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 09:30 EST, 17 July 2015 | UPDATED: 10:12 EST, 17 July 2015

NYPD Union Officer Blames White House For Dangers to Policemen

Ed Mullins, NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association President

[From article]
Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins, appearing on “The Cats Roundtable” on AM 970, said politicians are too quick to scapegoat police.
“Our leadership, from the president on down, has sent the message that law enforcement across the country are the bad guys,” Mullins said.
“And ultimately have sent the message to the criminal element that it’s OK to carry firearms, that it’s okay to resist arrest.”
Mullins said he’s heard directly, from guys on the job, that they’re tentative about any action they take.
[. . .]
“They [politicians] take the position of defending the criminal. The incident that took place in Baltimore probably highlights everything that’s occurring in the country,” Mullins said.

htttp://nypost.com/2015/06/21/obama-to-blame-for-anti-cop-sentiment-nypd-union-boss/

Obama to blame for anti-cop sentiment: NYPD union boss
By David K. Li
New York Post
June 21, 2015 | 1:02pm

Deadly Bacteria Released At Tulane University Lab

[From article]
A dangerous, often deadly, type of bacteria that lives in soil and water has been released from a high-security laboratory at the Tulane National Primate Research Center in Louisiana. Officials say there is no risk to the public. Yet despite weeks of investigation by multiple federal and state agencies, the cause of the release and the extent of the contamination remain unknown, according to interviews and records obtained by USA TODAY.
The incident has raised concerns that bacteria from the lab may have contaminated the facility's grounds and though initial, limited tests didn't detect it, some officials are pressing behind the scenes for more action, records show. The safety breach at Tulane's massive lab complex 35 miles north of New Orleans is the latest in a recent series of significant biosafety accidents at some of the most prestigious laboratories in the country where research is performed on bacteria and viruses that are classified as potential bioterror agents.
[. . .]
"Human error is always the first explanation you should consider for a laboratory accident," Ebright said. "The easiest way to transfer something from one place where it's supposed to be, to another where it isn't supposed to be is by a worker moving from one place to the other."
Sloppy biosafety practices can result in pathogens being tracked out of labs on shoes, coats, gloves, hands or other materials that weren't properly sterilized before being removed, he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/03/01/tulane-primate-bio-lab-bacteria-release/24137053/

Deadly bacteria release sparks concern at Louisiana lab
Alison Young

USA TODAY 

6:13 p.m. EST March 1, 2015

Danish Editor Recognizes Americans In A Coma Denying Dangers of Sharia Law

[From article]
The Danish editor who commissioned the Muhammad cartoons that triggered deadly protests a decade ago said Monday the failed attack on a Texas cartoon exhibition won't change how "politically correct" Americans feel about the drawings.
"The lines have already been drawn in this debate in the US and I do not think events like these can change anything, because people will read their own opinions into it," Flemming Rose told Jyllands-Posten, where he is currently the foreign editor.



"Those who think you have a right to draw Muhammad if you want, and believe it is an important part of freedom of speech will say: 'There, you can see that freedom of speech is under threat.'"
"The other wing will say that it is an unnecessary provocation," he added.
Jyllands-Posten sparked lethal protests in some Muslim countries after its 2005 publication of 12 cartoons that included a picture of the Islamic prophet wearing a bomb in a turban.
In 2006, the US State Department reacted to the Danish cartoon controversy by saying it supported freedom of expression but that "anti-Muslim images are as unacceptable as anti-Semitic images."
"Americans have a belief that you shouldn't offend people's religious sensitivities," Rose said.

"Piss Christ," a piece of art by U.S. artist Andres Serrano, created in 1987, is a photography representing a small plastic crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist's urine.
[Here is a liberal hypocrite employed by the US State Department. He did not mention when homosexuals promoted using taxpayer funds an image of Christ immersed in urine. The brutal relentless attacks on the Catholic church by homosexuals for decades are ignored. Attacks by Muslims on Jews and Christians not just words is ignored by these gentle flowers. Ahem!] 

http://www.globalpost.com/article/6537656/2015/05/04/danish-editor-slams-us-political-correctness-cartoons

Agence France-Presse
May 4, 2015 @ 12:45 PM
Danish editor slams US 'political correctness' on cartoons

Male Students In Danger From Campus False Accusations

[From article]
but it’s not just women who have to be careful at college.
As the mother of a young son, I, too, am starting to plan some advice — about the dangers to guys of false accusations of sexual abuse. It’s a real issue, and a scary one.
[. . .]
In fact, men are held to higher standards than women — most notably, by the very women and “feminists” who demand equal treatment between the sexes.
Consider: If a man and woman are both drunk at college, the onus is almost certainly on him to head off any possible sexual interaction between them.
That they are both intoxicated does not matter: If he wakes up the next morning with regrets, her feelings may be hurt — but if she wakes up with regrets, he may soon find himself facing expulsion or maybe even jail.

http://nypost.com/2015/03/26/boys-campus-trap-the-danger-of-false-accusations/

Boys’ campus trap: The danger of false accusations
By Karol Markowicz
New York Post
March 26, 2015 | 7:50pm

Dangers of Roofs Collapsing Due To Heavy Snow Followed By Rain

Posted February 18, 2015 9:03 PM ET; Last updated February 21, 2015 1:24 AM ET



Cambridge MA and neighboring cities are doing a great job keeping streets and sidewalks clear. The reverse phone calls with notices about emergency parking regulations are helpful. City and state officials should recommend that homeowners clear their roofs before they collapse when it rains. Television news is helping to notify homeowners of the dangers on their broadcasts.  

Two days after my posting the City of Cambridge issued this alert.

The following is a press release from the city of Cambridge.

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150220/NEWS/150229573

Cambridge officials warn of danger of snow on roofs
Posted Feb. 20, 2015 at 10:03 AM
Updated Feb 20, 2015 at 10:18 AM

* * *

Ninety minutes after I posted this, I read these articles about snow on a Cambridge roof falling on people.  


[From article]
Five people were on a walkway beside the Simoni Ice Rink about 6:15 p.m. today when snow fell on to them from the roof. Four were able to free themselves, but a 33-year-old man was buried. Two police officers and a worker inside the rink could not free him.
“It was five feet of hard-packed snow,” Warnick said. “They ended up using a front-end loader to extract the person from the snow.”
The 33-year-old and a 20-year-old male who was near him were both hospitalized.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/02/cops_roof_avalanche_buries_man_in_cambridge

Cops: Roof avalanche buries man in Cambridge
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
By: O’Ryan Johnson
Boston Herald

* * *

http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20150218/NEWS/150216262

5 hurt after snow falls from roof at Twin Cities ice rink
Five people were hurt after snow fell on them from the roof of Simoni Rink on the Cambridge/Somerville line on Feb. 18, according to our news partner WCVB-TV
Posted Feb. 18, 2015 at 8:25 PM
Updated at 8:34 PM

Dangers of Misusing Canes and Walkers

[From article]
But the take-home message isn’t as simple as avoiding walking aids, said Lockhart, who was not involved in the study.
“It gives kind of a mixed message but the bottom line is the device in itself may not cause future accidents, but at the same time since there’s a relationship between fall risk and the device use, we need to watch out for that a little in the future,” he said.
While a cane might help with mobility, it could also make it more difficult for people to stabilize themselves during a fall, Lockhart noted.
“It’s almost all about how we recover” from loss of balance, he said.
[. . .]
Someone who needs a walking aid should be given balance and gait exercises and then be trained to safely use a walker or cane, including proper gait patterns and ways to avoid falls, she said. The training should also include complicated maneuvers like opening and closing doors with the aid.
Roman de Mettelinge cautioned that the results of the study applied to individuals in assisted care facilities, who tend to be older and in poorer health than people still living at home.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/06/us-elderly-health-walking-aids-idUSKBN0LA21G20150206

Canes, walkers linked to higher risk of falls
BY JANICE NEUMANN
Fri Feb 6, 2015 12:58pm EST

Reuters

Dangers of Democracy and Islam

[From article]
The real problem is that hundreds of millions of Muslims reject our values. They do not believe all religions are equal. They do not believe in freedom of speech or the press to blaspheme the Prophet. Majorities in many Islamic countries believe adulterers, apostates, and converts to Christianity should be lashed, stoned and beheaded.
In surveys, the Muslim world not only rejects our presence and puppets, but also our culture and beliefs. In a free referendum they would vote to throw us out of the region and throw the Israelis into the sea.
For many in the Mideast collaboration with America is a betrayal. And our presence spawns more terrorists than our drones can kill.
This week Valls conceded there are "two Frances," adding, "A territorial, social, ethnic apartheid has spread across our country."
Have her five million Muslims become an indigestible minority that imperils the survival of France? Have France and Europe embraced a diversity more malignant than benign, possibly leading to a future like the recent past in Palestine, Cyprus, Lebanon, Sri Lanka and Ukraine?
T. S. Eliot said, to defeat a religion, you need a religion.
We have no religion; we have an ideology -- secular democracy. But the Muslim world rejects secularism and will use democracy to free itself of us and establish regimes that please Allah.
In the struggle between democracy and Allah, we are children of a lesser God. "The term 'democracy,'" wrote Eliot, "does not contain enough positive content to stand alone against the forces that you dislike -- it can easily be transformed by them. If you will not have God ... you should pay your respects to Hitler or Stalin."
Germany used democracy to bring Hitler to power. Given free elections from Morocco to Mindanao, what kind of regimes would rise to power? Would not the Quran become the basis of law?
If Charlie Hebdo were a man, not a magazine, he would be torn to pieces in any Middle East nation into which he ventured. And what does a mindless West offer as the apotheosis of democracy?
Four million French marching under the banner "Je Suis Charlie."
Whom the gods would destroy ...

http://buchanan.org/blog/against-terrorism-but-for-what-15504

Against Terrorism — But for What?
Friday - January 23, 2015 at 3:07 am
By Patrick J. Buchanan

Dangers If Few Stand Up To Defend Western Values

The book “Soumission” (Submission) by French author Michel Houellebecq is displayed in a bookstore in Paris. 
Photo: Reuters


[From article]
The most recent issue of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French newspaper attacked by Islamic terrorists, featured a caricature of the novelist Michel Houellebecq.
“In 2015, I lose my teeth,” he says. “In 2022, I will fast in Ramadan!”
The reference is to his latest book, “Soumission” (“Submission”), which imagines a future where the French version of the Muslim Brotherhood comes to power through presidential and parliamentary elections.
Initial reviews of the novel, often produced by those who hadn’t read it or, at best, surfed through it, labeled it as another piece of Islamophobia.
But it seems to me that “Soumission” isn’t mockery at all — it’s a chilling vision of an all-too-possible scenario.
[. . .]
Patriotism, the professor notes, is gone because the elites are dissolving France into an amorphous European mass. Democracy itself is but a sham, a scheme that allows two power-hungry camps of Right had Left to rule in alternance. At times, democracy is used as an excuse for invading other nations.
[. . .]
the little that is left of European traditions of deference for the sacred is now reserved only for Islam, which must be exempted from critical scrutiny in the name of “tolerance” and “respect.” Even when Muslims do something intolerable, Europeans have to tolerate it in atonement of past colonial and imperialist misdeeds. Victimhood is an inexhaustible capital that Muslims in Europe could dig into for generations.
[. . .]
“Islam has the merit of being an optimistic religion, content with the world as created by God,” he notes. This is in contrast with other religions. Buddhism, for example, sees the world as “dukkha” (inadequate) and life as a saga of sorrows. In Christianity, this world is a vale of tears, at least until the Second Coming.
[. . .]
The novel is, you’d think, meant to be read as satire.
[. . .]
A note of comedy is injected into this tragedy by people like President Hollande who keep repeating that the terror attacks had “nothing to do with Islam.” Is Hollande an authority on what is and what is not Islam? Talking heads repeat ad nauseam that France is not at war against Islam. OK. However, part of Islam is certainly at war against France, and the rest of the civilized world, including a majority of Muslims across the globe.

http://nypost.com/2015/01/11/w
 hat-happens-to-western-values-if-no-one-stands-up-against-islam/

What happens to Western values if no one stands up against Islam?
By Amir Taheri
New York Post
January 11, 2015 | 6:00am

New York Mayor De Blasio Warns Son About Dangers of NYPD

Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association president Pat Lynch (left) railed against Mayor Bill de Blasio. Photo: William Farrington/Chad Rachman
[From article]
The NYPD’s rank and file reacted with fury Thursday at being “thrown under the bus” by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who said he and First Lady Chirlane McCray had trained their mixed-race son, Dante, about the “dangers” posed by cops.
[. . .]
De Blasio had called the Garner case “profoundly personal for me,” saying that because of “the dangers [Dante] may face, we’ve had to literally train him . . . in how to take special care in any encounter he has with the police officers who are there to protect him.”
The comments angered cops, with one saying, “Did he tell his son to be wary of his police bodyguards, that he should be afraid of them as they pick him up at school and drive him where he needs to go?”
Lynch railed that de Blasio effectively told New Yorkers to teach their kids “that they should be afraid of New York City police officers.”
“That’s not true!” Lynch shouted. “Our city is safe because of police officers. All of our sons and daughters walk the streets in safety because of police officers. They should be afraid of the criminals. That’s what we should be teaching.”

http://nypost.com/2014/12/04/police-union-prez-rips-de-blasio-over-eric-garner/

Police fury at mayor’s racial smear
By Larry Celona, Kirstan Conley and Bruce Golding
New York Post
December 4, 2014 | 6:24pm


* * *

[From article]
Determined not to let a crisis go to waste, the mayor has spent the last two days cranking up the volume and the vitriol of his anti-cop agenda. Predictably, he trots out his son, Dante, to put a personal spin on police-black relations, saying he is fearful the biracial teen will end up in a confrontation with a cop.

http://nypost.com/2014/12/05/de-blasio-is-throwing-cops-under-the-bus/

De Blasio’s slur against NYPD imperils us all
By Michael Goodwin
December 5, 2014 | 1:22am
New York Post

Keeping People Un-Informed

[From article]
there is a disturbing pattern of administration officials minimizing the risk to Americans -- an attitude that has become predictable on many fronts.
What makes more sense: Acting in a prudent manner and assuming this virus can infect others via airborne transmission or waiting until we have a full blown nightmare on our hands and have to play catch up? Given all of what we know, I think a child could figure out the answer.
In any case, airborne transmission aside, we are already playing catch up.
[. . .]
According to the CDC: “Ebola is spread through direct contact (through broken skin or mucous membranes in, for example, the eyes, nose, or mouth) with blood or body fluids (including but not limited to urine, saliva, sweat, feces, vomit, breast milk, and semen) of a person who is sick with Ebola.”
[. . .]
According to the CDC: “Ebola on dried on surfaces such as doorknobs and countertops can survive for several hours; however, virus in body fluids (such as blood) can survive up to several days at room temperature.”
[. . .]
It is a sobering thing to read as one realizes the virus remains a threat even after it has killed its victim. The threat is so grave that the Independent notes: “Those who treat and bury the bodies of the dead, which are even more contagious than living Ebola patients, are especially at risk for infection.”
A virus that remains lethal long after the patient has died is a pretty disturbing disease to consider.
[. . .]
Consider something as basic as hand-washing. It’s a simple, life-saving standard of care. Yet it is commonly overlooked by doctors, nurses, and other health workers. As a result, they transport pathogens from one hospital room to the next, infecting patients as they go. In many cases, patients die as a result.
Now consider the many stages involved in suiting up before coming in contact with a patient with Ebola and the many steps involved in methodically removing all protective gear, including proper disposal, and you realize the opportunity for error is high.
[. . .]
Fear and panic does not cause Ebola.
[. . .]
And then there was the president telling people in West Africa they can’t catch Ebola sitting next to someone on a bus. Really? The why did the CDC advise Americans travelling to West Africa to "avoid public transportation?"
[. . .]
The virus lives for a long time outside of the body. Depending on the fluid it is living in, it can remain alive, and therefore contagious, for up seven weeks.

http://americanthinker.com/2014/10/ebola_truth_lies_human_error_and_common_sense.html

October 14, 2014
Ebola: Truth, Lies, Human Error, and Common Sense
By Carol Brown

Jessica Vaughn Reveals 167,000 Convicted Criminal Illegal Aliens Remain in US

Jessica Vaughn

[From article]
The CIS report released Wednesday and authored by the group’s director of policy studies, Jessica Vaughan, details the decline in immigration enforcement and reveals that there remain nearly 167,000 convicted criminal immigrants with final orders of removal still in the United States and “currently at large.”



“Prosecutorial discretion as practiced by the Obama administration has transformed immigration enforcement into a massive catch-and-release program that makes a joke of the law, fails to deter illegal settlement, and allows even illegal aliens who commit crimes to remain here,” Vaughan said Wednesday.
“These policies inflict real harm on Americans and legal immigrants,” she continued, “in the form of lost jobs, depressed wages, additional social services, and even lost lives. In addition, with the rise of ISIS and other terrorist groups around the world, our lax policies represent an unnecessary national security risk.”

 

Vaughn’s data originates from a Sept. 22 "Weekly Departures and Detention Report (WRD)". The WRD, according to Vaugh’s footnote, is authored by the Statistical Tracking Unit of the Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/10/15/Report-Interior-Deportations-Down-34-Percent-Nearly-167-000-Criminal-Immigrants-At-Large

LEAKED DHS DOCUMENT: 167,000 CONVICTED CRIMINAL ALIENS AT LARGE IN US
by CAROLINE MAY

15 Oct 2014, 11:31 AM PDT

Twenty Year Study Shows Marijuana Is Not Harmless

[From article]
A definitive 20-year study into the effects of long-term cannabis use has demolished the argument that the drug is safe.
Cannabis is highly addictive, causes mental health problems and opens the door to hard drugs, the study found.
The paper by Professor Wayne Hall, a drugs advisor to the World Health Organisation, builds a compelling case against those who deny the devastation cannabis wreaks on the brain.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2782906/The-terrible-truth-cannabis-British-expert-s-devastating-20-year-study-finally-demolishes-claims-smoking-pot-harmless.html

The terrible truth about cannabis: Expert's devastating 20-year study finally demolishes claims that smoking pot is harmless
One in six teenagers who regularly smoke the drug become dependent
It doubles risk of developing psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia
Heavy use in adolescence appears to impair intellectual development
Driving after smoking cannabis doubles risk of having a car crash
Study's author said: 'If cannabis is not addictive then neither is heroin'
By BEN SPENCER, SCIENCE REPORTER FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 18:02 EST, 6 October 2014 | UPDATED: 02:08 EST, 7 October 2014

Dangerous Highway Guard Rails

Patrolman Richard E. Pelkey
Lake Placid Police Department, New YorkEnd of Watch: Thursday, August 12, 1954

[From article]

in 1954 in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.
[. . .]
Responding to reports of a squatter in a cabin, four Lake Placid Police officers surrounded the structure before rushing the door. They were, after all, looking for a thief not a murderer. Call was hidden in a shower stall in the basement, waiting. Officer Richard Pelkey was the first one to enter the basement. Call shot him twice in the abdomen with a Luger. He shot the next officer twice in the stomach, then used him as a human shield before shooting another officer twice in the chest. As the gunman retreated through the back door, the fourth officer held his fire, unable to get a clear shot. Call dropped the injured officer he held in front of him, and ran into the woods. Officer Pelkey died eight days later. The two other injured officers recovered.
[. . .]
Call was sentenced to 20 years in prison for first-degree murder. He served nearly 14 years. After his release, he moved to Ohio and married a woman 25 years his junior. Four years later, after purchasing a Lotus Europa racing car, he hit a guard rail at 90 mph. The guard rail pierced the driver’s side door clear through the passenger door. Call had literally been impaled with a giant steel lance. Thus ended 

the tale of the Bushy-Haired Gunman. 

http://americanthinker.com/2014/09/armed_and_dangerous_manhunts_and_cop_killers.html

September 20, 2014
Armed and Dangerous: Manhunts and Cop Killers
By Susan D. Harris

Billionaire Warns of Dangers From EMP

[From article]
Billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Singer has issued an unusual warning for investors, calling the threat of a widespread blackout from an electromagnetic surge the "most significant danger" in the world.
Called an "electromagnetic pulse" or EMP, the events can occur naturally from solar storms or artificially from a high-altitude explosion of nuclear weapons.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101875747

Paul Singer: This threat is 'head-and-shoulders' above all others
Lawrence Delevingne | @ldelevingne
Tuesday, 29 Jul 2014 | 1:44 PM ET
CNBC.com

Media Ignores Black Mob Violence

[From article]
Chicago Police Superintendent Gary McCarthy was talking about crime at a black church when let the congregation in on the secret of who is responsible for violence in Chicago. Ready? Sarah Palin. [link embedded]
Later, he blamed the “pilgrims" [link embedded]



http://frontpagemag.com/2013/colin-flaherty/chicago-running-out-of-euphemisms/

Chicago Running Out of Euphemisms
April 4, 2013
By Colin Flaherty