35,000 elephants slaughtered yearly in Africa for ivory, illegal trade in tusks has soared, species could be wiped out in 100 yrs., PNAS Study-BBC

8/18/14, "Elephant poaching deaths reach tipping point in Africa," BBC, Rebecca Morelle

"Africa's elephants have reached a tipping point: more are being killed each year than are being born, a study suggests. 

Researchers believe that since 2010 an average of nearly 35,000 elephants have been killed annually on the continent.

They warn that if the rate of poaching continues, the animals could be wiped out in 100 years.

The work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Lead author George Wittemyer, from Colorado State University, said: "We are shredding the fabric of elephant society and exterminating populations across the continent."

Dramatic loss

The illegal trade in elephant tusks has soared in recent years, and a kilogram of ivory is now worth thousands of dollars. Much of the demand has been driven by a rapidly growing market in Asia. While conservationists have long said the outlook was bleak, this study provides a detailed assessment of the impact this is having on Africa's elephants. 

The researchers have found that between 2010 and 2013, Africa lost an average of 7% of its entire elephant population each year.

Because elephant births boost the population by about 5% annually, this means that overall more of the animals are being killed than are being born. 

Julian Blanc, who also worked on the study, from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), said: "If this is sustained, then we will see significant declines over time.

"The other thing to bear in mind is that different areas are affected differently. 

"There are still healthy growing populations in parts of Africa, Botswana for example. But in other places the poaching levels are devastatingly high, and that is particularly the case in Central Africa."
 
In Central Africa it is estimated that elephant numbers have fallen by about 60% in a decade.

Prof Wittemyer added: "We are talking about the removal of the oldest and biggest elephants.

"That means removal of the primary breeding males and removal of family matriarchs and mothers. This leaves behind orphaned juveniles and broken elephant societies." Conservationists said urgent action was needed. 

John Scanlon, secretary-general of Cites, said: "The world needs to decide how much further effort it wants to put into the conservation of this magnificent species and, if so, be prepared to mobilise the necessary human and financial resources to deliver - and we are seeing some encouraging signs in this regard. 

"In terms of concrete actions, we need to move to focus on the front-line and tackle all links in the illegal ivory trade chain - improve local livelihoods (for those living with elephants), strengthen enforcement and governance and reduce demand for illegal ivory.""

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8/14/14, "Illegal killing for ivory drives global decline in African elephants," PNAS.org





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Lack of excess CO2 in St. Louis causes 1 hour and 46 minute rain delay, Padres v Cardinals

8/16/14, "Gameplay is suspended due to rain during the seventh inning in a game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Diego Padres at Busch Stadium on August 16, 2014 in St. Louis, Missouri," getty. final 9-5 Padres. "Padres overcome rain, Cardinals 9-5," AP via ksdk.com. Rain delay, one hour and 46 minutes.




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Pittsburgh, Pa. on track for 9th coldest summer since 1871 when records began, trees changing color in August, entire summer cooler than usual-KDKA

8/15/14, "Experts: Record Cold Summer Leads To Changing Leaves In August," KDKA, Dennis Bowman, pittsburgh.cbslocal.com

Mid August 2014, Pittsburgh

"Pittsburgh is dealing with one of the coldest summers in history, and it’s having an effect on the trees. 

Friday morning temperatures fell into the 40s in Western Pennsylvania. 

Meteorologists say these cold temperatures are leading to trees changing colors in the middle of August. 

“This is extraordinary for August, and certainly is a reflection of the prevalence of cool weather,” KDKA Meteorologist Dennis Bowman said. 

Right now Pittsburgh is on pace for the 9th coldest summer since record keeping began in 1871. A KDKA weather viewer took these pictures of the leaves already starting to change colors on the South Side of town, and other residents have noticed the same thing happening on the North Shore. 

Marlene Evans says she is noticing the trees already changing along Water Street. They show yellow and red leaves already mixing in with the trees’ green leaves. 

Bowman says it is odd to see the golden yellow and red leaves already showing up. 

The Polar Vortex pattern that we saw in January, also caused cold temperatures in July. 

“There has been a frequency of cold fronts this summer, and the weather for June, July, and August has been substantially below normal,” Bowman said." via Drudge
 
Image: August leaves turning in Pittsburgh, photo by Marlene Evans via KDKA

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Al Gore sues Al Jazeera for millions he says it owes from sale of Current TV. In March 2013 Gore was sued for stealing idea of selling Current TV to oil-rich Qatar government and techniques for making the sale 'palatable' to the US public-Politico, AP

3/6/13, "Al Gore Sued Over Current TV Sale To Al Jazeera," AP, Paul Elias

"A television consultant claims that former Vice President Al Gore and others at Current TV stole his idea to sell the struggling network to Al-Jazeera. Los Angeles resident John Terenzio is demanding more than $5 million in a lawsuit quietly filed in San Francisco Superior Court Tuesday.

Al-Jazerra announced Jan. 3 that it would pay $500 million for San Francisco-based Current TV. Terenzio alleges he first brought the idea of the Qatar-owned Al-Jazeera's purchase of Current TV to board member Richard Blum in July, and he expected to be paid if his plan was used. The lawsuit claims Blum was open to the plan, which Terenzio laid out with a detailed PowerPoint presentation but feared Gore would find such a deal with the oil-rich government of Qatar "politically unappealing."...

Terenzio claims he presented..."a step-by-step approach for making the sale of the liberal media outlet to Al-Jazeera palatable to U.S. lawmakers, pro-Israel factions, cable operators and, most importantly, the American public.""...

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8/15/14, "Al Gore sues Al Jazeera for fraud," Politico, Dylan Byers

"Former Vice President Al Gore and business partner Joel Hyatt have filed a lawsuit against Al Jazeera on charges of fraud and material breaches in their acquisition of Current Media, POLITICO has learned.

Gore and Hyatt, the co-founders of Current Media, say that Al Jazeera has unlawfully refused to turn over tens of millions of dollars currently located in an escrow account. That money is owed to Current Media shareholders per the terms of the $500-million merger agreement made in January 2013, the plaintiffs say.

The lawsuit was filed Friday morning by David Boies, attorney for Gore and Hyatt, in the Delaware Court of Chancery. (Boies also represented Gore in the 2000 Florida election recount battle against George W. Bush.)

"Al Jazeera America wants to give itself a discount on the purchase price that was agreed to nearly two years ago," Boies said in a statement. "We are asking the Court to order Al Jazeera America to stop wrongfully withholding the escrow funds that belong to Current's former shareholders."

The complaint has been filed under seal at the request of Al Jazeera, though Gore and Hyatt have filed a motion seeking to unseal it.

"We do not believe that our complaint should be sealed," Boies said. "However, despite being a news organization, Al Jazeera America has said that the full complaint should be kept from the public file.  

We have therefore filed the complaint under seal until the Court can resolve this issue. We expect that the Court will reject Al Jazeera America's argument."

Dawn Bridges, executive vice president of Communications for Al Jazeera, says the organization is reviewing the complaint.

"Our outside counsel is reviewing the complaint," Bridges wrote in an email. "We think it relates to a commercial dispute between former shareholders of Current Media and Al Jazeera America." "We may have further comment once they’ve fully reviewed everything," she wrote."

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Politico commenter BMac05 •  

"Hilarious. First, Mr Environmentalism sells out his principles to get millions from the biggest polluters in the world, next, he's actually surprised when he gets screwed by a Middle Eastern based media conglomerate." 



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Summer 2014 in Washington DC, 90 degree days running 40% below normal-Washington Post

8/15/14, "Summer 2014 in D.C.: 90-degree days running 40 percent below normal," Washington Post, Capital Weather Gang, Ian Livingston

"There’s one constant about D.C. summer, and that’s a lot of hot days. Right? Not always.

While 2014′s average temperature for meteorological summer (Jun-Aug) is running fairly close to “normal,” as defined by the 1981-2010 climate period, it’s undoubtedly been among the more pleasant in recent memory when it comes to daytime heat.

With only 16 days featuring high temperatures at or above 90 degrees this year, we’re a week behind last year’s tally year-to-date, and 32 days (more than a month!) behind the pace of the scorching 2010-2012 summers.  The average year-to-date total is around 29.

Of course, the crazy summers that kicked off the 2010s averaged about three weeks more 90 degree days than the average around 36 days. 2010 even gave us a tie for the most on record at 67.

On the low end, 2004 sets the recent low mark when it comes to cumulative 90 degree days, at only 11. It reached that number prior to mid-August, and stayed there for the entire warm season. 2009 was more or less on par with this year at this point, having only racked up 15 by mid-August. It finished with 22.

Over the entire D.C. history going back to the 1880s, D.C. seeing so few 90 degree days through mid-August is about a one in five chance. However, two thirds of the years in which this happened occurred before the switch of observation location from downtown to National Airport in the mid-1940s.


There have actually been 17 years dating back to 1872 that finished with only 16 days at or above 90 degrees during the extended summer months, many were fewer. Three of these years with missing 90s occurred since 2000 (2001 had 16, 2000 had 12, and 2004 had 11). 2004′s tally is the record holder for lowest in a year at National.

Going way back, in 1886 and 1905 we only managed 7 days in the 90s or higher. Those are low marks that are almost undoubtedly safe for eternity.***

Finally, during the 10-year period prior to this one, D.C. recorded about 80% of its 90 degree or warmer days by August 15. It’s roughly the same for the longer climatological average. That would put us on pace for about 20.

Where do you think we’ll finish this year?"

"Ian Livingston is a forecaster/photographer and information lead for the Capital Weather Gang. By day, Ian is a defense and national security researcher at a D.C. think tank." Images from Washington Post, via Drudge

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***Comment: "Eternity" has already produced at least 5 ice ages including the one in which we live today. Therefore it's not "safe" to predict US temperature records of the past 150 years will stand forever as Mr. Livingston does:

"At least five major ice ages have occurred throughout Earth’s history: the earliest was over 2 billion years ago, and the most recent one began approximately 3 million years ago and continues today (yes, we live in an ice age!)."...11,000 years ago global temps. rose 20 degrees F in just a few years. "In a relative sense, we are in a time of unusually stable temperatures today." Utah gov.

Sept. 2010, "Ice Ages--What are they and what causes them?" Utah Geological Survey, geology.Utah.gov, by Sandy Eldredge and Bob Biek

"What is an ice age? An ice age is a long interval of time (millions to tens of millions of years) when global temperatures are relatively cold and large areas of the Earth are covered by continental ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Within an ice age are multiple shorter-term periods of warmer temperatures when glaciers retreat (called interglacials or interglacial cycles) and colder temperatures when glaciers advance (called glacials or glacial cycles).

At least five major ice ages have occurred throughout Earth’s history: the earliest was over 2 billion years ago, and the most recent one began approximately 3 million years ago and continues today (yes, we live in an ice age!).

Currently, we are in a warm interglacial that began about 11,000 years ago. The last period of glaciation, which is often informally called the “Ice Age,” peaked about 20,000 years ago. At that time, the world was on average probably about 10°F (5°C) colder than today, and locally as much as 40°F (22°C) colder.

2002 chart, Utah gov.

What causes an ice age and glacial-interglacial cycles? Many factors contribute to climate variations, including changes in ocean and atmosphere circulation patterns, varying concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide, and even volcanic eruptions. The following discusses key factors in (1) initiating ice ages and (2) the timing of glacial-interglacial cycles.

One significant trigger in initiating ice ages is the changing positions of Earth's ever-moving continents, which affect ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns. When plate-tectonic movement causes continents to be arranged such that warm water flow from the equator to the poles is blocked or reduced, ice sheets may arise and set another ice age in motion.

Today’s ice age most likely began when the land bridge between North and South America (Isthmus of Panama) formed and ended the exchange of tropical water between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, significantly altering ocean currents.

Glacials and interglacials occur in fairly regular repeated cycles. The timing is governed to a large degree by predictable cyclic changes in Earth’s orbit, which affect the amount of sunlight reaching different parts of Earth’s surface. The three orbital variations are: (1) changes in Earth’s orbit around the Sun (eccentricity), (2) shifts in the tilt of Earth’s axis (obliquity), and (3) the wobbling motion of Earth’s axis (precession).

How do we know about past ice ages? Scientists have reconstructed past ice ages by piecing together information derived from studying ice cores, deep sea sediments, fossils, and landforms. Ice and sediment cores reveal an impressive detailed history of global climate. Cores are collected by driving long hollow tubes as much as 2 miles deep into glacial ice or ocean floor sediments. Ice cores provide annual and even seasonal climate records for up to hundreds of thousands of years, complementing the millions of years of climate records in ocean sediment cores.

Within just the past couple of decades, ice cores recovered from Earth’s two existing ice sheets, Greenland and Antarctica, have revealed the most detailed climate records yet.

Do ice ages come and go slowly or rapidly? Records show that ice ages typically develop slowly, whereas they end more abruptly. Glacials and interglacials within an ice age display this same trend.
On a shorter time scale, global temperatures fluctuate often and rapidly. Various records reveal numerous large, widespread, abrupt climate changes over the past 100,000 years. One of the more recent intriguing findings is the remarkable speed of these changes. Within the incredibly short time span (by geologic standards) of only a few decades or even a few years, global temperatures have fluctuated by as much as 15°F (8°C) or more.

For example, as Earth was emerging out of the last glacial cycle, the warming trend was interrupted 12,800 years ago when temperatures dropped dramatically in only several decades. A mere 1,300 years later, temperatures locally spiked as much as 20°F (11°C) within just several years. Sudden changes like this occurred at least 24 times during the past 100,000 years. In a relative sense, we are in a time of unusually stable temperatures today—how long will it last?"

Chart above: "Simplified chart showing when the five major ice ages occurred in the past 2.4 billion years of Earth’s history. Modified from several sources including Dynamical Paleoclimatology: Generalized Theory of Global Climate Change, 2002, by Barry Saltzman." From Utah.gov

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

Added: In 2012 $1 billion a day was invested in the notion of imaginary human caused global warming.

Unlike Al Qaeda, ISIS, The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is self funded, can't be hurt economically-Bloomberg

8/14/14, "Islamic State Said to Challenge Al-Qaeda for Leadership," Bloomberg, Terry Atlas and Indira A.R. Lakshmanan

"The radical Islamic State’s advances in Iraq are strengthening its challenge to al-Qaeda in a contest for the leadership of the global jihadi movement, according to five U.S. intelligence officials. 

Its territorial gains and declaration of a caliphate spanning parts of Syria and Iraq, reinforced by its use of social media to broadcast its accomplishments in many languages, are attracting recruits and even drawing defections from the leadership of the core al-Qaeda group and some affiliates, the officials told reporters at a briefing today. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments. 

The U.S. intelligence community thinks the Islamic State has an incentive to conduct a major terrorist strike against U.S. or European targets, in part to further assert itself as the true leader of radical Islam, the officials said. There’s evidence that the group is establishing cells beyond Iraq and Syria, they said. 

There’s a “competition for jihadi leadership” in which the Islamic State disparages al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri and his lieutenants for hiding in the mountains as it tries to seize the global jihadi crown, retired U.S. Army Colonel Derek Harvey, a former senior analyst on Iraq for General David Petraeus, said at a panel on Iraq today hosted by the New America Foundation a Washington policy organization.

While President Barack Obama has sought to separate events in Syria, where he’s avoided military intervention in the civil war, and the challenge from the Islamic State, the intelligence assessments suggest a close connection, according to two of the intelligence officials. 

The intelligence officials didn’t discuss possible U.S. military or other actions now being considered by Obama.

Echoing Clinton 

Echoing former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s criticism of Obama’s failure to act more forcefully in Syria, the officials said the conflict there provided the ungoverned space and sectarian fuel to revitalize the group. One of the intelligence officials said the Islamic State’s caliphate could not happened without the opportunities it had in Syria. 

IS began as al-Qaeda in Iraq, was suppressed by U.S. forces and local Sunni tribesmen during the so-called “surge” in 2006-2007, then transformed itself into the Islamic State of Syria and the Levant and finally into its current form, the Islamic State. 

The Obama administration also may have underestimated the Islamic State’s capabilities in Iraq and Syria -- with the president famously comparing it to a junior varsity team -- in part because of the president’s reluctance to put his “toe, foot and then leg” back into Iraq, said Harvey.

Higher Estimate 

While the U.S. intelligence community had estimated that the Islamic State had about 10,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq before it captured Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, that estimate is now being revised upward, the intelligence officials said. 

The officials said the Islamic State’s ranks are bolstered by thousands of foreign fighters, including some from Europe and the U.S. whom officials said may return home with orders or independent plans to hit targets. That threat is highlighted by recent arrests in Europe, including about 40 men detained in Kosovo who reportedly had been fighting for the Islamic State. 

IS is a well-organized group with a hierarchy and succession plan, the intelligence officials said. Its leaders are experienced fighters, and most were detained or imprisoned during the U.S. occupation of Iraq, which provided key connections for them, they said.

Self-Financing 

Its leader, known by his nom de guerre, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, frequently on the move between hiding places in Iraq and Syria, is in control, though he doesn’t micromanage the group’s actions, officials said. 

The Islamic State is essentially self-funding, able to draw on hundreds of millions of dollars through taxes, money looted from banks, sales of oil from areas it now controls, extortion and other measures, the intelligence officials said. 

That means one key element of the strategy used against al-Qaeda -- curbing the money flow from the Persian Gulf and other outside sources -- wouldn’t be effective, they said.

Islamic State militants are “better equipped, they’re better manned, they’re better resourced, they’re better fighters, they’re better trained than the al-Qaeda in Iraq that our forces faced,” Brett McGurk, deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state for Iraq and Iran, said yesterday on the Charlie Rose show.

Foreign Fighters 

“It is a global expansionist, global jihadist organization” he said. “It is swollen with foreign fighters and suicide bombers” who will go “wherever the organization tells them to go. And that could very easily be capitals in the region, it could be capitals in Europe and, God forbid, it could be here.”

Still, there are factors that may limit the group’s ability to conduct a major al-Qaeda-style attack, the intelligence officials said. These include lacking the kind of technical know-how that al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s top bomb designer has shown in building devices to be smuggled aboard aircraft, the officials said. 

IS also may eventually face financial pressures because the areas it controls in Syria and Iraq are not economically self-sufficient, the officials said. Another vulnerability may be the militants’ main transit route through Turkey, if the Turkish government can be persuaded to crack down on would-be fighters traveling to Syria and Iraq, the officials said.

Gaining Momentum 

Although the U.S. officials said they don’t consider the Islamic State invincible, they said it now has so much momentum that it will be difficult and take time to thwart. If the group begins losing ground, and some recent Iraqi Sunni recruits peel off, it may be weakened, but will remain difficult to eradicate, they said. 

Weakening it will require military and counter-terrorism actions, and their effectiveness will depend in part on whether there are social and political changes that begin to drain Sunni support, the officials said. 

Many disaffected Sunnis in Iraq are willing for now to see if the Islamic State can govern its areas without the kind of brutality and atrocities it has used against foes and minorities, the officials said. 

Territorial setbacks could blunt the group’s power, the officials said, since an Islamic State without territory will be less appealing to international jihadists.

Unlikely Target 

The intelligence community doesn’t anticipate a move against Baghdad soon because the Iraqi capital is defended by security forces and Shiite militias, the officials said. It’s an unlikely target, since the vast majority of city’s population are Shiites who would fight the Sunni insurgent group, the officials said. 

IS also faces a rival in al-Qaeda, with the major rift now between Osama bin Laden’s designated heir, Egyptian exile Ayman al-Zawahiri, and al-Baghdadi, who during the U.S. occupation led al-Qaeda in Iraq, the officials said. 

Their personal and ideological disputes, first over the group’s activities in the Syrian civil war -- where it competes with the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate -- and then over the declaration of a caliphate, have led to a public breach and an open rivalry.

Territorial Ambitions 

“Since the late ’90s, al-Qaeda has been focused on prioritizing attacks against the U.S.” while the upstart Islamic State and its predecessor groups seek to control territory in the Middle East -- from Iraq into Syria and the Levant and down into Jordan, said Brian Fishman, a fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, and the author of studies on al-Qaeda and global jihad. 

The Islamic State wants “to eliminate all borders in the Middle East, and that’s where they’re putting their resources,” Fishman said. While al-Qaeda shares that eventual goal, it has targeted its resources on planning attacks on U.S. targets at home and abroad.

That leaves Obama facing questions about how far to go in trying to defeat the Islamic State. Obama will have to weigh the potential consequences at home and abroad. Opinion polls have found little support for further overseas military engagements. Limited U.S. airstrikes this month have fueled thousands of hostile posts on social media threatening U.S. embassies in the Mideast and other American targets, one of the officials said."

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Comment: The US isn't in a position to discuss "going to war" because the US is no longer a country. A place with no southern border isn't a country. The southern border was erased because it was considered "nativist" and selfish. Similarly, the US military no longer exists to protect America--that would be selfish. In so-called wars today, the US first loads up war zones with CNN and other "reporters" who broadcast our every move to the world. There's no distinction between Democrats and the GOP Establishment in this regard. The US today is two groups, the voiceless "huddled masses" (slaves), and the elites. The GOP wanted to make sure the Republican Party was good and dead so it applied some finishing touches in recent years. The end of two party system marked the country's overthrow.
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Since the 1970's the US Ruling Class has sold the country out to Middle East regimes:

10/20/11, "The Lost Decade," [2001-2011] Angelo M. Codevilla, Claremont Institute

"Our ruling class justified its ever-larger role" in America’s domestic life by redefining war as a never-ending struggle against unspecified enemies for abstract objectives, and by asserting expertise far above that of ordinary Americans. (parag. 9)...It failed to ask the classic headwaters question: what is the problem?...(subhead, 'Whatever it takes')

"Whatever it Takes"...

That would have pointed to the Middle East’s regimes, and to our ruling class’ relationship with them, as the problem’s ultimate source. The rulers of 

Iran,
Iraq, 
Syria, 
Egypt, 
Saudi Arabia, and the 
Palestinian Authority 

had run (and continue to run) educational and media systems that demonize America. Under all of them, the Muslim Brotherhood or the Wahhabi sect spread that message in religious terms to Muslims in the West as well as at home.

That message indicts America, among other things, 

for being weak.

And indeed, ever since the 1970s U.S. policy had responded to acts of war and terrorism from the Muslim world 

by absolving the regimes 

for their subjects’ actions....Many influential Americans were 

making money in the Arab world."...


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Wall St. Journal has long sought erasure of US borders:

"We propose a five-word constitutional amendment: There shall be open borders." (parag. 5).
 
July 3, 1984, "REVIEW & OUTLOOK (Editorial): In Praise of Huddled Masses," Wall Street Journal (Eastern edition) (scroll down)

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“Mexico would have died...without the option to send its rural poor-fully one-fifth of its population- to the United States.” ...  

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4/6/14, "Jeb Bush says illegal immigration often 'an act of love'," Reuters, Peter Cooney

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Diamondbacks at Cleveland Indians August 12 game postponed due to lack of excess CO2

8/12/14, "Two baseball fans wait for the rain to clear out in a delay during a baseball game between the Cleveland Indians and the Arizona Diamondbacks, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014, in Cleveland," ap. Because of a lack of global warming drought, the game was eventually postponed. 8/12/14, "Diamondbacks-Indians game postponed," AP





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