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Columbia University and the University of California Santa Barbara trace the effects of Syria’s drought from the collapse of farming, to the migration of 1.5 million farmers to the cities, and then to poverty and civil unrest. Syria’s drought started in 2007 and continued until at least 2010 — and perhaps longer. ...Seager said, this is the “single clearest case” ever presented by scientists of climate change playing a part in conflict...

On March 3, 1845 congress overrode a presidential veto for the first time. Congress reined in President John Tyler’s zealous use of the presidential veto. Congress is finally asserting itself over Obama but he says he will be too busy to be any part of it. I wonder how he will spend the day? Thoughts

Matt DeHart, a former American soldier who sought asylum in Canada claiming torture by U.S. agents probing Anonymous hackers and WikiLeaks, was taken from his Ontario prison cell Sunday morning and delivered to U.S. agents at the border. Mr. DeHart, 30, was allowed to make a quick phone call en route to his parents, who are living in Toronto facing their own removal order, said his father, Paul. “He was peaceful and in good health,” Paul DeHart said in an interview but the family remains deeply worried. “We are concerned about Matt’s safety as he transits,” he said. “We said...

Dianne Feinstein: Inside Traitor Out of the entire universe of those who could have won the first phase construction contract for California’s high speed rail boondoggle, who would stand out as the last person who would win it if there were no political patronage. Put another way, who is the most likely person to win it if there is political patronage? Feinstein-one eyeBoth questions have the same answer: Richard Blum, the husband of California senator Diane Feinstein. So, who won the contract? Blum, of course, as the principle owner of Tutor Perini, the lead firm in the three-firm consortium selected...

Private pilot and science writer Jeff Wise, one of CNN's aviation analysts during the network's wall-to-wall coverage of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, has a wild theory about the plane's true location. In short, he thinks that the plane landed on a remote runway in Kazakhstan and might be part of a larger plot Russia orchestrated but has yet to fully play out. Investigators have not offered any conclusive explanation as to what happened to the plane after it vanished from radar, leaving plenty of opportunities for crazy theories to gain ground. People have speculated that the plane was shot...

Chris Plante reported this last hour doing his show at the convention. Can anyone confirm? Thanks...

Amherst, MA– University of Massachusetts Amherst student, Thomas Donovan, who is majoring in legal studies and had planned to become a Massachusetts State Trooper, has filed a lawsuit alleging his civil rights were violated after he was pepper sprayed, assaulted, and arrested for filming police brutality. The officer also repeatedly stomped on his cellphone in an attempt to destroy the evidence and cover up the crime- but the video survived.

FireEye's Mandiant found that the average data breach was discovered in 205 days, dropping from 229 days (2013) and 243 days (2012). Enterprises were only able to self-detect 31 percent of breaches, with third-parties and the government helping identify cybersecurity incidents.    Companies are becoming more vigilant in detecting cybercrime-related activity, such as credit card companies noticing fraudulent behavior.  "Over the last several years, organizations like the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have gotten increasingly involved in notifying US businesses that they have been identified as being compromised," said Ryan Kazanciyan, technical director at Mandiant, in a statement to eWEEK....

Trident question comes to the surface The SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Greens want Trident to be scrapped The loch at Faslane is very calm on a beautiful spring-like day, seagulls wheel above the jetty and its short, white radar tower. Beneath the still waters, I presume, lurks some of Britain's ageing nuclear deterrent. The future of Trident may not be much of an issue in the election, but it will be one of the most important, and expensive, decisions the new government makes. And it could be a vital issue in any negotiations if there is a hung...

Sunday -- March 1-- begins the 25th annual recognition of Irish-American recognition month as recognized by the United States Congress. Why, St. Patrick's Day parades have been going on in Boston for over 275 years to the delight of crowds' cheers and whistles. And, for these past 40 days, it appears a distinct type of whistle-blowing has entered the New England landscape: Whistle-blowers of alleged East Coast NFL shenanigans have been turned up to high volume. The pursuit? To discover if any roguish tricksterism by Brady & his Boston-based Patriotic Leprauchans these past eight years might be evidenced by “the...

The Deflategate controversy took another strange turn Thursday when Colts general manager Ryan Grigson revealed he had alerted the NFL the week before the AFC Championship Game about concerns the Patriots were underinflating footballs. Grigson’s revelation, which came during a press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, appeared to contradict league officiating director Dean Blandino’s strong denial the NFL had conducted a “sting” of New England during the title game. “Earlier in that week, prior to the AFC Championship Game, we notified the league about our concerns,” Grigson told reporters Thursday. “We went into the game, we had...

Ft. Lauderdale, FL– A video uploaded to YouTube on Sunday shows Fort Lauderdale police officer Victor Ramirez harassing and assaulting an elderly gentleman at the Broward Bus Terminal in downtown Fort Lauderdale. The man is not being aggressive or threatening in any way when he is shoved to the ground and slapped by the officer. The man was reportedly trying to use the bus terminal’s restroom. “The guy didn’t raise his hand to the officer at all,” a witness told Local 10 News. “The officer just knocked him down with his hands. The guy was defenseless.”

My friend Jerry works for the Fish and Game. I guess they teach fish how to play Monopoly or something. He's had some interesting jobs. One time, he had to shock fish. I saw that movie about the Cuckoos Nest, so the fish must have been wiseacres and deserved it. I went along as an unpaid volunteer. Dad always said, "The workman is worth his wages". I had to carry this metal pole out into the river. Normally, as I found out later, they use a car battery for electricity when they shock fish. Jerry figured that if a little...

It will be interesting to see what they put in his "Presidential Library" about his early years, when he is out of office. In a country where we take notice of many, many facets of our public figures' lives, doesn't seem odd that there's so little we know about our current president, Barack Obama. For example, we know that Andrew Jackson's wife smoked a corn cob pipe and was accused of adultery; Abe Lincoln never went to school; Jack Kennedy wore a back brace; Harry Truman played the piano. As Americans, we enjoy knowing details about our newsmakers, but none...

It’s really quite remarkable, how much more energy-efficient everything is these days. Our houses are built to higher standards; our fridges use a fraction of the power they used to, our cars get better mileage — yet we are using more energy per capita than we ever have. I am loath to bring up good old Stanley Jevons here. His theory, also known as the rebound effect, was that if things become more efficient, we use more of them. Even as our houses get more efficient, they get bigger and we fill them with more stuff, pretty much negating the...

Eric Buabeng, told Starr Fm that he found the ring by the roadside on his way home from church in November 2014 and picked it up. Buabeng said he wore the ring on his right index finger when he got home and felt the ring tightening up his finger.

[Summary: Public schools are crippled by an abundance of counterproductive ideas.] -- Sugar is sweet and fun to eat. But too much of it will kill you, just as having sugar in the gas tank will damage your car. We see the same contradiction in education. All new ideas are sold to the public as tasty treats and nutritious as well. In fact, they invariably turn out to be poisonous. Our Education Establishment seems to operate “labs” every bit as destructive as meth labs. Let’s call these laboratories “sugar labs.” That’s where our top-level educators concoct the too-sweet gimmicks that...

This cat is determined he is not going out for a walk A good morning chuckle. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sy1MDHZ27M&feature=youtu.be

The "War On Terror" Turns Inward – DHS Report Warns Of Right Wing Terror Threat Tyler Durden's picture Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/20/2015 22:00 -0500 Cohen Department of Justice FBI Martin Armstrong MSNBC Obama Administration Reality Steve Cohen White House Submitted by Mike Krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog, What you are about to read from CNN is just the very beginning of the intentional demonization of a growing segment of the U.S. population that rightly believes the government is run by a collective of thieving, corrupt, immoral sociopaths. This isn’t speculation either, years of content on this site serves...

I received this email yesterday. I had not applied for healthcare coverage through Anthem-Blue Cross so it was very suspicious when it said I had already paid the premium. Naturally I wanted to find out what was going on, had they charged me? Was someone getting healthcare using my identity? I was too suspicious of the e-mail, paranoid type that I am, I did not call the number on the e-mail, but instead called the number I found on their website. Turns out I was right! I was the first one to call to report this email phishing attempt. It...