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Can The Government Confiscate My Firearms During a Disaster?
By Woody published on September 15, 2017 in Legal
Also read the comment section.
During the recent disaster wrought by Hurricane Harvey in Texas and Hurricane Irma in Florida, many readers have been wondering whether the government can confiscate their firearms if the Governor or Federal Government declare a state of emergency. The Shooter’s Log reached out to U.S. Law Shield for the answer.
dozens of rifles in a pile
Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the New Orleans police went door to door seeking people who rode out the storm in their homes to force them to comply with the forced evacuation ordered by the government. As part of the effort, the officers were also confiscating firearms. This created outrage among the law-abiding gun owners of the country and resulted in the passage of state and federal laws to prevent such confiscations from occurring in the future.
In 2006, Congress passed the DISASTER RECOVERY PERSONAL PROTECTION ACT of 2006. The law was intended to prevent the government from seizing legally-owned firearms during the time of a disaster. It was incorporated as an amendment to the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2007, and signed into law on October 4, 2006.
Can the Federal Government confiscate your firearms?
This law amended 42 U.S.C 5201 Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to add the following provision:
SEC. 706. FIREARMS POLICIES.
(a) PROHIBITION ON CONFISCATION OF FIREARMS – No officer or employee of the United States (including any member of the uniformed services), or person operating pursuant to or under color of Federal law, or receiving Federal funds, or under control of any Federal official, or providing services to such an officer, employee, or other person, while acting in support of relief from a major disaster or emergency, may:
Temporarily or permanently seize, or authorize seizure of, any firearm the possession of which is not prohibited under Federal, State, or local law, other than for forfeiture in compliance with Federal law or as evidence in a criminal investigation;
Require registration of any firearm for which registration is not required by Federal, State, or local law;
Prohibit possession of any firearm, or promulgate any rule, regulation, or order prohibiting possession of any firearm, in any place or by any person where such possession is not otherwise prohibited by Federal, State, or local law; or
Prohibit the carrying of firearms by any person otherwise authorized to carry firearms under Federal, State, or local law, solely because such person is operating under the direction, control, or supervision of a Federal agency in support of relief from the major disaster or emergency.
LIMITATION – Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any person in subsection (a) from requiring the temporary surrender of a firearm as a condition for entry into any mode of transportation used for rescue or evacuation during a major disaster or emergency, provided that such temporarily surrendered firearm is returned at the completion of such rescue or evacuation.
Following the lead of the federal government, most state legislatures adopted their own version of this law.
Texas Law on Firearms Confiscation
In Texas, Government Code Chapter 418 (EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT) permits the Governor to declare a State of Disaster which suspends certain state laws and regulations to allow local authorities to conduct rescue and recovery operations.
However, it does not allow for the seizure of any legally owned firearms, with limited exception.
Specifically,
Sec. 418.003. LIMITATIONS. This chapter does not:
(5) except as provided by Section 418.184, authorize the seizure or confiscation of any firearm or ammunition from an individual who is lawfully carrying or possessing the firearm or ammunition;
Sec. 418.184. FIREARMS.
(a) A peace officer who is acting in the lawful execution of the officer’s official duties during a state of disaster may disarm an individual if the officer reasonably believes it is immediately necessary for the protection of the officer or another individual.
(b) The peace officer shall return a firearm and any ammunition to an individual disarmed under Subsection (a) before ceasing to detain the individual unless the officer:
(1) arrests the individual for engaging in criminal activity; or
(2) seizes the firearm as evidence in a criminal investigation.
To read Governor Abbott’s actual declaration, click here.
Florida Law on Firearms Confiscation
Article IV, Section 1(a) of the Florida Constitution permits the Governor to issue an Executive Order to declare a State of Emergency in times of a natural disaster, allowing him to enact provisions of the State’s Emergency Management Plan.
For Hurricane Irma, the Executive Order provides specific provisions regarding the activities permissible to state and local officials during the emergency, as provided for in Florida Statutes beginning with Chapter 252.31 “State Emergency Management Act.”
In part, the Executive Order states:
Section 2. I designate the Director of the Division of Emergency Management as the State Coordinating Officer for the duration of this emergency and direct him to execute the State’s Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan and other response, recover, and mitigation plans necessary to cope with the emergency. Pursuant to section 252.36(1)(a), Florida Statutes, I delegate to the State Coordinating Officer the authority to exercise those powers delineated in sections 252.36(5)-(10), Florida Statutes, which he shall exercise as needed to meet this emergency, subject to the limitations of section 252.33, Florida Statutes.
But those powers have certain limitations with regards to firearms. In particular,
Chapter 252.36(5)(h) states the Governor may:
(h) Suspend or limit the sale, dispensing, or transportation of alcoholic beverages, firearms, explosives, and combustibles. However, nothing contained in ss. 252.31-252.90 shall be construed to authorize the seizure, taking, or confiscation of firearms that are lawfully possessed, unless a person is engaged in the commission of a criminal act.
Final Word
So, there you have it. During our times of disaster, we can all focus on recovery and not have to worry about the authorities coming along and confiscating our firearms. The Second Amendment survives disasters.
Surprising Hurricane Harvey Heroes
[Addendum: Due inquiries from Members, this story was updated on Sept. 7.]
U.S. Virgin Islands Confiscating Firearms
On Tuesday, the island’s Governor ordered the National Guard to confiscate weapons and ammo that may be required for them to carry out their mission. What that specifically means is unclear. Also, the U.S. Virgin Islands is not governed by the U.S. Constitution, but instead by the “Revised Organic Act of the Virgin Islands,” a federal law approved by Congress in 1954. The island does not have its own constitution yet.
The NRA has threatened to file a lawsuit, and here is their take:
In 1997, the chairman of the House Committee on Resources asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to clarify just how the U.S. Constitutional applies to various “U.S. Insular Areas,” including the U.S. Virgin Islands. Its findings were inconclusive and unsettling, especially to those now living under Governor Mapp’s orders. Said the report:
Under the Insular Cases and subsequent decisions, rights other than fundamental rights, even though they may be stated in the Constitution, do not apply to the territories or possessions unless the Congress makes them applicable by legislation. The Congress can by law extend the coverage of the Constitution in part or in its entirety to a territory or possession, and has done so with respect to some territories. In the absence of such congressional action, however, only fundamental rights apply.
Digging further, one finds that only parts of the Fifth Amendment are considered to be “fundamental” based on court rulings, and none of the Sixth Amendment applies. And nothing is said in the 75-page report about the Second.
If the NRA does sue and their position is sustained by the courts that people living on the island are U.S. Citizens with full protection of the U.S. Constitution, the issue will be settled. If not, or no suit is filed, those living on the island will be subjected to having their weapons confiscated by the National Guard.
Click here to become a member of U.S. Law Shield.
http://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/government-confiscate-firearms-disaster/?utm_source=emarsys&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Chronicle+091617-Can+the+Government+Confiscate+My+Firearms+During+a+Disaster%3F-2017-09-16+16%3A00%3A00&sc_src=email_2127763&sc_lid=127655934&sc_uid=QYYgoZXI51&sc_llid=2202880&sc_eh=0a7c9572e2fb8f4b1
Basically it appears the way the order is written, they can take "Anything" they feel they need while out and about. So not limited to guns. I'm sure they'll take down the order as soon as they can (being sarcastic)
"subject to approval by the territory’s Justice Department."
Did they get the approval?
This is how the U.S. tax payer is going to bail out CA.
https://www.rt.com/usa/398143-la-awarded-2028-olympics/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
Interesting how the writer only focuses on oil being used for the production of fuel for vehicles.
There is a large list of other things made from oil and none were even discussed. I'd say there's a reason for that.
had a similar problem with and HP, turned out there is a pin in the end of the power cord that plugs into the PC that broke off. I had taken to a repair place, he took on look at it, grabbed another power supply, and it was up and running again. I had the same blink, blink of the power light when trying to turn it on. thought it was toast.
Pence up in Traverse city shortly, reportedly over 1000 in a hanger, more rolling in.
yes, I heard. We can only hope the truth finds its way out soon.
I guess the question would be, who is the informant and is he really dead?
Subject: Bone in the USA: Researchers 3D print potential replacement skeleton parts
Feed: RT America
Posted on: Thursday, September 29, 2016 11:23 PM
Author: RT
Bones made out calcium could be going the way of the flip phone! Not really, but researchers at Northwestern University have developed a breakthrough “hyperelastic bone” that could be used in living tissue to bind bone and tendons together.
https://www.rt.com/usa/361139-synthetic-bone-replacement-possible/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS
same result when I selected Trump. Thought it might be my protected browser so I switched to IE. same result. BUT, did it again from IE and voted for the witch and it went through. Maybe they dont like the results so far.
The White House held a celebration Thursday afternoon to honor Eid al Fitr, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. While no guest list has been made public, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has learned that it includes a number of Islamist activists who have espoused views in direct contrast with American policy.
the rest of the article
http://www.investigativeproject.org/5523/obama-eid-celebration-again-empowers-islamists
The Frontline of Gun Control — California Bill Update
to long to post, here is the link
http://blog.cheaperthandirt.com/frontline-gun-control-california-bill-update/
''We are afraid'' - Swedish schoolchildren's desperate letter to the principal
http://speisa.com/modules/articles/index.php/item.2604/we-are-afraid-swedish-schoolchildren-s-desperate-letter-to-the-principal.html
With a little work you can add an ATV silencer, or other low back pressure muffler to quite it down more. I have not done it to mine yet, but one of the projects on the to do list. example on YouTube or google I remember someone had direct fit kits.
planting calendar
http://www.almanac.com/gardening/planting-dates/states
393 to 0: U.S. House Unanimously Declares ISIL Is Committing Genocide Against Christians
By Terence P. Jeffrey | March 14, 2016 | 8:08 PM EDT
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
(CNSNews.com) - The U.S. House of Representatives voted 393 to 0 tonight in favor of a resolution declaring that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is committing “genocide” against Christians, Yezidis and other religious minorities in the Middle East.
The vote on the resolution, which was sponsored by Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R.-Neb.) and co-sponsored 203 other members, brought together as broad a coalition as possible in the House. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (the chairman of the Democratic National Committee) joined with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Louie Gohmert (R.-Texas) in voting for it.
In total, there were 229 Republican votes for it and 164 Democratic votes for it.
The House resolution declared that "the atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against Christians, Yezidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide."
"It is my sincere hope that this trans-partisan resolution will further compel the State Department to join the building international consensus in calling the horrific ISIS violence against Christians, Yezidis, and others by its proper name: 'genocide,’” said Rep. Jeff Fortenberry.
Because of language included in the omnibus spending bill that Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed in December, Secretary of State Kerry is required to determine by this Thursday whether to declare on behalf of the administration that ISIL is committing genocide against Christians, Yezidis and other religious minorities.
In a statement issued a year and half ago, on Aug. 7, 2014, Kerry said:“ISIL’s campaign of terror against the innocent, including Yezidi and Christian minorities, and its grotesque and targeted acts of violence bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide.”
However, testifying in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of State on Feb. 24, Kerry said he had ordered an “additional evaluation” to aide him in deciding whether ISIL was committing genocide.
“I will make a decision on it as soon as I have that additional evaluation and we will proceed forward from there,” Kerry testified.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)—an independent federal commission—has expressly called for the U.S. government to declare that ISIL is committing genocide against Christians and others.
"USCIRF calls on the U.S. government to designate the Christian, Yazidi, Shi'a, Turkmen, and Shabak communities of Iraq and Syria as victims of genocide by ISIL," USCIRF said in a Dec. 7, 2015 statement.
USCIRF's 2015 annual report included this description of ISIL's campaign against Christians in northern Iraq:
“ISIL’s takeover of northern Iraq could well mark the end of the presence in that area of its ancient Yazidi and Christian communities.
“In June 2014, ISIL took the northern city of Mosul, overrunning Iraqi forces there, who dropped their weapons and fled. ISIL issued an ultimatum that all Christians must convert to Islam, leave Mosul, pay a tax, or face death. The Christian community in Mosul dates back more than 1,700 years, with an estimated 30,000 living there before the ISIL offensive. In August, ISIL captured Qaraqosh, the largest Christian town in northern Iraq, prompting an estimated 100,000 Christians to flee, and an assault on the Christian town of al-Kosh also led to an exodus of Christians. Nearly all Christians are believed to have left ISIL-held territory, with most fleeing to the KRG region.”
The Knights of Columbus have also been asking the State Department to declare that ISIL is committing genocide against Middle Eastern Christians.
“Today’s unanimous bipartisan passing of H. Con. Res. 75, which declares ISIS' attacks against Christians and other ethnic minorities occurring in the Middle East a genocide is historic and welcome,” Knights of Columbus CEO Carl Anderson said after tonight’s vote in the House.
“This bipartisan vote joins Congress' voice with those of the majority of American people and of the world,” said Anderson. “It is a testament to the truth.The question remains: Will the State Department join the rest of the world in calling this what it is--genocide? Or will it undermine the global and national consensus on this issue, signaling to terrorists that we don't take their crimes as seriously as the rest of the world does?”
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/393-0-us-house-unanimously-declares-isil-committing-genocide-against?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cnsnews&utm_term=facebook&utm_content=facebook&utm_campaign=n-unanimous-resolution
Firearms sales probably is included under #2
Chemical Banned Nearly 30 Years Ago Linked to Parkinson’s Disease
http://naturalsociety.com/organochlorine-pesticide-banned-parkinsons-disease/
More than half of U.S. states are now refusing to cooperate with Barack Obama’s insane importation of 200,000 so-called ‘Syrian Refugees’ in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.
http://toprightnews.com/backlash-more-than-half-of-u-s-governors-now-defying-obamas-plan-to-import-syrian-refugees/
Situation Update No. 3
Posted:2015-11-14, 04:28:55 [UTC]
Ref.no.: VW-20151114-50869-FRA
Situation Update No. 3
On 2015-11-14 at 19:53:56 [UTC]
Event: Terror Attack
Location: Paris Capital City France
Number of Deads: 129 person(s)
Number of Injured: 352 person(s)
Number of Evacuated: 0 person(s)
Number of Infected: 0 person(s)
Situation:
A Paris suicide bomber who was carrying a Syrian passport passed through Greece as a refugee in October, according to a Greek minister. The passport was retrieved from one of the suicide bombers who blew himself up outside the Stade de France stadium as part of last night's coordinated attacks, which killed at least 129 people. The passport holder, who is understood to be 25, passed through the island of Leros of October 3 as a refugee, where he was identified 'according to EU rules'. Meanwhile, Belgian police arrested 'a number' of people in Brussels believed to be connected to the Paris attacks. Officers launched raids in the Molenbeek district of the Belgian capital, after a car with Belgian licence plates was spotted outside the Bataclan last night. But Greece's deputy minister in charge of police, Nikos Toscas, did not know if the passport was checked by other countries through which the holder possibly passed on his way to France. Mr Toscas said: 'On the case of the Syrian passport found at the scene of the terrorist attack. 'We announce that the passport holder had passed from Leros on Oct. 3. where he was identified based on EU rules... We do not know if the passport was checked by other countries through which the holder likely passed. 'We will continue the painstaking and persistent effort to ensure the security of our country and Europe under difficult circumstances, insisting on complete identification of those arriving.' A Greek police source said French authorities had asked other countries in Europe, including Greece, to check on the passport. However it has not yet been confirmed whether the Syrian passport actually belonged to the bomber, or whether it was authentic or one of the many forged passports flooding into Europe with the refugee crisis.rnrnIt has emerged that one of the terrorists had a match ticket and tried to get into the France v Germany game armed with a suicide vest when he was turned away by the security guard. According to the Wall Street Journal who spoke with a security guard called Zouheir, the terrorist was frisked as he tried to enter the Stade De France 15 minutes into the game. The terrorist fled and detonated his vest. A second terrorist exploded approximately three minutes later while a third blew up outside a nearby McDonalds. The attackers who killed 129 people in Friday night's wave of shootings and suicide bombings in Paris appeared to be made up of three teams, Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said on Saturday. 'We can say at this stage of the investigation there was probably three coordinated teams of terrorists behind this barbaric act,' he told a news conference. He also confirmed that French authorities had a security file for Islamist radicalisation on one of the attackers, who also had a criminal record, but had never spent time in jail. He added that a person who had hired one of the cars used in the attacks was stopped at the Belgian border. The French police reportedly asked the Greek authorities today to check the records of 10 people suspected of being linked to the attacks, according to the French newspaper Liberation. Another of the terrorists involved in last night's attacks in Paris has been officially identified as a Parisian, according to local media reports. The man, who was killed at the Bataclan, was identified using his fingerprints and was from the neighbourhood of Courcouronnes, about 20miles south of Paris. French reports say that the man, who was around 30 years old, was already known to French anti-terrorist authorities prior to last night's attacks. rnrnAn Egyptian passport has also been reportedly recovered from one of the three men who attacked the stadium. One of the three attackers who died at the stadium is believed to have been as young as 15 years old. Three of the eight terrorists have now been identified: the two men with the Syrian and Egyptian passports outside the stadium, and the known French extremist killed at the Bataclan. Up to three raids were carried out in the Molenbeek district, where three of the suspects are believed to be from. Mehdi Nemmouche, the mastermind behind the May 2014 attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels, during which four people were killed, also lived in Molenbeek on his return from Syria. It's also reported by Le Parisien newspaper that the killers came in a car registered in Belgium. The French newspaper Liberation reported that one of the terrorists who carried out the attack at the Bataclan Theatre has been identified as a known French extremist. According to French daily El Figaro, investigators have recordings of two of the terrorists at the Bataclan communicating in French. Witnesses have told of the horror which unfolded inside the Bataclan theatre, where more than 1,000 people were watching rock band Eagles of Death Metal perform. Some reported hearing at least two of the terrorists at the Bataclan Theatre speaking perfect French
direct link is broken
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/index.php?lang=eng
Works the other way too. I head the rates go up when it is hot there 80+. So in the summer Houston is how hot in the summer?
HOUSTON, Texas — A Harris County Sheriff’s Deputy was shot execution style
at a gas station while reportedly in full uniform. The deputy was filling up his patrol car. Witnesses told Breitbart Texas the shooter shot the deputy in the back of the head and then three times in the back. This tragedy comes within days of a group of Black radicals calling for “lynching whites and killing cops,” as Breitbart Texas recently reported. Witnesses also told Breitbart Texas that the shooter was a black male.
The shooting occurred late Friday evening in Northwest Harris County just outside of Houston. One witness who spoke to this writer said he knew the deputy personally and had just spoken with him about five minutes before the shooting.
He said he saw the man shoot his friend and speed off in a red pickup truck. He said he followed the truck for about two miles until he lost it at a major highway intersection. The truck turned onto Highway 6 from West Road and disappeared.
Deputies in the area confirmed they were indeed searching for a red Ford Ranger pickup truck.
Two teenage girls told Breitbart Texas they saw the shooter fire one shot into the back of the head of the deputy who was simply getting gas for his vehicle. After the deputy fell, they heard three or four other shots. According to the first witness, those shots were fired into the deputy’s back.
The execution of the deputy came just days after black radicals went on an internet radio show hosted from Texas and called for the lynching of white people and the killing of cops to “turn the tide” against blacks being killed by cops. Breitbart Texas reported on Friday morning the details of the radio show and the comments that were made.
One black man spoke up saying they needed to kill “cops that are killing us. The other black male on the show said, “That will be the best method right there.”
The shooter is described as male, dark complexion, five-foot-ten to six-foot. He was said to be wearing a white t-shirt and red shorts.
Witnesses said a LifeFlight helicopter came and picked up the deputy to take him to the hospital, but they believe he was dead at the scene.
The first witness showed this reporter a photo of the deputy with his children. He was highly emotional as he was speaking. “He was the best guy you can imagine as a friend,” the witness said. “He was always coming to me and asking if he could do anything for me.”
Breitbart Texas will follow this developing story.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as a prosecutor and an associate judge. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2.
Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/08/28/texas-deputy-executed-days-after-black-radical-group-calls-for-killing-cops/
Finland is the poster child for why the euro doesn’t work
By Matt O'Brien July 23
(Wikimedia Commons)
Helsinki (Wikimedia Commons)
Sometimes bad things happen to good economies.
Take Finland. Its schools are among the best in the world, its government is among the least corrupt, and, for rich countries, its public debt is among the lowest. But despite the fact that the fundamentals of its economy are strong, its economy is not, in fact, strong. Finland is actually stuck in its longest recession in living memory. Why? Well, the short story is the euro.
Rest of the story: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/23/finland-is-the-poster-child-for-why-the-euro-doesnt-work/?tid=sm_tw
US Catholics ready to follow Pope's 'marching orders' on climate change
Religious leaders say pontiff’s call for action brings urgency to existing support for environmental measures in Obama administrations’s climate plan
Archbishop of Louisville, Ky. Joseph Kurtz, president, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, right, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, brief the news media on "Laudato Si", Pope Francis' encyclical on the environment, in Washington
Archbishop of Louisville, Ky. Joseph Kurtz, president, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, right, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, brief the news media on “Laudato Si”, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, in Washington. Photograph: Cliff Owen/AP
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/18/pope-encyclical-climate-change-catholics-us-response
Suzanne Goldenberg US environment correspondent
@suzyji
Thursday 18 June 2015 13.15 EDT
Last modified on Friday 19 June 2015 09.05 EDT
Leaders of the Catholic church in America took their “marching orders” from the pope’s encyclical on Thursday, fanning out to Congress and the White House to push for action on climate change.
The high-level meetings offered a first glimpse of a vast and highly organised effort by the leadership of America’s nearly 80 million Catholics to turn the pope’s moral call for action into reality.
“It is our marching orders for advocacy,” Joseph Kurtz, the president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Archbishop of Louisville, said. “It really brings about a new urgency for us.”
Representatives of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops said they would hold two briefings for members of Congress on Thursday and visit the White House on Friday to promote and explain the pope’s environmental message.
Those efforts will get a new injection of urgency, when the pope delivers a much-anticipated address to Congress during his visit to the US in September, church leaders said.
Church leaders rejected the accusations from some conservatives – including the Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush – that the pope had trespassed into the political realm.
Within the US, the pope’s call for climate action brought an outpouring of support from religious leaders, environmental, social justice and public health groups, scientists, and Democrats.
Pope's climate change encyclical tells rich nations: pay your debt to the poor
Read more
Religious leaders said the message from an extremely popular Pope Francis would add new urgency to the church’s existing support for a number of environmental measures in Barack Obama’s climate plan – including the new rules limiting carbon pollution from power plants, due to be finalised this summer.
“I believe this is potentially the game changer we have all been waiting for,” said the Reverend Canon Sally Bingham, founder of Interfaith Power & Light, which campaigns for action on climate change. “I really think it will change enough minds to get the critical mass we need to get our house in order and cut greenhouse gas emissions.”
The advocacy group, Presente.org, said the pope’s message hit close to home for Latinos in the US and elsewhere, who often live in poor and heavily polluted neighbourhoods.
The pope’s message also resonated strongly among activist priests and nuns, who have lobbied oil companies and called on their own parishes to divest. The encyclical puts the Vatican’s stamp of approval on years of effort, often at the side lines, and that on its own had galvanised campaigners, said Sister Joan Brown, a Franciscan in New Mexico who has worked on climate change for more than 20 years.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in the faith community or otherwise,” she said.
The release of the much-awaited climate message puts a trigger on a series of events that were more than a year in the planning.
In Atlanta, the archbishop’s office used the encyclical to sign up scientists and engineers to help parishes, and parishioners, reduce their carbon footprint. The bishop of Des Moines is planning to hold a press conference at a wind farm.
Meanwhile, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Climate Covenant were producing primers to help parish priests incorporate the pope’s environmental message in their Sunday sermons, church officials said.
Religious leaders deflected criticism from Bush that the pope had strayed too far from the pulpit.
“I don’t think he is presenting a blueprint for saying this is exactly a step-by-step recipe,” Kurtz said. “He is providing a framework and a moral call as a true moral leader to say take seriously the urgency of this matter.”
Richard Cizik, who was dismissed as lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals after calling for climate action, said the pope was simply doing his duty as a religious leader. “It is our responsibility to do what is right, even if it is unpopular,” he said.
Francis included a handwritten note on the embargoed copies of his letter that were distributed to bishops around the world – putting a further weight on the sense of urgency. The text also began with scientific data.
“It saves the encyclical from being dismissed simply as an abstract impression,” said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington. “What our holy father is lifting up is a series of acts that beg for some coherent moral analysis, some direction for the good of all on the planet and for the planet itself.”
The push for the pope’s climate message – as already defined by the US Conference on Catholic Bishops – includes support for three specific policy measures.
These include the Environmental Protection Agency’s rules for new power plants, which are vigorously opposed by the fossil fuel industry and Republicans, the Green Climate Fund for developing countries, also opposed by Republicans, and an energy efficiency bill before Congress, which has bipartisan support.
“That there ought to be a national carbon standard we think is a good thing because it would help protect the poor people who live near the power plants,” said Stephen Colecchi, director of the office of international justice and peace at the US Conference of Bishops.
Those efforts in the US could also boost prospects for the climate negotiations in Paris, he noted. “Adopting a national carbon standard and funding a Green Climate Fund are two things the US could put on the table which would help achieve a climate agreement,” he said.
Erniz Moniz, the energy secretary, said the pope’s call to action would also spur other countries to act on the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.
“Pope Francis should inspire all countries to redouble the deployment of clean energy technologies and energy efficiencies and find the international will to significantly cut global emissions of heat-trapping pollution,” he said.
The World Coal Association – while refraining from the direct attacks on Francis made by coalmining companies in the US – called on the pope to endorse research on cleaner coal technologies.
Campaign groups said they hoped the pope’s intervention would reset the parameters of the discussion surrounding climate change, from narrow political agenda to broader morality.
“The pope’s message applies to all of us,” said Rhea Suh, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. “He is imploring people of goodwill everywhere to honour our moral obligation to protect future generations from the dangers of further climate chaos by embracing our ethical duty to act,” she said.
Andrew Steer, the chief executive of the World Resources Institute, said the message was a call to action for world leaders ahead of the Paris climate talks. “The pope’s message brings moral clarity that the world’s leaders must come together to address this urgent human challenge,” he said.
Ray Bradley, the climate scientist, said: “He has no political agenda. He speaks from the heart. Who else can address this issue without the taint of politics.”
The Evangelical Environmental Network also came out strongly behind the pope.
More than 300 rabbis signed a letter calling on Jewish institutions and individuals to divest from “carbon Pharaohs” or coal-based electric power, and buy wind power instead.
If found on the reserve the people that do this should be shot with a tranquilizer gun and have the legs and hands amputated and left to fend for themselves.
Michigan is on that list, with 450,000 plus CCW/CPL registgered and adding 10k or more per month. They will not find it easy here, just like the thugs in Detroit have been finding out lately.
10 Celebrities You Didn’t Know Were Libertarian
http://thelibertarianrepublic.com/10-celebrities-you-didnt-know-were-libertarian/
While millennials still make up the largest percentage of those that call themselves libertarian, much of the idea has matriculated into books, film and social media. We thought we would compile a list of celebrities who might be Libertarian or – at the very least – leaning Libertarianish. As Victor Hugo once said,“Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.”
Now that's funny! rinse and repeat. Take a look at this search, I knew I heard this before.
https://www.google.com/search?q=W2+Energy&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=W2+Energy+Botswana
The Plan To Replace Existing Humans With ''Transhuman'' Hybrids
Michael Snyder
Activist Post
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
http://www.activistpost.com/2015/03/the-plan-to-replace-existing-humans.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ActivistPost+%28Activist+Post%29
Transhumanists believe that the time has come for humans to take control of their own evolution. Many of them are fully convinced that we can use emerging technologies to “fix” the flaws in the human race and ultimately eradicate sickness, disease, poverty and war.
So would you like to have the eyesight of an eagle? Would you like to download an entire library of information directly into your brain in just minutes? Would you like to rid your family line of all genetic diseases? Would you like to extend your lifespan to 500 years or even longer?
Transhumanists promise that all of these things will soon be possible, if we are willing to embrace a new way of doing things. They foresee a future in which we will all have lots of little nanobots running around inside of us, in which we are all connected directly to the Internet, and in which we have all been genetically modified to at least some degree. In fact, one prominent transhumanist recently stated that he believes that "eventually every human will be designed on a computer." In the end, the goal is to produce a vastly improved version of the human race which will usher in a golden new age for the planet. But as we merge ourselves with animals, machines and weird new technologies that scientists cook up, at what point do we cease to be human?
And when I say “weird new technologies”, I am not overstating things in the least. Just consider what one transhumanist says that they have planned for us…
As with all radical social movements, there is bound to be resistance. After all, transhumanists are interested in some pretty bizarre things: mind uploading, living indefinitely through life extension science, biohacking themselves to install cyborg body parts, and creating artificial general intelligence. Each of these areas of research will radically change the lives of people—and some, such as cyborg body parts, are already doing so.
Once upon a time, the only people that talked about “cyborgs” were science fiction geeks.
But today, many transhumanists speak of us becoming “cyborgs” as if it was some sort of foregone conclusion. It is almost as if they are the Borg, and they are telling us that there is no choice but to assimilate.
And this assimilation is already happening to a certain degree. If the idea of humanity “merging with machines” sounds bizarre to you, just check out the following excerpt from a recent Vice article…
Next up are brain implants, tiny computer chips inserted surgically directly into the brain itself. So far, they’ve been used mainly to help treat patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease and other neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s and epilepsy.
But some scientists are now tinkering with brain implants that enable more physical pursuits, from controlling people’s prosthetic limbs to ?restoring movement in paralyzed rats. Scientists say that the capabilities of brain implants are only in their infancy, and some of them envision a near-future where brain implants can even be installed in healthy people to connect them directly to the internet and improve memory] a la Black Mirror. The US military agency DARPA is already building such memory chips, and wants to develop implants that could be installed throughout a soldier’s nervous system to provide advanced, on-the-spot healing of conditions from mental illness to arthritis.
Of course most of those developing these new technologies believe that they are doing something wonderful for humanity.
And in many cases they are.
But at what point do we enter a danger zone?
In a previous article , I noted that one recent survey discovered that approximately one-fourth of all professionals in the 18- to 50-year-old age bracket would like to connect their brains directly to the Internet.
I don’t know about you, but that is something that I will never be doing.
Meanwhile, scientists continue to push the envelope when it comes to merging humans with animals.
Most people don’t realize this, but today we are creating genetically modified cattle with human DNA, we are growing human kidneys in rats, and we are experimenting on human-mouse hybrids with freakishly large brains.
Once again, those involved in this kind of research believe that they are finding “cures for diseases” or that they are working to make life better for all of us somehow.
But when we combine animals and humans, what exactly are we creating?
Are they animals?
Are they humans?
And where do we draw the line? Will we someday have creatures that are 50 percent human and 50 percent animal walking around our cities?
For much, much more on this, please see my previous article entitled "The Era Of Chimeras: Scientists Fearlessly Create Bizarre Human/Animal Hybrids".
Another area that transhumanists are extremely excited about is the ability to use technology to genetically edit our children.
At Harvard, researchers now believe that it will soon be possible to completely remove genetic diseases from our family lines…
As I listened to Yang, I waited for a chance to ask my real questions: Can any of this be done to human beings? Can we improve the human gene pool? The position of much of mainstream science has been that such meddling would be unsafe, irresponsible, and even impossible. But Yang didn’t hesitate. Yes, of course, she said. In fact, the Harvard laboratory had a project to determine how it could be achieved. She flipped open her laptop to a PowerPoint slide titled “Germline Editing Meeting.”
Here it was: a technical proposal to alter human heredity.
“Germ line” is biologists’ jargon for the egg and sperm, which combine to form an embryo. By editing the DNA of these cells or the embryo itself, it could be possible to correct disease genes and to pass those genetic fixes on to future generations. Such a technology could be used to rid families of scourges like cystic fibrosis. It might also be possible to install genes that offer lifelong protection against infection, Alzheimer’s, and, Yang told me, maybe the effects of aging.
And “maybe the effects of aging”?
Life extension technologies are something that many transhumanists are particularly obsessed with.
For example, Bloomberg recently did an interview with one technology executive that believes that it will eventually be possible for all of us to live to the ripe old age of 500…
“If you ask me today, is it possible to live to be 500? The answer is yes,” Bill Maris says one January afternoon in Mountain View, California. The president and managing partner of Google Ventures just turned 40, but he looks more like a 19-year-old college kid at midterm. He’s wearing sneakers and a gray denim shirt over a T-shirt; it looks like he hasn’t shaved in a few days.
Maris is using his position to pour millions upon millions of dollars into companies that are developing radical life extension technologies that they hope will enable people to live for hundreds of years. Maris just hopes that he can stay alive long enough to take advantage of them…
“We actually have the tools in the life sciences to achieve anything that you have the audacity to envision,” he says. “I just hope to live long enough not to die.”
And of course Maris is far from alone. The most famous transhumanist on the entire planet, Ray Kurzweil, is absolutely obsessed with immortality. He takes 150 vitamin supplements a day in a desperate attempt to extend his life until more advanced life extension technologies can be developed. In chapter 7 of The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology, he expressed his thoughts on where the future is taking all of us…
Evolution moves toward greater complexity, greater elegance, greater knowledge, greater intelligence, greater beauty, greater creativity, and greater levels of subtle attributes such as love. In every monotheistic tradition God is likewise described as all of these qualities, only without any limitation: infinite knowledge, infinite intelligence, infinite beauty, infinite creativity, infinite love, and so on. Of course, even the accelerating growth of evolution never achieves an infinite level, but as it explodes exponentially it certainly moves rapidly in that direction. So evolution moves inexorably toward this conception of God, although never quite reaching this ideal. We can regard, therefore, the freeing of our thinking from the severe limitations of its biological form to be an essentially spiritual undertaking.
But what about those of us that do not want to be a part of this future?
Is there any room for people that do not want to be genetically modified and that do not want to merge with animals and technology?
Some transhumanists believe that those that do not adapt will eventually be wiped out because they simply will not be able to survive in the new world that is emerging.
Other transhumanists believe that in order to truly have a world where there is no sickness, disease, poverty and war, all of the “inferior” humans will ultimately have to be “removed”.
But what almost all of them agree on is the fact that the future belongs to them and not to us.
So what do you think? Is humanity on the verge of a great leap forward, or are these new technologies actually opening up a door for great darkness? Feel free to tell us what you think by posting a comment below…
This article first appeared here at the American Dream. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs The American Dream and Economic Collapse Blog. Follow him on Twitter here.
The people interviewed are clueless, but he is baiting them to respond the way he would like by the head nodding prior to them answering the question.
US travellers set for EU biometric dragnet
The pilot project wants to measure 'criteria, notably accuracy, effectiveness and impact on the border crossing' (Photo: angeloangelo)
By Nikolaj Nielsen
BRUSSELS, 19. Feb, 18:02
https://euobserver.com/justice/127719
US citizens and other non-EU nationals who enter Europe will be asked to have their faces image-captured and fingerprints scanned upon arrival at a half-dozen major airports.
The biometric dragnet is part of a pilot test of the EU’s so-called ‘smart borders’ package. Passengers can refuse to give the data for now but there are plans to eventually make it obligatory.
A draft internal EU document dated Wednesday (18 February) and seen by this website says the “proof of concept” is set to start in March and will run until September this year.
“Should traveller participation be lower than expected, there would be a high risk that the results of the tests would be biased or would not reflect reality,” notes the multi-million euro project.
Although the launch date is set in a matter of weeks, the document is still in the draft stage and so test places may change.
However, the document lists Arlanda (Sweden), Charles de Gaulle (France), Frankfurt (Germany), Lisbon (Portugal), Madrid (Spain), and Schiphol (Netherlands) as participating airports.
Frankfurt and Schiphol will ask between four to ten fingerprint sets. Madrid will ask for four and Charles de Gaulle eight.
Arlanda, Charles de Gaulle, and Madrid airports are also set to start requesting facial image-captures from disembarking passengers.
The airport in Lisbon is ticked to perform iris pattern scans but the paper notes that “iris pattern of volunteering TCNs [third country nationals] should be captured live, at the same time as the facial image.”
The biometric screening extends to road, train, and sea routes as well and includes iris pattern scans in some areas.
Iris scans are set to be asked on roads leading into border towns Udvar in Hungary and Sculeni in Romania. Drivers should also expect live face scans in Sculeni.
Other border towns will ask for fingerprints. These include roads leading into Kipoi Evrou in Greece and Vaalimaa in Finland.
At the land borders “the traveller will walk up to the border guard or be one of the first persons to be called by the border guard.”
Participating cars and buses will be pulled aside in a waiting area for the experiment.
Border guards will also be performing fingerprint scans on moving trains from Paris (Gare du Nord) and Lasi (Romania). Travellers at the Lasi station may also be asked for facial image captures.
Seaports and moving vessels in Helsinki (Finland), Port of Piraeus (Greece), Cherbourg (France), and Genova (Italy) are also set to participate.
Medium risk on data protection
The paper says there is a “medium” risk that participating member states won’t comply with data protection rules.
It notes biometric data will need to be depersonalised, saved locally, and then deleted after analysis. Retention periods should be limited to “produce the relevant statistics and analysis.”
eu-LISA, a EU agency tasked to manage large-scale information systems used by border guards and law enforcement, is running the pilot.
It will issue the European commission a mid-term report by 15 July with a final report expected in November.
Smart borders
The commission proposed the package in 2013 but later withdrew it and is set to announce a revised version once the pilot is completed.
The package includes the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the Registered Travellers Programme (RTP).
Both rely on the collection, storage, and processing of biometric data to enhance border control checks on any non-EU national entering the EU.
EES is meant to identify and prevent people from overstaying their visas.
Visa and non-visa holders can also get a special token under the RTP system before travelling. RTP is intended to make it easier for people like business travelers to enter and leave border gates with ease.
Any legislation would have to be approved by member states and MEPs, with some deputies strongly opposed to the idea of biometric checks and law enforcement access.
Update, now they say up to 1 Billion.
False Flag?
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-hackers-billion-banks.html
Hackers steal up to $1 billion from banks, security co. says (Update)
7 hours ago by By Mae Anderson
computer
Credit: George Hodan/Public Domain
A hacking ring has stolen up to $1 billion from banks around the world in what would be one of the biggest banking breaches known, a cybersecurity firm says in a report scheduled to be delivered Monday.
The hackers have been active since at least the end of 2013 and infiltrated more than 100 banks in 30 countries, according to Russian security company Kaspersky Lab.
After gaining access to banks' computers through phishing schemes and other methods, they lurk for months to learn the banks' systems, taking screen shots and even video of employees using their computers, the company says.
Once the hackers become familiar with the banks' operations, they use that knowledge to steal money without raising suspicions, programming ATMs to dispense money at specific times or setting up fake accounts and transferring money into them, according to Kaspersky. The report is set to be presented Monday at a security conference in Cancun, Mexico. It was first reported by The New York Times.
The hackers seem to limit their theft to about $10 million before moving on to another bank, part of the reason why the fraud was not detected earlier, Kaspersky principal security researcher Vicente Diaz said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
The attacks are unusual because they target the banks themselves rather than customers and their account information, Diaz said.
The goal seems to be financial gain rather than espionage, he said.
"In this case they are not interested in information. They're only interested in the money," he said. "They're flexible and quite aggressive and use any tool they find useful for doing whatever they want to do."
Most of the targets have been in Russia, the U.S., Germany, China and Ukraine, although the attackers may be expanding throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, Kaspersky says. In one case, a bank lost $7.3 million through ATM fraud. In another case, a financial institution lost $10 million by the attackers exploiting its online banking platform.
Kaspersky did not identify the banks and is still working with law-enforcement agencies to investigate the attacks, which the company says are ongoing.
The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a nonprofit that alerts banks about hacking activity, said in a statement that its members received a briefing about the report in January.
"We cannot comment on individual actions our members have taken, but on balance we believe our members are taking appropriate actions to prevent and detect these kinds of attacks and minimize any effects on their customers," the organization said in a statement. "The report that Russian banks were the primary victims of these attacks may be a significant change in targeting strategy by Russian-speaking cybercriminals."
The White House is putting an increasing focus on cybersecurity in the wake of numerous data breaches of companies ranging from mass retailers like Target and Home Depot to Sony Pictures Entertainment and health insurer Anthem.
The administration wants Congress to replace the existing patchwork of state laws with a national standard giving companies 30 days to notify consumers if their personal information has been compromised.
Over 100 banks hit by sophisticated cyberattack: report
1 hour ago
computer
Credit: George Hodan/Public Domain
http://phys.org/news/2015-02-banks-sophisticated-cyberattack.html
A sophisticated global cyberattack struck more than 100 banks in 30 countries stealing hundreds of millions of dollars, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Citing a soon to be released report from computer security company Kaspersky Lab, the newspaper said the attack involved malicious software that gave hackers long-term access to banking systems.
A group of Russians, Chinese and Europeans was able to siphon off around $300 million in one of the world's largest bank robberies, the report said.
The money was transferred to bank accounts around the world in small-value amounts to avoid detection.
Hackers largely focused on banks in Russia, but millions of dollars were also taken from banks in Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States as well, the Times said.
Hackers had such advanced access to the banks' systems that they could force ATM machines to dispense cash at specific times and locations where hackers could pick it up.
Explore further: Several US banks attacked by hackers who hit Chase