General Discussion, Friday, July 15, 2016

volcanoupi_800x531This astonishing picture shows the Chaiten volcano erupting during storms in the middle of the night

As clouds of toxic ash and dust tower into the sky, they ionise the air, generating an explosive electrical storm. Colossal forks of lightning spark around the noxious plume as it spews from the volcano’s crater, creating an image of raw, terrifying energy – as if the air itself were ablaze.

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111 Responses to General Discussion, Friday, July 15, 2016

  1. MaryfromMarin's avatar MaryfromMarin says:

    Re: above–I imagine scenes like this at the time of the Flood, when the “fountains of the great deep” burst open.

    Liked by 6 people

  2. shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

    Reminds me of the state of the world right now. There is a storm brewing and it is going to be real ugly. I pray daily that we have not gone too far to pull ourselves back from the brink!

    Liked by 7 people

  3. Good morning y’all. Hope everyone is well. It’s overcast and cloudy here in N. Texas with occasional thunder. No rain has fallen yet, but it reminds me of Stella’s pictures over the last few days. I agree with you, Shiloh, it’s time to really pray, for safety of our country, our leadership change coming soon, and that our politicians wake up and start protecting us, which is their most important role.

    Liked by 5 people

  4. michellc's avatar michellc says:

    We had storms yesterday, but somehow I always forget to grab the camera. lol

    I was too busy watching the weather guys scream about hurricane strength winds. I’ve never been in a hurricane but if this was hurricane strength winds I’ll take them over a tornado any day. Crap was blown around, limbs down, some folks had roofs blown off and power lines down, but nothing like a tornado.

    Liked by 4 people

    • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

      Storms here too. Winds aren’t bad but storms form in latge blocks just to the west or north of us, roil like boiling coffee with the edges just lapping at us like waves. In all, not bad, lightening brings free fertilizer, rain’s not so heavy or prolonged that it puddles up and the mid-70s temps are a welcome break.

      Liked by 1 person

      • michellc's avatar michellc says:

        I went with my daughter to the doctor yesterday morning. We got back home between 10:30 and 11:00 a.m. I looked at the thermometer on my way in the house and it was 94 degrees. After the storm I went outside and it was cold when you have on summer clothes, looked at the thermometer and it was 64 degrees.
        The sun is coming out now so if it stays out I fear it’s going to be miserable this afternoon.

        Liked by 1 person

        • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

          Yeah, that 30+ degree drop when you get those hi-altitude rains is amazing, if not welcome. We had a few waves of dry air waft in between rain events and humidity went from the high 80/90 percent areas to the low 40s, also welcome.

          Liked by 1 person

          • michellc's avatar michellc says:

            In these parts we don’t even need rain to have 30 to 40 degree temp changes. Although, usually the saying around here goes, “Don’t like the weather, wait a few hours and it will change except for July and August and you’d better learn to like sweating your a$$ off.” 🙂

            Liked by 2 people

            • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

              Roger that, same here. We get used to getting sweltered duringbthe summer regardless of the TV weatherguessers telling us it’s unusually hot.

              Liked by 3 people

    • BigMamaTEA's avatar BigMamaTEA says:

      michellc, did you get the frog-strangler rain we got overnight?

      Liked by 1 person

  5. WeeWeed's avatar WeeWeed says:

    Mornin’ kids.

    Liked by 9 people

  6. nyetneetot's avatar nyetneetot says:

    Mornin’ stella! (Smiter of those that ought to be smote) 😎 🍸 (Long Island Iced Tea)
    Mornin’ WeeWeed! (Master Mixologist Extrodinare) 😎 🍸 (Old Fashioned)
    Mornin’ Menagerie! 😎 |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| (Jack Daniels)
    Mornin’ Ad rem! (Queen Felis catus) 🐱 🍸 (Flaming Lamborghini)
    Mornin’ Sharon! 😎 🍸 (earthquake)
    Mornin’ ytz4mee! 😎 🍸 (cosmopolitan)
    Mornin’ partyzantski! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ texan59! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ ZurichMike! 🙂 🍸 (fuzzy navel)
    Mornin’ Col.(R) Ken! (hand salute) 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ czarowniczy! 🙂 |_| ( and Czarina 🙂 🍸 )
    Mornin’ letjusticeprevail2014! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ ctdar! 🙂 🍸 (grasshopper)
    Mornin’ tessa50! 🙂 🍸 (flaming volcano)
    Mornin’ waltzingmtilda! 🙂 🍸 (sidecar)
    Mornin’ varsityward! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ MaryfromMarin! 😀 |_| (Mortlach)
    Mornin’ Wooly Phlox! (aka “taqiyyologist”) 🙂 |_| (Roy Rogers)
    Mornin’ Howie! 🙂 |_| (Classic Daiquiri)
    Mornin’ TwoLaine! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ Sha! 🙂 🍸 (Lemon Drop)
    Mornin’ BigMamaTEA! 🙂 🍸 (Harvey Wallbanger)
    Mornin’ cetera5! (aka “Cetera”) 🙂 |_| (Blackberry wine)
    Mornin’ The Tundra PA! 🙂 🍸 (bailey irish cream on the rocks)
    Mornin’ lovely! 🙂 |_| (Backdraft)
    Mornin’ michellc! 🙂 🍸 (Salty dog)
    Mornin’ auscitizenmom! 🙂 🍸 (Kiss on the Lips)
    Mornin’ Margaret-Ann! 🙂 🍸 (White Russian)
    Mornin’ Auntie Lib! 🙂 🍸 (Tom and Jerry)
    Mornin’ holly100! 🙂 🍸
    Mornin’ Pam! 🙂
    Mornin’ ImpeachEmAll 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ Monroe! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ Les! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ shiloh1973! 🙂 |_| (Jack Daniels)
    Mornin’ TexasRanger! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ Ziiggii! 🙂 |_| (B52)
    Mornin’ oldiadguy! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ smiley! (“stuck in spambucket”) 🙂 🍸 (Spanish coffee)
    Mornin’ derk! (“Stellars”) 🙂 🍸 (Mudslide)
    Mornin’ Jacqueline Taylor Robson 🙂 🍸 (Shirley Temple)
    Mornin’ facebkwallflower! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ Ms. Cindy! (aka “Ms Cynlynn” aka “ms cynlynn”) 🙂 🍸
    Mornin’ sandandsea2015! 🙂 🍸
    Mornin’ Huey! 🙂 |_| (Junior Woodchucks)
    Mornin’ Dewey! 🙂 |_| (Seafarers)
    Mornin’ Louie! 🙂 |_| (Back to School)
    Mornin’ Donald! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ Scrooge! 🙂 |_|
    Mornin’ whiners and complainers! ⭐ 😛 (No drink for you!)
    Mornin’ to people posting that I missed. 😳
    Mornin’ to all you lurkers! 😕

    Also just in case someday; mornin’ to Elvis Chupacabra and F.D.R. in Hell! :mrgreen:

    Breakfast!

    NEW and IMPROVED breakfast with extra bacon for ZurichMike!

    Doughnuts for coffee!

    = Unprintable phallic symbol

    Liked by 8 people

  7. Stella's avatar stella says:

    Wretchard T. Cat
    (Otherwise known as Richard Fernandez)

    France is already under a state of emergency. It’s used up the available hashtags, booked all the likely squares for vigils and used up the budget for celebrity appearances. And yet …

    This PC magic was supposed to work. Wasn’t America assured that all it had to do was be like Sweden … be like France.

    However the dark shadow is still crawling over the pentagram that was supposed to provide the final barrier against demons trying to enter European shores. Now the stain, writhing like a living thing, is coming ever closer to the sanctum sanctorum …

    If there’s something strange
    in your neighborhood
    Who ya gonna call?
    Nobody.

    If there’s something weird
    and it don’t look good
    Who ya gonna call?
    Not me, buddy.

    Liked by 8 people

    • Stella's avatar stella says:

      (comment) Very apt. 32 years ago if in trouble you could call on some brilliant and free spirited problem solvers with courage. Now? Sad face PC time.

      Liked by 7 people

    • Stella's avatar stella says:

      Wretchard T. Cat

      The problem may turn out to be not whether Christianity can survive the modern world, but whether the modern world can survive without Christianity. The naive assumption of 19th century Marxists was that after belief was abolished, what was essentially a Christian morality would continue to guide the world though without its religious overtones.

      They thought that even without God men would not kill or steal or lie or covet their neighbor’s wives. Through the operation of some sort of “decency” things would go on much as before, but with electricity and central planning. They thought this because they had lived in an immersive religious system for so long they were no more aware of it than fish notice water.

      But as it turned out “decency” was much more fragile than they thought. If the 20th century showed that man unfettered could create monstrous totalitarian belief systems, the 21st is rapidly demonstrating that rather than accept an inner vacuum millions would rather fill it with strange gods if the gods of their fathers were no longer on offer.

      Fish may not notice water when it is there. But they do notice it when it is gone.

      Perhaps the major challenge of the 21st century is to reinvent Christianity or something like it. Man does not live by bread alone and if that hunger will not be met by God it will be sated by the spirit of darkness.

      Liked by 7 people

  8. Stella's avatar stella says:

    Climate change department shut down by Theresa May in ‘plain stupid’ and ‘deeply worrying’ move

    http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-department-killed-off-by-theresa-may-in-plain-stupid-and-deeply-worrying-move-a7137166.html

    The decision to abolish the Department for Energy and Climate Change has been variously condemned as “plain stupid”, “deeply worrying” and “terrible” by politicians, campaigners and experts.

    One of Theresa May’s first acts as Prime Minister was to move responsibility for climate change to a new Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

    The news came after the appointment of Andrea Leadsom – who revealed her first question to officials when she became Energy Minister last year was “Is climate change real? – was appointed as the new Environment Secretary.

    And, after former Energy and Climate Change Secretary Amber Rudd announced in November that Britain was going to “close coal” by 2025, Ms Leadsom later asked the coal industry to help define what this actually meant …

    Meanwhile, the greenies and the socialists are squealing.

    Liked by 7 people

  9. czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

    Need forvofficisl dtatement by US on Turk coup but Obama unwilling to commit so he kicks Kerry out front to make a say-nothing statement signaling the Turks in charge get in touch with US officials so we can pick a direction to lean. Obama may make some squishy move to drone on about democracy this, freedom of people to choose that, but in the end we’ll cozy up to whoever has the upper hand, we have no choice. You can bet Obama won’t make any substantive statements until things gel.

    Liked by 2 people

  10. shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

    Holy crap!!!!! There is a military coup in Turkey. The world just went officially nuts!
    https://www.rt.com/news/351343-turkey-coup-military-attempt/

    Liked by 3 people

    • Cetera's avatar Cetera says:

      Things are moving faster and faster.

      Liked by 3 people

      • shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

        We still have a lot of troops stationed in Turkey. I do not like this. Also, Turkey is a NATO country that we must defend!

        Liked by 2 people

      • Pam's avatar Pam says:

        “Wars and rumors of wars…”

        Liked by 2 people

      • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

        Actually, things should slow down. This is a statement by Turk military that thryvare unhappy with Erdogan moving away from a democratic secular state to a more fundamentalist dictatorship. Erdogan, in the process of creating his dictatorship, to replace the military’s traditional role as protector of the seculsr democracy by railroading influential members of the military and ignored Dictator Rule Number One: do not leave your enemies alive. He went after the upper tier of his military staff…and failed.
        Let’s see how this plays out as it’s a death battle for one of them.

        Liked by 4 people

    • lovely's avatar lovely says:

      I was just coming here to post that. It sounds like the military is in power and has been for at least an hour with no uprising of civilians or resistance from police. Erdogan has just said that the coup has not been successful but there is no evidence that Erdogan has any support from anywhere.

      Liked by 3 people

      • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

        No dictator’s gonna admit he ain’t in control until the rope pulls tight and his neck snaps. Only question is will the mlitary jail him or send him into exile.

        Liked by 3 people

        • lovely's avatar lovely says:

          He just spoke and said the the uprising is over (obviously it is not) and the uprising will be reason to clean up the army and Turkey is not the old Turkey any more.

          Liked by 1 person

          • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

            Give it a while and let’s see how much of the military’s not with the coup. If the military supports Erdogan then they’ve abrogated their respobsibility to keep Turkey democratic and secular. If they turn their backs on that responsibility then they’re right, it.’s a new day and the Mideast’s a whole new game. Turkey’s The biggest military in NATO, nevermind in the Mideast and everything’s gonna be in flux.

            Liked by 5 people

    • lovely's avatar lovely says:

      Link to Sky News

      Liked by 2 people

      • Pam's avatar Pam says:

        SkyNews is also free livestream for those of you who have a Roku.

        Liked by 2 people

      • shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

        Thanks, was just heading over there.

        Liked by 2 people

        • lovely's avatar lovely says:

          Did you hear that? Erdogan is telling the people that it is Islamist extremist who have taken over. But the people on the streets know it is is the military and supporting the coup.

          Liked by 3 people

          • shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

            Not all of the people. Erdogan supporters are starting to flood the streets.

            Liked by 2 people

            • lovely's avatar lovely says:

              I’ve started watching again, I had to get a job done, it does seem that there are some Erdogan supporters taking to the streets but they have been commanded to get out there by their Imams to get out there.

              Being military what are your feelings?

              Liked by 2 people

              • shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

                From what I saw the soldiers did not want to fire on their fellow countrymen. Looks like the coup is failing. According to RT there were only 104 soldiers! What the heck, that is not a coup. I am starting to wonder if Erdogan planned the whole thing so he can take even more control of the country and the military. The only way this would have been to have at least half the military on their side.

                Liked by 2 people

        • Col.(R) Ken's avatar Col.(R) Ken says:

          Looks as if Erdogan will need a new towel boy…..Don’t know if Obola is behind this, let’s just start the rumor now……

          Liked by 3 people

          • shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

            Erdogan tried to escape to Germany and they refused him. Apparently he is on his way to London now. It looks like it is ramping up. Erdogan backers just tried to beat the crap out of a tank commander.

            Liked by 3 people

            • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

              If that’s true it’s a sign that NATO supports the coup, and with good reason.

              Liked by 2 people

              • shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

                Erdogan is back in Turkey giving a press conference. Apparently MSNBC is showing it.

                Liked by 2 people

                • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

                  Czarina’s in charge of the TV tonite and doesn’t like Mideast politics. I’ll wait to see if he’s back in his dictator slot or a deal has been reached with the military. If he’s back in charge with the full support of the military then thst means the Turk military has done 180 from where it should be.

                  Liked by 2 people

                  • shiloh1973's avatar shiloh1973 says:

                    RT news is giving live updates. Fighter jets have launched to attack the rougue military helicopters. Reports of police and pro Erdogan forces lynching soldiers in the street. It is going to get real ugly in Turkey now!

                    Liked by 2 people

                  • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

                    Shilo, ran outta reply soace : Turkish military has been less than humane for a long time, it’s almost a training standard. First I heard of them was from WW I vets who fought with/against them who were ‘impressed’ by their barbarity. Korean War vets seconded that estimation. They’ll make an example of the coup plotters, as any failed coup plotter should expect.

                    Like

          • lovely's avatar lovely says:

            Obama is likely sounding shrieking like Hillary right now.

            Liked by 1 person

    • lovely's avatar lovely says:

      I’m beginning to believe Shiloh’s suggestion of a horse and buggy show is more likely than not what we have just watched.

      Liked by 1 person

  11. Pam's avatar Pam says:

    I am not well-educated in all the ins and outs of what has been going on in Turkey. If someone will fill us in with more information, I would appreciate it. I know Erdogan has been in power but it gets confusing sometimes as to whether he’s a good guy or bad guy. Anyone know about their military? Would this be a Sunni vs Shia thing? How do the terrorists figure into what’s been happening? Thanks in advance.

    Liked by 2 people

    • MaryfromMarin's avatar MaryfromMarin says:

      Erdogan is “bad”. A military coup against him? Good or bad? Who knows.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Pam's avatar Pam says:

        Thanks…love the short and sweet answer – he is “bad.” I learned more last night, mostly from reading comments rather than what the msm had to say. I was shocked to see him telling citizens to go out in the streets and confront the soldiers…even more shocked when I woke up to see that it worked!

        Like

    • lovely's avatar lovely says:

      Erdogan and Obama are pals. In fact my first thought when I heard this was a sarcastic, “Well there goes Obama’s Summer home.” Erdogan is slowly implementing Sharia law the military wants to return to a secular government.

      IMO it appears the coup is going to be successful.

      Liked by 2 people

      • MaryfromMarin's avatar MaryfromMarin says:

        It’s what comes after the coup that is important. “Out of the frying pan…” is sometimes operative in events like this.

        Liked by 3 people

      • Col.(R) Ken's avatar Col.(R) Ken says:

        Ask Czar, I’m not that verse in all of the players, tribes, and lovers.

        Liked by 3 people

        • lovely's avatar lovely says:

          I agree I hope Czar comes by and shares his knowledge.

          Liked by 2 people

        • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

          It looks like they might try to blame the coup on a rightwing Moslem group that’s been trying to push a warmer, fuzzier version of Islam. If so it might be a way to defuse an icky situation. The military and/or the government could blepame them, say they was trying to prevent said Moslem-lite influences from destoying Turkey’s Islamic/secular base.
          Erdogan’s been looking at a new Ottoman Empire with himself on the throne while the military’s been Ataturk’s preserver of secular Turkey. Turkey’s been trying to be more European than Sandland, trying to join Europe as an EU member, but despite Turkey being the lynchpin for NATO security for decades Germany’s been preventing Turkey joining.
          Erdogan has been playing footsie with the Russians. The Russians would like to remove both Greece and Turkey from NATO. Greece and Turkey control the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, they bottle the Black Sea fleet in and prevent it from trying to control the eastern Med. Turkey’s the most important of the two as it has a lot of coastline on the Blsck Sea and thst allows NATO to further bottle the fleet by threatening its base in Sevastopol, Russia’s southern border and Russian oil supplies in the Black Sea. If Russia could woo Turkey away from NATO it would be a great victory.
          Russia was promising Erdogan eight nuke reactors, weapons, a bigger chunk of the Russian oil export business than it already had and maybe even an petro export port that could also serve, along with ones planned in Egypt and extant in Syria, as naval facilities.
          You can see how the Russian deal could divide the government and even higher-up members of the military. Back before our POtuS wentnout of his way to throw the Mideast into turmoil it was a far less confused and volitile place. Now we have competing ideologies, religious groups and international business groups and the pot being stirred by the player countries. I say that if the military can’t pull the coup off it’s going yo ve a whole new game without a defibed outcome. The military there has pulled off a number of successful coups and mini-coups, they’ve been Turkey’s rock. If they can’t keep Turkey stable and secular…

          Liked by 1 person

          • Pam's avatar Pam says:

            Thank you for taking the time to give all this good information. What a mess.

            Like

            • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

              This is all over the place and I can only see it getting worse. If the military supported Erdogan that means they are leaning away from Ataturk’s instructions to be the guardians of a secular and democratic Turkey and towards Erdogan’s more Moslem vision. That’s uncomfortable. There may be an arguement that other reasons kept the majority of the military from joining the coup but in the end it supported and strengthened Erdogan’s position. You can bet that he’ll be ferreting out those not as dedicated to his position as he’d like them to be and replacing them with believers.
              I note the MSM’s finally starting to report what they’ve avoided forcyears, i.e. Erdogan and the military’s open support of ISIS and what seems to be providing willful importation of hostile refugees into Europe. The reporting’s somewhat light ans will undoubtedly die back as the MSM starts rebranding Erdogan into a Disney character, but at least it’s out there.

              Like

      • Stella's avatar stella says:

        Those I follow on FB seem to be cheering on the Turkish military. Having to pick sides, since Erdogan is a hard line Islamist, and a friend of Obama, I pick the military.

        Liked by 2 people

        • lovely's avatar lovely says:

          The military is the good guy. For now. If they gain power who knows what they will do with it. Erdogan is moving toward an Islamic dictatorship. The mosques are calling for good Muslims to defend Erdogan’s Turkey.

          Liked by 3 people

          • Stella's avatar stella says:

            I think we will watch with interest, and see how things play out. Is this like Egypt?

            Liked by 2 people

            • WeeWeed's avatar WeeWeed says:

              Sounds like, to moi. The military in Egypt always support the populace – wonder if Turkistan is the same?

              Liked by 2 people

            • lovely's avatar lovely says:

              I’m not informed about the ins and outs to have an intelligent opinion on the comparison. Morsi was a pro-Islam anti freedom, wannabe dictator in bed with the Muslim Brotherhood and a beloved bedfellow of Obama, so it is likely a good comparison.

              Liked by 2 people

              • czarowniczy's avatar czarowniczy says:

                Until Morsi the modern Egyptian leadership has come from the military staff, they were less about preserving freedom, democracy or whatever than they were about preserving the prevailing class system and their privileged position in such. OK, Nasser was a pan-Arabist but he was more looking for a Nasser-led caliphate.
                Just about every Mideast country has a strong military base as its power base, thong is Turkey has a HUGE, competent and very well equipped military. Islamic or not I expect trouble between Turkey and Iran. Wonder when Turkey’s going to start looking at a Turkish Bomb?

                Liked by 1 person

        • lovely's avatar lovely says:

          Lt. Col. Ralph Peters (Yes the very Col. who said Obama is a total “kitty”) is on FOX and said that he is on the side of the coup which is on the side of secularism, democracy and freedom. Peters is concerned that they did this while Erdogan was out of the country because he can still try to rally the people of Turkey against the coup and will use Islamic guilt.

          Members of Turkey’s parliament are in hiding.

          Reports coming from Turkey that police have stopped the coup.

          Looks like a mess.

          Information war at the moment being waged by Erdogan.

          Liked by 2 people

    • MaryfromMarin's avatar MaryfromMarin says:

      This seems informative, Pam:

      Why the coup in Turkey could mean hope

      https://counterjihadreport.com/2016/07/15/why-the-coup-in-turkey-could-mean-hope/

      Liked by 3 people

  12. WeeWeed's avatar WeeWeed says:

    We will open the bar (maybe – in the middle of a storm) and cheer on the Turkish military.

    Beer!!!

    Liked by 4 people

  13. tessa50's avatar tessa50 says:

    Stella or any admin on tree, there is a very bad comment on the jessica story at the bottom of the page, at 7:10. Comment made by mcineral.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Stella's avatar stella says:

      Comment removed, and person dealt with.

      Liked by 2 people

      • tessa50's avatar tessa50 says:

        I’m sorry I didn’t say hello. Got hub at emer clinic, we are hoping he pulled a muscle and nothing more serious than that. He has been nonstop coughing for 3 weeks now, even after the antibiotics were done. I was unable to go with him. He just texted me said they are xrayin now, but for me not to text back. He says he is ok? Anyway, hello to you Stella and to all. I hope everyone has a great weekend. Night.

        Liked by 4 people

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