Category Archives: Viva!

Two Former Homeland Security Secretaries Wrote President Obama on Safely Welcoming Syrian Refugees

Two former Secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security — Janet Napolitano (2009-2013) and Michael Chertoff (2005-2009) — wrote to President Obama today about how we can welcome refugees while ensuring the safety and security of Americans. Here’s what they had to say:

“With respect to refugees seeking to resettle here, it is our view that we can admit the most vulnerable of these refugees into this country safely as long as we do not compromise the already established protections.”

 

Through this process, we forward American values of “openness and inclusive” by helping protect the most vulnerable Syrians.

“First, we consider only the most vulnerable — particularly survivors of violence and torture, those with severe medical conditions, and women and children — for potential admittance to the U.S.”

 

But we’re also working to ensure the safety of Americans at home. According to Secretaries Napolitano and Chertoff, refugees undergo a more rigorous screening process than anyone else we allow into the U.S.

“The process for any refugee seeking entry to the United States requires the highest level of scrutiny fro a law enforcement and national security perspective. The process takes place while the refugees are still overseas, and it is lengthy and deliberate.”

 

Here’s how the two former Homeland Security Secretaries walk us step-by-step through that process:

“Once a candidate is selected they are subjected to biographic and biometric security reviews based on the latest intelligence from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center, the Department of State, and the Department of Defense. If they pass these national security checks, they will then be personally interviewed by specially trained DHS personnel to ensure they are qualified for admittance.”

 

After that, the candidates are subjected to further screening right up to an interview at the border before they enter the U.S.

“They are then subjected to recurrent vetting up to the final point of departure and a final interview at the border before being admitted into the U.S.”

 

That full process is why Secretaries Napolitano and Chertoff concluded that we can both welcome Syrian refugees and ensure our safety:

“The process that is currently in place is thorough and robust and, so long as it is fully implemented and not diluted, it will allow us to safely admit the most vulnerable refugees while protecting the American people.”

 

Learn more about how we can welcome refugees while ensuring our safety. 

Read the full letter from the two former secretaries of the Department of Homeland Security

http://bitly.com/1XcWzRq

 

Here’s What You Need to Know About Our Strategy to Defeat ISIL

There’s no question that the tragic events in Paris underscore the urgency of our campaign to defeat and ultimately destroy ISIL. As President Obama has said, the fight against ISIL will be long — ISIL is a determined, well-resourced, and brutal enemy that aims to establish branches beyond Iraq and Syria, preying on vulnerable populations. 

This is why, at the President’s direction, the U.S. government for more than a year has executed a comprehensive and sustained strategy to defeat ISIL. Since last summer, we’ve built a global coalition of 65 partners who are working together to degrade and destroy ISIL. 

Highlights of our efforts include:

 

Relentlessly pursuing ISIL leaders and going after attack plotters wherever they are:

In the last week, we have taken strikes against notorious ISIL operative Mohammed Emwazi, aka “Jihadi John”, and Abu Nabil, the leader of ISIL in Libya. A terrorist group like ISIL won’t be defeated by a single strike, but these operations should be a clear warning to ISIL that we will go after their leadership and networks throughout the world.

 

Cutting off supply lines and shrinking their safehavens:

We’re intensifying our work with local partners in Iraq and Syria to empower them to take the fight to ISIL. In Iraq and Syria, ISIL has lost more than 20-25 percent of the populated territory they once controlled. Over the past month, Iraqi forces have largely taken back the city of Bayji from ISIL control. Just last week, Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces retook the town of Sinjar from ISIL, an important strategic point for ISIL’s supply and communication lines. The global coalition supported the Peshmerga-led offensive with substantial airpower, launching over 50 strikes near Sinjar since November 11. 

We need to keep denying ISIL foreign fighters and cutting its revenue streams — including from oil facilities. And, just as we are shrinking their physical safehaven, we need to deny them digital safehaven and support community partners to provide alternative messages from credible voices to counter ISIL’s twisted message.

 

Enhancing and enabling partners:

We need partners in the fight against ISIL inside Iraq and Syria and around the globe to ensure our gains are sustainable. We are training Iraqi forces and are building the capacity of our partners in northern Syria.  

 

Pushing for a political solution:

We’re also making in-roads in improving inclusive governance in Iraq, and with a group of other nations, working toward a negotiated settlement in Syria to end a conflict that has cost a quarter million lives and displaced millions of people in the region. Because ultimately, a political solution that addresses the chaos that has fueled ISIL’s rise offers the only sustainable path to the group’s ultimate defeat. 

Though we’ve made progress in the fight against ISIL, it remains a very serious global threat. The tragedies in Paris and Beirut and the bombing of Metrojet 9268 make clear that we must continue to relentlessly press the group on all fronts until it is destroyed.

 

ISIL Strategy Pt 1

ISIL Strategy Pt 2

 

bikiniarmorbattledamage: Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of…

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bikiniarmorbattledamage:

Stephanie Kwolek, the inventor of Kevlar, passed away this week at age 90

“A true pioneer for women in science,” passed away on Wednesday, reported the New York Times. As a DuPont scientist, Stephanie Kwolek is credited for inventing Kevlar in 1964, a fiber that has radically improved police and military body armor since its creation.   

Kwolek died at age 90 in hospice care at St. Francis Hospital in Wilmington, Del. She leaves behind a legacy of achievement in science and technology that directly saved an estimated 3,000 lives of police officers over the past four decades.

Read more | Follow micdotcom 

So recently there was a post (I’m not going to dignify it with a link) claiming that women don’t deserve representation because they haven’t contributed to heroism.  We already have a post showing a small sample of the many women have been heroic warriors in the past – now we’d like to showcase a woman who’s protected thousands of heroic warriors.

Not only is Kevlar used in the vast majority of military and paramilitary armors, it also what made discreet bullet armor worn by VIPs, covert operatives and protective services possible.  It is truly one of the most important innovations in the history of armor.

Rest in peace Stephanie Kwolek, and thank you for protecting so many.

– wincenworks

Guest Blog from Ian Hepburn. Defending Nature: the UK battle is far from over

a new nature blog

With a conference to review the effectiveness of the EU Nature Directives (Birds and Habitats) – the Fitness Check process, taking place in Brussels today, I’m thrilled to publish a timely guest blog from Ian Hepburn. Ian has had a long association with the EU nature directives spanning the last 35 years. He currently leads on conservation policy for the Sussex Wildlife Trust.

The European Commission’s on-line public consultation earlier this year seeking views on whether the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive – the backbone of EU wildlife policy – are ‘fit for purpose’ was met with a virtual avalanche of comments from individuals and organisations. An unprecedented half a million responses from across the 28 Member States are not easy to ignore. And then in late in October, a joint letter from nine EU environment ministers –with Germany in the lead– urged the European Commission not to weaken…

View original post 1,010 more words

Early Winter Weather Across North America : Image of the Day

Parts of Canada and the western United States were doused with wintery weather in mid-November 2015. Some of the precipitation fell as snow and some as cold rain. Whether it is the beginning of a wet El Niño winter or a break in persistent drought remains to be seen.

Source: Early Winter Weather Across North America : Image of the Day

Six Ways to Use Fallen Leaves in Your Garden by Evelyn Hadden

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My Boise front garden this summer, two years after smothering the lawn with leaves.

Got leaves? Use them to boost your garden’s soil and plant health, facilitate the design and creation of new planting beds, turn problem areas into productive ones, and save yourself labor and money, all while doing the green thing. Here are six rewarding, practical alternatives to raking leaves into bags and hauling them off your property.

1. Spread thinly over planted areas. If they’re only an inch or two deep, leave leaves where they have fallen around perennials, shrubs, and trees. Distribute a two-inch layer over the rest of your planted areas as well. Larger or coarser leaves will act as a mulch — suppressing seedling germination, retaining soil moisture, and minimizing erosion. If you shred the leaves first, or if they are naturally small and friable, they will break down more easily and will act more like a soil conditioner than a mulch. Grass clippings can be mixed in for extra nutrition. More details on spreading leaves over perennial beds from Penn State Extension.

2. Spread thinly over lawn. Mow over a light layer of leaves where they have fallen onto a lawn. This will break them into pieces that are less likely to pack down and smother the grass but can sift down between the blades and enrich the soil as they decompose. For stretches of lawn without fallen leaves, spread a thin layer over your lawn and shred with the mower, or shred first and then spread. More details on using fallen leaves to benefit lawns from University of Minnesota Extension.

3. Spread deeply under shrubs. Rake fallen leaves under the skirts of shrubs for a weed-suppressing mulch and nutritious compost all in one. Shrubs of woodland origin can easily handle a deep mulch of leaves, though any groundcover plants under them may smother. Want more shrubs? A thick blanket of leaves can induce arching and suckering woody plants to layer (produce new plants from buried trailing branches), and those new plants will be ready to cut free and dig up within a year or two.

4. Spread deeply to kill lawn. Pile fallen leaves over a section of lawn to smother it for planting next year. A foot-deep layer of leaves should be sufficient to kill a fescue lawn. If your lawn plants are particularly tough, lay cardboard first for extra help with weed suppression. (If you are smothering lawn over a tree’s root zone, tackle no more than a quarter of the root zone per year.) With enough warmth, moisture, and soil life, your leaves might mostly decompose over the first winter, or it could take a year or so for them and the erstwhile lawn to transform into rich, crumbly, worm-filled topsoil.

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Here’s the front yard in December 2013, with piled leaves shaping the new beds. Remaining lawn shows where the stepping stone paths will be.

5. Make more places for leaves. Design planting beds that can take your extra leaves every year — leaf processing areas, so to speak. Site them within convenient raking distance of (or within) your lawn, patio, and paved areas. Plant tall, robust shrubs in them and plan to add a deep layer of leaves to those beds every year. An island within the lawn can be planted with native berrying and flowering shrubs to become a songbird haven. Site it so it provides a four-season view from a window of the house or from an outdoor sitting area. A hedge along the driveway also makes an excellent leaf processing area; just sweep them off the pavement and into the shrubbery.

6. Get your compost mix right. Set aside a bag or two of leaves to spread thinly over the compost pile every time you empty your kitchen scrap bucket onto it. This will help to mask unpleasant odors, balance green materials with brown, and speed decomposition.

Now for the caveats:

As you may have deduced from our recent discussion about the National Wildlife Federation’s leaf-leaving advice, it’s important to consider your climate and site, the type of leaves you have, and the plants you are growing.

While some leaves break down quickly (honeylocust, for instance), thick and leathery leaves such as magnolia or oak may not decompose for years without being shredded first. These latter types of leaves will require extra effort to incorporate into your garden.

If you are cultivating mosses or other fragile groundcovers under your trees, a deep leaf layer will kill them.

Aesthetics can play a part in your choices too.

But before you bag them and send them away, consider how those free fallen leaves might benefit you and your garden.

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Perennials, annuals, and vegetables, including dryland native plants, are thriving in the decomposed leaves.

Six Ways to Use Fallen Leaves in Your Garden originally appeared on Garden Rant on November 18, 2015.