PRESIDENT TRUMPS "TRAVEL BAN" PASSES INITIAL SUPREME COURT MUSTER

THE GREAT NAMAZU REPORTS ON THE MOST IMPORTANT TRUMP BORDER CONTROL ISSUE

The Great Namazu, AAB's Maritime and Political Analyst

Greetings Bipeds! 

 As most of you who follow my analysis know by now, just as I predicted ,(See: The Great Catfish Ponders An Islamic Ban ) Presidential control of visas, and traveler / immigration entry has passed initial muster with the U.S. Supreme court, on its first pass before actual legal scholars. The previous Federal District Court Hearings were all in forums controlled by judicial activists Clinton appointees (basically socialists with only contempt for anyone not a "liberal progressive" and no respect for the separation of powers or the constitution itself.)  We note that we described the approval of the present version of the entry and immigration controls as "initial".  We describe it as initial because the court announced in the face of immediate liberal announcements of coming legal challenges that the court would be willing to hear certain counter arguments  perhaps in September. The specific arguments that court indicated an interest in would have to be based on any lack of real security threat (fat chance of that argument taking root after the events of 9/11, ISIS threats against the US, and so many acts of Islamic terrorism inside our borders), or religious grounds (also not likely to be upheld since the present order makes no mention of Muslims specifically, and does nothing to change entry or immigration status of Muslims from other than the six nations judged by the President as high risk). 

 In fact if the treasonous rabble behind the opposition to executive control of our borders does launch such challenges, almost certain to fail, they could open a door to even more powerful executive control of border entry and immigration. If they challenge executive control claiming there is no real security threat, a claim that fails before tests of common sense, history, and specific evidence, they open the door to direct Supreme Court recognition of a real state of security emergency, opening more doors to direct executive control of the very object of their affection, open borders and the illegal registration of illegal aliens as US voters. If the libtards file based on religious discrimination they are sure to fail before the Supreme court. First none of the people affected by these executive orders are citizens of the United States, the only people the constitution applies to. The enabling statute that I described in a previous post allows the President to impose entry and immigration restrictions on any group for any reason if he and he alone suspects (no obligation to prove) that the targeted group represents a danger to the United States. If anything would open up a clear pathway to the absolute banning of Islamic immigration and the deportation of all non citizen Muslims it would be a loss in the Supreme Court based on a religious challenge.  

 We predict that any further challenges to executive control of entry, immigration, or borders will fail at the Supreme Court level each and every time. The President is simply doing his job under the constitution. Sorry Snowflakes, you lose.

 Again if you would like to examine some specific legal citations for my original argument that the President's acts were legal see: The Great Catfish Ponders An Islamic Ban . and THE GREAT CATFISH'S OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT

 The next issue is the much needed "wall" or otherwise enhanced border long physical barrier. For more on that issue see: Despite the early success of the opposition we that as another Trump campaign promise that will eventually be fulfilled. See: WHY MEXICO WILL PAY FOR THE WALL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY

Today, June 23, 2017 the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary celebrates its 78th anniversary as a formal organization. But the spirit of unpaid volunteerism within the ancestral organizations that became the U.S. Coast Guard go far back in the history of the service. Before there was a Coast Guard Auxiliary on the eve of World War II, there was an unpaid "Coast Guard Reserve" made up of local recreational boaters and water men and dedicated to inshore and near shore search and rescue. As war loomed this "Reserve" was split by law into an unpaid volunteer auxiliary and a paid military reserve modeled on existing War (Now Defense) Department models. There is a provision in the Coast Guard Reserve and Auxiliary enabling legislation allowing Coast Guard Auxiliary members to accept appointments for short duration service in the military post 1939 "Coast Guard Reserve". Called "TRs" such Auxiliary members manned a large ragtag antisubmarine force during the war and some accompanied General MacArthur into the Philippines providing near coastal transport , scout, and courtier service in the early days of the return of American forces.  

 Other Auxiliary members in the continental U.S. and its island possessions provided logistic support to Coast Guard stations and beach patrols, and continued search and rescue services to commercial fishermen, and occasionally to the survivors of U boat attacks off of our shores. The Auxiliary today numbers nearly 40,000 dues paying members providing their skilled services and the use of their own boats , air craft, and radio stations in support of the civil missions of the Coast Guard. This all volunteer unpaid force has nearly the same number of members as the military active duty component of the Coast Guard, The present day military Coast Guard Reserve which has been deployed domestically and over seas in military capacities many times since the Mariel Boat lift including both Iraq wars numbers about 8,000 ready reserve members. Many Auxiliary members are also members of the ready reserve. The savings to the nation for the incredible services of this virtual small craft navy, air arm, and communications and signals service is astounding. Members of the Auxiliary proudly wear the basic uniform of the Coast Guard but with "silver" markings where the military members wear gold. However, quite a number of Coast Guard commandants, and many active duty members who have worked with them refer to them as "the Platinum Coast Guard". In the maritime world, especially in the American and British Merchant Marine services silver usually connotes "staff" organizations and ranks, while gold usually represents "line" organizations and ranks. The Coast Guard Auxiliary members blur the whole staff / line concept, and they do it all without compensation. No wonder so many active duty personnel simply refer to them as the "PLATINUM COAST GUARD". 

 Going back before there was a Coast Guard one of the main ancestral organizations was the U.S. Life Saving Service which ran "Life boat stations" up and down the U.S. Coasts. The station "Captain" and a very small number of "Keepers" were uniformed Federal employees. But when the signal went up for a near coastal rescue the bulk of the "Oarsmen" or "Surfmen" responding were local volunteers.
The Coast Guard Auxiliary as a formal uniformed corps of volunteers may be 78 year old today. But the concept of well trained, formally organized volunteers in service to a core "coast guard" in America is over 200 years old. A few Auxiliary members have made the ultimate sacrifice in the last few decades and the service now insures that any member injured in the line of duty receives the benefits normally accorded a GS 9 in the Coast Guard's civil service. For certain missions Auxiliary members today may receive fuel reimbursement. The PLATINUM COAST GUARD really receives very minimal tax payer support, but the tax payers get a very robust return on investment. 

 Happy birthday PLATINUM COAST GUARD !  THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO AMERICA !

BERNIE SANDERS AND SCALISE'S ASSAULT

GUNMAN VISITED BERNIE SANDERS BEFORE SHOOTING SCALISE

THE GREAT NAMAZU, RETIRED DEMIGOD AND NOW ANALYST


Greetings Bipeds!

 While cruising the internet for information on an unrelated topic I came across this item of information. Even the lame stream media admits that the shooter of the Republican Congressional baseball team was a Bernie Sanders supporting Illinois democrat. Now we learn that he was in the DC area on a protracted basis prior to the shooting visiting Bernie Sanders and other Democratic congressmen. My question isn't so much why he was visiting his socialists idols, but why this fact is of no interest to the lame stream media, while anything negative about Trump or Russia even if blatantly untrue is of such intense interest. Oh well, you can read the article for yourself and make up your own mind ( something Democrats are loath to let you do) by clicking on the link below the quote from the article;



"According to the bureau (Editor's note: "bureau refers to the FBI) , 66-year old James Hodgkinson acted alone in the mass assassination attempt, in what the FBI is describing as a “spontaneous” incident. After he was shot and killed by local police, law enforcement found a note in Hodgkinson’s pocket with the names of six members of congress written on it.

The suspect spent three months before the attack living in a van just outside the Washington metro area, running out of money, and visiting tourist attractions in and around the nation’s capital.

Prior to the mass shooting, Hodgkinson visited the senate office of democrat Bernie Sanders, whose failed presidential campaign the gunman had volunteered for.  The FBI also said the shooter had been in contact with the offices of democratic senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.

In the immediate aftermath of the “assault,” Sanders issued a public statement denouncing his volunteer."  http://keepandbear.com/news/fbi-virginia-gunman-visited-bernie-sanders-shooting-scalise/

From KEEP AND BEAR

CLIMATE CHANGE "HOAX" VIDEOS

THE NAMAZU SCHOOL OF CLIMATOLOGY PRESENTS CLIMATE CHANGE VIDEOS:

THE GREAT NAMAZU, RETIRED JAPANESE GIANT CATFISH DEMIGOD, DEAN OF THE NAMAZU SCHOOL OF CLIMATOLOGY

GREETINGS BIPEDS!

  As you know here at the Namazu School of Climatology we believe that climates change , it's what they do, and the climate can change drastically without any input from bipeds. See my previous essay "

THE NAMAZU CERTAINTY, CLIMATES CHANGE SOMETIMES DRASTICALLY AND SUDDENLY WITHOUT ANY BIPED HELP 

 No one can call us climate deniers, we do believe that climates can and do change. We even advocate government action to protect the public from the economic, especially agricultural consequences, of sudden and massive climate change resulting from massive volcanic activity, pole reversal, planetary axis wobble , solar flare activity , meteor strike or any of the other natural and sudden causes of climate change that are clearly visible in the geological and fossil records. What we don't believe is that some sort of massive global climate change is underway and caused by man's activities. Consequently, we don't believe that we must immediately divest America of all manufacturing, ship the manufacturing sector overseas to nations with "carbon credits" who do nothing to control air pollution. A while back we realized that "global warming" had ceased. (see :WHY HAVE ATLANTIC OCEAN SURFACE TEMPERATURES DROPPED?

A little while after that we noticed that the climate alarmists changed their rhetoric to reflect "climate change". As I said "climates change that's what they do" but that doesn't mean a man caused and particularly American caused negative climate change is in progress. We've explained what's really going on in seemingly endless postings but apparently people dislike even condensed readings or they have little faith in the pronouncements of retired demigods. So, below are a variety of links to informational videos by many experts who Al Gore would call "climate deniers" and who the Democrats propose to imprison. We suggest watch and listen, decide for yourself. Even if you are under 30 we feel confident in this prediction. You won't see the average global temperature rise enough to change the boundaries of climatological belts, or agricultural zones during your life time. Additionally you won't see Miami, New Orleans, New York , or any other American major port under water due to ocean level rise; hurricanes being another matter for low lying coastal communities. 

 So we urge the young and the not so young, the climate alarmists, and the climate deniers to watch and listen to the linked in experts below. The Alarmists can of course continue to believe whatever they want. But I challenge all to then simply observe until the end of your days. None of those alarmists scenarios with the people of Maine in shirt sleeves and Bermuda shorts in January, the ice caps melted, and the East Coast under water simply won't materialize unless they do over night due to pole shift, giant meteor strike, massive volcanic activity, or planetary axis wobble. No point in worrying about these, there is nothing man can do. Check out the views of the experts below: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHFfOOF-6Fs  Dr. Don Easterbrook, Professor Emeritus of Geology Western Washington University testifying before the U.S. Senate Energy, environment, and Telecommunications subcommittee.


Nobel Laureate Smashes the Global Warming Hoax https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCy_UOjEir0

The Great Global Warming Swindle Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52Mx0_8YEtg

How the Global Warming Scare Began https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyUDGfCNC-k

AWESOME TOUR OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

https://www.youtube.com/embed/doN4t5NKW-k
Departing Space Station Commander Provides Tour of Orbital Laboratory

DEPARTING SPACE STATION COMMANDER PROVIDES TOUR OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

NASA IMAGE: INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION 

This is probably the most recent and timely tour of the International Space Station available today.The International Space station was not the first "orbital space laboratory", that was probably "Sky Lab" launched May 14, 1973. But the International Space Station is a quite different milestone in space exploration history. Since it was first manned over 12 years ago, not a night has passed when a few human beings weren't off the planet. That is almost as important to the human exploration of space as the first manned moon landing demonstrating our ability to leave this planet, travel to another , safely land, explore and return to earth. The International Space Station is a demonstration of human ability to function effectively in space for very prolonged periods and keep space facilities located within reasonable travel distances continuously manned.

 The Space Station isn't "Star Trek" there are no gravity mats. Weightlessness is obvious, at times apparently fun, but in the long term problematic. Creature comforts are quite Spartan. This is life in the belly of a machine. For AAB staffers who have spent considerable time on Drill Ships and Mobile Offshore Drilling Units there is something very familiar about it. By comparison, life on an offshore drilling unit (MODU)  with real food, showers and rest rooms, and honest to God gravity seems luxurious. But it didn't seem so at the time.  Duty on a MODU can be exciting but when your two week to one month tour is up you are definitely ready to go home. One of the first things you notice when your helicopter first crosses the beach line is color. Even just a few weeks living largely in the belly of a machine with grey steel all about and a weather deck view of the sea and sky, mostly grey or grey blue with white clouds is enough to give one a malady I call "color deprivation". What is clear about the people who man space vehicles and installations at this time is that they are intimately involved with the technology of their habitat. Life on a MODU is a 12 hour work day and afterwards there are few diversions such as pool tables or TV. To live on a space vehicle under the conditions observed on this video and be in the good humor that the departing station commander is obviously in, the work day must be more on the order of 16 hours a day with people who have a high degree of interest , enthusiasm, for the work.

 Your narrator, the departing station commander , a young woman, can only be described as attractive, intelligent, and surprisingly rather bubbly. She seems to exude charm and a sense of fun though she mentions several times that she will be back on earth within about 12 hours of the finish of the video shoot. Sailors have to wonder; is she exhibiting a species of "channel fever"  that every sailor knows. Channel fever is a species of euphoria that seizes long deployed sailors as land comes into sight, be it home or a liberty port.  Was she that happy and charming three weeks prior to this video? .

 Personally I think that before space installations and vehicles can accommodate mission specialists who aren't literally "space happy", they are going to need those gravity mats, a recreation room, better food, and  at least a few clutter free spaces with some human friendly color and furnishings that aren't dual purpose parts of the operating system. This will sound very strange but I'm deadly serious with this suggestion. NASA would benefit in planning larger, longer term space facilities and vehicles, requiring larger work forces, some of whom inevitably will view service aboard not as an adventure but as a job; by conferring with maritime union negotiators.  If anyone has identified the rock bottom minimum living conditions that a wide spectrum of the human character can live in isolation with for a protracted period it would be our seaman union negotiators. Like all sailors we are realists. Space is an ocean, and it will be explored, traveled upon, and exploited for resources. The work force won't all be as smart, stable, intelligent, good humored, or charming as the people you will see in this video. You can't send up crews forever who are as hand picked as your charming narrator and her "shipmates" in this virtual visit to the International Space Station. As an experienced commander of "Industrial vessels" (ships like MODUs that perform work at sea vice transport across it) and as an officer in charge of a semi isolated military station,  my opinion about  life on a present day space station is this. There would be at least one ax murder among a typical maritime crew under similar living conditions that austere within the first month. 

 Our advice to NASA? When you design those larger truly industrial space stations, and long voyage vehicles, or planet colonies, don't ever let living conditions fall below the American maritime unions standards of ship habitability. 

 Meanwhile click on this link for your tour: https://www.youtube.com/embed/doN4t5NKW-k and we hope you enjoy your visit as much as your tour guide obviously enjoyed being your host.

Johnas Presbyter , Editor

U.S. BATTLE SHIPS ILLUSTRATED

AN ILLUSTRATED LIST U.S. BATTLE SHIPS:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJXhiId5FwM

U.S. Navy Photo of the USS IOWA early 1900s

The last time the battle ship was a contender for the title of main battery of the fleet was the start of WW II.  During that war the aircraft carrier rose to premier status. The battle ship would still be around and put in some appearances mostly in shore bombardment late into the twentieth century, but no new ones would be built after WW II. Below is a link to an illustrated list of American battleships. This site presents an unusual opportunity to visually observe the technological evolution of the steel motorized battle ship from the late 19th century to the mid 20th. Below is the link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJXhiId5FwM

Arctic Ocean Craters Not From Meteor Strikes

HUNDREDS OF HUGH CRATERS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN, BUT THE CAUSE WAS NOT SOME LONG AGO METEOR BOMBARDMENT

Illustration Courtesy National Science Foundation

 The bad news is that the high Arctic Ocean region is burping massive amounts of methane many such "burps" are powerful enough to create meteor like craters on the sea floor. You probably wouldn't want to be around on something the size of an offshore oil service vessel for the related sea surface effects when one of these bad boys goes off. This is a natural phenomenon that occurs whenever the permafrost that over lays thinly crusted areas of major methane deposits weakens which it does on a cyclical basis. Ancient and more modern versions have been studied in land areas of the High Arctic region. Other areas like the sea floor and coastal plains of Texas and Louisiana also occasionally burp methane but without the amazing crater like results. In the semi tropical climes of Texas and Louisiana there is no permafrost, so the strength over the over burden holding the methane in is much more stable than in areas with permafrost.  Also much of the final overburden of top and sub soils are very permeable so gases such as methane tend to escape in a diffused manner, outside of Arctic and subarctic regions natural methane escape is rarely an explosive event. Pressures build up where the final holding element in the over burden is variable. Geological overburden is rarely variable on anything like a seasonal basis unless there is seismic activity or strip mining. Unfortunately the climate change / global warming / crowd is spewing the usual propaganda over the internet in response to papers that are starting to appear about the newly discovered craters  in the Arctic Ocean. We hesitate to link you these articles without this forewarning. As you read the various accounts many by climate alarmists keep in mind that these "hundreds of craters are newly discovered, Not much in dating has taken place before the alarmists started writing. We think any alarm is premature unless all of these craters are dated to within a few years of each other. We are fairly certain such a sea floor disturbance would generate "freak wave" effects. With all of the Russian oil exploration activity in the area that should have been noticed and reported. We think it more probable than not that the craters are widely varying in age and if ever properly dated would reflect the normal weather cycles with some years more active than others and unusually cold years probably free of such explosive sub-sea activity. 

 Below you will find some links to published articles on these craters. Try not to view them with the alarm the climate alarmist are always trying to induce with incomplete , inaccurate, or fanciful "science". On the other hand if you you start to hear of unusual unexplained losses of Russian oil exploration craft in the High Arctic this summer, it is OK to be afraid, But that still doesn't prove either climate change or man caused climate change. Keep in mind the amount of human presence in the High arctic, particularly by the Russians is unprecedented in history. There has been a lot going on in the High Arctic for centuries without scientific observation. Here are some links. Take everything with a "grain of salt".

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/hundreds-of-huge-craters-discovered-in-the-arctic-ocean/ar-BBBMTfk?li=BBnb4R7&ocid=wispr

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/7/16/1314501/-Mysterious-Siberian-Crater-Found-at-End-of-the-World-May-Portend-Methane-Climate-Catastrophe

CATFISH TO BE TREATED LIKE CHICKEN AND BEEF?

THE GREAT CATFISH ON THE GREAT CATFISH DEBATE



 The Great Namazu, Retired Japanese Giant Catfish Demigod Now An Aquatic/Maritime / Political/ Science Commentator

WHY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TREATS CATFISH DIFFERENTLY:

Greetings Bipeds!
 As you all know I'm a 3,000 year old giant catfish the size of Japan and not considered eligible for human consumption. A lot of you American bipeds however consume astounding numbers of my smaller "cousins", which is OK by me since I consume the occasional distant relative just as you bipeds ,in some cultures, eat an occasional monkey. Indeed American bipeds both native and imports have been catfish consumers for some time. You've eaten them stewed, and fried mostly since pre- Colombian times and today it's big business. The first large scale fish farming in the United States was the raising of American freshwater blue catfish in the some of the states of the "Deep South"which started in the 1960s . The areas in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas where this industry flourished were characterized by heavily oxided red dirt soils over a clay under pan. These areas could grow Pines, and little else, until it was discovered that the red dirt top soil could be dug down to the water tight clay under pan to create ponds and small lakes. With generally about 60 inches of rainfall annually spread over the entire year in these regions the ponds filled fast. Pond culture brought new agricultural production to areas that had little more going than forestry. The Southern "catfish farm" industry took off and generally experienced smooth sailing until sometime in the 90s when the globalist upset the apple cart.

 In the 90's a competitor emerged. Enter Pangasius AKA 'the Asian catfish, an export of Vietnam and the catfish that, in an economic sense, almost ate the Southern US catfish farm industry. The lifting of the U.S. -Vietnam trade embargo opened the flood gate for Pangasius to swim into the catfish eating Southern U.S. market. Now Southern members of Congress of both houses and both parties are trying to pass legislation that would give the native catfish (pardon the pun) "a leg up" in the market.

 The "Catfish Dispute" between American and Vietnamese producers has been going on for decades now. The Southern cats won a victory when the U.S. passed a rule that Vietnamese catfish had to be labeled "made in Vietnam" to be sold in the U.S. market. Then in 2008 our Southern catfish cultivators made an unusual move. They asked to be more closely regulated. Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran's 2008 "Farm Bill" moved catfish inspection from the FDA to the USDA. Prior to the bill there had been circulating on social media some unsavory images of Vietnamese catfish farm operations. USDA meat processing standards are much more strict than FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulations for seafood and other agricultural products.

 The Southern US catfish production operations photograph well. The catfish reside in ponds set in meadows lined by woodlands. They are fed a grain based mixture of fish food and left pretty much alone until large enough to harvest. Then the processors come with pretty clean looking tank trucks and the adult fish are seined out of the pond and placed live in the tank truck. The pond is then restocked with new fingerling catfish and the process starts again. Off the adults go to processing in FDA inspected plants. But since 2008 the catfish farmers of the Deep South have been working hard to get their product inspected by the USDA. Frankly the fish processors aren't that happy with the situation. Visit a FDA inspected fish processing plant  and you'll see shrimp, maybe blue crab, and all manner of fin fish coming down the conveyors under conditions regulated and inspected by the FDA. The 2008 rule would require the entire production line to stop for emerging American catfish as different rules came into play. Make no mistake about it, the rules would be stricter, especially involving more frequent inspection. But the Vietnamese would be highly unlikely to be able to comply.

 The Commie globalist label the entire "catfish dispute" as an "attack on free trade". Somehow the globalist leftards seem to think that such rhetoric will be universally appreciated and "free trade" is a mantra that will elicit sympathy for their cause of destroying any American industry in favor or any foreign competitor knocking on the door of the American biped fish eating market.  The fact is that due to the law suits and political actions by the globalists no American catfish were inspected by the USDA before 2016.  The commie leftards are starting to use conservative sounding arguments as well as their free trade mantra calling the USDA regulation of catfish processing "redundant", "uneconomic", and "ineffective". The lefty assault on the Southern catfish farmers will probably be aided and abetted by non Southern (known in this region as "Yankees") Republicans who are clueless about catfish.

 Frankly my own view is that the Southern boys already won the battle regardless of which agency inspects catfish processing in the end. The images of those unsanitary Vietnamese operations just won't leave the mid of the market. That market is still pretty much about 11 southern states where they know their catfish and have decided preferences. The battle was probably won the day the Vietnamese had to label their product. Not only do Southerners like catfish, and know how to prepare it, and have strong preferences for the American Southern product but they serve disproportionately in the now all volunteer US military. More families in the South lost members in the Vietnam war than in any other part of the country, the market will not favor a former enemy's product over a Southern product. Today the South is the processed catfish market, after decades of producing and marketing the product few outside of the South eat Southern or any other kind of catfish. It looks to me like the Southern producers can hold on to their market with little more than educational marketing, telling their market where and under what conditions those competitive catfish come from.

 The more difficult problem is expanding the market. Advertising to the Asian American community is probably a more immediately profitable gambit than trying to teach Yankees to eat catfish. By contrast Asian cuisine has long incorporated catfish. They have many more ways of preparing it than just stewed or fired. Once it makes it way into upscale Asian American restaurants there will be a slow evolution of yuppie foodies wanting to prepare it at home followed by a more general acceptance of the product across a wider swath of the American consumer market.  In the name of 'Diversity" Yankees are highly likely to adopt a seeming strange food. But a Southerner, white or black isn't going to ever be able the change the food habits of the Yankees unless he has a French last name and hails from New Orleans. In New Orleans the farm raised catfish of the South is readily available breaded and fried on plates with fries and on "Po boy" sandwiches in neighborhood restaurants frequented by locals, but its not so big on the menus of the high priced tourist trade eateries. Fortunately in Louisiana there is a large Vietnamese American community active in the seafood businesses. Now with so many of the Vietnamese Louisianan business community being born in Louisiana the convenience, cleanliness, lower transport costs of the local fish will appeal to them. And so, the "Catfish Dispute" comes full circle starting with an attempt to keep a cheaper "made in Vietnam" product out of the market, American Vietnamese businesses centered around New Orleans will probably eventually lead the expansion of catfish consumption into Yankee land. No, those Yankees won't be eating deep fired catfish and hush puppies, more likely broiled catfish with peanut sauce (we raise peanuts in the deep South too) all thanks to having our own native catfish and now our own native Vietnamese chefs.

 So my Yankee biped friends, napkin up, you will soon be eating "Southern Vietnamese" catfish raised in the Deep South and you will like it!

Namazu

This has sparked what is known as the “Catfish Dispute”—an ongoing argument between American and Vietnamese producers. Catfish Farmers of America, the industry’s main U.S. trade association, has sued the Department of Commerce repeatedly. Although they have won some victories—all Vietnamese catfish must now be labeled “Made in Vietnam,” for example—it hasn’t been enough to stop the torrent of competition. And so in 2008, they took an unusual step: they asked to be more strictly regulated.

Their argument, at the time, was food safety. “There were a lot of Youtube videos [of Vietnamese fish farms] floating around that were not appealing—it’s not a situation that you want to have your food come from,” says Dan Flynn of Food Safety News, who has reported on this saga since the outset. Together with a few food safety groups, Catfish Farmers of America pushed for more stringent inspections. Thanks mostly to the influence of Mississippi Senator Thad Cochran, the 2008 Farm Bill contained a special provision moving catfish inspection duties from the FDA to the USDA.

Up until this bill, food inspection responsibilities in the U.S. were clearly delineated: the USDA checked out meat, poultry, and eggs exclusively, while the FDA took care of everything else, including our favorite whiskery fish. “This goes back to the days of Upton Sinclair,” says Flynn, “based on the principle that meat should be subject to continuous inspection.”

While the FDA does random inspections, the USDA checks all the domestically produced and imported goods under their jurisdiction, unless they are confident that the countries and states producing the goods have similar inspection standards.

2017 BALTOPS, NATO'S BALTIC OPERATIONS EXERCISE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCTlMzVPebs

BALTOPS: NATO'S ANNUAL BALTIC PRACTICE RUNS ARE UNDERWAY 

PHOTO: US MARINE CORPS

 Every year NATO holds Baltic Naval exercises. BALTOPS began in 1972 as strictly a NATO exercise , Then in 1993 former Eastern Bloc nations joined in the exercises. Russia is becoming more concerned with this naval exercise as there is no doubt that these exercises are at best drills and at worse dress rehearsals for the liberation of Baltic states over run by Russian forces, including non NATO former Soviet Bloc states independent since the Soviet Union collapsed. For 2017 the exercise opened today (Thursday June 1, 2017) in the Polish naval port of Szcecin and will continue through June 6, 2017. This years exercise involves forces from 14 nations and will involve about 50 ships and submarines and at least 50 aircraft of the involved nations. More than 4,000 NATO and other participating nation's troops, mostly marines  are participating in amphibious landing exercises. 

 As usual the Russians are expected to monitor the exercises unofficially. `Unfortunately, in past years Russian monitoring has included regional flights by Russian military air craft into the area. the Russians have not violated any nation's air space or done anything else in these flights that would be illegal under international law. However, the Russians don't file flight plans for such flights, or provide any notice to the NATO air traffic controllers. NATO air traffic controllers are able to detect the presence of these air craft and their speed and direction of travel. The lack of communications presents uncertainty into the announced NATO exercise and sometimes requires modification or delay of evolutions. This is an expensive disruption of the exercise plan and obviously deliberate on the part of the Russians. This practice also increases the chance of accidents and misunderstandings. The Russian actions are deliberate and meant as a message to the NATO alliance. In a similar manner BALTOPS is a quite deliberate message to Russia that NATO is ready and willing to defend the independence of the Baltic States. NATO , however, announces and publishes in all maritime and aviation official notice sources the details of the exercise. 

 We'll know in about six days how much friction will be involved in this year's BALTOPS exercise. Here are some links to videos about previous BALTOPS .


NATO vs RUSSIA - Nato Shows its Teeth to Russia with Huge Baltic Drills