Category Archives: National

Workforce Flexibility act may give temporary DOI employees competitive edge

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500px-US-DeptOfTheInterior-Seal.svgWASHINGTON — The Land Management Workforce Flexibility act, H.R. 1531, has been signed into law. It is now Public Law No: 114-47. The bill was submitted by Representative Gerald Connolly [D-VA-11].

The Workforce Flexibility act makes an employee of specified land management agencies in the Department of the Interior serving under a time-limited, including a temporary, appointment in the competitive service eligible to compete for a permanent appointment in any land management agency or any other agency if:
(1) the original appointment was competitive,
(2) the employee has served under one or more time-limited appointments totaling more than 24 months without a break of two or more years, and
(3) the employee’s performance has been at an acceptable level.

It also provides that an individual appointed under the provisions of this Act becomes a career-conditional employee and acquires competitive status upon appointment.

The agency determining the eligibility of time-limited employees are required to waive age requirements for these employees unless age is essential to the performance of the duties of the position.

The law defines a former employee of a land management agency who served under a time-limited appointment and who otherwise meets applicable requirements to be a time-limited employee for purposes of this Act if:
(1) such employee applies for a position covered by this Act within two years after the most recent date of separation, and
(2) such employee’s most recent separation was for reasons other than misconduct or performance.

Persons interested in career positions in the Department of the Interior should check with Human Resources for more information.

The sinking of the USS America

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oov071214aCOMMENTARY AND PERSONAL REMARKS
By Lyle J. Rapacki, Ph.D.
SENTINEL INTELLIGENCE SERVICES, LLC

Illegals streaming across the United States borders and then vanishing into our country is a huge, ugly truth the professional politicians do not want to talk about other than to point their fingers at the “other guy,” and launch into a speech about how hard they work to secure our borders. Heck…Senator John McCain pulls this trick every election cycle here in Arizona! The professional politicians, and their handlers, are absolutely appalled and pissed-off that Donald Trump is talking about the carefully crafted agenda to re-colonize our country away from the America we have all known, and into a third-world status nation dutifully taking our place in the New-World Order. We are purposefully being redesigned as Europe has with millions of illegals who absolutely have no intention to accept our culture, our values, our American principles and heritage. Heck…the professional politicians have no intention to make them accept our culture, values, or American heritage.

This message is not an endorsement of Mr. Trump, or even political; it is warning! Mr. Trump has pulled the lid back on a can of worms known as the “Rush the Border Campaign” successfully being waged by Marxist countries to off-load their poor, their tired, their huddled masses of non-productive people from the alleys and jails within their countries, and even helping to ship them to the southern border of our country so they may skillfully be led across to quickly disperse in the United States. Donald Trump has bluntly talked about this well-developed campaign, and the professional politicians, and their handlers along with the Elites have been stunned! You see…Donald Trump’s blunt talk has been heard by the “silent majority” of Americans who themselves do not have a platform, but have waited and prayed for someone to come along and lead. Trump is leading the conversation, he is exposing what the politicians have known, but have winked and agreed to politely disagree without promoting any significant change whatsoever! Trump is exposing just how much in collusion the professionals really are, and just how much the political establishment does not want the American public to know. This is shameful!

We are well on the way to losing our country, but the Elites, their media cohorts along with the political handlers are counting on this truth being simply too difficult for Americans to accept. So…keep the Starbucks coffee flowing, Monday Night Football glowing, and even stir some political intrigue and theatre in for good measure; just do not let the American People wake-up to the reality that is flowing in all around them like the water on the Titanic did to those on board. “We won’t sink…we cannot sink…we are too big to sink!” After-all we are the USS America, and we are meant to stay afloat no matter what iceberg we hit!!

Donald Trump may not be the right person to sit behind the Resolute Desk (made from the timbers of the British ship HMS Resolute and given by Queen Elizabeth to President Rutherford Hayes in 1880 as a gift of friendship between our countries) in the Oval Office. Yet from the moment of his announcement to run for the presidency, Donald Trump has talked straight, has not played the Washington game or by the rules of the belt-way crowd inside Washington – Georgetown for instance. Donald Trump like any successful businessman knows when a business is in trouble, and unless direct and quick leadership steps are initiated the business will fail – or worse! America is on the verge of failing, and at least Donald Trump is saying this truth. The business of unchecked illegals streaming into America is promoting a disaster of epic proportions. Where are the leaders; where are those in positions of public trust willing to stand and do what is difficult, what is even ugly, but what is right? We have managers in public office, not leaders. We have professional politicians who make nice to their constituents back home, and wring their hands and commiserate about how awful the political systems is, but then hop back on their plane and return to their position of power making sure no one really rocks the ship of state. After-all the decisions about America are not for the people to make or even know about, they are for the few who have captured their place on the first-class section of the Titanic from which they are sure they will remain safe and dry. The warning Donald Trump is sounding and daring to speak about in public does not apply to the Elites or their cohorts. They will shout, “USS America cannot sink no matter what iceberg is hit.” And if in some peculiar way America does sink, well, what they won’t shout is that the professionals have already taken care of themselves with an escape route not available to the masses. Trump is right. Look at the figures below:

$22 Billion spent on welfare yearly to illegals by state government across America; $22 Billion per year on food assistance; $30 Billion spent on illegal children in our elementary schools who cannot speak a word of English, and do NOT need to learn! 30% of all Federal prisoners are illegals; well over $3 Million per DAY spent to incarcerate illegals in our local county jails. In 2006 alone, over $45 Billion sent to illegal’s home country. And what is even worse if you can imagine is that these figures are several years old!

Sound the Alarm!! We have hit an iceberg and we are taking on water below deck even though many are still enjoying another cup of coffee and entertainment on the upper decks. The Silent Majority are listening to Donald Trump, and are beginning to find their own voices. The Silent Majority are angry and scared, they have a very good idea we have hit and iceberg and are taking on water. This is exactly what the Elites and professional politicians don’t want to have happen.

LYLE J. RAPACKI, Ph.D. is an Intelligence and Threat Assessment Specialist who has provided consultations and intelligence briefings to selected members of the Arizona State Legislature since June, 2010 as well as to elected and law enforcement officials across the nation. He also regularly writes commentaries for The Olive Branch Report, an online Christian publication.

Cook Medical Issues Global Recall Of Beacon Tip Angiographic Catheter Products

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On July 2, 2015, Cook Medical initiated a lot-specific voluntary recall of 2,239 lots of Beacon Tip Angiographic Catheters. Globally, 95,167 devices are subject to this recall. The products include specific versions and lot numbers of the Torcon NB® Advantage Beacon® Tip Catheters (Catalog Prefix HNBR5.0), Royal Flush® Plus Beacon® Tip High-Flow Catheters (Catalog Prefix HNR4.0), and Slip-Cath® Beacon® Tip Catheters (Catalog Prefix SCBR5.0).

The Beacon Tip Angiographic Catheters have been found to exhibit tip splitting or separation, which has resulted in adverse events. Cook has received 26 complaints of catheter-tip splitting and/or separation. There have been 14 Medical Device Reports to date in which a tip split or separation occurred.

Tip splitting has the potential to lead to loss of device function. Tip separation may require medical intervention to retrieve a separated segment or may occlude blood flow to end organs.

The Beacon Tip Angiographic Catheters in this recall were distributed between June 2013 and June 2015. Product can be identified by the part number and lot number provided on the outer package product label. The lot numbers for products that are subject to this recall can be found on the following pages.

Cook Medical has notified its customers and distributors by recall notification letters. The letters requested that all customers and distributors quarantine and discontinue use of all potentially affected units and return the affected product to the company as soon as possible for credit.

FDA and other regulatory agencies around the world have been notified of this action.

The full list of recalled products can be found at the FDA web site.

PDFZilla PDF converter review

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I have a need to convert Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files to various formats. Mostly text. As an author, I sometimes have to convert PDF files to text so that I can copy and paste certain portions for articles and reviews. As a news reporter I often get large files in PDF format. The need to convert these to text format is obvious. In those PDF files there are sometimes graphics which I require for news reporting. I have been using the old Print Screen and save system requiring a graphics program to cut out the graphic. If I could extract the graphic easier, it makes my job that much easier.

Supreme Court decisions are a good example. Many are in PDF. It is helpful to convert to text so that I can copy and paste portions of the decisions into my articles. Other times I need to covert the whole file with graphics—as in the case of military manuals or other PDF files I might download from Archive.org or Project Gutenberg.

I have searched for and used several online options. They do all right, but tend to produce some gobbledygook in the translation. They do not seem to work well with graphics.

During my search I ran across PDFZilla. Having experience with Mozilla and Filezilla, I was hoping this was free. It is not, however. As a disclaimer I should note that I downloaded the trial version that only translates 50% of the file and has other limitations. I am writing this review based on that version and am told I can get a license for writing this review.

I will give you the bad first. You can select where the output file goes, but you cannot create a new folder while saving a file. You should plan to set up your folders before translating PDF files or separate them into folders later if you need to. Also the windows cannot be resized for easier viewing.

You can see the various conversion options in Figure 1. I did not use the PDF to Excel Converter because I do not have files that I need converted into that format. At least I have not run across any yet.
slide-1aTwo options I like are the PDF Merger and PDF Cutter. The PDF Merger is a good option. In the trial version they add a water mark. I had two particular files to test. I downloaded two SEABEE manuals. The came in Volume I and Volume II. Though the word “Merger” is misspelled in the window for this option, PDFZilla merged the two files seamlessly. This option I can find useful at times. The one problem with this option is that it does not give you the option to export the file to a folder you select. You can select the output folder by clicking on the link at the bottom.
PDFMeger-2
PDFCutter-1The other option, PDF cutter, allows you to cut out pages. I had some problems with testing this one. I chose a file over 700 pages longs with graphics at first. This file sent the PDF Cutter into a tizzy. It uses drag-and-drop functionality. That is you drag the PDF to the cutter window. The file did not show up and I had to eventually restart the computer to clear the memory. The second time I tried a plain Supreme Court text PDF and it displayed (50% of it) and I edited out a few pages. The edited output file appeared in the folder that I selected it from. You can resize the file, but not the window. The window should be about the same size as the main screen to see the file easier. Again the cut file in the trial version adds a watermark.

Transferring from PDF to Word was difficult for me, but might not be for you if you use Microsoft Word. I use Openoffice.org—A Microsoft Word clone. It has to import the Microsoft Word DOC file into ODT format. It does well, but the formatting is odd. In most cases I would not use that option anyway preferring PDF to text.

The PDF to Text converter works well saving in RTF format or TXT. While on this feature, I will go over some of the options on the screen.
conversion-screen-1
On the upper-right portion of the window you will see a drop-down menu for output formats. I selected PDF to txt and this is what shows. You can use the drop-down menu to select other formats in case you mistakenly push the wrong option from the main screen. Just above that is the Options where you can select the first page and last page to covert and whether or not you desire page breaks. Below that you can select the folder you desire to output to and, of course, the button to start the conversion is at the bottom.

You can drag-and-drop the PDF to the screen. Or you can choose the file by selecting the green cross on the File Menu. Next to the green cross is a folder with a green cross. This option allows you to add an entire folder of PDF files for bulk conversion. This is very useful to convert bulk PDF files to a specific format. The red X allows you to delete some of the PDF files if you do not desire to convert them. Thus you could select a folder and delete those you do not want to convert.

The PDF to text works good. Especially with straight text PDF files such as articles and Supreme Court decisions. There will be some formatting required. For example if you convert a file with a large a table of contents. You might have to remove the table of contents depending on your need. But it converts the text well. I have used the PDF to RTF format and it converts everything including the graphics, but the graphics appear upside down. You can rotate the graphics depending on the program you use to for your final print. You can also save the graphic and adjust it for your need in a graphics program.

The PDF to HTML seems to convert the text flawlessly even to recreating the format of the PDF. This makes a long HTML file, in some cases, with narrow columns. The trial version does not seem to translate any graphics, but the registered version might. It also automatically adds links to other portions of the HTML file. For example the file I translated adds an appendix and the HTML added several links to that Appendix and various graphics.

The other option I found useful was the Image to PDF Converter. I just happened to download several graphics for a technical document. PDFZilla converted them into a PDF file with watermarks. I then tried to convert that document to text, but only got the watermarks. The Image to PDF converter, as you see in the figure, allows you to add your own document title, an author, subject and keywords. You can also select an output path for the file. You can also adjust the quality of the file which will in turn make it smaller or larger.

Overall the trial version seems to work well. I would give it 3.5 out of five stars. I do not know if the registered version, allowing all functions, will work better. Some of the faults I cite may be corrected in future upgrades.

You could, of course, use register for Acrobat Pro. This requires a subscription of $14.99 a month (as of this writing) and a one year commitment. That is $179.88 per year. This is a good option for a large company having to edit or convert a large number of files. In addition to that you convert online in “the cloud” were anyone can have access to your files and the national government normally does.

PDFZilla is a program on your computer which converts the file on your computer. Although the NSA still has access to the file, it makes it difficult for others. If you are converting files for research for, say, a new invention idea, you probably do not want it floating on a “cloud” where any devil can intercept your work and develop your idea first. It is still a little more difficult to hack into your computer. The other advantage is that PDFZilla is $49.95 (as of this writing).

This program seems to be relatively new and may not covert everything absolutely flawlessly. What it does convert for me makes the price worth it. They could probably even squeeze a few more dollars from poor reporters such as me.

Bill to allow certain temporary government employees to be eligible to compete for permanent positions in Senate.

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WASHINGTON — H.R.1531, the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act, would allow employees serving in the Department of the Interior on a lime-limited basis eligible to compete for permanent positions within the agency. The bill passed the House on July 7 and moved to the Senate on the 8th.

The House bill was submitted to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs without amendments or reports. It was placed on the Senate legislative calendar yesterday.

The measure would allow employees in certain positions of the Department of the Interior to compete for permanent positions if they have served in temporary competitive service in one or more time-limited appointment for more than 24-months without a break of two, or more, years and the employee performance has been acceptable.

Temporary employees who were separated not more than two years who otherwise meets the eligibility of this measure would be allowed to compete for permanent positions if their separation was not for misconduct or poor performance.

The bill would require the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) or other examining agency, in determining the eligibility of a time-limited employee to be examined for or appointed in the competitive service. The person would becomes a career-conditional employee and acquire competitive status upon appointment.

The bill would waive age requirements for appointees under this measure unless the age requirement is essential to the performance of the duties of a particular position.

U.S. DOT announces Fiat Chrysler enforcement action.

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced today that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has acknowledged violations of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act’s requirements to repair vehicles with safety defects and will submit to rigorous federal oversight, buy back some defective vehicles from owners, and agreed to a $105 million civil penalty, the largest ever imposed by the Department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Chrysler FAQ (PDF)

The enforcement action comes after a July 2 public hearing at which NHTSA officials outlined problems with Fiat Chrysler’s execution of 23 vehicle safety recalls covering more than 11 million defective vehicles. Fiat Chrysler has since admitted to violating the Safety Act in three areas: effective and timely recall remedies, notification to vehicle owners and dealers and notifications to NHTSA.

This recall effects 1,771 2014-2015 model years Ram 4500 and 5500 manufactured August 20, 2013, to January 27, 2015, and equipped with 6.4L Hemi engines. Chrysler has also recalled 644,354 2011-2014 model years Jeep Grand Cherokee vehicles manufactured from January 5, 2010, through September 8, 2013 and 2011-2014 model years Dodge Durango vehicles manufactured from January 5, 2010, through September 8, 2013

“Today’s action holds Fiat Chrysler accountable for its past failures, pushes them to get unsafe vehicles repaired or off the roads and takes concrete steps to keep Americans safer going forward,” said Secretary Foxx. “This civil penalty puts manufacturers on notice that the Department will act when they do not take their obligations to repair safety defects seriously.”

In a consent order issued by NHTSA, Fiat Chrysler commits to take action to get defective vehicles off the roads or repaired. Owners of more than half a million vehicles with defective suspension parts that could cause the vehicle to lose control will have the opportunity to sell their vehicle back to Fiat Chrysler. Owners of more than a million Jeeps that are prone to deadly fires either will have the chance to trade their vehicle in for above its market value, or will receive a financial incentive to get their vehicle remedied.

The consent order requires FCA to notify vehicle owners eligible for buybacks and other financial incentives that these new options are available.

The automaker also agrees to unprecedented oversight for the next three years, which includes hiring an independent monitor approved by NHTSA to assess, track and report the company’s recall performance.

“Fiat Chrysler’s pattern of poor performance put millions of its customers, and the driving public, at risk,” NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said. “This action will provide relief to owners of defective vehicles, will help improve recall performance throughout the auto industry, and gives Fiat Chrysler the opportunity to embrace a proactive safety culture.”

The company must pay a $70 million cash penalty – equal to the record $70 million civil penalty the agency imposed on Honda in January. In addition, Fiat Chrysler must spend at least $20 million on meeting performance requirements included in the Consent Order. Another $15 million could come due if the independent monitor discovers additional violations of the Safety Act or the Consent Order.

Happy Birthday Milton Friedman

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milton_friedmanNobel award winning economist Milton Friedman was born July 31, 1912 in Brooklyn, New York City, NY. Friedman was the undisputed champion of the proper capitalist system as described by Adam Smith in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations published in 1776. He embarrassed the unconstitutional Federal Reserve by proving how they caused the Great Depression. Ben Bernake later admitted they “accidentally” caused the collapse of economies around the world.

Friedman correctly pointed out that in the era of less government regulation, the mass of the people were more well-off than in highly regulated society of today. In fact the “gap” between the poor and the wealthy continues to rise and the mainstream media questions what government regulation it will take to stop it. They championed the $15 an hour minimum wage in Washington which had the result of the loss of jobs as fast food restaurants installed ordering kiosks.

Of his many books, his most noted work is probably Capitalism and Freedom published in 1962. In it he points out the fallacy of “progressives” usurping the term “liberal” to describe their Marxist political philosophy.

His emphasis was on education in skills, instead of degrees in poetry and feminine studies, as a means to escape poverty. He founded the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

Milton Friedman passed away in November of 2006.


Can you stop the Windows 10 upgrade?

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As we have been reporting, the Windows 10 update is causing some problems and people might want to wait a few months before upgrading. If, however, you accepted the “invitation” of Microsoft to update, you may be forced to. Unless you can stop it.

We previously reported on a procedure offered by Wired, but that did not work. The following procedure from SuperSite for Windows did seem to work. Having tried it, it removed the Windows 10 upgrade icon from the task bar.

The update is KB3035583 and has to be removed.

We will present the steps from the article, but you may wish to check the article for the graphics.

1. Open Windows Update through the search.

2. Click on the Installed Updates link in the lower left corner of the window.

3. In the Search box in the upper right corner of the new window, type in KB3035583.

4. The update should be the only one to appear. Click on it and agree to remove the update.

You will have to allow the system to re-boot. I do still get a box that states that the Windows 10 download failed when I bring up the Windows Update. Hopefully this information will help.

See you on the other side

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Today is the big Windows 10 upgrade. I have decided to wait a few days and research any problems. GIZMODO Review says that the it may be a risky upgrade and it is not easy to revert to Windows 8.1.

If your computer is working fine, you might want to turn off automatic updates for a few days and install only hardware and security updates. Wired has a procedure to make sure you do not upgrade right away.

Anyone having a good, or bad, experience are welcome to comment on this article.

Uh-oh. Windows 10 roll-out may cause problems

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We suggest that you back-up your computer system, or at least important files, immediately. If you have not created a restore disk, we suggest you do so immediately. Consult your manual or check the website for your computer system to see how to do this. If your computer stops booting properly, you may need the restore disk(s) to return your computer to factory condition.

windows-10 Although the official Windows 10 upgrade is supposed to start July 29, Forbes is reporting that it may already be causing problems; including stopping computers from booting. Gordon Kelly also reports that the Microsoft Windows 10 upgrade cannot be stopped. He quotes Microsoft:

The software periodically checks for system and app updates, and downloads and installs them for you. You may obtain updates only from Microsoft or authorized sources, and Microsoft may need to update your system to provide you with those updates. By accepting this agreement, you agree to receive these types of automatic updates without any additional notice.

The flaw apparently is due to an update for a Nvidia graphics card driver which interferes with the operation of the graphics card and may cause PCs to stop booting entirely. This flaw may mostly effect multi-screen users.

The obvious security suggestion right now is that you should immediately back up your system and conduct a daily back-up until Microsoft forces Windows 10 onto your system. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

Reviews from those using beta copies have been positive, but have continually noted bugs. It is reported that most of those bugs are fixed, but this may be a prelude to other drivers not ready ready for the roll-out.

Computerworld reported last week that you might want to wait to upgrade for several reasons. Author Preston Gralla writes that you have a year to upgrade from the release date of July 29. According to the Forbes report, this might not be true.

Gralla does suggest that if you are happy with your Windows 7, you might want to avoid upgrading all together. He points out that the whole object of Windows 10 was to replace Windows 8 which removed the familiar START menu. You already have that in Windows 7.

In addition—as with any Microsoft upgrade—new drivers might not be available for the peripherals you might have installed, such as printers or scanners.

{It is our understanding that the Windows 7 upgrade to Windows 10 is not automatic, but this might not be true. Back-up your system, at least important data, just in case.}

According to an article on c|net, the Windows 10 PC build 10240 is the final build for Windows 10 before its release date. Beta testers are still testing and reporting on the build. Lance Whitney writes:

Microsoft needs to hit a home run with Windows 10, not just to make up for the debacle of Windows 8 but also to prove that it can still create an OS that generates appeal, excitement and demand among users. …
But even if Windows 10 isn’t 100 percent bug-free and rock-solid come next Wednesday, that doesn’t spell doom and gloom for the latest version. …

The problem is that Microsoft has gained its “appeal” by making deals with computer manufacturers over the years by giving special deals for their software to be used on those computers. Microsoft only provides the operating system itself and, understandably, is not concerned with any proprietary drivers which might be included by hardware manufacturers. Much less games and other software.