Welcome! "What's Happenin'?" is a casual community diary (a daily series, 8:30 AM Eastern on weekdays, 10 AM on weekends and holidays) where we hang out and talk about the goings on here and everywhere.
We welcome links to your writings here on dkos or elsewhere, posts of pictures, music, news, etc.
Just about anything goes, but attacks and pie fights are not welcome here. This is a community diary and a friendly, peaceful, supportive place for people to interact.
Everyone who wants to join in peaceful interaction is very welcome here.
|
Good Morning!
Longwood Gardens. August, 2012 by joanneleon
The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.
~Albert Einstein
News
As of 9:00 am eastern, watching livestreams waiting for Assange to speak from the Ecuadorian embassy. Rumors are that he will voluntarily surrender. Politicians and activists have been speaking on the street for at least an hour: Craig Murray (former British ambassador to Uzbekistan), Ken Loach (English film and television director), Tariq Ali (activist/author). Earlier, Ex-Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon spoke.
9:20 am, Assange stepped out on the balcony from behind a white sheer curtain, a window/door at the corner of the building wearing a light blue dress shirt and a thin maroon tie. Hair is very short, buzz cut. There is a microphone set up there. The streets are pretty packed with people and police. Cars are still being let through, Harrods shoppers, according to the livestreamer from Occupynewsnetwork.
He thanks Ecuador, staff of embassy. Thanking people from south american countries who are convening emergency meeting on friday in DC. Thanks people in uk, us, sweden and australia who have supported him. Now thanking wikileaks staff. Asking his family and children for forgiveness, says they will be reunited soon.
Asks Pres. Obama to do the right thing, stop the "witch hunt against Wikileaks" and stop pursuing journalists who are trying to shine a light, stop prosecuting journalists, war on whistleblowers must end, and "Bradley Manning must be released". Mentions people in Russia and Bahrain who have been sentenced. And he ends the speech and goes back indoors. No mention of surrender. I don't know where that rumor started. It was supposedly from the BBC.
"On Wednesday night after a threat was made on this embassy and police descended on this embassy, you came out to watch over it."
"If the UK did not throw away the terms of the Vienna convention it was because the world was watching and the world was watching because you were watching."
"As Wikileaks stands under threat, so does the freedom of expression and the health of all our societies."
"We must use this moment to articulate the choice that is before the government of the United States of America."
"Will it return to and re-affirm the revolutionary values it was founded on?"
"Or will it lurch off the precipice, dragging us all into a dangerous and oppressive world in which journalists fall silent under the fear of prosecution and citizens must whisper in the dark."
"There must be no more foolish talk about prosecuting any media organisation, be it Wikileaks or the New York Times."
"The US war on whistleblowers must end."
"There is unity in the oppression. There must be absolute unity and determination in the response."
Guardian liveblog is
here.
BBC
story
Update: Here is the full speech.
WikiLeaks' Assange makes first appearace in asylum
Ex-Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon, who is representing Assange, met with the activist inside the embassy and told reporters that the Australian remains determined.
"I have spoken to Julian Assange, and I can tell you that he is in fighting spirit. He is thankful to the people of Ecuador and especially to President Correa for granting him asylum," said Garzon. "He has always fought for the truth and justice, he has always defended human rights and will continue to do so. He demands that WikiLeaks and his own rights also be respected."
Garzon said that Assange had "instructed his lawyers to carry out legal actions to protect the rights of WikiLeaks, Julian himself, and all those who are currently being investigated," but did not offer any further explanation.
Ecuador rallies Latin America in Assange battle with UK
(Reuters) - Ecuador cast its dispute with Britain over asylum for WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange as a struggle against colonialism on Saturday, drawing growing support from its neighbours in the international diplomatic saga.
Incensed by London's threat to break into the Ecuadorean Embassy where the former hacker is taking refuge, President Rafael Correa's government has accused Britain of bullying and has formally granted Assange asylum.
Julian Assange case: Ecuador pushes for neighbours' support
Quito insists embassy is inviolable as Hague says WikiLeaks founder will not be allowed safe passage out of country
Having secured an emergency meeting of the Organisation of American States over what Ecuador says is Britain's threat to invade its embassy in London to arrest Assange, the Ecuadoreans are pushing for similar meetings of the Union of South American Nations, the left-leaning Alba association of Bolivarian states and the UN.
On the agenda for the OAS meeting will be both Ecuador's claims that the UK has threatened the principle of "inviolable" status of its embassy in the UK and demands that the UK grant "safe passage" for Assange out of the UK.
As Assange prepared to give a statement on his situation – reportedly outside the embassy, where he could face arrest for breach of his bail conditions – the row over Britain's veiled threat that it could enter the embassy to arrest him appeared to escalate.
Afghan Attacks on Allied Troops Prompt NATO to Shift Policy
KABUL, Afghanistan — After months of military leaders’ attempts to tamp down worries over the killings of American and NATO troops by the Afghan forces serving beside them, Gen. John R. Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, called an urgent meeting of his generals last Wednesday to address the escalating death toll.
[ ... ]
They also come at a politically delicate time, just months before the presidential election in the United States and amid increasingly vocal complaints from outraged parents of dead Marines and soldiers that could diminish support for what is already an unpopular war back home.
[ ... ]
It remains to be seen if the new measures will make a substantial difference; the attacks have continued despite earlier protections put in place. Just two days after General Allen’s emergency session, there were two more assaults, which left two Special Forces trainers dead and two other American soldiers wounded.
“Regrettably, there will be more setbacks along the way,” General Allen said through a spokesman on Saturday, “but our resolve is fierce, and our commitment to this fight is total.”
[ ... ]
No one expects the problem to go away, and some fear it may only get worse as American and NATO troops team up with Afghan forces in almost 9 out of every 10 combat operations. That means more chances for disaffected Afghans, or the occasional infiltrator, to kill an American.
Cover-Up of Civilian Drone Deaths Revealed by New Evidence
Detailed information from the families of those killed in drone strikes in Pakistan and from local sources on strikes that have targeted mourners and rescue workers provides credible new evidence that the majority of the deaths in the drone war in Pakistan have been civilian noncombatants - not "militants," as the Obama administration has claimed.
The new evidence also shows that the statistical tally of casualties from drone attacks in Pakistan published on the web site of the New America Foundation (NAF) has been systematically understating the deaths of large numbers of civilians by using a methodology that methodically counts them as "militants."
[ ... ]
Thus civilian casualties, which were less than a third of the "militant" casualties in the NAF accounting for the 24 drone strikes in question, are revealed to be 70 percent of the total.
U.S. Says Iraqis Are Helping Iran to Skirt Sanctions
WASHINGTON — When President Obama announced last month that he was barring a Baghdad bank from any dealings with the American banking system, it was a rare acknowledgment of a delicate problem facing the administration in a country that American troops just left: for months, Iraq has been helping Iran skirt economic sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program.
The little-known bank singled out by the United States, the Elaf Islamic Bank, is only part of a network of financial institutions and oil-smuggling operations that, according to current and former American and Iraqi government officials and experts on the Iraqi banking sector, has provided Iran with a crucial flow of dollars at a time when sanctions are squeezing its economy.
The Obama administration is not eager for a public showdown with the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki over Iran just eight months after the last American troops withdrew from Baghdad.
Many New York City Teachers Denied Tenure in Policy Shift
Nearly half of New York City teachers reaching the end of their probations were denied tenure this year, the Education Department said on Friday, marking the culmination of years of efforts toward Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s goal to end “tenure as we know it.”
Only 55 percent of eligible teachers, having worked for at least three years, earned tenure in 2012, compared with 97 percent in 2007.
[ ... ]
A combination of factors — the education reform movement, slow economies that have pinched spending for new teachers, and federal grant competitions like Race to the Top that encourage states to change their policies — have led lawmakers to tighten the requirements not only for earning tenure, but for keeping it.
Announcing Investigative Series on the Private Equity Industry
In the coming weeks, Naked Capitalism will publish an investigative series on the private equity industry that will include articles written by current industry participants with considerable experience. It focuses on the activity formerly called “leveraged buyouts”: the purchase of established businesses, heavily funded by borrowing. The private equity industry has over $2 trillion globally in assets under management. With leverage, this translates into over $8 trillion of buying power.
CEO Pay is a Tax on You
A most interesting study came out of the left leaning Institute for Policy Studies. They found 26 corporations paid more to their CEO than they actually paid in taxes. IPS compared executive compensation to how much tax write offs that pay package gives and conclude excessive compensation is a tax on you. Corporations are raking it in and not paying much to Uncle Sam. CEOs aren't being rewarded for actual performance, the excessive pay is more reflective on our loophole ridden corporate tax code. IPS estimates CEO pay at 26 firms is equivalent to a $46 dollar tax on every person in America, or $14.4 billion per year.
Of last year’s 100 highest-paid U.S. corporate chief executives, 26 took home more in CEO pay than their companies paid in federal income taxes, up from the 25 we noted in last year’s analysis. Seven firms made the list in both 2011 and 2010.
Once again, low corporate tax bills, or large refunds, cannot be explained by low profits. On average, the 26 firms had more than $1 billion in U.S. pre-tax income but still received net tax benefits that averaged $163 million.
The CEOs of these 26 firms received $20.4 million in average total compensation last year. That's a 23 percent increase over the average for last year’s list of 2010's tax dodging executives.
Two of the firms that paid their CEOs more than Uncle Sam, Citigroup and AIG, owe their very continued existence to taxpayer bailouts.
Combined, the 26 firms have 537 subsidiaries in tax-haven countries such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and Gibraltar.
Revealed: The 26 'kingpin' corporations that paid their CEOs more than they paid in taxes... and for most the public paid THEM a refund
]
The study, by the Institute for Policy Studies, said the companies, including AT&T, Boeing and Citigroup, paid their CEOs an average of $20.4 million last year while paying little or no federal tax on ample profits, according to regulatory filings.
Astonishingly, nearly all of the the companies received a net tax refunds of up to $1billion. Others had a tax bill of $0.
On average, the 26 companies generated net income of more than $1 billion in the US, the study said.
Secret E-Scores Chart Consumers’ Buying Power
AMERICANS are obsessed with their scores. Credit scores, G.P.A.’s, SAT’s, blood pressure and cholesterol levels — you name it.
So here’s a new score to obsess about: the e-score, an online calculation that is assuming an increasingly important, and controversial, role in e-commerce.
Progressive Settles After Terrible Insurance Tale Goes Viral
Progressive has settled with the family of a policyholder that claimed the insurance company defended her killer, but the deal came about only after the truly awful story made its way around the Internet.
Matt Fisher, the policyholder’s brother, blogged about his family’s ordeal this week in a Tumblr post titled, “My Sister Paid Progressive Insurance to Defend Her Killer in Court.” In the blog post, Matt detailed how his sister Katie was killed in 2010 when a driver ran a red light and struck her car while she was crossing in an intersection. The other driver was underinsured, meaning it was up to Katie’s insurance company—Progressive—to pay the balance of the value of the policy she had taken out to protect herself against uninsured or underinsured drivers.
Top General Undone by Spa Treatments, Snickers, Broadway Show
Last year, the four-star Army general once in charge of all U.S. military operations in Africa was quietly reduced in rank for unexplained reasons. Now we know why William “Kip” Ward’s career ended in disgrace.
Ward was the first commanding general of U.S. Africa Command, the youngest of the military’s prestigious regional commands. According to an inquiry by the Pentagon’s inspector general, Ward — who is now a major general — used his official U.S. military aircraft for personal travel; ferried his wife on trips “that were not unquestionably official”; had his aides escort Mrs. Ward on errands “to a spa and a department store”; and accepted “complimentary meals and Broadway show tickets” to a Denzel Washington play from a “prohibited source with multiple DoD [Department of Defense] contracts.”
[ ... ]
Asked to explain the official business conducted with the contractor on Broadway, Ward replied, “We could have talked about being an effective leader, some of my lessons learned, some of my anecdotes, some of the things I have done as a leader.” The report does not accuse Ward of steering Africa Command business to the contractor.
Four-star general under investigation 'for lavishing hundreds of thousands of dollars on hotel rooms and travel for his family'
Because Ward's alleged offenses occurred while he was a four-star general, he could be forced to retire as a three-star, which officials said could cost him as much as $1 million in retirement pay.
[ ... ]
The investigation has dragged on so long that Ward technically has been demoted from his four-star general rank to two-star general. Under military guidelines, if a general is not serving in a four-star command or office for more than 60 days, he or she is automatically reduced to two-star rank.
Subsequently, Ward's base pay went from more than $20,000 a month as a four-star to about $14,000 a month as a two-star. Officials said that if he is allowed to retire as a three-star or four-star, he would not receive any back pay for the 15 months he served at the lower rank.
UN observers leave Syria as mandate expires
Departure of last 100 monitors under way as humanitarian situation worsens and regime denies Assad deputy has defected
United Nations observers have begun to leave Damascus as their mission in Syria comes to an end.
[ ... ]
The departure of the UN observers came as the UN appointed a new mediator to replace Kofi Annan. Lakhdar Brahimi, a veteran Algerian diplomat, has said he does not know how he will carry out his role, although he believes it is too early to say whether President Bashar al-Assad should step down.
Brahimi said he was aware of the divisions in the security council which hastened Annan's departure and would discuss his objectives this week in New York.
Blog Posts of Interest
Chad and Jeremy - A Summer Song
We are ready for some serious change. We are ready to take up the tools of a free and analytic press to peacefully undermine the stranglehold of the kleptocrats on our battered democracy. We are ready to expose and publicize their greed, lies and illegal machinations and hold their enablers in government and the media to account. Are you in?
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
~ Margaret Mead
|