Welcome! "The Evening Blues" is a casual community diary (published Monday - Friday, 8:00 PM Eastern) where we hang out, share and talk about news, music, photography and other things of interest to the community.
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.
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Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features jump blues, boogie-woogie, barrelhouse and jazz pianist Sammy Price. Enjoy!
Sammy Price Septet - One O'Clock Jump
“Just because you can read, write and do a little math, doesn't mean that you're entitled to conquer the universe.”
-- Kurt Vonnegut
News and Opinion
Obama presents NSA reforms with plan to end government storage of call data
• President stops short of ending controversial bulk collection
• Obama assures allied foreign leaders on NSA surveillance
• Reforms also include added Fisa court safeguards
US president Barack Obama forcefully defended the embattled National Security Agency on Friday in a speech that outlined a series of surveillance reforms but stopped well short of demanding an end to the bulk collection of American phone data. ...
Mounting a forceful defence of the NSA, Obama said: “They’re not abusing authorities in order to listen to your private phone calls, or read your emails.” He did not mention that judges on the secret surveillance court have found NSA has repeatedly and “systematically”overstepped its bounds. “We cannot unilaterally disarm our intelligence agencies,” Obama said. ...
Obama said he wanted additional safeguards for the secret surveillance court, known as the Fisa court, which currently only the government can petition. Obama urged Congress to set up “an independent voice” before the court, along with new technological consultants, who can argue for the privacy interests of US citizens and help the court better navigate the vast, complex and changing technological capabilities of the NSA – which declassified rulings show has vexed judges on the court for years. ...
Much of the substance of Obama’s proposals remain undefined. The telephone companies have resisted having to store customer data for additional periods of time on behalf of the NSA, and any new third party private storehouse of metadata would have to be created from scratch.
The lack of clarity places increasing pressure on Congress to ultimately resolve many of the complexities of surveillance – creating effectively a new round of jockeying on Capitol Hill between privacy advocates and the NSA’s allies, who fear losing what Obama described as a valuable tool for determining domestic connections to terrorism.
Obama announces new limits on NSA surveillance programs
Summary
• Obama listed five main areas for reform. 1) new rules for use of signals intelligence collected overseas; 2) review and possible declassification of Fisa court opinions, and the creation by Congress of a "panel of advocates from outside government" to participate in the court; 3) new rules for the storage and use of information on US citizens collected "incidentally"; 4) greater transparency for national security letters; 5) reform of the bulk domestic phone records collection program.
• One reform appeared to take effect immediately. Analysts searching the database of domestic US phone data will now be restricted to investigating two "hops" from a suspect number, instead of three.
• A second reform, to newly require a judicial order for analysts to search the domestic phone database, appeared to be in process. " Obama said he had directed the attorney general "to work with the [Fisa court] so that during this transition period, the database can be queried only after a judicial finding, or in a true emergency."
• Reform measures supported by influential members of Congress, privacy advocates, technology companies and others were not mentioned by the president. These included, most prominently, the ending of the bulk suspicionless collection of domestic phone data. The president said it was his goal to end such collection "as it currently exists," meaning in part that the same data will be stored elsewhere, although the rules for accessing it may change.
• Obama did not state an intention to ban the NSA from sabotaging global encryption standards and otherwise undermining encryption, but the White House said it was studying such a ban, Foreign Policy reported.
Obama bans spying on leaders of U.S. allies
President Barack Obama banned U.S. eavesdropping on the leaders of close friends and allies on Friday and began reining in the vast collection of Americans' phone data in a series of reforms triggered by Edward Snowden's revelations. ...
Obama promised that the United States will not eavesdrop on the heads of state or government of close U.S. friends and allies, which a senior administration official said would apply to dozens of leaders. ...
"The leaders of our close friends and allies deserve to know that if I want to learn what they think about an issue, I will pick up the phone and call them, rather than turning to surveillance," Obama said. ...
While the speech was designed to address concerns that U.S. surveillance has gone too far, Obama's measures were relatively limited.
Remarks of President Barack Obama on 'Results of our Signals Intelligence Review'
[Click link for transcript of Obama's speech.]
'Obama won't curb snooping, aims to prevent whistleblowers from spying inside NSA'
Critics Ready "Failing" Grade for Obama's NSA Reforms
Though 6 in 10 Americans support major reforms of NSA, Obama expected to punt on key changes to agency's controversial surveillance tactics
Ahead of a speech announcing his ideas for reforming the National Security Agency and its mass surveillance programs exposed over the last eight months, worries are pitched that President Obama will not go nearly far enough in his proposals to rein in the agency.
Based on a series of leaked "insider" reports on the contours of Obama's reform package, the ACLU issued a warning to the White House that what Obama announces publicly during his speech on Friday could well determine his entire legacy when it comes to civil liberties.
"If the speech is anything like what is being reported," said the group's executive director Anthony D. Romero, "the president will go down in history for having retained and defended George W. Bush’s surveillance programs rather than reformed them."
Julian Assange: Obama ‘embarrassing’
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sharply criticized President Barack Obama’s proposed surveillance reforms Friday, calling them “small” and saying it is “embarrassing for a head of state to go on like that for 45 minutes and say almost nothing.”
“Although those national whistle-blowers have forced this debate, this president has been dragged, kicking and screaming to today’s address. He is being very reluctant to make any concrete reforms,” Assange told CNN. “And unfortunately, today we also see very few concrete reforms.”
America’s Spies Want Edward Snowden Dead
Edward Snowden has made some dangerous enemies. As the American intelligence community struggles to contain the public damage done by the former National Security Agency contractor’s revelations of mass domestic spying, intelligence operators have continued to seethe in very personal terms against the 30 year-old leaker.
“In a world where I would not be restricted from killing an American, I personally would go and kill him myself,” a current NSA analyst told BuzzFeed. “A lot of people share this sentiment.”
“I would love to put a bullet in his head,” one Pentagon official, a former special forces officer, said bluntly. “I do not take pleasure in taking another human beings life, having to do it in uniform, but he is single handedly the greatest traitor in American history.”
That violent hostility lies just beneath the surface of the domestic debate over NSA spying is still ongoing. Some members of Congress have hailed Snowden as a whistleblower, the New York Times has called for clemency, and pundits regularly defend his actions on Sunday talk shows. In intelligence community circles, Snowden is considered a nothing short of a traitor in wartime.
“His name is cursed every day over here,” a defense contractor told BuzzFeed, speaking from an overseas Intelligence collections base. “Most everyone I talk to says he needs to be tried and hung, forget the trial and just hang him.”
Pentagon & NSA officials say they want Snowden extrajudicially assassinated
President Obama claims the right to extrajudicially execute American citizens, keeps a so-called “kill list,” and has bragged he’s “really good at killing people.” This isn’t bluster. Obama has backed this up with action, having killed U.S. citizens — including a 16-year-old boy – without charging, much less convicting, any of them with a single crime. ...
[H]ow can anyone expect those who witness executive-branch crimes to blow the whistle when the head of the executive branch asserts the right to instantly execute anyone he pleases at any time? ... [o]nly a few months ago, the chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence Committee publicly offered to help extrajudicially assassinate NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. And now, according to a harrowing new report that just hit the Internet, top NSA and Pentagon officials are doing much the same, even after court rulings and disclosures have concluded that Snowden is a whistleblower who exposed serious government crimes.
Buzzfeed characterizes this as government officials merely “seeth(ing) in very personal terms.” However, with a top legislative branch leader offering to assist in the very extrajudicial assassination now being promoted by NSA and Pentagon officials, and with the executive branch categorically asserting the right to order such an extrajudicial assassination of a U.S. citizen, this is more than mere “seething.” These are outright threats.
Good news! It looks like, at least in some circles, when you take the NSA's filthy money to secretly screw your customers - you can become a pariah.
Experts protesting NSA deal boycott largest U.S. security gathering
Several prominent computer security experts have canceled appearances at the largest annual U.S. conference on security technology and are instead switching to a rival gathering, as discord grows over U.S. intelligence practices.
Nine security experts have ditched coveted speaking slots at the annual RSA Conference, to be held next month in San Francisco, in protest over the conference owner's dealings with the National Security Agency.
Instead, they will speak at the new and smaller 'TrustyCon' gathering to be held in the same city during the RSA event, billed as the first 'Trustworthy Technology Conference.' Backers include Def Con, which holds a major hacking conference each year in Las Vegas and the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Reuters reported last month that RSA Security, now a division of data storage maker EMC Corp, incorporated a flawed cryptography formula in a widely-used software tool under a $10-mil federal contract. The NSA-developed formula is now believed to have been breakable by the agency, though people familiar with the RSA arrangement told Reuters that executives had not realized that at the time.
Russell Brand Encourages "Complete Noncompliance"
Actor Russell Brand told college students that drastic measures were needed to seize power from the corporate and political elites.
“They’re only in charge of us if we allow it,” Brand said. “Complete noncompliance, complete disobedience, then the alternatives will emerge. We need to create a paradigm that makes the old one obsolete. That’s what we have to do. Not comply to it, because then we’ll get drip-fed little measures. ‘Oh, well, we’ve given you recycling bins.’ Thanks! The planet’s still f*cked.” ...
“I think (voting) is an act of compliance,” he said. “I’m not talking about apathy, I think you understand that about me. I’m saying, ‘No, I’m not complying with your ideas at all. I’m not going to turn up and put an X in a box, like an Xbox. It’s like an illusion, it’s a temporary reality. It’s meaningless, it’s pointless. It makes no difference. Give us something to vote for, and then we’ll vote for it.”
Israel Lobby Thwarted in Iran Sanctions Bid For Now
In what looks to be a clear victory – at least for now – for President Barack Obama, a major effort by the Israel lobby and its most powerful constituent, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to pass a new sanctions bill against Iran has stalled in the U.S. Senate.
While the legislation, the “Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013,” had gathered 59 co-sponsors in the 100-member upper chamber by last week, opposition to it among Democrats appears to have mounted in recent days.
That opposition apparently prompted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who controls the floor calendar, to back away from a previous commitment to permit a vote on the measure some time over the next few weeks. As a result, AIPAC is now reportedly hoping to get the bill through the Republican-dominated House of Representatives.
Democratic resistance to the bill, which its critics say is designed to scuttle the Nov. 24 Joint Plan of Action (JPA) between Iran and the so-called P5+1 (U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany) and any chances for a U.S.-Iranian rapprochement, has grown stronger since Sunday’s successful conclusion of an implementation agreement between the two sides and by Obama’s explicit pledge to veto the bill if it comes to his desk.
US Accused of Killing Woman, Seven Children in Afghanistan Airstrike
Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has accused the U.S. of killing one woman and seven children in an airstrike early Wednesday.
The Washington Post reports that
According to Karzai and the governor of Parwan province, the incident occurred about 1 a.m. when U.S. Special Forces attempted to enter a home. A gun battle ensued, resulting in a coalition airstrike that killed the children and a female relative in the house, they said.
The U.S./NATO-led Afghan Security Assistance Force (ISAF) released a statement saying that two civilians and "at least 10 insurgents" were killed "during a deliberately-planned, Afghan-led clearing operation to disrupt insurgent activity in Ghorband district, Parwan province."
According to ISAF's statement, the incident took place in
a high threat area with Taliban activity, some linked to the Haqqani network. The insurgents in this area enjoy freedom of movement allowing them to harass and threaten the local population as well as stage and facilitate attacks.[...]
While moving through Ghorband district, ANSF [Afghan National Security Forces] commandos and their coalition advisers came under heavy fire from insurgents, resulting in the death of one ISAF service member. The force required defensive air support to suppress the enemy fire from two compounds.
As Firedoglake's Kevin Gosztola asks: "If the Taliban targets were among a local population of civilians—and were known to “harass” them as ISAF indicated in the press release, what made any commanding officer think civilians would not be killed if they ordered an air strike on a compound?"
The Special Ops Surge: America’s Secret War in 134 Countries
Since September 11, 2001, U.S. Special Operations forces have grown in every conceivable way, from their numbers to their budget. Most telling, however, has been the exponential rise in special ops deployments globally. This presence -- now, in nearly 70% of the world’s nations -- provides new evidence of the size and scope of a secret war being waged from Latin America to the backlands of Afghanistan, from training missions with African allies to information operations launched in cyberspace.
In the waning days of the Bush presidency, Special Operations forces were reportedly deployed in about 60 countries around the world. By 2010, that number had swelled to 75, according to Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post. In 2011, Special Operations Command (SOCOM) spokesman Colonel Tim Nye told TomDispatch that the total would reach 120. Today, that figure has risen higher still.
In 2013, elite U.S. forces were deployed in 134 countries around the globe, according to Major Matthew Robert Bockholt of SOCOM Public Affairs. This 123% increase during the Obama years demonstrates how, in addition to conventional wars and a CIA drone campaign, public diplomacy and extensive electronic spying, the U.S. has engaged in still another significant and growing form of overseas power projection. Conducted largely in the shadows by America’s most elite troops, the vast majority of these missions take place far from prying eyes, media scrutiny, or any type of outside oversight, increasing the chances of unforeseen blowback and catastrophic consequences. ...
The Obama presidency has seen the U.S. military’s elite tactical forces increasingly used in an attempt to achieve strategic goals. But with Special Operations missions kept under tight wraps, Americans have little understanding of where their troops are deployed, what exactly they are doing, or what the consequences might be down the road. As retired Army Colonel Andrew Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University, has noted, the utilization of Special Operations forces during the Obama years has decreased military accountability, strengthened the “imperial presidency,” and set the stage for a war without end. “In short,” he wrote at TomDispatch, “handing war to the special operators severs an already too tenuous link between war and politics; it becomes war for its own sake.”
Israel summons European envoys to protest at 'support for Palestinians
Israel has summoned envoys from four European states to protest against their "one-sided" stand in favour of the Palestinians, the foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said on Friday, escalating a quarrel over Israeli settlements.
On Thursday, Britain, France, Italy and Spain called in Israeli ambassadors to hear protests against Israel's latest announcement of settlement-building on land the Palestinians want for a future state.
The Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, called the European criticism hypocritical, and in a tit-for-tat move, Lieberman said envoys from the four EU countries had been summoned to a meeting in the foreign ministry in Jerusalem.
In a statement, he said Israel would make clear "that the one-sided position they constantly take against Israel and in favour of the Palestinians is unacceptable and creates a feeling that they are only looking to place blame on Israel". ...
Most countries deem Israel's settlements illegal and the European Union routinely condemns any new building moves.
Al Qaeda and the Saudi Agenda
Russia steps up military lifeline to Syria's Assad - sources
In recent weeks Russia has stepped up supplies of military gear to Syria, including armored vehicles, drones and guided bombs, boosting President Bashar al-Assad just as rebel infighting has weakened the insurgency against him, sources with knowledge of the deliveries say.
Moscow, which is trying to raise its diplomatic and economic influence in the Middle East, has been a major provider of conventional weapons to Syria, giving Assad crucial support during the three-year civil war and blocking wider Western attempts to punish him with sanctions for the use of force against civilians.
The new Russian supplies come at a critically fluid stage of the conflict, with peace talks scheduled for next week in Switzerland, the factious opposition losing ground, and Western support for the rebellion growing increasingly wary of the role played by foreign militants. Syria has even said some countries formally opposed to Assad have begun discussing security cooperation with his government.
Several sources told Reuters that Assad's forces had since December received deliveries of weaponry and other military supplies, including unmanned spy drones known as UAVs, which have been arranged by Russia either directly or via proxies.
Sen. Bernie Sanders lambastes Democrats and Republicans over Trans-Pacific Partnership
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) joined MSNBC host Ed Schultz on Thursday in ripping members of both major parties who are seemingly willing to “fast-track” passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which they argued would continue the cycle of trade agreements that ultimately hurts American workers.
“These trade agreements have ended up devastating working families and enriching large corporations,” Sanders said. “Sadly, historically, what we have seen is Republicans and Democrats coming together for disastrous trade agreements — which, by the way, are partially responsible for the fact that in the last 13 years, we have lost over 60,000 factories in the United States. Not all trade, but trade is a significant reason why.”
Sanders also voiced his opposition to a proposal giving President Barack Obama’s administration “fast-track” powers over agreements like the multi-nation TPP, allowing for them to be approved in Congress without any changes.
One-hundred and fifty-one House Democrats have already signed a letter opposing the bill, but Sanders mentioned that the “fast-track” bill had a better chance of passing than bills that would extend unemployment benefits or avoid cuts to food service programs, both of which would require 60 votes to pass.
“The ‘fast-track’ concept is a terrible idea [that] prevents members of Congress from offering amendments, provides just for 50 votes for final passage,” Sanders told Schultz. “I hope very much we do not bring this bill to the floor. If we do, I hope it’s defeated.”
Wal-Mart case seen a key test in struggle over labor rights
A challenge by the U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to Wal-Mart Stores Inc's treatment of striking workers is likely to become a critical symbol of labor unions' attempts to organize the many non-union workplaces in the United States in the face of stiff resistance from management.
The wider implications of the showdown for Wal-Mart and other American employers that don't recognize unions are likely to be much more important than any costs the giant retailer may face if it loses the case, labor experts said.
The NLRB, which oversees union elections and polices unfair labor practices, issued a complaint on Wednesday accusing Wal-Mart of violating labor law by firing or disciplining workers for strikes over wages last year in 14 states.
The NLRB's complaint breaks new ground for the agency, which is bringing more cases involving non-union workers as it asserts its role in an increasingly non-union economy. Wal-Mart is the largest employer to face such a complaint in years. ...
"If the NLRB can go after Wal-Mart and be successful, that sends a shot across the bow to all employers across the line - to employers that are similar in size, to smaller employers - that they are under the jurisdiction of the NLRB," [Paul Secunda, a professor of labor law at Marquette University] said.
Obamacare Couldn't Stop Drug Company From Charging $13,700 for a Drug that Costs $300
Last night on The Daily Show, journalist Steven Brill exposes how Obamacare has failed to bring the outrageous price of healthcare under control, and has instead socialized the stratospheric costs of drugs and treatment.
He says that although Obamacare guaranteed that onerous costs would not be the sole burden of the recipient of treatment, the government has helped pharmaceutical companies monopolize control over certain drugs through patents, and does nothing that would compel them to lower their prices.
[Video of interview at link.]
DEA official freaks out at Senate hearing: Reckless marijuana legalization ‘scares us’
The chief of operations at the Drug Enforcement Administration railed against the legalization of marijuana on Wednesday, warning the “experiment” was highly dangerous.
“I have to say this… going down the path to legalization in this country is reckless and irresponsible,” James L. Capra said during a Senate hearing. “I’m talking about the long-term impact of legalization in the United States. It scares us.” ...
He said at an international drug conference in Moscow, foreign officials wondered why the United States was scaling back its war on drugs.
“Almost everyone looked at us and said: Why are you doing this, you’re pointing a finger at us as a source state,” Capra said. “I have no answer for them. I don’t have an answer for them.”
Bankruptcy judge turns down Detroit deal with banks on pension debt
A U.S. bankruptcy judge rejected a deal on Thursday that would have allowed Detroit to pay two banks $165 million to conclude a disastrous pension debt agreement, which has been partly blamed for bankrupting the city.
Judge Steven Rhodes turned down the compromise on the premise that it was “just too much money.” He said that Detroit must not make poor financial decisions as it endeavors to get out of bankruptcy.
It is not the first time Rhodes has struck down such a deal. Back in December, he rejected a plan to pay the banks $230 million.
The Evening Greens
"We Want to Fight For This Cause": Nuclear Refugees from Fukushima Join Anti-Nuke Protests
Mayor of Town That Hosted Fukushima Nuclear Plant Says He Was Told: “No Accident Could Ever Happen”
Obama's Fossil Fuel-Driven Policies Equal 'Catastrophic Climate Future'
Citing the glaring gaps between his sometimes encouraging rhetoric and the realities of his fossil fuel-laden policies, eighteen environmental, environmental justice, and public health advocacy organizations have written a pointed letter (pdf) to President Obama slamming his "all of the above" energy strategy as a "compromised" approach that "future generations can't afford."
The coalition behind the letter—which includes the Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, NRDC, the Energy Action Coalition and others—is upset that Obama voices concern about climate change in lofty speeches and with compelling promises even as he oversees the most dramatic push in oil and gas extraction in a generation, continuing an aggressive fossil fuel expansion despite what the climate science is saying about the urgent need to dramatically cut carbon emissions. ...
From the letter:
We believe that continued reliance on an “all of the above” energy strategy would be fundamentally at odds with your goal of cutting carbon pollution and would undermine our nation’s capacity to respond to the threat of climate disruption. With record-high atmospheric carbon concentrations and the rising threat of extreme heat, drought, wildfires and super storms, America’s energy policies must reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, not simply reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Though President Obama has yet to make a final decision on approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, the groups applauded his previous comments on the project when he said the climate impact of the tar sands pipeline would be a key aspect of the overall determination. The groups want to see that standard now applied to all fossil fuel related projects in the country.
Surprise! Who could've guessed that Freedom Industries would claim bankruptcy?
Freedom Industries files for bankruptcy after spill
Freedom Industries, the chemical company behind the toxic leak that tainted West Virginia's Elk River and forced 300,000 state residents and businesses to go without water for several days, filed for bankruptcy protection Friday.
The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing will allow the company — facing at least two dozen class-action lawsuits and several state and federal probes — to reorganize and continue operating under federal law.
Freedom, which was ordered shut down last week by state officials, declined comment Friday. ... Freedom said it owes $3.66 million to its top 20 unsecured creditors, according to bankruptcy documents.
Separately, the Internal Revenue Service says it's owed over $2.4 million in taxes dating back to 2001.
Mistakes Repeated In West Virginia
Closer communication between government agencies could have prevented the chemical spill from infecting the water supply, [a former member of the federal U.S. Chemical Safety Board, Dr. Gerald] Poje says. Complying with a 1986 federal law, Freedom Industries filed a form in February 2013 letting local and state officials know that the company was storing a potentially harmful chemical, 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM), at a warehouse facility on the Elk River. But regulators did not use the information to develop a response plan in the event of a chemical spill.
Such a plan would typically include working with the local water utility to prevent or mitigate any potential water contamination. Instead, West Virginia American Water President President Jeff McIntrye, whose water treatment plant is located 1.5 miles downstream from Freedom Industries’ chemical storage facility, seemed at a loss when the spill occurred. He told the Charleston Gazette on Friday that “his company didn't know much about the chemical's possible dangers, wasn't aware of an effective treatment process, and wasn't even sure exactly how much 4-methylcyclohexane methanol is too much.”
Ironically, the federal Chemical Safety Board (CSB) foresaw just such a regulatory breakdown in the Kanawha Valley region of West Virginia where the spill occurred (which is nicknamed “Chemical Valley” for its many chemical plants). Prompted by an August 2008 explosion and fire that killed two workers at the Bayer CropScience plant in Institute, W. Va., the CSB made specific recommendations in 2011 about how various state and local regulators could better coordinate to protect residents. The CSB urged regulators in Kanawha Valley to adopt a plan called “Hazardous Chemical Release Prevention Program," modeled on a plan in Contra Costa, Calif.
However, the state opted not to follow the CSB’s recommendations. According to the Charleston Gazette, “In June 2011, then-[West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources] Secretary Michael Lewis told the CSB that his agency and the state Department of Environmental Protection had decided not to move forward with the CSB recommendation.”
California wildfire forces thousands to flee hills above Los Angeles
A fast-moving California wildfire, apparently started accidentally by three campers, roared out of control in the foothills above Los Angeles on Thursday, destroying five homes and forcing about 3,600 residents to flee, fire and law enforcement officials have said.
The wind-whipped blaze began before dawn in the Angeles National Forest north of Glendora, about 40 miles east of downtown Los Angeles in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.
By mid-morning, the so-called Colby fire had blackened more than 1,700 acres of drought-parched brush and vegetation, Los Angeles county fire officials said. A thick pall of black smoke hung over eastern Los Angeles county, stretching west over the Pacific Ocean.
But as winds diminished and temperatures cooled later in the day, about 700 firefighters, aided by eight fixed-wing aircraft and seven helicopters, were able to keep the flames from advancing any further.
As darkness fell over southern California, authorities said the blaze was 30% contained and many of the evacuees were allowed to return home.
More than 1,000 rhinos killed in South Africa in 2013
More than 1,000 rhinos were killed in South Africa last year at a record-breaking rate that could wipe out the country's entire population of white and black rhinos in a little over two decades.
The environment ministry said 1,004 animals were killed in 2013, mostly in poaching hotspot Kruger national park, as the poaching crisis escalated. The number is a big increase on the 668 killed in 2012, which was in itself a record year, up from just 13 in 2007.
Appetite for rhino horn from Asia, in particular Vietnam, has driven the killing in South Africa, which ministers have warned in turn threatens the country's tourism sector. Demand is so high that a kilogramme of rhino horn is now worth more than gold or cocaine.
Arctic Rivalry: Battle for North Pole oil sparks fears of 21st-century Cold War
Researchers find method to store solar power
A team of North Carolina researchers has discovered a potential solution to one of the fundamental problems of generating large amounts of energy from the sun's rays: how to store some of the power so it's available at night.
The scientists found a new way to use solar energy to split molecules of water into its atomic-level components: oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen can then be burned for fuel, generating only water as waste, which can then be recycled to be split again.
The hydrogen could be created and used by infrastructure similar to generators and solar arrays that are already familiar, said Tom Meyer, who led the research and is director of the federally funded Energy Frontier Research Center at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
"Part of a solar array, instead of just making electricity during the day, could in fact be making chemicals," he said. "So when the sun goes down, you just run the chemicals through your power plant, and you extract the energy back out as you need it."
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
Will Court Beat Back NSA's Police State Desires?
Four Questionable Claims Obama Has Made on NSA Surveillance
War Profiteers have a sad, Buck McKeon Retiring! Progressive Running!
Another plea for postcapitalism: Richard Smith in Truthout
Maryland to give it another try
A Little Night Music
Sammy Price - Boogie Woogie French Style
Sammy Price and The K&K Dixie Band - Please Don't Talk About Me
Sammy Price - Boogin' With Big Sid
Sammy Price - Two Piano Boogie
Sam Price Quintet - Levee
Sam Price and his Texas Blusicians - The Goon Drag
Sam Price - Tishomingo
Sammy Price - Moanin' the Blues
Sammy Price - Trouble In Mind
Sammy Price and his Four Quarters - Blue Rhythm Stomp
Sammy Price & His Texas Blusicians - Do You Dig My Jive
Sammy Price - All Teeed Up
Sammy Price - Honky Tonk Caboose
It's National Pie Day!
The election is over, it's a new year and it's time to work on real change in new ways... and it's National Pie Day. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to tell you a little more about our new site and to start getting people signed up.
Come on over and sign up so that we can send you announcements about the site, the launch, and information about participating in our public beta testing.
Why is National Pie Day the perfect opportunity to tell you more about us? Well you'll see why very soon. So what are you waiting for?! Head on over now and be one of the first!
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