Welcome! "The Evening Blues - Weekend Edition" is a casual community diary (published Saturday & Sunday, 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.
|
Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music features legendary blues, rock, country, bluegrass and folk guitarist, singer and songwriter Jorma Kaukonen. Well known as a member of the Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, tonight's set will feature songs from Jorma's solo career. Enjoy!
Jorma Kaukonen - Prohibition Blues
When you know who you are; when your mission is clear and you burn with the inner fire of unbreakable will; no cold can touch your heart; no deluge can dampen your purpose. You know that you are alive.
Chief Seattle
News and Opinion
Fifty Years On, Gains Achieved by Those Who Bled in Selma Are Under Attack
'The thing about racism is that it always morphs to undermine progress.'
As political leaders, celebrities, and civil rights activists descend on the city of Selma, Alabama this weekend to commemorate the famous march that culminated in the brutal assault by local law enforcement that became known as 'Bloody Sunday' on March 7, 1965, both veteran participants and a younger generation of racial justice advocates are making it clear that even after fifty years of struggle—despite monumental victories won by those who marched and died for the cause —the ultimate fight aimed at securing equal rights, economic justice, and shared opportunities is far from over.
Having marched across the now-historic Edmund Pettus Bridge alongside hundreds of others, including Martin Luther King, Jr., in Selma on that day fifty years ago, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) said this week that for him, the bridge "is a sacred place" because "that's where some of us gave a little blood and where some people almost died." During the police onslaught, Lewis had his skull fractured by a state trooper's billy club.
The Associated Press offered this short depiction of the march, including events preceding and following 'Bloody Sunday,' using clips from speeches and archival footage:
Fifty Years After Bloody Sunday in Selma, Everything and Nothing Has Changed
Congress can’t agree on much these days, but on February 11, the House unanimously passed a resolution awarding the Congressional Gold Medal—the body’s highest honor—to the foot soldiers of the 1965 voting-rights movement in Selma, Alabama.
The resolution was sponsored by Representative Terri Sewell, Alabama’s first black Congresswoman, who grew up in Selma. Sewell was born on January 1, 1965, a day before Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Selma to kick off the demonstrations that would result in passage of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) eight months later. On February 15, 2015, Sewell returned to Selma, which she now represents, to honor the “unsung heroes” of the voting-rights movement at Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church, the red brick headquarters for Selma’s civil-rights activists in 1965, taking the pulpit where King once preached.
The film Selma has brought renewed attention to the dramatic protests of 1965. Tens of thousands of people, including President Obama, will converge on the city on March 7, the fiftieth anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” when 600 marchers, including John Lewis, now a Congressman, were brutally beaten by Alabama state troopers.
At Brown Chapel, Sewell stressed the disturbing parallels between the fight for voting rights then and now. She cited the Supreme Court’s gutting of the VRA in 2013 and the spread of voter-ID laws that disproportionately burden minority voters. “The assaults of the past are here again,” she said. “Old battles have become new again.” Sewell’s mother, Nancy, Selma’s first black city councilwoman, read the names of the two dozen foot soldiers as Sewell presented each of them with a gold certificate. The loudest applause greeted 85-year-old Frederick Douglas Reese, who strode down the aisle in a sharp pinstripe suit. “My principal!” Sewell called him.
NSA Global Spy Stations Revealed: 'Sniff It All, Collect It All, Know It All, Process It All, Exploit It All'
Latest documents leaked to journalists by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden offer new insight into mysterious 'domes of Waihopai' and the global spy network of which they represent only a part
A new batch of Snowden documents offer an unprecedented look into the close relationship of the surveillance agencies of the so-called "Five Eyes" nations and how a close look at a secretive base in New Zealand reveals new details about a global network of listening stations are operating to fulfill the NSA mantra on communications data which says, "Sniff it all, collect it all, know it all, process it all and exploit it all."
Reported on Saturday by The Intercept in the U.S. and the Sunday Star-Times in New Zealand, the documents offer a detailed look at the "alien-like" station located in Waihopai Valley and reveals who and what kind of information the station targets, its inner workings, and how its operations link to an international network of spy facilities run by the other so-called "Five Eyes"—comprised of the intelligence agencies of the U.S., U.K., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
With names like "Jackknife," "MoonPenny," "Scapel," and "LadyLove" – the Five Eyes maintain enough listening bases around the world to capture the bulk of the entire planet's digital and telephonic communications.
Documents Shine Light on Shadowy New Zealand Surveillance Base
Near the heartland of New Zealand’s renowned wine country, there is a place that visitors are not allowed to go. The peculiar large white domes that protrude from the earth in the Waihopai Valley are surrounded by razor wire and shrouded in secrecy.
But now, newly revealed documents from the National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden shine a light on what is behind the security perimeter. The buildings there are crammed with sophisticated NSA spying technology, used by New Zealand to sweep up text messages, emails, phone calls, and other communications in bulk across the Asia-Pacific.
The documents, revealed Saturday by the Sunday Star-Times in collaboration with The Intercept, show how closely New Zealand has worked with the NSA to maintain surveillance coverage of the region. The files also offer an unprecedented insight into the Waihopai base, exposing how it’s been integrated into a global eavesdropping network.
The spying station intercepts data from satellites, and is operated by Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, New Zealand’s equivalent of the NSA. Waihopai is part of a group of surveillance stations used by the so-called Five Eyes, an alliance that New Zealand is part of alongside the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada.
We’re All Spies Now: CIA Director Announces Major Restructuring
The director of the CIA announced this week a major overhaul of the agency’s organizational structure ending the traditional separation between spies and analysts, while also creating a new division to handle cyberwarfare.
Director John Brennan officially announced the restructure to agency employees on Friday. Thousands of spies and CIA analysts will be reassigned to new posts, marking one of the most significant changes to the agency’s core structure in its 67-year history.
“Never has the need for the full and unfettered integration of our capabilities been greater,” Brennan said in a declassified statement to his employees.
Under the new model, spies and analysts will be integrated and assigned to 10 new mission centers, which, according to Brennan, “will bring the full range of operational, analytic, support, technical, and digital personnel and capabilities to bear on the nation’s most pressing security issues and interests.” Describing the new mission centers, Brennan said, “Assistant Directors will be accountable for integrating and advancing the mission — in all of its various forms — and for overall mission accomplishment in their respective geographic or functional area.”
CIA reshuffle features ‘mission centers’, cyber-warfare to 'cover the entire universe'
The Central Intelligence Agency has announced a sweeping reorganization, introducing a new Directorate dedicated to cyber-espionage and establishing ten new cross-directorate ‘mission centers’.
The CIA’s new cyber-division will be called the Directorate of Digital Innovation. It joins the four existing Directorates: Support, Science and Technology, and Operations and Analysis, under the new organization plan. Analysis is reverting to its traditional name, having been renamed “Directorate of Intelligence” previously, while Operations used to be known as the “National Clandestine Service.”
Additionally, agency director John Brennan announced the establishment of ten new “mission centers,” gathering CIA officers from across different Directorates to concentrate on specific subjects, regions or targets.
The 9/11 Commission criticized the CIA for not sharing intelligence that might have helped stop the 2001 attacks, and recommended a number of intelligence reforms. The new “mission centers” will put together operatives from the five Directorates to follow urgent threats and “fill information gaps”, Brennan explained.
Nemtsov murder: Two held over killing of opposition politician
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Two men have been detained over the murder of Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced.
Anzor Gubashev and Zaur Dadayev, both from the Caucasus region, were detained on Saturday, FSB director Alexander Bortnikov said.
Russian investigators said there were suspected of organising and carrying out the murder.
The killing on a bridge within sight of the Kremlin shocked Russia.
The former deputy prime minister and veteran liberal politician, 55, was shot in the back four times on the night of 27 February as he was walking on the street with his girlfriend. He was buried in Moscow on Tuesday.
Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny released after 15 days in custody
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
MOSCOW — Leading Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny was released Friday after spending 15 days in custody and vowed that he and his supporters will not be intimidated by the slaying of a top Kremlin critic.
Navalny, the driving force behind the 2011-12 mass protests in Moscow, said the killing of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov will not lead him to scale down his campaign against President Vladimir Putin’s government.
“This act of terror hasn’t achieved its goal, it will not frighten me or my comrades,” Navalny said after his release. “We will not reduce our efforts, we will not step back.”
Navalny walked free after serving the sentence handed down by a Moscow court, which found him guilty of violating the law when he distributed leaflets in the subway campaigning for an opposition rally. The protest was turned into a mourning march to pay tributes to Nemtsov.
EU won’t be pushed into confrontation over Ukraine – foreign policy chief
The EU is resisting calls from hotheads to supply arms to Ukraine, saying it won’t be pulled into a confrontation with Russia. Europeans cite the progress in implementing a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine between Kiev and local rebels.
The idea of providing lethal aid to Kiev is popular among many NATO officials and American politicians. US House Speaker John Boehner and a bipartisan group of top lawmakers called on President Barack Obama to deliver the weapons. But Europeans are opposing the move, which would likely escalate tensions with Russia.
“The European Union today is extremely realistic about developments in Russia. But we will never be trapped or forced or pushed or pulled into a confrontative [sic] attitude,” the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini told the media on Friday, following an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Riga, Latvia.
“We still believe that around our continent – not only in but around – cooperation is far better than confrontation. We still argue for that,” she added.
Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said the EU’s goal in Ukraine is “a ceasefire, not an escalation.”
Germany slams NATO European commander’s comments on Ukraine as ‘dangerous propaganda’ – Spiegel
A top NATO European commander’s exaggerated comments on the Ukrainian conflict are ‘dangerous propaganda,’ and put the West at risk of losing credibility, sources in the German Chancellor’s Office told Der Spiegel.
General Philip Breedlove made harsh remarks on the situation in Ukraine on Wednesday, saying that the self-defense forces, with the assistance of Russia, have prepared “over a thousand combat vehicles” and “sophisticated air defense, battalions of artillery” in the south-east of the country.
“What is clear is that right now it is not getting better, it is getting worse every day,” NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) concluded.
The comments came on the same day as the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) stressed that progress in the fulfillment of the Minsk peace deal between Ukrainian government and the militias in Donetsk and Lugansk Regions.
EU Increasingly Abandons Obama on Ukraine
As reported on Saturday March 7th by both German Economic News, and Spiegel magazine, the ongoing lies and arrogance from U.S. President Barack Obama’s Administration regarding Ukraine and Russia have finally raised to the surface a long-mounting anger of Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Government.
This is especially the case with Germany’s Foreign Minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who comes from Germany’s Social Democratic Party, which is far less conservative (and far less anti-Russian) than the Christian Democratic Union Party, Chancellor Merkel’s party. The CDU has traditionally been hostile toward Russia, but the SDP has instead favored an unprejudiced policy regarding Russia, after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the end of communism there.
Steinmeier has always been skeptical of Obama’s intentions regarding Ukraine and Russia, but now it appears that even Merkel is veering away from the United States on these policies.
“Resistance to the US strategy toward Russia is growing in the EU,” reports GDN, which names especially U.S. General Philip Breedlove, NATO’s Supreme Commander, as the major source of this turn-about, because Breedlove has “exaggerated the military role of Russia in Ukraine.”
A crisis of trust in Iraq
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
We will never get to know what painful thoughts raced through the soldierly mind of Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, when he testified before the US senators in Washington on Tuesday, but it certainly wouldn’t have been easy for him to bring himself to compliment Iran’s “most overt conduct… in the form of artillery and other things” in the military operation currently going on to retake the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit from the control of the Islamic State.
For sure, Gen Dempsey knew he was actually complimenting an Iranian general who has been in the American-Israeli ‘hit list’ from time immemorial – Gen Qassem Suleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] of Iran.
To make the point a lit bit clearer still, let me digress for a moment to bring out from my archive a profile of the elusive, charismatic, devastatingly brilliant IRGC general that the New Yorker magazine once had featured in September 2013 in a riveting story entitled “THE SHADOW COMMANDER”. Read it, here, and you will understand why Gen. Dempsey would have been swallowing hard during his testimony yesterday.
But what option would Gen. Dempsey have been left with but to compliment Tehran and distract attention from the central issue – namely, that Baghdad kept Washington in the dark about the Tikrit operations and simply chose to follow Suleimani’s command? The New York Times has an insightful account by Anne Barnard reporting from Baghdad as to what has gone wrong between the Iraqi government and the Americans. As she put it, the Iraqis are frustrated with the “sluggish American pace and pessimistic American estimates of how long it would take to drive the Islamic State from Mosul and the western province of Anbar.” Barnard quotes a close aide to the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as saying, “The Americans continue procrastinating about the time it will take to liberate the country,” he said in an interview. “Iraq will liberate Mosul and Anbar without them.”
US War on ISIS a Trojan Horse
In America's coming war, don't be surprised if everything in Syria is destroyed except ISIS.
March 7, 2015 (Ulson Gunnar - NEO) In August of 2013, even as the words came out of US President Barack Obama's mouth regarding an "impending" US military strike against the Syrian state, the impotence of American foreign policy loomed over him and those who wrote his speech for him like an insurmountable wall. So absurd was America's attempt to once again use the canard of "weapons of mass destruction" to justify yet another military intervention, that many believed America's proxy war in Syria had finally reached its end.
The counterstroke by Russia included Syria's immediate and unconditional surrendering of its chemical weapons arsenal, and with that, so evaporated America's casus belli.
Few would believe if one told them then, that in 2015, that same discredited US would be routinely bombing Syrian territory and poised to justify the raising of an entire army of terrorists to wage war within Syria's borders, yet that is precisely what is happening. President Obama has announced plans to formally increase military force in Iraq and Syria "against ISIS," but of course includes building up huge armies of "rebels" who by all other accounts are as bad as ISIS itself (not to mention prone to joining ISIS' ranks by the thousands).
All it took for this miraculous turn in fortune was the creation of "ISIS," and serial provocations committed by these Hollywood-style villains seemingly engineered to reinvigorate America's justification to militarily intervene more directly in a war it itself started in Syria beginning in 2011.
Nigeria's Boko Haram pledges allegiance to Islamic State
Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS), according to an audio statement.
The message, which was not verified, was posted on Boko Haram's Twitter account and appeared to be by the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau.
Boko Haram began a military campaign to impose Islamic rule in northern Nigeria in 2009. The conflict has since spread to neighbouring states.
It would be the latest in a series of groups to swear allegiance to IS.
In the past Boko Haram is thought to have had links with al-Qaeda.
Islamic state 'demolish' ancient Hatra site in Iraq
Islamic State militants have destroyed ruins at the ancient city of Hatra, Iraqi officials say.
A tourism and antiquities ministry official said the extent of the damage at the Unesco world heritage site was unclear, but they had received reports that it had been demolished.
Hatra was founded in the days of the Parthian Empire over 2,000 years ago.
Militants have recently bulldozed ruins at the Assyrian city of Nimrud and destroyed museum artefacts in Mosul.
IS, which controls large areas of Iraq and Syria, says shrines and statues are "false idols" that have to be smashed.
Russia to team up with Asian allies in fight with Islamic State – security chief
The international community should abandon double standards on terrorism and start fighting the threat in line with universally-recognized norms of the international law, holds the head of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev.
In an interview given soon after a recent working visit to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, Patrushev said Russia shared the universal concern over the spread of Islamist terrorism and planned to step up the work with Shanghai Cooperation Organization partners China and India in countering this evil.
“The Russian position over this issue remains unchanged. Dividing terrorists into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ ones is unacceptable. The struggle against this evil must be conducted strictly in accordance with the norms of international law and decisions of the UN Security Council,” Patrushev told Komsomolskaya Pravda daily.
“We receive confirmations of the fact that the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) is making contacts with terrorists in Russia’s North Caucasus. We will bear this in mind when we make the decisions aimed at strengthening Russia’s security and protection of its borders,” he noted. Additionally, the growth of the territories occupied by the IS in Libya caused particular concern, as well as the start of mass executions in that country.
Police shooting of 19-year-old prompts protests in Madison, Wisc.
Protesters arrived at the scene of a shooting in Madison Wisconsin Friday evening chanting slogans like, 'Who can you trust? Not the police.' Police fatally shot an apparently unarmed African-American teenager Friday.
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Reuters — Wisconsin police fatally shot an apparently unarmed African-American teenager on Friday, prompting dozens of people to protest at the site of the killing, according to police and videos published on social media.
Madison Police Chief Mike Koval told reporters that an officer responded to a disturbance at around 6:30 p.m. local time and later forced his way into an apartment that the 19-year-old, who was also suspected of a recent battery, had gone into.
Koval said that a struggle between the suspect and the officer ensued and the teen was fatally shot, according to a recording of the news conference published by broadcaster WKOW.
"The initial finding at the scene did not reflect a gun or anything of that nature that would have been used by the subject," Koval said.
33% of Americans out of workforce, highest rate since 1978
The number of Americans aged 16 and older not participating in the labor force hit 92,898,000 in February, tying December’s record, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
Over the longer trend, the labor force participation rate was between 62.9 percent and 62.7 percent from April 2014 through February, and has been hovering around 62.9 percent or lower in 13 of the 17 months since October 2013, the BLS data revealed.
To put it another way, when President Obama took office in January 2009, there were 80,529,000 Americans who were not participating in the workforce, which means that 12,369,000 US citizens have left the workforce since then.
The number of Americans out of the workforce jumped by 354,000 last month.
The last time the labor participation rate dropped below 63 percent was 37 years ago, in March 1978 when it was 62.8 percent.
State oil firm's scandal scrambles Brazil's offshore dreams
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Oil was to have been Brazil's "passport to the future," but the grand dreams tied to state company Petrobras have been brought to a screeching halt not only by falling crude prices, but by a crisis of its own making.
An expanding investigation into a kickback scandal at Brazil's largest company is rippling through the industry, suspending contracts, cutting off credit supplies and forcing layoffs at shipyards and other firms that had been gearing up for the anticipated oil boom.
Not long ago, President Dilma Rousseff had promised that exploration of rich, offshore fields would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and provide royalty income to finally improve Brazil's schools and health care system. But with no end to the investigation in sight, it's anyone's guess as to when Brazil will reap the rewards of its oil wealth.
"In 2008, everyone thought Brazil was becoming an oil superpower," said Adriano Pires, an energy consultant and former official at the government National Petroleum Agency. "Those big plans of expansion are all being reviewed."
Climate deniers and other pimped-out professional skeptics: The paranoid legacy of Nietzsche’s “problem of science”
How a 19th-century thinker's revolutionary insights drive today's climate-denial flacks – and can help beat them
Looking back years later at his first major work, “The Birth of Tragedy,” the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche gave himself credit for being the first modern thinker to tackle “the problem of science itself,” for presenting “science for the first time as problematic and questionable.” Dude! If the perverse German genius could only have known how far “the problem of science” would extend in our age, or to what ends his critique of Socratic reason would be twisted. He might be delighted or horrified in equal measure – one thing you can say for Nietzsche is that his attitudes are never predictable – to see how much we now live in a world he made, or at least made possible.
It may seem like a ridiculous leap to connect a scholarly work about ancient Greek culture published in 1872 with the contemporary rise of climate denialism and other forms of pimped-out skepticism, in which every aspect of science is treated by the media and the public as a matter of ideological debate and subjective interpretation. I’m not suggesting that the leading climate skeptics, corporate shills and other professional mind-clouders seen in Robert Kenner’s new documentary “Merchants of Doubt” have read Nietzsche and based their P.R. playbook on what he would have termed an appeal to the Dionysian impulse, the primitive, violent and ecstatic forces that lie below the surface of civilization. (You can see two prime specimens at the top of the page: James Taylor of the libertarian-oriented Heartland Institute and longtime oil lobbyist William O’Keefe, who now heads the George C. Marshall Institute, a climate-obsessed right-wing think tank.) They didn’t have to. That impulse is baked into human culture at this point, and it can be exploited without entirely being recognized or understood.
I’m not discounting the most obvious elements of the 21st-century assault on science, which are amply addressed in Kenner’s film and other recent works on the subject. There is certainly a heated cultural and political conflict over the issue of climate change, but there is no “scientific debate,” no matter how many times Fox News hosts repeat that phrase. Enormous financial interests are at stake, as oil companies and other big stakeholders in the fossil-fuel economy seek to fend off or delay a major social restructuring that could destroy their business. Ideological hangover from the Cold War and the 1960s, especially among a certain paranoid strain of the conservative movement, has turned the climate issue into a symbolic confrontation between American freedom and the sinister global forces of academia and environmentalism, often understood as the new faces of Communism. As former Republican congressman Bob Inglis – a staunch conservative and former climate skeptic who was defeated by a Tea Party rebel in 2010 – puts it, issues of tribal loyalty are at work here that trump rational questions about the validity of scientific evidence.
Inglis is the most interesting individual interviewee in “Merchants of Doubt,” partly because he stands apart from the competing ideological choruses on this issue and has taken on the thankless task of proselytizing his fellow Christian conservatives, one terrifying Deep South radio show at a time. His remarks about tribalism also nudge us toward the Nietzschean subtext of the climate fight, by which I mean not just the question of what political or corporate agendas are being served – since that’s pretty obvious – but why the right-wing counterattack against a previously uncontroversial scientific consensus has been so effective with the general public.
On Climate, Humanity Must Rise Up Against 'Collective Shrug of Fatalism'
As top newspaper editor expresses regret for lack of climate coverage, a sneak-peak at the documentary film which explores the destruction, and potential hope, spawned by planetary crisis
Alongside an announcement by The Guardian's editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger on Friday in which he said climate change stands out as perhaps the single most important issue now facing humanity—one he says his outlet could have done a more aggressive job of covering in recent years—the newspaper has kicked off a new series of special coverage on global warming by publishing an excerpt from author and activist Naomi Klein's latest book, This Changes Everything, alongside a sneak-peek of the documentary film by the same name directed by Klein's husband, Avi Lewis.
According to sentiments shared by Rusbridger and expressed in both the film and the book, Klein and Lewis argue climate change, if properly understood, "could become a galvanising force for humanity" if a more appropriate response can overcome the pervasive denial, fear, and helplessness associated with the issue.
In his missive to readers—titled Climate change: Why The Guardian is putting threat to Earth front and centre—Rusbridger announced his pending retirement and explained that after 20 years as editor he had few lasting regrets save this one: "that we had not done justice to this huge, overshadowing, overwhelming issue of how climate change will probably, within the lifetime of our children, cause untold havoc and stress to our species."
Thousands March with Urgent Message in London: 'Time To Act on Climate!'
'Governments must wake up to the fact that millions of people around the world are calling for an end to our fossil fuel dependency.'
Thousands of people took to the streets in London on Saturday as they marched on Parliament to demand immediate and aggressive on climate change ahead of the UN summit on the issue which will take place later this year in Paris.
Spearheaded by the UK-based Campaign Against Climate Change, the protest weaved its way through the city and was modeled as a follow-up to the People's Climate March in New York City last September in which more than 400,000 people voiced their support for a future beyond fossil fuels. Other organizations participating in the march include 350.org, Avaaz, Friends of the Earth, Global Justice Now, Greenpeace, Reclaim the Power, and many other local groups including organized labor and anti-fracking coalitions.
Participants and supporters were using the #TimeToAct2015 hashtag to share photos and updates from the march:
According to the group, "Across the UK people are already building change - from divestment of funds which prop up the fossil fuel industry, to frontline communities fighting unsustainable energy extraction and fracking, through to those paving the way for a transition towards a 100% renewable energy future which would bring about an estimated one million new climate jobs in the UK alone. We know what needs to be done; the solutions are here now. Climate must be at the top of every politician’s agenda."
Hellraiser Preview
Sherman, set the time machine for tomorrow's Hellraisers Journal, which will feature a report on a meeting at Cooper Union in which Rose Schneiderman asks: "Instead of making women workers dance when they do not want to dance, and showing them how to save money when the poor things have to make the pennies stretch to buy food, why don’t the uplifters do something that really will help them?"
Tune in at 2pm!
|
The myth destroying America: Why social mobility is beyond ordinary people’s control
Americans overwhelmingly believe they control their financial destinies, but a huge body of research says otherwise
In America, there is a strongly held conviction that with hard work, anyone can make it into the middle class. Pew recently foundthat Americans are far more likely than people in other countries to believe that work determines success, as opposed to other factors beyond an individual’s control. But this positivity comes with a negative side — a tendency to pathologize those living in poverty. Indeed, 60 percent of Americans (compared with 26 percent of Europeans) say that the poor are lazy, and only 29 percent say those living in poverty are trapped in poverty by factors beyond their control (compared with 60 percent of Europeans).
Such beliefs are just that: beliefs. While a majority of Americans might think that hard work determines success and that it should be relatively simple business to climb and remain out of poverty, the reality is that the United States has a relatively entrenched upper class, but precarious, ever-shifting lower and middle classes. While many Americans might hate welfare, the data suggest they are fairly likely to fall into it at one point or another.
In their recent book, “Chasing the American Dream,” sociologists Mark Robert Rank, Thomas Hirschl and Kirk Foster argue that the American experience is more fluid than both liberals and conservatives believe. Using Panel Survey of Income Dynamics (PSID) data — which has tracked 5,000 households (18,000 individuals) from 1968 and 2010 — they show that many Americans have temporary bouts of affluence (defined as eight times the poverty line), but also temporary bouts of poverty, unemployment and welfare use. (The study includes food stamps, Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families/Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Supplemental Security Income and any other cash/in-kind program that relies on income level to qualify.) The researchers conclude that a large number of Americans eventually fall into one of these categories, but that very few Americans stay for long. Instead, the social safety net catches them, and they get back on their feet.
Democrats clamor for credible Clinton challenger in wake of email revelations
Hillary Clinton is 44 points clear of Joe Biden, but some Democrats are starting to worry an untested primary would leave her vulnerable, since ‘We don’t do coronations’
As Hillary Clinton continues to come under fire for her use of private emails during her four years as US secretary of state, a groundswell of opinion suggests the Democratic party must stage a competitive search for its 2016 presidential candidate and avoid a Clinton coronation.
With 20 months still to go before Americans go to the polls to decide their next president, Clinton stands head and shoulders above any other potential candidate. The latest tracking poll from Real Clear Politics puts her 44 points ahead of her closest rival, Vice-President Joe Biden – a dominance that so far has dissuaded most credible alternatives from coming forward.
But after a tumultuous week ofnegativeheadlines and widespread criticism of her decision to use a private email domain in her former role as America’s top diplomat, memories have resurfaced of the kinds of campaigning difficulties that dogged her last unsuccessful run for the White House in 2008. Voices are starting to be heard questioning whether it is desirable to anoint her the Democratic nominee without a robust contest that would hone her message and flush out some of the difficulties that have recently beset her.
“We don’t do coronations,” said Simon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist and former staffer for Bill Clinton during both his presidential campaigns. He said that regardless of the wide admiration for Hillary, her apparently unassailable position was uncomfortable for the party.
N.J. Sen. Menendez likely to face criminal corruption charges, reports say
WASHINGTON — New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, the senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and formerly his party’s top fundraiser, is expected to face criminal corruption charges, multiple news agencies reported Friday.
The charges could be brought within several weeks and reportedly revolve around the 61-year-old senator’s dealings with a Florida ophthalmologist and donor, according to anonymous sources variously described in different news accounts as a “U.S. official,” “people briefed on the case,” “people familiar with the case” and “an official.”
Other Justice Department spokesmen declined to confirm the reports Friday afternoon, as did Attorney General Eric Holder when approached by a reporter who asked whether he had authorized pursuing charges against the Democratic lawmaker.
“I can’t comment on that,” Holder said.
Menendez denied wrongdoing.
“I have always conducted myself appropriately and in accordance with the law,” Menendez said at a brief news conference Friday night in Newark, N.J., adding, “I am not going anywhere.”
U.S. charges three in ring that stole one billion email addresses
(Reuters) - Two Vietnamese citizens and a Canadian have been charged with running a massive cyberfraud ring that stole 1 billion email addresses, then sent spam offering knockoff software products, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday.
The Justice Department described the hacking spree as "one of the largest" data breaches uncovered in U.S. history. It declined to name the email companies that were victimized, though it appeared that the breaches included a massive 2011 attack on email marketing firm Epsilon.
Security blogger Brian Krebs reported that Epsilon, a unit of Alliance Data Systems Corp, was among the victims. That high-profile 2011 attack was followed by a wave of customer notifications from Epsilon clients, including Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Krebs noted that the government's press release said the data breach "was the subject of a congressional inquiry and testimony before a U.S House of Representatives subcommittee on June 2, 2011.” The House Energy and Commerce Committee held a hearing on that data about breaches at Sony Corp <6758.T) and Epsilon, according to Krebs.
Not stellar noise: Potentially habitable super-Earth Gliese 581d exists, new study claims
Astronomy has had to go back on its word twice in a year now, as a super-Earth previously dismissed as stellar ‘noise’ did after all turn out to be a planet. A new study shows Gliese 581d had been the victim of bad analysis.
In 2009, as scientists searched for far-away planets that were in the habitable zone orbiting around their host stars, a spectrometer picked up 581d’s ‘wobble’ – which is a slight change in the wavelength of light caused by a celestial body passing by its star and changing the amount of light the star gives off.
The now-suspected planet and its siblings orbit a red dwarf named Gliese 581. Because the distance is some 20 light years from Earth, any determinations on the nature of things are always subject to heated debate among scientists.
Last year’s study dismissed the discovery as "noise", or interference created by the star system itself. Two whole planets that were potentially habitable were dismissed by a study in the journal Science – 581d and 581g, which were discovered at different times orbiting their host star.
Spring forward: Daylight saving time returning to most of US
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Most Americans will set their clocks 60 minutes forward before heading to bed Saturday night March 7, 2015, but daylight saving time officially starts Sunday at 2 a.m. local time (0700GMT).
Most people in the U.S. are supposed to push the clock forward by 60 minutes before heading to bed Saturday night. Daylight saving time officially begins at 2 a.m. Sunday local time.
You may have lost a bit of sleep, but in the months ahead you'll gain an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings.
It's also a good time to replace batteries in warning devices such as smoke detectors.
The time change isn't observed by Hawaii, most of Arizona, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Marianas.
Daylight saving time ends Nov. 1.
The Evening Greens
The Evening Greens Weekend Editor: enhydra lutris
What's a fish native to Japan doing in the ocean off the coast of Oregon?
A team of scientists from Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is studying an unusual fish captured alive in a crab pot near Port Orford this week called a striped knifejaw that is native to Japan, as well as China and Korea.
The appearance in Oregon waters of the fish (Oplegnathus fasciatus), which is sometimes called a barred knifejaw or striped beakfish, may or may not be related to the Japanese tsunami of 2011, the researchers say, and it is premature to conclude that this non-native species may be established in Oregon waters.
But its appearance and survival certainly raises questions, according to OSU’s John Chapman, an aquatic invasive species specialist at the university’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport.
“Some association with Japanese tsunami debris is a strong possibility, but we cannot rule out other options, such as the fish being carried over in ballast water of a ship or an aquarium fish being released locally,” Chapman said. “But finding a second knifejaw nearly two years after the discovery of fish in a drifting Japanese boat certainly gets my attention.”
Better fitness may slow brain aging
People with poor physical fitness in their 40s may have lower brain volumes by the time they hit 60, an indicator of accelerated brain aging, according to new research presented at the American Heart Association EPI/Lifestyle 2015 meeting.
“Many people don’t start worrying about their brain health until later in life, but this study provides more evidence that certain behaviors and risk factors in midlife may have consequences for brain aging later on,” said Nicole L. Spartano, Ph.D., lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the Boston University School of Medicine.
A subset of 1,271 participants from the Framingham Offspring Study participated in exercise treadmill testing in the 1970s, when their average age was 41. Starting in 1999, when their average age was 60, they underwent magnetic resonance imaging of their brains as well as cognitive tests. The participants did not have heart disease or cognitive problems at the beginning of the study. None were taking medication that alters heart rate.
In individuals with low fitness levels, the blood pressure and heart rate responses to low levels of exercise are often much higher than in individuals with better fitness.
Is rain dependent on soil moisture?
It rains in summer most frequently when the ground holds a lot of moisture. However, precipitation is most likely to fall in regions where the soil is comparatively dry. This is the conclusion reached by researchers at ETH Zurich following an analysis of worldwide data. Their study contributes to a better understanding of soil moisture, a little explored climatic factor.
The water content of soil has a great impact on the regional climate, but many of the connections are still not clear. Researchers at ETH Zurich’s Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, together with colleagues from Belgium and the Netherlands, examined when and where it rains most frequently on summer afternoons. They wanted to clarify whether more rain fell on days when the soil was dry or moist. And where exactly it was most likely to rain on these days. The contradictory findings of other scientists was the reason for their study. Some researchers observed afternoon precipitation in particular on days with high soil moisture, while others seemingly came to the opposite conclusion – the rain fell in places where the soil, compared with surrounding areas, was driest.
The new study now provides some clarity. “On average, it rains most on days with high soil moisture,” explains Benoit Guillod, the first author, who led the study as part of his doctoral thesis in the group of Sonia Seneviratne, Professor for Land-Climate Dynamics, and who is now working at the University of Oxford. “Most precipitation falls, however, over the driest sub-region.” The phenomena can be explained in the following way: over the course of a day, the sun warms the earth’s surface, causing the water in lakes, rivers, oceans and the ground to evaporate. This water vapour rises throughout the day, where it meets colder layers of air and condenses. It then starts to rain. The soil’s moisture content plays a decisive role, particularly in areas far from the coast: The more moisture in the soil, the more water can evaporate, which increases the likelihood of precipitation.
But where exactly does it rain? Within a humid area, the areas with lower soil moisture produce the warmest air, permitting the water vapour to rise the highest and thus meet the colder air layers the soonest. As a result, it rains most frequently at these locations.
Business Councils Help Houston Build for Energy Efficiency
HOUSTON, Texas, March 4, 2015 (ENS) – An action plan designed to improve the market competitiveness of Houston’s buildings and attract energy efficiency investments was released today by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, WBCSD, and the U.S. Business Council for Sustainable Development, US BCSD.
Made public during a ceremony at Rice University, the action plan is based on the recommendations of the Houston Energy Efficiency in Buildings Laboratory, EEB Lab, held jointly by the two business organizations last October.
Roland Hunziker, director sustainable buildings at WBCSD, said, “EEB Laboratories foster a shared understanding of the specific barriers a building market is facing. Most importantly, they allow the creation of partnerships that are necessary to drive action to overcome these market barriers.”
The action plan has received widespread support despite the fact that Houston – the largest city in Texas and fourth-largest city in the United States – is nicknamed the Oil Capital of the World.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
Europe Blocks U.S. from Racing to War Against Russia
The "Cataclysmic Conflict" Yet to Come
Noam Chomsky: White America's Cruelty to Black People Far Worse Than South Africa
Robert Scheer: Liberation and Enslavement in the Same Tool
Don’t Believe Media Coverage of Venezuela
What Trickle-Down Economics Has Done to the US: The Rich Get All the Money
The Washington Post is Wrong About Rahm Emanuel and Liberals
Hellraisers Journal: Exposed! Industrial/Community Control Service of Corporations Auxiliary Company
"Police will “guard” the water for those who can pay for it, while we die of thirst."
To thine own self.../Crossing the Gender Line
A Little Night Music
Jorma Kaukonen - Just Because
Jorma Kaukonen - Police Dog Blues
Jorma Kaukonen - Genesis
Jorma Kaukonen - I See The Light
Jorma Kaukonen - Song for the North Star
Jorma Kaukonen - A Life Well Lived
Jorma Kaukonen and Mountain Heart - Come Back Baby
Jorma Kaukonen - Will There Be Any Stars In My Crown?
Jorma Kaukonen - Whinin' Boy Blues
Jorma Kaukonen - Bread Line Blues
Jorma Kaukonen - Things That Might Have Been
Jorma Kaukonen - Hamar Promenade
Jorma Kaukonen - Big River Blues
Jorma Kaukonen - I'll Be Alright
Jorma Kaukonen - Another Man Done Gone
Jorma Kaukonen - No Mail Today
Jorma Kaukonen - Tom Cat Blues
Jorma Kaukonen - A Walk With Friends
Jorma Kaukonen - No Demon
Jorma Kaukonen - Waiting for a Train
Jorma Kaukonen - I'll Let You Know Before I Leave
Jorma Kaukonen - Blues Stay Away From Me
Jorma Kaukonen - I'm Free From The Chain Gang Now