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.
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Hey! Good Evening!
This evening's music is brought to you by guest VJ NCTim and features the late blues, blues rock, rock and roll, rockabilly and country guitarist Roy Buchanan. Enjoy!
Roy Buchanan - Soul Dressing
What we did in the 1960s and early 1970s was raise the consciousness of white America that this government has a responsibility to Indian people. That there are treaties; that textbooks in every school in America have a responsibility to tell the truth. An awareness reached across America that if Native American people had to resort to arms at Wounded Knee, there must really be something wrong. And Americans realized that native people are still here, that they have a moral standing, a legal standing. From that, our own people began to sense the pride.
Dennis Banks (1937– )
Activist and co-founder of the American Indian Movement (AIM) (Anishinabe)from "His Aim is True," MetroActive (March 14, 1996)
News and Opinion
Ferguson suspect charged over officer shootings named as Jeffrey Williams
St Louis County prosecutor says 20-year-old protester has admitted shooting two officers but claims shots were not aimed at police
A protester has admitted to shooting two police officers in Ferguson, Missouri and is facing life in prison after being charged with assaulting them, authorities said on Sunday.
Jeffrey Williams acknowledged “that in fact he did fire the shots that struck the two officers” outside the Ferguson police department late Wednesday night and the gun used has been seized, St Louis County prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch said at a press conference.
However Williams, 20, claims he was not aiming for the police officers and that the shots were part of a dispute with other civilians who were in the area, according to McCulloch. The prosecutor added: “We’re not sure we completely buy that part of it.”
The two officers were wounded when they were shot just after midnight while standing outside Ferguson’s police headquarters as a demonstration wound down, late on Wednesday night. An officer from the city of Webster Groves was shot in the face while a county officer was struck in a shoulder. Both men were hospitalised but have since been released.
Update: It is not clear whether Williams was a protestor or not.
CIA Money Landed in Al Qaeda's Hands: Report
2010 ransom transaction between terror group and Afghan government used cash that came from monthly US donations, NY Times investigation finds
About $1 million of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's money, given to a secret Afghan government fund in 2010, ended up in al Qaeda's possession after it was used to pay part of a ransom for a diplomat kidnapped by the terror group, the New York Times reportedon Saturday.
The CIA regularly bankrolled that coffer with monthly cash deliveries to the presidential palace in Kabul, as it has done for more than a decade. Along with another $4 million total provided by several other countries, the Afghan government paid off a $5 million ransom demanded by al Qaeda in exchange for freeing Afghan general consul Abdul Khaliq Farahi, kidnapped in Pakistan in 2008.
As a previous Times investigationrevealed in 2013, the CIA provided monthly cash deliveries to support then-President Hamid Karzai's relatives and aides and to solicit influence over domestic politics—but just as often, it "fueled corruption and empowered warlords."
Letters regarding the payment were found in the 2011 Navy SEAL raid which killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. They were submitted as evidence during the trial of Abid Naseer, who was convicted this month of supporting terrorism and planning to bomb a shopping center in Manchester, England.
Syria conflict: US wants to 're-ignite' peace talks, says Kerry
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
US Secretary of State John Kerry says he wants to "re-ignite" negotiations with President Bashar al-Assad to end the conflict in Syria.
Speaking as the war enters its fifth year, Mr Kerry said it was "one of the worst tragedies any of us have seen".
He said the international community was upping pressure on Syria's regime to hold new peace talks, saying "we have to negotiate in the end" with Mr Assad.
More than 215,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the conflict.
Defining test for young refugees: Prove you are Syrian
A generation of Syrian refugees – those born in exile and those who fled as minors – are at risk of statelessness, the UN warns. Only a minority hold valid passports and IDs.
Submitted by: NCTim
Gaziantep, Turkey — Syrian refugee Umeyma gingerly steps out of a hospital in Gaziantep cradling her newborn son, Zakaria, in a wool blanket. The joy of granting the gift of life to her seventh child eclipses the strain of giving birth in an alien land, among doctors and nurses she cannot understand.
“It was his lot to be born in Turkey, but he is Syrian,” declares the Aleppo native with pride.
But, armed with no more than a hospital birth certificate and a temporary identity card, Umeyma’s claim to his citizenship will be next to impossible to match on paper – unless she turns to document forgers thriving on both sides of the Syrian-Turkey border.
As the Syrian conflict enters its fifth year, an entire generation is at risk of statelessness as a result of the punitive policies of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, strict nationality laws in host countries, and the Kafkaesque warzone bureaucracies that individuals must navigate to obtain documents.
Ukraine's president says truce not working, urges more Russia sanctions: newspaper
(Reuters) - Ukraine's president accused Russian-backed separatists in the east of failing to respect a ceasefire with Ukrainian troops and called for further sanctions on Russia in comments to a German newspaper to be published on Mond
Attacks have become less frequent since the latest ceasefire came into force in mid-February, but both sides accuse each other of violations. Ukraine's military said last week that pro-Russian rebels were using the truce to amass heavy weapons.
An agreement signed in Minsk in September called with the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line.
"Ukraine has fulfilled every single point of the Minsk agreement. The ceasefire has been implemented immediately on our part, but the Russian fighters have done the exact opposite," Petro Poroshenko told the Bild newspaper.
Ukraine conflict: Putin 'was ready for nuclear alert'
President Vladimir Putin has said he was ready to put Russia's nuclear weapons on standby during tensions over the crisis in Ukraine and Crimea.
In comments in a documentary aired on state TV on Sunday, Mr Putin said the life of ex-Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych had been in danger.
He also said Russians in Crimea were in danger before Russia annexed it.
In a previously released clip from the film, he said he ordered the annexation weeks before a referendum was held.
AP Interview: Serbia says Russia ties don't hamper OSCE role
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
Ivica Dacic told The Associated Press in an interview that Serbia's close-knit relationship with traditional Slavic ally Russia "most certainly is not a handicap" when it comes to remaining unbiased in the Ukrainian crisis.
Dacic said "even the Ukrainian foreign minister told me ... they see it as an advantage if it is used for de-escalation" of hostilities.
Serbia took over the OSCE chairmanship in January amid some concern in the West because of Belgrade's refusal to impose Western-backed sanctions against Moscow over its role in Ukraine.
"Many have said that it will be a big challenge for us," Dacic said. "Our role is not to take sides, but to help achieve goals that the OSCE has in the conflict areas, one of which is Ukraine."
Putin in film on Crimea: US masterminds behind Ukraine coup, helped train radicals
Submitted by: mimi
The Ukrainian armed coup was organized from Washington, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated in an interview for a new documentary aired Sunday. The Americans tried to hide behind the Europeans, but Moscow saw through the trick, he added.
“The trick of the situation was that outwardly the [Ukrainian] opposition was supported mostly by the Europeans. But we knew for sure that the real masterminds were our American friends,”Putin said in a documentary, 'Crimea - The Way Home,' aired by Rossiya 1 news channel.
“They helped training the nationalists, their armed groups, in Western Ukraine, in Poland and to some extent in Lithuania,” he added. “They facilitated the armed coup.”
The West spared no effort to prevent Crimea’s reunification with Russia, “by any means, in any format and under any scheme," he noted.
Where is Vladimir Putin? What we know about the Russian president's "disappearance."
Submitted by: NCTim
- Putin has not been seen in public since March 5, which has triggered rumors and speculation about why. Putin has gone "missing" like this before and will probably reappear — but there's no way to know for sure what could be going on.
- The Kremlin has released photos and news footage of Putin in recent days, but that has not been enough to quell the rumors, and some suspect the photos could be from an older event. On Friday, the Kremlin announced that Putin will meet with Kyrgyzstan's President Almazbek Atambaev in St. Petersburg this Monday, suggesting confidence that Putin's absence is temporary.
- Though Putin is probably fine, the commotion in Russia over where he is speaks to underlyingfear and uncertainty about what happens after Putin. No one knows who would assume power if he died, got sick, or otherwise left office. And that says something about the instability and uncertainty of the Russian state under Putin.
Cyclone devastates island nation of Vanuatu
Unconfirmed reports put the death toll caused by the Category 5 storm at 44, though the number may rise
Submitted by: NCTim
Cyclone Pam, one of the most powerful storms ever recorded in the Pacific Ocean, devastated the island nation of Vanuatu early Saturday, tearing off roofs, uprooting trees and killing as many as 44 people, officials said.
Aid officials have so-far confirmed eight deaths caused by the Category 5 storm, but the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said there were unconfirmed reports of 44 people killed in Vanuatu's northeastern islands. Officials warn the toll could rise even higher.
The cyclone had wind speeds that averaged 168 miles per hour, with gusts up to 210 miles per hour, according to the U.N. office. It said the periphery of the eye of the storm had passed over islands that are home to several thousand people and was expected to hit or come close to the island of Efate, home to the capital, Port Vila.
Located about a quarter of the way from Australia to Hawaii, Vanuatu has a population of 267,000 spread over 65 islands. About 47,000 people live in the capital.
Iraq militia leader hails Iran's 'unconditional' support
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
TIKRIT, Iraq (AP) — The U.S. has failed to live up to its promises to help Iraq fight Islamic State extremists, unlike the "unconditional" assistance being given by Iran, the commander of Iraq's powerful Shiite militias alleged Friday.
In a battlefield interview near Tikrit, where Iraqi forces are fighting to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown from the militants of the so-called Islamic State, commander Hadi al-Amiri criticized those who "kiss the hands of the Americans and get nothing in return."
Iraqi forces entered Tikrit for the first time Wednesday from the north and south. On Friday, they waged fierce battles to secure the northern neighborhood of Qadisiyya and lobbed mortar shells and rockets into the city center, still in the hands of IS militants. Iraqi military officials have said they expect to reach central Tikrit in two to three days.
The Iranian-backed Shiite militias have played a crucial role in regaining territory from the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group, supporting Iraq's embattled military and police forces.
Libya, ISIS and the unaffordable
luxury of hindsight
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
"Who are you?" the late Muammar Gaddafi once rhetorically asked in a famous speech of his towards the end of his reign; (rightly) questioning the legitimacy of those seeking to overthrow his government at the time, calling them extremists, foreign agents, rats and drug-addicts.
He was laughed at, unfairly caricatured, ridiculed and incessantly demonized; a distasteful parody video poking fun at the late Libyan leader even went viral on social media; evidently the maker of the video, an Israeli, thought the Libyan colloquial Arabic word Zenga (which means an alleyway) sounded funny enough that he extracted it from one of Gaddafi’s speeches, looped it on top of a hip-hop backing track and voila …, he got himself a hit video that was widely (and shamefully) circulated with a "revolutionary" zeal in the Arab world. We shared, we laughed, he died.
But the bloody joke is on all of us; Gaddafi knew what he was talking about. Right from the get-go, he accused the so-called Libyan rebels of being influenced by al-Qaeda ideology and Bin Laden’s school of thought; no one had taken his word for it of course, not even a little bit.
Why should we have? After all, wasn't he a vile, sex-centric dictator hell-bent on massacring half of the Libyan population while subjecting the other half to manic raping sprees with the aid of his trusted army of Viagra-gobbling, sub-Saharan mercenaries? At least that’s what we got from the visual cancer that is Al Jazeera channel and its even more acrid Saudi counterpart Al-Arabiya in their heavily skewed coverage of NATO’s vicious conquest of Libya.
Sierra Leone's vice president asks US for asylum
Samuel Sam-Sumana was expelled from ruling party after investigation accused him of creating rival political movement
Submitted by: NCTim
Sierra Leone's Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana on Saturday said he had requested asylum at the U.S. embassy in Freetown after soldiers surrounded his home following his expulsion this month from the country’s ruling party.
"I don't feel safe this morning as vice president," Sam-Sumana told The Associated Press by phone. He said he was not at his residence and declined to disclose his whereabouts.
Sam-Sumana was expelled from President Ernest Bai Koroma's All People's Congress (APC) party after an investigation accused him of creating his own rival political movement, casting doubt over whether he could continue as vice president.
After hearing that soldiers were heading to his home Saturday morning, Sam-Sumana said he tried and failed to contact President Ernest Bai Koroma.
Global Threat? US Policymakers Admit Iran is Defending Itself
US policymakers admit that Iran’s strategy is “largely defensive,” and both aggressive and defensive tendencies are largely in response to US policy in the Middle East and Central Asia.
The US-based RAND Corporation, which describes itself as “a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis,” produced a report in 2009 for the US Air Force titled, “Dangerous But Not Omnipotent : Exploring the Reach and Limitations of Iranian Power in the Middle East,” examining the structure and posture of Iran’s military, including its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and weapons both present, and possible future, it seeks to secure its borders and interests with against external aggression.
The report admits that:
Iran’s strategy is largely defensive, but with some offensive elements. Iran’s strategy of protecting the regime against internal threats, deterring aggression, safeguarding the homeland if aggression occurs, and extending influence is in large part a defensive one that also serves some aggressive tendencies when coupled with expressions of Iranian regional aspirations. It is in part a response to U.S. policy pronouncements and posture in the region, especially since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Iranian leadership takes very seriously the threat of invasion given the open discussion in the United States of regime change, speeches defining Iran as part of the “axis of evil,” and efforts by U.S. forces to secure base access in states surrounding Iran.
GOP Suffers More Humiliation As Kerry Announces Deal With Iran Likely ‘In The Next Days’ (VIDEO)
Submitted by: NCTim
Sorry, Republicans — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry thinks a temporary deal can be reached with Iran “in the next days.”
Ouch! The shame on the faces of at least 47 conservative senators has got to sting.
The deal would come only provided Tehran can somehow prove to the U.S. that its nuclear program is intended strictly for peaceful, civilian purposes.
Kerry spoke Saturday, one day before talks in Lausanne, Switzerland are scheduled to resume with Iran regarding the country’s nuclear program. Likely, the dubious reception of the 47 senators’ letter to Iran helped put an extra big smile on Kerry’s face at the news. He’s hoping a temporary agreement can be made before a deadline set for the end of the month. A temporary agreement will hopefully buy enough time to reach an agreement on longer terms by June 30.
Time to respect Iran's independence
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
A great deal of drama has been recently evident in the global media portraying a "personal" rift between the US president and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
While it is apparent that racial undertones have accompanied the treatment of President Barack Obama since his election in 2008 both within the United States and among the Israeli population, the widening rift between the US and Israel has far more important reasons than Netanyahu's irrational behavior, pervasive racism in Israel and the US, or even the two leaders' claimed perceptions on Iran's non-existent nuclear "threat".
Back in the mid-1960s, Soviet-backed regimes in Syria, Iraq and Egypt were pitted as part of a Cold War standoff against America's allies in the region. The Six-Day War in 1967 in particular saw a rise in Israel's military utility for US interests in containing Syria and Egypt, both of which hosted Soviet naval bases.
Iran and Turkey were on board with the pro-US alliance, and played equally important roles in confronting Iraq and the Soviets. US dependence on, and control over the flow of cheap oil through the Persian Gulf was a strong driver for US interventions, and there was no talk of a 'special relationship' with Israel.
Fight over Seattle's $15 minimum wage could have national consequences
A lawsuit brought by the International Franchise Association could set precedent for how states regulate chains
Submitted by: NCTim
A federal judge will rule early next week on whether to temporarily suspend a portion of Seattle, Washington’s $15 minimum-wage law, pending the outcome of a longer inquiry into whether the legislation is constitutional. The International Franchise Association (IFA), which requested the temporary injunction, is suing the city of Seattle on charges that the new law unfairly discriminates against franchisees. The outcome of that lawsuit could potentially influence wage laws and other labor regulations across the country.
Seattle’s minimum-wage law, which is scheduled to take effect on April 1, requires employers to raise wages at different rates depending on how many workers they employ nationwide. A business with 500 or fewer employees in the U.S. must pay its workers at least $10 per hour starting on April 1, and $15 per hour by the first day of 2021. Businesses with more than 500 employees must pay at least $11 starting on April 1, and are required to raise their wages to $15 an hour by 2019, two years ahead of schedule.
The IFA isn’t trying to block the entire law. It simply rejects the way its members are affected by the distinction drawn between small and large businesses. Seattle counts franchisees among the businesses that will have to raise wages at a faster rate.
In other words, the city is placing franchisees in a separate category from other small businesses due to their licensing agreements with large conglomerates such as McDonald’s Corporation, the world’s largest fast-food chain.
Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill To Strengthen And Expand Social Security
Submitted by: NCTim
On March 12, boxes of petitions signed by more than two million US citizens were hauled into the nation’s capital in Washington DC. The petitions, collected by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, were in support of legislation introduced by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Sanders’ bill, titled the Social Security Expansion Act, would eliminate the cap on the payroll tax for the country’s wealthiest citizens.
“Social Security is the most successful government program in our nation’s history. Through good times and bad, Social Security has paid out every benefit owed to every eligible American,”
Sanders said.
“The most effective way to strengthen Social Security for the future is to eliminate the cap on the payroll tax on all income above $250,000 so millionaires and billionaires pay the same share as everyone else.”
Data and Goliath: Privacy Expert Explains the Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World
Bruce Schneier says there are similarities between government and corporate spying.
Leading security and privacy researcher Bruce Schneier appeared on Democracy Now! to talk about the golden age of surveillance and his new book, "Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World." In it, he mentioned that companies use surveillance to manipulate prices as well as news stories and advertising. He told Amy Goodman: “The ads you see aren’t going to be the ads someone else sees, based on your interests, but also based on what the companies believe is your income level, how good a customer you are. You’re going to see different search results than somebody else. So, depending on your political persuasion, you’ll see different advertisements. You’ll see different offers. So you might get a different credit card offer than someone else. And that might be based on your income, on proxies for your minority status. We see a lot of this very personalized advertising designed to influence you and you alone.”
Video and transcript here.
How the Supreme Court is about to explode America’s racial wealth gap
Yet again, conservatives on the Supreme Court are poised to do significant damage to minority communities
When discussing race, the conservative argument is best expressed by the famous words of Chief Justice John Roberts: “The best way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Translation: America has done bad things in its history, but those bad things are gone now, so we should move past those horrors and look forward.
Conservatives believe that if blacks and Latinos simply work hard, get a good education and earn a good income, historical racial wealth gaps will disappear. The problem is that this sentiment ignores the ways that race continues to affect Americans today. A new report from Demos and Brandeis University, “The Racial Wealth Gap: Why Policy Matters,” makes this point strongly. The report shows that focusing on education alone will do little to reduce racial wealth gaps for households at the median, and that the Supreme Court, through upcoming decisions, could soon make the wealth gap explode.
Wealth is the whole of an individual’s accumulated assets, not the amount of money they make each year. As such, in his recent book, “The Son Also Rises,” Gregory Clark finds that the residual benefits of wealth remain for 10 to 15 generations. To understand why that matters, consider the fact that Loretta Lynch, Obama’s recent nomination for U.S. attorney general, is the great-great-granddaughter of a slave who escaped to freedom. (That’s four generations). Consider also that most people on Social Security today went to segregated schools. (That’s two generations.) If Clark is correct in his thesis, then the impacts of wealth built on the foundations of American slavery and segregation will continue to affect Lynch’s great-great-great grandchildren.
It is therefore unsurprising that addressing just one aspect of this disparity cannot solve racial wealth gaps. Demos/Brandeis find that equalizing graduation rates would reduce the wealth gap between blacks and whites by 1 percent, and between Latinos and whites by 3 percent at the median. Equalizing the distribution of income would only reduce the wealth gap by 11 percent for blacks and 9 percent for Latinos. Part of the durability of wealth gaps is the disproportionate benefits that whites still enjoy: They face less job market discrimination and are more likely to reap a big inheritance, for example. This means that the returns to education and income are generally higher for whites. But even after controlling for these returns, income and education can’t explain the entire wealth gap.
Myanmar ferry capsizes: Why is this tragedy so common?
A Myanmar ferry capsized in stormy weather, and thus far 34 people have been reported dead out of 216 registered passengers. How many unregistered passengers were on board?
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
After being overtaken by waves, a double-decker passenger ferry capsized off the northwestern coast of Myanmar late Friday night. The Associated Press reported that thus far 34 people have been killed with another dozen still missing.
Rescuers pulled capsizing victims from the waves, saving at least 167 people. The ferry was carrying 216 registered passengers from Kyaukphyu and travelled about 50 miles (80 kilometers) before encountering stormy seas in an area notorious for bad weather.
This sort of crash is not uncommon in Myanmar or elsewhere in Asia, due to a lack of enforcement of safety standards and overcrowding on the boats. Last month, two ferries capsized in Bangladesh, killing dozens. Nearly 40 people died in a Myanmar shipwreck in the Yway River in 2008, and 10 were killed in the Irrawaddy delta region when a Myanmar ferry capsized in 2010, reported AFP.
The ferries are a cheap form of transportation, and as such they are often old and overcrowded. Many of the areas serviced by ferries are also inaccessible by road, causing more people to rely on the old boats.
Myanmar denies bombing inside China amid Beijing's protest
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A senior Myanmar official on Sunday denied Chinese accusations that one of his country's warplanes crossed China's border and dropped a bomb that killed four farmers during fighting with Myanmar rebels.
The official, from Myanmar's presidential office, said his government regretted the deaths and suggested it could have been the work of a group seeking to create confusion. He also promised "full cooperation" with Beijing into the incident, which has tested generally good ties that have been strained in recent years by Myanmar's perceived shift toward the U.S.
The farmers' deaths Friday occurred as Myanmar's government stepped up its fight against ethnic Chinese rebels in the country's Kokang region along China's southwestern border.
The official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, cited radar and GPS records as proof that Myanmar fighter jets did not stray into Chinese territory. He also said Yangon always informs Beijing of its airstrikes in the border region beforehand.
Guess What Happened The Last Two Times The S&P 500 Was Up More Than 200% In Six Years?
Just a few days ago, the bull market for the S&P 500 turned six years old. This six year period of time has been great for investors, but what comes next? On March 9th, 2009 the S&P 500 hit a low of 676.53. Since that day, it has risen more than 200 percent. As you will see below, there are only two other times within the last 100 years when the S&P 500 performed this well over a six year time frame. In both instances, the end result was utter disaster. And as you take in this information, I want you to keep in mind what I said in my previous article entitled “7 Signs That A Stock Market Peak Is Happening Right Now“. What we are witnessing at this moment is classic “peaking behavior”, and there is a long way to go down from here. So if historical patterns hold up, those with lots of money in the stock market could soon be in for a whole lot of trouble.
According to Societe Generale analyst Andrew Lapthorne, there was an S&P 500 bull market run of more than 200 percent over a six year time period that ended in 1929.
We all know what happened that year.
And there was another S&P 500 bull market run of more than 200 percent over a six year time period that ended in 1999. In the end, all of those gains were wiped out when the dotcom bubble burst.
Age of Burn What You Like' is Over: UN Makes Landmark Call for Divestment
The United Nations body charged with guiding and implementing international climate policy has thrown its weight behind the growing fossil fuel divestment movement, lending "moral authority" to a campaign aimed at stemming global warming, the Guardian reported on Sunday.
"We support divestment as it sends a signal to companies, especially coal companies, that the age of 'burn what you like, when you like' cannot continue," said Nick Nuttall, spokesman for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
World leaders are meeting this December in Paris to hammer out a sweeping, international climate agreement.
"Everything we do is based on science and the science is pretty clear that we need a world with a lot less fossil fuels," Nuttall told the Guardian. "We have lent our own moral authority as the UN to those groups or organizations who are divesting. We are saying 'we support your aims and ambitions because they are fairly and squarely our ambition,' which is to get a good deal in Paris."
Hellraiser Preview
Sherman, set the time machine for tomorrow's Hellraisers Journal, which will feature an update on the investigation of the conduct of Judge Dayton, Federal Judge from West Virginia, who called the association of Fannie Sellins with the United Mine Workers a disgrace to American Womanhood. Special bonus: the testimony of Fannie Sellins before the House subcommittee.
Tune in at 2pm!
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New Zealand confronts violent past, gives new hope to Maori
Submitted by: enhydra lutris
WAITANGI, New Zealand (AP) — Their land was confiscated, their homes burned down and many of their people killed.
Now, 150 years later, the indigenous Ngai Tuhoe tribe in New Zealand is getting a new start. The government has apologized for its past atrocities, handed over 170 million New Zealand dollars ($128 million) and agreed the tribe should manage a sprawling, rugged national park it calls home.
Last year's settlement is one of dozens the government has signed with Maori tribes in a comprehensive, multibillion-dollar process described in a U.N. report as imperfect but nevertheless "one of the most important examples in the world of an effort to address historical and ongoing grievances of indigenous peoples."
The payouts have transformed some of the tribes into major economic players in a nation where Maori make up 15 percent of the country's 4.5 million people. They have also contributed to a broader cultural renaissance and improved prospects for Maori.
Where you can drink in public, in one map
Submitted by: NCTim
It can be hard to tell in some cities, but public drinking is illegal in much of the US.
As the Huffington Post's investigation uncovered, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people are arrested or ticketed under these bans each year. And what counts as a public space under the bans — a street, sidewalk, park, beach, or stadium — can vary wildly from state to state and city to city, even from block to block.
Many of these restrictions came about after states and cities repealed bans on public drunkenness. Many legal scholars argued the public drunkenness laws wasted police and court resources, were disproportionately enforced against minorities and poor people, and tried to address issues of alcohol abuse that are better left to health and religious institutions rather than the criminal justice system.
Of course, public drinking laws have many of the same problems: in a review of a month's worth of public drinking tickets in Brooklyn, a New York City judge's staff in 2012 found that, as reported by the New York Times, "85 percent of the summonses were issued to blacks and Latinos, while only 4 percent were issued to whites" — even though 36 percent of Brooklyn's population is white
Boehner to announce new investigation into Hillary Clinton emails
House speaker John Boehner will reveal plans this week, leading Republicans tell ABC News after Clinton explains private email address as ‘convenience’
Representative John Boehner, the top Republican in the US House of Representatives, plans to announce a new investigation this week into Hillary Clinton’s use of email when she led the State Department, ABC News reported on Sunday.
ABC’s This Week program said top Republicans had briefed it about Boehner’s plans, but did not give details.
Clinton, expected to launch her campaign soon for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, has faced a storm of criticism over her email habits. She used a personal email address instead of a government one, as well as a personal server, during the period she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.
Clinton told a news conference on Tuesday her private email address was a “convenience” so she would not have to carry two mobile devices. She sent and received 62,320 emails while at the State Department and after a review process, 30,490 were provided to the department at its request, a Clinton spokesman said last week. The remaining 31,830 were private and personal records, the spokesman said.
Stunning drone footage of bike daredevil riding vertical cliff face in Arizona
The one-minute clip that will have your heart skipping a beat: a mountain-biking pro rides the deadly White Line trail on the cliffs of Sedona, Arizona. The breathtaking footage was filmed by a small drone.
Imagine an almost vertical rock face with barely space for a car wheel, and you might get an idea of what it’s like. Mike Kollbeck, though, has first-hand experience of the world’s most dangerous bike trail, as it’s known by aficionados.
The thin white line of sandstone extends all along the face of the red Arizona cliff.
Home to some 10,000 inhabitants, Sedona straddles the near-Martian landscape of red rocks about 19 square miles in size. The town is 4,500 feet above sea level and is about a 90-minute drive from the Arizona state capital, Phoenix.
New Zealand Used NSA System to Target Officials, Anti-Corruption Campaigner
New Zealand’s eavesdropping agency used an Internet mass surveillance system to target government officials and an anti-corruption campaigner on a neighboring Pacific island, according to a top-secret document.
Analysts from Government Communications Security Bureau, or GCSB, programmed the Internet spy system XKEYSCORE to intercept documents authored by the closest aides and confidants of the prime minister on the tiny Solomon Islands. The agency also entered keywords into the system so that it would intercept documents containing references to the Solomons’ leading anti-corruption activist, who is known for publishing government leaks on his website.
XKEYSCORE is run by the National Security Agency, and is used to analyze billions of emails, Internet browsing sessions and online chats that are collected from some 150 different locations worldwide. GCSB has gained access to XKEYSCORE because New Zealand is a member of the Five Eyes surveillance alliance alongside the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.
A number of GCSB’s XKEYSCORE targets are disclosed in a top-secret document that was obtained by The Intercept and New Zealand newspaper the Herald on Sunday. The document raises questions about the scope of the surveillance and offers an unprecedented insight into specific people monitored by New Zealand’s most secretive agency.
The Evening Greens
The Evening Greens Weekend Editor: enhydra lutris
Revamped environmental law raises hope for cleanup in China
BEIJING (AP) — People in China who want to take industries to task for fouling their surroundings have been rushing to file complaints and lawsuits this year in a test of legal reforms that toughen environmental penalties and make clear that many public-interest groups have the right to sue.
Environmental watchdogs say people have filed hundreds of complaints with local governments under the new law launched in January, taking advantage of requirements that authorities respond to environmental complaints or risk having the cases be bumped up to higher levels of government. State media reports say at least one complaint resulted in immediate action, when authorities in eastern Shandong province shut down the coal furnace of a rubber factory that had bothered neighbors.
Environmental groups also have filed six lawsuits that have been accepted by Chinese courts, compared with one allowed during the same period last year. The new cases deal with everything from deforestation to illegal dumping by chemical plants, according to Zhang Boju, executive director of the nonprofit group Friends of Nature, which wrote two of the lawsuits. With a 300,000 yuan ($48,000) grant from Chinese e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba, Friends of Nature has set up a special fund to help other groups prepare their own lawsuits.
In a country where officials often act above the law while willfully ignoring whole swaths of regulations, many Chinese fed up with environmental neglect say the reforms appear to be making a difference. Still, experts say, their success will depend on the continued receptiveness of the courts and local officials under pressure to curb the country's notorious pollution problems.
New avian flu outbreak along Mississippi flyway challenges fowl farmers
Officials say there is no risk to the public and there are no food safety concerns from an outbreak of avian bird flu among domestic turkeys, which is tied to migratory waterfowl along the Mississippi flyway
ATLANTA — An outbreak of an avian bird flu that has attacked flocks of turkeys continues to spread throughout the Mississippi River Valley, as biosecurity detectives scramble to pin down the mode of transmission and contain the epidemic.
Three states reporting an outbreak – Minnesota, Arkansas and Missouri – share the potential culprit. That would be the Mississippi River, which serves as a major flyway for migratory waterfowl. The particular strain of avian influenza usually doesn’t harm wild fowl, but does cause problems for domesticated flocks. The outbreak along the Mississippi flyway involves the same virus that has infected the Pacific flyway, where South Korea, for one, has watched the outbreak spread to 2.6 million birds.
Most food birds raised in the US are kept indoors, in large part to limit exposure to viral agents. Now, at least some US biosecurity experts believe the migrating fowl may have left behind droppings that could have been tracked into sanitary facilities on the rubber boots of farmworkers.
So far in the US, two commercial flocks have had to be destroyed after farmers found evidence of the flu among their birds. Kansas imposed a quarantine of flocks in two counties bordering the river.
Researchers uncover a mechanism linking inhaled diesel pollution and respiratory distress
Estoril, Portugal: Researchers in the UK have, for the first time, shown how exhaust pollution from diesel engines is able to affect nerves within the lung. Air pollution is a significant threat to health, they say, and identifying potential mechanisms linking exposure to diesel exhaust and the exacerbation of respiratory diseases may lead to treatments for those affected.
Mr. Ryan Robinson, a PhD student at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College London, UK, will tell the 13th European Respiratory Society Lung Science Conference today (Saturday) about his work studying diesel exhaust particles and airway sensory nerves. The news comes as the Healthy Lungs for Life campaign, launched by the European Respiratory Society and European Lung Foundation, takes places this year aiming to raise awareness of the importance of breathing clean air.
Diesel exhaust is a significant component of urban air pollution, containing a complicated mixture of gases and airborne particles. "Studies have shown that exposure to these diesel particles is associated with harmful health effects," says Mr. Robinson. "These particles are very small - down to 20 nanometres in diameter - and are therefore not only invisible to the naked eye, but can penetrate deep into the lungs."
The lungs contain numerous sensory nerves that can detect potentially harmful stimuli and thus allow the body to respond, for example by triggering a cough. "However, we know that these nerves can also be involved in exacerbating respiratory conditions, for example by causing the bronchi to constrict in diseases such as asthma," says Mr. Robinson
Unique proteins found in heat-loving organisms attach to plant matter
Unique proteins newly discovered in heat-loving bacteria are more than capable of attaching themselves to plant cellulose, possibly paving the way for more efficient methods of converting plant matter into biofuels.
The unusual proteins, called tapirins (derived from the Maori verb 'to join'), bind tightly to cellulose, a key structural component of plant cell walls, enabling these bacteria to break down cellulose. The conversion of cellulose to liquid biofuels, such as ethanol, is paramount to the use of renewable feedstocks.
In a paper published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers from North Carolina State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory report the structure and function of tapirins produced by bacteria that live in hot springs across the globe, including Yellowstone National Park. These bacteria, called Caldicellulosiruptor, live in temperatures as high as 70 to 80 degrees Celsius -- or 158 to 176 degrees Fahrenheit.
"These hot springs scavengers make proteins that are structurally unique and that are seen nowhere else in nature," said Dr. Robert Kelly, Alcoa Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NC State and the paper's corresponding author. "These proteins bind very firmly to cellulose. As a result, this binding can anchor bacteria to the cellulose in plant biomass, thus facilitating the conversion to fermentable sugars and then biofuels."
River algae affecting mercury pollution at Superfund site, study shows
Dartmouth scientists and their colleagues have found that periphyton -- a community of algae, bacteria and other natural material living on submerged surfaces -- is helping to transform mercury pollution from a Superfund site along a New Hampshire river into a more toxic form of the metal.
The study also found lower than anticipated levels of methylmercury in crayfish, mayflies and small fish downstream from the former chemical plant along the Androscoggin River in Berlin, N.H., despite elevated methylmercury in the sediment, water and periphyton.
The results, which shed light on mercury dynamics within rivers and their food webs, appear in the journal Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry.
Methylmercury is a highly toxic form of mercury and the form that most easily passes up the food chain where it can reach high concentrations in predator fish. In aquatic systems, mercury is transformed into methylmercury in a complex biogeochemical process mediated by bacteria. Periphyton, which consists of algae, bacteria, fungi and detritus attached to submerged rocks, plants and other surfaces, is a fundamental part of aquatic ecosystems and can be a primary food source for small fish and invertebrates.
Hidden hazards found in 'green' products
A University of Melbourne researcher has found that common consumer products, including those marketed as 'green', 'all-natural', 'non-toxic', and 'organic', emit a range of compounds that could harm human health and air quality. But most of these ingredients are not disclosed to the public.
Dr. Anne Steinemann, Professor of Civil Engineering, and the Chair of Sustainable Cities, from the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Melbourne School of Engineering, is a world expert on environmental pollutants, air quality, and health effects.
Professor Steinemann investigated and compared volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from 37 different products, such as air fresheners, cleaning products, laundry supplies, and personal care products, including those with certifications and claims of 'green' and 'organic'. Both fragranced and fragrance-free products were tested.
The study, published in the journal Air Quality, Atmosphere & Health found 156 different VOCs emitted from the 37 products, with an average of 15 VOCs per product. Of these 156 VOCs, 42 are classified as toxic or hazardous under US federal laws, and each product emitted at least one of these chemicals.
Blog Posts of Interest
Here are diaries and selected blog posts of interest on DailyKos and other blogs.
What's Happenin' Is On Hiatus
Robert Reich: Why Americans Are Screwed and Europeans Are Not
Ukrainian President: Enormous IMF Loan Won’t Help Ordinary Ukrainians
Can Democracy Survive Aggressive Global Capitalism?
Will Food Sovereignty Starve the Poor and Punish the Planet?
Stop Lying
iPhone Zombies, the CIA, the NSA, and what we don't know
Treatment of transgender youth
Reclaiming the climate debate from political extremes
Hellraisers Journal: Last Act of Judge Jackson Is to Release the Murderers of Raleigh County Miners
When Will They Ever Learn?
A Little Night Music
Roy Buchanan - I'm a Ram
Roy Buchanan - The Messiah Will Come Again
Roy Buchanan - That's What I Am Here For
Roy Buchanan - Blues Shuffle
Roy Buchanan - Filthy Teddy
Roy Buchanan - The Chokin Kind
Roy Buchanan - Can I Change My Mind
Roy Buchanan - Down By The River
Roy Buchanan - Sweet Dreams
Roy Buchanan - Beer Drinking Woman
Roy Buchanan - My Baby Says She's Gonna Leave Me
Roy Buchanan - Done Your Daddy Dirty
Roy Buchanan - Drowning on Dry Land
Roy Buchanan - I'm Evil
Roy Buchanan - Hey Joe
Roy Buchanan - Ramon's Blues
Roy Buchanan - Turn to Stone